The fog is gradually dissipating, but it still envelops the entire eastern plain.

The glow of the sun pale and dimmed in the mist, town after town cut off in the mist and the strange whispering murmurs, and in the city streets, in the country wilderness, twisted and misshapen humanoids staggered through the mist, as if they had entered an earthly nightmare, spreading along the polluted land.

Fort Solin was finally shrouded in the endless mist.

The irregular wind swept over the city, waving all the flags and hunting in the air, and more and more bad news was coming from all directions—not only in the city in front of us, but in the vast expanse beyond the city, all order was rapidly crumbling.

In the hall of the castle, a high-ranking knight in dark steel armor is reporting the latest situation: "...... We have lost all contact with the Sost region, the roads have been blocked by fog, and the messenger has been in the fog and has not been heard from again. The fortress in the direction of the Xielin valley and the Yaltel mountain briefly lit a beacon fire in the morning, but the beacon fire was extinguished immediately, the communication spell was cut off, and the knights sent to check on the situation have not returned so far, and I am afraid that the evil will be more auspicious than the ......"

Another high-ranking knight then stood up: "The situation in the city is also very abnormal, some soldiers have found wandering civilians in the outer city, all of whom seem to be delirious, and some people have witnessed unusually tall black-robed giants moving in the fog......"

As he spoke, the high-ranking knight seemed to feel slightly unwell, and moved his shoulders and arms slightly.

At the head of the long table, Edmun's face sank: "How many people are we sure we can contact and mobilize now?" ”

The high-ranking knights and noble lords in the hall fell into an unspeakably awkward silence, and after a brief glance at each other, someone got up and replied, "Are you sure it's normal...... There were only two thousand guards in the castle district, and two thousand soldiers stationed in the two barracks near the castle district. ”

"In other words, because of this strange fog, the entire Eastern Legion has hundreds of thousands of people, and now only four thousand are available?"

“…… Yes, Your Highness. ”

"This is no ordinary fog," Duke Silas Loren began, "it bears traces of magical manipulation, and is most likely the product of large-scale forbidden spells, or even divine descent rituals. ”

Edmund frowned and looked at a noble lord: "...... What information is available in the direction of the Kingdom Army? ”

The lord immediately stood up: "The news from that direction is completely cut off, Your Highness, but according to the last summons, there is also a heavy fog in the plain area controlled by the Kingdom Army. ”

After a brief silence, Edmund slowly stood up, his hands propped up on the table, his eyes unusually serious: "Obviously, we are under attack, and the attacker has mastered the power of the celestial phenomenon. Now, our mage corps is preparing a massive dispersal and purification spell, and until they complete the ritual, it's important that you ensure the safety of all mage towers in the inner city. Duke Loren, the guards of the castle district are entrusted to you, and in addition, please inform Belk to return to the castle immediately. ”

"Yes, Your Highness."

The officers who received the order quickly left the hall, and the vast main hall was soon left with only Edmund Morn and a handful of guards.

In the sudden silence, the atmosphere became more and more oppressive, and wisps of mist seeped into the hall through the cracks in the windows, as if to bring with it some kind of twisted and crazy malice that was entrenched all over the city, and in this unbearable silence and oppression, the fireplace on one side of the hall suddenly crackled.

Edmund instantly raised his head and looked at the fire that had suddenly brightened......

……

On the streets of the outer city, the situation deteriorated more rapidly than expected.

In the slightly thinning mist, the sharp sound of metal briefly broke the dead silence in the air, and with a few sudden flashes of light and a few short, hoarse grunts, several unusually tall humanoid monsters made of flesh and crystal fell heavily to the ground.

Belk Loren shook his slightly numb arm, shook off the slightest dirt from his sword, and frowned at the "creatures" who had fallen to the ground.

They (or perhaps 'they') were terrifying, twisted and mutated, with clusters of proliferating crystals all over their bodies, dangerous arcane energy that continued to leap and crack between them after they had fallen, and fragments of armor and clothing that had been fused with flesh crystals could be seen on the mutated and swollen monsters.

Just a few minutes ago, these "monsters" were still knights and servants who had followed Belk to the outer city to check on the situation, but suddenly out of the fog came a tall black-robed monster, and after the knights and soldiers met the eyes of the monster, they all turned into this appearance and attacked their masters frantically.

What's going on?

Belk cautiously guarded his surroundings and slowly moved towards the nearest barracks, as a huge question crossed his mind.

He had also made eye contact with the black-robed monster, but for some reason, he hadn't mutated like his own men.

Your own subordinates are cursed unknowingly? Is eye contact with that black-robed monster the "key" to detonate the curse? Why are you okay?

The young marquis quietly applied a series of protective blessings and invisible armor to himself, and his sharp gaze continued to sweep over the streets and alleys shrouded in mist.

The black-robed monster took advantage of the chaos after "inducing" the terrible mutation, and is still lurking in some dark corner nearby, Belk is a powerful transcendent knight, but he must also be on the highest alert when facing this completely unknown and strange enemy.

A chaotic sound of undisguised footsteps suddenly came from nearby, and multiple magic fluctuations also appeared in the perceptual range at the same time.

Belk quickly turned, an illusory scorching flame already burning on his sword, and a group of tall and mutated monsters covered in crystal clusters had stepped out of the mist and gathered towards him—these were obviously not the black-robed giants, they were obviously a little shorter, but they were still more than two meters tall, and they were all over their bodies releasing arcane energy that was visible to the naked eye.

Consistent with the characteristics of his own mutated subordinates - these are also victims of "induced" mutations.

The thought quickly crossed Belk's mind, and the monsters attacked.

One of the "Cluster Giants" stepped forward and rushed towards Belk at a startling speed, while the other giants either charged or raised their hands to create powerful arcs of arcane power—the young marquis quickly turned around, dodging the claws that gripped his shoulder and neck in a split second, and at the same time the sword swung diagonally, the illusory flames shattered the volley of arcs, and then the sword went castrated, slashing off the arm of the second Crystal Giant with a tooth-aching metal crash.

After a brief defuse of the attack, Belk immediately leaped backwards, his sword in his left hand, and his right hand swung violently in the air, and a crystal clear blade of energy descended from the sky, pinning the first crystal giant to the ground, and a scalp-chilling gust of wind almost simultaneously skimmed the back of Belk's neck - he instantly lunged forward, turned, and dodged the deadly sneak attack, a few strands of severed hair flying through the air.

The attackers attacked again, and Belk briefly adjusted his balance before meeting him with his sword raised.

They staggered at close range, and in less than a hundredth of a second, a pair of eyes that had partially transformed into crystals, surrounded by tiny clusters, flashed before Belk's eyes.

He was a little stunned, vaguely feeling that those eyes were a little familiar......

……

A woman dressed in a green priest's robe, with a beautiful and dignified upper body and hideous plant roots on the lower body, slowly walked out of the flames and walked towards Edmund Moen step by step.

Edmund, dressed in black armor and a wolfskin cloak, stood behind the table, staring at the woman who came out of the flames, at the sheimam of the Society of the Dead.

"It's all your plot?" He said in a deep voice, and before he could finish speaking, a black sword had already appeared in his hand.

At the same time, he noticed that the attendants and guards standing not far away were unresponsive, as if they had fallen into some kind of hypnotic state, completely unaware of the presence of the intruder.

Bertilla came to the opposite side of the long table unhurriedly, looked at Prince Ansu in front of him, and showed a faint smile on his face: "To others, this is a conspiracy, and to you, this is a conspiracy, isn't it?" Our 'allies' ...... Your Highness"

Edmund knew that this strange woman was extremely dangerous and powerful, and while quietly casting the blessing of the knightly realm on himself, he suppressed his anger and said, "You really can't be trusted. ”

"Didn't you know this from the beginning, confident prince? You just habitually underestimate others and overestimate yourself. ”

As she spoke, Beltila pulled a chair from the side and sat down calmly in front of Edmund, her legs of vines and roots spreading and rustling with the seat and the floor.

"What the hell are you trying to do? What do you want to do?! ”

"We?" Berthira laughed, her smile extraordinarily sincere—in fact, almost the only time she had smiled from the heart in seven hundred years, "We want to find a way for humanity to survive, a way to survive at the table of the gods, in the malice of the world."

"And I'...... I'm just here to greet you, to welcome the new you. ”

"Maniac." Edmund felt that he could not comprehend this cultist's train of thought at all, he had already accumulated his strength, and he didn't want any more variables, so he raised his long sword, and countless small black cracks quickly spread out from the tip of the sword, blocking the entire space like a spider web.

The long table turned to dust in the cracks, and the seats were torn apart, but before the deadly black cracks could spread to Bertilla, a series of headache-breaking, sanity-shattering whispers and murmurs suddenly flooded into Edmund's mind, and he suddenly lost control of the sword in his hand, and even the whole person was shaky and unable to stand.

Bertila quietly watched Edmund support his body with his sword, gradually collapsing, and said lightly, "Have you been feeling thirsty a lot lately?" ”

"Water ......" Edmund's cheeks were gradually growing clear crystal clusters, and a hint of realization suddenly crossed his eyes, "You poisoned?" ”

"It's not poison, it's just a blessing—a blessing from the 'gods' themselves."

"You ...... will ruin ...... Ansu ......"

"It was you, or should I say, you, who ruined it," Bertila looked at the prince in front of her with almost pity, "remember, you opened this vortex?" ”

Edmund felt his reason dissipate quickly, and the whispering voice was rapidly robbing him of his ability to think, and he spoke with difficulty, almost instinctively, "I just...... Want to bring it back to ...... Prosperity ......"

Bertila stood up from her chair, she quietly looked at Prince Ansu, who was about to lose her will, her eyes were deep, and her tone was low: "You guys, do you really understand what true prosperity is? ”

Edmund's vision was covered with a hazy curtain of light, his eyeballs were rapidly being reshaped by crystals, and in that alienated vision, he could only see Bertila's eyes, which were deep and resolute, as if with some terrible paranoia, but with an unbelievable purity and sanity.

He couldn't understand why a crazy cultist would suddenly show such a look.

This look reminded him of a man, a man who had returned to this world from the grave.

Before losing his will, he heard the last words of the other party:

"You've never really looked down and looked at those lowly people."

……

The "Crystalline" attackers all fell, including the one with a familiar eye...... Person.

She had turned into a two-meter-tall monster, her swollen and twisted flesh mixed with charged crystals, but Belk recognized her.

She fell on the misty street, curled up and trembling slightly, which reminded Belk of the time not long ago when he had seen each other in an alley, when she had curled up on the ground and curled up in the mud.

Belk stepped forward slowly, a sharp sting from some small wounds on his body, and he supported his body with his long sword, crouching down in front of the "washergirl", level with the other party's head.

"Who made you like this? Are they the black-robed monsters? ”

The crystalline woman hissed, and in a difficult gasp, Belk heard an answer that he could not understand at all: "We are...... Voluntary, adults. ”

The young marquis exclaimed, "Why?!" ”

The "monster", who could no longer see the appearance of a human being, raised his head and said softly:

"It's like this...... You can live by eating stones, adults ......"