The Boulder Mountains are majestic, with undulating peaks and peaks, and a white line on the top of the mountain stretches for tens of thousands of miles. The megalithic fortress was built in a narrow mountain pass, made of limestone, as if it grew with the mountains, leaving no gaps.

Victor and his party walked through the lush mixed forest at the foot of the mountain, stepped on the evergreen meadows, climbed the gentle slope, and met the owner of the megalithic fortress, His Majesty Rex, the king of Neville.

He tore off the bearskin cloak fluttering in the wind, took Neville's four golden knights, and quickly greeted him, greeting with a hearty smile: "Cousin Victor, I said that you would come to help as soon as possible, and sure enough, it was right." ”

Victor smiled and patted Rex's shoulder armor and teased, "Why don't you use my reputation to bet with the Highnesses of the Great Stone Fortress? ”

Rex stretched out three fingers and said solemnly, "According to the rules of the Neville people, I can only divide you into thirty." ”

The two immediately laughed, and the highnesses of both sides saluted each other. After some pleasantries, Rex led the four legendary powerhouses to the main entrance of the Boulder Fortress, the soldiers on the tower pushed the winch, the iron chains clanged, and the squeaky rattle of the red copper and iron gates slowly rose five meters high.

When Caligula entered the door, he moved as fast as lightning, and deliberately shrunk his neck, as if he was afraid that the floodgates, which weighed more than a thousand pounds, would suddenly fall and smash him into pulp.

There are no buildings to be seen behind the city gate, it is just a natural valley road, dark and damp, and there is no sunlight. On the contrary, there are artificially excavated shooting platforms on the steep cliffs on both sides, which are nearly 100 meters above the ground. At intervals, a ballista is mounted with a down-facing ballista, and soldiers armed with heavy crossbows patrol back and forth on the platform.

When Victor withdrew his gaze, Rex pointed to the cliffs on the left and right and the other gate in front of him, and introduced quite smugly: "This is the famous Death Gate of the Great Stone Fortress. The canyon is 14 kilometers long and has a total of 5 death doors. If an army of orcs in the northern wilderness attacked the Boulder Fortress, the garrison of the first line of defense would pull up the gates, let a group of monsters in, and then close the gates, and the archers on both sides would fire their wings. The Five Gates of Death had strangled tens of thousands of monsters, and the defenders were unscathed. ”

"The last time my cousin visited Neville, he didn't have time to inspect the megalithic fortress. This time, you have witnessed the first level of the human kingdom. ”

"The Great Stone Fortress is the Five Gates of Death?" asked Victor in disbelief.

"Haha, it's a miracle that the cost of the Boulder Fortress is too cheap to believe. Rex laughed.

Victor looked at the dark green cliff face covered with slippery moss, and said thoughtfully, "This canyon ...... It can't be excavated by hand, right?"

"It's the work of an ancient great wizard. ”

Howard said, "It is said that the great wizard of the ancient El city-state used extraordinary means to open up the Boulder Mountain Range in order to connect the El city-state with the northern wilderness. At that time, the northern wilderness was a civilized land belonging to the human kingdom. ”

"1,200 years ago, this canyon was an important passage between the El Cult and the Iron Mountain Empire, and with the fall of the Iron Mountain Empire, the Rex family, with the help of the Church, built 5 death gates, and once booby-trapped tens of thousands of orc monsters. Later, the orcs learned wisely, and they no longer went to death's door. ”

The first gate hit the ground with a bang, and the light throughout the passage became even darker. Rex followed Victor's gaze, glanced back, and explained, "There is an iron law in the Death Gate of the Boulder Fortress, from north to south, there is only one door, and from south to north, five doors open at the same time. ”

Howard smiled and said: "This is the agreement between the ancestors of Testil and the ancestors of Rex, one day, the Knights of Radiance will recover the homeland of mankind, the Rex family will go on a northern expedition, and the troops will go out of the boulder fortress, and the five gates of death will be opened at the same time...... It seems that the agreement of the ancestors is about to fall on the two of us. ”

Rex smiled, "It's an honor for you and me to be able to witness the revocation of the Death's Gate. ”

More than three years ago, Tystiel personally lobbied King Rex to invite Lord Neville to come out of the Boulder Fortress and work together against the Sidon Centaurs. However, the size of the Neville Kingdom was less than one-third of the size of the Sassanian Empire, and getting into the quagmire of the Pioneer War in advance was bound to bring down the entire kingdom. Rex flatly rejected Testiel's invitation to send troops, and only agreed to exchange iron for food from the Sassan Empire to ensure that the kingdom could absorb more than 700,000 displaced people.

Although the Neville people have done a good job in developing agriculture, animal husbandry and water conservancy, at this moment and then, Rex never expected that the centaurs, who were good at guerrilla field warfare, would run to the west en masse to confront the main forces of the Sassan Empire and the Radiant Knights. Now, the elite cavalry of Neville, Seuss, Borui, and Rand Empires, as well as the main forces of the Inquisition and Templars, nearly 200,000 people, have gathered in the Boulder Fortress, ready to take the back of the centaur army. This was tantamount to opening up the northern wilderness for the Neville people in the southeastern countries, and Rex's attitude changed a hundred and eighty degrees.

That's why King Neville and several of his Highnesses ran outside the Boulder Fortress to greet the Radiant Knights, while the Golden Knights of Borui and Seuss were nowhere to be seen.

The countries of the South really had little enthusiasm for the war.

Testil turned to Victor and smiled, "The northern wilderness is vast and boundless, and it is the homeland of the human kingdom. The lords of the Kingdom of Gombis are interested in expanding northward, and I support them. ”

If the Elves hadn't summoned the Forest Centaurs and Mountain Dwarves, the world would have shown a precursor to great change, and the lords of Gombis would have been interested in carving out territory in the northern wilderness. Now, the Kingdom of Gangbis is eager to occupy the Jinshui River and make contributions in the Southern Continent.

In fact, Testier is just showing his attitude and talking, and he can't take it seriously. Because any southern lord who expands his territory in the northern wilderness for a long time will inevitably integrate into the northland political circle constructed by the Sassan Empire, the Iron Mountain Imperial Family, and the Neville Kingdom, and can no longer be counted as the lord and nobles of his own country.

No family wants to spread its power now.

"In the future, I'll think about it. Victor said with a smile. In another twenty years, his fleet would be able to land on the eastern shore of the northern wilderness as it traveled north along the coastline and establish colonies in the Gombis Empire, with the centralized system of fiefdom ensuring effective control over the colonies by the imperial center. At the very least, it works much better than the scoresheet.

After passing through five sinister death's gates in a row, the scenery in front of you suddenly opened up. Surrounded by mountains, valleys are bathed in soft sunlight, mountain streams and waterfalls form soothing rivers, golden wheat fields are flanked by scythes, and farmers are scythe-armed to harvest plump spelt wheat. Wheat fields surround a town without walls or moats, and the buildings are all neat, simple, functional, and emphasizing capacity and solidity, as well as barracks, warehouses, and artisan workshops. War horses neighed, soldiers shuttled, this is simply a large well-equipped barracks.

At the far end of the barracks stood a peculiar structure with a striking tower-like cylinder that spewed out a pale blue smoke peculiar to charcoal heating.

Testier stopped to look at it from a distance, and after a moment, said, "Your Majesty Rex, the giant brick kiln has been built here......"

Rex laughed and responded, "Neville Mine has few people, and only with the help of the iron bricks invented by the Centaur Hills can we quickly build fortifications and fortified towns in the northern wilderness. ”

Testier turned his head to Victor and said, "If the Sassan Empire had bought the brick kiln brick making process in the Centaur Hills earlier, maybe I wouldn't have needed to light the red smoke beacon fire." ”

Victor shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then the situation of this war will be different." ”

Tournans interjected: "Hurry up, don't let Clement wait for a long time." ”

After saying that, he took the lead towards the church in the middle of the barracks with his hands behind his back. Victor followed with his entourage.

Outside the church, several high-ranking knights with powerful aura were already waiting outside. One of the knights, dressed in ecclesiastical Mithril armor, stepped out of the crowd and saluted the two Testiels solemnly, saying, "Inquisition, Lester Trigoval salutes Grand Master Testiel and Deputy Chief Testiel. ”

Before the two leaders of the Radiant Knights could return the salute, Turnans let out a faint "um" beside him.

The paladin, with deep facial features and dark eyes, had to salute him as well.

"Brother Lester Trigovar, may the light of our Lord illuminate your direction. ”

The bald paladin looked as solemn as an archbishop, and introduced Victor: "Your Highness Randall, this is the Leicester brother of the Trigovar family, the chief of the Inquisition...... Oh, it's Your Excellency...... His Excellency Lester Trigoval. ”

"On behalf of the Inquisition, I would like to pay my respects to His Highness Randall, who slew three golden-rank orc leaders on the Eastern Frontier Defense, for his extraordinary feats. May the Supreme Lord of Light bless you be. Trigoval's grim facial lines melted like a spring breeze thawing frozen ground, and he said with a warm smile.

The Inquisition had the authority to sanction the clergy and secular lords, and the minor lords and nobles were so distracted that they did not even dare to mention Trigovar's name in private gatherings, and only referred to him as the chief magistrate. However, with Victor's current position, he clearly felt that the functions of the Inquisition were becoming more and more in line with the needs of the great nobles.

The most obvious example is that in order to enhance the political influence of the Randall family, Victor borrowed the divine power of the church and spent a huge amount of money to build Randall's Cathedral. Both the Abbey and the Templar were stationed at Randall's Cathedral, but the Inquisition was slow to move. It seems that unless there is an unconcealable wizarding incident in Randall's territory, the Inquisition will not send someone to Randall's Cathedral.

Blackcastle was not the Inquisition's Purification Wizard Will. In fact, as the knightly aristocracy gradually mastered the church, the position of the Inquisition quietly changed, becoming a collaborator of the great lord.

Nobles who lost political battles were often condemned by the Inquisition and exiled to the Eastern Alliance, where they were used as tools to propagate the blood of knights. Trigovar and the Priest of the Holy Mountain secretly presided over the human trafficking business, and even Victor bought dozens of young children with knightly blood from the Eastern Alliance. At least half of the money earned by the Trigovars went to the Knights of Radiance and the Sassan Empire, serving as a defense against the orcs.

In addition, Trigoval's secret of raising wizards has gradually fallen into Victor's vision. However, from a rational point of view, Trigovar, or the Knights of Radiance's ambiguous policy towards the cultivation of wizards, is in line with practical needs. Since the Pantheon turmoil, the wizarding organizations of the human kingdom have not been flooded, and many impressive achievements have emerged in the academic and theological fields.

If Victor were Testier, he would do the same.

In the solid political structure of the Tower of Gold, both the Randall family and the Inquisition are at the top, and both sides are on the same page. Despite Trigoval's secret control over the wizards, Victor believes that Trigoval's several assassinations against him have nothing to do with Trigoval.

However, the wizards' sorcery is unpredictable, and Trigoval may not be able to make them bow down to them. As transcendents, shamans can broaden their horizons once they have an organization and inheritance, and they must want to seek a place in the power structure of the human realm. However, the inherent ruling class, including the knightly lords and the clergy of the Church, did not allow the sorcerers to develop political power.

God knows how far they can go? It's possible to climb to the top of the pyramid and crush the knights and clergy under them.

The strategy for wizards can only be to integrate them into the nobility with knightly blood. If Trigovar is unable to accommodate all the members of the wizarding order, they must regularly purge a group of sorcerers who are ready to move, and then the secular lords of the paladin family will merge a group of obedient sorcerers, and there will be a group of sorcerers loyal to the Inquisition.

These wizards are the most troublesome, they can't see the light, and they have no promotion level, they can only be obsessed with improving the power of witchcraft and studying the laws of the world. So they are especially susceptible to the devil's demagoguery.

Victor believes that the mastermind behind his murder is the devil, evil gods and other transcendent beings, and they borrow the hands of wizards to carry out many assassination operations. In particular, the mysterious assassin in the Giant Wood Forest showed extraordinary abilities with traces of divine magic. He could be the god of some evil god. When he escaped, he deliberately revealed the Shadow Council to Victor, and the intention of framing him was very obvious, but he succeeded in leaving a clue for Victor.

The Shadow Speaker's clue apparently started with Trigovar, perhaps the purpose of the mysterious Assassin, but Victor had no intention of stopping. When the enemy is clear and we are in the dark, only by luring the snake out of the hole can we see the enemy's plan clearly. Victor has full confidence in controlling the situation, and the favor of fate brought by his great prestige is a hole card for him to resist the interference of fate.

Victor's sharp gaze looked around everyone, from far and near, and finally landed on Trigovar's body, and said with deep eyes: "This time I went to the Northern Wilderness to behead the goblin lord, I hope to walk side by side with Judge Trigovar." ”

Both Trigovar and Testel were amazed, the Golden-Tier Earth Paladins were not of much help in infiltrating the decapitation, and Trigoval was not prepared to participate in the operation. Unbeknownst to them, Victor was startling the snake and were puzzled by the abrupt proposal.

The referee and the Grand Master made eye contact for half a second, and then bowed his head and said, "Trigovar is duty-bound." ”

X-3 didn't compare the anomalies of the people around him, and Victor didn't care, believing that wizards always had a way to learn about his conversation with Trigovar.

His smile was full of kindness, and he nodded: "When we complete the task, I will definitely invite Your Excellency to a banquet, and when the time comes, we will have a good chat." ”

Trigovar was confused, the Inquisition couldn't say that everyone was annoying, and they were doing ugly things. Even if the lord wanted to use the inquisition to deal with his political opponents, he would not blatantly make overtures to Trigoval.

Trigovar had heard of Victor being a few kilometers away, killing the Golden-Tier Gnolls and severely injuring the Ogre Overseers. It wasn't hard for him to kill the Goblin Lord.

The Earl of Golden-Eyed had a place to get the Inquisition, and deliberately gave me a meritorious service...... He thought about it secretly, and smiled without hesitation: "Your Highness's banquet, I will definitely go to the appointment." ”

Whether Victor's interaction with the chief referee frightened the sinister wizard is still unknown, but it has attracted the attention of several Golden Knights.

Only Turnans was unaware of it, and introduced Emperor Neowest of the Rand Empire, His Royal Highness Chris of the Seuss Kingdom, and Grand Duke Peter of the Borui Kingdom.

Victor had met with Neowest privately, but both sides pretended to meet for the first time. When Victor greeted Grand Duke Peter, he couldn't help but look at each other twice.

It was Duke Peter's eldest son, Raymond, who sent assassins to assassinate Victor and instructed the Kamen Brotherhood to trouble Sophia.

Victor has reason to believe that Raymond is a spokesman for the Council of Shadows, as it is unlikely that Duke Peter will mobilize wizards to participate in the underground war between the Southwind Chamber of Commerce and the Wimbledon Chamber of Commerce. The Council of Shadows is beyond Trigoval's control and will not be at the mercy of Duke Peter.

The Peter family simply could not protect the wizarding organization that betrayed the Inquisition.

Duke Peter frowned secretly, watching Victor and the others enter the church, countless thoughts turned in his heart, but on the surface he waited in place as if nothing had happened.

Victor and his party entered the church and saw Pope Clement dressed in the white robes of the clergy. He was in good spirits and had a gentle temperament, and nodded to Victor and said, "I'm relieved that you can come." ”

All along, the Pope has been the Pope's deputy, the vice-monarch of the Holy See. In terms of status, Clement is still above Testier. But he is going through the most difficult period of his political career, and he is still His Holiness the Pope when he does not use the Great Prophecy and the human kingdom wins the war. Otherwise, he would have to step down from the papal throne, and even the pastors of his line would lose badly.

The secular lords need the support of the clergy, and the clergy also need the support of the secular lords. Clement is undoubtedly an important ally of Centaur Hills.

When Victor and Sylvia were poor, they implemented jaw-dropping water conservancy projects. Clement overrode the crowd and borrowed 1 million gold soles to the York family, which has not yet been repaid. The alliance between the two sides began during that period.

Victor relies on Clement's support for many deployments, and certainly will not sit idly by and watch him fall. Moreover, Father Miller has made it clear that he will not perform the Great Prophecy again.

How could Clement's Great Prophecy be used in the Northern Expansion War?

"Your Majesty, I will do my best!" said Victor solemnly.

"I'm convinced of that. Clement smiled with satisfaction and bowed his head, "I'll preside over the prayer ceremony for you." ”

After finishing the prayer, Testiel looked around and said, "Time is pressing, we will immediately convene a meeting and invite the highnesses of the southern countries to discuss the war plan." ”

Victor shook his head with a smile and said, "I'm going to go to rest, so I won't go to the meeting." When it is time to leave, send someone to inform me. ”

"Cousin Victor, please. Testil smiled gracefully and raised his hand.

Rex also nodded, "Okay, I have prepared a temporary residence for you, and I will order someone to take you there." ”

"I'll take my leave. ”

After leaving the church and following King Neville's attendant knights to a single villa on the west side of the barracks, Victor ordered someone to boil water and cook so that the alchemist soldiers could eat and drink enough to adjust their physical strength. Caligula happily accepted the task, dragging a large bag stuffed with jerboa and running happily into the kitchen.

Caligula has a flair for cooking, and the portions are generous, just a little longer.

Victor estimated that it would be about two hours before he could eat Acre's prepared meal, and he decided to go back to his bedroom for a nap.

For two days and one night in a row, the sleepless rapid march, and not lying down again, Victor always felt that something was strange.

Walking into the bedroom, and just taking off his coat, he heard Nelson ascend to the second floor and report through the wooden door:

"My lord, Grand Duke Peter of the Kingdom of Borui has visited. ”