Chapter 221 (1/2)

Chapter 221: The Ghouls of the Black Forest

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On the Icy Peak of the Black Forest in the northern part of Norton Kingdom.

More than four months ago, the Norton Kingdom’s army thwarted the first attack from the Dark Elves at Icy Peak. From then on, they charged straight forward through the forest and into the Pralync Kingdom.

As they moved forward, Icy Peak also changed from being a battlefield to the rear camp of the Norton Kingdom’s army. Now after months of construction with almost unlimited funding, it had become a large-scale fortress.

Today, the weather was as terrible as usual with the dark clouds in the sky and the biting wind whistling through the air. The low temperatures here could easily freeze people’s ears off their heads. Nonetheless, the guards of the fortress dared not take their duties lightly even in such weather. A team of soldiers patrolled the outer walls of the fortress. The soldiers rubbed their hands and stomped their feet to keep warm, but their eyes remained sharp and vigilant as they guarded the northern wall of the fortress.

The Black Forest was gloomy and bitingly cold. When the wind blew through the forest trees, it would make an eerie howling sound. Moreover, the forest seemed to be packed with crows which would appear suddenly and caw loudly.

It was as if the Black Forest was haunted!

Just then, the soldiers heard the clip-clop sound of horses approaching the fortress. The guard captain immediately shouted an order, “Everyone, on guard!”

The soldiers gripped their weapons tightly. The archers nocked their arrows, while the other soldiers locked their eyes on the direction where the horse was approaching. If they noticed anything wrong at all, they would not hesitate to attack instantly.

The horse approached closer and closer, and after about half a minute, a group of knights emerged from the dense forest. There were a total of 13 knights, and all their armor had been stained red with blood. The knight in front was clad in dark green armor, and he was carrying a bleeding and dying Magician on his saddle.

“I’m Falcon, Royal Knight of the Norton Kingdom! Open the gate!” shouted the knight who was carrying the Magician.

Falcon, a Royal Knight of the kingdom, was a Level-6 Warrior and the captain of the vanguard. His weapon was the Holy Cross sword. Once Battle Aura flowed into this sword, it would light up in a holy, silver light that was unique to the sword.

The soldiers looked at the sword and waited for another five or six seconds. After determining that Falcon was not pursued by any enemies behind him, they slowly opened the gate of the fortress and let him in.

The knights sped through the fortress gate before it closed up again immediately as all of them had entered. Not a single second was wasted.

Once they were all inside, Falcon carried the dying Magician down from the saddle of his horse and gave him to the knight beside him.

“Quick,” he ordered, “take Artor to the priest!”

The knight then held the young Magician and ran towards a small chapel of the fortress. The Magician, Artor was slashed in the neck, but fortunately, none of his vital veins were cut, so he was still alive.

Falcon continued to gallop more than 150 feet into the fortress square before dismounting. He gave the horse to a soldier nearby while he himself rushed into the command hall.

Inside the hall, there were loud voices from different figures of various positions. Some were generals and officers, while others were clerks and soldiers. They were all discussing their strategic plans.

Falcon walked to the entrance and wiped the blood traces that had been frozen to ice off his face.

“My lord,” he loudly said, “the vanguard camp has been attacked!”

All of a sudden, the hall fell silent. Everyone’s eyes turned to Falcon. Duke Abel, who sat at the head of the long table, turned to Falcon with an expressionless face.

“What did you say?” he asked. “Repeat yourself!”

Falcon rushed into the hall with signs of panic still in his eyes.

“Those ghouls blinded our guards early this morning, my lord,” he reported. “Then the Black Tooth Legion of the Dark Elf army suddenly launched an attack on our camp. There were 5000 soldiers in the vanguard…but only 13 escaped.”

The ghouls were a terrifying group of Dark Elves that suddenly appeared on the battlefields since the war started. Their speed was as fast as the wind, they were almost invisible, and their strength was inexhaustible. Ordinary swords and weapons could never kill them, even when their vital points were struck down. In short, these ghouls were close to supernatural!

Only 13 soldiers in the vanguard camp escaped out of 5000. In other words, the entire camp was annihilated.

Duke Abel’s face turned hard and cold.

“What about Karnose?” he asked Falcon. “Wasn’t he in the vanguard camp? Where is he?”

The Black Forest was where most of the ghouls lay; that was the area around the vanguard camp. To help combat them, the Dawn Swordsman was sent there. As the only Level-8 Warrior in the kingdom, he was deemed as the best person who could eliminate the threat of these ghouls. But no matter how powerful the Warrior was, in the end, he was just one person, while the total number of ghouls wasn’t clear. So far, according to reports, there were more than a hundred of them now. The presence of the Dawn Swordsman could do nothing but temporarily suppress the wild attacks of the ghouls.

Falcon’s eyes turned red as he thought of Karnose.

“I don’t know, my lord,” he said. “To protect us and make sure that we escaped from the camp, Lord Karnose decided to remain there and fight. As for what happened to him now, I…I don’t know.”

It had gone so quiet at this point that a pin dropping on the floor would echo throughout the hall.

The people here had been through wars before, so they knew its harsh brutality well. They knew that even if Karnose was an invincible Warrior when faced with an army, the most he could do was kill a hundred of the soldiers. He still wouldn’t be able to escape certain death himself.

In other words, the top Warrior of Norton Kingdom had now almost certainly died in battle.

Silence lingered in the hall. No one made a sound for three minutes. Then, Duke Abel stood up and took a deep breath then looked around at all the generals in the hall.

“It’s time to shrink the line of defense!” he said coldly.