Chapter 706 - Nightfall (IV) (1/2)
Chapter 706: Nightfall (IV)
Amund entered the large doors with his golden staff. He scanned the Battle Angels standing silently with solemn expressions by the corridor. This originally gorgeous castle appeared like a fortress that couldn’t be sunken, filled with an intense atmosphere. The city guards’ clamors were heard from outside the window. Amund felt a little distracted. Just a few days ago, he was still enjoying rather peaceful days. But now, everything had changed.
War comes so quickly.
“Grand Mage Amund.”
A Battle Angel descended from above with her widely spread wings. She landed before him, bowed respectfully, and beckoned.
“Please follow me. Her Royal Highness is expecting your arrival.”
“Okay.”
The hall was still as tranquil and elegant. Amund instantly spotted some familiar faces: nobles and soldiers. But no matter their identities, their faces were filled with obvious fatigue and seriousness. It seemed that this sudden war had brought upon tons of pressure on them. Amund subconsciously touched his face. He tried to retrieve a small mirror to see if he was also looking this miserable. However, he quickly gave up on this thought after realizing the gazes shooting at him and he had gotten his answer.
“Teacher Amund.”
Lydia stood up leisurely. This time, she was no longer in her luxurious robe. Instead, she was clad in a neatly-ironed, white uniform and the sacred patterns on the collar and skirt made her look full of mettle. Lydia winked playfully at Amund with a smile.
“You’re back. How’s the situation in Silent Field?”
“Your Highness.”
Amund lowered his head and bowed deeply.
“The residents of Silent Field have evacuated safely. Currently, they’re on the second defensive line in Deransas. The Undead Creatures didn’t give chase, but according to the scouts, the Undead Creatures are replenishing their forces. Even though we cremated most of the corpses before we left, they…”
Amund didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone present knew what he meant. Perhaps they had cremated the corpses, but they could do nothing about the deeply buried human remains. They were sure that the corpses would definitely be awakened by the Undead Creatures, made to join their army, and lift their butcher’s knife against their families and friends.
“I understand, Teacher Amund.”
Lydia kept her smile.
“The Undead uses sorcery to manipulate the souls. One day, their painful souls will receive their undisturbed peace…”
Lydia shook her head before sitting back down and shutting her eyes. After a few moments, she opened her eyes while the distress across her face had faded away and was replaced with unprecedented confidence. Amund nodded.
She stands out from the masses, that’s for sure.
As the Court Grand Mage who had served two generations of Duchess, Amund knew how outstanding Lydia was in comparison to the previous Duchess who was overly kind. Even though being kind was part of an Angel’s value, she was still too weak to rule a nation. Although she had strong times too, she was overall too fragile. On the contrary, Lydia was completely different. Ever since she was born, Amund had sensed something extraordinary: the spirit of determination and honor behind her lively, dazzling aura. No matter what difficulties Lydia faced, her gaze was always toward the front. Perhaps she might suffer and be downhearted by this arduous, thorny path, but she didn’t stop or slow down her pace at all. She braved forward and was always full of confidence.
“Alright. Since everyone is here, let’s move on to the next problem.”
Lydia played with the feather pen in her hand, lifted her head, and revealed a crafty glint in her eyes. Perhaps due to her soothing smile, everyone felt the heavy, intense atmosphere lighten up and they heaved sighs of relief.
“The enemies have retreated, but only temporary. Even though we have strengthened our defenses, we will still need more time since it is winter. There are no issues with the soldiers’ transportation. But we may face some difficulties in terms of supplies.”
Unlike the Country of Light, the Munn Kingdom had the advantage of the strong gales in assisting the transportation of supplies. Strong gales were a natural phenomenon unique to the Munn Kingdom. They were famous for their abundance of wind element, forming a circular wind belt above the nation and enveloping it entirely. There were different opinions about the strong gales. Some said that this was a certain effect released from the first Archangel who had obtained the Munn Kingdom territory. Some also said that this was a natural phenomenon due to the common boundary between the Light Dragon Soul and Dark Dragon Soul. Some even said that the strong gales had already existed and was discovered by the Archangel, which eventually built a country below it.
But no matter what, it was the truth that Munn Kingdom had built floating boats to take advantage of the strong gales, which was tantamount to airplanes in the real world. Of course, unlike airplanes, the floating boats could only fly in reliance to the dense wind elements in the strong gales. Without strong gales, the floating boats would be no different from scrap metal. This also became the only flaw that restricted the Munn Kingdom from being the sky dominator of the entire Light Mainland. If the floating boats could fill the skies of the entire Light Mainland, perhaps the Light Parliament wouldn’t even be worthy of being clowns.
But judging from the current situation, the Munn Kingdom was the only country capable of using floating boats to transport supplies and soldiers despite the blocked off roads due to the harsh snow. This was also another reason why the Munn Kingdom could resist the Country of Darkness’s attack. The floating boats wouldn’t be stopped by snow. Of course, like airplanes, harsh weather was also their enemies.
“Their retreat is only temporary. The Undead Army won’t give up that easily. According to the report, Sunset Valley to Fog Plain in the Country of Light have crumbled completely. If we don’t react, perhaps we may also need to face the enemies coming from the sides.”
“Currently, the defenses are still stable, but we don’t know what further actions the Undead Army will take…”
“We don’t have sufficient manpower in the front lines. Maybe we should mobilize some reinforcements from the rear…”
“From the rear?”
Lydia’s curious question interrupted them. She fiddled with the letter in her hands and gazed at the soldier before her. The soldier, Dagus, looked into her bright, clear eyes with some uncertainty. Even though he was considered one of the valiant military leaders in the Munn Kingdom, he couldn’t help but feel worried. But shortly after, he nodded firmly.
“Yes, Your Highness. The front line is having a tough time. Currently, even though the situation has stabilized with the help of the Battle Angel Army and Garrisons, we still lack manpower. Moreover… The South suffered serious damage from the previous internal war…”
Indeed. The previous internal war between the North and South had struck the South hard. Of course, Rhode was responsible for a large part of this. If it wasn’t for him who dealt with most of the city guards using the Undead Creatures, perhaps they wouldn’t land in this miserable state. However, the restoration and maintenance of the post-war was also essential. Therefore, after the internal war, the Royal Family had mobilized soldiers from the North to maintain order in the South. Even though the victory was won easily, both sides more or less received damages and it surely wasn’t an easy task to deal with the Country of Darkness’s attack at this state.
“Hmph, those cunning Undead Creatures. I was rather dubious when I heard that they’ve appeared in the South. Now that I think of it, they must have seized the opportunity to attack us after hearing about our internal war. We should’ve investigated on the strange Undead Creatures, but I never expect them to come this quickly!”
Poor Country of Darkness. It seemed that they had been made the scapegoat. But Rhode wouldn’t care less about it anyway.
“I have a letter here.”
Lydia pointed gently at the letter.