Chapter 1017: Act 188 – Battle of the White Lion XI
A cold wind swept into the room, and Earl Brill saw the candle’s light suddenly dim significantly.
“What’s wrong?” He turned to look at his old friend sitting beside him—Duke Ambronner, who was holding a skeletal staff, his demeanor deeply unsettling.
“Um?” The duke slowly opened his eyes, a hint of dark red glimmering in his blue-gray irises. He lowered his head and silently looked at the skeletal staff swirling with black mist in his hand. Then he gently loosened his grip, and the staff seemed to be lifted by an invisible force, floating in mid-air. Earl Brill frowned deeply at this scene; he did not like that thing. This dark relic had never had a fortunate owner in history. He also did not like the undead of Madara; this military action would cause considerable trouble for his territory. Although the Silver Queen would provide compensation afterward, he was more concerned about his old friend, feeling that Ambronner had grown much darker these days.
But the earl understood that his friend was a soldier, while he was just the lord of Owesen—some matters were beyond his control.
Duke Ambronner suddenly stood up from his chair and walked to the stone window. The staff, still swirling with dark energy, was left behind and floated up and down—outside the window lay half of the port of Owesen, completely frozen under ice. His gaze went beyond the city walls, where a dark expanse marked the winding Silver Valley Coast.
“What’s happened, old buddy?” The earl felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees and could not help but ask, noticing that even the flames in the fireplace had dimmed, the roaring fire reduced to flickering embers.
“A small problem,” Duke Ambronner replied darkly, “I feel that a staff has suddenly lost its connection.”
Outside the city of Owesen—
The Undead Army was eerily still.
At Brendel’s command, Crote broke the skeletal staff in his hand, and a streak of black light shot out from the shattered staff, piercing straight into Brendel’s chest. Brendel knew there were a mess of things inside his body; this black light seemed related to the dark pearl described by White, so he did not show any surprise, only briefly checking his condition and finding nothing unusual.
Aside from the Dark God’s blood or the power of the dark pearl, he should also have the soul of the Holy Sword Odrefice. According to Sidney, it represented the power of the flame pearl, but there was no sign of conflict between these two powers coexisting in his body. In fact, aside from influencing the elemental pool, Brendel could hardly sense the existence of the Dark God’s blood, and the same went for Odrefice’s soul. He only sensed its existence when he previously summoned it into the fragments of the Flame Blade; otherwise, it was entirely undetectable, even lacking any influence on his elemental pool.
As for why one could influence the elemental pool while the other could not, Brendel vaguely felt the difference stemmed from one possessing self-awareness while the other did not—Odrefice was the sword spirit of the Flame Blade. In “Amber Sword,” the so-called sword spirit is influenced by its master and experiences, producing a tendency towards a certain alignment. Although it cannot compare with true intelligence, it at least possesses the ability to make judgments. The dark pearl, on the other hand, has long remained in a divided state, the part controlled by the dark relic being significantly smaller. As for the Dark God’s blood initially infused into his body (another term for the power of the dark pearl), it was even more tenuous, lacking the possibility of self-judgment and awareness.
The powers of the dark pearl and the flame pearl were clearly unique, different from any forces Brendel was aware of. In Vaunte, most powers and energies manifested externally; they would genuinely increase your energy levels—known as Oz—and alter your outward or internal strength—the three pillars of the body: strength, agility, constitution, or the three pillars of the soul: perception, will, and bloodline. Although elemental pearls had historically displayed formidable powers resembling miracles—such as the terrifying lethality of the Flame Blade and Frostweaver—they were insensible in terms of energy level.
They were akin to a magical item devoid of any energy, which sounds like a paradox since the definition of a magical item in Vaunte is ‘an item containing some form of power or energy.’
Not only was this true for elemental pearls, but even the ‘power’ they contained seemed to possess such properties.
After the staff was damaged, Juliette and the others immediately noticed changes occurring among the surrounding skeletal soldiers—
Thousands of undead stood still on the snow-covered Silver Valley Coast, and a disruptive ripple spread from their center, causing the Undead Army to seem to dissolve like ice and snow. At that same moment, Brendel, who was gazing toward Owesen, felt a slight stir in his heart, almost as if he sensed something, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He gestured to Talu beside him, and the young wizard immediately cast a spell; a water-like ripple spread through the surrounding space, cloaking the presence of the living.
A little further away, some undead that had sensed the presence of the living paused in their staggered movements. The Undead Army began to collapse, scattering in twos and threes like lost souls wandering the wilderness.
“My lord, I don’t quite understand. Why destroy the staff? Wouldn’t it be better to order these undead to attack the port? They may be fragile, but at least they could serve as cannon fodder, right?”
Talu looked at the unfolding scene with confusion.
Brendel smiled slightly and shook his head.
Thousands of skeletal frames not reinforced by necromancy were utterly useless. He did not need such weak attacks; he had infiltrated just to confirm one thing, and now he had his answer.
The port of Owesen was not a military stronghold like Fatan Port. As an important commercial port in the North High Sea, its scale had developed significantly over hundreds of years. Due to the urban expansion, the merchants within the port had long since torn down the outer city walls—located in the most stable area of the empire, where law and order were most solid, and also home to the White Legion garrison, Owesen had hardly any need for such defensive structures. For the sake of taxation, the governing Brill family chose to overlook this behavior. As the city expanded, Owesen gradually crossed its original boundaries—the Turquoise River, forming two urban areas on either side of the river. The eastern area was the old town, where Owesen’s earliest city gates by the docks were located on the eastern bank of the Turquoise River, while the western area was the new town, housing orderly workshops and two markets.
It is worth mentioning that the newly built Kouwen Fortress was also located in the northern district, standing on the northern bank of the Turquoise River, like a silent, dark ghost amidst the many lights on the north bank.
At this moment, Brendel felt a strong call emanating from this fortress. Undoubtedly, the dark relic referred to by White was located within; it indeed possessed a certain controlling power over all the fakes made with its strength. Given that, Duke Ambronner, who controlled it, was unlikely to stray too far.
He easily suppressed the waves of impulse in his heart. For him, who had mastered more than two-thirds of the dark pearl’s power, that so-called ‘dark relic’ in Duke Ambronner’s hands was hardly noteworthy.
The other party must have already detected his presence.
But it was already too late.
Brendel took out a gem-like object from his bosom. This ‘gem’ was entirely dull and crescent-shaped, resembling some kind of feldspar, or perhaps obsidian. He glanced at it and threw it forward. The gem traced a smooth arc before landing on the beach, but at that moment, there was no gravel on the Silver Valley Coast, only thick layers of snow. The gem sank deeply into the snow.
Above—
The sky was pitch black, and twelve moons were dull and lifeless.
Within just a few hours, the waters off the coast of the North High Sea seemed to have completely transformed. Thunder rumbled across the sea, and intertwined lightning painted a sinister scene on the surface, making the entire sea appear to boil. In an instant, towering waves resembling mountains surged up, rolling down again, heaving as if they were moving mountains or gigantic beasts engaged in battle.
Far in the distance, glaciers froze the coastline, extending from the ice fields deep into the sea. Giant icebergs floated atop the turbulent sea, splintering and freezing before vanishing into the depths of darkness. The whole sky and earth were shrouded under a torrential rain curtain; the rain lines descending from above blurred the boundary between sea and sky, merging the entire world into an impenetrable water realm.
Yet a silver fleet was navigating through this rain curtain.
Aboard the “Waverider,” the watchful wizard Talman looked uneasily at everything happening on the sea. Mortals often believed that wizards were omnipotent, immune to surprise or fear, but the reality was often different. Talman was twenty-one years old and, before becoming a wizard, was merely the son of a peasant in Duke Toniger’s countryside. He was fortunate enough to have learned a few words from a wandering wizard, and thus caught the attention of Charles’s first batch of students, becoming one of the third batch at Charles’s Wizard Tower. He was clever and learned quickly, having become a wizard apprentice just a month ago, and subsequently chosen by Bud, becoming one of the official wizards on the newly constructed escort cruiser “Waverider.”
Although he held the title of an official wizard, in reality, Talman was still at the level of a hapless wizard apprentice, and he had not learned much, hardly comparing to those truly born of a proper apprentice background—tower wizards typically took five years to train an apprentice. While Bud’s training period was shorter, they still usually dabbled in magic-related foundational knowledge for ten years or even longer—beginning from birth—to get accustomed to magic. Therefore, Talman had only scraped the surface of the magical world but had not truly touched the real side of it.
What is the world?
For many knowledgeable wizards, this remains an unanswered puzzle, let alone for Talman, who had yet to shed his identity as the son of a peasant.
He anxiously gazed at the scene before him, as if witnessing the end of the world. In fact, this wasn’t just one person’s thought; throughout the entire ship, even the whole fleet, many shared his sentiment. What was unfolding before them had exceeded their understanding of the empire’s internal conflicts or even the notion of holy wars. At this moment, many felt a unique apprehension within.
Perhaps this time, the Four Great Sanctuaries would truly be in trouble.
They had no idea how accurate this speculation was, nor could they fathom the consequences that would surpass their imaginations, but the militarized management and training the Buds had demanded before forming the fleet had finally taken effect. That was why Talman didn’t succumb to the urge to flee; he at least remembered the responsibilities he carried; as the vanguard of the fleet, the Waverider bore vital responsibilities.
Suddenly, Talman saw the crystal ball in front of him light up, flickering slightly. When he saw the words that materialized on the crystal ball, he jumped up from his seat in shock, losing one of his boots in the process, but he had no time to retrieve it as he rushed out of the room barefoot.
Behind this young wizard, a small line of numbers was glowing on the crystal ball.
X — 3321; Y — 4211; Z — 0311
……
Swish, swish, swish, swish, a deep and synchronized sound echoed through the snowy dark; this rustling noise lasted for quite a while before finally coming to a halt. Outside Fatan Port, the easily defensible cliffs and mountain paths were at one end of an inward valley. On clear days, one could often see several miles from the fortress walls toward the valley, but at this moment, only darkness could be seen.
However, if you looked closely, you could vaguely see flickering lights in the darkness.
In Erluin, Bud and Karasu’s veterans needed only a glance to jump in shock, recognizing the unique fire of souls emitted by the Undead Army as they marched. At that moment, the reinforcements stationed within the fortress consisted merely of port guards obeying Baron Ludwig’s orders; these soldiers had never seen anything, let alone the undead, and were helpless against the mountain bandits.
Death seemed to silently approach.
Sok watched the progress of the Undead Army coldly from the snow, using a dim reflection to see that a large group of undead was advancing near the fortress walls along the cliff path. The necromancers had already positioned the first two rows of skeletal archers, yet the Fatan Port side remained unresponsive; those fools surely thought it was impossible to be attacked in such harsh weather.
Moreover, this solar eclipse was an ‘accident’ for them.
Thinking about the solar eclipse, a shadow suddenly rose in Sok’s heart. If even the solar eclipse could be artificially created, the future might not be as stable as imagined. Moreover, the current weather hardly seemed like just a simple eclipse. In light of the recent myriad signs within the empire, it appeared that none of them boded well.
The chaotic times had arrived—
This thought arose within him without reason.
