Chapter 1022: Act 193 – The Battle of the White Lion XVI
The icy wind swept the frosty dust over the frozen sea, stirring up mists resembling waves that surged forward layer by layer, roaring loudly. In the direction of Owesen Bay, a small group of people were slowly advancing, battling against the biting wind.
“Almost there,” after a moment, Brendel suddenly spoke.
“Almost there?” Juliette looked at him, somewhat perplexed.
“We can enter the city now,” Brendel replied.
The group exchanged glances. Although the main force of the White Legion had left Owesen, there was no way the city would be entirely unguarded. For one, since their journey, they had not encountered the White Legion’s terrestrial dragon knight regiment. Everyone knew their Lord had a purpose for coming here, yet they could not fathom his plan. A sudden raid on Owesen with such a small force was clearly impractical, and even an assassination tactic seemed unlikely.
After all, the White Legion was one of the four most elite legions of the Empire, and if it were only capable of this, it certainly wouldn’t be credible.
However, neither Mel nor Juliette questioned Brendel’s decision. Only Talu spoke out loudly: “Master, just us?”
After a short time of interaction, Brendel had grown accustomed to this somewhat unpredictable nature of Charles’s student, so he was not surprised by this question. Turning around, he gave the other a mysterious smile: “You’ll see soon.”
”Soon…?” Talu looked confused: “Wait, Lord, I do not fear death, but you’ve utterly perplexed me. What are we planning to do?”
Juliette frowned. “That’s enough,” she interjected, “Do as Master says. You talk too much.”
”It’s alright,” Brendel, however, halted the leader of the Female Mercenary Band. As he turned back and continued forward, his voice carried back through the cold wind: “Of course, you need to understand your mission objectives. And our mission is, without doubt, to take Owesen.”
”Take?” Mel raised an eyebrow.
”Ow…esen?” Talu opened his mouth wide. “Lord, I didn’t hear wrong, right? Just the few of us?”
”Didn’t I already answer that question?” Brendel chuckled.
”Uh, okay,” Talu shrugged, “But Lord, you must tell us how we’re going to pull this off, right?”
”Simple. Who does Owesen belong to?”
”The city master is Earl Brill, but the one truly in charge, I reckon, is the commander of the White Legion stationed in the city — Duke Ambronner.” Mel quickly replied.
”So we’ll convince Duke Ambronner to surrender Owesen to us.” Brendel answered without turning his head.
”You have to be joking, Lord. There’s no doubt that this is absolutely impossible,” Talu shook his head, clearly treating Brendel’s words as less than amusing joke.
”No, I’m not joking, why should it be impossible?” Brendel turned back to the astonished young man, flashing a toothy grin and winking: “Talu, didn’t your teacher teach you? Nothing in this world is impossible.”
Hearing these words, everyone couldn’t help but pause to exchange glances. Mel furrowed her brow, completely oblivious to the hood of her cloak being blown up by the cold wind and her long hair wildly flying in the wind.
…
Dragon Knight Regiment Commander Hadson stood by the Turquoise River, gazing at the dark area on the western bank, where faint lights could be seen in the darkness. The tall towers and temples outlined the contours of the district. Everything appeared calm and tranquil, as if completely detached from the war far away in Fatan Port. Yet, Hadson knew clearly that apart from his own Dragon Knight Regiment, there was only Baron Luke and Sir Prince’s troops stationed inside the White Legion now. Their defense was as flimsy as paper, at constant risk of being ambushed.
Although most people, including General Duke Ambronner, did not believe the Crown Prince was capable of attacking Owesen, this did not prevent Hadson’s worries.
Such concerns might seem overly cautious, but he was unable to fall asleep. He woke up in the middle of the night, put on his clothes, and came to the banks of the Turquoise River, hoping the cold wind would clear his mind to rationalize his doubts. Eventually, the deep night made him feel slightly reassured, hoping, as others wished, that the night would bring them good luck.
Suddenly, he felt the darkness lighten somewhat. This illusion alarmed him so much that he hurriedly rubbed his eyes. But he discovered it wasn’t just his senses playing tricks—he clearly saw several kilometers away that the silhouette of the Iron Wolf Bridge which had previously disappeared into the darkness now slowly outlined its shape, the white stones of the bridge becoming distinct.
The light was getting brighter, filling Hadson with dread. He struggled to look up and found the horizon revealing a streak of golden light, like a sharp sword piercing into his heart. Outside the city of Owesen, half the sky was turning from pitch black to faint grey, then lit up beautifully in pink under the clouds—like flames burning beneath the High Sea, dazzlingly bright.
This scene was not unusual; over the past few hundred years, it happened nearly every day. This was the sunrise, the dawn of daytime.
The morning light was unaffected by any person’s will. It broke through the enveloping darkness, spreading warmth across the earth. The shadow of Owesen was quickly retreating, as if defeated, and in seconds had already retreated west of the Turquoise River. But Hadson felt no warmth from this sight; instead, his heart turned ice-cold.
Madara’s undead were supposed to ensure three days of sunset, but it hadn’t even been half a day yet.
”Commander, something serious has happened!” Several knights hurriedly ran over from the direction of the dragon knight camp.
”Don’t panic, my eyes are not playing tricks!” Hadson frowned, turning his head with full annoyance. He didn’t know whether it was the betrayal by the undead or his subordinates’ panic that made him grit his teeth and shout angrily: “Haven’t you already prepared for— ”
His words got stuck halfway through.
In the sky over Owesen, a bright circle of light appeared, and the whole sky was buzzing as if heralding the arrival of something. Everyone in the city stopped, Hadson and his knights instinctively looked up. Some citizens ran out of their homes to personally witness this extraordinary sight.
Then, countless circles of light appeared in the sky. Masts protruded from the light circles, then came the ship prows, followed by half the ship’s bodies, and finally, entire ships sailed out from the light circles. In the sky above Owesen, countless warships suddenly appeared in an instant as if the city had only just been bathed in sunlight, but then suddenly the sky darkened.
At that moment, the people of Owesen understood what it meant to cover the sky and hide the land.
Countless silver sails like the sea, flapping in the wind, for a time, seemed to be the only sound heard throughout Owesen.
Hadson seemed petrified. His knights were the same. Those silver warships, they naturally recognized their origin, but no one dared to move rashly. To ambush this fleet, all airborne forces of the White Legion had been sent to the front line by General Duke Ambronner, but their prey now appeared just tens of miles from the front line in Owesen — God bless Martha, Hadson screamed internally, what went wrong?
Dispatch the Gryphon squadron back to help.
That wouldn’t work either. Hadson’s mind went blank.
Duke Toniger’s fleet did not launch an attack in the first moment…
…
Inside Konye fortress, Duke Ambronner stood up solemnly, gazing at the uninvited guest in front of him.
”Who are you?” Earl Brill, who was destroying documents, also stopped his actions, looking up at the strangers who walked in and suddenly changed complexion: “Who let you people in? Where are the guards?”
But Duke Ambronner extended a hand to stop his old friend.
”Sir, you must be Darus’s grandson, Earl of Toniger, Mr. Brendel,” the duke said plainly, “I wonder why you honored us with your presence?”
The man who opened the door was indeed Brendel. Behind him were Juliette, Mel, and Talu. Except for himself, the others were all on high alert. Behind them, in the corridor outside the door, several guards in the White Legion’s uniform lay sprawled in different directions, unconscious.
For Duke Ambronner’s question, Brendel was not surprised. However, the other’s familiarity with him slightly astonished him. It seemed his grandfather was quite influential in the empire—not only Veronika, but even this duke known as ‘The Ghost Wolf’ on the battlefield of the Holy War could call out his identity at first sight.
Compared to his title as Earl of Toniger, the Crusians were clearly more sensitive to his identity as Darus’s descendant.
He thought the empire had not placed much importance on him, at most because of the involvement of the Bud people that led to such significant attention, to even mobilize the White Legion. But unexpectedly, he had underestimated his influence. He knew the White Legion was directly loyal to the Silver Queen, and Duke Ambronner could call out his identity, which meant Queen Constance should also be aware of his existence.
Brendel felt somewhat overwhelmed for a moment.
After pondering for a moment, he waved to signal Mel to close the door behind her, then calmly smiled at the two people in the room: “Duke, I think it’s time we had a proper sit-down conversation.”
Owesen’s defenses were sparse, although there were still some experts in the Konye fortress, they were not as skilled as he was. In fact, in the entire White Legion, except General Duke Ambronner, whose own strength approached the ultimate level, he didn’t consider anyone else worth mentioning, especially since he had temporal elements. He stepped into this room without alerting anyone—except for Earl Brill and Duke Ambronner inside.
Duke Ambronner’s expression was as solemn as water, he extended his hand, and the floating skeletal staff naturally flew into his hand. He looked at Brendel and asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
”Surrender.”
”Surrender?” Duke Ambronner sneered, “Who is surrendering to whom? You, representing the Crown Prince, to me?”
But Brendel was not angry, he replied, “You naturally understand, Duke.”
Duke Ambronner did not speak. His position allowed him to see the scene inside Owesen through the stone window hole—just moments ago the port was filled with howling cold winds and pitch darkness, but now the bright sunshine covered the entire port. The recently thawed docks were in disarray, and slightly further away, the sky was dotted with silver ‘cloud layers’.
They were Toniger’s fleet.
The continuous buzzing sound echoing in the sky was like a constant reminder of the inevitable outcome of this battle—even though the alliance between Queen Constance and Madara’s undead seemed flawless, the White Legion had fallen into a massive trap.
He still couldn’t figure out what went wrong.
Toniger’s fleet did not attack—
but if the Erluin people—or rather, the Bud people—were to start the attack, Owesen would fall within moments, and might even be engulfed in flames. There were still troops of the White Legion inside the city, but neither the terrestrial dragon knights nor Baron Luke’s and Sir Prince’s troops could confront the airborne fleets.
The other side hadn’t attacked yet because they had issued him a final ultimatum.
Duke Ambronner understood it; the ultimatum had already been conveyed through the words of this unusually young Earl a few seconds ago.
The rest was his decision.
”The descendants of the Field Marshal are more remarkable than I imagined,” he raised his skeletal staff, “But surrender? That is impossible!”
As his voice fell, a streak of white light shot towards Brendel.
Ice Wolves.
The crest of the Treck family.
Winter wolves running and howling on the ice plains are the most fearsome beasts in the northern winters of Brittania. Cold and merciless, they breathe the breath of the cold season. Mountain folk regard winter wolves as the heralds of harsh winters, their appearance symbolizing the arrival of winter. And as winter descends, all life stagnates and falls into eternal sleep.
In folk legends, when the last age ends with the death of the gods, an endless winter shall follow, and spring will never return. Thereafter, the end of the world will arrive.
The Endless Winter.
This was Duke Ambronner’s element.
Instantly, the temperature inside dropped sharply. Brendel shook his head as if he foresaw it all along.
Clearly, ‘The Ghost Wolf’s’ fiery temper was not ill-deserved at all.
…
