Chapter 603: The 347th Act – Beneath the Abyss VI
The incursion of the demons quickly became the most severe situation at hand, and everyone understood the gravity of the news.
Wood hoped the Princess’s side would first release the captives of the Temple of Fire and allow the Koronolia fleet to restore at least some of its combat capabilities in time for the upcoming war against the demons. However, Brendel did not respond to this request immediately. Time was short, but that did not mean he needed to give up the fruits of his previous battles.
The lull after the great battle allowed both sides to rest. The demons could not possibly arrive right in front of them, and these creatures from beneath the Sulfur River would also be hindered by the storm. Even in the worst-case scenario, he had over ten hours to negotiate with the Crusians.
Brendel’s demands were simple but somewhat exorbitant.
The Northern Allied Army should return all captives belonging to the Princess’s side, naturally including the Young Prince.
Afterward, the Temple of Fire would bear all losses from this war, as Brendel believed the Northern nobles were incited by them to start the conflict – he didn’t care what the truth actually was.
This included reparations and trade compensation agreements.
Of course, the reparations were conducted privately to preserve the Crusians’ face. This minor request Brendel could satisfy since he valued the practical benefits.
The trade compensation agreement was the way Brendel proposed to compensate, ostensibly offering trade preferences to the Empire of Crus from the Empire of Erluin. However, in fact, it came with many detailed conditions, including the sale of two important technologies.
The blueprints of the Magic Conduit Device and the manufacturing techniques of the Empire’s ‘Dreadnought-class’ battleships.
This was practically extortion.
Upon seeing these conditions, Wood’s expression darkened like the storm clouds over the outer seas of Ampere Seale, and he left without saying a word.
Then, he sent an envoy to negotiate with Brendel.
The envoy declared straightforwardly that if Brendel didn’t cooperate, the Temple would abandon Erluin. For the Crusians, this would cost them nothing more than some face. But for Erluin, the best outcome would leave their nation gravely weakened, and the worst scenario would undoubtedly mean the nation’s destruction.
If this were said to any other Erluin noble, it would undeniably be a great bombshell, and even Princess Grifian might waver because of it. However, after hearing this, Brendel merely smiled scornfully and immediately ordered Medephis to throw the man out of the camp.
Joke.
Brendel was well-aware of the Temple’s Achilles heel. The Crusians didn’t just want to save face; more importantly, the secret of the Flame Portals must absolutely not fall into the hands of the Everything Returns Society. He knew there were several permanent Flame Portals within the Crusian Empire. If the secret of the Flame Portals were to leak, the Empire might soon become another gateway to the surface world for the Sulfur River.
Understanding this secret, Brendel certainly wouldn’t compromise easily. But he also felt uneasy, for if that old fox Wood truly stayed idle, in the end, Brendel might have to compromise first.
Because only he, Antinna, and Freya knew – Romaine was still in the port of Ampere Seale.
And once the Crusians took control, Erluin would surely be utterly ruined. Brendel held on for an hour and a half before Wood gave in and came calling. Apparently, the Grand Priest didn’t have any solid information to reassure himself.
Upon Wood’s arrival, Brendel let out a sigh of relief.
The Crusians were willing to yield.
Within just half an hour, Brendel signed a temporary peace agreement with Wood, using the momentum of the Crusians’ retreat. Brendel didn’t hesitate, and apart from the official agreement, he also signed a secret one.
The Temple of Fire privately acknowledged the future right of the Royal Family of Corvado to pursue charges for rebellion against the main leaders of the Northern nobility. This included the Duke of Siphai, Marquis Baltar, Earl Victorkin, and Earl Julian, among others.
However, this second article wasn’t made public. First, now was not the time to shake the confidence of the Northern nobility. Second, the Grand Priest had already noticed that the Duke of Siphai, Marquis Baltar, Earl Victorkin, along with Earl Julian had disappeared, and it was likely that Prince Haruze had fallen into the hands of the Everything Returns Society.
Thus, even if this clause were something the Temple intended to honor, they wouldn’t have the capacity right now.
After all his demands were met, Brendel of course agreed in principle to return all captives of the Temple of Fire – among them were seven Temple Knights, white-wing knights, and other captives from the Koronolia fleet.
After all, these people would also play their roles in the upcoming war, serving as Brendel’s labor force. Though perhaps the Crusians wouldn’t think of it that way.
At the same time, in exchange for the second, more critical agreement, Brendel made a concession on the original technology transfer agreement, changing the latest magic conduit device to older blueprints no more than ten years behind, and replacing the battleship manufacturing technology with frigate technology.
Still, even so, Brendel left a trap. Since his original target was indeed the design of the Crusian Empire’s new frigates, Crus’s battleships prioritized firepower and armor, cumbersome and disliked. He preferred Wind Elf’s newer model of battleships. However, the Crusian’s new frigate design was stolen from their old enemies, the Hazell people, who were among the best magical engineering masters in the Vaunte World.
Unfortunately, though Wood was a venerable High Priest and the most talented high-ranking official of the Temple of Fire, he wasn’t a technical bureaucrat. Most of the nobles accompanying the Temple’s military weren’t likely to bring master craftsmen level figures. Thus, in everyone’s ignorance of the pitfall inside, Brendel smoothly and cleanly conned them good.
Finally, both sides exchanged prisoners, leading to an initial reconciliation. Brendel had no intention of merging the two armies that had just bloodied each other mere hours before to fight against the demons together – that was simply absurd. Therefore, he decisively made the Northern Allied Army halt in the Bunoan area, while the armies under Princess Grifian’s and the Lantonrand’s directly camped at the Mar Heights.
This suggestion was unanimously agreed upon. After all, the Northern nobility didn’t necessarily want to be in the same trench as the Princess’s side either.
Subsequently, Brendel suppressed the news of the demon invasion, letting no rumors spread among the common soldiers. He merely informed them of the possible arrival of an alien army from Jotungrund into Ampere Seale. Although it was disheartening to have to re-enter battle after barely winning a hard-fought war, it was far better than immediately losing a large number of deserters.
He had seen similar scenarios before; they were abundant in the Second and Third Black Rose wars. Both Earl Ouding and the royal party nobles approved of it; they knew well the dispositions of their own men.
Though the Royal Party had earlier parted ways with Princess Grifian, she had already indicated no past wrongs would be pursued, and they temporarily reunited on the same side again. Due to the presence of Brendel and Aike, Grifian’s status increased significantly.
However, the soldiers’ morale was still an issue. Brendel passed on this question to the Crusians, allowing Wood to persuade the Northern nobility to gather supplies near Bunoan, at the very least letting the armies under Lantonrand and Earl Ouding celebrate the victory properly.
“As long as there’s some warm soup, even in this foul weather, the common soldiers will still be satisfied,” by late evening, Brendel had already begun sending scouts around to gather intelligence around the port, to see whether the port was in demon hands and their actual numbers.
But considering the surface world’s limited knowledge of the subterranean world, Brendel decided to conduct a personal reconnaissance mission around Ampere Seale. Antinna strongly opposed this dangerous journey, and even Princess Grifian wasn’t very agreeable, but he insisted on proceeding.
It turned out the Princess couldn’t stop him, so she insisted on accompanying him. She ordered Overwell to remain behind to reassure the soldiers, then donned knight’s armor, mounted her warhorse, and joined his company, accompanied by Earl Ouding.
Princess Grifian’s persistence, naturally, was something Brendel couldn’t counteract. Since he hadn’t originally intended to engage the demons, merely surveying the situation at the front line, he let her do as she pleased.
Brendel didn’t let himself be overly flattered, thinking she was particularly concerned for him; perhaps there was some of that influence, but several times he noticed the silver gaze of the half-elf maiden bright amidst the rain and thought internally that she surely was not content with her status as a woman.
Indeed, she far surpassed her younger brother as someone fit for the throne.
“Just don’t know whether those cave dwellers will grant us even a night to rest,” Earl Ouding said a bit anxiously.
Brendel understood Earl Ouding’s unease. Demon invasions could be either significant or minor events that occurred regularly across the surface world. Such scenarios might include an evil sorcerer summoning a demon and forming a pact or occasionally a ferocious beast from the Sulfur River escaping to the surface, unremarkable matters.
But once a situation like the current one arose, where demons controlled one or more large-scale portals, it became a major event. Since demons also possessed portal-making technology, if the local lord didn’t respond quickly to suppress and destroy the formation immediately, the lower world’s armies could snowball rapidly.
Historically, there were several cases of national destruction—earliest example being the Year of the Golden Hoof. Later, in the Year of Radiance, there was another incident, and that unfortunate duchy was near Erluin, by the Antoubro duchy.
“Probably not,” replied Brendel. Demons aren’t like Erluin’s dragon riders; they can march just as effectively in the night. However, this rainstorm would hinder their movement too.
The slope within the Black Pine Forest was slippery and treacherous due to torrential rain, and the boundary between heaven and earth was becoming indistinguishably blurred. Fortunately, Brendel was familiar with this area. The group bypassed some knolls, and then a towering peak came into view.
This was Brendel’s target.
Under the protection of the knights, he, Princess Grifian, and Earl Ouding climbed this highest mountain nearest to Ampere Seale in the rain, then looked down from the summit. The port area was completely dark—a very bad sign. As he glanced up, several black clouds drifted from the north, but upon closer inspection, he discovered these were actually harpies, close relatives of the Sirens but driven away and hiding in the underground world after the ‘Kaerlanor’ war.
Brendel lowered his telescope, unable to suppress a slight inhalation of a cold breath. He turned around, and beside him, Princess Grifian’s complexion was ashen. Sure enough, as Wood had predicted, there was a massive army from Jotungrund within Ampere Seale harbor.
For a moment, all three of them were silent.
“Those aren’t demons, are they?” asked the Princess.
Brendel nodded. He glanced at the others, but it seemed they hadn’t realized there was an issue. The mix of demons and Jotungrund’s army was not a good sign.
Subterranean residents aren’t just cave dwellers, but surface folks largely refer to all of them as such. Few of them could clearly distinguish the relationship between demons and other Jotungrund factions, and thus this attitude was understandable.
But Brendel understood that Jotungrund was also a unified term. It connected regions like the Mushroom Plains and the Eternal Darkness Abyss underground, and the sulfur river where demons lived was actually the deepest layer of the underground world, separated by Vaunte’s elemental boundaries. The dark elves discovered them first; they built a city on the lava plains called Scorching Tip. Due to the influence of dark magic, the upper class of the city became corrupt and fell, destroying the elemental seal, allowing demons to escape, leading to the extinction of that dark elf empire.
Afterward, the dark elves retreated into the Eternal Darkness Abyss for self-preservation, while the demons quickly occupied a piece of land, becoming one of the original settlers of the underground world. But as underground folks mutually despised and warred against each other, the black dragon-controlled Jotungrund Empire absolutely wouldn’t submit to demons. How did the two races get mixed together?
Brendel remembered that the first recorded Jotungrund invasion of the surface world happened in the early Second Era after the Second Black Rose War. That’s the fourth chapter of the game ‘Eternal Darkness.’
Could something unknown have changed in the underground world? It couldn’t be possible, at least, Brendel didn’t think his interference in history had so quickly affected Jotungrund yet; finding the Earth Blade once was already a tremendous coincidence.
Nevertheless, the present reality needed solving regardless of any conjecture.
“Mr. Brendel, what should we do now?” Princess Grifian asked. Seeing the harpies in the sky, she couldn’t have imagined how vast the gathered army around Ampere Seale was in just one day. The number of demons on the ground was unimaginable, and it was a force that Lantonrand’s army and the Northern Alliance combined would likely struggle to withstand.
Brendel also watched this scene silently for a while.
“I don’t have any good solutions.”
“Mr. Brendel, you have no solutions…?” Princess Grifian found it hard to speak.
Brendel nodded. The Everything Returns Society had played a move that was truly far beyond his expectations. The current demon army alone was almost more than the previous combined forces of both the Temple of Fire and the Northern Alliance. Furthermore, in the short term, he no longer had the capability to activate the Heaven of Difficulties’ cycle again.
To summon the Life Temple, the Heaven of Difficulties Trojan Horse, and all previous cycles required him to accumulate a certain amount of elements for a rather long period. He would not consider it within at least a week.
He tightened his lips, his mind filled with thoughts about the current situation.
… (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes, monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
