Chapter 325 When Evil Meets Evil
At the edge of the forest, there are countless fallen ones lurking.
Oswood, who was running in the front, caused a huge commotion as soon as he rushed out - almost all the Fallen turned around and rushed towards him.
Oswood's skills were indeed very good. He swung the sword in his hand and easily chopped off the two bloody heads.
But no matter how good one's skills are, one is afraid of a group attack, especially a large group of Fallen - these non-humans swarmed over from all directions like locusts, and one person with a sword could not create any gaps. Oswood was surrounded almost instantly.
"Stop them!"
Oswood yelled, hoping his men could help him.
However, the dozens of people he brought with him did not save him...
The few people closest to him were also entangled by the Fallen, and most of the others turned around and ran back immediately when they saw that the situation was not right, completely ignoring the life or death of their boss.
These are people who are used to torture and plunder. They will call each other brothers when they torture civilians for fun, and they will commit crimes together and share the spoils when they can gain benefits. But when they encounter situations that are obviously life-threatening, how can they sacrifice themselves?
Oswood was abandoned by his 'brothers'.
Just as he had always been used as cannon fodder by the Lion Knights before, when faced with unsolvable difficulties, no one would share the hardships with the terrorists...
But those remnants who abandoned their boss and ran away did not survive either.
They were blocked by Sir Roland who was chasing them.
Sir Roland and his troops have been closely following Oswood. They have not yet left the forest and cannot see the situation outside.
Seeing Oswood's men turning around, Roland thought they were brave enough to fight him to the death, so he stopped his troops and besieged and annihilated them, which was a good way to give these remaining soldiers a quick death.
Perhaps those who uphold justice can indeed be protected by the goddess of justice. If Roland had not wasted some time in annihilating these remnants, he would have plunged into the sea of the fallen.
Just after killing these remnants, Roland saw a large number of Fallen - these Fallen were pouring into the forest.
"Oh no... there are some behind!"
Leonard came running from behind the team.
There were indeed Fallen behind them, the same group that had fought against Oswood's troops before, and they were now chasing after them.
Although the Fallen are not fast, they are now in the forest.
Visibility is poor in a forest environment, and vines, bushes, and fallen leaves will all hinder people's steps. It is not easy for humans to outrun the Fallen in such an environment - the Fallen are extremely strong, and the bushes and vines have little effect on them.
"You guys evacuate separately... I'll hold them back!"
Roland raised his sword and faced several Fallen Ones, intending to buy time for his troops.
There was no fear in the Paladin's eyes.
"Run, lady...you are still young and shouldn't die here."
Leonard sighed and said to Elanor.
Then, he led his five brothers and followed Roland to face the Fallen: "Dawn Knights! Charge!"
But Ilano ignored Leonard, but stood still and shot the crossbow in his hand.
The crossbow arrow was shot towards Roland, passed by Roland's side, and accurately hit the head of a Fallen.
The Fallen One fell down.
Then Ilanor picked up a short spear and followed behind Reynard: "I am also a member of the Knights of the Dawn!"
In fact, Ilanor is now indeed a member of the Knights of the Dawn, if Roland is considered a true Knight of the Dawn.
She used to be a servant of Duke Anderma, Lord of Xiaolu City, and was the maid of the Duke's daughter Katia, as well as Katia's bodyguard.
Not all maids these days serve tea, pour water or wash underwear. A few of them learn martial arts from a young age to help protect the female family members. Ilano is one of those maids who learned martial arts from a young age.
After Xiaolu City was breached, when Ilanor was protecting Katia and escaping, he met Sir Roland who was also evacuating.
Roland protected them and did not hand them over to Ursula's men. He also sent someone to escort Katia to Ravenstern. The Paladin would certainly not make things difficult for these two innocent girls. Roland would do the same no matter whose daughter Katia was.
The Paladin is different from Leon...
But Ilano did not follow Katia to Ravenstern. She believed that Roland's behavior was true chivalry and she wanted to follow a true paladin.
Then, she became Roland's student - Roland did not accept female soldiers, but he was happy to accept an apprentice who voluntarily threw himself into the arms of the goddess of justice.
Roland's apprentice will certainly become a true Knight of the Dawn sooner or later.
Ilano didn't run, and in fact most people didn't run.
They followed Roland's footsteps in silence, spontaneously forming a battle formation, and preparing to meet the siege of the Fallen.
In fact, their eyes were full of fear, but the spears and swords in their hands remained firm.
These warriors are all followers of the Paladin Roland, but none of them are knights. They are all civilians or even refugees.
Most of them came from the eastern border of Ravenstern, and some of them were descendants of the Misty Mountain people who had lived in Ravenstern for a long time.
When Roland was in Dark Falcon Castle, he had been constantly fighting against evil and helping the poor. Since the surrounding villages were often attacked by Jatu or Misty Mountain, Roland would often train the villagers in martial arts and battle formations free of charge so that they could form formations to protect themselves.
In fact, there have been small-scale raids by the Jatu people on the eastern border over the past year or so, and the frequency is higher than in previous years. This is the sequelae of the deal that Gregory IV made with the Jatu warlord Zakar.
Fewer Jatu are heading to Sarleon, but more are heading to Ravenstern—Zakal considers eastern Ravenstern his territory.
But whenever the villages were in danger, Roland would always arrive in time.
Most of the surrounding villages have received Roland's favor, and most of them have a new understanding of faith - knights like Roland are considered true knights.
All of Roland's men came from those small villages.
When Ursula led her army to attack Xiaolu City, Roland prepared to evacuate Dark Falcon Castle according to Leon's instructions and go to Weird Fox Town to fight against evil.
At that time, these villagers voluntarily followed Roland. They hoped to follow a true knight, even if they were destined to face all kinds of dangerous enemies in the future.
Their skills were indeed not that good. Only the 19-year-old girl, Ilano, had undergone long-term training. The others were just amateur fighters who had trained in the village for a year.
But as long as they followed Roland, they would not be afraid of any strong enemy.
Because they know that they are pursuing true justice.
This is the real Knights of the Dawn.
"Don't stay here and die...wait, what is that?"
Leonard turned around and said something to Ilano, then stopped and looked towards the treetops on the side.
"Sir Roland! This way! Follow me!"
A clear voice was heard, and Lisadilan moved swiftly and nimbly between the branches. He shot an arrow from the bow in his hand while flying, accurately hitting a Fallen in front of Roland.
The arrow did not hit the Fallen One's head, and its force was not strong enough, it only pierced the Fallen One's chest lightly.
This is just to remind Roland.
Roland finally turned around and saw the Noldor arrows.
The person who had set the fire outside the woods before was naturally Risa Dilan.
Following Leon's orders, he led his guards to set fire to the southern part of the forest. When he was about to call it a day and return home, he suddenly heard Roland's voice faintly in the woods - at that time Roland was giving orders to pursue Oswood.
Fortunately, the Noldor Guards are here. If it were anyone else, they would definitely not be able to hear what is happening inside under such circumstances.
At that time, Lisa Dilan was actually only two hundred meters away from Sir Roland, but he was separated from Sir Roland by the fire on both sides. He could not see anything in the thick smoke and dust, and he could not go in to provide support.
Moreover, no matter how people outside shouted, the people in the woods could not hear it because of the fire. The crackling sound of burning branches and the shouting in the woods would cover everything - unless there were Noldor elves in there too.
Lisadiran was quite anxious at the time. He heard Roland shouting "catch up with him", which obviously meant that Roland would chase Oswood towards Lion Lake City!
However, Lisadilan had just come around from that side, and the 'Devourer', that scary big eyeball, was now between Lion Lake City and this forest.
So Lisadilan had to chase from the outside across the line of fire towards the northeast, and only caught up now.
"Goddess bless you! Everyone, follow that elf!"
Roland breathed a sigh of relief and followed Lisadiran with his troops.
The Noldor elves led Roland and others and made a detour through the forest from the side. With Risadiran leading the way, they successfully got rid of the Fallen.
The Noldor Guards were waiting outside the forest, having already shot and killed the few Fallen in the area and cleared a safe area.
Afterwards, another big fire was started by the Noldor, and the two armies took a detour from the southeast and left this dangerous place.
"Risadilan, where is Lord Leon? I think now is a good opportunity to destroy these corrupted ones!"
Roland glanced back at the newly-lit fire of the Noldor.
"It's hard for fire to kill them. The wind here is always from north to south, so the fire can't burn them over there... And they don't need to breathe at all, so they won't lose their fighting power because of the smoke - you should have seen it."
Lisa Dilan guessed Roland's intention.
Indeed, setting fire to people is not a problem, but setting fire to ghosts is very difficult.
For this non-human being that does not need to breathe, fire attacks are indeed of little use - being burned to death directly is a low-probability event , and people who die in a fire usually die from suffocation.
"But with such a large scale... and Aigrim the Devourer will continue to create new Fallen, how can we deal with it?"
Roland seemed to be very clear about the characteristics of the Devourer.
"Lord Leon is trying to find a solution... There will always be a way."
Lisadilan actually didn't know how to deal with it. Perhaps the Noldor elves were the most suitable group to deal with the Fallen, but facing an army of tens of thousands of Fallen would be a headache for everyone.
Li Ang also had a headache.
He is doing his best to disperse the villagers near Lion Lake City and Payne.
The fact that the Fallen Army gathered in the southeast of Lion Lake City was actually the result of the joint efforts of him and King Vidis.
Because they all knew that they could not allow the Devourers to continue creating the Fallen, otherwise the number of the Fallen would increase endlessly.
Therefore, Leon asked Vidis and Doomseeker Gondor to attack from both inside and outside, and took the initiative to attack the Fallen outside the city, allowing Vidis to try to break through, while also attracting the attention of Devourer Aigram.
He then sent out most of his cavalry to split up and try to bring all the surrounding villagers south of Penn.
King Vidis and Gondor were still very cooperative. After all, Vidis had to save himself, otherwise he would be surrounded in Lion Lake City and would have to wait for death.
However, Vidis still couldn't rush out, he couldn't even open the city gate - the Devourer was not an unintelligent thing, it immediately drove a large number of Fallen to block the gate of Lion Lake City.
Vidis could only fight in the city. Gondor led a charge from the periphery, but was unable to break the siege and had to withdraw.
Fortunately, Aigrim's Fallen army was ill-prepared, and they had no good way to take down the walls of Lion Lake City.
They were actually building a long ladder, but their efficiency in logging and manufacturing was very slow, and it felt like a group of apes doing handicrafts - after becoming Fallen, they were obviously no longer intelligent creatures, their strength had increased, but their IQ was gone.
The cavalry organized by Li Ang took advantage of this time to barely clear out the nearby villagers. At the same time, this also expanded the Devourer's range of action to dozens of miles southwest of Lion Lake City - there were no humans nearby, so it could only run farther to find new "troops".
So, Leon asked Lisadiran to set fire to the forest in that area and force Oswood to the location of the Devourer.
At this time, Oswood had been captured alive.
It is a bit unbelievable, but those Fallen did not kill Oswood - although Oswood chopped off the heads of more than a dozen Fallen in a row, these Fallen did not use heavy hands on him.
After all, the Fallen have no anger, only obedience - the ' Devourer' is here.
It seemed to be very interested in this skilled man, and its big eyes stared at Oswood, looking him up and down.
Several Fallen carried the dying Oswood and lifted him into the shape of a cross.
In fact, Oswood was not only alive, but also not seriously injured. He was captured by the Fallen, buried in a pile of bloody bodies.
But at this moment, there seemed to be a mysterious force suppressing him. He could not move at all, not even his eyes could move.
He could only watch as the Devourer, riding his demonic warhorse and looking down at him, got closer and closer.
"No, no, no... don't come over here..."
Fear had spread throughout Oswood's body.
The inexplicable black mist diffused from the Devourer again, and the mysterious wailing sounded again - but this wailing did not come from the Devourer, but from Oswood.
This time, the wailing was far more terrifying than the sound under Lion Lake City. It felt like thousands of people were wailing together.
"Such a sin... You have actually created so many resentful souls... Hahaha..."
The Devourer was probably laughing, but the skull without any flesh and blood looked even more eerie and terrifying when it laughed: "I like you..."
Oswood was frightened to death.
Everyone knows that being liked by such a demon is definitely not a good thing - it is most likely worse than being killed or dismembered... maybe even worse than becoming a Fallen.
Sure enough, the Devourer immediately expressed its preference.
It took action itself, using the battle axe in its hand to cut all the armor and clothes on Oswood into pieces, and in less than ten seconds, Oswood was stripped naked.
However, using an axe to cut clothes, especially underwear, would inevitably leave some sequelae, and Aigram's method was a bit rough - Oswood had some small wounds all over his body, including some unspeakable places...
