Chapter 359: The Assassin with a Long-Pole Sword
January of the 358th year of the Pendor calendar.
On the first day of the new year, many major events happened in the continent of Pendor.
Queen Amy Sonard announced her abdication in Changhe Town, because she "failed to protect the capital, Sarleon, which was occupied by demons and she felt guilty towards the people of Sarleon."
A king who is still alive and well suddenly announces his abdication and does not pass the throne to anyone else is naturally a rare thing that has never happened in the continent of Pendor.
On the same day, Brennus, a rebel from Sarleon Kingdom who had been entrenched in Cliff Bay and fighting with the Fallen, suddenly announced loudly that he would "die for the true Sarleon King Ulric". Afterwards, almost all the troops in Cliff Bay set out for Sarleon City.
Speaking of which, Ulric in Sarleon did issue a royal decree more than a month ago, requiring all lords of Sarleon to gather in Sarleon.
At that time, all the countries on the continent had heard some rumors, but the armies of various countries had witnessed with their own eyes the large number of Fallen pouring out of Sarleon - at that time, the troops of various countries fought a big melee near Sarleon, and the D'Shar army was almost wiped out when it rushed into Sarleon.
Therefore, all countries know that it is hard to say whether the "Ulrich" in the city is a human or a ghost. Even if he is a human, he is most likely related to heresy.
Now that Brennus has declared his loyalty to King Sarleon, it is clear that the one in Sarleon is definitely a heretic...
Moreover, the countless fallen ones outside Sarleon City also confirmed this.
At this time, the long-missing Grand Duke Leon of Changhe Town reappeared, and together with the Paladin Roland, he sent envoys to all the kingdoms of the Pand continent, hoping that everyone would temporarily unite and form a coalition to destroy the heretic demons together.
Because of Amy’s high-profile search for someone before, the whole continent knew that Leon once risked his life to attract thunder and disappeared with the abyss demon.
Some people might doubt what Leon, the cunning lord, said, but there was no doubt about Roland's call.
Therefore, the call initiated by a young duke who had been on the front line to slay demons and the paladin Roland who had been cleaning up the fallen was enough to convince everyone that places like Sarleon City and Cliff Bay had been completely occupied by demons.
There is a more appropriate explanation for why Amy led a large number of civilians to Changhe Town - the Kingdom of Sarleon did not have enough troops to fight against the demons in Sarleon City at that time, and with the mob rioting, they had to take away everything they could to ensure the safety of the people.
Of course, for most people, they were reluctant to respond to Leon and Roland's invitation, since the devil hadn't appeared in their territory anyway...
However, under such circumstances, it is not necessary to add insult to injury to the Sarleon Territory - the king and the great lords still have to save face, and no one wants to be considered an accomplice of the devil.
If they followed the Fallen to fight against the Sarleon Territory, they might gain some advantage at first, but if they did that, they would definitely incur hostility from all the countries, and if they failed on the battlefield, they would surely die - no one would regard the devil's allies as nobles, and there would be no chance of surrender.
Brunus had done this more than a year ago, so no one would regard him as a duke now. He had no choice but to go all the way, otherwise if he lost the war, his entire family would be tied to a cross and burned to ashes.
Faced with such a situation, several countries responded in very different ways.
The first person to respond to Leon's call was Cleon of the Bacchus Empire.
In other words, the Knights of the Radiant Cross.
The Glorious Knight Loris came to Changhe Town again. This time, he brought most of the knights' combatants, including General Cleon.
"Lord Li Ang, I'm here to repay a favor..."
Loris was still wearing his white cloak, but this time, there should be no map drawn on the cloak - the Red Death in the Bacchus Empire had been completely eradicated.
"Does His Majesty Marius know that you are here?"
Li Ang was very pleased. He thought that good deeds would bring good results and his efforts were not in vain.
"His Majesty Marius certainly knows that we are here, and he even provided us with a large amount of military rations."
Loris nodded, but then smiled: "But... His Majesty Marius asked me to tell you that you must pay him a sum of military expenses. The Glorious Cross Knights are now a regular army of the empire. It is a moral obligation to help allies fight, but you must charge for it... Lord Leon, you know, this is also the practice of our knights..."
Li Ang smiled: "Okay... I finally got blackmailed by him. But, I don't have any money now... Can I keep an account first? I can write him an IOU."
Cleon also smiled and waved to Alina: "Miss Alina, His Majesty asked you to sign on his behalf to lend a loan to Lord Leon - His Majesty Marius also built a bank in Siyuan City, the Imperial Bank..."
Then, Cleon took out a piece of parchment from his body. The amount on it looked familiar...
Five hundred thousand dinars—this was exactly the amount of the loan that Anson had granted to Cleon.
Li Ang and Anson covered their faces together... As expected, sooner or later you will have to pay for what you have done.
However, just like the original loan was actually a gesture of goodwill from Anson and Leon, this was also a gesture of goodwill from Marius.
At the same time, General Cleon stated that the Bacchus Empire would shift its battle lines to Desha during this period, so Leon could deal with the demons and fallen in the Fierce Lion Territory without any worries.
In some people's minds, there are many things that are more important than fighting for power and territory.
But this is also the only regular army among all countries that actively responded to Li Ang's call.
In addition, there was a small force that was forced to come to assist due to personal relationships - some archers from the Silver Mist Rangers.
This was a pure accident. The Silver Mist Rangers did not come here for Leon's sake. They were brought here by force by Wendy. Those archers were Wendy's apprentices...
Wendy has been looking for clues about Leon for more than a year, and encountered some Northern archers fighting against the Jatu people near Fletcher.
After demonstrating her archery skills on the Jatu Riders, she became an idol to those archers - the members of the Silvermist Rangers, most of whom were obsessed with the art of archery.
Wendy's help and the kind attitude she showed made the Silver Mist Rangers have a completely different view of the Noldor elves than most people.
They believed that the Noldor were not as cold and heartless as others said, especially the Wendish.
Besides... Wendy is so beautiful. No one in Stern Crow Realm has ever seen such a beauty...
So, they became Wendy's apprentices - although they were somewhat nominal, after all, Wendy's archery skills mainly depended on talent and time...
Although they were not familiar with Leon and Roland, they would definitely lend a hand to their teacher whenever Wendy called them.
But apart from these two forces, the reactions of other countries were completely different.
King Gregory IV of Ravenstern wrote back politely, saying that he had discovered a massive invasion of Misty Mountaineers in the North, and that he could only wish Duke Leon good luck on behalf of Ravenstern...
King Vidis of Firdsvain was not so polite. He directly asked the messenger to come back and tell Leon that he hoped Leon would die with the devil again - but fortunately, at least he did not intend to join forces with the devil.
There was no - they must have encountered the army of the Baccus Empire, and the two "Bahard Khans" probably wanted Leon to die quickly.
This was also expected. Leon didn't expect any support. He just hoped that other countries would not cause trouble.
The arrival of the Shining Cross Knights and the Silver Mist Rangers was already a pleasant surprise.
However, this was not the only unexpected surprise.
When Leon was reorganizing his troops and preparing to send out troops, Ramon sent people.
And they sent a lot of people - almost all the members of Ramon's "brotherhood".
Even Ramon himself came.
"Brother, I thought you were dead... You came back without informing me; now you're going to do something big, but you didn't even send anyone to inform me... Humph..."
Ramon crossed his arms and looked at Leon with sidelong glances, seeming very dissatisfied.
"Ramon, I never thought you would come all the way here... This is not a business!"
Leon was indeed surprised to see Ramon - he had never sent an envoy to Singal, and he didn't think Ramon would respond to such a call.
"If everything is business, then there are no good brothers in this world... Besides, how can I do business if those zombies destroy half of the continent or even more places?"
Ramon said with a grin, looking very selfless.
"Brother, have you got any news that I don't know?"
Hearing about the walking dead, Leon suddenly realized that Ramon was the most well-informed person in the entire continent and must know what was going on in Sarleon City, but he still came...
This means that Ramon may have received some clear information, and it is related to Ramon's own safety, otherwise he would not have been able to bring out all his assets.
Ramon's face turned serious. "I do want to tell you some news... Sarleon is full of undead. Caliph Tahir died at the gate of Sarleon, and almost all of his troops were turned into undead. Moreover, these undead attacked Singal two months ago... I had a hard time killing them!"
"All the D'Shar troops who died in Sarleon turned into undead? All of them?"
Li Ang was shocked.
Although he knew that Kavala could control corpses, he never expected that it would be a natural disaster-like transformation of the undead - if they died in battle, they would become undead, then who would dare to attack Sarleon City?
"Anyway, what I saw in Sinjar was most of Tahir's troops... They were all turned into zombies. The fatal wounds and rotten flesh on their bodies were clearly visible, but they still acted like an army..."
Ramon nodded and said, "And, Tahir is among them."
"Are the only undead who appeared in Singal the troops of Tahir? Did you see a very conspicuous corpse wearing golden armor?"
Li Ang continued to ask.
"Golden armor? I didn't see it. Only Ulric wears that... Those who appeared in Singar are all Tahir's troops. I am very familiar with them. I won't be wrong."
Ramon shook his head. "I'm not sure if the Undead will continue to attack Singal. So, no matter what the devil in Sarleon is, I must kill it with you!"
Didn't you see Ulrich?
Li Ang felt something strange.
In mid-October, more than half of Tahir's troops died in Sarleon City. General Cleon saw it with his own eyes and he also talked about it.
The Undead forces attacked Singal two months ago, in early November.
In other words, after Tahir's troops turned into undead, they immediately attacked Singal?
There was no reason for Kavala to provoke Singal at that time, right?
It is very likely that those undead were not led by Kavala...
Singal is the hometown of these troops. Could it be that they are still conscious after death and plan to "go home" on their own?
Perhaps Kavala can't make all the undead obey his commands completely?
Leon wasn't sure.
But no matter what, Ramon's joining is ultimately a good thing.
Ramon brought many soldiers with him. Although these men in black usually worked as errand boys in Ramon's hotel, Leon knew that they were all members of the Scorpio Assassins and true believers of the Dark Goddess - although they never mentioned the name of the goddess Erida.
Moreover, Ramon also equipped the Scorpio Assassins with expensive ebony sabers. The Scorpio Tail, the low-level members who were undergoing training, were even equipped with long-handled broad-bladed knives, heavy weapons that were totally incompatible with assassins...
Obviously, throwing knives and daggers are not suitable for fighting the walking dead. When fighting the undead in Singal, Ramon's assassins must have suffered a lot because of the problem of weapons...
If the assassins weren't small and had average strength , Ramon might have equipped them with sledgehammers...
After all, the best weapons to deal with the undead are the greatswords and hammers used by the Silver Hands.
…
A few days later, Leon completed his preparations for the war and began to march towards Sarleon City.
Just like he had said to Amy, when Cliff Rock Bay declared their allegiance to Ulrich, it would be time to send troops.
The troops from Cliff Rock Bay were also heading towards Sarleon City at this time.
But the troops under Brennus were not going to "surrender to Ulric" - Cersei's order to them was to attack Sarleon City and kill that "Ulric"!
Leon did not release Medea and Cersei. The two of them remained in the White Hart Keep, guarded by the Noldor elves.
But Circe does have complete control over Cliff Bay—she can issue orders with her own handwriting.
Her current identity is Ulrich's youngest daughter, Denise, who is also the 'successor to Ulrich' promoted by Brunus himself.
As for Brennus, he went to Bacchus after Malbert was accused of treason. When he learned that his son had been castrated, he took the initiative to surrender to the Three Prophets. Until now, he has completely lost his self-awareness - Circe completely controlled his mind with hallucinogens.
Since they cannot control the Fallen, the Three Prophets are very focused on luring their followers. Most of the human troops in Jiaoyan Bay have now become the same confused followers of the Prophet like Morgan.
At this time, the troops from Cliff Rock Bay had already arrived at the city of Fierce Lion.
Li Ang's troops arrived at the ruins of the Qicha Fortress, where a large area of charred stone walls remained.
Leon brought out all the elite troops, including the Griffin Knights, the Silver Hand, the Horn Calling Rangers, the Radiant Cross Knights, the Scorpio Assassin Brotherhood, some members of the Silver Mist Rangers, and Roland's New Dawn Knights - including the Dusk Knights.
It can be said that half of the top elite troops in the continent of Pendor are here.
Only the Noldor Guards were away for the time being, and Leon stayed in Qicha Fortress temporarily to wait for them to come back.
Of course, the Noldor Guard was regrouped, but Leon asked Lisadilan to take the guard to the town of Balanli first.
Lisadilan's mission is to find a way to salvage the Gate of the Abyss.
The Gate of the Abyss should have an impact on people's souls. People with weaker souls might be sucked in. Only the Noldor don't have to worry about this problem.
But a day later, Risadiran did not return to Qicha Fortress, but instead sent people to ask for help - he encountered an accident in the town of Balanli.
No one expected that the Lion Knights led by Rayman would appear in Balanli.
