Chapter 377 Belly Snake
The siege of White Hart Castle continued, but it was not intense.
In the first few days, the Bacchus army attacked fiercely, but after losing hundreds of people and failing to even touch the city wall, the Bacchus army slowed down its offensive momentum.
They didn't expect that there were so many Noldor elves in the city. The arrows shot from White Hart Castle were so accurate and powerful that they could not be blocked even with shields.
It was already dark, and on a small hill outside the city, two Bacchus lords were waving flags and ordering their troops to retreat.
"It looks like it might be difficult for us to capture White Hart Castle. I didn't expect that White Hart Castle was actually given to the Noldor elves by the people of Sarleon..."
A middle-aged man with a bald head said, "It's very dangerous to fight with the Noldor elves...Antonius, how about we kill Justus now and then withdraw directly?"
"It's not the right time yet, Lord Rimusk... My father hasn't sent back any news, and Emperor Marius hasn't issued an order to recall the army. If we withdraw now, all our efforts will be wasted."
Another lord, whose body was tightly wrapped, took off his helmet, scratched the green sores on his face, and shook his head slowly.
This is Antonius, the son of Kairos whom Leon and Anson had treated.
He no longer looks like a human being, and looks like a poisonous snake.
There were still scaly green sores on his face, his eyes were dark yellow, and his pupils were very different from those of ordinary people - they were vertical ovals, like the vertical pupils of reptiles.
This shape of pupil probably means that he now has night vision, but it would be difficult for him to see during the day.
"Antonius, you are controlling Justus's troops, you don't feel bad if they die... But I am using my own troops! Your father and I have a long-standing friendship, please don't harm me!"
Rimusk frowned, somewhat dissatisfied: "I don't want to put all my wealth into this!"
"War is a war without casualties. Besides, you didn't bring many troops with you. Are all your elite troops left in Walwyn?"
Antony was still fingering his wounds leisurely: "The more brutal this battle is, the better it will be for us. You know that... "
"Of course I know! But you also saw that the Noldor woman in the White Hart Keep could shoot anyone from 200 meters away! Every time she killed with one arrow, even the giant shield couldn't stop her arrows! And she only shot the leaders. Now no one dares to lead troops to attack the city. How can we fight?"
There was obvious fear in Rimusk's eyes, probably because he was frightened by Vendatil.
"She is very strong... but the stronger the enemy, the more important the Shadow Legion will be... Besides, as long as we set the forest on fire, no matter how powerful the Noldor elves are, they will have to retreat to their mountains to put out the fire... Don't worry too much, we just need to surround the city and wait for news. As long as we get news from Siyuan City or my father, we will withdraw."
Antonius said calmly.
"Who will we let attack tomorrow? Anyway, I won't attack the city."
Rimusk asked.
"Titus, we've given him so many benefits, isn't it just to make him contribute at this time? It doesn't matter whether he dies or not... It just so happens that he is a member of the Phoenix Knights after all. If he dies in White Hart Castle, maybe we can take the opportunity to make the Phoenix Knights leave the Pande Continent..."
Antonius pointed to the Phoenix flag on the side of the central camp.
But then, his eyes suddenly widened, and those scary vertical pupils seemed to become even thinner: "Where are Titus's people? Why is there no one in his camp?!"
"No one? He's a deserter?!"
It was dark, and Rimusk probably couldn't see clearly: "Is this bastard trying to kill himself?!"
"I'm not a deserter..."
A voice sounded from behind Rimusk: "Of course I value my life..."
Along with the voices, there was also the friction sound of a sharp blade piercing into the body, the sizzling sound of blood spurting out of the arteries, and a few short screams.
“Titus! You…you…”
Rimusk turned around and looked around, and found that his guards were no longer on the hill - they had all fallen to the ground.
Titus' men were all around, each holding a bloody sword.
Antony remained calm: "Titus, what are you going to do? Are you planning to rebel?"
"Antonius, the people of the Snake Cult all listen to you, right? I just want to ask you... why was my house robbed by the Snake Cult? Why?!"
Titus approached Antonius with his bloody sword.
"What do you mean? Looting? Your home?"
Antonius frowned.
"Don't tell me you don't know... The Snake Cult took away everything in my house and burned my manor to ashes..."
Titus said viciously, "I know you want to force me this way... so that I can only rely on you from now on... but do you think you can threaten me just because you have evidence that I killed the Imperial Knight? I won't fall for it!"
"I really don't know... Titus... This might be a misunderstanding..."
Antonius shook his head and tried to explain.
"What a misunderstanding! My servants, guards, and the entire Imer village all saw a forked-tongued snake cult priestess leading a group of followers to plunder my manor! Apart from your men, where else can you find such a forked-tongued priestess?"
Titus gritted his teeth and put his sword against Antonius' throat: "I understand... I am an outsider, I am not from the Shadow Legion, you will not trust me... I understand! But I will not sit and wait for death, and I will never let others drive me around..."
"Maybe it's a priestess who ran away from the Bacchus continent... Titus, don't be so excited. I'm not stupid enough to deal with you at this time..."
Antonius stepped back with his hands spread out.
"Really... Haha... I thought so before. But do you remember what you just said? It doesn't matter whether I live or die. If I die in White Hart Castle, you can take the opportunity to involve the Phoenix Knights in the political struggle... Ha, I heard it all..."
Titus's expression became more vicious.
"Huh... Titus, so... you are planning to be a traitor?"
Antonius sighed, his pupils narrowing into slits.
"Traitor? You are the traitors... I will kill you and take your head to Siyuan City, and I will still be a loyal subject of Emperor Marius!"
Titus raised his sword and stabbed.
Titus is no weak rookie, his swordsmanship is quite strong - otherwise he would not have been sent by the Ashborn Empire to serve as the captain of the diplomatic corps guard.
But the sword he thrust out was caught by Antonius with his bare hands!
With just one hand, Antonius clamped Titus's blade.
He was not an invulnerable monster. The sword cut his palm and blood flowed down the sword, but he seemed to feel no pain.
"Kill me? Just you? Titus, you really think you're a big shot..."
Antonius slowly exerted force and broke Titus's broadsword with one hand, then stepped forward like a ghost and grabbed Titus' neck with his bloody palm.
The speed was so astonishing that it felt like a venomous snake suddenly attacking.
“Uh…uh…”
Titus struggled with Antony's arms, but couldn't get them free.
During the struggle, Titus tore Antony's sleeve, and the exposed arm also had scars like snake scales.
All around, Titus' men rushed forward and surrounded the two men, but no one made any rash moves.
Because Antonius had already grabbed Titus and held him in his arms, his long nails digging into Titus' neck.
Titus' eyes turned white, his face turned purple, and the broken sword in his hand fell to the ground.
"Antonius...don't kill him!"
Rimusk looked at the soldiers around him and shouted in a low voice. He still wanted to live. There were hundreds of Titus's men surrounding this small hill. If Titus was really killed, no one would survive...
"Rimusk, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that his troops will besiege us?"
Antonius turned around and smiled.
"Antonius, it's obvious... these are all his people..."
Rimusk looked around at the approaching soldiers under Titus.
"Haha...his people? Tie him up..."
Antonius suddenly burst into laughter and pushed Titus towards the soldiers.
"Hey! What are you doing..."
Rimusk had never expected that Antonius would release Titus to the soldiers at this time.
"Yes, sir."
But what Rimusk didn't expect was that after the soldiers took Titus, they saluted Antony and then tied Titus up...
"Titus' men...are they all your people?"
Rimusk cried out in surprise.
"No, they are Dinar's people... They belong to whoever is willing to give them more Dinars... How can a fool like Titus, who is reluctant to part with the little wealth in his hands, have a loyal army?"
Antonius laughed contemptuously.
"He said his house was robbed by the Snake Cult... Was that the person you sent?"
Rimusk asked uneasily as he looked at Titus who was tied to the ground.
"Of course not... Titus is a bastard who is always robbing people and has many enemies. Who knows who did it..."
Antonius didn't seem to care about the appearance of the 'Snake Worshipers' in Imer Village: "However, since Titus wants to turn against me, let him be a hero... My father should have news tomorrow, and then let Titus destroy the Maixiang Territory... and then kill Justus..."
"Has Lord Kairos arrived at Maixiang Territory?"
Rimusk asked blankly.
Antonius nodded. "If the Maixiang Territory is destroyed, Leon will not give up. He will definitely send out his entire army to attack Bacchus. And Justus died in White Hart Castle. Whether Emperor Marius is willing or not, he must avenge Justus... When they are both defeated, we can sweep across the continent..."
"Antonius, are you really planning to conquer Pendor with the Snake Cult? But didn't you and your son hate the Snake Cult the most? Moreover, you were harmed by the Snake Cult in the past two years..."
Rimusk frowned and looked at Antonius's vertical pupils.
"Yes... I still hate the Snake Cult. I have been harmed by the Snake Cult and have become like this. I am neither human nor ghost. I want to destroy the Snake Cult more than anyone else! But, Rimusk, I want to live... I must have greater power to have hope of survival..."
Antonius put on his helmet again. His dark yellow eyes looked extremely scary. "Rimusk, I know you may not trust me. You probably want to avoid offending Marius or me... But I can tell you clearly that if you don't want to die in your sleep, you'd better obey my arrangements."
After saying this, Antonius left with 'Titus's men'.
Rimusk remained silent, looking at Antonius's back, with obvious confusion in his eyes.
At night, after returning to his camp, Rimusk received news from Walven. The one who came to report the news was the young patrol captain.
"You mean, all my family members were arrested?!"
Rimusk was trembling all over. "What about her?"
"She was also taken away by those imperial knights... Everyone identified her as a priestess of the Snake Cult..."
The young man lowered his head and dared not look at Rimousk, because he was the first to identify Rimousk's mistress as a snake worshiper...
"Snake Cult Priestess?!"
Rimusk sat down dejectedly: "This is a frame-up...Antonius is a snake...Are those imperial knights still in Walven?"
"They have left, but they asked me to bring you a letter..."
The young patrol leader produced a small scroll sealed with wax.
The seal on the wax reads 'Imperial Intelligence Service'.
This is Alina's seal.
"Intelligence Department? Those Imperial Knights aren't Antonius's men?!"
Rimusk suddenly perked up and quickly opened the letter.
"Send an order...let all the family's troops assemble..."
He began to quickly gather his confidants.
…
The next morning.
"…Where's Titus? You idiots! Can't you even keep an eye on one person!?"
Antonius was roaring in a small camp with a phoenix flag.
"Antonius... not only Titus... Justus and Rimusk are missing too!"
A tall knight ran over panting.
"What?!"
Antonius' pupils narrowed again: "Gauls, go and tell the whole army to retreat... Set fire to the forest before retreating..."
"Set fire?! It's almost summer now. If the whole forest catches fire..."
Gauls hesitated.
"If we don't set the fire, we will be pursued by the Noldor elves! Will you cover the rear?"
Antonius looked at Gauls fiercely.
"I understand... I'll go right away..."
Gauls frowned and walked away, saying, "But, Antonius, this will bring disaster..."
"So what? Didn't you also set fire to the Castle of Amera? Hehe... If you don't force the Noldor elves into a desperate situation, how can they go to war with the Empire?"
Antonius looked at the blue scales on his arms.
A few hours later, all the Bacchus troops outside White Hart Castle were evacuated. At the same time, a huge fire broke out in the forest outside White Hart Castle, and the gray smoke covered the entire sky.
Outside the Maixiang Territory, beside the Aire River, the white-haired and bearded Marshal Kairos raised his head and lifted the visor of his helmet.
He saw the smoke and dust covering the sky coming from the east.
"I'm sorry... Your Majesty, I have to live... Antonius also has to live..."
Kairos murmured to himself, then he drew his sword and shouted, "Attack! Burn down the Maixiang Territory!"
There were also some green scars on his face, like tiny snake scales.
