This fellow... can actually speak human language!
When the Earl was helped up by his personal guards, he felt his face burning and his expression quite unsightly. He had intended to display his power in front of his subordinates, and also to establish confidence for the other nobles, but he was unexpectedly frightened to the ground by a roar. What made it even more embarrassing was that the other party was only one person!
Damn it, I'll kill this bastard!
Mavien gritted his teeth and raised his hand, just about to issue the order to fire when the old scholar suddenly grabbed him and blinked hard, mouthing the words "Calm down."
The Earl was stunned for a moment, then reacted. Indeed, since the other party could speak, there was the possibility of communication. If there could be communication, then it meant trade and negotiation. The situation was still unclear, and there was no need to rush to attack. He had indeed been influenced by the Graycastle people, pre-emptively treating the other party as an irreconcilable enemy.
On closer thought, whether it was a devil or not, coming alone might in itself represent an attitude, like a human ambassador.
Otherwise, why hadn't it acted for so long, but instead deliberately chose a place where it could look directly at the city walls and stand still?
If the other party was as cruel and violent as Graycastle said, it should have been wantonly plundering and killing – the surrounding villages and towns had no Ice Abyss Fissure or city walls to protect them.
The more Mavien thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. What if he killed the messenger and started a feud with the so-called "devils"? Wouldn't that be playing right into the hands of the Graycastle people?
But he had just sworn to make the other party kneel down and submit to him. Now he had to communicate with it on an equal footing. The Earl really found it difficult to save face for a moment.
Fortunately, the old scholar saw his hesitation and took a step forward, saying, "What an impolite fellow! If you understood human speech, you should have stated your identity and purpose from the start! Fortunately, Lord Earl is benevolent and willing to give you a chance to start over – what exactly is the reason for your coming here?"
Well done, Mavien praised inwardly. It was worth the ten gold dragons he paid for hiring this steward from the royal capital.
"Before that, I would like to ask you something first," the devil's voice returned to its normal volume. "What is your relationship with the humans of Fertile Plains...?"
Fertile Plains? Where is that? The group of people looked at each other, completely bewildered.
But this remark also gave Mavien confidence – this monster was indeed an envoy.
"I don't know which place you're referring to as Fertile Plains," the old scholar spoke again. "It's like how the Northerners call the South, and the Southerners call the North. It's like that even within a single kingdom, let alone between our two races. Only with a map can I give you an accurate answer."
"No, that's a name given by you humans. I'm just using it." The other party shook his head slightly. "So that's how it is... you are still divided into cities, just like hundreds of years ago, like a pile of loose sand. That's why the reaction is so slow. I had expected you to be at a loss, terrified, shouting that this was impossible, but unable to do anything about the arrival of 'fate'."
What does this mean? The wording is like acting... The Earl couldn't help but frown. For a moment, he seemed to catch a hint of disappointment on that strange face.
"Could it be... are you referring to the Graycastle people?" the chief knight suddenly asked.
"Hmm?" the devil looked at him.
"They keep saying that when the Red Moon descends, devils will emerge from hell. Now they are indeed scared and fleeing, running away a long time ago." The knight said disdainfully, "Of course, if you're fast enough, you might still see them if you go to the eastern port."
"Is that so?" It glanced east, then shifted its gaze back. "I will go, but not now. Since you know nothing about the Fertile Plains, then I will make it short."
"I am the Lord of the Sky, commander of the Western Front Army. Thousands of years ago, our two races signed a Protection Covenant, jointly fighting against the witches and their escorts. You served my race as masters, fighting under our command, and the reward you received was the power and wealth to rule human territories. This covenant has no end time, and will not end until destruction – and you, as the inheritors of humankind," the devil's voice became loud and sonorous again, as if the entire city could hear it, "should continue to serve my race." Now, I demand that you offer this city in accordance with the covenant and immediately serve me!
This guy must be crazy... Earl Mavien listened in stunned silence. What millennial covenant? Even a one- or two-year contract could be denied. Who cares about things from hundreds of years ago? And Western Front Army commander? Which lord doesn't send an envoy to talk first? Running alone to his city to spout nonsense, there should be a limit to the nonsense!
"What if I don't agree?" These remarks were too rude, and he really couldn't tolerate them.
"Death will make you submit." The devil, who called himself the Lord of the Sky, raised his head. "Look, that is fate."
The Earl raised his head and saw that the distant mountains were covered with a layer of mist at some point. It was not uncommon for the mountains of the Deathly Wastelands to have fog, but this fog was like blood, frighteningly red. He didn't know if it was an illusion reflected by the Red Moon, or if the fog itself had color.
Another strange thing was that the red fog that crossed the cliffs did not float in the air, but slowly flowed down from the peaks, forming a hazy "waterfall."
Could it be that it hadn't acted before because it was waiting for this moment?
Mavien vaguely felt a little uneasy. Looking at his subordinates, who were nervous and whispering, he knew that if he didn't act again, the people's hearts would be unstable.
"With you alone?" The Earl gritted his teeth and waved his hand sharply. "I've already given you a chance, fire the arrows!"
The knights and guards were stunned for a few breaths before they suddenly came back to their senses. They all pulled down the triggers and crowbars, and more than a dozen crossbow bolts of various sizes rose into the air with a buzzing sound, shooting straight at the devil –
But all the arrows missed.
Everyone could hardly believe what they were seeing. They saw it pass through a black hole and disappear into the stone pillars out of thin air.
"Damn it, that's the effect of magic," the chief knight said in a deep voice. "They are no different from witches!"
"Don't be afraid, we are all wearing God's Punishment Stones. Magic can't hurt us in the slightest!" Mavien clenched the pendant on his chest. "Find it and kill it!"
"De-devil is over there!" a guard shouted.
In a short instant, it had crossed the barrier formed by the Ice Abyss and the city walls and appeared silently on the long street behind the wall.
It could cross the natural chasm in one step. An alarm bell rang in the Earl's heart. Such a dangerous monster, whether it was an envoy or not, had to die here – after all, there was only one person. "Prepare God's Stone Arrows, treat it like a witch! The one who kills it will be rewarded with one hundred gold dragons!"
As the knights and guards swarmed towards it from all directions, the devil slowly raised its arms –
In the next moment, a "black curtain" that was dozens of feet wide bloomed from behind it, cutting off the street and the houses on both sides, seemingly like a wall with no thickness suddenly appeared on the street.
What exactly did it want to do? The Earl couldn't help but wonder. It didn't seem like an attack or a defense. Could it be that it was planning to use this ability to hide itself?
But soon he got the answer.
Thick red fog spewed out from the black curtain, like a river embankment that had burst! Then a group of monsters that had never been seen before roared out of the black curtain and collided heavily with the surrounding knights – the God's Stone did not have any effect, and the knights were sent flying far away with blood spurting from their mouths. Large pieces of their chests were sunken, and they were obviously not going to survive.
But this was far from the end, but the beginning of a nightmare.
Monsters continued to emerge from the black curtain, seemingly never-ending. They first bowed to the Lord of the Sky, and then joined the battle. Whether it was their size or their strength, this group of monsters was far superior to ordinary people, and they quickly overwhelmed the city walls with overwhelming strength. The melee turned into a massacre. The guards, whose wills had collapsed, were torn to pieces one by one, and blood and broken limbs were scattered everywhere.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the city was full of pain, wailing, and cries for help. The people who were still alive fled to the outside of the city in panic, but could not cross the bottomless Ice Abyss.
Mavien only felt his legs weaken, and he shook twice before falling to the ground, but this time no one came to help him anymore.
His personal guards had been torn in half by the enemies who had been killed in front of him.
His proud Snow Reflection Fortress, the territory inherited from his grandfather's grandfather, was declared to have fallen in a single encounter.
The blood-filled red fog covered the sky and the earth, turning this place into a living hell.
Through the fog, the red moon in the sky looked even more ferocious and terrifying.
So this is the scene of the apocalypse, the Earl thought for the last time.
.
End of Volume: The Battle of the Doomsday