At dawn the next day, the silent military camp rumbled to life like a waking beast.
On the high wooden platform, Graham stood clad in armor, his presence imposing.
The weak voice from yesterday’s tent was long gone, replaced by a powerful, resonant pre-battle declaration that echoed throughout the grounds.
"Soldiers! Listen up! The enemy is entrenched in Broken Stone Canyon!"
Graham’s voice was like a warhamr, shattering the morning tranquility.
"They trample our lands and slaughter our kin! Today..."
He took a deep breath, his roar like thunder.
"Either they die, or we do! For our hos... crush them!"
After a mont of dead silence, the camp erupted.
Weapons crashed violently against shields, creating a thunderous roar.
"Crush them!"
"For our hos!"
"Graham!"
The frenzied shouts rged into a tidal wave, sweeping over the entire camp.
Graham’s renowned na dispelled the fatigue and fear that had accumulated among the soldiers from days of constant Demon attacks.
The flas of vengeance burned on every upturned face.
Even the soldiers afflicted with the Crystal Devouring disease, along with the battered troops who had arrived with Jia Xiu yesterday, raised their weapons and let out hoarse cries.
"Now..."
Graham descended from the high platform and vaulted onto his horse.
As his mount let out a long neigh, he raised his longsword high.
"In accordance with the battle plan issued last night, the entire army will now advance!"
"Yes, sir!"
At the command of the Knight Academy’s head, the soldiers quickly fell into formation under their respective commanders and marched out of the camp in sequence.
Their morale was so high that any onlooker would have surely mistaken them for a triumphant army returning ho.
However, a heavy shadow fell over the heart of Roland, who knew the real situation.
Yesterday, besides his parting instructions, Graham had also revealed a key piece of information.
The so-called Wolf King might have never existed in this region. The true culprit behind everything was very likely the mastermind controlling the Truth Church... the one Avril and Vanessa called the Witch Demon.
’The mastermind behind the Truth Church... a Witch Demon?’
Recalling his experience at Distant Harbor, Roland felt a wave of lingering fear, but also imnse confusion.
He simply couldn’t comprehend the Witch Demon’s true objective.
The Truth Church under its control had successively stirred up turmoil in the Golden Valley Kingdom and the nations of the River Domain. Was it all rely to disrupt the order in these lands?
’Could it be... that this Witch Demon holds so deep-seated grudge against the rulers of those two powers?’
He shook his head slightly, temporarily suppressing these chaotic thoughts, and instead recalled Graham’s strange request from yesterday.
’Why did he want to destroy that Breathing Technique?’
Ever since obtaining the Naless Breathing Technique, Roland had trained diligently day and night without slacking.
During that ti, thanks to his good relationship with Graham, he had been allowed to read other Breathing Techniques in the Knight Academy’s collection, but he hadn’t found any fundantal differences.
Their training thods were all largely the sa, differing only in minor details.
But it was normal for different Breathing Techniques to have variations, so it wasn’t anything special.
’Could the Naless Breathing Technique be a secret art of Graham’s family, which is why he doesn’t want it spreading? But...’
After pondering to no avail, Roland decided to stop dwelling on it and instead assess his current situation.
Graham’s barely-concealed weakness from yesterday was still fresh in his mind, indicating that while his injuries might not be fatal, they were definitely not light.
Not to ntion the other Transcendent, Jia Xiu...
Looking at the Assassin’s face, which was even paler than yesterday, Roland frowned deeply.
To fight a Witch Demon in their current state, not to ntion any potential allies the enemy might have, would an paying a heavy price even in victory.
Besides...
He temporarily pushed aside the worst-case scenario that had surfaced in his mind.
Seeing that the main body of the army had left the camp, Roland turned and walked toward his own tent.
Lifting the tent flap, he saw the Purple-haired Witch, Vanessa, still tirelessly studying the Heartstealer’s head, as if determined to unearth its very last secret.
As for Freddy and Mason...
With Graham having taken a large number of low-ranking officers, the several hundred soldiers left behind in the camp lacked effective managent.
So, Avril had temporarily conscripted the two of them to handle the complicated daily affairs.
"Tress..."
Roland gently tapped the little head of the Pikachu, who was perched on the table curiously observing Vanessa, and asked in a low voice.
"You told last night that you can now accurately sense ssages from your kin. Is that true?"
"Of course!"
Hearing the question, Tress imdiately retracted her inquisitive gaze, turned around, and nodded emphatically.
"And they’re very close! It would only take two days, no..."
As she spoke, Tress’s eyes narrowed slightly and her tiny nose twitched as if she were capturing so invisible scent in the air.
After a mont, she continued.
"It’ll only take one day!"
’One day...’
Roland pondered for only a mont before he imdiately began to pack his bag.
Graham’s departure, coupled with the appearance of the Witch Demon, ant the camp was no longer safe.
Therefore, any hope of leaving this dangerous Land of Mist smoothly had instantly beco a pipe dream.
Rather than passively waiting here for the reinforcents that Graham said Derek would likely send, it was better to take this opportunity to find another way out.
Besides...
Roland quickly calculated in his head as he stuffed the remaining Concentrated Nutrient Potions into his belt pouch.
’Even if Derek really does send reinforcents, how would that army cross the towering mountain range on the outskirts? Although there are still doubts about the Space-Ti Spell Tress ntioned, it’s worth a try regardless. The round trip is only two days, and with Vanessa’s Protective Negative Energy Potions, Ghosts are nothing to fear. Ordinary Demons are no match for , and as long as I’m careful, such a short journey shouldn’t pose any problems...’
Having thought it through, Roland explained the situation to Vanessa.
Unexpectedly, the Purple-haired Witch, who usually loved to be in on the action, was now completely captivated by the Heartstealer’s head.
So, after hearing Roland’s words, she just gave a slight wave of her hand and imdiately threw herself back into her research.
Seeing this, Roland didn’t say anything more.
The journey to find the other Pikachu was very short, so he decided to travel light and go alone.
After quickly saying goodbye to Avril in the tent, to Mason who was buried in paperwork, and to Freddy who was out on patrol, explaining his purpose and expected ti of return, he quietly left the camp, his figure quickly vanishing into the churning gray fog.
Guided by the faint, firefly-like glow of the Pikachu, Tress, Roland made his way through the forest.
Tress’s tiny figure would sotis dance ahead of him and sotis land on his shoulder, guiding him with her voice, which was as fine as a gnat’s buzz yet remarkably clear.
The journey was not an easy one.
But thanks to Roland’s caution and formidable strength, the few Demons that attacked were all easily slain.
After an unknown amount of ti, Tress suddenly stopped moving forward.
"It’s just ahead, Roland!"
Her voice was filled with irrepressible excitent.
Her butterfly-like wings trembled slightly as she flew a little higher, pointing toward a strange area, faintly visible in the haze, whose colors were different from the surrounding gray decay.
"Past those glowing vines is Star Dew Forest! My ho! Can you feel it? That warm breath of life..."
Roland focused his gaze.
The fog ahead seed to be held back and thinned by so invisible force, revealing the outline of an area.
He could indeed feel a faint but distinct energy fluctuation from within, like the first ray of spring sunshine piercing through the cold of winter. It carried a freshness and vitality that was completely out of place in the deathly silent Land of Mist.
After a slight nod, Roland continued to follow Tress’s lead.
And, perhaps because she was about to reach her ho, the tiny Pikachu grew even more lively, chattering incessantly in Roland’s ear.
However, as they drew closer, the "warm breath of life" that Tress had spoken of did not grow stronger as expected.
On the contrary, an indescribable chill quietly crept up Roland’s spine.
The once humid and stuffy air seed to be mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible, sll of decay.
Tress noticed sothing was wrong, too.
Her cheerful humming ca to an abrupt halt. Her tiny body hovered in mid-air, the beat of her wings slowing noticeably, revealing a hint of hesitation and unease.
"Strange," she murmured, her voice full of confusion.
"The Guardian vines... why is their light... so dim?"
Hearing the question in Tress’s voice, Roland didn’t reply, rely tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword.
When he pushed aside the sowhat ssy shrubs in front of them, the sight that t their eyes made Tress let out a tiny, incredulous cry of grief.
Most of the glowing fungi had withered and died, like dust-covered lanterns. The few that remained flickered with a sickly, intermittent, ghostly light.
On the vines twining around the ancient trees, the once-flowing starlight was covered by large patches of dark purple stains, like spots of mold. So parts even showed a dry, scorched, necrotic state.
The stream had beco turbid and viscous, flowing slowly and emitting a faint, foul odor.
There was no cheerful humming in the forest, no sound of soft laughter—only a suffocating silence.
Even the wind seed to have died here.
"No... This is impossible..."
Tress’s voice was on the verge of tears. Her small body trembled with shock and fear, and she almost fell from the sky.
"Star Dew Forest... How could it beco like this? My friends... the Fairy Queen..."
She frantically looked around, trying to find the familiar figures of her kin in the deathly silent woods.
Roland’s eyes, anwhile, were rapidly scanning the blighted forest.
In just a mont, at the base of an ancient tree with bark like silver scales, he discovered a pool of long-congealed, dark-colored... fluid?
He was not unfamiliar with this type of fluid.
"Tress."
Roland’s voice was low and solemn, breaking the suffocating silence.
He slowly drew his longsword, its cold edge glinting nacingly in the dim light.
"It looks like your ho... has run into so trouble."
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