Chapter 707 706 Participants in the war are glorified, while bystanders

Chapter 707 706.The participants of the war get the glory, while the bystanders only deserve humiliation

The nightmarish night finally came to an end, and when the sunlight sprinkled down in the early morning hours of the next day, the last batch of defenders evacuating the Black Flame Mountain Pass finally set foot on the road out of this place with mixed feelings.

They had almost brushed shoulders with the Star Realm Rift when it happened.

Just like those jackals who tried to escape the disaster, they also ran in a sorry state before finally arriving at a safe area, and spent three difficult hours in the village of “New Megaworld”, where the Shadow Elves stayed before, and almost witnessed the entire process from the occurrence of the Great Tear of the Astral Plane to its stabilization.

The pale light falling from the sky and the disordered turbulence from the astral plane formed a “waterfall of energy” that descended from the heavens, and this strange scene was destined to be engraved in these people’s memories, and they would not be able to forget last night’s scene until the moment of their deaths.

It was not only a spectacle they witnessed, but also a sign that everything they knew about this land had vanished, and the completely destroyed positions represented the old days gone forever.

All of the soldiers’ memories of Black Flame Pass remained at the moment of its destruction.

Whether they loved it or hated it, it no longer existed.

The warriors left early in the morning with little morale to speak of, and most of them were unusually low, but there wasn’t much time left for them to recuperate.

They weren’t even able to get a short but satisfying sleep; the Valley of the Shadow, which was the second line of defense, couldn’t carry so many people, and the Kadman People’s Army fighters who stayed there could only provide the soldiers with some water and food.

Captain Paula’s blimp was already waiting in the valley.

A large portion of these soldiers evacuated from the Black Flame Pass would be sent directly to the Maginot Defense Line further north in the Filthy Swamp and spend the rest of the Black Plague there.

Yes.

They were not yet free from this accursed war, and the oaths made before the war began had to be honored to the very end.

Worst of all, even the Blood League Knights were currently unable to contact the Blood League Clan headquarters, and after losing Lord Heather’s leadership, even the most staunch members of these vampire societies were at a loss.

It was a good thing that their fellow blood vultures had arranged everything for them.

Treating the wounded, tallying attrition, and regrouping, there was much, much more for them to do next, but that wasn’t a bad thing; the establishment being largely intact meant they could still keep fighting.

It just needed to rediscover the reason to fight.

But that sort of thing .
There was too much for the soldiers who had experienced the attack and defense of the Black Flame Pass, whether it was in the name of carrying on the will of the dead, or in the name of vengeance or guardianship.

Not everyone retreated, of course.

There were others who advanced in the opposite direction as the defenders retreated to the Valley of the Shadow, including several high-ranking commanders of the Clan of Tris and Blood Vulture, the leaders of the various camps in Transylvania, and the Earth Priests of the Silver Dwarves.

These people needed to return to the Black Flame Pass to assess the situation there so that they could prepare for the battle plan afterward.

It is worth mentioning that there are two “new members” among these people who arrived last night.

Major Fraser, who had returned to the battlefield on behalf of the Kingdom of the Golden Sparrow, and General Baldwin, who had personally come to the front line.

The former already had plans to return to the front line, while the latter, after receiving the news of the fall of the Black Flame Mountain Pass, had practically braced himself on his flying mount all the way to leap over the Filthy Swamp and arrive here at dawn.

For General Baldwin, the fall of Black Flame Pass was too sudden, and it almost disrupted all his plans for the Black Plague.

He had to see the Black Flame Pass for himself.

For Colonel Frazier, the journey was more or less too much.

For he had lost one of his subordinates and one of his friends, Major Dunn Hopper had died heroically last night in the final battle of Black Flame Pass, and his close friend, Major Ron, had been seriously wounded and had been taken back to the field hospital at the Maginot Line just two hours before.

Only half of the 5,500 men of the Canary Kingdom Pioneer Battalion that had been deployed at Black Flame Pass had survived, a terrible loss of life that had made it necessary for him, as the Pioneer Commander, to come to the position for all the right reasons.

Not just to mourn, but also for the military questioning he would surely face afterwards.

He had to complete a battlefield report in the shortest possible time and submit it to his superiors as well as to King Louis, who was far away in the Misty City.

There were not many words exchanged along the way, and all of them, including Tris, were in a bad mood, even though they had confirmed that the Split Claw Clan’s army had been wiped out, but it still could not be considered a victory.

“It’s right here! Can’t go forward.”

As Tris’ carriage stopped at a hilly plateau three kilometers from the Black Flame Pass, Archduke Tris warned the others:

“The tainted spiritual energy from the Great Tear of the Star Realm has stirred up the spiritual energy environment ahead, and the spiritual energy here has always been unstable now that it’s been hit, God knows what kind of bizarre things will happen in front of us. Taking the Star Realm Tear suffered by Cadman City six months ago as a reference, this place is unsuitable for any life to approach for at least the next half a month.

We have planned to prepare a large amount of alchemical kerosene in the vicinity, and after the concentration of filthy spiritual energy decreases, we will follow the example of the cleanup operation in Cadman City, and burn the entire ruins of the mountain pass with flames.

However, I hope you can understand that the already complicated terrain of the Black Flame Mountain Pass coupled with the underground pits dug out by the dog-heads and rat-men in it makes this place definitely one of the most dangerous areas on the continent even after it is restored.

Last night’s tearing of the astral world not only threw the dangerous forces of the material world into the astral world, it likewise ‘threw’ some things from the astral world in.

Colonel Fraser should understand this.

After all, you are the only Outlander of all those present to have seen the ruins of Cadman City with your own eyes.”

“Well, I can understand the dangers involved.”

The gaunt Colonel Fraser rode atop a warhorse, his four guards looking around warily, while the others spread out individually, observing the Black Flame Pass in their own way.

But to be honest, from this position one could only see the dark smoke-filled sky and earth ahead, and even at dawn when the sun’s spiritual energy was most active, the sunlight was unable to penetrate the smoky haze there.

And the traces of the sky being torn above the dome of the sky were as memorable as the creation of the Star Realm in Transylvania, the purple-black crack like a demon’s open mouth could be seen at the top of the dimly lit dome of the sky, like a shocking scar.

Huge purple-black dirty spiritual energy continuously escaped from it, like black snow sprinkled in the smoke haze below.

The entire mountain pass and even the battlefield area was shrouded in such a depressing scene.

On the ground position, all the remnants were covered with an uncomfortable black curtain, and nothing of value could be seen at all with the naked eye, but the more it was like this, the more ugly General Winter Wolf’s expression became.

He himself had inherited the family tradition of being a rather outstanding winter psychic.

Even though most of the time the general didn’t need to juggle psionic spells himself, his professionalism was still there.

With the perception of a psychic master, he could clearly feel the chaotic and filthy power entrenched in the position in front of him, and from such a distance, the filthy psychic energy remaining on the battlefield was still affecting the mind.

That was only the majesty left behind after the dissipation of the most dangerous wave of disordered turbulence from the Great Tear of the Astral Realm, and if such a power appeared over the Crimson Fortress, his fortress really wouldn’t be able to stop it.

The Transylvanians had created this before their eyes.

These guys could already use the heavenly plague-like Astral Realm Rip as a weapon, and from that perspective, being able to force the Transylvanians to unleash such a terrifying destructive power at the cost of destroying the Black Flame Mountain Pass would also be a side proof of the ferocity of this Black Plague.

“Are all the Splintered Claw Jackals dead?”

General Baldwin asked.

This time it wasn’t Tris who answered him, but Maxim, who had completed the Silver Trial and was a much stockier and more general-like figure, and the monster general whispered:
“The Astral Tear does not kill every living thing within its effective range, Lord Baldwin, it is not essentially a ritual for destruction, but we are certain that during the ten minutes or so of the Astral Tear’s most violent energy clash last night, most of the Splintered Clawed Jackal’s surface members were either annihilated by the clash of psionic energies, or were caught up in the Astral Realm.

There should still be some Splintered Claw Jackals within the confines of the Black Flame Pass, but even if they survive, the underside of their carapace will be filled with the fear and confusion brought on by the tainted psychic energy.

The longer they stayed in this area, the more they would be affected. There is no need to worry about their fate.

The astral beasts still roaming this wasteland at this time will take care of them for us, however, the dangerous things that were thrown into the material world in the astral tear will be a new nuisance.

If we intend to reclaim this place in the future, then a massive cleanup will be imperative.”

“It will dissipate, won’t it?”

Colonel Duke, General Baldwin’s adjutant, asked:

“So, after some time, this will still be a path for the Jackals to advance? Now that all the defense positions have been leveled, it means that we won’t be able to snipe the Jackals’ army here.”

“It’s worse than that!”

The Silver Dwarf architect who had completed his measurements with earth spells, Eirich Umm Battleheart, came over with his surveying cane, and this same haggard looking old Dwarf shook his head and said:

“The entire Black Flame Pass has had a third of its soil swept away by the Astral Rip, equivalent to the volume of a small island, which means that after the tainted psychic energy dissipates, the originally towering pass will be transformed into a ‘flat’ thoroughfare with a few simple repairs.

The jackals didn’t even need to climb the mountain to pass through the Black Flame Mountain Pass.

The earth veins in this vicinity were completely polluted by the tainted spirit energy, Mother Goddess Gaia had lost this sacred land forever, and the effectiveness of our spells here would be greatly weakened.

Worse yet, part of the complex underground structure of the Black Flame Mountain Pass was preserved, and it was hard to tell what was in there now and what would appear later.

From the perspective of war, the Black Flame Mountain Pass had completely lost its significance of existence.

But the biggest problem was that the Valley of Shadows was not a suitable terrain for defense, not only did it lack depth but its exterior had never undergone a large-scale war transformation, trying to rely on the weak terrain there to stop the Jackals was simply not feasible.

If the Black Flame Pass can’t hold them off, it’s only a matter of time before the defenses of the Valley of the Shadow are breached, and then the Jackals will cross the Filthy Swamp to reach directly under the Maginot Line and the Crimson Fortress.”

Ilych glanced at General Baldwin, who had a hard look on his face, and he whispered:

“The Transylvanians have been preparing for war, and I absolutely believe in their determination to resist the Jackals, but from what I’ve observed, the preparations for the Crimean Fortress leave something to be desired. Especially with the presence of ratlings in the opposing camp, can you withstand an attack launched from underground?

No.

Let me put it another way, have you considered that the enemy will take this type of attack?
You have to realize that the original tactic of preventing the Dogmen from digging up the ground for a surprise attack no longer works, and that the Ratmen are more than ten times as much of a threat as the Dogmen in this regard!
Perhaps the ratmen are digging that way even now as we speak, just as we have been unaware of their infiltration of the Black Flame Pass.”

“Please don’t render such frivolous threats! Master Ilych!”

Colonel Duke retorted:
“Her Majesty’s Wolf Girl’s warriors do not fear any strange foe, and the Crimson Fortress is not so easily breached.”

“You can tell yourself that, of course, but the danger won’t go away just because you ignore it.”

The old Dwarf, who was in some kind of “state of stress” because of the fall of the Black Flame Pass, immediately choked back as if he had eaten gunpowder:

“Instead of scolding me so loudly here, you’d better hurry back to reinforce the defense line, you Nord cowards! The calculating Goldfinch has already bled in the Black Flame Pass, but I have never seen a single Nord who boasts of his bravery appear here.

You’re shrinking your balls when these brave warriors need them most.

If the great hero king who conquered the Great Wilderness saw his descendants like this, he would absolutely crawl out of his coffin in anger and strangle each and every one of you!”

“Master, don’t get excited.”

Maxim stepped forward to hold down the agitated Ilych, who glanced at the silent General Baldwin and said:
“My master used to say that those far-off calamities are nothing but dull stories to the indifferent until the real tragedy is turned into a punch in the face.

But after seeing the end of the Black Flame Pass with my own eyes, I think that Her Majesty, the Wolf Woman, will also take her mind off the political struggles at home for a while.

There are already more important things at hand than stabilizing the throne.”

He looked again at the silent Colonel Fraser and said in an aggravated tone:

“Of course, King Louis is no different, and if your Marshal Loren still thinks his pioneering fortress is stronger than the Black Flame Pass by now, we Transylvanians wouldn’t mind letting a unit of jackals through so we can try your success.

The Maginot Line needs real soldiers!

Next time if you still send criminals, then you’ll have to taste all the bitter fruits yourselves.

Transylvania will be the first to die, but then it will be you!”

“Someone’s coming.”

Just as Maxim angrily rebuked the crowd, Phimis, who was hanging in the air to collect the situation, pointed to the sky and shouted.

The crowd tilted their heads up to see a group of guys on messy flying mounts crossing the smoke haze in the sky in great numbers, and were flying down this way. It was the hundreds of players who had departed from Fort Courage, and the one at the head was clearly His Excellency, the Governor of Transylvania.

Murphy saw the crowd below and Tris in the crowd at a glance.

He gathered his wings and flew down quickly, embracing and kissing his girlfriend in front of everyone.

But almost no one was paying attention to these two vampire badass couples who were still spreading dog food at this hour, everyone’s eyes were on the players landing at the back.

Brother Woo Meow and his crew were leaning on several tattered and torn Splintered Claw Chief battle flags, while Happy Stick was holding a glass box containing a severed head that had been processed by the Avalonians.

The most screwed up of all were Brother Fortune Jr. and the student party.

They flew over in a wobbly flight with a jackal-style chieftain’s throne suspended in the air by seven chains, and a “keep out” flag on the back of a scorpion lion’s saddle.

After these players landed on the ground, Master Qin, who was carrying a huge chainsaw sword, strutted up to General Maxim and handed over a set of blood-stained jackal chief’s battle armor with both hands.

He shouted out:
“The Cardman People’s Army raiders report to you! Your Excellency General, the Great Chief of the Split Claw Clan, Potana Split Claw, has been killed by us, and the culprit of the Black Flame Pass disaster has been put to death! The spirits of the dead will be comforted!
We have won.

It was a tough win, but we persevered to the end and punished those self-righteous ones severely.”

“Hats off to you all! Warriors.”

The anger in Maxim’s heart dissipated a bit at the sight of the captures, and he took Chief Potana’s gauntlet from Master Chin and swept back a glance at Colonel Frazier and General Baldwin.

The monster of Transylvania stepped forward with an expressionless face and handed the chief’s battle helmet to Frazier and the rest of the gauntlets to Baldwin.

He said:

“Take it to your king and ask for credit! You can have your share of the victory that the Transylvanians have sacrificed to gain, but next, if you still want it, then reach out and take it for yourselves, like a man!”

“Enough!”

Colonel Duke couldn’t stand to watch any longer.

He stepped forward to chide this extremely rude insult, but was met by General Baldwin reaching out and holding his arm down.

General Winterwolf glanced at the bloodstained battle armor in his hands, he sighed, looked in the direction of Black Flame Pass, and said:
“You will see us in the next war.”

(End of chapter)