Chapter 1218 Veronica
After checking his physical condition and the situation of his portable space, Hao Ren decided to explore the temple first.
Of course, he was more worried about where Lily had gone - but before that, he had to at least understand where this place was. Judging from various details, he was convinced that he was no longer in space, so where was this temple?
He first checked the stone pillars in the temple and the sculptures between the stone pillars. These things had been seriously damaged. The temples built by mortals cannot compare with the real temples of gods on the founding star. These once solid boulders have been weathered for thousands of years and are now beyond recognition. The patterns on all the stone pillars have been completely eroded away, while the sculptures of heroes or great men have become Most likely only the base remains. Hao Ren stopped in front of a barely well-preserved sculpture. The image of this sculpture was a warrior wearing armor. He was holding a long sword and facing the center of the temple. He raised his head slightly and focused his eyes on the empty place above the hall: Thinking of the other half of the temple that was split off, that should be the location of the suspended pulpit.
The pulpit represents the voice of the gods, so these sculptures should represent the greatest Holy See warriors in history, or some other similar character - Hao Ren reasoned with the logic of a half-hearted clergyman.
Apart from these sculptures and stone pillars, there was nothing more eye-catching in the lower level of the temple. Hao Ren turned around twice and found nothing, and finally he came to the gate of the temple.
After stepping over the remains of a collapsed wooden door, the scenery outside the temple came into view. Although he had made many guesses and assumptions in his mind before, Hao Ren couldn't help but open his eyes wide when he really saw the situation outside. : A vast world, shrouded in chaos.
The temple is located on a mountain, almost completely occupying the top of the mountain. Looking down from the front of the temple, you can see the rugged mountain stretching out at your feet. The farther you go down, the darker it becomes, and the foot of the mountain is almost completely sunken. In the dark. There is no life on the mountain, only the remains of withered and twisted shrubs and black boulders scattered all over the hillside.
Hao Ren tried hard to concentrate, and finally allowed his eyesight to break through the darkness in the distance. He saw a barren wilderness spreading out at the foot of the mountain. The wilderness was covered with twisted plant remains and strange black shadows that could not be discerned, a kind of turbidity. The hazy mist hovered over the wilderness, making it even more difficult to see the distant scenery. And above this desolate land, what is shrouded is boundless darkness and chaos. No sun, moon, stars, or clouds can be seen, only large, shapeless dark patches in a kind of gray-black. rolling against the background, looking like the end of the world is coming.
In any case, this doesn't look like normal "weather" or even any kind of atmospheric landscape that can be seen on the surface of a planet.
"What the hell is this place..." Looking at this weird scenery that definitely didn't look like natural scenery, Hao Ren couldn't help mumbling, but he still breathed a sigh of relief: In any case, this place does look like the surface of the earth, at least it's better than continuing to float in the sky. It's much stronger in space.
If Lily also ended up in this place, there shouldn't be any problem.
And just when Hao Ren was thinking about where to start looking for Lily, a little light that suddenly appeared on the plain at the foot of the mountain caught his attention.
The bright light appeared from the chaotic desolation in the distance, and gradually floated towards the bare stone mountain. Although the light was weak, where the faint light shone, the darkness and mist on the earth seemed to be driven away. Hao Ren After looking carefully, I finally saw a group of figures in the flickering light, and it seemed... there were other things around those figures.
A dozen tired soldiers, broken armor, chipped swords, and the golden battle flag that was almost tattered into a few rags, the once glorious entire squadron of the Talos Royal Guard now only has these little things left, in the golden battle. Under the weak light emitted by the flag, the bright shelter was only a few hundred meters away. As she moved numbly in this hopelessly narrow shelter, Veronica's heart was sinking little by little.
The tragic battlefield in the Shadow Jungle still lingers in my mind like a nightmare. More than two thousand brave veterans died in that bloody meat grinder. Chaos slaves poured out from all directions, devouring precious lives, leaving the noble The knights wailed and died without dignity, and the entire position was covered in stinky blood. The most proud pearl of the kingdom, Princess Veronica, was only able to lead the army in battle for the first time with dozens of relatives. The soldiers broke out in a panic, and now more than half of the dozens of soldiers have been killed or injured, and they are about to be swallowed up by this forgotten dark wilderness.
However, Veronica's biggest worry is not how her defeat on the battlefield will be criticized by the incompetent nobles in the kingdom, nor how her opponents in the kingdom's upper echelons will divide her land and wealth after she leaves. She even She doesn't worry much about her fate. She only thinks about one thing: the largest Chaos lair in the Shadow Jungle has finally broken through the blockade. The Chaos slaves will reach the border of the kingdom in half a month. Who can send an early warning?
Even if only one courier takes advantage of the chaos to break out, at least the bad news should be received at the border. Earlier preparations may save tens of thousands of lives.
However, she was destined to fail in this mission: although she had originally tried to break out and retreat towards the kingdom's border, the twisted fog blockade of the Shadow Jungle had caused her soldiers to go the wrong way. Now it was pointless and absolutely pointless for them to turn back. There is no life for ten deaths, so we can only continue to move forward in this desolate wilderness, following an unreliable record in the ancient royal book, to find that illusory bit of hope.
"The hateful Order State, if their monks hadn't left the battlefield early, we would never have ended up like this."
Beside Veronica, a gray-haired old knight was filled with anger. As he finished speaking, his body shook violently and he almost fell off his horse.
The war horse under the old knight lowered its head and staggered when walking. It seemed that it had been infected with the disease in the desolate wilderness. In fact, almost all the remaining horses in the team were on the verge of running out of fuel: compared with being usable For humans who protect themselves with faith and spiritual tactics, it is often more difficult for animals to survive in chaos. Except for those polluted beasts that already live in lawless zones and are already between monsters and animals, most ordinary animals lose the protection of light. They usually don't survive more than three days afterward.
The light of the golden war flag is now so weak that only the faint light of a candle in the wind is left. The shelter it can provide is not enough for humans, let alone these are just trained military horses. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe today , half of the people in the team will lose their mounts.
If the Holy Mountain cannot be found before then, you can imagine what will happen to a group of mortals trekking in the Realm of Chaos.
"Sir Morian, the monks of the Order State also fought bravely. Their bravery and sacrifice spirit are obvious to all." Veronica shook her head, her long lavender hair lost its former glory due to blood stains. "There must be a reason for their sudden withdrawal - in the realm of chaos, there is more than one shadow jungle on the battlefield."
The old knight lowered his head and said nothing, and no one among the young knights behind the team made a sound.
These are the most loyal soldiers to the kingdom. They have sworn their lives to serve this country many years ago. This kind of loyalty is a trait well known throughout the world of Koro. Even though they were in the current situation under the command of the princess, the respect and obedience of these knights to Veronica has not diminished at all.
In fact, they also know that there is no problem with Veronica's command at all. Even if she changes to a real battlefield veteran, it is unlikely that she can get better results - unexpectedly three times the number of enemies, as well as monks from the Order Country. To retreat in advance, facing this desperate situation, it is no longer a situation that a good commander can reverse.
Veronica looked around. She looked past the scarred soldiers. At the edge of the golden battle flag, she could see countless shadows and twisted black smoke. These things emerged from the mist, as if smelling flesh. They were gathering around like hungry wolves, and she could clearly see their gradually forming entities, but they would not attack yet.
Not yet.
The knights had just repelled an attack an hour ago and burned the remaining magic reserves of the Golden Battle Flag. Now the surrounding fog cannot condense enough and powerful Chaos servants, but as time goes by, The power of the golden battle flag will decline, and the monsters in the darkness will definitely launch a new round of attacks. It's hard to say how many people will be left after this attack.
Veronica raised her head again and looked into the chaotic distance.
All she could see was a hazy fog and the unfathomable darkness behind it. Walking in the wilderness is a hundred times more dangerous than walking in the mountains and forests, because there is no reference around you, and the fog and darkness can make people lose their way quickly. Although she is holding the most advanced traveler's amulet made by the royal alchemist, this The talisman can only provide a general direction and distance guidance.
In this endless darkness and the lack of landmarks in the wilderness, this little guidance can't give much sense of security.
The princess shook her head, trying not to think about whether she had missed the sacred mountain.