Chapter 251: The Kingdom Is in Danger!
In front of the endless wasteland, Achilles stood at the border of the North and looked at the thousands of miles of ice in front of him.
In the darkness without sun, the wind and snow continued to blow, and the road ahead was completely buried by heavy snow, and no traces of the past could be found.
Achilles stretched out his hand, and snowflakes fell on his palm covered with armor.
The snowflakes were neither natural nor magical, and they could not be melted by fire or light.
They were the product of this eternal winter.
The soldiers guarding here gradually became haggard under the erosion of frost, and one of them came to Achilles shivering.
"My lord... It's too cold here. Most of us are from the imperial capital and are not used to the weather in the North. What's more, the North is now in winter..."
The area of the endless wasteland is called the North. It is desolate and there are no mountains or trees around. If you go further across the endless wasteland, you can reach the Pilgrimage Snow Mountain.
The cold wind came from the north, and non-local residents were not used to the climate here, let alone the current situation.
Achilles turned his head, and the soldiers who were camping behind him were all sitting around the fire, covered with thick fur blankets.
Their eyebrows and hair were covered with snowflakes, and some people's faces gradually turned purple.
It was not a solution to defend like this.
But if the Holy Sword took action in the wasteland, with his ability, it would inevitably awaken the ancient gods under the wasteland.
But if the defense line was withdrawn first, it would have to be withdrawn hundreds of miles away.
If those corpse ghosts took advantage of this time to cross the northern border and scatter all over the world, it would be more terrifying than gathering together.
And at this moment, a knight on a black horse suddenly ran back in a hurry!
"My lord, the secret order of the church!"
The knight quickly presented a scroll, and Achilles unfolded the scroll and found two seals of the church and the royal family below.
The Holy Church and the Aaron Empire are bound together, but under normal circumstances, they are two independent and non-interfering political states.
The Church has its own decision-making power and army, and the Empire also has its own decision-making power and army. Only in very rare cases will there be dual decisions by the royal family and the Church.
And this letter was written by the King of Aaron to Achilles.
It begins with this:
"To Lord Zorn Achilles, after the outbreak of the zombie crisis, termites began to gradually grow inside the empire."
"This may not be a new thing for an empire that has existed for nearly seven hundred years, but this time the termites are definitely different from the past."
"I feel that an invisible darkness is infiltrating little by little, even eroding every corner of the empire."
"After just a few dinners, I found that the smell in the city has changed. When I was young, I smelled this smell, the smell of iron and blood."
"But this time the smell is purer, pure to the point of only blood."
"This reminds me of Su The night before Queen Shanna left, she told me about Vampire before she died. "
"I have been unable to sleep in the past few nights, because every time I close my eyes, I can see pale faces and blood-red eyes. "
"I feel those things watching me outside the window, and there are rats everywhere in the wall. I don't think this is an illusion. "
"This kind of uneasiness and fear is more like a warning from my ancestors to me. "
"Perhaps the empire has inadvertently gone to destruction. My most beloved Lord Achilles, the corpse ghost may not be the reason for our destruction. Please return to the capital as soon as possible..."
"After closing the scroll, Achilles closed his eyes.
"After a long time, he glanced at the people around him, "Retreat, let's go back to the imperial capital."
"Internal and external troubles will cause the collapse of even the most powerful fortress.
"Compared to external troubles, internal troubles are the most terrible.
"The corruption of a nation and a country always starts from within.
"But as for the internal troubles of the empire, this is no longer a problem of one day or one night.
"It has been a long time since the country was sick.
" While the soldiers fought desperately on the front line, the nobles and landlords could still sing and dance in peace and enjoy themselves in the back.
In addition, the empire was surrounded by powerful countries, and the military power of the empire was divided many times by the nobles. Some of them were self-reliant and refused to use any of their own soldiers after the war.
As a result, the power of the empire gradually declined year by year, and now it is difficult to support the war with other countries.
If it were not for the existence of Achilles, which made other countries feel cautious, perhaps the Aaron Empire would have been destroyed long ago.
This also became an excuse for those nobles. Regarding the investment in military expenses and troops, they would say, anyway, we have the Holy Sword!
But the current situation is that even Achilles feels powerless.
They are not withdrawing quickly, and Achilles cannot return to the imperial capital alone. He must take care of these soldiers and stay at the rear of the troops to ensure that everyone evacuates.
Otherwise, if he leaves, the corpse ghosts behind will chase him, and it is not certain whether anyone can survive.
This is the will of a wolf pack. A wolf pack, or an army, the wolf king and the generals are always behind, so that they can see everything and take care of the overall situation.
But the situation in the imperial capital is obviously urgent.
Normally, Achilles should return first to protect the king.
But don't forget, he is not a knight of the empire, he is a paladin of the church.
In his opinion, the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people in front of him are more important than the life of the king alone.
His Paladin Code gave him power, but also gave him a layer of shackles.
Part of the power of the Paladin comes from the creed. If the creed is broken, commonly known as breaking the oath, the Paladin will lose the power of light.
It can even be said that if the king does evil, the Paladin should chop off the king's head according to the creed.
And the creed of each Paladin is more or less different, and the number of creeds that need to be adhered to can be more or less.
The more creeds you adhere to, the stronger the ability of the Paladin.
The fewer creeds you adhere to, the weaker you will naturally be.
But on the other hand, the creed is an invisible shackle. The more creeds you have, the more shackles you will be tied to your body.
Now Achilles is like a person tied up with chains all over his body.
Every step he takes, every decision he makes, must follow the creed he has established.
And the number of creeds he adheres to is unprecedented in ancient times!
There are 247 creeds!
It is enough for a normal paladin to stick to the seven creeds.
But in order to gain stronger power...
"Do you miss your uncle, my good nephew?"
At this moment, a sharp and hoarse voice suddenly came from behind!
Hearing this voice, Achilles' eyes fixed, and he saw a skeleton creature wearing a black robe behind him.
Obviously, it was just an undead creature controlled by necromancy.
Achilles stretched out his hand and guided the oath to turn into a sacred golden light attached to his hand.
"You successfully missed an opportunity to sneak attack me."
After saying that, the golden light in Achilles' hand turned directly into a spear, and pierced through the skull of the undead with one blow!
Boom!
The light flashed, and the undead instantly turned into black smoke and dissipated!
And at this moment, a strong north wind came with cold frost!
Large numbers of wights began to walk out in the wind and snow!
Behind them was a group of white walkers on horseback, and the Frost King was among them.
"Have you heard of the absolute characteristic?"
...