After Becoming The Tyrant CH 178 Dawn Rose
The far north wasteland used to be a vast snowfield, but now it was an ice-free black sea.
The temperature was so horribly low that the witches had to cast spells on themselves to prevent the hot breath from their mouths and noses from freezing on their faces, but the sea water did not freeze at all. The black sea water surged, making a gurgling sound that enveloped people in it. The shattered white spray of the waves became the only embellishment of this strange black sea.
The sea water surged endlessly, the ebb and flow irregular.
The witches rode on their brooms, increased their distance, and looked down from high in the sky.
High in the sky, they finally discovered something suspicious. The seawater seemed to be flowing in one direction, and the waves were scattered like a huge whirlpool. Following the direction of the arc of the waves, they flew forward. The sound of the sea water became louder and louder, and finally it became rumbling like continuous thunder.
Here, the whole world was only sea water.
A large whirlpool thousands of meters wide, from which seawater continued to fall, like falling into a dark, bottomless abyss. The wind blew upward from the center of the vortex, carrying water vapor, forming a tornado that was difficult to approach. The rules of nature have no effect here.
The witches took out their wands, and light emitted from the top of the wand, forming a six-pointed star in mid-air. The witch leader stood up from her broom, stepped on the lines of the hexagram, and walked in the void above the whirlpool, the wind blowing her black robe. The witch leader held the ice sphere with a black snake sealed in her left hand, and an ink bottle carved from dragon bone in her right hand.
She moved forward step by step, and the tornado was separated by invisible force in front of her.
When she arrived at the center of the whirlpool, the ice sphere held by the witch leader's left hand floated upwards and quickly grew in size in the wind. The black snake that was sealed inside began to dissipate, turning into densely packed Laws written in ancient divine script.
The witch leader opened the dragon bone ink bottle. A trace of sticky blood flew up from it and seeped into the ice crystal ball. The blood gathered and twisted like a snake, forming new words one after another, writing a new Law after the incomplete Law.
After the last word of the Law was formed, the witches could no longer maintain the formation, the light was interrupted, and the witch leader fell towards the abyss in the center of the vortex. A witch quickly flew over on a broom, grabbed her hand, and dragged her out of the whirlpool with difficulty.
The circling wind pillar collapsed and disintegrated in an instant, and the violent wind swept in all directions.
The witches were blown far away by the storm, and it was almost impossible to see the whirlpool in the sea.
Bright light rose from the sea, and the witches put on special glasses and looked in the direction of the whirlpool. The witch leader saw that the ice sphere handed to her by the King had now become extremely huge, like the moon falling from the sky to the sea. And this moon just landed in the whirlpool on the sea surface, filling the entire whirlpool.
White light began to spread out in all directions from the center of the vortex filled with the ice sphere. The black sea surface was covered with ice at an alarming speed, and snow began to fall from the sky. Faintly, the chaotic and violent power filling the world's northernmost point was being quickly calmed down.
The witch leader finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The new Law was exerting its force.
From now on, the last door connecting the dusty kingdom of gods to the human world had been completely sealed.
………………
The crow carried the letter and arrived at Yoringshire City with the moisture of the sea water.
The patiently waiting King stretched out his hand and took the letter from the crow's leg, which came from the vast arctic ice field on the other side of the Abyss Strait. After quickly scanning the letter from the witch leader, the King folded it and threw it into the fireplace.
"Let's go."
The King stood up and said to the Head of the Households who was waiting aside.
According to the plan, the King would now visit the injured soldiers in person.
At this time, when the sun was just breaking, people in the city could hear the sound of huge stones thrown by trebuchets hitting the towers and city walls. In the midst of the rumbling, without riding a horse or riding a carriage, the King walked through the streets of Yoringshire City. Early risers and patrolling soldiers met him and saluted him, and he nodded in response.
A girl, encouraged by her mother, ran across the street to the King and held up a small basket full of roses to the King.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The girl raised her head to look at the King, who was about the same age as her brother.
"May the past kings protect Legrand."
"May the past kings protect Legrand."
The King said, taking a rose with morning dew from the flower basket and pinned it on his collar.
"Go share it with them, my good lady."
The patrolling guards wearing armor passed by here. When they saw the King, they stopped and raised their swords to show respect. The girl looked at the King, then at her mother who was smiling at her, and ran towards the guards with the flower basket. Between the sky and the earth, the morning light was dim. The patrolling guards hurriedly took the flowers handed by the girl and solemnly pinned them on their armors.
It was not just a rose, but a badge of glory.
"Let's go."
The King said to the Head of the Households.
There was nothing better than this.
The Head of the Households looked at this scene and vaguely understood the King's intention of choosing to walk.
The rumbling and roar of artillery fire during this period were all too familiar to the people of Yoringshire City. The Holy Army of the Holy Land led by Theolde himself and the Holy Army of the Border coming up through the Doma River spread out from the east and west and surrounded the city of Yoringshire. Since the city was founded, this was the largest siege it had ever faced.
Relying on the King's early preparations, the food distribution system formulated in advance, and the good news from the southeast being broadcast every day, the atmosphere in the city of Yoringshire, which was laid siege by such a large army, was actually quite good.
In the bar, the clown with paint on his face made up a cheerful song and sang while juggling colored balls. In the song, he "praised" the Holy Army for thinking highly of Yoringshire and treating it as the center of the world. This was the supreme glory of Yoringshire City...and so on. Some of it was the work of clowns and mischievous rascals themselves, and some it was difficult to say that there was not a sign of the King's own handiwork behind the scenes as well.
No matter what, with the blessing of the past kings, the people of Yoringshire City remained positive and optimistic in the face of nearly 100,000 troops.
On the contrary was the atmosphere of the Holy Army outside the city.
In war, siege had always been a matter of time and patience. If the besieged castle was strong enough and the defenses were strong enough, then the attacking party could often only wait for the defending party to run out of food before they could win. Sometimes, it was not uncommon for a siege to last for a year or two.
Unfortunately for the Holy Army, Yoringshire City was such a military fortress.
Don’t know where Legrand found such insane architects to have frantically armed the castle to the teeth, but the towers on the city wall were strategically placed, and the archery holes were precisely calculated. The firepower pouring down from the city wall was like a heavy rain without any gaps. Legrand was not at all ashamed of the title of "heresy" that the Holy Court had stamped on them, gleefully building a batch of crossbows that were expressly prohibited by the Holy Court.
When soldiers holding crossbows fired sharp arrows at the siege soldiers from the archery holes, a true nightmare fell on the attackers.
When the Holy Army soldiers were hiding in the siege tower and approaching the city, Legrand's soldiers poured bucket after bucket of green liquid down the city wall. At first, the Holy Army soldiers were relieved to see that it was not boiling oil, but they soon discovered that the green liquid poured down by the Legrand soldiers was horribly corrosive. Once it got on the wooden siege tower, it immediately became corrosive, eating through it in huge chunks. The soldiers all fell from mid-air into the moat filled with sharp gravels, their flesh and blood mutilated beyond recognition.
Because of this "green liquid" that was like a secret weapon, the Holy Army firmly believed that Legrand had truly surrendered to evil and darkness.
The officers of the Holy Army sent people to risk their lives to collect some of the green liquid. They studied it in the command post for a long time, but they still could not tell what these things were.
In fact, this must be attributed to a group of people who were also in Yoringshire City at this time.
They come from Legrand’s No. 1 Pathological Research Department——referred to as the “Lunatic Hospital.”
"The ratio doesn't feel right. Who wants to come over and do another experiment?"
"Let's try adding these two together."
"No, the corrosiveness is too high and ordinary materials cannot withstand it..."
……
In a hospital temporarily converted from a monastery, researchers in white robes moved quickly with various strange experimental subjects. In the hospital yard, buckets of dark green liquid were neatly arranged. The city guards came and went, carefully transporting these things from the hospital on trolleys.
When the Head of the Households accompanied the King into the territory of these lunatics, even though it was not the first time, he still subconsciously felt his scalp go numb and like he was being surrounded by a group of dangerous madmen.
The original Legrand No. 1 Pathology Research Department was established on an uninhabited island not too far from the port of Koszoya. After the fall of Koszoya, the King immediately ordered them to withdraw from the southeast coast as quickly as possible. The Pathology Research Department had gathered almost all the elite biomedical talents in Legrand. Each of these people was important assets to Legrand.
It was worth mentioning that the researchers at the Lunatic Hospital regarded their research results and various experimental subjects as their treasures, and almost failed to withdraw because they were reluctant to part with these samples and data. In the end, thanks to the new witches who joined the research department, they solved the problem with their own witchcraft and flying broomsticks.
Under the protection of the witches, some researchers returned to the city of Metzl, where the Rose Palace was located, with experimental samples, materials, etc., while others brought other things to the city of Yoringshire——an excellent pharmacist often could also play another role, and knowledge that had been ignored in the past now made its first reveal on the battlefield at this time.
The green liquid that the officers of the Holy Army could not identify was the masterpiece of this group of researchers.
After the King and the Devil killed the lord of "greed and ill-gotten wealth", the batch of gold coins guarded by the lord were sent to the royal family's warehouse. The gold coins were covered in green, highly corrosive and unknown sludge. Adhering to the principle of "making the best use of everything", the King had people collect the green sludge when cleaning the gold coins.
After the Legrand First Institute of Pathology was established, the King sent part of the liquid to the institute.
The researchers at the Lunatic Hospital have really lived up to their expectations and soon produced some results. Using the uniquely corrosive mucus from the hell lords as raw materials, they formulated a new liquid weapon that was highly effective against siege equipment, and nicknamed it "greedy drool".
Except for this part of the work that was not as appropriate for putting on the surface, the Lunatic Hospital with its "Pathology Research Department" signboard was also a serious hospital. In this era when military doctors on the battlefield generally serve as chaplains, this was undoubtedly a very rare and favorable condition.
Although the defense of the city was successful, there were still many injured soldiers.
Some had their legs broken by rubble when a huge boulder hit the city wall, and some were injured while repelling enemies who climbed onto the city wall. The injured soldiers defending the city were immediately replaced and brought to this rather sinister-looking hospital.
The main hall of the monastery was modified and filled with hospital beds.
"Gentlemen, please be calm. Anyone who wants to sneak out before fully recovered is waiting to be thrown into a bucket by me." The head of Legrand's First Pathological Research Department, dressed in a white robe, and who had severe germophobia, the pharmacist Duna led a young man with an ashen face and walked in quickly.
In addition to the somewhat unusual research fields, the medical skills of the members of the Pathology Research Department were undoubtedly outstanding. Under the strict requirements of their germ-obsessed director, the cleanliness of the hospital was far superior to that of ordinary clinics. There was no place here for a poultice made from newborn puppies mixed with laurel earthworms.
However, the fact that the mortality rate of the wounded was so low was not only due to the lunatic hospital's emphasis on sterilization and disinfection, but also to a certain group of people. The witches. Some very serious injuries were actually cured by the witches' potions.
The injured soldiers were surprised to find that their wounds recovered much more smoothly than expected, and the wills they wrote were almost useless. The only thing they were not used to was that the people in this hospital, from top to bottom, were a bit germophobic and odd.
If possible, everyone would be eager to leave here as soon as possible.
Seeing the young man who failed to "escape", the other wounded lying in the hall couldn't help laughing happily.
The young soldier who was laughed at had a grimace on his face and could not utter a word under the pharmacist's torrential curses.
However, he soon became happy again. It could be said that he was almost overjoyed.
Because the King walked in from the entrance of the hall——His Majesty actually came to visit the injured soldiers in person.
Everyone's laughter stopped in an instant, and the wounded couldn't believe their eyes. Near the door, a soldier was so excited that he forgot about his injuries, getting off the bed and wanting to salute the King.
"Lie down, my good sir."
The King held his shoulders and said in a half-joking tone.
"I don't want to see my soldiers, who were not taken away by the enemy's arrows, end up losing their lives for a harmless courtesy."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The soldier replied excitedly.
The pharmacist stepped forward and led the King past the hospital bed, while telling the King the cause of the injuries of the wounded, the current level of treatment, recovery level, and possible side effects. The King listened patiently, and occasionally asked the soldiers' names.
"Recover well, Legrand will remember you."
After making a round, the King looked around and raised his voice.
"For the glory of Legrand!"
The wounded responded in unison.
……………………
Time passed as both sides attacked and defended. The autumn chill became more and more intense, and winter seemed to be creeping up at any time.
The war had come to a stalemate.
The Holy Army cut off all connections between Yoringshire City and the outside world, and Yoringshire City's weapons and food supplies were also rapidly decreasing. But the Holy Army could not gain further victory. On one occasion, they successfully dug down a tower of Yoringshire Castle. But when they got up the next day, they found that the Legrand people had repaired the tower overnight.
As time passed, Legrand's soldiers were encouraged by the good news in the southeast, and their morale did not drop. Some of the wounded wanted to fight on the city wall again before they fully recovered——if the researchers at the Lunatic Hospital weren't so aggressive, they might have done so.
Unlike them, the morale of the Holy Army outside the city was low at this time.
The wells near the camp were poisoned by the Legrandians, so they had to go to great lengths to transport fresh water from the Doma River. In addition, the surrounding food and supplies have been transported by the Legrand people in advance, and it was impossible to supply an army of so many people simply by relying on food plundered from the countryside. Previously, the arrival of the Holy Army of the Border was equivalent to opening a road for the Holy Army to transport food from the Doma River. The food was transported from the ports on the east coast of the Abyss Strait through the fleet of the Holy Army of the Border, temporarily alleviating the Holy Army's military pressure.
The problem was that after Ferri III rebuilt Bressi, he took back control of their grain transportation ports and completely cut off their grain transportation routes from the source.
Food ration was the life of an army. After Bressi's restoration and the news that the port had been captured reached the Holy Army, it caused an uproar. Except for the Knights Templar who were directly affiliated with Pope Theolde himself, the other commanding officers who participated in the Holy Army movement were more concerned about supplies than the siege of Yoringshire itself.
——The current situation was really not optimistic for them.
They were in desperate need of food.
According to Theolde's order, the Holy Army of the Sea coming from the southeast and north of Legrand was the most dissatisfied. They believed that Theolde's decision caused the Holy Army to lose all the victories it had originally achieved. Their sacrifices in the southeast became meaningless and their gains were in vain.
The situation of the Holy Army of the Holy Land, which was directly commanded by the Pope, did not seem to be much better.
In addition to the main force of Bressi's old nobles who were destroyed in the Battle of Douro City, the Holy Army of the Holy Land also consisted of minor nobles and wandering knights who were trying to climb the big tree of the Holy Court. They had followed the Knights Templar from the beginning. After landing at Porto Port, they passed through the Mason Hills and over the Kava Mountains and were already somewhat exhausted from the long journey. The knights who were lucky enough not to lose their horses during the journey had to bear the pain and slaughter their horses for food.
Legrand had basically chopped down the nearby wood in advance, and the only small amount of wood left was collected in order to make siege equipment. There was insufficient firewood, and it was even difficult for the soldiers to roast raw meat and dry food rations until it was soft. The treatment of ordinary infantrymen was even worse. They had to catch rats and wild dogs in the fields and eat weeds to feed themselves.
In this case, some soldiers began to sneak away at night. But food shortages and desertion were not the most serious problems for the Holy Army.
——Right now, the most troublesome thing was the sudden conflict between the Holy Army of the Holy Land, the Holy Army of the Sea and the Holy Army of the Border.
The Holy Army of the Border was responsible for blocking the waterway in Yoringshire City. In addition, it also assumed the responsibility of transporting food from the port of Herid City to Yoringshire City. When Ferri III recaptured the Holy Empire's food transport ports, the Holy Army's maritime lifeline was cut off. The situation of the Holy Army of the Border was better than that of the Holy Army of the Holy Land. They at least had food rations prepared by themselves.
Seeing that their ally could still have bread to eat, but they had to chew unpalatable raw horse meat and even rat meat, the Holy Army of the Holy Land and the Holy Army of the Sea became more and more anxious day by day. Many knights with violent personalities accused the Holy Army of the Border of intercepting the food that should have been theirs. Faced with this accusation that came out of nowhere, the Holy Army of the Border, who had been diligently working as a transport worker for a period of time but ended up being suspected of ill practices, was particularly angry.
If time went on like this, the desertion of soldiers caused by hunger was only a small problem. What was more serious was that it was likely to cause the alliance to break up and everyone to turn against each other.
When Theolde was examining the finally completed defense structure diagram of Yoringshire City in the main tent, Sisian lifted the curtain and walked in with a worried look on his face.
"They have started fighting."
Sisian reported.
Theolde marked a spot on the map without looking up, seeming as if he wasn't worried about it at all. During this period of time, Theolde had turned a blind eye to the commotion of the soldiers below. Sisian didn't know exactly what he planned.
"The fight between several Bressian knights and the border knights has been stopped." Sisian was clearly extremely anxious, "But... Your Majesty, food is a problem. And..."
"Tell me, the rest of the bad news."
Theolde spoke calmly. He stood up straight and looked at the drawings.
"There are rumors that Holy Spirit Bay was captured by the Nujin Empire."
Sisian carefully formed his words.
This news came from the Legrandians. The news was written on a piece of cloth and tied to the sharp arrows shot by the Legrand soldiers. After learning about this, Sisian quickly sent people to destroy the pieces of cloth and strictly prohibited the spread of rumors. But what made him suspicious was that if this matter was true, then the Holy Army should have known about it earlier than Legrand.
Unless……
Someone in the Holy Army blocked this news.
In the Holy Army, there was only one person who could do this.
And that was Theolde.