CH 129 Black Dragon

Large groups of snowflakes fell from the sky, Ferri III cheered up, he knew it well. The Pennine Mountains crawled like snakes to the west of Bressi——he still called it Bressi. According to the secret knowledge he knew, the Knights Templar would not step there, they dare not go in.

They cunningly occupied the only ancient road to get there. Unless he wanted to lead his knights over the nearly vertical mountain, he could only attack their camp.

"Your Majesty."

The sound of rustling snow came from beside him, Mann moved to his side and reported to him in a low voice.

The situation was very bad. The blood flowing in everyone's body was frozen, and there was no food and they dared not light a fire to expose their positions. If this continued, they would freeze to death in this black pine forest. Mann looked at him, the moonlight fell on the snow, and the reflection of the snow gave his bearded face so coldly calm a look that it was startling.

"We won't be able to enter the extreme north if this continues." Mann said. He was very young, another student of Karl, and the first oath knight handpicked by Ferri III himself. He had a pair of green eyes, making him look like a vicious wolf, "Your Majesty, we must attack."

Ferri III saw the fierceness in his eyes: "They are waiting for us to attack."

"Your Majesty, you are not the only ones attacking." Mann said calmly, "I will lead them away with some good fellows. You put on a disguise and pass through the snow. The problem is that they burned the suspension bridge leading to the ancient road, and you can only jump over from the left, can you do it?"

The problem was not this. Ferri III's face was tense, the snow was still falling on his head, and he was bone-chillingly cold. He only had these knights left, and they have saved him more than once…..He forced himself to speak, his voice was calm: "I will pass as soon as possible. After I pass, you immediately surrender and tell them everything you know."

Mann's green eyes looked at Ferri III.

Ferri III said in a low voice: "This is also an order."

"Then that's how it is, Your Majesty." Mann withdrew his gaze, and turned to look at the bonfire opposite. "We will set off immediately when the dark clouds cover the moon."

Ferri III heard him curse vaguely, and he knew why.

Karl was hanged to death by the head of the Knights Templar wearing silver armor on the gate of their last fortress, and the body had not been even taken down yet——Mann was covering him at that time, gritting his teeth and not letting anyone look back. Now, that commander was in the opposite camp.

Mann made a gesture, and the nearby knights broke up the frozen blood in their veins, held the hilt of their swords with frozen hands, and stood up one by one.

"Mann——"

Ferri III suddenly grabbed Mann's shoulder. His rationality made him lower his voice, but his instinct made his voice a little sharp.

Mann didn't ask why, because he also noticed the sudden change.

A fierce wind, a terrible fierce wind.

Big clumps of snow rolled down from overhead, smashing into the valley overwhelmingly. What happened? Mann wondered, ordering the knights to hold on to the black pine, so as not to be swept downhill by the strong wind. He realized other things faster, and turned his head to look towards the enemy camp. With just one glance, he understood why Ferri III lost his composure just now.

Opposite them, on the hill in front of the ancient extreme north road, flames burst into the sky amidst the fierce wind.

What frightened them was the color of the fire——deep red like blood, it was definitely not a fire that mortals could light. The fierce flames and black smoke mixed together, making people immediately think of blood and sin. What happened there?

Ferri III tried his best to look at the enemy camp through the strong wind. The painful howls of the Templar Knights stationed there broke the ancient silence of the Pennine Mountains. The dark clouds in the sky surged at this moment, covering the moon. The shadows fell, like dark creatures slowly waking up.

"Go! Rush over!"

Regardless of whether it was hell or something else, Ferri III realized that this was an unprecedented opportunity.

Half rolling and half crawling, they rushed past the camp where the Templar Knights were stationed. Those damned guys couldn't even protect themselves at this moment or alone deal with them. They rolled in the raging fire, trying to use the snow to put out the flames on their bodies, but the fire seemed to be attached to their souls and burned together.

Mann covered them at the back, seeing Ferri III jump onto the stone path, he heaved a sigh of relief and prepared to go over too.

There was a sound of wind from behind, and he stabbed back with his sword.

The Templar Knight who rolled out of the flames had his heart pierced by him, and threw himself on him in a last struggle. Immediately the fire also burned on him. In an instant, Mann cried out and fell to his knees.

Ferri III took one last look at Mann who grew up with him, gritted his teeth and led his few knights into the canyon where the stone path passed.

A black figure stood on the peak of the Pennines. He looked down from the height and watched the raging fire.

"A small gift, nothing special."

He said, and then suddenly disappeared from the top of the mountain, and then appeared at the entrance of the ancient road.

Ferri III and his party didn't notice at all that there was such a figure quietly shadowing behind them. They walked in the canyon, taking one step deep and one step shallow. It seemed that after walking for a century, a light appeared in front of them, and they had finally made it out, a strong wind blowing over in an instant.

"We've arrived."

They fell to their knees, almost crying.

The Devil passed through them, and none of Ferri III and the others noticed him. They just stared blankly at the huge ice field in front of them.

On the horizon at the end of the Arctic Ice Field, a light blue full moon hung there, and there was a vast expanse between the sky and the earth. In the distance, there were many jagged giant shadows, and countless ribs were buried like peaks in the thick snow and ice. The primitive atmosphere of the ancient times was everywhere here, and humans in contrast were like ants.

The Devil walked in the snow.

The Devil who was exiled, cursed and deprived of everything wore a black suit and opened a black umbrella. He was as graceful as a fashionably late funeral guest.

"Long time no see, my old friends."

He said, showing a cold smile.

This was the place where the gods were buried. 

………………

Holy Empire, the capital.

The black-clothed friar walked through the long corridor. He smelled heavily of blood. Even for the elders of the Holy Court, the changes during this period were drastic and unfamiliar enough. They had to come out of the monastery, take up account books instead of theological tomes, and give orders instead of preachings.

Unprecedented brilliance, everyone was intoxicated by the brilliance of the Kingdom of God.

The monk in black felt uneasy.

He was not the same as the adjudicators or the Blessed Ones. He was an ascetic monk of the Holy Court. Before accepting the call of the Holy Court, they walked in the harsh wilderness, tempered their bodies with wind and frost, exercised their steadfastness, and gained strength in this kind of suffering. The friar in black was named Letos, and he was different from the others, he was only loyal to the Pope.

"How's the situation?" The Pope was waiting for him in the quiet room.

"The Lowland Alliance has started to build a wharf large enough to carry the godship, and it is expected to be completed in May. The Kingdom of Upper El on the coast of the Hopeless Inner Sea has rejected the request to believe in the Holy Lord, and some of the countries on the east side still believe in local gods. The witches fled to Legrand, and our adjudicators only caught some side branches. Your Holiness, all is not yet at peace."

"It is 'Your Majesty'," the Pope corrected lightly, "We still have many enemies. Although the kingdom is strong, hidden dangers still exist. We still need war. The world only needs one kind of faith, one supreme god."

"We have waged enough wars, where should we swing our swords first, Your Holi…..Your Majesty."

The friar in black hesitated a little. He didn't know whether the one standing in front of him was the familiar Pope Theolde or the emperor of the Holy Empire.

He noticed that the Pope was wearing a golden crown.

"My friend, I remember that you were the one who tried Magill back then." The Pope didn't answer him directly, but instead talked about another incident that had been nearly thirty years in the past.

The friar in black thought for a while before he remembered who the "Magill" the Pope was talking about.

That was a thinker from the Menggamon city-state at the exit of the Hopeless Inland Sea. He once wrote a not-so-famous book "On the Monarch". At that time, the Pope was just a cardinal, responsible for reviewing arguments, and after reading "On the Monarch", the Pope immediately tried Magill in the name of heresy, and obtained the consent of the Council of Elders. "On the Monarch" was burned and listed as a banned book.

The friar in black still didn't understand why a book could make the dignitaries of the Holy Court so vigilant.

The Pope took out a book from the bookshelf, flipped through a page, and handed it to the friar in black: ".....Using military means can attack as small as a city-state or as large as a country. But if one really wants to rule this city-state or country, its original order must be completely destroyed, and the new order must replace it from the root. Otherwise, as soon as it has a chance, it will start a war in the name of freedom or the ancient order."

The friar in black was shocked to find that what the Pope put on the bookshelf to study carefully was "On the Monarch", which was originally listed as a banned book and burned.

"We are establishing the Kingdom of God, so there can only be one faith in the Kingdom of God." The Pope said calmly, "All other old gods should be burned, they are all heresies!"

The black-clothed monk was awed. He felt as if he had touched the core of the Holy Court's efforts for more than a thousand years.

"Completely burn the statues of the old gods. Whether it is the Lower El of the Hopeless Inner Sea or the small countries beside the Abyss Strait, they must either return to the Holy Lord's embrace or be completely conquered." The Pope ordered, with his hands crossed on the scepter, his eyes were cold.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The monk in black crossed himself on his chest, paused, and asked a key question.

"Then, what about Legrand? It is the most powerful and stubborn of all the heretic kingdoms, and it will not sit back and watch the Kingdom of God expand."

"There will be something that will make them too busy to have any extra mind."

The Pope said meaningfully.

………………

Holy Spirit Bay, the secret sanctuary.

A monk in a white cloak held a torch and walked down the winding stairs. There were many reliefs carved on both sides of the stone wall, which were stories about angels, demons and snakes. With the movement of the light of the torch, the shadows thrown on the relief faces changed, the holy and the hideous intertwined, and there was a sense of horror present.

At the end of the sloping dark passage was a heavy black iron gate.

"Password?"

The cold voice sounded like a ghost, coming from above the cave.

"The dragon buries its bones."

The white cloaked monk replied.

After a while of silence, there was the sound of heavy gears rubbing, and the black iron gate in front of the white cloaked monk rose upwards. The cold wind mixed with the scent of blood rushed out from behind the iron gate. Along with the coppery wind, there were the sounds of iron chains clanging, dull scratching noises, and low growls…..some hungry and angry creature was imprisoned——or held in captivity——here.

The monk in the white cloak walked in quietly holding a torch.

Behind the huge black iron gate was a gigantic underground space. An ancient creature was locked by seven iron chains as thick around as buckets.

A huge shadow was cast on the rock wall, and the corpses of cattle, sheep and unknown animals were piled up on the ground, turning this place into a large slaughterhouse. In the middle of the slaughterhouse stood a ferocious and majestic creature.

That was a…..

Black dragon!