Chapter 1316: Chapter 1315: Lone Army Charging...?

The smoke obscured the vision, and the sound of metal and rock breaking could be heard sporadically coming from deep within some nearby structures or artificial ground. Accompanying these breaking sounds were the continuous vibrations emanating from deep beneath the ground—this astonishingly large fortress, though it had already crashed to the ground, was like the death of a giant beast. Its overly massive and bloated body still required a long time to collapse before reaching a stable state. Before that, the "death throes" of this colossal body might last for several days or even months.

Queen Belsetia and Yilian left the now completely collapsed central palace. They trekked across the slanted and broken ground, crossing the ruins of buildings and remnants of magical weapons that were billowing thick smoke. They had several encounters with roaming aberrations, but never again met enemies that had discipline and knew how to cooperate. The situation might be as Queen Belsetia guessed: the massive energy shock released when the Sacred Stars Temple crashed destroyed the "psychic link" between the aberration Legion in this area, turning these enemies, who knew how to fight in groups, back into mindless monsters. This was undoubtedly good news.

Of course, Queen Belsetia had thought of another, even better possibility—that perhaps the highest commander of the enemy forces in this area was incredibly unlucky and happened to be within the area where the temple crashed, and now became just a smear of dirt in the deepest part of these ruins...

But she also knew that this was most likely just her wishful thinking. The commanders behind these monsters were obviously very cunning and cherish their lives. They had the ability to command frontline regiments across a vast battlefield, so there was no need to charge at the front with these cannon fodder. Moreover, in previous battles, the soldiers at the front line had never seen anyone resembling an "officer" among the swarming monsters—so the controllers of these monsters were most likely still lurking deep in the wasteland, planning their next offensive.

She really wished to know what their expressions were like when they saw the Sacred Stars Temple descending from the sky.

Queen Belsetia shook her head, temporarily setting aside these irrelevant associations. She heard a peculiar rumbling coming from deep beneath her feet, and immediately after, a certain facility not far ahead suddenly collapsed. The ground nearby cracked open with creaking noises, followed by a series of flashes and explosive smoke rising from the crack.

She knew this was the "twitching" that continued after the death of the "giant beast" beneath her feet, just like the tremors of muscles after a flesh-and-blood body dies. Although the main system of the temple had been completely shut down, many structures in its deepest and anciently complex chambers were still undergoing their final operations. It was just unknown how long this process would ultimately last.

A low, chaotic growl and whispering sound emanated from the depths of a thick smoke plume far away, interrupting the slight melancholy rising in Queen Belsetia’s heart, and causing her and Yilian to simultaneously slow their pace.

They quickly hid themselves behind a nearby boulder, vigilantly watching the billowing smoke that emerged from a certain ventilation duct. Several heavy footsteps echoed from the smoke, and the continuous low growl and chaotic whisperings grew closer.

Queen Belsetia carefully counted her heartbeats. Upon the twelfth beat, she saw those tall and twisted figures, monsters with mud-like flesh flowing all over them, staggering out of the smoke, swaying their ugly heads aimlessly as if sniffing for the scent of the living that had just appeared here.

Queen Belsetia quickly exchanged a glance with her personal maid, agreeing on a battle plan without the need for words. In the next second, a figure wielding Twin Swords charged out from their hiding spot. In mid-air, flashes of electricity appeared, and two sharp arcs suddenly streaked across Yilian’s charging trajectory—an aberration at the front had almost no time to react before being sliced into three pieces—a sword severing the head, a sword cutting the waist.

The Twin Swords in the golden-haired elf’s hands blossomed like flowers, slashing towards the second enemy at near sonic speed. Yilian’s figure spun at the center of the Steel Flower, while the aberration, realizing the assault, let out chaotic howls, lunging one after another towards that suddenly brightened life aura in their perception—but in the next second, Ice Cones, like a rainstorm, appeared out of thin air, crashing down onto the aberrations that could no longer evade.

The filthy, flowing flesh was nailed to the ground by the Ice Cones, and the subsequent extreme cold froze and slowed down the monsters’ massive bodies. Yilian danced through the gaps between ice blades and cold winds, the charged longswords reaping the dying monsters one by one.

An aberration located at the edge of the battlefield broke free of the Ice Cones’ restraints at the last moment. The monster raised its arm high, a dark red beam of energy quickly forming in its hand, aiming at the vulnerable spot on Yilian’s back. But a Longsword flew through the air, wielded by an invisible Magic Hand, instantly severing the monster’s arm, slicing away its remaining limbs before it could recover. Finally, the Longsword soared high before swiftly plunging down, accompanied by a loud bang, nailing the monster dead to the blood-soaked ground from its head to its chest.

At this moment, Yilian’s final strike also happened to complete the final harvest. Within just a few tens of seconds, the chaotic howls emitted by several aberrations fell completely silent amidst the ruins.

Queen Belsetia walked towards Yilian while lightly waving her hand to the side. The Longsword that had nailed the monster was pulled out by an invisible Magic Hand, flung to shake off the bloodstains in the air, then spun back into the hands of the Silver Empress. The latter watched as Yilian used the sword’s tip to lift the corpse of an aberration and frowned slightly, "How many waves of monsters have we encountered now?"

"The seventh wave—not counting those we carefully bypassed," Yilian replied, looking up. "Luckily, they were just scattered soldiers. If these monsters were to swarm in hordes, we might not be a match for them. What are you thinking?"

"How did they survive the previous offensive?" Queen Belsetia looked serious, "It’s understandable that there are occasional surviving monsters; after all, they’re numerous and resilient, and there’s always the lucky ones hiding in just the right places. But now we’ve already encountered so many surviving monsters, and... this is still the Upper Layer of the royal temple."

Yilian’s expression finally changed slightly, "You mean..."

"The Upper Layer, and after the main structure of the temple has broken, with all connecting passages sealed off, these monsters originally roaming the plains wouldn’t easily climb up here. It’s akin to scaling a treacherous mountain. Even if they knew no fatigue or pain, it would still take some time to climb up from the ground below, wouldn’t it?"

Queen Belsetia said solemnly, watching the filthy remnants lying on the ground. The aberration bodies were already beginning to decompose, and amidst the rising black dust, their flesh quickly dissipated along with the dust, leaving only severely corroded twisted skeletons behind, prompting her slowly to recall certain "characteristics" of the aberrations.

"Perhaps... they ’generated’ in the Upper Layer of the temple only recently," she said slowly, "Yilian, do you remember a very mysterious trait of the aberrations? They can ’appear out of thin air’ in the magical energy environment of the wasteland..."

Yilian’s eyes gradually widened. It took a moment before she, with a pained expression, nodded and said, "Yes, I remember... it was first discovered seven hundred years ago by Uncle Gawain’s team... Once those monsters gather to a certain extent, they create a chaotic magic environment similar to the Gondor wasteland around them. And once this magical energy environment becomes dense enough, more aberrations will coalesce out of thin air in the magical power field, proliferating and expanding like a snowball, rapidly spreading contamination... This is precisely what makes them most terrifying. We had to build a ’great wall’ to block off the entire Ancient Country of Gondor mainly for this reason."

As she spoke, the elf maid slowly surveyed the dust-filled Upper Layer of the royal temple, her tone becoming hesitant and tense: "Could it be that this place has already..."

"After the great wall was breached, the wasteland’s aura inevitably leaked out, meaning that the ’wasteland’ itself has expanded. And we are currently crashing near what used to be the sentinel towers, blocking this breach," Queen Belsetia stated sternly. "In a way, we are already standing inside the wasteland—just that the colossal structure of the temple itself forms a great barrier, keeping much of the wasteland’s aura contained to the north, hence the limited number of monsters generated here, but... they are certainly forming."

Yilian’s eyes widened, and she clenched the Longsword in her hand little by little, while a chill continuously spread from the bottom of her heart—until the Silver Empress’s voice broke the coldness in her heart: "Thankfully, we have it blocked."

She looked at the Silver Empress, who gave her a slight smile and repeated what she had just said: "Thankfully, we have it blocked—even if a few monsters managed to climb over the top of the temple, they would quickly be eliminated by the southern garrison, and the aura of the wasteland would be blocked by the Sacred Stars Temple, like a fallen mountain. Yilian, we haven’t let the Highmountain Kingdom become a second Gondor wasteland, and that’s a good thing."

Yilian looked at the Empress standing before her, who had grown up with her. She was stunned for several seconds before finally letting a slight smile appear on her lips: "You’re right, this is indeed a good thing..."

As soon as she finished speaking, a deep, noise that seemed like a mix of roars and whispers suddenly emerged from the nearby dust!

The sound mumbled, initially seeming like just an auditory illusion in the dust, but soon hazy limbs began to manifest in the air. First appeared a twisted skeleton, and then flesh as fluid as mud started to gather and form on the surface of the skeleton. The monstrous aberration was birthed from nothing right under Yilian and Queen Belsetia’s noses, as if a nightmare had suddenly manifested into reality!

"Swish—clang!!"

The sound of a metal slice cutting through the air instantly pierced through the atmosphere. The creature, only half-formed, was directly sliced in half by two intersecting swords. Yilian’s figure instantly attacked and swiftly returned to Belsetia’s side—she was not like those dark wizards and evil dragons in the bards’ tales, who would wait for the valiant hero to give a speech before allowing a grotesque monster to be fully born.

"You’re right about another thing too," Yilian glanced at the bloodstains that could not be flicked clean off the Longsword and then turned to Belsetia with a bitter smile, "These monsters were indeed just born..."

Belsetia didn’t reply; she simply raised the Combat Staff and magical longsword in her hand slowly and, around them, an unsettling aura was rapidly gathering. Countless deep whispers and roars rose and fell in the seemingly empty air, surrounding her senses like nightmares in the dark night.

Perhaps it was the strong life force sensed here, or maybe the recent battle had caused too much disturbance, but the malice entrenched in this wasteland finally detected the presence of these two "uninvited guests" who were in active states. The corrupted tainted power gathered its minions here, one shadowy, abnormally mutated tall figure after another rapidly congregating in the air around them, filling the vision of master and servant.

This time, it seemed there was no place left to hide or path to evade.

Belsetia glanced at the maid beside her: "Yilian, scared?"

"There’s nothing to be scared of, just that these things seem a bit disgusting," Yilian said expressionlessly, "Killing so many disgusting things in one day, I’ll have nightmares when I go back."

Belsetia chuckled. The end of the Combat Staff in her hand began to ripple with the illusion of magic power. Yet, she couldn’t help but think of something which seemed unrelated to the current situation—

"Uncle Gawain from seven hundred years ago... did he face such a situation too and ultimately died of exhaustion?"

"Perhaps... the records about that battle aren’t detailed, but I think our present situation is probably equally dire."

Belsetia smiled. She gently swung the staff, and a cascading Curtain of Thunder ignited the air around them, exterminating the not yet fully formed monsters like torrential rain. Yet more twisted figures gathered in the smoke left by the fallen monsters. The low whispers and roars around them grew ever clearer, overflowing with malice.

"You wonder, if we fall today, will it be like Uncle Gawain in hundreds of years... what did he say... ’rise from the coffin’?"

"You won’t fall today," Yilian raised the Twin Swords confidently, without reason but full of faith, "I said it before, this tainted land is not worthy of consuming your life."

Belsetia couldn’t help but laugh, gently shaking her head: "You really are so joyous..."

"Boom!!"

A terrifying loud noise suddenly burst forth, interrupting the Silver Empress’ next words. It shocked the entire world.

It sounded as if a massive heavy object collided with the earth at sonic speed, as if another mountain crashed down beside the Sacred Stars Temple, and the fearsome impact shook the whole land, leaving Belsetia and Yilian dizzy. Following this, they heard another series of thundering sounds roaring from afar, advancing forcefully towards them.

Like an enraged giant beast, rampaging through the mountains.

Even Yilian, who had maintained calm, turned pale with shock: "Majesty... what is this commotion?!"

Belsetia was equally dumbfounded, seeing a massive billow of dust rising in the distance, as if something very large was charging towards them from the smoke.

"I do not know..."

She muttered instinctively, but before she could finish her sentence, another thunderous voice overwhelmed her murmurs—

"I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m coming—"

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