Chapter 99 Black Bone Swamp and the Beastman
After a morning of rest, at noon on October 11, all the citizens of the Papal State finally set foot on the starting point of the long journey of blood and sweat.
It is still 350 miles away from Fort Joan of Arc.
Horn stood on the carriage, holding an arbor and looking into the distance.
On both sides of the long winding road are mountains that appear to be close at hand, but are actually far away.
Blackbone Bog is actually a peat bog in the mountains, which was once the channel of a river.
During the changes in the mountains, the original river channel was blocked, and the river water was diverted into the Naoan River. This swamp appeared in this small valley basin.
According to Sissi, this river valley is in the shape of a three-ball gourd, and the outermost exit is the Wild Spider Forest.
The part where the second ball is located is the lowest and most dangerous no-man's land swamp.
The entrance area where Horn and the others were located was lined with patches of reed flowers and rising and falling waterfowl, as well as lycanthropes and savages living there.
Walking through the narrow valley, you will see a vast swamp area in front of you. Under the green grass and reeds, there are muddy and dark ditches.
The underground ditch is filled with loose mud that is the same as water, and it is full of moss and animal carcasses.
On the few water surfaces, dirty green mud floats, and dead white wood sticks out from the mud, like the bones of giant beasts piercing the skin.
Horn asked someone to try it. It took a spear over three meters long to reach the bottom of a puddle the size of a basin, and he had to use all his strength to pull it out.
If a person falls into this trap, he will probably never be able to get out.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Horn couldn't help but sigh.
Even so, smoke can be seen rising from the distant foothills and even in the swampy highlands.
On such a piece of land, it is a miracle that the long road built by the El Empire was not damaged.
“Aier’s technology is the best in the world.” Madelan looked at the long road that stretched to the sky and couldn’t help but sigh, “The slogan of the Aier people is not empty talk. The slogan of the Salin Scholars Association is Al scholars account for more than one-third."
"A moth lying on the credit book," Bonad muttered to the side.
Horn turned his head: "Why do you say that?"
The people next to him also looked at Bonade. After all, Horn's Papal State was established based on the Ayr Empire, and there were even senators who claimed to be It's Al's Third Reich.
Bonade looked at the unkind eyes of the people around him and swallowed: "Back then, the Ayr Empire moved eastward, and the Ayr people inherited most of the Ayr Empire's cultural heritage, and they couldn't hold on to it. Let go.
As a result, the civilizations of our three kingdoms have deteriorated for thousands of years, and some ancient engineering machinery cannot be built now."
"The Ayr Empire is the country of the Ayr people. Ah, there seems to be no problem for him to inherit their inheritance.”
"No." Looking at Horne, Bonade didn't know what to call him, so he had to say, "Your Excellency Wan Piao, the Ayr people of the Ayr Empire are not the same Ayr people as the Ayr people here. ”
The Aiel actually means half-elves or elves. After the unification of the Seven Hills Kingdom, the Elf blood of the Aiel has continued to become thinner.
By the end of the empire, only the thousand-year-old families with high-level intermarriages still retained some elven characteristics.
The rest of the Aiel people have long lost all their elven characteristics through constant mixed-race intermarriage.
The demonic disease that broke out in the last years of the empire was a special attack on the elven blood. Those who survived either became vampires or had almost no trace of elven blood.
"Those so-called Ayrs, with their blond hair and fake ears, really think they are Ayrs." Bonader said viciously.
Horn nodded thoughtfully.
Hmm, wait, doesn’t this mean that the vampire nobles in the Flesh Royal Court are actually the real descendants of El?
“The reason why the priests are hostile to the Aiel people.” Sissi interrupted Horn’s thinking, “It is because the Salin Scholars have trained a large number of mathematicians, legal scholars and philosophers, and have occupied a large number of The authority that originally belonged to the church, Your Majesty, don’t think that they are really thinking about the people.”
Bonade directed his angry eyes at Sissi. "Look at our little poor one, he's so cute when he's angry." Squeezing Bonard's cheek lightly, Sissi picked up the blue feather fan again, covered her mouth and laughed.
At this moment, Horne was also observing Bonade.
Horn kept this priest by his side mainly to explore the church’s intelligence and the monk’s extraordinary abilities.
To be honest, Bonader had done experiments with the Holy Oil Horn that he had brought with him before. It was just ordinary animal fat mixed with herbs.
He even applied a little on himself, but it had no effect except that his head felt cool, like wind oil.
Putting down his thoughts and looking at the sky, it was getting late, and Horn knew it was time to set off.
"Okay, let's keep walking. We have walked 150 miles. We will walk another 300 miles and enter the territory of Duke Dane of Kush. By then, we will be safe."
< br>Following Horn's order, the entire Papal State became active again, and as for the newly joined citizens, they also began to move forward with the veterans.
Due to the previous two battles, although they were completely victorious, there were still nearly thirty casualties.
In addition, Saint Sungen was famous, and some of the refugees who had long been dissatisfied with the church nobles simply joined in, bringing the population back to just over 1,200.
Walking on the Sweat Road, Horn looked to both sides. One puddle was connected to another, and scattered bushes were distributed between the puddles.
From time to time, one or two water voles poke their heads out from the roadside and then snap back, and some otters are swimming by with branches in their mouths.
The long and sweaty road in front of Horn is slightly higher than the surrounding terrain. It is a bit like an embankment. The width of the road is about two carriages running parallel.
The ground is made of hard rubble. I don’t know what material is used to fill the gaps between the rubble. Although it is not as good as the cement road, it is much better than the king of rammed earth.
There are some ginkgo and lantern trees growing on the roadside. Occasionally, there will be a wooden bridge or high pile of soil extending from the foot of the distant mountain to the roadside.
"Wouldn't it be possible to attack those lycanthrope villages by walking through these roads?"
"Yes." Sissi answered immediately.
"Then why didn't the empire attack the villages directly from these small roads before?"
Jeshka smiled and replied: "The nobles here in Qianhe River Valley have tried several times before.
When they march and attack, these beast-turned-humans will jump between ditches and puddles on long poles to attack them
These paths were too narrow, allowing at most two people to walk side by side. They couldn't escape, especially since they were wearing armor. Once they were pushed into the mud on the side of the road, they couldn't climb out.
The nobles organized three attacks, but each time they were defused by these lycanthropes and savages. After inspection, they found that there was no oil and water in this land, so they gave up. ”
Is that so? Horn did not continue to ask, but continued to urge the villagers to go to the mountain road.
This kind of road interspersed in puddles, was The attack would probably be the same as the Qianhe River Valley nobles.
Due to the need to practice riding and the fact that he had captured many horses earlier, Horn did not continue walking at this time, but instead rode a horse. >
Just as he was thinking about turning into a beast, he looked up and saw a pair of figures with animal ears flashing past at the intersection.
"Did you just see it?" Horn asked Jeshka beside him.
Jeshka nodded solemnly: "I saw it, it should be sent by the lycanthrope village. We have to be careful next."
Before he finished speaking, I heard the sound of arrows rising into the sky with a whistling sound.
ps sneak attack!
(End of this chapter)