Chapter 60: Battle in the Gray Mist Valley

When the black dragon's massive shadow began to shroud the edges of the Gray Mist Valley, what one saw first was not a clear landscape, but a vast, boundless, and slowly flowing "ocean" of gray. The thick haze was like a massive gray wall, drowning everything in the valley; only a few particularly Gao Jie mountain peaks pierced through the sea of mist like black islands, revealing their summits.

Sunlight was thoroughly filtered here, leaving only a cold, monotonous light. The dragon's wings stirred not just the air, but the dense fog laden with dust and a damp chill. As he lowered his altitude and cut into the sea of mist, his field of vision began to fracture. The mist below was not a solid slab; rather, it formed gaps under the influence of the canyon's air currents.

Through these fleeting gaps, one could vaguely glimpse bottomless ravines, steep rock walls that looked as if they had been raked by a giant's claws, and forests of dead, twisted black trees. The entire canyon was deathly silent; sound was absorbed by the thick fog, and only the low whistling of his own wings echoed between the rock walls. The arrival of the black dragon was the only clamor in this place of deathly silence, one that could not be ignored.

As he ventured deeper, a steady point of light began to appear in the center of the sea of mist. That point of light gradually became clear and magnified, eventually revealing its full appearance. It was not resplendent with gold and jade, but built from gray boulders that matched the valley, with a style that was heavy and resolute, like a fortress carved directly out of the mountain rock. The tall spire was the highest point in the entire valley, second only to the mountain peaks, stubbornly piercing through the gray mist.

Warm, steady candlelight and magical radiance shone through the stained-glass windows, acting like an unquestionable beacon of faith in this gray world. One could see the towering walls, the battlements atop them, and sporadically distributed arrow towers. The entire cathedral complex was built against a massive cliff at the rear, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, the Gray Mist Valley was not as deathly silent as it is today. It was once a lush, vibrant valley. However, a great catastrophe changed this place: a rift connecting to the Abyss was opened deep within the valley by cultists.

Filthy energy from the Abyss surged out like a tide; wherever it passed, life withered, the earth was corroded, and the air filled with a gray, dense fog carrying corrupting power that never dissipated. Upon learning the news, Viceroy of the Vikana Province, Nuofan Keluo, immediately ordered the garrison troops to accompany him into the canyon to suppress the cultists and demons.

Facing an enemy twenty times their number, this Viceroy held the canyon exit for twenty full days, finally waiting for the Church's Temple Knights to arrive. In the end, Viceroy Nuofan died from his wounds, compounded by severe Abyssal contamination.

To commemorate him and to suppress various evil forces, the Church of Light built this cathedral in the valley and dispatched a highly regarded Bishop to guard it. In reality, it was a place where various unwelcome church members were ostracized and exiled; this was also the reason Sakavi chose this place—some things only need to be done for show.

Just as the black dragon circled high above the cathedral, searching for a landing spot, the cathedral's heavy wooden doors swung open with a boom, and teams poured out from the training ground on the side. Squads of Holy Knights clad in bright silver armor were assembling at astonishing speed on the open ground in front of the cathedral.

They quickly formed a tight defensive formation, shield-bearers in front, spearmen in the back, and clerics in the center. Every shield began to shine with a soft holy light; these lights intertwined and resonated above the formation, gradually forming a light barrier like golden glazed glass, resisting the grayness of the valley and the shadow brought by the black dragon.

"Black Dragon of Luo Sen, state your intentions, or we shall treat you as an invader!"

"Hmph, tell your Bishop that his conspiracy to collude with the Luo Sen Royal Court and overthrow His Majesty the Emperor has already failed. It is time for him to pay the price for his actions. Today, I have come under the orders of His Majesty Seninede to apprehend Fankeduo. All unrelated personnel, move aside."

"Black Dragon, such a clumsy excuse, I'm surprised you could come up with it. Do you not even pick a place to rob? To actually come to the Gray Mist Valley to make arrests—I, Valerius, do not intend to agree to this. If you still wish to leave the Fanguenuo Plane alive, it is not too late to stop now."

"Is that so? Perhaps you are right, but today I do not intend to reason." Sakavi then waved a dragon claw, and three hundred black dragon dragon-men walked out from the gray mist. They held battle-axes and tower shields forged from black iron, their scale armor reflecting a cold, hard light in the fog. As flesh puppets, the 'Wings of the Black Dragon' also needed to gain experience through combat.

Shalu Te issued the command, and the sixty squads quickly scattered, surrounding the Holy Knight regiment from all directions like a pack of hungry wolves. The dragon-man mages used the terrain as cover and began to cast wide-area control spells. Under the effects of "Black Fog Spell" and "Death Cloud Spell," the Holy Knight regiment's formation began to scatter.

Seeing this, the dragon-man mages began to switch to casting fireballs, ice shards, or curse spells, focusing their strikes on the clerics and commanders in the rear of the knight regiment. The clerics of the Holy Knight regiment also immediately joined forces to cast holy spells like "Protection from Evil" and "Remove Fear," and drove a large-scale "Hallowed Ground" effect to purify the spell areas created by the dragon-man mages.

Rangers and thieves moved like ghosts, prowling the edges of the battlefield, using poisoned arrows to shoot down isolated knights or sneaking into the flanks of the formation to assassinate key figures. The Holy Knights were not to be outdone; under the commander's leadership, they deliberately exposed flaws to lure the dragon-men deep, then quickly closed the formation, "drowning" them with absolute numbers and holy power.

Perhaps they had not expected a large-scale attack in such a deep inland area, or perhaps this place was not valued by the Church of Light's plane headquarters, but the Holy Knight regiment was not particularly good in terms of personnel quality or equipment quality, and some were even overly crude.

Seeing the Holy Knight regiment being held up, Sakavi walked straight into the cathedral. The fighting outside was so intense, yet the Bishop did not even show his face. If he wasn't scared out of his wits, then he must be extremely confident in his own strength.

The heavy oak doors groaned under Sakavi's sharp claws before finally collapsing with a boom. Dust and the gray mist permeating from outside poured in. Walking into the cathedral, beneath the main statue of Luonuoduo, sat an old man wearing white holy robes.

This was an extremely vast hall with a shockingly high ceiling; dozens of massive stone pillars stood like silent giants, supporting the deep dome. The light was unusually dim, with only a few rays shooting in through the narrow, tall stained-glass windows, dyed into dark red, ghostly blue, and sickly golden yellow, like rays of dying sunset, diagonally cutting through the darkness inside.

The air was filled with a mixture of ancient wood, cold stone, and year-round burning incense; this scent made Sakavi, as a necromancer, feel very uncomfortable. His gaze, as if pulled by invisible chains, slowly crossed this magnificent temple and landed at the end of the hall.

There stood a massive statue. The deity's face was compassionate yet majestic, hands posed in a gesture of blessing, but the statue itself was covered in scars, one wing already broken and lying on the ground, long since covered in dust.

The old man beneath the statue was less like someone waiting in battle readiness and more like someone engaged in a wait that had lasted for many years. The holy robe he wore might have once been pure white, but now, under the erosion of time and the current crisis, it presented a solemn grayish-white.

He was extremely aged, his figure appearing somewhat thin under the wide holy robe, but his spine was straight, as if he had merged with the statue behind him and the foundation stone beneath his feet. His hands were naturally folded on his knees, his knuckles large, showing that he had once gripped a sword hilt or scepter in his youth.

"Young black dragon, what has brought you here to break the silence of hundreds of years? Is it the guidance of the gods or the arrangement of fate?" There was no expected roar, no flashing holy light, no battle-ready posture. There was only a kind of... compassion that understood everything, and a kind of unshakeable resolve deeply rooted in the soul.

"It is fate, Bishop. I am very sorry to disturb your peace, but because of certain special reasons, I have no choice but to do this."

During the conversation between the two, the battle outside was still ongoing. The dragon-man warriors formed sturdy small formations. They prowled the perimeter of the knight regiment's shield wall, using weapons to provoke and attract attention; once a knight broke formation to pursue, they would immediately be focused down and killed by the squad. The priests hid behind the warriors, applying healing and defensive blessings, and secretly casting weakening divine spells on the Holy Knights.

Facing this "fly tactic," the Holy Knight commander immediately ordered the entire regiment to abandon pursuit and shrink into a circular iron fortress. All knights faced their tower shields outward, spears inward, forming an airtight defensive formation. The clerics and commanders were protected in the very center.

This time, the dragon-man troops were clearly prepared; not only were they equipped with various magical items, but they also carried a great many recovery potions, and they fought with total disregard for their own lives. This caused the knight regiment to misjudge, and the entire formation gradually began to scatter.

Seeing the opportunity, Shalu Te immediately ordered the warriors to charge in formation, rushing to scatter the Holy Knight formation at the fastest speed to create opportunities for the rangers and thieves. Facing the sudden turn of events, the Holy Knight commander made a decisive decision to order a retreat inward.

The surviving Holy Knights huddled together, using their shoulders to support the backs of the comrades in front, stacking their massive tower shields layer upon layer, instantly forming a huge, iron hedgehog circle glowing with faint holy light.

However, in the face of absolute power, any tactic appeared pale and weak. Under the new round of focused fire from the dragon-man mages, the formation began to waver again, eventually being overrun by the dragon-man warriors who disregarded casualties, and hunted down to the last man.

Although the dragon-man troops paid the price of two hundred and thirty men to thoroughly eliminate this Holy Knight regiment, it was still a total victory, because the numerous dragon-men were destined not to break through the plane defense; as long as their souls were not purified on the spot, they could have their souls extracted and returned to be loaded into new bodies to be reborn. ===== CHAPTER 61 =====