Chapter 295: Herus Fortress

With a "ding," the pitch-black magic wand was snapped in two under the impact of the arrow. After the evil and eerie skull fell to the ground, it shattered like glass.

The dark clouds in the sky also dissipated instantly at this moment. After that ferocious giant head let out a roar of unwillingness, it also slowly disappeared.

Although the commoners in the square were no longer bound by the purple light at this time, their expressions were still extremely dazed, standing blankly in place without moving.

Facing such a change, Hel's beautiful face was full of surprise. After seeing that the person who came was Allen, she was not angry that the sacrifice was interrupted, but instead revealed a charming and seductive smile.

"Wow, isn't this that incredibly powerful handsome guy? The two of us are really destined. Are you looking for me for any advice? Sweetheart with a great body."

Listening to the other party's charming voice, Allen felt his heart beating wildly uncontrollably, and backhanded a lightning bolt to return the favor.

You use charm on me, I'll treat you to the Kiss of Professor Yang.

The violent lightning power carried the might to destroy everything and struck towards Hel. In an instant, a cloud of black smoke rose, and Hel's figure disappeared on the spot, then appeared in the crowd with dazed expressions.

"Sure enough, most powerful men are cold and heartless. Dear sweetheart, why be in such a hurry? Can't we sit down and have a good chat?"

Hel was not angry because she had suffered a sudden attack, and her face even revealed a resentful expression, as if she had suffered some great grievance.

A pair of eyes looking at Allen were filled with charm like mist, as if they were about to drip water.

Looking at Hel hiding in the crowd, Allen endured the discomfort gradually appearing in his body and asked angrily: "Witch, what did you do to the villagers of Lubeck?"

"Them? Their souls have already been sacrificed to the Dark God. Oh, it's a pity about that summoning wand; otherwise, the god would have descended a powerful avatar to help us capture Herus Fortress."

After looking at the fragments on the ground with a pained gaze, Hel looked at Allen again: "However, I think you are even more powerful, sweetheart. Are you interested in joining us? By then I can..."

A strong gust of wind blew up, drowning Hel's charming words in the whistling, and also blowing the villagers who had lost their minds to the ground.

The wide black robe on the witch was blown violently by the wind, and a charming, plump body was revealed in full detail. Good fellow, this bold-talking woman was actually in a vacuum state.

Exerting the power of charm always requires paying some price.

Allen, however, couldn't care less about appreciating this beautiful scenery. His feet stepped on the wind as he approached rapidly, and then a cold light slashed over.

Just hearing this witch's lingering, seductive voice was enough to make his heart restless. If he accepted tests in other aspects.

Damn it, who knows what uncontrollable scenes would appear next.

Moreover, Rolf was rushing towards this side with the Free Knights. Allen could withstand this kind of charm, but his subordinates might not necessarily be able to.

It was safer to kill this witch with one sword.

Relying on the cover of the crowd, Hel, who was trying her best to exert her charm, never expected the situation to change so quickly, and even less expected that her power would have no effect on this man at all.

The other party could actually raise a weapon to attack her.

Facing the sudden sword light, Hel couldn't calm down to cast spells at all and could only barely dodge. The sword light flashed, and a large area of snow-white mixed with a touch of bright red was revealed under the black robe, just like a bit of spring scenery revealed between the mountains and rivers.

Immediately after, a cloud of black smoke rose again, and Hel's figure disappeared at this time, leaving only a whisper that made people ripple.

"See you later, sweetheart."

Watching the black smoke before his eyes gradually dissipate, Allen had already lost Hel's trail in his field of vision.

"What a difficult woman!"

He cursed angrily and dismissed the idea of continuing the chase.

He had just used today's "Eye of the Sky"; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to leave Rolf and the others behind and fly over alone. He couldn't determine Hel's trail in a short time.

Even in which direction Hel had fled, Allen didn't have a clue.

And in the forest a few miles away from Lubeck, Hel's figure, which was embarrassed yet revealing a trace of fragrance, slowly appeared among a group of Dark Cultists, and the expression on her face was no longer as sweet as before.

At this time, she was angrily cursing the other party for not knowing what was good for them with a ferocious face.

"What's so great about it? Isn't it just being able to release electricity!!" Hel's voice was full of annoyance.

This sacrifice could be said to be a heavy loss for her. Not only did the mission fail completely, but she also damaged a magic wand capable of summoning the Dark God. She couldn't avoid receiving cruel punishment from the High Priest upon returning.

Even in the Dark Cult, wanting to make this kind of magic weapon was very difficult. The skulls on it all came from the deceased high-level members of the cult, either the High Priest or the Pope. Someone with Hel's status didn't even have the qualifications to become material.

Originally, everything went very smoothly. Hel had already found a high-quality soul full of anger and a fallen soul willing to sacrifice itself.

As long as these two souls were sacrificed to the Dark God as offerings, she could summon the phantom of the god, and then after the god absorbed enough souls, it would bestow an avatar.

As a result, the summoning ritual was broken at the most critical moment, falling short of success.

That was fine; after all, it was the cult's things that were lost. What made Hel's heart ache even more was that her escape means for saving her life were used up twice in this conflict. She didn't have many such trump cards left.

"Damn it!!!"

Hel, annoyed in her heart, slapped away a subordinate who was peeking at her thighs. Looking at the man who was vomiting blood and hitting a tree, the expression on her face became even more ferocious.

"Allen, is it? I've remembered you."

At this time, Allen didn't know that Hel, who had been smiling just a moment ago, had already held a grudge against him. But even if he knew, he wouldn't care. The two sides were already fighting a life-and-death war.

The thing that really gave him a headache was how to deal with these corpses on the ground. There were almost hundreds of them.

Those villagers with dazed expressions appeared to have undergone drastic changes within a few minutes after Hel left. Their originally rosy faces gradually became withered, and their sturdy bodies became like skin and bones, as if someone had sucked their blood and flesh in an instant.

Subsequently, the vitality of these people was completely cut off, and there was no chance to treat them at all.

Perhaps, they couldn't be treated at all. Their souls had been sacrificed. Who had the strength to snatch them from the mouth of the Dark God? Anyway, Allen didn't.

This matter originally had nothing to do with Allen. He just passed by and discovered something wrong. It could be considered as interrupting the enemy's conspiracy, but a large number of deaths still appeared inevitably.

If he just left it alone, it would easily cause disasters such as the spread of plague. Even if it was autumn now, this was something that was very likely to happen.

Moreover, Lubeck was a village by the water. Relying on the flow of rivers, streams, and lakes, the plague would only spread faster.

"My, my lord, here, here, has the Dark Cult already reached here?"

Rolf and dozens of Free Knights also drove their horses to the village at this moment.

They only vaguely saw the dark clouds in the sky and that head, and didn't know the specific situation of the sacrifice.

Just looking at the still fiercely burning fire, the well-informed Rolf already had a rough idea in his heart.

"Rolf, take the brothers to collect some firewood and burn these corpses. We don't have time to bury them one by one."

Allen let out a sigh of helplessness. After discovering that the situation was wrong, he had already raised his speed to the limit, but the Dark Cult's actions were too fast and too secretive, and there was no way to stop them.

Moreover, he didn't leave behind the witch who did evil, only hacked to death a few rebel soldiers who helped the tyrant.

"My lord, this, this isn't good, is it?" Rolf's expression was a bit hesitant.

"Why, is there something wrong?" A trace of doubt appeared on Allen's face. He wouldn't be furious just because his subordinates questioned his orders. As long as there was a reason that could convince him, the order could be changed.

"The tradition of the Nord people is sea burial. Later, after moving to Calradia, it was changed to burial. They refuse cremation, or rather, they deeply hate cremation because it seriously violates their traditions."

Rolf looked at the corpses on the ground, and a slightly sorrowful expression appeared on his face, suppressing his sadness in his words.

"Although the people in the village have all died, there are still many people from Lubeck serving in the army of the Kingdom of Nord. If these corpses are burned, it will definitely cause their dissatisfaction. If we think about the worst situation, perhaps someone will say that you did it, and burning the corpses is destroying the evidence."

Allen lowered his head and pondered for a while, feeling that Rolf's words also had some truth. Although he was powerful, he didn't have the status of a King here, not even a noble, so it was better to be steady in doing things.

"Then let's do this. Arrange for a few Nord brothers to return to Sargoth to notify Ragnar that the enemy has infiltrated his so-called second line of defense. By the way, mention the evil sacrifice that occurred here. Let him deal with the corpses. It's his country and his people, so he should be the one to worry about it. We..."

Taking another look at the corpses on the ground, Allen said: "We continue on our way, striving to reach Herus Fortress in the fastest time. I estimate that Tihr and Kulin Castle have likely fallen, and the enemy's main force will likely arrive there one step ahead of us."

As he spoke, Allen flipped onto the horse led by Rolf, and after a shout, quickly left this killing field that was like hell.

"Don't look anymore, follow the leader."

Rolf's loud shout woke up the Free Knights who were stunned on the side.

They were used to seeing incomplete corpses on the battlefield, as well as warriors who fought to the death.

But this kind of miserable death state, similar to a Jingguan, lying together in layers, still made these warriors who could be called elites lose their focus.

These people died too strangely, and the appearance of the corpses was also too eerie.

Because such a strange accident occurred, Allen ordered the team to speed up the march to Herus Fortress, and even asked Momucha to expand the scope of reconnaissance, checking as many villages along the way as possible.

Although that witch who was showing off her charm was hateful, she also revealed some information during the conversation. That avatar of the Dark God made Allen particularly concerned. It was always good to be able to nip such danger in the bud.

It was just strange that the subsequent journey was safe and sound. Three days later, Allen successfully arrived at the east side of Herus Fortress.

It was just that the situation inside the fortress was not very optimistic, and the atmosphere was extremely tense. Even stationed outside the city, Allen could vaguely hear the crying caused by pain coming from inside the high city walls.

Following the conversation with the local garrison, Tihr had really been captured by the Dark Cult a week ago as he had guessed. Marshal Eden, who was in charge of the city defense, swore not to surrender and sacrificed himself on the spot during the fierce battle for the inner fortress.

In this battle, the Nord people defending the city died less than one in ten under the fierce attack of the enemy army, and the remaining people were also hiding in secret places in the city to continue to deal with the enemy.

And Kulin Castle, which was isolated and helpless, chose to lead the army to break out after receiving the news, fleeing towards the direction of Herus Fortress in the south, but was soon caught up by the enemy's elite cavalry.

After an encounter battle where blood splashed and corpses were strewn across the field, the Dark Cult, due to light-equipped advance, did not have an advantage in numbers, coupled with the environment of the Kingdom of Nord which was extremely suitable for infantry combat, they had to retreat helplessly in the end.

And these Nord soldiers who barely escaped arrived a day or two earlier than Allen. Now, Herus Fortress was overcrowded.

Therefore, even though Allen took out the contract he signed with Ragnar, the lord in charge of the defense here did not open the city gate.

Instead, he negotiated with Allen in a friendly manner, hoping that the mercenary army could be stationed on a hillside on the south side outside the city, to guard against the enemy suddenly appearing from the side path and launching a pincer attack on Herus Fortress.

As compensation, the highest-ranking noble here, Haringoth, not only sent a large number of farmers to help Allen build the camp but also withdrew a considerable amount of supplies from the castle to express his apology for not being able to entertain him well.

As the only son of Marshal Eden, Haringoth was going through the most severe moment of his life. Facing the situation of his father's tragic death and the enemy army pressing on the border, this young man couldn't even squeeze out the energy to mourn.

Because he knew that his family, and the kingdom his family relied on, were facing the greatest crisis in history. If he didn't want to become a slave to the Dark Cult and didn't want his family to be destroyed,

he must unite all forces that could be united to resist the enemy's attack and wait for the large number of reinforcements promised by Ragnar. ===== CHAPTER 296 =====