Chapter 379 Surprise Attack A few days passed since Angus met with the various religious priest leader groups. In these past few days, Angus holed himself inside his tent. He no longer comes out and checks the newly delivered infected corpse.
Everyone thought he must be working hard to find a way to lift the Plargos curse. However, the Royal Guards thought it differently. They are not sure if Angus is doing research or not. But, they know that since the meeting, both Angus and Jayna are not coming out of their tent.
They also didn't bother to check them since they were ordered not to disturb them. All of them know about Angus and Jayna's relationship. It will be suicide if they somehow disturb them over a simple matter.
There are a few cases when a few royal guards get punished or even demoted, which means it is a death sentence after bothering Angus and Jayna's quality time. Since then, no one dares to disturb them when they are together unless it is a crucial matter.
While Angus is holed inside his tent with Jayna, the Heart kingdom situation becomes more chaotic. After the war declaration from the Nergal kingdom, the whole kingdom immediately entered an alert state, especially the border between the Nergal kingdom and the Heart kingdom.
Almost every day, there will be spies caught inside the Heart kingdom territory by the extermination squad. Despite the war declaration, the two big kingdoms are still launching any frontal battle. It's like both of them are trying to test each other.
In the meantime, far from the Nergal kingdom border but still inside the Heart kingdom, there is a massive fortress called Thornbridge Hold. The hold is located between the Heart kingdom and Traynia kingdom, a kingdom that is currently neutral with the Heart kingdom.
Currently, there is a caravan guarded by many knights entering the Hold from the Heart kingdom side. Because they are currently in the middle of a war with the Nergal kingdom, their whole caravan needs to be checked thoroughly.
They even check all the knight's belongings from the caravan even though their purpose is to deliver the hold's supplies. Because of the strict check, they need a few days to stay inside the hold before returning.
While the knights are waiting for the inspection, an old man accompanied by a few knights talks with another man about various things. The old man is none other than Moi, the previous Sur village elder.
After joining the Heart Kingdom, elder Moi decided to join the Victory family and did a lot of tasks. Currently, he is the leader of the supplier unit for Thornbridge Hold.
The other man, who looks like a man in his thirties, is actually the head of the Eagle family, Viscount Paule Eagle. The viscount is responsible for the security of the Thornbridge Hold. The Eagle family is one of the noble families allied with the Victory family.
Therefore, it is common etiquette for him to welcome the other party even if the other party is not part of the Heart kingdom's aristocracy. Furthermore, Moi is a full-fledged fifth-grade combatant with a dozen years of experience living in the Endless Battlefield dimension.
This kind of achievement is enough for Viscount Paule to respect the old man. Although both of them are full-fledged fifth-grade combatants, their experience is vastly different. Fifth-grade combatants could be said to be the border of ordinary people.
It is very hard for people who reach this level to improve further, especially with training. They could only increase themself through experience. Although Viscount Eagle looks thirty years old, his actual age is more than fifty years old.
In comparison, Moi's actual age is almost ninety years old. There are vast differences in experience between them, be it in life or combat experience.
"Plague Worm, huh? I hear they are very vicious disaster monsters. Fortunately, they could only be found in the Morvo Wasteland." said the Viscount Eagle after hearing Moi's story.
"Morvo Wasteland? If I am not wrong, it is one of the famous monster habitats in Firuman." replied Moi.
"True. Sir Moi seems already familiar with the Firuman itself." said Viscount Eagle.
"Nonsense. I still need to learn more about this world. Although I know this world is safer than that treacherous world, there are still hidden dangers like those monster habitats." replied Moi humbly.
"Even in that world, the most dangerous is not coming from the harsh weather or other forces. It is always coming from unpredictable monsters, especially those monster overlords. We will never know what they want to do." added Moi.
"Agreed. Did sir Moi ever fight against the monster overlord?" asked Viscount Eagle.
"Hahaha… If we ever meet and fight a monster overlord, I will not be here by now. Fortunately, we live on the top of the docile seventh grade Sand Turtle beast who deter any monster overlord coming to us." said Moi.
"Sand Turtle beast? I heard the rumor that your previous village resided on top of it for years. Just how big is that Sand Turtle?" asked the viscount.
"The Sand turtle is about…" then Moi tells more about the beast.
While they are chatting with each other to share their experience about various things, a hidden force is coming from the Traynia Kingdom. After reaching about a hundred kilometers from the Thornbridge Hold, this hidden force stopped advancing.
"How is it?" asked the middle-aged man with full-metal armor.
"Sir, we detect a few fifth-grade combatants inside the hold from our detection. We suspect some groups of suppliers inside the hold. " reported the kneeling knight.
"Tch.. what bad luck for us to have a supplier unit now of all the time." grumbled the middle-aged general.
"Did we need to postpone our plan and wait for them to leave?" asked the kneeled knight.
"No, it is already too late. Although we are moving stealthily, it will not be long before they find our huge movement. Proceed with the plan!!" command the middle-aged general.
"As you wish, sir." said the knight before commanding the forces.
Soon they start to clear their perimeter and begin to organize their forces. They also started to hunt and kill everyone that saw their army. Then, some magicians form a circle while chanting in an unknown language.
All of them are holding a fist size of a crystal which is slowly lighting up. A moment later, the area in front of them is brightened up while a massive magic circle appears on the ground [Formation Magic - Massive Teleportation].
A moment later, the magic circle activated and lit up the whole area. Fortunately, they are still in the middle of the day and the light is not attracting too much attention from a distance.
As the whole light diminished, a massive machine with a long barrel appeared in the magic circle. Looking at the familiar machine in front of him, the middle-aged general couldn't help but smirk.
"Hurry, prepare the cannon and tend those exhausted magicians!!" commanded the general.
The other knights immediately worked as their general command.
Around fifteen minutes later, "Sir, the machine is ready." said the kneeled knight.
The middle-aged general was not replying and closed his eyes. He knows his following command will decide not only the fate of himself and his army but also his whole nation.
After steeling himself, "Start the machine!!" said the middle-aged general with determination.
As soon as they heard the command, some experts began to operate the machine and release a humming sound. A moment later, a massive amount of mana gathered inside the machine. The machine keeps accumulating mana from the surroundings and condenses it.
All the surrounding living beings couldn't help but feel the massive mana inside the machine. At the same time, both Viscount Eagle and Moi also notice this enormous mana presence from hundreds of kilometers away.
Before they could react and give a command to their knights, the middle-aged general at the other side released another short command.
"Fire!!" shouted the general.
The machine immediately releases massive condensed mana through its gigantic long barrel [Fort Destroyer]. *BBZZTT* The gigantic condensed bluish mana traveled fast and decimated everything it touched.
A few seconds later, it reached in front of the Thornbridge Hold. Just before the massive mana ball touches the Hold's wall, an emergency barrier rune is activated. *BAMM*
The mana ball and the barrier clash with each other. The whole area is shaking because of their clash. Still, the mana ball forces are more potent and start to destroy the barrier rune's layer. *Crack* *Crack* *Crack*
The mana ball kept pushing forward and penetrating each barrier easily. Just as it wants to destroy the final barrier layer, two people come at a fast speed towards it. They are none other than Viscount Eagle and Moi.
"Hit the base!! We need to send it into the air!!" roared Moi while condensing massive mana on his sword.
Less than a second later, both of them arrive at the massive mana ball. [Sword Art - Heavy Slash] [Spear art - Mighty Eagle]. *BAAMM* Both of the fifth-grade combatants hit the base of the mana ball with all their strength.
However, they could only stop the advancement of the massive mana balls and reach a stalemate situation. Then, a muscular man with one eye brandishing his great axe toward the mana ball [Great Axe Art - Blaze Decapitation].