owlsbooks Chapter 1458: The Depths of the Black Mist
Chapter 1458: The Depths of the Black Mist
Deep in the thick black fog, Lei Xiao led a group of strong men and sped along at a high speed, always paying attention to everything around them.
As we go deeper, the scene here becomes more shocking.
In addition to the increasing number of ruins and tombstones, you can occasionally see large tracts of abandoned fields and dead trees flashing by on both sides.
Not only that, from time to time one can see blood-red rivers emitting a pungent and foul smell, flowing slowly and stickily, and against the backdrop of thick miasma and black fog, the entire scene looks like purgatory.
Seeing these scenes, even Loris, Sina and others who had been here before frowned tightly with serious expressions on their faces.
Even they had never been deep into this part of the Howling Land. To everyone, everything before them was unknown and unfamiliar.
Looking at the purgatory-like scene around him, Lei Xiao's brows were furrowed.
Before setting off, he had asked the administrator and others. Even in the Shadow Market, it was impossible to teleport to the depths of the Howling Land. This place seemed to be a cursed land, and it appeared as nothingness on the magic sand table.
What made everyone even more uneasy was that the deeper they went into the black fog, the denser the skeleton fortresses became.
At a glance, the tall, towering, dark white cities were looming in the black fog, and one could even see two or even three cities at the same time.
When approaching the fortress, everyone could clearly see that on the fortress walls there were undead creatures swarming, skeleton battle flags were fluttering everywhere, and those pairs of empty eye sockets were looking back and forth, staring at our group who were passing quickly with a smile.
Looking up at the densely packed skeleton soldiers, although everyone remained silent, they became increasingly nervous.
The number of the enemy's undead army is much greater than we imagined. If we were to fight on a frontal battlefield, we would have no chance of winning.
This is not only a gap in strength, but also a gain or loss in the environment. Everyone can clearly feel that the deeper they go into the black fog, the slower the energy vortex in their bodies circulates, which undoubtedly affects the performance of their own strength to a great extent.
"Your Majesty, if the enemy chooses to surround us, then if we go so deep, won't we just run into their encirclement?"
Feeling the slow surge of the energy vortex in his abdomen, Loris frowned and couldn't help but speak.
“I’m afraid this is an inevitable result.”
Lei Xiao nodded calmly and responded, "But the movement of the Undead army takes a long time, and it is far behind our pace, so there is only one thing we have to do, and that is to eliminate the enemy's command center before the enemy's army forms an encirclement."
"Your Majesty is right. As long as we can kill the lich leader and other core liches, we won't have to worry about the leaderless undead army."
Xina nodded heavily and agreed, "Your Majesty has defeated the other party once before, and the other party also suffered heavy casualties in the previous conspiracy, which shows that the other party is not invincible."
"That's true. Anyway, this time we will fight the lich to the death!"
When he thought of the other party's insidious and vicious actions, veins on Loris's lion face suddenly exposed, and a murderous roar brewed in his throat again.
After Loris finished speaking, the group fell into silence again, and no one spoke for a while.
Including Lei Xiao, the three commanders all clearly understood that behind the Lich, there was an unknown backer hiding in the dark, and that was the real terrifying thing about the opponent.
But the team's morale is not as high as it was at the beginning, so Lei Xiao and the other two tacitly did not mention this point. They just kept thinking over in their minds about everything that might happen and our response measures, in order to increase the chances of winning, even if it was only a tiny bit.
They sped along the unknown and mysterious road for an unknown amount of time. When everyone had gotten used to the increasingly dense ruins around them, in the deepest part of the black fog and ruins, a huge, white city that had never been seen before began to gradually become clear.
The scale of this huge white city is astonishing, almost comparable to the land favored by the gods, and much larger than the skeleton fortresses passing by. The only thing in common is that whether it is this huge white city or the previous skeleton fortresses, the surface of the city presents layers of strange structures.
As for this strange stacking structure, or what materials these walls are made of, it goes without saying.
Just above the huge white city, thick black fog was gushing out from the interior of the city, like a huge chimney, as if it would never stop. It was obviously the source of the black fog in this area.
The continuously emerging black fog was like a huge twisted and deformed black shadow, looking down coldly at our group.
Surrounding the huge white city is a bright red moat, making the whole scene even more bizarre and shocking.
"Your Majesty, based on the distance we have traveled, we are already at the deepest point of the Howling Lands. That must be the capital of the liches!"
Loris held an ancient parchment map in his hairy hands. After checking it again and again, he nodded to Lei Xiao and said, "This was once the capital of the destroyed alliance. It's not surprising that the lich established its base here."
Listening to Loris' words, Lei Xiao looked around. There were indeed a large number of ruins and collapsed buildings around the huge white city. From the huge scale and the exquisite patterns engraved on the broken walls, it was not difficult to see that an extremely glorious civilization once stood here.
Today, these low, dilapidated ruins form a sharp contrast with the tall, white city, as if silently telling a cruel past.
Finally, Lei Xiao fixed his eyes on the thick walls of the huge white city.
At this time, the city walls were already filled with liches and high-level undead soldiers. Their empty eye sockets emitted a strange red light, which was obviously completely different from the ordinary low-level undead army.
I saw that the other side, under the protection of the absolute defense barrier, had a fearless look, looking down at our group who were at the gate of the city, with cold eyes full of contempt and murderous intent.
In contrast, our army of tens of thousands of people seemed insignificant in front of the huge white city, as if a group of ants trying to shake a big tree.
"Prepare to attack the city."
Knowing that time was running out, Lei Xiao waved his hand, and rows of magic cannons immediately appeared at the front of our army.
These magic cannons were specially selected by Lei Xiao for their extended range. Their purpose was to attack outside the enemy's range. Otherwise, with our limited manpower, even if we relied on the absolute defense barrier to break through the enemy's city, it would consume a lot of energy from the magicians, which would be detrimental to the subsequent battle.
Since all the strong men present were the elite among the elite, tens of thousands of magic cannons were deployed in the blink of an eye, and the black muzzles were aimed at the opponent's city walls.
"attack!"
Following Lei Xiao's order, the magical power of our army's formation under the white city wall suddenly became stronger. Beams of compressed magic bullets visible to the naked eye were like meteors in the sky, whistling straight towards the opponent's city wall.
When the colorful magic bullets landed on the opponent's barrier wall, it was like a meteorite falling into a lake or sea, immediately stirring up wave after wave of violent energy waves.
And because our shooting range exceeded that of the enemy, the other side did not retaliate blindly, but just continued to watch everything silently on the city wall.
After the first round of magic bombardment ended, the second round of magic bombardment began immediately, followed by the third and fourth rounds, making the earth-shaking roar endless, and the energy gusts that were stirred up swept the sand everywhere.
Lei Xiao looked at the powerful magicians on his side who were bombarding alternately in an extremely orderly manner, and nodded with satisfaction.
Although all the magic cannons here are above level three, and even a considerable number of level four and level five, which far exceed the energy supply limit of the magic light crystals, but those present are all strong men above level five, and the efficiency of supplying energy to the magic cannons is far beyond that of ordinary soldiers.
Lei Xiao even saw that the powerful elves, led by Fanny, Chris, and Old Susan, were all powering several magic cannons at the same time, and they still seemed to be very comfortable with it. This was based on the premise that everyone had just experienced a great battle last night.
After being replenished with various high-level magic potions from Lei Xiao, although everyone's magic power has not yet fully recovered, it has been mostly recovered, enough for them to attack relatively easily.
In addition, a group of physical warriors were also not idle. With the blessing of spells to increase the range, all kinds of bows, crossbows, javelins, and stones poured down like raindrops, drawing sharp trajectories in the air.
For a moment, our magical artillery fire and physical long-range attacks were overwhelming, making the extremely thick black fog seem to be much thinner. Although the opponent's absolute defense barrier had no cracks, the strange luster of the barrier wall had dimmed a lot, which showed that the opponent was obviously under great pressure.
"Your Majesty, if we continue at this pace, it will only be a matter of time before we break through the opponent's absolute defense barrier!"
Xina's fair face was full of excitement, and she nodded to Lei Xiao.
Before this, although her newly acquired sixth-level equipment was taken away by Belinda, she got it back later and looked eager to try it out, even though her injuries had not yet fully recovered after the attack last night.
"That's right. Once we break through this absolute defense barrier, I will be the first to rush to the top of the city!"
Loris's lion face also showed an impatient look, and the sixth-level giant axe in his hand was shining.
Listening to the two people's emotional conversation, Lei Xiao just smiled but did not respond.
Judging from the current situation, the opponent is just taking the beating and not making any other moves. To the cunning liches, this does not seem to be in line with the opponent's character.
From this it is not difficult to see that the other party must be plotting some conspiracy.
"According to the scouts' report, what we know now is that, just as I expected, the undead armies from other skeleton fortresses are gathering here, attempting to encircle us."
"But even if it's the Skeleton Fortress that's closest to here, it will take the army an hour to get here. Plus, the strength of a Skeleton Fortress is relatively limited. If they face us alone, they'll be sending themselves to death. This means that the enemy will have to wait for reinforcements from other Skeleton Fortresses, which will take even longer."
"As for the backer behind the scenes, he will never show up easily unless the lich is in a critical moment of destruction."
"In other words, apart from encirclement and backing, the enemy probably has other means of response, otherwise the liches on the city wall would never be so calm."
Lei Xiao stroked his chin gently, thinking secretly in his heart.
So the question is, what other countermeasures will the other party use?
After all, our force is the elite among the elite. Even with the bonus of black fog, the opponent will never blindly choose to fight us head-on.
As Lei Xiao thought so, his gaze began to wander around subconsciously.
However, moving from the huge white city in front of him to the low ruins around it, and then to the thick black fog in the sky, he did not find anything special.
"Am I overthinking it?"
Just when Lei Xiao was wondering if he was a little too nervous and thus overestimated his opponent, Xiao Jing and Xiao Jie's doubtful voices rang in his ears almost at the same time: "My Lord, I suddenly sensed a trace of the same kind!"
"Are you saying there are other strange [God's Stones] around?"
Lei Xiao was stunned at first, then he reacted immediately.
Could it be that the other party also has a stone elf in his hand, and the stone elf is the key to the other party's hidden means?
But Xiao Jie's next response denied Lei Xiao's opinion: "My Lord, it is indeed the [God Stone], but the opponent is extremely weak, and the situation is not much better than the previous sleeping [God Stone]."
"Extremely weak? Then the threat is almost negligible."
Hearing this, Lei Xiao nodded thoughtfully.
In this case, we can basically rule out the possibility that the other party uses the [God's Stone]. Given the cunning nature of the Lich, it will naturally not do something that would be like fighting a rock with an egg.
Thinking of this, a hint of doubt appeared on Lei Xiao's face again.
This is deep in the Howling Land, why would an extremely weak [God's Stone] appear here?
Just when Lei Xiao was puzzled, Xiao Jing's next words made Lei Xiao more confused.
"My Lord, it's strange. I didn't sense any strangers of the same kind just now, but that guy just suddenly appeared."
After Xiaojing finished speaking, Xiaojie immediately nodded. It was obvious that the situation she encountered was exactly the same as the previous one.
"Not only is it an extremely weak [God's Stone], but it also appeared out of nowhere?"
Puzzled, Lei Xiao asked again: "Where is that aura now?"
"Your Excellency, it is right below here."
Xiaojing and Xiaojie spoke in unison, both pointing to the ground.
"what?!"
Lei Xiao heard the voice and his expression suddenly became nervous. (End of this chapter)