“Wow…”
(O)
Come to the city from a small path and look at the broken, bleak and dilapidated ruins in front of you, Anne couldn't help but widen her eyes.
"No, this is Stoneville City?"
=('ヮ'=)
To be honest, she never expected that the Stoneville City, which the uncle from Datou, who had been instructed by her before, would be such a ruined place?
Anyway!
After coming here, Annie saw that the houses, streets and everything around here were dilapidated. It would be better to say that this is a street, but it is a broken eaves and walls?
Wherever my sight was, there were dilapidated roofs, broken walls, collapsed bricks and rotten wooden boards, which were sprinkled on the streets, and I don’t know how long it took no one to sort them out.
Weeds are stubbornly spreading out of the houses of the residents, and it is not difficult to judge from the dilapidated houses and the lush weeds that this city, Stoneville City, will definitely not be like this for a day or two.
In this situation, it is likely that nine out of ten rooms have been empty, and it may even be a little more serious than that?
Anyway, when Annie walked in from the broken exterior wall, she saw only such ruins, and there was no such bustling crowd, bustling streets, and delicious food from other worlds that she imagined.
In fact, let alone food, she saw only a handful of normal living people along the way. After seeing her or the unstoppable furnace knight behind her, they disappeared without a trace in an instant like frightened rabbits. As for the remaining people who did not run away, they were either cursed people with thin hair, pale skin and dull expressions like walking corpses, or those dead people who were walking corpses at all.
“…”
At this moment, behind Anne, the furnace knight who had been following him with a stern face was shocked. After all, the current Stoneville City was completely different from what he remembered.
Swish!!
However, shock, it did not prevent him from swinging at a dead man who roared at him and rushed towards him with one sword, and successfully split it into pieces that fell to the ground and remained motionless.
“…”
Then he took a step forward and walked to the head of the dead man who had been cut off by him, and looked at the other party's eyes that were still flashing with light and fell into deep thought.
"Yes."
"The news we received on the way is indeed true..."
"The ring of Elden's law has broken, and the golden law has had huge problems. Not only me, but everyone has lost their blessings."
"After the shattering of the Elden Far, people cannot live forever, nor can they die normally and be reborn under the blessing of the golden tree. The roots of death began to spread in the world, and this world is dying little by little..."
After saying that, the furnace knight sighed, then raised his leg and slashed the head that had been cut off by him into pieces. There was only so much he could do.
Immediately afterwards, as the small group of Lun completely dissipated into the air, he slowly looked up and looked towards the sky in the northeast.
There, the golden holy tree that covered the sky was still huge, but the light was even more dim than when it was sealed.
"eternal life?"
く(＾_)ゝ
Anne ignored the follower behind her and just continued to walk forward.
Unlike the other party’s words about the blessing of the golden tree or the broken ring of the Elden Ferris, in Anne’s view, the key root problems in this world are not those, but the confusion of rules and the random interference of some outsiders!
Otherwise, the world would not have evolved into its bad appearance now.
Moreover, the so-called blessings mentioned by the other party were not good at all in her opinion.
A long life does not mean that you can obtain eternal life. Without the baptism of reincarnation, fragile souls often cannot withstand the erosion of time. Even those powerful undead lichs are the same. Their souls are powerful, and their perseverance cannot be said to be unrestrained. In order to obtain the so-called eternal life, they will distort and curse their bodies and souls. But in the end, how many lichs can maintain their original hearts in that long time?
When there was only a twisted soul and a rotten body, it was like the dying dead man around him and this twisted world. So, Anne felt that the root of the problem was planted from the beginning and had no much connection with the subsequent shattered rings.
"Maybe!"
()
However, the above things have nothing to do with her, Queen Anne, so she didn't agree and just kept walking forward.
"before……"
"Stonville City is a giant fortress city known as only smaller than the royal city. Here, the permanent population of Stonville Castle was surrounded by at least 100,000 at its peak..."
"But now, this place has become like this..."
Continue to move forward, along the dilapidated and bleak street, which is similar to the ruins, slowly following the still cheerful steps of a careless little girl in front of her, the furnace knight said with a little at a loss.
"I don't know..."
“How many people are still alive here?”
He didn't know how many people there were in the Stoneville Castle Fortress, but the city outside the castle's high walls is now, with the broken eaves and walls that almost completely disappeared in front of him, which are almost completely lost to business and residence, and are afraid that even a thousand people are missing?
Of course, the thousand he said must refer to the kind of living people who can still live normally, rather than those who rush up to them when they see people.
"have no idea!"
()
"but……"
(○ε○)
"The people in the castle must know something, right?"
(°〼°〃)
Anne, who was walking in front, kicked away a rotten wood blocking the road, then looked up at the condescending Stoneville Castle built along the mountain.
She saw that under the dim sky, the tall Stoneville Castle Fortress also had many traces of destruction after the battle, but its overall appearance was still relatively complete, and the main structure was not damaged much. There were even flames and flags flying on it. She also faintly saw soldiers' heads scattering on the wall, so if you go there and ask someone for the situation, I believe there will be no mistakes.
"I advise you not to go..."
The Knight of the Furnace seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly spoke to Annie with some concern.
"I just want to go!"
(òó)
"And! Uncle, you really don't follow me anymore. They don't know you very well, really!"
(ˇεˇ)
"Let's go, Teebos, let's go to that castle to have a look!"
(灬灬)~
After saying that, she felt that it was too messy and there were too many messy things. She didn't want to take action on her own, so she let out her own bear, then jumped onto its shoulder, and then shouted in a soft voice, signaling the other party to lead her forward.
“…”
However, the furnace knight behind him who was released from the seal prison by Anne had no intention of stopping, and still stubbornly raised his foot and followed.
“Really…”
(lll￢▽￢)
"never mind!"
ε=(ο｀*))) Alas
Anne glanced behind her, but in the end she didn't say anything more.
What she knew was that the other party must have been rescued by her, so she felt a little disgusted and wanted to protect herself in order to repay the kindness... But who is Queen Anne? How could she need someone else's protection?
Besides, the other party couldn't even beat her little bear, so he slapped it away easily. What else can he use to protect her?
(…)
(●￣￣●)
“Huh?”
Σ(°△°)︴
"Tibers, it seems like someone is talking there. Hurry up, let's go over and take a look?"
ヾ(^▽^*)))
Just as she was about to continue saying something, Anne suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a sound coming from the street in front, and it seemed to be a human being. Although the sound was not loud, it seemed particularly harsh on the quiet and declining street today. So she hurriedly patted Tibers' head and signaled the other party to follow the sound quickly to take a look.
...
"Who is there?"
˙˙)
"scare!?"
!(;o)o
Soon, Anne, who turned a corner and arrived at the scene, was startled.
It turned out that she saw that it was a group of soldiers pressing against a group of living people, and some men, women, young and old who seemed relatively normal were walking into the castle fortress?
“!!”
“!!”
And while Anne saw those people, the soldiers also followed the sound and the furnace knight who was drawing his sword in his hand.
“?!”
"superior!"
"Catch them!!"
Immediately after the two sides looked at each other for a while and confirmed their eyes, as the leader of the soldier waved his hand, the soldiers who were originally escorting the prisoners pulled out their respective weapons and shields and rushed towards Annie and the furnace knight behind Annie!
“??”
()
pity……
There was no big surprise. For some reason, I saw a group of people waving their weapons and rushing towards me, and it seemed that they wanted to chop and kill and catch them. Seeing that situation, Annie naturally couldn't be too spoiled by the other party!
then……
Without waiting for the furnace knight uncle behind him to come up to help, nor did he let the bear take action. She froze those people one by one with a small trick.
Frost Ring: Summon a rotating Frost Ring at the target area and freeze any enemies entering or touching the ring.
“!!”
The furnace knight originally wanted to go up and show off and chop the soldiers over, but after seeing Annie subdued everyone instantly, he had to stop and put away the sword in his hand in disappointment.
"What?"
"Uhhhh!"
"this!"
"What's this?"
"not good!"
"My feet!"
At this time, when they saw that the parts below their knees were frozen to the ground by a strange and bone-broken ice, and found that they could no longer move, the soldiers suddenly panicked and began to smash them hard with fists, weapons, shields, etc.
But unfortunately, their approach did not work, and then they had to face up to the little girl they wanted to catch just now on the shoulders of a bear.
"she……"
"Who is she?"
"Stargazer?"
"No……"
“Yes, yes…”
"Fall, fade?!"
Then, while they continued to struggle and chop the ice, they did not forget to use that terrifying and uneasy expression toward a terrifying little girl who was riding on the shoulders of the giant bear and walking towards them step by step.
But fear was useless. They soon saw that the terrible little girl directly ordered the giant bear to walk to them and stared at them from a high place.
"Hey!"
()
"Uncle, tell me, what crime did they commit? Why did they arrest them?"
(ψｍｏ)o
"And! Why do you want to attack others?"
('^)
Annie ignored the soldiers and asked directly at the boss who was still holding the weapon in her hand.
What she had just heard and saw was the one in front of her who gave orders and kept secretly at the end, but that was useless. Queen Anne was not stupid, she had already discovered the other party.
“…”
The leader didn't say anything, but just tried and struggled for a while.
Unfortunately, when he found that he could not get rid of the bone-broken ice under his feet, he also found that the giant bear sitting on the little girl seemed very intimidating, staring at them with a terrible look, making them look like they were staring at by a giant dragon. After he really didn't have the courage to resist, he had to honestly explain:
"them……"
"She is the sacrifice that the demigod ordered to bring back!"
"We caught it from the foot of the Storm outside the city..."
The soldier leader was a bachelor, and he honestly explained that they were ordered to go out to search for suitable strong men and normal people as sacrifices.
Of course, it also includes the consequences of the "sacrificial gifts" and why they couldn't wait to order the attack after seeing Anne and the furnace knight behind Anne.
turn out to be……
The reason why this city has become like this is not only the shattering of the Eldon Ring of Law, the severance of the blessings of the divine tree and the war, but the more important reason is that the lord here, that "limbing" Grek, the old and ugly demigod king, was at work?
At the end of the Fragment War, the guy hurriedly fled from the royal city of Rodelli to Stoneville and settled down here.
Then, in order to become stronger, the guy cruelly ordered his subordinates to collect living people, strong men and all kinds of strange things everywhere. Then, he used their limbs to conduct various experiments and tried to force them to receive them from themselves, and tried to become stronger in that way?
"Limb-joining?"
(**;)
"Demigod?"
(ー`ー)
Demigods and other things don't matter, what's important is...
Annie seemed to suddenly remember, as if she had touched and chopped a guy alive before she met the strange little sister Melina and was teleported to Nimgefort by the other party. The guy was indeed accompanied by all kinds of weird and disgusting hands and feet, and it looked like a disgusting big spider?
If she remembered correctly, when she was talking to Miss Melina, she heard the other party telling her that the guy she had chopped seemed to be a descendant of a noble who had "limbed"?
“…”
(ー△ー;)
Of course, that's not the most important thing, now the most important thing is:
Before, she seemed to be near the city of Stoneville, and then was teleported to the wilderness of Nimgfo by Melina, but now she is ready, and she is running back here herself?
And...
If she remembered correctly, the chapel of the princes she appeared before should be on an island on the sea behind Stoneville Castle on the cliff?
(…)
(●￣()￣●)
"That's it!"
(へ╬)
"You go back and tell that person what to do, tell the guy, just say that these people were rescued by the great Queen Anne!"
(o'з'*)
"I will definitely not let you take them away!"
('΀Δ)!
"Now, you can get out."
☆(o*)
After saying that, Anne, who was a little embarrassed and angry that she seemed to have done something stupid, waved her hand and instantly used magic to freeze those people and burned and melted the weapons in their hands with flames. Then she said so generously.
She wondered if these soldiers were doing the right thing, nor did she want to know if the prisoners had really made a mistake. Anyway, she only knew that since she had encountered her, Queen Anne, she must have been in charge of it, so they can go back to their own houses now.
“…”
“…”
Seeing the freezing, I looked at the hands of the fire that had been burned for no reason and melted into red iron juice, leaving only the weapon with the handle. While the soldiers staggered back in surprise and shouted and threw it away, they looked at their leader with a very ugly expression, wanting to wait for the other party's order.
"You want to save them?"
"You can't stop it, useless..."
"What's the use of stopping?"
"This is a world that is destined to be destroyed..."
Surprisingly, the soldier leader first threw away the melted weapon and the still intact shield in frustration, and then looked at a little girl sitting on the shoulder of a giant bear with a depressed and bitter look on her face and said in a deep voice.
“??”
(~)
"Talking nonsense! Nothing is destined to be destroyed!"
(˙o˙)
"Anyway, you guys get out of here!"
o(*'　〼)o
"Otherwise, the Shushu behind him is a bad guy. If he wants to kill you later, he may not be stopped!"
(-)
Anne said playfully, completely ignoring what the furnace knight would think behind her.
"Yeah……"
"Then let's wait and see..."
"Let's go!"
Seeing that the little girl seemed not to be planning to destroy her and others, the leader didn't say anything more, let alone defend her or try to resist. He quickly turned around and took his people away in disappointment.
"Yeah, next..."
(′～`●)
Annie looked at the "inmates" who were tied into strings of ropes, and although they looked like humans, they looked numb. She couldn't help but have a headache and began to think about how to deal with or place these guys.
After all, this is the city of Stoneville City. Whether it is the level outside or the castle, there are a large number of soldiers. These guys who were captured here must not be as comfortable as her Queen Anne or the follower behind her.
"What do you want to do?"
"Challenge the Demigod?"
At this time, staring at the soldiers who had left for a while, the furnace knight suddenly came forward and asked.
In his opinion, since Anne chose to release those soldiers, she would not be afraid of those people going back to report. Since she chose to do that, she would be prepared to fight with Demigod Grick.
"Challenge the Demigod?"
(゜-゜)
"Maybe..."
╮(╯-╰")╭
Annie must have gone to see what kind of limbs are.
But that's not now, and she doesn't have the idea of ​​challenging her, because the other party is not worthy at all!
However, she was a little tired all the way here, and it was almost dark. She was now planning to find a clean place to rest. As for other things, she could talk about them later.
"By the way!"
)
"Uncle! Didn't you say you wanted to help others?"
()
"Then, these stupid guys will be handed over to you. You can send them out of the city or find a place to protect them. In short, this difficult task will be handed over to you. People are very optimistic about you!"
(`)
"That's it, goodbye to Shushu!" -
()
Soon, Annie thought of such a great way to solve her own troubles and prevent a follower from following her.
Then, after finishing her hurried explanation, she continued to move forward.
She just came here to play. Now, since the purpose of playing has not been achieved, she plans to continue strolling around and think about what to do next. But no matter what she wants to do, the furnace knight and those numb-looking guys are all her burdens, and she will definitely not take them with her.
(…)
(●￣￣●)
“…”
I don’t know if Anne’s words worked, but this time, the furnace knight did not follow him anymore.
He just stood silently on this street with the guys who had just been rescued by Anne, and watched the man and bear disappear at the end of the street.
Chapter completed!