The dark clouds formed by countless small black dots kept stirring in the smokey morning light, which attracted Feichi's attention from afar. They were countless birds gathered in groups, slowly hovering in the sky, suddenly descending, and then immediately flapping their wings and flying high. This situation was repeated several times.
"It looks like a crow. They are particularly sensitive to two situations: death and spell, which happen at this time, are obviously abnormal." Feige rode on his horse, using Hawkeye meditation as a scout. "I have an ominous premonition."
"If this is the case, we must be very careful." Archbishop McIntosh said: "Feich, let the Sacred Heart knights come forward first. They cooperate with tacit understanding and have their own command and tactical system, and we will only cause trouble for them."
Someone was in front of me first. Fitch nodded naturally, immediately lowered his horse speed, and gradually retreated to the rear of the team. Following the road beneath his feet, there was Qitanna's house, where her father and ancestors lived for generations, and the survey showed that she had recently taken leave and returned home. Fortunately, this was not aristocratic territory, there was no solid castle, but a small vineyard, with her own winemaking workshop and a small inn.
Now, it also has "guests" composed of dozens of paladins and judges to visit.
There is a low mountain bun to the west of the manor, and there are low vines on the hillside, which is a good place to watch the battle. Archbishop Fitch and Archbishop McIntosh came here, followed by Benny, Shani and the Archbishop's pastoral apprenticeship. Some apprentices and masters have a deep bond and are willing to provide lifelong loyalty but are unwilling to end their study career. These are the ones that follow the Archbishop.
"I think the Sacred Heart allocates too little staff, not enough to surround the manor. If Qitanna runs away..."
"Don't worry, Feich. The Paladins of the Sacred Heart can be one for ten. When necessary, their horses can pursue tirelessly, and no one can escape from them." Archbishop McIntosh said confidently: "When you hear that it is the Knight of the Sacred Heart, the people inside should surrender. No one will want to fight the Paladin of the Goddess, it is a way to die."
"A normal person will surrender, but what about the madman who is not afraid of death?" Feiqi shook his head: "I am not belittled by the Paladin, but I just think that the enemy should be lenient, and I cannot always think that the other party will fight according to their expectations."
"Huh? You shouldn't say this from you? I remember that at the martial arts competition, you used a strategy to conspire others. If you didn't think your opponent would fight according to your expectations, what's the point of your strategy?"
Feiqi looked at McIntosh and felt strange. The strategy should not be to make plans for all the enemy's possibilities, and then control things to develop in the direction they hoped, and increase the winning rate at the maximum possible level? Isn't the people in this world thinking that way? "Oh, you're right. I'm a little rude. I just want to join the battle, so I want to belittle those who have already played..."
"Well, calm down, and then let's get off the horse and pray together."
Benny and Shani smiled at each other when they dismounted. They thought Fitch's style of speaking just now was quite familiar, a bit like "three-fold must be perfunctory". Archbishop McIntosh must have never heard of this statement, so he was surrounded.
Not far away, the paladins had already arrived at the door of the manor and then divided them into three parts, one left and one right and one knocking on the door. The manor was quiet. Although it was the lazy moment before dawn, what was the dead silence? There were no chickens and dogs in the manor, only flying crows high and low.
Feiqi frowned, and the situation in front of him was uneasy. "It's not right." He said concisely, and the paladins outside the manor were obviously alert. They put down their armor, pulled out their swords, held up the holy emblem, half praying for the goddess' protection, and the other half began to use magic tricks that could detect evil. Suddenly, the crows burst into a harsh scream, scattering in all directions, "exploding" into a huge cloud of black feathers, and then swooping down to cover the paladins outside the manor.
There was no shouting, no sound of swords colliding, only the crows that kept making their scalp explode. "Ga~~Ga~~Ga~Ga!!" In the few gaps where the black feathers flashed through the chaotic interlaced, you could see the afterimages of the knight dancing with his arms and slashing and poking. Several thunders fell from the sky, and several holy fires exploded the black barrier, but no one rushed out of the crows. A few minutes later, the crows were much less and gathered again to the sky. There was only a ground of feathers and blood on the ground.
"Thank you for saving your life. If I went there just now, I would have to die." Feiqi put his palms together and bowed to Archbishop McIntosh, then wiped the cold sweat on his head.
"What's going on? The Crow defeated the Paladin?" McIntosh was about to step forward as soon as he lifted his robe, but was grabbed by Feiqi.
"Don't give it!"
"What?"
"The crows cannot defeat the Paladin, what you said makes sense. Look, let's talk about it." Feiqi focused on observing the crows in the sky. His Hawkeye meditation could conduct detailed and detailed reconnaissance, but no matter how you look at these crows, it is normal. They are just ordinary birds, without teeth, knife-like claws or spell energy fluctuations. But if you look closely, they move thousands of times, but only seven appearances.
Although the crows in the world are generally black, they will not only have seven appearances. The biggest possibility is that there is some kind of illusion here, which uses the postures of seven crows to repeat them continuously to create the scene in front of you. But why is this for?
"It's so crazy that you dare to attack the Paladin!" Archbishop McIntosh raised his fist and chanted a spell loudly. His voice was like a bell, and his loud and heavy tone was not like a human voice. Feiqi tried hard to listen, and the language talent of the contract demon made him understand a little.
"Is this a dragon language?" Feige asked after Macintosh put down his fists.
"Yes, I'm calling on my companion of Blue Dragon. If it's in the Holy Trinity Castle, I can call three. Now there is only one place that can only come here, and the rest will have to continue on duty."
"Oh, if there is a dragon to come to support? Then I will feel at ease." Feiqi said with peace of mind, but he still looked at the direction of the manor very vigilantly: "How long will the dragon come? I need to consider allocating my strength to deal with the next attack."
"You can come in at most three hours. But, distributing your strength and the next attack? What do you mean?"
"We rushed to the road overnight without hesitation at all, but the other party was obviously prepared. These conspicuous crows were created by illusions. I haven't figured out its purpose yet, but it is definitely not for us to discover them far away." While using the legal armed seal to strengthen protection for Shani and Benny, Feiqi assembled the monster hunter's heavy crossbow: "In the territory of the sect, either she was crazy and didn't want to escape; or she had a reason to stay. If it were the latter, the best way to defend was to eat the vanguard - that is, we - to avoid later people learning from their predecessors' experience. Look, the crow is here."
The clumps screamed, then flew over the heads of the crowd and kept hovering. Countless pairs of small red eyes radiated fierce light, and countless black feathers covered the morning light. Everyone couldn't help but go back to back together, firing crossbow arrows, lightning magic and javelins into the sky. The horses were already panicked, breaking away from the reins and neighing and starting to escape.
"Catch the people around you." Feiqi suddenly said. In an instant, a dazzling light radiated from the top of the teasing cat stick, and more than ten air element ropes flew out, binding everyone around them. At the same time, the four air element rope hooks were fleeing horses, and everyone was performing greasy techniques under their feet.
"What are you going to do in Feichi..."
Before Archbishop McIntosh could finish his words, he found himself being pulled out by a horse. Not only him, but also Feiqi, everyone was pulled away. Due to the greasy technique, the running horse pulled everyone out effortlessly. At this moment, the ground where they were originally standing suddenly collapsed, and the clown suddenly dived, covering the area that had become a big hole.
Feiqi shook his staff, untied the rope of Qi element, and everyone quickly got up. The crows were still chirping and hovering, like a black tornado. However, at this time everyone had already discovered that the crows did not have the ability to attack independently, and they were all acting.
"Release lightning into that pit, the stronger the better, the enemy is below." Feiqi said to the Archbishop: "Don't hold back, we may not have the next chance."
"Thunder of justice!" Archbishop McIntosh raised the holy emblem and waved it down fiercely. There was no dark cloud in the sky, but a flash of lightning fell from nothingness, feeling five meters in diameter, and it penetrated the crows into the ground. The soil became transparent, the sand became glass, and the flames burned from every dust. The hole that had just been indented was filled with powerful energy, and suddenly swelled up again, and then it sprayed blood drops and hail of flesh.
Lightning could not react. Except for McIntosh, everyone was stinged with their eyes, retreating one by one, and they lowered their heads to avoid them. But even with their eyes closed, the light could still penetrate the eyelids and make people "see" everything that happened outside. The power of this terrifying magic was earth-shaking, and even Feiqi, who proposed "don't hold back", regretted it. This was not the "thunder of justice", but if a thunder went on, the one who was still alive must be justice!
The clumps quickly dissipated like a handful of sand and dust in the wind, without even their feathers left. All the blood on the ground was splashed from the ground, and an arthropod similar to a crab's legs hung at the entrance of the cave, fluttering red, burning, and emitting green smoke.
"What's down there? What's going on?" McIntosh released the strongest Thunder magic, which seemed a little difficult. His students came up to wipe his sweat, but he pushed it away: "Precaution around you, don't serve me! Feich, what's going on?"
"I can only tell a long story." Feiqi still looked around alertly, and then explained the situation with a very fast speech: "It seems that the crow attacked the Paladin, and not to mention whether the crow can defeat the knights, just talk about the corpses of those knights? Did the people, horses and armor be eaten by the crows? No crows became fat!"
"Where will the attack come from in full view of us? I judged that it was underground. The knights might have fallen into a trap, fell down all of a sudden, and then relied on the mechanism to restore the ground's condition. However, I found that the crow was after the illusion, so the ground's condition might also be an illusion."
"Since crows are illusions, what are their purpose? Flying overhead is to attract attention, and keep shouting affects our hearing. When you all look up, I pay attention to the ground and find something close to me. I have no magic to penetrate the ground and attack the enemy below, so I can only wait until it digs through the ground and comes out. So, I prepare a way to escape in advance and take everyone to avoid danger. You all know the rest."
"Then...what monster is underneath?"
"How do I know this? I can't see through the ground. Anyway, I know you are the Archbishop. You are very powerful. You will definitely not be wrong if you let your full force hit you." Feiqi looked around and found that the horses were gradually quieting down, so he nodded: "This level has been passed for the time being."
"Pass? Are you sure? What will we do next?"
"Of course I'm waiting for the dragon to come. Do you want me to go to the manor to have a look?" Feiqi shook his head: "You can go, I prefer a safe way."
"You boy!" Archbishop McIntosh looked around him. These people were not bad in terms of magic, but they were not fighting priests. And it was obvious that Feige was the calmest and most intelligent of all. He was right to listen to his opinions. "Fege, tell me, there are so many crows and such loud noises, how do you know when the monsters attacked?"
"Listen with your eyes." Feiqi pointed to the ground: "At that time, even if I was lying on the ground, my ears were full of crows. There was no way. But my eyes could distinguish the slight vibration of the dust and gravel on the ground, so I could track the traces dug by the monsters. With those traces, I could roughly judge its size and digging speed, and then wait for the moment when the monsters and the crows cooperated to start attacking. No action would leave any traces."
"You really have it. What will you do next? Just wait here? If you want to go in, can you come up with an idea?"
"If you really want to go in..." Feiqi immediately picked "self" out of "we", leaving only "you". "The best way is to go in from where the enemy came out. Dig out the corpse, prepare a torch, cover his mouth and nose, and then walk in the holes along the monster."
"Why do you have to walk from below? I see nothing outside the manor."
"There is a monster who is so good at digging holes to help defend. If I had definitely dug a bunch of traps." Feiqi waved his hand: "I can't fly, will you? Anyway, I know that the dragon that is coming will fly in a while."
"But you have a rope," said one of McIntosh's pastoral apprentices: "You shouldn't be afraid of falling into a trap, are you?"
"I'm not afraid of pitfalls, but I'm still afraid of death." Feiqi shook his head, "If you think you have nothing to do, you can dig out the monster's corpse first and see what kind of breed it is. This will also improve your understanding of the enemy - what if there is a second one?"
"Well, that's right. You guys start to act."
Archbishop McIntosh really gave face and agreed to Feich's "bad idea". He probably knew that Feich didn't really want to go this trip, so he was inevitably in a bit of emotion, so he "coaxed" him to be happier.
Feiqi did not need to come. He completed the analysis of the Great Prophecy and came up with tangible evidence to prove that there was a problem in the entire magic circle ritual when encapsulating. Since the problem was discovered, he must continue to investigate, so McIntosh dragged the judges of the Sacred Heart in. At this time, Feiqi had completed the task and could leave. After all, this was agreed by the Archbishop of the Sacred Heart mask. However, Archbishop Macintosh must drag Feiqi over and was willing to lead the team himself, so Feiqi was "pulled" in this way.
"This is a great contribution, a great contribution, I hope you can be in it." When all my students were busy in the pit, Macintosh said to Fitch: "Qitana is my holy body pastor. The problem she had this time made the Holy Body silence. No matter what happened to my Holy Word silence, it is part of the church after all, and I like to think more about others."
"The Fortress of Ice Peak belongs to the Holy Body Cult, so you are also considered a person of the Holy Body. You find out, you come forward and finally solve the problem, and you will also participate. The Holy Body is worthy of being in the face. This kind of thing is quite boring, I don't like to get involved, but the Paladin will understand that he will definitely reward you, such as making you the presiding priest of the Fortress of Ice Peak."
Feiqi widened his eyes: "So this has something to do with the Ice Peak Fortress?"
"Of course. You have to know that the Ice Peak Fortress is an important part of Minas Ishir. Kipling's death left a vacancy there. You are the only priest in the Ice Peak Fortress, but this does not mean that you will definitely be the presiding priest there. I know that you care about the Ice Peak Fortress, and that location is what you want, right? So this time I will not give you any rewards, I will only give you a word from the Paladin."
"Thank you, I do want to be the presiding priest of the Ice Peak Fortress because I am sure I am the best person to make the Ice Peak Fortress better."
"I know."
Although he expressed his gratitude verbally, Feichi would not think that things were so simple. He thought about it with the Contract Demon's mind and gradually came to his senses. The Ice Peak Fortress is an important part of Minas Ishir - this sentence is too true. If the elves are missing one piece of "territory" on the road, it would be a very unstable situation. McIntosh always said that he is one quarter of the elves' blood, but in the affairs of the elves' territory, he is probably more than one quarter of the "quarter".
"I don't quite understand why the elves need to get ashore?"
Archbishop McIntosh was stunned for a moment, raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, and looked at Fitch: "This is not a problem."
"No, this is a problem," said Feiqi. "The humans who are with me must be guarded against elves, or worry about war with elves. But the elves I know say that humans are full of prejudice and are worried that humans will attack them. I don't know what's going on, but since this is definitely not a question of doctrine above the head, it is a question of the land under the feet. I need to be prepared, otherwise... aren't you worried about what I will choose in the end?"
"There is a prophecy that the elves believe that when the new world is born from God, the old home of the elves will disappear and virtues will no longer exist. The elves will either become beasts in the sea or become food for beasts. We are sure that this time will not be too far away." said the half-elf Archbishop of McIntosh. "Feich, I am not worried about how you choose, because we predict that you have passed away when this happened. We have been looking for elves to gain territory and become stable and prosperous, able to carry the migration of elves, at least as a place and a place to gather. We do not want to go to war with humans unless it is at the critical moment of life and death, this is our entire plan. You are the surprise of this plan."
"Didrit is the core of the plan, right?"
McIntosh nodded: "Yes, she is the key."
"Then why doesn't she like the role model leader? It makes her feel disgusted..." Feiqi sighed: "I understand, is this part of the plan, right? Her disgust will not make her feel responsible as a lord, but it can make others relax their guard against her. How much effort can a lord who doesn't like the role model leader put into development territory, right?"
"It is worthy of being cultivated by Earl Hall. You really have a great future in the Holy Body." Archbishop McIntosh nodded.
"I was wondering, if it weren't for me, who would the elves use to be the advisor to Minas Ishir?"
"I admit that I'm prepared, but now it's better for you. When you age, there will be successors." McIntosh said: "The lifespan of elves is very long. A few years are like you humans after a month, and we have more patience."
"I now know why some humans are afraid of elves - essentially they are afraid of death."
"I won't refute your point of view." McIntosh looked expressionless, and he chose to change to a topic closer to his present: "Feich, I remember you passed the Monster Hunter who enhanced the ritual and the Seal? Tell me what is in front of me?"
The Archbishop's priest apprentice worked hard and had begun to throw out the monster's corpses from the hole in batches. The first thing came out were various fragments similar to crab shells, each as big as a washbasin; then it was like the wrists of an octopus, each as thick as a bowl; the rest were bones like pig's trotters, each... as thick as a pig's trotter. These corpses were burned by lightning and fire, emitting a strong smell. If you don't think about the issues related to "monsters" for the time being and concentrate on evaluating the smell, Fitch would say "very fragrant"...
Chapter completed!