The “deserter” Dimier has now been confirmed to not have been crazy as originally claimed. Although he has returned to his normal position and re-enlisted, it is evident that the average demon clan does not welcome him, even Antipa has revoked his staff officer status.
In fact, initially, Antipa had privately inquired Dimier, but the pessimistic descriptions provided by Dimier made it so that, despite understanding the rationale behind his words, Antipa found himself increasingly reluctant to seek out Dimier’s counsel.
In contrast, the human nobles were able to provide Antipa with significant emotional value.
Moreover, at present, Dimier and those human nobles unusually shared no disagreements regarding Antipa’s decisions.
What to do? Only to seek reconciliation.
Dimier was trapped in the black fog, unable to see the future; it was better to directly escape to the Solun continent, leveraging the ability to act as pawns for the Avars and taking action anew, while those human nobles were already exhausted by the seemingly endless pursuit from the northern border. After all, humans could not escape the black fog, so they were thinking of seeking an early liberation.
Now, taking advantage of maritime trade, Antipa had begun sending some demons to the Solun continent. From the very beginning, demons relied on other races for shelter, acting as enforcers, providing high-interest loans, and feigning pity; this was merely returning to their initial starting point.
Furthermore, it was not even the original starting point, as the demon clan still possessed the Holy Corpse of the Demon God. Humans seemed very interested in this Holy Corpse, and Antipa was contemplating whether he could leverage this Holy Corpse to create further opportunities.
Just as Antipa began plotting the future of the demon clan, the lower-tier demons were still patrolling aimlessly in the black fog.
“I heard the Sur德 Region has been reclaimed by humans, right?”
Although it was unclear what there was to patrol for in the black fog, since humans wouldn’t come into the black fog.
“Yeah, humans are really scary; I heard they left not a single demon unscathed.”
Clearly, these demons had forgotten how they had treated humans, or perhaps they were simply afraid of the same tactics being used against them by humans.
“Fortunately, the Eternal Frozen Land has the protection of the Demon God, so those humans dare not step in easily.”
The two patrolling demons chatted casually.
“I want to go to the Solun continent; I heard from the Demon King, that there are no steel monsters there, nor any Lars Knights.”
“But the Sea of Instability isn’t any easier; besides, is the Solun continent really safe?”
“Safer than those Lars Knights.”
The demon longing for the Solun continent scoffed and then said, “The Demon King has already had those human nobles clear the way. Regardless, I will enlist afterward; crossing the Sea of Instability is better than facing the Lars Knights.”
“We are in the protective embrace of the Demon God, how could there be Lars Knights in the black fog?”
Hearing this, that demon chuckled: “That’s true, but there’s nothing enjoyable in the black fog; it’s better to be in human territory.”
Just as these two demons were idly chatting, a clanking noise of armor being moved suddenly echoed around them.
One demon suspected nothing, thinking it was merely the changing of shifts, and was about to walk towards the noise from the armor when his companion pulled him back.
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you think something’s off? Judging by the sound, that armor is very heavy. We don’t wear such heavy armor, and listen, there are sounds reminiscent of the bearings from those steel monsters from the humans; something doesn’t feel right, does it?”
“Have you been sleeping? There are no humans in the black fog.”
That demon was unconcerned. At that moment, a sound of long blades striking armor echoed from the other side. This was how demons would generally ascertain their locations in the dim black fog.
Hearing the sound, that demon was even more convinced that it was simply his companions coming to change shifts; he had long grown weary of this meaningless patrol.
“No, we can’t go over, this is too strange. From the sounds, it’s definitely a heavily armored unit. Where would we get so many troops right now?”
“Are you joking? On the other side of the mist, that sound is definitely from our companions.”
The demon, not heeding the warning, stepped through the mist and called out to the source of the noise: “You’re here for the shift change, right?”
The massive powered armor remained silent, but a red light erupted from the visor of the helmet.
The two patrolling demons were momentarily stunned upon seeing this unit clad in powered armor.
The insignia of the Northern Wind Bear on the shoulder pauldron revealed the identity of this unit.
The Lars Knights… the Lars Knights had breached into the black fog!
These Lars Knights had captured those patrolling demons within the black fog, carrying the captured demons on their shoulders, striking the tattered armor of the demons to attract more of them.
The two patrolling demon soldiers retreated cautiously, for the first time feeling the black fog around them as oppressive and terrifying. The Lars Knights had broken through the protective barrier of the Demon God and ventured into the black fog.
This unit of Lars Knights made no sound; as the leading Lars Knight’s helmet visor began exuding red light, the Lars Knights behind also emitted red light.
It’s over…
After eliminating these two demon lackeys, Hammond twisted his neck inside the powered armor.
Although he didn’t understand the underlying principles, he could tell that the helmet was indeed effective; as long as the consciousness of the Lars Knights remained within the sanctified Kara, it would not suffer from the corruption of the black fog.
This gave Hammond a new understanding of the black fog—only if it corrupts your spirit, can it corrupt your body. If the spirit falls, then even if the body is immersed in holy water, madness will eventually come.
This entry into the black fog was only experimental in nature; Hammond was to lead the Lars Knights deeper and deeper following orders.
Although he didn’t particularly like that somewhat deranged sister, he had to admit that the sanctified Kara was indeed effective—not only did it connect the Lars Knights to each other, it also helped them avoid the corrosion of the black fog.
Looking at the map he held, Hammond spoke within the sanctified Kara, “We’re almost there, all tests are normal, prepare to return.”
This black fog still had many strange properties; for example, it could block many communication methods, even disrupting the consciousness communication of the bards. It was currently speculated that the nature of this black fog was a transformation of magic power that disturbed normal transmission.
The consciousness transmission quality of the bards also merely connected through some means, utilizing the Sea of Consciousness to link their minds, but within the black fog, individual consciousness was continuously polluted, thus losing the ability to communicate.
Fortunately, the sanctified Kara used a public dream state independent of collective consciousness for connection, effectively bypassing the Outer God’s pollution, hence, it would not be affected by the black fog; however, the effective range of the sanctified Kara was limited, making long-distance communication within the black fog impossible.
Upon hearing they were to return, these Lars Knights felt a lingering reluctance; what once felt like a chilling black fog now seemed merely a good place to gain military merit.
They were just a small troop sent to test the efficacy of the sanctified Kara, not the main assault force.
Once they returned, it was likely that a full-scale assault would be launched. By that time, trying to gain military merit would probably not be so easily attained.
