Chapter 527: The General
“It’s a versatile mechanism; I just didn’t expect Elizabeth to acquire this technology, and it seems to have been applied to matters in the Southern Continent.”
Fisher crouched down in front of the neatly stacked mechanism shells produced by the Nali factory. He quickly realized that the mechanism shells from this Nali factory resembled those he had seen in the Holy Realm, rather than the ones produced by David I in the Northern Region.
Although there wasn’t much difference between the two in terms of function, since Mikhail handed over the technology of the mechanisms to the Holy Realm through Archangel Michael, the mechanisms in the Holy Realm, modified by Michael, were aesthetically more pleasing and looked more harmonious.
In contrast, David I, the current Mechanic of the Creation Society, manufactured the mechanisms entirely according to blueprints left by Mikhail, which probably resembled the designs from Mikhail’s world.
Now, this type of loom produced by Nali had some similarities to those in the Holy Realm, but they were not identical. It’s unclear if it was transformed through a third human modification to take on this appearance.
While unsure of the specific differences in functionality, at least it provided Fisher with the possible source of the Nali mechanisms, which was related to the Holy Realm.
Ingrid listened, half understanding. This intern journalist from Shivali likely wouldn’t have chosen a social and humanities discipline if she was well-versed in mechanics. She raised the camera in her hand to take a picture and said, “A mechanism. I have no idea what that is. Although Nali always comes up with new inventions, like this portable camera in my hand that I ordered at last year’s Nali mechanical exhibition, I have never even heard of this mechanism you mentioned.”
It was normal that she hadn’t heard of it; probably all Nali people, except for Elizabeth in the Golden Palace and a few others, didn’t know what this was.
“This thing is impressive. If Elizabeth used something like this in the war against the Red Dragon Court, then Raphael’s defeat can be understood.”
Ingrid snapped a few pictures, and while listening to Fisher’s analysis, her beautiful eyes hidden behind her sunglasses blinked involuntarily. She turned her head and tentatively extended her hand to pat Fisher on the shoulder, but just as before, getting close to this man made her feel an instinctive discomfort, making all the hair on her body stand up as if warning her that this person was dangerous.
After hesitating several times, she still didn’t move her hand, only asking, “Hey, uncle, even if you’re a fugitive from Nali, it shouldn’t be like this, right? You’re calling her ‘Elizabeth’ like you know her well. Just so you know, the other Nali people usually call her ‘Empress Elizabeth’ or ‘Your Majesty’ more often.”
Fisher glanced at her, not yet speaking, when the book with eyes in his arms peered out and mocked, “Familiar? Of course, he’s familiar. No one in the world knows that Empress better than him.”
“Really? How are you familiar, great Sir Book? Tell me about it!”
Ingrid’s eyes lit up with curiosity. She didn’t know if she had caught some potential “news” information and hoped Emhart would reveal more, even recalling Emhart’s shameless self-reference previously to use it here.
“Ahem, then I have to mention…”
“Shut up.”
Emhart was nearly overwhelmed from being praised, but before he could lightly clear his throat and recount the past, Fisher’s expressionless face had already silenced him, cutting off his words.
“Why is that, uncle? You’re not supposed to dislike recalling the past during such reminiscing, right? Isn’t it interesting for your young junior to dig up stories about your past?”
Ingrid was ready to take out her notebook to record, but she felt disappointed by Fisher’s action and couldn’t help but retort.
“Don’t you think you’re done taking pictures? Can we leave now?”
“Yes, yes, yes, I’m almost done.”
Ingrid resigned herself, but before taking photos of the warehouse again, she lifted the camera to capture Fisher’s expressionless face.
Perhaps she had already thought of a headline for an unfinished news article: “Visiting the Southern Continent, the Unspoken Story of Unknown Man and Empress Elizabeth.”
Ha, if the Nali Secret Bureau found out, she would surely suffer the consequences.
Ingrid turned to photograph the stacked mechanism shells in the warehouse, while Fisher and Emhart observed their surroundings and pondered the origins of the mechanism technology.
There were actually two possible sources. One was the Turan Family in the Northern Region, which had some technology obtained by David I in exchange for lunar stones. However, considering how much time had passed, he couldn’t confirm whether Valentina had awakened. If Elizabeth’s mechanism came from the Northern Region, she would definitely conflict with Valentina, especially since they had already settled grudges before.
The other source might be the Storm Sea, which was the wreckage of the Holy Realm that fell from the sky, containing remnants of much mechanism technology. When he left, the Storm Sea was already under the control of the Black Chieftain and Ice Mountain Queen Alagina; he wasn’t clear about the current situation.
“I have to say, the changes here are significant. Fisher, you better be careful.”
After surveying the surroundings, Emhart’s opening remark was like this.
“What do you mean?”
Emhart tilted his head back and stated matter-of-factly, “You forgot that the previous Elizabeth was already terrifying enough, eager to fly out of Saint Nali to grab you back forcefully. Previously, when you were entangled with death, facing life and death, she still temporarily set other things aside. But before you left, didn’t you give her a message? You absolutely didn’t tell her when you would return, right?”
“That’s right, because at that time, I didn’t even know what method Renee used to drive away death.”
“Isn’t that right? You gave her hope of returning, and Elizabeth accepted it, but who could have known you would be gone for four and a half years? If I were Elizabeth, I would have become impatient from such a long wait, wishing to uproot the whole world to throw you out. And although you’re gone, the other ladies you know can’t escape. I don’t know about that Raphael; those two from the Northern Region are definitely in for it.”
Alagina and Valentina.
In reality, Emhart made a valid point. Elizabeth would certainly wait for him, but that wouldn’t prevent her from taking action against the ladies who once had relationships with him during her wait.
Jasmine was sleeping in the sea, and human methods couldn’t even reach where she stayed; Renee appeared and vanished mysteriously, and even he couldn’t find her, let alone Elizabeth; while Eil was in the depths underground, too lazy to come out; as for Raphael, Fisher thought she probably wouldn’t directly reveal her identity, as what she needed to do was very demanding. As a leader, exposing any entanglement with humans would be extremely detrimental, and she should not disclose it.
And Hela—
As a mythical being who had lived for so long and still enjoyed her freedom, she wouldn’t bully Elizabeth either.
For these few ladies, their safety could be temporarily assured, but the two from the Northern Region were practically live targets for Elizabeth.
If Valentina woke up, she would undoubtedly reclaim her throne with the support of the Six Races of the Snow Mountain; Elizabeth could not possibly be unaware, but at least she still had capital to resist Elizabeth.
As for Alagina—
Thinking of this, Fisher’s head began to ache more and more.
In his view, Alagina’s buff was almost maxed out.
First, even if Elizabeth was genuinely so kind as to overlook her intimate relationship with her, just the fact that he left Isabel by her side would mean Elizabeth wouldn’t let her go.
During that bloody cleansing, Elizabeth’s elders and peers had all perished. Only Isabel and her two younger siblings were left, and Isabel was one of the few relatives Elizabeth valued, so no matter what, Elizabeth would take Isabel back to Saint Nali, to her side.
To this end, Elizabeth would be willing to pay a price beyond anyone’s imagination.
On the other hand, Alagina had no powerful forces behind her; even her homeland saw her as a fugitive. She was all alone with a group of sisters, wandering around on the ocean, living day by day, and now faced the rising Elizabeth in the Western Continent like the sun. Fisher didn’t dare to imagine the pressure Alagina had to face.
Thinking of this, Fisher suddenly felt a pang of guilt towards Alagina, as all this pressure was directly or indirectly related to him.
Mainly, he hadn’t expected to return after so long, and these changes could lead to numerous consequences. Now that he thought about it, Fisher finally realized the severity of the situation.
“Tsk, Emhart, I need to hurry up or—”
“Uncle, uncle, come quickly.”
Hearing Ingrid’s somewhat curious voice, Fisher snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head to see her squatting in front of something deep in the warehouse, waving at him with curiosity.
“Uncle, look at what’s going on.”
“What’s going on?”
“It’s this… the surface of the mechanism. I didn’t touch it, but when I walked over, it suddenly lit up.”
“Lit up?”
Upon hearing this, Fisher felt an ominous premonition. He lightly stepped and instantly appeared behind Ingrid. He raised his gaze to the place she pointed out, only to see a complete mechanism mounted on the wall, glowing with a bright blue light.
Under the gaze of the radiating and increasingly bright mechanism, a mechanical, monotonous voice in Nali suddenly emanated, “Beep beep, detecting illegal intruders. Information has been reported. Beep beep, detecting illegal intruders. Information has been reported.”
“They found us.”
Fisher was not overly panicked; after all, he had reached the mythical rank and general humans and magic couldn’t harm him. But Ingrid was different. When she heard they were about to be discovered, she looked around in a panic, like a startled kitten, and hastily said to Fisher, “Is this for real, uncle? What do we do? You don’t want to be caught by the Nali people and become a fugitive again, right?”
Fisher shot her an expressionless glance. Outside the factory, an orderly sound of footsteps approached from nearby.
It was probably the Nali army stationed here.
It seemed this factory was indeed directly managed by Saint Nali and the Golden Palace; no wonder the local Green Dragon Court residents and visiting merchants were so discreet about it.
“Catch me, we’re getting ready to leave.”
Fisher didn’t want to clash with those soldiers and said to Ingrid beside him.
She adjusted her sunglasses, her expression somewhat rigid, “Are they coming again?”
“Otherwise, I’m leaving first.”
“Don’t, don’t, don’t, uncle, I’ll do it!”
Ingrid, teary-eyed, reached out to grab Fisher’s arm, and the next moment, he turned and suddenly grabbed her arm.
“Who?! Who’s inside?!”
Outside the warehouse, various luxurious magical fluctuations surged, and the next moment, the door to the entire warehouse swung open, revealing countless soldiers in golden attire.
Fisher didn’t look back, while Ingrid pressed herself down like a little hamster, clutching her beret tightly, fearing this incident would cause diplomatic friction between Shivali and Nali, and she would have no idea how to face it if she died.
Fisher raised his hand and smashed the glowing mechanism in front of him. In the next moment, he lightly kicked the ground, and amidst the astonished gazes of everyone behind him, he suddenly caused an array of intricate cracks to appear on the ground.
“Boom!”
Fisher crashed straight through the ceiling of the metallic frame above, shattering a large hole while passing through the activated magical barrier as if all defenses were meaningless before him.
“Monster!”
“Quick, send someone to the camp to notify the general!”
“Quick!”
The soldiers rushed in, watching Fisher’s figure shrink into the distance, hesitating to approach the site from where he just left, fearing that there could be some lingering terrifying presence left.
This scene was as terrifying as the war with that fearsome Red Dragon King from a few years ago. No, that Red Dragon King probably couldn’t do what this guy just did.
But if the general showed up…
After all, even that Red Dragon King was publicly defeated by this general in one blow and had to retreat severely injured.
If it weren’t for the fact that there was a subhuman officer in golden armor next to that Red Dragon King who exhausted all efforts to save him, the war in the Southern Continent might have ended by now.
The entire warehouse, the entire camp, and even the whole factory were thrown into chaos, with soldiers sealing off the scene and ensuring that no one could get in or out.
Many workers from other warehouses heard the loud noise that came from earlier. Now that the soldiers sealed that area, they became even more curious, popping their heads out from their workspaces to discuss with one another, hoping to glean some insight from their companions or superiors, seeking a little solace from the boredom of work in the Southern Continent.
“The general has returned!”
“The general has returned!”
After an unknown amount of time, approximately a quarter of an hour later, with scouts on horseback returning from the extremely tall walls, the soldiers surrounding the warehouse finally began to move.
“Eek eek eek!”
“Ah! Is that a rat?! What’s happening?”
At this moment, inside the factory, small animals surged out from various pipes and cafeterias. Whether mice, geckos, or spiders.
Their eyes turned white as if sensing some calling or fear, they scattered and fled from where they once lived, climbing towards the walls and scaring both workers and soldiers within the factory.
In the distance, the previously cloudless sky began to gather a bit of dark clouds, as if it were about to rain, and the wind grew urgent.
Once the scouts returned to report the news, the officers waited at the entrance for the arrival of the general.
They initially thought that no matter how the general came, he would bring some guards or attendants with him, but unexpectedly, outside in the boundless wilderness, only the crisp sound of a single horse’s hooves echoed.
All officers and accompanying soldiers swallowed hard, for at that moment, the dark clouds in the sky had completely covered this factory, as if it were about to pour rain.
All of this seemed to have been brought by the “General of the Nali Allied Forces” appointed by the Golden Palace.
In the distance in the wilderness, a majestic figure sat atop a finely adorned horse. That figure was, of course, clad in the golden Nali-standard general’s attire, but for some reason, what was more conspicuous in everyone’s eyes was a simple gray cloak draped over the general’s uniform.
That tall figure was half-shrouded under that gray cloak and soon arrived at the factory’s entrance with the strong horse.
“Boom boom boom.”
“What’s going on?”
Until the general atop the horse spoke in a calm and elusive voice, many of the officers present gradually snapped back to attention and hurriedly spoke to that figure,
“General, two quarter hours ago, two guys inexplicably snuck into the product storage warehouse. We didn’t see what they looked like because when we discovered them, they were right in front of our eyes, suddenly flying up from the ground to the sky. Several hundred meters high, directly crashing through the warehouse ceiling. The opponent was just too… we suspect they might be guys from the ‘Pseudo-Dragon Court’ in the South, so we report to you for instructions on what to do.”
The tall figure in the gray cloak lowered its head to look at the reporting officer. Even under the shroud of dark clouds, it was the first time that officer directly faced the “General’s” visage.
It turned out to be the face of a very handsome man. Although he looked quite young, he gave off an air of weariness. His silver-white long hair was hidden under the cloak, and only at this moment did the officer discover that the general had a folded bow strapped to his back, made of some unknown material.
“I see, lead me to take a look.”
The general nodded, slid down from the horse. At the moment he landed, nearly all the animals in the factory had fled, leaving only a few mice that had been in the warehouse still dazed and waiting for someone.
“General, look, it’s right here.”
The gray-cloaked general quickly arrived at the warehouse with a hole, and under the指认 of the officers, the big hole in the ceiling, the cracks on the ground, and the broken mechanisms all caught his attention.
The other soldiers had not interfered with the scene, standing quietly outside the warehouse, watching only the general enter alone.
He had heard from other soldiers that this general did not like closed spaces, nor did he want others to be close to him in compact spaces, so there was currently only the general inside the warehouse.
The general lowered his head to look at the cracks on the ground, then looked up at the large hole above, saying nothing, but beside him, for some unknown reason, several mice with white eyes rushed over, lifting their heads to squeak continuously at him.
After a long time, the general finally expressionlessly lowered his head and said, “A mythical being that is not a mythical species.”
“Eek eek eek?”
“I know, you all go ahead.”
“Eek eek!”
In the next second, upon receiving the general’s command, those mice tilted their heads and then began to viciously bite and tear at each other until they cruelly snapped each other’s necks and ripped their brains out, ceasing to exist before stopping.
And the gray-robed general expressionlessly took the longbow off his back. He pulled out a long arrow from somewhere, then drew his bow toward the location with the big hole in the warehouse.
“Crack crack crack.”
The sound of the bowstring tightening echoed as the general gently spoke to the bowstring, reciting a phrase,
“Bring his name back.”
“Buzz buzz buzz.”
The next moment, the arrow was released, shooting upward into the sky.
“Wow! Uncle! This is so cool! We flew so far!”
At this moment, Fisher, who had leaped who knows how far into the sky, was descending with Ingrid. The previously unsettled Ingrid was starting to enjoy this special “mythical rank flying service.”
In the high sky, she shouted excitedly next to Fisher while raising her camera to photograph the blue sky and white clouds.
Even after slightly landing in the wilderness, she was still incredibly excited, jumping and turning back to scream at the towering walls and factory that had completely vanished from view,
“Oh my gosh, we can fly this far!? I thought I was dreaming!”
“Shut up, little girl. Fisher, we better hurry up and leave. I have a strange feeling, an ominous premonition.”
Emhart, nestled in Fisher’s arms, peeked out and said, while Fisher’s expression was not too good, for he had already felt an unusual heart-pounding sensation while in the air.
“Ingrid, let’s leave together first. This place feels…”
There was no time to waste; Fisher decided to take Ingrid to a safer place, but the next moment, a strange explosive sound like thunder and wind suddenly erupted from the sky in the far direction they had arrived from.
“Boom boom boom!”
“Buzz buzz…”
Fisher’s hair stood on end, and his expression changed as he looked back, seeing a massive azure whirlwind that could tear through space racing toward them.
Underneath that disaster-like azure tornado, the once-clear sky had grown dim, and everything around seemed to freeze, with only Fisher and Ingrid remaining.
And having entered the mythical rank, Fisher could definitely see that terrifying attack coming for him, likely from the factory’s direction.
“Ingrid!”
“Eh? Uncle, what is that?”
She wanted to turn her head in confusion, but faster than her movement was the terrifying gale of the tornado with its exaggerated force.
Ingrid was uncontrollably swept away by the twirling force of the tornado, her fragile human body resembling a small blade of grass against such strength. With a crisp sound of cracking bones, she flew directly toward Fisher.
Fisher gritted his teeth to support her backward-moving body with his strength.
At the same time, he sternly gazed at the nearby tornado in the sky.
No, it should be called that arrow.
