Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
The gears were turned in advance.
Everything became increasingly unmanageable.
At Wolfwind Fortress, Borahan led his knights on a patrol of the entire fortress. After confirming that there were no abnormal situations, he planned to immediately lead a team to investigate the nearby Sol City.
However, before he could depart.
A courier from Sol City arrived first.
“My lord! Please save Sol City!”
The courier looked disheveled, with several cuts on his body, blood seeping through his armor, and an arrow stuck in his back. One of his boots was missing, giving him a pathetic appearance.
“Speak slowly,” Borahan frowned and instructed the medical personnel in his team to tend to the courier.
The border was harsh and cold. Priests and other rare professions were out of the question, especially in this desolate North Continent where even mages were rarely seen.
“Thank you, my lord! Thank you!”
After his wounds were treated, the courier seemed to have a better spirit, at least no longer bleeding. However, he spoke with a weak voice.
“My lord, everyone has gone mad. Everyone is mad. The enforcement team is killing people on sight, shouting about facing the truth while killing people all over the city. They don’t recognize us anymore.”
“What?” Borahan exchanged glances with his personal guards, their faces filled with confusion and bewilderment. They had no idea what this courier was talking about.
“Mad? Who is mad? Speak clearly.”
“My lord, it’s Great Knight Katerci. He’s holding a statue and while riding his horse, he’s killing people and shouting about the truth. I don’t know if I’m mistaken, but it seems that everyone who looked at the statue, whether they were soldiers or civilians, has become mad.”
Those who looked at the statue would become mad.
Borahan’s eyes widened.
This was starting to sound like the work of a demon or an evil god.
But the courier’s miserable appearance did not suggest he was lying. Could something truly strange have happened in Sol City?
“When did this start?”
Borahan asked with a solemn expression.
The courier lowered his head and recalled for a moment, then said uncertainly, “It seems to have started after that earthquake in Sol City. I remember a blue dragon flew over Sol City, and then Great Knight Katerci went to investigate the situation. After that, strange things began to happen.”
Borahan gradually felt that something was unusual.
He recalled the appearance of the blue dragon when it flew by. It looked disoriented, not like it was attacking the city, but rather fleeing as if it had encountered its natural enemy.
“You rest here for now. The rest of you will come with me to Sol City.”
Borahan led his team out.
He did not intend to enter Sol City.
If it was a malicious incident like a demonic invasion, entering Sol City would be like delivering themselves to the demons. The correct course of action was to quickly secure the city walls, use them to blockade Sol City, or abandon Sol City entirely and cut off its routes to other cities, retreating to Wolfwind Fortress and requesting reinforcements from the Royal Capital.
Wolfwind Fortress was no more than half an hour away from Sol City.
It would be even faster on horseback.
Ten minutes would be enough to arrive.
When Borahan arrived at the gates of Sol City on horseback, the screams and shouts from within the city had merged into a continuous clamor. The smoke from burning houses billowed straight into the sky, and the chaos made his expression grim.
“My lord, what should we do now? Ram the gates open?” a knight suggested.
“No, we’ll go straight to the city walls.”
Borahan said calmly.
The knights ascended the city walls according to Borahan’s orders. Those below the Sky Knight rank used grappling hooks. By this time, the defensive line on the city walls of Sol City had completely collapsed, and soldiers could be seen slaughtering each other everywhere.
Borahan drew his bow and shot arrows, killing the mad soldiers on the towers from a distance, saving a few unfortunate souls.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that these mad soldiers were undergoing physical mutations.
The most prominent characteristic was their pupils turning completely black. Secondly, these soldiers had developed green pustules resembling blisters, and their bodies emitted a decaying stench.
“This doesn’t look like the work of demons,”
Borahan used his sword to lift the collar of a mad soldier.
The disgusting festering sores had spread all over his body.
“It indeed doesn’t look like demons. It’s more like a plague, but I’ve never heard of any plague that causes people to go mad,” his adjutant, standing beside him, said with confusion.
“My lord, these madmen appeared after looking at that statue.”
A soldier who had been rescued said, still trembling, “Katerci held that statue and ran around the city. Wherever he went, more madmen appeared. They were not afraid of death and seemed to feel no pain, killing anyone they saw.”
“So the key lies with that statue?”
“Yes.”
Borahan walked to the edge of the city wall and peered into the city.
Panicked civilians were surging towards the gates of Sol City. Behind them were some figures with strange postures, clearly abnormal. At least, he couldn’t run with his left hand moving with his left foot, nor could he crawl on walls like a spider.
“Where is the City Lord?” he asked without turning around.
His icy voice carried with the howling wind to the ears of the soldiers.
“The City Lord left Sol City this morning, saying he was going to a neighboring town for negotiations. He’s not due back until after dusk.”
“That old scoundrel managed to escape this time,” Borahan sneered.
He was gradually forming a solution in his mind.
Firstly, to ensure his own safety, he would absolutely not seek out Katerci, nor would he look at that statue.
Based on initial observations, the strength of these contaminated soldiers did not increase. Only their fearlessness of death and lack of pain were troublesome. However, they would still die if their heads were severed, so as long as they could be killed, it wouldn’t be a major problem.
Secondly, Sol City must be blockaded to prevent the contamination from spreading to other cities. No one knew how many of these statues there were. If the contamination spread to other cities, he could not bear the losses.
“Shalnar,” Borahan turned to his adjutant and ordered, “I’ll give you two Dragon Blood Warhorses. You will immediately depart for the Royal Capital and report the situation in Sol City to His Majesty.”
Afterward, he said to another Sky Knight, “Lec, lead the soldiers to blockade Sol City. Guard the city walls and the four gates, and do not let anyone escape. Rescue the civilians as the situation permits, prioritizing your own safety. The rest of you will come with me to rescue the priests in the Order Shrine within the city. Everyone move, quickly!”
“Yes—!”
The knights each took on their respective duties and orderly executed Borahan’s commands.
However, Borahan did not know.
It was already too late to rescue the priests in the Order Shrine.
Because Katerci had already entered the shrine first, holding the statue.
His target had been there from the beginning.
The truth guided him.
The many contaminated individuals he created along the way were merely pawns to clear the path and delay the enemy.
