N-M #492 - If you don't eat, you will be hungry. If you are too hungry, you will die.
#492 - If you don't eat, you will be hungry. If you are too hungry, you will die.
The roaring rain swirled with dark clouds, descending on the red-copper fortress walls atop the dark green hills and slopes, shrouded in misty rain.
The farmland outside the fortress was already submerged, forming natural puddles, and countless legs in shorts and straw sandals paddled through the water.
Most had dark skin, full-body tattoos, and wore only wooden armor made of vines, as they climbed towards the city walls.
Occasionally, bursts of frost rays and dark green acid balls erupted from the attacking crowd, the most conspicuous being bright yellow lightning streaking across the city walls.
Although not as terrifying as Jeanne's zigzagging lightning snakes, it was enough to make several black-armored knights scream and fall to their knees.
Sweeping rain crashed against the armor of the knights on the city walls, and everyone could hear the crisp clanging.
They could no longer distinguish between the sound of weapons and raindrops.
When swinging their long swords, blood and rain made it almost impossible to wield them.
Although breathing techniques granted the knights extraordinary endurance and stamina, people get hungry if they don't eat.
And if they get too hungry, they die.
They had been without food for a whole month since the Battle of Black Mountain.
Nidusal had taken away a large number of garrison troops and food from the surrounding small fortresses, all of which were annihilated in the Battle of Black Mountain.
The high-ranking nobles and commanders were either killed in battle or imprisoned by the Alco family.
With no leader and the main force lost, they were still managing to hold on.
It was hard to say whether they were too elite or the Black Serpent Bay people attacking the city were too weak?
Three miles away from the Red-Copper Fortress lay the densely packed camps of the Black Serpent Bay people.
In temporary conical thatched huts, with wooden boards and straw mats, these Black Serpent Bay soldiers usually slept on the straw mats and wooden boards.
The thatched huts were so small that they couldn't fit them all inside.
But the Black Serpent Bay people, accustomed to the humid weather, didn't care and simply left everything below their ankles outside the tents.
For them, no Black Serpent Bay person doesn't sleep in the mud.
Walking through the camp, one could see a corridor made of black feet.
At the end of the corridor, a temporary wooden house built of cedar could be seen, and the room even had a special heated brick bed.
On the wooden floor, the heat dispelled the dampness, and a little girl with white pigtails sat at a desk.
She looked about twelve or thirteen years old, with round eyes, chubby cheeks, and fair skin with a rosy glow.
Sitting on a high chair, her slender, white legs swung unconsciously.
Her delicate white fingers held a quill pen, and she tilted her head and pouted as if thinking about something.
After thinking for a long time, she sighed like an adult.
Picking up a nearby pipe, the little girl pinched a few pinches of high-quality griffon horn tobacco leaves and put them into the copper bowl, skillfully lighting it with the fire from the heated brick bed.
Bringing her cherry-like pink mouth to the pipe, the white-haired pigtail girl took a big puff, holding it in her lungs for a second or two before exhaling it from her mouth and nostrils.
Putting down the pipe and raising the letter in her hand, she cleared her throat, and a hoarse, smoky alto voice came out.
"I hope this letter finds you well, His Holiness, Holy Grandson, Horn Galar."
"I understand your position. You have made outstanding contributions in the fight against the Church, which is absolutely admirable."
"I must thank you for kicking the balls of those damned bishops. I must say, you have accomplished achievements that we have been unable to achieve for many years."
"On this point, I sincerely admire you."
"You say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and I deeply agree. I think the Joan Party and the Salvation Army can become friends, and good friends at that."
"I don't want to lie, but we are all members of the Secret Society."
"You are not the first to use religion to disguise the essence of a wizard, but you are indeed the first to succeed."
"I have to say, the madmen of the Order of the Scales should come and see."
"See what the real world is like, instead of hiding in the sewers all day, immersed in their crazy world, doing those disgusting things."
"Although I don't know why you want to contact them, I will do my best to contact them."
"As for the matters you mentioned regarding the demon-devouring bacteria, alchemical industry, and clockwork industry, I am very interested. Or we can have in-depth exchanges after I arrive."
"I am aware of your invitation. Through Patric and Carrie (sorry, that's not her real name, but she refuses to let me tell you), I know enough about you."
"Regarding your invitation to an alliance, I would like to say that we need each other."
"You need wizards to help you complete your alchemical industrialization, and we wizards also crave a land where we can walk in the light."
"We have common enemies and complementary resources. I have no reason to refuse you."
"As you mentioned in your letter, the Brago Monastery in Kasha County, the Megdi Merchant Guild in Lower River County, and the Kush Knights in your Langsand County, we five parties will meet at Jeanne Fortress at the same time."
"You already know the origin of our Joan Party, but I need to reiterate to you that the Joan Female Pope is not a lewd witch, but a pure saint."
"The so-called impression that Joan is a licentious witch is completely a slander by the Church!"
"Those so-called betrayed bishops were all moved by Joan's sincerity and kindness. There were only good people in the Vatican at that time."
"We admit that Joan may have had emotional entanglements with one or two bishops. Yes, one bishop committed suicide, but that was normal love, not charm at all."
"In any case, as you said, the Church has been occupied by demons, which is why it has become like this."
"We must be able to acknowledge Joan's innocence before we can have deeper cooperation."
"The six secret parties led by the Joan Party, including the Flame Rose Society, the White Mountain Hermitage, the Bald Head Society, the Pain Friar Group, and the Dragon Language Scholars Alliance, will all join the alliance."
The latest novels are first published on the Sixth 9 Books Bar!
"Attached to this letter are the spell specializations of the six secret parties. These six secret parties will send three witches to accompany me."
"We will go to Jeanne Fortress to meet you as soon as possible. You don't need to pick us up. We can come by ourselves."
"If you can really defeat the Church, we sincerely hope to form a confederated country with you, Black Serpent Bay, and Thousand River Valley, because we have common enemies."
"Please forgive my reverie. We have never been so close to victory."
"If you fail to defeat Prince Condé, please don't be too afraid. The gates of Black Serpent Bay are always open to you."
"Sheltering the enemies of the Church, especially powerful enemies, is what the people of Black Serpent Bay love to do. We will protect you because it causes the Church pain."
"Whenever they are in pain, we feel happy from the bottom of our hearts."
"From the leader of the Joan Party, Lullus Prockby."
After reading the letter several times again and confirming that there were no problems, Lullus rewrote it and then called a dark-skinned wizard.
"The letter is written. Send it to Jeanne Fortress."
The dark-skinned wizard nodded silently, put the letter in a waterproof bag, and prepared to leave.
"Wait," Lullus stopped the messenger, "Has Melia Tea sent any letters?"
"No," the messenger shook his head concisely.
"That child..." Lullus pouted unhappily, took off the hair ties on both sides, and re-tied a bun on the back of her head.
Standing in front of the wooden house, looking at the row of black feet on both sides of the road, Lullus shouted dissatisfiedly: "You gang of pig weed pimple syphilis dogs, put your legs away, I'm going to kill people."
The Black Serpent Bay people who were originally lying lazily on the ground quickly retracted their feet. Under the thatched sheds, pairs of fearful eyes stared at this little person.
They seemed to be looking down, but also like they were looking up.
In the heavy rain, Lullus's body began to swell.
Clusters of black hair grew out of her soft, snow-white skin, and her hard muscles burst through her fragile linen clothes in an instant.
Two meters, three meters, four meters... In the sound of bones and muscles rubbing, a huge shadow shrouded everyone's heads.
A gorilla standing upright, about four meters high, or rather a human-like gorilla, appeared in everyone's sight.
The cracked corners of her mouth and sharp teeth made people believe that this monster had swallowed the little girl just now.
After moving her shoulders, Lullus spewed out two streams of hot steam from her mouth and nose.
Unlike the knights, flesh-oriented witches mostly cannot maintain their human form when using extraordinary powers.
She bent down, her scarlet eyes swept around, and then picked up a two-handed axe and a two-handed war hammer next to the wooden house.
"Roar—"
The roar scattered the rain and reached the walls of the Red-Copper Fortress. The knights on the walls turned pale and shouted for the priests.
The earth trembled as the black-haired giant, holding a two-handed weapon in each hand, charged frantically towards the city walls.
"Gather the troops, take up your shields, priests! Priests!"