Chapter 1217: The Doomsday (I)
In the Snow Reflection Castle in the Kingdom of Everwinter.
"Your, your lordship... the Army of Graycastle retreated!" When a guard rushed into the castle hall and reported the news, all the nobles rested their eyes on him.
"Are you sure?" Earl Marwayne asked as he stood bolt upright.
"I'm positive. More than one scout has confirmed that," guard said while nodding vigorously. "Some people saw them empty their campsite overnight and also abandon a lot of food."
"They're... finally gone!" exclaimed the earl who burst into a roar of laughter. His heart instantly lightened. A month ago, Graycastle men had suddenly appeared in the Kingdom of Everwinter and soon taken over many port cities. They accepted neither their surrender nor presents but started to evacuate the cities immediately. Their barbarous behavior was even more outrageous than the church's. At least, the church would provide them with an opportunity to negotiate.
The reason provided by the Graycastle men was also quite ludicrous. They claimed that the Bloody Moon would bring swift destruction to the kingdom. Therefore, everyone must leave as soon as possible. This was the land passed down by generations, and the earl would not allow anyone to take it away from him. Neither the church nor Graycastle could do that!
"Your lordship," a withered, ancient scholar said oily, "the so-called full moon, sickle moon, dark moon and Bloody Moon are simply astronomical phenomena. They appear every now and then. If they believe that it omens ill, then let them do so. As long as your lordship holds onto this land, they can't do anything about it."
"That's right, the treacherous precipices around the Snow Reflection Castle will protect you from any invasion."
"We won't yield even if the Graycastle men are willing to negotiate."
"The church threatened you first as well, but in the end, they had no choice but to promote you to bishop."
His other henchmen all rejoined.
Earl Marwayne became more and more confident. As he gazed at the sinister Bloody Moon that had emerged three days ago through the window, his fear gradually dissolved into gratitude. Had the Bloody Moon not appeared just in time, the Graycastle men would have continued to advance, and he would have definitely lost his precious Snow Reflection Castle.
Although the earl had heard that those barbarians rarely attack or interfere with a city ruled by a noble, taking away his people was intolerable.
If all the surrounding cities were evacuated, who could he rely on during the Months of Demons?
Like his henchmen had said, this city was his asset. It was to the north of the king's city, situated among precipices. The gaps between the city and the precipes were around a few miles to hundreds of meters wide, connected by suspension bridges. These gaps were actually wide enough to house a few castles.
His ancestors picked this isolated land to build their castle because this area was well fortified. In fact, the Snow Reflection Castle had never fallen. Even though the Church of Hermes had conquered the entire Kingdom of Everwinter in a very short period of time, they had never managed to drive their army into the Snow Reflection Castle. Instead, they had sent ambassadors to negotiate with the lord and promised him that he could continue to rule this land as long as he pledged fealty to the church. This was what a normal person would do.
That was why the earl maintained his silence for such a long time, hoping to sell the city at the best price.
However, he could not accept Wimbledon's conditions.
Earl Marwayne did not think that the demons referred to by the Graycastle men would invade his castle. The towering cliffs were natural defense. However, he needed surrounding towns and cities to provide him with resources. Without people, his current stockpile would be exhausted eventually.
Fortunately, these Graycastle men all fled when they saw the Bloody Moon.
"Mr. Zac, what should I do next?" Marwayne asked the old scholar.
"Haha, of course we should launch an attack at them," Zac replied while stroking his long beard.
The earl stiffened. Attacking was a completely different story. He would have never defied the King of Graycastle had he not had this geographical advantage.
"Rest assured. I'm not asking you to attack the Graycastle men directly. However, you could seize the territories they looted. Look, the scouts said the Graycastle soldiers are scattered around. Each unit only contains around 100 soldiers. How many resources and supplies could they take away with so few of them?"
Marwayne's eyes glistened with excitement. He said, "You mean..."
The scholar nodded smilingly and said, "Those people who left with the Graycastle soldiers must have left a lot of their possessions behind. If we trace them down, we could probably retrieve some resources."
For example, food that was not easy to carry along.
Marwayne thus summoned his Chief Knight in excitement. While he was about to issue an order, a guard suddenly burst in and yelled, "Your, your lordship... there's a demon... outside the castle!"
"What demon?" the earl asked while scoffing at him. "You believe the nonsense those Graycastle men said?"
"P-pray forgive me, your lordship, but it..." the guard stammered in a hollow sort of voice. "But it isn't human indeed!"
Not human?
Everyone looked one another in bewilderment.
Marwayne's heart leaped to his throat. However, as the lord of the Snow Reflection Castle, he must maintain his composure.
The earl thus put up a straight face and said, "Well, take me there. Let's see what it actually is. I'm very curious about what the creatures living in hell look like."
...
With that being said, Marwayne still put on his best armor and took the largest God's Stone of Retaliation with him before he ascended the city wall. A dozen guards erected "a wall of shields" in front of him.
He felt hugely relieved when he saw the demon. The demon was, as his guard had suggested, alone.
It was standing on a protruding rock instead of the city wall. The rock was a little taller than the wall, right in front of which was the fathomless abyss. The patrolling knights had already ordered their squires to set up catapults and were ready to shoot their arrows.
After studying the demon for a while, Marwayne noticed that it was indeed not remotely human. The demon had hands and feet, but it had a much larger build than an ordinary man, its skin blue, with protruding veins running underneath. The biggest difference lay in the tentacles that sprouted from its cheeks, chin and elbows. Marwayne was disgusted about those wriggling tentacles.
To his surprise, the demon's eyes were shut as if it was sleeping. Marwayne did not feel it threatening at all.
Marwayne wondered if the demon's visit was really the result of the Bloody Moon, but he soon convinced himself that this was a pretext the Graycastle men used to persuade ignorant villagers to leave the country. This monster definitely had nothing to do with the rumored doomsday. He just needed to ask his soldiers to shoot arrows, and then the demon would be dead.
At this thought, Marwayne took a deep breath and yelled, "Listen, you filthy, revolting monster! I'm the lord of the Snow Reflection Castle, Marwayne Caso. You illegally entered my territory. If you want to live, on your knees and surrender. This is your only choice. Otherwise, the icy abyss beneath will be the place you find your perpetual peace!"
Marwayne did not think the demon understood him. His hot statement was more like a demonstration of his own bravery than a warning to the demon.
If he scared away this demon that the Graycastle men were afraid of, then he would definitely rise to fame.
"My patience is limited. I'll count to five — five, four!"
In the meantime, Marwayne motioned his soldiers to get ready to shoot.
"Three..."
The demon's eyes snapped open. It bellowed, "Enough!"
Its voice pierced the air like thunders and rang off the precipes. Numerous icicles fell off as the cliffs shook. Marwayne felt the ground was about to shatter. There was a ringing silence, and he took a few steps backward in terror and fell to the ground.