Orc Tyrant

"You bastard! No news for two years, I thought you were dead!"

In front of Alatrester, who was walking quickly, the guard of the border town of the empire slammed the opponent's shoulder fiercely, and then suddenly hugged the opponent, making everyone around him dumbfounded.

"No way, the blood worship in the west spread like wildfire. I lurked for a long time, but I still couldn't get close to the core. They..."

Halfway through, Alatrist stopped. The more he knew, the more dangerous he was. The situation of his old fellow was already very dangerous, and there was no need to increase it.

"I heard that the Imperial Police Department destroyed several altars, but it didn't seem to capture any ruthless characters."

Letting go of this long-lost old friend, You Sufu sighed. The huge empire is far from being as powerful as it seems, and the incumbents are not a bit wise. The Western world calls their Majesty "Sleep." "Dragon", this is not a compliment.

"Get in the car first, we have to get to the fortress before dawn."

As the whistle sounded, the train slowly left the station and disappeared into the night.

"I filed a report with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I didn't expect them to send you over."

In the luxurious interior of the car, the two sat on the soft sofa facing each other, sipping tea from the depths of the land of yellow sand, a rich and mellow refreshing drink.

"I took the initiative to come."

The silver spoon stirred gently, and Alatrist's voice was unusually slow.

"And besides me, no one has been to that place."

"Then did you read my report?"

"Looking, I was honestly surprised. After all, the place is so old. Many people say that it is a land abandoned by the gods. Now this kind of change is happening suddenly, god? Who knows."

"I have been there for ten years."

Putting the delicate cup on the coffee table, You Sufang leaned back and sank into the sofa.

"From a lieutenant to a general, many people, including my soldiers, thought I was fearless and knew everything about it."

"No one can do this."

"do you know…"

Raising his hand hard, Yusuf pointed to his head, and his tone became very low.

"...The scenes from ten years ago have often appeared in my nightmares so far, and I still fear the land and those things like a coward."

"That's all from the past. You now have more than 100,000 soldiers, thousands of cannons, and a solid fort. You don't have to be afraid of anything."

"No, you are wrong."

You Sufu shook his head, his face painted with melancholy.

"Never, these things never gave me a sense of security, not at all."

Slightly opened car windows blow into strands of slightly chilly wind, blowing in the thin gauze curtains, like a gentle hand constantly rounding the flame surrounded by the glass lampshade, creating layers of time in the compartment. , The faces of the two of them are also bright and dark in this time.

"At least, you have become frank, not everyone can face their fears."

"I just want to be able to do my best now."

"That's why I'm here."

"Haha, I should be able to invite the first blade of the secret guard, should I be honored, or should I pray."

Putting down the porcelain cup with a wry smile, Alatrist didn't like others to mention that title, because he was harassed by the secret guards and the brats. Young people are always easy to compete, he is past that age. .

"Don't mention that."

"Okay, okay, I know you don't like this title, but to be honest, I am still very conflicted now. I hope everything is well, and I hope that things will not end so easily."

"In any case, Aksum is one of the most important military zones in the empire. Your worries are a little redundant."

"you sure?"

Straightening up, Yusuf stared at each other's eyes, his expression a little angry.

"Do you know that the Ministry of Military Affairs sent a letter three months ago requesting the removal of ten infantry battalions? Do you know that the Ministry of Military Affairs intends to cut the budget of the northern defense zone by 40%? You know that my soldiers have not received one since a year ago. A new gun, a new uniform! Did you know that the Secretary of the Army once sent me a secret letter, telling me that the Ministry of Military Affairs has not paid enough veteran money, so that I can use the military capital to exchange it on the black market!"

Speaking of the end, Yusuf slapped the table fiercely, and the whole person stood up. Even the guards outside the carriage were not alarmed and knocked on the door lightly.

"General?"

"It's okay."

Sitting back on the sofa, Yusuf drank the remaining Kafele and stopped speaking, while Alatrist, who was opposite him, was silent for a long time before whispering.

"I know, then, do you need to change a defense zone, I will say hello to Zhuolin, he will sell my face."

"I will not abandon my soldiers!"

"In that case, your complaint is meaningless. What needs to be done is to prove the importance of the Aksum defense zone. I believe that Zhuolin's IQ will convince the parliament and cabinet after understanding it."

"But if the seriousness of the matter is beyond expectation, you know Aratriest, Axum, especially the southern defense area, is still deploying defense forces according to the assessment 50 years ago. If the threat really exceeds expectations, then I need time to mobilize the forces from the northern defense zone to the south, and I need to build more fortifications and hoard ammunition and food."

Hearing these requests from the other party, Alatrist tapped the table with his index finger and thought for a while before replying.

"Then do it this way, when I get to the fortress, I will write a letter to Zhuolin and explain your concerns to him."

"You helped me a lot, yes! Do you remember this."

With that said, Youssef pulled out a stack of cards with beautiful illustrations from the side bookcase.

"Of course, 54 cards, I taught you."

"I hope your craftsmanship hasn't deteriorated. Let's use this to pass the time and let those troubles go to hell!"

The train traveled all the way through hills, grasslands, and wilderness. After driving for a whole day and night, it came to Axum, the southernmost province of the empire, and finally stopped at the southern military zone of the province, the core of the Ouke Defense Line. , Aswan Fortress.

The Aswan Fortress was built in the 10th year of the 20th Era and has a history of 81 years. The earliest Aswan Fortress is a huge bastion, composed of living quarters, main fortress, triangle fort, parapet, artillery fortress, and trench. The tight line of defense, the extension of the concave polygon can make any attacking enemy have to withstand fire from different directions. This fortress proved to be a little overkill for defending against constantly walking out of the evil wasteland from the scattered Ouke, until the 41st of the 20th era. The large-scale Ouke invasion almost broke the fortress, which made the empire pay attention to this unignorable barrier. After all, Aksum has no natural dangers. To the north of this arid province is the empire’s important grain-producing area, Gramatia. In order not to threaten food, the empire set out to expand the fortress on a large scale at the beginning of the 21st century, adding many small fortresses and outposts, and the Aswan fortress also extended a circle, the main body is still the original bastion. This isolated fortress has also become a tight line of defense.

"salute!"

"play music!"

During the performance of military music, Yusuf and Alatrist walked out of the locomotive with weird expressions, because the person who greeted them did not have any chief officer of the military district, but only one priest, from the East Kane Church. The pastor of, of course, is also their old acquaintance, the bishop of the Diocese of Axum, Isihou.

"God, the emperor's tooth, you, it turned out to be you!"

With a cheer, the bishop, dressed in gorgeous gowns, fat, shiny bald head and sweaty, walked quickly to Aratriest, and tightly held his right hand with his greasy hands.

"Alatrix, we haven't seen each other for ten years!"

"Well, so did I. Is it okay for you to be like this? As a devout Camon, you don't have a good abstinence no matter how you look at it."

"Piousness lies in the heart, and the desire of the flesh can better hone us."

"You are still so funny, don't waste time here, let me see how serious things are."

Hastily ended the puzzling welcome ceremony, Alatrist and the other two came to the lookout at the highest point of the fortress, from which one could clearly see the situation on the edge of the sinister wasteland.

"Oh my God…"

Although he had seen the detailed content from the report, Alatrist was shocked because he had been to the treacherous wasteland more than once. He was able to see the terrifying wind in the wasteland before, and there was a light along the edge of the wasteland. Obviously the dividing line, as long as that line is crossed, the scorching sun will become extremely hot, in a sense it is also a spectacle, and the distance between the lines is a world of difference.

But now, that line disappeared, the sunlight became indistinguishable again, and the violent wind that was visible to the naked eye also disappeared, as if the sinister waste had returned to this world from another dimension.

"Prepare me water, food, and salt immediately."

Alatrist knows that he can’t delay any longer. Such drastic changes will definitely change Oak’s behavior. He is a person who knows this creature better in the Empire. He can even speak a few words in Oak. Anyone understands the horror of such creatures. They are by no means mindless beasts. With that terrible reproduction ability and their amazing power, many times he thinks that the sinister wasteland is actually some kind of prison, just for imprisonment. These terrible existences, now this cage is gone, everything will change.

"Youssef, immediately raise the combat readiness level to the highest level."

"I have already given the order."

"Isihou, do you have any opinions from the church? The church strongly supported the establishment of this fortress. I think the church should know something."

"I have reported to the universal patriarch, the chant choir has only one word of prophecy, the beast is about to rise."

"The beast is about to rise..."

Although the sky is clear, in the eyes of Alatrist, the clouds are beginning to cover, and the war is imminent. He stares at the distant wasteland with furrowed brows, thinking of countless possibilities in his mind, but there is no clue. The other two are also the same. Without saying a word, the three of them looked at the distance in silence, with an unusually solemn atmosphere.

"General! Things are ready!"

After a while, the voice from below broke the silence. Alatrist took a deep breath, then turned to Yusuf and said:

"I will set off now."

"Don't take a break."

"It's too late. I have to settle down in that place before dark. I hope that after so many years, it hasn't been buried in the sand."

The three people came to the exit of the fortress. At this time, there was a tall backpack behind Alatrist, which was filled with the items he named, and the black uniform on his body also turned yellowish brown.

"One month, if I have not sent a message after one month, you will send the tokens I left to the secret guards, and they will fully support you. In any case, you must ensure the security of the defense line. The empire can't stand anything now. Blow."

After confessing his fuss, Alatrist walked towards the wasteland without looking back, and the two kept looking at him until they could no longer see him.

"Yousef, when we were young, he was like this, ten years ago, we have changed, he is still like this, difficulty... are the rumors true?"

Touching his bald head, Bishop Isihou couldn't help but recall the scene ten years ago, when he was just a chaplain with the army, and Yusuf was just a lieutenant. They followed a whole team of elite troops into the sinister wasteland. Looking for a missing holy artifact of the Three Witches, the main leader is Alatrist.

Only this time the expedition turned into a disaster. Although they found the holy artifacts, they were attacked by a large number of Oaks on the second day of their return journey. Almost all of them died. Only Alatrist took with them. The two of them broke out of the siege and walked out of the wasteland after going through many hardships. It was precisely because of this that they were promoted like a rocket, and the help of the Three Wizards was indispensable.

"Bu Laoquan? Do you believe in that kind of nonsense?"

Yusuf has always sneered at this statement. Although he was also surprised why Alatrist did not seem to grow old at all, he would not explore this secret, because everyone would have their own secrets.