Mount and Blade

.........

Under the dark curtain, a group of priestesses were chanting ancient spells in a dark cave, and countless pairs of slender arms were swaying under the stone steps, twisting their slender bodies like a group of eye snakes courting, or like the red spider lilies woven by human hands swaying in the wind.

"...Great Az Dallion, honorable snake god, your believers are praying for your revelation, send down the oracle, we will clear all obstacles for you without hesitation. (Snake Cult language)"

In the center of the stone steps, it was the saint Reis of the Snake Cult who was chanting the ancient and obscure spell. Reis's slender arms with snake-like rune patterns were holding a green crystal ball.

"Az...hiss..."

Above the crystal ball, an abnormal force distorted the magnetic field in the cave, and the surrounding temperature dropped several degrees instantly. A strange rustling sound came from the crystal ball and echoed on the stone wall, spreading slowly around like ripples in the lake.

"Hiss...I smelled that disgusting breath, it was Astalia's follower...Reis, find him, and then...I will devour...his delicious heart...hiss."

"...This war will never end so easily, her follower is worthy of my sending the most elite warriors...hiss."

"Call, the devourer who died in his homeland, your goddess is calling..."

The strange laughter filled the entire cave, and then a voice that seemed to come from the abyss murmured, the hoarse and hollow voice was singing an unknown imperial movement, and the priestesses below also rolled their eyes and waved their arms, as if they had entered a weird snake cult ritual.

............

In the morning, Barclay's army was ready to go.

Trunks' 3,000 men were deployed in the team, with Isole from the capital and the deputy commander of the Silver Knights, Willian, leading the way in the front row, and Sarade from Rose Castle and several sons of the castle lord Weber leading the team at the end, and the Rose Knights were also in the team.

A total of about 10,000 elite troops were deployed. Because they were located on the border, Rose Castle sent the most troops. After all, the battle on the border was related to the safety of Rose Castle, and the people of the castle also responded to the call and wanted to make contributions.

And they were going to the Snake Worship Army that had fled to the vicinity of Yaoyang Port to cause chaos. This group of guys did all kinds of evil and had burned, killed and looted many villages. It was said that many rogue knight groups had been taken under their command, and the entire army was expanding like a snowball.

Naturally, supplies became a problem, and they could only be replenished through constant looting. Everywhere they passed was a tragic scene of devastation. Houses and crops were burned to ashes. Many burnt corpses were covered with flies and insects, and some scavenging birds and wild dogs were gnawing at the corpses.

Everyone's expression was very serious, and Gao frowned. These snake worshippers were a bunch of lunatics.

"Don't stand there, keep moving forward!!"

The leader, Isole, scolded. The current task was to defeat the culprits who caused the current situation. It was not the time to be sad. People would be sent down to deal with the corpses slowly.

"Poor thing."

The wrinkled old mouth of Peggy Lared, the head of the Azure Disciple, who was accompanying them, opened and closed to lament, but she didn't know that the expression in her eyes was colder than anyone else, as if she was looking at a trivial matter.

Only his disciples kept shaking their heads and sighing, and with Peggy Lared's seemingly peaceful voice, no one noticed that there was anything wrong with the old man.

After three days of traveling, the knights were tired and exhausted. As soon as noon passed, the knights had to change to another horse for traveling, while the war horses for fighting kept their strength.

"Huh? Why is it cloudy?"

The soldiers in the army whispered to each other, and the few people around Green also looked up at the dark clouds rolling in front of them. It was vaguely gloomy like a thunderstorm, and soon blocked the sun's rays.

The air suddenly turned cold, and Green felt a little uneasy inexplicably. The cold feeling on his fingertips made him tighten the hand guard sword hanging on his waist.

"Drip" "Drip" "Drip"

The rain gradually dripped from the gloomy sky, interweaving with the sound of the marching footsteps, playing a solemn movement. Trunks frowned, this was not a good sign, but the front team had not yet issued an order to stop advancing, so he could only silently lead the soldiers to march in the rain.

"Let the musketeers keep their weapons insulated and replace them with crossbows."

"Understood."

"Rumble..."

The rolling thunderclouds surged above, and the land gradually became muddy. It was just that they were marching on such a dirt road. The woods not far away revealed a strange silence in the rain, so quiet that it was scary, as if unknown beasts and venomous snakes were lurking.

Green's uneasiness became even more unbearable, and he let the rain drip on his armor and semi-enclosed helmet, but even so, his vision was still blocked by the rain, as if he couldn't open his eyes.

"Trunks... You think we won't be ambushed at this time?"

"It's hard to say. I always have a bad feeling..."

Green expressed his uneasiness, but Trunks felt the same way, because it was too strange. They were almost at the Snake Cult stronghold mentioned in the secret report sent back by the scouts two days ago.

Green turned his head to look at Seranti. He couldn't see his expression under the mask, but he looked silent at this time, as if he was listening carefully to the changes around him. Green had to observe the terrain around him vigilantly. After all, it didn't matter if he was ambushed, but he was afraid that he wouldn't know how to run in the chaos.

"Sigh"

Just after walking for a while, Seranti's warhorse stopped. The warhorse sniffed with a bit of dissatisfaction and shook off the water stains on its mane.

"They are coming, Trunks."

"Stop and be alert!!!"

Almost at the moment when Seranti issued a warning, Trunks' big hand immediately stopped the army behind him. The companions gathered around Green also gathered together and surrounded him in the center to protect him.

In the jungle on both sides, a group of soldiers wearing green robes and chain mail gradually appeared. The originally wet and muddy hillside and meadow were instantly trampled into mud. They even ignored their companions' falls and wantonly trampled on their bodies as they rushed forward to carry out their mission.

In the center of their green robes was a dark snake pattern. They were the snake worship warriors! !