Castle of Black Iron

Zhang Tie and the other two knights of Jinyun Country had already encamped on the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range for over one month.

At such a critical moment, as knights on Waii Sub-continent, although they would not fight demon corps and demon general to the death, they also had a lot of things to do. They could at least prevent some knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans from passing over Kalay Mountain Range and threatening southern human countries in a period.

As the demon general had suffered losses twice from humans in front of Nein City and Upton City, it chose to steadily push forward with demonized puppets as the vanguard of the corps this time. Besides, the knights of demons and Three-eye Association became relatively prudent in actions. As a result, the knights of humans and the knights of demons and Three-eye Association had been in a stalemate for over one month.

As the demon general felt that he would definitely win the battle this time, he didn’t expect to risk dangers with precious knights and soldiers of demon corps in case of falling in the trap of humans once again.

In the eyes of the demon general, the corps of about 200 million demonized puppets could overwhelm everything. Therefore, the minimal cost for them to occupy Blackson Humans Corridor was to have its elites follow the demonized puppets corps.

For human knights in southern countries, few of them would like to fight the knights of demons and Three-eye Association clans to the death.

If not because of the special honor and responsibilities of knights, most of the human knights might have left Waii Sub-continent.

On September 4th, the vanguard of demonized puppets had exited Kalay Mountain Range completely, which indicated a worse situation facing southern countries...

Right on the same day, Zhang Tie and the other human knights started to evacuate from the south edge of Kalay Mountain Range...

After retreating hundreds of miles, Zhang Tie, Elder Lan Yuchen and Elder Ou Geqing finally boarded a fury-level airship and returned to Jinyun Country.

Like how knights of Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace used the character " 穆 1 " as the exclusive middle character of their official appellations, knights of Lan Clan of Banxin Palace used " 玉 2 " as the exclusive middle character of their official appellations while knights of Ou Clan of Chuixue Palace used " 戈 3 " as the exclusive middle character of their official appellations. None of the other clans’ knights could use characters "穆", "玉" and "戈" as the middle characters of their official appellations.

Although Zhang Tie could fly all the way to Jinyun Country, he was not that stupid to expose such a shocking ability to the public at this moment.

The airship which would carry the three knights back to Huaiyuan Prefecture was waiting for them in Silverpine City, the capital city of Riska Duchy, a small country in the south of Kalay Mountain Range. When they left Silverpine City by that airship, the entire city had become empty except for the 40,000 city guards.

When the airship lifted off, all the 40,000 city guards then saw off this airship while chesting out and giving a salute to the airship.

Standing on the deck of the airship, Zhang Tie watched the city guards in Silverpine City with complex moods.

These city guards had to sacrifice themselves here. They stayed here to fight demons to the death so that their family members could have a chance to leave Waii Sub-continent.

Each one who stayed here could have 5 of their family members leave Waii Sub-continent. There were 20 days’grains left in this city for these city guards. As long as they blocked the demonized puppets for 7 days, they could escape.

Many soldiers saw a faint hope of "7 days". Actually, as Zhang Tie had experienced the battle in Selnes Theater of Operations, he knew that these city guards could at most stand 3 days even if they used the city-defense facilities of Silverpine City to resist demons, not to mention 7 days. Therefore, these guys could barely survive themselves. Additionally, they could only stop a small part of the total demonized puppets. More demonized puppets would continue marching southwards while ignoring the existence of this city.

All the other human cities in the south of Kalay Mountain Range adopted the same simulative policy to encourage their soldiers to stay in their cities to fight demons even in the previous two holy wars.

Zhang Tie didn’t know whether this policy was fair or not. All those human soldiers who stayed here to fight demons had common family conditions. None of the rich or powerful guys would like to stay to fight demons to the death. Additionally, policymakers had to make a decision when not everyone could leave out of here safe and sound. In such a critical moment, they had to follow the purest survival of law by exchanging lives for lives. It was icy yet realistic. No sacrifice, no new lives. Everything complied with the simplest numbers game——as one soldier could at least eliminate 5 enemies with the advantage of city-defense weapons and city walls, they could have 5 of their relatives leave.

Those commoners or their family members, who would not like to stay to defend cities, would have a rare chance to survive themselves if they wanted to leave Waii Sub-continent. They would be killed by demons or had to escape to the wilderness which was not marked on the map or had not been explored by humans for good luck.

The so-called phrases like priceless life or life’s dignity became especially ridiculous at this moment.

In holy wars, humans realized that lives could be bought at the lowest prices. The poorer the humans were, the cheaper their lives would be.

As a knight who grew up from a grassroot, Zhang Tie couldn’t recover his composure for a long time when he realized that numerous grassroots were destined to be killed by demons.

"Come on in the cabin. It’s their own choice. Even though we are knights, we can do nothing for them. An individual’s strength is too trivial in the holy war. If you want to master more people’s fates, you have to be more powerful!" Elder Yuchen persuaded Zhang Tie in a low voice as he seemed to have sensed Zhang Tie’s complex moods.

Tightly clenching his fists, Zhang Tie took a deep breath. Closely after that, he entered the cabin together with Elder Lan.

’If you want to master more people’s fates, you have to be more powerful!’——Zhang Tie kept this word deep in mind.

After entering his own berth cabin, Zhang Tie instantly entered elements realm to start his cultivation.

...

After 3 days, the fury-level airship landed in a city for supply. At midnight, Zhang Tie suddenly heard a rustle outside the airship. Therefore, he exited the elements realm. After that, he pushed open the hatch and walked out to take a look.

Almost at the same time, Elder Lan Yuchen and Elder Ou Geqing also ended their cultivation and walked out of their own cabins. The three knights then exchanged a glance with each other.

"Let’s take a look on the deck!" Elder Geqing suggested.

When they came to the deck, they saw the night was tinged with a glow of flames. The entire city was in a chaos while a riot and a killing spree were fermenting in the night. Like fangs of poisonous snakes, they stabbed into the nerve center of this city while injecting their venom in it, causing everything to go berserk.

The captain of the airship hurriedly rushed to the deck with a solemn look.

"Sir, a riot is breaking out in Xinwu City. More and more mobs were gathering outside the airship base!"

"How long will it take the airship to finish its supply?" Zhang Tie asked.

"1.5 hours!"

"Tell the crew to prepare for the attack. Finish the supply and set off as soon as possible!" Zhang Tie issued the order.

"Yes, sir!" The captain gave a salute to Zhang Tie. Closely after that, he rushed back to convey Zhang Tie’s instructions.

"Sometimes, humans are more terrifying than demons!" Elder Ou Geqing shook his head as he watched the grim flames in the distance.

"Many people would die in each holy war. In the second holy war, 1/5 of the total number of corpses were from humans. Greed, fear, desire, hatred, all this made humans more terrifying than demons!" Elder Lan Yuchen said with full wisdom, "Facing demons, if humans don’t have a cohesiveness, the greater part of them will kill each other before the arrival of demons!"

"Therefore, we have to go back to Taixia Country!" Ou Geqing put it straight, "This young generation is not qualified to cooperate with."

Elder Lan Yuchen nodded.

Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Tie watched the flames outside the airship base silently...

...

One hour later, before the airship finished its supply, the periphery of the airship base had been broken through by mobs. When the walls were pushed down, over 10,000 mobs poured in with torches and weapons.

Under the leadership of a commissioned officer, a team of soldiers blocked those mobs.

Watching these full-armored soldiers, those mobs became stagnated.

"Outsiders are forbidden in this prohibited military zone..." a commissioned officer in glasses shouted towards those mobs. Closely after saying this, he turned around and issued an order to his subordinates, "These people are citizens of Xinwu City. They are not demons. You’re not allowed to move without my consent!"

Those armored soldiers with spears exchanged glances with each other.

The mobs slowed down; however they still kept moving closer towards these soldiers.

"There are airships and we also have the right to leave..." A leader of the mobs shouted to instigate others to swarm up.

"You can leave. However, this airship is not available to you. You have no right to use it..." That young commissioned officer in glasses reproached with a solemn look, "Please stop, don’t move closer!"

"We just want to survive ourselves. We’re the citizens of Xinwu City. We’re also entitled to leave out of here..." The leader of mobs tore off his buttons and exposed his chest. Closely after that, he patted his chest and kept moving forward, "You’ve not even killed one demon. Do you think it is reasonable to let us bleed for you? Come on! Kill me! Kill us! We’re all citizens of Xinwu City. Come on! Kill us..."

"Repeat. Please stop. This is the prohibited military zone..." The young commissioned officer in a pair of glasses shouted once again with sweat all over his forehead. He attempted to make more people hear his words. Watching those mobs moving closer, those soldiers behind him became restless.

When they were only a few meters away from each other, the young commissioned officer in glasses still stretched his arms and shouted...

"Take easy, easy. As the demons have not arrived here, you also have a chance to leave. Xinwu City should not be chaotic at this moment..."

With weird eyes, the head of mobs suddenly sprung up with a dagger in hand. In the next 0.1 second, he forcefully stabbed into the commissioned officer’s heart. Widely opening his eyes, the commissioned officer watched that mob, who patted his chest with a generous look and had just stabbed into his heart with a dagger with widely opened eyes, spurting out blood.

Although the young commissioned officer wanted to say something, he failed to do that.

With an extremely grim look, the head of mobs drew out his dagger and stabbed into the neck of that young commissioned officer, who didn’t allow soldiers to attack him just now. He then fell down together with that commissioned officer.

Blood spurted out of the commissioned officer’s neck and sprayed over the face of the head of mobs. Watching someone launching the attack, all the other mobs swarmed up and covered those soldiers in the airship base all of a sudden.

In such a short distance, as long as the soldiers who were holding spears lost their initiative, they were destined to experience a miserable loss facing the mobs whose number was many times more than that of theirs.

...

After stabbing dozens of times over the body of that young commissioned officer in glasses, the face of the head of the mobs was completely covered with the blood from the neck of that young commissioned officer.

The mob head got up and broke the pair of glasses into pieces by his foot. After that, he wiped off the blood over his face. He then drew out the sword from the waist of that young commissioned officer before roaring, "Go get them. As long as you get the airships here, you will leave. Keep the crew alive and have them serve us. Kill all the others!"

The head mob raised his arm as numerous citizens rushed towards those airships.

...

Standing on the high deck of one airship, Zhang Tie just watched the chaotic scene in the far. He saw how that young commissioned officer was killed and fell down in front of those people whom he wanted to protect.

Zhang Tie’s face gradually turned gloomy...

...

The huge body of fury-level airship looked outstanding among all those small and medium-sized airships in the airship base.

At the sight of fury-level airship where Zhang Tie was in, some head mobs’ eyes brightened. After exchanging a glance with each other, they ran towards here at once.

The retinue of that airship had formed a cordon around that airship.

This airship was the war airship of Hurricane Corps, which was the exclusive traffic tool of the corps leader. Each one of the crew was a powerhouse. There were many fighters above LV 10 inside the airship. Sensing those guys’ iron-blood battle qi and shiny weapons, those mobs who ran over here became stagnated at once.

"We’re citizens of Xinwu City. This city has been taken over by the Citizens Committee. We will expropriate your airship!" The head mob watched that beautiful fury-level airship with greedy eyes as he slowed down.

"Stop!" A black-face commissioned officer shouted icily.

"I’ve told you, this place has been taken over by our Citizens Committee..." The head mob shouted as he moved forward with greedy eyes.

"Ready!" The black-face commissioned officer of Hurricane Corps just raised his arm and ordered those soldiers to get ready for the coming combat.

With a sound of "Huala", all the soldiers around that airship strode one step forward and targeted their bright weapons towards those mobs who were moving towards them.

At the sight of this, those mobs stopped.

"What? You want to slaughter the citizens..." The head mob kept urging in the same trick as he tore off his clothes and exposed his chest, "Come on, come on, come on..."

Those mobs echoed.

Elder Lan and Elder Ou then looked at Zhang Tie...

With a glassy-eyed look, Zhang Tie just raised his hand while a battle qi flew off his finger and blew up this head mob into pieces.

Zhang Tie issued an order icily, "As they are influencing the supply of the airship, kill those within 50 m range of the airship!"

Soon after Zhang Tie’s words, those soldiers of Hurricane Corps had charged towards those front mobs like how a tiger entered a flock of sheep. In a split second, those leading mobs had been chopped off their heads.

In less than 2 minutes, all the mobs being less than 50 m away from the airship had been swept while their corpses covered the periphery of the airship. All the other mobs just cried and ran away. When they found those guards of that airship didn’t chase after them, they started to watch those dead partners who had turned into corpses within 50 m of that airship. Nobody of them dared approach that airship again...

After half an hour, the airship finished its supply. All the crew and guards boarded. Under the gaze of those mobs, The fury-level airship left for Huaiyuan Palace...

...

After passing by Kalay Mountain Range, the demon corps rolled towards the south like a fierce flood...

As a result, human cities were collapsed one after another; human countries perished one after another. The entire Waii Sub-continent quivered under the overwhelming attack of demons. Men and beasts were involved in calamities...

The Hurricane Corps in Huaiyuan Prefecture started to evacuate by batches...

By the latter part of October, the greater part of countries and regions in the south of Kalay Mountain Range had collapsed.

By the end of November, some major Hua clans in the north of Jinyun Country had evacuated completely...

Zhang Tie had also made preparations for the final combat.

...

On November 23, in the temporary palace of the corps leader of Hurricane Corps...

"The 1st company of the vanguard of the demon corps has already arrived at the north bank of Yuanjiang River one hour ago..." The director of the temporary palace hurriedly came to the office of the corps leader and reported it to Zhang Tie calmly.

Zhang Tie put away his remote-sensing crystal. Just now, he had contacted his elder brother. His family members were concerned about him very much. In the late month, Zhang Tie’s mom requested Zhang Tie’s elder brother to contact Zhang Tie three times a day for the sake of Zhang Tie’s safety.

"The garrisons of Hurricane Corps boarded right away. Be ready to leave in 2 hours..."

"Yes, sir!" The director of the temporary palace gave a salute to Zhang Tie before turning around quickly.

Zhang Tie stood up and glanced over this office for the last time as he prepared to leave...

Right then, Heller, who had not contacted him for a long time, uttered in Zhang Tie’s mind, "Castle Lord, there’s a news I think you should know!"

Zhang Tie kept walking forward as he asked Heller in mind, "Go ahead?"

"The mutated ptomaine miasma that you sent in Castle of Black Iron last time has already accomplished its secondary mutation..."

Zhang Tie was shocked as he stopped his footsteps...