Chapter 613 — Beacon Fires

At the edge of the Greatwood Pass region, Suo Jilin and the steel rangers he led were approaching a small town.

The multi-purpose war chariots that carried the advance party came to a halt outside the town. These sturdy steel-forged vehicles served temporarily as shield generators and power stations, establishing a makeshift strongpoint on a rocky rise beyond the town's limits. One ranger climbed atop a chariot, faced the town, and pressed a mechanism on the side of his sealed helmet.

The crystalline eyepiece set into the helmet's visor was activated by magic, first turning red. The warrior swept a rough glance over the town with mana-detection vision, then the goggles shifted to blue—the eagle-eye spell newly added to the second-generation eyepieces enhanced the user's sight, and countless details within the town immediately came into the observer's view.

After a brief observation, a slightly muffled voice came through the ranger's helmet: "Sir, there are wandering crystal-cluster infected in the town. Obvious mana reactions are present throughout."

"The entire town has already been infected..." Suo Jilin's expression darkened. "It seems we've entered the contamination zone. We can't push any further."

"We haven't found any trace of the Eastern Legion or the Kingdom's army along the way..." the ranger said. "Could they have been wiped out entirely?"

"...Impossible to say. The noble army may be inferior in fighting strength, but at least they have a fair number of transcendents among them. They wouldn't be so easily annihilated," Suo Jilin said gravely. "Perhaps they've abandoned all the open country and are holding out in the major cities, or perhaps they're still further north, locked in battle with the crystal-cluster infected..."

He spoke his analysis aloud, yet in his heart he held little confidence in it.

As a high-ranking ranger—one who had lived through the Great Expansion seven hundred years ago—he still found the present situation extraordinarily thorny.

The bizarre "god-bane contamination" and the sheer number of crystal-cluster infected hampered intelligence gathering. Even with his elite and powerful steel rangers, he could not determine what conditions prevailed deeper within the contamination zone.

This was different from seven hundred years ago. Back then, humanity had fought upon the wasteland, and on the whole there was no need to consider whether reinforcements or safe zones lay ahead in the waste—because in the end it almost always came down to one reckless charge. Charge through and you lived; fail and you were wiped out to the last man. There was no other route ahead, and the demon tide pressing at your heels gave no room for thought. But here... the situation was far more complex.

Suo Jilin analyzed the intelligence gathered over the past few days, while several other rangers continued to observe conditions within the town. This was their first sighting of a large concentration of crystal-cluster infected gathered together outside of combat, and it was a rare opportunity to study their patterns of activity.

Before long, the warriors noticed something worthy of concern.

"Sir, these 'monsters'... they seem to be organized."

Suo Jilin was momentarily stunned, then immediately activated Falcon Vision—the elven eagle-eye spell—and gazed toward the town.

Just as the warriors had seen, the crystal-cluster infected... were organized.

They were not wandering aimlessly but moving in organized fashion. Some exceptionally tall individuals were directing them. Suo Jilin saw those "monsters" working in groups of three or five to carry things together, and he saw them patrolling and standing sentry throughout the town—sights that had never been observed during previous encounters in the wild.

Suo Jilin frowned, slowly recalling more details: during those earlier encounters in the wild, though they had all been melees, the crystal-cluster infected had shown traces of organization even then.

They did coordinate and exercise a degree of command when attacking.

They... seemed to retain some capacity for thought?

If that were true, the situation was even worse—capable of thought, yet with a cognition wholly alienated. That meant they were not merely mindless monsters that had lost their reason after infection.

These crystal-cluster infected... were an army.

As he pondered, a new change suddenly appeared in the distant town.

Suo Jilin saw the crystal-cluster infected gathered on the town's western side stir into inexplicable agitation. Then several exceptionally tall crystal giants appeared in his field of view. Those crystal giants swiftly assembled a sizable force and broke away from the town, charging toward the northwest.

Driven by curiosity, Suo Jilin looked in the direction the crystal-cluster infected were advancing. At the far edge of his vision, he saw a rising cloud of dust and the flash of a mana burst.

A battle had erupted over there.

"There may be survivors—mount up!"

...

When dusk fell, that towering gateway to the Southern Marches finally appeared on the horizon.

Belk halted on the open plain. In the gradually warming spring wind, he gazed south at the rolling mountains and the majestic fortress standing proudly among them.

A mottled-coated horse stood restlessly beside him, pawing at the ground and snorting.

He had "picked up" this horse along the way. Its owner had likely fled, leaving the poor beast to wander the wilderness. It could not compare, of course, to Belk's beloved horse of old—it could not even match any warhorse in the army—but regardless, it had been of great help during the latter half of this arduous journey, greatly shortening the time it took.

Perhaps because the end of the journey was finally in sight, Belk suddenly felt much lighter. He smiled and patted the mottled horse's neck, his tone cheerful: "You've earned great merit—almost enough for a knight's title."

The mottled horse snorted and swayed its neck slightly.

Belk nodded in good spirits, then swung himself onto the horse and steered his silent temporary companion onward toward the distant fortress.

He knew he was passing along the edge of Count Pompey's domain, but he had no intention of meeting that plains nobleman—nor even of stopping to rest in any village or town nearby. Partly to save time and minimize complications, and partly because he truly did not feel weary.

Though he had trekked across the wilderness for over ten days, though he had scarcely rested at all, he genuinely did not feel tired.

He only vaguely remembered that he had once been exhausted—but that seemed to have been a very long time ago.

The mottled horse broke into a trot across the relatively flat wasteland. A pleasant wind blew against his face, lifting Belk's spirits. A strange sense of anticipation and joy welled up in his heart, putting him greatly at ease. Watching the towering walls of Boulder Fortress draw nearer, the young marquis began to plan what lay ahead—

First he would pass through Boulder Fortress and enter Boulder City. He would tell that Sir Wald what had happened at the Greatwood Pass, and ask him to help warn the ruler of the Southern Marches. The Greatwood Pass, Thorin Fortress, Thorin Fortress...

A flicker of confusion suddenly crossed Belk's eyes.

What had happened at the Greatwood Pass? And what had happened at Thorin Fortress, again?

He blanked for a moment, but this brief daze was quickly overlooked. He suddenly no longer cared what exactly he was going to warn them about. He only remembered that his task was to go to the Southern Marches, to raise the alarm, to deliver important news—and given his status and the importance of the message he carried, he would undoubtedly be received personally by Duke Gao Yang Cecil...

This intense thought surged upward again and again, wave after wave crashing against Belk's mind. But suddenly, amid his increasingly hazy consciousness, a single image appeared.