Book 4: Chapter 178: The Arrival of the Priestly Continent’s Guests of Unknown Origin
Book 4: Chapter 178: The Arrival of the Priestly Continent’s Guests of Unknown Origin
The demonic army had moved on from Nolan City after one day and had begun to make their way towards the Beastman continent. The city, long riddled with gaping holes, had nothing of sentimental value left for Bella to hold on to.
Bella and the others had seized all the backup supplies that the beastman army had stashed within Nolan City. In addition, Bella had purposely requested that the Dark Wizards under her command reanimate the Wolfman soldiers who still had relatively complete bodies as zombies.
After the demonic army left the city, these fake Beastman soldiers would continue to help Bella manage Nolan City. To any outsider, it would seem as though Nolan City was still under the beastmen’s control. In addition, to keep the Beastman soldiers at the frontline in the dark, Bella ordered these fake Beastmen to continue sending backup to the frontlines.
At the moment, the Gabriel Empire was caught in a deadlock. More than one million imperial troops and temporary mercenaries were now fully engaged in a pitched battle with the Lion King’s army. In terms of military strategy and ability, the Lion King was ranked highly amongst the eight main Beast Kings. Bella did not wish for the Beastmen to suffer a defeat too quickly.
The interference of the imperial troops was likely to disrupt Bella’s plans to invade the Beastman continent. Bella needed the imperial army to be content with staying at the edge of the border. With the change in ownership for Nolan City, the demonic coalition now had full control of the Norlander Duchy.
Within a day’s journey, the demonic army had already claimed most of the territory on the southern border. The demonic army had seized control of these small duchies and any spoils of war that the Beastmen did not manage to take away were taken by Bella.
The pathetic number of Beastman guards didn’t manage to put up any resistance before being crushed by Bella’s demonic army. Since they did not understand the Beastman language, the demonic army did not take any prisoners of war. Instead, they killed every Beastman they saw along the way.
Grand Duke Brandon and other border lords had an astonishing amount of gold stashed away. Just with Grand Duke Brandon’s territory alone, Bella had claimed at least a hundred thousand gold coins. No one knew how that fellow had managed to get his hands on such a large fortune.
Bella did not hesitate at all and had confiscated the gold to be used for her own military. Technically, the demonic beings did not require any food supplies and most of the military budget was being used to replace their equipment and armor. However, Bella’s girlfriends were human, and those girls required quite a fair bit of expenses for food supplies.
Even though the young mistresses of the various territories, such as Emily, had their opinions about Bella’s bandit-like actions, they did not dare to voice their oppositions. They had been allocated as the Demon King Bella’s ladies-in-waiting as part of her first demonic battalion.
Arrangements had been made for Emily and the others to be transported in specially made carriages. As they were war trophies, they naturally did not dare to resist Bella. The thing that made them lose all hope was the fact that the Radiant Church’s holy maidens were in cahoots with the demonic army. This knowledge had obliterated every bit of faith they had in their religion.
President Maria and the others were feeling rather hopeless as well. Initially, they had refused to wear the robes for dark rites. However, if they wore the ones for radiant rites, it would definitely spell trouble if they were seen by their fellow humans.
After three days, the demonic coalition finally reached the land channel that was connected to the Priestly Continent. Bella ultimately got the chance to see what this channel truly looked like.
This land channel simply was a long and narrow pathway that cut horizontally between the human and Beastman continents. A long time ago, the two continents had been connected together. However, it still remains unknown why they split, leaving only this long and narrow path.
The beastmen did not set up any sentry posts or military facilities along this land channel. They must have begun to let their guard down since the Beastman continent had not been invaded or attacked by any enemy forces in thousands of years.
A few million demonic soldiers strode arrogantly across the channel and stepped right onto Beastman territory – the Priestly Continent. The Sky Demon King Dolores and Quasi-Devil Cornice directed the three million troops under their command and had them set up camp and defenses on both sides of the land channel. From that moment, the land channel, which was a main line of traffic, had fallen right into the hands of the demonic coalition without a fight.
The Priestly Continent had gotten its name from a word from the ancient human language that meant “grassland”. Three thousand years ago, the human coalition had once set foot on this particular piece of land. Back then, the coalition had been led by Richard the Third, the then Emperor of the Octavia Empire. The humans had managed to defeat the invading demonic race and were rapidly gaining momentum. Richard the Third had wanted to make use of the opportunity to expand their powers down south and to take over the Beastman continent in one fell swoop.
During that time, the coalition formed by the various human empires only consisted of about one and a half million soldiers who fought under the command of Richard the Third, one of the five main human emperors. In the beginning, everything went smoothly and according to plan. However, they gradually lost their direction within the vast grasslands.
The expenses of the human coalition increased as the days passed. Since the Beastmen did not engage in agricultural activities, the coalition relied on supplies that would be sent from the human continent. Over time, the human coalition could no longer afford their supplies. In addition, the Wolf King would constantly attack the human coalition’s supply lines and disrupted their progress into the continent.
Left with no choice, Richard the Third could only retreat back to the human continent. Even after more than a year of battles and the loss of thirty thousand lives, they could not conquer the Beastman continent. Three thousand years later, no other humans had accomplished the feat of setting foot on the Beastman continent.
Emperor Richard the Third had passed away with regret in his heart within a couple of years. It was likely that he had died due to excessive anger at being soundly beaten and his failures. Bella’s body double – Princess Felia, was Richard the Third’s heir. Thus, the fact that she managed to set foot onto the Priestly Continent once again had helped to regain some dignity for her ancestors.
The demonic army was welcomed with the sight of wide open grasslands. As far as the eye could see, the vast expanse of land was filled with lush greenery that connected with the azure skies on the horizon. This time, the circumstances were different from three thousand years ago. The demonic coalition had nearly ten million soldiers and did not have any issues with supplies. Maybe history could be rewritten after all.
The demonic beings were in no rush to march into the continent. Instead, many flying type demonic beings disguised themselves as eagles to observe the goings on within the depths of the Beastman continent from above. The other demonic beings remained to wait for further instructions. Bella left the carriage and found a relatively level spot. She lay down on the grass and stared up at the sky.
“Bella, you’re so relaxed, without the airs a demon king should have. You look more like a vagrant knight instead.”
“Mm, Ariel, why are you here and not commanding your army?”
“Nothing, I missed you, that’s all. Can’t I stop by to take a look?”
Ariel sat down on the grass patch beside Bella and admired the blue sky with her. As the wind blew across the serene grasslands, her gorgeous silver hair danced in the wind. It was a sight to behold.
Bella looked around to check if the other beauties were nearby and walked over to Ariel’s side. The summer mage’s robes that the latter girl was wearing had been redesigned by Bella. She had tailored the original long skirt into a much shorter one.
“Bella, what are you looking at… wait a minute, stop messing around. I am…”
“Ariel, don’t move. I’m just looking for a comfortable pillow. Mmm, that’s right, so soft…”
“Bella, you… you can rest a little, but keep your hands to yourself.”
Ariel flushed red as Bella was so brazen as to put her head directly on her porcelain white thigh and continued to stare up at the sky as though nothing had happened. She had thought of pushing Bella away. However, Bella had already seen every inch of her body, so Ariel did not bother to struggle.
Bella was enjoying this treatment. It was difficult to have some down time during wartime. Also, Ariel’s robes were not thick and Bella could feel the astonishing bounce of the skin beneath the thin layer of cloth.
Bella and Ariel had laid on the grass for more than an hour before being interrupted by a demonic being that had come by to report what they had found out from their investigations.
The Priestly Continent was made up of mostly flatlands, unlike the human continent that was made up of all sorts of complicated geographical locations. According to the military journals that Richard the Third had left behind, the Beastman continent was split into eight regions and each one was governed by one of the eight Beast Kings.
The Beastmen were organized based on tribes. The eight strongest tribes were led by their tribe leader, which was their Beast King, who in turn served a single Beast Emperor who was their lord. These eight tribes consisted of the Wolves, Leopards, Tigers, Lions, Bears, Winged Men, Centaurs, and Minotaurs.
The Wolf King that Bella had defeated previously was simply one of the eight main Beast Kings. Each main tribe had their own territories and subregions. Even though the Beastmen consisted of more than eight tribes, the smaller tribes did not have enough of a population to survive on their own. These tribes had no choice but to depend on a main tribe. One example would be the Silver Fox clan that was dependent on the Wolf Tribe. This was the reason why Bella had seen the Silver Fox Princess Vanessa within the Wolfman army.
The Wolf Tribe lived on the edge of the Beastman continent closest to its intersection with the human continent. Since the Wolf King had recently escaped back into the Wolf Tribe’s capital, Bella decided to tackle the Wolfmen first. If the Beastmen were to combine their efforts and fight, they would become a formidable opponent. Back then, the Beastman commoners had caused all sorts of trouble for the human coalition and had killed many imperial troops.
The White Wolf Princess Tania and the Silver Fox Princess Vanessa were currently at the Wolf Tribe’s main control center, Wolf City. Unbeknownst to them, the black rings on their fingers were providing their location in real time to Bella’s demonic beings.
After determining their final location, Bella’s millions of demonic troops swiftly began to make their way towards Wolf City. At the moment, the Lion King was leading his Beastman troops in battle against the imperial army, which meant that the Lion Tribe neighboring them would not send their troops as support for the Wolfmen.
The Wolfmen’s other neighbor, the Leopards, had a grudge against them and it was impossible for them to be willing to send help. It would be a great help if the Leopard Tribe did not take advantage of the situation instead. The Tiger Tribe in the back always had their eye on the Wolf Tribe’s territory and were most likely to stand by and watch the invasion, rather than help their neighbor.
The other four tribes were on the other end of the continent with the Beast Emperor. The Priestly Continent was split into two sections by an extremely long river that spanned across the continent. This river was reputed to be the Beastmen’s mother river.
The Wolf, Leopard, Lion, and Tiger Tribes were the weaker of the eight main tribes and were allocated territories that were closer to the human continent. In terms of food supplies, they were often in a state of emergency and they usually had no choice but to constantly wage war with the humans in order to obtain food items.
The Bear Tribe, Winged Men, Minotaurs, and Centaurs were much more powerful and their tribesmen all resided on the other side of the river, which had more fertile soil. In terms of land quality and size, the land on this side surpassed anything that the other few tribes could ever expect to own.
The demonic beings that Bella had sent out to collect information had returned once they reached the river. Along the banks, they had found defensive forts that had been set up by the Dark Humans. These forts seemed to have been built many years ago and had blocked all forms of access to the river.
The human coalition three thousand years ago did not manage to cross the Beastman river as they did not make it past the Wolf Tribe’s capital. Therefore, there was little to no information about the Beastmen tribes on the other side of the river.
There were no defensive structures built around the perimeter of Wolf City. The population of the city was more than one million and was mostly made up of the Wolf Tribe. The Beastmen lived differently from humans. Other than a main city area, most of the Beastmen lived on the grasslands in a manner that was similar to the nomadic tribes from the previous world.
Wolf City was built in a way that imitated the buildings of the human empires and the architectural style was the closest to the Gabriel Empire. It was inevitable for the Beastmen to replicate the Gabriel Empire’s architecture as it was the human empire that they had the most contact with.
Unfortunately, the Beastmen had not manage to learn everything about human architecture and infrastructure, which included the Gabriel Empire’s defensive city walls. The current generation of ferocious Beastmen would never expect anyone to attack them in the homeland. After all, it had been more than three thousand years since the last time the human coalition had made it onto the continent.
The Wolf King Springhall’s palace was built right in the center of Wolf City. In terms of size and grandeur, it could barely match up to Duke Brandon’s palace within Norlander Duchy and looked extremely shabby in comparison. A race that could not even build city walls was unlikely to be that rich.
The Wolf King Springhall was seated on what seemed to be a wooden chair within his palace’s grand hall. It was clearly less comfortable than the Dragon Throne at Duke Brandon’s palace. Other than the Wolf King, a large group of ministers were present, along with Harrington, who was the Wolf King’s son, and the King’s daughter, Tania.
The Silver Fox Princess Vanessa was nowhere to be seen, and no one knew where she had run off to. Tensions were high within the grand hall, and a palpable force seemed to envelop the entire city.
“Father, Vanessa is Older Brother’s betrothed… how could you give her away to the Tiger Tribe…”
“You’re just a girl, what do you know? Even though the Beast Emperor did not hold me accountable for my last failure on the frontlines, he has put any support for our food supply on hold. Furthermore, I have cost him millions of elite soldiers. Also, the Leopard Tribe beside us are becoming increasingly restless. If we do not form an alliance with the Tiger Tribe, the consequences will be…”
“Well… I can go in Vanessa’s place. Harrington, won’t you say something? Vanessa was originally your betrothed…”
Tania stared at her father and older brother’s stony faces with immense disappointment at their actions. There were many eagles in the sky today, which could have been a sign of impending doom.
“Your Excellency, invaders, over by the grasslands… a large patch of black shadows are swiftly making their way here. They’re everywhere, in the skies and on the ground. They looked like Master Kenneth’s subordinates who came as backup…”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Master Kenneth’s subordinates are our allies. They would not do such a thing.”
The Wolf King Springhall’s deepest fears had finally come true. The departed spirits and demonic beings that had attacked them at Nolan City had found their way here. God knows why they did not bother the Humans and turned against the Beastmen instead. This was getting more and more ridiculous. Other than the last time that the Twelve Demon Kings had attacked, there was no other time that the Beastman continent had any contact with these demonic beings.
When the Dark Wizard Kenneth had saved him, he had mentioned that the sudden appearance of these departed spirits and demonic beings was an accident before he left the Wolf City. Kenneth had also said that the demonic beings would automatically attack the Gabriel Empire. By the looks of it, it had been a trap and Kenneth had had him fooled right from the beginning. Those departed spirits and demonic beings had not been part of the team that was under Kenneth’s control.
“My lord, I am willing to stand by the city to the death and to the very end. In exchange, I hope that you will retract the order to send Vanessa away.”
The Wolf King Springhall did not react to Tania’s suggestion as it was rather problematic. The Silver Fox Princess Vanessa had long since been sent away by his men and it was useless for him to take back his order.
The strength of the demonic army that was attacking them now surpassed the human coalition who were here three thousand years ago. The Wolf King Springhall looked back at the golden holy sword behind him. This precious sword had been left behind by Richard the Third after he had failed to invade the Wolf Tribe’s territory.
After three thousand years, the precious sword was still as sharp as ever. Springhall had always wanted to relive the glory of his ancestors. However, it seemed nearly impossible at the moment. These demonic beings were not humans and did not share the same considerations about food supplies.
Bella’s first battalion of demon beings, the “Darkest Knights”, was the main force in attacking the Wolf City. This time, Bella had purposely attached the dagger that represented the royal family of the Octavia Empire at her waist. In addition, the demonic army had raised the Octavia Empire’s flags.
Since Princess Felia was no longer around, Bella intended to take this honor on her behalf. She wanted to achieve what Richard the Third had failed to do three thousand years ago. The battle of Wolf City would be the first step of Bella’s crusade against the Beastmen tribes.