Chapter 1710: 572. You become a friend of a dwarf, you will be a friend of all dwarves – Bonus update [14/30]
(An extra update for brother “Huo Zheng is Just Fine” [14/20])
The distance from Shadow Valley to Blackflame Mountain Pass is actually not far, just a straight distance of about thirty kilometers, but the road is quite winding.
Inheriting the complex and changeable terrain near Wasteland Mountain, this road requires passing through two cliffs and climbing a winding mountain road with a drop of at least 130 meters before truly entering the Dark Mountain Range Area.
This kind of terrain is obviously not naturally formed. According to Kudell, this strange terrain appeared after being bombarded by hundreds of meteorites by the King of Bone Biting more than a hundred years ago, and the local Spiritual Energy is notoriously unstable.
Especially the surging of the Dark Mountain Range’s Spiritual Energy tide during the occurrence of the Black Disaster made deploying large-scale Spiritual Energy formation in this area a very challenging task.
It’s been like this for so many years, fully proving this area is “not genuine”!
Murphy speculates this might be related to the destruction of Eden District in the Golden Era, but he can’t provide more evidence.
However, the imagined scenario where Blood Clan Vampires lie asleep within the defense line in broad daylight also did not occur. When the carriage was within five kilometers of Blackflame Mountain Pass, the escort knights of the Blood Covenant Knight Order appeared.
These guys are not vampires.
Although in the common saying on the Continent, these ordinary people serving the Blood Covenant knights are similar to “Blood Servants,” Murphy knows that no one in the Blood Covenant Knight Order would use this term to describe these escorts.
From some of the information Palano disclosed before, the Blood Covenant Clan under Lord Paryen’s leadership does not actively recruit Retinue Army, these mortal military organizations attached to the Blood Covenant Knight Order came to be attracted by its fame.
Especially some elite Retinue Army, their ancestors could even be traced back to the time of the First Black Disaster explosion.
Lord Paryen saved their ancestors, and those brave ones who lost everything in the war and swore vengeance against the Black Disaster followed the Blood Covenant knights to the Dark Mountain Range, and the subsequent three Black Disasters continuously expanded this group’s numbers.
Especially the most terrifying Fourth Black Disaster, the King of Bone Biting overturned half the Continent, brutal wars created many “Avengers.”
This led to a new high in the number of the Retinue Army of the Blood Covenant Knight Order, reportedly maintaining nearly 50,000 people across more than thirty battle groups now.
The new recruit selection of the Blood Covenant Knight Order also first picks its elite from these Retinue Army; however, since they are not Blood Servants in the conventional sense, these brave ones naturally do not regard becoming a vampire as a twisted belief in life’s honor.
Many among them do not actively pursue immortality but see themselves as warriors of the vampire army.
Following Lord Paryen, they courageously and fanatically fought against the Wolf People within the Dark Mountain Range, making the Wolf People somewhat fearful of these guys. They called this group fighting with vampires “Paryen’s dogs.”
But as the saying goes, being cursed by the enemy is the best praise.
In this regard, the Retinue Army of the Blood Covenant Knight Order is indeed remarkable.
In fact, many people on the Continent praise these mortals as “warriors,” believing that these warriors daring to fight long-term in the Dark Mountain Range are the glory symbols of all the Continent’s civilizations.
Of course, with Lord Paryen’s super charisma, his Retinue Army surely includes more than just humans; for example, in this escort knight group coming to escort the “honored guests” to the defense line, there are several dwarves riding black goats and an elven archer with a scar on his face.
They wear uniform chain mail, with the Blood Covenant Knight Order’s robe outside, which bears the emblem of a bloody war spear, symbolizing Lord Paryen and his eternally still Holy Spear.
Some are holding war flags.
The war flag is worn out but not because it wasn’t well-maintained. In fact, Murphy immediately saw that the tattered war flag was full of battle marks.
It’s a legacy of faith, representing the genuine support from the heart of this Retinue Army for their owned ideology and the glory of war.
There aren’t many people in front, but the combined killing atmosphere of the twenty knights awakened Maxim, who was drowsy from the sunlight.
This Blood race General seems to see the future model of his army!
This is exactly the bold and steadfast stance he hopes to see in the Cadman People’s Army, silent, tenacious, and deadly.
“Lord Hether is already waiting for the honored guests at the defense line. Governor Murphy and General Maxim, please follow us. There was a fight with a small group of invading Wolf People on the front yesterday, the place is a bit chaotic, so we hope the honored guests do not mind.”
The leader of this escort knight is a human female knight. Judging by her height and physique, she should be Nord. She wears a battle helmet, so her face is unclear, but from the spiked war hammer on her back, it’s evident she is a true warrior.
She politely, with a gentle but unresisting tone, said something to Murphy in the carriage.
Obviously, she didn’t sincerely regard the Vampire Governor from Transylvania as the so-called “honored guest,” she might feel Murphy’s arrival would only disrupt the defense line’s operation.
But Murphy didn’t get angry because of it.
On the contrary, he was quite interested in using the Desire Ability to listen to the thoughts of the surrounding Retinue Army.
Hmm, it seems they think they can hold Blackflame Mountain Pass without any assistance, and a few are praising this Governor’s handsomeness and beauty, truly insightful.
But calling me a sissy, I can’t tolerate that.