Chapter 530: Chapter 43 Dawn Oath
"Palmer, is this your daily life before?"
The group moved through the hallway, where the wind flowed unimpeded through the hollow walls, creating a series of melodious tunes, yet amidst these tunes were endless cries, shadowy figures endlessly moving.
"Although storms often pass through here, in all my years, this is the first time I’ve encountered such a thing!"
In response to Bologue’s questioning, Palmer carried his luggage.
Bologue looked at the hollow walls beside him, and without hesitation, thrust the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, a long blade piercing into the wild wind; several Wind-Eroded Birds couldn’t change their direction in time and hit the blade head-on, shattering into pieces, their blood scattered in the wind.
"This is your Clarks’ stronghold, you let these monsters fly unchecked, don’t you have any defensive measures?"
Aimou sensed something was amiss; the Clarks family had perished, yet they allowed these monsters to rampage.
"Perhaps they are doing it deliberately, like luring the enemy in." Church proposed his thought, quite obviously, his thinking differed from the rest.
"Wait a minute, Church, what mission are you carrying out!"
Bologue sharply captured the issue at hand, the group was all panicked, except Church, who remained calm, as if he had long known it all.
Church calmly stated, "I was dispatched to confirm whether the ’Dawn Oath’ is intact."
Upon hearing about the ’Dawn Oath’, the group reacted differently; Palmer clearly knew something, his expression instantly turned serious, while Bologue immediately recalled Serey and Olivia, Aimou appeared bewildered.
"More details!"
Palmer pressed Church, "The Dawn War passed so many years ago, and now the Order Bureau suddenly wants to review the ’Dawn Oath’, something surely went wrong!"
"We are already amidst the problem," Church pointed to the Wind-Eroded Birds raging outside.
"Damn it! Church, why didn’t you say something earlier!"
Palmer felt he was going insane, he came for vacation, not for overtime.
"I thought you knew... you didn’t ask me."
Listening to Church’s response, Palmer felt certain he was harboring resentment, definitely!
Pushing open the heavy door, the group left the clock tower, a street filled with corpses came into view.
The Fortress of the Morning Wind was grand, like a small city, but now this city lay piled with corpses, engulfed in war.
Bologue surveyed briefly and said, "Don’t worry, these are all Wind-Eroded Bird corpses, no humans."
The scene appeared tragic, but mostly resulted from Bologue and Palmer’s recent kills, as the group appeared on the street, a swarm of Wind-Eroded Birds swooped down, diving towards them.
"Be quiet!"
Palmer was very agitated now, anyone returning home to witness this tragic scene would be far from calm.
The violent wind suddenly kicked up, Bologue followed suit by hurling the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, forging countless Flying Knives, sent skyward by Palmer, unleashing a bloody rain.
"After so many years, yet another batch of undocumented Night Race has become active, attempting to break the seal of the Land of Eternal Night, releasing the imprisoned Night Race," Church walking behind shared what he knew, adding, "According to confidentiality regulations, I shouldn’t be sharing this."
"I’m no longer Field Staff now, but the Clarks family heir, this somewhat counts as family affair, doesn’t breach regulations!"
Palmer shouted, with the sea storm gradually approaching the Fortress of the Morning Wind, the roaring winds and thunders easily drowned voices, he had to strain his throat.
Despite it being noon, the dark skies seemed like night, massive seawater was swept up, turned into storm and poured down, striking the group, an implicit pain felt.
"Night Race? Breaking the seal?"
Hearing this, Bologue recalled a face he nearly forgot.
Olivia Villeries.
Since the raid on the Gray Trade Association, Bologue has heard nothing more about the mysterious Night Race, but her actions at the auction have been deeply etched into Bologue’s mind.
Not only because she was the second Night Race Bologue had ever seen, but also because of the unknown relationship between her and Serey, and the item she wanted to auction.
A piece of intelligence.
Bologue doesn’t know what Olivia really wants to know, but from the current perspective, the one making a direct deal with Olivia must be the Tyrant.
"This appearance of mysterious Night Race has completely broken the constraints of the Dawn Oath..."
Church’s words were interrupted by Palmer, "So the Order Bureau thinks the Dawn Oath has a problem?"
"That’s right," Church affirmed with a nod, "According to the contents of the Dawn Oath, all Night Race should live in the Land of Eternal Night until the end of the world."
"Don’t be so absolute, Church!" Palmer tried to lighten the oppressive atmosphere with a joke, "We just played a board game with a Night Race Lord, didn’t we?"
Palmer’s words gave Church pause.
Indeed, even with the constraints of the Dawn Oath, not all Night Race were sealed, such as the Night Race Lord living within the Undying Club.
Anyone who knows of Serey’s existence would have such doubts—why was Serey not imprisoned? Is it only because of the protection of the Undying Club, or did Serey somehow evade the constraints of the oath?
No, that’s impossible.
Strictly speaking, the Dawn Oath was written by the Ethereal Oath of the Contract School, signed by both sides of the conflict during the Dawn War.
The Ethereal Oath originates from the Contract School, whose Condensers do not possess strong combat abilities, but they can borrow the Power of Contract from the Devil to recruit followers for it or bind disputes between people.
The Ethereal Oath is just that, with Condensers of the Contract School as certifiers and the Devil’s Power of Contract as shackles, pledging that those who swear will abide by the oath until the oath is torn apart or burned.
Any who violate the oath will be bound and retaliated against by the Power of Contract. The oath signed when the Kagader Empire and Rhine Alliance ceased hostilities was such an Ethereal Oath, as were later secret wars.
Bologue muttered, "What if Serey never signed the oath?"
"If that were the case, Serey would have been hunted to death long ago, even if hiding in the Undying Club wouldn’t live so leisurely."
Palmer had a very clear understanding of his family’s strength, this generation might not hate the Night Race deeply, but the old undead who participated in the Dawn War are still alive. If they knew Serey was still at large, they would have acted long ago.
But in fact, no one cared about Serey, Serey just lived openly in Oubos, no problem even doing team-building activities with staff from the Order Bureau, as if Serey were an outsourcing worker for the bureau.
Bologue said, "The situation is more complicated than we imagined."
"Rather than whether the situation is complex or not, I’m more curious about one thing—why haven’t we encountered anyone else along the way!"
At this moment Aimou spoke up, this Fortress of the Morning Wind was like a dead city, apart from a few people and the sky full of Wind-Eroded Birds, no living creature was seen.
"That’s actually normal, do you think the Clarks family has a large population? There’s not many of them, and to control the vast Wind Source Highlands, most of them are scattered outside."
Palmer explained, his eyes growing solemn, "But you’re right about one thing, we’ve made quite a commotion, why isn’t there anyone?"
The group was pondering when a strong Ethereal Fluctuation was released from the Celestial Vault Tower, a dazzling beam of light shot straight to the sky, scattered into countless starlight after ascending to its limit like a meteor shower passing over the Fortress of the Morning Wind, followed by a large amount of Ether being awakened, calling forth a fierce wind, forming an invisible barrier.
This must be the defense mechanism of the Fortress of the Morning Wind, and they realized what it was defending against.
At some unknown time, the storm like an iron curtain had approached the coast, flashing with lightning in the storm, revealing numerous dense shadows, then the temperature began to drop, and the sea surface was covered with a thick layer of ice, paving a road to shore.
Figures in pitch-black Iron Armor emerged from the storm, treading on frost, unclear whether they are some kind of alchemical creatures like Wind-Eroded Birds, or humans emerging from the storm, but one thing is certain, they are enemies.
The roar of cannons drowned the sound of the wind and thunder, the firepower set on the cliffs roared in unison, instantly covering those figures in pitch-black Iron Armor, blowing them apart, then on the ice and sea, yet seemingly fearless, they continued to emerge, to meet their end.
"Well..."
Palmer listened to the roaring cannon fire, the storm like an iron curtain, the frozen sea surface, and the silent army advancing in succession... he couldn’t fathom what was happening in his hometown.
"But at least we know there are still living people here."
Bologue, as though aware of Palmer’s thoughts, followed up with his words.