Chapter 22 Chapter 21 God Bless My King

"The war is in full swing," Danica whispered in Cadderly's ear. "We must go." Cadderly stopped her, pulling her further into the shadows.He sensed something, something might be there, and he knew intuitively that danger was near.Subconsciously, the young scholar reached into the pocket of his traveling coat and held the small badge in his palm. "Druciel," he whispered, surprised himself at the word.Danica looked at him curiously. "The badge communicates both ways," Cadderly understood. "I know the imp is around. And if the imp is around—"

Like a character who should appear at this time, Dorigen walked into the clearing where the ancient trees had awakened.Cadderly and Danica crouched lower, but the mage was clearly more concerned about the trees that were now moving some distance away. Danica pointed west, then began to tiptoe away, trying to get behind the magician.Cadderly dared not say a word, but held up the badge to remind her that Dorigen's evil minion was probably also in the area, perhaps invisible. "What did you do?" Dorigen called.Cadderly thought she was speaking to him, and nearly passed out with fear.But her narrowed eyes were still fixed on the moving tree.She waved her hand forward, and called, "Fett!" a wicked word that conjured fire.

A flame shot from Dorigen's hand—a ring that Cadderly thought might have emanated—in a burning line across the clearing, trying to engulf the last tree in the procession. "Fett!" the magician repeated, and the fire showed no sign of slowing down.She moved her hands, angled the fire to kill the tree.The huge oak tree, dangling its heavy branches, accidentally allowed the small pile of fire to reach the next-door tree.It stretched out a long root towards Dorigen, but the magician lowered his hand down to the height of the root, and burned it to nothing. Cadderly was so terrified by Dorigen's relentless and malicious act of destruction that he could hardly breathe.He looked to his right, to the west, looking for Danica, hoping that his lover would come out and stop Dorigen from carrying out the massacre.But although Danica was already hiding in the bushes behind the magician, it was difficult to capture Dorigen in one fell swoop.Three orcs came out from the shadows and formed a defensive net behind and on both sides of the magician.

The tree cracked and split in two, falling into a heap of burning embers.Dorigen stopped attacking, but still clenched her hands, as if trying to find her next target behind the smoke and flames. Cadderly knew he couldn't let this happen. Dorigen stretched out her hand again and began to chant the incantation, but she stopped halfway because a strange scene next to her caught her attention.A beam of light shot out from the darkness among the trees, swinging slowly back and forth.She kept her hand outstretched, and slowly moved over to observe the situation. Her expression turned curious as she approached the shadowed recess.The beam came from a cylindrical tube that swung along the inside rim of a light blue wide-brimmed hat that lay nearby.Dorigen didn't recognize the hat, but she had seen the cylindrical object before, in Cadderly's knapsack.

Dorigen understood that she was in a very vulnerable position and knew that the young scholar should be careful, but pride had always been her greatest weakness. A short distance away, crouching behind a tree trunk, Cadderly turned away his feathered ring, then flipped the ram's head of his staff back, and tucked the arrowhead into the shaft.He was careful to keep the point of the arrow out of the sun, but when he put his mouth to the ready-made blowgun and blew a small ball towards Dorigen, he had no confidence at all. "Where are you, little scholar?" Dorigen called.She turned to give instructions to the Uruk guards, and something small and pointy hit her on the cheek, making her flinch.

"What?" she said after a pause, then pulled out the feathered point of the arrow.She almost laughed out loud when she saw the damn small thing. "Damn it," Cadderly moaned, seeing that she was still standing still.Then, Duo Ruizhen yawned deeply and rubbed Ai sleepy eyes. Cadderly knew the opportunity was fleeting.He jumped out from the side of the tree and rushed towards the enemy. The orcs saw that their mistress was in danger, and rushed forward, howling, to stop the young scholar.However, they suddenly met Danica, and after each kicked or punched, they didn't understand what happened.

Dorigen, however, doesn't seem to need them.Her hand, still clenched, turned toward Cadderly—and now he saw that it was the onyx ring she was wearing.But he couldn't run to her in time, and there was no other weapon that could attack her from this distance. Dorigen began to speak—words that Cadderly felt would fall on him like a death sentence. ※※※ "Where are you going to hide, Elven King?" Ragnor yelled louder than the cries of steel and the cries of dying. Galandale reined in his horse and turned sharply, as did his guards. "There!" cried an elf, pointing to a gap between a row of beech trees.Ragnor stood there, exuding an evil aura all over his body, the fangs on his chin protruding horribly across his upper lip, and his bear goblin guards formed a semicircle around them, with pointed hands The trident shone evilly.Galandale charged forward, with seven other knights bravely at his side.

However, the Elven King stopped quickly because he knew that he and his team members could not break through Ragnor's guard circle.For some unknown reason, Galandale knew that he had to knock down the half-beast ogre, and he had to deliver a decisive blow in this one-sided war. "You're Raguenor?" Galandale sneered. "The guy who hides behind his own minion? The army dies in your name, and you're a coward yourself?" The half-ogre's laughter overwhelmed Galandair's snarl. "I am Ragnor!" cried the beast, "I shall be the owner of Simista. Come, wretched elf-lord , Pass your crown to those who are truly worthy!" The half-orcish ogre stretched its hand behind its shoulder and drew a huge and heavy sword.

"Don't go, Your Majesty," one of Galandale's guards told him. "Together we can defeat their armies," said another. Galandale raised his slender hand to silence them all.The elf king reflected on his failures in the past, the times when many elves lost their lives because he failed to wake the forest.To be honest, he was very tired and just wanted to go to Yongmeet Island.But being King of the Elven at Simista was also a great honor, and now he saw clearly that his duty lay before him.He rode a few steps forward and ordered the other guards to stay behind. Ragnor's Bear Goblin Guard parted, and Galandelle began sprinting.He wanted to kill the half-beast ogre, and he wanted to ride a strong horse directly to defeat the invader.His plan failed, however, when a giant threw a boulder from the shadows, hitting his mount in the flank, sending the poor and doomed creature spinning to the ground.

Galandale's guard roared and charged forward, but bear goblins and giants moved quickly to block them.When Galandale broke free from under the horse's body—shaking but not seriously injured—and stood up again, he found himself alone facing the mighty Raguenor. "It's fair now!" Ragnor growled, walking steadily forward. Galandale held the sword in place.At this point, his horse lay dead beside him, and the ferocious half-ogre looked several times his size. ※※※ Cadderly was fully convinced that he would be scorched before he got to Dorigen's side.The magician tried to start the spell, but instead yawned as the sleep medicine continued to work in her body.

Without hesitation, Cadderly charged forward.He gripped the cane with both hands, drew an arc in the air, and struck Dorigen on the side of the head, knocking her to the ground.Cadderly had never hit anything so hard in his life. Dorigen lay motionless at his feet, her eyes closed.The ram's head of the cane had made a gash behind her ear, and blood was coming from there. The sight terrified Cadderly, and his mind flew back to the tragedy of a few weeks ago.Barjin's dead eyes rested on the young scholar as he looked down at Dorigen.He prayed with all his heart that she was not dead. ※※※ Danica didn't think so of the first Uruk she'd knocked out.She struck the beast hard in the throat, knowing that its windpipe had ruptured and that it would soon suffocate.The other two beasts, however, fought ferociously, though Danica had wounded them as well.Wielding well-made, sharpened swords, they quickly pushed the young woman back step by step. She lowered her head and narrowly dodged the sword.She kicked straight out and hit the monster's thigh, but at this moment another monster came over so fiercely that she had to back away quickly.One time, two times, three times, the monster slashed viciously, and narrowly missed the woman by less than an inch each time. Then Danica went on the offensive again, balancing herself on her heels.The orc she hit was slower than its mates, and Danica found a gap. The orc now alone stabbed her with the sword, but Danica was faster than the weapon, and she crouched down, almost sitting on the ground, then jumped up hard, and rushed towards the attacker, right finger Curl together tightly.Her left hand went up first, pushing aside the orc's sword, allowing the monster to open the door wide open, and then used the deadly right hand that was originally shrunk beside the chest to quickly hit the gap, hitting the palm of the orc's chest with all her strength of the recess. The beast flew up two feet from the ground, then fell back to the ground, not breathing, and then collapsed dead. The remaining Uruk originally jumped at the young woman, but it looked curiously at its fallen companion, then changed direction abruptly, roaring, yelling, and staggered towards the woods. Danica started to give chase, but then dropped to her knees in surprise as she heard something whizzing by a few feet away.She didn't realize what had happened until the point of the arrow hit the orc in the back and exploded, sending the creature face down on the ground.It just struggled to get a breath, and then lay down motionless. Danica looked back to see Cadderly, holding steady the crossbow he had retrieved from the unconscious wizard.He stood above Dorigen, and Danica even looked a little horrified, because his face was so dark and angry. Danica could guess what emotion was tearing at poor Cadderly's heart; she knew what guilt and confusion had brought him this way.But now is not the time to be weak. "Get her done," Danica instructed grimly.She quickly looked around to make sure there were no other enemies in the area, and then chased in the direction of the tree she left, because there was still a larger battle going on there. Cadderly looked down at the unconscious magician, disgusted at what he had to do. ※※※ When Aberes led the group away from Hildritch Tree, the plan was to hold his own small formation and then charge across the enemy line to join his people.But when the elf prince came to the war zone, he realized how stupid his plan was. There was no enemy line to break through, no crowd of his people to gather in one place for him to join.On this day, chaos led Simista.Elves, goblins, huge trees, and giants all fought in a melee. "Fight well, elf!" were the last words Abereth heard Ivan say, before the dwarf circled back to the trees with Pikel, while the elf prince rushed aside to block a Bear goblins coming from thorn bushes. By the time Abereth finished the creature, the trees had passed and spread out, many of them going toward the burning northern forest, and some toward the east where the battle cry came, and there were no dwarves anywhere. trail.Abeles was too busy to find them, so he took out his horn and blew, hoping that the sound would be answered soon. Temeresa appeared seconds later, galloping like a gust of wind, Xuelin clutching the steed's reins.The horse trampled over a goblin, then leaped over as the others scrambled through the undergrowth. "It's a tree," Xuelin called, choking with hope and wonder.She looked back at an oak tree punching a group of monsters, "Simista is alive!" Xuelin got out of the saddle. "You ride the Temeresa," she said quickly to Abereth. "The horse is well harnessed," Aberes replied, pushing back the rein. "I only sounded the horn to make sure that Temeresa and her rider are well." "Ride on it!" pleaded Shireen to the elf prince. "Go to your father. I heard the word that he and Ragnor faced off. If it is true, he will need the prince by his side!" Abeles didn't need to hear the second sentence.He grabbed the reins and jumped into the saddle. "Where are they?" he called. "Shrubbery!" Xuelin replied. She wanted to warn Eberez about the presence of bear goblin guards, but she stopped because the elf prince had galloped away on a steed and couldn't hear him. to her words. Abeles was speeding through the forest, seeing a few skirmishes on the way, maybe he could be of help, but he didn't have time to stop, because Galandale was going head-to-head with Ragnol, and the thought was like It was a sharp nail, driven into Aberes' throat and heart.He thought back to his painful battle with the mighty half-beast ogre, a battle he would have lost.And Aberis's swordsmanship is already much better than that of Galandelle. Abeles ducked his head to avoid a branch, then pulled Temeresa around a sharp turn through a narrow gap between two maple trees, then prodded it into a long leap over a thorny bush.He could feel the sweat on Taimeresa's muscular neck, and could hear the proud horse panting from the violent action. Another jump, another turn, and then a straight dash, and Temeresa seemed more than willing to do these tasks, running with all her might, for she could feel the urgency of her dear master. Abeles saw the figure of the giant out of the corner of his eye, and saw the stone thrown over.He tugged on Temeresa's rein and turned the horse aside, but couldn't quite dodge the attack.The white horse fell down due to the force of the impact, but then stood up tenaciously and continued to run forward. "We'll pay that beast back," Abereth promised, patting the neck of his prized steed.Taimeresa let out a breath, lowered its majestic head, and continued to sprint. ※※※ Ivan and Pikel kept close to the marching trees as best they could, but every orc or goblin they encountered slowed them down, while the oaks walked straight past them, scaring people along the way. The monsters scattered. From all sides the dwarf brothers heard the elves cheering, though there were not many figures that they could see.They didn't care much anyway, because the brothers were more interested in finding the enemy than in finding help they didn't need. Soon the trees were well ahead of them, spreading away with their steady pace, and Brother Stoneshoulders was alone. "Ooh," Pikel said, knowing what was going to happen next.As expected, dozens of monsters emerged from their hiding places to dodge the walking tree, apparently with no other targets besides the brothers. "Get ready for a big fight," Ivan said to Pikel. It wasn't really necessary to say that, because Pikel beat an orc to the ground while Ivan was speaking. Then Pikel grabbed his brother and rolled under the low-hanging foliage of a nearby pine tree.As soon as the monsters approached, Ivan understood his brother's intentions and wisdom, because the low visibility was more advantageous for the two brothers who were far behind in numbers. Even so, even with Ivan swinging his ax in nearly every direction—blind or aimed—you'll find monsters waiting to grab him, and dozens more behind, ready to join fighting. ※※※ Zirkan Rufo sat safe high, feeling quite clever.The lanky man had no intention of taking part in the horrific fight, only to be a bystander, and to have a good time watching it.The pathetic goblins, orcs, and urcs fled in all directions at the sight of the immense power of his moving oak. Suddenly, however, he changed his mind, for the Oak met very different enemies: two giants who were not so timid and not so small.A large rock hit the trunk and the tree shook violently.It threw a branch at the nearest monster, and hit it solidly, but the giant, instead of being killed, grabbed the branch and twisted it. Up in the tree, Rufo heard the sharp snapping of the living trunk and felt like he was going to pass out. Another branch flung itself at the monster, but a second giant came close to the trunk and clung to it with terrible force.The giant lifted, pulled, and the huge oak fell to one side, then the other. More branches fell on the farther giant, lashing and whipping it.The monster grabbed a few branches and tore them open with its massive palm, but other blows did considerable damage.It was not long before the giant fell to his knees, and was soon knocked down by the oak. Another thick branch at the lowest point of the huge tree rolled up the trunk, encircling the giant clinging there with unbreakable force. Zirkan Rufo found himself cheering for the tree as the giant began to gasp for breath.The lean man thought he had won the fight, thought his oak would finish off the foe, and move on to face what he hoped was a safer, smaller foe. The panting giant slid down until its thick, trunk-like feet touched the ground.It lifts up with all its might, then pushes aside. A stump of the oak stumbled, and the tree fell with a crash, never to get up again, clinging to its doomed assailant.More branches squirmed over, making it impossible for this giant to escape the fate of death. Rufo was sure he had a broken foot, though he couldn't see the one that was crushed under a huge branch.He wanted to call for help, and knew immediately how stupid the idea was: there would be more enemies than help to hear his cries. He pushed aside some soil, dug a shallow hole, and then, pulling as many small leafy branches as he could over himself, lay very still. ※※※ Danica's mouth fell open in surprise as she rushed into the chaos.The young woman had never seen such devastation: a tree fell with a giant, and then, farther away, another tree was also brought down by several bear goblins. Danica looked back, worried for Cadderly.But this time she couldn't protect him—she wasn't even sure she could protect herself.She shrugged resignedly, then took a long look back to where she had left the young scholar before moving into action.She knew it wouldn't be hard to find enemies to fight. An echo of "Ooh!" made her look towards a thick clump of pine trees.A bear goblin rushed out desperately, followed by a flying club.The weapon wrapped itself around the creature's feet, causing it to fall to the ground.Before he could get up, Pikel ran out, grabbed his club, and smashed the bear goblin's head to the ground.The dwarf looked up at Danica, his face smeared with blood, but he smiled broadly at Danica, showing his white teeth. Danica gave the dwarf a smile and a wink in spite of the utterly crazy and dangerous situation, and both she and Pikel knew it might be a farewell. Pikel turned and disappeared among the pine trees, while Danica bent down and drew her pair of short swords.Then the young monk went on a hunt. ※※※ Cadderly was frantically flipping through the Book of Universal Harmony, trying to find an answer that would help him escape the task that Danica and this whole crazy situation had just thrown at him.Dorigen lay very quietly at his feet, moaning softly from time to time. Intensified war is imminent.Cadderly knew there was no longer time to stall, he should join his friends in the fight, and even if he didn't, the war would come to him sooner or later.He had loaded his lost and found crossbow, with only five arrow points remaining, and placed it on the body of the lying magician. The pages of the great book seemed to him a blur.In his frantic state of mind, he could barely read words, let alone discover their inner meaning.Then his attention was suddenly pulled away from the book, because he vaguely felt that something else was there.It took him a moment to focus on that feeling, to bring his thoughts to focus. Slowly, Cadderly reached down and picked up the crossbow, then turned sharply, letting his senses lead him instead of his eyes, and fired. The point of the arrow hit the trunk of a young tree, blowing it in half.Just beside the tree, Cadderly heard a sudden flap of leathery wings. "You can't hide, Druzil!" the young scholar cried. "I know where you are!" The sound of flapping wings faded into the forest, and Cadderly couldn't help smiling triumphantly.Druzil wouldn't bother him anymore. Dorigen groaned and began to slump slightly, trying feebly to prop up her elbows.Cadderly lowered the crossbow toward her and loaded another arrow point. His eyes were wide with horror at what he had done; how could he even think about killing an unarmed woman, and how could he even think about using the damned weapon for such a stupid act?His breathing became a gasp, and Barjin's dead eyes glared at him from the shadows. He dropped the crossbow, picked up the book, closed it, and gripped it tightly with both hands. "When you handed the book to me, you didn't think it would be of such a use, did you!" Cadderly said, as if he was talking to the headmistress Portelope.Then he knocked Dorigen on the back of the head with the big book, causing her to lie down on the ground again. Cadderly frantically moved, because he had to finish before the magician woke up.He pulled three rings from Dorigen's finger: one was her class ring, adorned with Talona's symbol for that class; black onyx (which Cadderly suspected was the ring that emanated the magical flames); and the last was a gold ring studded with diamonds.Then the wizard's robe was taken off, and Cadderly stuffed it into his knapsack.He found a thin wand under the girdle of Dorigen's underwear, and rummaged through all the rest of her belongings and pockets to make sure she didn't have any magic items or spell-casting ingredients left to use. After these things were done, he stood there staring at the helpless woman, not knowing what to do next.He knew that some spells did not require any tangible activating substance, while others could be cast using only the most common and readily available materials.If he left Dorigen like this, she would still be able to make some moves in the ensuing battle.She could wake up, say a word, and kill any of them, maybe Danica. Enraged by the possibility, Cadderly picked up his staff and spread the magician's hand away.Though he flinched every time he lifted his cane, he knocked Dorigen's fingers off one by one, first with one hand, then the other, until each of her fingers was black and blue and sickly swollen .During the whole process, the magician, who was stunned and then knocked, only groaned weakly, without pulling his hand away. Cadderly packed his things, slung the bullet belt and the remaining arrow points over his shoulders, and set off, though he had no idea where he was going. ※※※ Aberes finally found his father, who was fighting the giant Ragnor in a small clearing.The elf prince knew it would take him a while to get around the many skirmishes in the area, and he also knew that Ragnor would soon gain the upper hand. He watched his father try to deliver a desperate, direct blow.Ragnor grabbed the Elven King's arm and sent his sword down, but the Elven King grabbed the half-ogre's wrist to stop it.The sight was eerily familiar to Aberes, and he wanted to cry out the warning, to kill himself, for not telling his father the goblin-ogre's favorite trick. The dagger popped out from under Ragnor's hilt and stabbed straight at Galendelle's unprotected head, while Aberes could only watch helplessly. The battle was stalemate for a while, and then Ragnor broke free from the Elf King's grasp and stabbed down with the long sword. Just so suddenly, quite suddenly indeed, Abereth became king of Simista.