Chapter 357：Warfare

Barrier wall. Commercial district.

Auburn was looking at the horizon from the edge of the wall. The land and sky came together. The black radiation clouds kept rolling as they swallowed the light. There was the smell of reign of terror as the dark clouds covered the sky with the help of the wind.

He narrowed his eyes as he checked the place.

A handsome officer with golden hair came over. He put his hand on his chest as he saluted Auburn: "Everything is ready. We can begin the war!"

Auburn heard his voice but didn't look back.

Adjutant Junlang (pretty, bright? Can't find proper western name) raised his head to look at the awe-inspiring legendary figure in front of him. The latter was a man who was just over forty and had won five stars because of his accomplishments in wars. Auburn was the young of the five star generals of the military and one of the most respected ones: "General the barbarians have occupied the Red Maple Mountains for the last seven or eight days. According to the official analyzis there are wide range of materials and rich water in the fort. Aren't they satisfied?"

Auburn slowly said: "I also hope that they would be satisfied but the barbarians aren't a bunch to appease their greed with just a fort. Their appetite won't be filled with this place alone. Even the entire outer wall area may not be able to fill their stomach!"

Adjutant Junlang bowed his head: "Then why didn't they attack from the slums or residential district? The barriers there are protected by less troops. If they had attacked from there then I'm afraid the barrier wall would have fallen long time ago."

"There won't be much of a influence if they break in through slums or residential district. Instead they would fall into a more unfavorable environment because of the walls...They would have fallen into our net in that case." Auburn calmly said: "Make sure that spirits are high in the barracks and soldiers are ready to fight. Thunder may be the beginning of the war!"

"Thunder?" Adjutant Junlang was startled as he doubted his ears. However the next moment he thought of something and his face changed.

...

...

Near the giant wall. Outside the fort.

A knight wearing a silver armor appeared in front of the barrier. A young handsome teenager who seemed like to be around 16 years old twitched his nose twice as he quickly ran forward.

The captain's brows wrinkled as he saw the teenager.

Everyone's face turned ugly as they reached the barrier.

"Bastards!"

"It's as the intelligence had told us!"

"Damned beasts!"

Several of them cursed.

Captain Koln glanced around: "Search to see if there is someone alive."

"Yes."

The other immediately dispersed to search the barrier wall. They turned to check each corpse to see if they were alive.

The former handsome teenager shouted out as he stood on top of the high wall: "Captain over here! There is one!"

Koln immediately put down the body in his hand and turned to ran in the direction of the voice. He saw the teenager was holding onto a primary knight of light. The latter's beck was cut off and bloodstains were all over. He didn't know how he was able to survive. However he was pleased to see the man. He quickly touched the man's waist: "Wake up! Who has attacked you? We are the people from investigation group!"

The young knight opened his eyes as he vaguely said something for a few times.

Koln quickly leaned over as he put his ear close to his mouth.

"Yes ..." The sound came to an abrupt end.

Koln waited for a few seconds but saw that there was no follow-up. He couldn't help but look at person's crooked neck.

"Oh, bastard!" Kold punched the ground in anger.

The handsome teenager put down the knight's body onto the ground: "Captain this man was the only one with scratches on his throat. The rest are full of injuries. His body was under the corpse of another so I assume the killers haven't check his death. The murderes have acted very carefully. They have even confirmed the death of the knights. I assume its more than one person!"

Kol slowly stood up as the several other came over quickly to inform their findings one by one: "Captain no one is alive. All dead!"

Koln's eyes were gloomy: "No one was left alive so that dead would talk. Check the wounds on the bodies and see if there is something is missing. Koge you try to memorize the scents from the scene. We will check the suspects and you will confirm."

"Yes." Koge nodded.

The others dispersed to work separately.

"Captain." A girl's voice echoed from distance: "There is a clue!"

Koln was startled as he quickly rushed and jumped from the wall that was 20 meters high. He rolled few times in the air and then landed. He quickly rushed over and stopped in front of the girl with freckles all over her face.

Koln had seen the armor on the corpse from distance. He was able to distinguish the man as an intermediate level knight of light which should be the captain of the fort.

"Here, the words ... " The woman pointed towards the ground.

Koln looked: "The murderer is ... ... Dean?"

The young woman continued: "Captain its written that it was Dean. Is it the Dean from the Temple or someone else with the same name?"

Koln frowned as he looked around the corpse: "These words weren't written by him but added after his death."

The woman was surprised. However she realized after carefully looking around: "Oh, no wonder I felt wrong. The words are so deep and different to his lying position." She walked a few meters away and lied down the same way and posture as the corpse. Then she tried to use her fingers to write. Although she was able to write but she felt that it was tough and awkward to write in that manner. Why would a person who was dying choose such a difficult posture to write his last words?

She quickly stood up and squatted in front of the corpse: "Captain, it seems that someone was planning to use us to frame the person called Dean. The person should be the architect Dean from the Temple. Moreover the forces who would be interested in dealing with him would be able to quietly kill the people in here. They would have enough time to destroy the evidences and traces of wounds."

Koln frowned: "Don't rush to make conclusions! Currently we can be sure that someone else has held his fingers and wrote the message. The man who had killed him made sure to write deeper so that we will be able to read it later on. It is a proof that the knight hasn't written it himself."

Young woman added: "Captain but it seems that they were killed around three hours ago. We have to check the wounds on their bodies and try to recreate the battle scene. We can find out if there were several murderers."

"Alright." Koln shouted "Go on."

The young woman returned back to the wall.

After an hour.

"Captain the information that we got from the research is that there were without a doubt three murderers! There are traces in the distant bushes about their movement. They should be around senior level knights to do such a massacre. The magistrate wouldn't do such a thing and military is concerned with barbarians now. The greatest suspects are nobles and the alchemists from the dark church." A middle-aged blonde man said. Apparently he was a noble form his hair color but he didn't favor nobility as seen from his analysis.

Koln nodded: "We can reduce the scope. According to writing found by Ally the murderer is 90 percent related to genius architect Dean. Either it is him or his enemies! Koge go and find architect Dean. Check if his smell related to the scent of murderers! Moreover secretly check the consortia which have disputes with architect Dean. I'll focus on dark church and to see which forces are trying to frame the architect against Holy Church!"

"Yes."

Everyone nodded.

Rumble~~

Sound of thunder echoed from the sky.

The crowd looked up to see the dark clouds floating in the direction of the giant wall. A heavy rain was coming!

It was the beginning of the black snow season. The temperatures were going to be very cold when the season reached its peak.

Rumble~~

The lightning rushed through the clouds like snakes racing against each other..

Koln's face changed: "Damn it!"

Ally quickly said: "Move the corpses into the wall. We can't let the rain wash the marks off."

Other people quickly reacted.

"Ungodly hour!" Koln clenched his teeth.

"It's about time!" Dudian looked up at the sky as he heard the sound of the thunder. There was a slight smile on his face as he stood up and looked at Gwyneth and Sergei: "Our battle is about to start!"

Sergei was shocked: "Battle? Are we going to join the barrier war?"

Dudian smiled as he looked at the broken part of the King's Fort. He waved at both of them to follow after him. He avoided the eyes of sentries that were checking the place.

Dudian turned towards a more remote place. He took off his hunter jacket and filled it with sand.

He indicated for Sergei and Gwyneth to do the same.

Dudian took the lead as they sneaked into the fort.

Sergei and Gwyneth understood the Dudian's idea as they secretly went into the fort.

Whoosh!

After few moments the trio were in a town behind the fort. This town had been emptied for a long time. The streets and houses were clean. There were chickens at some houses which issued sharp calls once in a while.

"The guards are fast as they have retrieved the civilians so quickly." Sergei smiled as he walked in the street.

Gwyneth was silent all the way.

Dudian picked a house and they were about to enter it when he turned around and looked at a different house. His brows wrinkled as he noticed something. He immediately turned and walked towards that house.

Sergei and Gwyneth kept up with him.

Dudian kicked the door and entered the house. He quickly found the way leading to the basement. He jumped down. There were bags piled in a corner and a wine barrel. However he was able to see to red heats behind the bags. He reached out and grabbed one of the bags and threw it away.

"Ouch!" A loud voice echoed.

puff!

A knife stabbed towards Dudian's face from behind the bags.

Dudian used his two fingers to grab the knife and pinch it. It was a boy who was seven or eight years old that had tried to stab him. His hair was brown and his face was full of freckles. There was a surprised look on his face.

Dudian frowned as he slightly bent his wrist. The boy's hand was in pain as he loosened his grasp on knife.

Dudian threw the knife away as he looked at the figure that drilled out from behind the bags. It was a girl with pale green hair and white skin color. She had huge lovely eyes. She seemed to be five or six years old.

"Brother, brother, are you alright?" The girl rushed at the boy as she saw him fall to the ground.

The guy clutched the girl as he bit his lower lip. His legs were trembling and there was a frightened look on his face. However he was courageous as he faced Dudian. He didn't even blink.

Gwyneth and Sergei were surprised to find the pair of brother and sister inside the basement.

There was a wide smile on Sergei's face: "We have two little devils hidden in here."