Chapter 317: The Dense Fog

Chapter 317: The Dense Fog

Some people began to miss the war, while others hoped to be far away from it all. Fate looked at the dense fog in the distance with a worried frown. He still couldn’t understand why the situation had become so difficult.

Born into a military family, he had been surrounded by everything related to the military since birth. From his birth gifts to his coming-of-age ceremony, everything was connected to war. Even his marriage was the same—a union between two military families for various strategic reasons.

Unfortunately, the advantages brought by this alliance lasted only a little over twenty years. The suddenly rising Northlanders swept away all the advantages the family had accumulated. The military defeat couldn’t even be described as a crushing defeat; a more accurate description would be—uprooted.

However, whether for political necessity or to save what little face remained, the official story had always been: the brave people fought to the death and retreated not a step, ultimately with no survivors.

But the world is unpredictable. The usually ruthless and decisive Northlanders actually showed mercy. The Northlanders took in prisoners and used these surrendered captives against them.

The family sent out its direct-line troops and set up layers of checkpoints beyond the mountains west of Yong’an City. However, those surrendered captives broke into small groups and slipped past them, stirring up a bloody storm behind the troops’ lines.

No one expected these traitorous captives to cause such massive destruction. He had only seen that kind of fearless, death-defying attitude in true warriors, but from start to finish, he never classified these people as warriors. If he had to describe them, he thought a group of madmen was more fitting. They fought fiercely, shouting the names of unfamiliar false gods.

The direct damage to the army wasn’t great. Those who suffered heavy losses were the ordinary civilians, as well as the supply transport convoys and porters.

The destruction caused by these captives grew larger, and more and more people saw them. The matter could no longer be covered up. The title of those captives—Cannibals—finally became known to everyone, and the family’s reputation and status plummeted as a result.

The battle against the Cannibals continued uninterrupted throughout the winter. During this time, Yong’an City showed no intention of sending troops to support. Those people holed up in Yong’an City did something unexpected—they spread their faith.

A group of people in black robes began gathering the remaining nearby residents. Taking this opportunity, the army’s spies also infiltrated the city. Yong’an City was still a city of the Demon Clan, with no Northlanders in sight. However, those ruling it were no longer people, but a vague and elusive god. Their former clansmen merely exercised the god’s authority with humility.

Fate did not believe in gods, or rather, he had never truly had faith. Although his family also worshipped some long-forgotten ancestor or deity—a Monster with two more hands than even the most elite clansmen.

The ridiculous thing was, when you grew your first pair of extra hands, everyone would offer sincere blessings. But if there was any sign of growing a second pair of extra hands, then only death awaited you. People did not need a false god to defile their ancestors. This was an excuse everyone could accept.

Losing a few unlucky souls who ended up with no burial ground, in exchange for the family’s stability, the stability of the overall situation.

As the family developed, Fate gradually lost his Reverence for the so-called ancestors. If you truly had a spirit, you would have surely delivered punishment long ago. But when the Cannibals shouted their god’s names and fought relentlessly, he suddenly felt that having the comfort of a god might not be such a bad thing.

Gods were still just hearsay to Fate. He preferred to believe this was the result of the Northlanders pouring all their resources into the fight, rather than some alarmist tale of a god descending. But the military education he received since childhood deepened his doubts. If it wasn’t a god, then many things simply couldn’t be explained.

Although the soldiers’ casualties weren’t heavy, by the later stages, his men were already demoralized and had lost the will to fight. Even he didn’t want to fight anymore. Especially when they trapped the last group of Cannibals in a dead end, those people ignored his attempts to persuade them to surrender and his promises. They crazily clamored, preparing to use their own blood and their opponents’ blood to sacrifice to their god. They firmly believed their god would descend at the final moment.

Fate remained half-convinced, but his men fully believed it. While he hesitated, he received a message from the family.

The war had ruined the family, but it also gave the family a chance to save itself. The dense fog on the West Coast provided the family with an excuse to divert attention and bought them some breathing room.

Before figuring out the secret the Northlanders were hiding, the family decided not to engage further with the Northlands. Whoever wanted to prove the family’s incompetence could go ahead and prove it, let them take their own armies to fight the Northlanders.

But aside from accusations, no one actually stepped forward to trouble the Northlanders, and no one dared to take over the mess the family left behind.

Though he had left the mountains outside Yong’an City, Fate could not escape the quagmire of war. He ran from the relatively dry northern mountains to the cold, damp West Coast, facing the increasingly thick mist.

The mist seemed to have stopped expanding, but that wasn’t the reality. Perhaps because the area it occupied was too vast, the requirements for expansion multiplied, making the expansion speed extremely slow.

Yet day after day, this slow expansion created immense pressure. A few impatient generals, along with their loyal and brave soldiers, charged into the dense fog, only to suffer heavy losses.

Several Wizards with wind-control abilities were gathered, but they were helpless against such a large-scale mist. Blowing away a small part of it merely moved it from one side to the other, having minimal impact on the overall situation. Moreover, the Wizards’ reports were disheartening; the mist bore clear traces of Mana.

The process of Wizards dispersing the fog inevitably led to a Mana confrontation, which greatly increased Mana consumption, so it couldn’t be sustained for long.

Feeling the breeze coming from the sea, Fate was also disheartened. This season was very conducive to the fog spreading inland. When the winter winds howled down from the north, the fog would be forced to recede somewhat under the cold wind, but winter really wasn’t suitable for combat.

The Demon Clan needed a storm, but storms at the coast usually brought heavy rain. After the wind and rain passed, the damp moisture greatly facilitated the formation of dense fog.

Fate had always suspected that the fog before him was somehow connected to the Northlanders, though he couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. The Northlanders, holding an absolute advantage, suddenly stopped their attacks, as if just to let them have the energy to deal with this dense fog.

Some time ago, one day the fog suddenly surged and retreated across the entire front. Fate thought a major change was about to happen, and the entire defense line went on high alert. But the fog soon returned to calm, until a spy from Yong’an City delivered a message.

That day, the Divine Statue in Yong’an City had a reaction. Countless Souls appeared on the night’s Divine Body…