Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Escape
“So many crowmen! All the crowmen from the Gain Forest are here?”
The densely packed crowd of nearly a hundred thousand crowmen completely shrouded the convoy.
Even Vice Commander Heidler was shocked by this scene.
Crowmen were essentially wild beasts, transformed from ravens that were exposed to pollution and the influence of lost souls in Gain Forest through anthropomorphization.
Although they were neutral, they tended to be evil by nature, because they fed on carrion.
Unsure of the crowmen’s intentions, a Brown Lion running next to Heidler asked:
“Vice Commander, should we drive these ravens away?”
“Escaping is already a huge problem, how are we going to drive away this many crowmen? The old king who has completely locked onto us is our primary and greatest threat.
If we get caught, I can only ensure the safety of two core members at most.
It’s strange that crowmen usually don’t take large-scale actions… We may have to gamble, gamble that all these crowmen are on our side and planning to help us escape.
Do not disturb them until I give the order.”
“Understood.”
Heidler gazed at the sky, where amidst the multitude of crowmen were a few “Sacrificers of Three Heads” who had reached the demon level… If they had to fight with this group of crowmen head-on, the Knight Regiment would have to pay a considerable price.
Let alone the fact that the “old king” was still chasing them from behind.
Now, they could only hope that the crowmen were on the side of the Knight Regiment.
Inside the six-person carriage.
Teammates who had seen the intimacy between Han Dong and the crowman, staring at the densely packed group of ravens, immediately thought of Han Dong.
Winry asked first, “Deputy commander… could these crowmen be…?”
“Hmm…”
Han Dong simply nodded, without elaborating too much.
While observing the flock of ravens in the sky, Little Demon Eye noticed a few unique-looking crows.
Each sporting three head at their necks,
colored feathers on their wings (red, blue, purple),
an ancient wooden wand decorated with feathers in their hands,
and they were also hiding multiple eyes among their feathers, vigilantly observing everything in the forest,
exuding a strong ‘Crow Qi’.
“Are these the elders of the tribe that Duo Zeya mentioned? Their level seems to be very high… Have they reached the demon level?”
At the moment, the magic staff held by the “elder” was radiating a strange energy, and vague raven feathers were appearing between the staff…
There were four of such elders.
The elders divided into different areas, were all casting mysterious spells simultaneously.
Black waves spread out from them as a center.
All crowmen who were touched by the waves turned into special black feathers that floated down.
These feathers autonomously stuck to the surface of the Knight Regiment’s carriage.
Every feather that stuck, the overall weight of the carriage would decrease slightly, reducing the wind resistance and providing a slight driving force.
The effect of one feather wasn’t significant.
But once hundreds of feathers stuck, the effect was quite strong.
Apart from the elders.
Nearly all crowmen turned into these feathers, covering the entire carriage, enhancing the overall speed of progress.
If they continued like this, they might make it out alive.
Right then, Han Dong sensed something approaching, and immediately opened the carriage door.
Caw
A special raven carrying a circle of blue feathers around its neck swiftly flew into the carriage.
Upon landing, it immediately transformed into the form of a ‘Three-Headed Crowman’.
A powerful aura spread out, stronger than any family executive in the large manor… This was one of the elders of the crowman tribe in Gain Forest.
The eyes atop the three heads, as well as the ones hidden amongst the feathers, all focused on Han Dong simultaneously.
Subsequently, all three crow heads bowed slightly.
This elder has already managed to mimic human speech, emitting quite standard English:
“Sir! The arrival of the ‘King of Ghoul’ is a great disaster to the Gaine Forest too. What we can do for you is limited… we hope to help you safely return to where the humans gather.”
“Thank you.”
“Sir, I need to confirm something… ‘Duo Zeya’, our tribe’s crowman who follows you, said that you are willing to provide us with a ‘Sanctuary’?”
In the presence of others, the elder used the word ‘sanctuary’ to replace the term ‘Land Deed’ and the large estate.
“Correct.”
“Good! The crowman tribe anticipates your visit, sir…”
After speaking, the elder left the carriage, leaving the rest of the passengers in amazement.
“Everyone, I hope you can keep the affairs between me and the crowmen a secret.” Han Dong instructed solemnly.
“Absolutely!”
Abe’s opinion of Han Dong had completely changed.
If it wasn’t for the help of these crowmen, this ‘training’ would likely have ended in total annihilation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each movement of the ‘Old King’ pursuing them triggered heavy shaking.
Due to the ‘Old King’s’ size exceeding the maximum load capacity of the Gaine Forest’s crust, multiple areas had developed abyssal cracks extending for kilometers.
Wherever his palm fell, trees were destroyed.
Any land touched by the ‘Old King’ would sprout numerous dark green tentacles, and an extremely terrifying plague began to spread through the Gaine Forest.
Even if you could avoid various disasters and survive by sheer luck.
But if one accidentally gazed directly at the real appearance of this Old King, they would immediately self-destruct or lose their form, unable to bear the burden on their consciousness.
Countless evil and wild beasts that inhabited the forest died in this catastrophe.
However, the situation with the caravan was considerably better.
“At this speed… we can survive!!”
Riding atop a python, Heidler was swimming at the fore of the group.
With the help of the raven feathers, they felt a complete neutralisation of gravity and could smoothly adapt to any terrain.
Even with the constant transmission of intense shock behind them and even triggering large-scale terrain changes, they could still smoothly traverse through the forest…
With the assistance of a transformed full-beast knight and ten thousand crowmen.
The whole convoy raced out of the Gaine Forest.
The Holy City gate was now just eight kilometers away.
With the arrival of a disaster-level Old King, whose enormous figure blotted out the sky and the sun… there was no need to send flare signals.
Looking at the city wall of the Holy City, a hundred meters high, most of the apprentice knights in the carriage breathed a sigh of relief.
Many people had even imagined a scene with the city gate wide open, the knight regiment pouring out, and along with powerful city-protecting cannons, all resisting the Old King together.
Indeed.
Captain Kaimon, riding on his mammoth mount, with the main force of the Behemoth Knight Group, was waiting for the city gate to open.
Along with him were the ‘Plague Knights’, the ‘Black Rose Knight Squad’ and the ‘Holy Knights Group’.
A great battle was about to begin.
However.
Right at the moment when the convoy charged out of the forest.
About eight hundred metres away from the convoy, at another exit of the forest.
A solitary knight, not a member of the Behemoth Knight Group, rode out of the forest on his unique ‘warhorse’.
A terrifying warhorse composed entirely of bones. Upon closer inspection, one would find that the grass trampled by the skeletal warhorse would wither and die in a short time.
The rider, cloaked in black, wielded an overly exaggerated white giant scythe on his back.
