The First Order

Chapter 1189: Chess piece

Chapter 1189: Chess piece

“All these people of the Kingdom of Sorcerers keep looking at us,” Luo Lan suddenly whispered to Zhou Qi as they walked on the streets of Winston City.

The Great Hoodwinker, Luo Lan, and the rest had traveled all the way north, passing through York County and Vaduz County before arriving at Winston City. That was because the Great Hoodwinker had received the latest intel that Winston City had collapsed and that the future commander had appeared here.

After getting this info, they rushed over almost immediately. But when they got to Winston City, everyone was a little lost and did not know how to locate Ren Xiaosu.

After Luo Lan arrived in the Kingdom of Sorcerers, he even complained to the Great Hoodwinker that his intelligence operations were terrible. How could he not have any spies here in the vast Winston City?

Meanwhile, the Qing Consortium had done a very good job in this aspect. The Qing Consortium made sure they had spies planted in all of the strongholds in the Central Plains so there would always be someone to link up with them.

The Great Hoodwinker replied snappily, “We’ve only thought of counterattacking the Kingdom of Sorcerers in recent years. Before the Northwest got unified some years ago, and before Zhang Jinglin came back to take charge of the big picture, who could be bothered to plan so far ahead? Dealing with the Zong Consortium was already enough to keep us busy every day.”

Therefore, the intelligence work the Northwest did in the early years was mainly targeted at the Zong Consortium. Other than that, it was very difficult for them to have any spare manpower to make plans in the Kingdom of Sorcerers.

Now that they were finally able to carry out intelligence gathering, it was only natural they would place their focus on Ghent City instead of a small place like Winston City.

Compared to Ghent City and Vaduz City, Winston City really was just a small town.

At this moment, everyone’s gaze was focused on them as they walked through the streets.

Not only were the residents of Winston City gazing at them, but also the Knights of the Inferno who were patrolling the streets.

However, the Knights of the Inferno seemed a little confused by the sight and were too scared to approach them at the moment.

“We’re really the center of attention.” Zhou Qi said with a sigh, “Who was the one who came up with the horrible idea to enter the Kingdom of Sorcerers without changing clothes?”

“Me,” P5092 answered calmly.

Before entering Winston City, the group had wanted to steal some clothes from a farm outside Vaduz City. However, P5092 said there was no need to do so.

As such, the group looked extremely out of place on the streets of Winston City in their eye-catching blue windbreakers.

Due to the backward textile manufacturing and dyeing technologies, the colors of clothing in the Kingdom of Sorcerers were still very dull.

Sorcerers liked wearing black sorcerer’s robes, not because they liked to act mysterious, but because black was one of the noblest colors they could choose from.

Furthermore, Luo Lan and the others were not only wearing eye-catching windbreakers but also carrying large metal boxes in their hands and bulging hiking backpacks half the height of a person.

The residents of Winston City looked at them as though they had encountered an alien civilization.

P5092 said, “We’re not here to integrate into their society. We’re only here to look for Future Commander. It’s better to join up with him first.”

“Was that why you chose to make such a sensational appearance?” Zhou Qi asked helplessly.

“Mhm, if Future Commander is still in this city, he’ll find out about our arrival very soon.” P5092 said, “We don’t have an intelligence HQ in this city, so rather than slowly searching for Future Commander, we might as well amplify our group’s presence and let him find us instead.”

“But aren’t you afraid the people here in the Kingdom of Sorcerers will attack us?” Zhou Qi retorted.

P5092 shook his head calmly. “What’s there to be afraid of? If Future Commander is here, he can handle them all by himself. If he’s not around, we’ll just retreat. Without firearms and explosives, there won’t be many people who can stop us. If conflict breaks out, Luo Lan’s martyred spirits can set up a machine gun post to cover our retreat while we leave directly.”

“You make it sound so easy….”

“You and Luo Lan are carrying heavy machine guns with you in the boxes, and Ji Zi’ang and Wang Yun specially brought heavy machine gun ammo with them. Do we still need to be afraid of cavalry?” P5092 explained, “Don’t worry, I had Wang Yun and Ji Zi’ang map out the entirety of Winston City from the top of the walls last night. I’ve roughly worked out more than a dozen ways to evacuate safely.”

The group had abandoned their vehicles and decided to travel on foot soon after leaving the borders of Fortress 178. Initially, everyone wanted to travel light, but P5092 requested they bring heavy weapons with them. It was as though he had foreseen such a situation.

Fortunately, they were all supernatural beings, so carrying a heavy load was not a problem for them in the slightest.

Luo Lan thought for a moment and said, “But are we going to expend all the ammo at this place after lugging these weapons such a long way?”

P5092 replied, “Don’t worry, as long as we can find Future Commander, it’s equivalent to finding an armory. We won’t lack any ammunition then.”

The Great Hoodwinker added, “Mhm, when Future Commander was at Stronghold 144, he took at least 20 heavy machine guns with him, to say nothing of the bullets. Those aren’t even worth a dime in the Northwest. Not only that, he also took eight thermobaric bombs with him. When he went to the Zhou Consortium last time, he even asked for a bunch of firearms from the Zhou Consortium and obtained several dozen boxes of grenades.”

Luo Lan gasped. “It’s one thing for you all to go to the Zhou Consortium to snatch their people, but you even went to them to ask for their ammo? And the Zhou Consortium actually gave it to you guys?”

“What can they do? Since Future Commander asked, they couldn’t possibly refuse, right? That Zhou guy is really afraid of death.” The Great Hoodwinker chuckled.

“So what should we do next? Stand here and wait for Xiaosu to come and find us?” Zhou Qi asked.

P5092 glanced at the Great Hoodwinker. “Let’s get started.”

Zhou Qi was confused.

‘What do you mean by “get started”? What on earth are you guys planning?’

In the end, everyone watched as the Great Hoodwinker placed the metal box in his hand on the ground. After removing the safety catch, he took out an RPG launcher and a charge.

“That’s the cathedral in the middle of Winston City. Aim for the roof. Future Commander will definitely see it if he’s here,” P5092 commanded.

Zhou Qi was stunned. Luo Lan was as well.

Zhou Qi and Luo Lan’s jaws dropped. They were lost for words. Luo Lan thought he was already arrogant enough. But in the end, someone even more arrogant than him appeared?!

Nearby, the vigilant Knights of the Inferno felt that something was off. They quickly went to close off the city gates, seemingly planning to trap the Great Hoodwinker and company inside Winston City.

They would then wait for the patriarch’s orders.

“Great Hoodwinker, wait a minute!” Zhou Qi tried to stop him. “Should we really not reconsider this?”

The Great Hoodwinker shrugged. “P5092 became the commander after we entered the Kingdom of Sorcerers. I’m just taking orders here. It’s useless to say anything to me.”

P5092 turned to look at Zhou Qi and said in seriousness, “Every operation has its purpose. What we need to do is find Future Commander. Doing the most correct thing in the simplest of ways—that’s what it means to be in command.”

“I can understand what you’re saying, but why does it confuse me a little when you combine those words with your actions?” Zhou Qi was astonished.

…

The Winston family’s Knights of the Hymn had already set off to the west where they would build a defensive line to prevent the House of Voss from interfering on the main battlefield.

Someone predicted that the Winstons and the Vosses might get plunged into a bloodbath before the Norman and the Tudor families’ campaign even started on the main battlefield.

In the past 200 years, although the House of Winston was backed by the House of Berkeley, they still had some autonomy.

But when the civil war began, starting from when the Berkeley family’s patriarch first stepped into Winston City, it signified the Berkeley family’s takeover of the entire south of the Kingdom of Sorcerers.

Even the large Winston clan could only become horses tied to the front of a war chariot.

As for where the chariot would head, that would entirely be dictated by the one controlling the reins and whip.

Winston Cathedral had been turned into a temporary military command center. All military and political orders would be reported here and passed on to the Berkeley family’s patriarch for approval.

Meanwhile, the Berkeley family’s patriarch remained standing in front of the burning brazier and gathered information from outside the city that was constantly being fed back.

As the flames flickered, the statues of the sorcerers around the cathedral seemingly swayed with the light. It was as though they had come alive.

“It’s finally time to reap the fruits of our predecessors’ labor.” The Berkeley family’s patriarch said amid the silence, “It’s time for the corrupted Houses of Tudor and Norman to hand over their black Eyes of True Sight.”

He held his gold Eye of True Sight and slowly recited an incantation. The figure in the brazier gradually became clearer before saying respectfully, “Patriarch, what are your instructions?”

“Spread this information to every corner of Ghent City. Tell everyone that the junior sorcerer, Melgor, is leading his group there. The House of Tudor has already tried to intercept him several times but to no avail,” the Berkeley family’s patriarch said calmly.

The information did not mention anything about the Central Plains, nor did it mention Ren Xiaosu’s name

Meanwhile, the Tudor family’s reputation would get tarnished by this news. The clan that had been established for over 200 years would definitely do everything they could to make Melgor disappear from history.

At that time, the Central Plains forces behind Melgor would definitely clash head on with the House of Tudor.

So after all the careful consideration, the Berkeley family’s patriarch felt he could finally look forward to Ren Xiaosu’s performance.

The only regret he had was wrongly assuming that Melgor was from the House of Norman, so he made the expensive blunder of handing Melgor a gold Eye of True Sight to create animosity between the House of Norman and the House of Tudor.

In the end, that gold Eye of True Sight was given away for nothing!

However, the Berkeley family’s patriarch immediately came up with another plan.

He summoned another spy through the brazier. “Go and inform the House of Norman that Melgor has Donnelly’s gold Eye of True Sight!”

After passing on this info, the Berkeley family’s patriarch even wore a smile on his face. He wanted to see how the young man from the Central Plains would react when surrounded by two of the top sorcerer clans.

This Central Plains force might look powerful, but in the palm of Michel Grantham Berkeley, he would only end up as a chess piece.

At this moment, an explosion boomed above the head of the Berkeley family’s patriarch. The roof of the cathedral was blasted open in broad daylight!

This shot landed squarely on the top of the cathedral’s tower and, along with it, wiped off the Berkeley family’s patriarch’s confident smile.

The explosion was so loud it even caused reverberations within the cathedral. The Berkeley family’s patriarch could feel his ears ringing. His hearing became muffled as though someone had covered his ears with thick cotton padding.

Large chunks of bricks started crumbling down. The ancient structure, without the support of steel rebars, started swaying hard from the huge impact.

The exquisite statues standing upright in the cathedral crashed to the ground one by one. The Berkeley family’s patriarch could only watch helplessly as the arm of his father’s statue got broken off and its body smashed to pieces by more falling rubble.

Dust and rubble rained down from above. Fortunately, the will of the Berkeley family’s patriarch was still quite firm. He roared angrily as he recited an incantation and completed it before the rubble could hit him.

Dozens of flaming, golden-winged Garudas flew upwards from behind him and shielded him from any falling objects.

The Flaming Garuda was an exclusive spell of the House of Winston. However, the Berkeley family’s patriarch had asked for the incantation and meditative visualization diagram to be given to him long ago, something which the Winston family’s patriarch did not dare to disobey.

As expected of the Berkeley family’s patriarch, he was truly a genius sorcerer. He stood in the cathedral and controlled the Garudas without any fear of the aftermath of the explosion.

A group of the Knights of the Inferno risked their lives and rushed into the cathedral. They wanted to weave their spears above the patriarch’s head to prevent him from getting injured by the falling rubble.

However, the Berkeley family’s patriarch pushed them aside angrily. “What happened?! Who attacked the cathedral?”

A knight commander reported, “Patriarch, someone just reported that some unknown people have arrived in Winston City. From their attire, they don’t seem local. They’re probably from the Central Plains.”

The aftermath of the RPG bombardment of the cathedral gradually stopped. The Berkeley family’s patriarch strode out and said, “Surround them. Those people from the Central Plains have gone too far! Prepare the horses and assemble the knights. I want to personally punish those arrogant bastards!”

Immediately, a group of the Knights of the Inferno surrounded Luo Lan and the others while another group started gathering in front of the cathedral.

But before they could fully assemble, the Berkeley family’s patriarch suddenly saw a section of the city walls turning to sand.

The greenish-gray brick wall turned into a fine pile of running sand. Someone had forced open up a breach in the walls.

Heavy machine gunfire could be heard. That dull rattling sounded like a taunt from Purgatory.

Before this, the Knights of the Inferno had sealed off all the exits of the city. Even the city gates were tightly shut as they were afraid Luo Lan and the others would escape.

In the end, of the visitors from the Central Plains turned out to be normal people. It was as though of them liked using the main entrance and insisted on destroying the city walls to leave!

In just two weeks, the walls of Winston City had been destroyed for the third time!

The Berkeley family’s patriarch looked in the direction of the city walls with a livid expression. A Knight of the Inferno rode on horseback over to the entrance of the cathedral and shouted, “Patriarch, I don’t know what method that group used to destroy the city walls. They have some terrifying Central Plains weapon that prevented our cavalry from getting close. Before we could form an encirclement, they’d already escaped through the opening in the walls.”

“Then what are you all doing? You let them leave just like that?” the Berkeley family’s patriarch asked in disbelief.

“They left behind some golden human silhouettes to control their weapon. After those people left, the golden silhouettes ran off like rabbits too. We couldn’t catch them at all! But the moment we rushed after them, they immediately turned around and used their weapon to suppress us again. Patriarch, our knights have suffered too many casualties!” the Knight of the Inferno said anxiously.

“How many?” the Berkeley family’s patriarch asked.

The Knight of the Inferno hesitated for a moment before saying, “Based on rough estimates, our Knights of the Inferno suffered more than 500 casualties. That weapon is extremely powerful and can break a person’s leg if it hits them. I’m afraid they can’t fight in battle anymore. But more importantly…”

“Don’t hem and haw.” The Berkeley family’s patriarch said angrily, “Speak up.”

“More importantly, three of our sorcerers have died, with two of them being your sons,” the Knight of the Inferno said, bracing himself.

The three sorcerers had only gone over to provide temporary support. They had wanted to launch a counterattack with their spells after closing in on the intruders, but the range of the heavy machine gun was too great.

Generally speaking, the range of normal spells was only a few hundred meters, and up to about a 1,000 meters maximum. For example, Lesser Fireball could only reach about a 100 meters away, while Flaming Garuda was effective up to a 1,000 meters.

In fact, this range was quite good. It was definitely enough even in a large-scale war, and mobile units would get suppressed by such spells.

But for heavy machine guns, even the shortest effective range among the common ones was at least 2,000 meters.

Therefore, before the three sorcerers could even get close, they were already riddled with holes by the heavy machine gun bullets.

The Berkeley family’s patriarch was covered in dust as he rode on his horse. He clenched his teeth and stayed silent for a moment before saying, “Did they say or do anything before they attacked?”

“When those people first entered the city, they did ask the residents about some things.” The Knights of the Inferno soldier answered, “They seem to be looking for their future commander.”

When the Berkeley family’s patriarch heard this, he felt helpless. Wang Wenyan had told him before that Ren Xiaosu was the future commander of Fortress 178. Therefore, these people were here to look for Ren Xiaosu!

The Berkeley family’s patriarch could not understand something. Did these people from Fortress 178 take the wrong medicine? Why were they all behaving so lawlessly?

He had only just treated the Central Plains forces as chess pieces a while ago, but before he could gloat for a couple minutes, the other party had already run over and demolished his cathedral!

‘What’s the matter? Can’t you let others be happy? Are you people from the Central Plains so bored you have to come all the way here to wreak havoc in the Kingdom of Sorcerers? Did the city walls offend you or something?‘

Their enemy from the north was almost in their face, yet the city walls got damaged three times in a row to the extent of being unrepairable.

How the fuck were they supposed to fight the war?!

“Retreat, retreat south to Vaduz City,” the Berkeley family’s patriarch said coldly.

“Patriarch, aren’t we going to pursue those people?” the Knight of the Inferno asked.

“No.” The Berkeley family’s patriarch sneered and said, “They’ll definitely continue heading north. Leave them to be a pain in the ass to the Houses of Tudor and Norman.”

“Father, are we just going to let them leave after they’ve destroyed our walls?” a young sorcerer nearby asked.

This sorcerer possessed a red Eye of True Sight and had been standing guard outside the cathedral all this while. It was obvious he was one of the favorite sons of the Berkeley family’s patriarch and might even be one of the candidates to be the next patriarch.

The Berkeley family’s patriarch explained to him, “If we chase after them at this time, we might end up getting caught in an encounter battle with the Knights of Tudor who’re heading south. You have to remember, we mustn’t be impulsive on the battlefield. All decisions must be undertaken with victory in mind.”

“I understand. Thank you for your instruction, Father.” The young man nodded. “It’s indeed a little disadvantageous for us to head out of the city at a time like this and get engaged in battle with the House of Tudor.”

“Mhm, it’s good that you understand.” The Berkeley family’s patriarch was a flexible person. He seriously considered things and said, “It’s too late to repair Winston City. We can’t fight the Tudors in a damaged city, so retreating back to Vaduz is the wisest choice.”

The young man asked, “If we retreat, won’t it be equivalent to ceding the Winston family’s territory? Would they be willing to accept that?”

The Berkeley family’s patriarch sneered, “We’ll just have to help them regain it in the future.”

To be honest, the Berkeley family’s patriarch also felt very bad about it. Even before they could catch a glimpse of the Knights of Tudor, they had already been forced to retreat by a baffling group of people.

What the hell!

But just as the House of Berkeley was retreating south, the patriarch suddenly made another plan. He sent one team each to the Houses of Norman and Tudor, but no one knew what mission the two teams were tasked with.

…

At the same time Winston City’s walls were destroyed for the third time, Ren Xiaosu killed another two waves of pursuers from the Knights of Tudor before disappearing into the wilderness with Qian Weining and company. They had completely disappeared from the sight of the House of Tudor.

The legend of Melgor had already spread like wildfire in Ghent City. Some people said he was a low-key genius sorcerer who had single-handedly wiped out 800 knights of the House of Tudor.

Some people also said he was an illegitimate son of the House of Norman who had received the teachings of the top sorcerers and had mastered the Norman family’s Boiling Airburst spell to perfection.

There were also people who said Melgor had feuded with the House of Tudor while vying for a wife with their clan member and was deliberately sent to the border by them. However, due to a great opportunity he encountered there, he became an archmage within two years.

Melgor had returned to Ghent City this time to stir up a bloody storm with the House of Tudor.

In any case, all kinds of rumors were floating around, and all of them even had some basis in fact, so it was not entirely groundless speculation.

Right now, almost everyone in Ghent City was aware the House of Tudor had spent a lot of manpower and resources in their attempt to capture Melgor. However, they had no success so far.

Moreover, Melgor was surrounded by hundreds of knights loyal to him.

Of course, everyone preferred the grassroots version of the different rumors floating around.

A junior sorcerer challenging an elite aristocratic family by himself. This story of a grassroots comeback was simply beloved by the residents. Everyone dreamed of becoming a sorcerer one day, so those in the Kingdom of Sorcerers who harbored such dreams hoped they could be like Melgor one day and become someone the top families were helpless against.

While they drank and danced in the taverns, they would get all excited whenever someone brought up this matter.

Amid the commotion, Melgor stood at a sewer outlet outside Ghent City and turned around to ask, “Are we really going in?”

The sewer outlet in front of him was as tall as a person. From the outside, it was so dark he could not see the end of it.

The place smelled foul, and there were even rats scurrying across the floor. They were not afraid of humans at all.

Chen Jingshu looked at Melgor and answered, “Ghent City has already been placed under martial law. If you want to sneak into Ghent City quietly, you have to go through here. Don’t worry, you’ll discover another world if you go in from here. It’s even more lively and prosperous than the surface of Ghent City where you used to reside.”