ninth dragon stone

The moment the barrier broke, Inks and his subordinates were pushed to the ground by the huge impact. The ground beneath them heaved up and down as if alive. The burnt smell got into their nostrils, and the frenzied wail of the dragon was deafening.Inks managed to stand still, and saw bursts of smoke and flames rising far away from him. He also saw a real dragon for the first time in his life, although it seemed to be fighting a trapped beast at the moment.The dragon can't attack him for the time being, and there are no demon soldiers coming towards him. They are all pinned down in another direction, at the other end of the battlefield far away.Inks watched that side carefully for a while, and said in surprise:

"What's going on, did Gloria join the battle?"

Inge and Veronica looked at each other, as if they hadn't reacted to the sudden change in the battle situation. "Why are you here?"

"We are the only ones who can help right now." Tinosha said succinctly.Some of his subordinates erected a wide barrier, which temporarily blocked the enemy's attack, and the hard-fighting knights were able to take time to catch their breath and receive some treatment.Inge looked behind him, almost all the mages in Gloria had arrived, and this was the first time in his memory.

"The enchantment is about to fail!" someone shouted behind him.The paladins immediately stood up and picked up their swords. Some demons broke through the barrier and squeezed in. They rushed forward and fell to the ground.But the enchantment finally looked like it was about to shatter.Veronica yelled for the mage to retreat, and she and her comrades went forward to cover them.Inge also turned to fight, but Tinosha grabbed him.

"We will work together to control this dragon in place," he said quickly. "The control time is only a few tens of seconds. One of you must go up and pierce its reverse scale."

Inge understood.He glanced at the dragon's neck, and quickly found the scale under the neck and on the front chest, which was a different color from others.Later, someone told him that the dragon's aorta and trachea were under the scale, but he didn't know these things at the time, and he knew that if he pierced the scale dragon, he would die.Only by killing the dragon can they hope to approach the crack. Tinosha's strategy is simple and straightforward.

"Okay, I'll go," he nodded and said, "In a moment, please set up a barrier to protect everyone!"

Tinosha let him go.

After the people of Gloria broke the barrier from the outside, things became much easier.The magic circle inside the barrier that was unfavorable to them can no longer function, and the environment has become familiar to them.More importantly, with the support of friendly forces, the morale that had fallen to the bottom was restored.Inge and Veronica were fighting at the same place, which had become the center of killing on the battlefield, and thus attracted more and more enemies.There was blood and flesh flying all around, screaming again and again, but Inge's mind was unusually clear, he knew that the mage had been properly protected by them to launch long-range attacks from behind, and Veronica was behind him, and he didn't think so at all. Worry.

"Come on!" He heard her taunting arrogantly, "Is this all you can do?!"

He couldn't help laughing.

He dodged sideways to avoid a flying spear, then turned back and swung his sword to cut the living corpse that raised the crossbow at Veronica in two.Its ferocious head fell to the ground, and was trampled into a pulp by a huge ogre immediately after.

Veronica pulled Leiana behind her with her backhand, swung her big sword and slashed at the ogre's knee, and the mage just finished reciting the spell when it fell down in pain, and it was temporarily frozen by the frost, Inge Going up immediately, a sword pierced through the skull and plunged into its temple.

There is no fear or nausea, only tension and excitement, the twisted excitement in the warrior's bones, which can be easily provoked by blood and swords.He felt that he had never killed so many people in his life, and when he was killing tirelessly, there was only one clear and strong obsession in his mind, like an irretrievably sinking sunset in the distance, hanging a crazy giant all the way to West ran wildly until he died of exhaustion—

Rowlands!

Rowlands! !

■

"Has this reached the edge of the crack?" Inkers turned his head and asked the Bishop of Silver Spring beside him.

The bishop bowed to him respectfully: "Yes, it is here. At this moment, all the demons in the city of the abyss have come out, and all of them are going to the Knights Templar, so we have the space to safely reorganize the seal. It's all thanks to you."

Inkers accepted his compliment, looked around, and said to the generals under him, "Camp up here."

The general was very puzzled and asked him and the bishop: "Aren't we going to fight? Are you...don't you repair the seal?"

Inks looked very calm. "We are waiting for the Pope's order."

At this time, in Luoxian's palace, the bright fire in the fireplace shone on the crown prince's face, but it still couldn't conceal his panic and entanglement.His brows were furrowed into a ball, and he remained motionless.The wrinkles on the face became more and more obvious under the light, like a piece of dry wood.But he finally raised his head, with fear and resentment, his voice was low: "I accept."

The Pope on the opposite side showed a kind smile, and his elegant robe and crown were even more radiant in the firelight, as if the saints on the murals were in person.

"May God bless you and your children."

The next day, news reached the front that the crown prince had decided to give up his succession to the throne due to his aging and deteriorating health, and to hand over power to his third brother.Inks's army cheered, but he himself was neither humble nor overbearing, and instead paid more attention to the current affairs.He came to the Bishop of Yinquan Town and ordered, "Please start."

The bishop nodded and took out a scroll from his pocket. Leno couldn't help asking, "What is this?"

"The new seal written by the Pope," the bishop said proudly, "when we complete this, the demons on the surface will be dragged back to the city of the abyss by the new seal, and everything will be over."

He looked into the distance, the dragon was no longer there, but billowing black smoke was still rising from the direction of the battlefield.That was the result of the dragon fire spreading in the forest. After the work here was over, they had to go over there to do some purification and sealing. "Are you satisfied with the aftermath?" He glanced at Inks with a pun.

And Inks replied: "Of course. After the war is over, I will personally go to Minghui City to thank the Pope."

■

Inge and the others knew nothing about things other than the battlefield, and they didn't even know whether it was day or night.When the dragon finally fell like an avalanche in its own flames, they stood on the devastated and smoky battlefield, as if they had just woken up from a dream.

At that time, after the mages finally sealed the dragon, Inge asked Veronica to lend him the great sword, and then asked Tinosha to add a separate barrier for herself, and stab the dragon's reverse scale by herself.Veronica was the first to object to him. The reason was that he never used a big sword, and if he couldn't stab it correctly, he would fall short. It was more appropriate for her to go.

"Don't worry, it's okay to swing once in a while," Inge said, "The more important thing is that I survive more easily than you. I can rely on my own mental strength to maintain the enchantment for a while, so just in case I still go You stay below and call everyone to retreat, withdraw as much as possible from the attack range of the dragon fire, and protect Leyana and Jocelyn. Lord Tinosha leads the mage to maintain a barrier that can prevent the dragon fire, is that okay? "

Tinosha nodded, and asked, "What if the barrier can't hold up?"

"You must hold on." Inge stared at him and said firmly.The killing madness in his mind gradually faded, replaced by unparalleled calmness, the picture of the entire battlefield was clear and orderly, as if there was an experienced soul in his body guiding him to make a decision, that person had a familiar yet unfamiliar voice , and spoke through his mouth:

"If there is an accident, the paladins will follow Veronica's instructions to cover their companions, and the mages and priests will evacuate the battlefield on their own while ensuring their own safety, and don't fight against the dragon fire."

He suddenly recognized that voice, and suddenly felt that his heart was squeezed tightly by a giant hand.

"Inge," he heard Veronica's voice sound like cracked glass, "be careful."

He smiled lightly, as if he could smell the fragrance of flowers in the cemetery and the tears from the candles in the middle of the night.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I will."

The owner of that voice was watching him quietly at the moment, with a pair of warm and unpredictable dark purple eyes.

In the end, the dragon spewed flames and burned everything before it died, and the only ones who survived were the people in Tinosha's barrier.While they breathed a sigh of relief, Veronica rushed out of the barrier, walked straight across the land scorched by a dragon's fire, found Inge who had fallen beside the dragon's body, and dragged him The mounted horse was brought out from the center of the battlefield.

"You're a hero," she said. "You're going to go down in history."

Inge lay dying on the horse's back, and his voice sounded quite miserable: "I didn't see him. I probably will never find him."

Veronica felt a sharp knife go straight to her heart at that moment. She might have shed tears, but the temperature of the battlefield full of dragon fire was too high, and her tears were quickly evaporated.

■

After the battle, Tinosha took the mages back. Before leaving, he told Inge that this was a complete conspiracy and told him not to believe anything Inks said.But Inge knew they had to go back, because all the supplies were with Inkers.When he and Veronica joined Inks with the remaining dozens of paladins, they felt that they had stepped into another world for a moment.The atmosphere in the camp was very relaxed, not like a war but more like a vacation. Inge randomly asked a soldier what happened, and the answer he got was that the war was over and they were going home soon.

"It's over? What about the demons who scattered before, and they were all defeated?"

"Don't you know? The Pope created a new seal to replace the previous one. It is even more useful than the previous one. Once it is activated, it will drag all the demons back to the city of the abyss! The people in the Holy See are different, so why use it? Need us to do it?..."

The answer he got made him feel dazed for a while.

Just pull it back?Don't need us to do it?

What is the reason for the fierce battle of the Knights Templar day and night, and the hundreds of young people who died for it...?

Just when he felt that his mind was not enough, Inks came. "Paladin!" He obviously showed a lot of enthusiasm for the people who had been reunited for a long time, and he immediately felt heartbroken when he saw their distressed appearance, "It's too miserable...I heard that you even defeated a dragon, you and the dead brothers They will definitely be recorded in the annals of human history as true warriors!"

He put his hand on Inge's shoulder, and the two walked forward together, but Inge suddenly asked, "Your Highness, why didn't we see you when we were fighting?"

Before Inks answered, someone from his entourage immediately corrected him: "Now you have to address 'Your Majesty', my lord."

Inks himself didn't care about this detail. He replied to Inge: "The battlefield is too wide and there are many enemies. It is normal that you can't see my army attacking from the other side. However, it is true that we both work together. This battle was won, and you can ask any soldier to confirm this in the affirmative.”

Inge felt a great fatigue hit him, and he asked with difficulty: "What about the priests led by the Bishop? They separated from us halfway, and where did they go?"

"They came to me, and with my help, they were able to restore the seal." Inkers replied unhurriedly.

So Inge said nothing more.

Inks' men quickly arranged a camp for them, and brought them water, food and medicine, as well as several priests of Minghui City with outstanding abilities.Leno also came, saw him jumping up from his chair, grabbed him and asked why they fled.

Leno was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead, he hurriedly defended himself, saying that they didn't know anything, it was all ordered by the bishop, and he knew that the purification field couldn't suppress the hunting barrier, but no one dared to question it... He also persuaded Inge that the bishop might have made a mistake in his prediction, and he felt sorry for causing them such a big loss, but the war has been won, so he should be happy...

In the end, he ran out in a hurry, so that Inge didn't really draw his sword towards him.

After driving away Leno, Inge lay back on the chair and covered his eyes with the back of his hand.The tent he was staying in was very warm, everything he needed was available, and his wounds were well healed. He was praised as a dragon-slaying hero.But his heart was full of despair that almost collapsed.He already understood what the whole war was all about, whether it was an accident, a natural disaster, or an outright man-made disaster.

"Is our life so precious in his eyes?" He remembered what Rolanders asked Tinosha.

No, no.He can start and end such a war with ease, like flipping his wrist to pour out a glass of water, they are just a little dust washed away by the water.Fortunately, Rolandes and Tinosha had been calculating for so long, and it was of no use at all. It was just that the Pope didn't want to do anything at that time.

Tinosha woke up in time, but what about Rolandes?He still took his men into the war, and Inge was still his supporter.He remembered what they had said? "The people of Anglos should not suffer indiscriminately"—they have to fulfill the duties of paladins, which they have been taught since childhood, to fight for those who cannot fight, and to protect innocent people.

It's a pity that the person who taught them all this didn't believe it at all.

Inge let out a long sigh, feeling like a terminally ill patient.After leaving Inks, the pent-up anger had driven him to swing his sword at an oak tree, but the oak tree didn't move, and he collapsed exhausted, and the leaves fell lightly on his face.When he was lying on the ground, looking up at the dots of light coming out from the cracks in the leaves, he suddenly realized something calmly, or rather he was very numb.

He was planning to leave the Knights Templar.

■

They only rested for a while next to Inks' camp that day, and left without saying goodbye as soon as it got dark.This is what Veronica meant, and she worried that it would not be safe to stay overnight on the edge of the Inkers camp.Before leaving, they took all the supplies they could take away. Fortunately, after walking a few miles, they found that there were no pursuers.The battle took place at the border between the Papal State and Anglos, not far from Silver Spring Town, and they returned to the base camp at noon the next day.Inge knew it was not safe here, but they had nowhere to go. Everyone's home was here, so they had to bite the bullet and come back.

The people of Silver Spring Town were amazed—the craftsmen, traders, weapon shop owners and citizens—they saw for the first time that their soldiers left like the first flood of summer and returned like dry water in late autumn. .People gathered to ask what happened and where Rolanders went, and Inge and Veronica had to answer them one by one.

When they returned to Rolanders' mansion, the familiar butler came to open the door for them. Inge suddenly felt the sadness of being absent up to the tip of his nose, and almost cried into Dwork's old face.But the old man gave a step in time and told him and Veronica that there was already a visitor waiting inside, and it was a messenger from Gloria.

Inge and Veronica hurried to the reception room, and then heard from the emissary that they were ambushed by the Pope's guard as soon as they returned to Koloa. The mages who stayed behind set up a magic ban in the city to wait for them to come back.Tinosha never made it to this point. On the return trip, she teleported directly to the city, and was caught by the Pope's guards.In the melee, only a small number of people managed to escape, and by the time it dawned, Gloria was no longer there.

The room was probably quieter than a cemetery for a minute.Neither Inge nor Veronica knew how to react at this time, or how they could react.They just sat there for a while, looking at each other in silence.

The Pope quickly gave his explanation: Tinosha refused to be called to fight and drove away the stationed bishop.Afterwards, he found out the materials he had collected about the "Seal of Ishield" and the implementation of some specific magic, proving that the destruction of the seal was actually caused by him and his followers from within, trying to subvert the current order of the human world.

Now, the war is won, the traitors are wiped out, and order is back.People can breathe a sigh of relief and wait for spring to come again.

It's early spring, and soft tips of grass have begun to emerge from the cracks in the bricks. "The envoy from Minghui City is here again?"

"Well, here we go again." This time Veronica paused, and finally said, "I agreed to his request."

Leana let out an "ah," but didn't look too surprised. "It's time to go, there's no point in staying any longer. Then when are you going to leave?"

Veronica snorted. "They gave me a month to pack my luggage, and it won't take that long. When we moved, didn't the two of us finish the move in one trip?"

Leiana pursed her lips, her eyes drifted a little: "Indeed...then what are you going to do next?"

Veronica was silent for a while, and finally said: "I don't know what I can do."

The Pope's envoy gave her the same conditions as Inge, to leave the Knights Templar, never step into the Pope's state, and never join the army of any country.Straightforward and simple, stripped of all signs of whitewashing.Inge agreed readily, because at that time he had no other idea but to leave, and he left three days after signing the paperwork; he didn't seem to worry about having nowhere to go at all, because according to him, "anywhere is better than here." ".But what about Veronica?She had no idea where else she could go but the army.Do you want her to be a paladin and become a mercenary?Even just thinking about the possibility seemed ridiculous to her.

"Go back first," Leyana said. "After all, your father is still there. He is a highly valued official. He will find a way for you."

Veronica's expression was indifferent, but she could only say: "It probably has to be like this."

She stood up and went to the window, looking out from their current window, it was no longer a neat square and a beautiful fountain, but a messy street, a cart full of goods, shouting and trivial quarrels .She couldn't see the fountain, nor the city hall or the mansion, and the building across the street, also three stories high, blocked them all.Almost all the important moments in her life are here, but she never thought that parting would be so blunt and bitter.

Rolanders was gone, and many comrades in arms had died. Inge left without any regrets, and had no intention of sending any news back.She thought of the conversation between the two before he left again, perhaps because of the distortion of memory, she unexpectedly felt that Inge's young face was covered with a layer of dream-like color, which reminded her of the so strong scene in the church cemetery. Uncomfortable, the scent of flowers on a coffin.

I have no chance to die by his side, so I can always live for him once.He was understating it as if he was describing the last time he had afternoon tea.

That's what he said too.He smiled and added.

"Don't be like this," she remembered saying that she couldn't stand it, "you've grown up so much in your life, it's too much to pin your hopes on the book of the dead...does this thing really exist..."

"Anyway, you can try it. If it doesn't work, I'll find another way. Anyway, I will grow up very well in my life." He said leisurely.

Veronica was at a loss for words, and he said again: "By the way, no matter where you plan to go, take Leiana with you."

Hearing this, she turned her head slightly. "...I can't promise. Once I leave Silver Spring, I'll have nothing. I'm not sure if she will...Of course, if she wants to, of course." At that moment, a fear rose in her heart , a fear that a person in the middle of a turbulent river tries to catch on to a weed.

"Inge," she said, suppressing the uncomfortable feeling that her heart seemed to be gripped by something, "I'll have a chance to see you in the future?"

"I don't know either," Inge replied simply, "I hope God blesses us to meet again."

The author has something to say:

It's over, thank you for reading and liking w

When I was writing the last two chapters, I was always thinking about what Galstea would think if he learned about Inge’s early dragon-related deeds—probably “It’s obviously nothing to do with me, but for some reason the back cold"? hhhh

In addition, there is a digression, which I couldn't find a suitable place to write in the text: Jon's ending is that she was dismissed, left Bright City, and returned to her hometown, the Kingdom of Kad (in the south of the Pope's country, and Andormar is also people of this country), where she later established a guild of mages.That's right, it's the one Galstaiya joined in "The Dragon, the Beauty, and a Blood Vial", and Jon is the female president who appeared in that article.It's not an easter egg, right? 233

Then see you later~