The Shadow of the Crown of Snow [Western Fantasy]

Go directly to the camp of the leopard-headed people and kidnap a leopard-headed man to test whether the beast bell has any effect on them.This plan is full of northerners' style just by listening to it.

"Don't tell me you're going to wear this." Hecate pulled off the cloak that Selene was holding. "Still wearing the cloak? The leopard-headed man is not blind."

Gu Yinuo understands Selene's insistence on following her. After all, this is not the kind of mission where she can let go and fight. She would not dare to let Hecate act alone.

Referring to the last operation to recapture Xiye City, Selene trusted Hecate's stealth ability very much, but this time the situation was different from last time.In Xiye City, Hecate's task was to kill the enemy's commander without alarming the enemy, but this time he wanted to kidnap a leopard-headed man in the enemy's territory without anyone noticing.

These leopard-headed men are natural hunters. Whether it is night vision or sensitivity and vigilance to the surrounding environment, they don't know how much better than those soldiers in Xiye City. If Hecate was found in Xiye City at that time, it would be nothing more than If she didn't seize enough opportunities, she could just draw out the crescent blade and start fighting, because the purpose of the operation itself is not "killing the enemy commander without being detected", but "taking back Xiye City." ".Moreover, Xiye City was originally the land of the Nord Kingdom before it was occupied. Selene fully understood the situation there. Be confident about your plans.

Now what they want to sneak into is a strange territory, and the opponent is a leopard-headed man who cannot be guessed by human common sense. Although Selene is confident enough, she is a cautious person after all.

"Are you sure you're okay? You won't be discovered?" Hecate looked up and down at Selene, who was wearing light leather armor, and grabbed a strand of her hair and rubbed it. "I think you are very conspicuous..."

"You are also conspicuous, okay? Use this to cover it." Selene pulled out two short cloaks from the corner and threw one to Hecate. "I have learned to sneak before."

"Is there anything you haven't learned specifically?"

"Basically not." Selene fastened the belt of her cloak and shrugged her shoulders, "Because my father always told me when I was young, if I don't study hard, I can only marry when I grow up. But because I learned I worked very hard, and soon I knew that there was no way I would be sent to marry."

"why?"

"You are a proton in Nagrand, and you may not be able to come back in the future. My father only has me as the heir, so how could he send me to marry me?" Selene looked helplessly at Hecate's girdle, which was tied into a dead knot. , reaching out to help her loosen and retie the knot, "It's almost as good as getting married."

In fact, even Hecate, who was fearless and fearless, was very disturbed.She knows how to avoid the eyes and ears of humans. As long as they hide in the shadows, it will be difficult for them to accurately judge whether there is anyone in a certain location. The most important thing is that they themselves are afraid of the dark, so it is difficult to calm down and search carefully in the dark. He walked up anxiously to have a look, and then immediately returned to the lamp as if fleeing.

Human ears are also deceiving—or rather, they have minds that often make it inevitable that they will be deceived by themselves.After hearing the abnormal noise, as long as a stone is thrown, they will naturally think "ah, that should be the sound of small stones rolling just now", and then ignore other doubts.

But the leopard-headed man is different.

They lack the logical thinking of humans to take things for granted. When they hear abnormal sounds, they will immediately call their companions to check until they confirm that no outsiders have violated their territory.

What's more, their perception of sound is more sensitive than humans, and their night vision ability makes people who try to approach in the dark helpless.Neither Hecate nor Selene knew whether they had the sense of smell of animals. Fortunately, there was no wind tonight, so there was no need to think about the wind direction.

"Do you really want to go with me?" Before leaving, Hecate confirmed again, "The fewer people like this, the better?"

"Just the two of us, not too much."

As she walked softly through the jungle, Selene remembered the last time she passed here with Hecate.

Frost-covered city had just fallen, and she escaped in embarrassment with Hecate, who was still in the backlash. Behind her was the motherland occupied by the enemy country, and in front of her was the darkness where she could not see the way forward.The only thing that can support her to go on is that she is at least alive.She is the monarch of Nord, and as long as she lives for a day, she cannot abandon the responsibility of being a monarch.

No one has been able to take over this responsibility yet, so that she can breathe a sigh of relief, so Selene can only live desperately, and desperately pave the way for future generations while she is still alive.

She hoped that just after she and Hecate returned to the Frosted City again, the Nord Kingdom, which had been weak for hundreds of years, would no longer be left behind by the development of the entire continent.

"Go slowly." Hecate, who was walking in front, also slowed down, "We'd better get there in the early morning."

"Stop." Selene took out the short scepter that was tied close to her arm, "Let me make sure that our position is correct."

This is one of the reasons why Selene insisted on following Hecate.The last time he sneaked into Xiye City, Hecate knew the topography of the city in advance, and reconfirmed the map before setting off. She could judge both the direction and the distance, but now they are in the dark forest. It's okay to know the direction, but if you walk into the leopard-headed camp by mistake, it's a question of whether you can come back alive.

In this case, Selene's life detection became the best way to avoid danger.

"The direction is right, it's still far away from us." Selene sighed, "Can you really drag a comatose leopard-headed man?"

Neither Pegasus nor ordinary horses can pass through this dense forest quickly. Even if they successfully tied up a leopard-headed man, they have to slowly drag him out of the forest. This is the most dangerous part of the whole plan .

Still too reckless.Selene somewhat regretted her rash decision.In fact, there is no need to be so anxious about controlling the beast bell. Even if it is the next time there is a direct conflict, it will be too late for Hecate to cooperate with the guards to capture two captives.

But she had already come here, and although reason kept repeating her recklessness and rashness, there was still a corner in her heart that made her eager to try.

"Remember, you won't gain any advantage in a frontal fight, so try to avoid it." This was the first thing Raymond taught Selene, "If you were an ordinary soldier, I would I won’t teach you these anymore, but you are the future monarch of the Nord Kingdom, what you have to consider is not glory, but how to win with the least price.”

Northerners always yearn for words such as bravery, glory, and fearlessness, and such an atmosphere pervades the military. Selene also grew up in such an atmosphere. What she said was also contradictory, but later she realized that the teacher just didn't want her to die in vain.

"There is only one situation where you need to sacrifice. That is when you are sure that your sacrifice will create more value than you will create by continuing to live."

Like helping Hecate pass the final threshold and make her a true god?

"It might make you angry to say that, but sometimes I understand my father quite well." In the silent jungle, Selene lowered her voice, "I mean, I gradually realized that sitting in this position, often Need to be forced to make some brutal decisions."

Hecate shook his head: "I won't be angry. I'm not the real Hecate. If he hadn't made that decision, I wouldn't exist. But...you have been accused of this since you took office. Is it a situation where you are forced to choose?"

"Of course there is." Selene tried not to sound so heavy in her tone, "I have to choose whether to stay in the Frost City and stick to my throne, or to flee here to serve the Nord Kingdom. To fight for a chance of life. Maybe it sounds very high-sounding, but I still escaped after all."

"On the contrary, I think that in terms of the choices you face, escaping requires more courage. Death is easy, but it takes courage to face it alive. To a certain extent, death is a kind of escape—— Get away from everything in this world."

Selene often felt that Hecate saw things more broadly than she did.She is from the North, but was abandoned by Nord. She grew up in Nagrand, but was ignored in Nagrand. She has always been like a rational and objective bystander. Analyze problems in a non-subjective way.

However, as a human being, she still has human weaknesses. For example, it is one thing to be able to see clearly, but another thing to be able to really do it.

In the final analysis, Hecate still doesn't like reasonable people, although she occasionally listens to Selene's reasoning.

It was already close enough to confirm the direction without life detection.The heavy breathing of the herd exposed the location of the leopard-headed man. According to the originally agreed plan, Selene stopped and let Hecate, who was better at sneaking, complete the task of approaching and knocking out a leopard-headed man brought over. Then the two returned to the station together.

None of Selene's "worst guesses" came true, and before she had time to start worrying, Hecate came out with a smaller leopard-headed man half-dragging and half-carrying on his shoulders.

"Easy." She mouthed to Selene, "Let's go."

"It seems to be a cub." Selene carefully observed the leopard-headed man being carried by her. "I didn't expect it to go so smoothly."

Generally speaking, things that go smoothly and unimaginably at the beginning will be accompanied by a wave of troubles. Seeing that they are about to arrive at the camp of Talis and the Guards, there are still no pursuers to follow, but Selene still let He Carter walked faster, even if he could arrive a second earlier, it would be good.

Just when she was about to pat Hecate's shoulder, a burst of coldness spread from behind, fixing her body in place.

Magic.Selene immediately judged it.Gerald followed.

Fortunately, Hecate noticed the abnormality behind him, threw the leopard-headed man on his back on the ground, drew out the crescent blade at a speed too fast for the naked eye to catch clearly, and rushed in front of Gerald.

"I advise you not to act rashly." Gerald directly caught Hecate's blade with his bare hands, and then nodded to Selene, "Look carefully at the current situation before making a move."

Hecate turned his head and saw that Selene's hand was slowly oozing blood from the same place where Gerald was injured.And obviously, it's not just wounds and blood that are passed on, but also pain.

"I don't know if it's because I'm not skilled enough. About one-third of the injuries I suffer can be successfully transferred to the person I'm using, but I think this is enough." Gerrard let go Holding Hecate's blade tightly, he wiped the blood casually on his body, "At least you don't have the guts to kill me. If that happens, Selene will definitely die."

Hecate didn't show any panic.She knew that if she messed up at this time, it would be tantamount to admitting defeat.

Although Hecate is already a person who has stepped into the Kingdom of God with half a foot, he is not as experienced as Selene in dealing with divine arts.She took a deep breath to calm herself down and think about countermeasures, but she heard those familiar voices in her mind giving suggestions.

"Scepter." The noisy ancestors in their minds became more concise at this time. Unlike life detection and close-range teleportation, a scepter is required to activate such magic.Hecate saw the scepter held by Gerald in the other hand at a glance, turned the crescent blade in his hand, and cut off the gemstone on his scepter.

Almost at the moment when the gem shattered, Selene immediately regained control of her body. Gerald seemed to be prepared for his own failure, and escaped with magic again before the crescent blade hit him. .

"The one just now was not a divine technique." Selene coughed violently, "Not only was she unable to move, she almost pinched my throat... Divine techniques would not be so subjectively aggressive."

"...You mean, that's magic?" Hecate bent down and let Selene put his hand on his shoulder, "Does that mean that Hussein is interfering with the half-orcs, or at least through Gerald meddling with the goblins."

"Probably yes. Let's go back before that leopard-headed man wakes up. I'm not hurt. I'll be fine after a while." Selene managed to stand still, "I'm really looking forward to Hussein If you are more courageous, when he can't hide the secret of magic, I wonder if the Holy Church of Wilton will help him."