booktalesy Chapter 162 Dahl's "Master" Decisions and His "Turtle in a Jar"
Chapter 162 Dahl's "Master" Decisions and His "Turtle in a Jar"
Chapter 162 Dahl's "Master" Decisions and His "Turtle in a Jar"
Master Dahl was the mysterious man in black robes in Nal's army, and the one they relied on to breach Arthur's fortified city.
At this moment, facing a power that might originate from the Silent Forest and be even more terrifying, Grand Duke Nar instinctively sought help from the mysterious power on his side.
A short while later, the master named Dahl came over.
Master Dahl was originally a wandering third-level wizard apprentice. He came to the Duchy of Nar after hearing about the illustrious name of the White Wizard Twins, "Bright Flame" Silian, hoping to find a backer through a roundabout approach.
That's why he sought refuge with Sirian's father, the King of the Duchy of Nar—Lonki Nar!
A short while later, the master named Dahl slowly walked into the council hall.
He appeared remarkably calm compared to the panicked nobles in the hall.
He wore an unremarkable gray-black robe, with the hood pulled low, obscuring most of his face, revealing only a taut chin and a pair of eyes that gleamed cautiously in the shadows.
The aura emanating from him was not flamboyant, but rather somewhat restrained. However, the sense of alienation that belonged to a wizard, standing out from his surroundings, still quieted the noisy hall somewhat.
He was originally a wandering third-level wizard apprentice with limited talent and no hope of advancement, residing at the bottom of the wizarding world.
It was because they had heard of the formidable reputation of "Bright Flame" Silian and her connection with the Duchy of Nar that they came to seek refuge with the intention of achieving their goal indirectly and finding a powerful patron.
Hoping to enjoy wealth and luxury in the Duchy of Nar with this meager wizard status, and perhaps even gather some resources with Nar's help to barely sustain his cultivation.
Helping Nar's army breach Arthur's fortified city was merely a small test for him. Against ordinary armies, the spells of a powerful third-level wizard apprentice were enough to cause an overwhelming defeat.
This also earned him a distinguished position and preferential treatment in the Nar court.
But at this moment, listening to the messenger's incoherent and terrified description, and feeling the pervasive panic in the hall, Master Dahl's brows furrowed tightly beneath his hood.
Shadow monsters? Werewolves? Headless horsemen? Massive numbers of cyborgs and black wizard apprentices?
These words sent a shiver down his spine. This sounded—not at all like the methods of an ordinary wizard, but more like—
"Master Dahl! You've finally arrived!"
Grand Duke Longch of Nar saw a savior and almost fell off his throne.
"Listen to this! What the hell is going on? How come so many monsters have appeared over Arthur's side? And a black wizard too?"
"You—you can definitely handle them, right?"
Dahl did not answer immediately.
He walked up to the almost paralyzed messenger, his voice low and carrying a strange, comforting power.
"Calm down, soldier. Tell me, those wizards you saw—were they insignia on their robes? Or did you hear them mention any names?"
The messenger calmed down slightly under his spell, struggling to recall, and said in a trembling voice, "The sign—no, I couldn't see it clearly, it seemed to be all dark—!"
Hearing the messenger's words, Dahl was also somewhat puzzled, but after struggling at the bottom for so many years, he knew clearly that someone who could command so much extraordinary power was definitely not someone he, a mere third-level wizard apprentice, could afford to offend.
"Master Dahl! What do you think we should do?"
Looking at Dahl, who was deep in thought, Longqi asked somewhat nervously.
"His Majesty!"
Master Dahl suddenly raised his head, his voice from beneath his hood carrying an unprecedented solemnity and urgency.
"The situation is far more serious than we imagined!"
The scene described by the messenger—shadow creatures, undead knights, and organized groups of dark wizard apprentices—is a force that no ordinary power could command! The level of those behind it is likely far beyond our imagination!
"Our only chance of survival now lies not in the troops on the border, nor in holding onto any particular city!"
Dahl spoke extremely fast, almost as if he was trying to speak first.
"It depends on time! It depends on whether we can find a force strong enough to counterattack before the enemy's main force can overwhelm us!"
He stepped forward, his gaze fixed intently on the slumped throne of Grand Duke Longqi: "Immediately! Use the fastest and most secretive channels, at all costs, to get this message to Lord Sirian!"
You need to clearly tell her:
The Duchy of Arthur has received support from an extremely powerful dark force, suspected to originate from a powerful figure in the Silent Forest, far exceeding the scope of conventional warfare in its scale and methods! Nar is facing the threat of national annihilation and pleads with her to return to their aid as soon as possible!
Grand Duke Longchi was utterly terrified by the despair and urgency in Dar's tone. His fat head nodded repeatedly, "Good! Good! I'll give the order right away! Use the Royal Eagle! With the highest level of urgency!"
"more than!"
Dahl interrupted him.
"The Secret Eagle may have been intercepted! Simultaneously dispatch three teams of the most loyal and strongest knights, traveling day and night along different routes, to the Eternal Tower! Ensure the message is delivered!"
He took a deep breath, his voice lowered but more stern: "Until Lady Silian returns, or rather, until she gives clear instructions, our only strategy is to delay!"
"Abandon all outlying towns and fortresses! Withdraw all available troops back to the capital! Rely on the capital's walls and the defensive arrays we have already set up to hold the city!"
"remember!"
Dahl's gaze swept over every pale-faced nobleman present.
"If—if you encounter those dark armies, absolutely do not provoke them! Avoid direct confrontation as much as possible! If possible—you might even consider—temporarily showing weakness—"
"Show weakness?"
An old nobleman cried out in disbelief.
"Should we surrender to those monsters?"
"This is not surrender!"
Darl said sternly.
"It's about buying time! Waiting for a turning point! Faced with an incomprehensible force, pointless sacrifices will only hasten our demise! Living, and waiting for Lord Silian's return, is our only goal now!"
He looked at Grand Duke Longqi and said through gritted teeth, "Your Majesty, give the order immediately! Every minute and every second is crucial! We are racing against a disaster that we cannot withstand head-on!"
Grand Duke Longchi, without any further hesitation, scrambled down from his throne and roared at the guards and messengers at the door, "Did you all hear that?! Do as Master Dar says! Quickly! Go! Send out everyone you can to deliver a message to Sirian! All troops retreat to the capital! Hurry!"
The entire Nar Palace was instantly plunged into another extreme of panic and frantic activity. It was no longer a chaotic mess, but an emergency response tinged with despair and a race against time.
Master Dahl stood still, watching the panicked crowd, his face beneath his hood extremely grim.
He had absolutely no idea what to do.
Will Lady Silyan return?
Even if she returns, can she stand up against that potentially powerful figure?
Can a defensive posture really buy time?
But he knew that this was the only, and perhaps most hopeless, struggle he, and the entire Duchy of Nar, could currently make.
The only spark of hope rests on the "Blazing Light" high in the Eternal Tower.
Meanwhile, a dark torrent carrying a chilling will to retaliate is irresistibly surging toward the heart of the Duchy of Nar.
The order from the Royal Palace of Nar was relayed as quickly as possible.
The bells, signaling the highest level of emergency, rang mournfully throughout the capital, shattering the usual prosperity and tranquility.
The streets were instantly thrown into chaos as squads of soldiers hastily assembled at the officers' shouts and then rushed haphazardly toward the city walls and their respective defensive posts.
The citizens hid in their homes in fear, shutting their doors and windows tightly, and whispering about the terrible rumors coming from the front lines.
Several well-trained, jet-black royal eagles, carrying encrypted distress messages, shot like arrows from the highest tower of the palace, flying swiftly towards the Tower of Eternity.
Meanwhile, three carefully selected knight squads, each led by a great knight and equipped with the best warhorses and ample supplies, quietly rushed out from different gates of the capital, choosing drastically different treacherous paths and embarking on a race against death to seek reinforcements.
The Nar army in the border region received an unbelievable order: abandon their positions, retreat across the board, and retreat towards the capital!
Many border commanders, upon receiving the order, almost doubted whether they had seen a fake imperial edict.
They were just dreaming of achieving even greater military exploits, but in the blink of an eye, they were about to abandon the cities and fortresses they had fought so hard to capture and flee back to the capital like stray dogs.
"What kind of order is this? The Arthurians are almost all dead! Why should we run?"
A border general with a full beard angrily tore the order document to shreds.
However, when a more detailed order arrived, bearing the royal seal and the imprint of the great wizard Dahl, and describing the bizarre and horrific defeat at the front, all doubt and anger turned into chilling fear.
The retreat turned into a rout.
Panic spread like a plague along the retreat route.
The soldiers abandoned their armor and weapons, hoping to outrun their comrades.
They dared not turn around, as if some invisible, terrifying thing was chasing them.
Border cities and fortresses that were once heavily garrisoned were hastily abandoned, leaving only empty city walls and supplies that could not be taken away in time.
While the Duchy of Nar was retreating in disarray, Arthur's "revenge army" was advancing at a steady yet terrifying pace.
The army of darkness has no need for rest.
The shadow puppets are tireless, the wolf-headed men and cyborgs seem to revel in killing and destruction, and the shadow warriors and headless horsemen are cold war machines.
The dark wizard apprentices constantly replenished their energy by using the corpses and remaining soul energy from the battlefield, even engaging in impromptu performances.
Cruel magical experiments.
Wherever they go, almost nothing grows.
Occasionally, when encountering small groups of Nar troops or castles that were unable to retreat in time or attempted to put up a stubborn resistance, what awaited them was a one-sided massacre with no suspense.
A viscount's castle on the border of Nar attempted to resist using stone walls and ballistae.
The castle lord stood atop the wall, watching the strangely arrayed army exuding an ominous aura in the distance, and, forcing himself to remain calm, ordered the archers to fire.
The rain of arrows fell, but were easily blocked by a shield of negative energy that suddenly rose up.
The next second, several headless horsemen launched a charge.
They ignored the incoming crossbow shells and "passed" directly through the heavy iron-clad city gate!
A series of piercing screams and desperate cries suddenly erupted from inside the castle, but the sounds quickly faded, leaving only the chilling sounds of chewing and tearing.
The shadow puppets seeped into the cracks in the city walls like flowing water, emerging from the shadows of the defenders and slitting their throats.
In less than half an hour, the castle fell.
All the resisters were slaughtered, and their corpses were piled up to become new "materials" for the black wizard apprentices.
Layton Arthur, mounted on his Nightmare Warhorse, watched all of this with indifference.
The Arthurian soldiers behind him, initially driven by a vengeful fervor, gradually had their initial zeal replaced by a deeper, more numb sense of awe after witnessing these unimaginably horrific scenes.
They are no longer the main force in the war, but more like scavengers following behind death, responsible for taking over the lands and cities crushed by the forces of terror.
They were equally terrified, but their belief in revenge and their reliance on the prince's unknown power barely kept them going.
In the capital city of Nar, Grand Duke Longchi Nar paced back and forth in the throne room like an ant on a hot pan, his fat face covered in oily sweat.
"How's it going? Any reply? Any news from Silyan?"
Almost every few minutes, he would grab a messenger or attendant who rushed in and interrogate them.
"Your Majesty, the Secret Eagle was only recently released. Even if Lord Sirian replies immediately, it will still take time—"
"What about the knights we sent out? Have any of them returned?"
"Your Majesty, the knights have only just set off—"
Master Dahl stood by the window, gazing at the chaotic scene outside the city where fortifications were being urgently reinforced. His expression grew increasingly grim beneath his hood.
He could sense that there wasn't nearly enough time.
"Report—!"
Another messenger scrambled in, his face even more terrified than the first.
"Your Majesty! Master! Something terrible has happened! Black Hawk—Black Hawk—is back!"
"Black Hawk?"
Grand Duke Longqi was taken aback. The Black Hawk was a type of royal secret hawk, the fastest, and usually used for the most urgent intelligence transmission.
"How did it get back? Did Srian already reply?!"
A glimmer of hope suddenly shone in his eyes.
"No—no—" the messenger's voice trembled as he held up something in his hand.
It was a charred eagle talon.
There were still faint, extremely unsettling fluctuations of dark energy on it.
It was the claw of the fastest secret eagle that had been released earlier!
"It was in the sky not far from the capital—suddenly—suddenly it spontaneously combusted! As if it had been ignited from within by black flames! Only this one fell!"
The messenger almost burst into tears.
Master Dahl stepped forward and took the charred eagle claw. The moment his fingertips touched it, a cold, warning dark energy stung his fingers!
He abruptly withdrew his hand, his heart sinking to the bottom.
"Interception—it's a high-level dark magic tracking interception—"
His voice was extremely dry.
"The other side—they anticipated this—they won't allow any information to get out—"
The hope on Grand Duke Longqi's face shattered instantly, turning into utter despair. He collapsed to the ground, muttering, "It's over—it's all over—"
Master Dahl looked out at the gray sky and seemed to see the unstoppable dark army marching across the land of the Duchy of Nar, approaching step by step.
The last line of defense for help has likely been cut off.
Now, they are truly trapped.