Castle of Black Iron

On the map, Selnes Plain was important because it was an important traffic hub in the north of Blackson Humans Corridor. As long as the demons broke through Selnes Plain, they would be able to surge all the way to the south. Additionally, the demons corps would have more choices on their routes.

After the human defense line in Selnes Plain collapsed, some provinces in the north of Symbian Republic was occupied first. As long as the northern region of Symbian Republic was occupied by demons corps would the south of Symbian Republic and the region of Norman Empire that bordered the Symbian Republic expose to the sharp blades of demons.

In such a battle situation, Blackson Humans Corridor was like a row of Domino cards. After the Domino card of human defense line in Selnes Plain fell down, more Domino cards would fall down consecutively.

Perhaps, the only news which was not worse in this case was that almost all the underprivileged people had started to evacuate towards the south 2 years ago, except for the troops. Even though demons occupied those cities, they couldn’t only find people at all. That was to say, the alive human forces were preserved while the source of demonized puppets was restricted greatly.

After leaving Mocco City, Zhang Tie flew into a hidden place in the wild. Zhang Tie had already returned to Castle of Black Iron when it [the black beetle] was still flying in the air. In a split second, the thunder hawk darted out of Castle of Black Iron. Like a magic, Zhang Tie changed the incarnation and surged southwards.

Compared to the thunder hawk, the beetle flew too slow with a too narrow vision.

With the surging spiritual energy and knight’s consciousness, Zhang Tie could change his incarnations more easily. Actually, in the eyes of an onlooker if there was, it was like a beetle suddenly turning into a big bird and flying away. It was like a ghost or a spirit in mythological legends.

After incarnating into the thunder hawk, Zhang Tie flew southwards along the route that he traveled by train for the first time. The human troops which broke out of Mocco City also retreated along this route. On the way, Zhang Tie could see the traces left by the human troops.

The entire railway had been destroyed. Even though the human troops which broke out of Mocco City had already left out of here, they still tried their best to destroy the fundamental facilities in that territory which was going to be occupied by demons and Three-eye Association.

There were blood stains, battle traces and the traces left by troops on the ground; however, Zhang Tie could not see any corpse.

Zhang Tie knew that those corpses were not taken away by kind-hearted men but by demonized puppets corps as their food. With the example in Mocco City, the demons knew that those corpses, if were left here, might become new poisonous sources and pose a threat to demonized puppets corps.

After leaving Mocco City for an hour, Zhang Tie had already been more than 200 miles away from Mocco City. At this moment, he saw the first city being occupied by demons in the Symbian Republic in the air.

The human city had been burned into ruins. In the evening, the greater part of that city was smoking and charred. Some sparkles had not died out yet. At the sight of this scene, Zhang Tie knew that the human troops in this city were ready to burn the city before the arrival of the demons. Perhaps, the only mission for the garrisons here was to burn the city and retreat as fast as possible instead of resisting before the arrival of demons, because Zhang Tie didn’t see any trace of fierce battle outside the city.

Zhang Tie saw another 4 cities being burned down like this city after he deepened 700 miles in the Symbian Republic. Numerous villages were burned into ruins while black smoke was rushing into the sky and sparkles were spreading all over.

More and more demonized puppets appeared under his feet. A few remaining human troops were hiding in the wild and among mountain ranges. Zhang Tie didn’t know whether they were the troops which broke out of the frontline of Selnes Theater of Operations or the garrisons of those cities. Zhang Tie found 5-6 remaining human troops, each of which contained 200 to 1,000 people.

Watching these sparse human troops, Zhang Tie could only wish them good luck. These human troops would face a lot of troubles no matter whether they were going to be guerrillas or preparing to evacuate. As to their future, it depended.

’This is how the war goes. Sometimes the strength of one person, hundreds of persons even thousands of persons is too trivial. Each people could only struggle for his own destiny.’ Zhang Tie sighed inside before being spirited up once again.

At the sight of a huge demonized puppets’ camp on the ground in front of him, Zhang Tie silently landed on a hidden place before turning into the beetle. After applying a senior hiding rune to the beetle, he flew towards the military camp.

After being applied with a senior hiding rune, the beetle’s qi would be as trivial as a mosquito or a fly, which would never attract others’ attention at all.

Soon, Zhang Tie arrived at that demonized puppets camp. After penetrating through the dense barrier and numerous demonized puppets, Zhang Tie circled around the camp and found a big tent in the middle of the military camp. He then drilled inside through the gap between the curtain and the vent on the top of the tent like drilling in an underground tunnel. Only after drilling 1 inch inside had he felt bright in front when he could see everything in the big tent clearly.

Zhang Tie saw some braziers, two tables, a map on the back of the main table, a sand table, two rows of chairs on both sides, two weapons racks with various weapons on them in the tent and two rows of guardians on both sides of the door outside the tent; however, he saw nobody in the tent.

Zhang Tie then quietly lurked in the tent and waited patiently.

At this moment, Zhang Tie had no idea what to do. Therefore, he just stayed here for some useful information.

After being applied with a senior hiding rune, the beetle lurked and looked dead.

...

After 2 hours, it turned bright outside while the eastern skyline turned white. After one night’s torture, he finally welcomed a new day.

Zhang Tie waited there silently as he predicted that someone would enter the tent when the day completely broke one more hour later.

Zhang Tie had not seen those who entered the tent. However, he knew that those who ruled these demonized puppets corps were also clans of Three-eye Association like Senel Clan in the north region. If Zhang Tie saw these people in another place, he must have chopped them. However, it was not the right moment for him to show off his battle force. Therefore, Zhang Tie just listened to their talk.

Additionally, given their qi, Zhang Tie judged that they were all powerhouses above LV 10, two of them were even as powerful as that of Scala. Therefore, Zhang Tie realized that this clan of Three-eye Association had a deeper background than Senel Clan. After all, Senel Clan’s root was only Titanic Duchy; however, there were more than one country which was larger than Titanic Duchy in the north region. Zhang Tie had already seen two clans of Three-eye Association in Mocco City; plus those in Sladic City, there would be at least 4 clans of Three-eye Association which cooperated with demons corps.

Those who were in the tent seemed to wait for someone as they were just whispering to each other. However, Zhang Tie could still capture some useful information from their talks. Therefore, he had a clearer understanding of the battle situation.

More than 10 minutes later, a team of guardians in full armors with double swords on their waists entered the tent in tidy steps. They then rapidly stood inside on both sides of the tent. Seeing those guardians, those people who were in the tent rapidly stood well in two rows solemnly and quietly.

”Here arrives the Clan Head...” With a loud sound, a 50-odd man in a greenish-white face and brilliant armor entered the tent while being accompanied by a robust elder. He then sat in the main seat while the elder sat on his side. The man then waved his hands to ask all the others to take a seat.

”Gar, do you have any latest news from the frontline?” The man in the main seat opened his mouth with a casual look.

”Head, there was a news last night. The vanguard corps had already arrived at Deland City. Deland City is a huge city. The human garrisons didn’t abandon the city and escape; instead, they united some remaining forces to fight us. I’m afraid that the vanguard corps would not take Deland City without suffering a loss!” One man of the two rows replied respectfully.

”Deland City is a key town in the north of Symbian Republic. If they abandoned this city, our vanguard corps would be able to break in the capital of Symbian Republic in the next. It’s reasonable for the human garrisons of Deland City to struggle a while. Since they broke the human defense line in Selnes Plain, Isaac Clan had been smooth all the way to Deland City. It’s not bad for them to have some trouble in Deland City!” The man in the main seat said...