Chapter 119 Treasure Returned

Hearing that the demonic creatures had broken through the Layton Town defenses, the first thing the bearded man was concerned about was whether the Sacred Lake had been invaded. After all, the stone giants had already reached the lake shore. Although no one knew exactly how those stone golems intended to attack a lake, they obviously couldn't be allowed to continue. The captain of the knights, upon hearing the bearded man's words, revealed a rather strange expression: "This… we also don't understand what's going on. The stone giants' ultimate goal is a mystery. They seem to be just aimlessly gathering towards the Sacred Lake, but after gathering, they don't do anything – just wander around the Twisted Woodland and the lakeside."

"Didn't they try to contaminate the lake water?" the bearded man asked, astonished. He couldn't imagine what the monsters gathered by the Sacred Lake could do besides destroying the water. "Is the Sacred Sanctuary in the heart of the lake alright?"

"Everything's fine," the captain of the knights shrugged. "The Sacred Sanctuary in the heart of the lake hasn't been affected in the slightest. However, Deacon Gerton believes that no matter what these stone giants want to do, we can't let them just gather like this, so he sent us to continuously eliminate them in this area."

The bearded man nodded, indicating that he understood the situation.

At this moment, more hoofbeats came from the forest. The other knight squads that had been summoned by the flare earlier had gathered. Hao Ren was surprised by the number of knight squads, seeing the torchlight in the Twisted Woodland wandering around like a river formed by fireflies. It seemed that the Diocese of Beinz had really invested a considerable amount of force in order to clear the stone giants that had broken through the defenses.

The captain of the knights admitted that the area around the Sacred Lake was no longer safe. The entire Diocese of Beinz could be said to be a battlefield everywhere. Therefore, he suggested that everyone retreat from the Twisted Woodland to Layton Town overnight in order to return the Sacred Pearl as soon as possible. Of course, there were still many monsters in the Twisted Woodland, but now they were not a big problem compared to the stone giants wandering around. The four ascetics were also eager to escort the Sacred Pearl, so they immediately agreed.

Hao Ren and the others rode on the military horses brought by the Knights (except for Izhaks). Escorted by the Church Knights and the Kingdom Knights, they headed straight for Layton Town along the official road in the Twisted Woodland. Everyone else was fine along the way, but Becky was really excited. She was just a small mercenary, and she had never been so glorious in her life. Surrounded by a group of knights, she felt like she had saved the world. Becky rode her horse at the front of the team, trying to adjust her posture with a straight face to look dignified, until after running for two hours, she suddenly realized that no one could see her straight face in the middle of the night. So she despondently slowed down and kept pace with the captain of the knights, shouting loudly, "Will there be a welcome banquet when we go back? Will there be a parade on horseback? Will the investiture ceremony be held back in the royal city?"

The captain of the knights looked at Becky with a strange expression, and after a long time, he turned his head and said, "How would I know!" Then he clicked his tongue, without lowering his voice at all: "Tsk tsk, mercenaries… they really only recognize money. You should pray more and let the goddess's pure thoughts wash your brain."

Becky was not annoyed at all, but cheered even more excitedly: "I'm going to be rich!!"

Hao Ren observed the surrounding knight forces along the way. The official road in the Twisted Woodland was a very long road, passing through several patrol points of the knight squads in the middle. Therefore, at this time, the knights who were riding beside them had changed two or three times. He found that 80 percent of these knights were members of the Church Knights wearing cassocks. There were only a few Kingdom Knight squads, and they only patrolled outside each time. They not only did not bear the main force, but even seemed like reluctant decorations, which made him a little concerned: "Why are the Church Knights clearing the stone giants here? Aren't the Kingdom Knights the main force here?"

The captain of the knights replied casually: "Marshal Ofra's soldiers are mainly deployed outside the Layton defense line and patrolling the Dragon Spine Mountains. They are responsible for clearing the monsters that have just split from the mountains, preventing the monsters from invading the inland, and also responsible for commanding the mercenaries on the outer lines. The area within the Layton defense line is an important place for the Church and should be the responsibility of our Church Knights. Don't worry, the Church Knights are enough to guard this holy land. Our firm belief is the guarantee of all this."

The other party really deserved to be a devout divine warrior of the goddess. While speaking, he would always circle back to his own faith. Hao Ren nodded when he heard the explanation from the captain of the knights. What the other party said also made sense. The two knight orders were separately deployed on the two layers of the defense line according to their own natures. There was nothing strange about this.

There was nothing to say along the way after this trip. With a large number of knight masters escorting them, Hao Ren and the others did not encounter the monsters in the Twisted Woodland. It was early the next morning when they passed through this great forest and arrived at the valley where Layton Town was located.

With the rising sun, the first ray of sunshine in the morning sprinkled from the gap in the Dragon Spine Mountains onto the earth, waking up this ancient and mysterious holy land from the not-so-stable night. The glow of the protective barrier of Layton Town could be seen from a great distance. When they saw that glow, the members of the Knights obviously looked relieved. The war here had been going on for half a month. In the middle, the defense line had been broken, troops had been attacked, outposts had been destroyed, and even entire knight squads had been removed from the roster. The warriors standing here had experienced many battles and were already exhausted and under tremendous mental pressure. The shining light emitted by the fortress of Layton Town was one of the biggest motivations to support them to continue fighting.

The horse team slowed down. As Hao Ren walked, he observed the surrounding situation. He noticed that traces of fierce fighting could be seen everywhere in this area: huge stone pits and charred bushes could be seen everywhere on the outer edge of the Twisted Woodland. Many temporary fortifications made of refined steel and giant stones could be seen by the roadside. Almost all of these fortifications were damaged. He did not know how many times they had been destroyed and rebuilt. Protective stone slabs inscribed with runes were also everywhere along the road. They should have been used to set up magic barriers to resist the stone giants, but now the magic power had been exhausted and the runes had been broken. These stone slabs could only be used to prove a series of failures. Of course, there was also a lot of evidence on the scene to prove that the stone giants' advance was not very smooth either: piles and piles of lifeless black boulders were scattered near the forest. Some of the black boulders had traces of being cut and excavated. Presumably, the soldiers on the defense line had simply dragged these enemy remains back to use as building materials.

The captain of the knights sighed: "I don't know when these monsters will be killed… Deacon Gerton has been studying the secrets of the Dragon Spine Mountains, but he still doesn't know the principle by which the stone giants split off."

As they spoke, they had arrived at the entrance of Layton Town, and the towering and somewhat dilapidated fortress wall appeared in front of everyone.

"…It looks like there was a tough battle before," Izhaks couldn't help but mutter after seeing the situation in Layton Town. "Did the stone giants go straight through the town?!"

Layton Town was nominally a "town," but in reality, it was the largest military fortress on the border of the Lake of Beinz. It had extremely thick walls and solid buildings in the town, but now this fortress had obviously suffered heavy damage. Everyone could see several terrifying huge gaps cracked on its outer wall, and even the city gate had disappeared in the direction of the town facing the Twisted Woodland. Only a hole nearly a hundred meters wide was left in place. The broken wall bricks and rubble had not been cleaned up yet. Teams of soldiers patrolled inside and outside the city wall with nervous expressions, and a atmosphere of imminent battle permeated everywhere.

Hao Ren could directly see the current situation in Layton Town. Everywhere he looked, collapsed houses could be seen.

When mentioning what happened that day, the captain of the knights seemed to still have some lingering fears: "Yes, I can't believe that we were able to hold the town later. At that time, the highest peak of the Dragon Spine Mountains collapsed. Soon after, hundreds or thousands of stone giants rushed down from the avenue and the mountain roads next to it. At that time, half of the town's garrison was entangled with monsters in the north and had no time to return for support. The stone giants quickly smashed the outer barrier… and then ran directly through the town into the Twisted Woodland."

Finally, the captain of the knights spread his hands to everyone: "Fortunately, Marshal Ofra led reinforcements who had just been supported from the inland of the kingdom to cut off the stone giants from behind. Only then did we, under the leadership of Deacon Gerton, save the town. But as you can see, it has been severely damaged here."

At this time, the soldiers patrolling at the town entrance had noticed the advance return of the large forces. A burly man who looked like a military officer rode over on horseback: "What happened?"

The captain of the knights said with a solemn expression: "Quickly notify the deacon, the Sacred Pearl has returned!"

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