Chapter 1 Time is Running Out

"Your Highness," the old knight moved closer and lowered his voice, "time is running out."

"I know," Veronica also kept her voice low. She knew her knights were brave, but even the bravest had a heart. In this situation, she had to avoid demoralizing them as much as possible. "They will probably attack in half an hour, and the war banner has only two charges left."

The old knight hesitated, but couldn't help asking, "Can we really find that mountain?"

"Do you trust me?" Veronica asked softly.

The old knight was stunned and answered almost instinctively, "Of course..."

"But I'm not so confident. Sir Morian, you have been my sword instructor since I was six years old, so I have nothing to hide from you. I found the matter of the Holy Mountain in an incomplete ancient book. There were only a few short sentences and a rough sketch that was better than nothing. The book was so tattered that it was almost unrecognizable, so it may just be a collection of heroic stories written by some whimsical bard, and then collected by one of my ancestors out of curiosity—so I myself don’t dare to believe that we can really find that mountain."

The old knight didn't show much shock or disappointment when he heard the princess's words. He just sighed softly, as if he had known this answer for a long time.

Veronica was a little surprised: "Sir Morian, you..."

"Your Highness, as you said, I have known you since you were six years old," the old knight shook his head, "You can fool those young men, but you can't fool your teacher. But even if that mountain doesn't exist, in this situation, people really need hope."

Veronica sighed softly: "But the illusory hope will always be shattered."

The old knight raised his eyebrows: "Veronica, this disheartened look doesn't suit you."

The princess knight was stunned for a moment. She couldn't remember how many years she hadn't heard her sword instructor call her name so directly, and with such a stern tone.

"Don't give up hope so quickly," the old knight frowned, but still softened his tone, "Just as you said, even if the source of the record is not so reliable, at least there is such a record. The Holy Mountain may really exist, and fate will favor the warriors of the kingdom."

Veronica nodded silently, her eyes seemed a little firmer.

And she couldn't help but recall the afternoon many years ago when she broke into the old scholar's library and found those yellowed pages in a pile of dusty ancient books. Many things from her teenage years were no longer clear, but perhaps because she had been particularly keen on knowledge about secret realms and adventures since she was a child, she still remembered the words about the Holy Mountain "Kasuan":

Proceed from the western border of the kingdom, pass through the Shadow Jungle, and between the arches formed by the twisted twin boulders, you can see the most conspicuous "Hill of the Nameless Knight" on the barren wilderness. In the direction the Nameless Knight is looking, in the layers of mist and the depths of chaos, the Holy Mountain "Kasuan" stands towering on the earth for eternity, and the ancient Kasuan Temple is built on the top of the mountain. That is the great hall that existed in the last generation. It carries the power of the goddess, was, is, and will be, as eternal as the earth, and the shining light of the temple far exceeds any Beacon Tower. Where the light shines, chaos dissipates...

Veronica silently chewed on these words, her heart reaffirmed her belief in the existence of the Holy Mountain, and at this moment, she suddenly felt the light around her shake violently.

The old knight reacted almost instantly. He immediately drew his long sword from his waist. The magic sword forged by the Taros court shone with a bright blue light in the darkness. The knight's roar was like rolling thunder: "Draw your swords! Chaos is coming!!"

The well-trained knights responded immediately, and the sound of metal friction rang out from all around. The reflection of the long swords seemed to bring a chilling air, and at the same time, each of them crushed the white crystal that had been hanging on the saddle of their mounts: the crystal shattered, releasing a thin mist of light. Under the shroud of light, the warhorses that had been on the verge of collapse all regained their energy and neighed with high morale.

However, Knight Morian sighed slightly: these warhorses that had accompanied the warriors for so long would not be able to last until the next battle.

While the knights were completing their combat preparations, the golden war banner in the hands of the standard-bearer also flickered for the last time. Then, the rune threads on the magic cloth burst out with a flash of electricity, and with the crackling overload of magic energy, the faint light released by the war banner finally declared its extinction.

The light of the war banner went out, and the surroundings immediately fell into a deeper darkness, but another source of light quickly lit up the battlefield: the knights activated the lighting crystals on their bodies, and Morian and Veronica chanted spells softly, instantly creating several floating magic light spheres around them.

However, this form of magical light could not dispel the evil servants that had condensed in the mist. Veronica heard a piercing scream from behind her, and she immediately turned around. The knight's sword in her hand brought a white light, splitting a wolf-shaped shadow monster in half in mid-air.

Under the illumination of various magical lights, everything that happened in the fog was clear at a glance. One shadow after another continued to condense out of the darkness. Some of them looked like various beasts, some were similar to human figures, and some were simply indescribable masses of ink—these bizarre chaos servants let out piercing screams. After losing the suppression of the golden war banner, they began to frantically attack the knights' defense line!

Knight Morian swung his sword and beheaded a humanoid monster. The monster's head flew high, making a shrill howl in the air. Its body twitched and fell to the ground, turning into pale white dust in the blink of an eye. The old knight didn't even look at the monster he had killed. He just shouted loudly to command the soldiers: "Protect the standard-bearer! The war banner can still be activated! Gordon, Roland, don't stray too far from the ranks, be careful of being swallowed by chaos!"

Veronica's long sword danced, slashing the constantly pouncing monsters under her sword. At the same time, the other hand continued to form various magic seals, providing assistance to the team with instant low-level magic: she was not a true magic swordsman, so the spells she could cast at this moment were quite limited. While constantly repelling the monster's attack, the princess knight was also nervously observing the pale gold war banner in the hands of the standard-bearer: the rune threads of the golden war banner were flickering faintly in the darkness, which meant that the banner had begun to recharge, but whether the knights could hold on before the banner lit up was completely unknown.

More importantly, the mounts—the warhorses had inhaled crystal dust. These loyal partners could only last for a while. After the dust effect ended, even if the war banner was lit again, these people probably wouldn't be able to continue forward much further.

After quickly completing her consideration, Veronica made up her mind. She raised her long sword and swung it in a certain direction: "Knights, break through in that direction! Full speed!"

"To where the blade points!"

The knights let out a neat roar, turned their horses under the guidance of the princess, and charged into the vast darkness without hesitation. In front of them was an army of monsters constantly gathering.

This small team began to gallop across the barren wilderness. The charge in the darkness couldn't help but remind people of the last charge of the sacred Knights Templar in the ancient holy war, but at this time, Veronica and Knight Morian had no time to sigh over the epic: they turned into the sharp arrow of the Knights Templar, shouldering the heavy responsibility of opening a path through the army of monsters!

Two magic swords flew up and down, and the monsters in the dark chaos continued to turn into ashes, but at the end of the team, a young knight finally couldn't resist the fatigue and pain accumulated over the days. He was slashed across the chest by a scimitar that came from the darkness, and fell heavily from the back of his warhorse.

His comrades didn't even have time to rescue him. The young warrior had already rolled to the ground. He was quickly swallowed by the darkness, and only a shout came: "Aiken, take care of my..."

A flash of light came from the darkness, and the dying soul of the human was swallowed by chaos.

Veronica also saw this scene out of the corner of her eye, but she couldn't stop at all. She could only raise her head and continue to focus on the enemies in front of her.

And it was at this moment that a hazy, extremely majestic shadow appeared in her eyes as if it had suddenly appeared.

A black high mountain.

The Holy Mountain Kasuan.

The fog and darkness obstructed her vision, so that Veronica only saw its figure when the high mountain was close in front of her. The knights behind her also saw it, and someone immediately shouted with joy: "It's the Holy Mountain! The Holy Mountain that Princess said is in front!"

Suddenly, the knights' morale was greatly boosted, as if the appearance of this mountain instantly dispelled the surrounding enemies. However, Veronica's eyes turned to the top of the mountain, and her heart gradually began to sink.

She had already seen the building on the top of the mountain, the Kasuan Temple that was recorded in the ancient books as "shining brightly and dispelling evil", but the situation there was completely different from what she expected: the entire temple was shrouded in the dark sky background, and the temple seemed to be destroyed by a huge force, leaving only half of it remaining. Above the damaged holy land, there was only extremely weak light of order surrounding it.

That light was not even much brighter than the golden war banner just now.

Even the great miracle left over from the last generation has now been almost completely destroyed by chaos. The records in the ancient books are just bewitching words left by some third-rate scholar who likes to exaggerate.

Knight Morian also noticed this, and he immediately approached Veronica: "Your Highness..."

"Keep moving forward," the knight princess said in a deep voice, "At least there is still light there."

Morian paused slightly and nodded.

And just when the old knight and the princess had already braced themselves for the worst, an accident that no one expected happened.

A grand explosion of unknown cause suddenly occurred in the monster群 (qun - group) on the flanks of the Knights Templar! A bright, dazzling bright blue flame exploded, and a dozen chaos servants instantly turned to ashes!

"Boom boom boom!!"

Continuous explosions rang out from all directions, and nearby monsters turned into ashes in the big explosion in pieces, and a strange man appeared in Veronica's eyes: the other party ran down from the Holy Mountain, constantly throwing bright small light balls outwards with both hands, and every small light ball that landed was a shaking explosion, and she heard the man's loud shout:

"Get out of the way, get out of the way, humanitarian care is here!!"