Chapter 1 A Reliable Overseas Wifi

After the communication cut off, Hao Ren didn't react for a moment. He shook his head after a while, "Damn it, the overseas wifi is really unreliable... I wonder if Vivian heard the last sentence."

The female knight named Lavinia was still standing in front of him at this moment. Seeing Hao Ren's strange behavior, she blinked, "Guardian... what's wrong?"

Hao Ren quickly composed himself, waved his hand with a smile, "It's nothing, nothing. I just suddenly remembered something from the past... After all, I just 'awakened', so sometimes my memories are a bit chaotic. Where were we?"

"We were talking about you going to find your old friend..." Lavinia couldn't help but show a doubtful look on her face when she said this, obviously not believing some of Hao Ren's words. "Do you have a clear goal? Although my family doesn't have much influence in the kingdom, my brother has extensive connections and likes to befriend reclusive hermits and scholars with a long history. Maybe he can help you."

Hao Ren was stunned. He thought to himself that he was looking for a husky spirit who had just fallen here a few days ago. What kind of help could a bunch of old scholars provide? It would be better to find a few experts in stewing big bone soup—then they could line up a few pots at the city gate. As long as Lily was within a hundred miles, she would be attracted... But he couldn't say this out loud, so he just complained in his heart and remained courteous on the surface: "Then I should thank you. If that's really the case, I owe you a favor."

After a few more polite words, the female knight named Lavinia was called away by her companions, leaving Hao Ren stroking his chin thoughtfully.

The sound of iron boots striking the ground startled him from his thoughts. Hao Ren looked up and saw the heroic Veronica standing in front of him. The princess nodded slightly to him: "Guardian, we should set off."

After a short rest, the Knights not only readjusted their mental state, but also greatly recovered their physical strength. When they set off again, the warriors all looked full of energy. This time, they had no other concerns. Under the leadership of the princess, the team began to advance at full speed towards the Northern Fortress.

As the saying goes, mountains look near but are far. This was true. Even though the combat professionals in the Kolo world were as strong as supermen, the hilly area from the Shadow Jungle to the Northern Fortress was still a journey that took half a day. However, since he had just restored contact with the outside world, Hao Ren's mood had become lighter. He treated this journey as a trip to watch the scenery while walking: although the surrounding area was still a distorted and dim chaotic world, the fortress shrouded in glory in the distance could still be called a shocking sight. He walked side by side with Veronica and Morian, asking about the history of the fortress built in the 22nd year of the founding of Taros, and the distant mountains gradually became clearer in his vision.

But just as they were about to reach the foot of the fortress, a feeling of palpitations suddenly surged from Hao Ren's heart. He immediately stopped and looked towards the fortress—at this distance, the majestic white giant rock walls of the Western Fortress were already in sight. The ancient rune protections and eagle reliefs on the city walls were clearly visible, and at the top of the thirty-three magic sentry towers on the front of the fortress, the golden-edged, blue-bottomed Taros eagle battle flags were fluttering in the wind.

Veronica, a step behind, also reacted. The princess with royal blood frowned. She felt the aura of chaos was close at hand, and this evil force that was hostile to order stimulated her bloodline, startling her.

The princess waved her hand, making a gesture of alert. The knights immediately lowered their bodies, using the nearby rocks for cover. The team climbed to the top of a small hill. Hao Ren lay beside Veronica, peeking out.

He saw a wasteland covered with grayish-white gravel extending out from under the hills, all the way to the majestic white stone walls of the Western Fortress in the distance. On the wasteland, a grayish-black "sludge" was surging towards the city walls in waves.

That was not sludge, but monsters born from chaos.

Demonic creatures were besieging the city!

On this side of the Shadow Jungle, chaos no longer appeared in the form of mist, but as grayish-white gravel and crushed stones scattered across the land. Black smoke was constantly spewing out from the barren land where not a single blade of grass grew. After the black smoke left the ground, it would quickly spin and condense, turning into terrifying monsters in a matter of seconds. Tens of thousands of monsters condensed from the black smoke charged towards the Western Fortress in a disorderly manner, as fierce as waves crashing against a dam. Their numbers were so large and their formation so dense that, standing on the distant hills, they looked like heavy, turbid sludge covering the earth—Hao Ren couldn't help but think of the black tide he had seen in Hercules's sealed cage not long ago. The monster tide in front of him was even worse than the "black tide" of that day.

Because there was no Hercules here to restrain the scale of the monster tide, these pure monsters born from chaos were even more fierce, more ruthless, and more endless!

The white walls of the Western Fortress stood in the light of order. Various protective runes on the towering walls shone brightly. The runes restrained the divine power of the light of order, forming a semi-transparent energy shield on the city walls. The chaotic monsters were constantly hitting those shields like moths to a flame—they tore with their claws, gnawed with their fangs, and bombarded with various primitive and violent dark magic, finally crashing to their deaths on the light barrier. Their entire bodies were transformed into dark fireballs in a grand suicidal explosion. Countless such explosions bloomed non-stop on every section of the city wall's defense line. The shock waves generated even shook the physical part of the fortress walls: the ten-thousand-foot-high white stone walls were shaking in the explosions, and gravel and crushed stones were constantly bursting out from between the giant stone gaps. From a distance, it looked as if the outer walls of the fortress were spewing out smoke.

This was the most thrilling event in the Kolo world: the evil forces lurking in chaos launched a desperate attack, directly shaking the barrier of the orderly world!

In the past seven years, and in every chaotic tide in the past hundred centuries of the Kolo world, this kind of battle had been repeated countless times. Although the light of order could block the penetration of chaotic forces, the chaotic forces also had their own way of attacking. The monsters born from distorted laws were the cannon fodder and vanguard of this war: every once in a while, they would march towards the orderly world in a mighty manner. If they broke through a barrier, then the border of the orderly land would retreat, and the space where mortals could survive would shrink once again.

In Veronica's understanding, in Ansu Continent alone, humans and elves had already lost more than forty percent of their land—the once fertile wilderness, the peaceful and tranquil Shadow Jungle, the lush dark swamps, the scenic grayish-white sea… As one furnace tower, fire tower, and even sunscorched tower after another were extinguished, barriers shattered, and defense lines retreated, the mortal races exchanged space for time. These originally peaceful and serene lands were transformed into death zones in chaos, and what caused all this was the scene before their eyes.

Chaos was coming.

Veronica clenched the longsword in her hand and made a gesture to the knights with her other hand, telling everyone to prepare for battle.

On the front lines of chaos, the power of order would be weakened, and the dark side of the Carnos Sea would be active to the point where it could materialize at any time. Even if the knights hid outside the battlefield, they would sooner or later be discovered by the ubiquitous evil forces, so battle was unavoidable.

On the front lines of chaos, cowardice and escape were meaningless. Whether you had the courage to draw your sword or not, facing the battle was the only outcome.

The knights drew their longswords, and the power of magic began to stir in the air. The runes on the royal standard armor lit up one after another, reflecting the firm faces of the young men.

In Kolo, every chaotic tide was actually a process of mortal races constantly retreating and dying. The dark side of the Carnos Sea erupted from every corner of the continent, and then devoured everything along the way. Although the mortal races were always fighting bravely, as long as one looked at the surrounding wasteland, even an outsider like Hao Ren could see the situation of the war: the power of order was constantly shrinking, and the mortal races were just using their flesh and blood and layers of defensive barriers to resist and grind. All they were doing was delaying.

Before there was no retreat, delay until the chaos dissipated, until the Carnos Sea calmed down.

No one felt that there was anything wrong with this. Their ancestors had lived through this way for generations. If there was any complaint, it would probably only be a complaint about why they happened to be the generation of the chaotic outbreak—far less fortunate than those who lived in peaceful years.

"You're planning to go help with just these people?" Hao Ren turned to look at Veronica.

The knight princess pointed to the battlefield with her longsword: "Charge down the slope on the left, and attack the flanks of the monsters. If you can use your powerful explosion magic to temporarily stop the condensation of chaotic aura, we can open a gap. I will send a signal to the fortress before that. As long as the fortress guards have the most basic military literacy, this cooperation will be successful. We will rush into the safe zone, and the flow of chaotic power will be disrupted."

Hao Ren didn't quite understand what "the flow of chaotic power" meant, but he believed that Veronica was an expert in this area, so he agreed to the plan, but he was still a little curious: "You're really not afraid at all."

"Cowards have pretty much died out in the past seven years," Veronica smiled heroically, raising her longsword. "The barrier will eventually collapse, but not today!"

The knights roared in unison: "The barrier will eventually collapse, but not today!"