Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 436 - 436 204 Dark Clouds_2

436: Chapter 204: Dark Clouds_2 436: Chapter 204: Dark Clouds_2 Opening his eyes once again, he saw the same darkness, as if it were still night.

Outside the tent, it looked as if the gloomy weather was enclosing everything.

“Wake up!

Little Gold Coin!” Uncle Ron hurried back to the tent, waking up the young man before dashing out again.

Brandon rubbed his sleepy eyes, feeling an unprecedentedly comfortable and sweet sleep.

It seemed like he had slept for quite a long time, not only did he not dream of those ghastly clawing corpses and ghosts, but his body also felt a bit stiff from lying down for so long.

Gradually coming to his senses, he heard the noise of the crowd from the refugee camp outside, as if discussing something.

Reaching for his short sword, Brandon crawled out of the tent.

The temperature outside was unusually cold and gloomy, a stark contrast to the summer heat of the past days.

The dim visibility was like it had just turned night, or as if it was the dark just before dawn.

Was it nearly dawn?

Or had he slept until nightfall?

The boy who had just woken up couldn’t quite tell the time.

But looking around, it seemed like everyone in the camp had long since woken up.

Is this overcast sky heralding a heavy rain?

Brandon looked up at the sky.

Sure enough, a thick layer of dark clouds filled the sky, no wonder it felt like night with the sun obscured.

He just hoped the rain would be light…

he didn’t have any spare clothes to change into.

The young man prayed silently, looking around for Uncle Ron’s figure.

Not seeing where the leader had gone, Brandon didn’t dare to wander off and decided to wait where he was.

After a while, he finally saw Uncle Ron, holding a long sword, hurrying back to the camp.

But the faces of the few companions around him were filled with panic and terror.

“Everyone—call everyone!!

Grab your food and weapons, gather under the city walls and call out with me!

Quick!

Hurry!!”

Uncle Ron, with a stern face, loudly commanded his subordinates to gather the refugees.

Seeing the boy standing in front of the tent, he quickly shouted, “Brandon!

Come over and stick close to me!

Don’t you leave my side for a step!”

The boy got a chill, sensing something bad was about to happen, and immediately followed Uncle Ron’s steps.

Amidst the noisy chatter, a large stream of people quickly gathered in the camp and, under the gloomy skies, the swarm of refugees arrived at the gates of Shatai City.

The fierce swarm of disaster-stricken people startled the guards on the watchtowers, and the sergeant hurriedly went to inform the Lord.

But before the Fat Baron arrived, the Knight who was in charge of leading the guards, who also was the second son of a local Baron, came first.

The young Knight, looking at the large crowd gathered at the base of the city, seemed to recall their previous siege, and his face immediately turned angry.

“Ron!

What do you want this time?

My father has already agreed to your rabble’s demands, you plan on reneging on your word!?” the young Knight Kantadar roared from atop the city.

Angered by the accusation, Ron shouted back, “Damn it…

we’re not trying to attack the town, open the gates quickly!!

There are monsters from the east!

Swarms of monsters!

They are coming this way!

Open the gates and let us in!

Otherwise, you’ll die too when they get here!!”

…

…

In the cave halfway up the mountain.

Leon snapped out of his deep slumber.

His slightly blurry vision swept over the campfire that had long died down, looking towards the sunlight casting through the cave entrance.

He yawned, feeling that he had had a somewhat strange…

yet familiar dream.

Having crossed over, it had been a long time since he had last dreamed, which was an experience he hadn’t had in a while.

However, no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn’t recall what the dream was about.

It seemed like the dream was filled with nothing but a vast expanse of light…

“Leon, you’re awake?”

Hearing the girl’s call, Leon scratched his cheek, feeling the softness of a thigh his head was resting on, turned over on the camping blanket, and looked at Olivia’s smiling face.

The girl, leaning against the warm side of a resting Griffin, stretched her legs out to make a pillow for her lover, raised her hand to gently stroke Leon’s cheek: “…Good morning, do you want to sleep a bit longer before we set off?”

Leon chuckled and shook his head.

They still needed to hurry on their way.

Ever since learning two days ago from Lola that Mage Athias might have been stirring trouble in the Holy Land City, his mind had been restless.

Leon straightened up his body from his waist, waking up fully, then got up to pack his bag.

He and Olivia then helped each other put back on the Armor they had taken off before going to sleep.

Although he wasn’t clear about their exact position at the moment, a rough estimate from the map he carried suggested they were not far from the Eastern border of Kantadar.

They had flown from Avalon Castle on a Griffin.

Before dark yesterday, they found a cavern on a cliff to rest.

Today, it shouldn’t take long to reach his former master’s hometown, Rolannar.

Leon could only hope that the fallen Holy City, as the noble captives from Glade County had speculated, had been reclaimed by the Seryan Kingdom…

He nudged Death Claw, which was sleeping soundly, and rode it down the cliff.

The two of them stopped by a river to wash up and wake themselves further before taking off again.

Since the distance was considerable, Leon didn’t let the Griffin fly too high this time, maintaining an altitude of around a kilometer for a better view of the ground to navigate.

“I didn’t realize you had traveled such a long distance back then.”

Olivia looked down at the mountains and rivers below, marveling at the lengthy journey Leon and his companions had endured.

“It wasn’t that far.”

Leon turned his head and said, “Actually, most of the journey was spent locked in a mercenary’s slave cage.

On the way from the Holy City to Mamor County, I even passed out for several days.”

Listening to him, Olivia realized the misfortune he had suffered during that time and felt apologetic for bringing up those memories: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”

“It’s nothing, it’s all in the past.” Leon waved it off nonchalantly, reassuring her.

After all, he wasn’t the original master, and the memory of his home being destroyed invoked more of sympathy and indignation than personal grieving pain.

Although the days trapped in the slave cage were agonizing, he had made a swift escape with Lola’s help, without the time to develop a psychological scar.

If anything, the days spent on wilderness survival with Lokhak and Azeryan were even more challenging.

Feeling his reply, Olivia tightened her grip around his waist.

Leon patted the arm Armor of the girl, sensing that his lover was empathizing with his past, and felt a bit ashamed.

When there’s a chance, he should explain his true origin to Olivia.

After all, the girl behind him was soon to become his wife, and there was no need to keep anything hidden from her.

As they flew, he peered out and suddenly noticed something on the horizon.

There was a dark, ominous cloud looming over the skyline about ten-plus kilometers away, stretching impossibly wide from south to north.

Could it be that they had encountered bad weather ahead?

This was the first time for that.

However, the cloud tops didn’t seem very high.

Leon glanced at the giant wings of the Griffin on both sides.

Flying in rain wouldn’t have much impact on the creature, but Death Claw definitely didn’t enjoy getting wet.

When they got closer, he figured he might as well let it climb above the altitude of the cloud cover.

Just as he thought this, he suddenly heard Lola speak, “…the formation of those clouds, it’s not natural.”

A chill ran down Leon’s spine at her words.

He looked over the expansive range of clouds, feeling astounded.

The coverage area must span at least hundreds of square kilometers!

“Lola…

are you suggesting that a Spellcaster performed a spell of Heavenly Phenomena level up ahead?”

Leon now had some understanding of Magic Science.

A spell of such large-scale Heavenly Phenomena wasn’t just out of reach for an Official Position Mage like Athias, whose capabilities were unknown, but even for a standard Official Position Mage like those from Lorelette, it would be extremely difficult.

Lola didn’t answer immediately but instead urged, “Get closer, from this distance I can’t sense the magic power over there through you.”

Immediately, Leon commanded Death Claw to speed up.

The Griffin cried out, soaring and climbing in altitude, then diving to pick up speed.

But as they drew closer to the cloud-covered area, Leon also received vague feelings of unease from Death Claw.

The Griffin’s instincts sensed something off about the environment ahead, quickly veering to fly sideways at a distance, seemingly reluctant to approach the range of the clouds.

Leon looked up and was shocked to find that the clouds extended endlessly to the east, the scope of the phenomenon far greater than his initial estimate.

Lola spoke as if she realized something, “A realm spell, formed by some large-scale ritual, its purpose…

to shield from the power of the Dead Sea….”

Before Leon could ask, he felt Olivia tapping him.

“Look there!”

The young lady pointed towards the ground under the eastern part of the clouds.

Leon looked in the direction, barely making out a Kantadar town by a lake in the distance.

Around that town were countless tiny dots moving about, it seemed…

they were undergoing a siege?