The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Daniel, the "deserter," has now been proven not to be insane. Although he has been reinstated and re-enlisted, it is clear that the demons generally do not welcome him, and even Antipas has revoked his position as a staff officer.

In fact, Antipa had asked Daniel privately at first, but Daniel's description was so pessimistic that even though Antipa knew Daniel had a point, he became less and less inclined to ask Daniel for advice.

Conversely, the human nobles could provide Antipa with high emotional value.

Moreover, Daniel and the group of human nobles are now unusually aligned with Antipas's decisions.

What to do? Only moisturize.

Daniel was trapped in the black mist and couldn't see a future, so he thought it would be better to escape to the continent of Soren and start a new uprising by working as a dog for the Avars. The human nobles, on the other hand, couldn't stand the seemingly endless pursuit from the North, since humans couldn't escape the black mist, so they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

Antipas has now begun sending some demons to the continent of Solon through maritime trade. Demons have always been parasites on other races, acting as henchmen, loan sharks, and feigning pitifulness. Now they are simply back to where they started.

Moreover, this wasn't even the very beginning. The demons still possessed the sacred remains of the demon god, and humans seemed to value these remains highly. Antipa was even considering whether he could use these remains to his advantage.

Just as Antipas began planning the future of the demon race, the lower-level demons were still patrolling aimlessly in the black mist.

"I heard that the Surd region has been reclaimed by humans, is that right?"

Although it's unclear what's worth patrolling in the black fog, since humans can't possibly venture into it.

"Yes, humans are really terrifying. I heard that they didn't spare a single demon."

Clearly, these demons have forgotten how they treated humans in the past, or perhaps they are afraid that humans will use the same methods against them.

"Fortunately, the Eternal Frozen Land is protected by the Demon God, so those humans dare not easily set foot there."

The two patrolling demons chatted casually.

"I really want to go to the continent of Soron. I heard from His Majesty the Demon King that there are no steel monsters or Lars Knights on the continent of Soron."

"But the Sea of ​​Impermanence is no pushover either, and besides, is the continent of Soron really safe?"

"It's safer than those Lars Knights."

The demon who wanted to go to the continent of Solon curled his lip and said, "His Majesty the Demon King has already sent those human nobles to clear the way. Anyway, I will sign up later. Crossing the Sea of ​​Impermanence is better than facing Knight Lars."

"We are in the black mist protected by the Demon God, but where did Knight Lars come from in the black mist?"

Upon hearing this, the demon chuckled, "That's true, but there's nothing to enjoy in the black mist. We'll have to go to human territory."

Just as the two demons were chatting, the sound of armor clashing and rubbing against each other suddenly came from the surrounding area.

One of the demons, unsuspecting, thought it was simply time for the shift change and was about to walk toward the sound coming from the armor when he was pulled back by his companion.

"what happened?"

"Don't you think something's off? Judging from the sound, this armor is incredibly heavy. We brought such heavy armor, and listen, there's a sound coming from the bearings of some human steel monsters in the armor. Something just doesn't sound right, does it?"

"Are you still half asleep? Where did these humans come from in the black fog?"

The demon paid no attention. Just then, the sound of a long sword striking armor came from the other side. This was a basic method for demons to determine each other's approximate location in the poor visibility of the black mist.

Hearing this voice, the demon became even more certain that his companion had come to relieve him; he had long since grown tired of this meaningless patrol.

"No, don't go over there. This is too strange. Judging from the sounds, it's clearly a force wearing heavy armor. Where did we get so many troops?"

"What a joke, the voice coming from the other side of the fog is clearly that of our companions."

The demon seemed unconcerned, and as he passed through the mist, addressed the source of the voice: "You've come to relieve us of our shifts, haven't you?"

The massive power armor didn't respond; instead, a red light appeared in the helmet's visor.

The two patrolling demons were momentarily stunned when they saw the force clad in power armor.

The North Wind Bear emblem printed on the shoulder armor of this unit already identifies it as such.

The Knights of Lars... the Knights of Lars have ventured into the black mist!

These Lars Knights had captured the demons patrolling in the black mist, and were carrying the captives on their shoulders, tapping on the demons' tattered armor to attract more demons.

The two patrolling demon soldiers cautiously retreated. This was the first time the two demons had felt the surrounding black mist to be so oppressive and terrifying. The Lars Knights had broken through the protection of the Demon God's black mist and entered the black mist itself.

The Lars Knights remained silent, but as the leader's helmet window began to glow red, the Lars Knights behind him also began to glow red.

It's over...

After dealing with the two demon minions, Hammond stretched his neck inside his power armor.

Although the principle behind it is unknown, this new helmet is indeed useful. As long as the consciousness of the Lars Knights remains within the sacred Kara, they will not be corrupted by the black mist.

This gave Hammond a new understanding of the black mist: only by corrupting your spirit can the black mist corrupt your body. If your spirit is corrupted, even if your body is soaked in holy water, going mad is only a matter of time.

This foray into the Black Mist was originally intended as an experiment, but Hammond took the initiative to lead the Lars Knights deeper and deeper into the fog.

Although I don't like that somewhat eccentric nun, I have to admit that the Holy Kara is really useful. Not only can it connect the Lars Knights to each other, but it can also help them avoid the corruption of the black mist.

Looking at the map in his hand, Hammond spoke into the sacred Kara: "We've reached the required distance. The test is all normal. Let's prepare to go back."

There are still many unknowns about this black mist. For example, it can block many means of communication, and even the mental communication of bards. It is currently speculated that this is because the black mist is essentially a corrupted form of magic, which disrupts normal communication.

The bards' communication of consciousness was essentially achieved by using a certain means, such as the ocean of consciousness, to connect their consciousnesses. However, within the black fog, individual consciousnesses were constantly polluted, making communication impossible.

Fortunately, the sacred Kara is connected through a public dream independent of the collective consciousness, which is equivalent to bypassing the pollution of the Outer Gods and not being affected by the black fog. However, the sacred Kara's effective range is not large, and it cannot achieve long-distance communication within the black fog.

Hearing that they had to go back, the Lars Knights were somewhat reluctant to leave. The black mist that had once given people a chilling feeling was now just a good place for these knights to gain military merit.

They were just a small force testing the effects of the sacred Kara, not the actual main assault force.

Once we get back, they'll probably launch a full-scale attack, and it won't be so easy to earn military merit then.