[Vol. 9] Chapter 28: The Beast Tide
When the sound of drums came from the north, a large group of figures in blue-and-white priest robes rushed out of the main castle. Without time to explain much, Moraya immediately led them toward the northern wall.
The young man named Lian wanted to follow too, but as if suddenly remembering something, he turned and glanced at Violet and her two companions, who were still looking confused. With a helpless smile, he said,
“I’m truly sorry. I didn’t expect something like this to happen right after you arrived. Although we made an agreement earlier, now that Fortress Lady has spoken, Nofenburg can’t bear to drag guests into danger. Please act as you see fit, whether you choose to fight, wait inside the fortress, or if it comes to it, take the chance to escape south.
This battle may go either way. There’s no need for you to share Nofenburg’s fate if it is destroyed.”
After giving a small bow, the young man, who still had not revealed his true identity, stopped hesitating and quickly left with the rest of the troops.
“......”
The three girls left behind looked at each other. As always, Xiao Guang understood her master’s thoughts best, so she was the first to speak:
“Master, do you want to help?”
Violet nodded, then after a short thought, shook her head again.
“It’s rare to have such a chance, so of course we should at least take a look. But whether we actually step in or not, let’s first see how things unfold. Besides, you heard their words just now. Don’t you think it’s a little too convenient that this so-called beast tide appeared exactly at this time?”
“You mean…”
“We can’t be sure yet. Come on, let’s follow them.”
……………………………………
The Ice-Sea Principality was built along the shore of the Ice Sea. Though it called itself a “duchy,” in reality it was only made up of about a dozen small and medium-sized fortresses along the southern coast of the Ice Sea. Nofenburg was one of these cities, and its situation was no different.
The north side of Nofenburg was almost right next to the Ice Sea. As soon as Violet climbed up the outer wall, which was only a few meters tall. She saw the vast, endless ocean in the distance.
By her estimate, the fortress was less than a hundred meters from the shoreline. There were no proper ports here. At this moment, dozens of ships of various sizes were stranded on the beach. Farther out, broken wood and metal wreckage floated on the sea. Some fishermen who had gone out earlier had just escaped back to shore, running desperately toward Nofenburg’s northern gate, the whole scene in complete chaos.
“This sea is interesting. No wonder they call it the Ice Sea.”
Violet didn’t pay much attention to the panicked locals rushing into the fortress. Rescuing them was Moraya and the soldiers’ duty, not hers, and she neither had the position nor the desire to interfere. What caught her interest more was the endless ocean stretching before her eyes.
The Ice Sea was, of course, still a sea. More precisely, it was a huge inland sea formed from the endless ocean in the east, seeping in through a narrow continental rift. It covered a massive area, so large that on maps, it took up nearly half of the Northern Territory, far beyond what the tiny Ice-Sea Principality could control.
Because of the freezing climate, most of the water in the Ice Sea was frozen all year round. Over countless years, this had formed many icebergs and floating ice islands on the surface, dividing the sea into different zones. The actual areas where ships could move freely were very limited.
For that reason, directly sailing across from one side of the Ice Sea to the other was extremely difficult.
Of course, if it were only that, the well-traveled priestess would simply have clicked her tongue in mild wonder and thought nothing more.
But the real problem was—
At this moment, the icebergs in front of her were alive.
Or rather, a good number of the icebergs near Nofenburg had somehow come to life under some unknown power. Compared to the countless obstacles scattered across the vast Frozen Sea, they were only a tiny fraction, maybe one in a thousand or even less.
But for this small city with a population of at most a hundred thousand, it was already enough to bring a disaster that could wipe everything out.
“Boom boom boom boom boom!!!”
The harsh drumbeats still echoed from the tall tower in the distance. Standing on the outer fortress wall, the black-haired girl raised her eyebrows in surprise as she watched the strange beings floating on the sea, gathering here from all directions.
It sounded ridiculous, but this must be the so-called “Calamity Beast” that Lian and the others had mentioned.
The icebergs of the Frozen Sea were basically huge crystals of ice element, formed over tens of millions of years as the climate froze layer after layer together. Though they were called mountains, their height was usually only a dozen or a few dozen meters. Normally, such things could never develop intelligence or life. But judging by their movements now, it seemed that this impossibility might actually have been broken.
Compared to normal icebergs, the ones that had come alive as “Calamity Beast” were all faintly wrapped in a glowing shell. They hadn’t grown arms or legs (thankfully), but through the [Yin-Yang Eyes], Violet could clearly see the strong spiritual waves pulsing inside them.
These things floated on the sea, spreading visible ripples behind them, as if some force was pushing them forward at high speed. Their speed was already no less than that of ordinary sailing ships.
No, this was basically a fleet of unmanned ice ships, just with a slightly different appearance.
…Could it be that they would even transform later?
Violet and her companions had not tried to hide their arrival, so naturally, Lord Moraya and Lian noticed them. But since they had arrived earlier, both of them were busy organizing defenses and rescuing townsfolk. They had no time for polite greetings with three outsiders who had only come to watch.
In a small, simple place like Nofenburg, nobody cared much if outsiders stood at the frontline. The priestess girl was quite happy to stay in the corner, quietly watching the drama unfold.
A while later, after the last surviving fishermen had been pulled into the fortress and the northern gate firmly closed, Lady Moraya, sweat faintly showing on her forehead, finally let out a small sigh of relief. But as she stood high up on the castle, watching the hundred or so icebergs getting closer and closer, her expression grew heavy again.
“A beast tide like this has never been seen before… Lord Lian, do you think we can hold out?”
The young man in fine robes looked just as serious as Moraya. He shook his head.
“All we can do now is do our best and leave the rest to fate. Let us hope the God of Ice and Snow will protect us.”
Watching from the side, the priestess girl couldn’t help but grow curious.
Although the battle hadn’t yet begun, and she still didn’t know what abilities these iceberg beasts might have, Nofenburg’s pitiful strength was obvious at a glance.
From what she had observed along the way, the city’s standing army probably didn’t exceed three thousand soldiers. And most of them were only slightly stronger than normal townsfolk, trained only in the most basic drills, with weapons and armor of very poor quality. By her estimate, their strength was no higher than Lv.10 cannon fodder.
To put it bluntly, their combined battle power might not even match a single 100-man squad from one of the Goddess Church’s Four Great Holy Knight Orders.