Cthulhu Gonfalon

As Sui Xiong and Arcaian were running the long discussion that would leave a colorful mark on the history of medicine in this world, the war between the Orc Empire and Eagle Kingdom began progressing intensively.

Due to the oddly slow action of the Orc army, there was enough time for the Eagle Kingdom to react. King Woods Igor heard the report from soldiers who lost in the City of Iron war. After some deep thinking and discussion, he finally decided to send out the Air Force that was originally meant to stay in the final battle at the last fortress. Even though he did not think they could win the air battle with these forces, he could not let these Orcs bomb unscrupulously.

No matter how strong the fortress was, it could not withstand being attacked single sidedly by big rocks falling from the sky. Even if the fortress could withstand some, the morale of the people would decrease. They would end up losing the battle without a fight.

That was why he sent out the most elite troops of the entire Eagle Kingdom even though he was reluctant.

Moreover, he not just send out some troops; it was all the Air Force the entire Eagle Kingdom had.

All of it!

The royal family of the Eagle Kingdom were descendants of the Eagle God. They had passed on the skill of training giant eagles and griffons and developed four types of air forces. Namely, the giant eagle sentinel and griffon sentinel who were in charge of scouting, and the giant eagle knight and griffon knight who were in charge of fighting.

Female riders rode giant eagles that were smaller, while the male riders rode the griffons that were larger. In addition to the division of army types, those were the four types of troops.

The biggest difference between these two army types was the “knight” aspect.

The sentinel riders were not from the bloodline of the Eagle God. They could only ride giant eagles or griffons, but could not command multiple ones. It made them only able to fight alone in a battle, so they were more commonly used as sentinels only.

Knight riders were from the bloodline. They could not only tame their own mounts, but command more giant eagles and griffons, and form battle squads. This allowed them to each form troops of different sizes. Together they became the main Air Force of the Eagle Kingdom.

Many years ago the Eagle Kingdom had a large Air Force. They always fought heroically during the battles of Orc invasion. However, in the coup of the “blood-stained eagle crown” that happened more than 30 years ago, there were tens of thousands of people who died in the capital, Eagle Wing City. Most of them were the descendants of the Eagle God. After that they were subsequently cleaned up and repressed. Even though the Eagle Kingdom had a huge squad of eagles and griffons, they did not have enough Air Force riders. They could only sigh with despair.

30 years’ time was not short, but it wasn’t long either. It was long enough to produce few generations of giant eagles and griffons. But it was not that easy to fill in the gaps left from the bloody slaughter of humans from that year.

For example, even now when King Woods sent out all the Air Forces that could be mobilized, there were only about one third the total giant eagles and griffons in the air. Most of the giant eagles and griffons were still resting comfortably in their nests.

He had the intention to send out more troops, but it could not be helped.

It was not that the Eagle Kingdom had no strategy to mobilize giant eagles and griffons under emergency situations. Nor was he so overconfident that he thought he did not have to use such strategies. It was because he was not able to use this strategy.

To make the giant eagles and griffons listen to commands, one needed to use the three artifacts left by the Eagle God: the crown of Eagle, the clothes of Eagle, and the sword of Eagle. To obtain these three artifacts, one needed to master the legendary swordsmanship with the “Eagle Wing Sword” that was passed down from generation to generation in the Eagle Kingdom. Only by extending the wings of light and swinging the Eagle Wing Sword, slashing the sky open, and carving the wings of the Eagle on the vault of heaven, could the three Eagle Artifacts could be woken up from their deep slumber. Then the artifacts would naturally come to the person who swung the sword, and automatically put themselves on his body.

At that time, the person who wore the three Eagle Artifacts would become the spokesperson for the Eagle God, and possess the ability to command all giant eagles and griffons.

The old king from the last generation knew about the Eagle Wing Sword. He had called the three Eagle Artifacts before and used the sword more than once in battle. With a wave of the sword, thousands of horses and soldiers buckled. Many experts from the Orc Empire drowned themselves with hatred under such power.

However, although the old king had more than three hundred grandchildren, only one of them actually inherited the Eagle Wing Sword. The successor had already died in the coup of the blood-stained eagle crown. And the one who killed him was none other than Woods himself.

His nephew, who was a genius in sword skills, was only 15 or 16 years old at the time. He was a young expert who could already touch the Legendary doors. He remembered clearly, how he shot him from his back with a crossbow arrow that had deadly poison on it, and how he commanded his crossbow shooters to shoot ten thousand arrows at him until his body could not be recognized.

Now the huge pile of bodies that consisted of him and the numerous men who were loyal to the previous king had completely dried up. All that was left were white bones and a thick corpse smell. Numerous wisps floated around every night, silently accusing the bloody and despicable rebellion.

Woods took a deep breath and drove the memory away.

He was only a high order knight. Now he was already over 60 years old. People at this age were already showing obvious signs of weakened physical and mental ability. Especially he who had heavy injuries back then. If he had not drunk the life-prolonging medicament that he had bought from Void Mask Church, he might have already been old and withered with sickness on every part of his body. Bedridden and waiting for death.

“No! That cannot be it!” His eyes sharpened again. “I am the great Eagle King! Even if I am going to die, I can only die on the battlefield!”

Thinking this, he decided to gather his ministers again to discuss the problem of distributing troops.

He was deeply worried about the Orcs’ invasion this time. Especially because their strategy was very different from past times, with the usage of Air Force on a large scale, and not murdering anyone after taking over the city. Plus, they even promoted harmony between Orcs and humans, even though the method was quite ridiculous. It made him feel he was in deep crisis.

Woods was a veteran of war, but throughout his life, he had never seen such a weird situation as this.

Although he could not understand what exactly Orcs wanted, he definitely did not dare to look down on the Orc emperor.

Junero Tiger was a rare scholar amongst the past Orc emperors, who were usually known for their bravery and fighting skills. What could such a character do after all? He had no confidence at all.

Hence, he decided to use all the forces he could move regardless of anything, and face the war vigorously.

He was old anyway. Dying on the battlefield seemed like a good ending for him…