Intelligence quickly came back from various channels.
At the rear of the entire Balrog Great Temple, there was the core Festival Hall and a series of prayer Sanctuaries. This hall was once claimed by Yohkel, connecting to the rear platform altar and below the rows of monks’ residences were two outer walls at the back of the Elf ruins.
The Festival Hall was not only the tallest building in the entire ruins but also the core of the axis of this architectural complex.
It was also the first place Antitina had targeted. Read full story at 𝗻𝗼𝘷𝗲𝗹•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥
Mercenaries moved through the ruins like ants, following Antitina’s orders and crossing the courtyard inside the Great Temple—this courtyard had previously been the place where Silver Elf monks prayed and meditated. However, the once beautiful and serene Sanctuary now lay in ruins. The exquisite and beautiful Holy White corridor now had only broken columns remaining, the silent stone pillar forest seemed to echo the whispers of history, recounting the past of this place.
Within this silence, the first three Lubis Mercenaries arrived at their destination. They set up defenses at the northwest corner of the second outer wall at the core of the Balrog Great Temple—Festival Hall—and observed the Lizardmen in the forest from there.
The Silver Elves built two outer walls as defenses for this sacred Forbidden Land. But after centuries of weathering, these walls had almost completely collapsed, and today, apart from the height difference between the Second Level outer wall and the Level 1 outer wall—there were almost no defenses at the rear of the Festival Hall—and the Lizardmen seemed disinclined to repair these fortifications.
This was mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, they did not have the capability to. The defenses planned by the Elves were crafted by master builders, intricate and complex. With Yohkel’s intelligence, there was no way they could rebuild these walls into fortresses. Secondly, they didn’t need to. In this forest, these Lizardmen’s only previous enemies were bouts of drunkenness and fistfights, leading to a double-digit casualty rate almost every year.
Of course, now their list of enemies included one more, which was Brand.
The second team reached the other side of the gap.
"The Lizardmen have crossed the forest—"
"They’re starting to approach the ruins."
"Numbers are not less than a hundred."
The mercenaries used hand signals to convey the information, right in Antitina’s sight.
The young lady lifted her skirt and quickly walked through the Festival Hall, arriving alone at the platform outside the hall where important rituals were held. This was the highest point of the entire ruins. Standing at the edge of the platform, she could even overlook the entire rear part of the Great Temple.
The Silver Elves’ intricate defense system became clear in her eyes.
She lowered her head and compared it with the sketch in her hand—a hastily drawn map due to limited time, but it was somewhat accurate. Her professional architectural knowledge proved useful, as this was the fortress system of the Silver Elves from five centuries ago, exactly the type she was most familiar with.
Turning around, she used all her strength to raise that flag from the ground—a makeshift flag made of two long spears tied together with a gray cloth; no patterns, emblems, or any identifying marks.
The cloth was made from Brand’s cloak.
She erected the flag, pointing in a certain direction—
This meant two things.
The first was to inform Namenis and Hu Que at the front that the rear defense line had not fallen. As long as this flag remained, they need not divert any forces elsewhere.
The second was: Gray Wolf Mercenaries, defend the fourth gap.
The Gray Wolf Mercenaries below saw this order and couldn’t help but look at each other in bewilderment.
The platform had once been extremely safe, but that was in the past. It had collapsed halfway by now. If the Lizardmen broke through the front, they could easily rush to where Antitina stood. Brand had told them that their duty was to protect the safety of this noble daughter, but now she wanted them to go to the other side.
"Miss Antitina?" a mercenary shouted.
Antitina cut him off, shouting, "I am the commander now. Obey my orders as the principle. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it later."
The mercenaries paused.
But the girl on the platform frowned. She looked up and saw the Lizardmen already emerging from the forest one after another. Their formation was scattered, indicating they might have detected their vulnerability due to a lack of manpower. However, that wasn’t the worst part—the worst part was her forces comprised only fifteen people, and their individual combat capabilities weren’t superior.