holy flame

The capital of mankind, Belac, is also known as the last hope of mankind, but the first impression of this city to Samuel is not "hope" at all...

The first thing that catches the eye is not the majestic city wall as imagined, nor the spiers of the castle with flags fluttering, but the countless dilapidated shacks!Most of those shacks were built of branches and dirty thatch, and the better ones could be covered with a few rags, but that was all.Dirty water flows around the shack, and garbage is everywhere.The human beings lying or sitting inside and outside the shack in various positions, regardless of men, women, or children, were all dark-faced and skinny. It was impossible to see them moving, and it was difficult to detect their breathing. It was almost impossible to tell whether they were alive or not. corpse.

Seeing the arrival of the army, these people became numb and panicked.Anyone who could move hurriedly grabbed what little property they had—mostly unrecognizable food—and ran away to both sides, leaving behind a lot of dirt.

All the officers and soldiers present thought that their heart soaked in blood was already harder than stone, but the scene in front of them still gave them chills.No matter who it is, what you see here is not hope, but despair!They were silent, waiting for the officials sent by the city to welcome them into the city.

Probably because they thought they would be able to enter the city soon to get supplies, so a few kind-hearted soldiers distributed their dry rations to a few poor children.But as a result, more people rushed forward, shouting for help, shouting for mercy, shouting for hunger, and stretching out their skinny hands to seek alms.

A few soldiers obviously didn't expect such a thing to happen, and before they had time to resist, they were dragged into the hungry crowd and disappeared.But they are soldiers after all, and they are elite soldiers who have survived a hundred battles. Before the hungry people rushed into the camp, officers had already organized them.But this time their weapons were aimed at their own compatriots, but the officers and soldiers were hesitant, so the officers only ordered to line up and did not order to attack, and the soldiers just lined up as ordered, but their knives, guns, bows and arrows were all facing the ground.

What they have been doing is to protect the people in the rear, so how can they raise their butcher knives against these people?

But those people obviously didn't appreciate it. Although the shining weapon startled them at first, it was only a brief pause. Then they still opened their eyes wide, roaring and screaming, and rushed towards the soldiers ——They were living people, but for a moment the soldiers felt that what they saw were the greedy dead who were thirsting for flesh and blood!

Some resisted, some backed away.

Those who resisted pierced the attacker's chest with a sword, and the blood spurted out was hot and bright red like flames.So the rebel was stunned. He had killed an unknown number of undead, but he had never killed anyone.As a result of being stupefied, he was caught by other humans and dragged into the chaotic crowd.But the benevolent retreat has no good end, and they were even dragged into the crowd earlier.

The chaos was getting bigger and bigger, and the troops that had been resting in place all moved.Still no one wants to take swords against these people who are already miserable enough, but in the face of threats, they can only take up swords.In the end even the paladins had to join in the fight before the refugees retreated to their huts.Where the two sides fought, there were bloodstains and broken clothes on the ground, but... not to mention the soldiers who were dragged away in the team, even the bodies of the refugees were gone!

"Where are the corpses? They are living people! Not evil undead! What do they want human corpses for?" Someone in the team asked, his voice trembling, hoarse and terrified.

No one answered him, because everyone else knew that he didn't really need to answer.Everyone's faces were livid looking at the dilapidated shed with no end in sight.They saw a scrawny mother handing two blood-red pieces of fresh meat to her equally emaciated child with a loving expression on her face. The child took it and ate it happily.And in the shantytowns, there are more people who are gnawing hard-won food.

"Ugh!" Samuel heard the sound of vomiting. It was the rough paladin Goyle, who was holding a big tree and vomiting non-stop.And trembling all over, with fear in his eyes—who would have thought that a paladin would be so frightened?But in fact, with him leading the way, many paladins were also vomiting in fear.

Samuel's stomach turned a little too, but he didn't think those people should be afraid, they were just poor people who wanted to live.

"Belaka has a message." Hadro and several generals came back with a wry smile after the discussion. "The city said that we are welcome. As long as we go to the city gate, they will immediately open the door for us."

"Damn! Are those people asking us to die?!" A paladin who is always very gentle opened his mouth and cursed. There were at least [-] people in the shantytowns in sight, but they The people who came all the way here, including paladins and priests, definitely cannot exceed [-], although well-trained soldiers are definitely better than unarmed people.But the premise is that the soldiers are not scarred and skinny, and the people are not crazy beasts that are already hungry.

"Now we have two choices. One is to go east and enter the mountains. There may be a glimmer of life there, but it is only a glimmer. The second is to retreat a certain distance and camp on the high hill on the side. Maybe one day we can Go into the city, or maybe die outside the city like this." Hadro nodded.

"Enter the mountain." The paladins all chose the first option.The front-line fortress has been destroyed. Although there are still several human cities, Belaka is definitely the first target of the undead.They camped outside the city, without any fortifications to rely on, and they were definitely courting death.Even if the undead did not come, the group of extremely hungry people next to them might rush over to look for food someday.

Before touching the city wall of Belaka, this small army with a small number turned around on the spot.Although they received questioning letters from the emperor and the holy court in the city, no one took care of them.They just headed east all the way, killed the small group of undead that they encountered occasionally, and entered the Denfer Mountains to find their own chance of life.

From the day he held Eric and cried bitterly, Samuel seemed to have returned to normal, becoming the paladin who completed every task accurately.But those who were familiar with him never saw a smile on his face again.But for everyone, being able to live now is already difficult and exhausting enough, how can it be possible to have the leisure to pay attention to other people's emotional problems?Anyway, as long as people are alive, they will be untied one day.

But some people don't think so...

Eric was one of the pioneers who went out to explore the road today. When he returned to the camp, he was covered in filth and was extremely tired. After giving the order, the first thing he did was not to go back to the tent to rest, but to the camp of the paladins.The soldiers and paladins here knew him, so no one stopped him.But there was no one in Samuel's small tent, but Eric didn't care if he could see Samuel, he just took out a small bag of wild strawberries from his bag.The strawberries were well protected by him, and only a few were crushed all the way back.

Putting the strawberries next to Samuel's sleeping bag, with a melancholy smile...—

The author has something to say: == I... definitely am my real mother