Black hyphae, broken rubble, and his own blood. The dilapidated house made of accumulated stones seemed to be relieved at this moment. It collapsed when Hilton hit it. Hilton only felt that the spine on his back seemed to be broken by a huge impact, and many joints on his body were broken. He lost consciousness at the same moment, and the severe pain almost made him lose consciousness again and again.
Hilton wanted to let out a heart-rending scream, but found that his throat seemed to be stuck by something during the impact and he couldn't make a sound at all. What happened? Have you been attacked? Hilton couldn't realize for a moment what kind of blow he had received.
He gritted his teeth and opened his eyes that were covered with blood. Due to the congestion in his eyes, the whole world seemed to be covered with a blood-colored veil. He could only vaguely see the thing expanding its body, with countless hyphae moving towards it. The center gathered into a humanoid shape. "Cesare... Cesare!!!" The thing roared loudly, and the voice could hardly be heard as a human note, but instead sounded like the roar of some kind of beast nature.
As a sound of thunder penetrated the sky above Kalliu, the monster, whose body was still expanding infinitely, suddenly leaned down and dived into the ground as if it melted instantly, leaving only a strange pool of black blood. At the last moment of Hilton's consciousness, he only saw the crumbling stone bricks hanging above his head falling down due to the wind and rain, falling from a height in front of him, and then everything turned dark.
Only the sound of wind and rain prove that the world is still moving.
The area connecting the main urban area and the south of the city is a relatively desolate area. Both sides are working hard to develop on track, but this will still take many years. On a sparsely populated dirt road, a carriage loaded with mechanical parts was driving carefully. Crocia on the carriage was leaning against Cesare and humming softly, while Sandino was leaning back on the seat. He fell asleep on a rainy day, and the rain poured into his mouth, but it still couldn't wake up his tired heart from getting up early to go to the market.
The appearance of the carriage is iron gray, and the overall design uses many iron rings and spikes to connect the body of the carriage to the horses. It looks very strong. The large and small scratches on the carriage board also confirm that this transport type The carriage has gone through many ups and downs over the years, but it is still working hard on the road to this day.
The horse pulling the cart is a fat and strong Shire horse. The light brown fur is soft and delicate, reflecting the soft light under the rain. This kind of horse comes from the northwest island. It is generally close to two meters in height and weighs It weighs one ton, and its lower legs are covered with a thick layer of fine hair, as if it has boots on its hooves. This horse alone can pull a carriage full of metal.
In order to get this horse, it is said that Henry, the owner of the grocery store, spent a lot of money at Carlius's auction, and he called the horse "Dog".
Driving a carriage is a strange experience. Although Cesare is much precocious, he is definitely not a genius in driving. Being able to avoid pedestrians and vehicles on the road in time is his limit.
Holding the leather string tightly in his hand, he would inevitably feel a little nervous. It would be okay if he was the only one in the car, but with his sister sitting next to him, there must be no accidents. Cesare's eyes were fixed on the road, and he felt it carefully. To convey the horse's power, pay attention to the message sent by every muscle on the horse's body.
The wind and rain blew Cesare's hair, the boy's clothes were turned up, and the steps of the horse's hooves were intertwined with Crocia's song beside him. Unknowingly, the rain took away the fatigue, making people feel unprecedented. of relaxation.
As the carriage drove out of Piero City, the unmaintained dirt road was not as regular as the stone road, but it was overall more spacious. There are all kinds of weeds growing on both sides of the road. Because no one has taken care of them for a long time, some of the weeds have even grown as tall as half a person.
In the rain, many large and small puddles are formed on the uneven dirt road. When the wheels run over, water will splash, and when passing the mud surface, there will be a rustling sound. At this time, you can also smell the coming from the ground. The rich scent of wet earth.
"Krocia?" Feeling the surrounding environment, Cesare felt familiar and kind, and almost subconsciously called out his sister's name softly.
The girl next to her looked up, and more raindrops hit Krosia's white and tender face. She stopped humming with a sweet smile on her face. "What's wrong? Did you remember anything interesting?" Krosia asked curiously.
"It's nothing, I just suddenly remembered that there was a dirt road like this in front of our home when we were two children, and it felt familiar." Although Cesare answered like this, in fact he was not sure about this feeling. It was far away. The memory is as hard to recover as a broken dream. I can only vaguely remember that on the same rainy day, on the same dirt road, he once sat in a carriage and relied on the closest people beside him...
"In front of the house?" Crocia stood on tiptoes and looked around while holding on to the front handlebar. However, all she saw was an ordinary road and woods on both sides. These dirt roads all looked the same and there was no difference between them. , when he looked at Cesare's face again in confusion, Cesare recalled again, "It was our first home, the house in the countryside of Florence. To be honest, I can't remember too much...but, I still always dream about this house in my dreams, and about our family being together..."
Cesare's dazed expression seemed to make Crocia understand something. "Oh... I think I know..." Krosia sat back down in despair, and said with a complex emotion in her tone: "My mother was still alive at that time, right..."
The fact that her mother is still alive means that Krosia was just born, so naturally she won't remember anything. Cesare nodded silently, and from the corner of his eyes, he glanced at Sandino, who was sleeping soundly, and then asked Crocia in a low voice: "Closia... although you were still too young when it happened, But...I'm curious if you still remember your mother's appearance, even a little bit."
Cesare also seemed a little nervous after the words were spoken. It seemed that this issue was very important to him and had been held in his heart for a long time.
"No..." Crocia shook her head, her eyes no longer looking in the direction of Cesare. "I don't remember anything... I only know that I only have brother, that's all."
The hair of the two children was soaked by the heavier rain, and the conversation just ended. The carriage drove slowly towards the front of the road, and another carriage carrying antique furniture and gorgeous furnishings slowly appeared from the ground. It met Cesare and the others and crossed each other. Its wheels stepped heavily on the ground. Making strange noises, the black horses, shackled and dragging the vehicle, moved forward lifelessly.
Just for a moment, Cesare noticed the vehicle next to him. The driver of the carriage was wearing a simple leather cloak and his head was lowered. He was so quiet that it made people feel a little strange, and it was even more puzzling to Cesare. What's more interesting is that the coachman seems to have his hands hidden under his cloak, not holding the reins.
The carriage driven by Cesare seemed to have run over a stone, causing the carriage to sway from side to side. This made Cesare pay attention to the road again, and no longer cared about passers-by who had just met each other.
After a while, he only felt a slight tremor at first. Cesare noticed some sounds coming from the distance but didn't pay much attention to it. But then, the tremors became more intense, and frequent and chaotic noises continued to come from the distance directly in front, as if some giant monster was running in the distance.
Crocia also heard the disturbing voice, and subconsciously pulled on Cesare's sleeve, looking at her brother with some worry, and Cesare could not help but frown, with an ominous premonition in his heart. rise quietly.
The puddles on the road rippled, the stones on the dirt road trembled and trembled, and the ground undulated significantly, causing the entire carriage to jolt. The horses neighed uneasily, and Cesare tightened his grip. Hold the reins tightly to prevent any unexpected surprises.
Under the strong shock, Sandino suddenly woke up from his dream and shouted: "I can't drink any more! I really can't drink any more!" Then he swallowed the rainwater accumulated in his mouth, and was choked and coughed several times. Voice.
"Ah...ah...Good morning, what happened?" Sandino wiped the rain from his face, squinted his eyes and found that the ground in front of him was shaking, so he stretched out his hands and patted his cheeks to calm himself down. Stay awake, and then you immediately realize that the whole land is really shaking violently. "The ground is earthquake!? Cesare! It's earthquake. Why don't you wake me up!"
"Looking at you sleeping so soundly, how can I bear it? Besides, what's the use of waking you up." Cesare responded unceremoniously.
"What are you talking about! If anything happens, I can escape in time!" Sandino asked in a panic. "Well, Cesare, nothing will happen to us, right? We shouldn't have to run for our lives, right?"
"If it was just an earthquake, nothing would happen, but this is not an earthquake..."
"It's not an earthquake? Then, what else could such a big movement be?" Sandino asked in confusion.
Cesare's eyes were fixed on the front. When he was sure that the sound was coming towards them, he pulled the reins tightly and brought the carriage to a slow stop. He softly responded to Sandino's question: "It's the Praetorian Guards."
Just as Cesare expected, the noise in the distance gradually became clearer as it continued to approach. It was the sound of horses marching together with the sound of heavy footsteps. Not a moment after he finished speaking, a majestic and majestic momentum came from the distance on the horizon. In the light mist, a sizable army appeared in the field of vision. The knight appeared at the front. Wearing plate armor, a helmet, holding a steel sword, and a cross hanging on his chest.
Then, the shining shields of the team were slowly visible. The soldiers wearing thick armor walked steadily and powerfully. The sound of footsteps was thunderous, and an unstoppable sense of power radiated from the team. They held their flags flying high in the air, and the flags were covered with cross seals. That holy symbol symbolized the army's loyalty to its faith and its firm determination to crush the enemy.
"Why did the army appear here?" Sandino was frightened by this sudden battle. He leaned forward and kept making sure that he had read correctly. "Isn't there going to be a war? With whom? I've heard that several dukes don't deal with each other, but... but it won't turn into this, right?"
Cesare did not answer this question, and he did not have a definite answer in his heart. Seeing that there was still a long way to go before the army would make direct contact, Cesare at this time just wanted to change the direction of the carriage to avoid blocking it. He was already feeling uneasy as these soldiers passed by, but now he was even more disturbed by the clanging sounds of the carriages.
"Sandino, I know you are nervous, but can you please stop stamping your feet?" Cesare said coldly. However, faced with the accusation, Sandino expressed surprise and confusion: "What? I wasn't stamping, I thought you were knocking?"
When the two looked at Krosia, the one in the middle looked confused, so the three of them could only look at the place where the sound was coming from under their feet. The car panels under my feet were indeed making strange noises. It sounded like someone was tapping their finger bones on the wooden boards, but the sound was not coming from above... but from the bottom of the car.
