Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 442: Occupation

As we moved further in the direction of the Native Alliance Army’s collapse, the signs of war began to change.

No longer dense with corpses and scorched earth, instead, there appeared more luggage abandoned in retreat, broken vehicles, and scattered personal belongings.

A water bottle, a torn doll, a letter trampled into the mud... these trivial items spoke more silently of the panic and despair of the defeated than those grim corpses.

Occasionally, small groups of routed soldiers could be seen captured by the legion patrols, their clothes tattered, eyes hollow, numbly chained together and driven toward temporary prisoner camps at the rear; their will to resist seemingly obliterated in the last rout.

The sky remained overcast, as if unwilling to witness the scars on this land.

On the horizon in the distance, the outline of the inland of the Buren Continent was now visible.

There, no longer as desolate as the Sobbing Blood Plain, appeared more green vegetation and silhouettes of distant mountains.

Yet the Duke knew that peace was but an illusion.

The remnants of the defeated Native Alliance Army must be regrouping there, trying to form a new defense line.

And the advancing forces of the United Legion would not stop here; more battles lay ahead.

He glanced back at the vast plain left behind, still shrouded in faint black smoke, like a giant, freshly-healed scar crossing the edge of the Buren Continent.

Across that vast scar of the Sobbing Blood Plain, the vanguard of the United Legion encountered no significant resistance.

The routed army remnants seemed to have lost all courage and ability to organize a defense in the wild, retreating deep into the inland.

Before long, the outline of a city finally appeared on the horizon.

It was not the formidable city like Iron Rock City with its high walls, but rather a typical trade and agricultural hub situated in the heart of the plains, called Ash City.

According to pre-war intelligence, this city was renowned for its vast fertile lands and handicrafts, with city walls that were not particularly tall, focusing more on economic function than military defense.

However, when the Duke approached with the legion’s vanguard, what he saw was a city that seemed already dead.

The tall city gate was wide open, even one door lay crookedly on one side, a result of hasty destruction or a panic from within.

No guard flags could be seen on the city walls, not a soul behind the battlements, with only a few crows resting there, cawing piercingly.

The air carried a vibe unlike the battlefield yet equally oppressive.

A scent of fear, despair, and death mixed, along with the smoke of burnt items and the faintest hint of the smell of blood.

The troops entered the city in a cautious formation, with slave creature units and combat golems leading the way to clear paths, smashing through any remaining barriers, flooding into every street to ensure no ambush lay in wait.

The Duke’s wizard squad followed closely behind, and as they entered the city gate, a strong sense of contrast hit them.

The streets were wide, lined with stone-and-wood mixed shops and residences, some still showing their past elegance and prosperity.

However, the streets were in chaos now.

The shop windows and doors were mostly smashed open or tightly locked, broken pots, scattered fabrics, overturned shelves everywhere—evidence of panic looting or destruction.

In some places, smoldering flames still licked at the wood, wisps of blue smoke drifting upwards.

Emptiness and deathly silence dominated; most citizens had evidently fled long ago or hid in the deepest parts of cellars or homes.

Only a very few elderly, haggard and with eyes void of any emotion, or those too frail to flee, peered fearfully from window cracks or doorways at this cold and unfamiliar army entering the city.

There was no hatred in their eyes, only profound fear and bewilderment.

Occasionally, traces left unprocessed could be seen on street corners or squares.

A few corpses in torn military uniforms, likely those who tried to maintain order or flee, were slain, and a few civilian bodies silently testified to the chaos and violence before the city’s fall.

The legion’s machinery of control quickly began to operate efficiently, fully-armed Knights and Wizards took over city defense, controlling all major traffic routes and vantage points.

Logistical wizards, accompanied by throngs of skeletal laborers from the Doomsday Bell and trained, search-capable slave creatures, began street-by-street clearances and registrations.

These skeletal laborers, evidently from the Doomsday Bell, were considered an excellent tool soldier type.

The rash smashing of doors, shouts, occasional short screams, and sounds of sporadic resistance quickly quelled, broke the city’s silence, heralding the arrival of a new order.

The city center square was quickly cleared, setting up temporary Wizard’s Mark Tower, energy supply equipment, and command tents.

The flag of the United Legion was hoisted high, coldly overlooking the fallen city.

The Duke’s mission was to help monitor energy fluctuations within the city, preventing hidden Awakened or traps from launching attacks.

He walked along the empty streets, his Spiritual Power meticulously scanning the surrounding buildings.

He could sense countless faint, fearful life forms hiding deep within the buildings, and in some places, remnants of weak energy traces.

Possibly remnants from hastily destroyed energy items, or weak emissions left by low-rank Awakened trying to hide.

This city was still alive, but its spirit seemed sucked away, leaving only a shell trembling under the conqueror’s iron hoof.

The former hustle and bustle, lively trade were all replaced by a chilling, suffocating fear.

No cheers, no resistance, only suffocating submission.

The Duke paused at a spot that seemed to be a bakery, gazing at the shattered display and the scattered, moldy and hardened bread within.

He could imagine how vibrant it had been not long ago, now only ruin remained.

This was conquest, not just military defeat, but an utter crushing of vitality and order, forcibly reshaped by the conqueror’s will.

Ash City, the first fallen city within the Buren Continent inland, served as a sample, foreshadowing the fate that awaited all regions as the legion’s vanguard advanced.

From the traces within the city, it seemed the city’s collapse happened much earlier than the battlefield.

A large number of ordinary people had already fled far from the city along with their families even before the battlefield’s collapse, traces of which were visible all along the roads.

Their choice was undoubtedly wise, for once the battlefield collapsed, it would be too late to retreat.