Chapter 307: Chapter 46: A Knight King’s Duty Is to Lead Those Willing to Be Led

The cheers from the Broken Mirror Knight Order lasted for quite some time, only stopping when their severely injured commander staggered a few steps and collapsed.

After the others helped their unconscious commander to his feet, they remembered the matter at hand:

"Lord Westheid! We are stationed at the outer defense line of Gale Heart. Please, come with us. Though our Knight Order is small and holds little sway, we can still aid your pilgrimage to Gale Heart."

Westheid said, "You can get us smoothly through the outer defenses? That would be a huge help."

’It’s a good thing to have to fight through one less layer of Gale Heart’s damned defenses.’

It wasn’t that Westheid shied away from a tough fight, but Gale Heart was an exceptionally hard nut to crack. The Yonglan Riding God had buried his mortal heart in his homeland, constructing the city with Divine Power. Many of its structures were permanently fixed in place, almost as indestructible as a Great Knight’s Silver Sword.

Gale Heart even had a nickname: the Eternal City. This wasn’t because it was particularly ancient or glorious.

It was simply because the entire city was filled with an unchangeable rigidity. If you went for a stroll in the Yonglan Capital, you had best memorize the map and not get lost. Otherwise, a small door that looked like you could simply push it open would become an insurmountable chasm that would make even Legendary Powerhouses break a sweat.

"This door cannot be opened from this side!"

And that’s not to mention the Techniques that restricted flight. It was as if, in the Yonglan Riding God’s eyes, the entire massive city was his favorite model kit, and mortals just happened to be living inside it.

Therefore, when attacking Gale Heart, siege engines and magical bombardments were useless. The only way was to engage in close-quarters combat. The one silver lining was that Gale Heart itself wasn’t equipped with any heaven-defying defensive weapons. Both sides just had to get up close and personal for a melee.

Westheid was prepared to slowly grind his way through, but he’d be happier if he could save some effort.

The pilgrimage procession immediately changed direction, heading toward the Broken Mirror Knight Order’s garrison.

As a garrison tasked with defending the Capital’s periphery, they had proactively charged at the army attacking said Capital, only to get thoroughly trounced, immediately surrender, and become their guides in the blink of an eye.

The whole situation sounded absurd, yet it was treated as perfectly normal. Neither the Broken Mirror Knight Order nor the people from Yingxi Castle had any objections; they all acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

It wasn’t that the Yonglan People were disloyal or unprincipled. On the contrary, the people of the Knight Country possessed a strong sense of national identity. If faced with an external invasion, every last one of them would fight to the death. The saying "an inch of land for an inch of blood" would be no exaggeration.

But Westheid had already demonstrated he possessed the power of the Knight Path. Since he was a Knight, he was one of their own. A pilgrimage was an internal ritual among Yonglan Knights. No matter how many people died, it was a private matter—a glorious and fitting death.

After several more days of travel, Westheid deliberately paused, waiting for more Yonglan Knights to join the grand event. Just like all the others before them, any group of a decent size would demand a personal fight with the King Claimant.

Westheid was magnanimous, rewarding them all equally with his signature head-patting and face-stomping combo. There was no need to worry about causing resentment; this was exactly what they were into.

’A Powerhouse is supposed to brutally humiliate the weak!’

Proceeding at what felt like a leisurely stroll, the pilgrimage army finally reached the domain of Gale Heart. On the horizon, the magnificent, massive city was faintly visible, standing tall and unmoving amidst the blowing wind and snow.

"So that is the heart of Yonglan... Truly magnificent."

Westheid gazed at the giant city’s distant silhouette and remarked,

"It’s just that these god-awful defenses are infuriating."

In front of Gale Heart were layers upon layers of defenses. Elevated city walls, like aqueducts, connected to towers. The soaring, sharp-spired buildings rose for hundreds, even thousands of meters, forcing all who stood on the ground to gaze up at them. And upon these elevated structures, in areas that should have been nothing more than ramparts, entire town-like settlements were built.

Worse still, some took the form of floating spirals. Towers that completely defied gravity coiled upward, ring after ring. The gray-white stone of the Spiral Towers intertwined with dense shrubs and flower beds, creating a strangely beautiful and magnificent sight from afar.

Despite being a great distance from the main city of Gale Heart, these defenses were unquestionably part of the Capital’s territory. They enjoyed the blessing of the "Eternal" attribute, having stood for a thousand years without falling.

Even with the separation of gods and mortals, the traces left behind by such a great being were slow to fade.

The most outrageous part was that, thanks to the Celestial God’s Power, these defenses were indestructible. You want to capture one of these Spiral Towers suspended high in the sky?

Fine. You can start from the bottom step and clear your way up, level by level. Along the way, you’ll have to navigate countless traps, mechanisms, and doors that ’cannot be opened from this side.’

’The Yonglan Riding God must have had a pretty dark childhood to come up with these monstrosities.’

Even someone like Westheid, who reveled in the thrill of a good fight, couldn’t help but be annoyed.

He couldn’t just raise a hand and obliterate the enemy’s formation anymore. Even at the Legendary Celestial Rank, he had to follow the rules when faced with a divine miracle. This feeling of being constrained greatly displeased Duke Qinghui.

Passing through the outer stronghold garrisoned by the Broken Mirror Knight Order had only allowed them to bypass the first line of defense. There were still two or three more layers, and all of them were garrisoned by the Knight Orders of the Steel Will Guardian Clan.

Normally, a Spiral Tower would be guarded by a dozen or so Knights at most, making it practically unmanned. But the opposition faction that had recently fled to Gale Heart had now taken over the majority of the city’s defenses. Thousands upon thousands of Knights now hid within these Spiral Towers, lying in wait to block the King Claimant’s path.