Lord of the Oasis - Chapter 342
Chapter 342: Losing the Salt Mine Posthouse
The death of slaves happened from time to time. After all, as slaves captured from the battlefield, they were not treated as friends by the victors. Cruel torture was everyday routine for these slaves, and they had to suffer in the harsh living environment.
They did not have enough food, clothing, or rest, and could not be effectively replenished.
Even if they were sick, they still had to go to work.
Want to rest? Hehe, there would be a friend who used to be familiar with him, who was now the supervisor and the loyal lackey of the victor. He would use the tough whip to wake you up and bring all the sick slaves with him to finish the work that needed to be done today.
If one became a slave, he would basically not be treated as a human. He would basically be a human-shaped animal.
This was the truth.
Every day, a few slaves would die in the salt mines. Kant already knew this.
However, looking at the increasing amount of coarse salt in the warehouse, the deaths of these slaves became very valuable, at least for Kant. He had stored a large amount of coarse salt. In the future, after the salt mines were lost, it could be produced for several months.
At least at the moment, the salt-making workshop in “Drondheim” Castle could no longer keep up with the speed of the storage.
Although a large amount of table salt had been produced day and night, most of the warehouses were still full of linen sacks full of coarse salt, which were brought by the caravans that traveled to and from the castle and the salt mines every week.
Even if more than half of the slaves had died, there were still nearly 700 people left, Kant naturally did not care.
Keeping so many slaves and providing a large amount of food and water was troublesome.
“Wait.” In a flash, Kant frowned, he turned to Manid, and asked, “Are you saying that… a special natural phenomenon appeared in the depths of the Nahrin Desert, which led to the death of a large number of slaves?”
“Yes, the temperature at night is even lower.”
Manid nodded.
“This…” Kant frowned. “Something is indeed wrong.”
This was very unusual.
Although the temperature at night in the Nahrin Desert was indeed very low, it was not so ridiculous.
One had to know that Kant valued his slaves. At the very least, each of them had a leather jacket, and there was a bonfire burning around the tent at night for everyone to keep warm. How could he freeze nearly 300 slaves to death so easily?
If they put more labor loads to these 300 slaves, they would have been exhausted to death!
“Perhaps it’s the undead.” the Lion Knights beside him spoke.
They also had their own views on the unconventional weather. “No, it’s just the undead. These undead were resurrected from the dead, they were between life and death, and will emit negative energy of the undead.”
After all, the Pendor Continent had a magic inheritance.
Kant nodded. “Yes, continue.”
“The notable feature of the negative energy of the undead is the cold.” The lion knight continued, “Ice will cover the earth, and everything can be frozen. That is the condensation of the will of the dead, and their hatred for the creatures living in the sunlight world is a kind of negative energy.”
“Where the Sky Veil of Death spread to an area, there ice spreading at that are as well.”
The Royal Knights also nodded and said, “There is also a bone-piercing cold current that even the sand layer will be frozen solid.”
“Yes.” Kant said in a deep voice, “Trouble is coming.”
“Trouble.” Manid also muttered in a low voice.
This was not the first time he had heard this sentence. He also knew how dangerous the undead that were slowly coming from the Nahrin Desert were.
However, he did not expect that the danger that he had worried for a long time would arrive so quickly. It had even approached to the salt mine, and it was getting closer to the Oasis Lookout.
When they first entered the depths of the Nahrin Desert and encountered the Sky Veil of Death, they had already experienced that terrifying cold current. If it was not for the protection of the extraordinary power, they would probably have frozen to death in the depths of the desert, along with their horses.
That cold current was not something that ordinary people could withstand.
“Damn it.” Kant frowned and cursed.
But without hesitation, he turned his head and ordered, “Inform the mages, speed up their progress immediately!”
“Yes!” the knights who acted as guards immediately responded and quickly walked up to the top floor. There were mage apprentices’ dormitories there, where the mages conducted magic experiments and planned to fuse the sun discs.
As long as the sun disc took shape and protected the Oasis Lookout, Kant’s castle would be safe.
At the very least, there was no need to care about the threat of the Sky Veil of Death.
They were in the middle of a discussion.
The door of the council hall was pushed open, and a Desert Bandit quickly rushed in. Half-kneeling in front of the long table, he quickly reported, “My lord, the salt mine has discovered the the Sky Veil of Death and was attacked by the undead forces. It has been lost!”
“What?” Kant instantly stood up from his seat.
He clenched his hands and looked at the desert bandit who half-kneeled in front of the long table. His breathing quickened. “How is it possible that the salt mine was lost just like that?”
“It’s true, it was two days ago!”
The voice of the desert bandits sounded like he was crying. “We have all retreated!”
He still looked travel worn. One could even see the marks of knives and axes from his leather armor.
Even his blood had turned slightly black, and the wounds were cyan-purple. Although the wounds had healed, it was obvious that they had been infected by something wicked. Even the lips of the desert bandit had turned white, and his face was sickly yellow color.
Just as the Desert Bandit finished reporting, a strange red color suddenly gushed out of his cheeks, and he collapsed in front of Kant.
“He fainted.”
A Lion Knight went over and stretched out his hand to check his breath. After checking, he said in a deep voice, “He needs treatment and rest.”
The Royal Knights also sighed softly. “It seems that he rushed back from the salt mine.”
“Men, take him down for treatment.” Kant waved his hand.
At the same time, he ordered Bunduk, who was frowning slightly, “Go and take a look. Who else knows the details? I need to know the details and know how my salt mine fell!”
“Yes.” Bunduk nodded and left quickly.
Someone beside him also carried away the unconscious desert bandit. After that, he would receive the necessary treatment and rest. At the very least, there were doctors trained in the artisan union, although the effects were definitely not as good as top doctors like James, however, it was still not a problem to deal with minor infections and wounds.
After all, there would be people who were injured in daily life. On the training ground, the high-level troop class would train the low-level troop class. From time to time, they would cause injuries due to mistakes, so they trained a group of doctors.
They could treat their own people if there was emergency.
During the war, they could even be treated as a battlefield doctor to take care of the injured.
Manid sighed softly beside him. “The situation is critical.”
“That’s right.”
Kant gritted his teeth and sat back on his chair.
The Lion Knights and Royal Knights beside him remained silent. Each and every one of them had a look of determination on their faces.
The war was about to begin.
Everyone already understood that the salt mine had fallen so quickly. This meant that it was time for the most elite troops of “Drondheim” Castle to go on stage and take back the salt mine!
Soon, Bunduk returned with a solemn expression.
“Bad News.” he spoke slowly.
“Speak.” Kant frowned. He was mentally prepared.
Bunduk reported in a deep voice, “The salt mine fell very quickly. All the slaves were frozen to death. Only the Desert Bandits from the salt mine posthouse came out. They quickly came to the castle to report. Right behind them, the 500 elite Swadian Knight and two Royal Knights were entangled by the terrifying undead troops.”
“This is really… surprising.” Kant’s eyes flashed with malevolence. It had only been a few days, and the camel caravan had just reported that 300 people had been frozen to death. In the blink of an eye, Desert Bandits had returned, saying that the salt mine had fallen.
How could this not be surprising!
In Kant’s eyes, his plan in the salt mine was absolutely fool proof.
Although it was mainly to prevent the slave rebellion, there were still people who had taken the lead to investigate Sky Veil of Death in the depths of the Nahrin Desert.
That was a heavy cavalry unit led by two Royal Knights. There was a total of 500 Swadian Heavy Cavalries!
They could be called elites.
But even so, they were still entangled by the undead. They actually needed the Desert Bandits to come back for help.
“Also, Lord Kant,” Bunduk continued, “According to the accounts of the other desert bandits, the Sky Veil of Death did not spread over. It was just that the undead suddenly appeared like they were launching a sneak attack. They were caught off guard.”
“Wait.” Kant narrowed his eyes. “A sneak attack by the undead?”
“Yes.” Bunduk nodded.
Kant’s expression turned cold. He could not help but grit his teeth and say, “I think I heard it right. It was actually a sneak attack by the undead? These dead skeletons would even use such a tactic?”
Kant could not help but be puzzled.
The undead did not have intelligence. They only had an instinctive hatred for the living and formed a sea of undead to attack the enemy.
The concept of sneak attacks didn’t exist among the undead at all.
Or it could be said that these undead didn’t even have a formation.
It was due to the instincts of the undead creatures. The soul flames attracted each other and gathered together in a mess. Only when they devoured and wiped out all the enemies would they willingly go into hibernation.
“It’s the Death Knights.”
Bunduk slowly said, “There are also skeleton cavalry.”
“Huh?” Kant raised his eyebrows.
“They are similar to the knights who were lured by the power of the underworld, but they are the cavalries that were transformed by the power of the undead after they died,” Bunduk explained. “It seems that they are the mobile forces of the undead.”
Kant’s face turned gloomy. He had already understood the concept of the Death Knights or the Skeleton Cavalry.
He had already known this in his previous life, so he could easily imagine it.
However, Kant’s expression became even more angry, he said in a gloomy tone, “I originally thought that these undead were just skeletons and zombies. I really didn’t expect that even the Death Knights and Skeleton Cavalry would appear. Could it be that in the end, there would be things like Bone Dragons?”
In Kant’s impression from his previous life, the undead did indeed have such things.
And in this world, there were actually creatures like giant dragons. Although it had long become a legend in the age of the gods, just thinking about it made one terrified!