Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

By the afternoon, the Resistance Army opened the gates of Sleddinburg and filed out one after another.

The Resistance Army lacked livestock; the few horses they had were all used for carrying goods or pulling carts. Even Grisha struggled along with the group on his prosthetic leg. He and the other lightly wounded could only take turns resting in the wagons.

Strictly speaking, the Resistance Army was not a true army. In the beginning, they had only been refugees fleeing from the White Raven Principality, forced into resistance by desperation.

Among them were children like Grisha, as well as a few elderly people.

With many townsfolk of Sleddinburg choosing to leave alongside them, a large number of civilians were now mixed into the Resistance Army’s ranks.

“Grisha, are you alright?”

“Child, there’s still a bit of room on uncle’s cart. Come up and sit?”

Grisha earnestly thanked everyone around him, then refused all their offers.

The Resistance had only enough rations to last barely three days, yet their journey would take nearly four—and that was if everything went smoothly.

There was no choice. They had to squeeze out as much transport capacity as possible for weapons and ammunition. Without the ability to defend themselves, they would not even survive three days.

Grisha secretly glanced at Uncle Wood’s cart. It was already packed full, so heavy that it was difficult to push. In this era, there were no metal bearings at all; the wooden hubs were smeared with a bit of grease and were extremely laborious to move.

The Resistance advanced in silence. The youths opened the path and guarded the rear, while the children stayed in the middle of the column.

There had also been many elderly people, but almost all chose to remain in the city. When Grand Duke Dragonfang’s army arrived and found only an empty city, their fury would be unimaginable. Yet the elderly still chose to stay behind and face the Grand Duke’s wrath.

They had not given up completely; they took up a few weapons and resolved to defend the castle.

Castles in this age had gone through countless iterations, designed so that a single defender could hold off a thousand attackers. Perhaps these elders could really cause the enemy significant trouble.

It was their last time baring their fangs.

Gwen turned back to look at Sleddinburg, the castle they had defended for half a year.

Evacuation was not without cost. The severely wounded, the immobile, and many volunteers who chose to stay had not left. Now, they leaned out from atop the city walls.

Strangely, they did not look despairing. Instead, they smiled brightly.

As if the departing Resistance Army were leaving to live on in their place.

Gwen gripped her sword’s hilt. She did not look back again, but she remained silent for a long, long time.

On the other side, Granny was speaking with Isaac.

“How is it? Did the message get through?” Isaac asked anxiously.

After discovering that the situation had gone wrong, Granny had immediately turned back toward the train to deliver news of the Resistance’s full retreat. Isaac, meanwhile, assisted Gwen in organizing the evacuation.

Granny had only just returned.

“It got through. That brat Kyle arranged for an emergency train to return at once. The number of Resistance troops stationed in the Northlands isn’t very high; defending the train won’t be a problem. But providing reinforcement will be difficult. Besides, they just wiped out the Allied Forces—they must leave men behind to prevent retaliation.”

“So we have to walk there ourselves?”

“If Blood Harbor sends troops at full capacity, the Expeditionary Army will quickly reach sufficient numbers. Kyle will bring an advance unit to support us. If we can guide them, we’ll be able to meet in about two days.”

Isaac picked up on the worry in Granny’s tone.

“What is it? Did something happen?”

“Yes.” Granny nodded, her expression dark.

“The Church didn’t just cooperate with Grand Duke Dragonfang. I also ran into many Transcendents on the road. I killed and killed but they just kept coming. Damn it—why are there so many church people in the Northlands?!”

Isaac frowned deeply upon hearing this.

This was wrong—very wrong.

Transcendents were not cheap expendables. On the contrary, every Investigator was a precious asset to the Church. They would rather sacrifice hundreds of elite soldiers than lose Transcendents casually.

Yet the number Granny and Isaac had killed already exceeded what one hand could count, and the number they had forced to retreat or probed against them was easily ten times that.

This meant the Church had deployed at least twenty Transcendents—a staggering number.

Although the Moths Chasing Fire had many followers scattered across the continent, their total number of Transcendents absolutely did not reach twenty.

They were already one of the most dangerous heretical cults on the continent.

Even the Church of Candlelight likely had no more than a hundred Transcendents total. To send more than a fifth at once—and after already losing several—clearly showed a massive hidden agenda.

“How many Investigators can you handle?” Isaac asked.

“One-on-one is no problem.” Granny lifted her Dragon’s Breath Cannon. “If surrounded, I can handle two. Three would be dangerous. Still, no matter how many surround me, I can at least take down two with me.”

Her tone was resolute; she had already prepared herself for not returning alive.

“In a head-on fight, I can take five, and pin down seven or eight without issue. But the enemy has far too many.”

“And they’re Investigators, no less!”

Both of them looked grim. Investigators excelled at pursuit and tracking, which meant they could never truly escape the enemy’s chase.

Normally, the Church of Candlelight disdained cooperating with mortal lords. Yet this time they not only approached Grand Duke Dragonfang, but immediately agreed to work together. That was highly abnormal.

“Could some cultists be stirring up trouble in the Northlands?”

Isaac and Granny thought for a long while and realized that the most likely cult at fault was themselves—the Moths Chasing Fire.

“Maybe another calamity-level mutation is about to happen. Remember that incident decades ago?”

“Hah, of course I remember. Back then you were a newly promoted Investigator of the Church of Candlelight. You even fought me once—how could I forget?”

“They sent dozens of Investigators that time too, and in the end only Euler and I survived. It took the Church of Candlelight decades to recover.” Isaac shook his head. “Let’s hope it’s not a similar calamity.”

“What’s that compared to her? The Compassionate Mother counts as a calamity too. If the Church of Candlelight came, they would still throw lives at it. But we solved it—Castel barely suffered any losses before we handled it. If you ask me, the only thing that can truly change the world is this!”

Granny raised the Dragon’s Breath Cannon.

“Even if it’s a calamity, I’m still going to blast it twice first!”