CHAPTER 229: CHAPTER 186: AN EXTRAORDINARY BREAKFAST_3

He closed his eyes, as if the horrific scene was still firmly nailed to his retina.

"It’s... it’s breathing." His voice was as light as the wind, "That’s not stone, it’s flesh. Gray-white, covered in mucus... with holes that constantly open and close, just like... like it’s gasping."

Louis said nothing, only holding his shoulder, feeling the body still trembling slightly.

Carl’s expression froze in the shadows, as he slowly raised another hand, gesturing some shape.

"Above the nest, something hung... like a human, also like some kind of fetus... a mass of flesh and blood, with countless tentacles. We saw it—using those tentacles to slowly pull corpses into its body... and then..."

He paused, his Adam’s apple sliding.

"A dozen seconds later... a new insect corpse slid out from the nest wall... like a peeled fruit."

The chamber fell into dead silence, only the weak fire in the fireplace crackling softly.

"They still wore armor... still used weapons... I saw an insect corpse with a blue-gold armband, that was... one of our legion." Carl’s voice lowered, carrying a barely audible tremor, "They still fight, just like when they were alive."

Edmond slowly sat back in the chair, hands intertwined on his lap, his gaze serene and cold.

He said nothing, but the air seemed even colder by a few degrees.

"Then we were... discovered."

Carl continued, as if using all his willpower.

"Vic at that time... told us to retreat." He clenched his fist.

"They soon caught up, hundreds... maybe more."

He struggled to suppress the trembling, but terror seeped inch by inch from his gaze.

"They feel no pain, no fear, make no sound. We sever their legs, they crawl with their hands... break their hands, they bite with their jaws. Their movements... like beasts, but with human combat skills."

Carl gasped, as if it took all his strength to squeeze out the next words:

"And they can infect, I saw with my own eyes Benito hit by an insect sac... a few seconds later, his eyes changed, like they were hollowed out. He drew his sword, without any warning, stabbed through Seville’s chest."

At this point, Carl paused for a moment: "They died one by one. I’m sorry, I... the only thing I could do was bring this information back."

He lowered his head, as if apologizing to all his fallen companions, his nails digging deep into his palm, blood seeping once again from the wound.

Throughout the explanation, Carl’s lips trembled, and he looked like he was fished out of ice water, even breathing seemed broken.

His eyes scattered, speech becoming incoherent, sentences breaking now and then, without much logic, but he still managed to say everything that needed to be said.

The location of the nest...

Its grotesque, twisted form...

The number and types of the insect corpses, and... their combat methods.

Every word was like the last drop of blood squeezed from his spirit.

The Duke stood in front of him, face heavy, a noticeable shock in his eyes upon hearing "insect corpses transmit rapidly".

When Carl finished the last detail, he seemed drained, staggering a half step forward, fortunately caught by Louis.

The Duke was silent for several seconds, as if shadows were slowly spreading across his heart, but he stepped forward, gently pressing Carl’s shoulder.

"You did well, Carl." His voice was gentle, yet full of suppressed grief, "Go rest, leave the rest to us."

After Carl withdrew, the hall fell into a long silence.

The air seemed frozen, even the falling dust’s trajectory became clearly visible.

In that suffocating silence, sitting nearby, Emily clasped her hands tightly.

Maintaining a poised upright posture, yet her slightly trembling eyelashes betrayed her inner turmoil.

Emily was not a weak girl.

She had witnessed heaps of corpses in war, and once rode with a sword as an elite knight.

But Carl’s description was too gruesome, plus the fact that so many elite knights and an extraordinary knight managed to escape alone, further illustrated the horror of the nest.

And that thing was hidden near the Red Tide Territory, and Louis would face this horror directly.

Duchess Irina simply sat quietly, her expression as dignified as ever.

She had seen too many of such things, and believed that her man could handle it.

And Duke Edmund slowly leaned back into the high-backed chair, saying nothing, looking as though he had sunk beneath a cold abyss.

He was not a cowardly man.

On the contrary, he was a peak knight who had fought bloody battles in the Northern Snowfield for ten days and nights and had clawed his way out of a pile of corpses during an avalanche to counterattack.

Precisely because of this, he understood that in the face of truly unpredictable enemies, caution is far more important than hot-bloodedness.

After a few breaths, he finally spoke, voice deep and low, like a snowstorm upon the borders.

"The Frost Halberd... is too far from there. Even if I order the assembly and departure at the fastest speed, reinforcements to that valley would take at least ten days.

That thing... can it afford to wait?"

No one answered.

Not out of fear, but helplessness.

Snow Peak County has not yet recovered its primordial energy, the Red Tide Territory’s strength remains, but other territories were severely wounded last year in the repeated struggles with the Snow Swearers.

To temporarily gather a force capable of countering the nest is nearly a fool’s dream.

But in the silence, Louis’s voice suddenly sounded, unusually firm: "Cannot wait."

In an instant, all eyes focused on the young Viscount.

"Carl made it very clear. They have tactics, divisions of labor, even understand encirclements and anti-ambushes. That’s not an ordinary demon’s nest, it’s a... an evolving intelligence. Now it has been alerted, if we don’t act now, they might act first."