Chương 258: 258：Biological Warfare of the Withered Cult

After seeing Lucia off, Soren turned and climbed the creaking wooden stairs back to his spacious, warm high-stilt command cabin. Just as he unclasped his heavy windbreaker cloak, a polite, rhythmic knock echoed from the door.

"My Lord, is it convenient for you right now?" Hearing the voice, Soren immediately knew who it was.

"Enter." The wooden door was pushed open, and in walked the Senior Intelligence Officer of the Ironpeak Duchy, Isabella. After several days of rest and recovery, her pale cheeks had finally regained a healthy, rosy hue. She had changed into a clean, simple linen tunic and trousers today. Though entirely stripped of the opulent finery suited for a high-ranking Duchy official, the rustic clothing completely failed to mask her statuesque figure and the sharp, competent aura of a noblewoman.

Isabella looked up, her golden hair cascading over her shoulders. Her beautiful eyes surged with profound, undisguised gratitude.

"These past few days, I have seen with my own eyes how you treated my thirty heavily wounded brothers here in Greywater Village!"

"You spared no expense! You used the most precious magical medicines, fed them the richest meat stews—you practically tore dozens of lives straight back from the very brink of death!" Overwhelming emotion caused Isabella's voice to tremble slightly:"You didn't just save us from that hellish muck and preserve the Duchy's core array. Even after the battle, you continued to treat us with such unreserved, absolute grace."

"Even if my body is ground to dust, I could never fully repay this debt, Lord Soren!" A warm, comforting smile—like a gentle spring breeze—graced Soren's face.

"I have said it before: the human faction shares a single breath and a single destiny."

"Saving you and your men is simply defending our collective front line. There is no need for such formalities." Isabella took the opportunity to stand up straight. She inhaled a deep breath of the warm air, her expression shifting to one of absolute solemnity. As a senior military officer commanding a massive intelligence network, she knew better than anyone that in this brutal, chaotic era, empty words of gratitude were practically worthless!

Only by offering equivalent, high-level strategic intelligence—intel capable of shifting the tides of war—could she truly repay this monumental life debt! Furthermore, after witnessing the unfathomable, terrifying military potential of Greywater Village with her own eyes, Isabella had made a drastic decision deep in her heart—one that blatantly violated the strict non-disclosure protocols of the Ironpeak Duchy. She was going to treat Soren as a true ally and initiate full intelligence sharing!

"Lord Soren, I will spare you further empty pleasantries." Isabella stepped forward, lowering her voice to a cautious whisper:"To repay your life-saving grace, and for the safety of the thousands of soldiers here in Greywater Village, I must disclose two pieces of strategic intelligence that the Ironpeak Duchy's Military Intelligence Bureau spent countless lives to intercept just days ago!"

Hearing this, the gentle warmth in Soren's eyes vanished in a heartbeat, instantly replaced by the razor-sharp focus of a commander entering battle mode. He pulled out a heavy wooden chair and pointed to the opposite side of the desk.

"Sit and speak." Isabella didn't sit. Instead, she planted both hands firmly on the mahogany desk, leaning forward slightly as she dropped the first bombshell:"The first piece of intelligence!"

"Due to your recent god-like military campaigns at Soul-Severing Gorge and Bloodfang Fortress, where you annihilated massive swaths of elite Orcs and even decapitated Mogg, the direct nephew of the Blood Province Governor... your reputation has utterly infuriated the supreme echelons of the Orc Alliance!"

Isabella gulped hard, a deep, primal fear surfacing in her eyes:"According to our most reliable intercepts, the absolute trump card legion under the command of The Beast Court—the [Bloodbone Legion]—has broken camp and is currently marching toward the Misty Swamp warzone at full speed!" Hearing the name "Bloodbone Legion", Soren's gaze sank dangerously. Although he operated on the fringes of the swamp, having captured mountains of Orcish documents, he was intimately familiar with that cursed name!

If the Black Iron Orcs he had annihilated previously were the regular infantry, and the Black Steel Orcs were the elite royal guards... Then the [Bloodbone Legion] was the most terrifying, nightmare-inducing military force in the entire Orc Alliance! This legion was composed entirely of grizzled veterans who had survived countless meat-grinder battles. They were clad in absurdly heavy armor, their skin scarred top-to-bottom with dark Shamanic totems specifically designed to trigger a horrifying Bloodrage!

Once unleashed on the battlefield, they plunged into a painless, berserk frenzy of absolute slaughter. Wherever they marched, they left absolutely no survivors!

"The Bloodbone Legion..." Soren narrowed his eyes in thought.

"It seems Greywater Village's dazzling battle records have finally forced the Orc high command's hand, compelling them to deploy their true vanguard in a desperate bid to crush us." Yet, rather than showing a shred of panic, a cold, predatory smirk crawled across Soren's face. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. This was the inevitable price of making a name that shook the continent.

But at the same time, this was the ultimate, blood-soaked crucible needed to test whether his newly expanded [Macedonian Phalanx] and his [Black Steel Elites] could hold their own against the absolute apex military forces of this world!

"The primary operational target of this ace legion is, without a doubt, you and Greywater Village!" Seeing the flicker of battle-lust in Soren's eyes, Isabella was internally shocked. However, the second piece of intelligence she was about to provide instantly wiped the smirk off Soren's face, replacing it with an apocalyptic burst of killing intent!

"Lord Soren, compared to the frontal assault of the Bloodbone Legion, this next piece of intel is the true nightmare. It is a catastrophe capable of subjecting the entire human defensive line to absolute extinction!" Isabella's lips began to turn ashen white:"The plague alchemy unit operating directly under the Spire of Shadows... The [Cult of the Withered]... has been secretly deployed!"

"What?!" Soren bolted upright from his chair! Plague units! Biological warfare! As a former elite special forces operative deeply versed in modern military doctrines, Soren's understanding of biological warfare and plague weaponry was a hundred times more profound—and a hundred times more horrific—than any native general in this world could ever comprehend! The slashing of swords and cold steel could be mitigated by heavy black steel armor.

The explosive bombardment of magical fireballs could be dodged by dispersing formations and digging deep trenches. But a plague?! That was an omnipresent, inescapable reaper!

"What exactly is their operational objective?" Soren gripped the edge of the desk, his eyes locked dead onto Isabella.

"According to top-secret intel from an insider who paid for the message with their life..."

"The Cult of the Withered plans to poison the major aquifers and water sources of the Misty Swamp. Furthermore, at the wind gaps nearest to the human border battlefields, they plan to release a weaponized plague fog synthesized from massive piles of rotting corpses and hyper-lethal miasma!"

"Those absolute lunatics. They are initiating full-scale, indiscriminate biological warfare!" BOOM! A thunderous buzzing erupted in Soren's mind. He knew all too well just how apocalyptic this extreme measure truly was! Once a highly virulent plague was unleashed across the swamp, it wouldn't just be his heavily armored soldiers dying—inhaling the toxic gas would leave them covered in festering boils, coughing up their own liquified lungs inside their pristine armor!

Worse, the thousands of defenseless half-elf women and children in Greywater Village, the elderly goblins, and the massive influx of human refugees sheltering in the primeval forests... they would all be wiped out entirely in a matter of days!

"To completely eradicate the human resistance in the Misty Swamp, the Orc high command is actually willing to reduce this entire thousand-mile ecosystem into an absolute dead zone..." Soren gritted his teeth, a terrifying, suffocating killing intent radiating from his body!

"Isabella, thank you for this intelligence." Soren forced his racing heart to calm down, instantly grasping the horrifying geopolitical scale of this crisis. This was no longer just a "Greywater Village" problem. Once the plague rode the seasonal monsoon winds deep into the heartlands of the Ironpeak Duchy and the Silvermoon Kingdom, the entirety of humanity's rear logistical base would devolve into an apocalyptic disaster zone!

"Meyer!" Soren suddenly snapped his head toward an empty corner of the room, unleashing a deafening roar.

"My Lord! I am here!" The shadows in the corner writhed violently. Intelligence Captain Meyer instantly deactivated his [Chameleon] camouflage, dropping to one knee with cold sweat drenching his forehead. Clearly, he had overheard the entire nightmare as well.

"Immediately mobilize every single asset in your goblin scout network!" Displaying the supreme macro-vision of a true commander, Soren rapidly issued a barrage of absolute directives:"Dispatch Red-level Urgent Missives at once! Target Commander Leona of the Crimson Moon Knights, Commander Galahad of Ironwood Fortress, and the Supreme Commander of the Holy Halycon Empire, Grand Duke Valentine at Megalith Fortress!"

"Warn the entire Human Alliance front! Order them to instantly stockpile medicinal herbs and seal off all exposed, open-air wells! Institute rigorous quarantine checks on all refugees entering the fortresses! We must preemptively brace for Orcish biological warfare!" Soren understood the harsh reality better than anyone: without the lips, the teeth would freeze.

If the plague caused the entire Human Alliance front line to collapse, then no matter how formidable his forces were, Greywater Village would be reduced to an isolated island, eventually drowning beneath the sheer weight of the Orcish military machine!

"By your command! I will run my legs off if I have to, but those missives will be delivered!" Meyer solemnly accepted the orders and spun around, preparing to sprint out the door.

"Wait, Lord Soren!" Suddenly, as if remembering something crucial, Meyer halted. Frantically reaching into his inner leather tunic, he pulled out a scroll of parchment covered in erratic, cryptic symbols, presenting it to Soren with both hands.