Several days later, north of Berely City, within the territory of the Moon Goddess Hall, an unbroken army of other races sprawled like a vast, writhing blanket of flesh, sealing off every one of the Moon Goddess Hall's hundreds of large and small fortresses so tightly that not even water could leak through. Dense masses of nonhumans huddled inside ramshackle, low-slung tents, chattering and shouting nonsense in the languages of their respective races. The stench of raw meat mixed with bodies unwashed for years was enough to knock even a dragon head over heels.
The Moonlight Knights who had originally been stationed in the Moon Goddess Hall's various castles, along with the Hall's clergy, had long since retreated to safe, warm, comfortable Berely City, where supplies were never a concern, and were living in ease. The ones now defending these castles were temple warriors from dozens of other temples, driven here with kicks to their backsides under the joint orders of Lin Qi and Blackbeard.
Within the main city of the Moon Goddess Hall, a Penitent Knight whose arm had been chopped off by a stone axe lay miserably atop a boulder. His armor was tattered all over, making him look like a smashed metal puppet. He roared himself hoarse, "Send for help from the Holy Mountain! Send for help from Berely! Tell them that if reinforcements don't arrive within half a day, we're all finished!"
The one-armed Penitent Knight furiously waved his remaining arm, howling in rage and grief. "Tell them that the Order of Penitent Knights, the Rageflame Legion, the Gallows Legion, and the Beheading Legion have all been wiped out! Now we only have—"
A two-headed wyvern covered in blue poison spines swept over from the sky. A Wasteland Giant crouched on its back and slapped both