Chapter 1396: Chapter 1396

Norman Charle felt a tense thread in his mind, as the current situation presented both opportunity and danger. Owen Bertram outside the city would not be easy to deal with!

By midday, the news of eighty-seven Demon Soldiers being "poisoned" on the city wall reached Norman Charle. Adhering to the principle of no trivial matters on the battlefield, he asked for details on the matter. Fortunately, he was Tier-6; otherwise, he might have been exhausted by now.

"They were poisoned and paralyzed due to a whiff of fragrance?" Norman Charle couldn’t believe it. There were many poisonous gases in the world that could make ordinary people unconscious, but even for ordinary people, such an effect would require a closed environment.

Demon Soldiers generally ranked around Tier-2. The poisonous gas capable of knocking them out would be very expensive and shouldn’t be used against low-ranking soldiers. Plus, the open environment on the city wall would make it difficult for the poison to take effect.

For the poisons and poisonous gases of the Cultivation World to be truly effective, they usually needed the support of Arrays and Curse Skills.

After the Demon Cultivators treated the poisoned Demon Soldiers, Norman Charle personally inquired about the incident. Their answers only confused him further: "I smelled a fragrance, like the dishes cooked by my mother when I was young... Yes, that’s right! It was the nostalgic scent of meals that demons miss so much!"

Subsequently, Norman Charle ordered his subordinates to gather the "testimonies" of the eighty-seven Demon Soldiers, and eventually reached this jaw-dropping conclusion: it was the aroma of food.

One of Norman Charle’s deputies stated firmly: "General, this must be a massive conspiracy by the Human Race! There was no sign of cooking in the Human Race’s camp at that time, so we can conclude that this is a new type of poison gas specifically targeting our race. They are testing their new weapon on a small scale, and we must make a targeted arrangement!"

Norman Charle did not comment, leaving his subordinates unsure if he agreed or disagreed. Norman Charle wasn’t entirely convinced by this conclusion. Poisoning the entire defending army of Customs City with poison gas? This plan seemed unrealistic.

However, the deputy general soon began mobilizing in the army. His family had recently developed a unique Demon Artifact shaped like a peculiar hat that covered the entire head, intended for the use of demon explorers to resist various miasmas in the Extinction Domain.

But the Demon Clan was never a refined race; even when faced with miasma, they preferred to rely on their innate resistance rather than spend money on such a thing to cover their heads.

Tens of thousands of these items were produced but ended up sitting in warehouses.

On the second morning, Norman Charle’s subordinates, apparently after a night of "careful deliberation," were all convinced that the Human Race planned to use poison gas to attack Customs City, and that they should be prepared to deal with it in advance.

The three Sages of Demons also sent people to express concern and worry about the matter. Norman Charle did not object, and immediately agreed to purchase a hundred thousand of these peculiar hats.

The night before, the deputy general had discussed the issue with Norman Charle, and upon learning that four more shops had been added to his private assets, Norman Charle cheerfully approved his judgment.

After all, it was Demon Court’s money, and having precautionary measures like these hats wouldn’t hurt, right? They might even come in handy. If they turned out to be unnecessary, it wouldn’t matter, as they wouldn’t weaken the fighting power of the Demon Soldiers.

As for the dozens of Demon Soldiers who were poisoned and paralyzed at dinner last night - ah, bad luck! The cowardly and evasive captains on the city wall hid this incident until the next evening when the Nine Witch Demon Court’s rapid procurement process had been completed. Those corrupt captains were finally exposed, whipped, and demoted to logistics as couriers.

A cushy, fat job with no need to fight on the frontline. This disciplinary action was truly severe!

In just a day and a half since the first batch of eighty-seven Demon Soldiers were "poisoned" and paralyzed, there were six poisoning incidents. It didn’t quite add up, as there had only been five meals in between.

They didn’t know that Verna had woken up hungry in the middle of the night and made herself a late-night snack.

On the third morning, Norman Charle suddenly became vigilant because the female demon with General Hugo’s token entered the city!

Princess Amelia should have arrived yesterday, but she got lost again...

Norman Charle knew her background and had learned about her temperament from General Hugo, so he was very cautious. He considered many plans for how to "receive" the princess but ultimately gave up on them. When the news of Princess Amelia’s arrival in the city came, Norman Charle rushed to the city gate to speak with her directly: "I don’t know how to accommodate you, so state your own requests and I’ll satisfy them all. If anything goes wrong, please take responsibility and don’t involve me."

When he reached the city gate, however, he did not see the Little Princess. One of his trusted subordinates reported: "I am incompetent and did not dare to stop the princess. When I asked her where she wanted to go... I ended up with a severed arm."

Norman Charle felt a headache coming on. The Little Princess had quite a temper -- severing a person’s arm just like that?His subordinate’s arm had been reattached, but after this great battle, his strength was reduced to only 70%.

"General, should we order a city-wide search?"

"No." Norman Charle had already figured out Princess Amelia’s temperament: "A city-wide search would only lead to my own beheading."

The gate facing the human camp in Customs City is the East Gate. Once the war starts, this side of the city wall would be the first to be attacked by the human army, and guarding this place means a higher likelihood of dying quickly.

That’s why the demon soldiers would avoid guarding the east wall if they could. However, for the past two days, the post at the east wall had become popular, all due to the mysterious "food scent" that appeared from time to time!

Although it made the demons weak after smelling it, those who experienced it found that... this feeling of being weak and muddy afterward was simply too wonderful.

Even an old donkey demon claimed that it was even more enjoyable than the time when he fought seven brothel demon women in West City Alley during his youth.

All the poisoned demon soldiers agreed with the old donkey demon’s point of view, but they questioned the number of brothel demon women he fought in one night.

Moreover, after being "poisoned", they could rest for a few days, so the demon soldiers tried every means to get on the east wall to experience this wonderful feeling.

When the daylight came and it was time for breakfast, the demon soldiers crowded onto the city wall - this short section of the wall was said to be the easiest to be "poisoned". Originally, only thirty demon soldiers were needed, but now there were four hundred of them!

The demon soldiers eagerly looked down at the rising cooking smoke from the human camp, hoping that the moment would come soon: "It’s coming, it’s coming."

A demon soldier who was not strong enough and was squeezed to the back suddenly felt something strange. He looked back and found a 14-15-year-old little girl standing beside him. She was wearing delicate clothes and accessories, and exuded an indescribable innocence and loveliness.

"Where did this little girl come from?" It was not allowed for ordinary demons to come up to the city wall anymore, but before he could ask, the front suddenly fluctuated: "It’s here..."

The front row of demon soldiers had already started to feel weak with contented faces – the little girl suddenly jumped up and stood on top of the demon soldiers.

The tallest demon soldier among them was a Bamboo Insect Demon, who looked like a bamboo pole. The little girl stepped on his head and then took a deep breath in the direction of the scent.

All the poisonous smoke entered her belly. However, she didn’t feel any weakness, but rather got excited. Drool flowed down, washing the unfortunate Bamboo Insect Demon’s face.

"It’s so delicious!" The Divine Princess followed the scent and landed heavily outside the city, smashing a large pit on the ground.

She got up from the pit, her two white legs running fast, leaving a gray dragon on the ground and plunging straight into the human camp!

On the city wall, the demon soldiers lamented, their faces downcast, as all the poisonous smoke had been absorbed by the little girl. However, none of the demon soldiers realized the issue—just now, they didn’t dare to stop the little girl due to their instincts.

Only the Bamboo Insect Demon, who had his face washed with drool, managed to improve his aptitude in the following dozen years, progressing from a Tier-2 demon to a Tier-5 demon.

But the demons close to him found that his mind didn’t seem to work too well.