"About three hundred people," the royal steward bowed, "all of them are royal family members and guests who didn't have time to leave. The other knights took their weapons and stayed outside, and the citizens only sent some children and women in."

"The lions of Cintra..." Mossak sighed, and then instructed the royal steward, "Go check if there are enough supplies."

The butler nodded in agreement and walked out of the room.

Turning around, Ciri looked at Mossak in disbelief, her eyes misty with tears: "What does it mean that the Nilfgaardians... have entered the city? Where are grandma and grandpa?"

Mossak hesitated for a moment, then said, "The scouts who escaped said that a group of Skellige sailors intervened in the battle and rescued the king and queen. I just don't know why they haven't returned yet."

He consoled them: "They must not have fallen into the hands of the Nilfgaardians, otherwise the Nilfgaardians would have used this as a threat instead of attacking by force."

Ciri's young body kept shaking. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly heard a loud noise coming from outside the city.

Everyone in the house was caught off guard and their shoulders shook violently. They ran to the window to check the source of the sound, only to see a shocking hole in the outer wall of the castle, and Nilfgaard's soldiers were rushing towards here like a tide.

“How come it’s so fast!”

When Mossak heard the soldiers exclaiming, his eyes became sharp, and the druid's natural and peaceful qualities disappeared in an instant.

He took his oak staff in his left hand and clasped his right hand together like a tiger's claw. All the plants surrounding the wall seemed to come alive in an instant, connecting to each other and tightly surrounding the castle.

The Nilfgaardian soldiers seemed to want to come in through the gap, but when they were crossing the plants, they suddenly hit a layer of green light curtain and flew out. The soldiers who had already entered the city wall wanted to get out in panic, but were firmly stopped.

The guards of Cintra rushed forward.

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief, but Mossak knew that things were not that simple.

"Sward!" The sword guard heard Mossak calling his name, "Geralt is outside the north gate of the castle. Ens and Hardy have my warrant. Ask them to pick up Geralt. I need the White Wolf to locate the portal to Kaer Morhen!"

"Butler, go get Ciri's cloak!"

Mossak looked around at the guards and said, "I know the queen has ordered you to chop off the witcher's head if you see him, but now he is here to protect the princess. I believe you can distinguish the importance of the matter."

The guards nodded in agreement, and a man dressed as a captain walked out of the room with Sword, informing all the soldiers along the way to let them pass.

"Wait, Uncle Mossak." Ciri suddenly panicked, "Where should I go? Am I not going to wait for grandma and grandpa? Where is Kaer Morhen?"

"Listen to me, Ciri," Mossak said softly, "This may be difficult for you to understand - although you have been fighting against fate all your life, fate is still on our side. We have made many wrong choices and must stop now.

Geralt will take you ahead, I will continue to wait for the king and queen here, and help as many people as possible to evacuate. I will come back to find you later, okay? "

Ciri shook her head fiercely, unable to hold back her tears any longer: "You all thought I knew nothing and were all lying to me. Lan lied to me, grandpa and grandma also lied to me, and now even you are lying to me?"

"Ciri, listen to me..."

“I am also a lion of Cintra!” Ciri suddenly shouted, “I’m not going anywhere!”

Her voice was unusually high-pitched, neither a scream nor a roar, but it hurt everyone's eardrums.

Then, an invisible wave spread out from Ciri to the surroundings, shattering all the cups, vases and mirrors in the room.

The magic in Mossak's hand shook for a while, and he finally managed to stabilize it. He stared at Ciri with eyes wide open, full of disbelief.

“Ciri… at this time, why at this time…”

At this moment, behind the soldiers who were rushing in like a tide, a group of people who were obviously not dressed like soldiers suddenly appeared. The leader was a short-haired woman dressed in a unique way, and behind her were men and women wearing cloaks that made it impossible to see their faces. The druid seemed to sense something and immediately turned his head to look over.

Although only the leading woman was dressed gorgeously, and although the men and women behind her were as square as servants, the magical fluctuations were unmistakable, these people were all warlocks!

Mossak gritted his teeth. There were so many!

Seeing the amazing range of Mossak's defensive spell, Fringilla exclaimed: "It's amazing, Druid. Although I don't know what happened to the fluctuation just now, but - I found it!"

Then she tilted her head to signal, and the warlocks behind her simultaneously released waves of chaotic energy, which transformed into dozens of elemental attacks of various forms and bombarded the green screen in mid-air.

The huge pressure acted on Mossak's body, and the natural energy in his body poured out like a pool of water that had been opened. Mossak originally thought that it would be enough to support him until dawn, but now it seemed that he might not be able to survive until dusk.

What was worse was that his magic power was tightly held by the dozen warlocks, and he couldn't even free his hands to open the portal. As long as he stopped, the dozen or so magic beams would instantly penetrate the defense and kill everyone in the room.

"There's no time left, guards, take the princess and leave immediately!"

"Ciri, go north with Geralt to Brokilon! It's the border of four countries, there are dryads there, and it's also very close to Temeria. Nilfgaard will never go near there unless they want to go to war with the entire North at the same time!"

"Uncle Mossak!" Ciri cried and was carried away by the guards. Suddenly, only Mossak and a royal knight were left in the room.

The knight had been silent just now. Now he looked at Mossak's ferocious expression and sweaty forehead, sighed and walked forward to ask: "Advisor Mossak, it's time, right?"

Mossak was silent. He was unwilling to confirm such a question. When Calanthe issued such an order, he strongly opposed it. But this order was unanimously passed by others.

What kind of group of lions are these...

Silence meant consent. The knight nodded, facing Mossak, and stepped back to the door.

"Counselor, His Majesty has asked me to convey this to you—" he said solemnly, "Mossak, it is an honor for all of Cintra to receive your help."

The knight bowed deeply to Mossak, turned around and disappeared into the corridor.

Mossak was silent for a while, his expression gradually becoming sad. He whispered in the direction the knight left, "Me too, Your Majesty."

The protective shield in front of her became weaker and weaker. Fringilla Vigo seemed to have finally waited for the opportunity she wanted. She opened her hands, and magical fluctuations that were much more powerful than those of the warlocks behind her began to boil at this moment.

Inside the castle, everyone in the room finally evacuated. Mossak, who no longer had any scruples, withdrew his hands, and the natural energy gathered again in another way -

"boom!"

The violent explosion directly blew off a corner of the castle, and a large section of the city wall was overturned from the inside out. Countless Nilfgaardians were crushed to death by the falling rocks. The soldiers who were fighting with swords stopped and covered their ears in pain, with blood constantly flowing out from between their fingers.

The entire battlefield was paused because of this violent magical collision, and the crowd was silent for a moment. Then, as if Black Sun and the Lion had accumulated enough strength during this pause, they each roared even louder!

The knight who delivered the queen's message to Mossak walked out of the room without stopping. The shouts and explosions did not disturb him at all.

He walked to the door of the nearest room and nodded to the two guards guarding the door. The two men drew their swords and walked out of the castle. Their mission here was over.

"Madam, Miss." The knight looked at the royal family members in the room who were attracted by his actions and took out a small bottle from his arms. "It's time."

The royal family members in the house understood something. The mother hugged her trembling daughter and gently took the vial handed over by the knight. She pretended to be calm:

"Esek...if I remember correctly, you are my cousin."

The woman in the room said softly. After seeing the knight nod, she forced a smile and said, "Then you must let the Nilfgaardians see... the might of the angry lion."

The knight's eyes wavered slightly: "Of course."

Knight Esek passed through each room, and the guards at the door left one by one. Their footsteps were accompanied by the sound of glass bottles breaking and human bodies falling to the ground.

The knight walked all the way to the castle gate. In front of him was a tide of Black Sun soldiers, and the three-lion flag retreated again and again.

He drew his sword and threw himself into the crowd without hesitation.

…

A group of black-armored soldiers ran past the castle. When their footsteps went far away, a secret door of the castle opened. Two royal guards poked their heads out first to check the situation and confirm that it was safe. Then two more guards hurriedly ran out, escorting Ciri.

At this moment, the princess was wearing a brown griffin skin cloak and holding a reddish-brown cloth bag in her arms, which contained a long object.

This secret door is right next to the stable, and there are some fast horses inside that could not be taken away in time or were left behind on purpose.

"Horse, Princess. Get on the horse!"

The leading guard held Ciri in his arms, and the five of them ran towards the north gate, but they didn't notice a team of black-armored soldiers appearing at the corner behind them.

Ciri huddled against the cold plate armor of the commander of the guards, and suddenly felt something smelly coming out of her head. When she looked up, she saw that it was the blood from the commander of the guards' neck.

An arrow pierced his neck from behind. Following the trajectory of the arrow, a knight wearing black armor with gold patterns and a winged helmet slowly put down the longbow in his hand.

The Knight Commander fell to the ground from his horse holding the screaming Ciri. He used his last bit of strength to control his center of gravity, allowing himself to serve as a cushion to prevent the princess from getting hurt. The horse ran away with an empty back.

The remaining three guards were frightened and reined in their horses. They tried to fight back to protect the princess, but were easily wiped out by the enemy who outnumbered them several times.

"Count Cassiel, she is Princess Cirilla. I have seen her at a banquet before!"

Upon hearing this, the Winged Helmet Knight stepped forward and lifted up the dazed Ciri. The voice that came through the gap in his armor was filled with joy: "Finally found her!"