Sword of Dawn

Page 487

Bertila nodded, and her eyes swept over the priests of the former eternal sleepers on the edge of the square—many of them were familiar to her, and she had even cooperated with these people as a dark priest in the past many years More than once, but at this moment, the surviving parts of the two dark sects once again stand on the position of cooperation... Even she, who has completely turned her back on the gods, still wants to lament the incredible fate.

"This 'brain' will be lent to you from now on, take out your neural network and brain wave amplification technology, I will continue to catalyze the other 'brains' in the chamber, and try to let them I will be working within three days," she looked at Selina Geerfen with a serious tone, "But even though I lent it to you, please treat it as carefully as possible. My brain is still useful. After the war, I I still plan to use them to continue thinking about the problem..."

Bertila's remarks made Selena, who is always calm and calm, couldn't help showing a strange expression on her face, her eyebrows seemed to twitch: "I thought it would be easy for you to create these 'brains'... After all, you just said that these 'brains' are similar to Thorin berries."

"How is it possible—although they are all gestational products of giant trees, their brains are many times more complex than the fruits of Thorin. First of all, in terms of growth cycle..."

The topic seemed to develop in a strange direction out of nowhere, and Yuri, who was standing by the side and hadn't spoken much, finally couldn't help whispering to Wendy: "Damn it... I may not be able to eat the Sorin fruit anymore... ..."

"...Please stop talking, I already have a picture in my mind..."

……

The majestic Winter Wolf Castle stands tall on the border of Typhon, but the flag flying over the castle is no longer the Typhon coat of arms with red stripes on a black background—the blue flag is flying high in the cold wind, and the flag on the flag is Embroidered with the sword and plow logo in golden silk thread, this frontier fortress is now the frontline command center of the Cecil Legion, and has been transformed into impregnable water after emergency repairs and additions.

On a clear and cold day, Gawain arrived at this fortified fortress on the front line.

The dry and cold wind in the northern wilderness area blows from the direction of the plain, and howls into the walls of Winter Wolf Fortress. In this fortress that has experienced war, some traces of air raids and arson can still be seen—— Part of the buildings in the city are still in ruins, and the city wall separating the outer city from the inner city was blackened by the fire that day, but otherwise, its castle area is still intact and has been used as Philip's command center .

In an open corridor in the castle area, Amber raised her head and looked at a tower not far away. She saw a flag with blue background and gold pattern flying in the wind above the tower, and couldn't help feeling a little emotional: "This is Winter Wolf Castle! ...It was beaten down by us just like that..."

Philip in military uniform stood beside him, and there was a smile on his face when he heard the words: "The Typhons launched hundreds of counterattacks, large and small, trying to take back the fortress, but with the completion of the fortifications and the arrival of follow-up troops, their counterattacks The offensive has been utterly dismantled, and now even the battle lines have been pushed to the defenses of Winterhold."

Gawain came to the edge of the corridor, put his hand on the railing, and looked towards the direction of Typhon's control area with a serious expression on his face: "Is there any new trend in Winterhold now? Since the last air battle, their priests and battle mages Has the regiment ever had a large-scale gathering and mobilization?"

Amber on the side couldn't help blinking when she heard the words: "It hasn't been long since the last air battle, even if it's Typhon, there shouldn't be another 'miracle' in a short time, right?"

"No, you don't know Typhon," Philip shook his head, "Only after direct contact will you have a clear idea of ​​the Typhon people's 'Legion of Extraordinary'. In my opinion, although they were very energetic last time Injury, but if necessary, it is more than enough for them to launch similar 'miracles' a few times in a short period of time, but... They have indeed been quiet during this period, the priests, battle mages, knights and other extraordinary There is no sign of large-scale activity by the Legion of the Raiders."

Philip's words not only did not relax Gawain, but made his expression a little more serious than before.

"The front line of Winter Wolf Castle has now become a 'place of war'. The Typhons created a 'miracle magic' here, just like lighting a fire on a pyre. After the fire started, there was no turning back or stopping Opportunity..." He said while thinking, "At this time they suddenly became 'quiet', it could only be preparing for the next larger-scale formal operation."

"The last 'miracle' was some kind of experiment?" Amber thought for a while, "It's like exploring the way before the official action——Rosetta collected the data he wanted from that 'miracle', then Then he might really want to play for real."

Gawain glanced at the half-elf, and couldn't help nodding his head slightly—maybe he usually seemed too bluffing, but at critical moments, this guy's intuitive judgment was quite reliable.

After a while, he looked at his young army commander again: "Philip, have you ever been influenced by God of War?"

"I have always paid attention to mental protection, and we have set up a large number of magic net terminals on the front line to ensure that the soldiers are always within the coverage of the 'human barrier'. Under these protective measures, neither I nor the soldiers have been polluted by the God of War ,” Philip said immediately, “but we can be sure that the pollution of God of War is everywhere, and it has been trying to erode our mental defenses.”

Gao Wen's expression was serious: "Did you observe anything?"

"Naritiel has captured traces of 'thought trends' of unknown origin in the fringe area of ​​​​the neural network. Occasionally, inexplicable interference will appear in the magic net terminal set in this area. The form of interference is the sudden appearance of prayers or The majestic and majestic announcement, and soldiers who were too close to the Typhon control area and had weak mental defenses saw illusions on the edge of the battlefield, and there was a mysterious radiance in the illusions to lure those soldiers to surrender to the gods."

Philip said with a solemn expression.

"These phenomena have made everyone more vigilant. Now we have stopped advancing towards the Typhon-controlled area, and every day we carry out collective activities to strengthen the will of the soldiers and unite the will of the team, such as group learning and group entertainment in units of squads... …These methods are very effective, at least we can find out those soldiers who are not in the right situation in the first place.”

Gao Wen nodded slightly while listening, and Amber next to him couldn't help shrinking her head when she heard Philip mention those "pollution phenomena". What kind of battlefield is this.

The battle here is by no means the two sides of Typhon and Cecil on the surface, but three parties including the power of the God of War—the invisible power is wandering in this land, like some kind of ghost It has permeated the entire battlefield, it is pervasive, trying to stir up even bigger waves all the time, even here, in this Winter Wolf Castle... the power of the God of War is about to move.

Thinking of this, she subconsciously raised her head and looked at a small terrace not far away.

In the center of the terrace, Siren the Siren was coiling himself up into a very standard lump, and fell asleep without distraction.

As an expert in the field of god perception, and also as a backup in contact with the siren group in an emergency, this visitor from the deep sea also followed Gawain to the front line of Winter Wolf Castle. Amber was slightly relieved when she didn't perceive the appearance of the god's breath.

Gawain noticed Amber's movement, and also glanced in the direction of the terrace, and saw Tyre who was sleeping soundly in the cold wind. After a little judgment, he thought that the other party should have been frozen.

But it's not a big deal, the siren lady will be frozen several times every winter, and she will come back to life after being baked later.

He looked at Philip, intending to continue to learn about Typhon's recent movements, but at this moment, a signal soldier suddenly ran over from the other side of the corridor, interrupting what he wanted to say.

"Your Majesty! Sir!" The messenger quickly ran to Gawain and Philip, and shouted after saluting, "Mr. Soldering is back!"

Chapter 1016 The Approaching God

The arched windows inlaid with crystal glass floated snow particles blown up by the wind, and the ice crystals made a crackling sound when they hit the windows. The thick walls and magic circulation blocked the cold air outside the castle, allowing the room to maintain a warm temperature .

A bright fireplace was burning not far away, and the brilliance of the flames projected on several brass ornaments, reflecting a hazy and swaying light and shadow, and the warm fire light relaxed the heart of the high-level ranger who was busy with travel and dust—this The cold winter doesn't seem to be that cold anymore.

"Tell me about the situation at Winterhold." Gawain walked into the room, and casually took off his cloak and hung it on a hook beside him. "How many of us are still active there now?"

"The main squad of the Iron Rangers has withdrawn to our area of ​​control, and there are still three reconnaissance squads and two mobile squads performing tasks in the area from Winterhold to Frostwood," Soldering said with a nod, "In addition, due to several major The situation in the cities and towns has changed, the pollution of the gods is spreading outside the army, the operatives of the Military Intelligence Bureau lurking in the city have been withdrawn from the dangerous area in batches, and only a few well-protected liaison stations are still operating at a relatively low level."

"Hmm..." Gawain nodded slightly, "It is good to evacuate in advance, the situation is about to change a lot, the stalemate is coming to an end, and the next step is to see the outcome."

"I was a little surprised when I first received the evacuation order-the situation changed faster than I thought," Soldering said, "It seems that the deterioration of the God of War is very fast, and Aldernan can't wait any longer. This is also in line with some of the phenomena I observed before I evacuated."

"Some phenomenon?" Gao Wen immediately became serious, "What phenomenon?"

Soldering organized his language a little bit, and began to report the situation he had observed during his activities in the Winterhold area: "As of the time I evacuated, very obvious visions of divine disasters had begun to appear on the land of the Typhons, and ordinary people began to listen Seeing and seeing some "information" related to the gods, the blocked God of War churches also began to make frequent abnormal noises. In addition, some people witnessed a huge phantom in the sky in the direction of Winterhold, and some relatively clear sighting reports The phantom is described in the book as an iron-gray giant clad in heavy armor."

"...the classic image of God of War in most religious books," Gao Wen said in a deep voice, "a giant in armor, marching in storms and clouds, overlooking the earth..."

Then he asked again: "Did these phenomena appear after that air battle?"

Solderin thought for a while: "If you're talking about those common auditory hallucinations and hallucinations, they happened occasionally before the air battle. The local people think that it's a magical phenomenon produced by the gathering of a large number of battle mages. If you say It's about the giant... that did appear after the air battle a few days ago."

Gawain exhaled slightly, and the information brought by Soldering further confirmed his conjecture about the "God of War coming".

As soon as this idea came to his mind, Soldering, who was standing across from him, suddenly said again: "If my analysis is not mistaken...these phenomena all indicate that the activities of the God of War are becoming stronger, and that he is already 'closer' to us In this world, now that you have even come here in person... Could it be that the God of War will descend?"

Gawain's eyes widened in surprise, and he looked Solderling up and down. Before he could speak, the latter smiled, "I'm not an expert in theology, and I'm not as good at deduction as you are." Ability, but I have accumulated some miscellaneous knowledge over the past few hundred years, and the phenomena I observed recently in the Winterhold area are enough to remind me of something... I just didn't expect that the situation would really become so."

"Rosetta seems to want to do something big." Gao Wen took a long breath. "Even I have to admit that he is quite a scary guy...but he is also a very judgmental and actionable person."

"In my opinion, you are all kind of 'scary' people," Soldering laughed, with emotion in his tone, "Sometimes I can't help but think of the time when I first met you more than 700 years ago You were a more aggressive man back then, feared on the battlefield, but in my opinion, you were a lot more reassuring then than you are today."

"After all, I only had to be responsible for an army at that time, and the burden of the country was on Charlie." Gao Wen said casually, and just as he finished speaking, a familiar mental wave suddenly appeared in the depths of his consciousness, interrupting What he's going to say next.

He waved to Solderin in front of him, signaling him to wait for a while, and then quickly concentrated his mind, immersing his own consciousness into the neural network - a moment later, he ended the sudden communication, and Sol on the opposite side Delin asked immediately after noticing that he had "returned to reality": "What happened?"

"The news just came on the 25th," Gawain said with a serious expression, "Rosetta Augustus left Aldernan yesterday, and Duke Ferdinand also left with him."

Hearing this information, Soldering's expression instantly became serious: at this special moment, under such a change in the situation, Rosetta Augustus himself left his imperial capital suddenly. There is probably only one message...

"It looks like it's about to start." After a few seconds of silence, Gao Wen said slowly in a low tone.

……

The dizziness of the spiritual connection faded away quickly, and Daniel, who was sitting in the chair, opened his eyes.

The fireplace next to it is burning, the warm flames are jumping happily in the hearth, the magic spar lamp illuminates the spacious living room, two magic brooms are automatically cleaning the dust at the corner of the stairs, the old mage is sitting near the fireplace On the easy chair, the lower body was covered with a warm blanket, and an open magic book was placed on his lap, the rune pages in the book were flowing with a moist luster, all this made him look as if he had just performed a Little nap.

The young female mage sitting on a chair reading a book noticed the slight movement of the mentor, and immediately raised her head with concern on her face: "The news has been sent out?"

"Well," Daniel nodded simply, "Is there anything unusual?"

"No, the induction runes installed throughout the house did not respond," Mary said immediately, "No one is spying here."

"That's good," Daniel said with a nod. "Now the situation in Aldernan is very stable on the surface, but the Obsidian Guardsmen and the royal spies behind the scenes are almost breaking their nerves, so even if it's just a few minutes of contact, we must be very careful... …You don’t use neural networks these days, do you?”

"No!" Mary shook her head immediately, "I've always been very careful."

Daniel let out a soft "hmm", and then his eyes fell on Mary, without moving for a long time, the black-haired female mage finally twisted her neck awkwardly under this gaze, and asked with a trace of nervousness : "Mentor... Is there anything I haven't done well?"

There was no fear in her tone anymore, it was just the nervousness of some apprentices when they faced their mentors.

"If you want to go back to the countryside, I can arrange it for you," Daniel said with no expression on his face, "With your current ability and qualifications, I can make you the manager of a certain regional mage society, even if you You can make a good living locally and be respected by many people without wanting to take on a job."

"Why did you say that suddenly?" Mary's eyes widened suddenly, "It's because I messed up in the lab recently..."

"I just recently found that what I'm doing is becoming more and more dangerous, and your brain may not be able to cope with it at all," Daniel said lightly, "When encountering a situation, I have to be distracted to guide you what."

Mary was stunned for a few seconds, it seemed that she needed this time to understand the real intention of the instructor's words, and muster up enough courage after understanding these intentions——she finally organized her thoughts and boldly broke the silence: "Teacher , I can take care of myself, and I don't want to go back to the countryside... I think I'm fine here..."

Her tone finally weakened, and the courage she summoned up in a few seconds was only enough for her to say these dozens of words in front of her majestic mentor, but Daniel showed a somewhat surprised expression because of this, he looked up and down For a moment, he thought of himself as an apprentice who had never been very promising, and remembered what happened when he found the other's parents from the countryside a year ago.

After a while, he withdrew his gaze and snorted coldly: "Then do as you please, there will never be another chance like this in the future."

……

The magic energy train glides smoothly and quickly on the track, and the scenery outside the car window quickly recedes—in the snowy landscape, there are fields buried in snow after harvest and patches of quiet villages.

"We are still a while away from arriving at the eastern checkpoint of Winterhold, Your Majesty." Ferdinand looked at Emperor Typhon, who was sitting on the seat opposite him, "Do you need to take a rest?"

"No need," Rosetta said casually, and at the same time glanced at the scenery outside the car window, "...the magic train is indeed a good thing, and so is the magic machine."

"That's true," Ferdinand said, "so we have to find a way to make them ourselves no matter what the cost."

Rosetta let out a "hmm", his gaze seemed to be attracted by the field outside the car window, and he stared at it for a long time before breaking the silence again: "Pei Dinan, do you still remember our last hunt in 716?"

Ferdinand recalled: "You mean that winter hunting? Of course I remember it, I was very impressed... It was the year before your coronation, and the winter was very cold that year. We caught several Head deer... That was also the last royal winter hunt. In the second year after that, you were crowned and temporarily canceled the winter hunt for that year. In the third year, you officially announced the complete cessation of the royal winter hunt. Years of royal tradition is over."

"Yeah...then do you still remember what happened during the winter hunting that year?" Rosetta said, looking at Ferdinand, "Don't say you only remember those deer."

"Of course I remember what happened," Ferdinand recalled seriously, "A hunter broke into a forest farm where hunting was banned in winter, trying to secretly shoot a rabbit... His pregnant wife was sick, Need some meat to replenish his body, but the soldiers patrolling around the hunting ground found him, without any trial or notification, the soldiers directly shot the hunter with bows and arrows... just like shooting animals in the hunting ground."

"Yeah, it's like hunting animals," said Rosetta calmly. "At that time, many people took it for granted."

"Even a few years ago, some people took it for granted - all this has only gradually changed in the last two or three years. There are more and more scholars and capable merchants and runesmiths among the literate commoners , and even civilians began to enter all levels of government offices and parliaments. After the systems of nutrition, education, and newborn pre-selection matured and got on the right track, the number of awakened extraordinary people in the civilian class also began to increase. Now the proportion of extraordinary awakened by nobles and ordinary people is almost There is no gap, after that, the nobles have to admit that the commoners have the same thinking, learning and growth abilities as them, or more bluntly... admit that the commoners are the same species as them."

Rosetta listened to Ferdinand's narration, and all the emotional changes were hidden in the calm and slightly sullen expression. It was not until after more than ten seconds of silence that he looked in the direction of Winterhold and softly broke the silence: "Yes, we It took almost 20 years to barely make it all…”

"It took more than ten years for some people to realize an obvious fact that complies with the laws of nature. These things were not clearly recognized from the beginning..."

Rosetta didn't respond any more, he just looked out the window in a daze, looking towards the direction of Winterhold, at the end of the snow-capped fields on both sides of the train was the rolling hills of the defense line of Winterhold, and Rosetta His eyes gazed at the vast sky between the mountains and the clouds.

There is a faint starlight floating in one of his eyes, and another eye seems to be inlaid deep in the pupil, and he can clearly see the vision in the depths of the sky——

A giant covered in iron-gray armor is standing in the clouds, overlooking this small and fragile world with empty and cold eyes. He carries a flag and a giant sword on his back, and holds a war bow as tall as a clock tower in his hand.

That is God. Standing under the clear sky of this winter, He seems to be in the hunting ground that belongs to Him alone. The majestic city and the continuous countryside seem to be just the decoration of the hunting ground with colorful flags in front of the huge body. Under the bow of war, all mortals in the world—whether kings or commoners, heroes or pawns—seem to be animals waiting to be slaughtered.

The wheels rolled, the train whizzed, and the wind with snow particles rolled up between the repulsion mechanism and the relay pile. The magic train gradually accelerated and rushed straight to the towering god at the end of the horizon that was about to fully enter this world.

While this mana train was driving towards the border, dozens of knights and battle lines were on the more than ten lines of communication from the hinterland of Typhon to Winterhold, between the wilderness and the valley, between the river and the plain. The mage group, hundreds of thousands of extraordinary soldiers, are moving towards the battle zone.

Chapter 1017 The Tide

The large-scale military movement in the direction of Winterhold cannot be concealed—it is even grandiose at all.

In Cecil's control area, in the front command post of Winter Wolf Castle, officers and staff members gathered in the former castle hall, where information from all sides flowed in like a river flowing into the sea, one message after another was delivered, one order after another After being issued, the sky above each Magic Net terminal reflected the distant scene, and a large number of busy civilian personnel and commanders were busy here.

Gawain stood in front of a large sand table at the end of the hall, Philip and Maryland beside him deduced the current military deployment of the Typhons around Winterhold, and Solderin, who had changed back to the Iron Ranger commander suit, strode forward In front of them, he said in a hasty tone: "The reconnaissance team found a large number of battle mages and mixed legions near Green Town. It is preliminarily estimated that at least a dozen legions are moving to the front line from there..."

Philip looked up at Gawain, with a serious look on his face, while Maryland took the battle flag model next to the sand table, and silently set it on the corresponding position on the map according to the information brought by Soldering—and here Around the newly added red flag, the red mark representing the Typhon Legion has covered the entire defense line of Winterhold, as dense as a river.

"Do all the superhumans of the Typhon people grow out of the land..." Amber, who stood aside, widened her eyes in astonishment, "Where did so many superhuman legions come from... Where are they? Are you going to flood the battlefield with a sea of ​​people?"

"All the standing and reserve armies in Typhon, some of the rotating troops near the southern border and the east coast, and the transcendents directly under the royal family... I'm afraid they have all been transferred here," Gawain frowned and said in a low voice, "this I am afraid that the number cannot even be spread on the main plain between Winterhold and Winterwolf Castle..."

"Oh my god..." Amber was startled, "Is that Rosetta crazy? Let alone how many people can be used on the frontal battlefield with so many people crammed around a Winterhold, he is not afraid of the domestic situation getting out of control ? The inside of Typhon is going to become 'hollow'..."

"Indeed, with a transfer of this scale, I'm afraid that Typhon's interior has reached the critical line of maintaining normal order... But compared to this, Rosetta can mobilize such a large force from across the country so quickly and on a large scale, and can still maintain Domestic order, this is the most worthy of our attention," Gao Wen said in a low voice, while his eyes were slowly sweeping across the sand table, the information gathered here in the past few days was forming a clearer image in his mind, making the whole The topographical map became more three-dimensional, "...Solderling, you mentioned before that a large number of convoys loaded with concentrated energy crystals entered the Winterhold area from the Ankham Crossing?"

Soldering nodded: "Yes, the exact number is unknown, we can only confirm that there are very, very many, and after entering the Winterhold area, they were diverted and transported to several mountains near the fortress - those mountains have been marked on the sand table Out."

Gao Wen hummed, he did see the high mountains marked on the sand table, they were distributed around the white castle on the top of the mountain, forming a series of excellent commanding heights together with "Winter Castle" However, although they are excellent commanding heights, those mountains are still quite far away from Cecil's control area. Whether it is Cecil's largest rainbow light main cannon or the Typhon's legion-level spells, there is no difference. Any target on the line of fire between the two countries could be threatened from that distance.

Maryland could also see this. He stared at the picture on the sand table, and said softly as if talking to himself: "From this distance...our outpost should not be hit."

"Yes, I can't get it, so I'm afraid this thing is not for us." Gawain nodded slightly, then he thought for a while, and suddenly looked at Amber beside him, "Where is Veronica now? "

"In the prayer room on the top floor of the castle," Amber replied immediately, "do you want to call her over?"

"No, what she's doing now is very important, it's best not to leave that prayer room...I'll go there myself."

……

On the uppermost floor of Winter Wolf Castle, the dense holy radiance flows through the room like water, and some kind of slight sound that wanders around the edge of human ear recognition echoes in the air. Together, they build a peaceful and tranquil "field", allowing An entire floor of the building here is filled with relaxing and uplifting energy.

Veronica/Ophelia, holding a platinum scepter, is standing in the center of the prayer room on the top floor, feeling the flow of the holy light with her eyes slightly closed. There is a faint light flowing, and a symbol symbolizing pure holy light is stepped on by her. From time to time, some hazy phantoms will appear on the surface of the symbol-sometimes it is the mountains in the distance, sometimes it is not like the world. palaces, but more often they are incomprehensible, ever-changing lights, shadows and lines.

Suddenly, Veronica opened her eyes, and she turned to look at the door beside her. In the next second, Gawain pushed the door open and walked in.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Veronica nodded slightly, and said softly, "Everything is as usual here."

"How is the monitoring situation?" Gao Wen said casually, "Is the power of God of War still seeping into this world?"

"Of course... the power that does not belong to this world is increasing every second, and the huge power of faith has converged into a river, flowing from all over the place. At this moment, this place is already the focus of the power of war in the world," Vero said. Nika said softly, and at the same time slightly raised the platinum scepter in her hand, and waved it towards the wall on the east side. The thick wall made of enchanted stone bricks was instantly soaked in the shimmering light, and it seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. Completely transparent, revealing the distant mountains in the direction of Winterhold, "You can see for yourself—through the veil of holy light, you can see Him."

Gawain looked in the direction of Veronica's finger, and after concentrating his gaze a little, he almost immediately discovered the huge phantom hovering between the clouds and the earth—he seemed to be something in a higher dimension. The image cast by the current material world seems to be wandering on the ground, but it also has an unreal sense of distance and illusion. No matter how concentrated and carefully observed by Gawain, he can't see any details of it clearly.

It seems that all the "details" have not been projected from that higher dimension.

"Is that the God of War?" Gawain said with a serious expression, "Is this what Soldering saw?"

"That's the God of War, but it's not quite there, so even if ordinary people occasionally witness it, they won't be immediately spiritually polluted. He is entering our world at a slow but real speed, and as more and more priests and believers Being 'driven' to this area by the Emperor Rosetta, the process of His 'advent' is also accelerating," Veronica nodded, "But even so, I'm not sure when He will be completely 'Down' down."

"Isn't it possible to estimate?" Gao Wen asked curiously.