Sword of Dawn

Page 318

The superiors don't have the extra manpower and energy to deal with the dark lair left by the death of all things, so they can only send people to blockade this area first. The sentry tower near the city wall on the west side of Solinburg is part of the entire blockade .

When it was time for the regular report, the sentry turned on the magic terminal next to it, looked at the plain in the distance and said, "Command post, this is sentry tower No. [-], everything in the target area is..."

The sentinel stopped suddenly, staring closely at the starting point of the road of flowers and scorched marks, his tone suddenly became serious: "Wait a minute, there is a situation..."

There was movement from the direction of the plain, a large cloud of smoke rose from the direction of the crack, and it seemed that something was rising from the smoke, and the top of the nearby sentry tower lit up with red flashing lights one after another. The soldiers in the camp also quickly assembled.

A voice from the command post came from the magic terminal: "Outpost No. [-], call back, what happened?"

"Something came up from the crack..." The sentinel stared in shock, "It seems...it seems to be a vine...or a tree?!"

Chapter 0704 After the Giant Beast Falls

When a gigantic beast falls, death does not mean the end of everything.

The remaining vitality will often survive the warming of the corpse, and survive in another form, or continue.

In the depths of the ancient Gondor Empire, chaotic and dry winds whistled on the plain with dust and mist. In a chaotic sky, the dirty clouds twisted and twisted like an upside-down funnel, covering the entire world gloomyly. The energy pulses jumped and shuttled between the vortex clouds, continuously releasing electric arcs and rumbling low-pitched thunder that were several kilometers long, and under the shroud of this terrifying celestial phenomenon, was the wasteland of the imperial capital that was melted and then torn apart.

The former imperial capital has long been turned into dust in the magic explosion, and now only sparse and distorted wreckage remains to prove the existence of human civilization. In the center of the vast plain, a huge impact crater quietly dormant on the ground, and the impact crater carries The crystal-like texture of the inner wall is sunken towards the center layer by layer, and some molten materials that can no longer see the original form are "embedded" on the inner wall, pointing straight to the sky like hideous branches, looking bleak and terrifying.

But even in the depths of such a completely destroyed ruin, there are still things that are "alive"——

At the bottom of the giant impact crater, the scorched earth bulged, and the crystal-like molten material solidified into a cone-shaped structure that seemed to be spliced ​​by countless prisms. out, illuminating the entire deep pit, this magical flame erupted several kilometers into the sky, echoing the swirling charged clouds in the sky, and around the "crystal cone" that erupted the magical flame, you can also see Numerous wandering mana phantoms move about.

This terrible eruption has been going on for 700 years, and it still shows no sign of stopping.

At the bottom of the crystal cone, a pipe extending from the bottom of the crystalline prism extends forward along the trend of the inner wall of the impact pit, and gradually merges into the molten and solidified crystalline substances on the pit wall. There are streams of light constantly emerging in the pipe, as if continuously transporting What kind of material was there? Several muddled mana phantoms lingered around this pipe, driven by instinct to approach this pure and clean energy source, but due to the existence of the pipe wall, they could not absorb the energy inside, showing restlessness .

Suddenly, a light bullet flashed between these wandering mana phantoms. The powerful force contained in the light bullet directly tore one of the phantoms apart, and blasted a cloud of chaotic arcs on the wall of the pit in the distance.

In the next moment, all the mana phantoms left the place quickly.

At the position where the light bullet flew, a narrow entrance and exit opened on the outer wall of the "Crystal Cone" at some point, a tall and straight female figure wearing an old imperial magister uniform stood there quietly, her face blank. He looked at the cloud of electric arc not far away slowly dissipating, with his hands still in the posture of raising his hands to cast spells.

The wind of the chaotic wasteland blew through the bottom of the pit, blowing the silver-gray hair on the forehead of this tall woman. Her appearance was almost impeccable, and there was no flaw on her skin, but there was something in those same silver-gray eyes. As if lacking the necessary emotion, it was as cold as a machine.

She looked in the direction of the energy conduit for a few seconds, and then slowly lowered her hands, a glimmer of light flashed in the depths of her eyeballs.

"Sweeping done, pests expelled.

"The appearance scan of the energy conduit is normal, and the environmental readings are normal.

"2488 Imperial Calendar, Fire Moon 2, Sentinel 4 started patrolling."

Accompanied by a slightly mechanized voice, the tall female imperial magister with long silver-gray hair looked up into the distance, a light blue halo formed by runes spread from her waist, and she left the ground immediately, Fly towards the outer edge of the crater.

"The situation in the warning area is normal...the appearance of each energy conduit is normal...the rest of the sentries are observed, and the vision is normal...we are crossing the outer ring of the ruined area..."

While reporting the situation mechanically, the female magister quickly passed over the impact crater, and finally landed smoothly on the corrupted and torn wasteland outside the crater.

"Arrived at the patrol area outside the ruins, calibrating the monitor..." As she spoke, she raised her head and looked around the desolate and ruined old land of the imperial capital. A clear image is presented.

Her looking around suddenly stopped, and a tall, deformed, swollen monster that seemed to be agglomerated by flowing red mud suddenly entered her line of sight.

"I saw a threatening creature, a unit with high arcane resistance, and started to eliminate it."

Before the mechanized icy voice fell, the female magister had already launched a swift and violent attack. A halo of runes with a complex structure suddenly appeared behind her. At the same time, her legs kicked the ground vigorously. It turned into a phantom, rushing towards the distortion body in the distance at a speed close to that of a knight's charge.

The deformed body also noticed the attacker who was attacking quickly. The monster let out a chaotic roar, and the polluting magic power surged from its body. It raised its arm high, and a mass of black-red corrupt energy quickly formed, but in it Before launching this destructive energy, the female magister in an old uniform rushed over. The latter raised her arm, and an alloy blade popped out of her palm, quickly cutting off the arm used by the deformed body to cast spells. Immediately afterwards, her figure flashed, the blade swirled, and cut off the other arm of the monster neatly—the blade flashed twice, and the strength and speed were comparable to that of an excellent swordsman!

The deformed body let out a chaotic and inexplicable roar, trying to turn its body around to try to catch the movement of the "magister", but its attempt was only halfway through, and an alloy blade had already cut off the weak spot on its back.

The giant-like blood-red monster roared and fell down. The dirty blood and mud disintegrated quickly. The female magister raised her arms, and the alloy blade retracted back into her body. around.

Suddenly, the smoke and dust that should have dissipated naturally stagnated, and another threatening energy response appeared in her perception. She raised her arm in an instant, trying to lock the position of the threatening target, but the smoke and dust entrenched in the air temporarily interfered. Her judgment - in this moment of disturbance, a dry branch-like vine suddenly pierced from the nearby ground, stabbing straight at her back!

Accompanied by the harsh sound of metal cracking, the dry-skinned vine pierced the alloy shell on the back of the "magister", and the latter's body trembled violently, followed by a crackling sound and a series of weird mechanical movements. With the noise, the body of the tall female "magister" finally came to a stillness.

On the ground, there was a rustling sound from the position where the vines drilled out, and a large number of plant structures squirmed out of the fragile decayed soil, and even completely lifted a large area of ​​the nearby ground. People squirmed and reorganized in a shuddering way, and soon condensed into a monstrous and monstrous huge tree form.

One of the giant trees shook its branches, and the twisted and folded features on the bark squirmed: "It feels so good to be able to move freely... We have spent 700 years laying the root network, and now it will come in handy .”

Another giant tree slightly shook the vines that extended out from itself—the vines that pierced the back of the "magister": "It's amazing that these ancient iron men are still functioning."

"Not all mental cores have failed. The most advanced iron man can protect his core through temporary dormancy," the third giant tree said in a hoarse voice, "Look over there, the deep blue well... the iron man Maintaining it in its own way, it has now been transformed into a fortress, and the production and maintenance arrays deep underground together maintain an entire Iron Man Corps..."

The other two giant trees shook their branches at the same time, making a rustling sound: "...It is really difficult for us to directly attack the Deep Blue Well."

"So we need to spread bit by bit, take root bit by bit, and... find a way to get rid of the line of defense formed by these iron men."

The vines piercing the back of the "magister" slowly retracted, and there was a slight buzzing and mechanical friction sound from the body of the magister who had fallen into a static state. She seemed to be trying to restart, but the damage to the magic hub prevented her restart. .

"Take 'her'," the root of the giant tree in the lead squirmed, "'Matrix' will soon notice that a sentry has lost contact, and we will leave here before more iron men climb out."

"Yes, Grand Master."

A giant tree said respectfully, and a large number of branches spread out amidst a rustling sound, wrapping the iron man magister who was in a locked state. Gushing out, all the giant trees quickly merged with those vines, and quickly disappeared in place.

A few minutes later, several tall sentries wearing the uniform of the Gondor magister landed nearby, but the giant trees had completely disappeared, leaving only a pile of ashes that were gradually melting and belonged to aberrations.

……

In a valley tens of kilometers away from the ruins of the Deep Blue Well, countless twisted but luxuriant trees are rooted at the bottom of the valley. The sound brought a strange vitality to this extinct land.

A large number of extraordinarily tall giant deformed bodies with strange spikes on the surface hover around the entrance of the valley, guarding this strange area like sentinels, and in the depths of the valley, countless vines are wriggling out of the ground, and Form the shape of several giant trees in a short time.

One of the giant trees moved its roots and came to a platform. While the crown and branches rattled, it placed a "female magister" wrapped in plant tissue in the center of the platform.

"It's really beyond our expectations..." At the same time as the "cargo" was put on the platform, two voices sounded at the same time as a duet came from the nearby "forest", and a pair of elf sisters walked out of the forest. Looking at the "tree man" in the central open space with an admiring expression, "You seem to be doing well?"

"The lonely iron men are not difficult to deal with, they are very rigid in thinking," the leader of the treants turned around, staring at the elf twins in front of him with his dry and weird face, "Now, it's time for you to show your own value. "

"Pay attention to your words, 'Great Master', we are only cooperating with you, not your subordinates," said the Elf Twins coldly, "Without our help, you may not be able to break through the defense of the Iron Man Corps for 100 years. "

"It's true that we each get what we need, but if we hadn't suffered a crushing defeat in the outside world, the proud twins would not have gone into this wasteland to seek allies," said the new grandmaster of the Death of All Things Society, the leader of the tree people. He said in a hoarse voice, "Now, let both of us give up this meaningless pride—only results are what we both need."

The elf twins didn't say anything else, they just walked past the grand master indifferently, came to the stone platform, and looked down at the iron man sentinel who was in a locked state.

This ancient crystallization of Gondor technology lay quietly on the platform, without breathing or heartbeat, only very subtle clicks and hums came from her body, showing that her self-healing was still in progress, just temporarily Just crashed.

"Very well, at least you haven't destroyed the mental core. A large number of structures, including the magic hub, can repair themselves. Only once the mental core is damaged, we can't do anything... After all, this is the technology of the Gondorians. "

The elf twins commented casually, and Leierna stepped forward and pressed her hand on the belly of the "female magister"—in the radiance of magic power, a hole was fused in the old imperial magister uniform, revealing that the inside was also fused. A bionic skin with holes, and a protective shell with metallic luster under the skin.

Fierna's fingertips slid across the edge of the protective shell, as if cutting through the layer of metal with an invisible blade. When various protective spells failed, the protective shell was easily opened, and what was revealed inside was Exquisite pure copper mechanical core, and all kinds of shimmering ancient magic devices.

"It's really an exquisite design." Reina sighed softly.

"And it just happened to be a critical moment for self-healing." Fierna smiled.

"At this time, it is only necessary to make a small disturbance to this unprotected mental core..."

The elf twins pressed their fingers on one of the parts of the pile of ancient magic devices at the same time, accompanied by a slight arc flash, there was a strange mechanical friction sound in the "female magician", and her eyes blinked slightly , as if waking up from sleep.

Leierna and Fierna straightened up, came into the sight of the sentinel, and looked down: "Hello, soldier."

"The reset is complete, loading the identification database..." "The female magister" focused on Leierna and Fierna, and after a moment's delay, she blinked again, "It's nice to see you, rebels .”

In the open space not far away, the roots and branches of the Grand Master shook slightly.

The unrecognizable druid leader made a hoarse voice: "Now, we've got the first one done."

Throughout the valley, countless weird and twisted giant trees shook their branches at the same time, making rustling noises.

When a gigantic beast falls, death does not mean the end of everything.

The remaining vitality will often survive the warming of the corpse, and survive in another form, or continue.

Chapter 0705 Long time no see

Bud Wendell didn't know where he was being taken—but it wasn't because he was blindfolded or transferred in a coma. In fact, the soldiers and officials in charge of the escort didn't stop him from looking around. He didn't know his position and destination, simply because everything he saw on the road was beyond his cognition and imagination.

Such a prosperous and well-organized city, a city with such a special style and vitality, he once thought that the Rock City near the Holy Spirit Plain was already a stunned city, but now he realized why the warden has been It is said that Panshi City is just a rapidly developing border market, and the real prosperity of the southern border is still further south——

Cecil City, the city of miracles at the foot of the Dark Mountains, no wonder the Arcanist who lived with him suggested that he must come here when he sobered up.

It’s hard for Bard to imagine how the pioneering territory, which was just a barren land four years ago, developed like this—perhaps from the historical background and complex classical buildings (such buildings often take longer to build, the older they are) Judging from the number of such buildings in the city), the city is still too young, but its prosperity and vitality are the only ones that the former General Typhon has seen in his life.

He recalled the southern border when he hurriedly evacuated due to the failure of the mission - it was not like this here at that time.

The mechanical vehicles driven by magic drive smoothly across the wide and clean roads. From time to time, you can see crystals floating in mid-air to power urban facilities on both sides of the road, as well as flashing holographic projections at intersections, squares, etc. The content in the holographic projections changes all the time. , the news and scenery from distant areas are instantly close at hand, and the energetic pedestrians greet each other on the road, without showing the slightest bit of malaise and embarrassment because the weather is getting colder.

The fully armed escort soldiers were sitting beside them, but they were only monitoring Bard's actions, and did not stop this special "transcendent criminal" from looking all the way. It wasn't until he was approaching the city center that he heard the prisoner he was escorting suddenly He opened his mouth to break the silence: "...I heard that during the Holy Spirit Plain War, this city made weapons in one month that the entire kingdom could consume in a year, and sent them to the front line..."

The soldier glanced at Bud. Although he didn't know why the prisoner suddenly brought up this matter, he still nodded with pride: "Yes, but this is only the part mentioned in the newspaper-in fact, the battlefield in the Holy Spirit Plain continues It took more than a month, and the factory converted not only steel."

"...Yeah, so there is still such a way..."

The prisoner let out a vague sigh, the content was inexplicable, and then fell silent again, continuing to stare at the scenery outside the window, and did not speak again.

The soldier shook his head—this is indeed an inexplicable guy.

The vehicle drove across the avenue, passed through Pioneer Square, and was finally led to a large building under the guidance of another group of soldiers.

Bud got out of the car silently and obediently.

After he was suddenly taken out of the prison and boarded a weird armored vehicle escorted by soldiers, he vaguely realized who wanted to see him, and he had no resistance to this fateful arrangement. idea.

The soldiers were rigorous and responsible. Although Bud showed the highest cooperation throughout the process, these soldiers still carried out the handover and escort process meticulously, and introduced Bud into the building. As the former General Typhon and a member of the cult, Bud also I secretly calculated the whole process in my heart, and came to the conclusion that even if I had the desire to escape, I am afraid I would not be able to run [-] meters alive——

Every soldier here has a magic reaction, and the kind of magic props that have blown themselves up to serious injuries are their most basic equipment, not to mention that there may be countless magic organs and monitoring devices hidden here, just like Back then, he burned a newspaper in the bar and attracted a whole team of security guards. In this apparently important facility, there will only be more similar monitoring devices.

Obviously these soldiers are just ordinary people.

Bud lowered his head and walked forward under the leadership of the receiving soldiers.

But more than 90.00% of the people in this world...are ordinary people.

The soldier stopped in front of a door, nodded to the attendant guarding the door, and then pushed Bud forward on the shoulder: "After entering, be respectful—good luck."

In the room, Gao Wen saw a long-lost face appearing in front of him—even though he only met once a few years ago, in the strengthened memory, the former appearance of this face is still very clear.

Compared with a few years ago, this face is obviously much more decadent. The beard and hair are neglected, and the eyes are no longer proud and confident. Whether it is the sinister aura of a cultist or the wolf general of the past The sharp edge seems to have disappeared.

But when Bud walked to the center of the room and met Gawain's gaze, those decadent eyes still changed slightly.

His eyes recovered a little, and then he tried to stand up straight, straightened his gray prison uniform, and bowed slightly: "I salute you, His Majesty Gawain Cecil."

His attitude is like that of a captured general facing the monarch of another country.

It's ironic—he thought—that many years ago, he had so resolutely given up his own glory and chose to devote himself to a grand but dark cause, but today, many years later, when he was at the bottom of his despair, he actually Instead, he stood up straight.

"We meet again, Mr. Bud Wendell," Gawain looked at the other party calmly, neither immediately verbal criticism, nor any sarcasm, "the priest of the Doom Society, the wolf general who feigned death and defected from the Typhon Empire... ... I really didn't expect you to be right under my nose these days."

General Wolf... Hearing this title that he once abandoned, Bud's eyes were only calm, and he glanced at Gao Wen: "It seems that you have investigated me a lot."

"It's just that I happen to have some channels," Gao Wen smiled, "When I just heard that there was a strange prisoner who was eating and drinking in the prison of Rock City and couldn't be driven away, I really didn't expect that. It's you... until I saw your name appear in the report, I couldn't help feeling the wonder of fate."

"I didn't expect to see you again under such circumstances." Bud frowned slightly, "Then since you have discovered...it seems that my comfortable days are coming to an end."

"You have committed many crimes as the priest of the Death of All Things Society, but to be honest, I am not here to judge you today," Gawain looked into Bud Wendell's eyes, "Cecil advocates the rule of law and justice, When you appeared on this land last time, Cecil had not yet ruled the southern border. I cannot use today's law to judge the crimes of the previous dynasty, but I am qualified to judge what you did in Leslieland There are others."

Bud was stunned for a moment, and just as he was in a daze, another door on the side of the room was opened.

A tall, thin, slightly pale middle-aged man in a dark blue overcoat with a decorative cane came out of the door.

Viscount Andrew Leslie, the former lord of Leslie, today's consul of Tanzania.

Bud fixedly stared at the man who was walking towards him. Compared with the one in his memory, today's Viscount Andrew did not appear weak due to his age, but instead looked more energetic, with less pale face. Somewhat sickly, it looks more like a normal complexion - it seems that the new life has greatly improved the health of this "noble lord".

Andrew Leslie hadn't taken any harmful potions for nearly two years.

Building and managing a thriving new city, watching the territory turn upside down and prosper under his own governance, is happier than he ever imagined.

"Viscount Andrew," after a few seconds of looking at each other, Bud finally broke the silence, "You seem to be doing well."

Andrew's deep-set eye sockets seemed to be jumping with flames. He stared at the person in front of him, slowly raised his cane, and pressed it against Bud's chest: "Do you remember what you did in Tanzania?"

"The memory is still fresh."

"My daughter, until today it is still difficult to communicate with people normally. One-third of the people who survived your evil ritual can't return to normal life now," Andrew slowly exerted force on his hands, as if To stab that cane into Bard's body like a sharp sword, "Not to mention those who didn't survive...do you have anything else to say?"

Bud stood there without evasiveness: "Hanging or beheading is fine, and you can also be sentenced to fire according to the treatment that cultists should be treated. My only request is not to make my name public after this-if this request is too much, Then fill my skull with lead, if there is any skull left after the stake."

In the customs of the northern and eastern peoples of Typhon, filling the skull with lead has a special meaning, which means that all the sins of the deceased remain on the deceased himself, that is, he cannot get any salvation and pardon, nor will he be forgiven for sins and sins. The stigma is passed on to any relatives and friends as well as one's own family.

There is a similar saying in Ansu (Cecil), except that the method of the Northern Kingdom is to put a nail through the skull of the deceased, but no matter which one it is, the prerequisite is that the deceased must request it before he is alive. ——This is the embodiment of the thought of "soul inheritance" in the field of life and death of the human race.

Viscount Andrew stared into Bud's eyes: "I thought you would justify yourself—emphasize your holding back at that time, or emphasize that you were also bewitched by cult ideas."

"If a person can get away with just a few excuses or one or two seemingly justifiable reasons after committing a crime, then all the gallows in the world may be removed," Bard said frankly. "You can sentence me to death, or you can choose to forgive, this is your right, but I myself... have nothing to say."

The room fell silent for a while, and Viscount Andrew stared at Bard for a long time, then suddenly pulled the corners of his mouth, and slowly put down his stick: "I didn't expect that you are human now, what is this? Seeing through life ?”