Sword of Dawn

Page 280

But this does not mean that everything will get out of control-although the cluster infection is terrible, a large-scale outbreak requires relatively harsh conditions. Now there is evidence to prove that the reason why the death of all things was able to pollute the entire giant log crossing in a short time, It relies on long-term preparations in the early stage and a huge sacrificial ceremony, and without the assistance of these preparations and rituals, the rate of cluster infection will not exceed that of ordinary diseases.

As long as the scale of pollution invading the western part of the plain does not exceed a certain critical point, and as long as the local nobles are not incapable of giving up their resistance, the situation will not get out of control for the time being.

"Send me an order to have Byron speed up the blockade of the northern river, and also inform Sir Walder that 5000 people from the Second Corps will be sent up the river to help block the river and clean up the pollution on the west bank." Gawain looked at Amber and quickly ordered, "In addition, is there still no way to contact the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau in San Sunil?"

Amber shook her head: "I can't get in touch. The secret relay station extending from San Sunil may have been destroyed, and the contact points and informants in other ways have lost contact, including those in the West Bank."

"Maybe... I can challenge to fly directly to Saint-Sunil," Sonia said suddenly at this time, "I can send information about the reinforcements to Silver Fort..."

"Are you going to fly all the way over the polluted area without stopping? Or take a detour from the safe place in the western plain?" Gawain glanced at Sonia, "If you fly straight to Saint-Sunil, you have to maintain the highest altitude all the way. People and giant eagles can't stand it, and there is no place for you to land and rest on this road. If you make an arc from the western plain, the distance will be extended by two to three times, plus the time for the giant eagle to rest in the middle, By the time you fly to Saint-Sunil, the nobles of the royal capital may have abandoned the city and fled."

The defenders of the capital must be made aware of the existence of reinforcements - this was the consensus reached by Gao Wen and Victoria last time.It is impossible for a hopeless army to defend the city, even if they have the most powerful defense system in Ansu, and the presence of reinforcements can greatly inspire the courage of the soldiers defending the city. It is especially useful in the Royal Army of purely manpower combat.

But the sudden turn of the situation disrupted Gawain's plan—the suddenly berserk army of crystal clusters began to move randomly throughout the plain area. The courier will take even greater risks. On the other hand, the pressure of the mad cluster army on San Sunil may increase sharply, and the possibility of the defenders of the royal capital abandoning the city and fleeing is also increasing rapidly. The time is even more insufficient.

However, Saint-Sunil must not be lost.

At this moment, a pleasant but slightly cold voice suddenly reached everyone's ears: "Ms. Sonia, is the mage tower in Tulip Castle still there?"

Gawain raised his head and saw the Northern Duchess—Victoria Wilde standing at the door.

After thinking for a while, Sonia nodded: "The castle is half destroyed, but the mage's tower is still there."

"That tower is a powerful communication tower," Victoria said, "Take me there, and with the help of that tower, I can contact Silver Castle."

Chapter 0633 Plan

After two days of recuperation, Victoria's condition has obviously recovered a lot, but a trace of weakness and exhaustion still lingers in her eyes that she tried hard to hide. Gawain glanced at the Northern Duchess and reminded her: "Tulip Fort It's one thing for Sonia to fly over there, and quite another to land there, deep in the contaminated area, and not in our next attack plan—without decontaminating the entire area."

"But it's not impossible," Victoria stared into Gawain's eyes without hesitation, her face still lacked expression changes, but her tone revealed a sense of determination, "Those monsters are now in a state of frenzy, and on the other hand In other words, this means that they have lost their organization, they no longer support each other, they no longer have units like sentries, and they are no longer so alert-we can sneak in, as long as they don't make too much noise and don't disturb too much. If there are too many monsters, I may send the news quietly."

"...I admit that this seems to be possible," Gao Wen nodded after thinking for a while, "but are you sure you want to go in person?"

"Not every mage can pass the news to San Sunil with just the increase of a mage tower, which requires profound spellcasting skills and huge magic power," Victoria said in a calm tone stating the facts, "this matter It's safest to let me go."

Then, before Gawain raised more questions, the Duchess continued: "I heard that Berke of the Lauren family lit the first beacon.

"I can no longer achieve his feats, but as the head of the Wilder family, at least I can't avoid what I could have done."

When a noble puts his family's reputation on the table, it usually means that his will has been decided.

"We can give it a try, at least it's a plan," Gawain finally nodded, "But there is one thing, we have to find a safer way to send you to Tulip Fort—the weight of the giant eagle is limited, Sonia It can only lead the way, but cannot fly with you, and the flying height and speed of the Griffin are not good, and it is easy to be shot down by the cluster giant after going deep into the polluted area. Generally speaking, it is not safe to pass through the air."

"Then is there a safer way?" Victoria said with a hint of confusion—crossing the polluted area from the air and landing in the Tulip Fort is the most possible solution she can think of. She really can't think of any other way than This is more secure, you can't go all the way in from the ground full of crystal cluster giants, right?

Gao Wen smiled slightly, and his eyes fell on Amber...

The half-elf lady was shocked the moment Gawain started to smile, and then realized that this matter might not be avoided, she curled her lips: "Going to the Shadow Realm is a way-but let me explain in advance, I Actions in the Shadow Realm are also costly, depending on whether there will be unstable shadow rifts and fatal "big holes" in the middle. If the loss on the road is too high, I may not be able to take people as far as Tulip Castle. place—I also have to consider the strength required for the return trip."

"Of course, as long as you can do your best," Gawain nodded, "I will send an armored assault force to send you as close as possible to Fort Tulip, and then you sneak in to send messages, and at the same time, I A strong force will be sent to the direction of Saint-Sunil City at full speed, and no time must be wasted."

The details of the plan were finalized quickly, and those who received the order left the room one after another. In the end, only Gawain and Victoria were left in the room.

"Frankly speaking, the current situation is very bad," Gawain said unhurriedly after there was only one Northern Duke left in front of him, "I am always pessimistic about whether Saint-Sunil can be held—even though I Always working towards getting there in time.”

The expression on Victoria's face didn't change, she just asked quietly: "...If Saint-Sunil really can't keep it, you have a follow-up plan, don't you?"

"...It's nothing more than giving up the entire northern region and the Holy Spirit Plain, keeping the southern and eastern borders, and building the defense line of the western border as much as possible before the pollution enters the western border." Gao Wen did not hide his alternative options, "Survival The pressure will make these areas submit to the new ruling order, and I am confident that after building a new line of defense, the situation will be stabilized and the contaminated areas will be gradually retaken."

Victoria was silent for a moment, and finally couldn't help but said: "It sounds like you basically don't have any expectations for the nobles of the kingdom."

Gao Wen smiled, and asked back, "It sounds like your expectations are quite high?"

"... I admit that my expectations for them are not as high as they were a few years ago," Victoria said slowly, "but I believe that Saint-Sunil City can be held-as long as the news of reinforcements can be sent in time. Enter Silver Castle."

Gao Wen showed an expression of great interest: "Can I hear the source of your confidence?"

"Duke Baldwin Franklin, and Welsh Morn," Victoria said, looking into Gawain's eyes, "They will hold that city—as long as the reinforcements are needed, they will hold it for as long."

"...you have a higher opinion of Welsh Moen than I thought."

"My previous mission was to monitor him, so I know him well. The Prince of Wales has never lacked talent. He just chose to back off, but if the kingdom needs him, he will still stand up," Victoria said, "except for him, except Grand Duke Baldwin, there are many reliable people in the capital, we have the Earl of Cromwell White Mountain, the loyal Royal Knights, and Captain Cohen Rollen—perhaps half of the nobles in the king think about it Abandon the city and run away, but at least half of them will choose to defend until the end."

Gao Wen looked at Victoria quietly, and the latter also looked at him quietly. After two seconds of looking at each other, the "Ice and Snow Grand Princess" exhaled softly.

"I know that our generation has disappointed you, Duke Cecil, perhaps Ansu's contemporary nobles are really rotten, but please believe that not everyone is rotten, and there are still many people who are looking forward to this The kingdom can bounce back and work hard for it."

"Including Edmund Moon and Silas Loren?"

"... including them."

"But they still failed, and you also failed. There are many progressives in the capital, and those nobles who are not rotten in your mouth and tried to revitalize the kingdom have all failed. Why do you think they failed? Gawain stared into Victoria's eyes, "Is it just because there is an end of everything that will suddenly come in to disrupt the situation?"

The gaze from the Founding Duke carried an indescribable pressure. Those dark brown eyes were deep and sharp, far better than the wind, snow and mountains in the north. Victoria couldn't help holding her breath—for many years, it was She intimidates others with her majesty, and she has almost forgotten what it feels like to face such awe. In a trance, she seems to have returned to many years ago, when she was a child, and returned to the time when she faced the stern eyes of the previous Duke. when.

The father in the memory pointed to the poorly growing plants in the garden and asked her a question: "If pruning, fertilizing, watering, and pesticides don't work, what should you do?"

The flashes of memories came and went in a hurry, Victoria came back to her senses, Gawain's deep and sharp eyes were still in front of her eyes.

"Actually, you know the answer," Gao Wen said, "it's just that you can't help yourself."

Victoria was silent.

"We shouldn't be discussing this at this time." Gao Wen retracted his gaze and changed to a more relaxed sitting posture, "Victoria, you are very good, even if you were placed in the pioneer generation, you would be an excellent nobleman. After the war is over, we can slowly consider how to revitalize this country, but before that, our most important task is to end this war."

"As you said," Victoria exhaled softly, then lowered her head solemnly, "In any case, you saved me and the Mountain Army, and I cannot repay this kindness, so no matter what happens in the future, at least I Individuals will be your loyal allies."

After he was the only one left in the room, Gawain couldn't help but leaned back in the chair and let out a silent breath.

"Personal name...it's really not easy for anyone."

After sighing, he sat up straight, and was about to start drawing up a feasible plan for the main force to go north—the situation took a turn for the worse, and it was no longer possible for him to act according to the previous timetable, considering the importance of the city of San Sunil as a gateway fortress He had to send a battle-ready army to the north faster than planned.

It may be a good plan to use those converted civilian cargo ships and use the Gorgon River...

And just when his plan was drawn up, the magic net communication terminal on the desk suddenly made a buzzing sound.

Gawain looked up at the identification characters displayed on the holographic projection - it was a special channel from Cecil City.

The magic net terminal was activated immediately, and after the projection trembled briefly, Gawain saw Heidi's face appear in front of his eyes.

"what happened?"

"Miss Till said there is something important to contact." Hetty said briefly, and then turned to the side—Gauwain saw a long snake tail swaying in the background of the screen behind Hetty, The snake's tail arched twice, and Tyre's upper body swayed from the side of the screen to the center of the screen.

"I feel it again," Miss Kraken stared at the holographic projection in front of her eyes, "it's the smell of food! It suddenly became very strong!"

Gao Wen's heart tightened suddenly - even though he had already expected and prepared for this, when Tyre suddenly broke out this news, he still felt his nerves tense: "The direction, the intensity, can you Is the condition or state of the target roughly determined?"

"The location should be deep in the east of the Holy Spirit Plain, but the exact location is still unclear. It seems to be suppressed or blocked by something, or it is deep underground," Tyre said quickly, "As for the intensity... ...I don't know how to describe it, it feels very subtle. It should be 'live', which is better than the giant squid, but its breath is not stable and pure, as if many chaotic breaths have merged together, And sometimes it’s strong and sometimes it’s weak.”

Gawain took a light breath.

Is it the "divine power" in the hands of the Society of the End of All Things?Is it the "energy source" they use to create and activate the gods?Is this energy source out of control?Something like a god is waking up?

So the sudden mutation of the crystal cluster legion is related to this out-of-control "divine power"?

Various conjectures came to mind, Gawain controlled his thoughts, and asked the sea monster in front of him, "What's your queen's attitude?"

"She is interested in both the biscuits and your arcane energy technology, and is willing to provide assistance. The elemental jump tower is already being prepared there, but how to cooperate with the operation needs to be negotiated," Tire shook the tip of his tail, He said with a serious face, "In addition, I want to convey the words of Her Majesty the Queen - the sea monster can only help you deal with 'inhuman things' and will not interfere in the wars among humans. We hope that this cooperation will be pure and restrained." Yes, this is the guarantee for the long-term cooperation in the future.”

"That's enough," Gao Wen nodded sincerely, "Thank you very much for your assistance."

"Don't worry, it's mutual benefit," Tire waved his hands and the tip of his tail, then left the communication screen unsteadily, only the voice came from outside the screen, "How do you close this? Oh, then you can close it, I go first."

Two seconds later, Hetty reappeared in front of Gawain: "Ancestor, the engineering team sent to the edge of the wasteland has begun to return, and the supplementary project of the Great Wall has been successfully completed."

"Finally, there is good news," Gawain breathed a sigh of relief, "Very well, let these personnel have a full rest first, and then arrange for them to build the second phase of the tank factory and arsenal, and let the elf magister go to the magic technology research So, assist Rebecca to complete the translation and optimization of anti-gravity runes."

"Yes."

Chapter 0634 The Extended Line of Defense

The chaotic and illusory sky covers the earth with monotonous colors, and the scenes that have been separated from the colors show a state of lack of layering in the field of vision, which is indescribably weird. The breeze blows, and the fine black dust is rolled up in the wind. Dust There seemed to be countless pairs of prying eyes hidden in the eyes——Victoria stood in this world full of black and white, and there was inevitably a trace of surprise on her usually indifferent and alienated face.

And the person who surprised her was right next to her, that half-elf with an overly active personality was standing there with a proud expression on his face, his long black hair fluttered slightly in the air like smoke, and there was a hint of light in his golden eyes. Smiling, a lingering cloud of shadows condensed on the lower body, as if the whole person had turned into an elf in the shadow world, subtly blending with this black and white world.

"...incredible power," Victoria looked at Amber silently for a few seconds, before admiring softly, "You are the most powerful shadow master I have ever seen, no wonder the Raven was defeated by you twice. Sisi Sure enough, none of the Duke's subordinates is simple."

"It's okay to praise me a few more words, usually it's rare for someone to praise me like that," Amber smiled triumphantly, "I have an impression of the Raven you mentioned, the one I kicked out of the Shadow Realm twice Right—you have to persuade him if you have a chance, if it doesn’t work, you should practice a two-handed sword and a long-handled hammer, the way of shadow may not be suitable for him..."

Anyone who is familiar with it knows that once Amber's mouth starts BB, it will quickly digress, and basically few sentences are meaningful, but Victoria is obviously not quite used to the rhythm of this half-elf, and she was a little dazed on the spot, probably because she didn't know How should I continue this topic, but fortunately, Amber's BBs are intermittent, and if she doesn't get a response in a short time, she will skip her thoughts—the half-elf moved her hands and feet, raised her eyes and looked into the distance The half-collapsed castle in a strange stacked state said in a tone of a criminal preparing to commit a crime: "Don't waste time, start working-there should be the shadow reflection of Tulip Castle over there."

Victoria raised her head and saw the castle at the end of the road: black and white fragments were stacked on the gray-black ground, and some recognizable castle walls could be seen among the ruined walls. In this weird and chaotic world of shadows, The half-destroyed Tulip Castle presents a clear sense of chaos. Part of its structure seems to have lost material details, while another part of the structure overlaps and accumulates in a way that violates the laws of nature. The entire castle is lost like a failed painting. Coordinated, only the mage's tower and some auxiliary towers that are still in good condition are still clearly erected at the back of the castle.

This is the first time for Victoria to enter the shadow world - as a frost mage, her attainments in the way of shadow are limited to some theoretical knowledge. "Amber" half-elves are powerful in shadow arts.She followed behind Amber, relying on the blessing of swiftness, wind and other spells to keep up with the opponent's footsteps. At the same time, she couldn't help asking curiously: "Why did you follow Duke Cecil?"

Amber was sprinting through the Shadow Realm like a fish entering the water, and the black smoke wrapped around her body was flying freely in the air. She turned her head slightly after hearing Victoria's words, with a playful smile on her face: "Why? Want to poach someone?"

Victoria shook her head solemnly: "No, that's not what the nobles did. If I really wanted to hire you, I would directly negotiate with Duke Cecil, and at the same time seek your opinion on more formal occasions. I'm just curious now. "

"Ah, being open and aboveboard...but Lao Zong...Gao Wen is different," Amber laughed, "If he wants to poach talents, and if he wants to poach talents that are obviously impossible to obtain through direct negotiations, then he must They will secretly lobby for money to buy public opinion and popular support, and they will use all kinds of methods to win people over."

Victoria once again felt that the topic was too much to continue, so she could only shake her head: "...our acting styles are a little different."

"So I'm more suitable to be with Gawain, not with an 'orthodox' nobleman like you," Amber said casually, "Didn't you just ask me why I followed Duke Cecil? Actually, it's nothing, I dug His grave was found by the person concerned and he was arrested. In fact, I dug the grave just to hide."

Victoria looked at Amber in astonishment, as if to confirm whether the other party was joking.

"I can't believe it, right? But it really is like this," Hu Po said nonchalantly. "Actually, I was quite unhappy when I was detained at first. What I thought was to pretend to agree, and then take advantage of Gao Wen's inattention." I stole his money and ran away, but then I found one thing: I couldn’t beat him, I really couldn’t beat him, and I couldn’t run away, so I had to stay. Facts have proved that my original decision was quite right——Second The annual wages have gone up."

Victoria listened to all this expressionlessly, but her slightly flickering eyes showed that she was not as calm and indifferent as she appeared on the surface. She took a deep look at Amber and said in as peaceful a way as possible: "I have never I've heard someone describe their allegiance to a nobleman in this way, you... are really... special."

"... Duchess, you made a mistake." Amber suddenly stopped at this moment, staring at Victoria, "I have never been loyal to Duke Gawain Cecil, and I have never been loyal to any noble or nobleman." His blood family."

Victoria's indifferent expression was broken, and she looked at Amber in astonishment.

"I'm not a descendant of a nobleman. Half of my extraordinary power comes from natural talent, and half comes from a thief who was executed by the church and the nobles. Naturally, I am not qualified to swear allegiance to the nobles, because I don't even have a surname, and I don't even have a family name." This kind of qualification is needed,” Amber said unhurriedly, “At first, Gao Wen gave me a salary of one gold coin a month, so I was responsible for this one gold coin. Later, when the salary increased, I was responsible for the increase.” The wages are responsible, and later he established the city of Cecil and unified the Kant area. He let the serfs redeem themselves with work, let the common people walk in the middle of the road, and let the merchants not have to kowtow to the knights. I like all this, and my job is Sustaining it all, so I start taking responsibility for my work.

"Later, he established the Principality of Cecil, where all the citizens could study and work. From the year before last to last year, no one died of starvation in the winter of Cecil City, so I pledged my allegiance, and in my heart Secretly pledged allegiance to the Principality of Cecil.

"Duchess, I'm not an aristocrat. Even if Gawain gives me a noble title in the future, I probably will never be able to become a standard aristocrat in your group of rules. I have no allegiance to Duke Cecil, I have no allegiance to the Cecil family, no Allegiance to any so-called honorable bloodline and title, although I respect everyone in the current Cecil family, it is only because they are worthy of respect, but I am not loyal to them, and they have never asked me to be loyal.

"If you have to say it, we have only one common goal of allegiance - our allegiance is to what Gawain Cecil built, not to himself.

"Ma'am, if you can't tell the difference, I'm afraid we'll never be the same."

Victoria quietly looked at the half-elf in front of her. After entering the Shadow Realm, this half-elf lady seemed to have changed not only her temperament, but also a little personality, but the words she said... might not be her usual What Li really thinks.

"I'll try to understand." Victoria said calmly.

"That's your problem. To be honest, I don't like nobles, most of them don't like them, but recently there are two more exceptions in my eyes, one is you, and the other is Belk who ignited the beacon fire," Amber said. Turning around, he continued on his way and said, "I used to always feel that the noble virtues spoken by the nobles were bragging, but at least from you, I saw something that actually existed—but then again, the Duchess, The individual does not represent the whole, and I still don't like the aristocracy."

Victoria followed the footsteps of the half-elf again. She remained silent for a while, neither defending the aristocratic system, nor explaining the blood inheritance to the half-elf who seemed to have a deep prejudice against the noble group in front of her. Even though she used to be very concerned about these things, at this moment, she didn't want to justify them at all.

After being silent, she just asked a question: "In the winter of the past two years, did no one in Cecil City really starve to death?"

"Of course, we have a complete population statistics and management system, and every death and birth of the population is registered."

"...How did you do it? Without the aristocratic system..."

"Are you talking about food supply or population management?"

"All."

"Oh, let's start slowly." Amber raised her head and glanced at the collapsed castle not too far away. "Maybe we should start with the relationship between land and people..."

……

On the northern plain of Red Maple City, on the banks of the Gorgon River, Gao Wen stood on a watchtower in the frontline camp, watching the busy scene in the direction of the pier.

Cannon fire and flames dispelled the corruption and pollution on this plain. The Cecil Legion successfully occupied a large pier that once belonged to the local lord. The stone trestle bridge was built, turning this place into a temporary military pier. At this moment, tanks lined up neatly were heading towards the reinforced trestle bridge, and a phalanx of heavily armed soldiers lined up to board the ship.

On the Gorgon River, the three main battleships of Cecil are performing guard missions far away from the trestle bridge, while a series of escort gunboats converted from civilian ships or light gunboats rushed out of the rear shipyard patrolled the wide river. , and several sturdy ships with wide decks and stable hulls were attached to the edge of the trestle bridge, carrying soldiers and chariots who boarded the ships.

Those cargo ships that don't look like warships at all are remodeled military cargo ships deployed from the rear—although they are said to be converted into military use, but due to time constraints, they are actually just added to the key parts of the hull. Some steel plates, a set of shield generators welded on the hull, and a set of magic net terminals that can establish a connection with the "Pioneer" are installed in the cabin, and there is not even a basic weapon system (to add weapons The system means a large-scale transformation of the power ridge, and the capacity of the shipyard is not enough), their safety depends entirely on the escorting warships.

These "armored strong transport ships" were originally intended to transfer refugees from the northern region, and they began to be remodeled at the beginning of the ground forces' advance to the north, but when they were finally remodeled, Gao Wen found that there were almost no How many refugees were available for transfer, so these ships were used to transport various supplies to the front line, and today, they ushered in a new task: set sail with the Cecil fleet, fully loaded with tanks and soldiers to San Souni Defensive line, guard that important portal.

This force going up the Gorgon River will arrive at San Sunil several days earlier than the main force on the ground.

Footsteps came from behind, Philip came to the observation deck, saluted Gawain and said: "The Iron Rangers have sent Duchess Victoria and Amber to the vicinity of Tulip Castle, and the soldiers have visually confirmed that the mage tower is indeed still there. Run, and if all goes well, word will be sent to Saint-Sunil today."

"Very good," Gawain nodded, "When they come back, the ship should be almost loaded here, so they can just board the ship and set off."

Philip hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help confirming again: "Do you really want to go with me in person?"

Gao Wen laughed: "I've already arrived here, so what's the difference if I go a little further north?"

"But the task that this vanguard has to perform is arduous and dangerous—in order to support the capital as soon as possible, it must separate from the main force on the ground. After arriving in Saint-Sunil, it must fight alone for at least five days without support from the rear. In the worst case, San Sunil will be breached before the vanguard arrives, so that the vanguard will be sent directly to the deepest part of the monster's encirclement—even with the Pioneer, Aurora, and Morningstar If the warships cover the evacuation, the loss of troops will be extremely heavy."

"That's why it needs a strong ground commander." Gawain glanced at Philip. "You have to stay behind to command the main army, and I will be the one who remains."

"...It's true."