Sword of Dawn

Page 267

In the holographic projection, Soldering meticulously reported the situation in the north. The background behind him was a temporary camp built at the foot of the leeward rock. Iron Rangers were guarding guard not far away. Due to the lack of relay nodes, The communication screen was slightly disturbed and distorted, but Gawain could still see the obvious worried look on the face of the high-ranking ranger.

The communication in a large area was interrupted, the whereabouts of the local lords were unknown, and the strange flesh and blood crystal cluster monsters wandered out from the area that lost contact... No matter which feature, it pointed to the worst possibility.

After finishing the report, the high-level ranger asked for the next order: "Should we continue to move forward?"

"Continue to advance to the periphery of the giant log crossing—but if you encounter too many 'grain cluster infected', return immediately," Gao Wen said in a deep voice, "Pay attention to setting up relay devices and small-scale magic nets along the way... Are the magic net units and small relay devices you carry enough?"

"The relay device is enough, if the magic net... We can directly install some of the relay devices in the mills and manors of the local lords. The magic net is popular in the central and eastern regions of the plain, and the energy here is not a problem."

Gao Wen nodded, and then made some more detailed inquiries and arrangements before hanging up the communication.

He raised his head and looked at the people gathered in the room.

Of course Hetty, Byron, Philip, Amber, Rebecca and others were present, and besides that, "technicians" like Kamel and Pittman were also called here.

"It is now certain that the large-scale destruction of the Doom Society has begun, and the situation may be more serious than we imagined—no matter how incompetent the nobles in the northern region are, it is impossible for them to let groups of completely The monsters who did not hide their whereabouts passed through their territory, and this situation can only show one thing - the noble lords in the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain have lost control of the situation," Gawain said solemnly, and at the same time he looked at He pointed out the accurate map hanging on the wall next to him, marking the entire territory of Ansu. On that map, the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain was marked with a big red circle, "The biggest problem now is that we are not sure about the areas that are out of control. How big is it, how many are those 'grain cluster infections', and what are the respective situations of the royal family and the East Territory."

While speaking, what came to Gao Wen's mind was not only the hand-painted map of Ansu, but also the bird's-eye view from the satellite.

However, even with the assistance of the satellite perspective, what he can see this time is still limited.

Since last week, the entire giant log crossing area has been shrouded in thick fog. Although the fog has dissipated, the clouds still affect the satellite's overlooking view. The eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain was shrouded in a powerful energy field, and a similar situation...he had only encountered it when overlooking the wasteland of Gondor.

Of course, he can't see everything. In areas where the distortion is not so serious and the interference of clouds and smoke is relatively light, he can see the traces of the outbreak of battle and see some messy battlefields—but due to the lack of clarity However, he couldn't be sure whether those battle marks were attacked by monsters, or whether they were caused by the battle between the normal Kingdom Army and the Eastern Territory.

"The latest news from White Sands Mining, the social order in the Eastern Territory is still normal, but there is indeed an uneasy atmosphere spreading," Hetty said at this time, "The Marquis of Belk Rollen went to Solinburg and never returned. , Many left-behind nobles in the east are gathering frequently, exchanging visits, and sending messengers. It seems that they have also cut off contact with the front line. Hom, who is in charge of the Baisha area, believes that the situation may deteriorate further—even if there is no foreign enemy attack, the left-behind nobles in the east There is also the potential for civil unrest if it gets out of control and threatens mine safety."

Speaking of which, she couldn't help but added with a strange expression: "The local nobles near the Baisha Hills seem to...have not liked our mining methods very much."

"White Sand Hills... It is adjacent to the Gelen region, and there is a gap," Gawain pondered briefly, then looked at Rebecca, "Has the modification of the 'Iron Throne' been completed?"

Rebecca's eyes brightened, and she looked excited: "The welding of the armor plate has been completed, and the rail gun group and incineration device have also been installed! Now it is undergoing control and balance tests in the depot - but if you think it is necessary, you can Drive it directly to Gulen, and the follow-up tests can be completed there..."

After a short thought, Gawain nodded: "Driving to Glenn, be on call at any time."

Then he paused again and turned his head to Byron.

"Where are the Pioneer, Aurora, and Morningstar now?"

"It has arrived at Panshi Port."

"You go there immediately. Three days later, regardless of whether there is any new information from Soldering, set sail immediately, cross the Rock Fortress, go up the Dorgon River and enter the Holy Spirit Plain, and be ready to support the advance team of the Rangers. In addition, I I have ordered Sir Walder to prepare a batch of mechanical ships to pick up refugees, and now they are still on standby at the port, and those ships are also under your command—if the situation really develops in the worst direction, you will use it Of those ships."

When this order was issued, even the old fritter knight, who had always been carefree and undisciplined, showed a serious look on his face.

If the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau are still just intelligence personnel, and if the Iron Rangers are just a small group of soldiers performing spying work, then once the three magical mechanical battleships cross the Rock Fortress and enter the Dorgon River, the meaning will be completely different.

Since the end of the Southern Unification War and the flag of the Principality of Cecil was hoisted from the Rock Fortress, this land has closed its gates. The nobles in the Holy Spirit Plain and further north are all guessing what is brewing in this mysterious land. They guessed what kind of world was behind the steel-covered wall. They sent various spies and made various efforts, but in the face of Cecil's strict social system, all Efforts to pry open this door in vain have returned——

Now, its doors are finally about to open.

Those nobles of the plains who stared helplessly at the southern border to see the present, will get their wish to see what is behind the gate.

"Yes," Byron accepted the order in a deep voice, but after a short period of seriousness, he still couldn't help laughing, "I guess those plain nobles along the Dorgon River will panic—if they all If they are still alive. Of course, it is more likely that they do not know our advanced warships at all..."

"This is a serious occasion," Philip immediately interrupted Byron with a stern face, and then looked at Gawain, "My lord, where is the Army Combat Corps?"

"Temporary standby."

At present, the information is still insufficient. Gao Wen is still not sure how serious the pollution or "curse" in the eastern part of the plain is, how the strange "clusters" spread, and the presence of the Kingdom Army or the Eastern Border Army in those areas. In a state of serious lack of intelligence, it is not wise to rush to project ground troops.

On the other hand, powerful magical warships have almost unsolvable power in this era and have excellent survivability. At the same time, warships sailing on the water can also greatly avoid the threat of "plague" from land, even if they do It also has the ability to return home quickly.

Taking these two factors into consideration, he decided to let the magical warship enter the Dorgon River first, and while going north along the river to confirm the situation in the Holy Spirit Plain, he established a reliable naval gun support in the river channel to provide advance support for the land troops. After that, after Soldering has collected more information, he will consider letting the follow-up tanks and infantry enter the potentially very dangerous "contaminated zone"...

——The area where the Kingdom Army and the Eastern Realm confront each other is located at the giant wooden crossing in the east of the Holy Spirit Plain. Although it belongs to the eastern part of the plain, it is actually very close to the central area, and the Dorgon River just passes through that area, so the naval guns in the river channel It is able to provide effective support for the ground troops on the east coast.

The meeting was over, and most people left the meeting room, but Kamel and Pittman were left behind by Gawain.

"What do you think about those 'infected clusters' mentioned by Solderin?" Gawain glanced between the two masters (although one of them seemed to be quite despicable), and finally landed on Ka Meyer, "It does sound a lot like the 'Abomination' back then, but the details seem to be different?"

"That's right, it's not the same as the abominations in my memory," Kamel nodded, making a buzzing voice, "The abominations we created back then, even those with the worst crystallization infection, were only the main ones. Crystals will appear in the joints, accompanied by swelling and distortion of the body, but according to Solderin, the surface crystal coverage of the 'infected' he saw even exceeded [-]%, which is almost a mixture of crystals and organic matter. into creatures..."

Having said that, he paused for a moment, and then said: "This gives me a very weird feeling. Our research on abominations back then was trying to reduce the tendency of carriers to 'alienate', so that they could carry the abominable factor while carrying the abominable factor. Becoming more human, and what Soldering sees...is going to the other extreme, it's trying to make people...inhuman."

"This may be what they call the 'Great Evolution'—abandoning the human body and embracing the new form brought about by mutation." Gawain shook his head and turned his gaze to Pittman. "According to your understanding, you think this 'infection' How might it spread? Or, what preventive measures are most effective?"

"No matter how weird the 'Plague Spell' of the Doom Society looks, it is still a plague in essence, and the spread of the plague is nothing more than a few ways-water, food, air, and pollution by corpses carrying curses. Air transmission is the most efficient way, but it can usually only spread relatively weak plagues, and it is easily dispelled by ritual spells, followed by water and food. The end of all things will like these two methods the most, but boiling water and thoroughly Heated food can effectively deal with it. As for the last one...the cursed corpse has the strongest pollution power, because flesh and blood itself is an excellent material for casting spells, so our various burners are necessary: ​​all must be burned Dead bodies, no matter friend or foe, high or low, it is always safest to incinerate them into ashes in the shortest possible time, and before burning them, close or direct contact should be minimized as much as possible—if contact is necessary, isolation measures must be taken, and at the same time Make sure it's safe with a detect spell."

Gao Wen rubbed his chin: "It doesn't sound like anything special..."

"For us, for people in the south, it may be so, but on the plains of the Holy Spirit, any of these transmission routes is deadly enough," Pittman put away his usual unscrupulous appearance, and he licked his Beard, sighed in a low voice, "The firewood needed to boil a pot of water is enough for half a loaf of bread, and just because of this half loaf of bread... the water plague can kill tens of thousands of people."

There was a moment of silence in the room.

"About those 'cluster infections', we still have too little information, and I can't make a sufficiently accurate analysis." After a brief silence, Kamel suddenly broke the silence, "If there are more samples, I should There will be some progress."

"Solderling will send a team to send back those crystal cluster fragments - after confirming that they do not carry activated magical properties and have no tendency to spread pollution," Gawain nodded, "I will give you a special laboratory Come and study it, and until this event subsides, it will be our focus."

……

After Kamel and Pittman also left, the room fell completely silent.

Gao Wen sat on his armchair, quietly thinking about the next arrangement and development.

This kind of silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before Gao Wen was awakened suddenly by a slight movement from the door.

He raised his head, and saw that the door of the room opened a narrow crack quietly, and a guy who was almost forgotten by him, who was such a person, came halfway in with his head poking his head.

Tyr.

Gao Wen has been away from the territory since last autumn, and has been busy with projects near the wasteland. He really hasn't seen this guy for too long.

But in fact, even if he stayed in the territory, he didn't have much time to meet Tier—since the weather turned cold last year, the sea caterpillar has entered hibernation in a grandiose manner, sleeping in the pool for twenty hours a day, and occasionally crawling out It was just to go to the balcony to bask in the sun and turn around, completely forgetting where he came from and where he was going... By the way, why did this guy come here suddenly?

Gawain was puzzled for a while, and at the same time he saw Tier crawling in, the shame of the siren looked around, his face was blank: "Ah, didn't you mean a meeting?"

Gao Wen: "..."

"It's already over," Gao Wen tried his best to keep his expression from collapsing, but he still looked at the saltwater freak with a strange expression, "You...you actually know about the meeting?"

"I know, Rebecca told me, but I took a nap," Till shook the tip of his tail with a helpless expression, "Then you guys are done."

Only then did Gawain vaguely recall that Rebecca seemed to have told Tyre to come over before, because this salted fish was more or less a technical consultant for the military industry, but at that time Gawain went into his left ear and out of his right ear—it didn’t happen at all. Believe this fish will come...

It has to be said that even though Tyre didn't help at all, Gawain felt inexplicably happy watching this befuddled sea caterpillar strutting around the room.

Probably this is the power of the deep sea harmony god.

He shook his head slightly, getting rid of associations like "Deep Sea Harmony God" from his mind, then stood up, ready to leave: "I'm leaving, if you have nothing else to do, you can go back to sleep."

"Hey - it's rare for me to wake up for a while," Tier stretched his waist three or four meters long, then raised his upper body and looked in a certain direction with curiosity, "By the way... what happened to the north? Is it?"

Gao Wen's movement of leaving immediately stopped.

What Tyre was looking at was a little east of the north, the front line where the Royal Army and the Eastern Territory were confronting each other.

So far, no one has mentioned the situation there to Tire in detail, and even if someone did, it is impossible for her to remember it with her personality.

Why did she suddenly pay attention to that direction?

Gao Wen's intuition told Gao Wen that the fish's reaction might be because it felt something!

"The battlefield over there is deteriorating, and we are trying to figure out its situation," Gao Wen said, "Has anyone told you?"

"That's not true, but I seem to feel... there is a little bit of food in that direction." Till blinked, then raised his body even more vigorously, and looked to the north, "It's a bit like a giant squid... ..."

Gao Wen's eyes narrowed slightly: His intuition was indeed correct. The Kraken, who has been dealing with the corpse of the God of Storms for a long time, has a perception ability that humans cannot understand, and his satellite perspective was disturbed when overlooking the giant log crossing, which means that there is something wrong with that area. Covered by a special energy field, Tyr suddenly stared at the north... indicating that she sensed that energy field!

He immediately asked: "Food? Are you sure it's food?"

"A little bit," Till wrinkled her nose (although she didn't rely on her nose to perceive the "breath"), and said uncertainly, "but I always feel that there is a bit of smell..."

Gao Wen: "..."

Chapter 0611 The Turbulent Kingdom

The sky was gloomy, and the turbulent wind was blowing from the direction of the plain, engulfing the cold air that hadn't completely subsided into the city. Under the dim sky, the Earl of Pompey stood on the terrace of the family castle, feeling even more gloomy than the sky.

More and more rumors are spreading between cities and villages, and the contents of the rumors are particularly disturbing. Some people say that a terrible plague has broken out in the giant wooden crossing area, and some people say that the Royal Army has suffered a disastrous defeat. All kinds of news were in chaos, and even nobles like the earl could not get accurate information from the north—and this was the most disturbing point.

The terrace of the castle has a wide view, overlooking the entire city and the large plains outside the city. The slightly fat Earl of Pompeii is wearing a warm thick coat and leaning on a cane, looking into the distance in the cold wind.His gaze first swept across the hills and woods in the northerly direction—not long ago, a strange team from the Rock Fortress passed by the edge of his territory and headed north all the way. The team was led by an elf ranger , riding in strange magical vehicles and carrying strange equipment, they did not explain their mission and destination, but they carried the passage document signed by Duke Gawain Cecil.

Earl Pompey did not dare to stop him.

But judging from the well-trained performance of that team and their direction of advancement, it is not difficult for Mr. Earl to guess that their actions may be related to the recent changes in the situation in the north.

His eyes moved along the hills and plains, and the sparkling Dorgon River came into his sight, followed by the distant mountains and the hazy rock fortress between them, the majestic fortress. The fortress was still shrouded in a dense magical shield, and the mountains and walls together blocked all prying eyes to the south.

Since the Cecil family regained control of the southern border, that land has closed its gates—of course, its physical "gates" will be opened every once in a while, and there is even a Rock City that will be open to visitors, but never Symbolically, the "gate" of the southern border has been closed since the end of the unification war until today.

The surveillance and control system that the Kingdom spent 100 years building was completely cut off. Now no one knows what the resurrected founding duke is brewing in his kingdom, and no one knows what happened to that land in the past two years. What kind of changes are taking place in the middle of the year, people can only rely on the absurd and bizarre stories from businessmen and adventurers, as well as a few glimpses seen in Panshi City, and apart from guessing the customs of the southern border Another focus of the troublemakers is the door of the Rock Fortress-when will that door open, and under what circumstances will it open?

This is probably a more difficult mystery than the current situation in the north.

Perhaps when that door opens, my "field earl" will come to an end.

Adjacent to Rock Fortress, the whole family is within range of the fortress's guns, lacking the support of the royal family, and lost almost all the troops in the last Southern War, and now the economic lifeline of the territory is still firmly controlled by merchants from Cecil, Earl of Pompeii It has been a long time in this torment-like situation, but now it is very open.

He was looking at the direction of the Rock Fortress in a trance. The extraordinary vision allowed him to vaguely see the scene of the fortress and the mouth of the Dorgon River even without the help of Eagle Eye. In this ecstasy, he suddenly Seeing a scene that shook his mind - at first he thought he was wrong, but soon, he clearly confirmed what he saw through Eagle Eye.

The main gate of the estuary to the west of Rock Fortress was opened—in the past, only a side gate would be opened there to allow merchant ships to enter and exit, but at this moment, the entire Dorgon River estuary has been opened.

Three large ships with "two wings" spread out, without sails or paddles, and riding the wind and waves are sailing on the Dorgon River, heading north all the way.

Earl Pompey's eyes widened, and the magic brilliance of Eagle Eye shone in front of his eyeballs. He looked there clearly and saw three large ships followed by a series of small boats. He saw the fortress The turret at the top is rising from the hiding place, and countless soldiers are seen running above the city wall...

The main gate of the Rock Fortress was still closed at this moment, but the Earl of Pompeii suddenly realized one thing——

The southern border, the door is open.

……

In the city of Saint-Sunil, the inner and outer urban areas are still bustling and lively. The arrival of the Recovery Festival and a timely rainfall a few days ago let people see a sign of a good harvest this year. The city official opened the market in advance. Many celebrations were held, and even the poorer civilians in the outer city participated in the celebrations-the bustling and bustling scene seemed to completely cover the haze that had long hung over the kingdom, the civil war in the plains, the wasteland barrier All of this unsettling stuff is masked by superficial celebrations.

However, in the depths of the royal city, in the Silver Fort, the people in charge of this country have already smelled the turbulence in the air.

On the upper floor of the castle, in a study room covered with dark blue velvet, Wales Moen was sitting upright behind the desk, Baldwin Franklin was standing beside him, and opposite them was a man in a black starry robe. The white-haired and robed mage of the royal family, the old mage was reporting the situation with guilt on his face: "... still can't contact the mountain corps, His Royal Highness, Your Excellency, the magic communication with the giant log crossing has been interrupted, and Mrs. Wilder There was no response to the duke's summons..."

Wales' face sank, and the Duke of Franklin standing next to him asked on his behalf: "The magic message is broken, where is Fenghuo?"

"All beacons are not lit, my lord."

After a brief silence, Franklin nodded: "...Okay, thanks for your hard work, Master Rotas."

The old mage left, and the Duke of the West looked down at Welsh who was sitting on the chair: "We should send another group of Griffin messengers, and at the same time send another group of knights to pass through the 'Valley Corridor'—perhaps it is often seen in spring." The surge of magic has affected the effect of the messenger spell."

Wales nodded expressionlessly: "You can arrange it as you see fit, Duke Franklin——I'm a little tired."

"Then, I will handle this matter," Baldwin Franklin bowed slightly, put his hands on his chest, and said with impeccable etiquette, "Please rest in peace, Your Highness."

The Duke of the Westlands left the room, and Wales Moen sat quietly behind the desk for a while. His eyes swept over the documents that had just been sent in front of him and needed to be checked by himself. After a slight pause, he continued to move to the side, and finally landed On a stack of documents on the desk.

The crown prince thought for a moment, reached out and took out the materials, and put them in front of his eyes for a closer look.

Some key content on the information slipped past his sight:

Activities of the Doomsday Cultists...Dark Rituals...Several small-scale epidemics around the giant wooden crossing...

These materials are not timely, and many of them are even information from the end of last year. Due to the difficult roads in winter and the inconvenient passage of couriers, they were not sent to Silver Castle until today.

Wales knew that the Duke of Franklin must also have a share, but he must have not had time to read it—after all, compared with the "nominal crown prince", the Duke Regent who really needs to deal with state affairs is much more busy. The "little things" of the Dark Ritual don't deserve to be at the top of the list.

While flipping through carefully, Wales Moen's brows slowly frowned.

Outside the study door, a figure in a holy white dress with a faint holy light floating around stood briefly. Veronica's hand was already on the door handle, but before turning the handle, her movements stopped suddenly .

The faint illusory heartbeat sounded into the ears of this "princess saint". She raised her head and glanced towards the southeast, and a deep solemnity suddenly appeared on her face that had always been indifferent.

"Someone took the forbidden path," Veronica said softly, as if talking to herself, "the situation has changed..."

Without hesitation, she canceled this visit to communicate with her brother and sister, and turned away from the door of Welsh Moen's study. With a flash of light, her figure directly turned into the purest holy light, and disappeared in the castle. in the hallway.

A moment later, this pure holy light flowed into the Holy Light Cathedral next to the Silver Fort, condensed and descended through the holy light cloud top on the top of the cathedral, and came to the Holy Seat of Pope Saint Ivan III.

There was no one else in the Great Hall of Light, only the Pope himself was sitting in the center of the focus of the holy light, piously meditating and silently praying. The arrival of Veronica interrupted the prayer of St. Ivan III, which was already extreme. The old man slowly opened his eyes, and those turbid eyeballs were quickly filled with pure light: "Veronica, the most devout child of the Lord—didn't you go to visit His Royal Highness Wales in the castle?"

"Your Majesty, I suddenly heard the revelation of the Holy Light," Veronica said softly with a worried expression, "Shadows are gathering, and some people are challenging God's authority and trying to pollute the Lord's land."

The old face of St. Ivan III didn't seem to change, but the cloud of holy light that enveloped the entire Great Hall of Light suddenly surged. Behind the Pope's holy seat, the image of light that spread and grew like trees Expanding in an instant, the "fruits" hanging at the ends of countless branches opened their "eyes", as if a powerful existence hidden at the other end of the world suddenly cast a glimpse of this world——Veronica is here Before that, he had calmly turned his gaze away and did not look at the "Tree of Holy Light" behind the pope. After a while, the "tree" returned to its initial state.

Then, the expression of St. Ivan III began to change. He opened his eyes slightly: "This is a serious act of blasphemy. Where did it happen?"

"On the battlefield where the Kingdom Army and the Eastern Territory confront each other, there are evil heretical sects that have turned it into a ritual site, and a large number of crusaders sent there by the church have been polluted by the power of darkness."

Speaking of this, Veronica paused slightly, raised her eyelids, and stared at Saint Ivan III: "...Your Majesty, it's time to get ready to defend the glory of the Lord."