Sword of Dawn

Page 264

Rosetta looked up, watching the long and deep corridor continue to fall apart, falling bricks and stones, and in the unknown depth of darkness behind him, that low whisper turned into a distant sigh: "Alas..."

There seemed to be endless regret and helplessness in that sigh, which was very different from those crazy and malicious whispers before.

The last supporting structure of the entire palace also completely disintegrated after this sigh, turning into nothingness.

After the wall completely collapsed, the exterior of the palace was also reflected in Rosetta's eyes. He saw a city, a city that was collapsing rapidly in the collapse of the sky and the earth. Countless towering towers and majestic city walls disintegrated in the violent shaking. A monstrous rift opened in the earth, and an entire city was swallowed up by the earth almost instantly, and among the crumbling things, in the depths of the earth, the last thing he saw was a layer of transparent The dome, the indescribable starlight polymer floating in the dome...

……

The huge sun rises in the east and sets in the west, day and night alternate, and the stars circulate.

The ancient constellations watched the world solemnly and indifferently like the gods, watched the passage of time, and watched the busyness of mortals.

The constellation of Frost passed the highest point of the sky, and winter began to unleash its last power in the last month of the season. The wind howled and the ground froze.

With the support of construction machinery and various other advanced technologies, the "sub-tower" in charge of the Cecil Peak Base completed the main building one month ahead of the scheduled construction period, and a series of "purification devices" spreading from the sub-tower to the north were also completed. After completing the capping of the main body, after that, the installation and debugging of a series of later magic devices will become the main work content of the magicians.

The technical exchanges between the Silver Empire and the Principality of Cecil are finally on the right track. After the initial run-in and small project tests, the elf magisters in the south of the mainland and the human magic researchers in the north of the mainland have established a preliminary With a tacit understanding, the Principality of Cecil and the Silver Empire respectively set up more signal relay towers and boosters in the areas under their control. In a more stable and efficient communication environment, the researchers of the two races straddled the entire Continental has started a series of technology exchange and cooperation projects in telecommunication.

In 738 Ansu, on the 35th day of the Cold Moon, Gawain received a magic net communication from Hetty.

"The special envoys sent by Typhon have arrived in Cecil City," the elegant and steady Grand Consul of the Principality seriously reported the situation in the holographic projection, "according to your order, we will arrange for them to visit the next day The operation of the eastern line of the magic train."

"They're finally here...but it's understandable. After all, it's such an important project. Rosetta Augustus and his think tanks have evaluated it for countless times before finally making a decision," Gawain said while sitting at the desk Finally, the unique whistle of a heavy-duty transport vehicle came from outside the window: a batch of rocks, soil and monster specimens collected from the wasteland had just been loaded into the vehicle and were ready to be sent to the research department of Cecil City, "The Principality How's it going?"

"Everything is stable. The last batch of exiled knights in the northern region has surrendered. The magic monitoring and sensing devices in all border areas and key urban areas have been laid and activated. According to the plan, the next step is to roll out the sensing devices to villages and towns."

Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief.

So far, the current social security guarantee of the Principality of Cecil has finally been completed.

The so-called "magic power monitoring and sensing device" is a special facility developed by Kamel and set up by the government affairs department. Its idea comes from the ancient Gondor Empire, and its technology is the contemporary "magic power detection spell" and The product of the fusion of magic network communication technology, its biggest function is to perceive all spell-casting behaviors within the range, and send back the alarm as soon as possible. The "supervisors" of the public security department of the government affairs department can see the alarm from the city sand table The location of the node, so as to quickly lock the unauthorized magic activity.

Of course, this system is not intended to prohibit supernatural beings from casting spells—as long as they carry a special "spellcaster license" and rely on the rune array in the license, supernatural beings can normally cast spells. The government affairs department also needs to undergo regular inspections, rune updates, and qualification assessments. In this way, extraordinary people in Cecil must be registered. Of course, this system encountered some resistance at the beginning of its implementation, but due to integration With the great results of the war, almost [-]% of the Transcendents in the entire southern border are already under the control of the Principality, and there are not many Transcendents who have not accepted the jurisdiction, and it was finally implemented smoothly.

This system has been laid since the middle of last year, and now, it has finally become a scale.

Effective management of all supernatural beings sounds very advanced, but in fact this idea is not advanced at all.

Not to mention the Gondor Empire 1000 years ago, Typhon, just one border away, had realized the registration and professional management of extraordinary people many years ago, as evidenced by their special team of "engineering mages".

The Typhon people used a large number of mage towers and a large number of royal mages loyal to the empire to realize the registration and induction of supernatural beings in most urban areas, and set up a large number of training facilities to create "professional spellcasters" who are more loyal and obey the orders of the empire , this method cost a lot of money, but relying on the strong "money ability", Typhon finally realized all this.

Ansu was already a step behind in this regard, so Gao Wen had to use more advanced technology and a more advanced system to make up for the disadvantage of being a latecomer. At least in the principality, he had to achieve more effective control over the extraordinary.

Of course, there must be loopholes in those facilities and systems, and there will always be people who take advantage of the loopholes to find cracking methods to hide mana fluctuations. High-level or legendary-level transcendents may also rely on their own powerful strength to block the monitoring of magic sensor devices and crack them. The confrontation with anti-cracking, monitoring and anti-monitoring will never end, but in any case, as long as the new management method can produce a little effect, the southern border will be safer-at least, those who try to infiltrate The cultists who come in and want to sneak in to perform evil rituals at any time and place are not so easy to sneak in now.

From now on, cultists operating in the southern border—whether they are eternal sleepers or all things die—will face the situation that they will be handcuffed to the radiator by law enforcement officers even if they chant a spell.

……

After hanging up the communication, Hetty stretched her back vigorously, moving her slightly sore neck.

The cold wind was howling outside the window, and the snow from the previous two days was still pressing on the roofs of several buildings. Crystal clear ice hangings hung from the window sills, showing the cold outside.

Slightly warm air flows along the ventilation duct and blows out from the air circulation outlets on both sides of the office, maintaining a comfortable temperature in the office. Even in this cold weather, the temperature in the room is still comfortable enough to make people sleepy.

In fact, Rebecca had already fallen asleep on the sofa next to her.

Hetty looked helplessly at her niece who was sleeping soundly, and couldn't help shaking her head.

"...just came here to chat with the ancestors... fell asleep before the communication was connected..."

She muttered a few words, but she didn't wake Rebecca up, and she didn't really want to blame anything.

She knew that Rebecca was really exhausted recently—for the technical exchanges with the Silver Empire, and for the organization and preparation of the series of new projects, this simple-minded girl hadn't had a good rest for half a month.

This kid needs a good night's sleep.

Hetty found a blanket from the side, and gently covered Rebecca, which made her think of the latter when she was young - this girl who was never restless, has always been a master at being kicked, even if arranged The two maids watched specially, and often couldn't keep up with Rebecca's speed of kicking the quilt...

As if feeling something, Rebecca, who was lying on the sofa, arched her body slightly, and muttered vaguely: "...Master Ancestor...I will figure it out...the runes of the elves..."

After muttering something, she suddenly giggled in her sleep, as if she had been praised in her dream.

Hetty watched Rebecca's movements, and couldn't help showing a smile on her face. Then she stood up, and glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall not far away.

Cold month, 35th.

In 25 days, winter will be over.

Chapter 0606 The Moon of Recovery

Winter is over.

Deep in the peak base, in a room with closed doors and windows, a magic net terminal is running.

There was no one in the room, and the thick curtains blocked the not-so-bright skylight, making the whole room dark and inexplicable. The white noise projection of the magic network terminal was like a lamp with insufficient brightness, which was reflected in each piece of furniture and utensils. A faint light and shadow were cast on it.

On the only wooden table in the house, the printing machine connected to the magic net terminal was making a creaking sound. Sheets of white paper were pushed into the machine by the paper feeding mechanism, and then the information from afar was printed on the paper. is sent to the printout port.

At the front of the machine, a small stack of printed materials has been accumulated.

Suddenly, the materials on the table floated up, as if they were being held up by a pair of invisible hands, and the papers began to flip through.

After a while, the materials were put back on the table, and the magic net terminal that was running automatically gradually quieted down. A weak wind blew through the empty room, and the curtains not far away shook, accompanied by a little bright light , everything returned to silence.

In the center of the base, Gao Wen was flipping through the technical information from the elven magister Banner——Due to the shortened construction period, the sub-tower and related facilities in charge of the Principality of Cecil are about to be completed ahead of schedule, and the sub-tower is currently undergoing the installation and debugging of magic devices in the later stage Most of the work and several purification nodes have been completed. In order to ensure that this crucial project can be completed smoothly, Gao Wen dare not relax at this moment.

An invisible wind suddenly blew into the room. Gawain felt a familiar breath appearing at the window. He casually rolled up a ball of paper and threw it over. With a sound of "Oops", the next second he saw amber emerging from the air. He came out and fell off the window sill in embarrassment.

——The windows of the peak base are specially made, and the window sills are narrow and have a concave-convex sealing structure, which makes it impossible to put mouse traps. This is something that Gawain regrets very much.

"What's the matter?" Gawain raised his eyelids and glanced at the half-elf who was getting up from the ground, "It's rare for you to come here at this time."

Amber got up and patted her clothes, and came to Gao Wen's desk carelessly as if nothing had happened just now: "I just received a batch of information from the north - I feel something is wrong with a few things."

"Information from the north..." Gao Wen put down the information in his hand, "Tell me about it."

"Since the end of Bruma, a large-scale collection of cult members has begun in the Eastern Border Control Area. We speculated at first whether it was Prince Edmund's 'acting skills'. We guessed that he was trying to deceive people, but according to According to the latest information, so far the Eastlanders have captured hundreds of followers of the death of all things, and destroyed dozens of hidden altars that secretly held dark rituals. The intelligence personnel initially judged that those hidden altars and evidence of heresy are true .”

"...It seems that the cooperative relationship between Edmund and the Society of the End of Everything is indeed not that close..." Gawain frowned slightly, "But just because of a warning letter from me, isn't the reaction of the Eastern Realm? Too big? Considering that Edmund had at least a certain degree of cooperation with the Death of Everything before, it was suspicious that he made such a big move immediately after receiving my warning letter..."

"What's more suspicious is yet to come," Amber said with a strange expression on her face, "Can you believe it—from last month to now, in the area controlled by the royal family in the confrontation zone of the Holy Spirit Plain, everything caught by the noble army died The number of believers and hidden altars destroyed is even more than that of the East!!"

Gao Wen blinked, and didn't react for a while. After he did, his first feeling was how could this be possible——

Those old aristocrats in the north are suddenly no longer worthless. Is there anything more suspicious in the world than this? !

Did my previous warning letter really have that much effect?The Ansu nobles suddenly realized the danger of the death of all things, so they decided to unite to punish rape and eliminate evil?Victoria Wilder completed the ideological transformation project of the old aristocracy in an instant?

Gao Wen would rather believe that those believers who were brought out to the death of all things committed suicide!

"What's going on specifically?" Gawain looked into Amber's eyes, "I don't believe that those old nobles suddenly improved their efficiency."

Amber really had the following text: "The reason why the efficiency of the Eastern Realm and the royal family and nobles is so high is because someone reported it."

"Report?" Gao Wen frowned, "Didn't the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau you sent report it?"

"Only the first few times were reported by our operators, but after the end of the Frost Moon, the number of reports suddenly increased, and clues of cultists were sent to the local lords almost every day. It took a long time for the operators to find out The identities of those whistleblowers — guess who?"

A strange thought suddenly popped up in Gao Wen's mind: "...Isn't it that all things will die on their own?"

"That's right, it's really them themselves—and the situation is extremely weird!! Those who have been reported are all the scenes after the dark ceremony has been held. All the believers who participated in the ceremony have committed suicide during the ceremony, so strictly speaking Said, whether it is the royal family or the East Territory, after receiving the clues, the 'caught' bodies are only the dead bodies of the cultists who have already performed rituals..."

Before Amber finished speaking, Gao Wen's eyebrows suddenly trembled.

How could this really be suicide...

Then he realized that there was something extremely disturbing and weird behind this absurd situation——

This is very similar to some kind of secret, continuous, large-scale sacrificial ceremony!Those cultists are sacrificing themselves on a large scale!

Undoubtedly, Amber, who often deals with all kinds of information, can also think of this level, and this half-elf also showed a serious expression on his face: "It's like a large-scale sacrifice, isn't it—the cultists in the Holy Spirit Plain are here In the past two months, there have been at least hundreds of dark rituals that require participants to commit suicide, and there may be as many as a thousand followers of death of all things have completed the sacrifice!"

"That's right, a sacrifice, it's a sacrifice without a doubt," Gao Wen's brows furrowed unknowingly, he couldn't help pressing the table with his hands, his voice was low and serious, "But why did they report... After the sacrifice is over, we must take the initiative to expose those altars and strongholds that were built secretly with great difficulty... unless it is required for a ceremony... Wait, it doesn't have to be a ceremony!"

A bright light seemed to flash across Gao Wen's mind. He suddenly raised his head and stared into Amber's eyes: "Have all the discovered corpses been burned?"

"Only a part of it was burned—two-thirds were burned by people from the east, and less than one-third were probably burned by the royal family and nobles. Most of the rest were thrown directly into mass graves, or even thrown into the wild. ...Although their respective high-level lords have issued orders that all corpses must be burned and all altars must be purified with holy water, you should know how poorly the execution efficiency of those lower-level knights and noble soldiers is." Amber already guessed that Gao Wen's thoughts, "Do you think those cultists are using the dead bodies after the sacrificial ceremony as a source of pollution?"

"Dark druids are very good at spreading the plague with flesh and blood..." Gawain said quickly, "but no, there are still problems... This still doesn't explain why they must 'report' after the sacrifice... this Instead, some corpses that could have been sources of pollution will be incinerated and purified!"

Gao Wen had already stood up from behind the desk. He walked slowly behind the desk while frowning and thinking, guessing that the cultists must disclose the remains, altars, and strongholds after the sacrifice, and was thinking hard. , He suddenly thought of one thing: He thought that both Victoria Weld and Edmund Moen were "wise men" among the traditional aristocrats, and he thought of the orders they might give after getting the information from the cultists— —

"After discovering the cultist information, do the local lords and their guard knights have to go to the scene in person?!"

"Yes, this is an order from the Duchess of Victoria. Edmund Moen also has a similar order. This is to prevent the lower nobles and knights from being perfunctory, and to ensure that they can at least come to the scene..." Amber said As he spoke, the speed of his speech suddenly slowed down, and the subsequent words finally merged into a sentence of exclamation, "...Oh my god..."

Gawain took a breath slowly: "A big event is about to happen - when the cult members take the initiative to expose the altars and strongholds they have operated for many years, it means that their ritual has reached the final stage."

He cursed secretly in his heart: Damn, everyone just fell into the pit! !

Who would have thought that the last step of the sacrificial ceremony held by those lunatics who talked about the end of all things would be to report themselves? !

"It's probably too late to remind the duchess and the prince now. At least half of the noble lords and knights in the eastern conflict zone of the Holy Spirit Plain may have been infected by something," Amber also realized the horror of the situation, and her tone became hasty. , "But do you think Duchess Victoria and Prince Edmund have realized that something is wrong? They are not stupid..."

"They are indeed not stupid, but if the cultists started their operations from grass-roots villages and towns, did not enter the big cities in the middle, and bypassed all the royal family's direct and second-level fiefdoms, then in just one and a half to two months, there would be no news from all parties. It won't go to Victoria and Edmund."

Amber's eyes widened: "Why?"

Gawain looked at her and paused every word: "Because 'my vassal's vassal is not my vassal'."

Then he returned to the desk and quickly pulled out a piece of letter paper: "Whether it's too late or not, you must remind the north—you can send this letter directly to the Rock Fortress, and let them send it by Griffon Messenger, the fastest Griffin Messenger. To the Kingdom Army and the Eastern Border Legion. In addition, withdraw all the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau who are active in the conflict zone, first withdraw to the Rock Fortress, temporarily isolate, and conduct a full set of inspections on magic, curses, and diseases before entering the city. The chamber of commerce The personnel on the border are also arranged. Starting today, Rock Fortress and Glenn Pass are all closed, and the sensitivity of all magic induction towers in the border area is set to the highest."

While talking, he quickly wrote down the urgent letter, and then continued while stamping his own seal: "I must return to Cecil City—you and I will go back together."

Amber blinked: "Then what about the project here?"

"The project here is nearing completion, and Bruce Panshi and Magister Banner will ensure its smooth completion," Gao Wen said. "The most important thing at present is to ensure the stability of the southern border and find a way to grasp the situation in the northern region. There is a problem in the southern border. . . . and there is no project.”

After finishing speaking, Gawain thought about it again, looking for whether he had missed something, and finally added: "Sonia please send them to the western camp. If the situation in the north really deteriorates, Duke Baldwin Franklin There was also a problem there, so we took over the project of the western camp."

He was thinking of those cultists hiding in the wasteland, worried that the situation in the northern region was just a smoke screen for the end of all things, and worried that their real purpose was to destroy the barrier.

……

At the same time, the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain, the area controlled by the royal family, and a small town.

The winter snow is gradually melting, and this year’s recovery month seems to be warmer than previous years. The patter of snow drips down the roofs and towers, and almost all the roads in the small town become wet because of this, hiding in houses Residents of Yidong took to the streets one after another. In this month that symbolizes hope, they planted a wheat ear preserved from last year on the door of their houses-in the folklore of Ansu, this means that they are full of hope for the whole year. Belly's prayer.

A pair of elf sisters who look almost identical walk the streets of a small town.

They have beautiful appearances and gorgeous dresses. Whether it is their outstanding appearance or elf status, they don't seem to be characters that would appear in such a remote town. However, they are like acquaintances in the town, wandering on the wet streets. walk in the courtyard.

Some of the pedestrians coming and going seemed to ignore the pair of striking elves, while others would stop and greet them with a smile.

"The season of recovery is so good," the elf sisters said in unison as they walked and watched, and they didn't know whether they were telling each other or their unique "self-talking", "As soon as the cold days are over, the sprouts will soon will grow."

A man in a soldier's armor passed by them. Hearing this, he stopped slightly and bowed slightly like a gentleman: "Yes, new shoots are about to grow."

"Your new armor is beautiful."

The elf sisters laughed and said, walking briskly across the street.

On both sides of the street, there are young women sorting the ears of wheat on the door, some men are repairing farm tools, some craftsmen are drinking and chatting, and some apprentices are yawning and walking out of the house. Say hello to the elf sisters passing by.

"Good morning, Miss Reina."

"Good morning, Miss Ferna."

"Good morning, Uncle Sam - you've got a great beard."

"Good morning, Aunt Poppy, what a beautiful day today."

The smiles on the faces of the Elf sisters were bright and brilliant. The peasant woman they called Aunt Bobby stopped working with the ears of wheat and straightened up with a little confusion, but then smiled in the next second: "Yes, today What a beautiful day."

"Seeing the sun on the first day of the recovery month means that the next year will be full," the elf sister said with a bright smile, "is it?"

The peasant woman's smile became brighter and brighter: "Yes, it will fill my stomach..."

Everyone laughed brightly.

Men, women, craftsmen, apprentices, soldiers, civilians, people on the street laughed one after another.

They grinned, and under their lips, neat crystals shone brightly.

Chapter 0607 Disaster

Many times, this world will not develop according to your plan. Just like Gao Wen thought that the confrontation between the royal family and the Eastern Realm would last at least until the completion of the construction of the Great Wall. Ansu still has at least one year before the war resumes. It was safe, but the fact is that just half a year later, another fire started from an unexpected place—to be honest, the actions of the End of All Things Society were unexpected by Gawain.

He really knew that the dark sect was a hidden danger, and he knew that the cultists were full of madness and destruction, but until he discovered the "vine" in the shadow world, he never thought that the erosion of the end of all things would be so serious, and until the A month ago, he did not expect that they would directly attack the royal family and the aristocratic army in the east - by this point, their actions had completely deviated from the concept of "dark sect".

On the 738th of the month of recovery in Ansu 5, Gao Wen, Hu Po and others returned to Cecil City, and immediately summoned the military and intelligence personnel in charge.