Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1200: Chapter 1199: Returning Home in Autumn

The investigation into the remnants of power within the Oblivion inside the wasteland has hit a bottleneck, but this doesn’t mean the major Empires outside the great walls will halt their counteroffensive against the wasteland—quite the opposite. Precisely because the situation within the walls is unknown, it adds extra pressure on the Empires, making them more eager to dive into the wasteland’s interior, even if it’s just to establish an initial forward base.

Thus, the Mortal Nations’ counteroffensive against the wasteland began.

In the southern part of the continent, the Silver Empire has already united with the Highmountain Kingdom to establish a massive Ranger Troop, starting to advance north along the border forests together with the Guardian Giant Trees, gradually compressing the polluted area outside the great walls. Meanwhile, in the northern and northeastern parts of the continent, Typhon and Cecil have already assembled a vast amount of manpower and resources, beginning to construct several railways traversing the pollution zones, preparing to use these "steel arteries" as leverage to pry open the solid pollution barriers around the wasteland.

Grand Architect Gordon stands on the watchtower of the outer wall at Southgate Fortress, his gaze falling on the edge of the Black Forest in the distance. Inside the depths of the forest, he can see some vague artificial structures peeking out from the towering twisted trees; their metallic or crystal spires glimmering in the sunlight, as if forming lines of jewelry embedded in the forest, pointing towards the direction of the great walls.

Those are the outposts set up in the Black Forest, the spires of Magic Broadcast Towers or Barrier Generators exposed outside the outposts.

In the bygone days, many thought the Black Forest to be a barren dead zone for humans, desolate in front of the forest’s blockade. Due to the high costs, enormous risks, and low returns of resisting the Black Forest, the nations gave up on this border. However, there are two exceptions: one is the Typhon Empire, which has always maintained the western wasteland alert zone, while the other is Cecil, which always considers counteroffensive wasteland as a goal. Comparatively, the Cecil Clan has even been more proactive than Typhon in this regard.

Long before the establishment of the Cecil Empire during the Anzu Era, in the union action of nations repairing and reinforcing the great walls, Cecil forcibly opened a road directly pointing to the wasteland in the Black Forest using heavy incinerators and armored troops. Following that union action, this originally "temporary passage" was not abandoned but instead was subjected to long-term maintenance and a series of "augmentation," as per orders from the imperial capital. The construction army stationed at the southern foothills of the Dark Mountain Range used this road as a basis, continuously widening the control area of Southgate Fortress, while building a series of outposts and supply nodes along the way, with its control area extending southward to the foot of the sentinel towers.

Today, this prolonged engineering finally finds its moment to play a significant role.

The "Sentinel Road" in the Black Forest will become the foundation to advance into the wasteland, with energy stations, military posts, and supply nodes set up along the way providing crucial support for subsequent engineering troops. A currently highest-standard charging railway will depart from Southgate Fortress, traverse the Black Forest and the banded flatlands surrounding the sentinel towers, and reach the foot of the great walls. Thereafter, the Empire’s steel fortresses and legions will arrive in the ancient country of Gondor’s territory via this steel artery, where the first forward base of the human counteroffensive against the wasteland will be built.

Footsteps approach from the side, and Gordon withdraws his gaze from the Black Forest, turning his head towards the source of the sound, seeing a colleague with a stout build, solid muscles, dressed in a thick black coat, walking towards him.

That is Blues Panstone, a distinguished craftsman who advanced to Grand Architect two years ago. This master engineer with dwarf lineage was one of the earliest members of the "hundred-person aid team" who came to the southern borders during Cecil’s era. In the restoration engineering of the great walls back then, the engineering team he led shone brilliantly (this is also the major reason for his promotion to Grand Architect), and in the upcoming counteroffensive against the wasteland, this technical expert, quite experienced in "pollution zone construction," will also be one of the main leaders of the engineering department, undeniably an honor.

"Hi, Gordon," Blues raised a hand to greet Gordon, his voice booming like thunder in the mountains, "Did you see the first engineering echelon gathered in the square? Those earth elementals resonance rails, large lifting mechanisms, and the shiny machinery cabins! Let me tell you, I love our new mission; now the Empire’s most advanced engineering machines have been sent here!"

"I saw them, of course I saw them; I’ve been watching them all morning," Gordon shrugged, "And we’ll have to watch for a longer time—building a railway connecting to the wasteland from here isn’t a simple project."

"We already have a road in the Black Forest—with those stations along the way, all the preliminary surveys and logistics supply work become much simpler," Blues comes beside Gordon, his face beaming, "I dare say, Typhon’s engineering progress will definitely be slower than ours this time—they’re also building a railway to the wasteland from Winterwolf Fortress, but in the past few years they haven’t built as many supply stations and energy stations in the Black Forest, and now after that battle at Bitter Winter Castle, they don’t have as many engineering mages..."

"According to the news I received, they’ve already sent twelve thousand engineering mages into the Black Forest, Blues," Gordon glanced at this colleague known for his loud voice, "And another eight thousand are on their way."

Blues’ flushed face stiffened a bit, stunned in the cold wind for a moment before the dwarf-blooded architect couldn’t help but mutter: "Damn rich folks... damn money power..."

"Look at it positively, think about the current situation—Typhon being able to exert so much effort on this task is good news for us," Gordon spoke casually, one of the earliest followers of Gawain Cecil, he had encountered nearly all large-scale engineering projects of the Empire, understanding many of the "big plans" formulated by the King. Now, his perspective naturally differs, "Counteroffensive against the wasteland isn’t a single country’s affair; when the advance troops reach the great walls, the more reinforcements around us, the safer the warriors and engineering personnel will be."

Blues rubbed his nose: "... Darn, what you said really makes sense."

Gordon grinned and turned his eyes toward the gate under the high wall, seeing the engineering team’s vehicles start to move out, speaking casually: "Really, compared to pondering over such headache-inducing ’situation problems,’ I suddenly remembered a joke I often see recently on the Cecil anonymous board within the nerve network..."

Blues rubbed his reddened nose: "What joke?"

"How many of today’s events that we’re personally experiencing will become ’full text recitation’ in students’ textbooks years later," Gordon laughed heartily, "Look at the vehicles under your feet, then consider the report you submitted a few days ago, especially that long passage you wrote at the front of the report... What contents were those? I think your page will definitely be in future history books. Seriously, just for that, you ought to write those things shorter."

"Who cares," Blues muttered, "It’s not like I’m the one who will have to recite it..."

Gordon shrugged, disregarding his colleague’s low mumblings, while Blues felt a bit bored. In the increasingly chilly autumn wind, this stout man with dwarf lineage gazed towards the direction of the Black Forest, his eyes scanning over those lush and twisted plants, then slowly moving over to the more barren "unpolluted zone" near the fortress. A patch of exceptionally lush green trees suddenly came into his vision, causing him to slightly widen his eyes.

"Hey, Gordon," he nudged his colleague beside him with his elbow, "A few days ago, that forest didn’t seem this thriving, did it? How did it suddenly grow like crazy these days?"

"Is it that exaggerated?" Gordon looked over there dismissively, "It’s just a patch of forest, that’s all, and it’s outside the pollution zone of the Black Forest. We sent people to inspect it once before; they’re just ordinary plants, not those corrupted, poisonous contaminated products soaked in chaotic magic from the Black Forest."

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment, looking thoughtful: "However, that forest has indeed grown rapidly... It is probably also affected by the Black Forest. After all, this is the edge of the polluted zone, and most of the flora and fauna here are quite peculiar. There are also many twisted and mutated plants and animals in the Dark Mountain Range."

"That could be possible..."

...

The autumn wind blew across the street that had just been cleaned, fluttering the decorative flags hanging in front of nearby shops. Pea held two books she had just borrowed from the library as she walked down the wide avenue of "Knight Street." When a gust of wind suddenly swept by, she instinctively squinted and looked across the street.

Although it was already autumn, the roadside trees planted in this street were special varieties cultivated by the Druids. They grew in the southern borders of the Empire but were as resistant to the cold weather as their northern relatives. As the autumn wind blew, some leaves fell from the treetops, yet they did not affect the overall lush greenery. Moreover, whether it was an illusion or not, since the autumn cool-down, the vegetation on this street not only showed no signs of wilting but seemed even more luxuriant than in midsummer.

Pea blinked, but not being an expert in plants, she quickly put the insignificant phenomenon out of her mind. Instead, the increasingly cold weather reminded her of something:

Her father had gone on a mission to the north a long time ago. He had not returned for this year’s Revival Festival, last year’s Harvest Festival, or even the Spirit’s Rest Festival. Now that summer had passed and autumn had come... counting the days, he should be coming back soon, right?

A slight longing arose in her heart, and the artificial nerve cord attached to the back of her head subtly wriggled with her changing emotions. At that moment, a sudden howling wind and a low roar came from above, startling her to look up.

A grand and majestic figure streaked across the sky, quickly passing over the northern part of the city. Bathed in the brilliant sunlight, the figure was sheathed in a golden glow. The edges of its massive wings glinted with a metallic sheen; a steel mechanical structure enveloped its fiery, scale-covered body, limbs, and tail, like a being from the tales of bards, reflected in Pea’s eyes.

"A dragon? A Dragonborn?" Pea watched in surprise as the figure flew overhead and descended toward a nearby district. She subconsciously murmured, "Didn’t the public safety office recently relocate the Dragonborn’s speed flying zone to outside the city...? Why is there still one flying chaotically in the bustling area..."

With questions in her mind, Pea started running toward the direction where the "Steel Dragon" was landing—not to see the commotion, but because she was worried that the reckless Dragonborn might cause trouble during the landing, especially since that place wasn’t far from her home.

...

After a series of thrilling decelerations and "side-wing flights," the mighty Red Dragon finally controlled its speed and altitude over the city. Its vast wings flapped, the artificial rune system mobilizing the magic and airflow in the air to maintain stability. Then, with the assistance of the anti-gravity system, Asharena finally executed a very graceful and beautiful "short-distance tilted landing" for the final step of her descent, landing with a shock and a loud "bang" that shook the entire small square, her dragon claws imprinting firmly on the open space of the landing zone.

Then, the Dragonborn lady with fiery red scales seemed to ponder in place before shaking her enormous head left and right: "It’s really a bit uncomfortable to land in the normal process..."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a figure wobbled out from her shoulder. Byron, holding his head, sounded quite pained, yet didn’t forget to loudly question: "Earlier, when you were several tens of meters above the ground, weren’t you planning to turn into a human form and jump off?! I saw the start of your transformation!"

"I just remembered at the last moment that you were still on my back," Asharena shouted back without turning her head, simultaneously lowering one wing to form a ramp to the ground. "And what do you mean by the start of my transformation? Can you tell from my flying posture when I intend to transform?"

Byron, still holding his head, replied loudly: "Why can’t I? Over the past month, you’ve crashed onto my deck many times! Even the guys washing the deck on my ship can predict when you plan to jump off the air..."

"Stop blabbering," Asharena shook her wing and tail, "Get off quickly, my wings are tired from flying all the way like this."

"What’s there to be tired about? Most of the strength comes from the pile of machines on you. Don’t think I don’t know the latest model of Wings of Steel has a ’cruise control’ function," Byron muttered, then waved his hand with a sour expression, "Hang on, let me catch my breath... It’s been a rough journey, especially that last bit of landing... My stomach doesn’t feel too well now..."

"Huh?!" Upon hearing this, Asharena started shaking her entire back. "Then you really need to get down! Don’t puke on my back! Damn it, why didn’t you say you were this afraid of heights before we left?! I remember you didn’t used to be afraid of heights!"

"I’m not afraid of heights; I just don’t like flying in the air... Asharena, stop shaking! Stop! I can’t... hold it... I really can’t... urgh..."

After a series of gut-wrenching retching sounds, the entire small square plunged into utter silence.

After a few seconds, an enraged Dragon Roar echoed throughout half the district—

"Byron!! I’m going to kill you!!!"