Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1306: Chapter 1305: What’s Going On Here?

The towering sentinel towers stood upon the foul and lightless border of the wasteland, their vast foundations like hills heaped up by mortal hands, ancient and ponderous, while the tower-shafts, inlaid with crystals and Elven Runes, hovered above the pedestals. Pale streams of radiance wandered along the surface of the huge tower, weaving ever?shifting angles of light between magic symbols and crystals, and with these huge towers as their nodes, the ancient and magnificent energy field screen hung down from the clouds like a waterfall glimmering with dim light, cleaving wasteland and the civilized world with a stark, immutable line.

Accompanied by a shrill, soaring whistle, the armored train "General Winter" thundered into the Forward Base. Another contingent of fully armed imperial army and Combat Monks, Armed Nuns had arrived at this frontline bastion. Sir Philip, the Empire’s commander, tall of stature, bearing heroic, in full martial attire, strode swiftly along the connecting corridor beside the platform, while a figure of extraordinary height and strength, encased in a set of heavy Armor and with a massive Prayer Book hanging at his waist from iron chains, appeared at the exit beside Carriage One of the "General Winter". This figure walked toward the connecting corridor, and behind him filed a company of White Knights disembarking from the carriage.

"High Priest Rhett," Philip walked quickly to that towering figure, saluted, then spoke at speed, "I did not expect you to come to the front in person—earlier I heard that the Holy Dusk Combat Group was coming to our aid, but I had not imagined you would lead the group yourself."

"The King is greatly concerned about the situation here. We have been receiving more and more disturbing reports," Rhett said, his voice mellow and powerful. "Though doing paperwork in the cathedral is not without importance, the responsibility the Holy Light has laid upon me compels me to appear where I am most needed—the brothers and sisters of the forward combat group are in dire need of their High Priest."

"We have indeed discovered certain anomalies on our side," Philip nodded. "The creatures inside the walls have been circling restlessly within the great barrier, agitated as though something were driving them from behind, and the forward detection stations have repeatedly recorded abnormal energy fluctuations within the wasteland, each surge originating from a different direction."

"Let us speak as we walk," Rhett said in a deep voice, then followed Philip toward the interior of the base while speaking swiftly, "Has the advance plan been finalized?"

"It has. Our vanguard units and heavy fire support are already in place. Soon, the Silver Empire will send a signal to the sentinel towers, and before the three main Forward Bases of Typhon, the Cecil Clan, and the Silver-High Ridge, the great walls will open a narrow breach. We will clear the path with heavy firepower and Burners, hastily establish a Forward Base within, then erect the Purification Devices, gradually expand the safe zone, and push toward the Wasteland Central Zone."

"Excellent," Rhett nodded slowly, yet his brows soon drew together slightly. He turned to look upon that awe?inspiring high wall of energy, upon the towers floating in the nearby sky and the radiance blooming from their heights. "And yet I cannot shake a sense of foreboding..."

"A foreboding?" Philip’s expression grew grave. "Is the Holy Light granting some revelation?"

"...Very possibly. Perhaps the Holy Light has sensed an excessive swelling of evil power," Rhett said, his face extraordinarily solemn. "The Holy Light is guiding me—it bids us add twenty more heavy guns and two full complements of incendiary shells to the advance axis."

Philip pondered carefully, his expression gradually hardening with resolve. "...I believe the Holy Light is right."

...

The Sacred Stars Temple cruised slowly across the heavens, its vast shadow cast upon the boundless forests along the northern border of the Highmountain Kingdom. At the far edge of the horizon, the green barrier formed by the Living Forest rose and fell in a slow, breathing motion. Mighty Guardian Ancient Trees, the Silver Legion, and the Highmountain Kingdom’s Elite Ranger Units waited fully armed at the edge of the sea of trees, while on the other side of that dividing line stood the towering light-curtain of the great walls and the sentinel huge tower floating atop nearby hills.

The barrier separated two worlds: on one side, the lush Living Forest Defense Line; on the other, the Gondor wasteland, strewn with charred, filthy soil and wind?scoured megaliths. This wall had stood here for seven centuries, and today... for the first time, mortals would open a breach of their own will.

Queen Belsetia sat upon the Sovereignty Chair, her vision fused with the entire Anti-Gravity Fortress. Through external monitors set throughout the Sacred Stars Temple, she watched every subtle motion of wind and grass along the edge of the barrier in the distance. She felt the high-altitude currents sweeping over the decks, sensed the humming vibration from the engine arrays. This vast and ancient flying base seemed like another body of hers; the senses of mechanical soul and fleshly form intermingled, an offset of perception that would have caused an ordinary mortal to faint in an instant, yet for her it was long since commonplace.

She withdrew for a moment from the whispers of the machinery and lifted her gaze to the great hall, seeing the Master Mage and royal temple Tutor busy at the control terminals scattered throughout. Her chief magic consultants, Great Astrologer Vilaniya, stood quietly upon the small platform before the throne.

"Our forces have completed assembly, Your Majesty," Vilaniya said with bowed head. "Our allies have just sent word that all is ready on their side as well."

Belsetia nodded very slightly, yet did not answer at once.

She knew that the alliance was, in truth, not yet fully prepared. Whether Typhon, the Cecil Clan, or silver, each still had several trump cards forged for this war that were yet en route. A hasty counteroffensive into the wasteland carried immense risk. But she knew still more clearly... the "sentinel towers" within the wasteland had already begun to move. The time left to the safe zones beyond the walls, to the Mortal Nations, was no longer sufficient. At this moment, the sole choice... was to strike ahead of time.

The Silver Empress gathered her spirit, closed her eyes a fraction, letting her soul sink completely into the main control system of the Sacred Stars Temple. She heard the mechanical soul in the depths of the fortress whisper to her, heard the distant resonance transmitted from those sentinel towers that connects to the Sacred Stars Temple. She awakened command key?codes that had lain dormant for centuries, and then, following procedures buried deep in memory, began to authenticate them one by one, unlock, and pour in commands...

On the distant horizon, at the apex of the sentinel towers floating high in the sky, faint ripples suddenly appeared within the once?steady pale blue radiance. The thick, solid surface of the great walls began to show streams of light flowing downward from top to bottom. Vilaniya’s hand tightened unconsciously around her Astrologers’ long staff as she fixed her gaze upon the images from the frontline first?person perspective relayed by the monitoring devices, staring at the fissure slowly opening upon the surface of the great walls, her very breath held suspended.

At the same time, at Typhon’s Winterwolf Advance Base, at the Cecil Clan’s southern Forward Base, fully armed Knights and Mage legions, as well as mechanized divisions ready for battle, all kept their eyes fixed upon the great barrier before them that was slowly opening—this was the first time in centuries that the Mortal Nations had taken the initiative to open a breach in this wall. The historic sight alone was enough to make all present hold their breath.

No one noticed—or rather, in this age, no one was any longer capable of noticing—that within the energy fluctuations and feedback signals released in the operation of those sentinel towers, a certain amount of noise had been intermingled. The ancient barrier control system was not functioning entirely in accordance with the command protocol.

A shrill, piercing screech suddenly rang out within the control hall. Numerous control terminals shut down and rebooted in that instant. A violent jolt came from the depths of the Sacred Stars Temple, the fierce shaking nearly hurling Vilaniya to the floor. She heard the harsh blare of system alarms erupt, heard Attendants and controllers crying out in alarm. Her first reaction was to look toward the Sovereignty Chair at the center of the hall—and she saw that all the lights upon the pale?gold throne had gone dark, while bright arcs of electricity were leaping between the myriad cables and conduits that connects the throne and the fortress!

The reports of operating personnel flooded the hall: "Sentinel Tower System offline! The great walls are out of control!" "Main antenna has shut down!" "Backup ports for the great walls are refusing to respond! Something is blocking our signal!"

"Your Majesty!" The Great Astrologer dashed toward the throne in an instant, but before she reached it, the Silver Empress, eyes previously closed, abruptly opened them. Belsetia slammed her hand upon a certain magic symbol on the armrest of the throne, severing the link even as she casually wiped away the bead of blood seeping from the corner of her lips. Her voice sped into a rapid, ringing command: "Restart the main antenna. All terminals aimed at the sentinel towers switch to manual control. Move the royal temple toward Node Six, draw as close to that sentinel towers as possible! We must re?establish connections immediately!"

The swift orders issued by the Silver Empress quickly quelled the brief chaos in the hall. All operating personnel immediately began to carry out Belsetia’s commands—in such a moment, a clear order was of paramount importance. Even if their response might be limited in effect, the very existence of "orders" could serve to rebuild order.

"Your Majesty," Vilaniya stepped forward to support Belsetia, whose pallor was now plainly visible, secretly steadying the Empress’s body as she lowered her voice to ask urgently, "What has happened?"

"There was an unknown source of permission infiltration—right after I finished the Sovereignty Chair’s authentication, that thing overwrote and tampered with the commands I issued," Queen Belsetia spoke rapidly. "Shutting down the Sentinel Tower System was something I forcibly did on my own initiative—that was the only thing I could still do just now. Otherwise that forged permission would have fully taken over everything that connects to the Sacred Stars Temple."

What the Silver Empress said almost made Vilanya’s heart miss half a beat. She drew in a sharp breath, and then her attention was caught by the horrific scene unfolding on the monitoring system not far away—

The "passage" of the great walls that was slowly opening had already exceeded the planned width, far beyond the interception range of the frontline forces, and yet that great barrier was still continuing to open; the passage leading into the wasteland was still being widened without pause.

The out?of?control sentinel towers were still executing the command they had just received from the Sovereignty Chair, and under the effect of this erroneous instruction, the great walls were about to slam completely shut!

At that moment, an elf in charge of operating a nearby terminal suddenly shouted loudly, "Main antenna has rebooted! Tower Six has resumed response! But... the ’open door’ command cannot be overwritten!"

Vilanya’s heart clenched, and the next second, the Silver Empress she was supporting pushed away her arm and sat back down on the Sovereignty Chair. "I’ll take the connection—Grand Astrologer, stay at my side and keep watch."

Vilanya glanced at the already damaged cables around the throne, and by instinct she even wanted to forcibly pull the Empress up. "Your Majesty, this won’t work, the throne’s connections have already..."

"They’re still usable, I’m sure. I personally cut more than half the connections here just now—I know what I’m doing," Belsetia directly cut off the chief consultant’s words. "There’s no time to hesitate—the entire civilized world is rapidly being exposed to the Gondor wasteland!"

...

The great walls had opened a passage leading into the interior of the wasteland—but it had not opened in the exact manner laid out in the plan.

In front of the Cecil Clan Forward Base, hundreds of heavy tanks and even more Multi-Functional War Vehicles were massed on the plains. Cannon Positions on the high ground to both flanks were trained on the direction of the wasteland. Soldiers and commanders kept their eyes fixed on that majestic energy field screen before them, watching it slowly split open a crack in the middle, watching that crack gradually widen into a broad passage—then watching that passage continue to open to a disturbing breadth, while the entire stretch of the great walls, and even the distant sentinel towers, slowly began to emit a shrill, deeply unsettling howling noise.

The sound was exactly like the "wail" a massive barrier gives off when it’s about to be forcibly slammed shut!

Something was wrong—the seasoned commanders and veterans had already made a swift judgment.

And the next moment, the Dragon Cavalry Fighters performing reconnaissance in the air sent back intelligence—the masses of aberrations that had originally been roaming in rings along the inner side of the barrier were suddenly gathering, starting to surge toward the ever?expanding breach in the great walls, with a level of "order" that was hard to believe!

"What the hell is going on?!" Inside a command vehicle of the vanguard forces, a frontline commander in blue light Armor stared wide?eyed at the images coming back from the external monitors. "Any word from the elves?"

"Our communication with the Southern War Zone was just cut off," a junior officer rattled off at high speed. "Sir, the aberrations are rapidly massing and surging toward the breach—rear command orders us to immediately hold position and intercept, we are to plug that gap!"

"Then we plug it!" The frontline commander ground his teeth. On the distant horizon, the rising, foul smoke and dust chilled the blood—that was the prelude to hundreds of thousands of aberrations and giant monsters surging like a tidal wave. Yet the soldiers on this line no longer had any room to fall back—the breach in the great walls was still expanding rapidly, and with that energy shields gone, the glorious First Legion was the only screen standing before the Dark Mountain Range. "Tank units, adjust formation and construct a defensive line. All Steel Envoys switch to barrier mode. Notify the Cannon Positions—we need support!"

On the far horizon, the surging aberrations were already appearing like a tide; their numbers far exceeded theoretical normal values, far exceeded previous reconnaissance and calculation results, and the "discipline" they were displaying... was something never mentioned in any intelligence.

But in contrast, the artillery the Cecil Clan had spent the past few months frantically piling onto the front line—driven by a severe "firepower deficiency phobia"—also far exceeded the initial plan.

Targets entered firing range; Magic Capacitors activated; heavy artillery spun up.

Amid a continuous succession of thunderous detonations, stream after stream of pale blue light surged up from the human being positions into the sky, then fell in a graceful yet deadly arc into the distant waves of aberrations.

A sea of fire blossomed in the sky and erupted with a roar; within the black tide of the aberration Army, hundreds of bright, high?temperature blast points appeared out of thin air. The ensuing shockwaves tore apart the gory titans’ tough flesh and the hastily raised energy shields. Severed limbs flew into the air, then moments later came down like rain.

Behind the aberration Army, Treant Priests in charge of command advanced step by step under the protection of their escorting units. The heaving black tide in front stirred infinite confidence in the dark Druid’s chest, even bringing a faint sense of heroic exultation—

The operation was indeed rushed, the preparations indeed insufficient, but in the face of this Army and the sudden collapse of the great walls, those feeble Realm of the Mortals beyond the wall would only grow more panicked, more ill?prepared.

After one surge of the tide, those caught off guard mortals would have nothing left.

It was at this moment that a piercing shriek shattered the stillness of the sky; the all?engulfing explosions filled the aberration tide with a "counter?wave" that surged in the opposite direction.

The dark Druid commanding this Army stopped in his tracks. His twisted, withered crown shook in the airflow, and the sea of fire descending from the distant sky burned into his field of vision—

"What is going on?"