Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1366: Chapter 1365: The Second Invitation

Although Tiel very naturally—and judging others by herself—concluded that the Antawen Expeditionary Force led by General Vanessa had ended up in the southwestern seas of the Loren Continent because they "swam the wrong way around," Gawain did not dare make such an easy judgment—after all, while the sea demons do indeed have a weirdo like Tiel among them, their whole race is still an admirable high-level civilization. Tens of thousands of elite Soldiers, following a Deep Sea Warlord, collectively swam half a circuit around the planet in reverse? This is the kind of thing probably only Tiel would believe, seeing as she actually has experience in it...

Gawain rubbed his brow; even though he was fully awake by now, the feeling of sleep deprivation still left him uncomfortable: "I don’t think they would make such a massive blunder... Did Cassandra mention any more details to you?"

"More details... there are some," Tiel thought for a moment and then spoke, not entirely sure, "She said General Vanessa’s group ran into a strange anomaly on the seabed, and the timing was about the same as when the Winter ran into that storm..."

This deep-sea salted fish recalled as she spoke, relaying to Gawain word for word the information she had gotten from Cassandra, including the speculations of Byron Kirk, General Vanessa, and the others regarding the incident. The more Gawain listened, the more serious his expression became. By the time Tiel finished, he had already sunk into deep contemplation.

Obviously, that expeditionary army from Antawen did not appear in the southwestern seas because they "swam the wrong way," as that joke would have it—their drifting off course is definitely connected to that anomaly. And judging by the outcome, what they encountered was almost identical to what happened to the Winter—they traversed an utterly unreasonable distance in a very short span of time, accompanied by intense energy turbulence and violent meteorological changes. Back then, the Winter had been "sent" from the Ordo Estuary to somewhere near the equator, whereas the sea demons Expeditionary Army... traveled even farther.

Their "drop point" was the same in both cases, near that orbital elevator. Perhaps this is because the orbital elevator is indeed the largest energy focus in the seas adjacent to the Loren Continent. And the time of the whole event also coincides with the anomalous discharge phenomena observed in the atmosphere across the Loren Continent. The conclusion is already obvious—it must be the Oblivion Association and the sentinel towers at work.

But what exactly lies behind these phenomena? A large-scale spatial teleportation? A doomsday weapon that can tear apart time and space? Or a lethal gateway opened into the elemental world? A string of guesses surfaced in Gawain’s mind as he thought, his fingers lightly tapping on the table. After a brief silence, he suddenly raised his head to look at Tiel: "Besides that, is there any other news?"

"Cassandra said they will head straight at full speed for the Southern Front Battlefield. Once they enter the Ordo Sacred River, they’ll move to support the Northwestern border of the Highmountain Kingdom, and she hopes you can contact the Southern Allied Army first so they can prepare. Also, the sea demons Expeditionary Army under General Vanessa originally planned to land on the northeastern coast of Loren. But since they now know our northern and eastern fronts are in good shape, they’ve changed plans on short notice and intend to directly join the southern campaign—that will also require you and the Southern Allied Army to coordinate properly," Tiel said seriously. "Mainly because we sea demons have never fought in alliance with the land-dwelling races. Our battlefield... may not be very suitable for other races to operate in."

Gawain recalled the last time the sea demons had launched a large-scale operation on the Loren Continent, thinking back to that stormy night when they hunted down the body of the fake god, and he quickly understood what Tiel meant: "I understand. Before the Winter and the Abyssal Pacifier reach the southern front, I’ll make sure to communicate thoroughly with the Highmountain–Silver Alliance. You also remind your kin, have them first... familiarize themselves a bit with the conditions on land."

Tiel nodded, then suddenly smiled as if something had occurred to her: "Does this count as another turning point in history? Once the situation settles... sea demons and the alliance will truly be fighting side by side."

"So you’re considering joining our alliance?" Gawain also smiled, looking at the seldom-seen, seriously-minded Deep Sea Salted Fish lady in her rare state of wakefulness. "We welcome all intelligent races living on this planet to become our friends, whether they were born here naturally or crash-landed from the stars. As mortal beings, when it comes to survival, we should all belong to the same camp."

Sea demons—this race that dwells far out in the great oceans and, over long ages in the past, kept their distance from all land races as if they were hermits—have recently been appearing more and more often in the public view of the Loren Countries. They feature in the official propaganda of various nations, they appear in high-level technical exchanges, and even in some port cities of the Cecil Clan and Typhon there are sea demons staying short-term as scholars or travelers. The increasingly frequent exchanges and mutual goodwill have led many to a mistaken impression: quite a few people now believe the sea demons are already a member of the alliance. In reality, faraway Antawen still remains outside the alliance’s circle to this day.

This seemingly carefree race actually has a surprisingly cautious attitude toward "establishing close relations with land-dwelling races." Although Gawain had once invited them to join the alliance, he received a tactful refusal from Queen Petia. Yet now, Gawain once again felt the urge to invite the sea demons to join, not only because they were about to fight side by side, but also because the upcoming "Firmament Station Joint Restoration Project" was fated to involve the sea demons’ participation.

Confronted with Gawain’s invitation, Tiel fell into serious thought—she might usually look unreliable, but here her status is that of a bridge of communication between Antawen and the Cecil Clan. In terms of human nations, she is equivalent to Antawen’s "resident ambassador" stationed in the Cecil Clan, so this invitation is definitely not just idle chatter when it comes to her.

"It’s not that we’ve never had intimate diplomatic ties with land races," she broke the silence. "Though I wasn’t personally involved, I know that in the long ages of the past, Antawen made pacts with more than one seasonal civilization, joined them as comrades in arms. But every one of those pacts ended in tragedy. Aside from remembrance, we gained nothing. In the museum built in the deep-sea, we preserve uncountable ’relics of the dead,’ their number is no less than the collection of ancient civilizations once stored in the Talronde Vault. And these experiences have made us maintain... a cautious attitude toward invitations from land-based nations.

"But I will still convey your invitation to our queen and advise her to give this matter serious consideration, because..."

Tiel stopped suddenly at this point, as though weighing more appropriate words to express her thoughts. In the end she smiled, speaking frankly: "At least from my own perspective, I think this is the moment when this planet is closest to dawn."

"...Closest to dawn, hmm," Gawain said softly. "Yet in the eyes of many, this is also our most dangerous moment. The shadow from the wastelands hangs over everyone’s head, our mortal fate unclear ahead—your judgment surprises me."

"Before dawn, the sky is always dark," Tiel said with a smile. "There is indeed a tense atmosphere hanging over the cities, but in truth most people firmly believe you’ll lead the alliance to final victory—just as you led the Cecil Clan to rise up on this land. As I see it, those evil cult followers in the wasteland and that mad sentinel tower are nothing more than stumbling stones. Perhaps they think they’re doing something big enough to overturn this entire planet, but honestly... we sea demons have seen plenty of ’big events,’ we don’t lack their contribution."

"It’s not often I hear something this profound from you," Gawain glanced at Tiel with a hint of surprise, then shook his head with a smile. "Though it’s true, it’s not easy to see you stay awake for this long in the first place."

"Exactly—in fact, I’m already getting sleepy," Tiel said, yawning as she spoke. As if she suddenly relaxed, her entire sea demon body visibly slumped at a speed visible to the naked eye. "Ah, there’s one last thing, a message General Vanessa asked Cassandra to pass along. She said she’s already getting in touch with Her Majesty Petia, and that they’ll soon be selecting a group of technical personnel or something... yawn... She said you’d definitely know what it is about, yawn... What’s it about, anyway?"

This deep-sea salted fish spoke the first half of the sentence clearly enough, but by the latter half she was almost talking in her sleep. Her upper body swayed in front of Gawain like a garden eel. Seeing this, Gawain couldn’t help but be both amused and exasperated: "I’ll go over it in detail with you once you’re awake again. You go get some sleep now—it’s impressive you managed to stay awake this long..."

"Alright then, yawn—" Tiel yawned hard again, wobbling her head as she waved at Gawain. "I’ll go sleep first..."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Gawain saw the upper half of that deep-sea salted fish suddenly jerk backward, then lunge forward with all her might. Her whole body slammed down onto the floor with the momentum of someone dropping dead on the spot, going "splat" as she hit the boards. When he leaned out to look again, she was already lying there on the floor, dead asleep and completely out of it...

"Come on... she’s asleep just like that..." Even though this wasn’t the first time he’d seen Tiel’s "drop-dead-style" way of falling asleep, Gawain still couldn’t help muttering in surprise. Then he started worrying about how the hell he was supposed to get this "snake-ball" — which would be one huge bundle once rolled up — out of the room. After thinking it over for quite a while, he chose to give up on this exhausting and thankless attempt—mainly because as the dignified Empire’s Sovereign, pushing a knocked-out snake-ball beauty out the door at five-something in the morning was honestly a bit too weird. Calling someone over to help was hard to explain as well; one slip-up and Amber would be able to crank out three special editions on the spot...

Anyway, this thing doesn’t move much once she’s asleep, so he might as well just leave her in front of the desk as a decorative piece.

With that thought, Gawain instantly felt his mind clear. He rose from behind the desk, let out a quiet breath, then carefully stepped around the tail Tiel had strewn all over the floor and walked up to the wide floor-to-ceiling windows, staring somewhat absently toward the end of the dark horizon.

Winter was already over, yet in this season the northern kingdoms still had long nights. The stubborn night sky still shrouded the land; the sun’s light remained on the far side of the horizon, but a faint, hazy glimmer was already diffusing through the heavens. Under this ambiguous, not-yet-bright sky, the streetlights in the city were gradually dimming from east to west under the combined control of timing systems and photosensors. The entire city was quietly waiting for dawn.

"The moment closest to dawn... So that’s the judgment of an ancient race, huh?" Gawain murmured to himself, then glanced back at Tiel, who looked as if she’d dropped dead in her sleep. A peculiar smile crept onto his face. "Even if she is the flakiest fish in her whole race..."

At this hour, going back to catch a bit more sleep didn’t seem meaningful anymore. Better to get some real work done.

Antawen had sent an expeditionary army—an elite professional force organized by a highly advanced civilization, well-trained and battle-seasoned. The former Sons of the Storm who were now Naga could already prove that when sea demons got serious, the power they displayed was a completely different style from their usual gentle, harmless demeanor. This unexpected force was now about to join the battlefield—without a doubt, the turning point was coming.

The Alliance Army would counterattack the wasteland along all fronts; the Barrier Wall project would kick into full speed. And... the sentinel towers and those dark priests were certainly not going to just sit there and watch all this happen.

Gawain exhaled softly, thinking of the "anomaly" encountered by the Winter and the Antawen Expeditionary Force. A moment later, he turned and activated the Magic Web Terminal beside his desk, and directly extended his mind into the immersion rig connected to that terminal.

In the vast space carpeted with endless little white flowers, Gawain appeared beside a white round table adorned with openwork patterns. Across from him, the figure of a lady in a complex black court gown, with long black hair draped over her shoulders and mysterious violet eyes, was gradually emerging from the air. Then that figure flickered briefly, blinking in and out a few times, as if passing through some complex relay mechanism to enter the current network layer, before finally stabilizing completely.

"You’re online this early?" The Goddess of Magic looked at Gawain, surprise on her face. "Don’t tell me you were up all night playing cards like Old Deer?"

Gawain had just opened his mouth when his expression suddenly turned odd. "...I actually came here on serious business... and you just wrecked my mood."

The Goddess of Magic looked a bit embarrassed. "Ah, sorry. I was just running tests on some samples collected from the front lines, got a little distracted and blurted it out—what’s going on over there? You look really serious."

"We’ve found the missing Winter, and we’ve just made contact with an expeditionary force sent out from Antawen. They’re under orders to support the alliance."

"You found it? And those ’sea demons’ even sent an expeditionary army?" The Goddess of Magic was quite astonished. "That’s good news—why do you..."

"We may have contacted them, but I’ve learned they ran into some unsettling anomalies," Gawain said in a low voice. "I suspect these anomalies are all related to the ’atmospheric abnormal overcharge’ event that broke out a few days ago, centered on the wasteland and covering the entire Loren Continent. I’m afraid the sentinel towers are behind it. Now I need your advice."

The Goddess of Magic’s expression immediately turned grave. "...Tell me the details."

Gawain withheld nothing, laying out all the intelligence he’d just obtained, not missing a single detail.

"...It sounds like some sort of space teleportation over an incredible distance, and on a staggering scale," the Goddess of Magic concluded as soon as she finished listening, reaching a judgment similar to Gawain’s. "Only the process doesn’t seem fully mature yet—the Winter and the sea demons Expeditionary Army look more like they were accidentally caught up in the middle of an experiment..."

Gawain asked in a deep voice, "From these clues, can you tell what the sentinel towers are actually trying to do?"

The Goddess of Magic didn’t answer right away. She was thinking, rapidly collating and analyzing the masses of observational data on the wasteland she’d gathered over the recent period. After a moment, she suddenly broke the silence. "Do you remember one of the traits of The Deep Blue Webway—it’s a ’webway’ system that runs through all domains of our planet."