Sword of Dawn

Page 469

"Just an avatar?" Philip's eyes widened.

"Well," Naritil nodded, "the soul is empty, and the personality and thinking are fake. Most of the actions should be remotely controlled by a hidden body...or it needs a large number of such incarnations to condense. It will form an ontology. Anyway, the connection between this avatar and the 'ontology' has been broken now, and I have no way to trace it—it is not in my web, and the spider silk cannot spread too far away from the neural network."

Philip couldn't hide the disappointment on his face, and couldn't help asking: "...Then is this empty shell incarnation useful to us?"

"It's still useful," Naritel thought for a while, and replied seriously, "I asked Duwart and Megal to help take it apart after I went back. Maybe there are some memories left inside."

"Then it's hard work for you."

Philip nodded and said, and then he couldn't help but return his eyes to Malm Dunit. When his eyes swept over the obvious and familiar sacred symbols on the other party's clothes, his expression couldn't help but become a little complicated.The young imperial general opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end all the words turned into a wordless sigh.

He also believed in the God of War, and even until this moment, he couldn't tell if he really gave up this belief.

As early as when he first learned about the hidden dangers of Typhon's divine disaster, Philip experienced a period of difficult thinking. He even stepped into the church of the Church of the Holy Light to discuss the issue of faith with the priests who had found new teachings , this had some effects, and after that he carefully studied many of His Majesty Gawain Cecil's discourses on social order and religious beliefs, which also had some effects.

At least, after that, his determination became firm again, so that he would not be confused about his words and deeds.

However, at this moment, seeing the symbol of the God of War again, and seeing a high-ranking cleric from Typhon who has become the spokesperson of the Mad God, he still couldn't help sighing, and couldn't help feeling a sense of loss and frustration in his heart. emptiness.

He suddenly thought of what Emperor Gawain Cecil once said to himself in a small chat... Probably, this is the "labor pain" that many people in this world are destined to face once.

Naritil circled twice around Malm Dunit's avatar, "pulling" out more spider silk from the air, and wrapped the unresponsive spirit body more firmly as if carefully packing it. , and then she grabbed the silk net around the other's waist and lifted it - a strong adult who was much larger than her body at the moment was so light in her hands that it seemed weightless.After doing all this, she looked up at Philip, and said casually: "You have to be cautious, after all, you have been baptized and have a very pious belief—according to the research of human disobedients, here In this case, the 'connection' has been established, and even if you are not so religious in your consciousness, this connection does not seem to disappear easily."

Before she finished speaking, she had already taken a step forward. This "God of the Past" seemed to have crossed an invisible barrier, and his figure and the "goods" he carried disappeared in front of everyone.

Philip didn't have time to thank Naritil, which annoyed the young general who always valued etiquette, but he didn't have much time to immerse himself in his personal feelings.

"General," an adjutant saw what happened here, and walked over from the side. The adjutant still had a trace of nervousness on his face. It seems that the sudden change just now left a deep impression on him, " That one just now is the 'messenger' who spread the pollution, right? It seems that the divine disaster on Typhon's side has completely gotten out of control..."

Divine disaster, this thing is either an unheard of concept for most countries in the world, or it is only classified information that is limited to high-level circulation, or even a taboo item that is prohibited from circulation. However, Sisi, who has already faced two divine disasters But the Cecilians are no strangers to it—the concept of divine disasters is written in the Cecilian's textbooks, newspapers, radio, and combat manuals of all front-line troops.

Everyone here knows what they might face, and they don't shy away from talking about it.

"We could have doubted it before..." Philip said with a serious face, "but now it is basically certain that the out-of-control God of War pollution has infiltrated Typhon's military system, and the divine disaster has broken out in Typhon. From now on, We are fighting against the god of war who is out of control."

Philip seemed to use his utmost strength to finish the sentence, and then he slowly raised his head, but his eyes did not look at his adjutant, but passed over the adjutant's shoulder, the busy hall, and the thick and solid walls of the Fort of the Treaty. The city wall—that's the direction of Winter Wolf Castle.

……

The sun had already set two hours ago, and the thick night was covering the entire wasteland.

However, the night that should have been silent was torn apart by continuous artillery fire. The flashes of magic crystal shells burst and scorching rays swept across lit up this cold night again and again. It seemed to be besieged by countless ferocious beasts in the night, shaking violently under the continuous bombardment.

But this "shaking" is just an illusion. Andersa is familiar with Winter Wolf Fort. She knows that this fortress is still strong, and all shield nodes still have a high safety margin. So far, the enchanted city wall has not been substantially damaged. The mage guarding the fortress and the soldiers manipulating the ballista on the city wall still had time to rest on duty, and the defenders were still physically strong.

This can be regarded as the most gratifying stalemate situation at present, and more than half of the credit for this situation should be attributed to the timely assistance of the Black Flag Mage Group.

Above the city wall in the southwest direction, a large hazy magical halo rose into the air accompanied by layers of rune lights and shadows that emerged out of thin air. Under the powerful resonance amplification effect, the legion-level spells took shape again. A few kilometers away, a lightning storm descended instantly in the sky. Thick thunderbolts criss-crossed across the battlefield. In the bright flashes brought by the thunderbursts, Andersa's transcendent vision was fully activated, and she vaguely saw Se The Syl's bombardment position was just at the edge of the strike range of the lightning storm.

They appeared to be backing off a little more—and this would further weaken their own long-range artillery.

Not all "Skyfires" can hit targets across a distance of several kilometers or even tens of kilometers. The magic devices of the Cecils also have various range limits. After the distance is widened, a considerable number of small and medium-sized "Skyfires" It can no longer threaten the walls of Winter Wolf Castle.

But that's not something to be happy about.

The legion-level spells that the Black Flag Mage Group is proud of can produce devastating firepower on the battlefield, but here they can only be used for passive defense. On "deterrence bombing," mages were bombarding clearings with their precious mana, only occasionally destroying a few aggressive enemy squads, which wasn't much of a success at all.

Since nightfall, Earl Palin Winterhold's complexion has not changed for the better.

However, Andersa knew that there was no way to do this. There was only one sentence in the final analysis of such a predicament - the Cecilians were willing to spread their troops and rampage on the plains. Even if a few echelons were wiped out, there would be more echelons Support came up from behind, but Winter Wolf Castle was not willing to let the Black Flag Mage Group step out of the city wall.

But everything is not as it should be...

Andersa stood on the high terrace of the castle, frowned and watched the chaotic, turbulent cold night, everything in front of her even made her suddenly feel a little absurd.

She knew that there was a problem with the Church of the God of War, which caused Typhon to start this "war" by mistake, but as the opponent, the Cecilians...why did they react so strangely?

They also seem to be determined to fight, but this does not conform to the previous judgment of her grandfather and many domestic military advisers on the situation.

"General," the adjutant's voice suddenly came from behind, calling Andersa's thoughts back, "The Earl of Winterhold invites you to go and discuss the city defense plan for tonight - he is in the East Hall."

Andersa looked back in the direction of the city wall for the last time, turned around and nodded to the adjutant: "I see."

She started to leave the terrace, but before passing the adjutant, she stopped suddenly.

"General?"

"Is there any reply from the imperial capital? Matilda, Your Majesty, or my grandfather," she asked, "Is there any reply?"

"No," the adjutant shook his head, "the communication pointing to Aldernan has sent your letter three times, but there is no reply. The network of communication towers from the border to the imperial capital has just been remodeled not long ago, and it is hard to say whether it will Some nodes have the problem of slow forwarding, if you are worried that there is a problem in the way of forwarding, we can send it again."

Slow forwarding...at a time like this?

Andersa looked at her adjutant: "Claudine, if we are all in great chaos here, as the headquarters of the Church of the God of War, Aldernan..."

"This is a terrifying possibility, but at this stage we can only trust the judgment and capabilities of His Majesty and the parliament," the adjutant said, "Everyone has their own things to do."

"...You are right." Andersa hesitated for a few seconds and said helplessly.

In any case, following orders was part of her upbringing, and as a border commander she knew that her responsibilities were limited.

"General, do you need to contact Aldernan again?" the adjutant asked from the side.

"No need, I'm going to the East Hall to find the Earl of Winterhold first." Andersa shook her head, walked forward, and at the same time told the adjutant casually, "Go to the hall on the first floor, and come to find him in time if you have any situation." I."

"Yes, General."

Andersa left the terrace. She walked down the spiral staircase, walked through the connecting corridor between the tower and the city wall, and walked quickly towards the east hall.

The cold night wind mixed with the sound of artillery fire from afar, blowing through her fine temple hair.

When passing a fork in the road, she stopped suddenly.

Andersa raised her head and looked at a tower not far away—it was a building that looked like a mage's tower, but there was a weird ring floating on its top that shone slightly in the night. Maintained by the force field, it rotated slowly, and a low and faint hum echoed in the night.

That's the communication tower of Winterwolf Castle.

Andersa doesn't usually step into this facility, because she doesn't have the talent of a spellcaster. She doesn't understand how the communication tower works, and she can't use the magic device inside, so this aspect has always been the responsibility of her mages. Do it for you.

Now that the war broke out suddenly, and the various affairs of Winter Wolf Castle were in chaos, she hardly had any time to breathe, let alone pay attention to the operation of the communication tower-this itself was not something she should pay attention to personally as the supreme commander.

But at this moment, she stopped in front of the communication tower.

The situation... something seemed wrong, and she felt that she might have missed a detail, or was blinded by something.

Andersa suddenly looked pale, put her hand on the hilt of her waist, and strode towards the communication tower.

In front of the tower, there were two battle golems standing quietly, seemingly functioning normally.

Andersa jumped over the two golems, reached out and pushed open the gate of the communication tower.

A trace of blood wafted into her nostrils.

Chapter 0981

Bloody smell, Andersa is no stranger to this smell.

She stood in front of the gate of the communication tower, keeping the posture of half-opening the gate, the perception of high-level extraordinary people spread out, and various auras in the tower were reflected in her mind. , she stepped back and closed the door again.

She turned around, took big strides, and walked towards the direction of the east hall like the wind, while countless thoughts and speculations were mixed with the information revealed in all the recent events, in her mind Run like a storm.Her footsteps gradually became steady, and one question after another began to emerge in her mind. The first question that popped up was——

If it is necessary to blind the supreme commander of Winter Wolf Castle for 24 hours without any dead ends, and to ensure that no soldier accidentally breaks the "curtain" during the process... how many people would it take?

On the way to the East Hall, Andersa carefully discerned the possible illusions around her like peeling off cocoons. She checked all the abnormalities one by one, and restored the original appearance of the "farce" in the past two days little by little.

Lord Palin Winterhold stood before the magical focal point in the East Room.The circular platform in the center of the hall is inlaid with a huge crystal device, on which magical radiance flows continuously, and the Earl of Winterhold’s attention is falling on the main streams of light—from which he monitors the entire Winter Wolf Castle The balance of magic power and shield load, and adjust the deployment and rotation of the Black Flag Mage Group at any time to ensure that the mages and the fortress can be kept in the best condition at all times.

Apart from the Earl of Winterhold, there were only a dozen battle mages serving as sentries in the hall, guarding the various portals.

As soon as Andersa stepped into the hall, the Earl of Winterhold sensed her aura. The middle-aged man with a dignified temperament raised his head and said casually, "You came just in time, Andersa."

In the next second, he noticed the extraordinarily solemn expression on Andesa's face and the faint seriousness conveyed.

"What happened?" the Earl of Winterhold asked immediately, and before his words fell, a layer of sound insulation enchantment had risen out of thin air, completely covering the surrounding area of ​​several meters, "This place is safe."

"The mages on duty in the communication tower are all dead," Andersa knew the existence of the sound barrier, but she couldn't help lowering her voice and said with a serious expression on her face, "The time of death is about one day ago."

In addition, she didn't need to explain the second sentence at all, and the countenance of the Earl of Winterhold darkened in an instant. In just a few seconds, this extremely quick-thinking battle mage commander had already traced back all the time nodes in his mind. , Backtracking all the key events that can be connected with the communication tower, the next moment he said in a deep voice: "So, none of the information we should have sent out..."

"Or worse—everything that comes out of Winterwolf is stuff that shouldn't be out."

"The adjutant next to you... No, he alone is not enough, there are more people..." The Earl of Winterhold's tone was serious, and he did not question whether the explosive news suddenly brought by Andersa was true or false, because he understood This friend's daughter, it is impossible for the other party to ambiguously talk about this kind of thing, "They are all affected..."

Andersa took a light breath: "Not all the affected people will be completely out of control like those priests. More people are hidden among us, and they... are rational."

An unspeakable depression enveloped her, which even revealed a chilling terror.Andersa is neither unfamiliar nor afraid of death, but she finds that she is facing something more terrifying and unspeakable than life and death on the battlefield-it seems to be everywhere, invisible and substanceless, hidden in every Around people, even hidden in the depths of everyone's soul, it has stirred up the life and death of countless people, but many people didn't even know it had been there until they died...

Over the years, the fortress of Winter Wolf Castle and the countless soldiers in the fortress have always been Andersa's source of pride and confidence, but at this moment, she feels like falling into an abyss in this fortress.

"What are you going to do?" The Earl of Winterhold suddenly stared at Andersa and said, his eyes were as sharp as the stars in the winter night, "Do you have any way to redeem it?"

Andersa bit her lips, her face gloomy: "... In a sense, I'm even worried that we have lost control of Winter Wolf Castle - those out-of-control God of War believers are obviously promoting a war, so any Any actions that try to stop the war from getting worse will inevitably be countered, and I can't bet on how far the soldiers of Winter Wolf Castle have been infiltrated."

For the young Wolf General, this was a great irony and shame.A fortress commander lost control of his fortress and his army because of such reasons when the war came. This kind of thing has probably never happened since the founding of Typhon, but now it happened in the future of the Wendell family. On the head of the successor, who would dare to believe all this if he hadn't experienced it himself?

Admittedly, Andersa also knew that the situation might not be that bad. She didn't really completely lose control of Winter Wolf Castle and the troops. More than half of the soldiers in this fortress must still be loyal to her. However, judging from the results, The seriousness of this matter is not much different from being completely out of control-under the current situation, she has no spare power and no way to identify those faith polluters hidden among ordinary soldiers, not to mention...the Cecils are still Continue to attack the fortress.

The sound of explosions continued to come from the direction of the west wall, and the long-range artillery of the Cecilians launched a new round of bombing.

And in this explosion sound like death urging, the Earl of Winterhold looked into Andersa's eyes: "Sense and logic tell me that there will be no winner in this war, Cecil and Typhon are both stepping into the abyss , our most deadly problem now is that all communication channels have been cut off or interfered, even the messengers sent out... It is very likely that the Cecilians miscalculated the situation of Winter Wolf Castle, and even miscalculated the entire Typhon Empire However, once they cross this line of defense, even if there is no interference from the Church of God of War, this war will turn into a disaster..."

"So I'm thinking about how to regain some of the initiative. We have to find a way to send the news out of Winter Wolf Castle—whether it's sent to the imperial capital or to the Cecils," Andersa clenched her fists, "and also To prevent those who are contaminated from detecting and destroying this..."

"And the most important point..." the Earl of Winterhold said, but just in the middle of his words, a series of more dense and disturbing explosions came from a distance, which sounded like The sound of the shield being bombarded.

"And the most important point," the Earl of Winterhold repeated after the explosion subsided, "not all soldiers and officers understand what is happening now as well as you and I—I mean those who remain Soldiers who are sober and unaffected. The disaster is a secret. We hid it too well before. The soldiers of the empire now only know that we have launched a full-scale war with the Cecils, and they have reached the gate of Winter Wolf Castle. Outside the city walls, your outreach and 'peace-seeking' actions at this time are bound to seriously shake them."

"I can't control that much now," Andersa said immediately, "Earl of Winterhold, I need the help of your mage group. Winter Wolf Castle is full of soldiers and knights who are more or less connected with the belief of the God of War. Only your mage army is still reliable. I need your magic—whether it is to regain control of the communication tower, build a new external communication, or any other method that can make Winter Wolf Castle "voice" to the outside world. try."

"I will find a way," the Earl of Winterhold thought for only a second, "but only if we can hold the fort intact tonight. The Cecilians' nighttime offensive shows no sign of weakening, even stronger than the daytime attack." More violently, I doubt they even plan to rely on more and more long-range 'skyfire' to smash our shields and walls. I called you here for this: the mage's eye observed the Cecilians Two more firepower points were added in the northwest direction, and they used large vehicles to pull some kind of magic cannon larger than the main cannon of the tank to the front line, and now those things seem to be unfinished, but they will launch an attack at any time."

"How many magic cannons do they still have on the way..." Andersa could hardly control the astonishment in her tone, "Can the Black Flag Mage Corps deal with those two firepower points?"

"Beyond the range of the legion's spells, Cecil is in a good position. I'm afraid they have already figured out the attack limit of the Black Flag Mage Group. It seems that we can only rely on the enhanced shield to resist those things."

"...Understood, I will order the energy of the mana focus on the east side to be transferred to the shield, and at the same time let the battle mages under the Knights prepare to go up the city wall to maintain the shield."

Just as Andersa's voice fell, there was a piercing whistling sound from afar, which made people feel toothache and tinnitus. After a very short delay, it was far more deafening than any previous shelling, and even made the entire building The faintly trembling explosion in the fortress exploded under the night!

The battle mages in the hall were stunned by the huge explosion, while the expressions of Palin Winterhold and Andersa changed at the same time. The two rushed out of the hall and onto a connecting bridge facing the city wall. They raised their heads and looked towards the direction of the explosion—in the sight of the two of them, the thick energy shield outside Winter Wolf Castle was rippled layer upon layer, and a larger-scale explosion flashed within a few seconds. After planting, it exploded again.

After a slight delay, the bang of the second explosion reached Andersa's ears.

Is that a giant cannon?

A thoughtful look flashed across Palin Winterhold's face, and in the next second he outlined the message runes in the air, and quickly issued a new order to his Black Flag battle mages: "Four to six The echelon recharges, and launches two wide-area phantoms to the northwest A2 and A3 positions, and the seventh to tenth echelons go to reinforce the shield and prepare for the follow-up impact!"

Andersa also quickly rushed to the Earl of Winterhold. She knew that her adjutant and other commanders must be on the opposite side of the communication spell. "In this matter, they will definitely obey their own orders: "Claudine! Immediately transfer the energy of the mana focus on the east side to the shield! Let the regiment's battle mages go up the city wall..."

One order after another was issued quickly. Although the defenders of Winter Wolf Castle fell into a short-term panic under the sudden ground fire attack, everything quickly returned to order. More energy was mobilized to the shield, and more The mage turned his attention to a new source of attack, and the defense force of the fortress was adjusted rapidly, and the shield that was temporarily shaken gradually stabilized.

Andersa and Palin Winterhold stood on the connection bridge, while adjusting the defense force of the entire fortress through communication spells, while watching the new offensive of the Cecilians, they overlooked the busy scene in the fortress and looked at the city wall The nearby shields regained their solidity, and both of them heaved a sigh of relief.

Almost all the defensive forces of Winter Wolf Castle were now concentrated on the walls and shields. The Cecils' tireless ground offensive made Andersa feel heavy pressure, but fortunately, the fortress seemed to withstand it.

……

Philip received the latest intelligence from the ground forces.

"Can't the Truth-I orbital accelerator blast their shields..." He whispered to himself softly, as if he was a little surprised by the defense strength of the frontier fortress of the Typhon, "Or is it the Black Flag magician? The regiment is strengthening the shield of that fort?"

"It seems that it is really difficult to break through that fortress in a short time with only ground firepower," a senior staff officer said beside him, "General, it is almost midnight."

Philip glanced at the mechanical watch on the table, and then his eyes fell on the magic net terminal not far away.

……

In the dark night where the cold wind was howling, a low hum sounded between the clouds, and war machines made of steel and crystal flew across the sky like ghosts.

More than [-] mass-produced "Dragons" were formed into a ring formation under the leadership of the captain's aircraft, and were cruising along the border of the warning area of ​​Winter Wolf Castle in a low-speed night flight mode with lights off.

Jin Na took a deep breath—the breeze shield and the reliable cockpit blocked the howling cold wind outside, but she still felt as if she could smell the cold and slightly bloody breath outside—she lowered her head Looking forward and downward through the observation window, one can see light flickering and bursting on the edge of the dark land, and light blue flashes of light continuously cut through the darkness.

At the end of the criss-crossing rays of light is a fortress standing tenaciously on the ground. The shield covering the fortress is rippled frequently, but there is still no sign of extinguishing.

The young air force commander took another deep breath to calm down his nervousness.

This is not the first time she has flown, let alone the first time she has been on the battlefield. She has driven a griffin to pass the rock fortress under the flames of war, and she has also passed the land polluted by the crystal cluster disaster with the giant eagles of the elves, soaring Over the old royal capital that was on the verge of falling.

But that feeling was different from now.

Her hands were clenched tightly on the joystick, and the buzzing sound from the anti-gravity ring and the dragonborn driver gradually made her feel at ease. She turned her head slightly, and saw the mechanic and bombardier sitting behind her with the same expression. nervous.

"Relax, it's not the first time we've been holding these joysticks," she said.

"I was just thinking of a loud prologue," said the Bombardier with affected composure, "say it when the bomb is dropped."