Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 628 - 627: Monsters and Machines

The city-level shield of Red Maple has closed.

A misty and thin energy barrier envelops the sky over this plain city. Powerful magic is drawn from the magic focal point beneath the city and, channeled and projected through the magic symbols array, transforms into a barrier stronger than rock. Simultaneously, artillery from the plains rains down upon the city walls.

Piercing screams, like a banshee wailing at midnight, accompany the light blue auras of the metal projectiles, tracing bright arcs in the air, continuously bombing the shield of Red Maple City. Massive explosions flare up repeatedly on the shield’s surface, resembling a skyfire storm—the city’s shield trembles violently under the explosive impacts, ripples spreading from each point of attack, yet the shield still successfully withstands the first wave of the Cecil Clan’s assault.

It stands high above the city, blocking all bombardment, with a low humming sound resonating throughout the Outer City District, emanating from the fully activated underground magic facilities.

On the city wall, a Crystal Cluster Commander, displaying an expression as if having narrowly escaped disaster, looked at the shield blooming with bright flashes and let out a long breath: "We blocked it!"

However, Xidon glared at the commander: "Fool, the battle has just begun!"

This Dark Hierarch did not relax at all because Red Maple’s shield blocked the "Skyfire" of the Cecil Clan. On the contrary, he knew that this battle had just begun—he even knew that the fall of the rocky ridges Fortress had started from when their city-level shield blocked the Cecil Clan’s attack.

During this time, he had grasped many characteristics of the Southern Border Legion. He knew those devices capable of projecting explosions and beams were unlike traditional magic supplies; they did not require a Mage to recharge them, they could operate continuously, and they seemed so low-cost that damaged equipment could be replaced and supplemented in a very short time. Their drawback was their rigidity and singularity, only releasing fixed spells, but the Cecil Clan compensated for this by manufacturing a massive quantity of diverse devices...

Against such an enemy, the traditional "fortress tactics" lead to a stalemate.

Red Maple’s shield blocked the first round of the Cecil Clan’s attack. For Xidon, its greatest significance was giving him the opportunity to continue fighting.

"Immediately summon the divine evils Legion from the south, let them return to support Red Maple, and attack the rear of the Cecil Clan," Xidon turned his head and said to his subordinates, "Get Clod back at once to disrupt the Cecil Clan’s positions from the east..."

Xidon quickly issued orders, but before he could finish, several particularly strange whistles abruptly came from the western sky—

Those whistles were louder than ordinary "Skyfire," mingled with an eerily chilling hum. Suddenly, within a brief moment of stupefaction, he sensed several exceptionally strong impacts striking the western barrier of Red Maple!!

Boom, boom, boom!!

The shield above the city’s west side flared with dazzling light, and the entire city wall trembled under the colossal impact’s might. After these few immensely powerful hits, the dauntingly continuous, deep hum resumed, as if a tremendous energy flow was strongly focusing, scouring the western barrier of the city.

It was those Battleships of the Cecil Clan!!

They had secretly moved to Red Maple? When did this happen?!

Xidon was both alarmed and infuriated because he clearly remembered that in the previous intelligence report, those battleships were still around the Fertile Woods. How fast could those ships have traveled?!

"Immediately notify Grem, tell him to find a way to intercept those ships! Even if he has to stuff his own head into those ships’ ’magic cannons’!"

"Yes!"

After delivering the new orders, Xidon didn’t feel any relief because he suddenly realized that this army of the Cecil Clan seemed entirely different from what he had anticipated.

This army was not the Anzu Kingdom’s military, not the noble corps of the Duke of the East, and it did not at all intend to follow any warfare rules—those war chariots were attacking Red Maple directly from the front, while the artillery from the Gorgon River kept bombarding the western barrier. This approach of simultaneously attacking from land and water was unheard of, like a clamp that kept tightening around the city’s neck.

This was not a probing attack; the Cecil Clan’s aim was to completely destroy this city in a short time.

...

To the east of Red Maple, in the completely ruined The White City, the blood had stained the collapsed city walls red.

One day and one night of fierce battle had painted this ancient city in a thick hue of blood. The knights and warriors of the Mountain Legion, relying on the remaining city walls and the main fortress in the castle area, had set up temporary defense lines, repelling yet another attack by the enemy.

Countless twisted and bloated creatures lay dead in the courtyard and on the steps of The White City Castle, and countless brave and fearless knights also fell before the ever-contracting defense lines. Neither side in the battle paid attention to what they had lost or gained; they were still vying inch by inch for the increasingly narrow land within the castle, and by now, even the fiercest warriors were reaching their limits.

The sounds of fighting and killing in the castle area were gradually weakening. The surviving soldiers and the last knights were depending on the battered wall, guarding the defense line in the castle’s inner courtyard. Inside their shaky defensive perimeter, the Mage Corps, long since drained of mana, and archers who had run out of arrows picked up their protective swords, readying themselves for the final hand-to-hand combat. Meanwhile, the last bit of mana still remaining was in Victoria Wilder, who stood in the center of the inner courtyard, observing the situation outside the wall through the Eye of the Mage.

Numerous gigantic shadows were pacing among the ruins, the twisted mutant creatures reassembling their forces, preparing to launch the next—or perhaps final—wave of attack. As it stood, her exhausted warriors were already at the extreme limit of human physiological structure.

She even spotted the commander of those creatures, an extraordinarily tall Crystal Cluster Monster—that creature had never personally come to the battlefield before, showing caution and prudence, but now it appeared in the castle area, a sign of utmost confidence.

Somehow, those creatures were convinced that victory belonged to them... and it indeed seemed so.

Victoria tightly gripped the platinum magic wand in her hand, slowly calming her irregular breath caused by excessive spell casting, and seized the time to restore a bit of mana. She calculated that the creatures would launch their attack in a few minutes and figured how much strength she could regain within the short span.

But suddenly, a wave of unforeseen chaos spread among the creatures.

Victoria saw those swollen, twisted giants abruptly showing signs of restlessness, shoving against each other in confusion, then simultaneously raising their heads to look toward a direction outside the city. The especially tall monster, with a mixture of rage and shock on its face (somehow, these monsters unbelievably retained human-like expressions), climbed a nearby wall section with its followers to look toward the direction of the Gorgon River.

Seconds later, within such a brief span, those creatures quickly regrouped and retreated from the castle area!!

The movements outside the inner courtyard quickly drew the knights’ attention as well. A knight keeping watch on a tower stared in astonishment at the activity between the inner courtyard and the outer fortress walls, suddenly shouting loudly, "Those creatures are retreating!!"

A similar shout came soon from another post: "Those creatures are really retreating!!"

Victoria walked out from the crowd, slightly bewildered, unable to immediately grasp what was happening, but during her brief contemplation, she suddenly realized—

Someone is attacking Red Maple!

Besides this reason, she couldn’t think why those monsters would abandon the castle they were about to capture at such a crucial moment.

Upon realizing this possibility, what rose in Victoria’s heart was not just the relief of waiting for reinforcements, but she thought of something she must do:

She couldn’t let the monsters from The White City return to aid Red Maple—she had to find a way to keep these monsters, at least the elite parts of them, here, even if just delaying them temporarily.

She didn’t know who had successfully penetrated the contaminated area, who was attacking Red Maple, or even if they were indeed reinforcements, but with no choice left, she had to believe they were and do everything possible to cooperate with their actions on this premise.

Victoria clutched her platinum Magic Wand, then took out a delicately shaped pale-golden snowflake talisman from a place close to her body.

This talisman shimmered with a faint layer of flowing light, and amidst the flickering shadows, it seemed as if a frozen world was bound on its surface.

She originally thought she’d never use it, yet an unexpected opportunity arose, and to seize this small chance, she thought it necessary to draw on the power of her ancestors—

The sharp tip of the talisman pierced her palm, and the blood of the Wilder Clan soaked into the pale-golden snowflake surface, Victoria softly exhaled, uttering a single word:

"Cold Disaster."

Outside the castle area, Clod was rallying its Crystal Cluster Legion; the urgent orders from Red Maple City and the constant telepathic transmission of ruinous sensations left this converter agitated—just a little more, perhaps just a few more hours, no more than a day at the longest, and it would have taken down that small castle, crushing the stubborn "Northern Queen" and her pitiable Mountain Legion. Yet at this moment, it had to abandon the almost-certain victory and didn’t dare delay even a bit.

Because the situation at Red Maple was critical, so critical that the city could be breached at any moment.

If Red Maple fell, if all the high priests in the city perished, Clod and its subordinates would face a fate of insanity—the plan at the evil-cult headquarters wasn’t completed, Archon Xidon’s "Final Defiance" ceremony was still ongoing, and all divine evils, including Clod, were unfinished entities; without the superior nodes to share the pollution from the gods’ will, such converters couldn’t survive on their own.

So it had to go aid Red Maple, to assist the utterly non-strategic Archon Xidon.

"Let you catch your breath," Clod angrily looked back at the castle, "I will soon..."

Both its movements and thoughts froze at this backward glance.

A faint white halo silently spread out across the castle area, and where the halo reached, all things quietly froze.

Including the Mountain Legion, including Victoria, including The White Castle, and including Clod and its Crystal Cluster Legion.

The entire castle area turned into a world of ice crystals.

...

The main forces of the Cecil Clan had fully entered the battlefield—there were even more war machines than expected.

One after another, they appeared on the horizon like a swarm of steel insects, positioning in a loose offensive formation, continuously firing as they steadily approached the walls of Red Maple City.

The bombardment from the Gorgon River had temporarily ceased but resumed ten minutes ago. It’s apparent that those sent to block the battleships had failed, and amidst the continuous roaring explosions, the high priests of the Oblivion Association watched this hellish scene—

The war machines pushed forward; there were no Knights charging with shouts, no infantry phalanx ordered to die, nor disorderly slave legions. Xidon couldn’t see any elements of war he knew; he saw only the cold steel advancing—moving, firing, continuing to move, continuing to fire...

Three units sent out to engage had all been annihilated, fallen to constant shooting and burning flames, yet the Cecil Clan’s assault continued its stable advance.

They were like a kind of machine, like cogs fitting perfectly together and steadily moving forward, crushing everything that stood in front of this machine, regardless of honor, noble responsibility, or bloodline missions; the only reason this machine moved forward was because "advancing" was its mission.

Xidon suddenly recalled something he once said—

Divine evils are cold war machines.

However, compared to the steel released by the Cecil Clan, this weapon might be too mild.

"Archbishop," a priest shouted in alarm, his voice almost drowned out by the continuous explosions, "the barrier is failing!!"

"Use all the Mana reserves and hold on a bit longer, Clod will be here soon," Xidon quickly said, "once Clod and his elite arrive, everything will get better; they will strike the Cecil Clan’s eastern flank..."

"Archbishop, Clod he..." another priest hesitantly spoke, holding the Crystal Ball, "Clod’s consciousness has disappeared..."

"Damn it!" Xidon cursed softly, feeling a tremor in his voice but still striving to keep his rational thoughts, "Don’t panic, the barrier can still hold, have all Spellcasters charge the barrier— we can hold out until the Southern Border Legion reinforces us, they will attack the Cecil Clan from behind..."

Yes, there is still a chance for a turnabout; although the Cecil Clan’s "Skyfire" is formidable, it ultimately can’t destroy the city shield in a short time. Even those three powerful battleships seem only capable of attacking the West City District of Red Maple; they can simply abandon that area and constrict the shield’s projection range to the main district... this way, Red Maple City can hold out for a long time, enough to last until the divine evils Legion from the south reinforces...

Xidon comforted himself in his heart, but suddenly, an indescribable foreboding surged within him, disrupting all his thoughts.

With this foreboding came a low, terrible voice from high above

"Delivery for pickup—"

Xidon looked up in shock to see a massive shadow sweeping across the distant clouds, and countless black objects were plummeting from the sky with sharp whistles...