Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 629 - 628: After the Burning

Years later, every soldier who had faced the Cecil’s Army and survived would firmly remember a nightmare-inducing phrase—

The bombs have fallen.

But at this moment, Xidon knew none of this.

He didn’t know what those things falling from the sky were—they looked different from the "Skyfire" launched by the Cecil Clan. They weren’t wrapped in pale blue light clumps but fell like rocks. He also didn’t comprehend what the voice suddenly coming from the sky meant, because the word "delivery" seemed to have been coined.

Yet he instinctively sensed the danger posed by those things.

The Archdruid of Oblivion immediately raised his hands high, and the powerful Dark Lightning instantly coalesced in the air. Countless black serpents of lightning merged into a massive storm that swept across the sky with thunderous might, aiming to obliterate those descending objects.

This was his instinctive reaction, but the moment the lightning storm touched those things, he realized he had made a grave mistake—

The falling objects contained far stronger powers than "Skyfire," and the lightning storm triggered a chain explosion of all the falling objects instantly!

He only saw a blinding flash of light, which then quickly spread across his entire vision. A terrible chain explosion occurred, and hundreds of falling objects densely exploded in the sky over Red Maple City, as chaotic and primal energies surged forth—

From a distance, people clearly saw a bright nova composed of arcane flashes and shockwaves suddenly appear over Red Maple City. The magical shock waves produced by hundreds of simultaneous arcane explosions gathered into an egg-shaped cloud of energy. Though seemingly slow, this vast cloud rapidly approached the City Shield of Red Maple. A feeble black arc seemed to try to hinder it, but was quickly swallowed and extinguished by the powerful energy surge. Within seconds, the egg of energy filled with destruction aura touched the apex node of the Red Maple’s barrier.

Inside the Red Maple Shield, the Corrupted Priests saw an even more horrifying scene.

A seething cloud of fire descended from the sky slowly, first making contact with the Red Maple Shield. The shield, already dimmed by continuous bombardments from the Cecil Clan, instantly overloaded and shattered. Then the fire cloud began to lick the remaining magic clouds and the high buildings within the city after the shield’s collapse. Illusive and scorching flames burned from top to bottom, causing sturdy towers and fortresses to melt like wax...

"The shield is broken!!"

Finally, someone exclaimed, but this cry lasted only a moment before abruptly cutting off. Xidon saw a bright flash pass nearby—after losing the protection of the shield, Cecil’s artillery began directly bombarding the walls of Red Maple. The war machines had approached to locations where they could aim precisely. In the aftermath of the flash, there remained only scattered debris and a few tiny crystal fragments.

The Dark Hierarch grew somewhat bewildered. The events unfolded too suddenly, and the city’s downfall was too swift. In what felt like an instant, he found himself facing the imminent collapse of the divine evils army he’d painstakingly organized. He looked out at the plains beyond the city, witnessing those cold, ruthless steel machines dutifully executing their operators’ will: advancing, firing, continuing to advance, continuing to fire...

No, this can’t be right!

Xidon suddenly erupted in fury, issuing a high-pitched, inhuman scream. His black robe was instantaneously torn apart by the dense mass of crystals and twisted, swollen limbs!

In pursuit of perfect evolution and the best form, he had been consciously controlling the progress of his divine evils alterations, but now, he finally relinquished this restraint.

The path to great evolution must be realized—the ideals he had strived for all his life, the plans he had poured his heart and soul into, the new world he pursued to this day... How could they fall to a pile of cold, soulless steel?!

A tattered Crystal Cluster Giant suddenly leaped from the city wall, charging at the steel war machines still executing their close-range bombardment, like a raging demon. The soldiers manning the machines had long noticed this reckless intruder. Several machines promptly slowed down, turned, and their turrets, amidst squeaking mechanical shifts, aimed at the massive target towering over the tops of the war machines, quickly followed by the flash of accelerated trajectory and the thunderous launch of crystallized shells.

Boom! Boom!

Among several blasts, two shells hit the target. Xidon punched away one with his enormous fist, but another, exploding on his shoulder, sent the giant (now better referred to as "it") staggering. The terrible explosion obliterated its entire arm, turning it to ash in the flash, yet it merely took two steps forward to regain balance, and a new arm quickly squirmed and regenerated among the ruined flesh.

This resilient giant raised its arm, pointing at the nearest war machine. Countless thick vines instantly pierced the ground, entangling the machine’s tracks and turret. The steel machine’s interior roared and tore off vine after vine, but then a bolt of black lightning fell from the sky, pierced the machine’s shield on the side, perforated layers of steel and the engine core within, finally halting this tireless machine.

These machines seemed not so invincible after all.

Xidon felt a surge of pleasure, but in the next second, continuous explosions came from all directions, completely engulfing him.

He had destroyed only one war machine, while behind that single machine were ten more, behind those ten were a hundred, and behind those hundreds lay a brigade with artillery support, alongside the faithful magic Troopers and the White Knight Brigade.

In the roar of artillery, Xidon felt his body rapidly falling apart; neither the powerful body shield nor regenerative limbs could withstand the assault equivalent to hundreds of archMages concentrating their bombardments. Amid his consciousness nearing dissolution, Xidon’s mind still focused on those great plans, still fixated on its grand ambitions.

Yet the war machines cared nothing for any individual’s grand schemes or fervent spirit—regardless of whether those ambitions were noble or whether that spirit was humble.

The Sixth Squad eliminated the minor hindrance on their path, pressing forward.

The war machines continued their loyal operation on this charred land.

A massive Draco shadow skimmed through the clouds, its crystal-clear vertical pupils reflecting the city gradually disintegrating amidst the artillery fire.

"Using a catastrophe to confront a catastrophe, huh..."

"Anyway, ’express delivery’ is indeed an interesting word."

...

Inside the rear command vehicle, a holographic projection above the Magic Web Communication Terminal displayed the figure of Soldrin. The Steel Cavalry Squadron he led had brought first-hand intelligence from outside the battlefield: "We’ve observed a loss of control in various Crystal Cluster Wanderers—the command node in the Red Maple District has disappeared!"

Gawain nodded, while the figure of Amber emerged from the air beside him. The half-elf lady sighed: "Looks like that guy who suddenly jumped off the city wall to take on the tank alone was the enemy’s highest commander—truly reckless."

"Perhaps the transformation of the Crystal Clusters affects one’s rationality, even the priests of the Oblivion Association are not exempt."

To charge at a tank group alone was so rash it made one’s scalp tingle. Gawain thought that even the original Gawain Cecil himself and those early volatile old pigeons wouldn’t necessarily dare to do such a thing... After much thought, the cause could probably only be attributed to the brain damage from Crystal Cluster mutation.

"Order the assault troops to immediately establish a position and seal the city gates after controlling Red Maple City gates. Transition the other units from offensive to defensive, preheat the Burners; the next step should be to address those out-of-control Crystal Cluster Infectors," Gawain commanded as he turned, "Pay special attention to the east side, as returning Crystal Cluster Giants from The White City represent the biggest elite force in the Red Maple District, and even in a weakened state, they could pose a threat to us. Although it’s unclear why they haven’t arrived yet, don’t let your guard down."

Alongside giving orders, Gawain harbored some doubts—in his original combat plan, the Legion faced its greatest challenge and pressure during the battle’s later stages, when the elite enemy force besieging The White City entered the battlefield, flanking and assailing our positions. It was rumored that this Crystal Cluster force not only had the strongest combat capability but also that its commander was a transformed officer from the Anzu Kingdom’s military or the Duke of the East, far surpassing the inept dark priests in leading troops. Once they entered the battlefield, the Cecil Legion would have to allocate a considerable part of its forces to counter the flank pressure.

Yet, for some reason, until the fall of Red Maple City, and even until other Crystal Cluster Giants began to lose control, the elite enemy force that was supposed to appear never did, and the Steel Cavalry Squad deployed at the eastern crossroads hadn’t even seen a glimpse of that force.

This certainly spared the Cecil Legion additional losses and pressure, but it also left Gawain full of concerns—

Why didn’t they appear? Could it be that the ’surround Wei to save Zhao’ tactic failed to work?

With this worry, after issuing orders, Gawain promptly activated another Magic Web Terminal, where the holographic projection above it revealed Wright’s unusually tall and strong figure.

"The White Knight Brigade is assembled and ready," intoned the Great Shepherd who had personally come to the front line, "We can execute the mission at any time."

"Proceed to The White City immediately to assess the situation," Gawain instructed, "I’ll accompany you."

The assault on Red Maple City was concluded, and the next task in the direction of The White City was a rescue mission.

Rescue, of course, should be undertaken by the priests skilled in saving lives—in light of the uncertain situation over there, the difficulty of the mission might be high, so the most capable priests should be sent.

As one who rose from the grassroots and advocated for taking action into one’s own hands, Wright insisted on going to the battlefield himself, so Gawain included him in today’s operation, and considering the possibly unexpected and complex situation in The White City, Gawain decided to go there personally as well.

Ten minutes later, three armored trucks bearing the Cecil insignia and Holy Light runes, engraved with prayer scriptures and sacred symbols, equipped on top with Holy Light Impact Turrets, departed from the frontline outpost. Accompanying them for escort and combat tasks were twenty-two "Warhammer-I" tanks equipped with extra Burners and six "Steel Envoys," along with a fully-structured infantry battalion.

Inside the armored truck, Wright, clad in the heavy White Knight Armor, was meticulously checking his warhammer and the Holy Light Impact Hand Cannon mounted on his arm. Emily’s petite figure floated in the glow behind him, greeting Gawain who was sitting nearby.

This scene continually made Gawain feel like Wright was a substitute user...

He had to say something to dispel his baseless associations.

"Wright, what do you think of this war?"

"I don’t have many thoughts on war, I’m just a priest," the Great Shepherd shook his head, answering with his customary straightforwardness and simplicity, "If anything, I can only feel regret... This is a disaster without any meaning, too many innocent lives lost, and one of the kingdom’s most fertile areas laid waste because of it..."

"The land scorched by fire will always sprout anew," Amber interjected before Gawain could speak, glancing at Gawain as she finished, "Isn’t that what you would say?"

"Indeed, land scorched by fire will sprout anew..." Gawain exhaled softly, his gaze turning through the crystal blocks embedded in the truck’s walls to view the desolate wilderness outside.

Even on this polluted land, green plants were still spreading and growing. The pollution of divine evils ultimately targeted humans, with the flora largely unaffected. In the wilds flanking the roads, he saw vast fields growing luxuriantly. These once belonged entirely to local aristocratic leaders, with only the leftover sheaves and coarse rice belonging to commoners. Now, however, the aristocrats of this land were gone, as were the civilians, and the divinely altered humans no longer needed this hard-earned food. Hence, the precious farmlands were abandoned, with weeds beginning to crowd out the seedlings, thriving even more than the crops.

This land hadn’t been scorched, yet in Gawain’s eyes, it too had suffered a different kind of burning.

The power of the royal family and the eastern forces had been consumed in the conflagration of this war.

Will Anzu sprout anew?