Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 272 - 271: Defensive Forces

Soldrin looked at the dozen or so Typhon Warriors in the cell—these warriors were his subordinates not long ago. Although as a mercenary, he didn’t have a fixed military position in the Anzu Army, as a High-Ranked Ranger he had a group of soldiers he could command, and among them were those who had followed him for a long time. Meeting them again in such circumstances was a bit awkward for him.

Before coming here, the conversation with Gawain flashed through the High-Ranked Ranger’s mind:

At that time, Gawain had said: ”Bring those Typhon people here, I want them to assist in defending the southern city wall.”

Soldrin was taken aback by these words: ”You’re planning to let those Typhon Warriors help you, a Duke of Anzu, defend the wall? Don’t you know the current situation between Anzu and Typhon?”

”I know those people definitely don’t want to serve Anzu—but I want them to see with their own eyes the situation between the civilized world and the Gondor wasteland.”

”Just let them see the truth with their own eyes...that’s an idea. But aren’t you worried that once they’re released, they might seize the chance to escape, or worse—create chaos? That’s a big risk.”

”That’s why I want you to go. I trust you can control them—even if you can’t control them, you won’t let them cause trouble right under your nose.”

At that time, Soldrin couldn’t help but chuckle: ”What if I really can’t control them?”

Gawain also chuckled: ”Then I’ll pull off your wig in public.”

And so Soldrin came here, staring back at his dozen old subordinates.

”Sir,” a Typhon Knight finally spoke, his expression quite awkward, ”You’re alright...”

”Better than you guys,” Soldrin sighed, the wig on his head seemed heavier than usual, ”Now there’s a chance for you to pick up your swords and Magic Wands again—but not to fight the Anzu. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking you to help Anzu fight Typhon, but to show you what the real threat is.”

...

Later that day, Amber returned to Gawain after an exploration into the Dark Mountain Range, bringing the latest intelligence on aberrations.

After gulping down the tea on Gawain’s desk, the half-elf bandit began to describe what she had seen: ”Their numbers are indeed growing; by the time they reach the border, there might be at least three thousand! Maybe even four thousand! Nothing grows in areas tainted by the chaotic wave, and a broader path of corruption is plowed behind these monsters than the last ’invasion.’ Also, this time their route of action is a bit different; I observed the terrain along the way, and I’m afraid we can’t collapse the cliffs to deal with them like last time.”

It was clear that Amber was quite worried after returning from her reconnaissance.

”Collapsing the mountain is effective, but ultimately it’s just a trick, good for only one use,” Gawain didn’t seem too regretful about it, ”At least the landmines can still be used—Byron Kirk is leading soldiers and workers to lay minefields, and if used well, those will be just as effective as collapsing the mountain.”

Amber reported the latest movements and speed of those monsters, and after she finished, she finally couldn’t hold back when she saw Gawain’s calm face: ”Aren’t you at all nervous?”

”Why be nervous?” Gawain smiled slightly, ”Do you think we can’t stop them?”

”You haven’t seen it with your own eyes! It’s a massive horde! Everywhere they pass, even the mountains and stones become black sand!”

”During their first attack here, we only had a wall made of wooden barriers and thorns, a hundred soldiers with swords had to face hundreds of monsters, but now we’ve built walls and towers with cement and giant stones in the south, and with our newly trained recruits, we have over a thousand soldiers. Each has heat-ray guns, grenades, and Melting Swords. The monsters are still three times our number, but I don’t find them frightening.”

Hearing Gawain’s words, Amber seemed somewhat reassured but couldn’t help being a bit worried: ”It’s mostly those exceptionally huge ones...they look really tough to deal with. Their sheer size, once they bear the brunt and climb up the wall, I’m afraid our newly built walls won’t hold for long.”

”With Soldrin and me here, there won’t be any issues,” Gawain smiled faintly, ”and there’s Kamel too—even though he’s a researcher, do you really think his strength would be lacking?”

Amber nodded absentmindedly, feeling those monsters weren’t so frightening after all, but Gawain suddenly added, ”Alright, to be honest, I’m still a bit worried.”

”Huh?”

”Seven hundred years ago, I never saw such ’mutated individuals’ that are two or three times the size of regular aberrations. Unknown types of aberrations undoubtedly cause unease,” Gawain looked into Amber’s eyes, speaking candidly, ”but as I sit here, I must appear steadier than anyone else, do you understand?”

”Because you’re the leader?”

”Exactly, I’m the leader. I lead everyone in constructing the territory, arranging the city, training the army, and organizing defenses. When I call, everyone responds, so naturally, I must shoulder the responsibility of being listened to,” Gawain said unhurriedly, ”so I have to be absolutely confident, and not just me—you need to show confidence too.”

”Me? Why?” Amber looked bewildered, ”I’m just an errand runner...”

”You’re my personal guard, now managing the intelligence department. To outsiders, you understand all the leader’s commands, know all the secrets within the territory—and that’s pretty much true. So, like me, you must never panic under any circumstances. If you panic, those observing you will immediately think the leader is also panicking, then infer that the crises facing the territory might be so severe that even the leader and the leader’s guard can’t ensure their safety. This panic could lead to retreat, desertion, and opportunism—if anything begins from the moment you rush into the feudal lord’s mansion in a panic.”

”No one saw me climbing through the window!” Amber blurted out instinctively but then frowned and mumbled, ”Now that you mention it... I suddenly feel being ’elite’ isn’t all that great...”

”Here with me, rights and responsibilities are always equal, and neither of us is an exception,” Gawain laughed, finding it delightful to see the half-elf, who usually never uses his brain, try to think about the problem, ”Amber, you’re no longer a little thief, you understand?”

”Eugh—you’re talking like an old man!” Amber suddenly got goosebumps all over, but after a moment, she nodded submissively, ”Alright... I understand...”

Then she stared at Gawain for a long while before speaking, ”I hate it when people preach, but somehow when you do, it makes a lot of sense... This is the first time in my life I’ve earnestly listened to someone lecturing!”

”That’s because many who preach do not practice, whereas I do before I preach,” Gawain said, standing up with a smile, ”Alright then, now that you’re back, come with me to the southern city wall.”

Ever since the first aberration attack, the southern side of the territory’s defenses has always been the top priority among all defense projects—even though the Dark Mountain Range is a natural great barrier, reality has proven that this natural barrier is not impassable for monsters. At least in the section where the Cecil Clan is situated, the Dark Mountain Range has a large mapped out gap and several trans-mountain routes, and to secure the territory in the face of potential issues from the Gondor wasteland at any time, Gawain began a series of ”wall and sentinel tower” projects as soon as the territory’s productivity showed some development.

Frankly speaking, Gawain is not very acclimated to this era’s situation of cities, big and small, being surrounded by a ring, or even multiple rings of city walls. An open city layout without walls is more conducive to long-term development; nonetheless, he must proceed realistically: Given the current world’s safety level and forms of warfare, city walls remain indispensable defensive measures, so the newly built Cecil territory also has city walls.

The southern city wall of the territory is the sturdiest, most balanced in offense and defense among all the fortifications.

Due to the young foundation of the territory, the output of ”Rebecca Cement” is limited, so it’s not feasible to build the entire wall with reinforced cement, nor to achieve Gawain’s ideal ”triple-layered walls, with troop channels inside, extending several zhang underground, directly connecting to the armory” kind of perfect construction, but it still stands as a formidable barrier compared to most southern noble territories. The mixed cement and rubble castle wall stands more than ten meters high, four meters wide at the top, providing numerous shooting shelters for soldiers, and always ready with a substantial stockpile of medicines and combat crystals. The city’s Magic Web extends right to the foot of the walls, replenishing the magic crystals the garrison soldiers use on the walls as needed. After the introduction of Magic Obelisks, Kamel also installed two Crystal Towers at the foot of the wall, allowing for uninterrupted magic coverage over the wall—thus ensuring continuous firepower until either weapon overheating, malfunction, or waste energy overloading occurs.

Apart from the main city wall, Gawain also ordered the construction of a series of outwardly protruding triangular walls in front of the city walls. At the ’peaks’ of these outer walls, small sentinel towers equipped with small Catapults were built.

The triangular outer walls were inspired by the design of bastions. They ensure that enemies approaching the walls will be subjected to crossfire from the side walls, and also enhance wall strength. The pinnacle towers serve as lookout posts, and as for the Catapults on these towers...

To be honest, Gawain knows these clash somewhat with the territory’s magical industry approach. However, before resolving the issue of advancing physical ammunition, he has no available ’cannon,’ so he could only substitute by combining existing world technology with new magic industry technology, using small Catapults to approximate the effect of mounting cannons on the walls—

What the Catapults throw are head-sized crystal bombs.