Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 273 - 272: The Prelude to the Attack

The Cecil Territory is like a fully operational machine; once a command is given, every part of the machine begins to operate swiftly. Not everyone knows what will happen next, but almost everyone knows what they should be doing at this moment. Clear orders and regulations set Cecil apart from other aristocratic territories. People simply need to follow instructions and do what is within their scope, and the massive machine can operate flawlessly, unleashing a power that leaves everyone in awe.

Within just three days, the Southern Defensive Line of the Territory was reinforced and expanded again. Large open areas between the Dark Mountain Range and the city walls were set with layers of barricades and fences, and minefields were laid between these barriers. Sixty percent of over a thousand soldiers were dispatched to the southern city wall, with the remaining forty percent acting as reserves and mobile forces along other defensive lines. Meanwhile, a security team maintained order within the territory, ready to convey new orders from the leader at any moment. Although a crisis was looming, everything within the territory appeared to be in perfect order. This sense of ’everything is under control’ quickly calmed the slightly panicked atmosphere in the city.

The population in the Cecil Territory has experienced explosive growth, with many refugees not having experienced the first territorial defense or a complete disaster drill. Even if someone reassures them, panic is inevitable. Normally, aristocrats wouldn’t care if these ’commoners’ were panicking, as they only trusted their knights, mages, and private armies. However, in the Cecil Territory, the Administrative Office promptly issued clear instructions to everyone and had the security team announce the situation continuously. The effects of these measures were surprisingly good—even the panicked new immigrants quickly calmed down after receiving clear instructions from the upper echelons, which greatly surprised Aunt Heidi.

On the southern city wall of the territory, Gawain, along with Aunt Heidi and others, was inspecting the final line of defense. After hearing the clerk’s report on the situation in the city, he smiled at Aunt Heidi: ”In the end, people’s fear stems from the unknown. It’s precisely because they don’t know what’s going to happen that fear magnifies infinitely in their hearts. At this time, if you provide them with some clear information, even clear orders, they easily settle down. Even if you ask them to all move bricks together, they’ll feel assured—having a response at least implies the situation is still controllable.”

At that moment, a figure filled with arcane magic appeared on the city wall. The soldiers stepped aside to make a path, and Kamel walked straight through the crowd to Gawain: ”Two Magic Obelisks have already been activated, covering the entire section of the city wall with a magical power field.”

Gawain nodded: ”Good work—it must not have been easy to add two Obelisks in such a short time.”

”Actually, it’s all right. The mechanical devices you invented are very functional. I initially thought that without Gondor Empire’s magical foundries, manufacturing things in this era would be more difficult, but the situation is much better than I expected,” Kamel said in a humming tone, then slightly raised his body, gazing over the entire section of the city wall, ”This is truly... a sight I have never seen.”

Curious, Aunt Heidi asked, ”Have you never experienced a battlefield?”

”I am a researcher, although as a Master Mage I’ve had practical experience, I have never truly experienced a battlefield,” Kamel admitted frankly, ”Moreover, the era I lived in was when the Gondor Empire was at its most powerful, during which no other country on the entire continent dared to war with us.”

”Well, you can witness what a battlefield looks like,” Gawain chuckled, ”A new era’s battlefield.”

”Good timing, I’m also very curious about these aberrations you mentioned,” the arcane magic on Kamel’s body shone brightly, ”Monsters from the chaotic wave... They should be of significant research value.”

Gawain nodded, then glanced around, suddenly curious: ”Where did Rebecca go? I haven’t seen her since earlier.”

”She left the city wall this morning, saying she needed to go prepare some battle equipment,” Aunt Heidi said, ”She isn’t very skilled in commanding, but she can provide firepower, so I let her go.”

”Battle equipment, huh...” Gawain blinked, ”I wonder what that girl is up to this time...”

In the feudal lord’s mansion, in Rebecca’s self-established ”laboratory,” a certain iron-headed girl was carefully assembling a pile of rune triggers.

As a level three Mage who could only cast fireballs and had no experimental common sense, Rebecca did not have her own laboratory. However, after showcasing her talent in mathematics and repeatedly making contributions in invention and creation, Aunt Heidi relaxed her supervision over this human-shaped fireball launcher, allowing Rebecca to secretly set up a laboratory of her own. This ’laboratory’ was actually a workshop she arranged in her suite’s storage room. It had few devices related to spells (since she couldn’t use them anyway) but many mechanical processing devices, like small drilling tables and lathes. Here, Rebecca tinkered out many useful things—and peculiar things.

Tiel was in the corner of the laboratory, watching Rebecca connect those rune triggers with copper hinges, forming a wide metal belt, which she fixed onto her body with hooks and straps. Unable to resist asking: ”Is this a new type of armor?”

”What armor? This is my self-invented Combat Mage Amplifier!” Rebecca said resolutely while diligently securing the rune triggers. She looked up at the yawning Tiel, ”Why do you look like you haven’t woken up again? Didn’t you guys say you entered some excited state? You were supposed to be excited for about a month...”

”Misjudged, underestimated my laziness,” Tiel said indifferently, stretching a long yawn (because her waist is really long), with the tip of her tail comfortably twitching as she stretched. ”By the way, you guys are about to fight, right? Aren’t you afraid of being scolded by your great-great-grandfather at a time like this while you’re fiddling with toys here?”

”What do you understand, this is precisely for combat preparation!” Rebecca said with a serious face, finally fastening the last buckle of the ’Combat Mage Amplifier.’ ”But what about you, are you planning on going back to sleep? Are you really not going to the city wall to help?”

”Let’s talk about it later, let’s talk about it later...” Tiel muttered as he was about to doze off, but he tried his best to keep his eyes open, ”Speaking of which, why did you call me here... It can’t be just to find an audience to watch you tie yourself up with a strange iron belt, right?”

”Of course not, I want you to help me as insurance because I don’t know to what extent this amplifier will work,” Rebecca said, while pressing her hand on a trigger device between the rune triggers. As she pressed the controller, all the rune triggers began to light up one after another, ”Keep an eye on it, I’m going to test it first...”

Tiel lazily watched Rebecca pick up the magic wand, lazily watched her conjure a fireball, lazily... then suddenly jumped in shock: ”What the hell is that fireball!?”

On the southern city wall, on the eastern extension, a team of special ”garrison soldiers” were transporting a box of crystal bombs to the catapult tower, while Soldrin stood by, overseeing the soldiers’ work.

They are the sixteen Typhon Soldiers who are still prisoners of war.

Typhon Knight Barto bent down, placed the last crystal bomb beside the catapult, then stood up and looked back towards the direction of the town behind him.

From this high vantage point, he could easily see most of the city and even the place where he had once been imprisoned.

Today was the third day out of the cell, and as a Typhon Warrior, he had been moving bricks and ammunition boxes for the Anzu on this section of the wall for three days straight.

It’s nothing to be proud of, but as a prisoner of war, Barto knew he didn’t have much choice—being able to breathe fresh air outside a cell was already the greatest fortune, let alone that he was told his work here was to fight against monsters from the Gondor wasteland—not against his own kind, which wasn’t too bad.

During these three days of moving bricks, Barto and his comrades hadn’t forgotten to observe their surroundings, hadn’t forgotten to seize every moment to understand this mysterious developing region, to learn about that mysterious ancient duke and his mysterious new army. The more he learned, the more surprised he felt.

He originally thought Anzu was a decaying and backward barbaric country, deeply mired in decline, with corrupt and decaying aristocrats, commoners in hunger and cold, the borderlands desolate and internal turmoil—this was how Typhon was propagandized to the populace, and the real intelligence gathered by the Winterwolf Legion soldiers at the border was also like this, but here, this Cecil territory did not fit Barto’s understanding of Anzu at all.

He hadn’t seen what the daily state of the Cecil County was like, but he had already seen what the territory looked like when the alarm was sounded. He saw this territory operating with astonishing efficiency, saw the army in orderly mobilization, actively preparing for battle, saw various departments coordinating closely without any delays or buck-passing, saw that ”Administrative Office” management agency functioning as if it were the brain of the entire territory, continuously issuing orderly instructions, managing everything meticulously, and within the city, those who should have been chaotic, ignorant, and apathetic commoners were instead behaving like well-trained militia or well-informed citizens. Not only were there no signs of falling into chaos, but they were also fully supporting the city’s defense and maintaining normal production and life—except for the first half-day stoppage when production targets were reallocated during the emergency state, the entire city’s operation was unaffected by the wartime state!

Frankly, Barto didn’t even think any city in Typhon could achieve the same.

The more he observed, the more Barto and his comrades were startled—if the rest of Anzu develops like this, was it wise for Typhon to start a war against them?

However, the knight’s thoughts couldn’t continue because a sudden sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

Guided by his intuition, he turned his head to look at the mountain barrier to the south of the city wall. With the strong eyesight typical of a Transcendent, he saw an ominous black and red smoke cloud rising from the intersection of the mountains and the plains, filled with countless twisted and hideous figures.

He heard one of his comrades beside him murmuring, ”What... is that?!”

The most urgent alarm was sounded on the city wall, with the sentinel on the tower ringing the bell while shouting loudly:

”They’re coming!!”