Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1327: Chapter 1326: More Savage Than Savagery

The raging flames scorched the sky and land, as the living fire raged through the winter night towards the darkness, like daylight descending for a second time, with the sun rising anew over the horizon — not long ago, the aberration Army had utterly destroyed and occupied this land, corrupting and crushing everything they touched, but now this was the reason for the guardians of this land to vent their fury wholeheartedly.

On this land, there is nothing left that needs cautious protection, where the live fire spreads, there is only the ugly, misshapen flesh and bones of those monsters.

”What a good fire.” Standing on the steel-cast cathedral tower after treatment and bandages, Wycliff gazed through the semi-transparent energy shields and reinforced glass towards the distant mountain pass, where the living flames were splitting at the edge of the land, countless elementals climbing and leaping on the mountain, splashing Meteor Fire Rain, or bursting into massive mushroom clouds right where they were. Their brief lives were near their limits, and the artificially created elemental environment would soon fall into imbalance and dissipate in the next few minutes, yet as fire elements, the closer they were to collapse, the more terrifying their power became.

The Human King even envisioned horrific scenes, imagining what kind of nightmare it would trigger if such an incendiary bomb were to fall into an ordinary city, but at least at this moment, these nightmare-like scenes manifested over those ugly monsters’ heads, bringing an irrepressible curl to Wycliff’s lips, filling him with genuine joy.

”The power of the Purgatory Incendiary is more than I imagined...” A calm voice came from beside him, interrupting the King’s thoughts. The name Amir, leader of the White Knights, came up the stairs not far away, the heavy iron boots made a deep, forceful sound as they stepped on the floor, ”No wonder Princess Rebecca kept stressing that under no circumstances should it be deployed near our people, the safe distance must be far enough...”

Wycliff turned his head, seeing the light cast by the magic crystal lamp illuminate the armor of this ”medical priest,” the surface engraved with scriptures shimmering with a faint radiance, making it indistinguishable whether it was the simple light or the ”afterglow of the Holy Light,” but for him and the surviving warriors in the cathedral, these priests from the Cecil Empire were imbued with sanctity, even their warhammers, heavy guns, and burners seemed sacred and pure as if made from light.

These reinforcements descending from the sky during the winter night saved not only him and his soldiers but also the vast lands and countless people beyond the Augari Mountains.

”Please allow me to express my gratitude once again,” the King said very solemnly, ”whether from a personal perspective or from the Augari perspective, we owe you a massive debt of gratitude — one day, this friendship will be repaid.”

”Then just owe us for now, Your Majesty, this war isn’t over yet,” Amir said in a heavy tone, ”The flames of the Purgatory Incendiary are about to subside, after which we’ll continue to stay here, using the cathedral itself and the engineering materials carried by the ground troops to establish new defensive lines. With the cooperation of the air support, we can plug this gap — according to the intelligence from the Dawn of the Mortal World, those monsters are temporarily retreating, but they’ll soon make a comeback. No one knows how many aberrations are left in the wastelands; until we counterattack their base camp and purify the entire wasteland, we still have battles to fight.”

”Yes, we still have battles to fight...” Wycliff briefly fell silent, only lifting his head slowly after a few seconds, saying calmly, ”All we’ve lost are a few cities, but my people have not yet fallen — I should rally again, return to White City, reassemble my forces, retake and rebuild this land...”

”Glad to see you quickly rebounding, Your Majesty, though I believe you first need further medical attention,” Amir eyed Wycliff’s empty right arm, ”the current treatment has only temporarily healed the wound, which is far from enough.”

Wycliff glanced at his severed arm, suddenly recalling the ”semi-anesthesia general anesthesia” treatment process he had seen before by the ruins of Falm, a baseless chill slightly altered his expression: ”Uh, I’ll consult the physicians in White City afterward...”

”If you trust Cecil’s medical technology, we have several medical and... processing options that could allow you to regain a complete arm,” Amir seemed to notice the human King’s concerns, and he himself, a bit helpless and embarrassed, had to explain additionally, ”Rest assured, the Holy Dusk Combat Group isn’t the only medical unit in the expedition; we also have a battlefield medical ship flying in from Karin Junction, carrying medical facilities jointly set up by the Druid College and the Department of Biomechanics. If you have a preference for biological limbs, you can try regeneration of flesh; if you’re open to a different ’flavor’ — the technical sergeants can replace your arm with one featuring alloy armor and artificial nerves.”

The priest paused momentarily before revealing a slight smile, saying, ”The second option is new technology, but reportedly very effective. Fortunately, yours is a new wound, allowing for more choices. If it were an old injury, it would be a bit troublesome.”

Listening to the incredible things Amir described, Wycliff’s expression grew stranger: ”Well... I’ll think about it, think about it...”

...

Within a very short cycle, the tides in the darkness ceased their surge, an unanticipated powerful force intervening forcefully and brutally in this battlefield, blocking the dark tide extending out from the wastelands. Subsequently, the vanguard of the tide began being obliterated in pieces, tens of thousands of ”Sensory Ends” swiftly disappeared in the barrage of storm-like assaults, their fragments of senses and memories returned by the ever-dying individuals filled with the terror brought by torn limbs and scorching flames.

It was a ”primal sentiment” that even unintelligent monsters could generate under a fierce and powerful attack.

Maselus’s branches trembled slightly in the cold winter night wind, yet not from fear, but from immense anger and hatred — his offensive was thwarted by those crazed, savage, all-or-nothing beastmen, and those incessantly meddling Cecil Clan, yet he was just a little short!

The aberrations’ vanguard had already destroyed the human corps in the northern border of Augari, flattening their border fortresses and countless cities and villages over the past days. The main force he personally led had cleared the defensive lines among the mountain barriers, driving the beastmen back to their main city. Even if given a few more hours, he was confident of enabling the two corps to pincer Red Jade City from the south and north, completely dismantling its defenses afterward, allowing the horde from the wastelands to rapidly expand throughout Augari Domain. The entire realm would quickly undergo wasteland transformation, and no matter how stubborn those mortals held onto their ”Holy Mountain,” they couldn’t halt such a near-catastrophic transformation process. By then, even if the main Cecil forces arrived, they would inevitably be powerless to turn the tide.

But he never anticipated that the beastmen would ignite the entire Ruby Forest Sea, trapping half of his main forces in the woods, nor did he expect the Cecil Clan could bypass the mountains, ”fly” directly from the distant northern battlefield to the Augari frontline!

In the literal sense, those humans flew over — they had built astounding Sky Fortresses.

”Archbishop, our frontline forces have suffered setbacks, the Bloated Corruptors are no match for those Sky Fortresses,” a low-level dark Druid beside him said, his voice sounding slightly fearful, ”We... need to temporarily avoid confrontation and reevaluate the attack path...”

Maselus’s dry branches swayed as his dark brown eyes stared hard at the evidently cowed low-level priest: ”Silence, I don’t need your teaching!”

The mutated limb of the low-level priest trembled, the roots retreated, while Maselus looked up at the dark western sky, glaring at the front line illuminated by various flashes — he was not a stranger to the Sky Fortress; when he was still a mortal, he had even boarded the ”Sacred Stars Temple,” hailed as the Silver Crown, as a ”guest,” personally received by the Silver Empress when she was just a child, witnessing the ancient sanctuaries and the deep corridors hung with sages’ portraits.

Back then, he was an exchange scholar sent by the Gondor Empire to the Silver Empire, a laughable and distant identity.

But he knew that the Sacred Stars Temple had already crashed, within flames and smoke, symbolizing the end of an era as it crashed on the northern border of the Highmountain Kingdom. Its spectacular demise had stirred great waves in the dark roots network of the Oblivion Association, even inspiring a sigh from Archbishop Bolken — yes, it had crashed, that ancient, miraculous, symbolic Sky Fortress had crashed, and every church fellow cheered at that moment. Although the Silver Empire temporarily stabilized its front line due to its collapse, the mortal world truly lost their greatest military reliance. At least until recently, Maselus had believed this...

Who the hell could have guessed those Cecil people just turned around and damn well pulled out another fleet of Sky Fortresses!!

Of course, based on the data reported from the front line, Maselus could easily judge that those Sky Fortresses flying from the northwest direction were far smaller in scale than the elven Sacred Stars Temple, whether those fortresses that seemed like ”escort ships” or the ”mothership” with ferocious firepower were much smaller than the already crashed Sacred Stars Temple — but any sane person wouldn’t judge the threat from a mere ”size” perspective.

The Sacred Stars Temple of the silver elves was already in decline; its decay weakened it more to a symbolic emblem rather than an actual power. It was strong, but its strength had reached its end — yet the things appearing above Ruby City now, are brand new war machines.

They are war machines exclusively crafted by the Cecil Clan for this war, armed down to every inch of deck and plating. They are brand new, fierce, precise, and ruthless. They are not precious symbolic emblems, nor are they heirlooms needing camouflage — the Cecil Clan has unleashed them for one sole purpose: to slaughter on the frontline.

Slaughter with the utmost efficiency, with an unfeeling stance, indulging in destruction.

The order for withdrawal spread through the mental connection, the black tide once again surged over the Augari land, but this time it receded towards the rear — it no longer made sense to let the aberration fight desperately against those airborne fortresses with sky superiority; the immediate priority now is preserving strength, adjusting the main force’s configuration, using the vast polluted land as a buffer and delay, and finding an opportunity to change the situation in the upcoming period.

”More monster-like than aberrations...” Maselus snarled at the distant sky, recalling the intelligence Bertrum brought back after retreating from the northern battlefield, thinking of the living forest consuming aberrations on the northern front, he couldn’t help but mutter in the night breeze, ”Civilization’s essence is a conqueror more savage than savagery... interesting...”

Next to him, the low-level priest was taken aback: ”Archbishop, what did you say?”

”Just some meaningless musings,” Maselus’s tone unexpectedly calmed down, as if the prior rage and hatred were mere illusions. He looked at his subordinates, starting to issue orders methodically amidst the calm, ”We shall abandon Ruby Forest Sea and Wolf Spine Mountain, leaving the polluted lands to those humans — you lead the Rune Stones squad, activate a Deep Blue Rift nearby, first deploy some Rune Stones, then shift to the southern area, to meet with Dietermore...”

He suddenly stopped.

A chill spread inexplicably through his roots and mutated nervous system, this chill carried foreboding of approaching death. This dark priest, converted from a powerful druid, suddenly stared at the direction of Ruby City, on the transformed aberration territory of Wolf Spine Mountain top, he actually felt a kind of ”instinct” of being eyed by a bloodthirsty beast on a vast isolated plain.

The low-level priest beside him immediately noticed the change: ”Archbishop, what’s wrong...”

Before the other could finish, Maselus hastily interrupted: ”I have a bad premonition. We must relocate immediately!”

The low-level priest didn’t understand but still adhered to the superior’s command instantly. Before lifting roots to move east of Wolf Spine Mountain, he instinctively glanced back at Ruby City’s direction, whispering, ”But this is still very, very far from the front line. How could those Cecil people’s weapons possibly reach here...”

Before he finished speaking, a terrifying shriek suddenly pierced through the night sky, shredding the clouds above Wolf Spine Mountain — but more terrifying than the shriek was Maselus watching a swift stream of light fly from the direction above Ruby City, faster than sound, landing on a nearby hill!

He couldn’t see what that was, only discern it was faster and more dreadful than any kind of ”Skyfire”, that thing was even faster than sound, until the massive explosion ascended, only then did he hear the sound in the air, followed by a mountain top shrouded in a bright, chaotic sphere of blended colors, a horrible energy pulse swept Wolf Spine Mountain, even depriving him of the perception of the entire aberration army for a brief moment. Then he saw the sphere expand in the night sky, roaring to ignite the air, then instantly contract, leaving an obvious trace in darkness resembling some kind of spatial rift, followed by a second wave of energy impact and a dreadful explosion, vibration.

At that moment, it seemed like the entire mountain range shuddered gently.

A few seconds later, the light finally vanished; this unknown attack came and went swiftly, yet it etched permanent marks into every witness’s eyes —

The mountain top disappeared, leaving behind a spherical indentation eroded and hollowed by unknown forces.

Maselus shed half his leaves, turned, and fled!