Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 695 - 694: Brushing Past the Blade

A dazzling white light ball pierced through the darkness, rushing into the sky amid wind and rain, exploding against the backdrop of dark clouds into a bright cluster visible from afar.

At the northwestern part of Palamere Highlands, in a section obscured by terrain and woodland, a massive and imposing war machine lay dormant on the tracks. The dense rain poured over its dark steel armor, and the flashing signal flares from the Typhon people illuminated its wet steel surface with a fleeting glimmer.

The Iron Throne had turned off all the main exterior lights, and opaque shields were raised over the windows of each carriage. In the dim light, only a few weak signal lamps flickered on the body of the train, their feeble gleam shrouded by rain and the dark sky, almost imperceptible from a hundred meters away.

Inside the tactical section of the armored train, an officer approached Sir Philip: "The Typhon vanguard has signaled."

"They are signaling to the standby Transcendent legion at the rear," Sir Philip stated calmly, "Inform the armory section to prepare, and aim all main cannons at the eastern plains of Longwind Fortress."

"Yes, General."

Sir Philip turned around, gazing at the holographic projection not far away. Above the crystal emitting a faint blue light appeared the external scene of the train relayed by the external monitors.

The rain was getting heavier, and the sky grew increasingly gloomy. The cold wind wrapped in rain poured over this land near the border.

Thanks to this rain, the Iron Throne had reached its pre-designated position in the northwest of Palamere Highlands half an hour ago and had entered a silent state, waiting until now.

In the wind and rain, nightfall was gradually approaching.

Now, we wait for the Typhon Transcendent legion to enter the buffer plain—whether they are the Iron River Knights or the Black Steel Knights, once they enter the formation charge state, they will inevitably have no time to erect barriers or resist the main cannon bombardment from the Iron Throne. The bombardment of the four fortress-class main cannons, plus the current light and medium magic cannon firepower of Longwind Fortress, would cause any legion to fall on the charging path.

"Unfortunately, this rain also affects our reconnaissance," an officer commented beside them, "The armored gryphon cannot take flight in such weather, otherwise we could have a clearer grasp of the Typhon movements."

"The Typhon are more affected than we are—we at least have the sentinel towers on the Longwind Defense Line, while they only have griffons that cannot take flight," Sir Philip said, "Patiently wait for Longwind Fortress’s signal, and don’t think too much."

Although he said this, Sir Philip couldn’t help but feel a bit restless after hearing his subordinate’s comment.

The armored gryphon is a compromise between traditional military units and magical equipment. However, the limitations of the gryphon itself have predetermined the limits of this compromise. The wars on the Plains of the Holy Spirits have already proved the crucial role of air power. It is said that the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute has been researching aircraft entirely based on modern technology for a long time ... who knows how long it will be before those aircraft emerge from the laboratory...

On the triangular plains west of Winterwolf Fortress, the magical flames rising in the distance illuminated the rain-soaked armor and weapons of the knights. Amid the flickering light, Earl Mogrolok, leader of the Iron River Knights, mounted his horse, the sound of armor colliding was the only noise among the silent knights.

Quietly watching the magical firelight in the distant sky spread among the clouds, Earl Mogrolok slowly raised his longsword, the command echoed through the entire knights: "Everyone—formation three, accelerate slowly, advance!"

No one in the entire knights made a sound, but all the knights and their steeds responded to the order simultaneously. Accompanied by the rumbling sound of hooves stomping the ground, the phalanx formed by thousands of knights began to advance forward.

Under the dim and darkened sky, the silent knights appeared like six thousand sculpted statues, arrayed in a single direction, slowly accelerating. The armor, crafted from enchanted fine steel, reflected a deep hue in the rain, dark as ink. Only when lightning streaked across the sky did the steel sheathing living flesh gleam, distinct from the mud and puddles, like a flowing iron river, serene and solemn.

As the knights’ collective speed increased, the omnipresent flow of magic power suddenly hastened. The immense energy, guided by the thousands of knights who had trained, educated, and lived together since childhood, gradually coalesced into a vague high-energy cloud above the formation, with its leading edge pointing steadily towards Longwind Fortress.

Behind the Knights, a second battalion began to move forward. This was an army without any metal armor, yet the magic light in their eyes made no one underestimate their role on the battlefield. Clad in blue-black short robes, they carried Mage daggers and mass-produced magic books at their waists, held oak short wands, and several black flags fluttered relentlessly above their formation.

Count Palin Winterhold, wearing the Starry Robe, raised his magic wand high: "Black Flag Mage Corps, advance!"

Unlike the common impression of Mages being slow on the battlefield, the combat Mages of the Typhon Empire also received a considerable degree of horsemanship training - as well as protective swordsmanship and some level of physical training. This is because combat Mages who become soldiers often only mastered one to three combat spells, and additional training was a necessary guarantee for them to play a role on the battlefield.

Based on this training, a well-trained Mage Corps can fully operate alongside the Knights - unless the latter launches a charge, the Mage Corps will always maintain synchronized combat with the Knights, providing continuous long-range support.

Andresha could not see the movements of the Iron River Knights, but she knew that once the signal was given, the Iron River Knights and the Black Flag Mage Corps must have already set off.

The Cecil Clan in Longwind Fortress may have already received intelligence about the Empire’s advance, but how do they plan to respond to the impending legion-level spell strike?

The once steel-strong Eastern Legion is no more, the cunning Silas Loland is said to have disappeared on the battlefield of the Plains of the Holy Spirits. A Cecil Clan force, not yet firmly established, certainly cannot hold Longwind Fortress... If they could hold it, they wouldn’t need to set up so many false positions around the fortress to create deceptive illusions.

Andresha brushed aside the nearby lines of rain with a wave, feeling genuine relief that her advisor had timely discovered the anomalies in the Cecil Clan’s positions. Otherwise, Imperial soldiers might still be fooled by those bluffs, and the Empire would miss the best opportunity to break open Anzu... the gateway to the Cecil Clan...

But just as she was thinking this, a sudden surge of doubt made the young Wolf General frown.

False positions couldn’t really hold the frontier; such a simple principle is something one can understand, and surely the Cecil Clan understands it too.

Clearly, they created these false positions not to resist Typhon but to buy time...

Buying time very likely means that the Cecil Clan really does have reinforcements - they aren’t truly empty but need time for the reinforcements to arrive at the border.

From the first unusual "reinforcement" of Longwind Fortress until now, a long time has already passed, so... has the Cecil Clan actually bought enough time? After seeing through one layer of their illusion... what if another layer of illusion is hidden behind?

Often, a sharp mind just needs to open a small breach to naturally connect many easily overlooked clues together. Andresha felt she was overthinking, a bit overly tense, but once she started contemplating in a conspiratorial direction, she found her thoughts hard to stop.

Since the Cecil Clan took over Longwind Fortress, things have always been full of strangeness. In this vast area of confrontation, events have gradually exceeded the framework outlined by traditional war rules. Suddenly, she felt she must think one step ahead... One must know that between Longwind Fortress and Winterwolf Fortress, the knightly code has never really been observed!

A bolt of lightning suddenly blasted in the sky, the bright electric light streaking across the sky, illuminating the surrounding uneven rocks and vegetation. Andresha suddenly recalled the fake position they had discovered before, recalled a detail about that fake position -

The Cecil Clan should have left only a very limited number of soldiers at each false position to serve as lookout posts and "actors". Such a small number of soldiers, deployed at the Palamere Highlands at some distance from Longwind Fortress, could not possibly remain without any panic in the face of a whole reorganized Knight regiment. Even if their will were truly as strong as steel, they would at least have to consider their safety - unless they never intended to retreat alive, but if that were the case, they wouldn’t leave the position but would rather use the explosives on the position to die together with the Typhon Knights!

In fact, those Cecil soldiers calmly left the position after conducting three assaults on the Typhon Knights - by which time the Knights were already within short charging distance.

Such composure must mean there is a retreat route, and that retreat route could not be towards the distant Longwind Fortress nor other defensive positions on the Palamere Highlands - even if one or two of those positions are real, they couldn’t withstand the onslaught of an entire Winterwolf Knight regiment.

Their retreat route is a battle group with fighting capabilities close to Longwind Fortress, capable of ensuring that an entire Typhon Knight regiment could be wiped out in a short time, and this battle group must be near the Palamere Highlands!

Andresha’s eyes widened instantly, and then she turned and ordered: "Gryphon Knights, take flight!!"

The adjutant beside was startled: "General?"

"The Cecil Clan might have hidden a large force capable of long-range attacks nearby... This rain is affecting our sight!!"

Intimidated by Andresha’s gaze, the adjutant immediately realized the gravity of the situation and almost without hesitation, ordered the Gryphon Knights in the best condition to take off immediately.

Under such harsh weather, the gryphons instinctively refused the command to approach the clouds. The riders had to pierce a hollow needle filled with Magic Potion into the gryphons’ nape to forcibly drive them against the wind and rain into the sky with magic potion and special incantations. Andresha looked up, staring relentlessly as the large raptors flew further into the dark sky, gradually turning into a vague hazy black dot. After a short wait, the Gryphon Knights soon returned to the ground.

The gryphons intoxicated by the Magic Potion stumbled onto the ground, and the knight in light armor jumped off the back of the mount: "General! Northwest direction! There is an extremely large, bizarre thing! Like the ’train’ the Cecil Clan sold to us, but much larger and strange!"

Andresha’s heart sank, and after clarifying the location of that thing, her previous dreadful premonition became reality.

Ordering the main force to stand by, she led a portion of elite soldiers to a secure observation spot pointed out by the Gryphon Knight and saw the war machine hidden between the trees and giant rocks.

The enormous steel monstrosity quietly crouched on the tracks, fully clad in fearsome armor, armed with countless magical weapons large and small, enough to strike terror into hearts.

And the most alarming were the massive magic cannons at the fore and aft of the steel monster—Andresha had not seen them in person before; she saw them in reports, in some precious magical images risked by information personnel, and knew what they were meant for.

They could pry open the world’s most formidable fortress.

And those weapons were now calmly pointing in the direction of the Longwind Defense Line—the Iron River Knights and Black Flag Mage Corps were unknowingly advancing into its range of attack!

Andresha probably would never know, this terrifying war machine arrived only half an hour prior.

Counting the time difference of the Iron River Knights’ assault and the iron throne’s bombardment preparation, she was less than an hour from the pivotal moment that could decide the fate of Typhon and Cecil.

"...General, this is a trap!" the adjutant whispered beside her, "We must destroy that thing..."

"It’s impossible now, unless we have large siege machines or half a Mage Corps..." Andresha gritted her teeth, then suddenly raised her head, looking towards the Eastern Plains.

The adjutant and several accompanying subordinates also turned in the same direction, each realizing the implication of Andresha’s gaze.

They must immediately halt the forces behind.

Andresha raised her hand, about to order the signal to be sent.

But she stopped—because she realized that once the signal was sent out, it would mean exposing her troops to the silent war machine.

The war machine likely knew there was a Typhon force nearby, but it and its personnel inside didn’t know this trap had been exposed—it was still lurking, the Winterwolf First Cavalry still had a chance to withdraw.

However, by the time the Winterwolf Knights retreated to a safe distance, the Iron River Knights would probably have entered the Cecil Clan’s trap’s attack range.

Andresha didn’t dare to wait until then to signal; she didn’t dare to gamble—

No one knew how far that war machine’s attack range was, but from its deployment position and the intelligence regarding Cecil’s magical weapons, she knew she had little time—the Iron River Knights were fast on the march, probably already in the Longwind Plains, she had to stop that force and the rear Mage Corps within minutes.

So someone had to break away from the main troops to send the signal, while the rest swiftly relocated—the Palamere Highlands were vast, and with such poor visibility, that war machine should only be able to lock onto the signal sender, not the relocated main force.

This was the plan with the least loss.

In Andresha’s brief hesitation, a soldier in short mage robes had already stepped forward from behind.

"General, I will stay behind to send the signal, please evacuate promptly."

Andresha stared at the soldier who had stepped forward, and the latter responded calmly: "General, I am an auxiliary Mage specialized in sending signals; I only know various magic light spells, sending signals is my duty."

After a moment of confrontation, Andresha spoke in a low voice: "...Soldier, what’s your name?"

"Aelik Uliyah," the mage soldier squared his shoulders, "from Enqihok County."

Andresha took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pressed the soldier’s shoulder firmly: "Aelik, the Empire will treat your family well."

"Serving under you is my honor!"

Andresha nodded, then ordered: "Everyone else, evacuate with me immediately!"

Two minutes later, the entire Winterwolf First Cavalry began withdrawing from Palamere Highlands at the fastest speed.

And after the knights left the area, a flash of light came from the rear of the convoy shortly after.

Andresha turned back, witnessing a bright red sphere of light rising from afar, exploding high in the sky into a glaring and dazzling blood-red flare.

Trap, retreat.

Shortly after a few seconds of delay, a piercing screech and explosion engulfed the position where the light sphere ascended.

Anzu, Year 738, The First Year of Cecil, Month of Harvest, Day 35.

Everyone along the Longwind Defense Line narrowly avoided the blade’s edge.