Sword of Dawn

Under the reflection of the golden-red sunset, this burning fire rain fell in all directions in the sky. Most of them seemed to have been ablated halfway through the flight, but there were still a large number of remaining substances falling towards the sky while continuing to burn. The wasteland is everywhere, and as time goes by, these falling objects across the sky become denser and reach their peak within minutes.

Throughout the Tarash Plain, millions of pairs of eyes saw this spectacular scene.

In the eastern part of the Tarash Plain, Andersa Wendell withdrew her gaze to the sky. She looked at the communication crystal beside her. Above this sophisticated and expensive magic device, floated Rosetta Ogu Stu's magic projection.

Through the crystal, Rosetta Augustus, who was far away in Aldernan, could understand everything that happened on this battlefield.

"Did you see those falling objects?" Andersa asked respectfully, "They... seem to have fallen from outside the atmosphere."

"Can you judge the approximate direction and scope of the fall?"

"It's in all directions, and the scale is huge. I'm afraid the entire wasteland is within its coverage."

"...Is there any movement from the allies?"

"Just now I saw a lot of dragoons flying in the direction of Cecil, and they went north to chase those 'meteorites'. I don't know the situation on Ogure's side," Andersa said with a serious expression, "There are also giant eagle knights and knights on the south line." The elf's 'ship' lifts off."

Having said that, she paused, and added: "I also sent some Griffin Knights and scouting mages."

"Very good," Rosetta nodded lightly, "Track the 'meteorite' falling to the east, but don't touch it rashly after finding the crash point, mark and monitor it, and wait... Cecil's recommendations."

Andersa bowed her head to accept the order, and then she couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, are those 'meteorites' just..."

"It's the Sentinel," Rosetta said calmly, "the Sentinel destroyed by Gawain Cecil."

Andersa took a deep breath. It was an expected answer, but it was still moving.

Communication hangs up.

The wind with the smell of gunpowder blew over from a distance, and there was also a strong bloody smell in the middle.

The young General Wolf raised his head, the "meteor shower" falling in the sky has gradually become rare, and under the clear sky, the Tarash Plain is falling into a strange... calmness.

There are still many problems waiting to be solved, the wreckage of the fallen sentinel, the corpse of the "anti-tide" god still lying on the ground, a certain god hiding behind the scenes, the economic recovery and order restoration of various countries after the war... Just think about it, Ann Desa feels a headache for those smart people who need to use their brains.

But at least for this moment, the world has survived again—to take a breather.

Chapter 1403 Visit

The dark clouds dissipated, and for seven centuries, the normal sunshine finally shone on this land where an ancient and powerful civilization once stood. An almost unreal calm.

But calmness is only an appearance. The visions that appeared before have disturbed the minds of countless people. After the dark clouds dispersed, the debris that burned and fell in the atmosphere sprinkled the entire wasteland plain like a spectacular rain of fire. Everyone on the battlefield After witnessing this scene, coupled with the large-scale mysterious spaceship that landed on the battlefield before, all kinds of bizarre speculations emerged in the minds of countless people——Ordinary soldiers don’t know what is happening in this battlefield. What happened outside, but one thing is clear to everyone: those fire rains falling from the sky are definitely not as simple as ordinary "shooting stars", they affect the nerves of the three empires.

On each front, the air forces of the three empires chased in the direction where the "meteor" fell.

The Dawn of the World has returned to the battle line it was in charge of. This huge and scarred air overlord is hovering quietly over the Allied Forces of the Augure tribe. The traces left by the war make it no longer as glamorous as before, but Let it add endless vicissitudes and magnificence in the sunset.

Jinna Prince came to the deck, and under the setting sun, she looked at the sky not far away.

The peak of the meteor shower has passed. At this moment, there are only a few small spots of light in the sky that occasionally streak across the sky. A layer of thin and clean clouds floats under the setting sun. In the clouds, the tracks left by the meteor shower ablation can be vaguely seen. The high-altitude and high-speed reconnaissance crew and dragonborn scouts from the Dawn of the World took off a few minutes ago to track westward where the "heavenly objects" fell, and special troops and commanders took over the aftermath on the battlefield , for a while, she actually had a moment to breathe.

Jin Na touched her forehead. The wound left by the impact on the command seat before had stopped bleeding and partly healed under the action of the alchemy potion, but the wound was still a little painful--for an extraordinary person, this small wound In fact, it was not a problem at all. Jin Na even felt that feeling this sting on the dusty battlefield was actually a kind of... happiness.

The very real pain made it clearer that she was alive, that the victory was real, that the world survived.

At this moment, she heard a special buzz from the magic net terminal she carried with her. This was the prompt sound of the highest-level communication. Jin Na quickly sorted out her status, and then activated the audio of the communication device—— Then Gawain Cecil's voice came to her ears: "How is your situation?"

Jin Na immediately reported: "Your Majesty, the Dawn of the World has returned to its standby position, and the overall condition of the battle group is still good, but there are structural damages in some areas of the Dawn of the World, the nervous system of the main brain is damaged, and there are still some casualties. Thorough repairs and personnel replenishment. In addition, we just communicated with the ground forces, the Allied Forces of the Ogure Tribes and the Western Front Corps led by Duke Baldwin were seriously damaged, and a medical ship has landed and provided assistance."

"Good job," Gawain's voice seemed relieved, and then he asked, "Is Rebecca okay?"

"His Royal Highness is resting - she was brave and fearless in the previous battle, controlled the situation and completed the key attack on the creeping disaster when all the commanders of the accelerator array were killed, which won everyone's respect .”

"Very good," Gawain said with a slight smile, "Has the troop tracking down those space wreckages started yet?"

"It set off 8 minutes ago," Jin Na replied meticulously, "Currently, the tracking system of the Dawn of the Earth has confirmed that several larger fragments have flown towards the vast area between the Augure Mountain Barrier and the Gondor wasteland. Wilderness, judging by its size and rate of fall, traces near the point of impact should be evident, but it is uncertain whether other fragments will fly towards inhabited areas."

"Well, just try to track down the wreckage that fell in the wasteland area. After you find it, don't rush to recycle it, mark it and monitor it, and wait for further orders."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Then, there was silence on the other side of the communicator for a few seconds, and then Gao Wen's voice sounded again in a low voice: "Thanks for your hard work."

Jin Na was taken aback for a moment, then immediately straightened her body, and her voice was so loud that she startled herself: "The responsibility lies!"

……

In the command post in the northern part of the Tarash Plain, Gawain finished his communication with the Dawn of the World, and couldn't help but pick his ears. Amber, who was standing next to him, also picked his ears, and then he took a serious look on his face. Reported to him with an expression on his face: "...Warnings about those 'space debris' have been sent to all countries, the observatories, air defense stations and mage towers in the surrounding area of ​​the wasteland are already staring at the sky, and the emergency evacuation orders for residents in high-risk areas have also been issued. It has been issued, and there should be no major problems."

"Most of the large wreckage flew towards the no-man's land in the wasteland, and the smaller pieces didn't cause too much damage. This is a blessing in misfortune," Gawain exhaled lightly, with a strange expression on his face. Said, "Fortunately, the sentinel was completely disintegrated, and fortunately, it fell into the atmosphere at an 'appropriate' angle. Otherwise, if a giant spaceship fell down, the mortal civilization would suffer heavy damage even if it did not die this season..."

"That's right, I finally won a battle, and I was crushed to death by the enemy's corpse. Just thinking about it makes me feel wronged," Amber waved her hands, "It's like being beaten by a grave after successfully digging a grave." A meal..."

The Shadow Assault Goose was getting beat up again habitually, but this time Gao Wen didn't bicker with her to relieve his boredom as usual. After hearing Amber's voice, he just subconsciously stared at her up and down, as if he wanted to see from her. As if there was even the slightest abnormality, this scrutiny immediately made Amber's hair stand on end, and she folded her arms instantly: "What...what's wrong? Why are you staring at me like this all of a sudden? Hey—it's scary, why don't you directly beat me up..."

"...It's okay, I'll just take a look." Gao Wen breathed out, waved his hands and said casually.

After all, he still wasn't sure if something abnormal happened to Amber just now, and he couldn't find out why after several inquiries. Now he seemed a little too nervous to pay attention to this matter, so he could only temporarily put his doubts in his heart. Put it aside, and return your attention to the matter in front of you.

"It is foreseeable that the wreckage that fell on this planet after the disintegration of the Sentinel will definitely cause some waves in the alliance," he said casually, "Although the reverse tide has corrupted almost all of its internal core systems, before Battles in space have torn apart its main structure, but only those remaining fragments are a great asset to the alliance today..."

"Not only the wreckage dropped by the sentinel, but also the lump of 'rotten meat' lying in the northeast corner of the Deep Blue Well," Amber shook her head, "How much useful is it to dig out the wreckage left by an ancient god?" The thing—the fragments left after the God of War fell, but it has not been studied clearly until now."

"The Theocratic Council will be responsible for dealing with the wreckage left by the reverse tide. Our senior advisers know how to deal with this dangerous containment. As for the wreckage of the sentinel... it may also require a special multi-national joint agency to deal with it. That scale It is something that cannot be controlled by a single country."

Amber frowned when she heard this, and looked a little worried: "Although I said so, but studying this kind of thing really won't... the same situation as in the ancient anti-tide empire? It's the legacy of the sailors again, It’s the wreckage left by the reverse tide again, these two dangerous things together always feel like they’re going to explode at any moment..."

"It is precisely in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes that we must start research in this area, and it is an open, large-scale research that involves all countries in the entire alliance," Gao Wen said with a serious expression, "It is not about contacting the legacy of the sailors. It has led to the 'reverse tide', but the ignorance and worship of the legacy of the voyager has led to the 'reverse tide'--advanced knowledge is not terrible, what is terrible is the 'respect like a god' of this knowledge."

He paused when he said this, and then slowly opened his mouth after a while: "'Ignorance' is the catalyst for the shackles of the mind. When things like the sailor and the reverse tide have been exposed to the eyes of the world, the more you keep it secret, the more you will The easier it is to cause them to be covered with a layer of mystery or even divinity. In this regard, many people are prone to misunderstandings, and even the previous Dragon Clan has also entered into misunderstandings in this regard, but in fact... Based on The process of rational exploration and seeking knowledge is the best way to fight against the growth of divinity, and blocking the 'forbidden things' layer by layer can only create more and more indescribable monsters as time goes by."

Amber listened to Gao Wen's words, with a thoughtful expression on her face: "Divine pollution is something, the lower the education, the greater the harm, right..."

Gao Wen nodded: "If you don't study mathematics, physics and chemistry, life is full of myths."

"Then what shall we do next?" Amber thought for a while, "Contact Typhon and Baiyin now, let them prepare to set up a 'Sentry Research Institute' in the alliance? Or discuss it with those 'senior consultants' Discuss, let them come up with a plan for containment and research on the wreckage of the reverse tide as soon as possible?"

"Neither of them." Gawain shook his head, looked up to a certain direction out of the window, "The most important thing right now... is to visit a friend who is familiar but also unfamiliar."

"Familiar and unfamiliar..." Amber had a puzzled expression on her face, but soon she followed Gawain's line of sight to see the scene on the plain in the distance—among the rising smoke, the Deep Blue Well was majestic. The majestic shield is quietly covering the center of the battlefield. As the focus of the entire previous battle, the barrier finally stands at the end.

In the previous battle, the remaining defensive power of the Deep Blue Well attracted and resisted almost one-third of the wasteland army on the entire Tarash Plain, allowing the troops in charge of guarding the "terminus tower" to successfully complete the battle. It was almost impossible to complete the task of persevering, and after the battle, the direction of the Deep Blue Well fell into silence.

It was so quiet now that Amber had almost forgotten the existence of this "alliance".

"...Why is there no movement at Veronica?" Looking at the quiet light curtain, recalling that there had been no communication from the direction of the Deep Blue Well since the second half of the battle, Amber's face The expression on the face suddenly became a little nervous, "Could something have happened?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the magic net terminal placed on the table beside her suddenly started up with a "buzz", and Veronica's expressionless face appeared on the screen: "Nothing happened."

"Scared me!" Amber was shocked immediately, staring at the holographic projection on the table, "Then why have you kept silent, and didn't come out to report safety after the battle..."

Veronica was still expressionless, and said succinctly: "I'm resting."

The corner of Amber's mouth trembled, and she looked into Veronica's eyes suspiciously: "...Why do I feel that you have something against me?"

Veronica simply ignored Amber this time, but turned her head to look in Gawain's direction. She bowed slightly in the holographic projection, and her voice was as soft and calm as ever: "I am unblocking the layers of the underground bunker and opening it. A channel that can lead from the surface to the deep layer, the location of the entrance and exit of the channel will be sent later, you can enter the deep blue well at any time, and I will welcome you in the deepest part of the fortress."

Gao Wen nodded, but then he became a little curious: "Can't you come out? It's safe outside now..."

Veronica lowered her head slightly: "...Sorry, I can't leave the control center."

"Okay, I understand," Gawain didn't press further, "Then I'll go there—this time we can finally talk face to face."

The communication was hung up, and the holographic projection above the magic net terminal dissipated in the air. Gawain turned his head and glanced at Amber: "Get ready, you can go with me to that ancient fortress—see the Gondor Empire What is the afterglow of civilization left over from the glorious age?"

Amber shook her head without thinking: "I won't go, I think Veronica is interested in me..."

Then she was taken away by Gao Wen.

A moment later, a dragoon fighter plane took off from the northern command post, and flew towards the Deep Blue Well escorted by several other fighter planes and two dragonborn fighters.

Looking down from the sky, for the first time, the spectacular ruins left after the big explosion of the Deep Blue Well came into the eyes of Gao Wen and Hu Po intuitively.

The entire city turned into a molten pit, and all the once glorious buildings and cultural symbols turned into an inseparable residue of waste soil fused with rocks at the bottom of the pit. The waste soil army that had previously attacked the Deep Blue Well had already Under the influence of the force field of the blocking wall, they disappeared with the wind, but some of their remains are still scattered on the scorched earth, which is shocking to watch.

In the core of the ancient country of Gondor, there is no trace of "Gondor" anymore-except for the bottom of the deep pit, the crystal peak that is shining brightly under the light curtain.

That is the core, the most essential, and the most primitive structure of the Deep Blue Well, a naturally formed source of magic power——the ancient Gondors built a large number of extraction stations, load towers, fusion towers and other accessories around this source. The device is used to absorb the magic power in the deep blue well with the highest efficiency, but even the once most powerful human empire is just a fleeting light and shadow when facing the energy of the planet itself, and now the ancient country no longer exists. Only this webway fissure that existed since the birth of the planet is still continuously gushing.

The dragoons began to slowly lower their altitude.

In the sky above the Deep Blue Well, the spectacular light curtain trembled slightly, and then an opening was opened on its surface that was enough for an adult dragon to pass through unimpeded.

Chapter 1404 Ophelia's Little Story

Under the guidance of the guidance signal sent by Veronica, the dragoons finally landed on a small platform at the bottom of the "Crystal Spike".

Gawain and Amber stepped down from the aircraft. The latter raised his head vigorously and looked at the cone-shaped structure made of a large number of crystal prisms like a hill. The pure magic power gushing out from the deep blue well The top of the cone-shaped structure was released, forming a bright stream of flames in the air, and finally converging on the top of the thick shield, which looked extraordinarily spectacular.

Hu Po just raised her head and stared at it for a long time, and the thousands of thoughts in her heart finally merged into one sigh: "...This stuff will never be finished?"

"I thought you were going to feel sorry for something." Gawain's mouth trembled, and he squinted at this shadow-strike goose with clever thinking. "According to Tarrond's research records, this rift has existed since the birth of the planet. Yes, it is part of the magic power cycle of this planet, and there is no concept of 'spraying out'—unless there is a problem with the magic power cycle of the entire planet. As for the little energy that the Gondorians collected from here back then... Compared with the entire dark blue network road, I'm afraid it can only be regarded as a small wave of water."

"...Infinite magic power, the cleanliness does not even require secondary purification, and the difficulty of using it is almost zero," Amber sighed, "No wonder the Gondor Empire was so strong back then..."

Gawain didn't speak, but at this moment, he suddenly heard a slight buzzing sound coming from not far away. Following the sound, he saw a piece of ice suddenly emerged on the surface of the crystal "wall" at the end of the platform. The flowing grid of light, in the shimmering flickering, the original seamless crystal outer wall underwent dazzling changes and reorganization, and opened a towering door in the blink of an eye.

The sound of footsteps came from the gate, and two extraordinarily tall figures stepped out of it. Under the afterglow of the setting sun and the light and shadow of the blue magic flames, these two figures emerging from the depths of the ancient fortress even gave Gawain a sense of The feeling of walking from a historical picture scroll——When they got closer, Gao Wen saw that these were two "female soldiers". They were wearing the uniforms of the battle magisters of the ancient Gondor Empire. Its arms, shoulders, etc. have mana augmentation components that seem to be directly connected to the body. One of the "magic soldiers" seems to have been damaged in the previous battle and has not had time to repair. A wound was cut near her neck. Under the bionic skin is a bright silver alloy inner armor and connection structure.

Amber next to him immediately realized: These are two iron warriors, just like the "maid head" of the Typhon Empire, they are powerful man-made weapons made by ancient humans.

Her thoughts couldn't help drifting away—if only the "head maid" named Diana came along this time, she would definitely want to come, she has been waiting for hundreds of years for maintenance... …

While thinking wildly, one of the iron soldiers who looked relatively intact spoke up, her voice sounded a little mechanically indifferent: "Welcome, visitors, you have been granted A-level access authorization, Your Highness Ophelia ordered us to guide you to control center."

"The two of us can go in, and the others are waiting outside." Gawain nodded, then turned his head and said to the entourage who acted as "guards", "You wait here."

"Just the two of us going in?" Amber pointed to herself, with a suspicious expression on her face, "You..."

"This is our first meeting with the last heir of the Gondor Empire," Gawain said in a low voice. "I'm not sure what's down here—so it's better for this first meeting to be private."

Amber shrugged her shoulders to show that she had no doubts, and then followed in Gawain's footsteps. The two followed the Iron Man soldier and walked towards the shining "Crystal Gate" not far away.

After passing through the gate, they stepped into a passage completely formed of thick crystals, and walked forward on a slope that sloped continuously. Everything they entered was that beautiful, ice-like crystal. Blue crystals, no lighting equipment can be seen in the entire passage, but a steady flow of light can be seen slowly surging in the depths of the crystals on both sides, which keeps the passage a comfortable light—bright The clean crystal corridor, which makes people completely unexpected that there is a barren wasteland outside.

Gao Wen felt as if he was walking in an entire clear iceberg. The wonderful flow of light diffused and refracted in the ice crystals, bringing a dreamlike and magnificent feeling.

It’s just that the two iron soldiers leading the way are obviously purely military models. They don’t have the habit of chatting, and they are very silent along the way, which makes this incredible journey seem rather dull.

However, the accompanying Amber is a character who can't calm down. From the moment she came in, she kept looking at the shining crystals around her. Amber's eyes were as bright as the surrounding crystals. She walked halfway. I couldn't hold back anymore: "Hey, the crystals around are so beautiful... What kind of material are these? Are they really crystals? Natural crystals?"

Hearing the visitor's initiative to ask, the iron soldier leading the way finally broke the silence: "It's not a natural crystal."

When Amber heard this, she immediately lost interest: "Oh, what did I say..."

"It is the crystallization of stable arcana," the iron soldier continued, "it is formed by the reaction and deposition of the pure magic power that has been gushing out from the deep blue well for thousands of years and the guiding magic components in the environment."

In the next second, Gao Wen saw a black shadow flashing in front of him, and Amber jumped up on the spot with a groan, and tried to jump to the wall closest to him. With a quick reaction, he grabbed the back of this guy's neck. At this time, Hu Po's whole body was probably slapped on the crystal with a "pia ji" like it was usually slapped on the wall, and it was the kind that couldn't be pulled off.

The amber was still struggling in Gao Wen's hand, and his beloved little dagger had already been pulled out: "Let me pick a piece and try it! I'll just check the composition! Steady-state arcane crystal! Pure arcane that can transmit light!" Crystallization! On the black market in the past, even if you put it on the black market, those mages can knock out the dog's brains. There is a mountain here! A whole mountain!"

"Don't be ashamed here," Gao Wen conveniently clamped Amber under his armpit, looking at the guy who was still dancing with a headache, "Do you know what occasion this is?"

"Isn't this in private," Amber said plausibly while trying to break free from the shackles while swimming butterfly in the void, "except for the Iron Man Corps who obeyed orders, Veronica is here--Veronica is not an outsider. Hey, it's thanks to you just now The entourage is all on standby outside. Hey, I said, there is still such a consideration... As expected of you, you are far-sighted, and the coffin is prepared for the full moon wine—prepared early..."

Gao Wen: "..."

Now he is very, very, very, very, very regretful that he usually taught this guy so many dirty words...

The only good thing is that the iron soldiers leading the way didn't understand this at all. They didn't even look back at Amber, who was being held under the armpit by Gawain. , the two ancient machine girls continued to lead the way silently, and under their leadership, Gawain took the (finally quiet) amber through this crystal clear "crystal ramp", and finally saw the man-made facilities.

An elevator leading to the depths of the ground—an "ancient Gondor style" completely different from contemporary times.

Amber looked back at the crystal clear passage for the last time reluctantly, and was dragged into the elevator by Gao Wen. Then, accompanied by a slight mechanical friction sound, the protective fence of the elevator closed, and they began to sink in quickly. underground.

The elevator is surrounded by an open structure where one can directly see the outside scene, while the surrounding shafts have openings at intervals where one can observe the outside. Gawain and Amber can intuitively understand what is going on underground in this ancient fortress. "Scenery" - they walked through this deep shaft, passing through a thick protective dome made of strong metal and concrete at intervals. This thick "protective shell" has seven consecutive layers, and then Only then did they see internal facilities like factories, excavation stations, and warehouses, and between each of these facilities, separate armor and shields separated them layer by layer.

Hu Po, who was still fussing about picking a piece of crystal back just now, has completely quieted down. She stared dumbfounded at the passing scenery outside the elevator, and finally murmured softly: "Such a tight defense..."

"Surviving in the center of the wasteland is not an easy task." As soon as Amber finished speaking, a voice suddenly sounded in the elevator. This voice came from a small sound-generating device, although it was a little different from the usual voice. difference, but Amber and Gawain could tell that it was Veronica who was speaking, "In the first two centuries, the situation in the central area of ​​the wasteland was much more severe than what you saw when you first arrived here : Deadly pollution seeps into the ground, and the aberrations are not just wandering on the surface—the underground of the old imperial capital has a criss-crossing subway network and drainage system, and those monsters have invaded deep underground through these facilities...

"So for the first 200 years, all I could do was dig down, and I dug for two centuries, and I moved the whole of the fort twice as deep as it was before, and blew up everything close to it. Underground bunkers of subway tunnels and sewer networks, and in the process building that layer upon layer of 'shells' that you just saw to protect themselves.

"It took another 100 years after that before things got a little better. I settled down underground with a stable structure and fully restored the operational efficiency of the Iron Corps maintenance array. I sent soldiers to clear out the The wandering monster restarted some of the lines, and based on this, began to further restore control of the area around the old imperial capital..."

Accompanied by Veronica's narration, the elevator continued to descend in the shaft, and during this seemingly endless descent, Gawain said: "And before that, you somehow put your own Thinking projected to the outside of the wasteland, just like using the 'vehicle' of 'Veronica' to observe our world?"

"Yes," Veronica, or Ophelia replied softly, "so in a sense, I 'opened my eyes' outside the wasteland even before my surface activities here, in In the first few hundred years, it was difficult for me to judge the situation on the surface deep underground, so that I had to rely on the remote control of the carrier in the "Nation of Survivors" to understand the changes in the wasteland from the side... One of my carriers is still very Famous, I don’t know if you have heard of it.”

"Oh?" Gao Wen suddenly became interested, "Tell me specifically?"

Ophelia's voice was soft and steady: "Griffina, sword dancer Griffina."

Gawain had obviously never heard of this name, but Amber reacted instantly: "Ah, it's that 'Crazy Blade Witch', I've heard of this name before, her story is very popular among country bards , has endured for hundreds of years..."