Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 271 - 270: Attacking Again

According to Gawain’s original plan, Soldrin was supposed to stay in the territory for a short time, responsible for providing him with intelligence on the Typhon Empire, and to casually gather some information related to Gawain Cecil himself. But plans never keep pace with changes, the instability of the great walls’ barrier made everyone feel a sense of crisis. To quickly understand what exactly was happening on the elves’ side, Gawain had no choice but to send Soldrin away from the territory first, to find a way to contact that ancient empire in the southern continent.

Before Soldrin set off, Gawain found him and inquired about the elven ranger’s plan, ”Which way do you plan to take?”

Soldrin did not hide anything, ”The Silver Empire has few barrier monitoring points in the northern part of the continent. The nearest two are near the western border of Anzu and the Typhon Empire’s border. To be honest, the one in the western border of Anzu is still too far. I plan to go to the Typhon side.”

Gawain glanced at Soldrin, ”In your current situation, won’t you be killed if you return to Typhon?”

”A high-ranked ranger has ten thousand ways to zigzag under the eyelids of an ordinary border garrison troops,” Soldrin said with complete self-confidence, ”Besides, even if the Young Wolf General catches me, I’ve only been held for a while here, not surrendered. How could she dispose of me? Moreover, I am just a mercenary, not part of the Typhon Empire.”

Since there was no one else around now, Soldrin did not see the need to maintain composure in front of someone who knew his secret strength, though his unreserved words still made Gawain’s eyelid twitch, ”Are you sure that your stay here so comfortably doesn’t count as surrender?”

”Of course, I haven’t officially returned to the Cecil Legion, so it naturally doesn’t count as surrender,” Soldrin’s expression was extraordinarily serious, evidently not joking at all, ”In this way, the Young Wolf General won’t have a reason to blame me—I can surrender after returning from Typhon.”

Gawain: ”...”

Soldrin’s claim sounded like a wordplay joke, but in actuality, it wasn’t—this was entirely due to the unique logic of the elves, where their thinking was particularly peculiar in some inexplicable places.

But the Winterwolf Legion of Typhon may not necessarily accept Soldrin’s straightforward logic, and Soldrin also knew this, so after expressing his views, he straightened his demeanor, ”I’ll do my best to avoid Typhon’s spies—it’s not difficult, besides Winterwolf Legion people, not many over there know me. I have a route to cross the border. Once I reach the silver elves’ stronghold between the Typhon Empire and the Gondor wasteland buffer zone, I’ll be in the Silver Empire’s territory, and be safe.”

”Alright, since you have a plan, I won’t say more,” Gawain gave Soldrin a deep look, ”I hope you have a smooth journey.”

Soldrin solemnly pressed one hand to his chest, bowed, and said, ”I swear in the name of the elf ancestors that I will return after the matter is settled.”

Then he straightened up and turned towards the study’s door, but just as he was about to push the door open, he suddenly stopped—at the same time, Gawain sensed the aura of Sir Philip appearing outside the door.

The next second, there was a knocking sound, and Sir Philip’s serious and slightly urgent voice, ”My lord, emergency military situation.”

”Come in,” Gawain said loudly, and upon Sir Philip entering, he immediately asked, ”What happened?”

”News from the sentinel towers of the Dark Mountain Range, it’s the aberrations,” Sir Philip glanced at Soldrin standing at the door and quickly reported, ”About two thousand in number, still increasing, and there are huge individuals we’ve never seen before among them.”

Gawain’s expression instantly grew grave, ”Huge individuals? What’s the rough description? Additionally, what is the enemy’s speed?”

”Exceptionally swollen humanoids, five to seven meters tall, though few in numbers, only four or five of them, but the aberrations around them are noticeably more agile and nimble, suspected to be individuals similar to commanders—yet as of now, no signs of intelligence have been observed. As for the overall speed of progress, it’s similar to the aberrations’ last appearance, expected to reach the territory’s border in about three to four days. Currently, the sentinels at the first outpost have withdrawn—to prevent the aberrations from accelerating their actions upon sensing human aura, only the second and third sentinels are left to observe the enemy’s movements with telescopes.”

”It seems you can’t leave for now,” Gawain gave Soldrin a deep look, ”I’ve got a bit of a problem here.”

”I understand, you’ve mentioned the reappearance of those creatures,” Soldrin had already silently returned to the room’s center upon hearing Sir Philip say the word ”aberration” and was now showing a slight smile, ”Our old foes, aren’t they?”

Gawain also smiled a bit, ”Haven’t fought them for seven hundred years, getting rusty?”

Soldrin raised his hand and mimicked drawing a bowstring with an illusory movement, ”Still remember the feel from seven hundred years ago, I can at least take out one hundred on my own. The remaining one thousand nine hundred are yours.”

”The numbers have already exceeded the threshold, and their numbers will keep increasing, by the time they reach the defensive line it won’t just be two thousand,” Gawain shook his head with a chuckle, ”However, the main force in the battle won’t be you and me, it’s time for you to see the power of the Cecil Combat Corps—Philip, issue the alarm as per the plan, deploy the positions outside the city, recall the southern engineering teams, and prepare for defense!”

After Sir Philip left, Gawain turned to look out the window, ”Amber!”

Amber’s figure immediately jumped in from outside the window, ”Here I am~~ heard everything!”

”Go and gather everyone who needs to be called; it’s time to get busy again!”

A moment later, loud and continuous bells echoed through the entire city.

The alarm bells with specific meanings reverberated in the city sky, and all the soldiers, whether they were on duty or on leave, immediately followed the pattern of the bells and what they learned from usual training to run to their posts. Meanwhile, on the construction sites around the city, the supervisors comforted the workers as soon as possible, ordered the team leaders to end work early, and instructed them to return home to wait for further instructions themselves.

In this way, everyone moved simultaneously: some returned home to wait for orders, others went to designated gathering points, and some directly rushed to the southern city walls. A batch of public security officers ran out from their stations in each district, shouting simple and clear ”emergency notices” as they ran through the streets and alleys — everything proceeded as if it had been rehearsed long before.

Of course, some people were panic-stricken when they heard the alarm bells. These were mostly the new residents who joined the Cecil Clan just before winter. Although they had received basic common-sense education, they had not caught up with the drills concerning aberration attacks. However, these people were quickly comforted — the omnipresent public security team and those deliberately dispersed ”old residents” would tell these new neighbors what was happening. Those who experienced the defense of the new Cecil territory were the most composed at this moment. Not only did they show no panic, but they could also deduce the current situation from the bell sounds based on what they had learned from previous drills: two short and two long bell rings meant that the enemy was still far away and would not arrive for a few days, and the city was preparing for battle in an orderly fashion.

This was considered a relatively ”calm” situation.

The experienced residents who deduced the situation from the bell sounds began to tell their new neighbors what to do next: maintain order, stay home and wait for leader’s orders, and be ready to support the defensive forces within their capability — this was the responsibility and obligation each member of the Cecil Clan had to bear.

Ever since camping on this wild land at the human civilization’s border, the Cecil Clan had always been prepared for challenges. The first defense of the Cecil territory was just the beginning. After that, Gawain never relaxed in training the territory residents for battle readiness — unlike peaceful times or peaceful nations, this frontier land had to be perpetually ready for the whole community to face wars, and if a war truly broke out, the extent to which the residents had trained for battle readiness could even determine the rise or fall of the territory. He certainly dared not be negligent in this regard.

But not everyone could figure out what was happening to the Cecil territory.

In the prisoner camp in the northern part of Knight Street, over a dozen Typhon Soldiers, Knights, and Mages were still confined in their cells.

They had been imprisoned here for several days. Other than the routine interrogations, they had not been mistreated, and the so-called prison was merely a sturdy old barracks converted with added magical mechanisms for warning purposes. The living conditions were no worse than those of a regular barrack.

These captured Typhon Soldiers had expected extremely harsh trials after being caught by the legendary Duke Anzu, yet, upon arrival, neither were they sentenced to hanging nor subjected to beatings. Other than the restriction on freedom, they received treatments that were almost describable as ”generous.” After much contemplation, they believed that this was probably due to Soldrin who had interceded for them — this Elf Ranger was evidently an old acquaintance of Anzu’s founding hero, earning them these surprisingly favorable treatments. Faced with such treatments, the emotions of the Typhon Warriors were particularly complex.

With complex emotions and nothing much to do, the captured Typhon Soldiers were left pondering life and discussing how long they would continue to be detained.

Just before the alarm bells rang, they were engaging in such discussions, but once the alarm bells sounded, they immediately stopped.

A Typhon Knight suddenly stood up, listened intently to the bells outside, and showed a surprised expression: ”What’s happening outside?”

”I don’t know. It sounds like an alarm,” a Mage also stood up, trying his best to put his face close to the small, densely barred and deliberately heightened window. He wished he could summon an Eye of the Mage to check the situation outside, yet the cells were filled with magic symbols and traps designed to monitor Mages, making any use of magic power a self-punishment, ”I see many soldiers rushing out of their barracks!”

”An alarm? Soldiers are being mobilized?” The Knight who spoke earlier was momentarily stunned, then his face lit up with joy, ”Could it be that our people have arrived? Has the war started ahead of schedule?!”

”Impossible. Even if a war started, it would begin at the East Wolf Fort line. How could the army possibly advance from the border to here in such a short time?” another Knight immediately replied, ”Perhaps it’s a suppression of slave laborers... after all, this is a newly established developing territory.”

A third Knight also stood up and lowered his voice, ”Could this... be an opportunity?”

The room suddenly fell silent, and pairs of eyes began to uneasily glance around, as if fearing that even such whispered words could be heard by the Anzu Soldiers standing guard outside.

”... Our chances of escaping are slim,” the last Mage who had not spoken finally broke the silence, ”The place is filled with Anzu people. Have you noticed the discipline of those soldiers outside? Even if things are chaotic, they won’t leave us any openings.”

The Knight who had spoken earlier seemed unwilling, ”But if we don’t escape now...”

The Knight’s words were suddenly interrupted by a voice at the door: ”If you run now, I truly won’t be able to save you!”

The Typhon Warriors were taken aback. Only then did they notice that Soldrin had somehow already stood at the door. This High-Ranked Elf Ranger looked at his ”subordinates,” and after a long sigh, he said, ”Actually, I didn’t want to come.”