Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1330: Chapter 1329: Northern Front

The second week of the Cold Month, the cold wind from the northern mountains howled without end. A heavy snowfall had lasted the whole night, covering the long defensive line of the northern parts of the mountain range. Even the sea of fire and smoke raised by the magic cannon and Legion Spells cooled under the power of nature, and the ranges along the edge of the Dark Wasteland were clothed in silver.

Yet even the most ordinary Soldier knew this brief, quiet winter would not last long—the cold could only slightly slow the movements of the aberrations, their offensive would not halt because of any change in the weather. On that foul, corrupted land, clashes between the frontline troops and the aberrations would soon begin anew; indeed, in a sense... they had never truly ceased for a single moment.

In the northeastern sector of the Gondor wasteland, within what had once been the wasteland itself, Andresha Wendell walked upon the cold, desolate ground, listening to the fine crunch of packed snow being crushed beneath her boots. Amid the ceaseless sound of the wind at her ears, she heard faint noises that seemed to rise from deep within the earth, and now and then a trembling sensation came from underfoot, making one feel the illusion of an earthquake.

The Typhon Commander halted and looked toward the distant north, to the direction of The Dark Mountains—that was where the Cecil Clan’s defensive line lay, and where that ”Living Forest” had taken root.

”Did you feel the tremors under your feet?” Andresha turned her head, looking at the adjutant walking at her side. ”It seems to have started again.”

”Yes, General,” the female adjutant, with short silver-white hair and slightly dark skin, nodded, her expression meticulous. ”This is the movement of Madam Beltira’s Living Forest launching an attack underground. Her main root system has already spread beneath our feet, and it is said to have extended to the vicinity of the magic scorch mark—but there it encountered extremely fierce resistance from the enemy.”

Andresha did not speak. Following her sense, she came to an open area sealed under ice, then crouched down and brushed away the loose snow covering the surface of the ice. Due to the collapse of the great walls along the northern sector, moisture and cold wind from beyond the walls had poured into the northern edge of the wasteland, and now this land, which had once never seen snowfall, lay under snow and ice. Through the thick, solid ice layer, her gaze fell upon a wide fissure that seemed to reach deep into the earth. Dim red light surged at the bottom of that crack. Focusing her sight, she saw writhing root tendrils in the gloom, transparent conduits, and the slow flow of biomass solution within those conduits.

As though sensing the sunlight shining down from above, one slender branch among the writhing roots in the depths quietly wound its way upward. The tendril pressed itself against the ice layer, lightly tapping the underside of the ice, as if greeting Andresha—then swiftly withdrew, continuing to spread and grow toward the deeper regions of the wasteland.

”...Should I have returned the gesture just now?” Andresha stood up, her expression somewhat strange, and spoke half in jest to the adjutant beside her. ”I’ve heard that the bark dropping off the Sorin Giant Tree theoretically contains the bloodline of the Typhon Royal Family...”

The female adjutant was caught completely off guard by the question. She stared blankly for a moment before speaking hesitantly: ”This subordinate feels that’s not strictly necessary...”

Andresha gave a brief laugh, lifting her head to gaze over the vast land behind her and, at its far end, the Living Forest that remained lush and verdant even in this winter season. Her expression grew pensive. ”Back when the Soldiers we sent to the Cecil Camp returned, they brought me a fresh flower. At the time I suspected it had something to do with a certain installation the Cecil Clan had built near their camp, but never did I imagine they would extend the Sorin Giant Tree through the earth all the way to the border. I must admit, when it comes to wild, ingenious ideas, they are indeed a bit more capable than we Typhon folk with our stiffer temperaments.”

”Their ’ingenious ideas’ ultimately saved the situation in the north and blocked a terrifying fate,” the female adjutant could not help but remark with feeling. ”That Living Forest stopped the main aberration host pouring out from the breach, and even now, Madam Beltira’s offensive underground has greatly eased the pressure on the entire northern defensive line and on portions of our own line. Without this external support, we wouldn’t even be standing here—maintaining our existing positions would likely have been almost impossible.”

Andresha nodded lightly, and at the same time could not help but ponder the current situation of this ”wasteland war.”

She was not overly familiar with the other fronts, but at least on the battlefield faced by Typhon and the Cecil Clan, the situation could be said to have fully stabilized and even shown a certain ”progress.” As the Living Forest took firm root at the border, the northern main legion of the aberrations lost more than half its strength. The northern Typhon legions and the Cecil Clan had weathered the most perilous and difficult opening phase of the war. Now the two nations had not only held their lines; relying on their already formidable military power, they had mounted several counter-pushes, successfully driving the monsters that surged from the wasteland back into its interior, and had established several Forward Bases on the inner side of the original great walls. In a sense, this could even be considered the partial realization of their initial objective to ”counterattack the wasteland.”

At this very moment, she stood upon what had once been the Gondor wasteland itself. Nearby lay two Forward Bases and one purification base established by the Typhon Empire. Together they sustained the mortal armies’ survival and logistics in this region, while gradually suppressing and weakening the pollution entrenched in the land, preparing the way for further advances.

Of course, it was no easy task for the vanguard forces that had entered the wasteland to take root. The aberrations had never abandoned their counterattacks. Each day, sizable hordes of monsters swarmed up from the southern sectors, and in fierce fighting they would destroy the temporary works and basic installations the vanguard had painstakingly set up on the open plain, causing new casualties and new pollution. For mortal beings, every step forward on this land exacted a steep price.

Yet it could not be denied that both the Soldiers of the Cecil Clan and those of Typhon had grown rapidly in this war of attrition. Mortal beings, adept at learning, were quickly accumulating experience in fighting the aberrations, and also in effective methods to purify this land. The northern front’s advance was slow, but at least each day brought some measure of progress.

The situation seemed relatively favorable, yet for some reason, an indistinct unease was fermenting in Andresha’s heart. She knew this unease was not some insubstantial ”intuition”—she did not particularly believe in intuition. This unease came from the intelligence she had gathered and compiled through various channels, and from the observations and study of the aberrations since the war began.

”General, you look deeply troubled,” the adjutant suddenly broke the silence, pulling Andresha from her thoughts. ”Are you worried about the increasingly frequent counterattacks by the aberrations?”

”No, something else came to mind. Do you still recall what happened recently at Highland 74?” Andresha shook her head and looked at the adjutant. ”That grand, blustering offensive that ended in a whimper.”

”Highland 74? Ah, of course I remember,” the adjutant thought for a moment, then immediately nodded. ”A few days ago, on a defensive line near the southern regions of the Empire, a massive force of aberrations and mixed monsters launched a tightly organized, ferocious counterassault. They broke through the line of Mountain Unit 16 led by Count Rick, seized Highland 74 and a large surrounding area. But when the Imperial National Knights mustered reinforcements in strength, preparing to fight those monsters to the death, the monsters withdrew with astonishing decisiveness—aside from leaving behind polluted land and two burned towns, they showed no intention of pushing any further forward...”

Here the adjutant shook her head. ”The strategists of the southern Imperial legions tried to analyze the intent behind this operation by the aberrations, but none could figure out what those monsters were thinking... assuming, in the first place, that those monsters even have minds to think with.”

”Those monsters certainly have no minds of their own, but their commanders are full of cunning. Those treacherous dark priests do not undertake actions without purpose,” Andresha said, shaking her head. ”Those creatures paid such a heavy price to seize Highland 74, yet stayed there only one day. As soon as our main forces arrived, they promptly withdrew into the depths of the wasteland. This does not fit the ’destroy all in their path and keep advancing’ pattern they displayed at the beginning. It makes me... feel that something is off.”

The adjutant raised his eyebrows. ”What do you mean?”

”Every military operation should have its purpose. Those monsters fought desperately to seize Highland 74; they must have been trying to accomplish something. After staying there for a whole day, they pulled back again—perhaps precisely because they had achieved their objective... But what exactly did they do up there? No witnesses, no clues,” Andresha’s brows knit tightly. ”The Imperial National Knights who retook the high ground dug three feet into the earth investigating, trying to find some ’hidden threat’ left behind by the enemy, yet all they found were大量无关痕迹, blasted land, torn?open hillsides, burned?out ruins... Obvious signs of destruction that look more like an attempt to cover something up.”

”Highly suspicious, indeed.” The adjutant nodded. ”And what’s even more suspicious is... I’ve heard similar incidents have occurred in other areas as well.”

”Other areas?” Andresha’s brows furrowed at once. ”Where?”

”Supposedly on the northern defensive line controlled by the Cecil Clan. Large numbers of aberrations suddenly massed and tried to storm a weakly defended gap,” the adjutant said as he recalled the report. ”Strong as the Cecil Clan may be, they’re still mortals, and that gap fell. Just like at Highland 74, the aberrations briefly occupied that position...”

”And then?” Andresha asked immediately. ”Did those aberrations do the same as at Highland 74—occupy it briefly and then withdraw?”

”No. Once the Cecil Clan confirmed that the position was lost and the garrison had pulled back, they simply massed the heavy guns from two neighboring heights and flattened the entire ridge, then followed up with a salvo of incendiaries. Those aberrations only stayed on the high ground for what seemed like barely ten minutes... I’d guess they didn’t have time to do anything at all,” the adjutant said, shaking his head, his tone filled with genuine admiration. ”The Cecil commander has a name for this kind of setup... ’advantage firepower mapping cover.’ In short, I’m very envious.”

”...I find myself envious as well.” The more Andresha heard, the stranger her expression became; at last she couldn’t help letting out a sigh. ”I always thought Typhon’s vigilance and preparations against this wasteland were already more than sufficient, but now it seems that, in this regard, our ’obsession’ falls far short of that of the Cecil Clan—especially that pioneer hero who rose from his coffin... I fear that from the very day he climbed out of his tomb, he resolved to harness the strength of his entire nation to launch a counteroffensive against the wasteland.”

Yet after this brief moment of emotion, the young Wolf General very quickly forced her attention back to the problem she’d been pondering earlier.

There was something wrong behind all this. Those aberrations had to be plotting something. It was even highly possible that their ferocious, full?front offensive at the very start of the war had itself been a kind of cover—The more she thought, the more firmly Andresha’s heart clung to this suspicion.

If so, then the relatively favorable situation now on the Northern Front Battlefield might conceal a tremendous hidden danger. Those dark priests still entrenched in the wasteland must be scheming toward their true objective on other fronts, while the local advantage on the northern front... might actually distort the judgment of the monarchs of the Alliance Countries as a whole.

”I need to send a dispatch to Aldernon.” After long deliberation, the young Wolf General finally couldn’t hold back any longer. But she quickly shook her head. ”No, better you write it for me. You’re a bit better at putting things into words than I am—I’ll dictate the ideas to you...”

...

On a clear winter afternoon, sunlight poured through broad panes of crystal glass into the study, whose floor was covered with a blue velvet carpet. Gawain sat behind his desk, while several Magic Web Terminals at his side each projected the holographic images of Aunt Heidi, Baldwin Franklin, and others. Intelligence from every corner of the Empire was being collated and sent before Gawain.

”As of this moment, the northern front on the Gondor wasteland has been completely stabilized. Under the cover of Madam Beltira, General Philip has successfully broken up the main body of aberrations entrenched in the northern Gondor region, and has established a forward base and purification facilities in the southern hills where the original great walls stood,” Heidi’s voice sounded in the spacious study. She clearly sounded much more relaxed and spirited than she had a few days earlier. The background behind her was the large office of the Supreme Administration Office. ”At present, the operation of those purification facilities is quite satisfactory—the purification devices we employed when jointly repairing the great walls with the silver elves still remain effective inside the wasteland.”

”They’re, after all, a product of the silver elves’ research over several centuries. They personally raised the great walls; no one understands better than they how to resist that wasteland,” Gawain nodded, then followed up with a question. ”How are things in the southern part of the continent now—primarily in terms of communications?”

”The existing Magic Web–sentinel towers data chain still suffers from severe interference. Moreover, with some segments of the sentinel towers completely destroyed, signals don’t transmit well across ultra?long distances, so we’ve yet to achieve real?time communication with the Silver Empire or the Highmountain Kingdom,” Heidi answered immediately. ”However, ’Mr. Deer’ is currently providing us with non?real?time battlefield perception, and combined with relayed dispatches from the Typhon Borderline, we can at least roughly track changes in the situation on the southern front.

”At present, the Silver Empire and the Highmountain Kingdom have managed to catch their breath for the time being. They’ve withdrawn their lines as a whole to just south of the forest great barrier and re?established a defensive front in the northern parts of the Dark Mountain Range in Highmountain. Queen Belsetia herself is leading the Thousand Years Legion in an attempt to retake those fallen regions, but because some contaminated zones have already turned into wasteland, the overall situation remains locked in stalemate.”

”The silver elves aren’t a force we need to worry about too much,” Gawain said, letting out a slow breath. ”The combat power of their Thousand Years Legion is formidable. Every Soldier in it is an elite who’s served for more than several centuries, and its commanders have over a thousand years of battlefield experience. Moreover, when the Gondor chaotic wave erupted, that legion held the front line against the aberrations—they all possess genuine, hard?won ’combat experience.’”

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the tactical map hanging on the wall.

”Baldwin, what’s the situation on the western front?”

”Princess Rebecca’s battle achievements are resplendent; the aberrations crumbled like dust before the Dawn of the mortal world.”