Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1337: Chapter 1336: Revealing Their True Colors

When Wickcliff spoke these words, his expression was serious and solemn, clearly showing that his decision had been made, and it was definitely not impulsive — it might have taken root in his heart the very day he heard about Cecil’s ”medical technology” from the White Knight, even before Pittman arrived.

Even someone as carefree as Pittman would put away his playful demeanor and adopt a serious attitude when facing a king who had made such a decision.

”Alright, since this is your decision — but I still must remind you, this is my responsibility as the head of this medical ship,” said the hunched old Druid as he stepped forward to meet Wickcliff’s gaze beside the hospital bed. ”Mechanical Prosthesis is a new technology, a fusion of Druid spells, magic-conducting machinery, and Talronde implantation technology. We have had some success, but there are also immature aspects. As a main developer of this technology, I am confident in performing this surgery on you, but one day in the future, there might be issues with this arm, and in the worst case...”

The old Druid paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully, and after a moment, he said tactfully, ”The prosthesis may fail, and you might need surgery again. Considering the issue of technological updates and iterations, we might need to reopen your amputated arm to replace the artificial nerves and alloy skeleton joints inside — this process might be unpleasant.”

”To me, what’s important is recovering in the shortest time possible — I heard from my attending physician that the alliance needs every bit of strength, right?” Wickcliff said calmly, ”Prepare a mechanical limb for me. Truthfully... I’m a bit looking forward to it now.”

”Alright, a mechanical limb,” Pittman sighed and waved his hand, and then, as if remembering something, suddenly asked, ”By the way, is one enough?”

Wickcliff: ”...Huh?”

Pittman started to chuckle while gesturing as he explained to Wickcliff, ”Since we’re going through the trouble, if one is not enough, I can add two more for you. After all, mechanical prostheses are not natural limbs, changing an interface is relatively simple...”

Wickcliff was left dumbfounded; one second, he thought he had a strong ability to accept new things, staying calm in the face of the Cecil Clan’s incredible new technology, even feeling somewhat proud of it, but then he immediately realized that his understanding of this era was still too shallow — the inventions concocted by the Cecil Clan might be a bit premature for most humans...

”Uh... well, I think that’s enough,” the Human King said awkwardly, waving his hand and trying hard to maintain a calm expression, ”A normal arm is just fine; having more feels unnecessary...”

”Alright then, most people indeed aren’t quite accustomed to this — after all, we haven’t reached the heights of Talronde in the past,” Pittman seemed quite unfazed, and when he heard the refusal, he casually said, ”Anyway, I’ll leave the interface for you, and if one day you’re strapped for it, I can add a few more...”

As the topic became stranger, Wickcliff gradually felt he couldn’t keep up with the other’s pace, so he just maintained an awkward yet polite smile, trying to muddle through. Fortunately, the old Druid in front of him didn’t dwell on this creepy topic for too long. After a round of mind-boggling imagination, Pittman glanced at the mechanical clock on the hospital wall, then stood up: ”Alright, I’ve spent enough time here; I won’t disturb you — you have a friend waiting outside, I’ll go bring her in.”

”Friend?” Wickcliff paused for a moment, not expecting a friend to visit while he was recovering in this floating fortress in the sky, ”Who is it?”

”You’ll know when she comes in,” Pittman waved his hand and turned to walk towards the door, ”Anyway, she’s a fuzzy-looking girl who’s been waiting outside for a while...”

”Fuzzy?” Wickcliff was a bit puzzled and couldn’t react immediately, but soon his question was answered — shortly after Pittman left, the door to the hospital room was pushed open from the outside, and a tall and well-built beastmen lady appeared in front of him, with a bandage tied around her head and wearing loose ’patient clothes.’

In the bright sunlight streaming in from outside, the beastmen lady smiled slightly. Her face, covered in fur and with features that were part feline and part human female, appeared particularly friendly: ”Hey! Wickcliff! It’s good to see your head still attached to your body — I was all set to visit your grave every year and help with the weeding a couple of days ago...”

Listening to the beastmen lady’s loud and cheerful voice, Wickcliff couldn’t resist showing a touch of helplessness on his face: ”Camilla, your mouth... never mind, you’ve been like this for years anyway...”

”You always have such a subtle way of giving compliments,” Camilla said with a smile as she came over to Wickcliff’s bedside, casually grabbing a piece of fruit from the small table nearby and biting into it as she spoke with her mouth full, ”Well done, I heard you held out at Falm Fortress until the Holy Dusk Combat Group arrived. Looking at your current injuries... tsk, tsk, you finally look like a valiant warrior. Honestly, I always thought you seemed a bit effeminate before...”

The beastmen Chieftain spoke offhandedly while observing Wickcliff’s still-empty arm, to which the latter responded with a helpless pout as he also glanced over Camilla.

Clearly, this Chieftain had also endured a hellish battlefield. Despite the careless and spirited exterior, there were various wounds that she couldn’t — or perhaps didn’t even bother to — hide. Her head was bandaged; one of her once lively ears now stood alone at the top of her head, while the other was carefully wrapped up as well. Besides, visible wounds covered every inch of her body within sight, from her arms to her collar and those exposed by her broad gestures.

Even the tip of her furry tail was wrapped in bandages — clearly uncomfortable, as Camilla kept twitching her tail unconsciously.

”You look pretty miserable yourself,” Wickcliff mused, seemingly guessing why she was here, ”So you’re staying on this ’medical ship’ as well?”

”Living not far from you, but I originally didn’t want to come up here — I know my body, these injuries aren’t life-threatening, and it’s a waste of time to find a place just to recuperate,” Camilla pouted, her tone somewhat irritated, ”Unfortunately, the Cecil doctors don’t think so. They say that if I keep messing around, I’ll live at least ten years less; for the sake of future longevity, it’s best to obediently receive treatment...”

”Well, I’m still quite surprised — you don’t seem like someone who would honestly go into recovery because of such ’persuasion,’” Wickcliff shrugged, ”Especially under the current circumstances, you’re more likely to punch the doctors who tried to convince you to rest — then apologize to them.”

”...Mainly because I couldn’t beat those doctors,” Camilla’s expression turned awkward for a moment, ”Those White Knights are better at ’reasoning’ than I thought. They explained everything to me after knocking me down...”

At this point, she suddenly rolled her eyes before explaining, ”Of course, the main reason was that I was careless and in bad shape; how could a bare-handed fight against such tin cans end well for me? Moreover, who’d expect a bunch of ’doctors’ to be so good at fighting? Next time I’ll bring my Chopping Axe for sure... never mind, let’s drop it.”

Wickcliff’s mouth twitched as he listened to the female chieftain ramble on, and he finally couldn’t help but interrupt: ”...Those White Knights claim to be ’doctors,’ do you really believe that?”

”...I was careless,” Camilla let out a long sigh, ”fell for the Cecil Clan’s trick.”

A smile crept onto Wickcliff’s lips; at least for this moment, he finally felt a long-lost sense of ease and familiarity.

But he did not linger in this relaxation for too long. A few seconds later, this human king restrained the smile on his face, looked into Camilla’s eyes, and asked, ”How is the current situation?”

”Overall, it’s all good news. We are reclaiming lost territory; the breaches in the defense line from north to south are being repaired one-by-one by those aerial fortresses and ground troops brought by the Cecil Clan, and the enemy’s main forces suffered a heavy blow the day the Dawn of the Mortal World joined the battle. They shouldn’t be able to organize as large-scale offensives as before in the short term—currently, the main battlefield is shifting south, with Studeer’s forces and part of the aerial fortresses reinforcing the southern defense line.

”Stella and her Golem Legion are at the Holy Mountain, and the fairies are working with the Cecil Clan to build a new communications network. I don’t really understand the technical aspect...

”Venna is now in Ruby City, right below us—she’s with Duke Baldwin, planning to reclaim the mountain barrier. There are still quite a lot of aberrations occupying the eastern mountain barrier, which are the ’regular army’ under someone’s command, unlike the runaway monsters currently scattered in the forests. Moreover, they have turned large areas into ’wasteland,’ reclaiming that region might require a hard battle, but as long as the Dawn of the Mortal World moves eastward, the problem will be solved...”

Camilla spoke slowly, her expression somewhat complex, and her voice sounded low: ”... Up to today, we’ve lost many people, cities and villages have been leveled, fertile land and water sources polluted, forests turned to charcoal, but we also survived many... Wickcliff, you’re an optimistic person, I suppose I don’t need to convince you at this point, do I?”

”Yes, we also survived many,” Wickcliff said softly, his gaze drifting slowly towards the window, as the majestic shadow of the Dawn of the Mortal World rose from the depths of the clouds, reflecting a pale golden sunlight, ”Living is truly good.”

”... Indeed, living is good, only by living can we do what those who died could not achieve.”

In the ward, there was silence for a moment as the two tribal leaders were immersed in their own thoughts until a voice suddenly emerged from a communication device on the desk not far away, breaking the room’s silence—a young female commander with a golden single ponytail appeared in a holographic projection above the device, looking seriously at Wickcliff: ”Sorry to interrupt your chat with your friend, King Wickcliff, I am Jinna Prince, the highest commander of the Cecil Air Force, I have some matters that require your input, regarding some details of the previous Falm campaign...”

...

Two hours later, north of Wolf Spine Mountain, before the ruins of Falm Fortress, which had once been breached and leveled by the aberration Legion, stood the majestic Steel Church on the now scorched earth. An energy field screen formed by the Holy Light covered the original fortress walls, and interlocking firepower strongholds were formed within the energy-covered range of the Steel Church, while one piece of emergency-built defensive works blocked the previously breached mountain pass area. The barrels extending from the defense works pointed vigilantly towards the large fallen area to the east of the mountains.

Large swathes of molten material resembling obsidian crystals flowed down from nearby mountain bodies, forming layered barriers in the mountain pass area—the flames of the Purgatory Incendiary had long since died down, but the terrifying marks it left behind continued to deter all creatures that dared challenge this battlefield.

And above the Falm Fortress, another Steel Church still floated in the sky, maintaining aerial supremacy in conjunction with the entire aerial combat formation in this region.

Inside the flying church, Sister Marian stood at the steel-cast pulpit, where a holographic projection floated above the iron-cast platform shaped like a Prayer Book. It clearly displayed the scene of a certain ruin within Falm Fortress, judging from the camera angle; this scene apparently came from a communication terminal set up on the ground.

A priest wearing heavy White Knight Armor appeared before the projection and saluted the nun on the pulpit before speaking: ”Sister Marian, we have arrived at the north tower ruins, which is likely the place King Wickcliff described to Commander Jinna.”

Marian frowned: ”Have you discovered anything?”

”Not yet, all traces here have been destroyed, and even if there were clues, they might be buried deep in the ruins—but there are still some fluctuations of magic remaining here, and we are collecting readings on the chaotic magic interference in the environment.”

”Conduct a thorough search, something strange must have happened here,” Marian said in a deep voice, ”The aberrations once used an abnormal amount of force to attack the most fortified Falm north tower aggressively, and after completely destroying the north tower, they occupied this place for a long time, which does not match their usual behavior... Those monsters may have erased many clues, but under Commander Amir’s thunderous offensive, they likely didn’t have time to destroy all traces.”

”Yes, Sister Marian!”

The White Knight responded in a deep voice, but after two seconds, the young priest couldn’t help but ask one more question: ”Sister, what exactly are we looking for?”

”... Our frontline scholars discovered clues to the Wasteland Legion’s true intentions on Wolf Spine Mountain. What we are looking for may be a black cube with a side length of one to two meters, known as Rune Stones. Those dark priests are attempting to achieve some unspeakably sinister purpose using this mechanism...”

The blonde-haired Sister Marian spoke with a serious expression, glancing at the aerial view displayed on another set of holographic projections nearby, observing the scarred Augari land and the warriors of the Warband guarding the mouth of the mountain pass, taking a gentle breath.

Perhaps the actions of the warriors of the Warband on this land had not achieved true victory. The superficial retreat of those monsters may have concealed the reality where their terrifying conspiracy had succeeded.

However... those monsters finally showed their flaws.