Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1339: Chapter 1338: Before Returning Home

The ”door” formed by intertwined leaves and vines receded to the sides with a rustling sound. A petite, blonde elf stepped into the chamber with spacious interiors from the dim corridor. She cautiously stepped over the plant conduits that glowed with a faint light, resembling blood vessels or nerve fibers, and as she walked toward Beltira, she whispered, ”I... I’ve woken up, heard a lot of noise outside, so I came here to check it out...”

”A lot of noise?” Beltira was momentarily startled but soon understood. ”You mean the disturbances heard in the neural resonance, right? Sorry, for waking you up—that was a neural signal from the border of the wasteland.”

As she spoke, she slowly emerged from the mass of vines she resided in; the lush floral tendrils and leaves detached from behind her like a long robe and retreated back, forming a throne-like structure. Her gaze fell upon the petite elf in front of her—

The young elf addressed as ”Belna” wore only a simple garment. Her exposed skin on arms, back, and legs was covered with intricate runes interlaced with golden threads amidst light green lines, forming a complex yet orderly ”array” like tattoos. On areas not covered by runes, her skin appeared pale to the point of near transparency, with veins faintly visible underneath, flowing with a kind of luminous... ”solution.”

These features, starkly different from those of normal humans or elves, covered Belna’s body, giving the young ”elf” a non-human feel, akin to an alchemical puppet. She stood in front of Beltira, with the runes on her body emitting a slight glow. Glancing at the vines and neural nodes that had retracted into a ”throne,” she cautiously asked, ”The border... is it still intense at the border?”

”The battles are fierce, but you don’t need to worry about these—the enemies are mere reptiles entrenched in the wasteland; they can’t reach the Plains of the Holy Spirits,” Beltira said casually, a tone of undisguised disdain in her voice. Then she looked at Belna, and though her expression didn’t change, her voice carried a hint of concern, ”But you, your body just completed the last phase of growth, and now you need a good rest to let your nervous system adapt. Go back to your room, or you can find your friends in the neural network to play...”

”I can’t sleep, I feel very energetic...” Belna said softly, seemingly a bit troubled. ”And the neural network is full of news about the southern battlefield; all my friends talk about are similar things...”

The young blonde elf paused as if hesitating, but finally couldn’t resist speaking, ”I heard things aren’t good in the Silver Empire? It seems we’ve lost contact with the south, and the Silver Empire is isolated, and even... even the Sacred Stars Temple has fallen from the sky...”

”Some people just love to exaggerate in the neural network. The farther away, the more exaggerated the rumors,” Beltira commented bluntly, even causing the floral vines at her feet to sway, ”The Sacred Stars Temple descended to seal a gap in the great barrier, and the Silver Elves’ Thousand Years Legion and the Highmountain Kingdom’s Ranger Corps have long stabilized the defensive lines. Moreover, we have not entirely lost contact with the south. It’s just that the Magic Web Communication has been temporarily disrupted—we still have mystical messengers traveling through the shadow realm and backup communication channels with the Typhon Empire to stay in touch with the south. It’s not as severe as they say...”

”A forced landing... When I left my home planet, my mentor said that once the Sacred Stars Temple lands, it can never rise again,” Belna recalled memories in her mind that had become a bit faded and yellowish, reminiscent of another person’s life. Yet, during these recent ”awakenings,” they surged continuously, becoming clearer in this body created with cutting-edge biotechnology and magic symbol technology, ”The messenger... the messenger you’re referring to, is it the one codenamed ’Lu You Qi,’ the mystical envoy? I heard from friends in the network that this messenger is an ancient being known by the Emperor.”

”... Something like that,” Beltira said casually, then couldn’t help but ask, ”You’ve been quite concerned about the south lately?”

”I...” Belna hesitated for a moment, instinctively grasping the hem of her dress, ”I want to go back and see... back to the Silver Empire... Since the messenger can go, perhaps there might be a chance...”

”Belna,” Beltira said before the other could finish, looking at the young elf who had biologically ”just been born” not long ago, with a somewhat complex tone, ”I indeed promised to send you home, but... we didn’t anticipate this war would break out this early and escalate to this extent. Now is not the right time, the war is raging across the continent, and your body...”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but glance at the exposed runes on Belna’s body.

The complex Druid Runes and the divine-power inversion circle engraved on her were maintaining the stability of this body. Within its complex biological alchemy solution that coexists with its vascular system flows, a multilayered protection scheme of the nervous system, backup organs, and bones covered with internal armor—this seemingly fragile body is, in fact, the culmination of the Cecil Empire’s most advanced biotechnology, an even more unbelievable creation than Synthetic Brains, nurtured by the Sorin Giant Tree. All this is to bring back an elf who had long deceased, enabling her to survive stably in the external environment.

”Although I’ve already utilized technical means to allow you to operate outside the nurturing pod, and several test results have been fairly satisfactory, your final growth stage has just completed and still requires more evaluations,” Beltira said patiently. ”Here at the Sorin Giant Tree, if anything goes wrong, I can address it immediately. But should you head south, I can’t take care of you there—in the Silver Empire, who could repair your body?”

Belna looked steadily at the former Dark Hierarch in front of her. After a moment, she suddenly smiled.

She was still little elf Belna, but not as unaware as before. She knew of Beltira’s past, the dark Oblivion Association, and what had happened to her. But precisely because of this, seeing such a ”Dark Hierarch” now seemed especially... incredible to her.

However, the little elf had made up her mind.

”I know the state of my body—Sister Beltira, don’t forget that I also have the knowledge you shared with me in my mind. I know how my body operates,” the petite blonde elf said calmly yet firmly. ”I know the south is dangerous, but that’s exactly why I must go and see, I’ve been away from home for a long time, and perhaps if I miss this chance to see someone this time, there would be no more chances in the future... And you don’t have to worry about issues with this body. There are also many skilled Druids in the Silver Empire, and I can handle my ’malfunctions’ in emergencies. Even if something does go wrong, the messenger can manage to bring me back here in time.”

”That messenger... well, perhaps,” Beltira replied somewhat reluctantly, her mind (and many auxiliary minds) working rapidly. Realizing this silver elf who had been away from her homeland for years had made up her mind, she began to contemplate the feasibility of the matter—if dissuading the other party was impossible, the only course might be to ensure things don’t get out of control.

After some thought, she finally raised her eyes again, looking at Belna with a sigh, ”Alright, since you’ve made your decision, I won’t stop you—but don’t get too excited yet, we need to plan this out carefully. I can’t let you recklessly rush to the south; you’ve already paid the price for recklessness. Moreover, I still need to discuss this with Brother Gawain, that messenger...”

She paused as she spoke, and even her mimetic face, difficult to emote, couldn’t help but twitch at the corners of her mouth: ”That messenger is not just any existence, I hope you won’t be too frightened when you meet him later.”

...

The wind, mingled with the scent of war and smoke, swept across the old frontline that had turned into a scorched wasteland. Rough dust was carried by the wind, beating against the shattered earth and the towering walls of the border fortress. Flags fluttered fiercely in the wind, their edges singed by flames and magical power brushing against the pale golden tips of Queen Belsetia’s hair. The wind carried whispers from the distant forest.

Belsetia gazed over the earth, silent in the wind, only occasionally accompanied by faint fluctuations of magical power, indicating that she was listening to the ”voices” coming from afar.

Beside the ruler of the Silver Empire stood a tall, middle-aged man with short black hair, draped in armor, one eye covered by a dark red patch. He too overlooked the scorched earth and the ’mountains’ sprawled at its end. After a prolonged silence, this man broke the silence: ”Our attempt to reclaim the Blue Rock Hills has failed. The warriors have temporarily retreated to the frontline—those monsters have deployed more forces in the Blue Rock Hills than we imagined, and they seem intent on making it a long-term stronghold in ’construction’.”

”I have already heard the news carried by the wind, the Guardian Ancient Tree and the warriors of the Thousand Years Legion are on their way for reinforcement, King Audris,” Belsetia spoke in a deep voice, ”Our battle line now remains stagnant along the line from Blue Rock Hills to the forest barrier... as more Thousand Years warriors cross the Homeward Long Bridge, those monsters emerging from the wasteland are also increasing their forces.”

”...Although the most critical moment has passed, we are still far from true dawn, your majesty,” Audris, the King of Highmountain, slightly squinted his remaining eye in the wind, ”Several areas in the northern forest barrier that have fallen have been transformed into wasteland. We had to allocate considerable forces to deal with aberrations constantly ’growing’ from the air and find ways to purify the pollution spreading in the forest. The entire battle line is stretched too thin, our warriors running exhausted—those monsters, however, do not fear death. If the stalemate continues, we will fall into disadvantage once again.”

Belsetia remained silent for a moment before speaking in a low tone after several seconds: ”But we cannot retreat a single step...you know the news from the north, those monsters’ true purpose in attacking the civilized world may very well be to drop some ’control nodes’ that can control the planet’s magic power system at specific locations. The current stalemate is difficult, but it is the stage where there is no choice, and we must endure through this stage.”

”...On the day the Sacred Stars Temple fell, you did not abandon the Highmountain Kingdom, so the Highmountain Kingdom will never betray the ’alliance,’ but I must say... if there are no breakthroughs, this battle will be very hard to fight,” Audris sighed, ”Recently, our reconnaissance units have also spotted traces of aberration activities on the northwest border, clearly showing that some of the monsters originally attacking the west line are now advancing towards us; although the numbers are not yet significant, it is not a good omen.”

As he spoke, a burst of rapid footsteps suddenly came from the nearby city wall, causing Belsetia to turn her head, seeing a young man with short black hair, a longsword at his waist, and wearing a military uniform striding quickly towards them. He was Lorraine, the only son of Audris, the King of Highmountain, who had recently come of age.

”Why so hurried?” Seeing Lorraine’s urgent demeanor, Audris immediately frowned and asked somewhat sternly.

”Fort Greta is under attack,” Lorraine said quickly, ”The enemy comes from the direction of the Dark Junction...”

”Again? Those bastards just don’t let up, do they?!” Audris, rough in manner, swore instantly, with his hair standing on end, then hurriedly headed toward the other side of the city wall while turning back to say to Belsetia, ”I need to meet with the generals, Fort Greta’s situation isn’t looking good lately—your majesty, as I said, if no breakthrough can be found, this battle will be extremely hard to fight!”

The tall king and his young heir soon disappeared over the city wall, while Belsetia’s gaze returned to the direction of the forest barrier. In the unique perception of the silver elves, she could not only see the land full of scars but also the other things pervading between the forest and the soil—the struggling life force, the ever-spreading chaotic power, the ’memories’ left by mortals on the earth being swallowed by darkness, civilization receding, having already retreated to the edge of this fortress, yet steadfastly stopping here, supported by the strong will of countless mortals, this boundary line is locked in a stalemate with the dark power from the wasteland, continuing a tug-of-war of mutual devouring and ebb and flow.

...

At the same time, on the northern frontline of the Gondor wasteland, Fendil Weld, clad in military attire, was driving a magical armored vehicle across the vast barren land between the forward camps.

The cold wind, carrying frozen ice and snow fragments, battered the door of the magical vehicle, and the howling wind maintained a constant state of tension in one’s nerves. The distant mountains turned hazy under the harsh weather, yet columns emitting bright blue light flickered in the distant blizzard—that was the brilliance released during the operation of the purification device, just enough to guide the direction in this severe weather.

A soldier’s voice came from behind: ”Sir, do you need me to take over? You’ve been driving for quite a while.”

”No—we are crossing gaps in the purification zone, it’s better not to park.” Fendil replied to his subordinate seated behind without turning his head, then slightly lowered his head, glancing at the mission summary next to him:

Mission: Proceed to the newly established frontline laboratory to assist the lab director in setting up the Magic Web communication system.

Mission Note: Maintain calmness and courtesy.