Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 549 - 548: Witnessed Again

After disconnecting from the mental network, Gawain immediately received Amber’s report.

”...Basically, that’s the situation,” the half-elf lady said at the end of her report, ”Currently, the situation at the great walls is normal, and there are no signs of aberrations approaching. It seems that a landslide occurred only at the junction between the Dark Mountain Range southern foothills and the Black Forest—due to the terrain, the outpost cannot see the specific situation.”

”...I understand,” Gawain pondered for a moment and nodded, ”Keep a close watch on the condition of the great walls. Also, arrange for the security team within the defied Fortress to patrol the southern part of the fortress. If it is indeed a landslide, the southern corridor of the defied Fortress may be affected.”

After making these arrangements, Gawain did not linger at the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute but instead returned directly to the feudal lord’s mansion, citing a need for rest.

Back in the relatively stable study, he immediately called upon the satellite channel in his mind.

The special space overlook vision emerged in his mind, and the image from the orbit surveillance satellites was presented in front of Gawain. He carefully controlled this ancient system, focusing the surveillance on the junction of the southern foothills of the Dark Mountain Range and the Black Forest.

He searched for traces left by the landslide or earthquake. The overly old satellite system struggled to operate, and the unclear image showed a slowly moving picture of a corrupted wasteland. After minutes of scanning and difficult comparison, his vision suddenly paused.

There was something there, on the line extending directly southward from Cecil Castle, within the Black Forest, something that didn’t look like remnants of a landslide, rockfall, or earthquake but rather traces that resemble some kind of impact crater.

Zooming closer, the image was still unclear, and the rotten deep background of the wasteland made it extremely difficult to discern the details in the picture. But Gawain could still see the radial folds around that circular area and the giantwood trees felled outward around the impact crater—being able to neatly break giantwood trees dozens of meters high indicated that the impact was extraordinarily powerful. Judging from the dust in the air that had not yet dispersed, the impact crater appeared very recently.

What was that? Did something fall from the sky?

Gawain stared in astonishment at the massive impact crater. Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, he was almost certain that such an impact crater was not caused by a chaotic wave.

At this moment, he desperately wished to go to the site immediately to investigate what it was. However, the location of the impact crater was in the southern foothills of the Dark Mountain Range—it was too dangerous to cross these magnificent mountains, right to the forefront of the chaotic wave’s corruption.

Despite the fact that as the territory developed onto the right track, the power he held in his hands was gradually increasing, and Gawain was already considering taking more aggressive actions against the Gondor wasteland, and had devised some plans to establish observation posts or forward bases at the southern foothills of the Dark Mountain Range, but it is clear that these plans are still just plans—for the time being, the Cecil Principality has not prepared to traverse the Dark Mountain Range.

Soldiers carrying equipment walking along the steep and rugged southern foothills of the mountains must pass through vast sections of structurally fragile corrupted mountain paths and areas covered with poisonous magical plants. The descent is extremely difficult, whether transporting supplies or calling for rear support, which is extremely difficult. If a crisis arises, survival is nearly impossible...

However, soldiers may not need to be dispatched; a few top elites could be sent over, or I could personally go—it’s still possible for a legendary powerhouse to operate in the southern foothills of the Dark Mountain Range. But... is that impact crater worth taking such a risk?

Gawain contemplated; the suddenly appeared impact crater caught his intense attention, but at this moment, something else abruptly intruded into his surveillance vision.

...

The thin clouds swiftly passed by on both sides, the cold airflow sliced by the massive wings, roaring over the enormous body covered in scales, an adult dragon with blue scales hovered in high altitude, within her large, gem-like eyes, reflected the scene of the scarred land below.

The corrupted strata overlapped layer by layer, with a variety of twisted mutated magical plants growing wantonly between the rock layers, the soil exhibited an ominous purple-black, with a thin layer of mist floating on it. This region corrupted by chaotic magical energy extended southward from the Dark Mountain Range—Black Forest, banded flatlands, great walls, and finally Gondor wasteland—spreading all the way into that dreadful Well of Deep Blue, a place even dragons would fear.

The dragon flapped her wings, adjusting her angle in the air. Her gaze swept over the Black Forest border, and a large, still-smoking impact crater appeared in her view.

She stopped midair, began to chant the obscure and ancient dragon language magic, as magic power surged, the light screen of pale golden runes appeared in the air, the magic shield isolated the howling wind outside, providing a stable environment for communication.

A female voice came from the dragon’s mouth: ”Reached the coordinates, southern Dark Mountain Range, sighted the crash pit, it’s quite large.”

The surface of the pale golden runes light screen flickered with complex symbols and lines, an intermittently distorted voice was heard from the screen: ”...Received... please approach for observation. Be careful, it’s close to a magic energy pollution zone, don’t fall into it.”

”Got it, I will be careful,” the blue dragon replied somewhat boisterously, ”Actually, this place is still quite far from the real pollution zone, I think flying a bit south might even...”

The blue dragon hadn’t finished her words when a serious voice immediately came from the light screen: ”Don’t do unnecessary actions—have you forgotten the lesson from last time?”

”Last time wasn’t my fault, and I just didn’t aim well on the crash landing...”

”The Five Kings Council is impressed by your crash landing, but we have no intention of watching another performance anytime soon—please focus on the task at hand.”

The blue dragon shook her head from side to side, seemingly quite impatient, then she cut off the communication, her wings suddenly swung, quickly lowering her altitude.

At the edge of the Black Forest, a massive impact crater still billowing with smoke, where the previous powerful impact force had blown away large areas of vegetation around the crater, leaving massive radiating cracks on the crater’s edge, and at the center of the crater, in the deepest part where the smoke and dust were the thickest, a mass of twisted and deformed metal wreckage was still hot.

A gust of wind suddenly rose, scattering the smoke and dust at the bottom of the impact crater, the blue dragon descended from the sky, accompanied by a heavy landing sound, the enormous body stably stopped within the impact crater.

”I am pretty stable, after all.”

The blue dragon softly remarked, then stepped forward to the impact crater bottom, approaching the still hot metal wreckage.

It was an alloy device about two to three meters in length, with a diameter of less than half a meter. Despite suffering the intense heat of entering the atmosphere and the horrifying impact upon landing, the wreckage’s basic shape remained intact, roughly cylindrical with both ends broken, many charred cables and bundles of tubes extended from the fractures, and on the cylindrical surface, some raised structures could still be seen—all these features indicated that this wreckage had fallen off from a larger entity.

”...Ah...as expected...”

The blue dragon let out a sigh, then extended her massive claw to grasp the alloy device that still held astonishing heat.

”Recover the wreckage.”

The giant wings stirred the air and the magic within it, lifting the dragon’s massive body into the sky. Upon reaching the height for signal transmission, she circled in place for a while, seemingly hesitating whether to explore further, but after a moment of hesitation, she opened communications.

A faint golden rune light screen appeared again in the air, and from it came a slightly urgent voice: ”How’s the situation? Have you confirmed the item?”

”The fallen object is confirmed to be a fragment from Glare Station No. One or Glare Station No. Two. It looks like part of the gravitational calibrator—it probably was still working as it fell, and the massive energy released upon impact created an astonishingly large crater here. Sigh, the scholars were right after all.”

”So it is from the Glare space station...” The voice from the rune light screen paused for a moment, ”The devices left by the Voyager...each one is reaching the end of its lifespan.”

”They’re bound to break someday, we were prepared for this.”

”Being mentally prepared and actually being prepared are not the same,” came a helpless voice from the light screen, ”The key issue now is that the legacy left by the Voyager might suffer significant damage before the end of this cycle, yet up to now, no race of the current civilization has any hope of breaking this deadlock...”

The blue dragon fell silent, hovering in the high wind as if at a loss for words, but half a minute later, she suddenly broke the silence: ”Not necessarily.”

”Hmm?”

”Perhaps this time there might be a turning point.”

The voice from the light screen suddenly sounded a bit surprised: ”A turning point? Which one are you referring to...don’t tell me it’s those elves or those sea demons far offshore. The legacy of those elves has long been broken, and those sea demons...who knows what those sea demons are thinking about all day long.”

”Not them, it’s the humans.” The blue dragon shook her head from side to side, ”Strictly speaking, the nation that was established by a resurrected human...seems to be somewhat interesting.”

”That human named Gawain Cecil?” The voice in the screen sounded slightly surprised, ”Ah, his revival was indeed impressive, and his developments are certainly unexpected...but you see hope for breaking the deadlock from him? Are you certain?”

”Not certain, but there is a phenomenon that might surprise you,” the blue dragon said, ”In his Cecil Principality, the power of the Holy Light is developing, but the power of the Holy Light God...is diminishing.”

”...Unbelievable!”

”But it’s true.” The blue dragon affirmed, but just as she was about to continue, a peculiar feeling of unease suddenly interrupted her.

With an intuition beyond human understanding, the blue dragon immediately identified the source of this unease. She abruptly flapped her wings and left her hovering position, then circled around while trying to look up into the sky.

”No way, it’s happening again?!”

The dragon on the other side of the light screen heard the blue dragon’s exclamation and immediately asked about the situation: ”What happened?!”

”Another unknown sense of probing...from directly above!” The blue dragon crashed through the high air frantically, her tone somewhat frantic, ”Damn it...I still think it’s coming from the direction of the satellites...are you truly sure the Voyager hasn’t returned?”

”Absolutely sure—anyway, you need to leave your current location as soon as possible. Shake off the tracking, head to the western gathering point; there will be kin awaiting you there.”

”I’d love to shake them off...” The blue dragon shouted while desperately altering her flight trajectory, ”The key is I can’t...damn it, I’m afraid I have to perform that move again...”

”Ah?! You better be sure...”

”There’s nothing to think about, hesitating will only lead to a crash—I believe I can succeed this time.”

...

Gawain, feeling somewhat fatigued and frustrated, cut off the satellite connection.

Lost track again.

Just like last time: after a period of monitoring, the dragon noticed the probing from outer space and then quickly changed its flight direction in a maneuver difficult to comprehend, vanishing completely from sight.

But one thing Gawain could be certain of: the dragon that appeared this time, and the one he saw during the surveillance of Winterhold Castle, should be the same one.

(Yo!!)