Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 701 - 700: The Proposal

After completing a series of follow-up arrangements, Aunt Heidi left Gawain’s room with the documents. For a moment, the large study was left with only the slight buzzing sound of the ventilation system, until a gust of mismatched wind blew from behind him. Gawain slightly turned his head: ”You’re late again.”

”I had just arrived,” Amber’s figure emerged near the window, casually speaking while walking toward the desk, ”But you and Aunt Heidi were discussing those brain-numbing things. As soon as I heard it, my head started to hurt, so I just took a break outside the window...”

Gawain glanced at the guy: ”How is the investigation I asked you to conduct?”

”As you predicted, there are Typhon spies among the civilian workers and craftsmen recruited near the White Sands Dunes,” Amber’s expression became slightly serious, ”Their period of hiding is beyond our imagination. One carpenter lived in the Duke of the East’s territory for twenty years, escaped famine with the refugees from the east, built cities for leaders, and even served in the military. No one could believe that a person who lived there for twenty years would be a Typhon—until my people caught him using records magic to secretly gather intelligence on mining machinery.”

”...Maryland mentioned in the report that the Typhons are not completely ignorant about our magical equipment. Besides some basic knowledge, their aerial scouts can remotely identify the flash from a magic cannon’s fire... This can only be done after observing the video material,” Gawain said, ”Anzu and Typhon have been at loggerheads for decades; spy infiltration between each other has become the norm. In the six months of losing control of the east, these spies must have sent a large amount of intelligence out during the chaos.”

”There’s no way around it. We need time to fully take over the east; short-term chaos was enough for those spies to do a lot of things, let alone nearly half a year of disorder. Speaking of which, our ’national power deception tactic’ was also completed with the help of these spies. It’s cost-effective,” Amber pouted, ”We’ve only found a small portion of the spies now. There are still unknown numbers hidden in the corners of the east, possibly even having entered the Plains of the Holy Spirits along with large numbers of uncontrolled refugees...”

”This is where the Intelligence Agency proves its value,” Gawain looked at Amber, ”Unconventional confrontation will be the norm between Typhon and the Cecil Clan in the future, and a significant portion of the pressure is on your intelligence agency operatives, but I believe in their abilities.”

”Rest assured, the people I’ve trained won’t disappoint when it comes to messing things up and countering messes,” Amber’s mouth twitched triumphantly, then stepped forward and placed a thick stack of files on Gawain’s desk, ”Also, this is from Longwind Fortress.”

Gawain had noticed the items in Amber’s hands earlier, thinking it should be a report, but he hadn’t expected it to be just ”one” report from Longwind Fortress. He was suddenly shocked: ”So thick?!”

Amber: ”I didn’t expect it either... This was jointly sent by Maryland and Sir Philip. Who knows how much they’ve written.”

Upon hearing this, Gawain raised his eyebrows, lowered his head, and opened the thick printout. His eyes skimmed over the neatly printed letters, and moments later, he spoke in a low voice: ”It’s a summary of the Palamere incident, along with suggestions and reports on front-line defenses and the strengths and weaknesses of the magical mechanized legion.”

Amber paused, curiously leaning close to the table: ”Huh?”

Gawain didn’t mind Amber’s approach because, as the head of the Intelligence Agency, she had the authority to review this document. He just lowered his head and read the words on the report more carefully.

At the beginning of the report, Maryland mentioned the Typhon Empire’s legion-level spells and the weaknesses of traditional defensive fortresses in facing this type of opponent.

Based on intelligence collected when the east confronted Typhon previously, coupled with Maryland’s subsequent investigative findings, Gawain finally understood more clearly the characteristics and powers of Typhon’s ”extraordinary corps,” and for the first time, recognized the full scope of the so-called ”legion-level spells.”

In short, it is a form of mass-produced Transcendents synchronizing their spellcasting, causing widespread magic resonance, and taking the basic spell molds to extreme stacking and mutation for attack. In essence, it’s still a ”casting technique,” an extension of traditional transcendent skills. But in terms of form, it has completely transcended the framework of old-fashioned armies, and even... can generate power similar to the Cecil magical mechanized legion.

Take the Iron River Knights as an example. The Typhon Empire nurtured thousands of Transcendents from a young age, letting them only master basic skills like Knight Charge, Focused Aura, and knight protective aura. After being thoroughly drilled, these skills became like breathing instinct for the Transcendents. Additionally, each knight’s wearing of frequency crystals further stabilized and ”resonated” them. During battles, the entire knight corps could create a powerful ”resonant zone”—this resonant ”zone” is the Iron River Knights’ legion combat technique (spell).

Within the resonant zone, magic power envelops the entire knight corps and can create huge unstable energy fields called ”thermal cones” along the attack route. From the description, Gawain assumes it might be an extremely terrifying plasma sea—the Iron River Knights can directly smash this high-energy plasma onto the fortress’s barrier. If it’s a smaller fortress, the entire barrier might overload and extinguish in just an instant.

Similarly, the Typhon’s Mage Corps can release similar spells—and as specialized spellcasting units, their attacks are even more diverse. When confronting two armies, they can conduct widespread bombardments; when assaulting fortresses, they can also collectively generate massive thunder storms or focused energy akin to a Rainbow Cannon.

Facing such extraordinary corps, traditional closed defensive fortresses appear exceedingly fragile.

The earliest experimental extraordinary corps of Typhon had formed a few years ago. At that time, Duke Silas Loland was guarding Longwind Fortress. Due to the Typhon’s imperfect resonant technology and corps training, its energy accumulation phase revealed its intent. At the time, Duke Silas made an immediate decision, relying on ten rounds of Knights charging in specific waves, along with numerous Mages persistently performing long-range magical counteraction, which interrupted the Typhons’ action. The combat record from that time is still preserved in Longwind Fortress’s archives.

Just as two Rainbow Cannons once broke the barrier of rocky ridges Fortress, Typhon’s extraordinary corps of the same era shook the status of traditional fortresses.

On planet Earth, classical castles faded away under such circumstances.

However, in this world, vast fortresses capable of housing massive infrastructure are not so easily retired due to the existence of barrier technology and Magic Web technology—after all, when faced with forces other than ”super weapons,” or when facing natural disasters like chaotic waves, fortresses equipped with barriers and self-support capabilities are still essential. Furthermore, as long as barrier technology continues to develop, traditional fortresses could regain their vital status even in front of extraordinary corps or magical artillery.

Under this premise, Maryland proposed his defense reform plan for the Longwind Defense Line to Gawain in the report—

First, retain the series of positions established during the ”deception operation” and, with subsequent road construction and supply gaps filled, perfect them into continuous military supply points. Set sufficient long-range firepower at each point and, through a crossfire network with Longwind Fortress, form the main defense line. Simultaneously, each station also serves roles in alert, supply, and maintaining backup communication lines, ensuring smooth intelligence flow, responsive actions, and strong survival capability.

Second, take advantage of the smooth roads between supply points to ensure several mobile units at any time. This is to guard against the Typhon Knights finding breaches in the defense line and bypassing fixed defenses to harass the rear. Previously, the Longwind Fortress had similar patrol cavalry teams to deal with Typhons ”detouring,” but without supply points, their role was very limited, only effective against past Typhon soldiers. Now Typhon continues to develop, their Extraordinary Corps has become sizable, and more importantly, they have mastered the technique of magic vehicles. At any time, their army’s mobility may achieve breakthroughs, making it essential to preemptively establish defenses at the border.

In the third step, Maryland’s suggestion even surprised Gawain—

The former Commander of the rocky ridges proposed establishing a ”railway defense belt.”

”...We can build several railways in the north-south direction with Longwind Fortress at the center, connecting all supply points and border garrisons, allowing multiple armed trains to run on the tracks, ensuring mobile firepower can support any point on the border at any time. The Typhon Extraordinary Corps poses a huge threat to fixed fortresses but is greatly discounted against the mobile armed trains.”

”Considering the high cost of the iron throne, it’s unrealistic to set several on a border. We can build simpler armed trains—with mining-type car bodies, reducing armament and transport sections, canceling fortress-level heavy artillery, and primarily using arcane bullet launchers and small fragmentation howitzers, because Typhon’s army mainly consists of ’humans,’ and simpler armed trains are enough to cause damage to personnel.”

”The charged rails themselves are carriers of the Magic Web. Building the rails is tantamount to completing the border’s Magic Web setup. And because the rails themselves have shields, this further ensures the safety of defense line communications...”

Gawain slowly put down the report in his hand, softly sighing, ”...we’ve found a treasure at the rocky ridges Fortress.”

Amber didn’t really understand military affairs, but at least after being Gawain’s ear and eyes for a few years, she could also understand the things mentioned in the report. After simulating it in her mind, the eyes of this Intelligence Agency Chief slowly widened, ”My goodness... if this setup actually gets built, what will Typhon use to break through the defense line... Is this the so-called ’ultimate defense line’?”

”There’s no ultimate tactic in the world. The art of war is constantly evolving in offense and defense; the Typhon might one day find a way to counter the mobile defense network, but more advanced defense concepts will always emerge followed,” Gawain shook his head, his gaze returning to the report, ”But at least at this stage, against the existing enemies... Maryland thought of the most suitable plan.”

Maryland’s plan retains the role of the fortress while achieving the limit of Cecil’s engineering capacity and technical strength. The traditional Longwind Fortress remains an important structure of the defense line but has evolved from the sole core to an important node, undertaking more roles as a command center, logistics center, and frontline industrial center. In contrast, the mobile defense network established under modernized traffic and communication conditions can further amplify the advantages of the Magical Mechanized Legion, compensating for the current shortfall in the number of Cecil’s border troops.

More commendably, Maryland also considered cost-saving in the process—he noticed the issue of the iron throne’s excess firepower against infantry units, and the simplified armed trains he proposed would significantly reduce the financial pressure on the Cecil Empire.

After all, rebuilding, reforming, and constructing various places domestically require funding. Suppose Gawain wants to start constructing seven or eight iron thrones now; Aunt Heidi might directly jump off the White River banks...

Of course, even with these optimizations, Maryland’s proposed mobile defense plan still requires a high cost to realize. Still, Gawain understands one thing: everything can be saved except education and national defense.

The former determines what heights a country can reach a hundred years later, and the latter decides whether a country can survive a hundred years.

Gawain turned a page—this thick report has more content.

Further along, he saw Sir Philip’s complete report on the harrowing night on the Palamere Highlands and several pages of lessons learned.

”...Due to lack of experience, our army failed to fully utilize the iron throne, and the successful withdrawal of Typhon forces could have been avoided, but we missed the opportunity.

”There were issues coordinating between armored trains and land-based fixed positions, and problems in intelligence sharing with the Longwind Defense Line, resulting in the intelligence from several observation posts on the Palamere Highlands not reaching the iron throne in time—although the mentioned observation posts did not discover the movement of the Typhon troops, there was indeed an issue with the intelligence flow.

”Our reconnaissance methods in adverse weather conditions are inadequate—the Typhon can discover the iron throne, but several of our observers failed to discover Typhon’s reconnaissance. Traditional Gryphon Knights are almost unable to take off in bad weather, and methods like bird’s eye spell, binoculars, etc., are greatly affected by weather conditions...

”...It is suggested to develop observation equipment that detects life, suggesting that the iron throne be equipped with functions similar to the ’Magic Monitoring Tower’ to detect nearby hidden extraordinary units or traps in time.

”We need aerial reconnaissance means other than Gryphon Knights as a supplement. The current Gryphon Knights have reached their load limit, unable to carry more protective equipment to cope with extreme weather, nor can they carry more weapons. Their limited self-defense weapons are not enough to counter Typhon’s troops...”