Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 638 - 637: Deadlock

This is indeed significant news.

Gawain sat there quietly, his calm face showing little emotional fluctuation, but he was clearly deep in thought. Victoria, standing next to him, instinctively sought confirmation from Amber: "Wales has been crowned? Is the news reliable?"

"The news is reliable—our intelligence personnel in St. Soniel have been consistently operational, and they are far more dependable in this regard compared to your royal shadow guard," Amber glanced at Victoria, "The exact details are still unclear, but it can be confirmed that the new king’s coronation temporarily stabilized the situation in the royal capital. Currently, all the knights and troops in St. Soniel have sworn allegiance to the King, and Silver Castle has also announced the imminent arrival of reinforcements, which has initially calmed the residents of the city. In short, the situation over there is improving—though only temporarily."

Gawain nodded as he listened, then looked at Victoria: "You said you know Wales, so did you anticipate this step?"

"This..." Victoria hesitated slightly, then slowly shook her head, "This was beyond my expectations."

"I actually anticipated a bit of it," Gawain exhaled lightly, "St. Soniel is a quagmire, as you and I both know the conduct of those aristocrats, even if news of reinforcements reaches the city, they will still harbor different intentions—to control the situation, Wales and Baldwin have few options."

"Is that so..."

Victoria said softly, the face that seemed perpetually shrouded in frost concealed all her inner thoughts. No one knew what the Grand Duke of Ice and Snow was thinking at this moment, but everyone was clear on one thing: the newly crowned king was already at the forefront of the storm, and the regent duke system that had lasted a century in Anzu had announced its end with this coronation.

Gawain didn’t speak further, only slightly closing his eyes, as if resting, but deep within his mind, he recalled the visit last year before the commencement of the great walls project by the vice commander of the Order of Knights, Cohen Loland.

...

The coronation of the new King stabilized the originally precarious defenses of the royal capital and the nearly collapsing inner-city order. However, the encouragement in people’s hearts couldn’t change the challenges of the battle—in this defensive war of life and death, the condition of the defenses could only worsen day by day, an irreversible trend.

The number of monsters was vast, seemingly endless, while the defending soldiers decreased daily; the monsters were tireless, unafraid of death, whereas human will can be eroded; the monsters weren’t concerned with supply lines, indifferent to any losses, yet the resources of St. Soniel were finite, and its barriers and city walls weren’t the mythical palace of the War God, capable of forever standing strong in warfare—

On the fourth day, the attacks of the Crystal Cluster Giants suddenly intensified. A monstrous army that had wandered from the southeast of the Plains of the Holy Spirits was drawn to the front lines and began assaulting the eastern city wall of St. Soniel. This unexpected onslaught nearly overwhelmed the defenses on the east wall. After a bloody battle, the pioneering knights and royal mages finally repelled the enemy’s attack, but at the cost of over a thousand lives in a single battle.

The bodies carried down from the walls weren’t taken into the inner city but were directly cremated at the foot of the outer city walls. The thick smoke and pungent smell lingered in the Outer City District for a whole day, even overshadowing the famous perennial odor of "Trout Street."

In a residential house near the enclosing wall of the Inner City District, a tall, thin man wearing a headscarf walked into the room. While removing his coat and hanging it on a wall hook, he looked up at his companion sitting behind a nearby table: "The reserve has already been dispatched to the walls. It’s said that the barrier is becoming increasingly unstable, and the monsters’ attacks often penetrate the barrier, landing on the walls."

The companion of the tall, thin man was a middle-aged man with a sallow face, rough hands and feet, and disheveled hair and beard. He was fiddling with a machine on the table while scratching his hair. Only after hearing the words of the tall, thin man did he look up: "Director Amber sent word that they’ve already reached the river mouth near the Valley Corridor and engaged the monsters there."

"Having solid information is better than anything else," the tall, thin man exhaled lightly, "These days are truly difficult."

The middle-aged man with rough hands and feet nodded in agreement, but before he could speak, a divine, fervent aura suddenly spreading from the direction of the street interrupted their conversation.

The tall, thin man quickly approached the nearest window, pressing his eyes against the slit. He saw a squadron of knights in white armor and white cloaks striding towards the city walls. None of those knights were wearing helmets, and each had sacred phrase and symbol tattoos on their faces, visible holy radiance enveloped their heads and shoulders, and they bore a kind of fervent expression as if they were heading not toward a battlefield of life and death but toward a kingdom of eternal life.

The tall, thin man backed away from the window and said to his companion, "It’s the knights of the Holy Church Army... their faces are all tattooed."

"The internal guard of the Pope... now even the reserve of the Holy Light Church has gone up," the middle-aged man with rough hands and feet said in a deep voice, "It seems their days are hard as well."

...

At the Cathedral of the Holy Light, in a high tower, Veronica stood by the window, watching the devout knights of the Holy Light head to the battlefield under the leadership of two battle bishops, and sighed slightly.

In her view, those piously fervent knights of the Holy Light and the two bishops leading them to the walls were all blazing torches of Holy Light, bright and sacred yet no longer human.

She turned away from the window, looking at another torch of Holy Light standing beside her: "Sandy, go to the Great Hall of Radiance."

The Priestess named Sandy immediately said, "You still need rest, the toll from the last battle was too great."

Veronica shook her head: "In the time of fighting for the Lord, a little fatigue is nothing."

In her vision, the Holy Light torch known as "Sandy" immediately lit up and emitted a voice of agreement, "You are right, let’s go to the Great Hall of Radiance."

Within the Great Hall of Radiance, the Holy Light enveloped, and a faint sacred ethereal voice echoed endlessly in the air.

Pope Saint Ivan III had left his holy seat at this moment. This mighty devotee of the Holy Light held the platinum scepter that symbolizes the God’s spokesperson. Although his extremely old body was hunched, he stood unwaveringly in the center of the hall. The Holy Light descended from above, forming a door-like illusion above his head, and around the Pope were the archbishops qualified to enter the Great Hall of Radiance.

The bishop team was holding a special prayer ritual. They lowered their eyes, sincerely calling for a response from the God of Holy Light. No one spoke, but layers of prayers continuously echoed, all directing towards the door that gathered above Saint Ivan III. In this unbroken prayer, Saint Ivan III lightly closed his eyes, making a gesture of listening intently—he was carefully listening and discerning in the chaotic murmurs, accepting the oracle from the God of Holy Light.

After the first segment of the prayer ritual ended, Saint Ivan III slightly opened his eyes and saw Veronica standing in front of him.

The "Saint Princess" had entered the Great Hall of Radiance halfway through the ritual but did not interrupt the proceedings, instead waiting quietly until now.

Saint Ivan III gently spoke, his voice carrying a certain marvelous resonance, "Veronica, the Lord’s most devout child, you have come."

Veronica slightly lowered her head, not meeting the Pope’s gaze as usual, "Your Eminence, I have come to listen to God’s will."

Saint Ivan III nodded gently, his old face showing a complex expression of excitement and solemnity, "The forces of evil are pressing closer and closer, the holy warriors sacrificing in great numbers, those suffering are praying for the Holy Light’s protection. The God of Holy Light can no longer bear to see all this continue, He commands me to prepare for the descent, to withstand the darkest moment."

After speaking, the old Pope paused, his tone carrying a hint of compassion, "Mortals, ultimately, still need protection and guidance..."

Veronica lowered her head devoutly, and after two seconds of silence, she softly spoke, "...Ah, indeed."

Saint Ivan III smiled, nodding with satisfaction, "During the descent ritual, the Great Hall of Radiance will be completely closed, and no Lower Priest or Priest may enter. Veronica, you are the Lord’s most devout child, and the bridge between God and mortals, you shall guard the door until the crisis is over."

Veronica kept her head lowered, speaking gently and obediently, "Yes, Your Eminence."

...

In the depths of the Endless Sea, beyond the barrier of storms and chaotic magical fields, a massive facility was gradually taking shape on the Aeo Continent ruled by sea demons.

This place was located on the eastern grounding zone of the sea demons’ royal city "Antawen." A wide and flat platform faced Antawen’s towering alloy walls, where the sea demons set up a large plaza large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of sea demons gathering within (taking up less space in their mermaid form or more tightly in their water snake form). At the center of the plaza, engineering equipment was combining large amounts of alloy frameworks, machinery, and building materials into a tower hundreds of meters tall.

The tower had taken on an initial form, as if formed by layers of shells of varying sizes, its streamlined architectural structure with unique beauty from the deep sea. Blue decorative lines clear-cut, dividing the tower body into three main structures, its base heavy and low, the tower itself tall and straight. The topmost layer was a large sphere suspended in mid-air—this sphere was filled with undulating water light, as if made of pure water, yet miraculously maintaining its shape without any signs of breaking down.

Deep water technicians were busy around this tower, installing auxiliary equipment or tuning the systems that were already ready. A female with an elegant and noble air, dressed in a sea-blue long dress, her lower body coiled in a snake tail, "stood" on a large rock near the plaza, watching the construction of the tower.

A female officer with a trident climbed the large rock, bowing before Sea Demon Queen Petia, "Your Majesty, the Elemental Warp Tower can be ready within twenty-four hours, and we will just need to wait for the accurate positioning signal from the western continent afterward."

"Very well—everyone has worked hard."

"It is our duty," the officer said, "however... building and activating the Elemental Warp Tower is costly, essentially we’ve given up an opportunity to fire up the reactor."

She nearly said ’In any case, it can’t be ignited anyway’—but it seemed inappropriate for the Queen to say so publicly.

"The arcane energy extraction technology Tiel delivered back is enough to compensate for this loss," after a brief reflection, the sea demon Queen gently spoke, "Moreover, we might even gain a substantial extra energy resource."

"...Yes, we’ve already connected the energy pipelines from the energy storage unit to this place, and the equipment for conversion, purification, and extraction are also ready, but whether the new food source Tiel mentioned meets the standards remains to be verified."

"That’s okay. Even if it can’t be used to power the spacecraft, at least we can use it for food," Petia was quite open-minded—or rather, sea demons have always been quite open-minded, "It would be good if it helps us adapt to this world’s environment better as well."

As she spoke, she once again cast her gaze into the distance, observing another group of deep water technicians operating engineering equipment to install various protective equipment around the plaza. She spoke unhurriedly, "This time, besides minding dining etiquette, the sisters also need to be cautious for safety, after all... this time the little biscuits are alive. The occasionally lively big squids are hard to handle; the living little biscuits should be too."

(Friendly recommendation of a friend’s book, a fantasy theme, Dao Yigeng’s "The Common Man Wields a Sword Going Down the Eastern River," though the sprout is very tender, the book of a great author generally needn’t worry about its future.)