Sword of Dawn

Various thoughts swirled in Andesa's mind. As an aristocratic officer who took charge of military power at a young age and also had a family background, she knew better than anyone else how important the transmission of information would be in a war. However, There was nothing she could do about it.

After all, she has no magical talent.

In Cecil's collar, Jenny Perot, who is the dean of the Rune Research Institute, put down the blueprints and rune baseplates in her hand, and stretched her waist long.

She raised her head from behind the desk, looked at the several apprentices at a few tables not far away who were burying their heads in calculations or getting together to exchange opinions, and couldn't help smiling.

These few apprentices are the newcomers added since the establishment of the Rune Academy. The number is small, but it is much better than the original situation where she was the only polished commander here.

Half of these apprentices come from the Cecil Territory, and they are "transferred" from the original rune craftsmen or rune masters in the territory. They themselves have basic knowledge in the field of practical runes, and they are talented in logic and mathematics, so They were assigned here as Jenny's assistants after a certain "talent and skills inspection", and the other few were poor scholars and mage apprentices recruited by the lord from other places. They were also sent here because of their good qualifications.

To be honest, these people need to be cultivated when they first came. After all, rune logic is a brand new field. Except for Jenny, Rebecca, Hetty and Gawain, no one in the world understands what they are. What do you mean, the thinking of these apprentices (assistants) was still stuck in the traditional magic theory at the beginning, it took Jenny a lot of effort to reverse their thinking, but after a period of hard work, these people have gradually been able to come in handy.

When they become professionals in the field of rune logic, Jenny will let them take turns to teach courses at the General Academy. At that time, Mr. Santis should have also completed the children's basic courses in rune common sense and magic theory. After laying a good foundation, learn rune logic, and everything will just connect.

Afterwards, the children in the territory will grow into a new generation with knowledge and skills, and these knowledge and skills will continue to be passed on and continue to expand. Driven by the lord, everyone will have the opportunity to learn all of this Chance.

Teaching, learning, dissemination, once the transfer of knowledge begins, it will not stop easily, it will continue until everyone has the right to access knowledge, to think and explore the truth, and all of these... probably also pull Mr. Vinkes would like to see it.

Jenny lowered her head again, looking at the complicated arrangement of runes in front of her, as well as some calculations and charts that looked like a bible to laymen, and fell into deep thought.

These things are not regular magic circle design drawings, but a special "observation record" given to her by Master Kamel. They include the control and output unit structure of the magic energy obelisk, and Kamel passed the The readings of the magic energy escaping from the magic obelisk observed by the "Eye of Magic", which include regular fluctuations of magic power and a series of complex diffusion and decay data.

These things are not easy to deal with. It has gone beyond the field that Jenny was in contact with when studying rune logic. Even Rebecca, who is strong in mathematics and science, had a headache for a long time when she first saw these things— —They are no longer a simple problem of rune arrangement, nor are they cases that can be solved simply by comparing the interference value. These massive and pure data make Jenny feel at a loss, but she knows, Mathematics is bound to live up to itself.

These data may hide the most essential secrets of magic power, and the lord is also waiting for these data to reveal the mystery of "magic power remote transmission", and use this as a breakthrough to find a way to simplify the communication circle, so Jenny is deciding After calming down, he picked up the manuscript paper and pen again, and once again devoted himself to thinking and calculation.

Pen and paper are her bridge to the way of magic. Only with the help of this bridge can she let herself go farther than others in this mysterious field.

After all, she has no magical talent.

Chapter 0270 Strikes Again

According to Gawain's original plan, Soldering should stay in the territory for a short time and be responsible for providing him with information about the Typhon Empire, and by the way, get some news about Gawain Cecil back then, but the plan couldn't keep up The changes, the instability of the Great Wall's barrier made everyone feel a sense of crisis. In order to understand what was going on with the elves as soon as possible, Gawain had to let Soldering leave the territory first, and find a way to communicate with the people in the south of the mainland. Get in touch with that ancient empire.

Before Soldering set off, Gawain found him and asked the elf ranger's plan: "Where are you going to go?"

Solderin did not hide it: "The Silver Empire has not many barrier monitoring points in the northern part of the mainland. The two closest ones are near the Ansu West Territory and the border of the Typhon Empire. To be honest, the one in the Ansu West Territory is still too far away. Going to Typhon's side."

Gawain glanced at Soldering: "With your current situation, won't you be beaten to death when you return to Typhon?"

"If a high-level ranger does not want to be caught, there are ten thousand ways to jump left and right under the noses of ordinary border guards," Soldering said with a natural and confident face, "and even if he is really caught The little wolf general was captured, and I was only captured by you for a few days without surrendering, how would she deal with me? Besides, I’m just a mercenary, not a Typhon.”

There is no one else around now, and Solderling doesn't seem to be tense in front of a person who knows the mystery of his strength, but his unabashed statement still makes Gao Wen's eyelids twitch: "You If you confirm that you live so comfortably with me, can it be considered that you have not surrendered?"

"Of course, I haven't officially returned to the Cecil Army yet, so naturally it's not a surrender," Soldering said with a serious expression on his face. Obviously, he didn't mean to be joking at all when he said this, "such a little boy General Wolf has no reason to blame me - I can wait until I get back from Typhon before surrendering."

Gao Wen: "..."

Solderling's statement sounds like a literal joke, but in fact it's not that he's kidding - it's all because the elves' logic is like this. In some inexplicable places, the elves' thinking is Very peculiar.

However, Typhon’s Winter Wolves may not be able to approve of Solderin’s straightforward thinking, and Solderin himself knew this, so after expressing his opinion, he straightened his expression: “I will try to avoid it as much as possible.” The eyeliner of the Typhon people—it’s not difficult, except for the people of the Winter Wolves Legion, there are not many people who know me there. I have a route to cross the border, as long as I reach the buffer zone between the Typhon Empire and the wasteland of Gondor The silver elf stronghold in the middle is equivalent to entering the territory of the Silver Empire, and I will be safe."

"Okay, since you have a plan, then I won't say more." Gao Wen took a deep look at Soldering, "I hope you have a smooth journey."

Soldering put his hand on his chest solemnly, bent down and said, "I swear in the name of the ancestors of the elves, I will definitely return after the matter is over."

Then he straightened up, turned and walked towards the door of the study, but just as he was about to push the door out, he stopped suddenly - Gawain sensed the aura of Knight Philip appearing outside the door at the same time.

In the next second, there was a knock on the door, and Knight Philip's serious and slightly hasty voice: "My lord, there is an urgent military situation."

"Come in," Gao Wen said loudly, and immediately asked after Philip entered, "What's going on?"

"There is news from the watchtower of the Dark Mountains that they are aberrations," Philip glanced at Soldering standing at the door, and then quickly reported, "The number is about two thousand, and it is still increasing, and there are previously Huge entity never seen before."

Gawain's expression suddenly became solemn: "Huge individual? How about a general description? Also, what is the speed of the enemy?"

"Extraordinarily swollen human figures, with a body size between five and seven meters, are not many, only four or five, but the deformed bodies around them are obviously more flexible and agile, and they are suspected to be individuals similar to commanders—but there is no such thing for the time being. Signs of wisdom were observed. As for the overall speed of travel, it is similar to the last time the aberration appeared, and it will take about three to four days to reach the border of the territory. At present, the sentry at the first sentry has been withdrawn—to prevent the aberration from sensing human breath After that, they suddenly accelerated their actions, and now only the second and third sentry posts are left to observe the enemy's movements with binoculars."

"It seems that you can't leave for the time being." Gawain gave Soldering a deep look, "I have some troubles here."

"I understand, you mentioned the re-emergence of those guys," Soldering silently walked back to the center of the room when he heard Philip say the word "distortion". Smiling, "Our old enemy, isn't it?"

Gao Wen also smiled slightly: "If you don't hit them for 700 years, will your hand be born?"

Solderling raised his hand and made a few movements of pulling the bowstring: "I still remember the feeling of 700 years ago. I can solve at least a hundred of them by myself. The remaining [-] are for you."

"The number has exceeded the threshold, and their number will continue to increase. When they reach the defense line, it will be more than two thousand." Gao Wen smiled and shook his head, "But the main force of the battle will not be you and me, it's time for you to see Check out the strength of the Cecil Combat Corps—Philip, sound the alarm according to the plan, set up positions outside the city, take back the southern engineering team, and prepare for defense!"

After Knight Philip left, Gawain turned to look at the window: "Amber!"

Amber's figure jumped in from the window immediately: "Here, here, here~~ I heard everything!"

"Go and call everyone who should be called, it's going to be busy again!"

A moment later, loud and continuous bells rang throughout the city.

Alarm bells with specific meanings reverberated over the entire city. Soldiers, whether they were on vacation or on duty, immediately ran to their posts according to the law of the bell and what they had learned in normal training. On the construction sites everywhere, the supervisors They appeased the workers as soon as possible, and ordered the team leaders of each team to end their work ahead of schedule and return to their homes to stand by. They themselves went to the nearest emergency assembly point and waited for the next step.

In this way, everyone became active at the same time, some returned home to stand by, some went to the designated assembly point, and some went directly to the southern city wall, while groups of security personnel ran from the stationed points in each block When he came out, he ran in the streets and alleys and read aloud the concise and easy-to-understand "emergency needs to know"-everything was rehearsed a long time ago.

Of course, some people panicked when the alarm bell sounded. Most of them were the last batch of new residents who joined the Cecil Territory before winter. Although they received basic common sense education, they didn't catch up with the rehearsal about the mutant attack. However, these people were quickly appeased—the ubiquitous security forces and the deliberately scattered "old residents" would tell these new neighbors what happened. They are the calmest at this moment. Not only do they not have any panic, but they can also judge the current situation from the bells based on the knowledge they have learned in advance drills: the interval between the bells is two short and the other long, which means that the enemy is still far away. And it will arrive in a few days. At present, the city will be preparing for battle in an orderly manner.

This is still a fairly "stable" situation.

The experienced residents who judged the situation from the sound of the bells began to tell those new neighbors what to do next: keep order, wait at home for the orders of the lord, and be ready to support the defense of the territory as far as it is possible. The responsibilities and obligations that the people of Cecil must bear.

Ever since setting up camp in this wild land that is almost at the border of human civilization, Cecil Territory has always been ready to face challenges. The first battle to defend Cecil Territory was just the beginning. After that, Gao Wen There has been no relaxation of training for the residents of the territory to prepare for war—unlike peacetime or a peaceful country, this frontier must always be prepared for the whole people to face the war, and once the war really breaks out, have the residents done enough preparation drills? It can even determine the life and death of this territory, of course he dare not relax his vigilance in this regard.

But not everyone will understand what happened in Cecil Territory.

In the prisoner-of-war camp north of Knight Street, more than a dozen Typhon soldiers, knights, and mages were still locked in cells.

They have been imprisoned here for several days, but apart from the daily interrogation, these people have not suffered any abuse, and the so-called prison cells are rebuilt from solid old barracks, and added warning magic inside and outside It's just an institution, and the living conditions are no worse than ordinary barracks.

These captured Typhon soldiers thought that they would face an extremely cruel test after being captured by the legendary Duke of Ansu, but they didn't expect that they would not be hanged or beaten severely after that, except for restricting their freedom. In addition, they received treatment that could almost be described as "generous". After thinking about it, they felt that this was probably won by Soldering for them—the elf ranger was obviously an old acquaintance of Ansu, the founding hero. This favor gave these prisoners of war who should have been executed in exchange for incredible preferential treatment. Faced with such treatment, the Typhon soldiers had extremely complicated emotions.

With complicated moods and nothing to do, all the captured Typhon soldiers could do was to think about life and discuss how long they would continue to be imprisoned.

The moment before the alarm bell rang, they were still having such discussions, but after the alarm bell rang, they stopped immediately.

A Typhon knight suddenly stood up, listening to the bell outside, with a look of surprise on his face: "What happened outside?"

"I don't know, it sounds like an alarm," a mage also stood up, trying to put his face close to the window that was inlaid with fine steel bars and was deliberately raised. He really hoped that he could summon a mage's eye to look outside However, there are runes and traps specially used to monitor mages everywhere inside and outside the cell, and mobilizing magic power at will can only ask for trouble, "I saw many soldiers running out of the barracks!"

"Alarm? Soldiers are being mobilized?" The knight who spoke before was stunned, and his face suddenly showed joy. "Could it be our people who came here? The war started early?!"

"Impossible, even if the war started from the defense line of the East Wolf Castle, how could the army fight all the way from the border to here in a short period of time," another knight said immediately, "Maybe they are suppressing slave labor... After all, A newly established frontier."

The No.3 knight also stood up, and lowered his voice: "This...will it be an opportunity?"

Everyone in the cell fell silent immediately, and their eyes began to look around uneasily, as if they were afraid that what they said in a low voice would reach the ears of Ansu soldiers standing guard outside.

"...The success rate of our escape is not high," the last mage who never spoke finally broke the silence, "There are Ansu people everywhere here, have you noticed the discipline of the soldiers outside? Even if the situation is chaotic, they It won't give us a chance."

The knight who spoke just now was a little unwilling: "But if you don't run now..."

Before the knight finished speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a voice from the door: "If you run away now, I really can't save you!"

The Typhon warriors were taken aback, and only then did they notice that Solderin had already stood at the door at some point. The high-level elf ranger looked at the "subordinates" in front of him, and sighed after a long time: "Actually, I don't want to here."

Chapter 0271 Defense Strength

Solderin looked at the dozen or so Typhon fighters in the cell—these fighters were his subordinates not long ago. Although as a mercenary, he did not have a fixed military position in Ansu's army, but As a ranger, he often has a fixed group of soldiers available for command, and these are subordinates who have followed him for a long time and are familiar with him. At this moment, when he meets his subordinates again in this situation, he is more or less a little nervous. Awkward.

A conversation between Gawain and himself before coming here came to the mind of this high-ranking ranger:

At that time, Gao Wen said: "You go and bring those Typhon people, I want them to help defend the southern city wall."

Solderin was naturally taken aback when he heard this: "You plan to let those Typhon warriors help you, the Duke of Ansu, to guard the city wall? Don't you know the current situation between Anzu and Typhon?"

"I know those people are definitely unwilling to work for Ansu—but I want them to see for themselves the situation between the civilized world and the wasteland of Gondor."

"Just let them go up to the city wall to see the truth... That's a good idea, but don't you worry that those people will take the opportunity to escape after being released, or worse - will they take advantage of the chaos to cause damage? This is a big risk .”

"So I let you go, I believe you can control them-even if you can't control them, you won't let them make trouble under your nose."

At that time, Solderling couldn't help laughing: "What if I really can't control it?"

Gao Wen also chuckled: "Then I'll take off your wig in public."

Then Soldering came here, staring at a dozen of his old subordinates.

"My lord," a Typhon knight finally spoke, with an embarrassing expression on his face, "You are safe and well..."

"Better than you guys," Soldering sighed, the wig on his head seemed to be a little heavier than before, "Now there is a chance for you to hold your swords and staffs again—but not to let You go to deal with the Ansu people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to help Ansu fight Typhon, but to let you take a look at what the real threat is."

……

Later in the day, Amber, who went deep into the Dark Mountain to investigate the situation, returned to Gawain, and she brought the latest information about the aberration.

After drinking tons of tea on Gawain's table, the half-elf thief began to describe what he saw and heard: "The number of them is indeed increasing, and there may be at least three thousand at the border of the territory." Even [-] are possible! Where the magic tide has corroded, not a single blade of grass grows, behind those monsters plowed a road of corruption larger than the last 'invasion', and this time their course of action is not the same as last time , I observed the terrain along the way, I am afraid that there is no way to blow up the cliff to face the enemy like last time."

It can be seen that Amber looked worried after returning from exploring the road.

"Although Collapsing Mountains is effective against the enemy, it's just a miracle after all. It's good to use it once," Gao Wen had no regrets about it. "At least the mines can still be used—Byron is leading soldiers and migrant workers to lay minefields. That thing is no worse than collapsing mountains when used well."

Afterwards, Amber reported the latest direction and speed of those monsters. After she finished speaking, she looked at Gao Wen with a calm face and finally couldn't help it: "By the way, you don't feel nervous at all?"

"Why are you nervous?" Gawain smiled slightly, "Do you think we can't stop it?"

"You didn't see it with your own eyes! That's a huge area! Where they walked, even the rocks turned into black sand!"

"When they first attacked here, we only had a wall of wooden fences and brambles. A hundred soldiers with swords faced hundreds of monsters. Now we have built The city walls and towers made of cement and boulders, including the newly trained recruits, there are thousands of soldiers, and each soldier has heat ray guns, grenades and melting swords. Although the number of monsters is still three times that of ours, I don’t I don't think there's anything scary about them."

Hearing Gao Wen's words, Amber seemed a little relieved, but still couldn't help being a little worried: "The main thing is those extraordinarily huge guys... they seem very difficult to deal with, they are too big, once they bear the damage Climbing up the city wall, our newly built wall may not be able to hold it for long."

"With Solderin and I, there won't be any problems," Gawain smiled lightly, "And there is Kamel—although he is a researcher, do you think his strength will be inferior?"

Amber nodded confusedly, as if she felt that those monsters were really nothing to be afraid of, but at this moment Gao Wen suddenly said: "Well, to be honest, I'm still a little worried."

"what?"

"700 years ago, I didn't see that kind of 'mutant individual' whose body size was two or three times that of ordinary mutants. Of course, unknown types of mutants are disturbing," Gao Wen said calmly, looking into Amber's eyes. "But when I'm sitting here, I have to look more stable than anyone else, you understand?"

"Because you are the lord?"

"That's right, I'm the lord. I lead everyone here to build territories and arrange fortifications. I train the army and arrange defenses. If I respond to every call here, I naturally have to bear the responsibility of responding to every call," Gawain said unhurriedly, " So I have to be confident, and not just me, you have to be confident too."

"Me? Why?" Amber looked confused, "I'm just an errand runner..."

"You are my guard, and you are still in charge of the intelligence department. In the eyes of outsiders, you know all the orders of the lord and all the secrets of the territory-and the fact is almost the same, so you, like me, belong to the People who must not panic under any circumstances, once you panic, those who follow you will immediately think that the lord is also panicked, and then think that the crisis that the territory is facing may be so great that even the lord and the lord's guards are afraid The degree of self-defense, so there will be panic, some people will retreat, some will run away, some will take advantage of the chaos - and all of this probably started from the moment you ran into the lord's mansion in a panic."

"When I came in, I turned over the window and no one saw me!" Amber said subconsciously, but then she frowned and muttered, "You put it this way...I suddenly feel like I'm nothing after becoming an 'upper class' Okay……"

"Because in my place, rights and obligations are always equal, you and I are no exception," Gawain laughed, feeling that it is very exciting to watch this half-elf who hardly uses his brain on weekdays to think hard. A pleasant thing, "Amber, you are no longer a petty thief, understand?"

"Hey—you sound like an old man!" Amber suddenly got goosebumps all over her body, but she nodded honestly after a while, "Okay... I understand..."

Afterwards, she stared at Gao Wen for a long time before she spoke: "I am annoyed by other people talking about the truth, but when you say the truth, it sounds really reasonable... For the first time in my life, I listened to people's lectures honestly!"

"That's because many people who talk about the truth just say not to do it, but I do it before I say it." Gao Wen stood up with a smile, "Okay, anyway, you are back, let's go to the southern city wall with me. .”

Since the first aberrant attack, the defense in the southern direction of the territory has always been the top priority in various defense projects-although the Dark Mountains are a natural barrier, it has been proved that this natural barrier is more powerful than monsters. It is not insurmountable. At least in the area where Cecil Territory is located, there is a large gap that has been proven in the Dark Mountains and several routes that can cross the mountains. To defend the security of the territory in front of the wasteland of Gondor, Gawain began a series of "repairing walls and building towers" projects after the productivity of the territory developed slightly.

Frankly speaking, Gao Wen is not very adaptable to the situation in this era where large and small cities are surrounded by one or even several walls. An open city layout without walls is more conducive to long-term development. However, he must proceed from reality : With the current level of security and the form of war in this world, the city wall is still an indispensable defense measure, so the newly built Cecil Territory also has a city wall.

The city wall in the south of the territory is the strongest and most defensive of all fortifications.

Because the foundation of the territory is still shallow, and the output of "Rebecca Cement" is also limited, the city wall has not yet been able to be constructed entirely of reinforced concrete, and it has not been able to realize Gao Wen's vision of "triple wall with transportation inside." However, it is still a very strong barrier for most nobles in the south: the city wall made of cement and earth is ten feet high. The city wall is more than four meters wide, with a large number of shooting bunkers for soldiers, and a large amount of medicine and combat crystals are stored at any time. The city's magic net is laid all the way to the foot of the city wall to replenish the magic crystals of the defenders on the wall at any time. Attrition, and after the appearance of the magic energy obelisk, Kamel placed two crystal towers at the foot of the city wall, so even the city wall was covered with uninterrupted magic power-in this way, the weapons of the soldiers defending the city Their firepower can be sustained before overheating damage or waste energy overload.

In addition to the main body of the city wall, Gao Wen also ordered people to build a series of triangular-shaped outer walls outside the city wall. A small tower was built on the "vertex" of each outer wall, and a small tower was placed on it. trebuchet.

The series of triangular outer walls refer to the structure of the bastion. They can ensure that when the enemy rushes down the city, they will be flanked by fire from the guard walls on both sides. At the same time, the triangular outer walls themselves can also increase the firmness of the city wall. , and the apex tower of the triangular outer wall can be used as a lookout post. As for the trebuchet on the tower...

To be honest, Gawain himself knew that this thing did not match the painting style of the magic industry route that was going on in the territory. However, before he solved the problem of advancing the physical ammunition, he did not have any usable "cannons" at hand, so he We can only settle for the next best thing, combine the original technology of this world with the new technology of Magic Industry, and use small trebuchets to barely achieve the effect of erecting artillery on the city wall——

The catapults threw crystal bombs the size of human heads.

Chapter 0272 The Prelude to the Attack

The Cecil collar is like a machine running at full power. When the order is given, every part of the machine will start to run quickly - not everyone knows what will happen next, but almost everyone They all know what they should do at this moment. The clear order and rules and regulations are the biggest reliance on Cecil's possession that is different from other noble territories. People only need to follow the order to do things within their own scope, and this huge machine can be perfected. The earth was running, and it burst out with power that made everyone speechless.

In just three days, the defense line in the south of the territory was once again reinforced and expanded. The large open area from the dark mountains to the city wall was set up with layers of roadblocks and fences, and there were minefields between the roadblocks and fences. , [-]% of the thousands of soldiers were sent to the southern city wall, and the remaining [-]% were used as a reserve force and mobile force to operate on the remaining defense lines, and another security team maintained order in the territory and communicated new orders from the lord at any time ——Although a crisis was approaching, everything in the territory appeared to be in order. This "everything is under control" atmosphere quickly calmed down the slightly flustered atmosphere in the city.

The population of Cecil Territory is growing explosively. A large number of foreign refugees have not experienced the first territorial defense, nor have they experienced a complete disaster drill. Even if someone comforts them, they will inevitably panic. Now, the nobles don't care if these "untouchables" are in a panic, because the nobles only trust their own knights, mages and private soldiers. Clear instructions were issued, and the security team was asked to make uninterrupted situation announcements, and the effect of these measures was surprisingly good-even the panicked new immigrants quickly transferred to stability after receiving clear instructions from the top. Even Heidi was surprised by it.

On the southern city wall of the territory, Gao Wen was taking Heidi and others to check the layout of the last line of defense. After hearing the situation in the city reported by the affairs officer, he looked at Heti with a smile: "In the final analysis, people's fear comes from the unknown , it is precisely because they don’t know what will happen that the fear will be infinitely magnified in their hearts. At this time, as long as you give them some clear news, or even clear orders, they will easily settle down. Even if you let them go collectively If they move bricks, they will also feel at ease—there is a response, at least it means that the situation can still be controlled.”

At this time, a figure full of arcane brilliance appeared on the city wall, and the soldiers gave way one after another. Kamel walked straight through the crowd and came to Gawain: "The two obelisks of magic energy have been activated. The city walls have been covered with magic fields."

Gawain nodded: "Thank you for your hard work—it must not be easy to add two obelisks in such a short period of time."