Sword of Dawn

In the northwest of the Paramer Heights, in the center of a position covered by terrain and woods, a huge and oppressive war machine is quietly dormant on the track, and the dense rain curtain is splashing on its dark armor plate , the flashes from the Typhon's flare shone on the wet steel surface, creating a floating light.

The Iron Throne turned off all the main lights on the outside of the car body, and opaque shields were raised on the windows of each car. In the darkness, there were only a few faint signal lights flashing on the car body surface. Shrouded in rain and dim sky, it was so hazy that it was almost imperceptible a hundred meters away.

In the tactical section of the armored train, a commander came to Philip: "The leading knights of the Typhons have signaled."

"They are signaling to the Transcendent Legion on standby at the rear," Philip said calmly, "to inform the arsenal section to get ready, and all the main guns are pointed at the eastern plain of Changfeng Fortress."

"Yes, General."

Philip turned his head and looked at the holographic projection not far away. Over the crystal emitting faint blue light, what emerged was the scene outside the train from the external monitor.

The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky was getting gloomy. The cold wind wrapped the rain curtain and splashed it on the land near the border.

Thanks to the rain, the Iron Throne arrived at the predetermined position in the northwest of Paramer Heights half an hour ago, and then entered a state of silence, waiting until now.

In the wind and rain, night has gradually fallen.

Now, when the Typhon's extraordinary legion enters the buffer plain—whether they are the Iron River Knights or the Black Steel Knights, as long as they enter the state of mass charge, they will definitely have no time to hold up their shields and resist the attack from the Iron Throne. The bombardment of the main artillery, the bombardment of the four fortress-level main artillery plus the firepower of the light and medium-sized magic cannons currently equipped in Changfeng Fortress, any legion can only fall on the way to charge.

"Unfortunately, this rain also affected our reconnaissance," an officer sighed beside him, "The armored griffin cannot take off in this kind of weather, otherwise we will be able to grasp the movements of the Typhon people more clearly."

"The Typhons are more affected than us—we at least still have sentry towers on the Longwind Defense Line, but they only have griffins that cannot lift into the air," Philip said, "wait patiently for the signal from Longwind Fortress, don't Think so much."

Although he said so, Philip couldn't help but feel a little fluctuating after hearing the exclamation of his subordinates.

The armored griffin is a compromise between traditional arms and magic equipment. However, the limitations of the griffin itself have determined the limit of this compromise in advance. The war on the Holy Spirit Plain has proved the important role of air power. It is said that now The Institute of Magical Technology has been researching aircraft based on modern technology... I don't know how long it will take for the aircraft to get out of the laboratory...

On the triangular plain to the west of Winterwolf Castle, the magical flame rising from a distance illuminated the rain-drenched armor and weapons of the knights. As the light gradually faded, the head of the Iron River Knights, Earl Moglock, Turning on the horse, the sound of armor clashing was the only sound in this silent knight group.

Quietly watching the magical flames in the distant sky spread among the clouds, Earl Moglock slowly raised his sword in his hand, and the order resounded throughout the knight order: "Everyone is here—the third formation, walk slowly!" Speed ​​up, go forward!"

No one in the entire knight group made a sound, but all the knights and their horses responded to the order at the same time. With the rumble of horseshoes stomping on the ground, the phalanx formed by thousands of knights began to move forward.

Under the dark and gloomy sky, the silent knights seemed to be [-] sculptures neatly arranged, and slowly accelerated in one direction. When lightning flashes across the sky, the steel covering the flesh and blood will have a reflection different from the mud and pools, as if the iron river is surging, quiet and solemn.

With the overall acceleration of the knight order, the ubiquitous flow of magic power suddenly accelerated, and the huge energy was guided by these thousands of knights who had received training, education, and lived together since childhood, and condensed little by little over the array into a mold. A fuzzy high-energy cloud group, the front of the cloud group points to the Changfeng Fortress in the distance.

Behind the knights, the second army also began to move forward. This is an army without any metal armor, but the magical aura flashing in each of their eyes makes no one despise their role on the battlefield. , this team is all wearing blue and black short robes, wearing mage daggers and mass-produced magic tomes around their waists, holding oak short staffs, and several black flags are flapping against the wind and rain above their array.

Earl Palin Winterhold wore a starry robe and raised his staff high: "Black Flag Magisters, move forward!"

Unlike many people's impressions of mages who move slowly on the battlefield, the battle mages of the Typhon Empire also have to receive a considerable degree of riding training-in addition to self-defense swordsmanship and a certain degree of physical training.This is because soldier-like battle mages often only master one or three limited combat spells, and additional training is a necessary guarantee for them to be effective on the battlefield.

On the basis of these trainings, the magician group with excellent riding skills can completely act together with the knight group-unless the latter launches a charge, the magician group will always keep fighting with the knight group to form uninterrupted long-distance support .

Andersa couldn't see the Iron River Knights' movements, but she knew that when the signal was sent, the Iron River Knights and the Black Flag Wizards must have set off.

The Cecils in Longwind Fortress may have received information about the empire's advance, but how are they going to deal with the upcoming legion-level spell attack?

The once solid Eastern Legion is no longer there. The cunning Silas Roren is said to have disappeared on the battlefield of the Holy Spirit Plain. With only a group of Cecil soldiers who are not stable, they must not be able to defend Longfeng Fortress. Yes... If they can hold it, there is no need to set up so many false positions around the fortress to make a fool of themselves.

Andersa waved away the rain lines around her, feeling grateful that her advisors were able to discover the anomaly in Cecil's position in time, otherwise the soldiers of the empire would still be kept in the dark by those bluff tricks , the empire will also miss the best chance to open Anzu... Cecil's portal...

But just as she was sighing, a sudden surge of doubt made the young wolf general frowned.

It is impossible to really defend the frontier with a false position. If you can understand such a simple truth, the Cecils must understand it too.

They created these false positions obviously not to resist Typhon, but to delay time...

Delaying time most likely means that the Cecils really have reinforcements—they are not really empty, but it will take time for the reinforcements to reach the border.

It has been a long time since the first abnormal "increase" of Changfeng Fortress to now, so... have the Cecils actually delayed enough time, after dismantling their first illusion... what is hidden behind Could it be another illusion? !

Most of the time, a keen mind only needs to open a hole, and it can naturally connect many clues that are easy to be ignored. Andersa feels that she is thinking too much and a little too nervous. However, once she starts to think in the direction of conspiracy, she I found that my thoughts couldn't stop at all.

Ever since the Cecils took over Changfeng Fortress, things have been full of weirdness. What happened in this vast confrontation zone has gradually exceeded the framework delineated by traditional war rules. She suddenly felt that she had to think a little more... …You know, between Longwind Stronghold and Winter Wolf Castle, there are never much knightly rules!

A thunderbolt suddenly exploded in the sky, and bright lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the undulating rocks and vegetation around it. Andersa suddenly recalled the false position that she had discovered before, and recalled the false position A detail of -

The Cecils should have only left a very limited number of soldiers in each false position to serve as observation posts and "actors". Those few soldiers were deployed on the Paramel Heights, which is far away from the Longwind Fortress. , it is impossible not to panic in the face of a reorganized knight order. Even if their will is really as strong as steel, they must at least consider their own safety—unless they have no intention of evacuating alive at all, but if so, They will not leave the position, but will use the explosives on the position to kill the Typhon knights together!

But in fact, those Cecil soldiers calmly left the position after three attacks on the Typhon Knights - at that time, the Knights had reached the distance where the Knights could make a short charge.

Being so calm, there must be a retreat, and that retreat cannot be the distant Changfeng Fortress, nor can it be other defensive positions on the Paramer Heights—even if one or two of those positions are real, they cannot stop them. The impact of the entire Winter Wolf Knights.

Their retreat is a battle group with a combat capability close to that of Changfeng Fortress, which can ensure that the entire Typhon Knights can be wiped out in a short period of time, and this battle group must be near the Paramer Heights!

Andersa's eyes widened in an instant, and then she turned around and ordered: "Griffin Rider, take off!!"

The adjutant next to him was taken aback: "General?"

"The Cecils may have hidden a large number of troops capable of long-range attacks near here... This rain has affected our sight!!"

The adjutant was stunned by Andersa's eyes, and immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. Without any hesitation, he ordered the Griffon Knight, who was currently in the best condition, to take off immediately.

In this bad weather, the griffin instinctively refused the command to get closer to the clouds. The rider had to pierce a hollow needle filled with medicine into the back of the griffin's neck, and forcibly drove the griffin with potions and special spells. Flying against the wind and rain to the sky, Andersa raised her head and stared at the huge bird of prey as it flew farther and farther in the dark sky, gradually becoming a blurry black spot, and she didn't wait long after that. Gryphon Rider quickly returned to the ground.

The griffin poisoned by the potion stumbled to the ground, and the knight in light armor jumped off the back of his mount: "General! Northwest! There is a very huge and strange-looking thing! It looks like the Cecilian sold it to Our 'train', but huge and quirky!"

Andersa's heart sank, and after asking where the thing was, her bad premonition became a reality.

Putting the large troops on standby, she brought some elite soldiers to a safe observation position pointed out by the Griffon Knight, and saw the war machine hidden between the woods and boulders.

That gigantic steel monster crouched silently on the track, its whole body was covered with frightening armor, and it was armed with countless large and small magic weapons, making it frightening.

And the most frightening thing is the huge magic cannon at the head and tail of this steel monster - Andersa has never seen that thing with her own eyes before, but she has seen it in the report. She has seen it in the magic image of her, and she knows what it can be used for.

Can pry open the strongest fortress in the world.

And those weapons are now quietly pointing in the direction of the long wind defense line - the Knights of the Iron River and the Black Flag Magisters are advancing towards its strike range without knowing it!

Andersa will probably never know that this terrifying war machine arrived only half an hour early.

Counting the time difference between the Iron River Knights' attack and the preparations for the Iron Throne's bombardment, there was only less than an hour's difference between her and the turning point that could determine the fate of Typhon and Cecil.

"...General, this is a trap!" The adjutant said in a low voice beside him, "We must destroy this thing..."

"It's impossible, unless we have a large siege machine or half a group of magicians..." Andersa gritted her teeth, then suddenly raised her head and looked towards the eastern plain.

The adjutant and several accompanying subordinates also looked in the same direction, and everyone realized the meaning of Andersa's look.

The troops behind must be stopped immediately.

Andersa raised her hand, about to order a signal.

But she stopped—because she realized that once the signal was sent out, it meant that her army would be exposed to the silent war machine.

The war machine should know that a Typhon army is nearby, but it and its people don't know that the trap has been exposed, it is still dormant, and the First Knights of the Winter Wolves still have a chance to evacuate.

However, after the Winter Wolf Knights evacuated to a safe distance, the Iron River Knights might have entered the attack range of the Cecil trap.

Andersa didn't dare to wait until then to signal, she didn't dare to bet—

No one knew how far the attack range of the war machine was, but judging from its deployment location and the information about Cecil's magic weapon, she knew that she didn't have much time—the Knights of the Iron River were marching very fast, and this She might have already entered the Changfeng Plain, and she had to stop that army and the magician group in the rear within a few minutes.

Therefore, there must be one person here who left the main force to send a signal, and the rest of the Knights quickly shifted their positions——The Paramer Heights has a large area, and at this moment, the line of sight is extremely poor, so the war machine should only be able to lock on to the person who sent the signal. Unable to lock large units that have shifted positions.

This is the solution with the least loss.

During Andersa's brief hesitation, a soldier in a short mage robe had already stepped up from behind.

"General, I will stay here to signal, please evacuate as soon as possible."

Andersa stared at the soldier who stood up, and the latter responded frankly: "General, I am an auxiliary mage who specializes in sending signals. I only know all kinds of magic light, and sending signals is my duty."

After a moment of confrontation, Andersa said in a deep voice, "...Soldier, what's your name?"

"Eric Uriah," the mage soldier puffed out his chest, "from Enchhawkshire."

Andersa took a deep breath, took a step forward, and pressed the soldier's shoulder firmly: "Eric, the empire will treat your family well."

"It is an honor to serve under you!"

Andersa nodded, and then ordered: "Others, follow me immediately!"

Two minutes later, the entire First Knights of the Winter Wolves began to evacuate from the Paramel Heights at the fastest speed.

And shortly after the knights left the area, a flash of light came from behind the team.

Andersa turned her head and saw a bright red ball of light rising from a distance, exploding in the sky into a dazzling and bright blood-colored flame.

Trap, evacuate.

After a delay of just a few seconds, piercing screams and explosions covered the rising position of the ball of light.

Anzu 738, the first year of Cecil, the 35th day of Harvest Moon.

Everyone on the Changfeng defense line brushed shoulders with the blade.

Chapter 0695 History is advancing

When the signal flare suddenly rose from the vicinity of Highland No. [-] position, Philip realized that the situation was out of control.

The battlefield is composed of countless accidents and inevitability, countless plans and accidents.

The well-trained professional soldiers on the Iron Throne responded in the shortest possible time. The small secondary guns located in the arsenal section and the tactical section roughly aimed at the direction of the signal flare within a few seconds, followed by a series of artillery fire Boom—The rail shells traced a light green trajectory in the air, and then burst into a strong flame on the high ground, illuminating the gloomy and dim wilderness amidst the wind and rain. However, everyone knew that this round of artillery counterattack was just a failure of the plan Under the circumstances, try to recover some of the results of the battle as much as possible.

The signal flares that have already been fired cannot be stopped—in the drowsy sky, the bright blood-colored light shines on the entire highland and the large plains near the highland, and the main force of Typhon on the Changfeng defense line must have seen it .

The rapid secondary artillery bombardment lasted only 30 seconds, and Philip ordered the whole vehicle to stop attacking—as a general who is no longer young, he knew that the group of Typhon troops on the Paramer Heights had probably already been fired by the signal flares. It was moved before starting, and the position covered by artillery fire should only be a few death squads.

It may even be just a brave signal soldier.

"General, do you want to force the Griffin into the sky to investigate?" the deputy sergeant major of the Iron Throne asked cautiously, "Or send a group of Iron Rangers..."

Listening to his subordinates' suggestions, Philip sighed slightly in his heart.

He knows that it may be too late... The enemy commander is a tricky guy, he is cautious and rational, and he probably already has a certain understanding of Cecil's equipment and fighting methods. They will not stay nearby. He also knows that at the moment To what extent will the detection capabilities of Griffin Knights and ground troops be weakened under weather conditions? At this time, most of the enemies are far away from the Iron Throne. Searching for a knight order that sneaked into the rain in the entire Paramer area is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

After all, compared to the large-scale armored trains with eye-catching tracks, it is much harder to find people who move loose and can use the cover of trees.

But even so, he ordered the release of the Griffin Rider out of caution—the Griffin refused to take off in such bad weather, and the rider took a lot of effort to let the mount perform a low-altitude hover, which was better than nothing. reconnaissance, and the result was as Philip expected: the enemy had disappeared.

Knowing this situation, the young army commander looked calm, turned around and ordered the artillery chief beside him: "All secondary artillery, point to the fourth, sixth, seventh area and the northeast intersection, and bombard freely for 10 minutes."

"Yes, General."

The magic unit of the Iron Throne started to work again. Amidst the humming and the noise of mechanical devices, the roar of the secondary battery firing in turn echoed in the tactical section of the car. Philip ordered to open the window armor on one side. In the flash of light and the wind and rain, he stared intently into the distance.

Tonight, Cecil's Magical Legion encountered the most vigilant enemy so far. In the drowsy rain, Philip saw the real opponent of the empire.

Before today, the Cecil Legion had faced all kinds of opponents. The private soldiers of the old aristocrats would be defeated at the first touch. The traditional knights were brave but already late. Even man-made gods are just powerful monsters who will eventually fall into man-made traps...

To this day, in a confrontation in the wind and rain, everyone passed by the blade——the two blades slashed each other's throats, with a slight difference. After the Legion built a nearly perfect trap with the advantage of timing and intelligence, the Typhons withdrew from the battlefield almost unharmed.

The bloody battle did not break out, but everyone broke out in a cold sweat.

……

Thunderous explosions came from different directions near and far. The bright lines that pierced the sky fell on the highlands of Paramer. The flashes of the explosions rose and extinguished continuously in the rainy night. The earth trembled and the air trembled. The saturated bombardment of the entire magician group was frightening, and my ears were buzzing.

The First Knights of the Winter Wolves quickly shifted their positions in the wind and rain, and the flashes of explosions and lightning in the sky exploded in turn, illuminating the rain-drenched swords and armor of the knights under each pair of helmets. , have a pair of slightly nervous eyes.

But the Knights were still in order, and under the leadership of the commander, they carried out the fastest transfer with the smallest movement.

Andersa was riding on the horse, seeing the flash of the explosion suddenly flashing from nearby, she pursed her lips tightly and said nothing.

The Cecils launched a terrifying attack, and the intensity of the attack proved her previous judgment to be correct—the strength of that steel monster was enormous, and it was impossible for a regular knight order to confront it head-on. Strategic shifting was the only option to protect itself.

Perhaps only the reorganized magician group and the prepared iron river knights can fight against monsters of that level.

The young General Wolf glanced back, the red magic signal had dissipated in the clouds, and in the depths of the dark rain, there were only bright lines piercing the sky.

She actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the enemy's attack was fierce, judging from their distribution, they did not exceed Typhon's detection methods in this rainy night. They had already lost their position as a knight order, and the blind attack they were carrying out now was just a touch. Just luck.

The heavy rain that once delayed the actions of the Winter Wolf Knights has now become an umbrella for Andersa and her soldiers under shelling.

Next, whether she and the First Knights of the Winter Wolves can get out of this rainy night safely, can only hope for luck like Cecil.

May God bless Typhon.

The young General Wolf raised his head, watched the rain falling in the darkness, and whispered to himself, "I hope the rain won't stop..."

The adjutant accompanying him heard Andesa talking to herself, but couldn't understand the content, and subconsciously asked, "General?"

"It's nothing." Andersa shook her head, looking back at the direction where the steel monster docked for the last time, and then turned her head to look at her adjutant, "That decayed and weak kingdom is history, and the new Cecil Empire is a strong enemy."

Tonight, the elite legion of the empire encountered the most vigilant enemy so far. In the drowsy rain, Andersa saw the real opponent of the empire.

……

The Typhon troops retreated, stopped suddenly when they were about to enter the defense area of ​​Changfeng Fortress, and then turned back on the spot.

Maryland, who was fully armed, left the castle and came to the wall of Changfeng Fortress facing Typhon, looking at the dark plain for a long time without saying a word.