Sword of Dawn

"But even if there are such a large number, the current camp cannot handle it," Heti whispered worriedly, "Ancestor, they are now moving towards the north of the mountain, and sooner or later they will reach the camp. Once the camp exposed to their range of perception..."

Amber's two pointed ears trembled uneasily in the air: "Didn't you say that these aberrants would wander around randomly or simply stop in place when they didn't perceive magical reactions or humans? Don't leave, just stay where you are for 800 years..."

"Don't put your hopes on this. Although their number will not increase, they have exceeded the critical point of natural extinction. Do you expect nearly a thousand monsters to stay in the mountains forever and be our neighbors? Just dream," Gao Wen frowned. Eyebrow, "We must find a way to get rid of them..."

Amber glanced at Gao Wen silently: "Then I have a plan..."

Gao Wen was a little surprised: "Do you have a plan?"

"It's like this, I'll sneak over and kill one first, and then you, a legendary knight, drive out of the sky, and kill the remaining 90 or so with a war charge. Fireworks add to the fun, and when we go back, we will claim that the nearly one thousand monsters were defeated by the two of us. You can continue to be your lord and farm with peace of mind. I will find a tavern to brag... Hey, don't go, I haven't finished talking... ..."

Gao Wen knew that she was in a state of serious nervousness and random analysis when she was halfway through her mouth, so he didn't listen to what she said in the next few sentences, but raised his head to pay attention to the surrounding terrain. At this time, he finally found Finding a route that would bypass the monsters, he pulled Lahti's robes, and cautiously began to bypass them.

Amber was stunned, stopped random analysis, obediently escaped into the shadows and followed Gao Wen's pace.

A group of three detoured from the action routes of those slow-moving aberrations, found a path between the rocks, and followed the direction indicated by the corrupted path, they approached the gap in the dark mountain all the way, And finally found a high ground high enough to look over the rocks to the south side of the Dark Mountains.

Gao Wen climbed up the rock and looked into the distance.

On the other side of the mountain... It's so dangerous that I accidentally thought of the Smurfs.

There is no group of cute Smurfs on the other side of the mountain. There are only ruins of civilization on the other side of the mountain, only the remains of the orderly world, and only the wasteland of Gondor shrouded in chaos and darkness.

Although the real Gondor wasteland is still farther away, the breath of that polluted land has already appeared on the sky on the other side of the dark mountain range—after crossing a certain dividing line, the sky on that side is It was in a dim and chaotic state like the eternal dusk. Large groups of dirty clouds hung down from the sky, showing a sense of oppression that almost swallowed the earth. Under this strange sky, the earth appeared as if A weird, twisted gesture from another world.

Starting from the southern foot of the Dark Mountains, an endless dark forest covers all the mountains and a small half of the banded plain. Even if it is far away, Gawain can still see the twisted woodland called "Black Forest". There are many mutated giant trees that go straight into the sky and are slowly swaying, and stretch out their poisonous tentacled branches towards the sky; while the farther belt-shaped plains are rising dense mist, and the mist is constantly showing the past. The phantoms of cities, fortresses, palaces, etc., and then beyond that phantom, you can see a barrier that looks like an aurora.

The aurora-like barrier was the only reassuring and pleasing thing in sight. From this distance, it looked like a hazy shimmering ribbon, but in fact it was extremely tall and magnificent. A layer of "twilight" connects the sky and the earth. It seems to be a layer of fragile light curtains, but it is thicker and stronger than mountains. On the foundation of that layer of light curtains, one can see one after another neatly arranged. tall tower.

The light curtain is maintained by the powerful energy released by the tower.

The light curtain is the majestic wall, and the high tower under the light curtain is the sentinel tower—this system seals off the entire wasteland of Gondor and prevents the death of all living beings on the entire continent.

Everyone knows that this barrier was built by the Elven Silver Empire, but in fact it is so unimaginable that the technology and resources needed to build it have exceeded the limit that any intelligent race alone can afford. The powerful elven silver empire could not bear it independently, so in fact, the elves only took the lead in bearing half of the resource pressure and provided all the technology, and then all forces on the mainland, including the dwarf kingdom and the remnants of Gondor, shared the responsibility. The barrier was built only after completing the other half of the material tasks.

It was really an exciting time.

But it was also an era when terror enveloped the land and no one could sleep peacefully.

Amber's head was dangling under Gawain's shoulders. She looked nervously at the polluted land to the south of the mountain, and then looked at the farther barrier with wonder.

Even with the barrier of the majestic wall, the breath of the demon tide still pollutes a large area outside the barrier, but compared to the inside of the barrier, even the dark forest is already a complete paradise.

Gawain turned his gaze away from the light curtain, and he breathed a sigh of relief: "The barrier is still there."

Chapter 0086 The Bold Plan

For Gao Wen, the most terrifying situation was standing on the dark mountain and looking south, but he couldn't see the shimmering barrier.

For the mainland countries in this era, that is the end of civilization.

But the barrier at the end of the horizon still exists. In the chaotic background of the corrupted land, it stands like a wall of light between the sky and the earth. Although it has stood there for 700 years, many functions may be declining. , but as long as that light still exists for a day, the world is still safe.

"That's the magnificent wall..." Hetty's tone was full of disbelief and exclamation, "I've only seen it in books..."

"Hundreds of years ago, people on the frontier were no strangers to that wall, but in the past few hundred years, the territory of civilization has retreated again and again, even retreating to the north of the Baishui River," Gao Wen sighed and shook his head, " The tide of magic is receding, and you are also retreating, which is really ironic."

Hetty's face suddenly felt a little ashamed, but what could she do - the great-grandfather who was so clever and brave to die 100 years ago, and who was extremely talented in the cause of rebellion, was so damn capable of tossing around, destroying the entire South by himself Who dares to carry this pot...

"Okay, okay, the wall is still there, which means that the sentinel tower has 'healed itself', right?" Although Amber was also amazed at the magnificent wall, looking at the rotten land in the south, she really couldn't help it. I didn't want to stay longer for a minute, "So those mutants won't have any reinforcements—then let's go back quickly, go back and think about how to deal with those monsters!"

Gawain nodded slightly, turned around and jumped off the boulder, and said casually, "I already have a general plan."

Amber hurriedly followed, and while running behind Gao Wen, Barabara said, "What plan, what plan? Are you really planning to kill more than 900 people in one war charge? I'm kidding you... Is it possible that you are really like this?" Amazing?"

Gao Wenxin said that 700 years ago, Gawain Cecil might really be able to pierce that wave of monsters in a war charge, but if he wants to do this today, he can only spiral into the sky and die again. The plan he said is not his own Rushing in, Kai Wushuang said, "I just roughly calculated the route in the mountain and the speed of those monsters - they haven't sensed the existence of the camp yet, so their moving speed is slow. If they continue to go north at this speed, It will be at least two days before there is a threat to the camp, so we have two days to set it up."

Amber scratched her hair: "What is the arrangement?"

"Blow down the entire cliff on the north side of the mountain on the west side of the camp," Gawain said, flipping the map in his mind quickly, "the rock formation there is not stable, and some areas have cracked, and the road below the mountain wall... In the direction of progress of those aberrations."

Amber was stunned for a moment, Gawain's plan that was so bold that it was almost crazy (in her opinion) was completely beyond her expectations.

In her mind, she conceived countless scenes of setting up defenses outside the camp, fighting bravely, and resisting in a roundabout way. She almost moved herself, but she didn't expect Gao Wen to come up with such an unusual plan...

And then, she doubted the feasibility of this plan: "Can you really do it? Blow up the mountain! How is it possible!"

Gao Wen glanced at Amber: "It's not blowing down the mountain, but blowing down a part of the rock formation. Believe me, I have observed the situation there. It is very easy, and we have enough things to blow it up."

Amber blinked her eyes, and suddenly realized what Gao Wen was referring to: "You mean...the fake crystals that your No. [-] granddaughter tossed out?"

This guy is getting better and better at casually calling other people or things by nicknames.

"It's those crystals, they're called 'Rebecca Crystals', they have a name," Gawain nodded, "because the raw material is rocks from the mountains, and after the confession, even serfs can complete the smelting operation, so those things A whole bunch has been produced, and it just so happens to come in handy."

Amber still wanted to murmur, but Gao Wen had already walked to the front, and he just threw a sentence from a distance: "The details will be discussed when we return to the camp, those monsters will not stop and wait for us."

Amber looked up at Gawain and Hetty walking briskly on the rugged mountain road, and jumped behind anxiously: "Hey! Hey! You two wait for me! Hey - Gawain, you are a knight with good physical strength. Forget it, Heidi, how can you, a mage, run so fast in the mountains!"

Heidi heard Amber's voice, but she just smiled and shook her head without answering.

How do outsiders know the rules of the Cecil family that have been handed down since ancient times—regardless of male or female, regardless of talent, it is standard for the heirs of the family to go to the forest to kill a wolf with bare hands before they reach adulthood... Back then, Rebecca was knocked unconscious by wolves three times before passing the test. But Hetty cleared the level in one go!

After returning to the camp, Gawain immediately called Rebecca, Byron, and Philip to his tent, and the druid Pittman also came in uninvited after hearing the news. .

Considering that there are many things that cannot be hidden, and that if he really needs to fight those monsters head-on, the healing spell of the half-barrel druid will also be an indispensable help, so he didn't drive the little old man out.

"There are more aberrations, nearly a thousand in number, in the mountains," Gawain said bluntly after everyone arrived, "moving this way."

Everyone was shocked by the news, but Pittman was the first to react. The old druid flicked his robe and said righteously: "I don't want this month's salary——"

"Stop, why do you have the same reaction as Amber?" Gao Wen stared at the little old man, "Wait for me to finish speaking first, and it won't be too late for you to express your opinion after I finish the arrangements here."

"Your Excellency," Knight Byron said, "there are less than a hundred people in the camp who are ready to fight—and that's counting the dozens of militiamen who have just been trained. Official soldiers and militiamen are equipped with those enchanted weapons. After the armor, you may be able to fight head-on with the mutant, but it's barely a one-to-one match..."

"I know," Gawain raised his hand to interrupt Byron, "so I don't intend to fight those monsters directly."

Rebecca's eyes widened: "Could it be... to give up the camp?"

She pursed her lips, obviously she didn't want to hear this answer: Although this is a barren place in the wilderness, this is the last place of the Cecil family, and this is also her new home. Both the kiln and the iron and steel plant powered by Magic Net One are her painstaking efforts: this is the first time in her life where she can happily do what she likes to do, no matter what, she doesn't want to give up here.

But if Gao Wen really decides to evacuate...she is also ready to obey.

"No, we don't need to withdraw, at least we don't have to make a decision in such a hurry," Gawain shook his head, "It will take two days for those monsters to move to a position where they can perceive the existence of the camp, and then it will take at least one day for them to rush over, so we have at most three I have a few days to prepare. I have a plan, but I need to use a lot of 'Rebecca crystals'..."

Gao Wen expressed his bold idea, and specially emphasized the feasibility of this plan.

Knight Byron and Knight Philip looked at each other. As two traditional martial arts professionals, they didn't pay much attention to the "inventions" created by Gawain and Rebecca, and they couldn't imagine how big the crystals that could cause explosions were. Pittman is even more confused: these days, he is either preparing alchemy potions in his own room, or wandering around selling useless ointments to exorcise evil spirits and pray for blessings. He doesn’t even know What is a "Rebecca Crystal"...

But Rebecca's eyes lit up all of a sudden: "That's right! Those crystals are fine!"

The Rebecca crystal is an invention she is proud of. These days, as long as she has time, she is testing the properties of those crystals and the power of detonation. A door to a new world was opened, which made the little girl very excited: "Listen to me, the plan that the ancestors said is completely feasible! I know how powerful those crystals are when they explode—and the more they are, the more powerful they will be. It will rise exponentially! If they are stuffed into the cracks in the rock, the detonation circle will be carved on the rock... It will be no problem to blow up a whole rock wall!"

The eyes of the two knights at the scene finally brightened up, but Knight Byron was still a little worried: "But can this really kill those monsters? Their vitality is very tenacious..."

"You have also fought them head-on, and you should know that those aberrants are not invulnerable," Gao Wen smiled, "and the aberrants within the scope of the magic wave and the aberrants wandering away from the team are completely two concepts, lost With the addition of chaotic magic power, they are more than a little bit fragile. According to my observation, the magic wave breath produced by the group of mutants in the mountain is far weaker than the pollution of Cecil Territory that day."

"That would be great," Knight Byron nodded repeatedly, "but what if the landslide doesn't finish them all?"

"I didn't expect to be able to bury them all - it would be the best result if more than half of them could be resolved in the first collapse," Gao Wen said with a smile. "Art" to reduce their number step by step, from the mountain pass in the southwest corner to the camp, we have a buffer zone to deal with them - the open space and fence in front of the camp are the last line of defense, but I suspect that those monsters may not be able to go at all to this distance."

As he said that, he looked up at Rebecca: "I asked you to combine the rune trigger and the trap, it should be done already?"

"Of course, that thing is simple. The simplest rune trigger can be done with a few stacked stone pieces. Anyway, as long as the rune can be pressed into the detonation circle," Rebecca looked very special. Happy, "Besides, after you left just now, I sent a few more people to the kiln. At this time, another batch of crystals should be burned out-now the Magic Net No. [-] has started to operate, put those crystals in the magic net. Near the charging point of No. [-], a lot can be filled in a short while, I sent people to transport all the crystals in reserve to the compound of the steel factory, and all the crystals can be fully charged by tonight at the latest..."

Seeing Rebecca's bala excited face, Gao Wen felt from the bottom of his heart that he had really found a treasure.

This girl...is a talent.

Chapter 0087 The miracle that mortals can participate in

Under the command and guidance of the two knights, the soldiers and civilians in Cecil's pioneering land were finally mobilized.

The news that the mutants were about to attack had spread throughout the camp, but under Gawain's intentional guidance and hints, the panic and pressure caused by this incident were temporarily suppressed—or diverted, and the loot brought back earlier And the title of Gawain Cecil played a decisive role in this regard.

In this regard, Gao Wen himself is most satisfied that at least until now, there have been no fugitives in the camp.

Although the serfs and civilians may be ignorant, they are not stupid, as long as they know that this is a barren place far away from civilized society. It takes at least three or four days to travel to the safe Tanzanian town. When the aberrations are approaching, running out will kill them faster—in this way, those who try to escape will naturally weigh their own life and death.

Gawain had specially asked Hetty to emphasize this point to the citizens.

So despite a little fear, despite the blazing fires and the boundless monsters of Cecil Territory that still haunted these people's minds a few months ago, people tried to muster up their courage, and they heard that the man from the 700 The hero lord from years ago had a special way to deal with mutants, and saw that Hetty and Rebecca were confidently directing soldiers to prepare for battle, so they also gained a little confidence.

And the work assigned to them is also one of the motivations to increase confidence.

Burning "slag" that is said to be used as a weapon in the kiln area, making pedal traps, carving and trimming runes are jobs that even illiterate civilians can do well, and while doing these, soldiers are there The side kept emphasizing that these things could be used to deal with those monsters, so those workers began to feel that the "ancient duke" might really be very capable, and worked harder.

In fact, even the soldiers who were in charge of "reading" were not sure what these things were for. They just followed orders and shouted what they heard from Gao Wen to the civilians who were working.

"Put the broken spar on the bottom layer, and then put the stone slices engraved with magic circles! If the stone slices are damaged, come here to replace them!"

"Put the finished things here!"

"Remember to check to see if the crystal is on. A non-luminous crystal is useless. Come here to change it!"

"The things you make are all weapons, and they are specially designed to deal with monsters - this is the instruction of Duke Gawain! He is the nemesis of those freaks!"

Gawain took Rebecca and Hetty through the empty field in the northeast of the camp. This open space was dedicated to making "art". Originally, Gawain planned to name this place Louvre or something to represent other The positioning of the art treasure house, but no one understands this stalk, so I have to give up.

He bent down and inspected the things neatly piled up at the statistician's feet: they were wooden containers half a foot square, less than two inches high, filled with Rebecca crystal particles inside the wooden box, and Above the crystal is a black stone flake with a detonation circle carved on it.

But these structures alone cannot detonate these magical versions of "landmines", and they also need rune triggers to activate.

The last step cannot be handed over to civilians or serfs. Considering the risk of accidental explosion, the setting of the rune trigger is left at the last step: these wooden boxes will be buried in the open space of the mountain pass in the southwest of the camp. Only when they are buried, soldiers And specialized trap craftsmen will combine rune triggers on the magic circle.

The rune trigger has a fairly simple structure. The paired runes used as the "trigger mechanism" are separated by a thin stone plate, with a layer of wood on it. After stepping on the wood plate, the stone chip shatters, and the two runes follow Contact, forming a complete rune circuit-then activate the detonation circle, and finally trigger an explosion.

This is the alien version of the land mine. Although the technical details are completely different from those of the earth's distant relatives, the thinking has something in common. It obviously does not conform to the chivalry of this era, but Hetty and Rebecca's evaluation of this is— — Whatever chivalry is, this thing looks so exciting!

And in this world where extraordinary power exists, there is a particularly convenient aspect of using "landmines", that is, you don't have to worry about the problem of "mining mines for a while, demining crematoriums", Hetty will leave behind every detonation circle. His own magic mark, this kind of "magic trick" that is not even a first-level spell, can ensure that every mine can be quickly located, and all unexploded mines can be easily found and eliminated after the battle.

Of course, the number of magic marks that Heidi can support alone is also limited, but in this battle, her magic marks are more than enough.

After inspecting the work here, Gawain handed over the defense of the camp to the two family knights and Rebecca, while he took Heidi to the Dark Mountains.

On a rock wall in the north of the mountain, there are more "Rebecca crystals".

In fact, most of the crystals accumulated in the camp these days have been transported here. In order to ensure that the rock wall collapses on a sufficient scale, Gao Wen did not dare to be stingy about the "equivalent".

With the help of Hetty's evocation hand and weight loss spells, the workers and supplies have already been transported in place.With the help of some simple ropes and scaffolding, the stonemasons have dug pits one by one on the mountain wall, and filled a large number of crystal particles into the pits and between the original stone cracks on the mountain wall, but the detonation circle It can only be done by Hetty himself.

Hetty, who is only at the third level, is still unable to use mid-level mage skills such as flying, and even the low-level levitation can't last for too long, so she can only stand on the ground, using the hand of evocation to move objects with the mind Spells are used to complete the work of drawing the detonation circle on the rock wall, and spectator adjustments are made through the eyes of the mage.This kind of precise control is actually beyond the ability of low-level mages, but fortunately Hetty is not only a low-level mage, but also a follower of the "Goddess of Magic" who has officially converted. Before working, she prayed to the Goddess of Magic and gained a brief His blessing, this is the only way to carry on this work.

In order to ensure the normal operation of this extra-large detonation circle, Gao Wen spent a lot of money this time - he took a large amount of prefabricated powdered mithril and amethyst dust from the treasure house in the mountain, and combined with the alchemy potion prepared by Pittman, Made it into the most expensive "pigment" in history, Hetty can directly "draw" these magical materials on the rock wall, which saves a lot of carving and inlay work, and shortens the time.

And now, the most precious thing is time.

While Hetty was drawing those huge lines and runes in place one by one, Amber's figure emerged from the shadow of the nearby bushes, with a nervous expression on her face, she leaned over to Gawain and whispered: " Those monsters are already very close, half a day at most."

"I know, I guess it's about the same," Gao Wen nodded slightly, "Did they come along the expected route?"

"I almost walked on another road in the middle," Amber said with obvious fear, "Later, I boldly escaped from the shadow state for a moment before leading them back to this road—but Instead, they're more aggressive now."

Gao Wen looked at Amber in surprise: "...how come you are so courageous this time?"

Amber curled her lips: "Tch, we've come to this point, what's the use of shrinking our heads at this time——I might as well be reckless with you, maybe I can really live."

As she said that, she couldn't help but put her eyes on the mountain wall in front of her.

This high cliff is right next to the mountain path where the four aberrants had encountered the previous encounter. Below the cliff is the road that was walked at the beginning. The state of collapse may occur at any time, and there is only one road below the mountain road. When the aberrations pass by from here, they will inevitably form a crowded and long queue. When the mountain wall collapses, they will have no way to avoid it—this is indeed a very good ambush location .

If there is a high-level magister here, he will definitely choose to blow up the mountain wall to kill those monsters. After all, for a powerful magister, it only takes an extremely effective explosion to collapse the rock wall. It's just a spell or a disintegration of the earth element.

But what wanted to do all this at this moment was a third-level low-level mage who couldn't even hit a Frostbolt, and a large group of ordinary people like stonemasons, peasants, and serfs.

This made Amber feel completely weird.

The translucent hand of evocation is moving on the rock wall, applying the alchemy potion mixed with mithril powder and amethyst dust as a paint on the surface of the stones, and many runes have been formed, which makes the entire mountain wall look like some It is as strange as a strange religious totem, and on the top of the cliff, you can also see the simple rope ladders and brackets used by the masons before, which are "construction traces" that have not been demolished in time and are not going to be demolished.

It is proof that ordinary people have participated in this incredible plan.

Not far away, the masons and apprentices are resting. They have exhausted a lot of energy and courage before - it is not easy to tie a few ropes to dig holes on the mountain wall, especially when time is tight and they must work continuously This is even more so in the case of other people, but they still completed this challenge, which even made Gao Wen feel a little unbelievable. He originally thought that this work would take more time, and the degree of completion could not catch up with his expectations.

But soon Gao Wen realized that this was not due to the sense of honor that the craftsmen and apprentices were inspired by, and most likely it had nothing to do with the desire to survive, but because the poor people of this era lived like this.

Is it difficult to tie a rope to dig a hole in the mountain wall?It's not much harder than fixing the spire of the lord's castle with a rope, or picking herbs from the cliff for the lord.

It is said that 400 years ago, in some mountainous areas in the west of the kingdom, serfs were not even allowed to tie ropes to pick herbs—because the local ropes were even more expensive than serfs’ lives at that time.

Here, at least they have a rope tied to their bodies, and what they do is no longer just for the lord.

Chapter 0088 The First Roar