Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 438 - 437: Calibration

The dark night was deep, and the faint lamplight that spilled from the tall and narrow crystal glass windows of the banquet hall was not enough to completely dispel the darkness on the terrace. Ropeni Ge’lan stood silently on this empty terrace, looking down at where Viscount Carol fell.

Behind her, the light from the banquet hall faintly shone through the crystal glass windows into the night, appearing blurry and weak, and even the music drifting out of the banquet hall seemed ethereal, almost unreal.

"Truly silent and untraceable..."

The Lady stood in the night for a moment, then suddenly spoke softly.

As her words fell, a slightly magnetic voice came from the darkness: "You took quite a risk—if you were discovered, it wouldn’t be good."

Ropeni Ge’lan was not startled by this voice, for she had long been aware of the other’s presence. She turned her head to see a figure emerging from hiding in the dark—a tall figure, handsome face, and an impressive head of golden hair, a typical silver elf.

Soldrin of golden hair, a high-ranked Elven Ranger from the Cecil territory, had been secretly brought into the city tonight by the team he led.

Looking at the elf ranger before her, Lady Ropeney’s gaze involuntarily fell on the strange armored suit of black armor made with alloy armor plates and sturdy leather that the ranger wore. This was the standard equipment for the "Steel Cavalry." Just tonight, dozens of steel cavalrymen had infiltrated the fortress under her and her attendants’ cover and assistance, lying in wait within the city walls.

Thinking of what these steel cavalrymen were about to do in the city, she felt especially pleased.

"Carol was one of the few smart ones amongst those foolish nobles, and he was too cautious and sharp," Ropeni withdrew her gaze and turned to look quietly in the direction where Viscount Carol had fallen. "At such a critical moment, I did not want this variable to survive."

"In fact, we are not concerned about this variable," Soldrin said to the Lady before him. "This fortress will face its destiny tomorrow. No matter what warnings Mr. Carol gives, and no matter what countermeasures the fortress commander takes, it will be insignificant—in fact, your actions have put you in danger."

"In the end, it all went smoothly, didn’t it?" Ropeni Ge’lan smiled slightly. "For me personally, pushing ’Mr. Carol’ down was quite a delightful thing... No one will find out. Even if tomorrow someone sees the body at the bottom of the castle, everyone will only lament the young untimely death of the Viscount, who drunkenly stumbled."

Soldrin looked quietly into the Lady’s eyes and, after a long moment, slowly spoke: "I just want to remind you, be careful not to let hate cloud your judgment."

"Rest assured, I have waited eleven years, and at this time I won’t lose my reason," Ropeni Ge’lan knew well why the high-ranked ranger revealed himself. She shook her head slightly, lowering her voice with a soft smile, "And I still look forward to the beautiful world promised by Duke Gawain, so I naturally will not act recklessly."

"That’s good," Soldrin nodded slightly, retreating into the darkness of the night, his voice dispersing into the night: "Don’t forget, a song of loyal praise."

This was a unique Cecil code, or a kind of common saying used under specific conditions. Although she didn’t fully understand its deeper meaning, Ropeni Ge’lan still said softly into the empty night with a cheerful heart, "A song of loyal praise..."

...

As it seemed, just as Sir Maryland predicted, the Cecil Clan, upon discovering their magical devices could not quickly overwhelm the fortress, gave up on the idea of a forceful assault. Until the sun rose the next day, the Cecil Clan did not "fire" again. The mage on the mage towers used the Eye of the Mage to confirm the situation in the enemy camp and reported that the Cecil people had only moved a portion of their troops a little way northwest and set up a new camp on a high ground there. Apart from that, there were no signs of a proactive attack.

In the military hall of the castle district, Sir Maryland marked the Cecil’s position on the plains on a rough map, pointing his sword at the enemy’s new camp, saying to the others: "Here, compared to their first camp, it is not much closer to the rocky ridges Fortress, just a bit nearer to the White River. What are your thoughts?"

A southern aristocrat stood forward and said: "I judge that the Cecil Clan built it for easier water access. After all, when entering the plains, they took the ’White Valley Mountain Path,’ and the exit there is too far from the White River."

"It seems they are not bold," Sir Maryland clearly agreed with the aristocrat’s assessment. "It looks like once they realized their magical devices weren’t effective, they started worrying about the fortress’s catapults. Even choosing a water source was done so cautiously and evasively..."

The situation appeared to be developing as Sir Maryland hoped: the Cecil "Skyfire Myth" failed when faced with the fortress’s powerful magic barrier, and the seemingly terrifying army could only engage in a prolonged standoff with the fortress, not daring to move within the catapult range on the city walls. This further confirmed one of his earlier hypotheses:

Those Cecil soldiers relied on magical devices for their advantage and actually lacked courage.

This meant that if attacks kept failing, the Cecil’s morale would surely plummet quickly...

...

On the second high ground where the Cecil Corps was stationed, Sir Philip was overseeing the establishment of the new artillery positions, and on a transport cart behind him, the image of Sir Byron floated above a Magic Web Communicator.

"So you’re saying those cowards in the rocky ridges Fortress really aren’t coming out?" The knight, a seasoned mercenary, never cared much for his manners in speech and shouted loudly, "I thought they would at least come out symbolically to face you before you fired..."

"They’re not stupid, they realized the power of guns and cannons during their proactive attacks a few days ago," Sir Philip said casually, then looked up, gazing at the majestic walls of the rocky ridges Fortress glimmering with magical brilliance in the distance, "However, speaking of it... the magic barrier of the rocky ridges Fortress is indeed a bit more formidable than I imagined."

Sir Byron was momentarily surprised: "Hey, that’s not what you said before, what do you mean by being a bit more formidable than imagined—does the cannon really have no effect on that thing?"

"Not quite, the power of the Magic Crystal Railgun is always effective, but the strength of that barrier is really high, it completely withstood last night’s bombardment—though it was only twelve test shots, it’s already quite unexpected," Sir Philip said honestly, "I estimate if we want to use the Magic Crystal Railgun to deal with this kind of barrier, we’d need to bombard it continuously for at least six hours on my side."

"Oh, a barrier that can be broken is nothing strong—the aristocrats inside the fortress are probably still celebrating their indestructible barrier at this time," Byron said with thick disdain in his voice, then added, "Don’t waste ammo on that barrier—leave it to the Rainbow Cannon."

Philip frowned: "You keep saying that, but when exactly will you arrive?"

"Soon, soon, we’re on the way, Miss Rebecca has already started checking the magic circuit on this ship to get ready to fire," Byron’s hand gestures came through distorted on the holographic projection of the communicator, his voice and image both somewhat distorted due to being on a battleship in the White River, with the signal entirely relying on the Magic Web Relay Towers along the riverbank for transmission, and these newly set relay towers still don’t cover enough area, with signal interruption occurring in some sections, "At Miss Tiel’s pace, we’ll be there in just over five hours..."

"I’ll conduct another bombardment at noon," Philip interrupted Byron, "I think the magical barrier of the rocky ridges Fortress is very... valuable, the accompanying Mage Technician also thinks so, I want to use artillery to test the strength of the barrier as much as possible, observe its operating method, and if Master Kamel and Miss Jenni crack the secret of this gigantic barrier, it might come in handy for us."

Byron looked at the earnest expression on Sir Philip’s face with surprise: "Since when did you get interested in magic?"

Sir Philip stood upright, his expression solemn: "I’m only interested in the interests of the territory and the people."

"I tell you—if someone like you became a mercenary, you’d probably get sold to a gladiator arena on the first day, and you’d still feel honored being sold," Sir Byron pulled a face that showed it was awkward to work with such a naive person, then forced out a strange smile, "But seriously, there seems to be someone who buys into this among traditional knights like you—Miss Margarita is behind you."

With those words, Byron quickly ended the communication, and after a moment of being in a daze, Philip turned around to see the Lady Knight Margarita from the Kant Region standing behind him, looking at him with admiration.

"In this era, there are not many like you who still adhere to knightly virtues." The Lady Knight said sincerely.

"It’s my duty, Miss Margarita," Philip said with a serious expression, "Will the large accelerator cannons be ready to fire before noon?"

"You’ll hear their roars on time."

...

At noon, when the cooking smoke rose from the Inner City District of the rocky ridges Fortress, the Cecil Corps finally began the second round of artillery bombardment.

Strange wails, sharp whistles, thunderous explosions once again loomed over the heads of the defenders at the rocky ridges Fortress. However, compared to the panic and chaos triggered by the sudden bombardment of the previous day, the confusion brought by this round of bombardment was noticeably less. The aristocratic soldiers within the fortress, after an instinctive first wave of tension, noticed that the powerful magic barrier still enveloped the entire city; they then calmed down.

Some even boldly climbed onto the outer walls, shouting loudly in the direction of the Cecil Clan, mocking them out loud.

Magic Crystal Shells exploded on the magical barrier outside the walls, and the lethal power of the explosions was completely blocked; even the deafening roar was significantly silenced by the barrier’s interference. The most daring soldiers and knights initially just watched the spectacle from a relatively safe distance, but soon, someone led the initiative, and some actually ran to the section of the wall facing the oncoming bombardment, observing closely as the explosions went off in mid-air.

Surprisingly, most of those doing this were not the knights and soldiers of the rocky ridges Fortress, but those southern aristocrats and their private soldiers who had been terror-stricken by the "Skyfire Explosion" like homeless dogs a month ago.

They seemed to be flaunting their courage—or rather, venting their fears from a month ago.

Ropeni Ge’lan stood on an observation tower far from the walls, staring coldly at the disgraceful southern territory knights and soldiers on the walls.

Compared to those Allied Army soldiers who, after the battle fled in exhaustion and were captured like walking dead by the Cecil Clan, the psychological trauma left on these aristocratic Soldier Remnants who fled to the rocky ridges Fortress early didn’t seem severe enough...

But that’s alright, their psychological trauma is just about to arrive.

Lady Ropeney lifted her head, looking in the southwest direction of the fortress.

The White River meandered through the plains, and on its river surface, reflecting the sky’s light, an unusual wave was entering her line of sight.