Chapter 1321 - 1320: Focal Point

Chapter 1321: Chapter 1320: Focal Point

Duke Baldwin still remembered the impressive demeanor of Miss Venna, the gray elf leader, during their last meeting—that was after the Alliance Continental Air Route had officially been put into use. She had come to the Empire representing Moss Woods to discuss the trade quota of the continental route. At that time, she represented the world’s most astute merchant tribe, holding in her hands the direction of an ancient kingdom’s rise in the new era. She was confident and full of vigor, her aura in negotiations commanding respect despite her petite stature.

But today, she appeared particularly haggard and exhausted. As one of Augari’s "Five Kings," the tribal leader seemed not to have rested well for a long time, worrying Baldwin about her health.

"You might need to take a good rest first," Duke Baldwin, leading the army in person to provide support, couldn’t help but say, "Our recon team hasn’t returned yet; the main troops are still assembling. You could lie down for a while during this time."

"I have rested—but it’s hard to fall into a deep sleep," Venna waved her hand, her voice a bit hoarse, "Gray elves are a nervous-sensitive race, easily affected under pressure, but we have strong physical resistance in reality. You don’t have to worry about my health."

As she spoke, she moved to Baldwin’s side and climbed onto a chair next to the tactical table with some effort. Her gaze was on the forest terrain map projected by the magic crystals, and she casually said, "I brought in troops from Wind Song City, including beastmen mercenaries and gray elf hunters under my command. Our soldiers might lack in combat power, but if you plan to operate in Augari’s central and southern mountains, you still need the help of locals."

"Oh, we indeed lack such help," Baldwin immediately replied, "The situation south of the mountains remains unclear. We deployed high-power call stations on the mountain passes but still can’t reach Holy Helm City’s relay station. We’ve dispatched reconnaissance teams, but ground scouting and aerial reconnaissance have just started, and no effective intel has returned yet..."

Venna nodded lightly. She had already understood the Cecil Clan’s fascinating "holographic sand table." What was presented on the sand table was a topographic overview extending from Moss Woods toward Augari’s southern area, albeit the regions stretching from the foothold of the main troops to the southern terrain were all in gray-white model status—indicating maps existed for these areas, but the real-time situation was completely unclear.

"We are here now," the gray elf leader pointed to the "doorway plains" marked with a green triangle tent on the map, then directed her finger toward the southern expanse, "This is the ’Ancient Merchant Road’ I mentioned—an essential trade route for gray elf merchants and Augari tribes between Moss Woods and the central mountains for centuries. In recent years, with the rise of new commerce, we gray elves initiated the refurbishment and broadening of the Ancient Merchant Road, which you might have noticed. Extending south is a straight, wide new road, the unfinished ’Tribal Road’...

"This road can stretch to Klin Mountain Road, further south leads to the old mountain paths not yet repaired; your tanks can’t go there, but infantry and your light traction cannons can enter the mountains. One of the ’Five Kings,’ human king Wickcliff, should be stationed at the eastern defense line of this area... At least, it was the case before communication was cut off.

"On Klin Mountain Road, there’s a branch stretching southeast, leading to Ruby City, the beastmen’s capital, and the largest city in the central area besides Holy Helm City. East of Ruby City lies the beastmen’s ’Holy Land,’ Ruby Forest Sea. Beyond it is Augari’s primary depth defense area facing wasteland, composed of Wolf Spine Mountain-Echo Valley, Dark Stone Junction-Wind Erosion Valley, and several barrier lines formed by natural ridges, mountain paths, and a vast foray of tunnels and caves. The main border with Gondor wasteland lies at this eastern depth defense area, guarded by Big Cat and her comrades...

"Big Cat?" Baldwin was momentarily stunned and instinctively asked.

"Ah, sorry, I got a bit confused," Venna immediately tapped her forehead as if realizing who was in front of her was Duke Baldwin Franklin, "I meant one of the ’Five Kings,’ the beastmen Chieftain, Lady Camilla—Big Cat is her nickname, a private term I use with her. Please don’t mind."

"Oh, I see—I’ve heard about that brave chieftain," Baldwin nodded and said, "So, what’s next? Anything else?"

"I don’t know how long Camilla and her Highland Braves can sustain this defense line... But if Ruby City still stands, it can become a pivot," Venna continued, "We can reconstruct the defense system here, then push eastward...

"...From here going west, one can reach Ancestral Peak, where Fairy King Stella and her Golem Legion have been guarding the Holy Mountain for generations. It’s also the home of elves. The whole Holy Mountain is easy to defend, hard to attack, and Holy Helm City lies on its western side. Even if Camilla’s defense line breaks, those monsters wouldn’t be able to reach Holy Helm City now..."

Venna’s expression was solemn as she meticulously narrated all the intelligence she knew and speculated about these past few days, with Duke Baldwin listening intently, not missing a word, until the gray elf leader finished speaking, he thoughtfully said, "Sounds like the terrain on Augari’s eastern side is quite suitable for defense..."

"Yes, a natural great barrier; even aberrations would exhaust climbing these layered mountains. We’ve gradually gotten used to this ’protection from the mountains’ over centuries. No one anticipated the breach in the great walls would lead to monstrous hordes of unimaginable scale emerging," Venna sighed and shook her head, "While a single water splash might not cut through trenches on the beach, a massive surge wouldn’t heed the obstacles along its path, especially now that this surge is commanded by someone behind it..."

The gray elf lady’s tone held undisguisable self-mockery and frustration, a complex musing she couldn’t share—her lament wasn’t only about Augari’s decline from enjoying peace for centuries.

When the Cecil Clan in the northern lands rapidly rose, when the two human empires transformed under competitive pressure from the new era, when elves, Dragonborn, and dragonkin appeared on the continental stage, Augari in the mountains remained sluggish. But amidst this sluggishness, gray elves weren’t unaware, and even Augari humans and fairies weren’t unresponsive—they and the other "kings" had started importing technology, purchasing advanced equipment from northern empires, learning modern military formations and tactical charters, joining the alliance, and participating in the Alliance Continental Air Route and transnational land-commerce circles...

Yet all of this hadn’t blocked the natural disaster erupting in mere days after the great walls dimmed—the advanced equipment purchased hadn’t been sufficiently applied to the border defenses. The foreign experts hired couldn’t save the beastmen troops in the eastern mountains. The limited advancements and prosperity in Holy Helm City and a few main tribal cities couldn’t change the overall backwardness of the tribal country. Now, even with domestic communication crippled, the country remains utterly helpless—the magic web system’s spare parts are eighty percent dependent on imports, unable to be produced domestically.

Buying can’t buy defense and livelihood—it’s a pity the lesson’s price is unimaginably steep.

"Miss Venna?" Duke Baldwin’s voice suddenly came from beside, pulling the daydreaming Venna Baizhi out of her daze, "Are you alright? Is there anything uncomfortable?"

"I... no, it’s nothing, I just got a bit distracted," Venna quickly regained her composure and casually cast a secondary clarity spell on herself, her gaze refocusing on Baldwin Franklin’s face, "Sorry, where were you just now?"

"About the current communication environment in the Augari Area," Baldwin looked at Venna twice before continuing, raising his hand to point at the magic web terminal placed at the edge of the tactical table, "Now we have confirmed that a large area south of Moss Woods is in a ’communication disruption’ state. The powerful energies released during the fluctuations of the great walls are still bouncing and undulating between the mountains. Although signs of decline have appeared recently, this interference might take a while to completely dissipate. However, our technicians have just discovered that this interference is stronger closer to the ground and weakens with altitude..."

"In light of this, we plan to temporarily set up a mid-air relay system, attempting to establish a series of floating communication stations in the sky to see if this can restore communications in the Augari Area, but this first requires your permission, at least yours... because later we will let this system approach your Holy Mountain."

"Can it really be done?" Venna listened to this bold plan from the Cecil Clan’s Grand Governor, her eyes slowly widening, "Establishing a communication network in the sky—and in such a short time? Ah, I know about your Dragon Cavalry, but the Dragon Cavalry seems..."

"Not the Dragon Cavalry," Baldwin laughed, "It’s something else, capable of floating in the air for a long time serving as a sky stronghold or landing when needed to act as a ground fortress, and they have a central core that permanently floats in the sky..."

Baldwin Franklin described the "Aerial Combat Group," which centers around the "Dawn of the mortal world" and includes a large number of Gorgon Combat Platforms as escorts. However, to Miss Venna, who had never seen it in person, it seemed like she was listening to a fantastical tale: "...Ah?"

Baldwin thought for a moment, considering how to explain this to her, but soon he didn’t need to explain any further.

Above the holographic sand table projected by the tactical desk, a specially marked golden shadow abruptly appeared on the edge of the map, and a low, strange humming sound, like a giant beast whimpering in the night sky, echoed from somewhere into the command post. This sound emanated from above, and Venna Baizhi’s ears perked up almost instantly.

She vaguely sensed an immense presence, an unignorable magic system that stimulated her keen mage’s nerves, making her suddenly widen her eyes and stare at Duke Baldwin beside her—who simply smiled suddenly and greeted her with a friendly smile: "Ah, here it comes—Miss Venna, just in time, let me show you the main force supporting the Augari warfront, the Empire’s most formidable Sky Fortress."

Venna, bewildered, stood up, clambered down from the chair, and trotted on her short legs to keep up with Duke Baldwin. They left the command post and came to the open ground in the camp. The cold wind of the winter night blew in from afar, making Venna shiver and her mind become clearer—with the next second, she followed the feeling and looked towards the distant northeast.

A city emitting a faint glow was slowly flying towards the direction of Moss Woods in the night sky.

It was enormous like a mountain, yet clearly not a "mountain" floating in the sky. It had a roughly hexagonal outline, with its body made of steel below which were dozens of giant glowing rings arranged neatly, used to support the protruding structures of the anti-gravity engines along its bottom’s central axis, releasing a dim light in the night sky. Around the floating "steel land" were countless ferocious giant cannons, neatly arranged launchers, and small objects hanging like birds clinging to a giant beast’s support structures.

Venna stared wide-eyed into the night, distinguishing for a long time before realizing in shock that the small objects hanging on the "steel land’s" edge were densely packed Dragon Cavalry Fighters.

She opened her mouth wide, and at this moment the giant object was still relentlessly approaching. Although she couldn’t see the structure on its upper layer from the ground, she could still see some towering towers and walls standing on its surface. Lights wandered across the giant beast, illuminating its steel body and the architectural group on its back, as well as the forest and plains below, while waves of low humming sounds emanated from inside the giant beast.

This enormous object was so awe-inspiring, with such presence in the night sky, that it almost completely commanded Venna Baizhi’s attention, and it took her a long time to realize another thing—

The object was not flying alone; in its surrounding night sky floated a dozen or more anti-gravity platforms, each much smaller than it yet still ten to dozens of times larger than common Dragon Cavalry.

Each of those platforms housed different items, including steel-built modular buildings, bizarre weapon systems, towering communication towers, and enormous factories and barracks.

In this cold winter night, the Gray Elf Leader was deeply shocked.

At the same time, in the Augari Mid-Eastern depth defense zone, the acrid smoke and nauseating corruptive breath once again spread between the mountains.

The war drums roared, thunder and flames ran rampant on the earth, and the mountains were about to be engulfed in a sea of fire, as filthy monsters made a comeback.

The aberrations that had retreated for a time completed their rest and reorganization under their commanders’ control, launching the largest attack since the outbreak of this war before the morning sun once again shone over the Augari mountains.

Feedback from various frontlines made the commanders behind these monsters realize where the greatest breakthrough point of the wasteland defense line was. They were concentrating massive superior forces on the western line, while Augari’s ancient mountains and forests... had already become the juiciest feast in their eyes.