Sword of Dawn

Page 420

"The war has always been there, but the form and scope of the war have changed." She finally nodded and said conclusively.

"It's thought-provoking," Malm Dunit nodded after a moment of silence, and said in a deep tone, "This is an angle I've never considered."

Matilda showed a smile: "It's good that you don't mind saying these deep words in front of you."

Malm Dunit smiled with an expression of an elder doting on a younger generation: "Of course not."

Chapter 0887 Omen

The majestic and majestic bells echoed in the sanctuary, and a deep resonance sounded in the Great Cathedral of the God of War under the steel dome. Matilda got up from the bench and said to the old pope in front of her: "The bell is ringing, I should I have returned to Obsidian Palace. If you are still interested in my experience in Cecil, I can tell you more next time I come."

"I'm looking forward to it," Malm Dunit said with a peaceful and loving smile on his face. This gentle temperament made him almost look like a battle priest who served the God of War and once charged on the battlefield. Only his burly and strong body The sharpness of the body and the fundus of the eyes is still silently proving that the old man still has strength, proving his authority over the church, "Bring my greetings to Rosetta—he has not been here for a long time Passed the Great Temple of the God of War."

Matilda lowered her head slightly: "...I will."

No matter how the Augustus family kept a respectful distance from the gods and the church, it was the responsibility of the royal family to regularly contact church representatives and set foot in the church. This kind of thing to be seen by the nobles and the people below still had to be done.

Taking the attendants and guards with her, Matilda left the magnificent palace.

From the inner sanctum to the exit, there is a long corridor.

The Mars sect uses "iron" as a symbol of the sacred metal. Black steel frames and classical iron sculptures decorate the corridor leading to the outside of the church. Countless candles in the alcoves illuminate the place. Between the pillars, and between the narrow windows, scripture cloth depicting various battle scenes or sacred proverbs hangs from the roof and adorns the walls on both sides.

Matilda was walking along this long corridor, and the flickering candlelight in the alcove seemed to flicker in her sight. When she approached the exit of the church, she couldn't help slowing down a little, and a black The dark-eyed, dignified and soft figure, wearing a maid's long skirt, naturally came to her in the next second.

This figure was one of several maids following Matilda, but until she stood up, no one noticed her existence, even if she came to the princess, no one saw how she crossed She took the place of other maids and servants and quietly appeared beside Matilda.

"Ms. Diana," Matilda said softly to the black-haired maid who came to her, "do you feel... there is a strange... atmosphere in the Cathedral today?"

"I didn't feel it, Your Highness," the black-haired maid kept the same speed as Matilda, and replied in a low voice as she walked forward, "Did you notice anything?"

"...No, it's probably because I haven't been here for a long time, and the relatively heavy decoration style here makes me a little uncomfortable," Matilda shook her head, and then changed the subject, "It seems that Pope Malm also Noticing recent changes in Aldernan, fresh air has been blown into the Great Sept."

Diana's tone was soft: "Although His Majesty Malm doesn't pay attention to the secular world, he has never been a conservative and stubborn person. When new things appear in his sight, he is also willing to understand."

As a "maid", her tone was still quite indifferent when talking about the Pope.

Matilda nodded lightly, seeming to agree with Diana's judgment, then she sped up her pace a little, leading the entourage quickly through the long corridor.

The candles in the alcove were shining, and there was no wind in the corridor, but all the candles were swaying gently in different directions, as if an invisible wind was circling in a dimension that humans could not perceive, disturbing the silence of this sanctuary .

……

Malm Dunit finished another brief prayer. He opened his eyes, heaved a sigh of relief, reached out for the herbal wine served by the attendant, and took a small sip in a restrained manner.

The spicy, sweet and bitter taste of the herbal wine escaped from his throat, stimulating the spirit of the old man. He quietly waited for the feeling of boosting his vitality to ferment in his body, and at the same time asked casually: "His Royal Highness and his party left ?”

An acolyte in a dark priest's robe bowed beside the Pope and reported respectfully: "They have left the Great Cathedral, Your Majesty."

"Well," Malm nodded, "Then let's continue discussing the festival later."

"Your Majesty, do you..." the deacon glanced at the old pope with some concern, and said hesitantly, "Do you need to take a break today? You have received a lot of receptions today, and your energy will easily be exhausted at this time."

"I'm not that fragile yet," Malm shook his head, "and the test sent by the Lord cannot be escaped, especially around the annual festival."

While speaking, the old pope drew an X symbol across his chest, and recited the name of the God of War in a low voice.

Power that cannot be detected by mortals is surging in the Great Sanctuary, and a certain sacred but indescribable and incomprehensible "breath" lingers in this sanctuary. Malm can vaguely perceive its vague ripples, he Knowing that this is the power of the gods fluctuating between the world and the kingdom of God.

The God of War is a god that is "close" to humans, even closer to humans than Holy Light, which has always been in the name of gentleness and justice.This may be because humans are naturally a war-loving race, or it may be because the God of War is more concerned with the mortal world than other gods. In any case, the impact of this "closeness" is far-reaching.

It brings more powerful and easy-to-obtain divine arts to the God of War priests, and it also makes it easier for the power of the gods to have some kind of "cross-penetration" with the world, and this "penetration" that occurs at the border of the real world has periodic ups and downs ——Now, a new round of infiltration is approaching, and in this cathedral closest to the will of the gods, certain signs have begun to appear.

This is a normal state for senior God of War priests, and it is a very normal and natural phenomenon.

It's just that the penetration this year... seems to be stronger than in previous years.

"Your Majesty," the voice of the deacon came from the side, interrupting the Pope's thoughts, "recently, more and more clergy have heard noises during prayers. The situation is particularly serious.”

"The Lord is approaching this world periodically," Malm said in a deep voice, "The human mind cannot fully understand the words of the gods, so the knowledge beyond our thinking becomes a noise like noise, which is quite normal ——Let the priests remain devout, and their bodies and minds are synchronized with the teachings of the gods, which will allow us to understand the will of the gods more effectively, and the "noise" will be reduced a lot."

The deacon bowed his head deeply, and replied respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Afterwards, the deacon was quiet for a few seconds, and finally couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, the 'resonance' seems unusually strong this time. Is this a sign that the god is about to issue a will?"

Malm glanced at the deacon, lowered his eyelids, and folded his hands in front of him: "Don't speculate on the Lord's will, just respectfully fulfill our responsibilities as priests."

The deacon accepted the teaching, immediately lowered his eyelids, folded his hands in front of his body, and recited the prayers dedicated to the gods in a low voice.His voice was low and steady, and the sacred words flowed between his lips and tongue, but Pope Malm suddenly frowned——he suddenly heard a few strange grunts between the words of the deacon, which seemed to be mixed with human voices There was a strange echo, as if a heterogeneous throat was emitting whispers that humans could not utter, but the noise lasted very short, and the short prayer of the deacon was over in the next second. It was calm and clear, and there was nothing unusual about it.

He seemed oblivious to what had just happened.

Malm Dunit looked back at the deacon, and calmed down the extraordinary power that had just been mobilized in his body. He said calmly: "Call the bishops together, and let's discuss the matter of the ceremony."

……

The Guardian's Shield lay quietly on the table, the ancient Cecil emblem solidified into a rusty and fuzzy plaque on the shield, Gawain's fingers slowly brushed over the weathered and corroded metal surface, the voice of amber It came from beside him: "It is said that you will stare at this shield in a daze these days when you have nothing to do - do you remember what happened back then? Deep in the memory? Can't help but sigh with life? This But it's a sign of old age..."

Gao Wen turned his head and glanced at the shame of the empire who was blatantly skipping work next to him: "Did you run around during working hours just to come here to beg for a beating?"

Amber waved her hand immediately: "I'm not just running around—I'm here to report to you on business."

Gawain put aside his focus on the Guardian's Shield for now, and frowned slightly, looking at the half-elf in front of him: "What's the business?"

Amber took a step forward, and casually took out some folded documents from her pocket and put them on Gao Wen's desk: "I've sorted everything out."

Gao Wen opened the paper with the imprint of the internal security department, and his eyes quickly scanned the printed text. After seeing the content clearly, he raised his eyebrows, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "So, we The phantom play is popular among the bourgeoisie of Aldernan?"

"After solving the initial promotion problems, this novelty has easily captured the appetite of the citizens - even a very simple plot can make the audience intoxicated, and the magic shadow theater itself just caters to the old The psychology of the citizens of the south," Amber said casually, "it's not expensive, but it does require a little extra money, and decent citizens need to prove that they have the ability to 'enjoy life' in this cheap and trendy entertainment investment." At the same time, the Magic Shadow Theater is also a 'theater', which makes it a 'symbol' for the common people of Typhon to show their improved life taste.

"Of course, these reasons are secondary. The main attraction of the Phantom Drama is that it is 'fun' enough - on this invisible battlefield, 'fun' is definitely the most powerful weapon I have ever seen .”

Gawain listened to Amber's sound analysis, and couldn't help but smile and glance at the half-elf - in the past two years, her growth has become more and more obvious.

"It's a good thing, our first stage is succeeding," Gao Wen nodded with a smile, and put the documents on the table casually, "The things we have to do afterwards will be much simpler and clearer.

"Create a large number of new ghost dramas quickly and mass-produced. The production does not need to be sophisticated, but it must be interesting enough to attract more Typhonians to pay attention; it is not necessary to directly promote Cecil in order to prevent Orr The vigilance and resistance of Durnan, but it is necessary to frequently strengthen Cecil's advanced impression in the phantom drama...

"Increase investment in overseas newspapers and magazines, recruit some local people, and create some 'academic authorities'-they don't have to be real authorities, but as long as there are enough newspapers and magazines declaring that they are authorities, there will naturally be enough references. Toyoto believes in this..."

Gao Wen talked about his ideas one by one, talking about his plan to disintegrate the cohesive consciousness of Typhon people and shake the foundation of Typhon society. Amber listened carefully in front of him. Can't help sighing: "To be honest, I think this is more terrifying than killing on the battlefield..."

Gawain glanced at her: "Why do you think so?"

"The killing on the battlefield will only bring down soldiers, but the weapons you are building will bring down an entire country," Amber pouted, "and the latter won't even realize it until they fall."

After two seconds of silence, Gao Wen said, "The you in the past would never have thought of such a profound thing."

"I used to not be exposed to such far-reaching things," Amber shrugged, "If I became cunning and treacherous, I must have been brought out by you."

Gao Wen listened to Amber's carefree teasing, but he didn't get angry in the slightest. He just kept silent for a few seconds thoughtfully, and then suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Sometimes I also feel that my methods are quite dishonest, but we are facing a Typhon who wants to take a bite at any time... I am really a little afraid of such an old-fashioned empire with malicious intentions, so I can only continue Increase the dose of 'poison'," he said, shaking his head, skipping the topic, "Let's not talk about this, I'm going to try something next, and I need you to watch over it."

Amber suddenly smiled: "Hey, I am good at this, and I am a guardian... wait, isn't the spiritual network of the eternal sleeper already nationalized, so there is no need to take risks and sneak into it?"

Gao Wen knew that the other party had misunderstood him, so he couldn't help but waved his hand with a smile, then he tapped the Guardian Shield on the table with his fingers: "It's not sneaking into the Internet - I'm going to try to fight with this shield." Exchange exchange'."

When Amber heard this, she immediately looked at Gao Wen with something strange in her eyes: "...you want to communicate with a shield? Hey, I think there is something wrong with you staring at this shield every day recently, and you always say it's okay. Have you recalled too many things from the past recently, leading to..."

Gao Wen glanced at Amber quietly, then tapped the shield on the table again: "I don't mind hitting you on the wall with this."

Amber shrank her neck immediately, and took a look at the legendary shield—it was obviously much wider than the Pioneer Sword, and if she slapped herself on the wall, it would be embedded very evenly. I can't even brush it off...

"I'm just kidding," she said, shaking her neck, "Don't always be so cruel..."

Gawain ignored the whispered BB behind the Shame of the Empire, and he refocused on the Guardian Shield in front of him.

After a few days of hesitation and weighing, he finally decided... to try to get in touch with the "starry heritage" in front of him according to the way he got in touch with the Eternal Slate.

Chapter 0888

It comes from the stars.

Gawain stared at the shield of the guardian of the kingdom in front of him. His eyes skipped over the weathered and rusted metal accessories covering the shield, and landed on the silver-white metal plate as the main body of the shield.

The dimly flickering silver light spots on the metal plate are still pulsating slowly as if they are alive, as if they are breathing. It has no vitality at all, but it seems to have been "alive" for millions of years.

After knowing more secrets about the "God Killing Fleet", after roughly confirming that this piece of metal came from the starry sky, and after speculating that there might be a connection between this thing and his "satellite body", Gawain looked at it in his heart. I couldn't help feeling more emotions and thoughts.

He shook his head, expelling all the irrelevant thoughts in his mind, then he glanced at Amber who was waiting next to him, then retracted his gaze, put his hand on the silver alloy body, and let his spirit The power spread to the inside of the metal—just like what he did when he communicated with the "Slab of Eternity".

In the first few seconds, nothing happened. Gawain felt that there was only a huge emptiness at the end of his spiritual power. The interior of the ancient starry sky heritage was empty. There were no new fleet battle reports, and no ancient forerunners left. The information of the descendants, but in the next second, Gao Wen's mind suddenly exploded with a loud bang!

He instantly lost the perception of his own body, and his five senses and six senses seemed to be misplaced at this moment. As a human being, his perception ability was replaced by a higher and more complicated "perception", and his body at this moment couldn't handle it at all. This kind of heterogeneous information - so he felt that his consciousness was stripped out and linked into a new "container", his senses began to be "overwritten", refreshed and calibrated again and again, In the end, a much larger data stream, completely different from his original satellite body, successfully established a connection with him.

He heard a consciousness make a "voice" directly in his mind: "Visitors entering the sky system...confirmed as the only connection. Temporary privilege escalation is in progress. Temporary authority has been granted."

Gao Wen stabilized his spirit, the intense and turbulent sensory dislocation inevitably brought a certain amount of panic and tension, but as a satellite spirit who had long been accustomed to being hung in the sky and opened up the "inhuman perspective", he was here. Aspect has experienced many battles——After confirming that his mind still belongs to him, and there is no sign of being tampered with or controlled, he began to look for clues that could help the current situation in the dark.

There is only darkness here, or a chaotic and hazy curtain, he can't see or hear anything, but he can feel that there are many entities "around" him that are establishing a connection with the "container" he is currently inhabiting. The "container" seems to have opened some kind of access authority to him, but limited by the logic of human thinking, he cannot use this authority smoothly for a short time.

However, this is not a problem. He has experience in establishing connections with satellite systems. If these things are all left by the God Slaughter Fleet, then there must be something in common between their systems.

After several attempts, Gao Wen finally grasped some tricks. He felt that his closed senses began to loosen, and with this sense of looseness, something other than darkness appeared in front of his eyes. ——

A perspective overlooking the earth.

Gao Wen was startled at first, and almost thought that he had returned to the state of "satellite essence", but soon he confirmed that his consciousness was still free, and he should be able to "return" to his body at any time. Then, he discovered the thing in front of him. The perspective overlooking the earth is very different from the picture seen through the surveillance satellite before——

The midpoint of the perspective has changed!The continent that was originally located in the center of the field of vision is now above the entire field of vision, and below the field of vision is a large expanse of ocean!

Soon he realized why:

He entered another space facility. The orbit or main monitoring perspective of this space facility was different from his previous "satellite perspective".

There are indeed other space stations or satellites still in operation outside the atmosphere of this planet! !

Gawain controlled his slightly excited mood, and began to manipulate his new perspective very unfamiliarly. His gaze swept across the Lorennan continent, the huge forest island of the elves, and he looked at the endless ocean. , in the swirling atmosphere, he first looked towards the sea area to the southwest of the continent.

A faint artificial building appeared at the edge of his vision.

That is a man-made facility that can be seen from space!

In an instant, a series of information emerged in Gawain's memory: In the ancient times of the elves' inheritance, the original elves came across the sea from the west of the mainland. They found a high tower on the endless ocean, and recklessly entered it...

The tower is located in the southwest of the Loren continent, on the endless ocean!

Could it be that what I saw was the tower that the original elves found in the sea?

However, Gawain soon discovered that he could only see a small part of the facility. He could only see a small part of its base and the huge shadow it cast on the sea. The size of that part of the base was already equivalent to A gigantic island rising out of the ocean, with a number of neat, metallic-looking extensions extending from its main body into the sea—he could only see so much.

When he tried to extend his gaze to the southwest, a cold synthetic voice entered his mind: "Error, the C-16 area cannot be activated, and the subsystem is offline."

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, and tried to move the camera in the direction of the base again, but the prompt sound in his mind immediately came again: "Error, the C-16 area cannot be activated, and the subsystem is offline."

The system prompt sound from nowhere made Gao Wen think deeply. After a moment of thought, he began to move his eyes in another direction——

……

In the vast space, a planet full of vitality is orbiting a gas giant planet that emits endless energy.

The iron sentinels left by the ancient ancestors still loyally guard the world, although they are scarred and old.

Above the planet, outside the atmosphere, space facilities of all sizes operate silently. The space stations and orbiting satellites that have gone through countless years are floating in the vast darkness. In this place full of cold and dead silence, these have been continuously operating for thousands of years. A thousand-year-old ancient device is maintaining the minimum communication and data collection work, and among them, the largest one is still sleeping——

It encircles the entire planet like a rainbow, with scars and almost extinguished dim lights all over the tens of thousands of miles of steel body. On the surface of this giant ring in synchronous orbit around the planet, some places are covered with thick armor, some In the place, a transparent polymer dome can be seen—inside the dome, there are long-abandoned living or research facilities, and all of these are maintained in a dead silence that is almost eternal.

The starlight from the distant space shines on this ancient space ring across the endless darkness, slightly illuminating its armor and the cabins sunk in the darkness.

But suddenly, a small part of the space giant ring "woke up", and on the side facing the planet's surface, several lights suddenly lit up, and the corresponding ring chamber also appeared flickering light, The maintenance robot that had hibernated for millions of years came out of the dormant cabin, and the sophisticated and advanced detection drone was moving quickly along the slide rail inside the ring belt. As if trying to break free from this long slumber.

However, this awakening process came to an abrupt end very quickly—the illuminated area only remained in a small area inside the ring in the end, and the other structures of the entire giant ring remained dead silent, without any response in the darkness.

On the side of the giant ring facing the earth, outside a cabin structure shrouded in darkness, there is a large-scale gap. Radial tearing scars extend from the armor cladding to the side of the polymer dome, and some fragments are still Floating near the gap, the internal airtight door has been automatically blocked, the energy system has been offline many years ago, the sparks and smoke of the past have dissipated in the depths of space, and only the hideous and terrible scars and a few drops of light are left on the spot. golden blood...

……

"Error, unable to activate zone C-18, subsystem offline."

"Takeover failed, error, unable to activate area C-18, subsystem offline, backup system unresponsive."

Continuous reminders sounded in his "mind", and Gao Wen finally gave up his futile efforts.

His sight fell on the end of the ocean in the southeast of Loren Continent. In a place far away from human civilization, on the opposite side of the endless ocean, he could already see the outline of a winding coastline.

He recalled the information he had received from Kraken and Selina Geer—

700 years ago, Gawain Cecil and the last storm priests made a mysterious voyage. They first headed to the east of the Loren continent, and then with the help of the sea monster, they headed for a safe route in the south...

In the southeast of Loren Continent, Gawain Cecil's exploration team discovered a new continent. In the depths of that continent, there is a huge tower reaching the sky...

That tower seems to be somehow related to the giant tower that the ancestors of the elves saw on the southwest ocean, and when Gawain Cecil went into the depths of the continent alone, it is very likely that he boarded the giant tower and was in the tower. Got some sort of "revelation"...

Now, Gao Wen was almost [-]% sure that he had seen that new continent.