Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 439 - 438: Light Beams

When those Southern Knights and aristocratic Soldiers were wantonly releasing their month-long accumulated tension and fear on the city walls, Sir Maryland did not lose his ability to think rationally like those Southerners, despite having optimistically and confidently announced at the banquet the previous day that the magic barrier of the rocky ridges Fortress had successfully broken the Cecil Clan’s "Skyfire Myth," spreading this confidence to everyone in the fortress. However, when the Cecil Clan launched a second bombardment, he immediately summoned the Chief Mage Counselor of the fortress.

The Mage Advisor always grasped the situation of the magic barrier, and in front of him, Sir Maryland did not hide anything: "Can the barrier really withstand such attacks completely?"

"For now, yes," the elderly Mage with a slightly affluent appearance said cautiously, "if the Cecil Clan truly has only this much power... then the fortress can hold out completely."

Maryland immediately heard the deeper meaning in the old Mage’s words: "What do you mean?"

"The barrier is not as indestructible as it appears, General," the old Mage replied, "The power of the Cecil Clan’s ’Skyfire’ exceeds expectations, it truly has the power to shake the shield. If it were not for the self-repairing ability of the fortress’s magic barrier, and the fact that the Cecil Clan’s attacks have intermittent pauses, our barrier would be constantly exhausted — until the repair speed couldn’t keep up with the damage. And there’s another very unsettling situation..."

Sir Maryland’s brow furrowed tightly. He looked around, making sure that only his most trusted Knight and the Mage Advisor were in the room, then spoke up, "Master, speak directly."

"I used the Eye of the Mage to observe the magic array set by the Cecil Clan, and only half of those various ’Skyfire Devices’ are operating..."

Only half are operating?

What is the Cecil Clan doing?

An inexplicable sense of crisis surged in the heart of this powerful Knight. He stood up, hand on sword hilt, nearly ready to order the activation of the backup Mage Towers in the Inner City District and transfer all reserved energy from the magic focal point to the barrier, but before he could act, suddenly the room’s door was knocked, and a messenger anxiously called from outside, "General! Emergency situation!"

The messenger soon received permission to enter the room, and with a face showing fear and unease, he immediately reported upon entering: "General! Someone discovered Viscount Carol’s corpse below the castle’s terrace! He seems to have accidentally fallen from the castle last night!"

"What? Carol is dead?" Maryland’s eyes widened instantly, "Accidentally... fell?!"

The unease in his heart rapidly amplified. This shocking information did not affect his judgment, but rather made him intuitively realize that the rocky ridges Fortress was in great crisis. However, before he could react, a second messenger arrived.

This soldier brought intelligence from outside the fortress: "General! Two ships suddenly appeared on the White River! Bearing the Cecil mark! And... they look very unusual!"

Sir Maryland quickly reached the wall, and by then, the two large ships sailing upstream on the White River had reached a place where they could be clearly seen without the Eye of the Mage.

They were indeed unusual — at least the speed was unusual!

Sir Maryland focused his gaze in that direction — at the southwest of the rocky ridges Fortress, in the open plains, on the wide river surface of the White River, an unnatural wave was moving upstream. In this defiance of natural law, the wave carried two bizarre ships racing forward. Their hulls were covered with metallic plating, and large strange devices were mounted on the decks. Their propulsion was clearly from this unnatural wave instead of sails — in fact, they did not have sails at all, and where sails should be, only symmetrically distributed pairs of white structures resembling "wings" could be seen. They might catch the wind, but certainly were not propulsion devices!

And above those two ships, the flag of the Cecil Clan, depicting a sword and plow, was flying in the wind.

The Southern Knights and a few aristocrats on the city wall evidently saw the things on the distant river surface as well. Though their strength was inferior, perhaps not seeing as clearly as Sir Maryland, they too could tell that those were not ordinary ships, which led them to point and discuss curiously about the origins of those two ships.

In the next moment, Sir Maryland’s eyes widened.

The two ships began to slow down, their deceleration unusually smooth, and during this process, the "wing-like structures" on their sides were unfolding under some mechanism, with those white "sail boards" facing the noon sunlight, causing the wings to shimmer with specks of brilliance...

What is... that?

...

On the deck of the first battleship "Aurora," Soldiers and Mage Technicians were busily at work, with orders and reports continuously coming from all around:

"Magic Array has been deployed, energy is steadily rising!" "Power spine normal, all levels of Magic Web are connected!" "Deck area mechanical platforms unlocked, beginning adjustment of the main gun mount angle." "Each technician checks the status of work area magic symbols, report the situation!"

Gawain stood on the platform at the midsection of the battleship, watching the "Magic Array" on both sides of the ship smoothly unfold through mechanical linkage devices, observing each key piece of equipment on the deck being gradually lit with magic symbols, and listening to the orders and reports rising in succession around him, his emotions gradually soared, and he couldn’t help but marvel at how this scene didn’t suit a medieval battlefield at all...

Then he looked forward, towards the gigantic weapon installed at the front section of the deck.

Rebecca, the heir of the Cecil Clan and an authority in magic technology, with extremely high prestige among Mage Technicians, was now standing next to the "Calibrator" at the front of the deck, looking vigorous and spirited. While loudly commanding the Mage Technicians to complete various inspection tasks, she personally adjusted the amplifier on the base of the "Calibrator" to ensure that this weapon, still in its "verification stage," could be in its best state.

She seemed to sense Gawain’s gaze, turned and flashed a happy and bright smile at Gawain: "Ancestor! It’s ready!"

"Then let’s begin," Gawain nodded with a smile, "Sir Philip has been waiting for these two ’Italian Cannons’ for a long time."

Byron Kirk, standing nearby, couldn’t help but feel curious upon hearing Gawain’s words: "’Italian Cannon’? Isn’t this cannon called the Calibrator...?"

Gawain laughed: "Don’t mind these details; it’s just a nickname I gave it."

Rebecca didn’t care at all what "Italian Cannon" meant in her ancestor’s words; she had long been accustomed to the strange and peculiar terms created by her ancestor. Moreover, compared to these terms, activating the Rainbow Cannon was what she was more eager to do at this moment.

She raised her hand high, her crisp and bright voice ringing out on the deck: "Pump water—connect the power spine!!"

The pumps set on the sides of the battleship instantly activated. The powerful second-generation Magic Powered Engine began to draw water from the White River into the base of the Rainbow Cannon. Below the deck, the magic amplification core of the Rainbow Cannon, hidden from view, was instantly submerged in the cold river water, and as the power spine was connected, the wing-like devices on both sides of the battleship also started to emit a deep and pleasant hum. Even brighter magical radiance began to gather on the sides of the ship, the surging power rushing through the various magical structures of the ship, bringing about a crescendo of booming sounds within the ship’s hold. Amid these booming sounds, the main body of the Rainbow Cannon was activated.

Its three curved "barrels" slowly rotated once, and the crystal prism fixed in the middle of the barrel lit up, emitting a white light.

"Focusing crystal is lit, start targeting—target, Rocky Ridges Fortress gate!"

After a brief focus, a blinding arcane beam, a meter thick, burst forth like a spear forged from light, piercing toward the distant Rocky Ridges Fortress.

After a few seconds of delay, the bow of the second ship, "Morning Star," also erupted with an identical energy beam, striking the magic shield of the Rocky Ridges Fortress right after the Aurora.

This second "Calibrator" beam veered slightly, landing about a hundred meters from the first beam, but the gunner on the Morning Star quickly noticed this and began adjusting the weapon. The bright Arcane Torrent hanging in mid-air slowly shifted, majestically sweeping across the magic shield of the Rocky Ridges Fortress—where the beam reached, a massive, glaring bright spot almost spanned half the city wall.

The drainage valves to the aft of the two battleships opened, releasing steam-laden cooling water into the river. Technical personnel located in the compartments below the deck quickly reported: "Core temperature stable! You can continue the strike!"

Using the White River to cool the Rainbow Cannon—this solution had succeeded once in prior tests, and now on the battlefield, it still did not disappoint.

Sir Maryland stared, pale-faced, at the two beams striking like heavenly punishment against the fortress’s magic shield, watching the knights and aristocratic soldiers on the city wall descending into chaos. He finally realized what the greatest problem was—

He had never truly understood the real power of the Cecil Clan.

This war was completely different from his expectations right from the start.

The blinding white beam continued to scorch the fortress’s barrier, a weapon not recorded in the intelligence, fundamentally different from the "Skyfire Explosion." Under the beam’s burning, the magic shield of the Rocky Ridges Fortress was erupting with vast, fearsome bright spots centered around the "burn area," the bright spots rippling like waves, rapidly spreading, now extending tens of meters above the city wall.

Ordinary soldiers and civilians might not understand what this was, but as a high-level knight, Sir Maryland was all too clear—

The magic shield was disintegrating.

Those two beams were pure magical energy, and at extremely high intensities, such pure energy poses a deadly threat to any shield-type spells, easily infiltrating, interfering, cutting off the energy flow of the shield, and preventing the regeneration of the shield in the pierced area.

And more disastrously—the beam’s "radiation" was continuous.

The magic shield of the Rocky Ridges Fortress was about to be finished.

The moment this despairing thought popped up, Sir Maryland turned sharply, looking towards the few mage towers in the Inner City District.

The only hope to save the city’s barrier was to mobilize the emergency magic stored in the magic focal point immediately, injecting it all into the shield. This might enable the shield to hold on a bit longer, long enough for the Cecil Clan’s weapon to stop temporarily due to overheating or waste energy, giving the shield a chance to regenerate...

But those mage towers remained motionless!

Where were the city’s mages?

This thought had barely formed when Sir Maryland saw the Chief Mage Counselor flying in from a distance.

The old mage likely flew here from a mage tower using a flying spell, breathless and in a sorry state. As soon as he landed, he shouted desperately: "General! The array and rune stones controlling the magic focal point have been sabotaged!! All the combat Mages and soldiers guarding them are dead!"