Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 624 - 623: Fallen Dragon

Revival Month, Day 43, clear skies, light breeze, good visibility.

Gryphon Knight Jinna rode her partner of eight years, escorting the Elven Great Eagle as they soared through the clear sky.

The scene of the land below was vividly clear in Jinna’s sight: scorched earth burned by flames and calibrating beams stretched out beneath her, covered in dreadful craters, with wisps of smoke still rising between them. In the distant northern lands, the faint figures of stumbling giants could be seen.

These were the scars of war, a kind of war never seen before. The clash between machines and monsters had torn this land apart, and this tearing would continue.

The form of warfare had changed—the female knight who once swore fealty to Viscount Leslie deeply understood this. She had transformed from a messenger for the nobles into an air reconnaissance soldier for the Cecil Legion, riding her gryphon from the southern borders to the north. She overlooked this war, observed the battlefield ravaged by war machines, reflecting on the changes in her life and the evolution of warfare.

Knights charging on horseback had been replaced by roaring tanks, and soldiers clad in simple armor charging haphazardly had turned into Magic Combatants on par with Transcendents. Numerous new things had replaced the old. When would Gryphon Knights themselves be replaced?

A cloud drifted nearby, causing the elven great eagle to slightly adjust its flight path. Jinna promptly adjusted the gryphon’s auxiliary reins to keep pace with her elven allies.

Gryphon Knights were currently one of the few "old-era units" left in the Cecil Legion. Due to their unique flying abilities, there was no new unit to replace their role for now. These knights soaring through the skies remained the best messengers and reconnaissance soldiers, and many of their comrades took great pride in this. However, Jinna always had a premonition that the incredible duke would eventually come up with something to replace the gryphons, leaving herself, who only knew how to ride gryphons, in an awkward position.

Perhaps it was better to read more books usually... it would make finding a new job easier.

A fleeting distraction crossed her mind, and the female knight hurriedly raised her hand to pat her cheek, forcing herself to focus on her mission.

They hadn’t ventured deep into hostile territory yet, but they could not let their guard down. Though gryphons flew in the sky, the exceptionally powerful Crystal Cluster Giants had the ability to strike with lightning from below—and already, two less skilled Gryphon Knights had lost their lives while performing reconnaissance. Jinna had no desire to be the third.

The female knight adjusted her posture slightly in the saddle, casting her gaze over the specialized large saddle. Beside her hung racks equipped with new equipment for Gryphon Knights: a Magic Web Terminal capable of firing extended-range arcane bullets for self-defense, and a hook connected to steel wires—pulling the hook would drop two ten-kilogram crystal bombs hung on the gryphon’s shoulder-neck, aimed at the ground for attack.

To the Gryphon Knights, these were highly satisfying, even pleasantly surprising, items. However, the duke seemed unsatisfied with them. Jinna once overheard him muttering by chance about how the gryphon’s load capacity was inadequate and saying things she didn’t understand about what constituted an aerial bomb...

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded in Jinna’s ear, "Preparing to cross the red line, stay alert."

Jinna looked up to see the leading elven great eagle already beginning to ascend, while the high-ranked order messenger riding on the eagle’s back gently spread her hands—a pale blue magical aura began spreading from the eagle’s center, infusing the three gryphons flying around the eagle with wind elemental power. This allowed them to easily match the eagle’s altitude and speed.

The Elven Great Eagle Knights possessed superior ground observation and flight abilities compared to the Gryphon Knights, making them more qualified reconnaissance soldiers. However, their load-bearing capacity was subpar, barely able to carry a slender elf. Naturally, they could not carry any defensive weaponry or armor. Hence, these elven allies were extremely valuable, and every giant eagle knight was irreplaceable. In recent reconnaissance missions, the command began assigning fully armed Gryphon Knights to serve as escorts for the eagles—the Cecil-style Gryphon Knight, with thin steel plates on the chest and abdomen, equipped with a barrier generator, and carrying weapons capable of air-to-ground and air-to-air combat. Their combat power far exceeded the eagles.

The howling wind swept past the barriers with only a breeze left touching the knights’ faces. The entire reconnaissance team quickly ascended in height, arriving at the cloud cover. At this altitude, neither human nor gryphon eyes could capture details on the ground—even with the bird’s eye. Therefore, detailed observation tasks relied on the elven messenger and her... eagle-shaped pigeon to complete.

Sonia Frostleaf’s eyes glowed with a faint blue light as she cast a vision-enhancing spell on her "druid," sharing the view from the eagle. This was a skill requiring long-term training and cooperation, as wild birds would become disoriented with sudden enhanced vision, unable to accurately gauge their true altitude. Among the elves’ reared great eagles, nearly two-thirds were eliminated for inability to adapt, thus failing to become reconnaissance partners.

If the "druid" had not received cultivation under the training master at Thornheart, it probably would have been eliminated long ago.

If only the master hadn’t kept so many pigeons in Moon Valley...

Sonia inexplicably sighed, and then caught a glimpse of an unusual element on the ground out of the corner of her eye.

"Attention, foreground to the right—sunny side of the hillside, there’s an incident."

A battle seemed to be unfolding there.

Hundreds of Crystal Cluster Giants were gathering beside that small hill, besieging a massive figure landing on the slope, while arcane arcs sparked continuously in the air. The besieged was a large-winged, black-scaled being...

It looked like a dragon.

Sonia assessed the threats in the visible range and then issued a command through wind-speaking magic: "Squad, prepare to lower altitude to observe, stay alert."

A few Gryphon Knights responded immediately, and Jinna pressed a leaf-shaped metal piece to her lips: "Received, on guard."

This leaf-shaped metal piece was not a new communication device manufactured by Cecil—the communication equipment for Gryphon Knights was fixed to the saddle. Though it was the most advanced Magic Web Terminal, it still weighed two kilograms. The leaf in her hand was given by an elf and enabled the holder to use the "wind whisper" spell near a "messenger." Though its limitations were many, it was quite convenient for use in such mixed squadrons centered around an elven messenger.

After lowering their altitude, more details came into Sonia’s view—she confirmed that the creature being attacked should indeed be a dragon, at least resembling one in appearance. However, that dragon was smaller and had warped, strangely twisted wings compared to the dragons she knew.

The dragon’s condition was clearly dire. Though it was stronger than the Crystal Cluster Giants, it was severely outnumbered, using sharp teeth and claws to fend off the oncoming enemies. It occasionally spat a fire breath, but Crystal Cluster Giants continued to strike from blind spots, adding fresh wounds to the fallen dragon.

"Is that a dragon?" exclaimed one of the escorting Gryphon Knights, "I’ve only heard of it in tales!"

"Why has such a mythical creature appeared on this battlefield?"

"Lady Frostleaf, what should we do? Shall we assist?"

Sonia Frostleaf quickly deliberated—one could not simply assume that "an enemy’s enemy is a friend" on the battlefield, but a black dragon besieged by Crystal Cluster Giants was too intriguing to ignore. Why was this dragon attacked? Why was it here? What did he or she know or see? These questions made the high-ranked order messenger realize that she couldn’t sit idly by and let the black dragon die there.

No matter what, compared to the obvious enemy, the Crystal Cluster Giants, the Dragonkin recorded by elves was at least neutral to the continent.

But a reconnaissance squad alone is not enough to deal with so many Crystal Cluster Giants.

"First, report to the command center. Miss Jinna, you and your team find a way to attract those giants’ attention, ease the pressure on the Black Dragon, and I’ll guide the dragon to break through—"

As she spoke, Sonia had already used the powerful communication spell of a messenger to contact the command center far in the rear. She succinctly described the incredible situation she encountered, called for reinforcements from the rear, and agreed on a general direction for the breakthrough. Then she followed behind the escorting Gryphon Knights, lowering her altitude once again.

...

Maji could feel those wounds, burning, painful, increasingly unbearable—even for a dragon.

She knew her strength was rapidly depleting, yet she was seeing less and less hope of breaking through.

Perhaps the moment she was struck by the Arcane Lightning and fell, her fate was already sealed.

The malformed and powerless wings were destined not to fly too high—but Maji still couldn’t figure out how those Crystal Cluster Monsters, transformed from commoners and mediocre noble soldiers, could have such strong anti-air awareness and capability?!

How did they train their accuracy to such a level!

But no matter how much regret there was, it was useless. As the situation worsened, Maji knew her time was running out.

In the end, she failed Victoria.

An ugly Crystal Cluster Giant launched a surprise attack from the left. It was an exceptionally strong fighter; as it swooped down, it seemed like a storm. Maji swept her powerful tail to block the attack, then a flame turned the enemy to ashes, but a sharp pain suddenly ignited from her right side—a despicable Spellcaster hit an arcane arc into her defensive gap.

"You deformed monsters!" Maji roared, shouting the word she least wanted to hear, "Deformed! Deformed! Deformed!"

Yet, the Crystal Clusters paid no attention and surged once again.

Maji shrank her defenses, ready to greet death with a thunderous counterattack. But just then, she suddenly heard a voice in her ear: "Hold on! We’re here to help you!"

Is this the Wind Whisper from the elves?

Maji was briefly stunned, then she heard two deafening explosions from a distance—boom! Boom!

The explosion sites were far away, almost not affecting the Crystal Cluster Giants, yet those mutated monsters were instantly distracted, turning sharply to look in the direction of the explosion and the nearby sky—as if by illusion, Maji even felt the monsters’ reaction was close to "startled jump."

Soon, she saw those dark shadows rapidly approaching from the sky.

An Elven Great Eagle and three human gryphons.

What strange combination is this?

The Wind Whisper came again: "Dragon on the ground, can you still fly?"

By now many Crystal Cluster Giants had been distracted, and while dealing with the remaining enemies, Maji responded with Dragon Language Magic: "Cannot take off."

"Understood, I’ll point you the way, follow me to break through—we’re the Vanguard Reconnaissance Team of the Cecil Legion."

Instantly, Maji was in great shock: Cecil? Cecil Clan’s army?!

Why is the Cecil Clan’s army in this place? When did they arrive here? This place has already completely fallen into a contamination zone, how did the Cecil Clan get in?!

Yet, shocked as she was, Maji’s reactions weren’t delayed at all. She almost immediately responded to the help of the mysterious elf, trying to break through in the direction pointed out while anxiously saying: "The White City needs support! The Duke of the North and the last Mountain Legion are still resisting! But they can’t hold on much longer!"

Meeting the Cecil Clan’s army here was a huge surprise, but this surprise made Maji realize one thing: if the main forces of these people from the southern borders have arrived here, if they can fight their way to this place, then maybe the White City can still be saved!

The mysterious elf quickly responded, a reply that slightly reassured Maji: "Received, I will report immediately—but you’d better survive and personally explain the situation to Duke Cecil."

"I will survive."

More attacks fell from the sky—including bright arcane bullets and some kind of object causing huge explosions.

A large number of Crystal Cluster Giants were drawn to this aerial assault, and the pressure on Maji suddenly eased. Meanwhile, she also saw the Crystal Cluster Giants launching a counterattack against the gryphons in the sky—they dispersed rapidly, using dense and crisscross arcane arcs to sweep the sky, constantly trying to block the flight paths of the Gryphon Knights, while those Gryphon Knights skillfully navigated through the arcane arcs, launching wave after wave of attacks—

This kind of thing seemed to be a norm.

Maji charged toward the south of the battlefield under the guidance of the mysterious elf, while a question spontaneously emerged in her mind:

In the more than thirty days since The White City was besieged, just how much has this battlefield changed?