Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 639 - 638: The Last Wall

Day Five.

The Crystal Cluster Giants continue to surge like a tide. The monsters from the Plains of the Holy Spirits seem inexhaustible, while human strength... is on the brink of its limits.

The arcane energy gathers into one storm after another of lightning, its destructive force continually licking the teetering shield of the Great Shield of St. Soniel. A deeply unsettling low howl reverberates throughout the Great Shield, like the cries of tens of thousands, or as if a fissure to the abyss is steadily opening in the deep earth—once seamless and whole, the shield is now riddled with holes, vast patches of fragmented noise covering the skies above the city. These noise patches, along with the howling within the shield, continuously remind the city’s guardians: the shield is about to collapse.

The overly active magic force accumulates over the plains, already beginning to affect the weather. It should be summer, yet a chilling gale sweeps over the entire city, the blue-gold-edged Anzu Royal Banner snapping sharply above the walls, dancing wildly in the wind. And beneath the banner, battered and exhausted Knights and Soldiers are huddled near the catapults and large crossbows, hiding behind parapets, watching the plains below with a numbed resilience.

The stone bullets and giant crossbow bolts used for city defense still pile atop the walls, yet less than a third of the crossbows and catapults continue fighting—because the Mages who apply magic effects to the ammunition have already exhausted their Mana.

Mana is far easier to deplete than physical strength and is also more susceptible to environmental influences. Mages must be in relatively stable environments to restore their power more quickly, but at this moment, the entire city of St. Soniel is enveloped in a tumultuous field of magical power. Human minds are, after all, not machines, unable to meditate smoothly in such a magic-pervasive environment. The royal Mages are doing their utmost to maintain firepower at the front, but as this fierce battle beyond mortal imagination continues day by day, more and more mid-to-low level Mages have temporarily lost the ability to control magic, and the withdrawal of these Mages heralds the inevitable collapse of the whole line of defense.

Without the assistance of combat Mages, conventional stone bullets and bolts are almost ineffective against those Crystal Cluster Giants.

Wales, clad in armor already stained with blood and marked with numerous scars, holding the King’s Sword, slowly walked along the southern walls, the chilling wind ceaselessly flowing between the shield and the walls, rustling his trailing cloak and the hair on his forehead.

He traversed a section of the walls that had just experienced fierce battle—this section’s shield had been breached; powerful Arcane Arcs had shattered large swathes of stone bricks, leaving scorched marks scattered across the ground. Craftsmen and Mages had urgently reinforced this ground, repaired the catapults here, and new soldiers replaced the previously obliterated units, continuing to hold their positions.

A Knight clad in battered armor leaned against a nearby parapet, his breastplate still faintly bearing the insignia of the Order of Knights. He slightly raised his head, his face covered in blood, motionless, as if he had been dead for some time.

Wales indeed thought this Knight had fallen in battle. However, when the horn sounded in the distance and the monsters once again charged at the barriers, the blood-covered Knight sprang up instantly, rushing toward the nearest catapult, beginning to command the Soldiers to counterattack.

The new King watched all this without saying a word, continuing forward, inspecting the walls he once swore to defend.

Another terrifying wail arose from the shield, and the entire city of St. Soniel seemed to shake within a great bell’s toll.

Mere moments later, the sound of the wind arose. Baldwin Franklin, clad in a robe marked with the Arcane Eye, descended beside Wales, swiftly saying, "Your Majesty, the southern district’s shield node was just destroyed."

"I heard the howl..." Wales said quietly, "How much longer can it last?"

Duke Baldwin raised his hand, pointing to the rapidly spreading noise patches above the royal capital, "...It’s already beginning to collapse."

The Great Shield of St. Soniel is collapsing—it has withstood pressures far beyond its design threshold over the past days; now, every node is either half-destroyed or entirely ruined. More fatally, the magic focal point beneath the royal capital can no longer supply sufficient energy; this energy shortage is triggering a chain reaction of shield decomposition, causing its nodes to be devoured and melted one by one by the retaliatory magic power.

On the city walls, others noticed the crumbling Great Shield, yet no one left the front lines. Wales merely watched calmly as the Great Shield gradually fell apart. After a few seconds, he said softly, "We should have heeded Grand Duke Victoria’s advice to expand the Magic Web and connect it with the Great Shield."

"Now it’s time to accept the consequences of too many doubting Cecil Clan’s technology."

Wales did not speak further. He raised his head, looking towards the Cathedral of the Holy Light.

A magnificent radiance was erupting from the top of that ancient cathedral, filled with an endless, solemn, vast aura.

The collapse of the Great Shield before aid arrived was anticipated, but before filling the breach with lives after the shield’s collapse, St. Soniel still had one last layer of defense to rely on.

"The theocracy has entrenched in this royal capital for so many years—it’s time for them to fulfill their duties."

The Divine Intervention ceremony had reached its final critical phase, and the Great Hall of Radiance had turned into a sea of Holy Light.

The Holy Light Cloud Summit, which normally hovered above the hall, descended to the ground, resembling a divine spectacle from legend heralding the kingdom’s arrival. Within the immersion of the Holy Light Cloud Summit, every pillar and statue in the Great Hall of Radiance seemed encased in a crystalline shell, bringing the "City Forged of Light," described in holy texts, to the mortal realm. Within this ocean of Holy Light, the bishops, clad in luxurious magic robes and crowned, devoutly extolled the power of the God of Holy Light. The layers of prayers surged with the sea of Holy Light in the hall, continuously converging towards the Pope standing at the hall’s center —

Saint Ivan III stood there, holding the platinum scepter symbolizing theocracy. He raised the scepter high, striking the ground forcefully for the first time:

"Praise the Lord’s name; may Your will be done on earth, granting grace to the land, safeguarding and absolving all living beings!"

Radiance poured out from the apertures of the Pope’s features, as if a powerful light source within was striving to escape the constraints of flesh and blood.

Amidst the bishops’ harmonious exaltations, he struck the ground with the scepter a second time:

"Praise the Lord’s name; may Your will be done in the sky, to illuminate the world clearly, leaving no place for evil to hide and darkness to retreat!"

Radiance flowed on the Pope, coalescing into an even taller and more immense apparition. This apparition slightly resembled the Pope’s visage, yet behind it, more phantasmal overlapping shadows emerged as if countless faces and figures coalesced, forming a dazzling giant of light.

Finally, he struck the scepter on the ground for the third time:

"Praise the name of the Lord, you are the original protector in the darkness, the initial hope sought by mortals, all beings will forever pursue the light, just as you will always protect them—You are the origin, and the end, you exist eternally, unceasingly throughout the ages, we hope for your advent upon this world that you protect, as it was in the past, so shall it be today—"

A burst of holy and illusory bell chimes exploded, drowning out all prayers and praises in the Great Hall of Radiance, and the bell tower of the Cathedral of the Holy Light also rang out, with real and illusory chimes echoing each other.

Amidst the tolling, a brilliant and radiant image suddenly detached from the body of Saint Ivan III, this image overlapped with the towering luminous giant behind him, quickly merging and suddenly rising high—

Above the Cathedral of the Holy Light, a giant at least one hundred meters tall stood up slowly.

The divine descent ritual had succeeded.

On the walls of St. Soniel, Wales Moen quietly watched as the dazzling giant rose from the city, seeing the radiance it released quickly extending toward the walls, and couldn’t help but be moved.

"So this is the power of the gods..."

Amidst the sigh, the Great Shield that had enveloped the royal capital until now finally reached its operational limit, accompanied by a series of strange whistles and tearing sounds, large swathes of noise rapidly filled the barrier, and in the next instant it shattered into countless pieces, turning into surging particles of light scattered over the royal capital, and almost simultaneously, the giant of light opened its hands, layers of crystal-like light walls pierced through the dirty clouds above the plains, protecting the entire wall.

The mindless Crystal Cluster Monsters were not afraid of this sudden godly power, instead, they became frenzied due to this enormous energy, shrieking and attacking more crazily, countless giants used lightning, their bodies, and even self-detonation to bombard the "new barrier", yet the giant of light maintained its posture with open arms, the shield wall enveloping the entire city remained unmoved.

This was the divine descent spell of Saint Ivan III, capable of placing the entire Anzu capital in a temporary invincible state, the "Kingdom on Earth"!

Baldwin Franklin gazed at the Holy Light giant that protected the entire capital, couldn’t help but lightly sigh: "It’s a pity, if Saint Ivan III were twenty years younger...no, even ten years younger, the divine descent spell could maintain for more than three days, St. Soniel could safely hold out until the reinforcement arrives..."

Wales, however, didn’t respond to Baldwin’s words, he just frowned, his gaze swept over the southern walls—under the baptism of Holy Light, countless tired soldiers had their stamina restored, wave after wave of spiritual encouragement put them in a state of joy and gratitude, the warriors took out Holy Light Amulets and began to pray, even those few who did not believe in the Holy Light God couldn’t help but start praising the name of the Holy Light God at this moment.

He took a slightly deep breath and raised the longsword in his hand high: "Make haste to rest! Eat, drink, check your weapons, don’t waste time!!

"The divine descent spell has a time limit! Once it ends, the defenses of St. Soniel will be left to our flesh and blood alone!

"This is our last chance to regroup—seize it, hold on until reinforcements arrive!!"

With the King’s shout, the soldiers immersed in gratitude for Holy Light suddenly awoke, realizing that the current safety was actually quite brief, the Great Shield of St. Soniel had already collapsed, at this moment the entire defense line was maintained by the forced release of a divine spell by a declining old man, realizing this, everyone on the wall immediately took action, began to drink water, eat, seize the time to rest, adjust their state, in preparation for the final challenge.

Inside the Cathedral of the Holy Light, in the corridor at the entrance of the Great Hall of Radiance, Veronica quietly gazed at the tightly closed door.

To ensure the divine descent spell was foolproof, all attendants and Lower Priests had been dispersed, only a group of monks and a group of inner court knights guarded outside the building, and in the corridor leading to the hall, she was alone.

"Divine descent spell..." Veronica said softly, the solemn and sacred aura continually escaping from behind the door ahead, faintly resonating with the Holy Light on her, but at the moment of impending fusion, distinctly dispersing, "This time, truly the purest sample in seven hundred years..."

Accompanying the soft self-talk, this "Saint Princess" slowly walked toward the door, then nonchalantly pushed open the door to the Great Hall of Radiance.

The surging Holy Light instantly filled Veronica’s vision, wave after wave of radiant tide surged towards her direction, but all the brilliance transformed into gentle flowing light when nearing her and quietly dissipated.

Inside the hall, the devoutly praying bishop team seemed completely unaware that someone had entered this space, each bishop in a state of prayer maintained the same posture as if they were automatons running independently, only the Pope in the center of the hall reacted to Veronica’s appearance, this "spokesperson" who had faintly merged with the Holy Light and had countless streams of light flowing through his body slowly raised his eyelids, uttering a rusty-like slow voice: "Vero...nica...why did you...suddenly...come in..."

"Just to inform you, this experiment project has ended."

The Pope’s mind was evidently in a very sluggish state: "Experiment...project?"

Veronica smiled slightly, slowly rested her hand on the platinum scepter in Saint Ivan III’s hand, and whispered: "Yes, the project regarding the nature of gods and their operational laws."

"What are you...doing..." The Pope’s voice finally regained a hint of human quality, he seemed to be striving to escape this sluggish state of thought, a certain panic appeared in his tone, "You will...ruin everything...this city..."

Veronica grasped the platinum scepter, bit by bit pulling it away from Saint Ivan III’s hand: "No, the divine descent spell will continue, this city won’t be destroyed, but that has nothing to do with your god anymore."

With the platinum scepter being taken away, Saint Ivan III’s voice finally became fluent, filled with shock and anger: "Who are you exactly?!"

"Just a defier," Veronica smiled lightly, tapping the head of the scepter gently on Saint Ivan III’s body, "The Norton Royal Family sends regards to you and your master behind you."