The holographic image projected by the Magic Network terminal shimmered, creating a wonderful atmosphere mixed with fantasy and technology in the room after dusk. Gawain sat in front of the communicator, listening carefully to Kamel Report from the rear laboratory.
"...Pittman has confirmed that high-level crystal cluster giants are transformed from priests of the Society of Death of All Things - it is not ruled out that there will be commanders transformed from other extraordinary beings in the future. ', but from the current stage, the fanatical believers in the death of all things are the core upper echelon of the cluster army...
"The cluster giants transformed from ordinary people have a smaller size and lower height. The power, their thinking ability, or the only remaining sanity needs to be maintained by the upper-level individuals. There is a wonderful dependence between the upper-level crystal clusters and the lower-level crystal clusters. The lower-level crystal cluster giants can think, but their own The thinking is not complete...
"Pitman and I speculated that this unique connection between the cluster giants indicates that they have some degree of 'telepathy'. Commander-level cluster giants may It is possible to control nearby units through this kind of telepathy, or to sense the status of the distant crystal cluster army, but this kind of induction will not be very clear and will weaken drastically with distance - this is the conclusion reached after several isolation control experiments. .
"After losing its commander, the lower-level cluster giant will quickly weaken and lose its mind, degenerating into a monster that relies entirely on instinct. It will take about an hour for complete weakness - sanity will start from the beginning. It stopped..."
Gaowen listened to Kamel's report word for word, his brows occasionally frowning and occasionally relaxing.
Thanks to the researchers behind, Soldiers fighting on the front line do not have to face unknown enemies. As more and more infected samples are sent to the rear, and as Kamel opens up his memories from the Gondor era, the various characteristics of the "Godly Infected" The veil was finally unveiled in front of the world.
Next to Gawain, the knight Philip who was listening showed a thoughtful expression on his face: "With a certain degree of telepathy... no wonder they were able to do so in a short time before. Within a short period of time, he organized a large-scale pursuit of Solderin, and maintained such a high level of organizational power without regular scouts or messenger units..."
Gawain looked at this The knight, still young but increasingly becoming a mature general, asked: "What do you think? "
"The telepathy ability of crystal clusters is a troublesome advantage for us, which means that their information circulation speed on small-scale battlefields is no worse than ours, or even faster," Philip said seriously He thought deeply, "But it is obvious that their telepathic abilities are also very limited, and the command system established based on them is relatively confusing and unclear, but it is not impossible to deal with them. And I think the huge holes in their organizational structure are more important than the advantages telepathy brings. "
Gawain nodded slightly: "As long as the command nodes are destroyed, they will collapse quickly - irrational monsters are much easier to deal with than organized soldiers. ”
"I will work out a feasible tactic with my adjutants, staff and think tanks," Philip said with a serious face, "If it works, our advancement will definitely be accelerated further."
High Wen couldn't help feeling a little emotional: Without Byron making jokes, Philip's mental efficiency when thinking about tactics has obviously skyrocketed. I'm afraid he may have saved the thread of praise for formulating tactics...
Then Kamel Continuing to report on the research results from behind: "In addition, we observed and compared the magic reaction and erosion rate of the carriers and mutants of the divine evil, and came to a preliminary conclusion on the 'ritual power' that caused them to mutate from the carrying state to the mutated state. ——Related to divine interference."
Gawain took a breath: "Is it really the power of the gods..."
"I am completely mutating into a cluster giant. Activated divine factors were found in the infected people - although they cannot be completely separated due to equipment limitations, I can tell that they have undergone induced activation, just like the ancient Gondor Empire extracted flesh and blood from the giant deer Amorn. and power to create the first generation of evil spirits, the Death Society of All Things must also have its own 'energy source' in order to reactivate the evil factors that have become recessive genetic factors. So far, although no direct evidence has been found. , but we can theoretically conclude that the Death Society of All Things has mastered some kind of divine power, or a substitute for divine power..."
The expression on Gawain's face was calm, and there was no surprise at all.
Long before this disaster broke out, he had already realized that there was some amazing plot brewing in the dark behind the death of all things, and he vaguely guessed that it was related to the "gods" - after all, the three major The dark sect was obviously inextricably linked to the divine world at the beginning of its fall, and it is not surprising that their ultimate goal points to the gods.
After that, in the conversation with Tyr, the information leaked by the siren who had rich experience in eating and cooking in the God-eating field made Gawain clarify his guess. For this reason, he even asked Tyr to make some preparations in advance to deal with possible terrible shady events involving the gods.
At this moment, Kamel’s research has finally given some empirical evidence: all things will eventually perish, drawing “gods” into this battlefield.
This puts great pressure on Gawain, but he does not despair.
The power of gods is terrifying to mortals. If an angry true god really comes, then maybe Cecil is really unable to resist, but the Death of All Things can bring down a true god to help fight the war. What? Obviously it is impossible. At most, they found the flesh and blood remains similar to the giant deer Amorn and activated part of its activity, or used artificial forbidden magic to create some kind of powerful, partially divine monster, regardless of Which possibility is it? Since it was created by those cultists using human magic, it is certainly not impossible to eliminate.
Things that cultists can control... at least have a health bar, right?
Even if everything dies eventuallywill create a living "artificial god" that cannot be destroyed by Cecil's cannons, and Tyr and the sea monsters behind her can help. Those deep-sea salted fish may not be able to deal with a true god (although usually They eat Storm Lord sashimi all day long, but what they eat is a corpse that will not resist after all), but as the fallen empire father who masters super-era technology, they have no problem dealing with a fake that has "tampered with taste".
In addition, Gawain had been exposed to the battle report of the "God-killing Fleet" and was an atheist in his previous life. When facing problems in the realm of gods, he may be nervous or cautious, but he is always cautious. There will be a margin left - although at this stage this margin may be just a bit of false confidence.
But at least that is confidence.
Gawain is curious about what Philip will think after knowing the forbidden power that the All-Death Society may have in its hands.
“I have no idea,” the young knight said solemnly after hearing Gawain’s inquiry. “It is a knight’s duty to obey the king’s orders, and it is also a knight’s duty to protect the territory and people. Under this premise, I only care about where the enemy is, not who the enemy is."
This answer surprised Gawain. He looked at Philip up and down and felt that this young man was upright and fearless. It's a bit unreal: "Even if the opponent may be a god - or an evil god, or something else beyond human understanding?"
"It's the same," Philip nodded, "It doesn't matter who you charge at, The only difference is whether you can come back or not."
Gawain laughed dumbly and shook his head after two seconds: "I thought you would be at least a little scared."
Philip listened. When it came to Gawain, his expression was a little weird, then he lowered his head and thought for a moment, a little embarrassed: "Actually, I'm a little scared..."
"Oh?"
"So If I really get to that battlefield, I will pull down my mask to prevent others from seeing my trembling lips, and I will tie the weapon to my hand to prevent it from falling off. But I shouldn’t need to write a suicide note - I don’t have a wife or children yet. , and have no other relatives, the property in my name can be returned directly to the principality..."
This answer became real in an instant.
Looking at the serious look on the young knight's face, Gawain suddenly couldn't help but want to press his forehead with his hand: "I seem to understand why Byron is so keen to quarrel with you..."< /p>
Philip reacted for a while, but did not react: "...Huh?"
"In short, you don't need to think about issues such as dying generously in advance, we are fighting This war is not about dying. No one is fighting to die." Gawain patted Philip on the shoulder, "Go and arrange your tactical meeting. We need to enter the Red Maple area as soon as possible - if we can get through this area as soon as possible, There is a passage, maybe there is hope for the last remnant of the king's army."
Philip left the barracks, and finally reported on some laboratory operations.Kamel also left the communication channel after the situation.
Gawain sat at the table. In the process of sorting out his thoughts, his eyes glanced at a rear message sent by Amber on the table:
"The situation in the East has deteriorated, and the Iron Throne has set out - Hetty."
"It doesn't matter that your situation has deteriorated..." Gawain breathed out softly, "Save me a lot of trouble."< /p>
......
Since the mutation occurred, the entire Eastern Army was swallowed up in a thick fog. Communications were cut off in the entire area west of Solinburg. There was no news from the Duke of Eastern and Prince Edmund. Without it, the order of the entire Eastern Territory quickly slipped into the abyss of chaos and disorder.
Rumors are spreading and no one is controlling them. The local nobles staying in the Eastern Territory have smelled the terrible atmosphere, but no one has the ability to grasp the entire situation or restrain the order of the Eastern Territory. Regarding the annihilation of the legion, As the news spread, the small families were the first to lose control, followed by the noble lords at the higher level. Chaos spread from west to east. The eastern region, which was originally monolithic under the joint control of Prince Edmund and Duke Laurent, actually appeared. There were signs of disintegration - and what made the situation even worse was the terrible news coming from the border areas in the west and the Holy Spirit Plains.
An army of monsters stood up on the remains of the Eastern Legion and was wandering in the Holy Spirit Plains.
Those monsters do not seem to have focused their attention on the east. Their target should be St. Sunil further north. However, the existence of the monster legion itself has defeated the basic requirements of the nobles in the east. The last restraining force of order——
The nobles on the ground quickly made the most normal response in this era: summoning vassals and generals, sealing the territorial borders, and returning to a state of separatism overnight. Then in the tense confrontation, in the vigilance against monsters, in the vigilance against each other, the situation in the entire area instantly became tense and turned into a pot of fire oil.
Under such a situation, the White Sand Mining Company, as the bridgehead of the Cecil Principality, sent vital intelligence to the territory.
A war machine that had just completed all technical inspections and tests in the Gulen area responded to this intelligence and rushed to the east.
The road filled with magic stretches across the land, and a continuous magic shield covers the entire track. Accompanied by the low sound of steel wheels and magic mechanisms, a huge train is majestic. drove into the Baisha mining area.
In the sunset that has been dyed orange, its body covered with solid steel armor shimmers with cold light. The large train rail guns and densely arranged gun turrets shine in the sunset. Inside its carriage It was filled with heavily armed soldiers and heavily armored white knights, and its carrier chassis was fixed with neatly arranged tanks and towed howitzers - it was like a fully armed steel castle, or even a walking fortress. The city wall is heavy and full of majesty.
Holm, the general manager of Baisha Mining Company, stood on the tower next to the station, quietly watching this miracle of magic industry, a treasure of engineering,Symbol of Cyr's power -
Armored train, Iron Throne.
Twenty minutes later, Holm stood on the high platform usually used for loading and unloading ore and heavy machinery, and saw the man commanding the Iron Throne, wearing a black magic armor, with deep eyes and a vicissitudes of face. middle-aged knight.
"Nice to meet you, Sir Maryland."
"Please don't call me Sir," the middle-aged knight smiled, calmly reaching out and holding Holm's hand, " That was the canonization of the Morn royal family, which is already a thing of the past."