Endless magic power surged around him. After being transformed by the magic model, it turned into brilliant light and heat. Every inch of blood vessels and nerves in his body became some kind of blazing source in the process, as if there was hot magma surging between his internal organs and flesh. Cremonte felt as if he was burning. Everything in his sight was distorted in the high heat, turning into some kind of strange white heat illusion. He could not help but think of the magic conduits he observed in the magic laboratory before they burned. If those conduits were alive, would they see such a scene in the last moment before they burned?
In the next one-tenth of a second, Cremonte seemed to hear a cracking sound from the depths of his soul. He felt that all his senses were suddenly elevated, as if the whole world was under his observation. He could clearly see the trajectory of every trace of magic power around him, the powerful energy that was constantly surging and swallowing inside the war machines, and even the fierce battle in the sky behind him. With the power of miracles, he had broken into the legendary realm.
Then, a huge explosion swallowed everything.
Cremonte's last consciousness turned into an echo in the communication spell, penetrating the fierce snowstorm, crossing the long battlefield, and directly projected to the distant Winter Castle.
"Watch out! Palin! They have a dragon! "
…
The explosion was so violent that it tore a visible crack in the snowstorm. The steam clouds spewing out of the cooling grids of the armored train were instantly blown away by the powerful shockwave. Maryland, who was about to board the Iron Scepter, was startled by the earth-shattering movement. He looked in the direction of the explosion and saw a small mushroom cloud rising from the tail of the Serpent of Earth.
From the tactical section to the rear, half of the armored train was involved in the big explosion. Then, the flowing magic energy poured into the power spine and detonated the rest of the carriages one by one.
Obviously, the self-detonation devices installed in the Iron Throne could not achieve such an effect.
"Is that some kind of weapon of the Typhon people?" The adjutant on the side said in astonishment. "Some kind of super bomb? Why did they only take it out now? "
"It's a self-detonation, sir. I saw it." A staff officer swallowed. "I saw a mage falling from the sky. Probably a mage. His back was full of proliferating tentacles and tumors."
Maryland did not speak. He just looked in the direction of the mushroom cloud. A few seconds later, he nodded slightly, then turned around and boarded the armored train behind him.
Fireballs and thunderbolts intertwined in the snowstorm. In the cloudy sky, the air forces of the Typhon and Cecil were still fighting. On the ground below, the huge war machine, the Serpent of Earth, finally stopped on the bombed railway. Another armored train roared through the snowstorm, the smoke, and wreckage, and continued to speed in the direction of the Shadowy Swamp.
The damage control team had extinguished the fire in the armored train. The dense anti-aircraft fire carried by the Iron Scepter roared again. Magic crystal shells and high-energy beams intertwined into a net of fire to harvest the remaining attackers in the sky. The Giant Dragon and the flying machine shuttled through the clouds, further reducing the space for the combat mages and the Griffin Knight to move. All of this was like a picture scroll with a distorted time and era.
This picture scroll had come to an end.
The death of the commander did not completely collapse the air forces of the Typhon people. The Griffin Knight with the constant morale was still carrying out the mission with 100% fighting spirit. The remaining combat mages were also squeezing the last bit of human potential to further expand the victory. They had already noticed that one of the two armored trains had been destroyed, and it was the infamous main tank. The other train was also heavily damaged and was billowing with smoke. In a sense, they had achieved their goal. But they had also paid an unexpected price for it.
They no longer had the strength to destroy the other train, and they also did not have the strength to retreat from this terrible battlefield.
The Dragon Riders that were forced to retreat from the airspace due to heavy losses returned to the battlefield. Under the cover of the Giant Dragon, these flying machines that did not tire began to kill the Griffin Knight and combat mages who had basically exhausted their "miracles". The remains of humans and Griffins fell from the sky like rain, and were quickly buried and swallowed by the snowstorm.
A Battle Mage stopped in the clouds. While gasping for breath, he raised his head and looked all around. He suddenly discovered that the Sky Battlefield had become empty.
The comrades that were originally flying in the clouds were now sparse with three to five combat echelons, and almost all of them were temporarily reorganized. The most fanatical Griffin Knight was also the first to be wiped out. Now, only a few mutated Griffin Knights were left charging at the Giant Dragon in the clouds. The roars and explosions from all directions gradually weakened, and the anti-air artillery from the ground had stopped at some point.
A deep and majestic roar suddenly came from nearby. The roar contained a power that made one's heart tremble. The combat mage used the last of his strength to assume a defensive posture. In the next second, he saw a Giant Dragon rush out from the clouds beside him. It was a fully armored black Giant Dragon. Its wings and claws were armed with steel, and its jaw was equipped with a frightening ram. Although the missile launchers on both sides of the Giant Dragon had been destroyed in the battle, the combat mage knew that at this distance, this terrifying creature could take his life with just its claws and breath.
It was time to show his loyalty to the Empire.
The combat mage prepared himself, but the Black Dragon only hovered in front of him, silently facing him. Its huge eyes reflected the clouds and snow in the distance. This nerve-wracking confrontation lasted for a few seconds. Suddenly, the Black Dragon nodded at him. Not sure if it was an illusion, but the nod seemed to have a hint of approval. Then, the ruler of the sky suddenly spread its wings, and in the blink of an eye, quickly rushed into the depths of the clouds.
The dragons retreated.
The combat mage blinked as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. After a brief moment of confusion, he looked around and realized that all the Griffin Knight troops had been wiped out.
Cecil's flying machines had retreated, the dragons had retreated, and the armored train had also retreated. The mountain area was littered with all kinds of wreckage. Humans, Griffins, machines … Billowing smoke and residual flames rose and rolled among the wreckage, but they were all extinguished at a speed visible to the naked eye. The blizzard was gradually swallowing everything.
On the 35th day of the month of Mist, year 2 Cecil, above the defense line of Winterwolf Fortress, the first large-scale aerial battle recorded in human history came to an end.
… …
Palin Wintercastle stepped into the lifeless meeting place with a team of mage guards and guardian knights. He couldn't help but frown at the smell of blood and the strange scene that greeted his eyes. Some of his followers even exclaimed in a low voice.
In the large circular assembly hall, the flame that was the core of the ritual had already been extinguished. Only a few sparks were still flickering in the huge brazier. Around the brazier, the priests who participated in the ritual had all turned into dried corpses. Their bodies were covered with a layer of iron-gray color. Traces of dried blood extended from their feet all the way to the brazier in the center of the hall. Looking down from above, everything here looked like some kind of dark blood sacrifice scene.
Dark blood sacrifice … This was something that any normal church would abhor and would only appear in twisted and depraved cults. Palin Wintercastle never thought that he would see such a scene in the ritual ground of the God of War.
"Under normal circumstances, a 'miracle' only requires the believers to pay enough piety. The righteous god will never charge more than this limit," the magic lord whispered to a mage consultant beside him. "But obviously, the God of War has extracted an extraordinary reward from this' miracle. 'All the priests who participated in the ritual have been' sucked 'dry."
"Out of control …" the mage consultant said with a serious expression. "It seems that the act of praying to the God of War has become more dangerous than before … The current balance has almost reached its limit."
Palin Wintercastle came to the altar. He glanced at the pile of remains beside the brazier and sighed softly as if he was talking to himself. "War can't appease God. He hasn't improved at all … This is in line with His Majesty's judgment."
The mage consultant was silent for a moment and asked in a low voice, "My lord, what do you think of the last message that Count Cremonte sent before he died in the battle?"
"You mean about the 'dragon'?" Palin Wintercastle raised his eyebrows and then said slowly in thought, "Dragon … I have some information here. For a long time, there have been all kinds of rumors that Gwen Cecil himself has a certain connection with the Dragons. But there is no evidence to prove that the Cecil Empire has established diplomatic relations with the real Giant Dragon. So if my guess is right, the dragon that Count Cremonte mentioned … is not a real dragon, but a descendant of the dragon. "
"Descendant of the dragon?" The mage consultant subconsciously repeated this word. "You mean … the Dukedom of Holy Dragon?"
"Cecil successfully knocked on the door of the Dukedom of Holy Dragon. Last year, they established diplomatic relations with that mysterious country." Palin Wintercastle nodded slightly. "So far, there is still not much information about that country. But one thing is for sure. The Dukedom of Holy Dragon has always considered itself as a descendant of the dragon. They seem to have a certain degree of power of the Giant Dragon. But according to some books, they are actually incomplete dragons. They can't fly and fight like real dragons … No matter what the truth is, it seems that Cecil must have received help from those 'descendants of the dragon'."
The mage consultant lowered his head and said regretfully, "… So, we have unknowingly put a big gap between us and our opponent."
"Yes, we have also tried to establish relations with the Dukedom of Holy Dragon, but we chose to give up after several failures … This may be a huge loss." Palin Wintercastle shook his head. "There may be more secrets behind this. We don't have the ability to investigate further. Let's just report everything that has happened here to Oldenheim."
As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the sky that was still covered with dark clouds through the circular atrium in the center of the meeting hall. The power of the gods had faded away, and those dark clouds were now just ordinary clouds.
"No matter what the future holds, everything that happened here today … is destined to be recorded in history."
…
Rosetta Augustus listened quietly to the battle report from the frontlines. There was neither sadness nor joy on his face. Ferdinand Wendell stood beside him. He was also as silent as a statue.
The information came directly from Wintercastle. Although it had crossed a long distance, there was almost no delay in time. Under the direct promotion of the Royal Association of Mages and the royal family's cabinet, the communication systems in various important areas of the Empire had been upgraded and replaced without regard for the cost. The new communication array replaced the old communication technology, and the personnel flow in the communication tower network had also been greatly simplified. Now, important information from the border area to the Empire no longer needed to go through the cumbersome forwarding, transcribing, and delivery process. Instead, it could be directly sent to Rosetta Augustus' office.
Before the snowstorm at the border ended, Oldenheim already knew the results of the aerial battle.
After ending the communication, Rosetta was silent for a moment. Then, he looked to the side and asked, "Ferdinand, what do you think?"
"In terms of short-term results, we've finally destroyed Cecil's offensive forces in Shadow Swamp. They won't be able to use the armored trains to launch 'Steel Thrusts' for some time. Although Cecil still has two armored trains, they can't drive all of them to the frontlines. In addition, we've also successfully eliminated a large amount of their air forces and figured out part of their strength. This is the first time we've achieved such positive results in an aerial battle since the start of the war. Of course, the price we've paid is also very high. In fact … it can even be described as painful. "Ferdinand shook his head and said," These results were obtained at the cost of the nation's first, second, and fourth Griffin Knight regiments being completely annihilated. Earl Cremonte died in battle, and the two battlemage regiments he led were also almost completely annihilated. "
"We've lost almost one-third of the 172 regular Knight regiments so far … We've also lost one-tenth of the 96 battlemage regiments." Rosetta sighed softly and said, "In order to eliminate the 'corruption' in the Knight regiments, the price we've paid can't be said to be low …"
Rosetta's words made Ferdinand's expression turn even more serious. The old duke knew that those were definitely not just numbers.
That was the threshold that Typhon's upper-class society could bear. It was also the critical point at which the Augustus royal family relied on the royal family's authority to maintain order in the country. Even though the royal family and a portion of the nobles with real power knew part of the truth behind this war and knew that this war was essentially to eliminate 'corruption', this didn't mean that everything could be dealt with by relying on simple addition and subtraction.
People were dying at the frontlines every day, and the royal family was constantly sending troops and nobles into the 'Winter Wolf Fort meat grinder'. The pressure brought about by all of this would continue to accumulate, and there was a limit to how much the entire Empire could bear.
Even though the emperor himself was extremely capable and the royal family's authority was revered, this reverence and trust couldn't be exhausted indefinitely.
"It's about time," Rosetta suddenly said softly.
Ferdinand looked at him and asked, "Your Majesty?"
"Get ready, Ferdinand." Rosetta stood up from behind the desk and casually said as if he was ordering dinner for that day, "It's about time for us to go to the frontlines."
Ferdinand was stunned for a moment. Then, his eyes widened. "How can you …"
"This is a necessary step," Rosetta said dispassionately. "Just go and get ready."
Ferdinand stared into Rosetta's eyes. After a few seconds, as if he had finally confirmed something, he let out a long sigh and said, "I understand, Your Majesty."
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