The large-scale military movement in the direction of Winter Fort could not be concealed, and it was obvious from the start.
Within the frontline command post of Winterwolf Fort in Cecil's zone of control, officers and strategists were gathered in what used to be the great hall of the castle. Intelligence from all over flowed in like a river into the sea, with one message after another being delivered and one order after another being issued. Magical Net terminals were projecting distant scenes, with many nervous clerks and commanders bustling about.
Gwen stood in front of a large sand table at the end of the hall. Philip and Maryland were beside him, calculating the current deployment of Typhon's forces around Winter Fort. Solderlin, who had changed back into his Steel Ranger Commander suit, strode to them and said in a hurried tone, "The scouts have found a large number of combat mages and mixed army near Greenhill Town. Preliminary estimates suggest that at least twelve armies are moving to the frontline from there …"
Philip looked up at Gwen with a serious gaze. Maryland took the model of the war flag next to the sand table and silently set it on the map according to Solderlin's information. Around the new red flag, the red markings representing the Typhon Army had covered the entire Winter Fort defensive line. They were as dense as a river.
"Are the Extraordinaries of the Typhon born from the soil?" Amber, who was standing by the side, widened her eyes in shock. "Where did this army of Extraordinaries come from? Are they planning to overwhelm the battlefield with their numbers?"
"All the regular and reserve forces of Typhon, some of the rotational forces near the southern border and the East Coast, and the Extraordinaries of the royal family … I'm afraid they have all been transferred here," Gwen said with a frown. "I'm afraid they won't even be able to spread out on the main plain between Winter Fort and Winter Wolf Fort …"
"Oh my God …" Amber was shocked. "Is that Rosetta crazy? How many of them can be used on the battlefield? Is he not afraid that the situation in the country will go out of control? The interior of this Typhon is going to become 'hollow' … "
"Indeed, with this scale of mobilization, I'm afraid Typhon has reached the critical point of maintaining order. But compared to this, Rosetta can mobilize such a large number of troops from all over the country and maintain order in the country. This is what we should pay more attention to," Gwen said in a low voice. At the same time, his eyes slowly swept across the sand table. The information gathered here over the past few days was forming a clearer image in his mind, making the entire topographic map more three-dimensional. "… Solderlin, you mentioned that a large number of convoys full of energy crystals entered the Wintercastle area through Ankham Pass?"
Solderlin nodded. "Yes, the exact number is unknown. I can only be sure that there are a lot of them. After entering the Wintercastle area, they were diverted and transported to several mountains near the fortress. Those mountains have been marked on the sand table."
Gwen nodded. He did see the mountains marked on the sand table. They were distributed around the white castle at the top of the mountain, forming a series of excellent vantage points with Winter Fort. But although they were excellent vantage points, those mountains were still quite far away from the area controlled by Cecil. Whether it was Cecil's largest Rainbow Cannon or Typhon's army-level spells, it was impossible to threaten any targets on the line of fire between the two countries from that distance.
Maryland could also see this. He stared at the image on the sand table and said softly as if talking to himself, "From this distance … they should not be able to hit our outpost."
"Yes, they can't. So I'm afraid this thing is not prepared for us." Gwen nodded gently. Then he thought for a moment and suddenly looked at Amber beside him. "Where is Veronica now?"
"In the prayer room on the top floor of the castle," Amber replied immediately. "Should I call her over?"
"No, what she is doing now is very important. It's best not to leave the prayer room … I'll go there myself."
…
On the top floor of Winterwolf Fort, a dense holy radiance flowed in the room like water. Some kind of faint buzzing sound that drifted to the edge of human ear reverberated in the air. Together, they formed a peaceful and tranquil "domain", filling the entire building with a relaxing and invigorating power.
Veronica/Ophilia stood in the middle of the prayer room on the top floor, holding a platinum scepter in her hand. Her eyes were slightly closed as she felt the flow of the holy light. The plain but symbolic furnishings around her were flowing with a faint light, and she was stepping on a symbol that symbolized pure holy light. From time to time, some hazy phantoms would appear on the surface of the symbol — sometimes it was the mountains in the distance, sometimes it was an otherworldly palace, but most of the time it was some incomprehensible, constantly changing lights and lines.
Suddenly, Veronica opened her eyes. She turned her head to look at the door beside her. The next second, Gwen pushed the door open and walked in.
"Good afternoon, Your Majesty." Veronica nodded slightly and said softly, "Everything here is normal."
"How's the monitoring situation?" Gwen asked casually. "Is the power of the God of War still seeping into this world?"
"Of course … The power that does not belong to this world is increasing every minute and every second. The massive power of faith has converged into a river, flowing here from all over the world. At this moment, this place has become the focal point of the war in the world," Veronica said softly. At the same time, she slightly raised the platinum scepter in her hand and waved it toward the east wall. The thick wall made of enchanted stone bricks was instantly soaked in a faint light. In the blink of an eye, it became completely transparent as if it had disappeared, revealing the distant mountains in the direction of Winter Castle. "You can see it yourself. Through the curtain of holy light, you can see it."
Gwen looked in the direction where Veronica was pointing. After a little bit of concentration, he almost immediately found the huge shadow that was wandering between the clouds and the earth. It was like a projection of something from a higher dimension in the current material world. It seemed to be wandering on the earth, but it was also unreal and distant. No matter how hard Gwen tried to observe it, he could not see any details of it.
It seemed that all the "details" had not been projected from the higher dimension.
"That's the God of War?" Gwen looked serious. "Is that what Solderin saw?"
"That's the God of War, but not completely. So even if ordinary people occasionally see it, they will not immediately be mentally contaminated. He is slowly but surely entering our world, and as more and more priests and believers are 'driven' to this area by Emperor Rosetta, the process of his' arrival 'is accelerating. "Veronica nodded." But even so, I'm not sure when he will completely' arrive. '"
"Can't you give a rough estimate?" Gwen asked curiously.
"The 'arrival' is not a completely gradual process, especially when the mapping relationship between the God of War and this world has gradually become chaotic." Veronica shook her head. "As long as all the conditions are met, the God of War may completely enter the material world tomorrow. But if something goes wrong, he may also wander in this critical state for a whole year. So I'm more curious about the 'trick' that Emperor Rosetta has mastered, which gives him the confidence to limit the arrival of the God of War to a short period of time. You know, even with the power of Typhon, it is impossible to maintain the current military situation around Winter Castle for too long. "
"He has knowledge that we don't know. This knowledge may be more profound than what the rebels know," Gwen said thoughtfully. "Maybe one day I can ask him in person, but now … I don't care how he plans to completely 'bring' the God of War down. I only care about when it will happen."
"Of course, I will continue to 'watch' here. I will inform you as soon as the situation changes." Veronica said gently. Then she gently waved her hand, and the wall returned to its previous state. She continued to hold the scepter and stood on the holy light emblem, looking in the direction of the Typhon Empire like a tireless watchman.
As a powerful Transcendent, she could continue to watch from here for a long, long time.
…
North of Winter Castle, on a mountain.
The cold wind came from the north, whistling through the valleys and mountains. The clouds seemed to be at a height that one could reach with one's hand, constantly rolling and changing with the whistling of the cold wind. A mage officer wearing a dark blue starlight robe and holding a golden oak staff stood on a temporary high platform made of huge wood and stones, overlooking the busy construction scene below.
The mages, who were respected in other countries, had become ordinary builders here. Powerful spells were used to shape the soil and stones. With all kinds of shining magic light, huge stone platforms, towers, amplifiers, and all kinds of large-scale magic facilities were rapidly taking shape. At this moment, there was a huge circular spellcaster square on the flattened mountaintop.
Four stone-gray towers stood around the square. A large ring inlaid with many gems and expensive metals was floating above the round platform with a radius of dozens of meters in the center of the square. More than ten combat mages in combat robes were busy below the ring. They were drawing magic symbols on the ground with molten metal or inlaying gems of various colors in the correct grooves.
"Sir, the Ring of Focus has passed the resonance test," a mage said as he descended from the sky and bowed slightly in front of the mage officer. "The rune drawing is more than half done, and the power output of the energy extraction tower is now 70%."
"Well, very good … With the rune board, the construction progress is faster than expected." The officer nodded and asked casually, "How is the energy-gathering crystal inlaying progress?"
"60% of the inlaying has been completed. The earliest would be this time tomorrow," the combat mage said immediately. "Also, the core magic ball has been transported to the foot of the mountain. It should be sent up soon."
The mage officer showed a look of satisfaction on his face. He nodded slightly, then raised his eyes and looked past the rolling clouds between the mountains in the direction of the distant Winter Castle.
…
The Chamber of Arcane Arts on the upper floor of the castle was brightly lit. A wall inlaid with gems and metal runes rippled with light. On the wall that was encircled by a halo, several separated images showed the scenes of the mountaintops. Various mage troops were busy setting up spellcaster positions. The massive tower and the Ring of Focus were beginning to take shape. In another part of the images, several camps at the foot of the mountain could be seen. Engineers and mages were busy building various positions and facilities.
Palin Winterfort waved his hand in front of the wall, switching between groups of surveillance images. He then looked back at Rosetta Augustus, who was not far behind him.
"Your Majesty," the Earl of Winterfort nodded slightly. "The construction projects are more than half done. The project on the main peak of Winter Castle is almost complete."
"Very good," Rosetta Augustus said indifferently. "It seems that at least we're making good progress in this regard."
The Earl of Winterfort looked at Emperor Rosetta. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before he said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, we still haven't synchronized or communicated with Cecil in any way. We've almost reached this point by tacit understanding. Isn't this situation too dangerous? Even if Emperor Gwen knows our intentions, this' trust 'must be very limited. Our crossfire on the border has now escalated to a very dangerous level. It's hard to say that this is a' controlled military action '. Now we've carried out a large-scale' reinforcement '… Will this excite Cecil's people too much? "
Rosetta was silent for a few seconds. He slowly shook his head and said, "We can't communicate with Cecil in this matter. We can't even give him a hint. This kind of behavior is too challenging the 'order' of a war. It will lead God to unknown changes. Up to now, he has enough variables."
"What about Cecil's side?"
"Gwen Cecil is a far-sighted and wise ruler, and more importantly, he has a strong hand. As long as he can stabilize, the whole Cecil can be stabilized," Rosetta said slowly. But after a moment, he changed the topic. "But your concern is not unreasonable, Palindrome. Cecil's' trust 'and' tacit understanding 'towards us are not unconditional. I'm afraid it has almost been worn away by now. I'll think about it."
He shook his head and temporarily ended the topic. Then he strolled to the window on the side of the hall. Through the crystal glass inlaid on the window, he looked down at the castle courtyard below.
Soldiers were escorting groups of black-robed people through the courtyard. In the corner of the courtyard, many people in black robes were standing there with their heads lowered as if waiting for trial.
The faces of these black-robed people were covered by hoods. Their specific gender, age, and body shape could not be seen, but they all had similar characteristics: their steps were staggering, their bodies were shaking, and they were in a daze as if they were sleepwalking. And in some of the black-robed people's clothes and sleeves, disgusting and terrifying tentacle-like things were constantly contracting and stretching.
Rosetta's eyes swept across the black-robed people. After a long silence, he whispered as if talking to himself.
"Pray …"
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