In front of the endless starlight and colors, Bertram felt that his consciousness was gradually disintegrating, and some 'things' that did not belong to him were rapidly pouring into his soul, quickly eroding and replacing it. For a moment, he still remembered his name, but the next moment, all his knowledge of himself was drowned in the depths of the sea of information. After another moment, he realized that the body that he had just occupied for a while had begun to break away from his control.
He grew new organs, and the surface of his body, which had turned into wood many years ago, regained traces of flesh and blood. He opened his eyes one after another, and behind each pair of eyes seemed to be an independent consciousness. Countless voices were clamoring in his mind, and finally turned into a loud and chaotic roar. In the roar, he saw a huge figure like a lighthouse descending.
The figure stood in front of the hill, bent over, and reached out to the ground like a giant picking up stones on the side of the road. Betheim's last thought was to run, but his body voluntarily threw itself into the palm shrouded in purple mist, and then … he could no longer support his mind, and temporarily lost consciousness as if embracing a gift.
Mirmina reached out and grabbed the creature that looked like a treant and a human. She looked down curiously at the strange shape of the creature, but she knew that she could not keep this creature in her lab. According to the information transmitted in the neural network, this should be the dark priest who had escaped from Bertilla's "predation". As an important source of intelligence, this was the property of the Empire.
So the ruler of all laws could only sigh regretfully. Her tower-like body stood upright in the swirling mist, and at this moment, it began to shrink and fade rapidly. Then, a massive rune array opened up behind her, and in a series of complex transformations, the runes reconnected into chains and rings, suppressing and sealing the power that could drive a mortal mad. In just a dozen seconds, the huge body standing in the swirling mist disappeared, leaving only Mirmina. Zip, who was only two meters tall, standing at the gate of the mansion, and at her feet was Betheim, who had changed beyond recognition.
The former Dark Patriarch now looked like a cylindrical object made of vines, wood, and soft flesh. A ferocious face was embedded at the top, and the middle section was his second face, as well as the third and fourth faces.
"… Didn't I just take a look? Do you have to …" Mirmina grumbled. Then, she drew a few runes in the air and connected to the magic network terminal in the mansion. "Hello? Hello … Yes, this is frontline researcher Mina. I-I just caught the escaping dark priest … Yes, yes, he ran away from Bertilla. Tell her not to chase him. Huh? The fluctuation of the anti-divinity barrier just now? It was during the capture … Yes, I checked the surroundings in advance. There was no leak. I know, I know. I'll write a report later. I've confirmed the process before. I understand … "
…
Billowing heat waves rose in the forest. The 'Road of Purification' created by the magic cannons and the heavy burners extended from Fort Farm to the northern end of the forest barrier. As the thick wooden limbs creaked when they moved, the 'new treant guards' wearing heavy armor and carrying heavy firepower stepped out of the forest. While they continued to rain down terrifying firepower on the heads of the aberrations and biochemical monsters that were running around in the scorched earth, they steadily pushed the battle line forward.
* Boom!! *
A bright ball of light swept across the sky, and a particularly deafening explosion came from afar. The 'arcane star' that the elven queen Bersetia personally summoned fell on the horizon at the edge of the forest, destroying the last mutant artillery position that was still firing energy light bullets. As the enemy's heavy long-range firepower was completely muted, the armored treant guards also stood firm at the front of the battle line.
They spread the branches around the treetops and dropped their bud-like alloy armor. Vines hung down from the treetops, and a large number of armored rangers descended along the ropes and began to harvest the remaining enemies on the scorched earth. They also provided cover for the engineering team at the rear as they hurried to build fortifications and set up camp.
An exceptionally tall treant guard with heavy armor and all kinds of auxiliary combat equipment strode to the middle of the battle line. This awe-inspiring guard spread the alloy armor around the treetops, and a petite figure poked her head out. She had long blonde hair and skin so fair that it was almost transparent. Many mysterious runes flashed on her body as the radiance of magic wandered on her skin. She looked at the ground and saw Bersetia standing in the middle of several adamantite golems. A bright smile appeared on her face. "Your Majesty! Did we do a good job? "
"Very impressive firepower. Now the forest is back in our hands." Bersetia was not stingy with her praise. She looked at 'Commander of the Sorin Expeditionary Force' who was riding on the treant guard. This was now the public identity of Berna in the Southern Coalition Army. "Do you need to rest? You have been commanding this huge army alone … "
"No, I'm very energetic." Berna said with a bright smile as she waved her slender fist. "My body is specially 'made'. Usually, I don't need to rest except for the necessary 'rest'."
"That's good," Bersetia said, nodding. Then she could not help but look past the body of the Ent Guardian to the towering shadow lying between the mountains and plains not far away. "Finally … we are back here …"
"Here …" Berna could not help but turn around and look in the direction where the elven empress was looking. She also saw the towering shadow, the broken and collapsed 'mountain', the collapsed palaces in the valley, and the dragon bones of the fortress that pointed to the sky like the bones of a giant beast. The wreckage of the Stellar Temple was like a broken mountain range reflected in the eyes of the little elf. The maiden who had left home for many years suddenly felt a little dazed. "The last time I saw it, it was still so majestically floating in the sky …"
"History always has to turn to the next page. What we can do is to not let the civilization be covered in dust and shame our ancestors." Bersetia heard the little elf's sigh. She spoke with a calm expression. "And while the Stellar Temple has fallen, it still protects our civilization. Next, we will use the wreckage of the Stellar Temple as a base and build a new 'outpost fortress' on the border of the wasteland.
"The alloy walls and the dragon bones of the temple will support our walls and towers. The usable structures in the collapsed area will be melted down and recast. Varendian has begun to arrange for the domestic production facilities to work overtime to manufacture components of the purification device. When the Alliance has gained a foothold in the wreckage of the Stellar Temple, we will begin to build the first 'purification tower' that blocks the wall."
Berna listened quietly as the Silver Empress described the future deployment to her. In her mind, the image of the Alliance soldiers re-entering the wreckage of the temple, cleaning up the rubble, re-lighting the extinguished lights, renovating the collapsed corridors, and building a new wall at the edge of the wreckage appeared. A somewhat unfamiliar throbbing in her heart gradually recovered. It took her a long time to slowly recall this feeling. It was the excitement and anticipation when she first crossed the Homeward Bound Bridge hundreds of years ago, when she first faced the unknown northern world, and when she first embarked on an adventure.
She had thought that she would never have this feeling again, but now it seemed that a life worth looking forward to seemed to have just begun.
…
"Milmina has caught the dark priest named 'Bertram'," Gawain said to Heidi, who had just stepped into the office. Sitting behind his desk in the Supreme Government Hall of Cecil City, Gawain said to Heidi, who had just stepped into the office. "He has been sent to Philip's base."
"Caught by Madam Mirmina?" Heti was stunned when she heard this. She quickly drew a rough map of the vast battlefront in the southern area of the Living Forest in her mind. Her expression became strange. "Didn't you say that the dark priestess had escaped from Bertilla's hunting zone? That place is some distance away from our frontline laboratory. How did Madam Mirmina catch him? "
"… Probably amazing luck and excellent pathfinding talent." Gwen thought for a long time and could only come up with this answer. "And he had seen Mirmina's mythical form with his own eyes — without any protective equipment. From the situation at the frontline, we don't have to worry about that guy escaping this time. The only thing we need to worry about is how much useful information Bertilla can get from that guy's thinking organ … "
Heti's expression became more and more subtle. After a long time, she whispered, "I don't want to know what that unlucky guy looks like now …"
As she said, she shook her head and put a few documents on Gwen's desk. At the same time, she said, "We have just received news from the eastern and southern battlefronts. In the eastern front, the Typhon's magicians and the National Knight's Regiment have successfully eliminated the aberrations near the Dark Hills. Wolf General Andesha is building a large-scale base of advance. They are going to start building a wall across the wasteland from there."
"… Rosetta Augustus has begun to fulfill his promise," Gwen said in a low voice. "So what's the situation at the southern front?"
"The addition of Sorin's Expeditionary Force has stabilized the situation at the southern front. Now the southern coalition is able to draw out troops to consolidate their northwestern border. The aberrations coming south from Augulay's tribal country have been stopped north of Greta Fortress, but the battle there is still fierce. On the other hand, the Millennial Legion of the Silver Empire is gradually reclaiming the land north of the forest barrier with the support of Sorin's Expeditionary Force. They have now advanced to the crash site of the Stellaris Temple. According to the news from the Silver Queen, her next step is to reclaim the wreckage of the Stellaris Temple and use it as a foundation to build a base of advance as the southern starting point of the wall. "
"Sorin's Expeditionary Army, huh …" Gawain repeated the word softly. "Alright, Bertila was right. It seems that the elf and the 'bodyguards' that she brought over had played a role that was far beyond our expectations. But it sounds like the situation there is still not completely stabilized. The aberrations coming south from Augulay are now only temporarily stopped at the northwestern border of the Kingdom of Kaolin. The southern coalition does not have the ability to completely eliminate those monsters … "
Speaking of this, he shook his head. "What about the western front? Has Duke Bodwin sent any news? "
"There are many areas on the western front that have fallen, and the tribes have been seriously damaged. Coupled with the destruction of the original border barrier of the Augulay tribal kingdom by the aberrations, the long border needs to be defended everywhere. The expeditionary force brought by Bodwin and Gina had to be held back," Heti said with a somewhat serious expression. "Now they have completely blocked the gap in the mountain barrier, but there are still many out-of-control aberrations moving in the forest and instinctively moving toward the inland cities of Augulay. That place is now full of refugees, and a large number of gathering areas lack protection. The 'sanctuary' surrounded by a fence may suffer heavy losses even when facing a lone aberration … The situation is very complicated. "
"It has become a long-term 'bandit suppression war' …" Gwen gradually frowned. "Bodwin should be able to cope with this situation, but the key is that we can't afford to wait … The wall must be built as soon as possible. The part that traverses the wasteland cannot be completed by the Typhon Empire alone. The pressure and risk are too great … What is Rebecca doing?"
"Building more supercritical accelerators for the Dawn of Earthly Dawn, and the Inferno incendiary bomb assembly plant," Heti's tone was a little stiff when she said this, which was probably the aftereffect of her trembling hand when signing the budget. "She's building them around the clock."
"Very good," Gwen said with a smile. "This is what she's good at, and also what the western front urgently needs. If we can't quickly build a 'western advance point' on the ground, it's also an idea to directly blow a path out of the western wasteland from the sky. By then, it will be much more convenient to build the western wall."
Then he sighed softly, leaned back in the chair, and with a thoughtful expression, he said, "Next, let's see how much useful information Bertilla can dig out from the heads of her 'former compatriots' … If we can grasp the specific deployment of the dark priests and the real goal of the sentries, there may be a chance to completely tilt the scales in our favor …"
…
In a garden that was covered in countless pure white flowers, a middle-aged man with an ordinary face and a gray-white robe suddenly opened his eyes.
In an instant, a large number of abstract, disordered, and fragmented image fragments poured into his mind, attacking his spirit. He could not recall anything specific from the fragmented information, but there was an extremely deep and terrifying 'impression' crushing him. This feeling was as if he had forgotten some terrible facts, but only the 'fear' itself was deeply imprinted in the depths of his soul.
This terrifying feeling was like some kind of endless torture. Even if it only lasted for a few seconds, it was enough to make the middle-aged man hold his head and let out a series of muffled and painful roars. He rolled around in the flower field as if his brain was gradually being dissolved by a strong acid. When the rustling and footsteps suddenly sounded from the side, the pain in his head suddenly disappeared. Only then did he stop twitching and stop. He looked up with a blank gaze and looked at the figure that was walking towards him.
Bertilla, in a light green dress, stopped in the center of the garden.
She looked down at the middle-aged man curled up on the ground.
"Long time no see, Betheim.
"Welcome to your rest."
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