In the cyberspace covered by the sea of white flowers, figures left the venue one by one. As the figures around the round table disappeared one after another, the space quieted down. In the end, only Gwen and Bertilla were left standing in the middle of the sea of flowers. They looked at the virtual sky and the distant horizon in the breeze that blew through the sea of flowers.
Bertilla was the first to break the silence. "You seem to have a lot on your mind, Brother Gwen."
"I'm still thinking about the sentinel," Gawain said in a low voice. "After confirming that it's hiding a deeper conspiracy, I have to start thinking about what it's going to do next, and what it's going to do in the end. As an ancient mind, the knowledge and trump cards it has are beyond our comprehension."
"… If our speculation is correct, then using the power of the Deep Blue Cyberspace to transform the celestial body under our feet into a permanently uninhabitable planet should be its ultimate goal. What my 'wasteland compatriots' have done is just a process for it to achieve this goal," Bertilla said slowly. "Now we have successfully stopped the mutant army from continuing to attack the civilized world. We also know their next 'release plan'. In theory, unless the Alliance suddenly collapses on all fronts, it is impossible for the sentinel's plan to 'tame the planet' to be realized."
"This is what I was thinking. If the sentinel can't achieve its plan to control the Deep Blue Cyberspace, then what's its' alternative plan 'to achieve its goal of' permanent extinction '?" Gwen said slowly as he pondered. "Now its node release plan is not complete, but a large number of runestones have been placed in the Deep Blue Cyberspace. Previously, observatories and magic observation facilities have observed large-scale magical anomalies. Tyre has also confirmed that some drastic changes in the Deep Blue Cyberspace have cut off the connection between the Loren Continent and Antavine. This means that even if not all of the runestones have been placed, the sentinel can already partially control the operation of the Deep Blue Cyberspace …
"If one day it confirms that its plan has failed, then what will it do with the Deep Blue Cyberspace that it has now controlled? From the looks of it now, it is still unable to use this part of the Deep Blue Net to launch a direct attack on the material world, but it is already able to influence and interfere with the entire continent's environment. However, I believe … that it can use the Deep Blue Net to do far more than that. "
He paused and turned to look at Bertilla, who had a calm expression on his face. "What about you? What do you think? "
"I don't know much about the Deep Blue Network, and I'm not good at deduction like you. I just feel that my former compatriots are sad and hateful." Bertilla shook her head and said in a low voice, "We have all fallen into the darkness, but not only have they fallen into the darkness, but now they have become the tools of the Sentinels without knowing it. In Betheim, I only see their irreversible future."
Gwen didn't say anything for a while. After pondering for a while, he suddenly said, "Perhaps I should go to the door of the Contract Castle again."
"You want to go to the Kingdom of the Gods again?" Bertilla raised her eyebrows and then reacted. "Wait, you want to go to the Sentinel Mother Harbor again? Isn't it already … "
"It has been abandoned, I know, but the things left there make me very uneasy. The reverse tide had completely corrupted the center of the mother harbor and the last cruising ship, and now those ancient things are still operating. In my opinion, this' relic 'that is still operating automatically after a long history, and its central system has essentially gone out of control … is a huge hidden danger in itself."
"You plan to destroy the mother harbor and the last cruising ship?" Bertilla frowned slightly. "But as far as I know, the technicians on the 'Gateway' project have repeatedly demonstrated many times that with our current level of technology, it is impossible to destroy the Voyager's legacy of that scale. It is even difficult for them to cut a metal sample from the spaceship. And Master Kamel also suspects that there is still some kind of 'defense mechanism' in that thing. If the mother harbor and the cruising ship are confirmed to be a fatal threat, those remaining weapons may fight back. "
"Indeed, we should not be able to destroy that thing now …" Gwen took a breath and whispered, "But we have to keep some precautions …"
…
In the depths of the Gondor wasteland covered by dark clouds, in the center of the hills and plains where the dark priests were entrenched, Grand Hierarch Borken was burning with anger because of the news of defeat from afar.
"Betheim, that trash! I shouldn't have given him a second chance! " Borken's angry curses were transmitted between the upper nerve nodes, and the high-ranking priests gathered around the hillock trembled and kept quiet. "I should have just thrown him into the biomass slag pool. He is more valuable as a nutrient for the root network than himself!"
Footsteps came from the edge of the hillock, and two tall figures in long skirts came before Borken. The elven sisters looked at the Grand Hierarch in surprise. Firna was the first to speak. "What happened, my dear Grand Hierarch? Your anger has even frightened those brainless mutants. You have not been so angry these days."
"Betheim has suffered a second shameful failure." Borken seemed to have gotten used to the sisters' hypocritical and exaggerated way of speaking. "I assigned a large number of guards to him, and even gave him access to part of the root network in the north. But in the end, he destroyed all of them in one operation. If that was all, it would be fine. The worst thing is that he and his incompetent followers were captured alive by the enemy!"
"Captured alive?" Rayna's eyes widened slightly. She seemed to be a little surprised. "How could this be? Betheim may be lacking in military talent, but at least he is a powerful priest, and his followers … No matter how bad the situation is, he should not be captured alive by the mortal army, right? What's more … "
Rayna paused for a moment, and Firna continued almost without delay. "What's more, even if he could not win, he could still kill himself at the last moment, right?"
"Who knows what happened?" Borken said viciously. "The last message one of his followers sent back was' the enemy's brain is too powerful, and we are outnumbered. 'Such a message is not logical."
"… The enemy's brain is too powerful?" This time, the twin elves were a little stunned. They widened their eyes and said in unison. Then, Rayna frowned and said, "It sounds like our 'good opponents' in the north have come up with something strange again, beyond the knowledge of Betheim and the others. This … is interesting."
"We may have different understandings of the word 'interesting'." Borken's cloudy eyes glanced at Rayna, and then slowly said in a hoarse voice, "Our biggest loss now is not Betheim and his troops, but intelligence … Betheim knows a lot of our deployment and our real plan. Now that he has fallen into the hands of the enemy, the loss is immeasurable."
The twin elves said in unison, "It sounds like you don't have much hope for Betheim's loyalty and tenacity?"
"No, I believe that even an incompetent person like Betheim would not speak easily when being interrogated. But there are too many ways in this world to 'get' the information you want from a captive who does not speak." Borken said in a low voice. "We must be mentally prepared that a lot of our key deployment has been leaked. All the following operations will inevitably be obstructed by the mortal kingdoms. Even the troops transporting the runic stones may be targeted and intercepted … Damn it, if it wasn't for the sudden obstruction on the southern front, our progress could have been faster …"
"The southern front?" Rayna frowned. "What happened on the southern front?"
Borken's mood was obviously getting worse. "It's the elves. I don't know how the elves got support from the north. A particularly powerful treant legion has joined the frontline. We were about to break through their ridiculous border fortresses, but now, not only have our attack been thwarted, the main force of the elves has even advanced to the breach of the barrier …"
Upon hearing Borken's words, Firna was quite surprised. "Treants? How could your army be stopped by mere Treants? When the battle on the southern front had just started, didn't you confidently say that the power of all the ancient trees in the forest barrier combined was not enough to stop the legion's advance? "
The branches and leaves on Borken's body shook in annoyance. "… The treants we faced at that time did not have dozens of tons of steel plates on their bodies, nor did they have the magical weapon called 'magic cannon' in their hands."
"Oh, it seems that our 'good opponents' in the north have come up with something new." Firna suddenly laughed as she listened. There was a hint of joy in her voice. "It seems that war is really a tool to promote technological progress. You see, in the face of the pressure of survival, the mortal kingdoms have transformed so quickly!"
"Sometimes I really wonder if you are on my side." Borken's tawny eyes stared at the elven twins before him. "Do you really not know the current situation? Our advantage is being wiped out bit by bit. The results achieved in the early stages of the war are not enough to lay a foundation. Now that the mortal kingdoms have reacted, we have been thwarted on all fronts, and even some of the frontlines have been pushed back. My dear 'Miss Consultant', the humans in the north and east have even begun to build permanent bases on our territory! Have a sense of crisis! "
"Oh, sense of crisis. Of course, Your Excellency, we are on your side. We have the same goal." Rayna said, but she did not restrain the smile on her face. "But a sense of crisis can't help us change anything. And … our little setback at the border of civilization may not be as bad as you think."
"… What do you mean?"
"As for the activation of the Deep Blue Net, we actually have many alternatives …"
…
In the hinterland of the Augoray tribal kingdom, the main city of the orcs, Red Jade City.
With the changes in the situation, the orc city had now become the military hub of the Augoray tribal kingdom against the Wasteland Legion. The Dawn of the Earthly Dawn from the Cecil Empire was anchored above the city, and the Gorgonian flying fortresses, with the sky fortress as the core, used the city as a gathering point. Every day, they set off from the sky above Red Jade City to reclaim the lost land, eliminate the aberrations, and reconstruct the border defense line. The imperial expeditionary force led by Duke Devin Franklin had also obtained the consent of Great Chieftain Camilla and used Red Jade City as a base and supply point. Coupled with the support forces gathered from various tribes in Augoray, in a short period of time, the city had turned into a behemoth, and the population and city scale had soared several times.
After her injuries were almost healed, Camilla left the medical ship in the sky and returned to her city. The feeling of having her feet on the ground made the tribal chieftain, who dominated the forest and the mountains, feel at ease. She walked up the towering walls of Red Jade City and looked in the direction of the mountain barrier in the cold wind of late winter and early spring. Her feline eyes narrowed into two lines under the sun.
In her line of sight, the mountains were still standing tall, and the massive sky fortress was slowly passing over the mountain ridge in the distance. The charred ruins of the Red Jade Forest covered the ground at the foot of the mountain, and at the edge of the forest ruins, there were continuous rows of military camps, a simple but prosperous temporary market, and all kinds of fluttering flags.
Every day, countless soldiers gathered here, and countless soldiers were dispatched by the commander-in-chief of the allied forces to the eastern frontline or other areas where the aberrations were wreaking havoc. Every day, large tracts of scorched land returned to the hands of the people of Aurelia, and the border, which had once shrunk to the foot of Red Jade City, was also constantly advancing to the edge of the wasteland.
Duke Baldwin Franklin from the Cecil Empire was now the commander-in-chief of the allied forces on the western front. The soldiers gathered by the various tribes of Aurelia obeyed the orders of this foreign commander, including Camilla herself. This was unprecedented, but no one on the western front had any complaints about it.
This was the role of the alliance and the significance of the "wartime system".
A cold wind blew, and Camilla's pointed ears trembled. But only one ear stood on top of her head, and her other ear drooped softly on the side of her head.
Camilla thought about it and tried again, but only one ear stood on top of her head.
The chieftain sighed and felt a little melancholy.
At this moment, footsteps were heard not far away, and the energetic voice of the human king, Wycliffe, was heard. "Are you fighting with your ears again?"
Camilla turned her head and glanced at the tall human king. "The doctor said that I still need to do a minor surgery on my ear. Once the surgery is done, it can still stand up."
"Actually, I think it's not bad now. It can make you look gentler," Wycliffe said casually as he turned to look into the distance and put his hand on the wall next to him. "You see, you're finally paying attention to your appearance. It's better than killing people with an axe every day."
Camilla did not pay attention to Wycliffe's words, but her eyes fell on the special right arm. The alloy shell and the mechanical structure under the transparent crystal shone under the sun, and the slightly ferocious and rough shape made the orc chieftain a little curious. "… Is it useful?"
"What … Oh, you mean this?" Wycliffe reacted and shook his mechanical arm, and the alloy fingers moved flexibly. "It's okay. It's stronger than before, and there are many wonderful new functions. Except that it feels a little weird … everything else is not bad."
"It looks pretty cool." Camilla rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I kind of want to cut off my own arm and replace it with yours."
"… Are you crazy?"
(End of Chapter)
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