Chapter 694 — Chance and Inevitability

The armor plates beneath both sides of the Iron Throne were pushed open by the mechanical structures, revealing seams through which a dim red light welled up. The heat from the overloading power spine distorted the air around the train. Reserve water for emergency cooling was injected into the channels between the power spine and the machinery, and great blasts of hot vapor rushed out over the rails, while the vast body of the Iron Throne-Zero accelerated once more amid the steam, hurtling toward the border of the Eastern Marches...

The wind had risen. The damp cold air caught up the swallowtail pennant in the lead knight's hand, and though a breeze shield or breath ward held off the surrounding chill, the ceaseless howl of wind past the ear was enough to set anyone's nerves on edge.

An Luo glanced up at the sky, then at the Palemel Heights now in sight, and in silence led the column onward.

A very faint sound came from atop her helmet, accompanied by a kind of gentle "tapping."

An Luo reached out and watched a single drop of water bloom on the surface of her gauntlet. Her face and her eyes darkened in an instant.

"It's raining, General."

The adjutant at her side spoke in a low voice.

"I see it..."

An Luo said dully, as more and more raindrops joined into threads of rain, growing dense before her eyes.

The gods, it seemed, were about to side with the Cecilians.

But Anluo only raised her longsword expressionlessly and swept it forward: "Advance!"

The rain would slow the knight order's advance. Even though they were the empire's elite, even though the extraordinary could largely ignore the effects of weather, that "sluggishness" still existed—the only difference lay in its degree.

The First Knight Order of the Winterwolf Legion advanced silently through the rain. Every officer and soldier faithfully carried out the orders from their commander. The griffin riders circling overhead lowered their altitude, doing their utmost to provide effective vision and early warning for the ground troops. But as the rain grew heavier and the surrounding light dimmed, lightning began to brew within the thick clouds above. The griffin riders' altitude dropped again and again, until at last they were circling almost directly above the knights' heads.

The trek continued for some time, and just when Anluo had begun to suspect that those Cecilians did not exist at all, she suddenly heard a shrill, piercing cry from the griffins in the sky.

Far off on the high ground, a light flashed.

"Defend!"

Anluo shouted the warning at the first instant, and almost simultaneously every knight drew his longsword and held it upright before him. Magic surged, and ring after ring of pale white halos spread outward, forming in an instant a shield that shrouded the entire column. A moment later, some weapon difficult for the naked eye to catch fell upon that shield.

With a thunderous roar, the Cecilians' weapon produced a powerful explosion. Some of the knights stirred slightly, but that solid shield stood firm and unmoved.

Anluo gripped her longsword tightly, her protective aura surging as she prepared to channel a legion-level spell to counter the enemy. But the relentless bombardment described in the intelligence reports never came.

"Maintain defensive posture! Continue the advance!"

Swords in hand, the knight order continued its silent advance under the commander's orders, and a moment later, that attack accompanied by explosions and shrieking came once again.

This time, Anluo and her soldiers did not waver in the slightest. The young wolf general even felt a surge of joy.

She had wagered correctly!

The knight order's pace gradually began to quicken, and after the third attack, no further movement came from the Cecilian position.

Anluo took the lead, guiding the entire column at a jog over the last stretch of ground between them and the target position. Amid the neighing of warhorses, that patch of leveled and reinforced ground came into her field of vision.

The Cecilians who had originally held the position had all withdrawn, leaving behind only an empty platform, a great heap of miscellaneous items abandoned in haste, and a collection of strange, oddly shaped objects covered by tarpaulins.

"This position is a decoy!" the adjutant cried. "General, your judgment was correct!"

The knights exchanged glances, then broke into an uproar. Some began to shout Anluo's name with admiration and respect, and made ready to move forward and seize the Cecilian position and the supplies left behind in their haste. The enemy's withdrawal had clearly been most hurried; those rumored heavy arcane armaments could not all have been carried away. What they left here would be a valuable source of intelligence for the Typhon Empire.

But Anluo suddenly raised her hand and loudly halted her subordinates: "Stay back!"

After stopping her men, the female knight swung down from her horse, idly spun the longsword in her hand, then suddenly raised it and swept it forward.

A dazzling radiance floated across the surface of the longsword, and in the swing it became a powerful shockwave that swept across a distant pile of miscellaneous stores.

A deafening explosion instantly erupted around those stores, racing along the surrounding trenches and the tarpaulin-covered objects.

Anluo did not know how many varieties and models of arcane equipment the Cecilians possessed.

But vigilance against magical traps on the battlefield was a quality every soldier must possess.

The protective auras conjured by Anluo and her adjutant blocked some of the scattered flying debris, while the nearby knights retreated half a step, some of them showing shame on their faces. Anluo merely glanced at them and shook her head: "Never underestimate the enemy—even if you mock them every time you drink and boast."

With those words, she casually flicked her longsword and nodded to the mage accompanying the army beside her: "Signal the Ironriver Knight Order. This farce the Cecilians have staged is over."