Chapter 1342 — The Barrier Wall Plan

Elaine's eyes slowly widened. She quickened her pace to keep up with Belantia and seemed about to say something, but the next second she noticed that the Silver Queen's steps had suddenly slowed, and the expression on her face had changed slightly.

"Your Majesty?" Elaine said instinctively. "What has happened?"

"Elaine, dismiss the attendants," Belantia said in a low, rapid voice, her expression somewhat grave. "Come with me to the room nearby."

Elaine was briefly startled, then quickly caught on. She at once ordered the attending servants and guards to withdraw, then followed the Silver Queen toward the nearest wooden door along the corridor—an empty room off the passage, which should have been cluttered with sundries.

Yet when Belantia came to that somewhat old and mottled wooden door, her expression instantly turned very solemn. She adjusted her breathing, then gave her personal handmaiden a formal nod: "Very well. Open the door."

Elaine drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and gently pushed open that seemingly unremarkable wooden door. With a soft creak of turning hinges, the door swung open—yet behind it was no room at all, nor the slightest trace of anything connected with Fort Farbuti.

It was an extraordinarily open forest clearing, appearing in a bizarre manner that utterly defied common sense behind an ordinary door within Fort Farbuti. A fresh, gentle breeze blew toward them, carrying with it the half-real, half-illusory scent of clean soil and grass, while countless ancient towering trees encircled the clearing, so that the distant daylight filtered through the treetops in brilliant, fragmented patterns.

Elaine and Belantia stepped forward, crossing the "barrier" formed by the doorway in a single stride. They set foot on soft grass, and almost at the same moment a rustling sound rose from the nearby woods, as though some enormous body were passing through the vegetation and was about to appear before the two elven mistress and servant.

Belantia showed no surprise at this. She was long accustomed to what would happen next, and composing her expression, she looked toward the source of the sound. The next second, a vast body wreathed in holy white light appeared in her field of vision. The giant deer Amorn came through the forest path, stepping gracefully onto the clearing, and nodded slightly to Belantia and Elaine: "I am glad to see you safe and sound. I have come again."

"Greetings, Master Amorn," Belantia at once greeted him politely. This former deity was now the "Messenger" who connected the north and south of the continent, and his presence was of extraordinary significance to the Silver Empire as it upheld the situation on the southern front. Yet after the greeting, she immediately noticed that the holy giant deer's condition seemed slightly different from their last meeting. "Ah, you look... a little smaller?"

She was certain she was not mistaken. Although Amorn still possessed an enormous body today, compared with their last meeting he was decidedly smaller by more than a size—it seemed odd to focus on such a thing at such a moment, but she could not help asking.

"Ah, that is a small intentional adjustment," Amorn said, glancing down at himself and explaining offhandedly. "What you see is my incarnation, and I have recently been trying to change the form of my incarnation... Pay it no mind."

Belantia very much wanted to ask why he had suddenly done such things, but she felt the occasion was not suitable. So she forced her attention elsewhere and asked with a grave expression: "May I ask what important intelligence you have come to deliver this time?"

"There is some, but first I must learn the situation on the southern front," Amorn lowered his neck. "How do matters stand here?"

"...The defense line remains stable, but I must say the situation is not good, and it may deteriorate at any moment," Belantia said frankly after hesitating for less than a second. "Fort Greta on the northwestern border of the Highland Kingdom has just suffered a ferocious assault far beyond expectations. A great host of mutants surged down from the north, and we paid a heavy price to destroy them—and this may be only the beginning."

Amorn's tone changed at once: "A great host of mutants surging down from the north?"

"Yes—we judge that it must be the mutant legion that was previously attacking the western front," Belantia said. "After their brief rout, those monsters regrouped fully, and now... they have marched south."

"...This is intelligence of the utmost importance," Amorn said in a deep voice, then his tone shifted. "Which also means... the pressure on the southern front is about to increase rapidly."

"Yes. That is a foreseeable change."

"...If the pressure on the western front subsides as a result, the Western Expeditionary Army and the Sky Battlegroup Dawn of the Mortal World should be able to free up combat power to move south, and the imperial fleet led by the Wintercold will also enter the 'Sacred River' in the near future to provide support along the northwestern border of the Highland Kingdom," Amorn said after a brief consideration. These words, which sounded like comfort, were in fact much needed by the Silver Queen at this moment. Then he paused briefly before continuing, "In addition, I have come this time to deliver a plan—one from the Cecil Empire, drawn up jointly by Gao Yang Cecil and Milmina, the 'Sovereign of All Laws.'"

"Uncle Gao Yang and... the Goddess of Magic?" Belantia could not hide her astonishment. "What do they intend to do?"

"To permanently terminate the 'operation' of the wasteland," Amorn said, word by word, "and put a complete end to this catastrophe."

Perhaps what the other party had said was too staggering, or perhaps after centuries of searching and striving, the Silver Queen could not believe that such a moment would simply appear before her eyes—she asked instinctively, "...Is that true? How do they intend to do it?"

"It is true. Milmina has already discovered the mechanism behind the existence of the wasteland and the aberrations. I have brought the detailed materials on that part; you may study them at leisure with your scholar advisors afterward. As for the specific plan—we need to build at least two 'barrier walls' within the wasteland to terminate the energy cycle in that realm of chaos. And the most critical component of these 'barrier walls'... is the purification technology that the Silver Empire once provided to the nations of the continent.

"At present, among the Alliance, the only ones capable of mass-producing purification devices are Cecil, Tifon, and the Silver Empire, the original provider of this technology."

As Amorn's voice fell silent, the "Forest Glade" seemed to grow quiet for a moment. Several seconds later, Bilanția spoke with a trace of complexity in her expression: "It is true that we still retain many production lines that remain operational and can manufacture that kind of purification device, but given the current situation on the southern front... even if the purification devices were built, I fear we would no longer have the strength to deliver them into the wasteland, much less the strength to withstand the Dark Priests' counterattack that would follow."

(End of this chapter)