Chapter 1347 — Captured

She had thought she would never feel it again, but now it seemed... a life worth looking forward to was only just beginning.

...

"Milmina's captured that dark priest, the one called 'Bertlem,'" Gao Yang said from behind his desk in the Supreme Administrative Hall of Xuanyao City, addressing Hedy, who had just stepped into the office. "He's been delivered to Philip's base."

"Captured by Lady Milmina?" Hedy was momentarily stunned at these words, rapidly sketching in her mind a rough map of the vast front across the southern reaches of the Living Forest, and her expression turned strange. "Didn't we hear the dark priest escaped from Beyila's 'devouring zone'? That place is a fair distance from our front-line laboratory—how did Lady Milmina capture him?"

"...Surely astonishing luck and a peerless gift for finding his way," Gao Yang said after a long pause, able to give only this answer. "And he saw Milmina's mythic form with his own eyes—without any protective gear whatsoever. From what's come back from the front, we needn't worry at all about that fellow escaping this time; all we need worry about now is how much useful information Beyila can still dredge out of his thought organs..."

Hedy's expression grew more peculiar still, and after a long struggle she managed to mutter under her breath: "I'd rather not know what that poor wretch looks like now..."

With that she shook her head, set several documents on Gao Song's desk, and spoke: "We've just received word from the eastern and southern fronts—in the east, the Typhon mage corps and the National Knight Order have successfully cleared the aberrant legions around the Dark Hills. Wolf General Anluo is establishing a large-scale advance base; they mean to use it as a starting point to begin building the barrier wall that will run across the wasteland."

"...Luo Yan Augustus has begun to honor his pledge," Gao Che said. "And the southern front?"

"The entry of the 'Solin Expeditionary Force' has stabilized the south; the southern coalition can now spare troops to consolidate its northwestern border. The aberrant legions pushing south from Augule have been halted north of Fort Greta, though the fighting there remains fierce. Meanwhile, the Silver Empire's Millennial Legion, with fire support from the 'Solin Expeditionary Force,' is steadily retaking the lands north of the forest barrier and has now advanced to the Sunlit Vault's crash zone. Word from the Silver Empress is that her next step is to recapture the Vault's wreckage and build an advance base upon it, as the southern starting point of the barrier wall."

"'Solin Expeditionary Force,' is it..." Gao Yun repeated the phrase. "Well, Beyila was right—that little elf and the 'bodyguards' she brought along have clearly played a role far beyond expectations. But by the sound of it, the situation there is still far from fully stabilized. The aberrants pushing south from the Augule region are, for now, merely checked at the northwest border of the Highridge Kingdom; the southern coalition has no means of wiping those monsters out entirely..."

At this he shook his head. "And the western front? Has Duke Baiyu sent word?"

"The western front has many fallen regions, the tribes are gravely wounded, and Augule's original border barriers have been all but destroyed by the aberrant legions—the long frontier must be defended at every point, so the expeditionary force Baiyu and Jinna took west has been dragged to a halt," Hedy said, her expression somewhat severe. "They've only just sealed the breach in the mountain barrier, but many aberrants still roam the forests and hills, driven by instinct toward Augule's inland cities. The region is awash in refugees now, and the great camps lack protection—a 'sanctuary' fenced off by a single hedge may suffer grievous losses even against a lone aberrant... The situation is extremely complicated."

"It's turned into a long-term 'bandit-suppression campaign,' has it..." Gao Yang's brow gradually furrowed. "Baiyu should be able to handle that sort of situation, but the crux is that we cannot afford to wait... The barrier wall must go up as quickly as possible. The stretch running across the wasteland cannot be left to the Typhon Empire alone; the pressure and the risk are too great... What's Rebecca doing?"

"Building more supercritical accelerators for the Dawn of the Mortal World, and an assembly plant for infernal incendiary rounds," Hedy said, her tone turning somewhat stiff at this point—likely the aftereffect of signing off on budgets with a hand that trembled again and again. "Building around the clock."

"Very good," Gao Yang said, a smile spreading across his face. "That's exactly what she's good at, and exactly what the western front desperately needs—if we can't quickly establish a 'western advance point' on the ground, then blasting a path through the western wasteland straight from the sky is also an option. Building the western barrier wall will be far easier once that's done."

Then he let out a soft breath and leaned back in his chair, an thoughtful expression on his face. "Next, it's up to how much useful information Beyila can dig out of her 'former compatriot's' head... If we can pin down the dark priests' specific deployments and the Sentinels' true objective, then the scales may at last have a chance to tip fully in our favor..."

...

In a garden blanketed by countless pure white blossoms, a middle-aged man in a gray-white cloth robe, his face utterly unremarkable, suddenly opened his eyes.

In an instant a flood of abstract, disordered, broken fragments of impression poured into his mind, battering his spirit. He could recall nothing specific from those shattered scraps of information, yet a terror of incomparable depth came crushing down upon him, an "impression" that swept over him from every side—as though he had forgotten some dreadful truth, and only "fear" itself remained, branded deep into his soul.

That dreadful sensation was like some endless torment; even though it lasted only a few seconds, it was enough to make the middle-aged man clutch his head and let out a string of incoherent, agonized howls. He rolled through the field of flowers as though he felt his mind being slowly dissolved in strong acid—until a rustling and the sound of footsteps came suddenly from nearby, the pain in his head abruptly dispersed, and he stopped, twitching all over, and raised his blank gaze to the figure walking toward him.

Beyila, in a pale green gown, came to a halt at the center of the garden.

She looked down at the middle-aged man curled up on the ground.

"It's been many years, Bertlem.

"Welcome to your resting place."