Chapter 658 — The Glutton
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Inside the Silver Fortress, Gao Yang and the two newly appointed Grand Consuls kept watch before the ley-line terminal. News from the eastern plains, relayed and passed along in layers through the Thorenberg line, the White Sands region, the Southern Reach and the Gorgon River communications chain, was being delivered into this room without pause.
"The 'Brave Ones' squad has begun its operation. First-level luring of the target succeeded..."
"The target has entered the firing range of the Thorenberg defense line. The 'Brave Ones' squad has successfully disengaged. Second-level luring succeeded..."
"All units in the White Sands Hills have completed their withdrawal. Beacons have been established..."
"Third-level luring succeeded. The Iron Throne has begun moving south... The target is approaching the White Sands Hills..."
Reports from the various executing units arrived like the workings of some precision timetable, streaming in ceaselessly according to plan, yet Gao Yang felt not the slightest relief, for the Thorenberg defense line had already proven with hard fact how eerie, how powerful, how nearly unkillable that artificial god was. Though what the cultists had shaped with mortal strength was only a "counterfeit" housed in flesh and blood, the counterfeit's power had plainly transcended the mortal realm and taken on certain divine attributes.
Facing such an enemy, no one dared relax until it was truly and utterly annihilated.
And Gao Yang knew as well that these reports arriving on schedule, these links that seemed to run so smoothly and fit so tightly together—within each of them, every second, every detail, was being paid for with the lives and risks of countless soldiers and commanders. Smoothness on the surface meant a precision balance as delicate as walking a tightrope.
The siren allies were indeed powerful, and the plan indeed looked flawless, but that would never make the risk vanish. Even with high odds of success, the risks that had to be taken still had to be taken.
Beside him, the ever cold and composed Victoria could not help but keep her face taut, a trace of tension in her voice: "Let us hope all goes well."
"It will go well... If even the sirens cannot finish it, then the Second Legion sent from the Bulwark Fortress to reinforce the White Sands Hills and the reserve legion from Xuanyao City will take their place. We will destroy that monster in the end," Gao Yang said in a firm voice. "And then we will make public the truth of this operation—loudly, for all the world to hear."
Bai Yu nodded lightly. "People will come to realize the strength of the new Empire. Broken confidence will be reforged, the situation will stabilize, and the nobles of the border regions will cooperate more readily with the reforms..."
"Yes. People will come to realize the strength of the new Empire." Gao Yang nodded in agreement, while inwardly he added a line of his own—
They would also come to realize that "gods" were not so untouchable after all.
...
On the border between the Holy Spirit Plains and the Eastern Reach, this long chase had already run past its midpoint.
The ley-line rails stretched out across plains and hills, and the heavy arcane train raced along the tracks. The sky hung leaden; hot winds from the plains whirled up sand and dust, hammering the relay posts beside the rails and the armor on the train's flanks. The roar of war machines tearing through the air and the thunder of the turrets' ceaseless fire shook heaven and earth. Wherever the behemoth passed, birds were wiped from the sky, and the beasts that had survived on the plains bolted madly from their burrows as though the end of days had come.