Chapter 780 — Second Expedition
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
The Changfeng Fortress defense line, Railway Junction No. 3.
With a crisp bell chiming across the platform, an immense and imposing iron-black steel train glided slowly into the junction station and came to a smooth halt alongside the platform.
The barriers near the platform rose, merging with those of the tracks themselves to block the cold wind sweeping in from the plains; light-and-dark striping projected onto the shield surfaces served to frustrate any distant scrying by hawkeye spells.
At either end of the platform, soldiers stood guard atop tall watchtowers, while from the bunkers level with the platform protruded the muzzles of rail-accelerator cannons and the embrasures of searing-ray emplacements; armed soldiers patrolled everywhere, and hidden sentries were scattered throughout the station, inside and out, turning the entire junction—openly and covertly—into a frontline fortification armed to the teeth.
"Iron Throne — Jormungandr," Ma Qi stood on the platform watching the fully armed black train berth alongside, technicians already swarming forward to inspect it, and a faint smile touched his lips. "With a second armored train added to this line, the defense of Changfeng Fortress can finally let us breathe easy."
"Iron Throne — Unit Zero will get a chance to rest and refit as well," said Philip beside him, a man with short golden hair clad in knight's armor, smiling too. "The overload damage it took last year still hasn't been fully repaired. Every time it accelerates, the No. 2 armory section at the rear shakes as if it's about to leap clean off the rails."
He paused, then went on: "Once these two standard-model armored trains are delivered, the heavy factories in the rear will shift their main efforts to producing civilian trains for the time being, while the secondary factories in the Kond and Gelan regions will handle the manufacture of those 'downgraded armored trains' you mentioned before. Their production rate should be far faster than the Iron Thrones'."
"In addition, the higher-ups have finalized the designation for this class of light armored train. Corresponding to the Iron Throne, they've been named 'Iron Scepter.' Given that Iron Scepters will certainly far outnumber the Iron Thrones and are far more prone to all manner of modifications and variants, unless special circumstances arise, they'll likely be assigned numbers only, with no individual names."
Ma Qi nodded along as he listened. The construction of the Changfeng line had been proceeding smoothly, and that had greatly eased the pressure on this middle-aged knight's mind. Yet even as the pressure lightened, he could not avoid confronting the changes on the other side of the border—the changes at Winterwolf Keep from last winter to this day.
That "Wolf General," once driven back and summoned to Aldnan to answer for her failures, had long since returned—and not merely returned; she appeared to have suffered no blow at all from her last defeat. She still held the Winterwolf Legion firmly in her grasp, controlled the entire defense line, and was more actively than ever building up Winterwolf Keep's strength.
"That little Wolf General... she's more trouble than I imagined," Ma Qi said, frowning. "When she went back to Aldnan last time, she must have carried away a great deal of key intelligence and secured a great deal of support. Now more and more magitech vehicles and all kinds of advanced machinery are appearing at Winterwolf Keep—the Typhonians use them to build fortresses and strengthen their lines. And that Wolf General seems intent on using these new technologies to improve the troops under her command. She's never seen a tank, but she's certainly seen the intelligence on them. With the Typhonians' magical depth and that Wolf General's sharp mind, sooner or later they'll find a substitute for tanks."