Chapter 979 — The Slide
Blade of Dawn · Page 3 of 5
She had spoken barely half her sentence when she suddenly stopped, as if sensing something. The officers in the room, unsure what had happened, looked at one another, but soon some of them caught on and signaled everyone to keep quiet. In the silence, An Luo and her adjutant held their breath and listened carefully to the sounds coming from outside.
The dense explosions from the direction of Little Triangle Slope were rapidly growing sparse.
"Less than half an hour," the adjutant beside her said, his face dark. "Faster than we expected…"
An officer could not help muttering under his breath: "If we had the Iron River Knights and the priest corps, high-level war blessings combined with the battle mage corps' strategic magic, we could hold back the enemy's assault in the northwest…"
An Luo glanced at the officer, then withdrew her gaze: "We no longer have the Iron River Knights, nor the priest corps—only the main force of the Winterwolf Knights, three reinforcing units, and this fortress. Ladies and gentlemen, on that basis, think about how to deal with those Cecilians. That is facing reality."
An Luo still wore a stern expression and spoke in a decisive tone, as if utterly unshaken, but as an elder well acquainted with her, Palin Winterfort could sense the frustration and regret the young wolf general kept buried deep inside.
Yet he could not think of any words of comfort, and he knew most of the people here likely felt the same; even he himself could not muster much optimism at this moment.
And this oppression did not come from the Cecilians, nor from any fear of battle—the empire's soldiers had never feared war. What truly shook them was the clouded future of Typhon.
The corrupted Church of the God of War, the out-of-control ace knight order, the contamination hidden close at hand that might erupt at any moment—everyone tried not to discuss such things in a place like this, but every one of them knew they hung over all their heads in earnest. Quite a few officers, upon learning the deeper intelligence, had even developed an even more terrifying worry—
The Iron River Knights had lost control under the influence of mental contamination, and they were followers of the God of War… Then could they themselves, also followers of the God of War or at least touched to some degree by that faith, suddenly fall into madness as well? And even… were the things they were thinking at this very moment, the tactics they were now deploying, truly the product of their own free will?
The empire's soldiers were human too—these terrible pressures were, by any measure, shaking the morale of every one of them.
"We've set up large-scale arcane stress fields along the western side of the defense line," An Luo suddenly spoke up after a brief silence, breaking it. "These are targeted traps designed around the specific properties of mana engines and ley-line substrates. They should prove quite effective—if they succeed in slowing the enemy's advance, the Black Flag Mage Corps' strategic spell strikes will no doubt be even more devastating."
Palin Winterfort raised an eyebrow. "Arcane stress fields? Those are a research product of the Royal Mages' Association... You've already made them practical?"
"Barely functional," An Luo nodded. "The main problem is we didn't have enough time to set them up, but they should still have some effect..."
After sending Count Palin Winterfort off to rest for the time being, An Luo let out a long breath. She felt slightly lighter than before—but only slightly.
"Still no way to establish contact with the Cecilians?" She suddenly turned her head to look at the adjutant who had followed her for years.