Chapter 1018: Chapter 1017: Tidal Surge

The large-scale military mobilization occurring in the direction of Winterhold is impossible to conceal—it is even blatantly open.

In the Cecil control zone, within the Winterwolf Keep Frontline Command, officers and staff gathered in the former castle hall. Intelligence from all sides flowed in like rivers merging into the sea. One piece of information after another was delivered, one command after another was issued, and scenes from afar were projected above numerous Magic Web Terminals. Countless tense and busy clerical staff and commanders were bustling about in this place.

Gawain stood at the end of the hall by a large sand table, with Sir Philip and Maryland beside him strategizing the current deployment of the Typhon forces around Winterhold. Having changed back into the Steel Cavalry commander attire, Soldrin strode up to them, urgently saying, "The scouting units discovered a significant number of combat mages and mixed forces near Ge Lin Town. Preliminary estimates suggest that at least twelve legions are moving from that side towards the frontline..."

Sir Philip looked up at Gawain, his expression serious. Maryland, meanwhile, took the battle flag model beside the sand table and silently placed it at the location on the map corresponding to the intelligence brought by Soldrin, while all around those newly added red flags, the red markers representing Typhon legions had already covered the entire Winterhold defense line, densely resembling rivers.

"Are all of Typhon’s Transcendents sprouting from the land..." Amber, standing to the side, was somewhat astonished, her eyes widened. "Where did all these Empire Corps come from...? Are they planning to flood the battlefield with sheer numbers?"

"All of Typhon’s regular army and reserves, parts of rotating troops near the southern borders and East Coast, and Transcendents directly under the royal family... I fear they’ve all been mobilized," Gawain said in a deep, stern voice, furrowing his brows. "This number might not even be able to deploy on the main plains between Winterhold and Winterwolf Keep..."

Amber was startled: "Has Emperor Rosetta gone mad? Not to mention how many of these people in the vicinity of Winterhold can effectively be used on the frontline battlefield, isn’t he afraid of losing control over domestic affairs? Isn’t Typhon going to become ’hollow’ internally..."

"Indeed, with mobilization of this scale, Typhon’s internal structure is likely on the brink of maintaining normal order... but more importantly, the fact that Emperor Rosetta can mobilize such a large force nationwide so quickly and extensively while maintaining domestic order is what we should pay the most attention to," Gawain said quietly, his gaze slowly scanning over the sand table. Information gathered here over the past days was painting a clearer image in his mind, making the entire terrain map more three-dimensional, "Soldrin, did you previously mention that large convoys loaded with capstone crystals had entered the Winterhold area from the Ankum approach?"

Soldrin nodded: "Yes, the exact number is unknown, but it’s definitely a lot, and after entering the Winterhold area, they’ve been dispersed and transported to several mountains near the fortress—those mountains have been marked on the sand table already."

Gawain affirmed as he indeed saw those marked mountains on the sand table. They were all distributed around that white castle atop the mountains, together forming a series of excellent vantage points with Winterhold. However, despite being excellent vantage points, those mountains still lay a considerable distance from the Cecil-controlled zone, rendering neither the largest Rainbow Light Main Cannon from Cecil nor the Typhon Legion’s spells capable of threatening any targets on the two nations’ conflict line from that distance.

Maryland could also see this point, diligently studying the scene on the sand table, he murmured as if speaking to himself: "From this distance... they shouldn’t be able to hit our forward outposts."

"Indeed, they won’t reach, so the item is likely not intended for us," Gawain nodded lightly, reflecting briefly before suddenly turning to Amber, "Where’s Veronica now?"

"In the prayer room at the top level of the castle," Amber immediately replied, "Should I call her over?"

"No, her current task is very important, and it’s best not to leave that prayer room... I’ll go over there personally."

...

At the highest level of Winterwolf Keep, the ethereal Holy Light flowed through the room like water, a faint ringing barely perceivable by the human ear echoed in the air, collectively constructing a harmonious and tranquil "field" that filled the entire layer of the building with an invigorating, relaxing power.

Veronica Moen/Ophelia stood in the center of the prayer room on the top floor, eyes slightly closed, feeling the flow of the Holy Light. Those simple yet symbolically sacred furnishings surrounding her subtly glowed, while a symbol representing pure Holy Light lay beneath her feet. Its surface occasionally manifested vague visions—distant mountains at times, ethereal palaces at others, but mostly indecipherable and constantly shifting light and lines.

Suddenly, Veronica opened her eyes, turning towards the door beside her. The next second, Gawain pushed the door open and entered.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Veronica nodded gently, her tone serene, "Everything here is as usual."

"How’s the monitoring going?" Gawain casually asked, "Is the War God’s power still infiltrating this world?"

"Of course... Power not belonging to this world is increasing by the minute. The massive force of belief converging into a river flows from across the land to here. At this moment, this is already the focal point of warfare power in the world," Veronica said softly, slightly raising the platinum scepter in her hand and casually motioning towards the eastern wall. Instantly, the thick wall built from enchanted stone bricks was infiltrated by a faint light, becoming completely transparent as if it had vanished, revealing the distant mountains in the direction of Winterhold. "You may view for yourself—through the veil of Holy Light, you can see Him."

Gawain directed his gaze following Veronica’s gesture, concentrating slightly, he quickly spotted the immense shadow traversing between clouds and land—it seemed like a projection of something existing in a higher dimension cast upon the physical world, wandering the land, yet with an unreal, distant, illusory feel. Regardless of how much he focused, he couldn’t discern any details of it.

It seemed all matters involving "details" had yet to be projected from that higher dimension.

"Is that the War God?" Gawain’s expression was grave, "Is that what Soldrin encountered?"

"That’s the War God, but not in entirety—thus even if ordinary people occasionally witness it, they won’t immediately become mentally afflicted. He is entering our world at a slow, yet tangible speed, and as more priests and followers are ’driven’ by Emperor Rosetta to this region, His ’arrival’ process accelerates," Veronica nodded. "Even so, I dare not predict when exactly He will fully ’arrive.’"

"Is estimating roughly out of the question?" Gawain curiously inquired.

"’Arrival’ isn’t wholly a gradual process, especially when the projection correlation between the War God and this world is slowly becoming chaotic," Veronica shook her head. "Once all criteria are met, the War God could entirely enter the material world by tomorrow. However, should any criteria be flawed, He could remain in this critical state for a whole year... Thus, I’m more intrigued by what ’know-how’ Emperor Rosetta might possess, giving him the confidence to constrain the War God’s arrival timeframe within a shorter range. Bear in mind, even with Typhon’s might, it’s impossible to maintain the current winterhold military presence for long..."

"He possesses knowledge we do not know... This knowledge might be deeper than what the Defiers understand," Gawain said thoughtfully, "Perhaps one day I can ask him directly, but for now... I only care about when all this is supposed to happen."

"Of course, I will continue to ’overlook’ here, and I will notify you at the first moment when things change," Veronica said gently, and then waved her hand lightly, the wall returned to its previous state, and she continued to stand on the Holy Light emblem holding the scepter, like a tireless Watcher gazing in the direction of the Typhon Empire.

As a powerful Transcendent, she can continue to look into the distance for a very long time.

...

North of Winterhold, a certain high mountain.

The cold wind came from the north, whistling through the valleys and mountains, the clouds seemed to be at an attainable height, rolling and changing with the whistling high-altitude cold wind, a Mage officer in a dark blue starlight magic robe, holding a long staff made of golden oak, stood on the high platform temporarily built with giant wood and stones, overlooking the busy construction scene below.

The Mage, who is revered in other countries, becomes a common builder here, using powerful magic to shape the soil and boulders. Accompanied by various shining magical brilliance, large-scale stone platforms, towers, amplifiers, and various large spell facilities shape quickly at an astonishing speed. At this moment, there is already a huge circular Spellcasters’ square on this leveled mountaintop.

Four gray towers stood around the square, and above the circular platform at the center, with a radius of tens of meters, a large circle embedded with numerous gems and expensive metals floated, more than ten combat Mages were busy under that circle—either drawing magic symbols on the ground with molten metal or embedding various gems into the correct slots.

"Sir, the focus ring has passed the resonance test," a Mage descended from the sky, slightly bowed before the Mage officer and said, "The drawing progress of magic symbols is already halfway through, and the output of the power tower is currently at seventy percent."

"Hmm, very good... the progress of construction is indeed a bit faster with the rune trigger," the officer nodded, casually asked, "What is the progress of embedding the energy crystals?"

"Sixty percent of the embedding is completed—by tomorrow this time, it should be fully embedded," the combat Mage immediately replied, "Additionally, the core magic sphere has been transported to the foot of the mountain, it should soon be brought up."

The Mage officer showed a trace of satisfaction on his face, he nodded slightly, then raised his gaze, looking over the clouds rolling among the peaks, gazing in the distant direction of Winterhold.

...

The "Hall of Mystics" on the upper level of the castle was brightly lit, a wall inlaid with gems and metal magic symbols shimmered, on the shimmering wall, several divided screens respectively presented scenes on several mountain tops—various Mage teams were tightly busy setting up Spellcaster positions, the large towers and focus rings had already taken shape. In another part of the screen, camps at the foot of the mountain could be seen, Engineers and Mages were busy constructing various positions and facilities.

Palin Winterhold waved his hand in front of the wall, switching over groups of monitoring screens, then he withdrew his gaze, and looked at Emperor Rosetta Augustus not far behind him.

"Your Majesty," Count Winterhold nodded slightly, "The construction at all sites is already over halfway, and the project on the main peak of Winterhold is largely complete."

"Very good," Emperor Rosetta Augustus said calmly, "It seems that at least in this aspect, we are progressing smoothly."

Count Winterhold looked at Emperor Rosetta, seeming a bit hesitant before speaking slowly, "Your Majesty, we’ve still not synchronized any intelligence or... communication with the Cecil Clan, we’ve reached this point almost solely relying on tacit agreement, isn’t this situation too risky? Even if Emperor Gawain knows our intent, that ’trust’ must indeed be very limited, the skirmishes at the border have now escalated to a very dangerous level, it’s hard to still say it’s ’controlled military action’, and now we’ve also conducted large-scale ’troop increase’... will this overly provoke the Cecil Clan?"

Rosetta was silent for several seconds, slowly shaking his head, "In this matter, we cannot communicate any intelligence with the Cecil Clan, not even a hint—this behavior is indeed too challenging to the ’order’ of war, it will bring the gods towards unknown transformations... So far, Their variables have already been numerous."

"And at Cecil side..."

"...Gawain Cecil is a ruler with foresight and wisdom, and more importantly—he has powerful means, as long as he remains stable, then the entire Cecil Clan can remain stable," Rosetta slowly said, but after a pause, he changed his tone, "However, your concern is not unfounded, Sir Palin, Cecil’s ’trust’ and ’tacit understanding’ with us is not unconditional, and up to now, it has likely been worn out to a great extent... I will consider this matter."

He shook his head, temporarily concluding this topic, then walked to the window side of the hall leisurely, his gaze passed through the crystal glass embedded in the window, overlooking the castle courtyard below.

Soldiers were escorting group after group of black-robed people past the courtyard, and in one corner of the courtyard, one could also see many people draped in black robes standing there, heads down as if waiting for judgment.

Their faces were hidden under their hoods, making it impossible to discern their gender, age, or stature, but they all shared similar traits: stumbling footsteps, swaying bodies, exhibiting a dazed state like sleepwalkers, and in the lower hems and sleeves of some black robes, disgusting and terrifying tendril-like things could be seen constantly contracting and expanding...

Rosetta’s gaze swept across those black-robed silhouettes, after a long silence, he murmured as if speaking to himself:

"Pray..."

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