Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 909: Do people who have lost their dreams still have dreams?
Inside the Bolian Manor, the knights of the Gustave family watched this scene from afar, all in a stunned silence. The huge boulevard was dead silent, with only the wind occasionally blowing through the long stone-paved street, rustling the dead leaves. The afterglow of the starlight had not yet stopped, shining through the gaps between the branches and leaves, illuminating some of the darkness.

After a long time, a knight finally spoke, his tone difficult and slightly bitter: "Young lady... is she so powerful?"

No wonder their help is not needed.

To be honest, judging from how she easily suppressed the synthetic monster Chimera, if we intervene in the battle, not only will we not be of any help, but we may even drag her down.

The old knight Gustav smiled bitterly and shook his head: "If the young lady had shown her strength earlier, we wouldn't have had to insist so much just now. It would have made a fool of herself for the young lady."

Including the three alien leaders, everyone felt the same way, especially Shangquiel, the leader of the mountain centaurs. In addition to being shocked, he was also a little ashamed: it turned out that the young lady was not targeting anyone, she was just telling the truth.

However, if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, who would believe that the young lady actually possessed such strength?
The knights of the Gustaf family all knew that the future lord they were loyal to was a man of extraordinary talent. He had shown extraordinary talents in all areas since he was a child. Whether it was academics, martial arts, communication, or even flirting, he could do his best. Therefore, he had always been considered the heir with the greatest hope of leading the Gustaf family back to the top.

But their imagination has its limits, just as it is hard to imagine the frost in winter while the flowers blooming in summer. In their perception, no matter how talented the eldest lady is, her upper limit is just to be like the White Knight Hibberthon seven hundred years ago, to gain the recognition of the Ice Heart Armor and accomplish great things. Those who are bolder will think of the great pioneer knight who transformed a barren wasteland into today's "Land of Hope" - Baron Vince of Grangenia. If the eldest lady can reach that height, not only will she herself go down in history, but the knights who follow her will also be able to leave a glorious name in the chapters of the bard.

Loyalty, honor and sacrifice, aren’t these the dreams that every knight pursues throughout his life?
However, the level of performance of the young Shino Jean Godstaf was far beyond the imagination of everyone who had been optimistic about her. The synthetic monster Chimera, which was jointly fought by the White Knight Hibden, Joan of Arc and the rebels and was still in a hard fight, was as vulnerable as a child's toy in front of her. Does this mean that the eldest lady has grown beyond her ancestor in the Republican era, beyond the Baron Vince who only existed in ancient memories, and even beyond the Saint Lady whom every White City person worships from the bottom of their hearts?
They were deeply shocked... and proud of it.

Although some young knights were still confused, on the one hand, although the eldest lady was powerful, the various martial arts and magic she used did not seem to come from the "knight" path passed down from generation to generation in the Gustaf family. It was even hard to say whether such power could be called magic, because during the eldest lady's battle, they did not feel any breath of magic. Even if it was explained by distance, it did not make sense. That power was even stronger than the magic of Sequence One.

"No need."

Until today, perhaps the only person who knew about it was the old patriarch.

No one noticed that the old man in the wheelchair was trembling slightly with his hands on the armrests. His eyes became particularly deep for a moment, but finally returned to the calmness of the eternal night, as if nothing had happened.

Mission? Destiny?
The old butler Weber frowned. He could understand what a mission was, but not what fate was. However, he seemed to understand that this battle had a more important meaning for the master than just fulfilling the family's long-cherished wish.

He stopped talking and just stood quietly by the side, waiting for the end of the battle with his loyal master.

……

Several eyes passed through the crowd and fell on the old figure under the tree, as if thinking about something. They recalled that the practice of dismissing all servants and attendants at the Chardoly Manor seemed to have started when the eldest lady's talent first emerged, and it was the eldest lady herself who insisted on doing so and executed it very thoroughly. Otherwise, as an important ancestral manor, there should not be even a family knight stationed there.

On the other hand, if the young lady has such strength, why does she hide it from everyone? If she said that she didn't trust her knights, no one would believe it. These knights who watched the young lady grow up may even know her character better than she does, and know that she will never let everyone down. Then the remaining explanation is that the young lady's true strength is not convenient for people to know for some unspeakable reasons.

The elderly Vandru Jean Gustaf said this, his voice was a little hoarse, and there was a power that made people immersed in listening: "The child is fighting, and I will witness it to the end. This is a mission and a destiny."

The old man sat in a wheelchair, seemingly unaware of the gazes from the crowd, quietly watching the calm posture of the young knight on the battlefield in the distance. The starlight gradually dimmed, the shadows of the trees danced in the residual light of the lights, and the afterglow of the stars reflected on the leaves made the old man's eyes seem to be covered with a layer of turbidity. His breathing gradually became weaker, as if he was afraid that his breathing here would affect the girl's battle. The heartbeat in his chest also became particularly long, often taking several minutes before there would be an inconspicuous rise and fall, proving that he was still alive in the world to witness the end of this battle.

The knights were far away and did not dare to be too rude in front of their lord. Therefore, only the old butler Waver, who was closest to them, noticed the old man's abnormality. A trace of worry flashed in his eyes. He quietly moved his feet to block the crowd's sight and asked in a low voice: "Do you want to go back and rest, sir? I think the battle is over. Miss Shino will not be in danger..."

The starlight in the sky gradually faded, but there seemed to be some remaining starlight flickering in the dark clouds, dimly illuminating the battlefield on earth. The wounded and dying synthetic monster Chimera used its remaining claws to support its body and climbed up from the ground with difficulty. As it stood up, the ground that had been bombarded by the Star Knight's light gun seemed to groan, and more cracks filled with cold air spread out like ice crystals. It was the frost on the tarsal bones that was still emitting residual heat, freezing not only the air and the ground, but also the flow of magic power in the beast's body.

The power of the synthetic monster Chimera at this time is probably only one tenth of its peak. If it dies here, it will be a complete death, and there will be no possibility of returning to the seal with the help of the earth vein magic.

The snow-white warhorse landed lightly on the ground, the two-colored wind wings under its ribs folded gently, and the knight on her back held a holy silver spear, with the blade slightly tilted towards the ground, looking at the struggling Chimera with a pair of clear and cold snow-white eyes, and the silent gesture seemed to say: The battle is not over yet, only life and death. As for who will live and who will die, it seems to be a clear matter at a glance.

The Chimera roared in a threatening manner, but after losing two heads, the roar inevitably seemed to lack strength and seemed to be a bit forced. But unexpectedly, it took the initiative to attack, and the lion scorpion's tail behind it flicked lightly, releasing a pale green poisonous mist from the poison needle at the end, which spread towards the knight like a faint phosphorescent fire. At the same time, the pale horn on the head of the black goat, which had long been broken, made a terrifying roar. A gray beam of light between black and white, as if it had lost its color, rushed towards the sky like thunder, and then split into thousands of small electric snakes, trapping the figure of the knight like a cage.

Unlike the previous black light pillars, these pale electric lights contained a power of annihilation and silence, which seemed to be the opposite of the earth's magic power. It could wipe out life and annihilate souls. Combined with the poisonous fog that spread all over the sky, it could turn a lush forest into a barren dead place in an instant.

The Chimera, a synthetic beast made from the forbidden holy relics combined with the magic of the earth veins, can still create such a threatening attack even if it has lost two heads, five claws and a tail. In the past battlefields, countless rebel soldiers were killed by the poisonous fog, poisonous fire and sandstorms it created. After death, even their bodies were polluted. After the battle, it took the Gustaf family nearly a hundred years to restore the past vitality to this land.

Faced with this highly corrosive and toxic polluted fog, the knight remained indifferent. He just drew a circle in the air with the holy spear in his hand, and a gorgeous and bright moonlight gushed out from the circle, like another mist. The two mists collided in the air, as if two huge clouds were devouring each other, and the purifying power of the moonlight was obviously stronger than the corrosive power of the poisonous fog. In an instant, the pale green fog was reduced to ashes, and even the pale electric light that fell from the sky was decomposed into countless tiny residues, like dead butterflies that had lost their color, falling powerlessly into the deepest part of the fog and merging into the ground.

However, after the poisonous fog gradually dissipated, Xino actually saw the huge figure as big as a mountain fleeing hastily towards the end of the night, with no intention of looking back. The half of the wing cut off by the light gun drooped on its body, looking particularly embarrassed.

The female knight was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: It turned out that the violent attack was just an illusion, and escaping was the real intention.

It seemed that the power he had displayed had already frightened it. His hatred for the Godafu family was indeed as deep as mountains and seas, but it would not be worth it if he lost his life for it. Even artificially created synthetic monsters understood the principle of seeking benefits and avoiding harm, so he lost the courage to fight as early as the moment the Star Knight dropped his laser gun. He was sure that the only thing he could do now was to escape and fight for a way to survive.

The beast was so cunning, it knew that conventional attacks were useless against the knight in front of it, she could always use that strange space movement method to escape, but her identity as a guardian meant that she could not sit idly by and watch the pollution of the poisonous fog spread, and as long as she chose to confront it head-on, she would find a chance to escape. The battle just now was so fierce, and the people of the Gustaf family did not come to support, which meant that there were no other humans ambushing around. Although the human knight was very strong, there was only one person. Could he still stop me who was determined to escape?
Escape from here, escape from the sphere of influence of the Gustaf family, or even escape from this land full of unpleasant atmosphere...anywhere is fine as long as you can get away from that knight. If all else fails, use the lives of those weak humans as a threat. Don't the knights of the Gustaf family like to call themselves guardians? Then see which one you will choose between the family's mission and the knight's glory?

"Cunning indeed." Xino looked at the beast's fleeing back from afar and sneered, "My grandfather only told me about the beast's viciousness and cruelty, but never mentioned its cowardly and cunning side. Rather than a lion or tiger, it's more like a frightened fox."

But it must be said that it did make the right choice. Facing the threat of death, the synthetic monster Chimera burst out with an extremely astonishing speed and escaped a thousand meters away in just a few seconds. If it were someone else, it would have really escaped. By then, countless innocent people on the Grindelwald Plain would have been implicated, and the name of the guardian of the Godave family would have been tarnished.

Unfortunately, the person it was facing was Xino.

The snow-white eyes flickered, and the long, dazzling red hair fluttered high in the wind. The hem of the battle robe painted with white thorn flower emblems twitched violently, making a low whistling sound. The knight gently pulled the reins, causing his beloved horse, which was about to chase the enemy, to stop its front hooves. The next moment, the figures of the man and the horse gradually faded and disappeared as if they were wiped out from a painting. When they reappeared the next moment, they had crossed a long distance visible to the naked eye and blocked the fleeing synthetic monster Chimera.

There was no magical aura, nor did it come out of space, it really appeared out of thin air. Looking at the man and horse who were waiting for a long time and blocking its escape route, the blood-red vertical pupils of the synthetic magic beast Chimera flashed with shock and fear again. It did not think at all, it just reacted instinctively and turned to flee in another direction, almost using up all its strength to escape.

Xino stood there quietly, watching the Chimera's back running away, with no intention of stopping it. When it ran to the end of the night and was about to disappear from sight, he did the same thing, disappearing out of thin air and reappearing out of thin air, blocking the beast with a man and a horse, and a cold smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "You won't have a chance to escape, because this battle is far from over."

It is not only her battle, but also the battle of that girl with dreams in that distant city.

The so-called dream may be fleeting, but as long as you hold on to the belief, no matter who you are, you are qualified to gain its recognition.

"You won't understand, you're just a beast that only knows instinct." Looking at the panicked and frightened Chimera, who kept growling and roaring, the young girl knight's eyes flashed with pity: "Humans become stronger the more they move towards their dreams, and sometimes this strength even exceeds their own will."

"I have no dreams, but——"

She raised the spear in her hand, and the blade of the holy spear, White Thorn, shone brightly in the dark night like the moon: "I will protect the dreams of others."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)