Sword of Daybreaker

In the all-out counterattack launched by the Allied forces against the wasteland, the northern line maintained by the main force of the Cecil Empire may be regarded as the most distinctive place on this vast battlefield-the distinctive painting style here is not because of Cypriot The Cyr’s mechanized army battles and endless new weapons, but because throughout the war, there is always a lush "forest" advancing with the imperial soldiers...

The "remote derivative" of the giant tree of Thorin—this living forest starts at the southern foot of the dark mountain range, spreads on the surface and underground at the same time, and extends into the wasteland with a gentle but unwavering attitude. The main force of the empire advanced together to the high ground south of the magic scorch mark, and wherever the living forest went, even the corrupted and polluted wasteland began to gradually show a "vibrant" state.

At least on the surface, the lush forest scene is much more refreshing than the barren and terrifying wasteland, and as for the less "beautiful" parts buried deep in the forest...the imperial soldiers said that they would have seen too much. got used to…

The night is gradually lowering, the scorching battlefield has cooled down, the cannons and engines that have been roaring for a day have died down at dusk, and the soldiers have built temporary fortifications on the edge of the living forest, and are starting to nourish their spirits for tomorrow's operations. Accumulate sharp. Philip was walking in this newly built camp, and the voice of soldiers calling from afar and the buzzing of Dragoon fighters in the sky were the sounds he was most familiar with these days.

His gaze crossed the energy barrier in the southern part of the camp, and saw the vast and desolate land in his field of vision extending all the way to the horizon. The filthy earth was devastated, and there were scars swept by cannonballs and flames. The deformed body was gray-black ashes. The torn remains of the biochemical beasts were scattered among the shell craters, and the smoke and dust continued to rise from the craters emitting residual heat, like a tulle under the weak and yellow sunset.

When he turned his gaze to the other side of the camp, he saw a large expanse of lush forest, with countless unnamed towering trees flooding the field of vision, and the roots of the giant trees plunged deep in a gesture full of power. Between the purple-black soil, there are dense bushes and various low flowers and plants growing scattered at the foot of the giant tree—if you don’t know the truth, anyone will think this is an ordinary and full of vitality. The forest is nothing.

When only focusing on the forest, no one can think that beyond the forest boundary is the Gondor Wasteland, which is a restricted area for life.

Even Philip himself, when he sees this living forest that is advancing with the legion, always feels a sense of absurd confusion, as if he feels that this wasteland has been cured, and those who are only a short distance away from the forest. Those pollutions have lost a sense of reality out of thin air.

But he knows that the "vitality" created by this living forest is only a temporary illusion, and the pollution in this wasteland is still spreading, even under the most luxuriant plants in the forest. "Fight"—Bertila's life force is fighting against the toxins in the wasteland, and her roots are fighting against the root network of those dark priests. This kind of confrontation is endless, but only the purification device that is constantly being built on the road to march , In order to truly solve the spread of pollution forces.

Footsteps came from the side, and Philip heard Wright’s voice in his ears: "It looks incredible... A world full of vitality is moving forward with us. Seriously, I first learned that Thorin was involved in the battlefield. But I didn't expect the situation to develop into this."

Philip nodded slightly to the leader of the Holy Light Church, and then said with emotion in his tone: "Do you know? The Black Forest at the southern foot of the Dark Mountains has completely disappeared yesterday afternoon."

Wright’s expression was a little surprised, and before he asked, Philip took the initiative to say: “In order to supplement more biomass and reduce the production pressure of the biomass synthesis plants along the route, Ms. Bertila has been competing with the black forest for nutrients. , It turns out... The barbaric growth of the Black Forest failed to surpass the tactical Ms. Bertila. The terrible forest that had blocked the territory of civilization for 700 years was finally "starved to death"... What we see right now These trees, some of their biomass may have been deprived of the remains of the Black Forest."

Rao is the mature and stable Wright who is not sure what to say at this time. In the old Anzu era, the black forest at the southern foot of the Dark Mountain was already a household name in the northern country as a “desperate situation” in the past. "The terrible legacy and the proof of the decline of human civilization, the Black Forest plays the same role as the dragon's lair, the dark dungeon, and the wizard castle among countless bards and adventurers. Parents will use it to scare disobedient children. , Reckless mercenaries and explorers will boast about their bravery and insight with the boasting "Black Forest Adventure Story". As a result, now such a thing that was once regarded as a natural danger is so gone, and it is still because of The giant Thorin tree robbed the soil to eat and starved to death...Why is this going to make sense?

Wright doesn't know how far this matter will have in the future. Anyway, there is one thing he is convinced that future adventurers will definitely not be able to brag about the Black Forest...

"Anyway, this is a good thing," Wright shook his head at last. "Now our transport troops will be extremely safe when crossing the Black Forest, and the engineers at the South Gate Fortress will not have to send out two or three times a year to burn those constantly Spreading plants."

Philip nodded, and at this moment, a slight rustle suddenly came from near them, and Wright walked around and saw a brown-black "vine" with a wrinkled skin along the edge of the camp. Cong quickly moved, and then the brown-black vine seemed to have noticed this side, turned around and came to this side, and quickly came to him and Philip.

Philip saw the vine curling, and its thick and powerful end structure was tightly "grasping" a large piece of flesh and blood like the limbs of a wild beast-this should be the remains of the biochemical beasts in the Wasteland Legion, because the normal The deformed body will soon turn into ashes and dissipate after death, and only these synthetic beasts that are cultivated by dark priests and copied in large quantities with no beasts as a model will leave such "corpses".

The vine curled up this large piece of "trophies" and shook up and down in front of Philip a few times, but the young commander was a little confused for a while, but Wright who was next to him quickly reacted, picked up the heavy burner, and adjusted the output to After the smallest point, he pointed to the lump of meat, accompanied by the sound of spitting fire, the flames scorched the meat, and quickly turned it into a mature state-and carefully avoided the volume. The vines of the meat block.

The vine rolled up the cooked meat and swung up and down in front of Wright a few times, seeming to express gratitude. This scene made Philip stunned: "Wait...Ms. Bertila started to eat cooked food?"

"Sometimes," the vine was unable to speak, and Wright next to him explained. "At first, a white knight casually threw the remains of the biochemical beast cooked by the burner to the vine that came out to'forage', and then Berti Ms. La seemed very satisfied with this, and then more soldiers began to give the roasted meat to these passing vines, and sometimes Ms. Bertila herself would give the meat she picked from the battlefield. Soldiers with burners ask them to bake it... don't you usually pay attention to these?"

Philip: "...I don't know at all!"

The young commander was dumbfounded for a while, and then the corners of his mouth suddenly trembled: "Why do I think this is weird... According to this, our soldiers get along with this living forest pretty...happy?"

"Everyone is a comrade-in-arms fighting side by side," Wright said with a serious face, "not to mention that ordinary forests also provide soldiers with some fruits and disinfected water. This is a very precious material on the front line. All grateful."

The corners of Philip's mouth trembled again, and his heart said that this should be regarded as a friendship for feeding each other...

At this moment, the portable magic net terminal he hung on his chest suddenly made a buzzing vibration. After the communication was connected, a rapid report from a soldier came into his and Wright's ears: "Sir! Go to the southeast to survey. The investigation team in the terrain found something!"

Philip and Byron were taken aback at the same time, and then Philip frowned slightly: "The specific situation, what did you find?"

"It seems to be an abandoned ancient facility-the main structure maintains an incredible integrity, and there seems to be a weak energy flow in the depths," the soldier replied from the magic net terminal. "There is no aberration activity around the target location, the investigation team It did not rush into the depths, and is currently being monitored remotely around the facility."

"Very well, let them wait there. The expert team will be here soon," Philip said quickly to the communication device, and then looked up at Wright. "I think I have to go over and see for myself... You think it will be what?"

"No matter what it is, it is very unusual to be able to maintain a structurally complete'legacy' on this wasteland," Wright said with a serious expression. "Either it is extremely lucky, or it is protected by some kind of high power...you are You have to see for yourself."

…

The location reported by the reconnaissance team was not far from the frontline base, even within the coverage of the base’s artillery. Therefore, Philip, who took the expert team and left the base in a car, did not spend much time finding the reconnaissance soldiers who were on standby in the wasteland. Immediately afterwards, he saw the "ancient facilities" described by the soldiers—

It was a building on a high ground. It was a large-scale building consisting of a cylindrical main body with a curved dome and several small outbuildings. It stood in the darkening sunset, dimly yellow. Tianguang has plated a layer of rust-like texture on the surface of its main structure. Hundreds of years of erosion and continuous accumulation of wind and sand make the entire building complex appear as gray and black as the surrounding land, and part of it is buried. In the dust-this also caused the dragoon pilots who had been reconnaissance in the air to be unable to distinguish it from the rugged boulders that had accumulated around it at a glance.

But these weathered and mottled traces only affected the appearance of the building-most of its structure still stands on the land intact, from the towering main exterior wall and the simple and elegant building roof, Philip can still I vaguely see the once glorious appearance of this thing-as a certain technological crystallization of the ancient Gondor Empire, it lingers in a desolate and mysterious atmosphere.

"When we found it, the magic sensing device began to show a faint and intermittent fluctuation," the soldier who first discovered the facility came to Philip and said after a salute, and at the same time took out the sensor that he carried with him. The device, this small machine with a magic detection rune array and a small focusing crystal is projecting a light curtain of constantly changing light and dark, but the lines in the light curtain are blurred, "There may be something in the depths of the facility. Run-we found an entrance on the side of it, but didn't rush in."

"It's right. All suspicious facilities found in the wasteland should wait for experts to be there." Philip nodded and looked back at several technicians who came with him. They are in the fields of archeology and classical magic. Certainly accomplished experts, for those weird things found in the wasteland, these experts are obviously more professional than ordinary soldiers — and more professional than his generals, "What do you think? This facility... what might it be used for? ?"

"The specific function of the facility needs to be further searched to determine," said a middle-aged man with gray hair. From time to time, his eyes would fall on the building not far away, and the flashing light in his eyes showed the scholar. I am a little excited at the moment, "But judging from the structure that can be seen so far, this facility should not be used for military or civilian purposes—the military facilities of the Gondor Empire usually have huge energy spark towers, even if the towers are destroyed. Large-scale pedestal traces will be left, and civilian facilities will not be set up in the wilderness far away from the urban agglomeration... The energy response inside the facility is particularly noticeable. After all, in theory, all facilities in the Gondor era depended on The Deep Blue Energy Network provides magic power, but we all know that this network has long collapsed..."

The middle-aged scholar talked with excitement, but soon he realized that his general might not want to hear such a large amount of theoretical knowledge at this time, so he immediately restrained the urge to continue speaking: "In short , We need to explore it in depth-this is the first thing we have found in the wasteland so far that is so intact, and there is even an energy response in it!"

Philip looked back at the soldiers behind him-these soldiers were well-trained and well-equipped, and had experienced all the harsh battlefield tests, but even with these soldiers by his side, he had to be very cautious.

It was an ancient facility from the Gondor era-no one can tell what kind of dangers are hidden in such ancient ruins, magic traps left by the ancients? An energy conduit leaking out of control? Or simply a crazy iron man soldier?

It's all possible.

In this wasteland full of death, ruins that are completely destroyed are dangerous, but those that are still "alive"... are often even more dangerous.

"Sara, you take your squad to see the situation," Philip reminded the soldiers who will enter the facility as the first team. "Everyone should be vigilant, don't move things that shouldn't be moved, keep communication open, and return at any time. Image transmission-after entering the facility, don't rush into it, and wait for the advice of the technical experts behind. If you encounter sudden danger, you can immediately abandon the mission and retreat."

"Yes, General!"

The young soldier named Sarah immediately saluted, and then led a small group of soldiers to the facility.

Philip, who stayed beside the command vehicle, signaled the accompanying technical sergeant to open the magic net terminal, and the scene in the eyes of Sarah team appeared on the holographic projection above the terminal.