Chapter 1010: Chapter 1009: Blizzard

The anti-air cannons roared, with scorching hot air currents surging out of the heat dissipation grilles. The accumulated snow evaporated into steam and smoke, all swept into the blizzard, while the dazzling beams and the trails of shells tore open the chaotic sky time and again, creating a fiery net against the low-hanging clouds and the blizzard—within the flashing net, countless shadows were engaged in a fierce struggle.

Flesh and steel machines, flying knights, and modern soldiers armed with arcane technology, this scene seemed like the savage collision of two eras taking place in the sky, with sparks and fragments from the collision scattering, merging into the howl of the blizzard.

The external monitor above the carriage transmitted the images of the sky, and Maryland watched this fierce scene with a grim expression—he had witnessed such a collision before, a fierce conflict akin to the change of an era, only the last collision occurred on the ground, but this time... it was happening in the sky.

"Sir! Those Typhon soldiers are abnormal!" an observer shouted, reporting, "It’s like they can revive! And their fighting prowess is far stronger than the ones we encountered before!"

"If they can revive, kill them a few more times. If they’re too formidable, concentrate firepower, open all anti-air cannon fire, and bring out those individual missile launchers as well—flesh is always more fragile than machines!" Maryland stood on the command platform, calmly ordering with a loud voice, "How long until we can break out of this blizzard?"

"Sir!" another communications officer responsible for liaising with the aerial unit immediately reported loudly, "The high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft reports that this blizzard keeps moving with us—we are always at its center!"

"Damn it... this indeed is the Typhon crew’s doing..." Maryland cursed under his breath, glancing at the window beside him. Through the reinforced crystal glass and the thick barrier, he saw the Iron Scepter armored train escorting on the side was firing all guns, with small turrets set on the roof and some train sections constantly sweeping the sky. Suddenly, a huge fireball fell from the sky, smashing hard onto the shield on top of the train, followed by three consecutive fireballs—the shields flickered intensely and an instant gap appeared, though the gap closed the next moment, yet a fireball had already pierced through, hitting the train body.

The powerful force contained within the fireball exploded, releasing a dazzling glow atop the Iron Scepter, amid the deafening thunder and the ear-piercing noise of metal tearing and twisting, an anti-air cannon alongside a large chunk of armor structure detached from the train body in the explosion, flames and thick smoke rising from the middle of the armored train, through the fractured armor plates, Maryland could see the train’s damage control team quickly extinguishing the spreading flames.

Some enemies had already gotten close enough to directly attack the armored train, indicating the Dragon Cavalry Squadron in the sky was embroiled in tough combat and couldn’t intercept all the enemies anymore.

This bizarre blizzard clearly wasn’t just about obscuring vision and disrupting flight.

"This might be a ’miraculous’ level of Divine Arts..." Maryland gritted his teeth, looking at the aide beside him, "When will reinforcements from the Shadow Marsh arrive?"

"The special operations formation took off a few minutes ago, but the weather is too severe, no knowing when they’ll arrive," the aide reported swiftly, "Moreover, just observed the blizzard’s range expanding again..."

Before the aide could finish, suddenly outside the carriage window erupted another blinding flash, Maryland saw a blazing fireball tumbling from the sky in the distance, the fireball glowing with a pale blue chaotic magic halo, in the raging flames, one could vaguely discern the distorted and deformed cockpit and dragon wing structure—the remaining power still having effect, descending slowly within the blizzard, yet the falling speed quickened rapidly, finally crashing into the eastern ridge, causing a fierce explosion in the grey twilight.

The Dragon Cavalry’s flight personnel were equipped with emergency escape devices, their specially crafted "armor" embedded with miniature Weight-Reduction Runes and Wind Elemental Blessing Modules, the pilot of that flying machine may have already escaped the machine in advance, but within this dreadful blizzard, their survival chances remained slim.

And as that flying machine fell, remnants of gryphon knights or combat mages constantly plummeted from the sky, shattered.

Maryland watched this scene, but soon retracted his gaze, continuing to calmly and steadily command this massive war machine around him, fighting the enemy amid the blizzard.

This level of "miraculous" Divine Arts couldn’t be instantly released, and such a large-scale aerial force takes time to mobilize and coordinate, alongside prior intelligence gathering and the choice, and judgment of the ambush site, all these must be the result of meticulous planning—the Typhon must have plotted this assault for a long time.

Evidently, the "Steel Advancement" from the armored train really exerted tremendous pressure on them, thus they spent so much at any cost to destroy these war machines.

The rumble of the magic cannon constantly echoed, even across the barrier, the steady low thunder reverberated within the tactical segment carriages, the two armored trains speeding against the gale between the ridges, anti-air cannons from time to time knocking more wreckage from the sky, this process continued unknown for how long, and on the fringe of this blizzard, a Dragon Cavalry Squadron with black paint was flying at full speed toward the direction of the Shadow Marsh.

Ahead, the clouds presented a noticeably unnatural iron-gray hue, exceeding the range of normal "clouds," looking more like a solid block of iron rotating slowly in the sky, fierce gales sweeping snowstorms roared in the distance, a daunting sight—if not for the Dragon Cavalry Fighters having specially crafted shields and wind element affinity enchanted technology, this extremely harsh weather would absolutely be unsuited for any flight missions.

The Dragon Cavalry Squadron with black coatings faced with this terrible weather without deceleration or hesitation, after slightly ascending, they even charged straighter into the storm’s gathering zone, as if in a delirious revelry.

Inside the leading aircraft, a short-haired woman pilot tightly clutched the control stick, staring at the encroaching wall of clouds ahead, her eyes slightly narrowed, and the corners of her mouth turned upward.

The voice of a wingman came through the communicator beside the console: "Captain, we’re about to enter the storm!"

"I see it, I see it!" The short-haired woman grinned, face filled with excitement, "Wuhu—this thing’s so much more thrilling than those breezes in simulation training!"

"Push it to the max!" the pilot serving as the mechanic loudly said behind her, "Entering the blizzard range in fifteen seconds!"

The short-haired woman opened the team’s communication, loudly shouting: "Ladies and gentlemen! Let’s go take a dance! Keep your eyes wide open—any stragglers or lost ones, just find a summit to crash into, don’t come back!"

The next moment, a resounding burst of extreme excitement came through the communicator: "Wuhu—"

...

Yet another flying machine consumed by flames in the distance, a blazing fireball rolling through the gale continuously, sliding towards the distant ridge direction, before the fireball burst, two blurry figures jumped out from that thing’s cockpit, drifting like leaves in the blizzard.

Clement stood high, watching this scene coldly, did not choose to deliver the final blow—this was his noble ethical principle.

He knew that the era of traditional nobility and knightly spirit had passed; the current warfare seemed to have become something more unscrupulous, and his persistence had long been a laughing stock for many—so let them laugh, for in him, that glorious era hadn’t ended yet, only when the end of life came it would truly conclude.

Besides, amid such dreadful blizzard, few of those who escaped from the flying machine could possibly survive.

The frigid wind howled from all directions, the explosive flames and the pungent smell filled every sense, he surveyed the battlefield around, his brow involuntarily furrowing.

Before today, no one had ever imagined such a scene;

Before today, no human nation could support such aerial power;

For the first time, he realized that the sky could become such a fierce battlefield, where massive armies could fight so far from the ground. A three-dimensional conflict dominated this battle, and what this battle revealed made the nerves of this Typhon aristocrat tremble slightly.

The Cecil Clan has mass-produced flying machines, and Typhon has mass-produced Transcendents and miraculous Divine Arts. These are two independently developed paths, and when they unexpectedly intersect, human history must leave sufficient Chapters to annotate them.

Clement was surrounded by powerful forces of wind, thunder, lightning, ice, and fire; a raging elemental vortex covered him like enormous wings. This was a feeling of strength he had never experienced under normal circumstances. With endless magic power supplies, he had lost count of how many times he had cast large-scale spells that could drain him dry—enemy numbers were decreasing, and friendly numbers were diminishing as well, yet such attrition proved valuable. The Cecil Clan’s aerial forces now had gaps, and the assault squads could now target powerful spells on those two mobile fortresses.

It turned out that those invincible steel monstrosities weren’t so impervious.

"...Aerial power might be the key to influencing the battle; combined operations of ground and sky might be some sort of trend..."

Clement spread his arms wide, welcoming the Cecil Clan’s anti-air barrage. The powerful barrier blocked several potentially fatal blows. He locked onto a flying machine, attempting to disrupt its energy cycle, while simultaneously activating a strong communication spell, seemingly talking to himself as he reported on what he saw through the spell—the snowstorm didn’t affect the communication spell’s effectiveness, it actually extended the communication range of every combat Mage significantly.

"...Flying units can’t survive long in aerial combat, even if they have three lives...

"Gryphon Knights and middle-ranked combat Mages are just expendable here... Many people have been shot down by powerful anti-air fire from the ground...

"...The bright light from the ground has a significant impact... it not only exposes us but also disrupts vision and spatial perception... it’s as effective as a weapon..."

The Anti-Gravity Ring of the distant flying machine suddenly burst into a series of flashes, the entire aircraft shaking unstably, Clement squinted slightly, realizing he had successfully disrupted its propulsion system.

Based on earlier observations, that machine would next shift most of its energy to the malfunctioning anti-gravity device to maintain flight, making it a floating target.

Clement raised his hands high, a powerful arc forming in his hands, but just before he released the deadly attack, a low buzzing sound suddenly approached at high speed, a huge sense of crisis forcing him to change the direction of the arc release instantly; while swinging it to the side, he rapidly fueled the chaotic magic and quickly moved away from his original spot.

A dense arcane barrage swept across where he had just stood the next second.

Clement broke out in a cold sweat, turning to look where the attack had come from, only to see an aircraft painted pure black, with wider dragon wing devices appearing in his view.

Immediately, he noticed more such aircraft emerging from the clouds in the distance—one after another, advancing fiercely!

Is it the Cecil Clan’s air support?!

"The enemy’s reinforcements have arrived!" he immediately called out in the communication spell, "Beware of those black ones, their attacks are fiercer!

"Speed up, attack group go resolve the Cecil Clan’s trains—Gryphon Knight Order cover at all costs!"

Moments ago, the Dragon Cavalry Squadron was at a massive disadvantage. The Typhon Empire’s combat strength, which had been enhanced to an unprecedented degree, and the surrounding severe snowstorm environment brought down fighter after fighter, while the armored train on the ground seemed on the verge of disaster. This moment, the emergence of reinforcements finally stemmed the situation from sliding into an even worse direction—the newly appeared black aircraft quickly entered the fray, engaging in a deadly battle with those now-mad Typhon Empire combatants.

Amid the roaring barrage and rays, Clement maintained a powerful barrier while continuously changing his flight trajectory to distance himself from those black aircraft and repeatedly turning back to unleash large-range arcs to weaken their defenses. Several times, he felt as if he brushed against the Reaper’s cloak—theoretically he had the chance to bargain with the Reaper three times, but if not absolutely necessary, he didn’t wish to waste any of those lives here.

Because as long as he dies once, the price of the "miraculous" must be paid.

A black fighter seemed to have targeted him as this army’s commander, persistently pursuing him. Clement didn’t know how long he tangled with it, and finally, amid continuous attrition and chase, he found a chance.

He charged into the clouds, using their cover to quickly create numerous floating magic orbs, then without hesitation emerged from another direction of the clouds. Just as he expected: the black aircraft followed without hesitation, the next second, continuous explosions and flashes tore through the iron-gray cloud mass.

Clement stood firm in the air, fixedly staring in the direction of the explosion. Amid smoke and fire, he saw the black shadow staggering out—it was a wreck, it could barely maintain flight posture.

"Farewell," he whispered, then without hesitation raised his hand and struck down, a powerful arc suddenly spanning the distance to tear the aircraft into pieces.

He then turned without hesitation, preparing to aid his embattled comrades.

But a roar from behind interrupted this powerful combat Mage’s action: that roar shook the skies, harboring a kind of instinctual dread-producing power, when it rang out, Clement even felt an invisible hand clutching his heart tightly.

He didn’t know what mood he turned his head with—when his gaze slowly moved toward the direction of the sound, the surrounding snowstorm seemed to temporarily pause; in the next instant, he saw two ferocious, almost terrifying silhouettes shredding the clouds within the still lingering smoke and flames, two icy and hostile gazes landing on him.

The Cecil Clan... has dragons.

(New book by Cavalry Rider! "Universal Rolls" has already been released, no need to say more, right?)

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