Chapter 1011: Chapter 1010: The Fall

This was the first time in his life that Clement had seen a dragon—in fact, he believed there weren’t many people in the whole world who had the chance to see a living dragon in real life.

And now he had seen them, not just one, but two.

When the Cecil Clan’s flying machines were destroyed, there was a chance for two enraged dragons to burst out of the wreckage of the explosion—fallen debris became an even more lethal entity, what cruel joke had some terrible god played?

In that fleeting moment, countless bizarre thoughts flashed through Clement’s mind, he himself was astonished that even in such a situation, he had the leisure to be this distracted. But his body reacted without any delay—upon realizing he had become the target of those two enraged dragons, his first instinct was to invoke arcane power to create a large, distorted maze of mirrors in the air around him, and then quickly jumped and shifted between the mirrors, hoping to distance himself from the dragons and find a chance to counterattack.

The "Swarovski Mirror Labyrinth" spell effect bought him precious time, and it proved to be wise to shift distances immediately: the instant after he left his original spot, he heard a deafening roar from behind, one of the dragons opened its jaws wide, and a flame as if capable of burning the sky spewed from its mouth. Though the range of the flames was short, it far exceeded the barrage range of those flying machines. If he had not withdrawn immediately and had instead launched a blind charge, he would have surely lost his first life in that fiery dragon’s breath by now.

"Attention all troops!" While quickly repositioning under the cover of clouds and continually harassing and weakening the two furious dragons with missiles and arcs, Clement shouted a warning into the communication spell, "There are dragons! The Cecil Clan has brought dragons to the battlefield! Be cautious of those black machines, the dragons are hidden within those flying machines!"

This sudden warning evidently cast some people into confusion. The warning was so absurd that many didn’t understand what their commander was shouting about, but soon, as more black flying machines were shot down, the third and fourth dragons appeared on the battlefield, everyone realized that this sudden change was neither hallucination nor illusion—dragons had truly appeared on the battlefield!

The battlefield became even more chaotic with the appearance of the dragons, even to the point of madness, yet the Typhon Empire’s offensive did not collapse or even waver. Those fearsome rulers of the sky couldn’t intimidate the Gryphon Knights and combat Mages. The former were devout believers of the War God, whose mental interference from the gods had already transformed the knights’ bodies and minds into something inhuman. The Gryphon Knights roared frantically, their blood and magic power burning fiercely in the blizzard. The enemy’s pressure invigorated these fervent followers, as the god-given powers further activated and erupted within them, turning some into blazing torches of faith, charging forward with courage so formidable that even dragons trembled, while the latter...

Even before taking to the skies, the combat Mages knew this was an aerial attack mission they must carry out to the end. Every one of them had long cast the effects of mechanized minds and death vows upon themselves. Even when faced with dragons suddenly appearing on the battlefield, no combat Mage withdrew from the fight.

As the commander of this army, Clement had to maintain a normal state of mind; thus, he didn’t apply the mechanized mind effect to himself, yet even so, his heart remained as hard as steel at this moment.

He hadn’t come here to prove anything, nor for so-called glory and faith. He had come to this battlefield simply as a Typhon aristocrat, which as a reason would not allow him to retreat in any scenario.

In the midst of a gust, he took cover in a nearby cloud, miraculously shielded by the War God. He evaded the sharp eyes of the dragon at very close range, taking advantage of the passing opportunity, he conjured a large-scale electric arc from the side, striking the black-scaled dragon. Under the bright electric light and close proximity, he finally made out the details of that giant creature.

It was undoubtedly a dragon, but not quite like those he had seen in ancient texts—he saw that the black dragon was covered in something like steel armor, but it was clearly not mere armor. Among the heavy armor plates, obvious mechanical devices and magic symbol connections were visible. At the edge of the dragon’s wings were more complex extended structures, with pale blue magic symbols gleaming across them, reminiscent of the magic symbols on the flying machines of the Cecil Clan...

This complex setup was a specialized "equipment," evidently mass-produced. These dragons weren’t "reinforcements" brought to the battlefield through some opportunistic means—they were fully armed, regular soldiers, an integral part of the Cecil Clan’s military strength.

This realization sounded alarm bells in Clement’s mind.

A massive arc shot through the sky, striking the back of the black dragon. The glow of the creature’s barrier flickered as part of the arc penetrated its defense, prompting the great beast to let out an enraged roar. However, amid his shivers, Clement was overjoyed—was it injured?

He had read various texts describing dragons, many containing fictional elements, yet all universally emphasized the dragon’s might—they were said to possess scales impervious to blades and guns, innate magical resistance, immense strength, and abundant vitality. It was claimed that a legendary powerhouse below the dragon’s level could scarcely inflict a fatal wound on an adult dragon and that spells below the powerful level could hardly penetrate dragonkin’s innate magical defense...

But the rapidly cast arc he’d just unleashed had injured this dragon? These dragons seem weaker than the books described...

Clement didn’t know whether it was the books that were inaccurate or if there was an issue with the dragons before him, but the fact that the latter could be wounded by conventional magic was evidently heartening news. He immediately informed all troops through the communication spell, loudly declaring, "Don’t be frightened by these dragons! They can be harmed by conventional attacks! Our numerical advantage works against them..."

A terrifying pressure suddenly swept in from the side, cutting off Clement’s words. He only had time to glance sideways and saw a red dragon bursting out of a cloud, its jaw fitted with a steel "ram" glinting coldly amidst explosive flashes. Clement saw the dreadful creature opening its maw, and a searing flame temporarily ended all his thoughts...

Yet in the skies above, even more intense battle was just beginning.

...

The Dragonwing Mercenaries had entered the field, shifting the balance of the battle, yet for the first time, victory didn’t easily tip toward the Cecil Clan.

To say those Typhon Empire troops were fearless was now insufficient—the dreadful blizzard seemed entirely aligned with the enemy.

A soldier stood up from beside the communication device, loudly reporting to Maryland, "General! The rearmost armory carriage is severely damaged! All anti-air cannons have been destroyed, and the connection between the main cannon and the power spine was severed in the last airstrike!"

"...Have the soldiers evacuate from the rearmost armory, and abandon that section of the train," Maryland thought for a moment before ordering, "How far are we from Highlands 21?"

"General, a message just came in from Highlands 21, they’ve also been struck by the blizzard, and they’re unlikely to offer anti-air support from such a distance."

"Understood," Maryland nodded, "Maintain current speed, continue moving towards Shadow Marsh—contact Longwind Fortress, have the War Citizen enter Line 3 operation."

"Yes, General!"

Maryland nodded, furrowing his brow, gazing skyward. Amid the light and shadow woven by anti-aircraft guns and searchlights, he saw Typhon’s Gryphon Knights and combat Mages tangling with flying machines and dragons. Each combat Mage was encircled by magic brilliance, and they were phantoms in the clouds. Portions of them had already breached the aerial defensive firepower net, reaching heights to directly assault the armored train. Fireballs and arcane bullets, comparable in power to small and medium magic cannons, continuously fell from above, exploding on or near the train bodies of the mortal world Serpent and the Iron Scepter.

This surpassed the magical power limit of any human being, even a legendary powerhouse should’ve shown signs of exhaustion in such a battle, shouldn’t they?

The sole explanation was that the magic power of these Typhon forces was inexhaustible, and their power source... was likely this large-scale blizzard.

Right at that moment, a sudden and violent jolt ran through the entire train body, mixed with the piercing noise of emergency braking from all propulsion systems. The armored train’s speed began to plummet quickly, and many people in the car almost lost their balance. Maryland’s train of thought was interrupted. He lifted his head towards the technical soldier beside the main control panel, loudly questioning, "What happened!?"

"General!" the Soldier responded loudly as well, "The railroad ahead has been destroyed!"

This incident has finally occurred.

Maryland’s face darkened for a moment, while noticing that the Iron Scepter Armored Train outside the carriage had already overtaken the mortal world Serpent and was continuing to move forward—the armored train carried an engineering team; they’re probably attempting emergency repairs on the destroyed railroad ahead amid Typhon’s bombing.

If it’s just a temporary measure to break through the predicament, this emergency repair plan is feasible, but given the current situation, the success rate is really low.

"Order the Iron Scepter to return," Maryland thought for a moment and immediately commanded, "Where’s the location of the destroyed section ahead?"

"Near junction point 22, General."

"Alright, get close to junction point 22, then stop, and have the Iron Scepter stand by there," Maryland quickly said, "The mechanical team should flood all the cooling water into the Rainbow Light Generator’s cooling system, starting now the power spine will run overloaded and dry burning—after the two trains meet, open all the heat dissipation grilles."

"Yes, General!" The adjutant beside him immediately took the order, but couldn’t help asking, "Are you...?"

"Isn’t the Typhon Empire trying to capture this train?" Maryland said in a deep voice, "Let them have it, we will switch vehicles."

The adjutant was taken aback and instinctively said, "But General, this train is the most powerful on the eastern line..."

"This train is just a weapon," Maryland looked at his adjutant and said slowly, "Its copies will roll out of the factory in two months."

"...Yes, General!"

...

Clement woke up amidst a maddening noise and murmurs, finding himself plummeting from the sky while the red dragon that had just killed him was swiftly passing overhead.

He immediately understood: he already "enjoyed" the miracle brought by the War God.

Now, he had no way back.

At the corner of his eye, several Gryphon Knights were falling from the sky.

A flying machine was turning into a massive fireball, disintegrating while sliding southwest.

More than a dozen combat Mages were besieging a blue dragon; the dragon was covered in scars, apparently being killed by mortals was just a matter of time. Among those Mages, some were receiving fatal injuries, some would revive in the next moment, and some had already exhausted the additional life brought by miracles, plummeting from the sky in grotesque and twisted postures.

The anti-air fire from the ground continued to tear the sky apart, illuminating the iron-gray clouds, creating bright flares amidst the snowstorm.

All of this seemed like a mad dream.

Clement allowed himself to continue falling, his gaze already locked on the larger steel train on the ground—he knew the railroad ahead had been destroyed, and that the most powerful moving fortress, which had caused the greatest damage to the Bitter Winter Castle defenses, was destined to stay in this place today.

The dragon’s appearance was a huge unexpected event, which directly led to a deviation in the course of battle Clement and Palin Winterhold had previously deduced. Clement knew that the airborne force he led today was highly likely to be entirely wiped out in this massive aerial battle, but precisely because of this, he had to destroy that train.

Otherwise, today’s sacrifices of him and his comrades would be meaningless.

The two armored trains gradually approached each other in the valley, and suddenly, a large fog formed by steam filled Clement’s vision.

What happened?

Clement was dazed for a moment, and in that instant, he suddenly felt his body being torn apart by a massive force—a shell exploded very close to him, and the deadly shockwave instantly tore his flesh apart.

The second miracle was thus squandered.

When Clement woke up again amidst the mad murmurs and even more unbearable noise, he found himself falling near the larger moving fortress, filled with a peculiar sensation; he felt as if something had been added to his body, and something had been added to his mind, an awe-inspiring voice constantly narrating truths beyond mortal comprehension, while part of his once familiar body... seemed no longer to belong to him.

He understood that this was his third life, and in this life, the War God... had begun claiming the price of the miracle.

Although he wasn’t a believer of the War God, as long as he was in this snowstorm and had endured the divine power, he had to act according to the rules of the miracle.

The cloud below formed by steam was still dense, seemingly lingering for quite a while, yet Clement knew he was falling in the right direction. He was no longer hesitant, deliberately channeling endless Magic Power into his body, these powerful forces even setting his body ablaze. In the final stages of his fall, he used the remaining power to adjust his direction, facing southeast, facing Aldernon.

"Rosetta... I am watching over here..."

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