Chapter 1315: Chapter 1314: After the Fall

Goddess of Magic’s abrupt remark plunged the entire room into silence.

Everyone here was part of the Empire’s high council, fully aware of who the sudden figure in the room was, and even more aware of whom the "Old Deer" mentioned referred to.

The silence lasted several seconds, and the first to break it was Gawain. His reaction was far calmer and more composed than the Goddess of Magic had imagined. He merely glanced quietly at her incarnation and asked, "When did this happen approximately?"

"...Just now, but his speed is very fast, you probably won’t be able to catch up," the Goddess of Magic coughed gently. Under Gawain’s mortal monarch gaze, this God of Yore said with an odd expression, "He went towards the Silver Empire— I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t..."

"So he sensed the current state of those old believers," Gawain nodded lightly. "How is the situation on the Silver Empire’s side?"

The Goddess of Magic was slightly surprised, seemingly not expecting Gawain to direct the conversation that way, but quickly she responded, nodding, "He sensed a large number of casualties in a short time and intense collective emotional fluctuations. The southern situation is not optimistic— but the battle continues, and the defensive line still holds. That’s all; he can now only vaguely sense the situation over there, nothing more detailed."

Gawain rested a hand on his chin, pondering, "I see... The continued existence of the defensive line is the best news—the enemy’s attack is fierce, but their greatest advantage is suddenness. As long as they withstand the initial pressure, the Silver Empire’s foundational power should be able to sustain..."

Seeing his reaction, the Goddess of Magic finally couldn’t help but say, "You’re not worried at all? Amon went to the south to aid the mortals directly. I thought..."

"He already went, didn’t he?" Gawain raised his head slightly, glancing at the Goddess, "He might even be there already—when your gods ’descend’ proactively, the speed is always very fast."

For a moment, the Goddess of Magic was at a loss for words, and only after a few seconds did she speak, "...That’s true."

"He should know what he’s doing and what he shouldn’t do," Gawain shook his head lightly. Amon’s sudden move indeed surprised him greatly, but he had to make choices and judgments from a higher perspective now, and... place his trust. "We all know the rules of gods’ birth and operation, knowing that there are some breaches in this process that can be exploited, but the risk of exploiting this breach is high. In peacetime, no one dares to take it—and yet now, the priority is ensuring the global civilization survives. I hope Amon can clearly understand the existence of this line because if he fails to see it..."

Here, Gawain couldn’t help but pause. It wasn’t until a few seconds later that he sighed softly, "It will be a long disaster for the future of the silver elves and himself."

...

In the distance, the border burned brightly amidst the flames of war, and the howling sound as sentinel towers fell seemed to traverse the entire land, echoing in unsettling waves amidst the dense jungles of the Silver Empire—the messages from the frontlines returned to the Elven Royal City through various channels, some true, some false, but regardless of authenticity, the content was equally dire. Faced with the sudden upheaval, even the proud ancient races couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

In such circumstances, a massive flying device cut through the night sky like a fiery meteor from the far north, arriving at the center of the jungle and plains—the Elven Royal City amidst the rumbling booms and the buzzing sound of Magic Power resonance, landing on an open lake north of the royal court—the brilliance it emitted was visible throughout the city, yet few ordinary citizens could immediately identify the origins of the now-unrecognizable flying object. They blindly ran into the streets in the darkness, guessing and discussing what had descended upon the royal court, while only a few well-versed silver elves familiar with the royal sanctuary felt immense fear and unease at the moment.

The elderly elves recognized it—that was a detached unit from the Sacred Stars Temple, the "Tranquil Garden."

The Prime Minister Valendian Gold Valley stationed in the royal city left the royal court immediately, leading an elite royal guard and a few military officers to the lakeside. He saw the chief Grand Astrologer Vilanya leading a civil officials’ team out of the severely damaged Tranquil Garden and immediately approached her, "Grand Astrologer, what happened in the north? We’ve completely lost contact with the frontlines... Why would Tranquil Garden separate from the temple?"

"The great barrier lost control, aberrations swarmed out—the Sacred Stars Temple has become history. The Empress ordered the temple to plug the breach on the defensive line."

Vilanya spoke with a low voice, her face pale, eyes filled with fatigue, and multiple scorch and damage marks on her magic robe. Her once nice complexion was also smeared with blood, wounds sustained during the evacuation of the Tranquil Garden from the battlefield, after repeatedly attacking to eliminate enemy anti-aircraft fire on the ground. But compared to the dire situation now, she entirely disregarded her minor injuries.

The Prime Minister’s expression instantly turned rigid, his eyes widened in shock, as shortly after, he heard a more detailed frontline report from Vilanya—from the great walls’ loss of control leading to the disruption of frontline communications to the Sacred Stars Temple’s fall over the horizon, and the Tranquil Garden reaching the royal city past the flames of battle. All intelligence finally became clear before him.

"You say the Empress stayed in the Hall of Domination?!" Valendian glared, having never felt a chill so penetrating in a thousand years as he did today. He looked up at the Grand Astrologer’s back where the civil officials’ group was proceeding towards the resting area aided by the royal guards, among which he couldn’t spot a familiar figure, "Grand Astrologer, do you know what that means?!"

"The Sovereignty Chair has its own escape system," Vilanya stated calmly.

"But in such a situation, the escape system can’t save a life—the Empress will fall to the ground with the temple. And around the crash site, within the flight range of the escape system, are all enemies!" Valendian tried to lower his voice, speaking urgently, "The entire great barrier area has completely fallen, do you think..."

The Prime Minister’s anxious words were interrupted, as the Grand Astrologer’s expression remained very calm, "Yes, I know."

"You know?" Valendian was momentarily baffled, staring blankly at the Grand Astrologer before him.

"Why do you think Her Majesty wanted me to escort the civil officials’ group back to the royal court?" Vilanya merely quietly observed the Prime Minister, and after a moment, she nodded lightly, "Reorganize the corps, Valendian, let our thousand-year warriors arm themselves again and cross the Homeward Long Bridge once more—the Sacred Stars Temple has fallen, but the silver elves must hold their heads high."

She took a light breath, and in the shimmer of her eyes, seemed to still linger the flashes and flames rising from when the Sacred Stars Temple fell on the horizon. But in an instant, those flames transformed into the flourishing jungles of the Silver Empire, and the regrouped Ranger Corps.

"We have been submerged for too many years, Valendian. Under the shelter of the Sacred Stars Temple and the nourishment of this forest, we have been gentle and elegant ’long ears’ for thousands of years, to the extent that many people may have forgotten why, in the ancient dark ages of the countries on this continent, the pioneers of the silver elves occupied the most fertile and wealthy lands—this wasn’t conquered through song and dance or gentlemanly grace over these vast rivers and mountains."

Amidst the lights under the night sky, Valendian Gold Valley listened to the Grand Astrologer’s deep words. Slowly, his eyes, which had always been gentle through millennia, turned as hard and cold as steel.

...

A streak of cold light pierced through the dim dust, mingled with the powerful energy and impact released by a thunderous explosion. In the next second, the aberration, as tall as a giant, was neatly sliced into three sections by the sword blade, its filthy flesh wrapped with continuously dispersing black smoke, falling from mid-air and spreading a stain of blood on the tiles decorated with numerous intricate patterns and long history.

With the Twin Swords in her hands, Elaine’s silhouette spun in the air, her clothing and golden hair blooming like flowers, and then instantly converged as she landed. She exhaled gently, casually flicking off a speck of filthy blood from the sword blade, looking with some aversion at the disgusting disfigured flesh on the floor, already starting to decompose in the black smoke, and muttered softly after a few seconds, "Thankfully, I won’t have to clean this floor again..."

"Your swordsmanship is as impressive as ever," the voice of the Silver Empress came from beside her. Queen Belsetia, holding a Long Staff in one hand and a bloodstained Longsword in the other, smiled at the maid who grew up with her, "Truly the result of daily training with the royal guards."

"You flatter me—ah, the ground here is filthy, you should not proceed further," Elaine turned to say, then suddenly furrowed her brow, "Or should I clean this up a bit, it’s all blood and grime here..."

Belsetia glanced at Elaine, couldn’t help but laugh, "At a time like this, do we still worry about such things?"

"...Alright, as you say, let’s not worry," Elaine shook her head and said quietly while vigilantly watching the slanted ground and pervasive smoke around them, "The monsters have invaded even up here... they climb so fast, and are so precise... could it be they have a ’special operations unit’?"

"No, the ones climbing up are probably just scattered stragglers that lost contact with the main forces during the assault," Belsetia shook her head, "Did you notice? They’re just wandering around, attacking on instinct, occasionally acting in groups but lacking cover and cooperation like the most typical monsters, completely different from the enemies on the frontline that know how to engage in group warfare and basic tactics."

As she spoke, she lifted her gaze forward, seeing the slanted ground and the distant collapsed buildings of the temple. The once majestic temple’s core area had already collapsed under the impact, becoming bleak ruins on this man-made land. Between the broken walls and fallen pillars, bright electric arcs occasionally pierced the air, creating flashes and explosions in the smoke.

On the ground, massive web-like cracks extended from her feet to the horizon. The entire Sacred Stars Temple had split into several larger remnants during the crash, and despite the precariously intact center area, wide cracks made traversing it extremely dangerous.

As for the ancient systems deep within the Sacred Stars Temple... they had already failed to respond from the moment of the crash, marking the end of this ancient fortress that had served the silver elves for tens of thousands of years.

"The energy impact during the temple’s crash may have disrupted the monsters’ command system—they clearly lack full cognitive ability. Their apparent discipline and even combat intelligence were likely due to intelligent beings directing from behind," Belsetia said offhandedly to Elaine while observing the surroundings, "The monsters climbing up the ruins lost the ability to perceive the ’command signals’ from behind, which is crucial intelligence. It suggests that their communications can be disrupted by a powerful magical pulse..."

"Indeed, we should carry this crucial intelligence out and, once communication with other allied fronts resumes, we can dismantle the organization of these monsters," Handmaiden Elaine said calmly, "Rest assured, I will stay by your side until you are safely away from this danger."

Belsetia stopped and looked at this loyal maid, suddenly revealing a slight smile, "Do you think we will die here?"

"I don’t think so," Elaine shook her head, "You are the Silver Empress, this filthy land is unworthy of consuming your life."

"Ha, though it may be useless, it sounds nice," Belsetia laughed, when a buzzing strange sound suddenly emerged from behind her. She turned to see, was the collapsed Hall of Domination, with the still intact Sovereignty Chair standing in the center. The throne, which had lost functionality, was now standing lonely amidst the rubble, and the escape barrier that had previously protected the throne area had completely closed as the energy depleted, "The escape system’s energy is exhausted."

"It helped us absorb the impact of the earlier crash and the secondary damage during the hall’s collapse. For such an ancient system, it has done its utmost."

"Indeed... done its utmost..."

Belsetia murmured softly, then shook her head.

She hadn’t deceived her subordinates, the Sovereignty Chair indeed had an escape system, as the control hub of the Sacred Stars Temple, it obviously possessed such a function.

But in the moment before the temple crashed, she didn’t activate the launch program of the escape system but chose to remain in the hall to continue controlling the last trajectory of the temple and activated the escape system’s defensive function.

The reason was simple—the flight range of the escape system had its limits, and the area where the Sacred Stars Temple crashed had completely fallen into the tides of the aberration Army.

Even if the temple’s crash could kill a large number of enemies, it couldn’t clean up the monsters in the direction of the wasteland and the deep barriers of the forest—the ejection escape could only plunge her into an even denser enemy zone, or even directly into the enemy’s main camp.

After weighing the options, Belsetia chose to stay here, at least here, she could still continue to control her own destiny.

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