Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 627 - 626: War Machine

If it weren’t for the disaster caused by the Oblivion Association, the war that brought the Cecil Legion to the forefront might have been delayed for a long time—yet regrets are futile. As the Oblivion Association stirred up a man-made catastrophe on the Plains of the Holy Spirits, the Steel Legion from the southern borders inevitably took the stage.

This Steel Legion is still quite immature in terms of tactical thinking and soldier training, and the battlefield on the Plains of the Holy Spirits is the best training ground for them.

At dawn, the First Corps, maintaining a stealthy forced march, encountered the first blockade line of the Crystal Cluster Legion in the small plain south of Red Maple City. This unavoidable skirmish was the starting point of the entire campaign, beginning with three rounds of naval bombardment from the Gorgon River, after which the corps’ armored units assembled into a wedge formation and launched a fierce attack on the Crystal Cluster defense line.

The iron-gray Giant Eagle swept low beneath the clouds, providing a panoramic view of the battlefield to its rider. Sonia Frostleaf looked down upon the advancing edge of the Legion, taking in the battle tactics of the Cecil Clan—the tanks, equipped with strong barriers and powerful cannons, formed an offensive array, directing maximum firepower at the weak points of the Crystal Cluster Legion’s defenses while continually advancing. Although the Crystal Cluster Legion was fearless in the face of sudden attacks, their ranks could not withstand such concentrated bombardment—be it the strengthened flesh of soldiers or fortifications relying on city walls and magical shields, all crumbled quickly under the focused fire.

After breaking a hole in the line, the attacking tank formation accelerated, swiftly dispersing into smaller wedge groups to further tear through the enemy’s defenses through continuous advancement and bombardment. Simultaneously, infantry units advancing in coordination with the tanks entered the battlefield, each focused around their ’core vehicle,’ cutting and penetrating deeper into enemy lines. Their role was to destroy enemies that threatened the tanks at close range or to identify enemy fortifications, guiding the tanks’ fire until the operation was complete.

Throughout this process, long-range magic cannons positioned on the rear high ground maintained nearly continuous bombardment—this shelling covered the rear of the Crystal Cluster Legion’s defenses, almost entirely snuffing out the possibility of enemy reinforcements. Many hastily gathered Crystal Cluster Infectors were held several kilometers away, perishing under the onslaught of artillery until the entire defensive line vanished and their once-safe ’rear’ became the new front.

Such an offensive would consume a staggering amount of physical shells (even energy weapons would burn through a lot of focusing crystals), but the Cecil Clan’s weapon reserves should support them until the war ends—Sonia knew that the entire southern region had been preparing for this war since last year (in fact, they had probably been preparing ever since the principality was established, though their original enemy may not have been crystallized monsters), where countless factories and production lines, thousands of workers, worked tirelessly day and night producing shells and weapon crystals, assembling cannons and tank chassis. Metal from the Duke of the East, magical materials from the royal family, and vast resources from the southern borders were all transformed into those objects that sliced through the air with a roar and exploded on the battlefield—

Even to this day, right at this moment, southern factories continued production without pause, and new production lines were added incessantly, with countless materials transported daily along the Gorgon River, the King’s Road, and the temporary roads in the war zone, delivered to the front lines by mechanical ships or Magic-guided Vehicles.

The entire southern borders seemed to have transformed into a colossal machine, with all resources integrated into its feeding system, gears and levers roaring as their weapons and equipment seemed to grow more numerous the more they fought.

Gawain Cecil called this state a "wartime regime."

"Magic power is clustered in the northwest C12 area; it’s enemy reinforcements," Sonia Frostleaf, piloting the Giant Eagle, swept through the clouds and descended low, sending back the latest observational intelligence to the rear just before the cross-lightning network from the ground enveloped her. "Requesting naval artillery support."

"This is the Pioneer, received, artillery support will arrive in one minute."

Initially, Cecil Legion’s tactics were not as sophisticated.

They indeed forged a powerful new army, but this legion was also a complete novelty to them. Gawain Cecil devised a series of accompanying tactics and training programs, yet commanders and soldiers alike struggled to understand these concepts from scratch—they could only execute the training mechanically, relying on their absolute faith in the leader to record those techniques which had no practical evidence to support their efficacy, and during the early stages of this war, hardly any commander was able to effectively implement those training protocols.

Sonia witnessed those tanks charging en masse into enemy formations, while the infantry supposed to support them were left far behind (in fact, it was a testament to their prior mechanical training that no soldiers were run over by their own tanks), and she also saw the combat squads exaggeratedly describe the front-line situation, causing rear-commanders to misjudge enemy strength, wasting fire support and plunging original attack plans into chaos.

If it weren’t for the advanced weaponry’s sufficient power, and the Crystal Cluster Legion’s bewildered response to the southern army, the Cecil Principality’s forces could not have advanced so swiftly.

Inside the command vehicle, Gawain was monitoring the entire frontline via Magic Web Communication; just earlier, a battalion had to withdraw from combat due to an accident.

They made a command error and wandered into an enemy trap during their march. Although they eventually broke out, they suffered significant losses, with seven out of twelve vehicles damaged and severe personnel casualties, requiring them to retreat for regrouping.

A reserve battalion filled the vacancy left by the Fourth Battalion, continuing to dismantle the giants’ defenses.

The battlefield on the Plains of the Holy Spirits is the best stage for actual combat, where the Cecil Principality’s Legion can gain invaluable experience. Even now, soldiers and commanders continually refine their skills, practicing what they learned on the training grounds; their current performance might fall short, but in Gawain’s eyes, their progress is swift.

This can be attributed to the literacy rate among soldiers.

Over 80% of the soldiers possess basic literacy and arithmetic skills, providing them with better logical thinking abilities and enabling them to quickly accumulate relatively complex battlefield experiences and understand a variety of superior orders.

On the other hand, the tactics Gawain conceived were somewhat constrained by Earth’s inherent experience, potentially incompatible with this world’s actual conditions. In this regard, the Legion’s commanders must learn to adapt to the circumstances and make proactive adjustments—this similarly relies on the soldiers’ higher educational level and the professionalism of the non-commissioned officers.

After this war ends, the Cecil Legion might not yet be considered a truly battle-hardened force, but at least it will become a competent, modernized army capable of effectively utilizing its advanced equipment.

The Cecil Clan is advancing northward at an astounding speed, like an uncontrollable beast charging towards the north.

This "advancement" could even be described as a "charge."

When Xidon awoke in astonishment and listened to his subordinates responsible for the southern defense reporting the situation, the first line of defense established by the divine evils Legion in the plains area had already disappeared—not broken through, but completely vanished from their mind-linked senses.

It was as if everything had been burned to ashes, blown away clean by a gust of wind.

A priest of the Oblivion Association, who had been completely transformed into a form of divine evil, lowered his head, reporting nervously and with a hint of terror, "They have broken through the Cypress Manor line, now attacking our second line of defense... Large warships have appeared on the Gorgon River... six battalions... no, nine battalions have just lost contact!!"

Xidon glared, "How did they get this close?! Why did no one discover them earlier?!"

The dark priests were silent like cicadas in winter, but Xidon himself didn’t expect to get answers from them — the Cecil Clan’s assault was already a fact, and now it was meaningless to examine their previous route of action.

"They’re coming for Red Maple... damn it... how can they be so fast!!" he cursed under his breath, feeling a sense of terror towards the power of the Cecil Clan for the first time.

He had indeed been wary of that resurrected pioneer, wary of his consolidation of the southern borders within a year... but that was supposed to be in the past!

The Oblivion Association had forged a powerful divine evils Legion that could overturn the entire Anzu Kingdom within a month, but... what is happening now?

"Quickly gather the converters from the plains area, strengthen the second line of defense, and have the southern legions pull back to block the Cecil Clan’s retreat — attack them from behind!"

After a brief shock, Xidon forcibly suppressed his inner turmoil and began to respond to the Cecil Clan’s assault with the best strategy he could think of — he noticed one thing, the Cecil Clan had directly advanced to the Plains of the Holy Spirits by some covert march, meaning the divine evils army stationed south was still intact... so as long as they could hold off the Cecil Clan in the north, the southern divine evils Legion could launch an attack from the enemy’s rear.

Even if that Clod were here, he probably couldn’t come up with a better plan.

However, shortly after his orders were issued, a giant-shaped priest trembled slightly and said, "Your Grace... our second line of defense... is gone... the enemy... the enemy..."

The priest couldn’t even finish his sentence, but Xidon didn’t need to hear any more information from the other party —

He heard the faint sounds of explosions!

A gust of magical wind rose from nowhere, and Xidon’s figure was swiftly enveloped by a mass of twisted black vines. In the next second, through the vine network set up in the city, he arrived at the southern walls of Red Maple.

He saw a magnificent cloud of smoke rising from the southern plains, many oddly shaped metallic vehicles crushing the scorched earth as they drove towards this direction. The divine evils converters patrolling the plains were relentlessly eliminated by explosions and flashes, and those explosions and flashes were clearly caused by magic effects launched by those metal objects.

As described in previous intelligence, those were indeed the Cecil Legion coming from the south.

The guardians of Red Maple City acted immediately, numerous towering divine evil giants ascending the walls to bolster the defense line. The rune stone bricks on Red Maple’s walls emitted a bright glow, and a vague magic barrier began to rapidly form in the air — as one of the important cities in the Plains of the Holy Spirits, Red Maple also had a city-level shield system, but it wasn’t like the heavy fortress of the rocky ridges, its shield device couldn’t be maintained indefinitely, it would only rise temporarily when the city was threatened.

Xidon watched as the magic in the air gradually congealed into a barrier, but before the shield completely closed, he suddenly saw a flash of light in the distant dust —

Something bizarre wrapped in a pale cyan magical airflow flew straight through the air, crossing the yet-unclosed Red Maple barrier, and plummeted straight towards the wall.

A divine evil giant transformed from an eastern Transcendent reached out to curiously grasp the incoming object — its momentum was so strong that even the powerful commander-class giant was almost carried away after grabbing it, forcing him to take several steps back, creating a series of terrifying dents on the wall before barely stabilizing, then curiously raised the obelisk-like metal lump to his face, "What’s this thing? Apart from this aura, there seems to be no magical re..."

"Idiot!!" Xidon shouted in infuriated shock — under normal circumstances, grabbing an enemy’s thrown weapon barehanded on the battlefield was seen as a mark of great strength and skill, but could anything launched by the Cecil Clan be grabbed just like that?

The Oblivion Association already had experience internally: when fighting the Cecil Clan, no matter what they throw at you, even if it’s a pumpkin pie, you must absolutely never reach out to catch it!

Almost everything they threw would explode!

However, before he could warn, the "metal lump" in the giant’s hand had already exploded.

The mechanical device triggered the preset rune mechanism — now, it had a magical surge.

The massive flash of the explosion completely engulfed the reckless giant commander, countless shattered crystals and metal fragments scattered in all directions. Xidon instinctively raised a barrier, blocking these potentially harmful fragments, and after the explosion subsided, all he saw where the giant once stood was a shattered lower leg.

At the next moment, the City Shield of Red Maple finally closed.