Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 441 - 440: This Is a War

As the warhorse under him and the knights escorting him by his side gradually began to accelerate, Sir Maryland seemed to finally find the "battlefield" feeling he was familiar with.

The hoofbeats became increasingly uniform and dense, the wind whistled against the visor, the sound grew louder, and the knights launched their charge in silence amidst these sounds. The knight protective aura belonging to the supernatural knights began to spread outward and gradually merged into a whole, enveloping the pioneering knight group consisting of dozens of novice, middle-ranked, and one powerful knight. The invisible vortex wrapped within it magic power from the air to form a rapid rush forward, outside of the vortex, artillery fire raged, those two imposing and terrifying beams continued their unwavering cutting and piercing through the wall of the rocky ridges Fortress, yet for the knights within the vortex, it seemed as if everything outside was irrelevant, their sole target being ahead.

Indeed, this was the battlefield Sir Maryland was familiar with, this was a "war" he was familiar with.

Except there was still something different about this battlefield compared to what he was familiar with: He was no longer facing another relentless pioneering knight group nor facing a defensive line composed of heavy infantry and militia spearmen. In fact, there was nothing in front of him—

The nearest enemies were all outside the charging distance.

Within his field of vision was only a wide battlefield and the "Skyfire" whizzing across the sky above the battlefield.

This gave him a somewhat strange sensation, he wasn’t accustomed to this kind of combat where there was no contact with the enemy, but luckily his field of vision still had a target—those were the two strange battleships anchored on the White River with the Cecil Clan’s flag fluttering fiercely above them, the symbol of a sword and plow representing the most glorious and ancient power of this nation, today it was the enemy.

This was undeniably a form of irony and sadness, yet as a knight, being able to challenge such formidable foes was indeed a special honor.

The speed of the pioneering knights gradually increased to its limit, and after forming a charge formation, even the speed of the novice knights would be greatly enhanced, and the knight’s team in full charge would unleash unimaginable destructive power, apart from a knight group of the same scale, same strength, same speed, only the heavy infantry national guard of that Dwarf Kingdom at the extreme west of the continent could hold them back—Sir Maryland could see the earth on the sides of knights’ teams curling and cracking under the tearing of the magic power vortex; sparks of various sizes began to fly up in the air, the magic surrounding the pioneering knights’ group began forming a spearhead, and this even gave him an unprecedented confidence—

What would the Cecil Clan use to stop such a spearhead?

A barrage from over a hundred "Persuader-I model" rail cannons.

Strange whistling sounds came from the sky when the knights’ group charged halfway, waking Sir Maryland from his fascinated and strangely excited immersion in the battlefield. He slightly raised his head and saw one azure flame after another of magical light cutting through the air and falling toward the ground, their impact point directly on the path of knights’ charge.

He almost immediately realized that the Cecil officer commanding the "Skyfire" should also be a knight, and definitely a qualified knight.

These attacks falling from the sky almost perfectly timed with the moment when the knight’s group could not perform evasive maneuvers due to the timing, precise to almost the millimeter.

"Do not stop!" The knight shouted loudly, his voice vibrating the magical power field within the battle formation, clearly reaching the ears of every knight, "Raise your shields!"

The knights raised their protective shields and simultaneously activated the knight combat technique of the "Glory Armor". A layer of metallic glowing aura emerged on their armor, while a similar protective layer appeared around the magic vortex enveloping the entire charging formation.

The sky had become gloomy at some point, under the gloomy light of the sky, knights galloped on the open battlefield, the "Calibrator Beam" illuminated the sky above the battlefield, and over a hundred azure projectile shadows fell like a meteor shower, bombarding their formation.

The elite knights of the rocky ridges Fortress were different from those ragtag soldiers gathered by Count Hosman.

They were second only to the elite forces of the Eastern Legion.

A knight’s group completely charged up, at its peak of power, was also different from the knights scattered everywhere around the Broken Stone Ridge.

The united battle formation they formed was as solid as a wall.

But a wall—even a charging wall—is ultimately a product of the past era.

Deafening explosions came from all directions, terrifyingly powerful "Skyfire" tore at the magic power vortex surrounding the knights. Sir Maryland saw the earth fragment into pieces around him, massive amounts of rocky and muddy debris flying into the air; the dust clouds in the air flashed with arcane energy, the once perfect magic vortex was torn apart, part of the novice knights at the back of the formation disappearing amidst the rising explosions without having time to react.

Now, Sir Maryland finally understood how powerful those "Skyfire" bombardments hitting the magic barrier of the rocky ridges Fortress truly were.

The magic barrier must not disappear! Once the wall of the rocky ridges Fortress is directly exposed to such weapons, it won’t hold until the barrier can reboot!

Thinking this over, he couldn’t help but accelerate further, and those knights who had followed him for many years also almost immediately began to accelerate—despite being dizzy from the explosive shock waves, these men who were strictly educated from childhood and fought in the most dangerous environments around the kingdoms for years before being stationed at the rocky ridges Fortress could still persist in such adverse environments.

The second wave of attacks came swiftly and was even more accurate and deadly this time.

The attacks were launched from the second high ground established by the Cecil Clan.

No wonder they established a second high ground... this high ground wasn’t for fetching water; its purpose was to cover the battleships on the White River—

Under his visor, Sir Maryland’s face was as dark as water.

Efficient command, high discipline, soldier quality far exceeding that of ordinary aristocratic soldiers, as well as tactics of advancing to the battlefield through cover from long-range weapons, infiltration of the rocky ridges Fortress, and espionage, intelligence, assassinations, sabotage...

This was the way the Cecil Clan operated in combat, or rather, the way "Gawain Cecil" operated in combat.

In contrast, the most "ingenious" scheme he heard in the rocky ridges Fortress’s military hall happened to be poisoning the White River...

A thought suddenly flashed in Sir Maryland’s mind: maybe the rocky ridges Fortress had already fallen, fallen at the moment those southerners entered the fortress.

He was now merely maintaining the last vestiges of his family’s honor.

On High Ground No. 2, Sir Philip was distantly watching the vortex of magic swirling over the plain.

It had already thinned and dimmed by at least half, but still maintained a basic charge formation, representing nearly a "knightly spirit" that appeared only in books for a "country knight" from the countryside.

Yet he had no choice but to continue ordering the artillery, breaking up the magic vortex bit by bit—because the ceasefire order had not yet been given, the two Calibrator Rainbow Cannons on the White River still needed support from High Ground No. 2.

He estimated the charging speed of the troop, calculated the approximate lead and necessary firing angle, and then ordered a third round of shelling.

The magic vortex finally extinguished, but there were still sporadic lights moving forward in the smoke and dust, the glow emitted by the yet-to-be-extinguished knight protective aura.

"Continue loading! Firing angle 8, prepare—"

The Magic Web Communicator placed beside him suddenly lit up, and the soldier next to him immediately activated it. Sir Philip saw Gawain’s figure emerging in the holographic projection above the communicator.

"Cease fire."

"Yes, leader."

The young knight bowed his head in command, although his face showed almost no change in expression, he truly felt a sigh of relief in his heart.

Although he knew that the main reason the leader ordered the ceasefire was that the enemy was already close to the White River bank—at this position, fire from High Ground No. 2 could likely miss and inadvertently damage their own battleships or, even if it didn’t directly hit, it could affect the focus action of the two Calibrator Beams, he still breathed a sigh of relief.

This could be considered leaving a last bit of dignity for the knights of the previous era.

The flames and explosions from the sky finally came to a halt, yet the knight troop that charged out together with him had less than two-tenths remaining.

And they were almost completely incapacitated.

The speed of the troop rapidly declined, and the already scarred and magic-exhausted knights stopped one by one, some even fell off their horses from exhaustion. Even Sir Maryland, who was guarded in the center of the troop, felt a bout of fatigue, but he still lifted his head, looking at the two gigantic battleships right in front of him and the two terrifying beams exuding from them.

The charge ended; it was a charge "without an enemy", the knights hadn’t engaged a single enemy, yet they had already lost eighty percent of their numbers, but they had ultimately achieved their goal.

However, when Sir Maryland continued riding forward, simultaneously preparing his magic power to damage the battleships, a figure appeared in his view.

In that instant, he realized that all his previous efforts were in vain—Gawain Cecil himself was on the battleship, not in the camp on the shore!

A pressure so intense it could freeze all magic power in a novice Transcendent radiated from the ship’s bow, and although Sir Maryland’s warhorse was also a mixed-blood non-human monster of the Transcendent realm, it trembled and stopped. The knight had no choice but to abandon the steed, step by step onto the river’s surface.

As he stepped on the water, it became calm and mirror-like under his feet, he moved forward step by step, seeing the openings from which certain magical devices’ "rails" protruded, pointing at him.

But ultimately, they didn’t activate.

Sir Maryland decided to make a final effort for the vow he had sworn, he stopped at a relatively appropriate distance, then drew his Longsword, slightly angled it towards the legendary Grand Duke:

"I challenge you! I stake my life and family honor in exchange for your retreat!"

Gawain simply watched this man who came through fire and artillery from the rocky ridges Fortress to his front, long before speaking: "Your life and your family’s honor?"

"If I fail, you may take my life, my family and territory will also belong to you, and will pledge allegiance to you for generations, Maryland O’Neal swears here, the duel is sacred, and I will never defy," Sir Maryland shouted loudly, "And in exchange, I beseech you to retreat today and promise not to attack the rocky ridges Fortress within three years!"

Three years... within three years, the nation’s situation should stabilize, whether the victor is the Duke of the East or the royal family, at least by that time there will be a new, unified dynasty to face the rising Cecil Clan...

And more importantly, he will fulfill his vow—to guard the rocky ridges Fortress.

Gawain looked at the knight before him who proposed the duel and then, after a long silence, broke it: "I accept your challenge, but the attack will not cease."

Sir Maryland stared at Gawain in shock, seemingly unable to comprehend right away: "...Why?"

"I accept your challenge because you are a qualified knight, I acknowledge and respect you in the capacity of the Ancestor of Knights of Anzu," Gawain drew the Sword of Pioneers, a layer of powerful magic flame began to spread over the black blade, he leapt off the ship’s bow and landed on the river surface in front of Sir Maryland, "And the attack will not cease because..."

A deadly, powerful surge came rushing forward, Sir Maryland hurriedly mobilized his full magic power, injecting the force into his Longsword and holding it horizontally in front of him to block the fierce blow from the Sword of Pioneers.

The black Longsword laced with flames weighed heavily on the knight’s knight’s sword, Gawain stared into the knight’s eyes, enunciating slowly:

"Child, this is a war."