Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 639 - 638: The Last Wall

Day Five.

The Crystal Cluster Giants continue to surge like a tide. The monsters from the Plains of the Holy Spirits seem inexhaustible, while human strength... is on the brink of its limits.

The arcane energy gathers into one storm after another of lightning, its destructive force continually licking the teetering shield of the Great Shield of St. Soniel. A deeply unsettling low howl reverberates throughout the Great Shield, like the cries of tens of thousands, or as if a fissure to the abyss is steadily opening in the deep earth—once seamless and whole, the shield is now riddled with holes, vast patches of fragmented noise covering the skies above the city. These noise patches, along with the howling within the shield, continuously remind the city’s guardians: the shield is about to collapse.

The overly active magic force accumulates over the plains, already beginning to affect the weather. It should be summer, yet a chilling gale sweeps over the entire city, the blue-gold-edged Anzu Royal Banner snapping sharply above the walls, dancing wildly in the wind. And beneath the banner, battered and exhausted Knights and Soldiers are huddled near the catapults and large crossbows, hiding behind parapets, watching the plains below with a numbed resilience.

The stone bullets and giant crossbow bolts used for city defense still pile atop the walls, yet less than a third of the crossbows and catapults continue fighting—because the Mages who apply magic effects to the ammunition have already exhausted their Mana.

Mana is far easier to deplete than physical strength and is also more susceptible to environmental influences. Mages must be in relatively stable environments to restore their power more quickly, but at this moment, the entire city of St. Soniel is enveloped in a tumultuous field of magical power. Human minds are, after all, not machines, unable to meditate smoothly in such a magic-pervasive environment. The royal Mages are doing their utmost to maintain firepower at the front, but as this fierce battle beyond mortal imagination continues day by day, more and more mid-to-low level Mages have temporarily lost the ability to control magic, and the withdrawal of these Mages heralds the inevitable collapse of the whole line of defense.

Without the assistance of combat Mages, conventional stone bullets and bolts are almost ineffective against those Crystal Cluster Giants.

Wales, clad in armor already stained with blood and marked with numerous scars, holding the King’s Sword, slowly walked along the southern walls, the chilling wind ceaselessly flowing between the shield and the walls, rustling his trailing cloak and the hair on his forehead.

He traversed a section of the walls that had just experienced fierce battle—this section’s shield had been breached; powerful Arcane Arcs had shattered large swathes of stone bricks, leaving scorched marks scattered across the ground. Craftsmen and Mages had urgently reinforced this ground, repaired the catapults here, and new soldiers replaced the previously obliterated units, continuing to hold their positions.

A Knight clad in battered armor leaned against a nearby parapet, his breastplate still faintly bearing the insignia of the Order of Knights. He slightly raised his head, his face covered in blood, motionless, as if he had been dead for some time.

Wales indeed thought this Knight had fallen in battle. However, when the horn sounded in the distance and the monsters once again charged at the barriers, the blood-covered Knight sprang up instantly, rushing toward the nearest catapult, beginning to command the Soldiers to counterattack.

The new King watched all this without saying a word, continuing forward, inspecting the walls he once swore to defend.

Another terrifying wail arose from the shield, and the entire city of St. Soniel seemed to shake within a great bell’s toll.

Mere moments later, the sound of the wind arose. Baldwin Franklin, clad in a robe marked with the Arcane Eye, descended beside Wales, swiftly saying, ”Your Majesty, the southern district’s shield node was just destroyed.”

”I heard the howl...” Wales said quietly, ”How much longer can it last?”

Duke Baldwin raised his hand, pointing to the rapidly spreading noise patches above the royal capital, ”...It’s already beginning to collapse.”