High Above

Chapter 694 The end of the old era... (5800)

White lightning fell from the top of the holy mountain, shattering the shields of the construct knights. This incredible energy instantly evaporated the outer armor of these construct colossi, turning them into a ball of golden-red metal gas that exploded outward. , and the exposed metal pipes and various mechanical structures inside were quickly swept away by the magnetic storm and turned black.

But the Constructed Knights are too strong. The three red crystal balls they exposed are connecting in series, bursting out incredible psychic energy. The powerful psychic shield can block the crushing lightning of the super giant magnetic storm coil. , protecting all their major structures.

But the base they used for action was not that solid - the earth melted and evaporated under the power of the magnetic storm, and so did the mechanical legs. The legs of the three construct knights were being integrated into the lava of the earth, making it difficult to move.

【Was ambushed】

The leader of the Construct Knight said calmly. In fact, it is very difficult for them to be stupid even if they want to. Although the mechanized mind will obliterate emotions, it will also allow people to think in the most rational way and will not be troubled by the problems that plague machines: [At this point, there is only self-destruction. 】

【agreed, agreed】

The other two Construct Knights did not hesitate. Construct Knight itself is not an absolutely secret technology. Both the Empire and Gantrigram have the ability to build such giant combat units.

But the 'spiritual weapon' that can carry souls for a long time, that is, the 'red crystal' that is the core of the Constructed Knights, is Feiyandi's unique technology, and it is also the main reason why Feiyandi can maintain a huge army of Constructed Knights for a long time. The reason is that even if they die in battle, they must not leak this technology.

Without any hesitation, when the three construct knights agreed to self-destruct, their bodies immediately began to experience energy instability, and the crystals shone with a blazing red light.

They want to directly annihilate themselves.

But, right now.

An icy blue trajectory suddenly lit up from the top of the holy mountain, and then dragged a luminous trajectory in the night sky, heading towards the construct knights who were self-destructing at an extremely fast speed.

what is that?

Even on the eve of death, the construct knights couldn't help but think that this was not a negative emotion, but a simple confusion.

And Ian gathered the ice-made fairy wings behind him to accelerate his body further - and the silver light was shining in his eyes.

He had already seen the golden-red light that was constantly flowing and overflowing from the construct knight. On one side of the chip, a countdown of only 12 seconds was rolling continuously. Behind the boy, Elder Manya was stretching his hand forward in stunned silence, as if Trying to catch Ian, he failed.

This is not because the third energy level cannot react, but because Ian's actions are too bizarre.

Why did he rush towards the enemy when it was obvious that he was going to self-destruct?

What a simple answer.

"Actually you want to self-destruct? Wait! Let me use the technology for nothing and then die!"

Ian was not nervous, everything was under control and everything was planned.

The countdown in the horizon counted down slowly. In an instant, he flew across the sky, breaking through the distance between mountains at supersonic speed.

The lightning storms that fell in the sky were the background of his flight. Two spirals of cold air entangled in the darkness, creating sparkling spots and bringing up a piece of drifting frost.

At this moment, even the Constructed Knight, who was destined to die, subconsciously stepped forward and stretched out his arms, trying to catch the shining meteor.

But the meteor didn't slow down at all. He even accelerated, rushing straight into the palm of the giant statue, and then suddenly turned around the moment it barely touched the armor of the palm.

The frost fairy drew a graceful and light arc, passing through the gaps between the fingers of the colossus.

Like a butterfly fluttering from a child's fingertips.

Boom, the palms of the construct closed together, making a loud roar, and Ian had already turned around and flew away.

The countdown entered the last three seconds, and the construct knight behind him entered the final furnace heart contraction stage.

The arm trying to catch the butterfly paused for a moment, and then melted into molten iron in the high heat radiation rising from behind.

Click - a crisp and clear sound, three psychic crystal crystals shattered at the same time, like three small suns erupting.

In the pitch-black valley in front of the Holy Mountain of Qiangang, three extremely bright dots directly illuminated all surrounding areas.

The ultimate explosion of light and heat, even the mushroom cloud formed by the attack of the giant magnetic storm coil was blown away. Huge mountain rocks rolled outward like windblown weeds, and countless woods rose from the ground and were swept up by the air current. High in the sky, and then ignited by the hot air in mid-air, turning into torches burning blazingly in mid-air.

If Elder Manya hadn't already arranged for everyone to take shelter in the mountains, the Avud tribe might have been expelled directly - but even so, the area where the Avud tribe was originally located was almost completely destroyed. A large number of buildings were blown away by violent vibrations and shock waves like fragile biscuits.

Ian turned his back on all this, and his trajectory drew an S-shaped arc in this extremely gorgeous and spectacular explosion, and then returned to the top of the Holy Mountain of Steel.

Boom - the holy mountain is also shaking. The furnace core in the body of the knight is obviously an ether furnace core of the same level as the ether weapon. It is no wonder that there is such a power comparable to nuclear weapons... In fact, except for the lack of radiation and instant In addition to killing, the destructive power any Construct Knight can cause is greater than a tactical nuclear weapon.

"They're really fast."

After returning to the top of the holy mountain unscathed, Ian looked at the explosion site in the distance under the speechless gaze of Elder Manya. He sighed: "I almost got involved."

——Now that you know, why did you go there? Scared me!

Elder Manya originally wanted to reprimand him like this, but the high-heat hurricane caused by the self-destruction of the Construct Knight came and hit the Holy Mountain of Steel.

There is nothing wrong with the Holy Mountain itself. The defense of the Dragon Blessing Mystery Lock left by Qiang Steel Dragon is quite good. Even if the Construct Knight wants to destroy it, it must at least use its main weapon. The mere aftermath cannot do anything to it.

But the super giant magnetic storm coil...it was originally a temporary semi-finished product with no protective measures except the main body.

Coupled with two consecutive full-force accelerators, its structure was already shaky, and when it was hit by the shock wave, it immediately fell over while swaying.

Crunch - creak -

A harsh scratching sound sounded, and Ian and Elder Manya raised their heads and looked at the black metal tower that was slowly overturning and falling.

Bang. It collapsed, and the remains of the tower slapped against the side of the holy mountain, shattering into countless metal fragments that were blown up in the strong wind and turned into a metal rain that reflected the flash of explosions in the distance.

The young man stretched out his hand in the air, and a silver light arced through the air and fell into his hand from the remains of the tower.

"Sure enough." Holding the dust-clearing dragon's chest shell that shimmered in his hand and was very active after being tempered, Ian shook his head slightly: "This kind of temporary thing can only be used once - but the design experience this time is completely sufficient. Use it for next time.”

"Had I known it, I would have added 'the tower will eventually fall' to the prophecy... But it's not a big problem."

He was not sad at all, rather, Ian was simply happy at this moment.

The complete set of information on the Feiyan Land Construct Knight was copied into the silver chip by him in that brief to only momentary contact - compared to the technologies in the Great Maze of the South China Sea that were too advanced and even difficult to replicate, Although the Construct Knight's technology is high-end, it is completely beyond what he can try to copy!

It's not that he wants to build a construct knight... The psychic crystal alone is what Ian urgently needs, it can carry the soul material carrier for a long time!

Moreover, although the construct knight self-destructed, the precious sublimated metals that made up the construct did not completely explode and scatter, and most of them were integrated into the lava together with the remains...

When the time comes to dig it out and process it, the stock will probably be no less than a super-premium and high-quality sublimated metal vein.

"It's hard to imagine... that we actually defeated the Construct Knight like this."

Elder Manya felt a bit like he was dreaming at this moment. He touched his beard and stared at the exploding lava pit that was still burning in the distance: "That's a construct knight. One of them can put all of us mountain people into a bitter battle. Three construct knights that can even conquer the country..."

"Who told them to face the Holy Mountain energy system left by the fifth-level Qiang Steel Dragon and the super giant magnetic storm coil I assembled?"

Ian feels that Elder Manya is a bit sentimental. The Construct Knight is strong when it is strong, but the real strength lies in the frontal battlefield, which is an overwhelming threat to ordinary troops. Simply put, the Construct Knight is designed to attack cities and integrate them. Facing a large number of conventional troops, these giant constructs are essentially no different from third-level sublimators when facing powerful third-level monsters one-on-one.

The magnetic storm coil on the Holy Mountain is essentially a stationary sublimator that cannot move, but can continuously stimulate the destructive thunder of the third energy level. Because of the Holy Mountain energy system, its offensive is endless, so naturally it can Overwhelm the Construct Knights, then hit them hard.

The most important thing is that these knights did not expect that Ian actually had such a hidden card - if they had known in advance that the Holy Mountain had this level of defenses, they would not have come at all!

"Anyway, we won."

Ian concluded like this, he showed a relaxed smile from the heart, the young man took a long breath and said with emotion: "Now, the last threatening force in the hands of the special forces in the Flying Flame Land has been eliminated by us, and the Rebellion Mountain The people have also been defeated...Elder Manya, we have won a great victory!"

"Yeah, yeah. We won big time."

The old man shook his head. He was freed from his disbelief, and then turned his head and took a deep look at Ian.

Then, the old man bowed his head to Ian. He knelt on one knee, put his hand on his heart, and saluted the young man in front of him: "Everything depends on the miracle you bring, messenger of the Dragon God."

Ian did not avoid the old man's salute. He stood on the spot and accepted the salute.

This is what he deserves and what he needs.

Because he is indeed the messenger of the Dragon God, the co-leader of the mountain people, the one who leads the people of the Dragon God to a better future.

There is no doubt about it.

After a few seconds, the young man leaned down and helped Elder Manya up.

"Get up." Ian said softly: "We still have a lot to do."

Saying this, he turned his head and looked at the messy surroundings of the Holy Mountain. Ian smiled instead: "Clean up this mess - this is what we have to do now."

“Contact Naumann City, they will definitely be pleasantly surprised.”

…

On December 25, 773 in Terra, the battle named 'Qiangang Mountain Blockade' came to an end.

The Nanling Provincial Governor's Office characterized this as a major treasonous incident in which "a small group of bad mountain people colluded with Feiyandi to transport construct knights into the territory."

The vast majority of the mountain people are knowledgeable and pro-empire. It is these mountain people who provide clues and provide the mountain leader, led by Ian and Manya, with the necessary information and time to stop the attack.

It was as if the mountain people's rebellion had never existed... No, the mountain people had indeed never rebelled.

According to official records, it was just a 'local incident' in which a group of independent-minded mountain tribes took the risk to collude with the Flying Flame Land, intending to use the power of the Constructed Knights to steal the power of the mountain tribes' holy land - and because of this incident, the loyal Nan The poor and terrible situation of the people of Lingshan has attracted the attention of the imperial capital officials.

Under the initiative of Marquis Barton, in order to ensure the stability of the southwest theater and to ensure that the western province has other supply areas besides the central area, the imperial capital decided to increase investment in the construction of the Nanling Province and develop the Baisen Mountains. Based on the excellent mineral veins in the western region, several military production lines will be built around Nauman City and the border defense lines will be strengthened.

With the approval of the Imperial Capital, the Governor-General of Nanling Province decided to forcibly dissolve the tribal establishments of the mountain tribes such as Jiamu, Sheyan, Zhenzhou, and Tiechen, abolish the autonomous status of the Midela Autonomous Region, and divide it into the Nanling Governor-General's area, which is composed of The leader of the Afud tribe, Manya Afud acted as supervisor.

The lord of Xia Hui, Baron Ian Aljomont (Yinfeng transliteration) (not officially awarded) received an imperial award. The specific reward is still under discussion, but there is no doubt that he will receive a Purple Night Medal.

But it's not a big deal.

In the last month of 773, the cold wind gradually began to rise.

After Grand Duke Thorin brought some of his most loyal people into 'Hell', the area where the former Grand Duke Thorin was located became a forbidden land. Although there are still some residents of the Grand Duke who did not follow the Grand Duke, there is a strong sense of The mist of the world has enveloped this place, and no one can come out again after entering the mist, except for the people of the Grand Duchy who personally lead it.

After the empire stabilized the chaos in the five western counties, it once again built a number of permanent fortifications around the mouth of the Absalom Mountains. The Patrol Knights operated extensively throughout the southwest region, and their goal was to attack all The espionage operation in the Flying Flame Land - for a time, many patrol knights acted chivalrously, and news anecdotes about punishing corrupt officials and bullies appeared one after another. The public opinion was very good, but only the discerning people and local nobles could understand that this patrol The knights' dispatches wiped out the remaining political influence left by Archduke Thorin on a large scale.

The area around Grand Duke Thorin is becoming a brand new direct jurisdiction of the imperial capital.

But this is not the most important thing in December. It can even be said that this is just a small episode.

On December 28th, in the Feiyan Kingdom, Prince Asu, a son of Jialannai, the king of Yanji, who was very important to him, was attacked by mysterious troops while hunting in the wilderness. He eventually died of serious injuries and could not recover, while King Yanji remained. Empire-related seals were found among the traces left by the mysterious troops.

King Yancheng is one of the few Feiyan kings who have a relatively peaceful attitude towards the empire. She has always disliked war, and her heir, Prince Asu, is said to have gone to the empire for a secret meeting some time ago, but he has not yet returned to the country. Within a week he was assassinated.

To be honest, anyone who knows the inside story knows that there is definitely something fishy about this matter, and the empire has to complain. However, with today's public opinion and the vague conflicts and threats between the two major bloodlines, everyone can only Turn the fire on the Empire.

Even King Yanjo himself couldn't say anything more - what exactly did Prince Aso communicate with the empire? If the cause of his death is to be investigated, this matter must also be investigated.

The empire has never thought of defending, nor does it bother to defend.

——If Feiyandi wants war, then I will give you war!

With the assassination of Prince Asu as a symbol, a large number of troops were mobilized and reorganized between the Flying Flame Land and the Empire. Targeting the airspace rights at the junction of the Absalom Mountains and the Byson Mountains, enemies were captured every day. News of air and space armor and friendly losses.

For a time, various countries in Terra expressed many opinions on this. Bart, a lifelong contributor to the famous academic journal "Gate of Truth" and the great alchemist of the City of Knowledge, criticized the Flying Fire Land in private channels for simply pretending to be something else. "People are all fools." He did not support the empire, but he scorned Feiyandi's move to suppress internal instability before going to war.

Kulbarov, the editor-in-chief of "Huanyu Bao", a newspaper with anti-imperialism as its core selling point, published articles "The Fall of the Giant" and "The Edge of Collapse" in his own publication, severely criticizing the empire's despicable and shameless assassination operations. , is a symbol of the empire's stubborn decay, and is also the result of the gradual degeneration of the imperial army. If this continues, the empire will surely collapse within five years.

Represented by this, people from all walks of life in Terra have expressed their opinions on the assassination of Prince Asu. They either support the Flying Fire Land, or support the Empire, or they hope to see the two sides fight with each other, overtly and covertly, and ridicule each other. , in general, it brought a lot of material to the people of Terra and the bards at the end of the year, making an excellent ending to 773.

Whether it is the merchants of the Seven Cities Alliance or the mercenaries of Whale Song Cliff, whether it is the pirates of Canaan Moore or the tavern owners of Guntrigham, everyone is discussing the conflict between the Empire and the Flying Fire Land.

But just a few days later, it was January 1, Terra 774.

Just when the Royal Legion of Feiyan Land brazenly crossed the national border and appeared in the western province of the empire from the Duke Thorin's domain that had been transformed into the Fog Kingdom, the Far Flame Fortress Group of Feiyan Land declared independence almost at the same time.

The deputy commander of the Far Flame Fortress, a fourth-level powerhouse, 'Nightmare' Ibeya, after killing the legion commander 'Tianhe' Kavaja in a frontal battle, he denounced Feiyandi's treatment of the Far Flame Fortress group and the The area responsible for supplying materials to the fortress group was neglected and despised.

Especially in the past ten years, Feiyandi has almost left them to fend for themselves. Many soldiers have become personal servants and domestic slaves of officers. The original greening plan of the desert has also been suspended for a long time. The soldiers and soldiers of the entire fortress group have also been suspended for a long time. Ordinary people are living in the sky full of yellow sand and scorching heat, and are miserable.

His independence is by no means a rebellion, but a fair and just 'repayment' for Feiyandi who has betrayed the fortress group!

The empire publicly stated at the first time that they fully supported the independent approach of Ibeya, the commander of the Nightmare Flame Army. This was undoubtedly a just move, a human rights, order, humane and reasonable action - at the first time, The Empire's Grand Princess Alegria Setar established diplomatic relations with the Far Flame Land fortress group temporarily named "Fire Mountain Land" as an official envoy, and provided a large number of supplies and gifts.

How could the kings of Nirmasas bear such humiliation? Just as the legions of the Absalom kings marched into the empire to confront the coalition of the five Earls of the West, their armies would also march to the fortress group for a two-front battle.

Total war begins...

At this time, all ordinary people realized... they were serious.

Instead of changing the domestic perspective and conducting a painless regional war around the fortress group... the Setal Empire wants to engage in a comprehensive and all-round war with the Flying Flame Land!

And the senior officials of various countries who have known this for a long time are also waiting quietly.

As a one-continent Terra, war never escapes anyone...it affects everyone.

A corner of history is slowly opening up.

Compared with such a big event, a trivial incident such as the three construct knights' attempt to secretly raid the mountain people's holy land in the Nanling Province of the Empire... was nothing more than an incident that could boost morale, but it was not a cause for concern at all. It's just a small victory that attracts attention.

However, when a grain of sand of the times falls on a person's head, it is as heavy as a mountain peak.

For the mountain people, everything has changed.

January 1, Terra 774, morning.

This was before the news of total war spread widely.

On the morning of the first day of the new year, Ian stood on the top of the Holy Mountain of Qiangang, with his back against the overturned tower, looking around the mountains at the hundreds of chiefs and priests of the mountain tribes who had come here, as well as the thousands of Thousands of mountain people gathered here.

—He will make a speech, a proclamation, a prophecy and a coronation.

——He wants to become the co-owner of the mountain people here, a leading prophet, and a brand-new guide.

And...become the star that guides the future.

Right now.