Chapter 1024: Chapter 1023: Not Penetrated

Under the enigmatic starry sky covering the Winterhold Fortress Group, several dragonfly aircraft with gray paint are slow-cruising under the cover of night, with the dim rune glimmers at several corners of the aircraft slowly flickering, blending into the background of stars, rendering this reconnaissance squad as elusive as phantoms in the night sky.

One of the aircraft cautiously lowered its altitude, and the surface of the crystal device placed on the side of the aircraft shimmered faintly. Precisely calibrated mechanical structures pointed to the distant land below, and the surface of the crystal mirrored the scenes of the white-hot battlefield afar.

An iron-gray giant is trampling down the last line of defense at the mountain’s base, its awe-inspiring massive form already covered in scars, with a large amount of rust-like mist spewing from the gaps in its armor, intertwining with the lava flowing on the ground and the magic turbulence surging in the air, forming a massive structure resembling a cape—it drapes behind the giant, leaving scorched earth wherever it passes.

The images monitored by the airborne reconnaissance aircraft are transmitted through high-power Magic Web nodes distributed at the battlefield’s edge and temporary transfer nodes carried by ground forces to the rear, finally presented before Gawain after traversing the long battle line.

Winterwolf Fortress, command center, Gawain and the commanders stand in front of a large sand table device and Magic Web projection, the sounds from the distant battlefield carrying some distortion and accompanied by crackling noises: "...it can be observed that the War God has suffered quite severe trauma... but still insufficient to halt Its actions. Typhon’s ground units currently are heavily damaged, having been breached to the final line of Winterhold. Our ground units are also affected, but the main units’ composition remains intact."

"It seems the War God is really provoked by the Typhon people..." Gawain couldn’t help but lightly lament, looking at the furious and terrifying giant displayed in the images, "Even turning into a Mad God, It still has such clear emotional changes as ’anger’..."

"Why does It not directly attack the main fort of Winterhold?" Amber couldn’t help frown, "It has destroyed so many things along the way, seemingly nothing can withstand Its frontal assault, the fort’s defenses shouldn’t be much different... Yet, the War God seems unwilling to directly attack."

"That suggests there is currently something in Winterhold with an even greater attraction to It—something that can make a Mad God retain a sliver of reason in its deranged state," Gawain stated seriously, meanwhile slightly turning his head to glance at Lady Diana standing quietly not far away—this lady claiming to be ’without a heart’ had been standing silently there like a statue since just now, clearly showing no interest in revealing more secrets regarding her master to the Cecil Clan here.

Nevertheless, Gawain did not intend to pry further from Lady Diana’s lips, especially since... even if she did not say, he could probably guess what in Winterhold was attracting that maddened War God.

The enigmatic starry sky covering the entire Winterhold area and the special aura faintly emanating from it are not concealable, just a slight glance and Gawain could deduce it is related to divine power—the War God was evidently aiming for the source of this divine power, and in the Typhon camp, what is directly related to divine power and manifests in connection with the stars, while also being intricately linked to the Augustus Clan... there’s only one thing.

The "Eye of God Curse" that has persisted for over two centuries, stemming from the ancient era.

"Rosetta... I hope you know what you are doing..." Gawain couldn’t help but sigh lightly, seemingly speaking to himself, "I don’t plan to deal with two uncontrollable gods simultaneously..."

At this moment, a flash of white light suddenly appeared on the remote monitoring images, and a magnificent mushroom cloud once more arose, the beams above one of the mountain peaks in Winterhold Fortress Group suddenly brightened several times, while the iron-gray giant caught in the massive explosion gained many more wounds—the giant once again emerged from the flowing lava and overflowing magic turbulence, making the "cape" behind It seem even larger.

The out-of-control god crushed the last barrier in Its way—it began climbing the most towering mountain.

The warning from the forward reconnaissance unit came almost simultaneously: "Note, the target begins ascending the main peak of Winterhold, repeating, the target begins ascending the main peak of Winterhold—Typhon’s defense line is about to be utterly breached!"

Gawain furrowed his brows tightly, shortly after, suddenly turning his head towards Sir Philip: "When can the ’Soul Consolers’ arrive at the battlefield? Where is the Winter?"

"The Soul Consoler squad is already on standby at the battlefield’s edge—but they require a relatively stable ’working environment,’" Sir Philip spoke quickly, "hoping Typhon people can further weaken the War God’s power, otherwise our airborne units can hardly approach there, as for the Winter..."

Before he could finish his words, a sharp whooshing sound suddenly echoed from the monitoring images, everyone immediately turned their gaze towards the direction of the Magic Web projection, just in time to see the iron-gray giant raising its arm, a massive arrow instantaneously fell onto a mountain peak closest to Winterhold’s main peak—accompanied by the colossal explosion visible even from Winterwolf Fortress, an entire mountain top was completely engulfed by a blazing, bright explosion cloud, and the magic flame column rising from the mountain also extinguished completely almost simultaneously.

At this point, most of the gigantic beams that had risen around Winterhold Fortress Group had been extinguished, only a few rays of light like the last strands of courage of mortals piercing through the darkness, stubbornly standing tall among the starry night sky.

Everyone instinctively quieted down, eyes falling on those shining light beams in the night sky, those sparse rays shimmering as if teetering on the brink of being consumed by darkness...

...

Everyone instinctively quieted down, watching the few remaining beams of light on the distant mountain peaks, Palin Winterhold unknowingly clenched his teeth, his iron-cold face filled with chilling winter-like frost.

Every extinction of a beam signifies heavy casualty losses, the Empire’s finest combat Mages and commanders perished in batches amidst those earth-shattering explosions, among them were people Palin knew—friends, political rivals, classmates he met at the Royal Mage Association, and promising youths he personally mentored.

Now, those beams extinguished one after another, those still brightly shining continue to perform their given mission—to unleash as many Annihilation Seeds as possible upon that rampaging, frenzied god’s head.

Every such attack could potentially attract that Mad God’s gaze, and death would be imminent—in this moment, the courage needed to execute orders is beyond everyone’s imagination.

The giant began climbing the ridge of Winterhold’s main peak—just like how the giants in Northern native mythology depict Protodal climbing the world pillar, commencing an unavoidable journey to the summit, while for those holding onto Winterhold Fortress, Palin, Rosetta, the Royal Mages, and knight lords, even without the Magic Illusion transmitted back by the Eye of the Mage, they only needed to step onto the western balcony of the fortress and glance down to witness that heart-pounding scene.

The iron-gray giant advanced step by step toward the fortress located atop the high mountain, unwavering, without blood or tears.

Palin Winterhold silently calculated the giant’s advancing speed, the distance from the mountain base to Winterhold, how much time remained before that "monster" breached the line Typhon constructed with national power... In this time, how many more attacks could those brave combat mages launch? How many more Annihilation Seeds can Winterhold Fortress Group rain upon the enemy’s head? Two times? Or three?

He subconsciously glanced towards the nearby communication crystal - the emperor no longer gave specific instructions for each attack. The last order he issued half an hour ago was "continue the attack with maximum firepower," and since then, instructions from the Hall of Mysteries had temporarily ceased. Now, the loyal and brave Combat Mage Regiment had pushed this command to its limits. Even Count Winterhold had begun anxiously awaiting new orders from the crystal at this moment.

This might be the last command that decides everyone’s destiny.

He did not know how long he had been waiting, only felt as if time had passed for an eternity. The light on several nearby mountain peaks had flashed twice consecutively, and the sound of the giant’s footsteps seemed to echo in everyone’s hearts. At this moment, he finally heard Emperor Rosetta Augustus’s voice from the crystal: "...The time has come, prepare for the final attack."

Count Winterhold was momentarily stunned, almost thinking he was hallucinating, but he quickly reacted. A surge of resolve burned fiercely in his heart: "Everyone, prepare for the final attack!"

...

"Now, fulfill your commitment," Emperor Rosetta Augustus quietly watched the hollow eye floating nearby in the Hall of Mysteries, "The target has been weakened to its limit - go and bind it, we will complete the final blow."

The hollow eye slightly rotated, seemingly gazing at Emperor Rosetta Augustus. Several seconds later, it sighed leisurely: "Ah, to be honest, I do miss the days of being with you... Although it might not have been pleasant for you, it was considered one of the rare moments that were not so boring in my long life...

"Oh, oh, of course, no need to rush, I surely will fulfill my promise. I’ve already helped you block the divine mental pollution, interfered with the target’s judgment, and now, creating the opportunity for your final blow isn’t anything significant... Just consider these as my parting words, Rosetta Augustus... You and your ancestors have been quite intriguing."

With the last syllable of the hollow eye falling, the infinite starlight in the Hall of Mysteries suddenly began to contract and tremble!

Not only the starlight in the hall, but even the starlight enveloping the entire Winterhold Area also experienced a visible anomaly at the same time!

In the night sky, those stars not belonging to the current era suddenly came alive, and began to flicker intensely. Between countless stars, uncountable thin lines and light arcs spread instantly, ripples appeared on the mysterious starlit sky’s surface, resembling a descending nightmare or a phantasmal image beyond human imagination - after a brief delay of several seconds, the starlit sky covering the entire area contracted fiercely, then began to shatter and disappear rapidly from the edges towards the center!

The sky that suppressed the War God’s mental pollution shattered, but its suppressive and protective effect did not end; the power of the Eye of God transformed into another form: as the vast starry sky crumbled quickly, the endless starry light cascaded down onto the land, layering upon the giant climbing the mountain!

This was the second spectacle occurring in the Winterhold Area today. The stars in the sky suddenly transposed to the ground, materializing into shackles and chains defying geometric logic, optical theory, and even human visual and cognitive abilities - the iron-grey giant raised its right hand high, it had climbed the last slope outside the main wall of Winterhold Fortress, standing tall before the mortal fortress enshrouded by the cold wind. Yet, the shackles falling from the sky instantly arrested all its movements, pulling its limbs wide open with a force incomprehensible to humans, and even gods couldn’t resist promptly, rendering it defenseless.

A voice roared between heaven and earth: "Strike now! Augustus! The imprisonment in the dream won’t last long!"

Almost as that voice fell, the Typhon Empire’s final blow arrived.

On the four mountain peaks near Winterhold’s main summit, the remaining light beams brightened one last time, overloading the entire region’s Magic Veins momentarily. Since the Gondor era ended, the mighty magic not seen again on this land reappeared, converging at all operational "Annihilation Camps" through the Magic Node Camps. After a brief accumulation, those remaining light beams simultaneously emitted dazzling brilliance, four radiant and massive white light spheres soared into the sky—

Multiple Annihilation Seed - no embellishments, pure power stacking, just like the simple and direct War God depicted in mythology.

Under circumstances where the target had suffered consecutive injuries, its defenses were utterly breached, and its body was shackled by the Eye of God, this terrifying blow was destined to decide everything.

Without paying further attention to the scene from the Eye of the Mage, Palin Winterhold directly moved to the balcony on the western side of the Mage tower, glaring at the sight outside the castle - the dazzling light sphere formed from multiple Annihilation Seed began to fall from the sky, while the iron-grey giant remained tightly bound by the starlight, its limbs struggled fiercely, its massive form rapidly fluctuating between reality and illusion. Evidently, even a frenzied god felt the deadly threat at this moment.

The Annihilation Seed descended.

But just at that instant, a chilling scene unfolded before Palin Winterhold:

The iron-grey giant suddenly broke free from the starlight shackles, its flickering body halted abruptly, like breaking away from nightmare confinement, it swiftly sidestepped right before the Annihilation Seed fell.

The massive light ball hit the ground, a mushroom cloud larger than any previous occurrence rose on the mountain road west of Winterhold, a quarter of the fortress vanished in this strike, and the giant who broke free was completely engulfed by the blast’s shock waves.

Yet, Palin Winterhold knew full well, and so did Emperor Rosetta Augustus in the Hall of Mysteries - the target escaped the blast center, survived.

"Once more," Rosetta immediately said, "Bind it!"

Starlight dotted the sky over Winterhold once more, the essence of the Eye of God reappeared before Rosetta, but this time, it showed no intent to exercise any power.

"Descendant of the Augustus Clan..." The hollow eye emitted a sound akin to a mocking laugh, with a teasing tone, "You’ve misunderstood something...

"I’ve already fulfilled my promise."

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