Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1253: Chapter 1252: Dark Ripples

Perhaps due to the widespread fluctuations of Magic Power affecting atmospheric activities, the wind within the great walls seems to never stop. These unruly winds flow without distinction of season across the weathered and corroded lands, stirring up polluted dust, remnants of past civilizations, carrying them day in and day out across this already dead terrain. And within these ceaseless winds, the Gondor wasteland has seen hardly any new occurrences for centuries.

But now things have changed—a plan brewing for centuries is finally being executed. Like the interlocking gears of fate, a machine long dormant is quietly beginning to operate outside the human civilization’s sight.

It is gradually steering this world toward a destined future, yet the mortals toiling outside the great walls are completely unaware of this machine’s existence.

"Just as the God of Fate said—fate begins to move forward," Fyrna murmured softly, her gaze fixed on the aberration Giants bustling around the ruins of the massive buildings, "From here begins a small change, and then a series of small changes, ultimately altering the future of the entire planet... truly marvelous."

"Fate is indeed marvelous, but it’s a pity that the so-called God of Fate is merely a pathetic existence that couldn’t withstand even hours before the fleet," Lelena continued, "Ah, like all beings on this planet, truly pathetic."

Fyrna’s face broke into a slight smile, "But now their pathetic lives are finally going to gain value... my sister."

Lelena didn’t say a word, just turned towards the stairs beside the platform. She saw a cluster of dry, twisted vines creeping up from there, then the front end quickly merged and transformed into an eerie, intimidating shape, forming an aged face. The face of Archbishop Bolken appeared before the Elven Twins, his yellow-brown eyes looking past them towards the aberration "workers" excavating in the ruins.

"They’ve been digging here for two whole days, are you certain it’s this place?" the eerie face made of vines glanced over for a few seconds and then slightly raised with a skeptical expression, "Or is it..."

"You’ve become more impatient lately, Archbishop," Fyrna shook her head, with Lelena immediately following suit, "Of course we are certain; it’s this place—another node of The Deep Blue Webway outside the surveillance range of the Well of Deep Blue that fits our requirements."

Bolken remained silent for two seconds and spoke cautiously, "I can indeed feel the elusive Magic Power fluctuations in this area and the residual Magic Power flow deep underground, but it is still far from the scale you described."

"The long passage of time can change many things; reigniting those dusty relics is no simple task," Lelena said calmly, as Fyrna turned back to look at the ruins of the building whose collapsed structures had mostly been cleared, "This was once the largest ’Node City’ in the northwest region of the Gondor Empire, where Magic Power from the Well of Deep Blue would be redistributed to countless nearby towns and villages. The building you see is the former Magic Control Authority, where thousands of Master Mages and Mage apprentices once guarded day and night."

"And this is the sad and ironic part—they knew only that this was a convenient magic focal point, where energy from the Well of Deep Blue could be easily controlled and converted, yet they never discovered the deep connection between this magic focal point and The Deep Blue Webway... Not even until the eve of their destruction did they faintly perceive the grand ’Planetary Power System’ behind the Well of Deep Blue... They missed the chance for civilization to leap further, yet were oblivious to their missed opportunity and complacent with their crude developmental achievements."

Lelena turned her gaze, sweeping over the remnants of the ancient city that had become fragments over time, over the former skyscrapers and palace temples, her face wearing a sarcastic expression, her tone tinged with disdain, which bordered on anger, "They were just a paper away from the truth, a small step from success, struggling all their lives only to fall at the very last moment before reaching the end... Always the same, repeating the cycle."

"Weak and inept," Fyrna said indifferently, "pitiful and lamentable."

The vines slowly moved across the platform, the sound of plant against concrete coarse and jarring, Bolken’s yellow-brown pupils stared at the Elven Twins before him, releasing a hoarse laughter, "Ha, truly rare to hear such direct and incisive language from your sweet and deceptive tongues, truly worthy of living through ages and witnessing the defied Plan. Your evaluation of this world is quite refreshing... But I’m curious, are you saying all this to tell me I’ll also encounter failure at the last moment before success?"

"You?" Lelena glanced at the vine-formed face before her, her lips curling slightly, "Of course not, my Archbishop, how could your plan fail? It’s no longer just your plan now..."

Bolken snorted coldly, yet had no interest in arguing with the Elven Twins’ consistently sarcastic manner of speaking—his actual form was still located in a distant valley headquarters, dealing with all sorts of important affairs, and this place was merely a "gaze" projected by his vast network of roots underground, used to monitor the progress of this node’s project. Before achieving substantial results here, he had no extra energy to entangle with the two elven sisters who never spoke plainly.

And at this moment, a commotion suddenly arose from the direction of the excavation site, drawing Bolken’s attention, as well as the gaze of the Elven Twins on the platform.

They saw the aberration Giants successfully removing the last portion of dome debris covering the ruins above, and according to orders, activating an ancient mechanism somewhere below the ruins. From the depths of the ruins dormant for seven hundred years came a low humming sound, accompanied by a slight tremor of the earth. A trace of scattered blue radiance began to permeate from the cracks in the earth near the ruins, intensely stimulating the sight of everyone present.

"... It’s truly beautiful," Fyrna observed the increasingly bright radiance, her face slowly revealing a smile, "Do you see it, Archbishop? This is the pure light of Magic Power... it has been slumbering under here for seven hundred years."

Bolken’s eyes were firmly fixed on the luminosity flowing from the ground cracks, he suddenly realized, loudly reminding the leisurely Elven Twins, "What are you waiting for?! This focal point is losing control! Damn it, the maintenance equipment here burned out long ago, and the crevice you opened will melt down this place— the ensuing explosion could attract the entire Iron Soldier Corps!! Do something to stop it!"

"Calm down, esteemed Archbishop, we understand The Deep Blue Webway, the speed of energy balance collapse isn’t that fast—rather, shouting and yelling might affect your composure and image." Lelena laughed, speaking casually as she walked along with Fyrna towards the edge of the platform. They stepped towards the ruins now brimming with blue fissures as if treading on solid steps. Meanwhile, the aberration Giants assigned to excavate the ruins remained in place, ignoring the blazing flames flowing from the ground cracks, seemingly unaware of the danger within the massive energy as they stood motionless.

A cluster of beautiful blue light stream finally reached the feet of the nearest aberration. In a silent combustion, that hideous giant swiftly transformed into a bright torch and within a mere ten seconds, it turned into dispersing dust.

Fyrna turned her head to glance, the dust dispersing in the air was mixed with specks of blue luminosity, reflected in her eyes. She shook her head, her tone slightly regretful, "It really doesn’t resist burning."

As she spoke, they had already arrived above the dispersing light streams and were standing in mid-air several meters high as if on solid ground. The elemental Magic Power emerging from the depths of the earth had already started to weave together. Pure bright flames surged from cracks both large and small, weaving into a web-like form with bright blue threads. Wherever the light reached, those aberration Giants tasked with excavating the ruins burned one after another, while surrounding Treants retreated nervously. Balken’s gaze was fixed on the elven sisters standing in the air. He knew these enigmatic characters must have something planned but he couldn’t help but ask, "How do you plan to control this thing? With your Magic?"

"Strictly speaking, it requires knowledge and wisdom," Fyrna said blandly, raising her left hand with Magic symbols already flowing at her fingertips, "Immense power has the ability to sweep away weaknesses, but as long as you find the right ’node’ at the right time and place, and then gently ’push’ with a very slight external force..."

"Just like throwing a pebble to create ripples across a pond," Lelena followed closely, raising her right hand to precisely coordinate with Fyrna’s spellcasting motions, deftly changing the flow of Magic Power deep beneath the earth, "Everything will change."

Silent Magic Power soaked into the "Deep Blue Fountain" spurting upwards from the underground, the blue cracks spread across the earth instantly dimmed down. Then, after a brief two to three seconds of silence, a glaring blue beam suddenly shot out from the ground. Accompanied by a Magic unrest that elicited a slight sense of fear, the entire ruin area seemed to be drawn by a powerful attraction originating from the center, starting to collapse and compress inward from all directions!

Hardy rocks and decaying steel emitted tooth-aching creaks under strong attraction and broke apart after brief resistance, falling into the depths of the blue beam. Treants active on the periphery of the ruin area also retreated in horror, desperately trying to distance themselves from this fatal gravity vortex. Yet amidst this terrifying spectacle, Fyrna and Lelena sisters stood with expressionless faces, coldly watching the changes unfolding before their eyes.

Their indifferent stance made the powerful attraction collapse seem non-existent to them.

The entire process lasted for a full ten minutes, with the dreadful "collapse" finally reaching its end. As the tremors of the earth grew weaker, some sort of "balance" appeared to establish at the center of the collapse—the original construction ruins had disappeared completely, along with a large area of ground transforming into a concave pit, while the ascending blue beam gradually shrank and dimmed. At the place where the beam previously rose, a structure resembling a "gateway" abruptly floated at the center of the pit’s bottom.

Blue streams of light surged incessantly within that gateway, waves of pure Magic Power continued to emanate from it. It seemed like a door embedded in the real world, presenting a magnificent side located deep within this planet.

"Archbishop," Lelena walked slowly to the edge of the pit, smiling at the now-stabilized "gateway" at the pit’s bottom, "This is the new entrance to the Network Webway you wanted, please have a look."

"...You used a natural Magic focal point to ’blast’ a door leading to the Deep Blue Webway?" Vines extended from the platform, Balken’s astonished face appearing among the dry, twisted, entangled vines. He stared at that door and suddenly realized, "Wait, opening a door to the Deep Blue Webway was this simple all along?"

"Yes, it’s not difficult for us." Lelena and Fyrna said in unison, casually replying.

Balken’s voice was agitated with anger: "...But you made us spend a whole half-month building the Magic symbol rings and network nodes in this valley, almost exhausting our Magic reserves taken from the Well of Deep Blue!"

"Archbishop, calm down, where’s the judgment you boast about?" Fyrna smiled at the angry face emerging from the vines, "The door we opened here is only a temporary one, intended for Rune Stones placement only. It will close in a few hours — the door in the valley, however, is permanent. It is the foundation of our enterprise, the control center of all nodes. Wouldn’t you say that investing half a month is still quite worthwhile?"

Balken stared intensely at this elf’s face before he spoke in a deep voice, taking a few seconds to find his words: "When you smile like this, I don’t wish to believe even a single word from you."

Lelena laughed: "Don’t be like that, Archbishop, we’ll definitely tell you how to open such temporary doors, as we will still need to open many more cracks later and place more Rune Stones — my sister and I don’t have the energy to personally open every single door."

"Very well, I will seriously verify the ’method’ you provide," Balken said gravely, "And this time I hope you won’t have any more secrets. Now quickly proceed to the next step — since this is a temporary door, we don’t have much time to waste. Place the Rune Stones in it."

"At your command—" Lelena and Fyrna simultaneously bowed slightly, intentionally speaking in an exaggerated tone, before Lelena straightened her posture and looked toward a nearby Treant, "Are there still any active aberrations? Go carry over the Rune Stones, we need to ’unload’."

That Treant shook its canopy, and the twisted face on its trunk showed a trace of annoyance: "All were burned up by you just now!"

"...Ah, that’s truly unfortunate," Fyrna seemed genuinely surprised, shaking her head, "I thought we had ample reserves, just tested those consumables..."

"Go catch a few more; temporary use will suffice," Lelena continued indifferently, "After all, they are no longer the proud citizens of Gondor."