Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1353: Chapter 1352: Out of Contact

Cecil Castle, a series of intelligence reports from the expedition commanders at the frontlines were promptly delivered to Amber and then organized and presented before Gawain.

"...It is now confirmed that the anomalous atmospheric discharge and the large-scale ’auroras’ are occurring irregularly across the entire continent," Amber stood by Gawain’s desk, sunlight casting on her face from the side, her amber eyes displaying an unusual seriousness today. "The distribution is random, as are the times they occur, but all occurred within the past twelve hours. The first to notice the anomalous atmospheric phenomena was the garrison in Ruby City of the tribal country of Augari, and afterward, unusual auroras and discharges were observed over the northern border of the Empire, Sacred Dragon Kingdom, Typhon, Highmountain Kingdom, and even far across the ocean over Talronde..."

Gawain frowned deeply, swiftly skimming through the documents in hand as he asked, "What do the scholars make of this?"

"The Magic Research Institute believes this is a large-scale magic ’resonance’ phenomenon, where a powerful magical power field suddenly entered the atmosphere and interacted intensely with the high-altitude clouds and magnetic fields," Amber recited the experts’ conclusions verbatim, despite barely understanding a few terms herself. "Considering the randomness of the anomalies and the time delays, they believe there is not just a single source of the magic causing the resonance, but rather magic sources distributed in various places that leaked and resonated successively.

"Additionally, taking into account the scale of the anomalies, especially considering even Talronde experienced unusual phenomena, they believe this is definitely a planetary event..."

"...A planetary event, which possibly indicates a planetary-scale magic circuit system behind it," Gawain lifted his gaze, his expression exceptionally grave as he looked at Amber. "It seems the Sentinels can no longer sit still; they are prematurely activating the setups within the Deep Blue Webway, and this could merely be a test—but what happens next is uncertain."

"The North and East Lines are hastening the construction of the ’Barrier Wall,’ and it seems the Aberration Legion has not reacted yet. The Silver and Highmountain Allied Forces on the Southern Front have also steadied their ground near the ruins of the Sacred Stars Temple, and they will activate the first purification device within today," Amber stated swiftly. "As for the West Line, Duke Baldwin has already adjusted the deployment, with reinforcements from the heart of Augari and from the direction of the Dwarf Kingdom being positioned in the scorched earth area, and the main force of the Imperial Expeditionary Army and a part of the Gorgon Fortress have started moving towards the wastelands in advance, which should create enough pressure on the Aberrations of the West Line... Then they’ll also begin the first phase of the Barrier Wall project."

"...Given the current situation, all we can do is race against time; no matter how many conspiracies lie behind the Sentinels, we must secure the frontlines," Gawain said sternly, then continued to ask, "You must pay extra attention to maintaining domestic order and guiding public opinion; with the prolonged war, the pressure of maintaining a wartime system for an extended period could potentially lead to emotional transitions among civilians, even if we’ve sustained normal production and life for the populace, the shadow of war looms heavily over everyone’s heads—this is something you understand better than anyone else."

"Rest assured, I’ve never slacked off in this area," Amber immediately nodded and said. "Besides the conventional propaganda and maintenance of stability, Philem is also preparing to shoot a series of Magic Shadow Dramas themed on defending civilized borders and reclaiming the Gondor wastelands. I have already started following up on this matter, and I believe the effect should be quite good."

"Hmm... I’m aware of this project, it’s quite commendable," Gawain nodded, "It fits well with the series of official propaganda efforts we have been working on since the early stages of the war, moreover..."

He was midway through his sentence when a sudden urgent buzzing sound emitted from the Magic Web Terminal on the desk beside him, interrupting his and Amber’s conversation. The two in the study instinctively exchanged a glance, and then Gawain raised his hand to activate the terminal that was buzzing. With the flickering flow of light over the focusing crystal, Aunt Heidi’s holographic projection vividly appeared before him—her face was unreservedly tense and solemn.

Aunt Heidi was a steady person, although she sometimes engaged in peculiar activities like smudging her eyes, she rarely displayed such an appearance, so Gawain instantly realized a significant event had occurred: "What’s the matter? Why do you have that expression?"

"Ancestor, we’ve lost contact with Byron leading the Imperial Navy," Aunt Heidi spoke rapidly, catching Gawain off guard, "All channel calls are unresponsive!"

"What did you say!?" Gawain’s eyes widened, "Byron’s side lost contact? An entire fleet? All gone?!"

"Yes, the last contact was an hour ago; the Winter sent a message via the reinforced channel, stating they encountered an anomalous storm and communications might be disrupted, following which communications were completely cut off," Aunt Heidi swiftly began reporting the detailed situation she had just grasped. "Their position was in the southwestern coastal waters close to the continent, near the estuary of the Sacred River Oldor, but the tracking from the monitoring devices on the nearby shore indicated the entire fleet was moving away from the coast..."

"Away from the coast?" Gawain’s brow furrowed, "And they encountered a storm in coastal waters... Have you tried setting up an aerial temporary communication network? When was the last eye-witness report from the mainland and where?"

"All communication channels have been tried, including the Imperial Fleet’s West Coast communication chain set up along the coastline, the newly established aerial communication chain, and several Magic Web Communication lines within the Augari Tribal Borders that have just been restored; we can confirm it’s not a problem with the continental communication channels. The last eye-witness report was this morning, when an engineering vessel of the Imperial Navy was performing emergency repairs on an allied communication station on the northern shore of the Ordo Estuary, and after that, no one saw those warships approach the land or enter the Sacred River."

Gawain fell into deep thought, Aunt Heidi couldn’t help but worry: "Ancestor, could it be that Byron’s side..."

"Let’s not be too pessimistic yet; the Winter and its lead fleet are the latest magic warships, equipped with sophisticated armor and shields specifically designed to counter maritime disasters, and with navigational runes provided by the sea demons and the Sons of the Storm, they were shown in previous tests to be quite capable of weathering even the Chaotic Turbulence of the deep seas safely—considering your intelligence, their movement further from the shore in the last communication more resembles a deviation caused by the Chaotic Turbulence..." Gawain pondered as he spoke slowly, "Considering the unique nature of the Chaotic Turbulence, once encountered, regardless of being in nearshore or open sea, it’s hard for even magic warships to stay on course, it’s just that...

He paused, his expression growing more solemn: "It’s just that Byron’s fleet has sea demon and Naga navigators, even if there was a problem with the ship’s navigation equipment, those navigators shouldn’t lose their bearings..."

As he finished speaking, Amber had a pensive look: "Not necessarily, you see, we have a sea demon living here who got lost and ended up on land because she swam the wrong way home..."

"Theoretically, it shouldn’t happen," Gawain said seriously, "I asked Tiel before, and she said she’s the only one in all of Antawen who loses her way like that..."

Then he shook his head, temporarily setting aside the sea caterpillar nagging at his mind, and raised his head to look at Heidi on the communication interface: "Continue to maintain all channel calls to the Imperial Fleet; send messages to the Dwarf Kingdom and Silver Empire to help monitor the situation along the West Coast and nearby sea areas, especially keeping a close watch for any floating objects on the sea. Inform the Dawn of the Mortal World, have Ginna Prince dispatch an aerial reconnaissance team to the West Coast to assist in the search..."

Saying this, he paused, seeming to deliberate over something, ultimately turning to Amber: "Go fetch Tiel—if she’s asleep, drag her over."

"Alright!!" Amber immediately responded, and in the next second, vanished in a puff of black smoke before Gawain, while Aunt Heidi, seen on the communication interface, bowed slightly to Gawain and said steadily, "I’ll go arrange the calls and search now."

"Go ahead." Gawain nodded and waved his hand. After Aunt Heidi’s figure disappeared from the communication interface, he gently exhaled, calming the slight anxiety that inevitably surfaced in his heart. He leaned slightly back against the chair to enter a state of concentration and "ascendance." With the familiar sensation of soul detachment and the feeling of perspective continuously rising, his mind quickly transcended the constraints of his current body and successfully connected to the satellite monitoring system in space within a short time.

The old and blurred satellite view began to zoom in and adjust, and in Gawain’s mind, an aerial view of the Loren Continent gradually emerged from darkness. He focused his "sight" as much as possible within the satellite lens’ limitations, looking towards the Southwest region of the Loren Continent.

The estuary of the Sacred River "Aldo" finally entered his sight, along with a small surrounding sea area. In theory, he should be able to see the fleet, which wasn’t small in scale — and even though this old satellite wasn’t very functional, the ships led by Byron Kirk weren’t small fishing boats. Against the relatively clear ocean background, the Winter and the main battleships it led should be discernable.

Especially since the weather in the continent’s Southwest region was still okay; the storm sweeping across the near-sea area seemed to have ended, providing a fair view from the satellite’s overlooking perspective.

However, Gawain saw nothing — the Imperial fleet that should have been sailing in the Southwest region of the continent, about to enter the Sacred River Aldo, and heading to support the Southern Front Battlefield was missing, with no traces left in the nearby sea area either.

"...Even if they deviated from the course, they couldn’t have vanished in such a short time... They couldn’t have flown that fast," Gawain couldn’t help but mutter in his heart while operating the satellite perspective to search near the sea area, continually switching through various sensing views, until he suddenly sensed a presence approaching in the real world, making him exit from the satellite connection and retrieve the main consciousness back to reality.

Gawain opened his eyes, just in time to see the study room door being pushed open from the outside, and the first sight greeting him was a big snake ball curled up — Tiel was perfectly wrapping herself with her tail, sleeping soundly inside the snake ball, only showing her head and shoulders outside, showing no sign of waking up while being pushed all the way to the door.

After the snake ball stabilized, Amber emerged from behind it, wiping the nonexistent sweat from her forehead, panting while reporting to Gawain, "I’m exhausted... I wanted to drag her over, but she curled into a ball, so I had to push her all the way from the room to here — you figure out how to wake her up, I’m going to rest..."

As soon as the words fell, the half-elf already dashed onto the nearby rest sofa in a puff of black smoke, sprawled there motionlessly, leaving Gawain dumbfounded at the scene, unsure of how to start speaking for a while.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time it happened, and Gawain was seasoned in dealing with it. He quickly reacted, then opened the nearby drawer with a casual hand, retrieving a bottle marked "Poisonous, Dangerous, Do Not Open," and unscrewed the cap before approaching to place the bottle neck under Tiel’s nose, "Wake up, or I’ll pour it down you."

In her sleep, Tiel twitched her nose, and after a brief two-second delay, this sea caterpillar let out an "ah" and woke up startled, with the entire snake ball instantly retracting and bouncing, then she started to untangle herself hurriedly while looking at Gawain with a displeased expression, "Is there anyone like you! Can’t you think of a decent way to wake someone up? Even Egg Lady’s brew can’t be taken out at random — couldn’t you just pour hot water on me?"

"If hot water worked, I wouldn’t have kept a bottle of this stuff in the study," Gawain replied casually while screwing the cap back onto the bottle of brown-black liquid that was starting to emit purple smoke, "I need to talk to your kin."

"Talk to my kin?" Tiel blinked, seeming to have just awakened fully, "Didn’t we try that a lot before? The entire Loren Continent is being shielded by an energy field, and our sea demons’ Spirit Song and racial resonance couldn’t penetrate this barrier. Have you broken the shield?"

"I’m not asking you to contact Antawen; I’m asking you to contact Cassandra — the helmswoman near Byron," Gawain explained, "Try to see if you can sense her location."

"Cassandra? Byron’s fleet?" Tiel paused for a moment and then reacted quickly, "Did something happen? Can’t you contact the fleet?"

"Byron’s fleet has gone missing, communication is disrupted, no trace can be found near the sea, and the last positioning indicated they were moving away from the continent," Gawain didn’t hold back, "Now we can only rely on the racial sensing among you sea demons. Although the connection between Loren and Antawen has been severed, you can sense Cassandra and the others inside the ’interference zone,’ right?"

"Well... alright, I’ll try," Tiel nodded, "As long as they haven’t left the continent too far, I can sense them in the near-sea area and even part of the far-sea area."

After speaking, this sea demon lady closed her eyes—not to nap this time, but to begin humming a tune with a low and soft voice, impossible for humans to comprehend. The pleasant, humanly undefined sounds began to echo in the study room, with a "vibration" that transcends most racial perception spreading from this space, riding invisible ripples into the distance...

When contacting Antawen, Tiel needed to use devices like the Magic Web Hub Tower to amplify her "song," due to the excessively distant mid-distance and needing to cross oceans filled with strong interference. But this time, the target she was contacting wasn’t so distant, so she didn’t rely on extra aids.

Gawain patiently waited until Tiel’s voice gradually entered a frequency entirely inaudible to human ears, until after a while, this sea demon lady slowly opened her eyes.

...To be honest, Gawain kind of suspected this creature had napped again, but he lacked evidence.

"What’s the situation?" As soon as Tiel opened her eyes, Gawain immediately asked.

"...I can’t hear Cassandra’s response," Tiel blinked, with a perplexed expression, "She’s no longer in Loren, not even near the Loren Continent..."