Defied Fortress, Southern Region.
The Magic crystal lamp previously set at the end of the corridor was still functioning well, its constant bright glow dispelling the darkness in the corridor, allowing Soldrin to slightly relax.
The Magic crystal lamp set in front of the Shadow Testing Grounds was not just for illumination but also served as a "detection device" — this Magic crystal lamp relied on a special set of Magic Web Units for power, with magic symbols to detect unusual surges in Magic Power. If the concentration of magic in the surrounding area changed suddenly, the Magic Web Units would imdiately burn out, and the lamp would go out as a result. The subsequent exploration team would thus receive a pre-warning, and since the lamp was still brightly lit, it at least indicated that no unusual surges in magic had occurred in this area since Soldrin and the others left two days ago.
While exploring ancient mysterious ruins, the greatest fear is encountering ancient magical chanisms that are still operational or mana creatures wandering among the ruins. Soldrin’s caution and care were lessons learned from the nurous adventurers who summarized them with their lives.
"Everything is normal, no unusual magic," a Steel Dragoon Warrior confird the safety of the area beyond the lamp using detection goggles, reporting back to Soldrin.
Soldrin nodded: "Set up an ergency defense point, prepare to open the gate."
So warriors imdiately pushed a few large boxes they carried along to the vicinity of the separation gate — these large boxes were inscribed with Weight-Reduction Runes and contained Magic Capacitors designed to power the runes, serving as special "transfer boxes" used by the Cecil chanical Manufacturing Facility for transporting heavy materials — upon opening the boxes, assemblable components and so peculiar equipnt were revealed to everyone.
Soldrin bent down before the box, gently brushing his fingers over one of the large pieces of equipnt.
It was a strange device with handles; its main body consisted of two opposing "U"-shaped tal tracks. The rear of the tal track was a sealed steel "box," where the tal track and "box" connected, one could see slightly glowing magic symbols, while the handle of the device was located mid-track, with auxiliary grips and shoulder rests at the front and rear.
Soldrin knew that, unlike the current standard equipnt of the Cecil Clan, which followed a "mass production, low cost, and simplicity" route, what lay before him was a weapon manufactured nearly without concern for cost. Crafted by the finest craftsman masters and ancient Mage of the territory, it utilized the highest quality substrates available from the Rune Forge Factory. The "energy box" at the back of the tracks even used the second-generation Magic Capacitors, still in the testing phase and produced in limited quantities. Even the acceleration array on the tracks was a specially designed product, all to et a single requirent: creating a railgun capable of being carried by a single person.
Yet Soldrin also knew another thing — every piece of cheap, mass-produced standard equipnt began as these expensive prototype models.
During usage, the more data collected by the Steel Dragoon, and the more precise and effective the improvent proposals, the sooner this expensive weapon could be transford into an affordable industrial product.
Under normal circumstances, even with a mature concept, it would take a long ti for a product to turn from a blueprint into a physical item, but thanks to Mr. Nicholas Egg’s tireless efforts, Soldrin was able to secure a few samples for the second expedition.
"Groups of three, one per group," Soldrin began distributing equipnt to the soldiers, "According to the previous plan, one shooter is equipped with two guards: shield bearers are responsible for raising barriers, shooters provide light weapon cover. No matter what situation you encounter inside, stay calm—don’t forget, you are the most elite ’Steel Dragoon’ on this land and soon in this world!"
"Yes!"
The soldiers took out the equipnt piece by piece from the weapon boxes. In addition to the four individual launchers, there were ergency barriers supported by large Magic Capacitors and heat-ray guns with better continuous firing performance available for their use. These "special ops gear," modified based on existing technology, were ordered by Soldrin over ten days ago, and today was the ti to validate them—if a battle indeed broke out.
Ms. Tiel, who temporarily joined in to find cookies, looked a bit dumbfounded at the fully ard Steel Dragoon. Although she seldom ventured out, she was aware of the style of things invented by Gawain Cecil’s military experts. Unable to hold back for a long ti, she finally spoke: "Are you sure you want to pave the way through an ancient ruin with these things? Is this how reckless your elf race usually is?"
"This ancient ruin is a creation of the Gondor Empire; although ancient, it’s incredibly sturdy. Besides, we’re not using these for road work, just to be prepared for ergencies," Soldrin smiled slightly, then showed a proud look, "As for combat style—I believe I am the first awakened among the elves, having found a more effective solution than bows and arcane while my fellow kinsn are still fixated on them."
While speaking, this High-Ranked Ranger couldn’t help but recall that earth-shattering battle with the evil cult follower woman last winter...
The feeling of throwing seven or eight grenades on the enemy’s head was truly satisfying... At that ti, If he had brought a few more, he might have won the battle.
"You land-dwelling folks all have weird minds," Tiel felt so communication issues with Soldrin, so she shook her head helplessly and wobbled away, "No wonder my sisters in the clan say staying away from water for too long will break your brain..."
Amber, however, did not pay attention to the conversation between Soldrin and Tiel. She was just quite curious as she ca to the closed gate, looking up at the patterns on the gate — she didn’t understand the flashy letters of the ancient Gondor Empire but was only searching for the breath of shadow magic among the magic symbols in other areas of the door.
"Is this the so-called Shadow Testing Grounds behind here..." the half-elf murmured, "I can’t sense a bit of shadow magic..."
"Perhaps it is all blocked by the door, the interference of purple steel on magic is very strong," Soldrin said as he took out a silver disc engraved with complex magic symbols from his bosom, "Step back a bit; I’m going to try unlocking it."
He injected a trace of magic into the silver disc and then attempted to unlock the ancient door as Kal had instructed.
——Although Kal did not know this area, nor the passwords for each section of the defied Fortress, he knew the universal unlocking thod. Now, a millennium had passed, and the power sources of all the fortress’s doors had been reset. The original passwords were surely invalid, so theoretically, with the universal unlocking device, any door in the fortress could be opened.
As the silver disc emitted a faint glow, a series of chanical creaking sounds suddenly ca from inside the heavy, ancient purple steel door.
Upon hearing this sound, Amber knew that Soldrin had succeeded: She had heard the sa noise when Gawain opened the northern door of the mountain relics.
Everyone stood on high alert, and under the gaze of a dozen pairs of eyes, the ancient door finally glimred with magical light and slowly opened to both sides under the influence of the repulsion chanisms——
The alarm systems and defense equipnt from a thousand years ago had all fallen silent, the fortress guardians had long perished, and the arrival of uninvited guests triggered no resistance, save for the dust rising as the door opened and a stench of decay that wafted forth.
Imdiately, a nearly transparent shimring barrier appeared beside each Steel Dragoon Warrior, and the Wind Shield isolated any potentially harmful vapors. anwhile, Amber smirked, her figure gradually fading into the air, disappearing, and transforming into a twisted shadow that "slipped" inside the door.
Monts later, the half-elf lady erged: "Co in, it’s safe inside—and it’s mostly been flooded, likely due to landslides or geological shifts."
Behind the heavy isolation gate lay a vast hall enshrouded in darkness... No, to Soldrin, calling it a hall didn’t seem fitting; it was more like a primitive cave, with only sparse traces of human construction within.
The space behind the door was vast, appearing at least as large as two dock squares. In this expansive area, only a few places showed signs of human-made stone slabs, columns, and platforms where equipnt might have been installed. Apart from these, there were only a few collapsed huts scattered among the man-made structures, which seed to serve as resting or working quarters for researchers. Beyond these, the space was exposed rock, on whose high dark ceiling stalactites dangled, water occasionally dripping down from above. In the lower half of the cave, it appeared that underground water of unknown origin had seeped in, forming puddles and streams that soaked the ancient constructs in water.
A type of luminescent moss grew between the wet rock walls and stalactites, so the cave was dim but not entirely unseeable. However, this gloomy illumination only added to the oppressive atmosphere of the cave, making those within even more uneasy.
Except for one person.
Amber turned into a shadow, agilely leaping among several large boulders in the cave. The dim, gloomy environnt suited her well. After skillfully using shadow jumps to check nearby footholds and platforms, she returned to Soldrin: "Everything’s been cleared out, but it’s strange... This place looks unfinished. The cave ceiling isn’t even sealed... Or maybe the builders of the defied Fortress intentionally left it like this back then?"
"It’s not impossible," Soldrin analyzed. "Perhaps they used the cave’s natural magic-pervasive environnt for research, which ant they couldn’t easily alter the cave’s structure or add too many artificial constructs here..."
Tiel listened to their analysis with growing boredom—she had little interest in shadow research conducted a thousand years ago, as it wasn’t sothing sea demons excelled at. But she was quite interested in the seepage here, as this water-rich place seed perfect for sleeping...
At Longwind Fortress, when the unfamiliar servant uttered the words "Oblivion," Francis II imdiately reacted and swiftly raised his left hand. A sturdy magic shield almost instantly ford, keeping the grotesque, mutated creature with its exploding head and twisted flesh at bay.
Seeing the grotesque appearance of the flesh monster, Francis II’s expression changed slightly. However, his spellcasting movents didn’t cease; with his free right hand, he rapidly sketched a series of magical symbols. The complex and profound incantation was compressed into a few simple syllables, accompanied by a piercing explosive sound, as an intense burst of arcane energy erupted between the magic shield and the monster. The powerful explosion launched the creature away with force!
After the monster was flung away, Francis II’s expression changed abruptly—he hadn’t called for the guards.
The assassin had entered just seconds after Master Duke had gone out, and the fight just now had been loud enough that even if he hadn’t called for help, the guards or Master Duke should have rushed in imdiately.
Yet no one ca.
Soone here wanted the King dead.
The creature, recently blown away, writhed frantically on the ground, healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and crawled back up. The nearly point-blank arcane explosion had caused it no mortal injuries. Witnessing this, Francis II made the wisest decision of the mont—
He raised his hand and fired an interference fireball at the creature, then imdiately dashed toward the nearest window, leaping out!
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