Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

The adjutant did not reply, but simply saluted her again.

"What about 'Legacy of Natya'? How are the preparations for the living dead cast going?"

"A huge fluctuation of magical power has been detected. The cameras of the monitor cluster have also been affected and are unable to obtain more accurate video information in that regard."

"They didn't set up magic formations to bombard the Erumu Wall with us?"

"No. Existing intelligence shows that they have no plans to deploy any positions, and their mage troops seem to be ready to charge. If my judgment is correct, the next one will be their largest-scale attack since the beginning."

"What about the spell waveform? They spent so much time preparing this special scenery. Have you figured out what it is?"

"——It's a nine-ring spell, the gate to another world."

"..."

Unable to help but raise his hand and bite his thumb which was tightly wrapped in a black leather glove, "Opera House" looked like he was in deep thought.

She did not question "why 'Legacy of Natya' could produce the Nine-ring spell" - as an organization claiming to be the "legitimate successor of the Kingdom of Gunasaran", even if they did not have even one legendary wizard, if they could not even produce a Nine-ring scroll that could be used freely, it would be too damaging to their reputation, and even more so to the Kingdom of Marie, which had been hostile to them for so long but had not yet wiped them out, and whose capital was now under siege. Whether it was insider trading or excavating ruins, there were always many ways to get it. Moreover, based on the existing intelligence, it can be inferred that the leader of "Legacy of Natya" might even be a terrifying lich, which was a great undead wizard who had the ability to use the Nine-ring spell.

The purpose of using the Gate to Another World spell is nothing more than teleportation. However, as we all know, although the Gate to Another World spell is not limited to the number of people who can pass through it and has no distance limit, its biggest limitation is that this spell cannot be used to teleport within the current plane - using the Gate to Another World can only allow the user to go to another plane. In today's era, cross-plane travel has become an extremely dangerous thing, and astral projection has also been banned. The ban is so effective that legendary wizards are not allowed to use these spells that can connect to unknown planes or the astral realm.

If you want to use the Gate to another plane to teleport, the method is to choose a plane as a transit station, teleport the people passing through to that plane first, and then use the Gate to another plane to return to the predetermined location of the plane. I am afraid this is also the plan of "Legacy of Natya". Being able to adopt such a strategy actually proves that "Legacy of Natya" has at least one stable plane that can be used as a transit station - more likely a desolate and narrow half plane - and has made plans to permanently scrap it after this battle.

After several minutes of silence, the "Opera House" finally raised its eyes again.

"...You should understand what I want to say next. So, let me listen to your words."

"Yes--"

Upon hearing this, the adjutant of the "Opera House" changed his expression, stood still with a serious face, and bowed to her dean.

"Please give us your absolute instructions, please tell us everything we should do at the beginning, let the war run like a stage, let the war change like a stage, let us have the power to define the value of madness and measure the acting skills of actors - please announce it, blow the horn to start the war."

The "Opera House" began to smile. The corners of her tuxedo, the glittering medals, her eyes, her long hair, her black leather gloves, and her boot-like feet all seemed to have life before this request. She was no longer a machine operating according to a personality program specified in the factory data design, but a real, crazy and brilliant life.

"I, 'Opera', 'Lusa Ephayrete', hereby order—"

She stared at the distant horizon where the pure white walls stood.

"The puppets in the gunner position will stay here, feint, slightly hinder the commandos' pace, and provide us with negligible artillery cover. After that, they will be buried together with our most precious cannons. As for the remaining puppets, let us charge! Forward! Follow 'Legacy of Natya'——"

"—Go and crush that white wall! The white wall that will never fall!"

Chapter 23: The Betrayer's Dinner (Part 5)

"What's the situation at the side gate? ... Don't stop, keep firing at the bottom of the city wall. Don't worry about the cannon. It seems that it can't be directly hit--"

boom------!

With a huge roar, Bernard felt his feet shaking like an earthquake - but it was not the earth, but a pure white, broad and thick gray wall. Even the eclipse could not add color to it, and even the blood moon could not add brilliance to it. The chalk wall was wrapped in layers of ancient magic shields like relics, and now it was shaking violently.

In the corner of Bernard's vision, several soldiers were careless and did not pay attention to the situation under their feet. They fell straight down due to the shaking of the entire Wall of Erumu - the height of Wall of Erumu was nearly a thousand meters. For those soldiers who were not strong, they would undoubtedly die if they fell down without any preparation.

Bernard couldn't control his tone for a moment and shouted to the signalman: "Report! Report the situation quickly!"

"Yes! - The enemy's main gun opened fire again, breaking the magic barrier and directly hitting the Erumu Wall! The twelfth garrison point was completely destroyed and could no longer function. The garrison point is regenerating!... Eleven people have been confirmed dead, and the remaining ninety-seven are missing... The death toll has risen to fifteen!..."

"Let the surrounding garrisons fill the gap immediately! What about the possibility of the enemy shelling the main gate?"

"The report is in. The magic barrier at the main gate cannot be penetrated with the current firepower!"

"Continue to project firepower to the bottom of the city wall, and never let any side gate be breached!"

The main gate would not be within the bombing range of the artillery fire, which made Barnard's frown relax a little. For some reason, "Legacy of Natya" seemed to have entered a state of general attack, with a far greater number of soldiers than before, and even some undead creatures that appeared here for unknown reasons were attacking the side gate. It was unclear why this happened, but we could only infer that they had given up the plan to attack the most heavily defended main gate.

Under the fierce attack, even with the backing of the so-called unbreakable Wall of Erumu, the defense forces were still under rapid pressure. They had to be extremely alert to repel the tide of attacks and prevent them from using heavy siege equipment to destroy the side door. With the battle line extremely compressed, once a gap appeared in the defense line, no matter how big or small, the consequences would be disastrous.

However, starting about an hour ago, an unknown third party began to use heavy artillery to directly bombard the city wall - that is, as mentioned in the previous city defense report, they built artillery positions outside the city at a very fast speed, with the muzzles pointed directly at a certain force in Twick. When the report was sent, Barnard thought that the opponent's position had just been built and could not launch a large-scale artillery attack for the time being. As long as it could be removed in time, there would be no problem. However, the opponent's preparation efficiency far exceeded Barnard's expectations.

Even without the expected magical bombardment from "Legacy of Natya", the cannon could not directly blow open the walls and gates, but the bombardment did cause serious damage and interference to the garrison troops. Although the walls hit by the tungsten bullets immediately began a creepy regeneration process, the speed was faster than the speed of destruction, but the walls and magic barriers could regenerate, but the troops could not. The pressure from "Legacy of Natya" and an unknown third party forced Twick to mobilize most of the remaining troops in the city to the top of the city, leaving only a small part to maintain public security in the city and the defense of the Royal City. For the time being, there was no possibility of the city wall falling. Even so, this heavy pressure still made Barnard feel breathless.

"Hiss - if only Roy were here..."

He was a little annoyed for a moment. It was almost impossible for all the troops heading outside the city to arrive quickly, and he himself did not want the troops outside the city to delay their own mission due to the disadvantages of the city defense, so this matter was just a thought.

"Report - the detectors on the city wall have detected a signal of directional teleportation."

"Teleportation?"

Barnard frowned.

This ancient wall left over from the heyday of Nasarlan not only has the ability to defend against physical attacks, but also, as a magical country, it naturally has a considerable degree of defense against magic - in addition to the magic resistance of the wall itself, without permission, any teleportation spells cannot directly target the inside of the wall to counter possible teleportation beheading tactics. Although there are still many unknown functions of the wall itself, at least this one has been discovered and put into use.

"The signal registered was . . . Her Excellency Miriam von Ivanov."

"Young Master? Why is he back at this time? Where are the troops that went out to fight...are there any other reports?"

"Yes, please wait a moment. The message from the inner court guards is that the inner court defense work has been handed over to Her Excellency Miriam again. In addition, the expeditionary force against the artillery position has been handed over to His Excellency Roy von Ivanov for command."

"What's going on here..." Barnard couldn't help but ponder, "Are you sure it's Miriam von Ivanov herself, not an imposter or something?"

"At least for now—"

boom------!

There was another violent shaking, and the sound of cannons directly covered up the sound of conversation. Pale white fragments rushed into the sky along with fire and smoke, and then dissipated outside the newly generated magic barrier.

"Report the situation!"

“Yes!” The signalman in charge of communicating with the defenders on the city wall took over the order. “The enemy’s main gun opened fire and directly hit Gate No. 5 after penetrating the magic barrier. The gate was not penetrated! The gate is regenerating normally... One person is confirmed dead, and three, no, five people are missing!”

"Keep defending! Is there any risk of Gate No. 5 being breached?"

"——The rebels that surged up were also affected by the artillery fire and have not yet been able to reorganize their offensive. Gate No. 5 has regenerated above the stability line!"

Just as Barnard was busy giving orders, a familiar male voice sounded from behind him: "Sir Barnard, how is the defense of the rest of the city wall?"

Without even turning around, Bernard knew who was asking him the question - not to mention the recognizable voice, the command center for the main gate defense was quite close to the headquarters of the entire Wall of Erumu, both of which were basically on the large platform above the main gate. Therefore, the commanders-in-chief on both sides, Clement and Bernard, often visited each other, exchanged ideas, and studied the current situation. Naturally, there were no major problems at the main gate, so Clement took the time to come over and take care of the situation in other places.

"no problem."

Bernard didn't really want to ask about the main gate. He knew that not long ago, both the unknown third-party enemies and the "Legacy of Natya" rebels had ignored the main gate. Although he understood the idea of ​​avoiding hitting a rock with an egg, this situation was still a bit strange.

"Really? I heard that Lord Miriam has returned to the city. Do you know if this is true?"

"Indeed."

"Didn't you come to the defense line?"

"He went straight to the rear to take charge of the defense team. Maybe he's worried about his family?"

"Hmm..." Clemont thought for a moment, "This may be a bit presumptuous, but my personal opinion is that there is probably nothing to worry about in this regard."

"Then it's none of my business. He's the young master anyway. He can go wherever he wants. I can't control him."

Bernard spread his hands and remained silent.

As an old friend of Roy von Ivanov whom he met in the tavern, Bernard had naturally heard about some of the situations of the Ivanov family. He had to admit that what Clement said was indeed correct: the elderly people of the grandparents' generation were either still in Muirand or in the countryside, not in the city of Twick. Roy's sister, Miriam's sister, and their mother all died quite early. In other words, the direct relatives of the Ivanov family members in this city now were actually only Grand Duke Ivanov, Roy and Miriam.

As for Grand Duke Ivanov himself? There is an unwritten rule in this world that the superior and the strong can be directly equated, except in a few cases. If not, it is difficult to guarantee one's position outside of the law. It was easy to say before, but in such a chaotic, divided and decadent environment today, strength itself has become a symbol of power. Even the head of a security contractor like Barnard is a powerful warrior, let alone Grand Duke Ivanov who is above ten thousand people?

boom----------!!!!!

A buzzing sound far louder than any previous cannon shot shook the entire wall. The strong wind was accompanied by violent shaking, and even Bernard and Clermont could hardly stand firm for a while, not to mention the other soldiers with low combat power. Almost all of them could not help but fall down on the platform. Fortunately, with the experience of the previous times, at least this time Bernard did not see any soldiers falling off the city wall.

In the distance, the ripples caused by the tearing of the sound barrier were gradually dissipating, indicating the direction of the artillery fire and the hazy black shadow standing on the other side of the horizon.

"Report the situation!"

"Yes! The enemy's main gun opened fire, tearing through the magic barrier and hitting directly... hitting the main gate! The damage rate of the main gate is within a safe range, and the main gate has begun to regenerate! Three people have been confirmed dead, and the whereabouts of eleven people are unknown!"

After hearing that the main gate was hit and the damage rate was within an acceptable range, Barnard couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief - if his judgment was correct, this mysterious third party used a heavy electromagnetic cannon called "Jupiter" produced by Steel Leviathan, which can project powerful tungsten bullets through electromagnetic acceleration, and can also launch some warheads with special functions. Although the previous shot was powerful, it did not cause enough damage, and when firing that shot, the opponent had to spend more time to cool down or even replace the barrel, which was equivalent to giving the defenders some breathing time in disguise.

Just as he was about to continue giving orders, the signalman spoke again.

"--Due to the heavy damage, the magic barrier is temporarily slow to repair, and the repair speed is recovering--the repair speed of the main gate itself is not affected! The rebel offensive continues... The rebels are beginning to gather! The rebels are beginning to gather in large numbers, and more troops are appearing from the rear! The rebels are pressing forward!"

"What are they trying to do!" Bernard couldn't help but grit his teeth. "The situation should not have changed. Why did it suddenly start--"

"Magical reaction! A huge amount of magical reaction! The energy level exceeds the highest record since the war began—"

The signalman's voice began to tremble, and then he barely controlled himself and uttered the following words.

"The waveform is confirmed! It's... it's the Nine-Ring Spell, the Gate to Another World! The Gate to Another World has opened in front of the main gate!"

"You mean the Nine Rings spell?!"

Before he finished speaking, a dazzling purple light exploded in his sight, and smoke that was as solid as substance seeped out and diffused from cracks that were invisible to the naked eye. The miasma that filled the planes was inevitably overflowing, intending to fill the worlds that they had not contaminated.

Gala——Gala——

The harsh sound seemed to come from far away, yet seemed to be right next to my ears. It was the sound of glass breaking and rubbing against each other. The sky shattered and fell like a mirror, revealing a distant red shore behind it. It seemed that countless figures could be seen through the cracks, although no one could confirm what they were.

"Notify the entire army, immediately——"

He should give the order. At this point in time, he must immediately fulfill his responsibility as a commander and aim the guns there to give a head-on blow to the enemy troops that suddenly appeared.

Before the words came out of his mouth——

His sense of touch was first filled with intense pain.

Blood flowed out of his mouth, and he couldn't help but look towards the place where the severe pain came from - the pitch-black rapier was piercing through his chest. Even though it directly pierced his heart, there was not even a drop of blood on the blade. The bright red and vital liquid was all absorbed by the non-reflective metal. It was more like a greedy black hole than a sword.

After vomiting blood, before Bernard could turn around to look, he felt his body being pushed forward and something being taken from his waist. He had no time to think about what it was.

With the rapier stabbed deep in the back, Bernard watched the edge of the platform approaching his sight step by step, as if to allow him to see clearly what was below the platform before all the blood flowed out - countless living people, countless dead people, lives and ghosts formed a terrifying black tide, pouring out from the mirror-like broken space. The door to the other world had been completely opened, and behind the door, a terrifying, suffocating, and irresistible breath was spreading.

When he reached the edge of the platform, the dark and dull sword was pulled out from his heart. The man kicked him hard from behind, and Bernard fell from the platform - spurting blood as he approached the march of the dead.

Before he fell to the ground, he had already met his death. His soul left his body and became a wisp of dark smoke-like resentful spirit, rushing towards the army that rushed out of the gate to another world, rushing towards something in that army. His body was broken into pieces, blood splattered all over the ground, but he was supported again by the invisible pull, aimlessly joining the army of rotten flesh.

The last image in his vision was Clement's smile.

"I'm so sorry. As a pastor, I will pray for you from the bottom of my heart and hope that you will have good luck in the afterlife."

Seeing that the situation was not right, the surrounding signalmen drew their weapons from their waists and wanted to surround and kill this obvious traitor.

However, before they stood up, they were surprised to find that their headless torsos were reflected in their field of vision.

The only thing that remained unchanged was Clement, whose smile never changed.

He pretended that nothing had happened, and transformed the rapier into a scepter again. Then, leaning on it, he walked steadily into his camp - no sound was heard, as if everything was normal. Only the headless corpses lying everywhere and the spilled blood could prove what had happened here. Clement, as if he had seen nothing, combined the half token he picked up from Bernard with the half token he kept here.

click -

Click————

Click, click, click, click————————————

The sound of the mechanism was not pleasant; it was a sound that had come from a long time and seemed to have been completely rusted.

The Cretaceous Gate, which was said to never fall, is now slowly opening.

Chapter 24: Chaos and Killing Ground

The Cretaceous Gate, which was said to never fall, slowly opened in front of the astonished eyes of every defender.

The first door rose slowly and steadily, just like the embodiment of the character of the distant past - the glory of magic, the floating city, the fortress in the sky, the world of knowledge, the scholars and servants all regarded themselves as the true masters of the world, and this land was just something they would eventually fully analyze, so they could be so gentle and so slow, because they thought they had endless time. Countless tiny lines flashed by, and the despairing white wall just rose up plainly, revealing the second layer of the mechanism behind it.

The chains were pulled and rustled; the gears meshed with each other and rotated at different speeds. The runes engraved on the teeth flashed in sequence according to the preset order; chains, hydraulic rods, levers and pulleys, those gray-white substances forged from a mysterious material that was not metal but was far stronger than metal, were now demonstrating the ancient kingdom's most advanced mechanisms and magical attainments. Hundreds of millions of parts were like well-trained armies. Even after countless long years, they still had no mistakes. This was their glory.

The second door rose like crazy, to the left, down, up, right, forward, and backward. Countless doors intertwined to form a structure called the second door. No one could grasp the rules, and no one could analyze in which direction the next door would retreat. That was the final conclusion reached by ancient scholars after exhausting all their knowledge.

—That is, madness.

Even if the first layer of the door is broken, the buffer network of the mechanism structure and the endless second door will eventually defeat the enemy's will, and they will only realize that everything is in vain.

But there is no need for pain, no need for confusion, no need for loss and despair - lift your head, look there, and see! Look at the chalky door, it is rising - it is opening!

"Report the situation! Where is the command center? Hasn't the command from the command center come down yet?"

A commander from a security contractor could not help but yell, commanding his soldiers to fight back against the tide of skeletons and zombies, while doing the same thing as countless other places on the battlefield: confirming the orders of their superiors. The officers from Marie trusted their high priest Clermont, while the mercenaries and security contractors entrusted their lives to the veteran commander Barnard. They were all sure of one thing: even if these two experienced commanders could not help them win, they could still guarantee the safety of some of them.

However, the answers given to them, responding to the answers they hoped for, were all very similar.

"No! Can't contact headquarters!"

"Barnard's personal communicator! Try calling him directly!"

"——No response! No response from anywhere!"

"Send the order to retreat in an orderly manner. We can't rely on the command center anymore! Have everyone prepare to retreat! Where is the rearguard squadron? It's time for them to take action!"

"I'm hearing from other positions right now - Gate No. 5... Gate No. 5 has suddenly opened! The troops stationed at Gate No. 5 were attacked and have been defeated!"