Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 276 - 275: After the Battle

Although the final development was somewhat beyond Gawain’s expectations, the outcome of the entire battle was still largely within his anticipation—the mere two or three thousand aberrations can no longer threaten the Cecil Clan, which has established complete defenses. Even if unprecedented mutated individuals appeared among the aberrations, this conclusion remained unchanged.

But even though the enemy’s offensive was successfully defended, one cannot just easily relax their guard.

The appearance of previously unseen mutated individuals among the aberrations is itself a rather bad signal—especially the intelligence tendencies of these mutants, which are particularly unsettling. What caused their mutation? Is this mutation widespread? Will it continue to evolve? This time, the monsters had limited intelligence and not many in number, but what about next time? And the time after that?

The soldiers began cleaning the walls. Since the enemy did not attack the top of the walls, there were no casualties in this battle, but there were still some soldiers who were hit by the corrosive energy arrows of the enemy and injured—armor enchanted or with magical effects like Wind Shield can effectively resist the corrosive energy of the aberrations, but this resistance is also limited, and wounds inflicted by Corrupted Magical Energy must be treated in time, otherwise even minor injuries can prove to be deadly.

Gawain stood at the edge of the wall, overlooking the battlefield below that was still covered in flames and Corrosive Energy.

Thousands of aberrations lay dead on this small plain that was plowed by a thunderous explosion, their filthy desecrated flesh rapidly weathering and dispersing into the most primal magical energy of nature. Meanwhile, their remaining massive bloody skeletons emitted thick smoke from within craters, and the Corrupted Magical Energy brought by the aberrations stained the soil with a layer of ominous dark brown, which hadn’t faded even after the battle ended.

This is merely a short-term contamination; the corrupting power will not remain in the land for long, but dissipating it will still take time. Based on the previous monster siege experience (and from the memory of Gawain Cecil), it takes several days for the residual Corrupted Magical Energy in the land to reduce to a level harmless to humans. Before this happens, the small plain outside the southern wall is clearly unsuitable for personnel activity—some projects will inevitably be affected.

While Gawain pondered the next steps in recovering and adjusting production plans for the territory, a slightly cool but not piercingly cold, slightly moist sensation suddenly appeared, and soon after, a bit of rainwater fell onto his hair.

Rain? The rain of Fog Month?

Startled, Gawain looked up, extending his palm, and indeed saw strands of rain falling from the sky, seemingly filled with a shimmering blue glow. These "raindrops" falling on the body not only lacked the freezing discomfort, but instead quickly restored everyone’s strength on the walls, purifying the residual corrupt magic in the air, even the ground outside the walls, which had been tainted by the chaotic wave, visibly recovering as the rain fell!

This rain falling in winter can’t possibly be of natural origin, and Gawain quickly turned his head with a feeling, spotting a graceful figure climbing up the walls from there—Tiel, like a fairy in the water, enveloped in a misty haze. She opened her arms, and powerful elemental water energy formed long, barely-visible threads that directly connected to the sky behind her. This scene was like plucking the strings of the heavens and earth or a pair of breathtaking wings unfolding behind her. Behind this sea demon, there was also a tail arching gracefully...

Gawain tried hard to avert his gaze from Tiel’s tail but found himself unable to associate it with anything related to "water fairy" or "wings"—even adding twenty-plus layers of filters in his mind, the fairy still gracefully arched its way over...

Then Tiel arched in front of Gawain, elegantly placing her hands down and stretching lazily about four or five meters: "Ah—was I late?"

"Did you summon the rain?" Gawain asked out of curiosity, then felt a bit awkward, "Uh... I didn’t expect you to come and help."

Quite a few soldiers on the wall stopped, looking at Tiel with awe, having already felt the healing and purifying power contained in this unusual rain, offering their respects, while Tiel nonchalantly waved at the human soldiers and glanced at Gawain: "Rebecca asked me to come—actually I preferred to sleep indoors, but as this place is my current residence, I came by to check the situation."

"Rebecca, huh..." Gawain couldn’t help but glance at the resting area behind the wall, where the girl had been taken to rest by Amber—although she had only thrown one fireball during the entire battle, that earth-shattering fireball not only wiped out nearly all remaining enemies but also drained her own mental strength thoroughly. According to Aunt Heidi, she probably won’t wake up till the evening.

Better let her sleep more since she might get scolded once she wakes.

Tiel slowly moved beside Gawain, leaning out to look at the still-smoking battlefield below. The flames on the battlefield had been extinguished by the purifying rain, but the black-red smoke rising from those blood-colored bones was still emanating steadily. The sea demon slightly furrowed her brow upon seeing this: "Is this the ’chaotic wave’ you experienced back in the day?"

"No, these are just monsters that appeared within the chaotic wave—they carry the power of the chaotic wave," Gawain explained, "These monsters likely wandered out from the Gondor wasteland."

"Hmm... interesting..."

"What’s interesting?" Gawain asked with curiosity, then quickly followed up, "By the way, you’ve experienced a real chaotic wave. From your perspective, is there a big difference between the real chaotic wave and the atmosphere here?"

"Atmosphere? It’s irrelevant whether the atmosphere is the same or different. The chaotic wave itself is a process of magic reshaping all things. This chaotic and disordered magical energy is the same whether in the Great Magic Tide or a small one. What I find interesting... are these supposedly born creatures within the chaotic wave."

"These monsters?" Gawain’s expression immediately became serious, "Did you notice anything about them?"

"Did you see how they decomposed?" Tiel curled up her tail, pointing with the tip at the corpses decomposing at the foot of the city wall, "Doesn’t the decomposition of flesh look a lot like the phenomenon of ordinary materials like rocks and soil being decomposed by chaotic magical energy? Just faster and more thoroughly."

"It is indeed so..."

"Their existence is very unstable, and once they die, their remains quickly disintegrate, which is a sign of being in an ’intermediate state,’" Tiel said unhurriedly. "I don’t know where these things came from, but the characteristics they display resemble a kind of ’failed product’ undergoing transformation under the influence of a chaotic wave, but unable to complete the transformation completely. I can sense the energy released when they disintegrate, which is very close to chaotic magical energy, but there’s a little bit of difference..."

A slight crackling of Arcane Sparks interrupted the conversation between Gawain and Tiel; Gawain turned his head at the sound and saw Kamel floating over from not far away. The arcane energy on this ancient Master Mage seemed somewhat unstable, causing his entire figure to flicker as though there was a poor connection.

"Kamel, are you alright?" Gawain was a bit surprised, "You’re flickering."

"Don’t worry, Miss Rebecca’s magic surprised me a bit earlier," Kamel’s arcane energy slowly stabilized. "Lady Heidi is looking for you."

"I know, it’s the post-war meeting," Gawain nodded and glanced at the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield. "Leave this to them, let’s head to the Administrative Office. Tiel, are you coming?"

"Can I sleep during the meeting?"

"...Suit yourself, just don’t coil your tail around anyone."

"Then I’ll go."

Soon after, the main administrators of the Cecil territory gathered in the Administrative Office located at the center of the territory. Gawain sat at the head of the round table, and besides Heidi, who managed internal affairs, and Byron and Philip, who managed military affairs, the heads of various departments were also assembled.

The first matter Gawain addressed was to confirm with Agricultural Manager Norris the situation of several farms in the southern part of the territory—a batch of lands had been cultivated before winter to the south of the city, fairly close to the Dark Mountain Range. Even though there were sentinel towers guarding it and it was relatively far from the several passes of the Dark Mountain Range, Gawain was still worried whether those lands had been polluted by the chaotic magical energy spreading out.

After confirming that the few farms outside the city were safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief and then proceeded to understand the operations of the various departments within the city.

This was the first time the Administrative Office of the Cecil and its associated administrative systems faced warfare—although it was just a monster siege incident, it was undoubtedly a test, and Gawain was not disappointed by the results of this test.

All departments within the city continued to operate normally both before and after the battle, under the supervision of various levels of management. The entire territory did not encounter any disorder, and once everything settled, the commands to lift the alerts and resume normal production and life were quickly conveyed to every factory, school, and residential district. Although there were some minor issues due to lack of experience, overall nothing deviated from the purposes Gawain had set forth for this administrative system.

After confirming that everything within the territory was well, Byron stood up and began reporting on the battle results and various losses during the battle.

Gawain was already roughly aware of these aspects—after all, he personally stood on the city wall at the time, but the process of reporting was still necessary because it was a victory and the first victory since the establishment of the Administrative Office. This victory must carry a positive symbolic significance—the first step being Sir Byron’s report.

The real "post-war meeting" began after the departure of the heads of various civil departments, leaving only Gawain, Heidi, Byron, Philip, Amber, and others at the scene.

"Everyone, the battle is over," Gawain stood and surveyed the people present—Kamel, floating by the round table, and Tiel, coiled underneath, were new faces at the meeting, but he felt it was necessary for them to be present at this moment. "But our work has just begun. In this battle, we encountered an unprecedented aberration on the battlefield. I must say—even seven hundred years ago, I had never seen similar monsters.

"These monsters are new—proven by the fact that the Gondor wasteland is not static; it has undergone changes, and our enemies are also changing."