High Above

   Chapter 694 The end of the old era... (5800)

White lightning fell from the top of the holy mountain, shattering the shields of the constructed knights. This incredible energy instantly evaporated the outer armor of these constructed colossi, turning them into a mass of golden-red metal gas that exploded outward. , and the internal metal pipes and various mechanical structures were exposed, and were quickly swept by the magnetic storm and became scorched black.

But the Constructed Knights are really too strong. The three red crystal **** exposed by them are connected in series, bursting out incredible spiritual energy. The powerful spiritual energy shield abruptly blocked the shattering lightning of the super giant magnetic storm coil , protecting all their major structures.

  But the bases they use for action are not so strong—the earth is melting and evaporating under the force of the magnetic storm, and the same is true for those mechanical feet. The legs of the three constructed knights are melting into the lava of the earth, making it difficult to move.

  【Ambush】

  The Construct Knight headed by said calmly. In fact, even if they want to be stupid, it is very difficult for them. Although the mechanized mind will obliterate emotions, it will also make people think in the most rational way, and will not be troubled by the problems that plague machines: [This is the end, only self-explosion up]

【agreed, agreed】

  The other two Constructed Knights did not hesitate. The Constructed Knight itself is not an absolutely secret technology. Both the Empire and Ganterigum have the ability to build such a giant combat unit.

But the "spiritual weapon" that can carry the soul for a long time, that is, the "red crystal" that is the core of the constructed knight is the unique technology of Feiyandi, and it is also the main reason why Feiyandi can maintain a large army of constructed knights for a long time The reason is that even if they die in battle, they must not leak this technology.

   Without any hesitation, when the three constructed knights agreed to self-destruct, their bodies immediately began to experience energy instability, and the crystals shone bright red.

   They want to annihilate themselves directly.

   But, at this moment.

  An ice-blue trajectory suddenly lit up from the top of the holy mountain, and then dragged a glowing trajectory in the night sky, heading towards the self-destructing construction knights at an extremely fast speed.

what is that?

   Even on the eve of death, the Construct Knights couldn't help but think that this is not a negative emotion, but a simple puzzlement.

   And Ian retracted the ice-cast fairy wings behind him, allowing his body to accelerate further—and the silver light was shining in his eyes.

He has already seen the golden-red light constantly flowing and overflowing from the Constructed Knight. On one side of the chip, a 12-second countdown is constantly rolling. Tried to catch Ian, but he was unsuccessful.

   It's not that the third energy level cannot respond, but that Ian's actions are too unbelievable.

  Why did he rush over when the enemy was clearly about to explode?

   The answer is so simple.

   "Are you going to blow yourself up? Wait! Let me die with technology for nothing!"

  Ian is not nervous, everything is under control, and everything is within the plan.

  The countdown in the horizon counted down slowly, and in an instant, he swept across the sky, breaking through the distance between mountains at supersonic speed.

  The lightning storm that fell across the sky was the background board when he was flying, and the two entangled spirals of cold air appeared in the dark with shiny spots, bringing a piece of drifting frost.

  At this moment, even the Constructed Knight, who was already doomed to die, stepped forward subconsciously. He stretched out his arm, trying to catch this shining meteor.

  But the meteor didn't slow down at all. He even accelerated, heading straight for the palm of the construction colossus, and then turned suddenly the moment Kankan touched the palm armor.

  The Frost Fairy drew a graceful and light arc, and passed through the gap between the fingers of the colossus.

  Like a butterfly flying through a child's fingertips.

  Boom, the construct's palms closed together, making a loud bang, and Ian had already turned and flew away.

  The countdown entered the last three seconds, and the constructed knight behind him entered the final stage of heart contraction.

  The arm that wanted to catch the butterfly paused for a while, and then melted into molten iron in the high heat radiation rising from behind.

  咔嚓—The sound was crisp and clear, and the three crystals of spiritual equipment shattered at the same time, like three small suns erupting.

  In the valley in front of the incomparably pitch-black Sacred Steel Mountain, three extremely bright dots directly illuminated all surrounding areas.

The extreme light and heat burst, and even the mushroom cloud formed by the giant magnetic storm coil attack was blown away, the huge mountain rocks rolled outward like windweeds, and countless forests rose from the ground, swept up by the airflow At high altitude, it was ignited by the high-heat air in mid-air, and became torches burning blazingly in mid-air.

If Elder Manya hadn't arranged everyone into the mountain refuge, Avod's department might have been expelled directly—but even so, the area where Avod's department was originally located was almost completely destroyed. The buildings were blown away by violent shocks and shock waves like fragile biscuits.

   While Ian turned his back on all this, his trajectory drew an S-shaped arc in this extremely gorgeous and spectacular explosion, and then returned to the top of the Sacred Steel Mountain.

Boom—the holy mountain is also shaking. The furnace core in the knight's body is obviously the ether core of the same level as the ether weapon. It is no wonder that there is such a power comparable to nuclear weapons... In fact, except for the lack of radiation and instant kill , the destructive power that any constructed knight can cause is greater than that of a tactical nuclear weapon.

   "They're really fast."

  Back to the top of the holy mountain unscathed, Ian looked at the explosion site in the distance under the speechless gaze of Elder Manya, and said with emotion: "I was almost caught in it."

  —Now that you know it, why are you going there? scare me!

  Elder Manya originally wanted to reprimand like this, but the high-heat hurricane formed by the self-destruct of the Constructed Knight hit the Sacred Steel Mountain.

   There is nothing wrong with the Holy Mountain itself. The Dragon Blessing Mystery left by the Iron Dragon has a pretty good defense. Even if the Construct Knight wants to destroy it, he must at least use the main weapon.

  But the ultra-giant magnetic storm coil... It was originally a temporary semi-finished product, and there were no protective measures except the main body.

   Coupled with two consecutive full-force urges, its structure was already precarious, and when it was hit by the shock wave, it immediately collapsed in a wobble.

  嘎—吱—

   There was an ear-piercing scratching sound, and Ian and Elder Man Ya raised their heads and looked at the black metal tower that was slowly toppled and kept falling.

   Bang. It collapsed, and the remains of the tower slapped against the side of the holy mountain, shattered into countless metal fragments, and were blown up in the strong wind, turning into a metal rain that reflected the flash of the distant explosion.

  The young man stretched out his hand from the air, and a silver light arced across the air, falling into his hand from the wreckage of the tower.

"Sure enough." Ian shook his head slightly while holding the shimmering, tempered Chest Shell of the Jingchen Dragon in his hand: "This kind of temporary thing can be used once—but the design experience of this time can be fully utilized. for next time."

   "If I had known it earlier, I would have added a sentence in the prophecy that 'the tower will eventually collapse'...but it is not a big problem."

  He wasn't sad at all, it might be better to say that Ian was so happy right now.

Feiyan's complete set of materials for constructing the knight was copied into the silver chip by him in the brief to only a moment of contact just now. Although the skill of pretending to be a knight is high-end, it is completely something he can try to copy!

   It’s not that he’s going to build a costume knight too… just the spiritual crystal is what Ian urgently needs, and it can carry the soul material carrier for a long time!

   Moreover, although the constructed knight blew himself up, the precious sublimated metals that made up the constructed body did not completely erupt and disperse, and most of them melted into the lava together with the wreckage...

   When the time comes to dig out and process, the stock may not be inferior to a super-high-quality sublimated metal vein.

   "It's hard to imagine...we actually repelled the Construct Knight in this way."

Elder Manya was still dreaming at the moment, he stroked his beard, stared at the exploding lava pit that was still burning in the distance: "That's a Constructed Knight, one can make our entire mountain people fall into a bitter battle, Three constructed knights who can even conquer a country..."

   "Who told them to face the holy mountain energy system left by the fifth energy level Qiangganglong, and the super giant magnetic storm coil I assembled?"

Ian feels that Elder Manya is a bit sentimental, and that the Constructed Knight is strong, but the real strength lies in the frontal battlefield, which is an overwhelming threat to ordinary troops. Simply put, the Constructed Knight is designed for siege and unity Facing a large number of conventional troops, these giant constructs are essentially no different from the sublimators of the third energy level when they face a powerful third energy level monster one-on-one.

And the magnetic storm coil on the holy mountain is essentially a sublimator who can't move, but can continuously stimulate the left and right destructive thunder of the third energy level. Because it has the energy system of the holy mountain, its offensive is endless, so it can naturally Overrun the Construct Knights and hit them hard.

  The most important thing is that this group of knights never thought that Ian would hide such a hole card—if they had known in advance that the holy mountain had such a level of fortification, they would never have come here!

   "In short, we won."

Ian concluded in this way, he showed a relaxed smile from the heart, the young man let out a long breath, and said with emotion: "Now, we have wiped out the last threatening force in the hands of the special forces of Feiyandi, and the Rebellion Mountain Min has also been defeated... Elder Man Ya, we have won a complete victory!"

   "Yeah, yeah. We won big."

  The old man shook his head. He broke away from the disbelief, and then turned his head to give Ian a deep look.

  Then, the old man bowed his head to Ian. He knelt down on one knee, put his hand on his heart, and saluted the young man in front of him: "Everything depends on the miracle you brought, Messenger of the Dragon God."

  Ian did not avoid the old man's salute, he stood where he was and accepted the salute.

   This is what he deserves and what he needs.

  Because he is indeed the messenger of the Dragon God, the co-owner of the mountain people, the one who leads the people of the Dragon God to a better future.

   Needless to say.

   A few seconds later, the boy leaned down and helped Elder Man Ya up.

   "Get up." Ian said softly, "We still have a lot to do."

   Saying so, he turned his head and looked around the messy holy mountain. Ian smiled instead: "Clean up this mess—that's what we're going to do now."

   "Contact Nauman City, they will definitely be pleasantly surprised."

  …

  Terra On December 25, 773, the battle named "Steel Mountain Blocking Battle" came to an end.

  The Governor's Office of Nanling Province characterized it as a major treasonous incident of "a small group of bad elements from the mountains colluded with Feiyandi and transported Constructed Knights into the territory".

  Most of the mountain people are knowledgeable and pro-imperial, and it is these mountain people who provide clues and provide the leaders of the mountain people headed by Ian and Man Ya with the necessary information and time to stop them.

  Mountain rebellion as if it never existed... No, the mountain people never rebelled.

According to the official records, it was just a "local incident" in which a group of mountain tribes with independent tendencies ventured to collude with Feiyandi, intending to use the power of the Constructed Knights to steal the power of the mountain people's holy land—and because of this incident, the loyal Nanling The poor and poor situation of the mountain people has attracted the attention of the imperial capital officials.

Under the initiative of the Marquis of Barton, in order to ensure the stability of the Southwest Theater and to ensure that the western provinces have other supply areas besides the central region, the imperial capital decided to increase investment in the construction of the Nanling Province and develop the Baisen Mountains For the excellent mineral veins in the western region, several military production lines will be built around Nauman City, and the border defense will be strengthened.

With the approval of the imperial capital, the Nanling Provincial Governor's Office decided to forcibly disband the tribal establishments of the mountain tribes such as Jiamu, Sheyan, Zhenzhou and Tiechen, abolish the status of the Midra Autonomous Region as an autonomous region, and divide it into a region directly under the Governor of Nanling. The leader of the Avod Department, Manya Avod acts as the supervisor.

  The lord of the Xiahui Lord, Baron Ian Aljomon (transliterated by Yinfeng) (not formally honored) received an imperial award. The specific award is still being discussed, but there is no doubt about a Zixi Medal.

   But it's not a huge deal.

  In the last month of 773, the cold wind gradually picked up.

After Grand Duke Sorin brought some of his most loyal subjects into "hell", the area where the former Grand Duke of Sorin was located became a forbidden area. The mist has shrouded this place, except for the people of the Archdukedom who lead them personally, no one can come out again after entering the mist.

After the empire stabilized the chaos in the five counties in the west, it built a group of permanent fortifications around the mouth of the Absalom Mountains. The espionage operations in Flaming Land—for a time, many inspector knights acted chivalrously, and news anecdotes about punishing corrupt officials and bullies appeared one after another. The large-scale dispatch of the army wiped out the residual political influence left by Grand Duke Thorin.

  The surrounding area of ​​Grand Duke Sorin is becoming a new direct-administered area of ​​the imperial capital.

   But this is not the most important thing in December. It can even be said that this is just a small episode.

On December 28th, in the Kingdom of Flames, a son highly valued by Jia Lannai, the king of Yanji, Prince Aso was attacked by a mysterious army while hunting in the wilderness, and eventually died of serious injuries. Seals related to the Empire were found in the traces left by the mysterious troops of the army.

King Yanxiu is one of the few flying flame kings who have a relatively peaceful attitude towards the empire. She has always disliked war, and her son, Prince Asu, is said to have gone to the empire for a secret meeting some time ago, but he has not returned yet. There was an assassination attempt within a week.

To be honest, anyone who knows a little bit of inside information knows that this matter is absolutely strange, and the empire has to complain, but with the current public opinion and the vague contradictions and threats between the two bloodlines, everyone can only Turn the fire on the Empire.

  Even King Yangui himself couldn’t say much—what did Prince Aso communicate with the empire? If the cause of his death is to be investigated, this matter must also be investigated.

   And the empire never thought of justifying, nor did it bother to justify.

  —If Flame wants war, then give you war!

Marked by the assassination of Prince Aso, a large number of troops were mobilized and reorganized between Flameland and the Empire, and the airspace rights at the junction of the Absalom Mountains and the Baisen Mountains were captured every day. News of aerospace armor and friendly losses.

For a time, the countries of Terra expressed many opinions on this. Bart, the lifelong writer of the famous academic journal "Gate of Truth", and the great alchemist of the Capital of Knowledge, criticized Flameland's actions in private channels as "pretending to be other People are fools', he does not support the Empire, but he sneered at Flameland's move to suppress internal instability before going to war.

Kulbarov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Universal News", which is anti-empire as its core selling point, published articles "Fall of Giants" and "Brink of Collapse" in his own publications, severely criticizing the despicable and shameless assassination actions of the empire. , is a great symbol of the stubbornness and decay of the empire, and is also the result of the gradual degeneration of the imperial army. If this continues, the empire will collapse within five years.

Taking this as a representative, people from all walks of life in Terra have expressed their opinions on the assassination of Prince Aso. They either support Flame Land, or support the Empire, or hope to see the two sides play out of their minds, sarcasm overtly and secretly , in general, brought a lot of material for the people of Terra and bards at the end of the year, and made a great ending for 773.

  Whether it's a merchant from the Seven Cities or a mercenary from Whale Song Bluff, whether it's a pirate from Canaan Moore or a tavernkeeper from Ganterigum, everyone is discussing the conflict between the Empire and the Flamelands.

   But just a few days later, it was also January 1, 774 Tara.

   Just when the flying flames king's legion brazenly crossed the national border and appeared in the western province of the empire from the territory of Sorin, who had turned into a fog country, the flying flames' Yuanyan fortress group declared independence almost at the same time.

The deputy head of the Yuanyan Fortress, the fourth energy level powerhouse, 'Night Flame' Ibeya, after killing the head of the army 'Tianhe' Kavaga in a frontal battle, he denounced Feiyan for decades for the Yuanyan Fortress group and the The neglect and contempt of the area responsible for supplying the supplies of the fortress group.

Especially in the last ten years, the Flame Land has almost left them to fend for themselves. Many soldiers have become officers' private servants and domestic slaves. The original greening plan of the Great Desert has also been interrupted for a long time. Ordinary people live in the sky full of yellow sand and scorching heat, suffering unspeakably.

  His independence is definitely not a rebellion, but just a fair and just 'return' for Flameland, which has long betrayed the fortress group!

And the empire publicly stated at the first time that they fully supported the independence of Ibeya, the leader of the Nightmare Army, which was undoubtedly a just move, a human rights, order, humane and reasonable action—at the first time, the empire The eldest princess Alegria Setar established diplomatic relations with the Yuanyan fortress group tentatively named 'Fire Mountain' as an official envoy, and provided a large amount of supplies and gifts.

  How could the kings of Nemathus bear such humiliation? Just when the legions of the Absalom kings marched into the empire to meet the coalition forces of the five earls in the west, their troops would also march to the fortresses to fight on two fronts.

  All-out war begins...

  Now, all ordinary people realize...they are serious.

   It’s not about diverting the domestic perspective and engaging in a painless regional war around the fortress group... The Setar Empire is going to have a comprehensive and all-round war with the Flame Land!

  And the high-level officials of various countries who have known this for a long time are also waiting quietly.

   As Terra is only one continent, war never leaves anyone alone...it concerns everyone.

  A corner of history is slowly being revealed.

And compared to such a big event, in the Nanling province of the empire, the trifle of three knights in costumes trying to secretly raid the holy land of the mountain people... It's just something that can boost morale, but it's not attractive at all. Notable small wins.

  However, when a grain of sand of the times falls on a person's head, it is as heavy as a mountain peak.

   For the mountain people, everything has changed.

   Terra 774, January 1, AM.

  The news of total war has not yet spread widely.

On the morning of the first day of the New Year, Ian stood on the top of the Sacred Steel Mountain, leaning against the overturned tower, looking around the mountains, the hundreds of mountain tribe chief priests who came here, and thousands of Thousands of mountain people gathered here.

  —He will give a speech, a proclamation, a prophecy and a coronation.

  —He will be the co-owner of the mountain people here, the leading prophet, and a new guide.

   And... become the stars that guide the future.

   Right now.

  (end of this chapter)