Chapter 625 — The Relief Plan

The scouting squad led by Suo You, while approaching the edge of the war zone, discovered a dragon under siege by crystal-cluster giants.

To be honest, when Gao Yang first heard the news, he was completely dumbfounded.

His first reaction was to wonder whether that Miss Mylittlepony had fallen out of the sky again—after all, that blue dragon had a precedent in that regard, and her flying technique did not seem particularly reliable.

But he quickly ruled out that guess, because the report stated that the dragon was black. Gao Yang reasoned it through and concluded that it was probably not the result of Meitzen being scorched black by arcane lightning...

But no matter what, he still dispatched a relief force at the first opportunity to rendezvous with the other party at the breakout point Suo You had marked, and at the same time set out himself, arriving at a forward strongpoint on the front line of the war zone—a great mass of troops was gathering at this strongpoint, preparing to use it as a springboard for further operations in the Red Maple region.

……

Only when she saw several oddly shaped steel war chariots and a large number of fully armed human soldiers appear ahead did Maggie finally confirm that she had survived.

That was the Cecil army—an army capable of fighting its way from the edge of the contamination zone all the way to the heartland.

The steel chariots' engines roared, the magic-power cannons shrieked, and obelisk-shaped warheads accelerated by rails fell into the enemy ranks, using explosions to put an end to those pitiful, twisted lives; soldiers in metal armor, bearing heavy combat packs and wielding flamethrowers, advanced alongside the chariots, and wherever they passed, flames rolled and everything burned.

The smell of iron and fire filled the battlefield, and this civilized force—more savage than savagery itself—thoroughly overawed Maggie's heart.

Deafening explosions rang out on every side, and the earth trembled faintly beneath them. Maggie fought to shake off a crystal-cluster giant that was trying to grab her tail, then watched as the monster was sliced to fragments in midair by a dozen beams of light sweeping toward it; lethal magical effects scattered like cheap crossbow bolts and stone balls, strafing every standing target that was not friendly, and amid the ceaseless thunderous shock, Maggie could not help shrinking her neck, seized by an inexplicable dread—

What kind of power had that founding duke, returned from the dead, forged within his realm?

Following the safe route carved out under covering fire, her powerful dragon claws running across the earth in a rather clumsy manner, she caught from the corner of her eye a large vehicle bearing a steel holy emblem, its hull stamped with numerous prayers and sacred symbols, charging up a slope, weapons on its roof firing again and again, sweeping the battlefield with searing white light; then the metal door on the vehicle's side opened, and several exceptionally tall, valiant warriors in heavy white armor burst out, bearing heavy warhammers, their helmets and shoulder guards engraved all over with scripture, the scriptural cloths on their chests fluttering in the wind. They charged onto the battlefield and fervently smashed the nearest crystal-cluster giants with their hammers, roaring at the top of their lungs: "Execute the Holy Light's purification!"

Then these berserkers took up certain incendiary devices hanging behind them and began strafing in all directions.

At last, the battlefield fell quiet.

Griffin knights and giant eagles circled high overhead, continuing to watch the surrounding situation. A soldier who appeared to be a commander came before Maggie with several soldiers, and after sizing up the black dragon before him with curiosity and caution, he spoke: "What's the situation? Can you understand human speech?"

Enduring the throbbing pain of her wounds, Maggie produced a deep, almost growling sound from her throat: "Yes."

"Good—" The officer nodded, then immediately noticed the many wounds from which Maggie was bleeding without cease, and at once turned and beckoned, "We need a priest here—she's badly hurt!"

Although Maggie's voice in dragon form was deep, the officer could still make out its feminine character.

Maggie had meant to say that her wounds were nothing serious, that a dragon's constitution could carry her all the way to the evacuation point, but she soon forgot to speak in astonishment, because she saw those heavily armored warriors, even more valiant than the berserkers, walking toward her, and the one in the lead even unfastened a metal-bound prayer book from his waist, looking for all the world as though he were about to cast a Holy Light spell...

So... these people were Cecil's priests?

In that moment, Maggie suddenly understood why the original Netherlight Church in the Southern Border had been driven out...

……

The rescue operation went very smoothly. Not long after Gao Yang arrived at the forward strongpoint, word of the mission's success was delivered to him.

In the mission briefing, the commander lavished praise on the role the White Knight squad had played on the battlefield—they had valiantly destroyed the enemy and had also provided effective treatment to the rescue target; though only a single squad, they had accomplished what even a full battalion of soldiers could not have replaced, and were well deserving of commendation.

This greatly comforted Gao Yang and strengthened his conviction: priests, after all, were indeed skilled at healing the wounded and saving the dying...

Before evening fell that day, the black dragon of unknown origin—but seemingly connected to the Northern Duke—arrived at the forward strongpoint.

Thanks to the effective treatment she had received, she walked into the camp on her own.

Gao Yang had set aside a large area in the camp specifically to house this visitor, because he remembered that dragons were enormous creatures dozens of meters in length (Meitzen Perunia's data), but when that black dragon appeared in the camp, Gao Yang discovered that the situation was not quite as he had imagined.

It was an exceptionally small dragon, with a wingspan of perhaps only a dozen meters at its limit, its body only one-third to one-half the size of a mature giant dragon, and its wings were especially twisted and stubby, as though they had never fully developed.

Although Gao Yang had only ever seen Meitzen Perunia's dragon form from a distance and could only estimate the length of a mature giant dragon by eye, he was certain that a standard mature giant dragon was absolutely far larger than this black dragon before him.

Was this a young dragon?

With such questions in mind, he calmly stepped forward to meet the black dragon now walking into the center of the camp. The latter paid scarcely any attention to the peculiar prefabricated barracks around her or the rotating magic detection devices, nor to the soldiers and officers nearby who halted to stare; she came before Gao Yang, and upon that face so utterly unlike a human's... there was plainly visible anxiety.

Before she had even come to a stop, she spoke rapidly: "Honored Duke, Giantstone City needs your support! Victoria, she—"

"Rest easy, I have already received word, and the main force has begun moving north," Gao Yang interrupted the black dragon. He noticed that his words visibly eased the breathing of the dragon before him, which made him all the more curious. "Who are you? What is your relationship with Victoria Wilde?"

The black dragon was silent for a moment, then clearly spoke words that astonished Gao Yang: "I am Maggie. You have seen me before."

"Maggie?" Gao Yang was taken aback, and only after several seconds did he finally retrieve that pronunciation from his memory and recall that it seemed to be the name of the black-haired maid at Victoria's side—a most distinctive name, not at all in the Ansu style.