The large-scale military movement taking place in the direction of the Winter Castle cannot be concealed - and even overtly blatant.

In the area controlled by Cecil, in the front-line command post of Winterwolf Castle, officers and staff officers gathered in the hall of the former castle, information from all sides flowed here like a river flowing into the sea, information was delivered, orders were issued, and the distant scene was reflected in the sky above the terminal of the magic network, and a large number of tense and busy civilian personnel and commanders were busy here.

Gawain stood in front of a large sand table at the end of the hall, Philip and Maryland were beside him deducing the current deployment of the Typhonians around Winter Castle, and Thorderlin, who had changed back into the Iron Ranger Commander suit, strode up to them, and said in a hurried tone: "The reconnaissance team has found a large number of battle mages and mixed legions near Greentown, and it is preliminarily estimated that at least twelve legions are moving from there to the front line......"

Philip looked up at Gawain with a serious look on his face, while Maryland took the model of the battle flag next to the sand table and silently set it in the corresponding position on the map according to the information brought by Thorderling - and around this new red banner, the red marker representing Typhon's army had covered the entire Winter Fortress defense, and it was as dense as a river.

"Did all the Typhonian transcendents grow out of the land......" Amber's eyes widened in astonishment, "where did so many legions of transcendents come from...... Are they planning to flood the battlefield with a sea of people? ”

"All the standing and reserve armies in Typhon, some of the rotating troops near the southern frontier and the east coast, and the transcendents under the direct command of the royal family...... I'm afraid it's all already been transferred," Gawain said in a deep voice with a frown, "I'm afraid this amount can't even be spread out on the main plain between Winterkeep and Winterwolf......"

"Mommy......" Amber was startled, "Is that Rosetta crazy?" Not to mention how many of the people crammed around a winter castle can really be used on the frontal battlefield, he is not afraid that the domestic situation will get out of control? This Typhon is going to become a 'hollow' inside......"

"Indeed, with a transfer of this magnitude, I am afraid that Typhon has reached a critical point in maintaining normal order...... But compared to this, Rosetta can move such a large number of troops from the whole country so quickly and on a large scale while still maintaining order in the country, which is the most worthy of our attention," Gawain said in a low voice, while his eyes slowly swept over the sand table, and the information that had been gathered here for several days was forming a clearer image in his mind, making the entire topographic map more three-dimensional," ...... Sölderling, you mentioned earlier that there were a large number of convoys full of Shaped Crystals entering the Winterhold area from the Ankerm crossing? ”

Thorderling nodded: "Yes, the exact number is unknown, but it can only be determined that it is very, very much, and after entering the Winterhold area, it was diverted and transported to several mountains near the fortress - those mountains have been marked on the sand table." ”

Gawain snorted, he did see the mountains marked on the sand table, they were distributed around the white castle located on the top of the mountain, and together with the "Winter Castle", they formed a series of excellent commanding heights, but although they were excellent commanding heights, those mountains were still quite far away from Cecil's control area, whether it was Cecil's largest iridescent main cannon or the Typhonians' legion-level spells, it was impossible to threaten any target on the line of fire between the two countries from that distance.

Maryland could see this, too, as he stared at the picture on the sand table and whispered as if to himself, "From this distance...... It should not be possible to hit our outposts. ”

"Yes, it can't be hit, so I'm afraid this thing isn't for us," Gawain nodded slightly, then he thought for a moment and suddenly looked at Amber on the side, "Where is Veronica now?" ”

"In the prayer room on the top floor of the castle," Amber replied at once, "are you going to call her?" ”

"No, what she's doing right now is important, and it's best not to leave that prayer room...... I'll go there myself. ”

……

On the top floor of Winterwolf Castle, the light of holiness flows through the room like water, and a slight chirp that reverberates in the air at the edge of human ear recognition, and together they form a peaceful and tranquil "field" that fills an entire floor of buildings with a relaxing and uplifting power.

Veronica/Ophelia, holding a platinum scepter, stood in the center of the prayer room on the top floor, her eyes slightly closed to feel the flow of the light, the simple and symbolic furnishings around her were all faintly lit, and a symbol of pure light was trampled under her feet, and from time to time some hazy phantoms appeared on the surface of the symbol—sometimes distant mountains, sometimes not like earthly palaces, but more often they were incomprehensible, ever-changing lights and lines.

Suddenly, Veronica opened her eyes, she turned her head to look at the door next to her, and the next second, Gawain pushed the door open and walked in.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Veronica said with a slight nodding and a soft tone, "it's business as usual here. ”

"How's the monitoring going?" Gawain said casually, "Is the power of the God of War still infiltrating this world?" ”

"Of course...... The power that does not belong to this world is increasing every minute, and the huge power of faith has converged into a river, flowing towards this place from all over the world, and this is already the focus of the convergence of the power of war in the human world," Veronica said softly, while raising the platinum scepter in her hand slightly, and waved her hand towards the east wall, the heavy wall made of enchanted stone bricks was instantly soaked in shimmering light, and in the blink of an eye, it seemed to disappear and became completely transparent, revealing the distant mountains in the direction of Winter Castle, "You can see for yourself- Through the veil of light, you can see Him. ”

Gawain followed the direction of Veronica's finger, and after a little concentration, he almost immediately spotted the huge phantom hovering between the clouds and the earth—it was like an image cast by something in a higher dimension on the current material world, seemingly wandering on the earth, but with an unreal sense of remoteness and illusory, and no matter how much Gawain concentrated and carefully observed, he could not see any of its details.

It seems that all the "details" have not yet been projected from that higher dimension.

"That's the God of War?" Gawain's expression was serious, "Is this what Thorderlin saw?" ”

"That's the god of war, but it's not quite there, so even if ordinary people occasionally witness it, they won't be immediately mentally polluted. He is entering our world at a slow but steady pace, and as more and more priests and believers are 'driven' to this area by that Rosetta the Great, the process of His 'coming' is accelerating," Veronica nodded, "but even so, I'm not sure exactly when He will 'come' completely." ”

"Isn't it okay to estimate it?" Gawain asked curiously.

"'Arrival' is not entirely a gradual process, especially when the mapping between the God of War and this world has gradually become chaotic," Veronica shook her head, "As long as all the conditions are met, then the God of War may enter the material world completely tomorrow, but if one condition goes wrong, then he may also linger in this critical state for a whole year...... That's why I'm even more curious about what kind of 'know-how' that Rosetta the Great has mastered, so that he can be confident that he can limit the time point of the arrival of the god of war to a relatively short range. You know, even with Typhon's national strength, it is impossible to maintain the current military situation around Winterhold for too long......"

"He has knowledge that we don't know...... This knowledge may be even deeper than the part of the disobedients that know," Gawain said in thought, "and perhaps one day I could ask him in person, but now...... I don't care how exactly he's going to 'get the god of war' down, I just care when it's going to happen. ”

"Of course, I will continue to 'lookout' here, and I will let you know as soon as the situation changes." Veronica spoke softly, then waved her hand lightly, and the wall returned to its previous state as she continued to stand on the Emblem of Light with her scepter in hand, looking in the direction of Typhon's empire like a tireless watcher.

As a powerful transcendent, she could continue to look out here for a long, long time.

……

North of Wintercastle, a certain high mountain.

A mage officer dressed in a dark blue starlight robe and holding a golden oak staff stood on a makeshift platform made of giant logs and stones, overlooking the busy construction scene below.

Mages revered in other realms have become ordinary builders here, powerful spells have been used to shape dirt and boulders, and with all kinds of shining magical brilliance, massive stone platforms, towers, amplifiers, and various large spell facilities have taken shape at an astonishing rate, and at this moment, there is a huge circular spellcaster's square on the top of the leveled mountain.

Four stone-gray towers towered around the square, and above a circular platform tens of meters in the center of the square floated a large ring encrusted with gems and precious metals, under which a dozen battlemages in battle robes were busy - drawing magic symbols on the ground with molten metal, or setting various colored gems in the right grooves.

"Sir, the Ring of Focus has passed the resonance test," said a mage descending from the sky and bowing slightly in front of the mage officer, "The rune drawing is halfway through, and the power output of the Energy Extraction Tower is now seventy percent. ”

"Well, that's good...... With the rune substrate, the construction progress is indeed faster than expected," the officer nodded and asked casually, "How far has the Concentrated Energy Crystal Inlay progressed?" ”

"Sixty percent of the inlays have been completed—they can all be set up by this time tomorrow at the earliest," the battle mage said immediately, "and besides, the core orb has been transported to the foot of the mountain, and it should be sent soon." ”

With a look of satisfaction on his face, the mage officer nodded slightly, then raised his gaze beyond the rolling clouds between the peaks to look in the direction of the distant Winter Castle.

……

The "Hall of Secret Magic" on the upper floor of the castle is brightly lit, and a wall inlaid with gems and metal runes is sparkling, and on the wall surrounded by streamers, several separate images show the scene on the top of several mountains—various mage units are busy setting up spellcaster positions, the massive towers and the Ring of Focus have begun to take shape, and in the other part of the picture, you can see several camps at the foot of the mountain, where sappers and mages are busy building various positions and facilities.

Parin Dongburg's hand waved over the wall, switching between the surveillance feeds above, before he withdrew his gaze to Rosetta Augustus, who was not far behind him.

"Your Majesty," Count Winterhold nodded slightly, "the construction works are more than halfway through, and the projects on the main peak of Winterhold are largely completed. ”

"Very well," Rosetta Augustus said with a nonchalant expression, "it seems that at least we are making good progress in this regard." ”

Count Winterhold looked at Rosetta the Great, and he seemed to hesitate for a moment before he spoke: "Your Majesty, so far we have not had any synchronization or ...... with Cecil in terms of intelligence Communication, almost by tacit understanding, has come to this point, is this situation too dangerous? Even if Gawain the Great knew of our intentions, this 'trust' must have been very limited, and our exchange of fire on the border has now escalated to a very dangerous level, and it is difficult to say that this is a 'controlled military act', and now we have carried out a large-scale 'troop build-up'...... Will this be too irritating to the Cecil? ”

Rosetta was silent for a few seconds, then slowly shook her head: "In this matter, we can't have any intelligence communication with Cecil, not even hints—this kind of behavior is too much to challenge the 'order' of a war, and will lead the gods to unknowable changes...... Today, there are enough variables for Him. ”

"...... over there with Cecil"

“…… Gawain Cecil is a far-sighted and wise ruler, and more importantly - he has a strong hand, as long as he can hold it down, then the whole of Cecil can be steady," Rosetta said slowly, but after a moment he changed his words, "But your concern is not unreasonable, Palinqing, the Cecil people's 'trust' and 'tacit understanding' of us are not unconditional, and I am afraid that it has almost been worn out by now...... I'll think about it. ”

He shook his head and put an end to the conversation for a moment, then strolled to the window on the side of the hall, his gaze looking out over the castle courtyard below through the crystal glass embedded in the window.

The soldiers were escorting groups of black-robed men past the courtyard, and in one corner of the courtyard, many black-robed people could be seen standing there, their heads bowed as if waiting for judgment.

The faces of these black-robed men are obscured by their hoods, and they do not have specific genders, ages, and postures, but they all have similar characteristics: they are staggering, their bodies are shaking, as if they are sleepwalking, and between the hems and sleeves of some of the black-robed men's clothes, you can also see disgusting and terrifying tentacles-like things constantly shrinking and stretching......

Rosetta's gaze swept between the black-robed figures, and after a long silence, he whispered as if talking to himself:

"Pray......"