The Crystal Cluster Giants collectively changed.

On the No. 3 highland in the north of the red maple area, the sky was gloomy, the wind was howling, and the artillery was roaring.

A large number of Crystal Giants roaming from the eastern regions were running wildly across the plains, swollen and deformed monstrous monsters moving wildly, skimming the plains, rushing over the hills, some into the distance, others storming the Legion's defenses, blinding arcs of arcane lightning piercing the air, illuminating the polluted plains in the dim light of the sky, and on the third height, which supported the important nodes of the defense, the artillery fire did not stop for a moment.

The heavy magic cannon finely adjusted the angle of fire under the action of the mechanism, the rune track flashed with light, and the cannonballs wrapped in pale cyan air masses flew into the distance, and the Warhammer I in the tank bunker also fired frequently, and the denser shells bombarded the plains on the east side of the highlands, weaving an impermeable network of firepower.

A captain Cecil in white blue armor stood behind the bunker, observing the battlefield with a tactical eyepiece.

Bursts of blast flashes and shockwaves covered the frenzied army of crystals, countless twisted limbs and broken crystals blasted into the sky every second, but against the backdrop of the dreary skylight, countless monsters were still surging from afar, meaninglessly falling in the line of death.

The captain closed the eyepiece and turned away from cover.

Nearby, the commander's mana roared: "Strike Queue 2 cools down, replaces the acceleration track - Queue 3 starts firing!" "The burner is preheated!" "The cannonballs have arrived!" "The Trailblazer has arrived!"

The captain quickly passed through the busy artillery positions and supply tunnels, and the sound of weapons and orders filled his surroundings as he crossed a sentry post and walked towards a tall commander wearing knightly insignia and a short cape of white coat of arms on his shoulders.

Three short, muffled sounds rang from the side, and three bright flares were shot into the sky, striking flashes illuminating the camp and shining light on the surface of the knight's silver-white armor.

"Sir! The enemy's offensive has been contained, and they are kept out of the line," the captain said with a military salute to the commander in front of him, speaking briskly, "but the monsters showed no sign of flinching, no sign of discipline, and were in a state of utter frenzy. ”

The commander nodded: "Continue to consolidate the eastern defensive line, no matter how many they come, they must be wiped out in the line of fire - we have enough supplies and personnel." ”

"Yes, sir."

The captain gave the order to leave, and the commander took a look at the situation on the battlefield, then turned and walked to the command post barracks.

A low humming sound came from the direction of the Gorgon River, and in the light of the fading flares, two beams of terrifying energy that seemed to be like a long river of light suddenly lit up, piercing the dim skylight, crossing the battlefield from west to east, and then solemnly sweeping the plains full of crystal giants, where the beams swept through, the giants and rocks evaporated together, and the earth was only a scorched earth.

In the command post barracks, the Magic Net terminal is buzzing, and the holographic projection shows a bust of Philip, the commander-in-chief of the ground forces.

The commander stood in front of the terminal and saluted, and his voice was loud: "General, the defense line of Heights No. 3 has been stabilized, the calibration beam has cleared the eastern and northern extensions, and we can set up the next stronghold." ”

"Maintain the suppression of fire, and the next advance unit will enter from the southwest in thirty minutes," Philip said calmly, "What about the Crystal Cluster Giants over there?" ”

"Out of control, frantically, with little to no reason, but with no sign of declining strength."

"No sane Cluster Commanders have been found yet?"

"Didn't find it."

“…… I see. Continuing the mission, Commander. ”

"Roger."

In the command post of the main army, Philip came to Gawain, who was copying the information in the rear at the moment, and before Philip could speak, Gawain had already raised his head: "The Crystal Cluster Legion looks completely out of control. ”

After speaking, without waiting for Philip to ask, Gawain raised the paper in his hand: "The news from the Pompeii laboratory from Carmel that all the commander-level crystal giants imprisoned in the various isolation cages in the laboratory went crazy at the same time - they can't all be subordinate units of the Red Maple node. ”

"Pompeii Laboratory?!" Philip was taken aback, "Are you okay over there?" ”

"With a heavily armed army and a legendary-level ancient mage at the command, there's no chance of an accident - all out-of-control monsters have been destroyed at the moment, and infected carriers who have been quarantined and treated have been safely transferred, so there's no need to worry about that - fortunately, those who only carry the infection aren't affected."

"The situation in front of me is very strange...... Philip said with a frown, "those monsters don't look like they are out of control caused by the collapse of the upper node......"

"That's right, if it is the loss of control caused by the collapse of the superior node, those crystal cluster giants will quickly weaken while losing their minds, and after an hour they will be similar to ordinary beasts, but now those out-of-control crystal cluster giants are just in a frenzy, and there is no decline in strength," Gao Wen threw his hand on the table in Chinese, and his tone was serious, "They are not 'out of control', but a new, completely crazy mind has become their highest node." ”

Philip felt a chill, and Gawain continued: "The only good news at the moment is that the Crystal Giants have not evolved in strength after the Madness, and we can still maintain the defensive line and continue to advance northward, but on the other hand, the Crystal Giants that have lost their organization have become more difficult to restrain ......"

As soon as he was halfway through his sentence, the air near him suddenly distorted, and the figure of Amber emerged from the air, and Miss Half-Elf handed a copy of the transcribed information to Gawain: "It's from Maryland. ”

Gawain took the information, glanced at it hurriedly, and raised his eyes to look at Philip: "The situation is the same as I expected - the Iron Throne Zero is fighting against the Crystal Cluster Giants who suddenly fell into a frenzy at the entrance to the Eastern Realm, and it is indeed the entire Crystal Cluster Legion that is out of control. ”

In that urgent message, Maryland reported on the battle at the Passes to the East: an endless number of frenzied Crystal Giants and low-level infected were blindly spreading around, and a considerable number of them rushed to the blockade established by the Iron Throne - the Maryland Knight had built up defenses with armored trains, armed railroads, and a large number of makeshift ramparts, bunkers, and mountain bunkers, and he was currently blocking the gateways of those infected to the East, and he was still increasing his defenses.

Relying on the combat power of the Iron Throne, coupled with the armed security forces of White Sands Mining, the Maryland Knights should be able to control the local situation, and even forcibly expand the defense line to the west - the war technicians are forcibly laying the railroad under the cover of artillery, expanding the range of the Iron Throne to the Whitsunday Plains, and the Maryland Knights' goal is to drive the Iron Throne into Solinburg through a "defensive advance" - so that he can rely on the strong fortifications of Solinburg to build a new line of defense and gain a certain depth, Do your best to ensure the safety of the unpolluted areas of the eastern border.

As it turned out, Gawain was right in his judgment of Maryland - a capable man who had the value of transformation despite his traditional Ansu nobility. After being instilled with advanced knowledge and hands-on experience with the operations of Cecil's legions, Maryland's original military capabilities were inspired and strengthened, and he was adept at exchanging defense for offense, a tactic that would be of greatest value with the help of armored trains.

"Where is Sonia?" Gawain turned to look at Amber, "She should be back soon." ”

"She was returning from the direction of Tulip Castle when she contacted twenty minutes ago, and it was almost ...... by this time."

"I'm back," Amber said before a clear voice came from the doorway, and Gao Wen followed the voice to see that the high-ranking messenger in light leather armor had appeared in front of him, "The north is full of monsters in madness, and so is the east, and worse...... After crossing the Tulip Fort, wandering Crystal Cluster infected people were also spotted in the western part of the Gorgon River. ”

"Is the pollution really still crossing the river......" Gawain couldn't help but clench his fists, "How many?" ”

"It's hard to judge, I don't dare to fly too far, but I saw that the private troops of the local nobles were fighting against a small group of crystal monsters, and there shouldn't be many enemies crossing the Gorgon River - after all, our fleet is still blocking the river, and most of the monsters that try to cross the river will be eliminated by the coastal defense line, only the north...... The front line of the corps has not yet advanced there, there is a gap there. ”

Gawain's brows couldn't help but furrow, but he had to accept the situation.

In the original plan, he wanted to completely block the Gorgon River, and at the same time seal the entrance to the eastern border, so that together with the armored barrier in the south and the St. Sunil-North mountain defense line in the north, the crystal cluster infection could be completely blocked in the east of the Holy Spirit Plain, so that everything would become controllable, but no matter how complete the plan was, there would eventually be an accident, from the very beginning, he was mentally prepared for the worst situation: the speed of the legion going north may not be able to catch up with the speed of the crystal cluster spreading, and the pollution may cross the Gorgon River, Enter the western part of the plain of the Whitsundays.

Now, things are just going in that expected direction.

But this does not mean that everything will get out of control - although the crystal cluster infection is terrible, the large-scale outbreak requires relatively harsh conditions, and there is now evidence that the reason why the Death of All Things was able to pollute the entire giant tree crossing in a short period of time relied on a long period of preparation and a huge sacrifice ceremony, and without the assistance of these preparations and rituals, the speed of crystal cluster infection would not exceed that of ordinary diseases.

As long as the scale of pollution invading the western part of the plain does not exceed a certain tipping point, and as long as the local nobility is not unable to give up resistance in place, the situation will not get out of control for the time being.

"Pass my order to Byron to speed up the blockade of the northern river, and inform Sir Wald to send 5,000 men from the 2nd Corps north to help block the river and clear the west bank of pollution." Gawain looked at Amber and quickly commanded, "Besides, is there still no way to contact the MIA operatives in the city of Saint-Sunil?" ”

Amber shook her head: "I can't get in touch, the secret relay station that extends from St. Sunil may have been destroyed, and the contact points and informants of other routes are currently missing, including the West Bank region." ”

"Perhaps...... I can challenge a direct flight to St. Sunil," Sonia suddenly spoke, "I can send the information of reinforcements to Fort Silver......"

"Are you going to fly all the way over the polluted area, without stopping? Or a detour from the safety of the Western Plains? Gawain glanced at Sonya, "If you fly in a straight line to St. Sunil, you have to maintain the highest altitude all the way, and the giant eagle can't stand it, and there is no place for you to land and rest on the way, if you go around an arc from the western plains, then the distance will be two to three times longer, plus the time for the giant eagle to rest in the middle, by the time you fly to St. Sunil, those royal nobles may have abandoned the city and fled." ”

The defenders of the royal capital must be made aware of the presence of reinforcements - this was the agreement reached between Gawain and Victoria last time. It is impossible for a hopeless army to hold the city, even if they have the most powerful defense system in Ansu, and the clear presence of reinforcements can greatly boost the courage of the soldiers defending the city, which is especially useful in the kingdom's army, which relies on knights to oversee the battle, and relies on pure manpower to fight.

However, the situation took a turn for the worse and disrupted Gawain's plan - the suddenly frantic Crystal Cluster army began to move randomly throughout the plains, and the distribution of enemies and safe routes that had been detected before were instantly useless, and the messengers sent to Saint-Sunil would take even greater risks, while on the other hand, the pressure on Saint-Sunil caused by the mad Crystal Cluster army may increase dramatically, and the possibility of the defenders of the royal capital abandoning the city and fleeing is also rapidly increasing, leaving even less time for the messengers.

However, Saint-Sunil must not be lost.

At this moment, a nice but slightly cold voice suddenly came to everyone's ears: "Lady Sonia, is the Mage Tower of Tulip Castle still there?" ”

Gawain looked up and saw Victoria Wild, the Duchess of the North, standing in the doorway.

After a short thought, Sonia nodded, "The castle is half-destroyed, but the Mage Tower is still there." ”

"That tower is a high-powered teleportation tower," Victoria said, "take me there, and with the help of that tower's amplification, I can contact Fort Silver." ”

"Bookmark for easy reading"