Sword of Dawnbreaker

When Gawain said he wanted to take a look at the Great Barrier, it was obvious that he didn’t mean to see from the sentinel tower at the borders of the Gondor Wastelands.

The nearest sentinel tower was located at the end of the plains by the southern foot of the Dark Range. In order to get there, he would have to cross this mountain range and traverse dozens of miles of wasteland. It was something that shouldn’t be considered right now.

However, if it was only taking a look from afar, that would be much simpler. The Great Barrier was just as its name stated. It was a giant barrier that could be described as a ‘miracle’. Those sentinel towers, which were nearly a thousand meters tall, were just the ‘anchor points’ of the barrier. The barrier itself was a layer of magic that reached the clouds. As long as one stood in a rather high terrain in the Dark Range, one would be able to clearly see the top part of the barrier. Gawain merely wanted to check out the uncertain conditions of the sentinel towers.

With Amber’s and his leg strength, it wouldn’t be difficult to reach the nearest tall terrain within a short period of time. But if they had to bring along two ordinary serfs, it wouldn’t be easy. Hence, they had to escort them back to the camps first.

Furthermore, they needed to make a trip back and ease everyone’s heart.

Gawain lowered his head and looked at the aberrations’ remains that were fuming with black smoke. The flesh and mud on the remains had already disintegrated, but the lingering blood-red bones dissipated at a much slower rate. It would need around two to three days before they completely ‘evaporated’. Before these bones vanished completely, they could still be of use.

Gawain raised the Sword of Pioneers and hacked down forcefully at the bones that were tougher than steel. Soon enough, he chopped off their hideous skulls, while the scared-witless Amber spoke, “Oh my… Why are you still tormenting the corpse… My god, you are so twisted…”

“This thing will have a great effect for calming people back at the camp.” Gawain looked up at Amber and conveniently tossed the skull to her before he bent over to chop off another one. “Hold it… I will get another one.”

“Blech. Ahh. Blech!” Amber cried out in alarm when Gawain suddenly tossed the monster’s head to her. She flusteredly caught it and yelled out, “Are you sick!? Are you sure this thing can calm the hearts of people and not frighten them to death?!”

“To the Cecil Clan that had just been ruined by the aberrations, seeing these monsters’ corpses tormented and torn would be the fastest method to help them gain confidence and fighting spirit. It might be a little stimulative, but it is the most effective.”

Gawain replied while chopping off another skull. He ignored the two other monsters that were slightly farther. He used one hand to carry the skull, while the other hand was wielding the longsword as he walked towards the hidden niche. Those serfs that led the way had followed the orders to hide in there obediently.

In fact, from start to finish, they didn’t even dare to look outside of the hiding place to see what happened. They could only hear a short and intense battle, and even though it sounded as though their lord had obtained victory, the duo still didn’t have the courage to emerge and see the result.

When Gawain appeared while carrying the blood-red giant skull, they finally reacted. But when they saw the sinister and terrifying skull, they gasped together before yelling, “God!” “Heavens!”

“God will not help you to eliminate these monsters,” Gawain said casually. “All the aberrations have been eliminated. We are heading back to camp.”

He intentionally presented himself with a relaxed manner before he casually added another statement, “But then again, these things are still as weak as seven hundred years ago. A simple sword strike is able to take down one of them. Are these things even able to threaten the camp’s safety?”

The two serfs looked at each other with shock before one of them reacted and nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes! My lord is so powerful. These monsters are extremely weak when facing you!”

The other serf was startled as he muttered, “But earlier on, I heard Young Lady Amber shouting for help—”

Gawain coughed forcefully to interrupt and looked at Amber calmly while saying, “That was her warcry!”

Amber had also reacted timely and spoke with a stern expression, “That’s right. It’s my warcry! Other than that, no matter what you think you heard, you have heard them wrongly!”

“Understand? These monsters aren’t as powerful as you think.” Gawain then looked at the two serfs. “Remember this point and return to camp.”

The two serfs nodded repeatedly. As long as they could rush back to the camp, there were no problems. Furthermore, they had clearly seen that the monsters’ heads were chopped off by their lord!

While carrying two aberrations’ skulls still fuming with black smoke, Gawain and the group returned from the mountain and back to the camp.

When they were approaching the camp, Gawain purposely handed the two skulls to the serfs and asked them to raise the skulls while swaggering at the front.

In the beginning, the serfs were nearly scared out of their wits, but after their lord made it an order, they could only tremble in fear as they received the skulls. But they quickly realized that the skulls were dead objects and that they were constantly dissipating. They finally gathered their courage, and immediately after, the hatred for the monsters that destroyed their homeland finally permeated out of their dead hearts.

They raised the skulls high up, like they were flag bearers, and walked at the front. They deliberately displayed the spoils of war to the people in the camp that were trembling with fear and extending their heads to catch a glimpse. Even though they were not the ones to eliminate the monsters, they seemed to be sharing in the glory.

The panicky and tense atmosphere was still lingering in the camp, but Gawain could imagine that with these two skulls brought back, there would be greater stability after the panicky and tense feelings…

To this world that was filled with demonic creatures and ferocious beasts and had experienced the Dark Wave, it wasn’t the monsters people feared the most but, rather, the inability to resist when they attacked. As long as they saw there was hope to defeat the monsters, they would be able to gather some courage.

Even if the courage was only enough to keep them from fleeing elsewhere, it was already sufficient.

Amber was quick-witted enough to understand Gawain’s intention. After they returned to the camp, the first thing she did was to follow those two serfs and bragged about how easy it was to defeat these monsters. She had especially mentioned how much of a critical role she played in the entire process… In any case, she didn’t mention about her screaming for help.

For Gawain, who was finally back in camp, there were still plenty of things that had to be done.

He called Heidi over. “Heidi, do you know concealment-type support spells?”

“I know and I am very proficient,” Heidi answered with confidence. “Because I am unable to break through the intermediate level, I have learned all of the spells that I can that are below the intermediate level.”

Apart from aiming huh…

“Very good.” Gawain suppressed his desire to tease and said, “You’ll be following me into the mountain. I will need your spells.”

“Aren’t the monsters already eliminated?” Heidi was a little puzzled. “I saw the spoils of war that you brought back and thought the alarm could be dismissed…”

“That’s just to calm the hearts of people for the moment.” Gawain shook his head and added, “Those aberrations wandered here from the Gondor Wasteland. They traveled across the southern plans and the entire mountain range to reach here. I suspect there is something wrong with the Great Barrier… Furthermore, I suspect that those are not the only aberrations that have wandered out.”

Heidi didn’t continue to ask and returned to arrange the matter of her departure before bringing along her magic staff. She then wore a shorter magic robe for easier travel in the wilderness. She was ready to depart.

Gawain then looked for Amber, who was still going around boasting in the camp. He then brought along the half-elf who wanted to use the excuse of ‘busy helping with the dissemination of information’. The trio then headed into the mountain again and quickly arrived at the location where they had fought with the monsters earlier.

The giant blood-colored bones were still on the mountain path and were in a state of constant disintegration.

Amber frowned and looked at these hideous remains. “How do you know there are even more monsters? Did you see them?”

“You do not understand aberrations.” Gawain spoke of his judgment, “You already know that aberrations are harder to defeat with more numbers. The fewer the number, the weaker they are. In fact, when they are too little in number, they would even destroy themselves.”

Let alone Amber, not even Heidi knew this information. “They’ll destroy themselves when their numbers are too little? What is going on?”

“The aberrations and the Dark Wave complement one another. Actually it is possible that they are the same phenomenon but with two kinds of presentation,” Gawain explained. “The number of aberrations had a threshold. When it exceeded the threshold, such as having more numbers, the Dark Wave’s pollution would be stronger, and the pollution would be more concentrated. It would then produce more and stronger aberrations. In nature, the omnipresent magic allows this process to constantly develop. As such, if a group of aberrations gathers enough numbers, it would form a new Dark Wave pollution point, and they would rapidly extend out. On the other side, if they are way below the threshold, the pollution generated by the aberrations wouldn’t be enough for them to multiply, and they wouldn’t even be able to maintain their own bodies. They would constantly weaken and gradually disintegrate… The entire process would happen quickly too. Aberrations that separated themselves from the main group would collapse within three days.”

Amber looked at the remains on the ground. “I remember you mentioning that if aberrations don’t sense a target, they will wander around blindly or stay in place. Such a situation will make their movement speed very, very slow…”

“That’s right. If it is just four monsters, it’s impossible for them to wander from the Gondor Wasteland to this place. With their speed, they would have disintegrated midway.” Gawain didn’t conceal his worry and said, “Therefore, these four monsters must have separated from the main group… They might have lost their way, or the group’s formation was too loose. But the main group certainly exists.”

Heidi couldn’t help but grip her magic staff tightly.

Gawain focused his mind on observing the mountain path that those monsters had wandered through.

Aberrations were products of the Dark Wave; their chaotic and disorderly magic was like rotten sludge in this world. It was pungent and striking. This chaotic magic dispersed quickly, but these monsters had just appeared; hence, traces of magic should probably be lingering around.

As expected, after concentrating his spirit and seriously discerning, Gawain sensed something slightly unnatural in a certain direction.

That direction just happened to be one of the paths towards the southern foot of the Dark Range.