Chapter 891: Chapter 890: Lying Like a Corpse

Looking at the suddenly excited Amber, Gawain fell silent for a moment.

This goose’s mind must have some problems.JPG.

It made his emotions become disjointed.

"You... calm down first," Gawain said helplessly, glancing at the shame of the Empire, "I was just about to praise you a couple of times..."

"Oh, then go ahead and praise," Amber immediately put her hands on her hips, but the next second her attention shifted elsewhere, "By the way, what’s the situation with this shield? Wasn’t it just for ’communication’? Why did it start smoking?"

Gawain looked down at the shield of the protector on the table, which was gradually cooling, and said casually, "...Perhaps it’s been subjected to pressure it shouldn’t have endured."

As he said this, he silently began to ponder in his mind.

In the process of establishing a connection with Firmament Station, a situation different from previous satellite connections occurred, drawing his attention.

It seems that even though inexplicably becoming a "satellite spirit"... connecting with those ancient facilities in space isn’t necessarily safe; danger can come from unexpected directions.

Based on various situations that occurred when the connection was interrupted earlier, Gawain guessed the reason might be from two aspects—on one hand, it could be that the shield of the protector as the "star relic" has some kind of "upper limit," unable to long endure the data connection between human mind and Firmament Station, this is confirmed by its now high-temperature state, while on the other hand... perhaps his own mind can’t endure this communication beyond human limits, which can be judged from his experience before the disconnection.

But as for whether this second restriction is due to his mental strength or the limits of his human body, it’s hard to determine for now.

At that moment, Amber’s voice interrupted Gawain’s thoughts: "Hey, what are you thinking? Do you need to call someone to look at this? It’s a big deal..."

Gawain raised his head: "Call Aunt Heidi—also Kamel and Veronica."

Amber paused for a moment, then quickly guessed something from the names Gawain mentioned, she nodded, the next second she turned into a shadow and disappeared from the study.

Gawain then returned to the desk, looking down at the shield of the protector that had completely lost its scorching red glow.

That unknown silver-white "star alloy" cooled more quickly than imagined, now placing his hand on it, it’s already just warm, only the traces left on the desk and those burnt, curling papers prove everything that happened earlier.

"This desk is done for..." Gawain muttered to himself, slowly lifting his hand from the surface of the shield, memories of the things he saw while in connection resurfaced in his mind, stirring his thoughts once more.

Despite experiencing some risks, the gains proved that it was all worth it.

"Firmament Station..." he said softly, "Judging by the scale, it’s truly worthy of its name..."

The next moment, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind: "Received, repositioning connection—connected to Firmament Station."

An unpredictable dizziness suddenly hit, Gawain’s vision immediately reflected Firmament Station’s surveillance perspective, chaotic images overlapped with miniature projections representing the planetary orbital facility group and randomly refreshing data and tables, deep in the picture, he could even see his most primitive satellite surveillance perspective—this all appeared instantly but disappeared the next second.

Gawain forcibly severed the connection that suddenly entered his mind and was frightened into a cold sweat.

He stared wide-eyed at the shield of the protector lying quietly on the table, while he himself... hadn’t even touched the shield.

As the discomfort brought by mental exhaustion slightly diminished, Gawain finally had the energy to speculate what happened, and the only explanation he could think of was that his impulsive contact with this "star relic" resulted in a similar outcome to Gawain Cecil, and during the past several minutes, this thing established a permanent connection between him and Firmament Station—now he’s not only connected with a surveillance satellite but also linked to the massive Orbital Ring Space Station!

And his near-exhausted mind obviously couldn’t support such large-scale data communication, thus when the connection happened just now he barely saw a few images before nearly losing consciousness.

Gawain’s brows furrowed tightly, he leaned on the table slowly standing upright, calming his chaotic mind and breath while intensely staring at the "shield of the protector of Anzu Kingdom," thoughts racing in his mind, forming rapid conjectures and decisions one after another...

But he didn’t immerse in thought for long—Amber was swift, Aunt Heidi and the others arrived at the study shortly thereafter.

The first to enter was Aunt Heidi, she noticed Gawain’s extremely poor complexion at a glance and was startled: "Ancestor? What are you..."

Amber then dashed in, she was also shocked to see Gawain: "Oh dear! You look even worse than..."

She nearly uttered "near death," but the dual threat of the Sword of Pioneers and shield of the protector made this Empire’s shame hold her tongue at a critical moment—Gawain glared at her, already guessing what she intended to say, frankly speaking, if she did say it, Gawain might just fuse the sword and shield to smack this Empire’s shame up to the ceiling...

"I’m fine, it’s just the aftereffects of excessive mental exhaustion," Gawain waved his hand, slowly lifting his spirit, looking at Kamel and Veronica who entered the study subsequently, "I was just trying to activate some ancient functions of the ’protector of Anzu Kingdom,’ many years unused, apparently it’s in poor condition."

Kamel and Veronica, unaware of the situation, didn’t inquire further either.

Kamel floated to the desk, after observing the shield of the protector for a moment, a trembling voice came from his body filled with arcane energy: "Residue traces of waste energy oscillations... it seems there was severe energy overload here just now. Your safety surpasses all."

Veronica, on the other hand, came to Gawain’s side, with one hand holding a platinum scepter, her other hand traced divine symbols in the air, soft sacred radiance descended immediately, enveloping Gawain—and the latter instantly felt the discomfort wash away greatly, even his exhausted spirit recovered significantly.

"Thank you," Gawain said to Veronica, "very effective."

"It’s my duty," Veronica replied gently, "Then is there anything you wish to instruct, having called us here?"

Gawain scanned the few people in the study, nodded, his voice deep and serious: "I summoned you because I want to go to a place—Defied Fortress."

"Defied Fortress?" Carmel said with some surprise, "That place is currently under lockdown, because the shadow realm is not safe... Why are you suddenly thinking of going there?"

Gawain was silent for two seconds, then slowly said, "To see the corpse of the God of Nature..."

Veronica and Carmel instinctively exchanged a glance (although Carmel doesn’t have eyes, his gaze was bright), they came up with some guesses but did not speak immediately.

Carmel nodded, "I understand — I’ll make the arrangements."

"Do we need to call Miss Tiel?" Aunt Heidi said from the side, "In a certain sense, she is an expert in opposing gods."

"...Better not," Gawain shook his head, "Her way of opposing gods is not something we can reference — and you might find it hard to wake her at this time."

"Yes, ancestor."

...

The vast and magnificent corona hangs high above the peaks on the west side of the Dark Mountain Range, its woodgrain-like lines and cyclone traces solemnly illuminate this world. Amidst the interlacing light and shadows of sunlight and clouds, the Dragon Cavalry squad in training flies obliquely over the western part of the forest.

On the way to the defied Fortress, Gawain leaned out from the car window and instinctively looked up at the sky.

The sky was clear, the clouds moderate, and the distant blue seemed exceptionally vast. He strained his sight to the limit, yet even a legendary powerhouse like him could only see the blue sky and white clouds, nothing beyond that.

He couldn’t see the massive orbital ring that covers the sky, couldn’t see the flickering satellite lights or the silhouette of the space stations — given the scale of how the Firmament Station appears in the miniaturized projection, that astonishingly immense structure should cast a magnificent shadow upon the land, and even though the whole Cecil Empire is far from the equator, a gaze directed towards the southern sky should reveal that splendid ring.

In fact, on any clear day, in most regions of this planet, the Firmament Station should be visible to the naked eye — even ordinary people should be able to see it clearly.

However, Gawain saw nothing. He could only guess based on previous impressions and some vaguely perceived connections, guessing that a section of the arc-shaped megastructure of the Firmament Station is currently hanging high somewhere, accompanied by a cluster of flying satellites. Further away, known as the "star bridge," lies ancient facilities, and smaller, glowing space stations operate closer to the atmosphere. Those ancient, cold tombstones watch over this land, their silhouettes veiled by similarly ancient optical camouflage devices.

"Ancestor?" Aunt Heidi’s voice came from beside him, "What are you looking at?"

"The sky," Gawain withdrew his gaze from the sky, "The weather is nice."

Aunt Heidi nodded and revealed a bright smile, "Yes, the weather has been great lately. Many crops in the southern regions are beginning to be harvested, and the new Minister of Agriculture, Romlyn, is working on the planting plan for the next season’s crops..."

Listening to Aunt Heidi’s casual mentions, Gawain’s initially restless mood suddenly calmed down.

He looked towards the direction of the Dark Mountain Range, the concrete road extending from the military zone led into the depths of that natural barrier. On either side of the road, large farmlands were awaiting or had completed harvest, and newly built communication towers from the previous year shimmered with crystal light overhead. Farming machinery was parked beside the fields, and a drilling team was driving the first fixing piles into the ground in the lowlands by the railway...

No matter how many ancient tombstones float in the sky, for people on this land, at least the weather today is indeed good.

Gawain leaned back in the seat of the magic-guided vehicle, gently closed his eyes, allowing his somewhat exhausted spirit to recover further.

...

Entering the military blockade zone of the Dark Mountain Range, entering the basement of the defied Fortress, passing through the rifts of the shadow realm and those enormous cavities, after traversing the ancient Gondor portal, Gawain arrived once again at the deepest part of this ancient facility.

Located in the shadow realm of the defied Fortress.

This Gondor facility, built within a dimensional seam, had not completely slumbered. Although the technicians from Cecil had moved out all the removable equipment and materials, the energy system integrated with the fortress itself and the god-shielding system still quietly operated.

The ancient lights illuminated deep, long corridors and halls, the isolation walls covered with dense magic symbols and energy fields continued to protect the place as always. Gawain, Amber, Aunt Heidi, Carmel, and Veronica reached the end of the outermost corridor. Carmel activated the alloy barrier there, and a glowing energy field separated the inside from the outside, providing an unobstructed view beyond the nearly transparent barrier.

On the shattered ground composed of countless floating boulders, ancient binding devices and numerous metal wreckages jointly restrained that mountain-like gigantic body, pure white radiance enveloped the corpse of the God of Nature — Amoen, the Giant Stag, the radiance slowly fluctuated, exuding endless sacred aura.

Veronica looked at the giant stag shackled in the fortress’s ’garden’ area, her face inevitably showing a touch of emotion, and she softly said, "I only saw it in reports back then..."

"After all, you mostly presided over things at Gondor’s imperial capital back then," Gawain glanced at Veronica, "Carmel was the direct person in charge here."

"Every time I come back here, it stirs my thoughts," Carmel buzzingly said and then looked at Gawain, "So, can you tell us your thoughts now?"

"...The primary material of the shield of the protector of Anzu Kingdom comes from the material warehouse of Wepland Observatory." Gawain slowly said. He seemed to mention a unrelated topic, yet Veronica beside him quickly recalled something. This former leader of defiers slightly furrowed her brows, "I remember it was one of the research facilities of the Gondor Empire back then, located in the north..."

"Yes, used to study the meteor shards unearthed locally — the meteor shower that struck the Wepland Area in ancient times," Gawain nodded, "Veronica, you and Carmel should be quite familiar with that aspect — when did the Wepland Meteor Shower take place?"

Veronica promptly provided the answer, "Approximately three thousand years ago..."

"Indeed, the Wepland Meteor Shower occurred three thousand years ago," Gawain nodded slowly, "The White Starfall was also three thousand years ago."

Veronica’s eyes widened slightly.

"You move to a safe position," Gawain looked at Carmel, "Open the barrier, I need to check the corpse of Amoen, the Giant Stag."