Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 594 - 593: Displacement

As Beltira Augustus exclaimed, Gawain’s suspicions were confirmed.

The unfamiliar woman before him was indeed the "old friend" from his memory, the Princess Typhon from seven hundred years ago, recognized as a pilgrim by the Northern Druid Sects.

However, she had completely changed her appearance and identity, only a part of her voice and her soul remained unchanged.

She really has lived for seven hundred years!! And has become a powerful member of the Oblivion Association!!

All these chaotic thoughts flashed by in an instant, yet Gawain’s expression didn’t change at all. He strode towards Beltira—in this space sustained by the dream realm’s power, he had molded himself into the appearance of the founder of Typhon, Roland Augustus.

However, it was evident that Beltira was not deceived by this "illusion" bearing her brother’s likeness. She remembered that this was an illusory space created by mental projection, and everything she saw before her might not be real—especially since her brother had died under the sentinel towers seven hundred years ago and could not have come back to life.

She didn’t know who was orchestrating this farce, but it was clear that this supposedly confidential contact had been compromised.

She kept her eyes fixed on the tall figure approaching her, seemingly ready for a confrontation: "Who are you?!"

"You disappoint me," Gawain replied coldly, all while raising his right hand. A silver-white longsword, crackling with electricity, appeared in his grip, "to have walked this path!"

He knew he had already incited Beltira’s wrath and was prepared for an open confrontation—in this battlefield of the mind realm, he feared no form of direct battle, especially since the opposing party seemed reliant on magic rituals or devices to enter the "dream realm" and was a novice. If he could seize the opportunity to retain the minds of his opponents or those nearby, he was sure to gain a trove of intelligence.

Beltira spread her arms, and an invisible wind seemed to gather around her. The two elves began chanting ancient and mysterious incantations, stirring the magic forces, while the figures draped in black robes, gaunt and skeletal, raised their twig-like arms, each summoning their power.

Gawain lifted his longsword—Thunderous Roar, once the weapon of Typhon’s founding sovereign, as a faint smile formed at the corner of his lips.

These people were indeed novices in the dream realm; they totally misunderstood the combat rules of this realm of the mind.

Mental power and psychic force were the true strengths here; superficial magic or techniques were merely illusions in the dreams.

In the next moment, Beltira’s form vanished from his sight.

The elven twins’ figures followed suit and disappeared.

The black-robed, skeletal figures also quickly vanished.

The smile froze on Gawain’s lips, and after a brief moment, he awakened with a start.

He awoke on his bed at Pinnacle Base, met by the familiar sight of the prefab ceiling and the dim streetlight seeping in through the window. Amber’s soft snores reached him from the next room.

Gawain: "??"

After a pause, he realized what had happened—they were amateurs, but they weren’t fools.

They unplugged the network cable...

Gawain sat up on the bed, not lingering too long on this minor setback, but quickly analyzed the valuable intelligence intercepted tonight.

This was a chaotic intrusion by pure chance, and after this setback, the Oblivion Association likely wouldn’t give him a second chance to intercept information; he had to handle the details he saw and heard with caution and appreciation.

Beltira Augustus lived to this day—considering her Great Druid abilities and the Oblivion Association’s mischievous disposition over the centuries, she should have used some kind of forbidden technique to keep herself continuously alive, rather than resurrect like himself in recent years. Even though he didn’t see it clearly just now, something strange seemed to have changed about Beltira besides her appearance... Gawain recalled seeing vine- or root-like strange things under her skirt.

She had fallen, along with the Druids who entered Ancestral Peak back then, becoming a high-ranking priest of the evil cult followers.

She was accompanied by two elves, who should also have similar ranks as Oblivion priests.

Those black-robed, gaunt, and strange "people" were the targets for the Oblivion Association’s signals into the wastelands. Whoever they were, they were clearly operating over that wasteland... and they were collecting data, continuously transmitting it to their compatriots outside.

They mentioned something called the "divine evils Mutagen," a term firmly embedded in Gawain’s memory.

This was likely what those evil cult followers had been doing all along, their goal!

They knew about the divine evils! They were studying the divine evils!

This product of the ultimate plan from a thousand years ago by the Gondor Empire was devised to help humanity survive the chaotic wave crisis. Gawain thought all information about it had long been obliterated in history’s currents, sealed away in the defied Fortress for a millennium, yet he didn’t expect it to be secretly passed down! What were these cult followers up to? Trying to complete the unfinished business of the ancient Gondor Empire?

Could this be what Pittman mentioned in passing, the "Great Evolution" pursued by the Oblivion Association believers?

Hold on, those cult leaders’ goals shouldn’t be merely completing a biochemical experiment. They are called evil cult followers because they not only dare to imagine but dare to act... If they truly managed to recreate the divine evils, they would certainly find ways to disseminate them everywhere; only then could they achieve their so-called... Great Evolution.

Gawain now felt most grateful for his prior decisions: he hadn’t exposed himself, instead using the image of "Roland Augustus" to divert attention. At the same time, during this misdirection, he had set up another smokescreen—he believed that if applied correctly, this smokescreen would have even more unexpected effects.

But he also had to consider the potential of the smokescreen being seen through, as Beltira Augustus was a very clever woman back then, and the smokescreen he hastily arranged was not sophisticated... Perhaps he should think of a way to do some additional covering and arrangements from the Eternal Sleepers...

Gawain contemplated as he perfected his contingency plan, ensuring that he wouldn’t expose himself, and that no one would know he was capable of tapping into the Eternal Sleepers’ network.

It’s just uncertain what kind of actions the Oblivion Association will take after such a serious incident... They might become more cautious and hide themselves, or possibly initiate some actions ahead of time, and the latter would actually be better—this way they might reveal flaws and thus be eliminated in advance.

...

In the depths of the Profound Palace, within Anzu territory, Beltira was fighting off the unsettling dizziness and soul detachment feeling, quickly recovering from the aftereffects of soul projection.

She raised her head, seeing the Elven Twins awaken one after the other and almost simultaneously look at her.

"Soul projection isn’t safe; our communication was eavesdropped on this time," she said with a grim expression.

The Elven Twins responded simultaneously, "Luckily, we hadn’t begun discussing more confidential and important information, so the eavesdropper couldn’t grasp our subsequent actions."

"The important thing is, who exactly was it," Beltira said in a deep voice, "They impersonated Gawain..."

"In fact... we sensed a slight aura," the Elven Twins began, "It was the power fluctuation after using Eternal Sleepers Sorcery. Although we were in a soul projection state at the time, we’re quite familiar with the feel of them wielding power in the dream realm, having dealt with the Eternal Sleepers a lot."

"As expected, those illusion weavers, indulging in dreamland, cowards," Beltira’s eyes grew even colder, "I knew long ago, those lost in their dreams aren’t trustworthy..."

But immediately after, she snapped out of her anger, relying on regulating her own nerves and hormones, she forced herself to think calmly.

"Even those Eternal Sleepers lost in their dreams... aren’t fools and idiots, they wouldn’t eavesdrop in such a stupid way, let alone get caught by us... The soul projection devices were made by them, if they really wanted to pull some tricks, they could directly fiddle with the magical devices..."

Thinking of this, she looked up at the Elven Twins: "Contact the Eternal Sleepers directly, tell them something is wrong with the soul projection devices, tell them there might be outsiders invading these devices—let’s see what they say."

Blind suspicion or mistrust is foolish, blindly trusting is equally foolish.

Asking directly is better than being evasive, she chose to communicate with the Eternal Sleepers directly. If there is really someone else causing trouble, then the "experts", the Eternal Sleepers, could surely locate the intruder faster than herself, and if it really is the Eternal Sleepers themselves doing such stupid things... then direct confrontation would reveal their flaws more easily.

The day of the great evolution is approaching, she needs to eliminate any hidden threats swiftly.

...

In the depths of the wasteland, the creeping forest began to move once again.

Those eerie trees, with countless roots and branches, twisted faces emerging, crawled forward through the night sky. Their movement seemed slow but was actually much faster than humans on foot; it didn’t take long for this creeping forest to gradually move beyond the effective range of the soul projection.

"Change, huh..." The giant tree in the lead emitted a low, chaotic murmur, filled with disdain, "Irrelevant to the overall situation."

...

Gawain patiently waited until the next morning.

Upon hearing about Gawain’s experience in the dream realm last night, Amber was taken aback.

For this half-elf serving as his personal guard, in charge of the intelligence department, and already privy to a lot of secrets, Gawain didn’t hide his experience. What shocked Amber the most, indeed, was the existence of the "ancient" Beltira Augustus.

"That Beltira is a human who’s lived for seven hundred years?! And she seems lively now?!" The half-elf young lady stared at Gawain, "You even knew her back then? And quite well?"

"I was well acquainted with her brother for quite a long time—at least for five years, she also called me brother," Gawain looked at the too-excited half-elf in front of him, not understanding why she was so thrilled after hearing this information, though as a head of intelligence she should be interested in such information; the spark in her eyes was a bit too obvious, "But that’s all past now, things aren’t what they were—she’s one of the leaders of an evil cult, and this cult obviously intends to cause some trouble, which is the key issue here."

But Amber didn’t seem much concerned about this key issue, because her next question was: "Is she one of those over eighty princesses?"

Gawain paused for over twenty seconds before he thought of shoving this half-elf into the wall.

Yet the highly instinctive Amber, sensing imminent danger, had already leaped two meters away.

"You should focus on serious matters," Gawain glared fiercely at her, then his expression turned serious, "Go stand guard at the door; I need to contact the homeland, no visitors for now."

He intended to use the established Magic Web connection and contact Aunt Heidi at Cecil Castle to make some preparations in advance.

—When it comes to extensive data exchanges, requiring multi-person meetings or experiments, the mental network and Origin Space are relatively handy, but when it’s about swiftly transmitting intelligence, the Magic Web Terminal is more convenient than the immersion capsule that requires prior setup. As for the security level of the two, in an era where Magic Web Communication technology is unique, they are actually the same, as long as eavesdropping is prevented.

The Magic Web Communication Terminal, placed beside Gawain’s desk for his exclusive use, was quickly activated. With the relay devices set up in several Forward Bases and along the "Black Forest Route", a clear and powerful communication signal traversed the spatial distance, bringing the distant sounds and images closer to Gawain.

Aunt Heidi’s figure appeared in the holographic projection—bringing a slight hint of dark circles under her eyes.

It didn’t seem like makeup...

She seemed to have been extremely busy recently, reducing her resting time.

Gawain couldn’t help but feel a touch of concern and worry, as well as a slight sense of guilt.

Because he was about to assign Aunt Heidi more work...