Chapter 1020 — The Winter Hunt

Beyond the edge of the blizzard's shroud, the prayers in the great assembly hall still rose layer upon layer without any sign of ceasing. The priests, who had entirely lost their human minds, swayed around the sacrificial fire now wholly stained iron-grey, chanting in unison the psalms offered to the God of War. From within their bodies came a humming, rumbling resonance; certain strange, mutated organs emitted chants more obscure and unintelligible than human voices, and around these priests, at the edges of the assembly hall, the obsidian guards in black armor had already drawn their longswords — every warrior watching tensely for the slightest movement of their commander.

The distant bell tolled its seventeenth stroke. The commander glanced at the mechanical watch in his hand, then looked to the sky beyond the window, and saw a vast, hazy, giant-like shadow suddenly emerge within the blizzard. A feeling seized him at once, as though his heart had been crushed in a powerful grip — and the next instant he cried out: "Kill all the priests! Quickly!"

Blade after blade leaped from its sheath. In the iron-grey firelight the swords danced and plunged one after another into bodies beneath black robes; the already ruined and mutated priests lost their lives swiftly, one after the other. The obsidian guards carried out the slaughter in cold, silent discipline, and to the very moment of death those low-chanting priests offered no resistance at all — they were wholly immersed in the out-of-control summoning ritual, with no human joy or anger or fear left in them.

Across the whole Winterhold region — among the plains, the hills, and the river valleys — the same scene played out again and again in one Church of the God of War assembly hall after another, all at the same moment.

The war drums and horns howling in the sky suddenly turned shrill, as though a vast host of chaotic noise had mixed into the proper martial music. The wind and snow swept the land, and the giant figure ever solidifying within the blizzard abruptly lurched — He seemed to have been struck by something, His aura weakened slightly, and He even seemed on the verge of being banished to another world. But that weakening lasted only an instant; the next second, He entered this world even more unshakably than before.

At last, even ordinary folk could behold the vast shadow in the blizzard. He was so huge, so dreadful, and yet so sacred and majestic; he moved through the wind and snow like a mountain, drawing the gaze of all living things as though possessing inexhaustible attraction — around Winterhold, on hilltops and in camps, countless soldiers and officers raised their heads almost instinctively to look toward the blizzard.

Even Count Parlyn Winterhold, standing atop the Winterhold mage tower, was no exception.

He had thought his willpower could withstand the god's influence, but once the god truly began entering the real world bit by bit, he could scarcely keep himself from casting his gaze toward that blizzard. The next second, his whole field of vision — his whole mind — was utterly seized by that vast and majestic figure. He felt immense knowledge pouring frantically into his head, countless thoughts not his own breeding and bursting forth in every nerve of his being, his perception being torn apart as he began to touch all the maddening secrets and darkness of this world, sliding toward an abyss no human mind could comprehend — but just then, brilliant starlight entered his eyes.

A wondrous sight appeared above the Winterhold region — the blizzard raged at low altitude, wild winds whipping rain and snow up out of thin air to form an unbroken curtain of chaos, yet higher up the sky suddenly revealed a vast field of stars. The noonday sky seemed to have been replaced by the veil of night, and radiant stars, seemingly worlds apart from this age, glittered in that night — every star standing in defiant opposition to the mad power within the blizzard. And this wondrous sight was confined entirely to the Winterhold region; at its edges, the starry sky and the normal sky stood sharply apart, presenting a clear and razor-sharp dividing line.

Parlyn Winterhold, already sliding toward the abyss of madness, swiftly came back to his senses. He knew that the sovereign he served had made his move.

This winter's hunt had only just begun.

The Count of Winterhold strode like the wind to the transmission crystal within the mage tower. His mighty magic power drove the crystal directly, carrying his voice across the entire defense line:

"All units — begin executing the prearranged plan!"

"Overcome your fear, overcome your weakness, overcome your instinct — attack!"

...

In the Cecil-controlled territory facing the Winterhold defense line from afar, on the highest terrace of the Winterwolf Keep, Gao Yang could likewise see that immense blizzard — and the "wondrous sight" above it.

He could not make out the details within the blizzard, but Viradel, who had shortly before carried out the "lookout" task, had already issued the warning: the God of War had descended.

Today was the first day of the Month of Chill — the New Calendar festival. Amber's judgment had been correct.

Even across such a vast distance, gazing directly upon a deity remained a dangerous thing; the various mental-protection units on the Cecil side had already begun operating. Yet Gao Yang had not actually sensed the aura of divine corrosion from within the blizzard. Judging from Verodai's observations, it seemed that the "starry sky" spread above the blizzard was exerting some kind of suppression and filtration, channeling the divine contamination that ought to have spread unchecked deep into the starfield instead.

The cards that Luoyan Augustus had hidden were being turned over, one by one.

Intelligence from the frontline observation posts was swiftly gathered at Winterwolf Fort. A signal runner dashed up onto the terrace:

"Report! Extremely large-scale magical convergence observed on the Typhon side — their battlemage corps has begun to move!"

"Griffin Knight orders observed taking to the air on the Typhon side!"

"Anomalous magical surges appearing at the edge of the standoff zone — frontline units request instructions!"

After swiftly dispatching several orders, Gao Yang made his way to the command hall on the castle's ground floor, which was already a hive of activity.

The upheaval in the Typhon-controlled zone set every nerve on edge. Even though the date had been calculated in advance and preparations made, in the absence of key intelligence the commanders still had to execute every contingency plan as though facing the worst case. Philip was ordering the frontline armored units to advance toward the Typhon-held territory; Ma Qi had already boarded the armored train "War Citizen" and set out for the Winterfort defense line; and at the air base further to the rear, several dragoon squadrons along with draconic mercenaries were taking off in sequence, ready to rush to the front.

But for now all they were executing were assembly orders — whether to open fire, and at whom precisely, still required judgment from the supreme command.

"Your Majesty," Philip said the instant he noticed Gao Yang's arrival, speaking rapidly, "Outpost scouts have just visually confirmed that some extraordinarily enormous 'thing' has indeed appeared within the blizzard, but the mental-contamination shielding devices show no reaction."

Gao Yan nodded. "The Typhon seem to have used another method to redirect the orientation of the mental contamination — do not lower your guard. Keep the shielding systems running at all times. There is no telling how long the Typhon's 'method' will remain effective."

Philip opened his mouth, as though he meant to report something further, but just then Amber abruptly sprang out of the air beside him.

She bounded up to Gao Yang in two or three leaps: "We caught a Typhon outside the castle!"