The Sword Emperor Transmigrates-Chapter 210

“...”

“...”

“...”

While the cheers of the Green Dragon knight echoed outside, silence prevailed inside the Barricade Train. The atmosphere was especially heavy in the sector accessible only to the top brass.

Gathered in the conference room were the four knight commanders, Elder Garneau, and the vice commanders of the Order of the Blue Dragon and the Order of the Green Dragon, all seated in a tense silence, reluctant to speak.

“Hmm...” However, unbothered by the atmosphere, Wade broke the silence without hesitation. “This is at least three—no, four times more dangerous than we anticipated.”

Audrey, nodding in agreement, replied, “Even in a weakened state, it’s that powerful... It wasn’t considered a legendary entity during the ancient era for nothing.”

Following their exchange, Grace and Uluka also chimed in.

“That forest has practically become Yggdrasil’s stomach. If we go in unprepared, we’ll all be consumed.”

“It looks... less like a Corroded Realm and more like a Divine Territory. It’s blocking sunlight completely, so it will be nearly impossible to secure visibility without magical means. There might even be laws there that react negatively or reject light and heat altogether.”

Grace’s unique trait, the Five Elements Chaos Origin, resonated with the laws of nature rather than typical forces. As she peered into Yggdrasil’s domain, a chill ran through her—an unfamiliar sensation, as though the world that had always been on her side had betrayed her.

Uluka, on the other hand, was using his expertise to analyze the dangers within the forest. Though trying to make sense of such an unpredictable space felt almost meaningless, his mind continued to calculate.

The vice commanders, lacking the same level of insight as the commanders, remained silent. The only exception was Garneau, an elder of the Jehoia family, who broke the tension with a hearty laugh.

“Gahaha! Why the long faces? You didn’t really think we'd break through that easily, did you!?”

The Barricade Train, the magnum opus of Jehoia, had been designed with the purpose of taking down Yggdrasil. After hundreds of years of stalling, the time had finally come for this masterpiece to prove its worth. Garneau hadn’t directly participated in its construction, but as an elder and a master of the Jehoia family, his excitement was palpable.

The Mobile Isolation Barricade Train, meant to seal off Yggdrasil’s domain, had never fully revealed its true capabilities.

It was then that a voice interrupted, “This is Special Officer Leonard.”

“Come in.”

With Leonard’s arrival, all the participants in the operation meeting were now assembled. After a brief update on the discussion so far, the eight individuals turned their focus back to the matter at hand: how to approach Yggdrasil.

“The only viable option is to concentrate all of our power and break through at a single point. Any other approach seems impossible,” Wade stated.

“And what happens when the Barricade Train can no longer advance?”

“Then we deploy all remaining forces to clear a path for the suicide squad to reach Yggdrasil. Once the Barricade Train breaches the forest, it will be beyond recovery anyway. If necessary, we can detonate the power core to push the domain back as far as possible.”

Unfortunately, their options were few. Once they stripped away the finer details, only two broad strategies remained: disperse or concentrate. They had to come up with a grand strategy whilst taking into consideration the two Knight Orders, the four commanders, and the Barricade Train.

Ultimately, they had to decide between disperse—splitting their forces into smaller units to penetrate Yggdrasil’s defenses—or concentrate—focusing all their power to break through in one decisive strike.

Leonard strongly leaned toward the latter.

That forest is Yggdrasil’s playground. If we go in, we’d be like Sun Wukong trapped in Buddha’s palm.

To divide their forces in such unknown enemy territory? That would be suicide. Not to mention, artifacts allowing the commanders to intervene quickly would be useless inside the forest. With four Wraith Kings lurking and ready to strike repeatedly, the expedition team would be wiped out in no time.

Moreover, if the Spriggans weren’t the only ones attacking, but rather, if Yggdrasil itself moved, scattering their commanders would make it impossible to respond.

“Ugh... No matter what, there will be a staggering number of casualties,” Audrey said, her eyes lowering as she sighed deeply, accepting Wade’s proposal for a concentrated assault.

Even when the Heart Demoniacs that had broken through the Order of the Black Dragon’s defensive line escaped the empire and destroyed several kingdoms, the damage to the Cardenas family had been, more or less, contained. The real issue wasn’t the breach but the resurrection of the Demoniacs despite shattering their core and negating their unique traits.

However, if they advanced toward Yggdrasil, they had to expect casualties in the hundreds.

“Even if nine out of ten die, we must succeed,” Uluka added.

“If we fail, and the Barricade Train along with the Blue Dragon and Green Dragon Orders are annihilated, the Spriggan Frontier will basically be left defenseless. Yggdrasil’s expanding domain, which has been suppressed, would force the entire continent of Arcadia to confront it.”

“True, though Arcadia wouldn’t fall to Spriggans alone... Still, if we consider what happens afterward, things could become dire,” Grace noted.

At her words, the commanders briefly glared at her, clearly unsettled. She had hinted at classified information not yet authorized for disclosure.

“Oh.” Realizing her mistake, Grace gave an awkward smile, and the room’s focus shifted once again to the people in the room pretending not to know.

Despite the occasional distractions, the conclusion of the meeting remained unchanged: they would muster their full strength and break through to Yggdrasil.

Leonard, who had been content with this decision, suddenly raised his hand with a question that had been bothering him.

“What is it?”

“I'm curious about one thing.”

As all seven pairs of eyes turned toward him, Leonard asked frankly, “Given the structure of the Barricade Train, isn’t a focused breakthrough practically impossible? If we gather all our forces in one sector, won’t the core facilities or core systems in other sectors shut down or be destroyed, stopping the train altogether?”

“That’s a valid concern,” Uluka acknowledged with a faint smile.

The others shared the same knowing look, one that hinted they were all in on a secret Leonard wasn’t privy to.

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“It’s information only available to those ranked vice commander or higher in the Order of the Green Dragon, so you couldn’t have known yet. This Barricade Train actually has two forms, a defensive mode and an offensive mode.”

“Come again?”

“Now then, let me show you the offensive mode of the Barricade Train,” Uluka said with a grin.

Uluka raised the back of his hand, revealing platinum-colored magic runes. He activated the authority to input commands into the Barricade Train. One of the privileges of this authority was the ability to transmit the commanding officer’s orders.

“This is a message to all personnel on board. From this moment on, all personnel on the Barricade Train are prohibited from acting independently until the situation is fully resolved. I repeat, all personnel on the train must remain in position and await further instructions until the ongoing events are completely dealt with.”

Without paying any attention to the confusion among the Green Dragon knights who received the puzzling order, Uluka immediately commanded the train.

“Convert the Mobile Isolation Barricade Train into the Mobile Fortress Assault Train and initiate the combat-ready sequence.”

After issuing this seemingly cryptic command and having it confirmed, Uluka gestured behind him and left the meeting room. Leonard, looking bewildered, hurried to follow.

Soon, the entire group left the conference room and ascended to the upper deck of the train.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

The moment they stepped outside the train, a tremendous noise, shaking the very ground, filled Leonard’s ears. It was the kind of roar that made it feel as if the sky and earth were being overturned—a deafening sound that could shake the heavens themselves.

Even the forest, cloaked in an ominous darkness, stirred uneasily in the face of the overwhelming sound. The physical phenomenon was so intense that even the supernatural authority seemed to falter.

“...The train!” Leonard’s eyes, darting left and right at the sight of the train, were filled with disbelief and shock.

It was understandable. The train, which had stretched beyond the horizon, was now curling inward, converging like the shell of a snail, with Sector C at the center. And that wasn’t all.

The train’s body, separated into dozens of sections, was folding in on itself, and starting from Sector A, each section began to rise upward. The train was taking on the form of a fortress, coiled like a triangular pyramid.

“The vast length of the train, over a hundred kilometers, was its defensive form ultimately designed for defending a particular area,” Uluka explained. “The further the enemy moved from Yggdrasil’s domain, the weaker they became. Even with reduced firepower and troop density, the defensive form could maintain a stable defensive line.”

“But,” he continued, “when we’re on the offensive, things are different. The closer we get, the stronger the enemy becomes. A low-density defensive form won’t cut it. That’s why the train was designed to switch into an offensive mode.”

“...So, the assault form is the opposite,” Leonard surmised. “The range in which it blocks the Spriggans and the World Tree’s influence becomes much narrower, but in exchange, it increases firepower and troop density, transforming into a fortress.”

“Precisely.”

As they exchanged words, the Barricade Train continued to fold and reshape itself endlessly. Sector C had already risen over a hundred meters, so the view from their vantage point had greatly increased. The walls, which had been fifty meters high, now stood an additional hundred meters taller.

The defense barrier is becoming stronger by overlapping in a limited area... The power that had been suppressing Yggdrasil’s domain is now being redirected to protect the interior.

Though Leonard, far above a normal Transcendence Tier knight, didn’t feel it much, the more they approached Yggdrasil’s domain, the more the passengers of the train felt the effects. Even the air they breathed seemed to gnaw at their lungs, and the light stung their eyes slightly, as if something was being scraped against them.

The expedition team had fought well so far, not because their bodies and souls were in tip-top condition, but because they possessed great physical and mental endurance.

But now, in its offensive mode, the Barricade Train—no, the Mobile Fortress—created a level of protection that entirely blocked those influences.

“Gahahaha! I don’t know how massive the World Tree, which supposedly towers beyond the universe, really is!” Garneau, staring at the Mobile Fortress being completed, praised the masterpiece of Jehoia with a gleam of madness in his eyes.

A defensive fortress that even the Dvergr of the ancient times could not create.

“But it won’t be more impressive than this fortress our Jehoia family has built!”

As if responding to Garneau’s praise, the transformation of the Mobile Fortress sped up, doubling its pace. The elevation of Sector C accelerated, and the clouds that had been far above them now seemed to draw nearer.

More precisely, as the remaining sections of the train’s body shrank, the force pulling everything inward grew stronger. None of this really mattered.

Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

Gunports emerged from the coiled surface of the walls, and the glowing magic arrays within them shone even brighter. By abandoning its defensive form, which had been maintained for centuries, the combat power of the Mobile Fortress had increased nearly fivefold compared to its previous state. And if practicality was also taken into account, that increase might reach tenfold.

Although fueled by the Arcadian Empire’s accumulated resources, the fortress could only maintain its offensive mode for less than a month.

“And that’s more than enough,” said Uluka, the Green Dragon Commander, his eyes gleaming with lethal intent as he gazed toward the horizon beyond the forest.

The World Tree, Yggdrasil—in ancient times, it was an entity that bestowed life and blessings, but in this era, it was nothing more than a calamity, a bringer of death and destruction.

The duty of the Order of the Green Dragon was to burn it to ashes, roots included.

“...For the glory of Cardenas.”

Murmuring softly so that no one could hear, Uluka grasped the amulet hanging from his chest. It was a keepsake left behind by his mother, the former Green Dragon Commander.