Year 831, Day 92
Today is the day I emerge from seclusion.
These nearly six hundred years of isolation have not been a waste of time. Beyond my cultivation base, I have successfully refined my sword aura and can finally be considered a great sword master.
Coupled with my cultivation base, I believe I won't have many adversaries at the sixth stage, aside from other great masters.
I now have a bit more confidence in my chances of successfully enhancing my spiritual root.
But I have no illusions—against someone who masters the rules, I'm just an insect.
Unfortunately, I seem to have far more talent in the sword than in cultivation.
Anyway, it's now time for me to explore this world.
...
"What I'm saying is that we need to be extremely cautious. I don't know how they can cause so much damage with something that lacks spiritual energy, but one thing is certain: these things are enormous threats," Sylvera said to the dozen intermediate existences before him.
"That's true," Ilbert said.
He raised his hand, and a small pearl appeared in the air. It was a brand-new recording device from Alandal that every rank 3 possessed, and although 3D reconstruction wasn't available yet, 2D posed no problem.
The pearl slightly trembled and quickly projected two images onto the wall of the room.
"As far as we know, there are two types of weapons. The first—" he said, pointing to the image of a long, thin black cylinder. "Is equivalent to a full-power explosion from a rank 4. Additionally, the damage at the point of impact is piercing, further increasing the explosive power and internal damage."
He then controlled the pearl again, showing eight of these explosions, resulting in the immediate death of two red-moon Nagas, four Valyrs, and a novarian of rank 4, as well as the severe injury of a young wyvern that would later lead to its death.
Afterward, he also showed a recording of the magical barriers of each camp stopping the explosion of each bomb.
"The enemy detonated about a hundred bombs, and the results are clear: if this thing hits you, you're almost dead! Especially for mages, who don't focus on physical reinforcement. Cultivators and beasts still have a chance to resist, provided they've reached the advanced stage. However!" he said with a slight smile.
"While the destructive force and speed of these things are undeniable, they also have several significant flaws. First of all, they are easily detectable by spiritual sense as long as you're paying attention. Secondly, as demonstrated by Elder Maïna, these things are very fragile and explode at the slightest contact." He then showed the video of a gigantic ice wyvern using simple ice spear spells to make the bombs explode from a safe distance.
"Finally and most importantly, these things are predictable. Their trajectory is predetermined and hardly changes, making them easier to intercept or, failing that, to dodge. In short, while it's true that these weapons pose a threat, they caused us so much loss primarily due to the element of surprise, and they are largely manageable."
Despite these good news, his tone suddenly turned somber.
"The problem is this." He showed another cylinder, gray, thicker, and longer.
He then switched to an aerial view of the plan, where, aside from numerous small craters, two massive zones of destruction, each several tens of kilometers in diameter, were easily spotted.
"These bombs are in a completely different category from the previous ones, although they share similar characteristics. However, their speed is about 20,000 meters per second, so forget about rank 4s. Even we would have difficulty dodging it if we don't extend our spiritual sense to the maximum. In terms of damage, it's equivalent to about sixty rank 5s striking together at the same point with their maximum force."
Sylvera stood up this time and looked at the other members of the assembly seriously.
"I won't lie to you, this thing is by far the most dangerous we've ever encountered. With our own strength, none of us could withstand it head-on. Only Isabella, Ilbert, and I might be able to dodge and resist, but within a radius of one or two kilometers, no one else can survive it! On top of that, it releases a strange virus into the air that is very harmful to those with weak bodies. It took significant efforts from several generals to finally detoxify the camp and heal the sick, but the area outside the barrier is still contaminated."
At that moment, the orc leader looked at the saint with a furrowed brow.
"Marshal Sylvera, aside from the camp barrier, didn't you manage to block the explosion yourself?"
Sylvera shook his head in dismay.
"Unfortunately, no, it's only thanks to the grace of His Excellency the Lord of the Four Elements and my unwavering faith that I was able to form such a barrier. It exhausted much of my accumulation, and it will take me at least six months to recover enough energy to cast another one."
"As for the barrier," Ilbert continued, "While it's true that it can withstand the explosion, the consumption is not insignificant either. The previous defense alone consumed nearly 10,000 low-quality spirit stones and 59 low-quality spirit stones, which is nearly half of the reserves in place. If I'm in charge of the formation and supported by about twenty generals, I can reduce the cost by 20 or 30%, but Alandal won't be able to sustain such a ridiculous consumption for long. Maybe ten explosions at most, but what about after that?"
"Without the spirit stones, I won't have enough energy to block the entire explosion. The rank 4s might survive more or less, but the lower existences will have no chance."
The room fell into a heavy silence as the gravity of the situation set in.
"There is still some good news," Isabella suddenly said, breaking the silence that had gripped the council.
"If those bastards had many of those things, they would have thrown them at the other camps." Her slit pupils sharpened as a violent aura emerged from her body.
"I think we need to consolidate our forces here. Since a full-on attack isn't possible, the encirclement is pointless, and Ilbert can't duplicate himself, leaving four camps with high consumption. In the end, it will come down to who runs out of supplies first!"
...
At the same time, more than two hundred kilometers away.
Nate slowly opened his eyes and found himself face to face with the worried looks of his comrades.
He had been unconscious for nearly an hour. As soon as he had collapsed, one of the lieutenants had rushed over and put a recovery pill in his mouth.
As the pill took effect, he unconsciously absorbed the spiritual energy in the air, and as soon as the mental fatigue induced by the formation's setup was alleviated, he woke up.
The man wasted no time and immediately controlled the formation, checking that everything was in order.
"Not bad, there are hardly any flaws!" he thought.
He took another fifteen minutes to slightly adjust the placement of some spiritual items, strengthen the connection between the nodes, and smooth out the energy flow of the formation.
The more than a hundred other team members watched the scene but did not intervene. To their eyes, Nate had just closed his eyes and was expending large amounts of energy.
After all, it was a rank 4 concealment formation. If rank 3s could actually see the formation's nodes, it would raise serious questions about the formation's effectiveness.
The old naga let out a deep sigh and finally opened his reptilian eyes, then smiled slightly as he looked at the two captains.
"It's done, everything went smoothly. The formation covers a radius of one hundred meters with this thing at the center. From the outside, it's as if we're not here, but we'll be detected if someone enters and sees us, though at least I'll be informed as soon as it happens."
Max nodded, and after a few other minor adjustments, he turned to the strange metallic cube.
"Well, now, what is this thing, and how do we open it?"
He looked at his men, and although he didn't expect much, he was still disappointed to see their empty and embarrassed expressions.
He could only sigh. While Nate was asleep, they had examined the block from every angle.
They had even dug into the ground about twenty meters, but it only revealed a single square conduit that descended deep into the earth.
Even though his spiritual sense could extend nearly 500 meters in the air where nothing obstructed it, it was barely thirty meters in the ground, and even at the bottom of the hole, he sensed nothing new—just a long metallic conduit.
As for resistance, rank 1 and 2 attacks didn't leave a scratch on it, while rank 3 attacks were too violent and could reveal their position if the formation had an issue, so they had waited for Nate to wake up for that.
"Well, there's only one thing left to do," he said with a sigh.
The Valyr mage took his long staff and began constructing several spell models in his mind.
This time, he was going to outdo himself.
The magic gem on the staff glowed as it resonated with the mage's consciousness, calming his thoughts and amplifying the power of his mana.
Slowly, a small flame blade appeared in front of him.
One should not be fooled by its size. This small flame raised the temperature by several degrees just by its presence and exuded a terrifying aura.
It was one of his own spells that served as one of his trump cards. Almost no lower existence could withstand this attack, but the downside was that it took nearly five seconds to cast.
That may seem short, but for beings of their level, a tenth of a second was enough to decide victory.
However, they weren't in combat.
His consciousness trembled, and as the large amount of mana used in the spell made it challenging to use for precision tasks, he used his consciousness and strong will to move the blade toward the cube, gritting his teeth.
The other team members frowned as they heard the screeching noise of metal scraping, while Max continued to feed it mana.
The heat was so intense that a few small drops of the strange alloy dripped where the blade passed.
In just a few moments, the Valyr captain had made a large rectangular hole big enough to let even the most massive of the red-moon Nagas pass, revealing a long tunnel that plunged into the depths of the world.
At the same time, Max let out a long exhale and dissipated the spell. He immediately pulled out a small vial from his bag and quickly drank its contents.
He wasted no time and sat down cross-legged, then got up a quarter of an hour later.
"I'm good. I've recovered about 80% of my strength," he said.
...
"I want the drones to fly over the central area of the world within a three-hundred-kilometer radius around the base. If there aren't enough, deploy all necessary means to build more as quickly as possible!"
"At your command, Captain." One of the monkey lieutenants gave a peculiar military salute and then immediately left the conference room.
"Now that the information issue is resolved, let's talk about defense. The strength of this army is in no way inferior to that of the inner native worlds. No, in many areas, one could even say it's superior."
A chilling silence settled in the room as everyone digested the captain's words.
"The power we've used will certainly slow them down, maybe even stop them, but it's only temporary. It's highly likely that from today onwards, they'll be much more cautious."
He squinted and looked at his entire war council. "Humpf, useless bastards. If we weren't in a crisis, I would have cleaned house long ago." He couldn't help but grumble internally.
He then slammed his fist on the table and stood up.
"There's no other way; all anti-air batteries need to be ready. I want a full overhaul of all combat vehicles and for the marauders to gear up. They're only to remove their helmets when eating, understood?!"
...
How do Nagas climb down a ladder?
Well, quite simply by using only their arms.
Short after, half the team had descended to the bottom of the conduit, which was at least a hundred meters deep, while the other half had remained on the surface, keeping guard outside.
The vertical conduit had led to a long and wide corridor, large enough for several men to fight side by side without any problem.
They advanced slowly, a naga at the advanced stage of foundation establishment leading the team, while Max stood right behind him.
Two other mages took turns hiding the group, while another foundation establishment cultivator brought up the rear.
However, what was so interesting about a simple long corridor?
The walls were identical, with white ceiling lights illuminating the corridor, dull gray steel walls, and occasionally a few ventilation grates.
They walked in a straight line for about five hundred meters and then came across a heavy armored door.
"The door is a meter thick, but it's very solid," said the naga leading the way after using his spiritual sense. "I'm confident I can break it, but it might make some noise. Plus, there are two guards behind this door."
Max raised an eyebrow and then extended his spiritual sense forward as well.
As soon as he passed through the door, he encountered two strange beings. They had no spiritual energy within them, nor any resonance with mana.
Although his spiritual sense didn't allow him to know what they looked like, he could easily determine their strength based on how his spiritual sense was disturbed.
The more disturbed it was, the stronger they were, and if it was completely blocked, then they were stronger than him. In this case, there was almost no obstruction.
"Barely apprentice warriors," he told the group, who showed a look of relief.
"Even if they're weak, we can't just blow up the door; that would surely alert the others," he said with a grim expression.
"Incoming!" the naga suddenly said.