Year 3805, Day 298
I DID IT!!!
I finally broke through to Rank 7, becoming a true Sword Lord. The aura of my breakthrough shook the entire peak.
The feeling was simply amazing, even though the pain was excruciating.
Now, my sword spirit is resonating within my soul, strengthening it almost constantly. In return, it reinforces and purifies my body.
My spiritual root has been forcibly elevated to the supreme rank, and as my meridians continue to expand and my dantian to strengthen, I can feel the bottleneck that has held me back for decades loosening.
For now, I'm still stabilizing my realm, and it will take me more or less two to three months before my soul stops this sudden reinforcement and, in turn, my body fully adapts.
At that point, it will also be time to reach the Transcendent Realm.
At least the sect has offered me an additional year in this cultivation room to congratulate me and allow me to consolidate my realm, so I'll make the most of it.
...
"ATTACK!" roared a Minks warrior.
Rows upon rows of marauders rushed toward the battlefield, running at full speed.
Behind them, the base's fixed artillery and defenses had long since opened fire, covering the skies with a barrage of missiles, bullets, and laser beams.
The Viking squadrons had picked up speed, clearly flying above ground level as they charged toward Alandal's troops.
A few kilometers above, the ten magical ships had activated their shields and were firing at full capacity at anything that moved.
At the same time, on the ground, the regiments of the Great Army had been deployed and were also running toward the Minks.
Most of the mages and cultivators were still too far to launch attacks, focusing mainly on defense.
With one intermediate existence per regiment, they formed the backbone of military formations.
All the men in a single regiment used part of their spirit to act as a single unit, making a part of their energy converge toward the commander, who in turn established a barrier around the regiment, allowing them to block bullets.
However, it wasn't realistic to expect the commander to block everything.
They actively defended only against high-powered weapons, while the colonels and generals maintained a larger formation, blocking most of the major damage.
As for the rest, the soldiers had to fend for themselves.
This was the terror technological civilizations brought to low-level extraordinary civilizations.
Under the constant barrage of howitzers, turrets, heavy cannons and more, the Great Army was more focused on defense than attack.
Despite the protection of the intermediate existences, the enemy offensive was so intense that it was unrealistic to block everything.
From time to time, a missile or laser beam slipped through the cracks, hitting some squads head-on, causing a few deaths and about a dozen injuries.
At least the fast fighters and Vikings seemed to be occupied elsewhere and weren't bothering them.
On the other side, the Minks didn't have the defense or barriers, and when the interception devices were overwhelmed, they could only take the hits head-on.
The brutal assault of the Ranks 4 tore up the ground and shook the world's spiritual energy. Vast areas were ravaged, and sometimes entire contingents were blown away by a single attack.
Meanwhile, the firing batteries focused their fire on the intermediate existences of the Great Army, forcing them to bear the brunt of the pressure.
Losses were rapidly increasing on both sides, and when the two forces were less than two kilometers apart, the Foundation Establishment mages and cultivators began their counterattacks while defending.
They didn't need to aim. Even if their attacks lost intensity by the time they hit and their aim was off, the enemy was so dense that they just had to fire into the crowd to have some effect.
On the other side, the first line of marauders, mechs and tanks came within firing range and unleashed hellfire and steel on Alandal's troops.
This was the most critical moment for the God of the four elements' believers.
The fire was so intense that it was impossible for the high-ranking officers to maintain the defensive barrier.
Even for the nearly 120 intermediate existences, protecting the entire army was impossible.
Several barriers broke, and the regiments were immediately overwhelmed by the Minks' assault.
"We're changing plans! Front barrier!"
One of the generals roared, and all those above the rank of colonel dissolved their overall barrier to condense it into a ten-meter-high wall in front of the army, leaving the top exposed.
The commanders immediately felt the pressure on them increase as the generals withdrew their support for interception.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
The defensive net became much looser, and casualties quickly mounted, but as the two armies drew closer, the madness in the Red Moon Naga's eyes deepened.
In just thirty seconds, the Great Army had already lost between four and five thousand men.
"Shoot em' out!"
One of the generals roared, and the barrier fell.
Immediately, whether they were mages or cultivators, nearly 40,000 Rank 2 soldiers still alive unleashed their most lethal attacks.
The Great Army of Alandal, after all, was the elite carefully cultivated by Liam.
At a distance of less than 500 meters, they had almost no chance of missing.
Crack
A mech was struck by two or three spells that instantly split its body in two.
A bit further, a tank was reduced to rubble by various martial techniques.
Some marauders were instantly cut in half by the attacks, but the Minks didn't back down.
At the same time, several Valyrs were swept away by artillery fire, while an entire section was wiped out by a missile launched from who-knows-where.
400 meters.
The mages gradually slowed their advance, allowing the cultivators to move ahead.
200 meters.
The mechs' machine guns had ceased firing, replaced by sawed-off shotguns for close combat or melee weapons.
100 meters.
The closest marauders threw down their rifles and grabbed their weapons.
50 meters.
The two sides stared each other down, and the Red Moon Naga's eyes, burning like embers, reflected their fierce desire for war and bloodlust.
In the perception of those at the front, time seemed to freeze.
Suddenly, the sword of a two-star marauder sliced through the air and struck a naga, splitting its skull in two.
It was the first blow in close combat, but far from the last.
Almost immediately, the two armies clashed, and the frontline turned into a raging hell.
The battlefield was far too narrow for everyone to use their full power, especially for the Rank 3s.
Sometimes, a strike would miss its target and hit someone else, who often didn't have time to complain before their vision went black.
On the other side, several helicopters and aerial shuttles were bombing the Great Army from the sky, while the tanks and howitzers maintained their relentless barrage, supported by the base's defense system.
On the Great Army's side, the Rank 4s began a large-scale massacre, targeting the large ground machines and airborne vehicles.
...
Five kilometers away, roughly above the base, a massive cannon suddenly changed its aim and pointed directly north.
Inside the cockpit, a slight mechanical beep sounded, and the Mink pressed a button.
...
Pvvvvvv
Back on the battlefield, a huge laser beam shot across the sky.
In the air, a Novarian at the Golden Core level suddenly felt a prickle of danger, but before he could do anything, the beam hit its target in the air.
There was no shockwave, no oscillation, but the result chilled every intermediate existence to the bone.
In an instant, the entire upper half of the cultivator's body had disappeared, and his waist, having lost its support, fell to the ground.
BOOM
The beam finally struck a mountain a few kilometers away, releasing a massive mushroom cloud and shaking the earth.
"Don't stay still! The weapon is fast, but the operators aren't!" a general roared.
Even so, this was only an interlude. The war was far from over.
...
High in the sky, the ten airships maintained formation and exchanged heavy fire with the base's defenses.
The power of each attack was far more violent than on the previous battlefield, and each side had its own advantage.
Inside each airship, three intermediate existences were condensing all their spiritual energy into the powerful networks and matrices of the airship.
Even though they were still far from the strength of a Rank 5 being, they displayed as much power as several peak Ranks 4.
Still, they were facing the full-on assault of thousands of cannons and anti-aircraft batteries.
Even while firing with a dozen magical cannons, destroying the entire defense system would still take some time.
Moreover, they were occasionally harassed by a patrol of fighters or Vikings passing by.
Dealing with them was very frustrating for the magical ships.
Despite their great firepower, they were immobile and slow. Against planes that flew at several times the speed of sound, they were a bit overwhelmed.
Nevertheless, for fear of this same firepower, the Vikings kept a safe distance from the airships, only firing from afar.
What really bothered the airship pilots were some extremely destructive laser cannons.
There weren't many of them, but the Donver engineers had placed them on mobile underground rails, allowing them to quickly change position after each shot.
Even though there seemed to be only a dozen of these cannons, their firing spots numbered in the hundreds.
The most annoying part was their monstrous power, and each hit the airships took made their protective barrier tremble.
On the ground, one of the cannons emerged and quickly pivoted to aim south, then fired a powerful energy beam.
Before the gunner could react, one of the airship pilots focused on it and concentrated the airship's firepower on the cannon.
The magical beam shot across the sky at full speed.
BOOM
The entire area exploded, and the shockwave swept away volcanic rock for hundreds of meters.
...
"Let's coordinate, global target in—"
"I've got an opening, I'm firing," a voice shouted into the intercom.
"Kiggs, stick to the protocol, damn it!"
"Hahaha, I got him, damn bast— chrchrchrchr."
Silence fell over the radio.
"Damn it!" the same Mink roared.
"What do we do, Sergeant?" another asked over the radio.
"We keep going. Focus target on ship No. 3, we're going to avenge Kiggs!"
...
A few seconds later, the thirty Rank 4s watched in disbelief as eight main cannons emerged from the ground and fired a full-powered salvo at the airship that had just taken out one of the cannons.
"DAMN IT!"
The eight energy beams struck the barrier head-on. After a few moments of resistance, the already battered barrier gave way and shattered.
With no other defense, the beams hit the airship directly.
BAM
Without the barrier's protection, the airship's alloys couldn't withstand the attack and were torn apart like paper.
The magical networks were completely disrupted, and the pilots all suffered backlash.
The generator and the spirit stones immediately overloaded, and then—
BOOOOOOOOM
The airship imploded, and coupled with the laser beams, the explosion instantly took the lives of the whole crew.
The explosion was so massive that even the nearby airships, despite being a kilometer away, were a bit pushed away by the blast.
Debris rained down like a waterfall as the flaming wreckage fell to the ground.
Though caught off guard, the other airships quickly adjusted their aim and obliterated two more cannons, while a few fighters were shot down in mid-air.
But as the ground troops faced each other and the base's defense system was engaged with Alandal's ships, the ground shook.
Craters opened up at every moment; large fissures and deep ridges split the earth under the constant attack of cannons and Ranks 4, completely reshaping the landscape.
Yet, there was still no sign of the spirit beasts, the few Golden Core cultivators and unaffiliated magus, the three-star marauders, or leaders like the Minks captain, Isabella, Sylvera or Ilbert...