Wandering Knight

Chapter 472: The Human Cannonball

"Did Skyborne City enter the battlefield ahead of schedule?"Upon hearing the shocking news, the wizard felt a flicker of genuine astonishment. Though the spire looming before him had not forced the Alliance's legions to the brink, it was still formidable. His own detachment belonged to the weaker half of the Alliance forces; more legends would have been a godsend. But even the strongest Alliance fighters would struggle to neutralize one of these towers quickly.

By his calculations, it would take roughly ten minutes. The legions possessing the greatest combat strength would destroy the spire before them, then rush to reinforce the other forces who were evenly matched—or worse, being pushed back.

But the pace at which a spire had just been destroyed... was far faster than expected. And in the wizard's mind, there was only one force in the entire Alliance capable of achieving such a feat: Skyborne City.

"No. Skyborne City is still observing the situation and watching for whatever schemes the Utopia might be hiding beneath the cover of such a massive invasion."

The operator from Skyborne City responded immediately. The great aerial fortress was still on standby. As the greatest weapon and the ultimate bulwark of the Alliance, it would not be deployed lightly. Even the embarrassing delay during the previous operation had not persuaded the Alliance to alter this rule.

"...Well then."

Before he could finish, the wizard's gaze snapped toward the spire the Alliance's forces were battling. He sensed it clearly: the net woven from the links between the twenty-one spires was no longer whole. One of the links connected to the spire before him had snapped.

The very first consequence of that destroyed link was a reduction in the spire's strength. In the wizard's estimation, both the speed and force with which it drew upon void energy had dropped to roughly three quarters of its original level the instant the link broke. This was an opportunity to turn the tides.

"Attack, now!"

Whatever had happened, this was an opportunity they could not afford to miss. The legendary wizard unleashed every ounce of void energy at his disposal. From the depths of the abyss, the shadow of a colossal giant stepped forth, raised its fist, and brought it crashing down on the tower—and on the voidspawn it had summoned.

"A second spire has been destroyed! It's the one closest to the first."

What was going on? Did the Alliance have a hidden strike force capable of obliterating towers at blinding speed?

With the second link down, the spire weakened again. The battlefield was not merely tilting, but was being overturned completely. Every battlefield where Alliance forces faced the Utopia's towers was experiencing the same shift.

The Alliance legions surged forward, crushing the towers now crippled by the fractures in the link—each victory made possible by those inexplicable, unbelievable reports.

Outside Liaheim, the elven capital situated on the outskirts of the Forest of Origin, a vast defensive line had been erected. War-trees and elven warriors stood shoulder to shoulder against the Utopia's spire that had manifested outside the city.

Within the Forest of Origin, emerald crystal spires rose skyward. Concentrated beams of high-energy light rose from their tips toward the distant spire. Alchemical cannon arrays rained explosive shells across the front lines, clearing the way for the elven warriors battling the voidspawn soldiers spewing from the spire.

These were the very armaments once used against the World-Eater. At last, their full, terrifying strength was on display. Their destructive force had almost plowed the battlefield into rubble. Before the spires linked together, this one had been forced into a state of absolute defense.

Its void barrier rippled as it defended against the elves' bombardment, nullifying the spellfire and alchemical artillery. Since returning from the void, the spires had grown far stronger than before, and their defensive capabilities were formidable.

The elves held magical prowess surpassing the humans', but they had fewer knights. The ones they did have, however, were unmatched in quality. Nearly half the legendary knights originally stationed at the Garden of Eden now stood at the vanguard, engaging the voidspawn soldiers head-on.

The earth within the Forest of Origin split open. A vast mass of tree roots burst forth, hurling boulders toward the battlefield. The Tree of Life had joined the battle as well. The elves' "mother" would not be deceived again. The World-Eater, crafted by devils over decades, had been a one-of-a-kind abomination.

The elves held an overwhelming advantage. Even after linking with the network, the spire's enhancements could not withstand the wild, relentless fire pouring out from the Forest of Origin—nor stop the trio of legendary knights at the front, who had sheathed their twin blades and bows, drawn greatswords, spun like dervishes, and led a charge of grand knights crashing forward like a tidal wave.

The elven forces pushed steadily onward, expanding their zone of fire inch by inch. In time, this spire was certain to fall.

But just as the elves advanced with calm, disciplined precision, the spire suddenly emitted a deep resonance. Two of the links bulged, swelling in thickness. A tremendous surge of void energy funneled into the spire.

At once, its power skyrocketed. To the few elven wizards, the fluctuations of void energy from the spire seemed to have doubled. The effects were instantaneously obvious.

A visible wave of void energy burst outward and raced across the forest's edge. It slammed into the barrier of the maze-lock, then stabilized, forming a vast hemispherical domain over most of the battlefield.

Within it, the environment shifted into a far deeper fusion of the void and material realm than even what had occurred in the Bloodfang Empire. The sky turned to a deep violet scattered with starlight. The elven knights were largely unaffected, but the mages immediately felt the pressure. Magic was suppressed. Spellcasting grew more difficult. Attacks and barriers alike were weakened.

This domain favored the Utopia. And with the elven mages restrained, the spire finally had the ability to target the knights who had closed into melee range.

The ground blurred and phased almost to nothing. Space warped across a vast radius, and solid earth became a bottomless abyss filled with raging spatial currents. Pitch-black spheres of annihilating void energy appeared throughout the air, drifting unpredictably and devouring everything they touched.

Fighting spirit surged. With terrifying reflexes and raw strength, the knights shattered or deflected the spheres—but could not escape the effects of the massive spatial distortions. They were forced to continuously expend fighting spirit lest they too be dragged into the abyss.

This was one of the few weaknesses of knights. Even as legends capable of sundering wizardry with their bare hands, it was still difficult for them to counter large-area assaults efficiently. This was why, in every era, knights were strongest not alone, but instead in concert with spellcasters.

"The surrounding spires funneled their power into this one, granting it such an overwhelming surge... That must be another function of this network: not just reinforcing these spires, but redistributing their strength as well."

Standing upon the uppermost tier of the Tree of Life, Gewen, the elven elder charged with both observation and protection, calmly assessed the battlefield. After a brief exchange with the operator from Skyborne City, he finally understood why the spire before them had changed so drastically.

The Alliance legions battling the two neighboring spires were among the weaker detachments; they had failed to apply sufficient pressure. As a result, those two towers had simply channeled a portion of their power through the network,greatly amplifying the spire facing Liaheim's defenders.

"The web lets the towers adjust their strength dynamically, while our coalition cannot redirect power with such efficiency. That is a tremendous advantage for the Utopia's forces..."

Down on the battlefield, the elven mages exerted great effort to drag the knights back from the front line. Their spellfire, now sparse and scattered, was no longer able to suppress the spire, allowing it to shift from defense to offense.

A deluge of wizardry from the tower, and spells from the Utopians spilling out of the void, rained toward the elves, forcing them to pull back and tighten their formation.

Gewen continued his silent analysis, unperturbed. Half of Liaheim's legendary might still stood guard around the Tree of Life. If necessary, they too could enter the fray.

The Utopia's spires, by virtue of the network, could redistribute the power of all twenty-one spires at will. They could reinforce any spire under threat or withhold power from those facing weak enemies. Thus they conserved strength when they could, and shored up their defenses when they must.

"But if they can do this... then they could simply concentrate everything into one tower, annihilate whichever legion is weakest, and then shift that freed strength elsewhere, defeating us one by one. So why don't they? Is the transfer limited? Or... do they have another aim entirely?"

A seed of suspicion grew within Gewen's mind. If Utopia truly possessed the means to rout the coalition swiftly, why were they maintaining this strange balance of power? Something was off.

"In any case... we should attempt a rapid strike on at least one spire and see what happens."

Having reached a conclusion, Gewen prepared to contact and coordinate with Skyborne City.

But just then, before he had even grasped what was happening, the spire before them exploded at its midpoint. The upper half shattered outright, collapsing like a felled giant. The entire structure split cleanly in two.

Everything happened far too quickly for anyone to react. Not until the ground-shaking crash echoed through the forest and the tower's void resonance suddenly weakened did the elven warriors realize that something unseen had torn the spire apart.

The lower half of the spire began to rupture as well. Something inside—something quick and brutally efficient—was dismantling the spire from within. A structure that had withstood overwhelming barrages now came apart as though it were made of common stone.

"What?"

The whisper escaped Gewen before he realized it. This development wasn't a part of even his most far-fetched predictions. And what came next—

"Elder Gewen! Elder, it was Mr. Wang Yu who demolished the tower! And he says he'll need to borrow the Primeval Lance Kasimir in a moment! Oh, and Mister Wang Yu also said the Tree of Life already agreed!"

Because she had been speaking with Wang Yu and Avia through the Prayer Network the whole time, Sif had learned about what happened several seconds before anyone else.

"Wang Yu?"

Gewen murmured the name. His stunned gaze drifted toward the smoking ruin where the tower had stood. A lone figure was already emerging from the debris, one familiar beyond question.

"Nice. A human cannonball works great."

Muttering to himself, Wang Yu crushed some core component of the spire in his palm, reducing it to dust with casual ease.