Chapter 26: Arrival
An invisible boundary separated the two sides, but as time passed, this boundary grew thin and eventually dissolved into the air.
A thunderous crash came from behind the crimson fortress. It was an ancient abyssal existence, resembling a giant black bullfrog covered in pus-filled boils. From its mouth spewed burning filth, a mass over a dozen meters in diameter trailing flames as it howled toward their base camp.
Before the filth could strike their base, countless flaming meteors rained down, crashing into the Abyss Legion. Yet the Eppu Clan, Black Knights, Serpentfolk, and others ignored the flames entirely, charging fiercely toward the enemy's defensive line.
At that moment, the power of three Abyss Gates converged above, forming a massive dark eye that gazed down upon the battlefield.
[Announcement (Void Tree): The Abyss Eye has appeared. Under its gaze, all units' release-type abilities have their range reduced by 99.99%, and body energy consumption increased by 85%. Supreme power can exempt this suppression.]
An abyssal existence worthy of an announcement was clearly a monumental nuisance. The only good news was that the Abyss Eye did not discriminate between friend and foe.
Its range covered the entire battlefield, but a dire situation arose: the Abyss Legion's Eppu Clan, Black Knights, Serpentfolk, Dark Giants, Abyssal Beasts, Twisted Treants, and Deep Scale Clan all possessed formidable close-combat prowess. This tactic had apparently destroyed countless hostile forces or ancient empires before.
This method had not been used by the Abyss faction in the main battlefield, clearly waiting for the three Abyss Gates to open before unleashing this "forced silence" ability to crush the Star Realm faction in one blow.
At that moment, on their own front line, the peak Battle Angel, Archmage Mamenge, who had just unleashed "Meteor Swarm," was about to follow up with another ultimate arcane ability, "Flame Giant Legion."
But as his magical energy reached his casting medium—the Apocalypse-rank, Third Seat "Azure Heart Ring"—he felt that the Star Realm connections that had once been easily accessible were now in chaotic disarray. A rule of abyssal power tightly bound his body, making it difficult to release any abilities.
Neither the previous raids nor the destruction of the "Gate Nodes" had involved Archmage Mamenge, sent by the Commander and Logistics Chief Tailier. Given this archmage's performance in the first half of the Void battlefield, losing him would be a devastating blow.
Peak powerhouses had no weaknesses, but they were not omnipotent. Some excelled in group combat, others in one-on-one duels, and still others relied on devastating area-of-effect abilities to clear the field. Archmage Mamenge clearly belonged to the last category.
His eyes widened as vast body energy surged within him. As a peak mage, he let out a roar and finally managed to cast one of the ultimate arcane abilities, "Flame Giant Legion." A small group of Flame Giants appeared, and those nearby tasked with protecting him from close-range attacks looked down to see eight Flame Giants, each barely over twenty centimeters tall.
"??"
"Hiss~"
"Well, this..."
Moen's expression twisted to suppress a laugh. Now was truly not the time to laugh, nor did he have the mood, but looking at his old friend—whose perpetually stern, deadpan face now had disheveled gray-white hair from the energy surge, his black robe adding to his solemnity—Archmage Mamenge's aged eyes were wide, the corners trembling.
How could he not be devastated? Having grown stronger all the way to become one of their main forces in the first half, he was now crippled on the spot. His carefully honed ability system, in this final battle for the survival of the Star Realm, had suddenly become unusable. Not fainting from sheer rage was a testament to his immense inner strength.
In truth, Archmage Mamenge being half-crippled wasn't surprising. The "Abyss Eye's" powerful binding force affected not just mages; even the Abyss faction's Dark Ones had retreated, along with over thirty percent of the ancient abyssal existences. The rest all possessed formidable close-combat capabilities.
Boom!
The sound of a cannon exploding came from above. Please don't misunderstand—the warship's cannons weren't "silenced." The "Abyss Eye" ultimately suppressed mystical and supernatural release abilities. The cannons had been attacked by ancient abyssal existences.
There were quite a few tech-side forces on the battlefield. Was this their golden opportunity? Not at all. While they were unaffected by the "Abyss Eye," they became the primary targets of the ancient abyssal existences. The Abyss faction's combination of "Abyss Gate" + "Abyss Eye" had clearly been used many times, with a well-established strategy.
After a moment of shattered resolve, Archmage Mamenge pulled his old staff from his storage space. Though releasing magical energy was difficult, channeling it through the staff still provided top-tier attack power. He deftly spun his staff, let out a shout, and charged forward alongside the melee fighters. With guardians around, who needed to be afraid?
Had he become a melee mage? Of course not. His powerful magical abilities were indeed crippled, but he couldn't lose face. This was evident as his charging speed gradually fell to the back ranks.
After the "Abyss Eye" appeared, the Star Realm faction didn't even consider holding the defensive line. With all release-type abilities banned, they couldn't wait for the charging Abyss Legion to crash into their defenses—that would likely break through. Actively engaging was the only choice.
Clang!
A flash of cold light cut through the air. It was a technique grandmaster of the greatsword system. For this situation, the grandmaster was filled with battle fervor. Release-type abilities? What were those? Technique-type had nothing to do with ability release.
Compared to the earlier energy bombardment and dazzling battlefield, the two sides now clashed in close combat. Among the contractors from the major Paradise factions, the systems were starkly evident: melee fighters, summoners, half-crippled mages, perception types, bewildered healers, equally bewildered support types, imposing necromancers, technique types, tank types, and so on.
At this moment, the strength displayed by each system began to correlate with the resources consumed during their growth. Mages were the exception, as their resource costs were high in the early, middle, and late stages—not because the resources themselves were valuable, but because mages were numerous. In the final stage, mage equipment and skills were actually not expensive, even offering good value.
Healers and support types were bewildered because they weren't affected by the "Abyss Eye." In this rule-level silence suppressing release abilities, there was a characteristic: it targeted aggressive releases. The original name of this "Abyss Rule" was "Dark Benevolence."
Life missiles tracked nearby enemy targets. As a Twisted Treant was blown to pieces, its life force formed missiles. Iron Blood Rose Betansina's abilities were also affected, with explosion range reduced and missile size shrinking, but the explosive power remained undiminished.
The reason was that life missiles had been her core ability since the first rank. She truly embodied the principle of mastering one skill to conquer all. Because of this focus, life missiles had long ceased to be a release-type ability and had become "Life Tech Side."
Targets hit by life missiles actually suffered life contamination, with subsequent life force condensing more life missiles. It was very similar to the damage parasites caused within a host, only more intense and rapid.
Above both sides, large masses of filth trailing flames or exploding bursts of fire flew by. After the initial shock, mages simply turned into war weapons. Since they couldn't release abilities, they condensed them at close range.
A fire mage condensed a large, white-hot mass like a small sun. A nearby summoner controlled a giant summoned creature to hurl it, which collided with an incoming filth mass in midair.
After the initial long-range bombardment, looking down from above, the two sides surged toward each other like tides, crashing together at the point of contact. Bloodthirsty abyssal beasts pushed forward against several melee fighters. With the range of peak-level abilities drastically reduced and the front line stretched too long, more supreme-rank tanks and melee fighters became the vanguard.
On their side, the defensive line had a peak powerhouse stationed at intervals, connected by supreme-rank tanks and melee fighters to ensure the line wasn't broken.
The centaur-like Eppu Clan excelled at this kind of charge. A chieftain of the Eppu Clan reached the front, raised its forelegs, and kicked a tank's tower shield. With a bang, the tank veteran stumbled back. Facing such charging intensity, with no idea how long the battle would last—maybe a month, several months, or even longer in this chaotic melee—tanking head-on was amateur behavior.
After being kicked back a distance, the tank veteran counter-charged with his shield, slamming into the Eppu chieftain and sending it flying. As the chieftain landed, a massive ice ball crashed down. This kilometer-wide ice ball triggered a series of ice crystal explosions.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hei Qixing shattered the heads of Twisted Treants with each punch. In the previous battles, he was considered mid-to-low among the peak powerhouses, as aside from his extreme domain, he was better suited for fighting peers of the same rank.
He gripped a massive Twisted Treant head with one hand, dark power eroding the skull. After accumulating force, he punched forward, creating a massive fan-shaped cleared area.
Without destroying the "Abyss Eye," both sides had to rely on their own skills. The battlefield became several times more brutal than the earlier energy bombardment. One moment, the Sanctuary supreme-rank contractor, Headhunter, was slaughtering Serpentfolk, limbs and heads flying everywhere. The next, his head vanished. Mad Scale Ku'enha, covered in black scales with four arms and beastly legs, tossed the head in his hand.
Clang!!
A massive slash suddenly crossed the entire battlefield, eventually passing through the "Abyss Eye" above the crimson fortress. After a brief silence, the "Abyss Eye" split diagonally into two halves, falling as large chunks of flesh. This thing was solid inside, not eye-like in structure.
The entire silenced battlefield suddenly lost its restraint, and all kinds of abilities surged skyward. This proved that the participants from the major Paradise factions weren't afraid of this "forced silence" effect. Of course, if another "Abyss Eye" appeared, the battlefield's brutality would certainly increase again.
The main battlefield didn't deploy any World-Destroying Wings. All World-Destroying Wings had been sent to the eastern sector, the right side of their base camp. The current Abyss Legion was positioned to the north, so the north was their main front, defended by participants from the major Paradise factions. The Elemental Insect Race and their contractors held the east, while the west was defended by major and minor Star Realm forces. The rear remained under Paradise faction defense.
This wasn't a lack of trust in the Star Realm powerhouses. If the rear were breached, they would have no retreat, because in the Void battlefield, there was still a trump card.
If the base camp was truly indefensible, they would specially cultivate a World-Destroying Wing tens of kilometers in size to swallow the "Core Abyss Purification Device" and break out. Regardless of whether there was a chance of victory afterward, at least they wouldn't lose immediately.
The melee officially began. Just as all their participants were wondering why the pressure from the three Abyss Gates' corresponding legions didn't feel that great, the enemy's three giant fortresses suddenly unfolded.
At the front line, Sun Seth, who had just detonated a wave of undead summons, immediately sensed something wrong. His pupils contracted as he saw dozens of times more Abyss Legion troops charging from ahead.
This time, the Abyss army they faced—the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Legions—wasn't as elite as the first three, but the tactic of using fortresses to accumulate troops and then suddenly erupting turned their I-shaped front line into a C-shape.
Not only that, but the C-shape repeatedly turned into an O-shape, cutting their defensive line into pieces. It felt like a dark beast taking bites out of their defenses. Suddenly, the pressure on their main front skyrocketed, and the voice communication channel was filled with noise and curses.
At this critical moment, over a hundred metal lift gates on the front of their base camp all opened. The dim interiors were briefly quiet as the scent of blood drifted in.
"Roar!!"
The howls of wild beasts came. Feral Beastmen riding war beasts, wielding weapons catalyzed by elemental energy, charged out from the gates. Their eyes were fierce, and their existence had only two purposes.