Chapter 45: Crisis and Turning Point
In reality, it wasn't just Babel Province.
Following the earlier activation of the Heaven's Revelation Array, which released a pillar of light and tore open a spatial rift, the Gulf Federation, and indeed the entire world of Ilgena, began experiencing all sorts of terrifying disasters. Countless stone golems descended from the sky alongside meteorites. Armies across the land were stretched thin, barely managing to clear one area before monsters appeared in another.
The Gulf Central District was one of the few regions that hadn't been attacked by stone golems. Of course, it was also the most heavily fortified area. Even if stone golems did invade, they would surely be repelled.
The High Commander, who had finally arrived at his office aboard an airship, slumped wearily into his chair. But he had no time to rest. After taking a sip of water, Urken quickly activated several observation arrays, causing dozens of light screens to appear before him.
Watching the scenes on each screen with intense focus, the red-haired elf's heart sank. He realized the situation was even worse than he had imagined.
All nine provinces of the Federation were experiencing stone golem attacks of varying intensity. The sheer number and density of the golems were second only to the Battle of Coldwind Valley three years ago. But back then, all the stone golems had been concentrated in one place. Now, an almost equal number was appearing simultaneously in nine provinces, or even more.
Armies across the land were stretched to their limits. Simply defending their own territories against the stone golems consumed all their energy and manpower. The Central District, relying on its fortifications, could hold its ground without issue, but it lacked the strength to send aid to other provinces.
Gale-force winds battered all coastal provinces. Port cities were struck by massive waves. Earthquakes rocked all hilly regions. Icy rain and blizzards swept back and forth across the northern provinces. Within hours, the ice layer in the northern provinces had reached half a meter thick, freezing even armored vehicles solid and rendering them immobile.
A variety of natural disasters, accompanied by countless stone golems, launched a ferocious assault as if determined to destroy the Gulf Federation in one fell swoop. Derang Province, with the weakest military, was already in ruins. Countless meteorites rained down, cracking the earth and turning the once verdant plains and forests into a scorched wasteland riddled with fissures and craters. Besieged by over a thousand stone golems, the defenders of Derang Province had fully retreated and hunkered down in the major cities. The abandoned cities were now prowled by countless gray rock golems, which destroyed any makeshift fortifications and mercilessly slaughtered the local civilians who hadn't managed to flee.
The land was strewn with horrifying corpses. The bloody flesh and broken bones of elves and fragments of golems were mixed together, exuding a ghastly stench of blood.
Speechless. Completely speechless. Urken clenched his jaw, veins bulging on his wrinkled forehead. Having led the Federation's rebirth from the ruins of the Final Dynasty War, he loved all elves. He had personally blessed the founding of every city. Watching those emotionless, tearless monsters silently slaughter the surviving elven civilians filled him with uncontrollable rage.
But what could he do? Helplessness consumed him. Even though the High Commander's hands trembled with anger, he was powerless.
The Federation truly had no strength left... Could it be that the Federation was destined to fall here?
Forcing himself to look away, the High Commander turned his gaze to the light screen showing Babel Province. As the location where the Heaven's Revelation Array had descended, this province had far more stone golems than any other—nearly five thousand. The puppet army, including flying stone golems, was fighting on two fronts. One front was engaged in a defensive stalemate near the capital of Babel Province, while the other was encircling an armored convoy near Sapphire Harbor.
On the hills surrounding Sapphire Harbor, an army, aided by a black half-dragon, was beginning a difficult breakout toward the Babel provincial capital. From the hills came thunderous roars, accompanied by earth-shaking dragon cries. Beams of light pierced through the haze of volcanic ash and water vapor, shattering the shells of countless powerful stone golems, allowing the armored forces beside the half-dragon to fire safely and destroy the weaker rock golems. The combined attacks formed a massive network of firepower that covered everything in their path.
Admittedly, their coordination was still a bit rough. Occasionally, a few stone golems would slip through the fire net, but it was of little consequence. The massive dragon beast swung its giant claws, effortlessly smashing the few lucky gray golems into a pile of fragments. The flying stone golems circling in the sky occasionally tried to attack the half-dragon while it was engaged elsewhere, but they never expected that the crimson mist surrounding the black half-dragon was composed of super-high-temperature fire elements. Simply getting close risked deactivating them.
With the help of the Volcano Dragon, the situation had actually stabilized?!
The High Commander took a deep breath. Once again, he was grateful that he hadn't ordered the killing of this giant beast back then. Otherwise, not only would he have lost many troops, but it wouldn't have helped against this terrifying invasion. Babel Province would have surely fallen, and other places would have collapsed like dominoes.
"You must win, Volcano Dragon!"
Clenching his hands together until his knuckles turned white, Urken stared at the light screen and spoke in a heavy, deliberate voice: "You are... the only hope!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the light screen.
Calmly assessing the situation and unleashing powerful firepower to destroy one enemy after another, Black, while estimating whether its remaining mana could break through the stone golem encirclement, was somewhat surprised to find that the mana concentration in the surrounding atmosphere had increased significantly. Although it still couldn't compare to the mana density of the Great Aias Volcano or the Sigma Volcano, it was enough to allow it to fire a few more beam cannons.
But why? Why had the mana suddenly increased so much? The half-dragon was puzzled, but it didn't care. As long as it could destroy its enemies more effectively, who cared about such trivial matters? It continued firing beam after beam, then swung its claws, or even charged straight in, smashing one powerful stone golem monster after another.
The vast majority of these stone golems were extremely weak. They couldn't even penetrate the half-dragon's innate flame shield. But the stronger ones, such as the Steel-rank and Mithril-rank stone golems, possessed the strength of Mid-Silver and Peak Silver ranks. Their power was enough to pierce Black's fire elemental shield and dragon scales, causing significant damage to the half-dragon. The increased mana concentration didn't seem to affect the stone golems, but it strengthened both the power of the armored vehicles' mana cannons and the half-dragon's elemental shield, leaving the weaker stone golems with no chance to resist.
Black didn't seem to care much about this, but many others did.
"What? You're saying the mana concentration in Babel Province has suddenly increased by forty-two percent?" In his office, Urken was simultaneously monitoring the battle in Babel Province from the first-person perspective of an armored vehicle and communicating with the research institute. But the first thing the person on the other end said made him shift his gaze back and exclaim in shock, "Why? Why has it increased so much? This concentration is enough to support quite a few high-level spells!"
However, the institute being questioned stated that they didn't know the reason either. They had only detected anomalous data from their observations. After several calculations, these scholars offered two possibilities.
First: A large amount of mana is released after stone golems die. This seemed unlikely. Although Babel Province had many stone golems, other places also had plenty of these rock puppets. Destroying them only yielded a pile of rubble, with no gain whatsoever.
The second possibility was more bizarre, but unexpectedly made sense.
"The opening of the spatial rift... has brought in mana from the outside?" Urken repeated the sentence he had just heard in a low voice, then whispered it again.
He was thinking.
The strike unleashed by the Heaven's Revelation Array earlier had completely flattened a mountain peak and the surrounding city. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of elves had been reduced to ashes and scattered into the wind. The terrifying power had even torn space itself, ripping a massive wound in the outer layer of the world.
Even though the surface had healed, the spatial structure remained fragile. Countless amounts of mana were seeping in through it, gradually increasing the mana concentration in Ilgena. The greatest beneficiaries were the mages of Babel Province. Previously, they could only use minor tricks, but now, with the sudden surge in mana, these mages had regained the ability to cast high-level spells.
In the provincial capital, the defenders, who had been engaged in a grueling positional stalemate against an endless tide of stone golems, suddenly found themselves covered in multiple beneficial status effects. They all felt energized and powerful, and their aim was perfect. Their firepower instantly increased by thirty percent. This sudden burst overwhelmed the strongest wave of the stone golem assault. The defenders successfully protected the millions of residents in the provincial capital behind them.
All of this was thanks to the mages who had suddenly regained the ability to cast beneficial spells. Their knowledge was vast. If not for the environmental constraints, these individuals would have advanced long ago.
And Professor Nielsen, before becoming a master linguist, had also been a mage—an Archmage, in fact.
Decades ago, when casting spells became increasingly difficult, the white-haired elven elder had shifted his focus to studying all known languages. But even so, he was still an Archmage. That was why the military treated him with exceptional courtesy and was even willing to share their battle plans with him.
Having once been a powerful mage, only to have his spellcasting ability drastically reduced due to the declining mana concentration in this world, to the point where he couldn't even use support spells—this frustrating feeling was something Nielsen would never forget. But now, things were different. The elven elder, who was closest to the spatial rift, was astonished to realize that his power was rapidly recovering.
Without wasting time wondering why, the elven professor quickly jumped out of the armored vehicle and immediately cast a High-level Haste spell on Black. As the incantation ended, Black, finding its movements suddenly faster, looked at the white-haired elf beside it with some surprise. The half-dragon sensed that although this person was far inferior to Master Nostradamus, he still carried a familiar aura.
The aura of a Silver-rank mage.
The elf and the dragon exchanged a glance, then both burst into laughter.
"Lord Volcano Dragon, let's break through these monsters' encirclement together!"
The old mage laughed heartily. "Don't think about holding them off. Let's charge out, return to the Babel provincial capital, help them deal with their trouble first, and then come back together to deal with these damned monsters!"
"ROAR!"
The half-dragon's face showed no smile, but its voice was full of fighting spirit. Although they were still in the dangerous situation of being surrounded, it felt no fear. The armored vehicles and the half-dragon, while continuing to attack, began to sprint at full speed toward the distance. The tilted, massive cannon fire and explosions sounded like ten thousand beasts charging across the land. Under the dragon's attacks, one Mithril-rank stone golem after another had its shell crack and collapse into a pile of fragments. The flying stone golems still circling in the sky were also shot down by beams of light, one after another. The shockwaves even shattered the clouds above, creating numerous large holes in the dense overcast sky that revealed the starry expanse beyond.
The breakout was becoming increasingly smooth. The entire armored convoy, shaped like a wedge, easily pierced through the stone golems' encirclement. Just as the old mage and the High Commander behind the screen breathed a sigh of relief...
A golden colossus, far larger than the other puppets, suddenly appeared and blocked the path ahead of the armored convoy. (To be continued.)