The giant brain's nerves quickly retracted when he saw that physical attacks were ineffective. Five or six mental abilities shot towards Alice in the form of beams.
He was in a hurry to exterminate this rat that had entered his heart, but he was still extremely cautious with his actions. A dozen beams of lights all grazed the metal cylinder and went past it. None of them dealt any damage to the container.
After Gazlowe had turned that mechanical adept known as Sabrina into his slave, the powers and information about each member of the adepts was no longer a secret to him.
In Sabrina's memory, this witch known as Alice was skilled at manipulating the powers of Fate but possessed no combat ability of her own. That was undoubtedly great news for the giant brain Gazlowe!
If it had been that powerful Second Grade fire adept who had made it into this hall, then he would have incurred significant losses even if he managed to defeat the adept. That was why he was in such a hurry to use his two new slaves to hold the fire adept back and take the opportunity to catch this 'rat' that had snuck into his heart.
Indeed, a First Grade witch with no combat abilities was only a rat to the Third Grade giant brain Gazlowe!
Moreover, it was the kind of rat that was extremely harmless!
Chapter 531 Damned Witch
Giant Brain Gazlowe still underestimated Alice.
In all seriousness, the most powerful individual of Greem's faction wasn't Second Grade Greem. It was Alice, who only had the strength of a newly-advanced First Grade.
It was something that outsiders were unlikely to understand. Even within Greem's faction, the only ones that understood this was Greem, Alice, and Mary.
The terror of the Witch of Fate's innate abilities was something that could not be comprehended by someone who had not experienced it. They weren't weak because the planar laws had robbed them of their ability to fight. Quite the contrary, it was because of how terrifying their innate ability was that the will of the world would not allow them to possess combat ability on top of their talent for Fate.
A profession that even the will of the world felt a need to place limitations on; did that still not make it terrifying enough?
The Goblin Plane had no similar profession, nor was the information that Gazlowe got from Sabrina's memory sufficiently comprehensive. As a result, he used the same methods as he would use against an ordinary enemy to deal with Alice.
Alice casually avoided all of the enemy's attacks with her rapid flashes of teleportation. Alice could only sigh and start working her magic when she saw the enemy wouldn't play along.
She flashed and appeared behind a group of researchers. She opened her hands, and a delicate alchemical bomb appeared in them.
Alchemical bomb?
Gazlowe's powerful Spirit quickly scanned and recognized the item in Alice's hand. It was a small alchemical explosive unique to the Goblin Plane– an alchemical bomb!
This sort of alchemical bomb had no magic energy effect and couldn't cause any elementium damage. The only things the weapon had going for it were shockwaves and shrapnel damage from its explosion. An initial estimation of its destructive power put it at five points; even lower than a spell from a beginner apprentice.
If it weren't for the lack of a vocal organ, Giant Brain Gazlowe would've started laughing at the sight of the enemy taking out such a crude means of attack.
He was currently Third Grade, and five points of physical damage wouldn't be enough even to scratch it. Disregarding himself, even the space furnace wouldn't be afraid of such pathetic damage.
It was important to note that the Queyras alloy the space furnace was forged with had physical defenses that could tolerate attacks up to a thousand points. If one intended to use alchemical bombs to destroy the space furnace, they had best prepare a literal mountain of such explosives.
Just as Giant Brain Gazlowe let down his guard and was prepared to drown the enemy in a storm of attacks, Alice put her hands together. A familiar white light flashed as the alchemical bomb vanished.
Giant Brain Gazlowe's control over the underground space had reached an almost perfect level after this buffer period. Thus, it managed to find the new location of the alchemical bomb in less than a tenth of a second.
Dammit!
Gazlowe's Spirit immediately shifted to the inside of the space furnace; a small explosion had just ended in there. The spatial turbulence caused by the blast had resulted in the barely tamed magical energies going berserk once more.
The area within the space furnace was considerable. Turbulence caused by the alchemical bomb was like a tiny wave splashing in a raging sea. It was devoured by the flood of magic the moment it appeared. However, this backflow turbulence had still disrupted the changes to the energy tides within the furnace. It caused the magic energy's regular impacts against the inner walls of the furnace to increase by just that much more.
Gazlowe had already assimilated most of the space furnace. This large metal cylinder had now become a source of endless energy for himself. It was much like a human heart, where even a slight backflow of blood would cause discomfort to the owner.
The explosion of an alchemical heart had to be somewhat stronger than a backflow of blood!
Twenty or thirty neighboring neurons in Gazlowe's massive brain of a body were suddenly burned to ashes. He couldn't help but grunt in pain. However, this was a small number compared to the millions of neurons in a brain. This much damage would be repaired in a matter of two or three seconds.
However, Alice couldn't allow Gazlowe to call upon his life force and mend his brain so casually. She smiled coldly and waved both of her hands. She simultaneously threw five alchemical bombs into the space furnace.
That also indirectly reflected her power!
No other adept could do this even if they wanted to. Even Greem would first have to break that tough metal cylinder if he wished to attack the space furnace. Only Alice could so easily attack the space furnace through her strange spatial teleportation powers and her ability to use her Fate talents to lock on to a spatial coordinate within it.
Both of these factors combined was what allowed Alice to attack the magic energy inside the space furnace so easily. The magic energies were now equivalent to the 'blood' in Gazlowe's body.
Giant Brain Gazlowe was relying on his powerful mental consciousness and endless magic energy supply to successfully control the Steel Capital. Otherwise, he would never be able to move this giant Steel Capital that weighed over a million tons with just his mental powers.
He first needed to assimilate the space furnace and mark all of the magic energy being put out with his unique soul brand. As the magical energy seeped into every corner of the Steel Capital, he would be able to control this mountainous 'body' as if it were its own.
Yet at this moment, something had happened to its most important heart. How could this not scare Gazlowe?
The multiple alchemical bomb detonations were like sharp needles, causing stinging pain right in his heart. Even though this amount of damage was yet insufficient to threaten his life, who knew what else the witch would pull out with her hands.
Just as Gazlowe was trembling with fear, Alice flipped her wrists. This time, it wasn't an alchemical bomb that appeared in her hand. It was a fearsome explosive chicken.
If the alchemical bomb could only deal five points of damage, an explosive chicken could deal fifteen points of damage. If Alice were allowed to stuff this explosive chicken into the space furnace, it would no longer be needles stabbing at Gazlowe's heart. It would be a gleaming dagger.
"Stop!"
Giant Brain Gazlowe's released a loud and furious roar in the form of a mental fluctuation. Apart from Alice, everyone else in the underground hall was only a goblin researcher with beginner-apprentice level bodily attributes. They couldn't possibly endure a sonic attack of this intensity.
Red streaks of blood crawled out of all of their orifices as they silently collapsed to the ground.
&n
bsp; Gazlowe's roar hadn't been meant as an attack against the witch. He simply hadn't managed to control the strength of the shout. However, his Third Grade strength made even the aftershock of his emotions intolerable for ordinary creatures like goblins.
"Are you talking to me?" Alice tilted her head and stared at the giant brain coldly, "I really dislike your attitude, so… "
The explosive chicken disappeared in a flash of white light.
The next second, Giant Brain Gazlowe grunted in pain. Deep inside his brain, away from the eyes of any other individual, nearly a hundred of the neurons that supported his massive mental consciousness exploded into blood paste.
How could Gazlowe take this lying down, especially after he had just gotten his hands on such tremendous mental powers? A massive tide of Spirit that was almost solid radiated out of his enormous brain-body. As he was trying his best to adjust his mental frequency and turn this tide of Spirit into a storm of psychic spells, his one dozen brain nerves suddenly froze in midair.
The mischievously smirking Alice stood in the distance and made multiple grabbing motions with her hand. Eight explosive chickens appeared all at once. These explosive chickens were all engulfed in a blinding blanket of white light. Any slight movement and there was no doubt all of these explosive chickens would appear in Gazlowe's 'heart.'
Shit, damn, ****…
Gazlowe was choking in anger, but there was nothing he could do. He desperately wanted to curse at this witch with the most toxic and wicked swear words of the Goblin Plane. More than that, he desired to blast her into pieces with the mental spells in his 'hands.' However, he had no choice but to slowly and carefully disperse the massive power he had gathered before mentally communicating with the witch with his calmest, most gentle tone.
No one knew how or what the two were negotiating, but even an outsider could tell that the discussion was going well. Sadly, there wasn't a single goblin left in this room who could see this happening.
The brain and the witch seemed to be having an amicable discussion, but there was great danger lurking beneath.
She might have used this method to force Gazlowe to bow before her, but the giant brain still had immense power that distressed her. If Alice showed a single flaw, there was no doubt that Gazlowe would take full advantage of the opportunity. He would kill her in the shortest time possible, even if he had to pay a hefty price for it.
That was why Alice's heartstrings were still suspended tightly, even after countless affirmations and promises on Gazlowe's part. In fact, her guard against the giant brain had only grown even stricter.
As their battle took a temporary pause, the struggle in the ritual hall had also come to a conclusion.
Sabrina had died in front of Greem, the remaining flesh of her body burnt to ashes. Only some alchemical parts remained on the ground. The Second Grade magical machine that Tigule piloted had also been slagged into metal putty. A giant hole had been burned through the metal plate that protected the mechanic. Tigule lied upon the ground, charred black and unconscious.
The other goblins had also turned into minced bits and metal components.
On the other hand, even as a Second Grade adept, there was no way Greem could have come out unscathed in a battle against a fearless army of goblins. Not to mention the fact that a Second Grade magical machine and a powerful mechanical adept like Sabrina were mixed with the army.
As such, Greem had also sustained fairly heavy wounds!
Chapter 532 Three-Way Standoff
The Planar Hall.
No more than seventeen of the three dozen dragonborn scout successfully returned.
At this moment, creaking came from the spatial passage sustained by the thunderlight stones. A large human's face pressed against the semi-transparent plane membrane. It was as if a terrifying human from the other end of the passage was trying to squeeze his way into this lower plane.
As the person continued to struggle, the plane membrane started to protrude further and further. It also became thinner as it stretched out.
Vague cracks appeared in the spatial passage, and a terrifying flash of blue thunder blasted from within.
Finally, the plane membrane could no longer resist the pressure of the fearsome figure, shattering into tens of thousands of spatial shards. A tall human figure shrouded in the bright blue radiance of electricity charged out of the broken spatial passage with firm steps.
An incomparably ferocious spatial whirlwind surged out of the passage along with him.
Every substance within the planar hall that wasn't protected by supernatural powers eroded, accompanied by plenty of creaking and groaning. It was almost as if an invisible storm of energy had just erupted in the middle of the room. Even the metal floor, walls, and archway were reduced to nothingness in the ravaging storm.
Apart from Second Grade Zacha, who calmly stood against the billowing of the spatial whirlwind, all seventeen dragonborn scouts were blown about by the wind. They crashed into the metal walls and bruised their bodies and faces.
"Oh great Sir Arms, Dragonborn Zacha is at your behest!" Zacha ignored what had happened to the subordinates behind him. Instead, he bowed before the tall human figure that had just teleported over and paid his respects.
"Hmph! What are you lot doing? Why are things taking so long?" The one that had teleported into this plane was a tall man wearing a fine blue set of armor. His head full of long blue hair crackled with lightning arcs. Anger brewed between his handsome brows the moment he appeared, "Our armies have already completed their preparation. Why is the planar door here only able to sustain the lowest level of interplanar teleportation? Where's that damned goblin?"
"Sir, that goblin has betrayed us. He cut off the energy source of the planar door the moment we teleported over. If I hadn't brought with me a batch of thunderlight stones… " Zacha fearfully explained when he sensed the rage in his superior.
"I knew these rats that surrendered on their own couldn't be trusted!" The tall man roared at the top of his lungs, "Well then, what are you guys waiting for? Get out of here, all of you! Slaughter every last goblin in this place! Zacha, you are responsible for finding a new stable energy source for the planar door."
"Understood!" Zacha had no choice but to bow and receive his orders.
The First Grade dragonborn scouts shivered in the distance. They didn't dare to come close to this human male shrouded in blue lightning.
It seemed the planar laws in this plane couldn't yet wholly suppress the tall man's immense and pulsing powers of electricity, as he had just arrived. Even Zacha was like an obedient sheep before this man, despite his Second Grade powers.
Apart from his fearsome Third Grade prowess, this newcomer had a unique identity.
He might possess the form of a human, but he was not, in fact, one. Instead, he was a pure-blooded Third Grade Thunder Dragon; dragonborn like Zacha were no more than servants of their Thunder Dragon Clan in the end.
In their world, only pure-blooded descendants of the dragon were qualified to become landlords. Moreover, the pure-blooded dragons would often promote mixed-blood descendants of their bloodline to become their servant race. That was to better ease their rule over their lands. Their mixed-blood descendants would help them manage their sprawling territories.
They came from the Plane of Rance. It was a small plane world ruled by various dragon lords. Even though it was a small plane much like the Goblin Plane, Rance's overall power was enough to crush the Goblin Plane.
As one of the many Dragon Lords of Rance, Thunder Dragon Arms was still a young man. He was no more than four hundred and thirteen years old currently and was considered an active and healthy juvenile dragon. As such, his territories were extremely limited. They only covered an area of approximately three thousand square kilometers. This journey to the Goblin Plane was also his first interplanar invasion ever since he became a dragon lord.
The thirst and greed for wealth had caused Arms to forgot any traces of fear he might
have had. He only thought of leading his dragonborn servant army to rob this lower plane and add another layer of gold coins to his hoard back in his palace.
As a thunder dragon that had morphed into a human form, Thunder Dragon Arms absolutely hated everything about the environment in this plane.
The low-magic Goblin Plane made it virtually impossible for him to breath. The stench of the goblins that lingered in the air further infuriated Arms.
"Hurry up… all of you, hurry up," Arms yelled angrily, "Hurry up and make the goblins in this place hand over all of their wealth and gemstones. Otherwise, we will slaughter all life on this plane. Remember, convey my will to the goblin ruler of this place!"
Second Grade Dragonborn Zacha led the remaining seventeen dragonborn scouts out of the planar hall amidst Arm's roars. He advanced towards the underground chamber where the space furnace was located by tracing the strange mental flux in the air.
Compared to the cautious attitudes of the adepts, the dragonborn didn't seem to have any intention of staying here for too long. They seemed to be in a rush to rob all the wealth from this plane and leave.
The adept faction had already come to an initial peace agreement with Giant Brain Gazlowe. The leaders of both parties had met. Greem also sent Sofia and Endor over to Alice's side to protect her.
Alice didn't dare stray too far away from the space furnace, to keep her leverage over Gazlowe effectively. If she wandered too far away from the space furnace and lost her ability to detonate the space furnace at any time, there was no doubt that Gazlowe would immediately use all the power at his command to exterminate her.
As long as it managed to kill Alice, the other adepts would be hard-pressed to break through the layers of magical machines and the defenses of the Third Grade brain itself to attack the central space furnace.
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