Mechanical Adept Sabrina hadn't been weak at all. She had only happened to be countered by the giant brain's innate ability due to her existence being an alternative kind of alchemical lifeform. That was why she had been assimilated by Gazlowe without much resistance and turned into a pawn to be used against Greem.
In comparison, the magical machine that Tigule piloted might have been assimilated, but he had still possessed independent will. He had been able to escape from the control of the magical machine after it had been destroyed.
At the moment, goblin soldiers were running all over the Steel Capital. The magical machines and goblin chariots that had fought by their sides a moment ago were now chasing behind them.
In fact, in rural corners hidden from the eyes of the goblins, something even more sinister was going on inside one of the Steel Capital's goblin chariot factories. A massive surge of magic energy poured into the place, causing all the engineering machines to start bustling about and working. Several metal ingots of various colors and traits were placed onto the conveyor belt. Over a hundred mechanical arms moved about and performed their work as these ingots moved down the belt. The arms were mysteriously piecing these pieces together and turning them into functional goblin chariots.
These goblin chariots needed no driver or gunner. All of the magical machines were outfitted with a consciousness-amplifying module and an automated control module. They could constantly receive the unique consciousness flux sent from Giant Brain Gazlowe.
Five magical machine factories were operating at full power in the core area of the Steel Capital. A functional magical machine would walk off the conveyor belt every fifteen minutes. They might only be First Grade, but they came in large numbers. Moreover, they didn't require goblin mechanics as pilots. They were all controlled by Giant Brain Gazlowe alone.
The giant brain might look like he was remaining curled up in a corner above the space furnace as if he wasn't going to involve himself in the conflict. However, the magical machine army under his control was secretly growing at a rapid pace. When their numbers reached a certain threshold, the giant brain would flip his patience on end and use the terrifying horde of magical machines to drown these detestable fellows.
Meanwhile, a clear superiority had been established after so much fighting between Greem and Zacha.
Second Grade Dragonborn Zacha was powerful, but he was no match for a Second Grade fire adept. That was especially the case once Greem had thrown out two elite adept-level Infernal Tyrants onto the battlefield. As fearsome fire cannons themselves, they could relentlessly blast Zacha into disorientation and make it hard for the Dragonborn to make his moves.
Moreover, Greem's interference left no chance for Zacha to eliminate his two golems. The Dragonborn had no choice but to endure the waves of bombardment passively. Even with his electric shields, his fine scales, and the resistance afforded to him by his thunder dragon bloodline, Zacha still couldn't take on the explosions of the fire spells.
The chain of exploding magma fireballs charred his chest and burned his body.
The terrifying Fire Core Explosions penetrated his scales and corroded much of his flesh.
The massive Scarlet Firestorms engulfed him entirely, roasting his outsides and burning them black.
The spectating dragonborn scouts could no longer sit still upon seeing their leader being beaten up. They quickly got into formation and charged forward. Their strength was not enough to deal with a Second Grade adept, but the storm of lightning they could call upon in their formation was still a decent threat to Greem.
However, their participation in the battle also drew the adepts into the fight.
A massive skirmish between the dragonborn and the adepts erupted in the underground hall!
All the adepts participated in the battle. Only Endor stayed by Alice's side under Greem's instructions. She was carefully and cautiously paying attention to Gazlowe's actions. Alice, on the other hand, had shut her eyes and was calmly resting. She didn't seem to care for the battle before them.
Her perspective and tolerance were utterly different from the past since she became the Witch of Fate.
Right now, what she was concerned about wasn't the victory or loss of this insignificant battle. What she cared about was the core node of this planar invasion.
The battle between the adepts and the dragonborn had no real meaning. Victory or loss, it would not change the trajectory of the plane's future. The only one that could genuinely decide the fate of the Goblin Plane was still that Giant Brain Gazlowe– the one being who stood in the eye of the storm.
If Gazlowe chose to remain outside of this fight, then the adepts would win!
Even if Greem and the others managed to exert all their might and exterminate these dragonborn scouts, that would only draw out the more frightening individual who stood behind them– a true Third Grade dragon.
Even though that fellow had used an unusual method to transform into a human appearance, Alice still undoubtedly recognized that unique dragon's stench from however far away.
That was why Alice had specially told Greem to extend the battle with the dragonborn and not to be too ferocious with his attacks.
Alice was waiting.
She was waiting for a variable!
Of the three factions involved in the battle, it was the unstoppable adepts who were at the most obvious disadvantage. If the Third Grade behind the dragonborn showed himself, or if Gazlowe decided to make a move, then the few adepts would have no choice but to step out of this conflict.
If they didn't handle the situation well, not many of them would be able to escape the Steel Capital alive.
The only hope of breaking this stalemate rested upon Giant Brain Gazlowe.
The adepts would only have a chance to regain control of the situation if they found a way to spark conflict between Gazlowe and the Third Grade dragon.
As Alice waited anxiously in silence, a turning point that could change the fate of the Goblin Plane finally arrived!
The adepts and the dragonborn had been fighting for a long time. Meanwhile, the magic energy that the giant brain supplied to the planar hall was at a constant low. That caused Arms, the Third Grade dragon staying by the planar door, to become increasingly restless.
Without sufficient magic energy, the planar door had to exhaust large numbers of thunderlight stones with every passing second to maintain its functions. It was important to note that Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms had just come of age. He had yet to rob enough wealth and resources to allow him to splurge in this manner.
As of now, it was still uncertain as to what benefits the Goblin Plane could provide him. However, the exhausted pile of thunderlight stones had definitively come from his personal collection. If he won this war but ended up finding this plane to be poor and worthless, then he, a newly appointed Dragon Lord, would become the butt of the joke to the entire dragon race. He would get laughed at over this by his thunder dragon companions for at least a thousand years.
That was why Arms finally couldn't wait any longer. When the first group of fifty dragonborn reinforcements arrived, he left thirty of them to guard the door while he led twenty dragonborn warriors toward the underground hall, following the marks left behind by the scouts.
None of the adepts and dragonborn scouts fighting in the hall knew anything about Arm's actions. However, Gazlowe saw it as it happened.
In truth, the giant brain had already initiated his plan. The moment significant losses started piling up on the side of the adepts or the dragonborn, the magical machine army he had hidden would immediately swarm out and deal with the rest of the enemies.
However, to his surprise, the battle between the two factions was taking an extremely long time. A group of fifty dragonborn had teleported over through the damned planar door.
If this situation were allowed to continue, the balance between the adepts and the dragonborn would sway. When that happened, Gazlowe would not be able to stop the enemy reinforc
ements regardless of how sizeable his magical machine army might be.
At this moment, the threat of the dragonborn in Gazlowe's mind far outweighed the adepts. In particular, Gazlowe had reached his psychological bottom line when Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms advanced towards the hall with his subordinates.
The only reason he had allowed the adepts and the dragonborn to continue their fight in the hall was that he believed that neither party was a genuine threat to him. All of the adepts and dragonborn added together could not compare to the threat that the evil witch posed to him.
Now the Third Grade thunder dragon intended to march toward the underground hall. That was something that Giant Brain Gazlowe couldn't tolerate!
It was a Third Grade dragon!
If Arms managed to break into the hall, he would easily be able to defeat a newly advanced Third Grade weakling like Gazlowe with his dragon powers. When that happened, Gazlowe would not have any chance of escaping or defending himself. His enemy would truly hold his life in their hands!
As such, Gazlowe had no choice but to send a killing order to all the magical machines in the Steel Capital, even if the conditions weren't ripe. The giant brain also connected with Greem's mind and started discussing their plan to deal with the dragonborn.
…………
An exceptionally brutal battle erupted in the extensive underground tunnels!
Third Grade Arms hadn't made it far out of the planar hall before being swarmed by a flood of goblin chariots, magical machines, and magic mechs.
Only two magical machines could fight side-by-side in this tunnel that was no more than ten meters in height and seven meters in width. Moreover, both parties were only using melee attacks in the fight due to the limited space available.
The dragonborn still sustained unavoidable wounds, even though they were superior to the machines in both bodily strength and combat techniques.
After all, the magic energy weapons equipped on the magical machines could be used at both close and mid range!
Two dragonborn stood side by side and clashed with two magical machines at melee distance. They were able to crush the machines into pieces with their raw power, but two more machines charged forth before they could even take a breath.
Chapter 537 Shifting Alliances
The way these magical machines were fighting was brutal and reckless!
The two magical machines at the back were firing flamethrowers and bullets, while the two at the front were waving their metal fists to punch at the dragonborn.
When the two dragonborn destroyed these four magical machines at a small cost, four new magical machines stomped forward.
It was tough for the dragonborn to escape the siege of the machines once they had been caught in an endless loop of battles.
The siege of the magical machines naturally infuriated the arrogant and proud Third Grade thunder dragon.
For the first time, he felt as if he had been toyed with by the natives of a lowly plane!
Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms was no longer able to suppress his fury. He let out a reverberating dragon's roar as he began his dragon transformation against the might of the planar suppression.
Arms was no mixed-blood descendant like Zacha. He was Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms, a pure-blooded noble thunder dragon. The reason he had transformed into human form when he came to the Goblin Plane was only to make the passage here easier. It also helped weaken much of the planar suppression's effects.
Now, faced with the provocation of the local natives, Arms could no longer suppress his flames of anger. He released his transfiguration effect in a flash of lightning and returned to his original appearance.
It was a beautiful thunder dragon with a body full of fine blue scales. His neck was slender, yet muscular. His cheekbones were sharp, as were his superciliary bones and pointed snout. When Arms' large mouth opened, the sound of rumbling thunder could be heard within. One could also vaguely see a cluster of pulsing electric storms in his throat.
Thunder Dragon Arms' body was seventeen meters from head to tail. His wingspan was twelve meters at its fullest.
The tunnel before them might be a massive corridor for ordinary goblins, but it was a tightly constraining prison for the transformed thunder dragon. It was hard for him to turn his body in this tunnel.
However, he did not need to bother with turning!
Thunder Dragon Arms shoved his subordinates aside after he had completed his transformation. He lowered his head and used the two pairs of hard, spiral-shaped horns to open a path. He smashed his way through the magical machines in a matter of seconds.
It didn't matter how tough and hard the alloy materials used to forge the magical machines were. They couldn't possibly defend against the barbaric charge of a Third Grade dragon.
Moreover, if Thunder Dragon Arms made it into the midst of the magical machine army, he could easily summon lightning around him and use it to blast away all magical machines around him.
That would be a lightning storm conjured by a Third Grade thunder dragon. How could a group of First Grade magical machines hope to defend against it?
It was just like plowing the ground. Thunder Dragon Arms pierced through the siege of magical machines without much effort. A floor full of machine debris and shards were left in his wake. However, the counterattacks and focus firing of magic energy weapons from the magical machines still dealt minor damage to the thunder dragon's body.
Arms plowed through three tunnels and destroyed over a hundred magical machines. Yet the tunnels in front of him were still packed full of magical machines.
Thunder Dragon Arms crouched on the ground and panted for a moment. For the first time, he started doubting whether this had been the right choice.
The lightning speed of a thunder dragon had no room to be unleashed in this location. Even the endless power of electricity he always wielded in the past could not be replenished in this place; this damned Goblin Plane's magic aura was too thin. It was enough to make a dragon suffocate. The magic elementium obtained through breathing was not sufficient for Arms' use.
That was why, after a bit of fighting, the Third Grade Arms didn't dare to use his powers of electricity in the same extravagant manner as he had in the past. Instead, he turned into a cold-blooded killer, pinning the machines with his horns and tearing their chests apart with his claws before spitting a ball of lightning into the machines.
The explosion of lightning within the magical machines would instantly destroy all their delicate components, causing them to cease all operations after a bit of creaking.
Killing the magical machines in this manner was a little slower, but it saved a lot of Arms' lightning powers. After all, the wounds from close-ranged combat would quickly heal due to his robust Physique. On the other hand, his lightning powers would take a much longer time to recover.
As Arms was having a fun time taking apart the magical machines, Giant Brain Gazlowe was almost crying from the heartbreak.
The magical machine factories in the Steel Capital could indeed produce an endless stream of magical machines, but the process itself still consumed a large number of metal resources. The metal reserves in the Steel Capital were, at the very best, only enough to construct another 1,236 magical machines.
Yet, just Thunder Dragon Arms alone had easily destroyed a hundred and eighteen machines.
If Arms was allowed to continue his rampage, all of Gazlowe's machines would be destroyed, regardless of how many he could create.
As such, Giant Brain Gazlowe could no longer sit still when the Third Grade dragon continued to advance towards the hall. It started to negotiate with Greem, the leader of the adepts.
Nothing else in the world was more important to Gazlowe than his life!
He had gone through so much trouble to assimilate with the Steel Capital through the immortality ritual. However, these adepts and dragonborn that had broken into his 'body' had become a major problem.
Of course, he would t
ry and capture both of these enemies in a single blow if he had the chance.
However, his means of attack were restricted. He needed to rely upon those mediocre low-Grade magical machines for combat. Those magical machines had no advantage to speak of before the adepts and the dragonborn. In fact, they were so frail in front of the Third Grade thunder dragon that they were no different from simple toys.
With no choice left to him, and the situation spiraling out of his control, Gazlowe could only choose to form an alliance with the adepts once again. He needed them to help fight against the dragonborn and weaken the amount of pressure that he needed to deal with.
While Gazlowe believed his plans to be unnoticed by the others, he had no idea that Alice possessed a perfect sense of all his schemes.
All the adepts that Greem led retreated from the underground hall without any hesitation upon establishing an alliance with Giant Brain Gazlowe. However, they didn't behave as they had agreed. Instead of going out to hunt the thunder dragon, they were trying to make their way out of the hall via the tunnels.
The current situation was a result of there being three parties. No one dared to fight with their full strength out of caution for the third party. Thus, Greem chose to temporarily remove himself from the conflict and allow the giant brain to clash head-on with the thunder dragon.
He didn't believe that Gazlowe would so easily bow before the dragon when it came to a choice of freedom and enslavement.
As long as the dragon and the brain didn't come to an agreement, then a big fight was unavoidable. The adepts would then have a chance and the space to thread the needle and determine the outcome of this conflict!
Giant Brain Gazlowe was naturally furious at the adepts retreat.
However, he couldn't do anything about their betrayal. He had to deal with this problem by himself!
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