On the other hand, Gazlowe had obtained as many as one hundred and ten thousand magical machine warrior prototypes.
Unfortunately, they were only prototypes and not combat units with activated intelligence modules. It wasn’t that Gazlowe didn’t want to activate all of them. Rather, the energy supply of the metal fortress couldn’t keep up.
The everyday activity of a magical machine warrior would exhaust a minimum of four to six magical energy batteries. This consumption would even double during combat instances. However, Gazlowe’s magic generator furnace could only generate a maximum of eight hundred magic energy batteries daily, even when running at full capacity.
Moreover, apart from the magic energy batteries, the metal fortress was also responsible for sustaining the functions of many other things. The creation of magical machines and the research workshops all demanded a large amount of energy. Given all these considerations, generating five hundred magic energy batteries was the limit of production for the magic generator furnace.
To ensure magic energy was conserved to the fullest extent, all magical machine warriors that walked off the conveyor belt were kept in their prototype state and remained unactivated. They were then moved into several emptied mountains and stored within. Meanwhile, the metal fortress could keep activated the bare minimum of one hundred and fifty magical machine warriors.
After all these years of accumulation, Gazlowe had finally managed to gather one million magic energy batteries. That meant Gazlowe, after so many years of hiding in silence, finally had the material foundation to erupt with an unstoppable force.
Just as Gazlowe was silently thinking about which nearby dragon lord to unleash his fury upon, a rare guest appeared at the metal fortress.
“O’ respected Lady Alice, welcome to the metal fortress. How can I be of service?” Though Gazlowe was one entire grade above Alice, the brain monster knew his status and position very well. As such, he behaved extremely subservient and enthusiastic before this woman who was very likely to become the spouse of his master.
Alice, who had become pretty once again, was dressed in her purple starry robe and standing in the vast metal hall. There was nothing in sight aside from the platinum-white metal floor. Gazlowe’s magic generator furnace had already become the magic energy source of the entire fortress, and it could not easily leave the power cabin. As such, Gazlowe could only communicate with Alice using mental messages.
In her hands, Alice held a mysterious staff that was significantly taller than herself. The lively magic fairy on her shoulder looked around and asked softly, “Sir Gazlowe, did you receive the warning alerts that came from Fire Throne a while ago?”
A short moment later, Gazlowe’s unique mental flux radiated through the metal hall.
“I have received the alerts and responded to the call for help. Two hundred magical machine warriors and twenty thousand magic energy batteries have been sent over to the tower.”
“These are not enough to resolve the predicament that Fire Throne is currently in!” Alice replied firmly.
“That is not my problem, my lady!” Gazlowe chuckled coldly and said, “Master’s order before he left was for me to protect this metal fortress and provide the Crimson Clan with a stable and safe outpost. Everything else happening in the World of Adepts is not within my administrative authority!”
“Fire Throne is vital to your master. It should not be lost to the hands of the enemy in this manner!”
“The answer is still the same!” Gazlowe insisted, “This is not my problem. If you wish for me to further contribute, you will need orders from my master.”
Alice smiled.
Greem might always maintain a weak connection with her, but he was in a dangerous place right now. They couldn’t always communicate with each other. As such, Gazlowe’s insistence was really only an excuse.
It was clear that Gazlowe was already treating the entire metal fortress and everything within it as his personal property. He was not willing to offer them up to ‘others’ apart from his master. Though he didn’t mind cooperating with the other adepts and the Crimson Clan, trying to have him mobilize his forces and resources was no more than a delusion.
Alice had prepared for such a situation.
“Sir Gazlowe, you intend to go down the path of mental specialization, don’t you?! I wonder, what are your thoughts on the direction of your future advancement?”
The hall suddenly turned silent.
A short moment later, Gazlowe’s mental flux appeared once again.
“I have heard that you are a great Witch of Fate! May I know what suggestions and guidance you have for my current development?” Surprisingly, the somewhat arrogant Third Grade brain monster became exceedingly humble now.
“There’s not much in the way of suggestions or guidance. I am just curious and interested in your current state. Someone as smart and arrogant as yourself must have planned far ahead for your own life. However, I must remind you. Never, ever underestimate the importance of the development of your origin!”
The hall fell silent once again.
“You mean to say that I have somewhat deviated from my origin now?”
Alice once again smiled casually.
“What do you think?”
“…I was originally a Duke of the Goblin Empire and found ways to transform myself into my current state to break free of the limitations of my lifespan. For this purpose, I have utterly given up on my identity as a goblin, and I regard myself as a brain monster. As such, my soul origin should be…Spirit!”
“As long as you understand!” Alice lightly grabbed Helen, who was darting about in front of her and placed the fairy on her shoulder before saying, “Your soul origin walks the path of mental specialization. The trait manifested from that path is the ability to assimilate with metal that has been infested with your magical energy. This powerful ability is your greatest tool and has helped you create such a massive metal fortress. If you had no energy or resource limitations, you could easily build an entire capital of steel on your own.”
Gazlowe felt no pleasure from Alice’s words of praise. He was wordlessly waiting for the turn in her voice.
As expected, Alice’s tone changed, and she started speaking the words he least wanted to hear.
“Unfortunately, such a powerful ability has also misguided you, causing you to forget your soul origin. Your origin is Spirit and mental power, not the forging of magical machines. Creating so many magical machine warriors might give you the false illusion of becoming stronger, but I wish to ask you one more question. Has your power improved once since you chose to assimilate with the magic generator furnace?”
The metal hall was silent once again.
This time, it was truly silent. Even the rumbling in the distance and the faint trembling of the ground stopped all of a sudden. This city forged purely out of metal had suddenly fallen into actual silence.
After a long, long time…
Gazlowe’s mental flux once again connected with Alice.
“It seems that I have wasted all these years in vain, exhausting all my energy on creating a meaningless magical machine army. If I can’t find a development that truly suits me, my journey of advancement will probably halt here at the Third Grade forever. This…this is something I…absolutely cannot tolerate.”
“Your train of thought doesn’t always have to be this extreme. Your current actions aren’t entirely wrong. At the very least, you can only have the chance to think about your future development if you can guarantee your safety at the moment. These last couple of years haven’t been wasted. You have managed to create a magical machine army to protect your safety. It will become the foundation and body with which you will execute your will from now on. As long as you find the right direction, your progress forward will be much faster, especially with the help of these magical machines.”
“But I am very confused. I really have no idea how a true brain monster is supposed to advance. Should I let my b
rain cells divide and increase in size, or should I find ways to devour the brains of other intelligent lifeforms? I am perplexed and very troubled.”
“Perhaps I can provide you with a way to obtain knowledge on a suitable advancement method for brain monsters.”
“It that’s true…”
Gazlowe’s mental flux suddenly intensified, and the entire metal fortress echoed with his mental ‘message’ that he had practically roared out loud. It was fortunate that Alice knew well enough to cut off their mental connection. Otherwise, she would most definitely have been stunned by the mental shockwave of a Third Grade brain monster.
“However, my information is never free. Let’s see how much you are willing to pay now!”
The hall filled with the whispers of Alice and Gazlowe, their voices slowly turning softer as they spoke.
Finally, the hall reverted to its daily ‘calm’!
Chapter 780 - Battle of the Adept's Tower
World of Adepts, Fire Throne.
The battle in front of the tower was nearing its conclusion.
After seven days and nights of constant fighting, the two hundred magical machines that Fire Throne had dispatched had all been lost in Magma Hall. The Alliance paid the price of twenty-six adepts and twenty-four thousand soldiers for this result.
Of course, the losses of the former was what made the hearts of the Alliance leaders ache.
After all, regardless of how many soldiers they lost, they could raise the banner of recruitment in their territory and replenish the ranks. If there weren’t enough young men, they could have their citizens increase their birth rate. At any rate, civilians were like chives; harvest one batch, and they would slowly regrow after a while. The adepts had never been worried about not having enough mortal soldiers.
However, the loss of these twenty-six adepts truly hurt the hearts of the Alliance higher-ups.
If these twenty-six deaths had all been inflicted upon a single clan, it would have been enough to cause that clan to disband.
As such, one could easily imagine how intense and bloody the battle in the Magma Hall had been over the past week!
In particular, one of those twenty-six adepts was a Second Grade adept from Layton Academy. It had infuriated Layton Academy Principal Second Grade Adept Giles so much that he nearly went berserk.
Layton Academy only had a total of three Second Grade adepts. One of them stayed guard in their headquarters, while Principal Giles joined the Anti-Crimson Clan Alliance with the other.
The situation on the battlefield had been looking good during the first few rounds of attacks; everything was basically within the control of the Alliance. Unfortunately, the exhaustion of the elite soldiers and the weakness of their servants caused the ordinary humans to start showing signs of breakdown.
To avoid the mortal army from collapsing at the frontlines, the Alliance adepts had no choice but to appear at the forefront as well. They had to use their powerful offensive magic to do away with the annoying magical machines.
Meanwhile, the Crimson adepts took advantage of them approaching the tower to strike and gain a situational numerical advantage. As such, those unfortunate Alliance adepts had died at the hands of the Crimson Clan, one by one.
It was the same for that murdered Second Grade adept.
When he had gone near the tower and started wreaking havoc upon the magical machines, the seven Crimson Clan Second Grades that had been waiting in the tower struck in unison. Those assigned to seal off the exit path sealed it off, the interceptors intercepted the enemy, and the close-range fighters engaged in melee combat. After a few bouts of brutal combat, the Second Grade adept from Layton Academy died at the hands of Mary before his companions could arrive.
Third Grade Vampire Haines Vik had also intended to ambush Mary during this fight but was forced back by the terrifying lightning cast by the tower. The attack of the tower caused Haines to retreat from the battlefield for two whole days.
Still, despite the numerous miracles that the Crimson Clan had achieved in battle, they could not save the tower from the fate of being conquered.
With the exhaustion of the tower’s energy, the brilliant radiance that shrouded the tower had vanished. The tower could no longer support an omnidirectional forcefield defense. It had to temporarily suspend its defensive system and redirect what remained of its energy to the offensive arrays in hopes of intimidating the greedily waiting Alliance.
The reason the Crimson Clan had been able to achieve the miracle of twenty-six adept kills, at the cost of no casualties to themselves, was due to the tower’s constant magical blessing and the threat of its powerful magical arrays. Why was it that the high-grade adepts never set foot within a hundred meters of the tower, despite already being on the battlefield? It was that they did not want to become sacrificial offerings beneath the might of the tower’s offensive system!
The Crimson Clan’s energy reserves were still too low. Otherwise, the Alliance adepts would never have dared to attack a tower supported with sufficient energy, even if they had twice their number. Unless all the Alliance adepts could unite together with the courage to die for their cause, no one would be foolish enough to test the tower’s strength with their own life.
After all, when hosted by a Second Grade adept, the tower’s offensive arrays could even threaten the life of a Third Grade adept.
However, with the decrease in the tower’s energy, the threat to high-grade adepts was starting to lessen as well. The activity of the Alliance high-grades was increasing exponentially.
After all these days of continuous assault, cracks had begun to appear on the surface of the tower that had once intimidated tens of thousands of magical creatures.
Moreover, as the main battlefield, the Magma Hall had become a nightmarish furnace of blood and flesh. Upon stepping into the hall, anyone would feel their head ache from the pungent stench of blood. The most terrifying thing of all was all the piles of corpses littered across the place.
Piles of mauled bodies could be seen from the entrance of the hall to the center of the battlefield, where they piled even higher and wider. Broken and bloodied corpses twisted in all sorts of unspeakable shapes and forms. It was horrendous.
As the battle had gone on for far too long, the corpses of the first Alliance dead could not be moved away from the battlefield. The servants had no choice but to cart them away and pile them in a corner of the Magma Hall instead. As the battle increased in intensity, there was no longer even time for clearing away the dead bodies. The soldiers of the Alliance could only step over the piling forest of blood and flesh, fighting against the magical machines around the tower as their feet sunk in the blood and mud.
Twenty thousand Alliance corpses lined the Magma Hall. As the survivors stepped on and fought upon their bodies, the bodies became even more deformed, rendering it impossible to discern their original appearances. Only rotting black blood escaped from the corpse piles, leaving dry, black rivers on the scorching floor of Magma Hall.
The foul blood was evaporated by the heat, turning into a bloody mist that lingered in the air as if it was hell itself. The stronger humans risked infection in such a putrid environment if they stayed for more than fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the weaker ones might even die instantly.
The surviving soldiers continued to fight and battle in this harsh environment, using battering rams and the weapons in their hands to desperately attack the tower gates and the crimson tower itself. Wave after wave of warriors fell, only to be replaced by a new stream of warriors.
Their strength became weaker as time went on, and their courage had all but worn away. However, under the threats of the adepts and the nobles, they still had to muster the bravery to yell and assault that looming and immovable tower.
Every time a certain number of them gathered around it, the tower would tremble as thousands of normally hidden magical lines would light up. Magical energy would be channeled and collected at the top of the tower, forming into a
massive spell of enormous power to blast the enemy to pieces.
The mortal men could not defend themselves against such powerful magic without any magical protections themselves.
Plenty of flesh was burned to ashes, machines torn to pieces, and souls vanished from this place, howling as they disappeared. Some individuals with strong grudges did not immediately vanish upon death. Instead, they roamed the battlefield as wraiths just as they did in life.
Some retained their appearance in life, though now shimmering with light and a bit more translucent. They either stood on the ground unresponding, knelt and cried, or wandered and shambled about aimlessly.
Every time a living being passed by them, they would stare with their lightless eyes and extend their translucent hands, howling for help. And when their wishes went unfulfilled, they would fly into a rage, transforming into ugly and ferocious wraiths that lunged at the Alliance soldiers.
One might not think much of them due to them being intangible beings, but they could still do a certain amount of spiritual damage to the living.
Due to the gathering of souls on the battlefield, the Alliance soldiers’ invasion was severely interrupted.
Supposedly, the strength of a mortal’s soul should not have allowed them to turn into spirit beings in such a short time frame. However, far too much magical energy was radiating in this battlefield, and far too many lives had been lost. All these factors created this land of wraiths and ghosts.
The Alliance adept had no choice but to send apprentices to exterminate these collections of resentment that refused to leave after their deaths.
Meanwhile, the adepts continued to observe this bloody and cruel war from behind the lines.
The deaths of the soldiers were no more than a mundane number to them. Though they would have to pay out large sums of compensation after this, it was still a thousand times better than having them attack the tower themselves. Some Alliance adepts who needed significant numbers of souls for magical experiments even snuck onto the battlefield and used special equipment to collect the souls of the soldiers.
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