Chapter 1391: Clash of the Colossal Beasts

According to the calculations of the goddess of magic, Mylmina, the current state of the entire wasteland is essentially an out-of-control, self-contained “anomalous energy field.” The massive eruption of the Deep Blue Well and the lingering aftershocks of the ancient “Magic Tide Tremors” have been trapped within this land, creating a vast, unrelenting tremor of magical energy. Based on the “Unified Wave Theory,” the boundary between the “real” and the “virtual” in this world is blurred and fluid. Thus, an uncontrolled energy field means the material world itself is thrown into chaos—some things spontaneously materialize at energy focal points, others that should have vanished are reassembled and reborn, while those without protection suffer irreversible damage from this energy.

This is the harsh truth of the wasteland. The so-called “Barrier Wall” that aims to “heal” the wasteland is, at its core, an effort to “smooth out” and “filter” this massive anomalous energy field.

A sufficient number of purification devices linked together form a long barrier, like a breakwater built against crashing waves. The magical turbulence that has roiled for seven centuries gradually weakens before this barrier, until its intensity and ferocity fall below a critical threshold. At that point, it loses its ability to interfere with the physical world, reverting to normal magical oscillations. The bizarre phenomena and spreading corruption of the wasteland will then swiftly cease as their source disappears.

But until now, this has been only a theoretical outcome. Although nearly everyone who knows the truth believes Mylmina’s calculations are flawless, as towers rise and the battle evolves day by day, a flicker of doubt still lingers—will the Barrier Wall truly work? Can the Gondor Wasteland, which has plagued this planet for seven centuries, really dissipate just because of a few man-made filtering screens?

The purification devices do have an effect—they can create a “safe environment” within a limited radius, similar to the world beyond the wasteland. But to confirm whether the Barrier Wall can influence the entire wasteland, the key is to observe whether areas not yet covered by purification devices also undergo the predicted chain reaction of change.

A delicate little flower trembles softly in the breeze. It blooms on this dark, corrupted land, blossoming before the frontline purification towers are fully activated. This means that before the Typhon army advanced here, this resilient plant had already taken root and survived—likely when spring had just arrived, and the Barrier Wall had been laid down less than a quarter of the way.

Its seeds may have drifted on southern winds, but to Andsha, the origin of the seed was irrelevant—its bloom alone was enough to inspire everyone.

A young female knight named Marianne handed the flower to Andsha. With a hint of excitement, Andsha bid farewell to the soldiers and returned to her quarters. She picked up pen and paper to write a letter to Aldernan. Thanks to new technologies like image scanning, magical network transmission, and remote printing, a copy of this letter would appear before Her Majesty Rosetta Augustus within minutes, accompanied by a “photo” of the little flower.

Andsha’s gaze lingered once more on the flower on her desk before settling on the pristine sheet of paper. A thousand thoughts churned within her, rising and falling for ten minutes, until she finally looked up at the silver-haired female adjutant standing nearby. “Help me figure out how to write this…”

The adjutant immediately sat down across the table, deftly taking up the pen. As she wrote, she muttered, “I thought you had it all figured out, seeing how confidently you started…”

Andsha sighed softly, “Everyone has their own weaknesses.”

…

A hazy, dense energy shield enveloped the land. This staggering barrier sealed the entire Old Imperial City inside a faintly glowing, pale blue giant egg. At the core of this “giant egg,” a brilliant blue pillar of light blazed fiercely. Around the pillar stretched countless veins across the ground, with soldiers and automated war machines moving steadily toward the egg’s edges.

This was the heart of the Gondor Wasteland, the ruins of the Old Imperial City. The radiance of the Deep Blue Well still illuminated this land—but at the edge of that light, the surface was layered with nauseating, horrific abominations.

The wasteland legions gathered here, concentrating all their power. Projections of chaotic magical energy ravaged the battlefield, twisting the entire area into an unthinkable state. Mutants and bio-engineered behemoths surged like a black-and-red tide. Shapeless energy roiled between them, trapping these grotesque profanities in a liminal space between reality and illusion. A thick fog hovered over the land, within which countless shadowy limbs and phantom howls spread in all directions.

Near the Deep Blue Well, a silver-gray watchtower stood sentinel at the edge of the defensive line. A flash of white light at its peak heralded a blinding orb of energy hurtling into the heart of the mutant tide. A massive explosion tore a gaping hole in the black tide’s center, but the thick fog quickly reformed. Black-red arcs of electricity surged through the mist, and indistinct whispers and flesh shapes emerged anew, charging toward the energy barrier.

Tall iron soldiers burst from a passage beneath the shield. These artificial warriors, nearly indistinguishable from humans, fought fiercely against enemies that outnumbered them several times over. Their blades flashed, and they launched powerful magical missiles into the distance. Unfazed by pain and nearly impossible to kill, even grievous wounds that would be fatal to ordinary humans did not stop them. Most could retreat under cover to recovery passages near the barrier, then be transported via high-speed rails back to underground factories for repairs.

This was no longer a conventional battlefield. Both sides—and the battlefield itself—had undergone severe mutation and distortion amid the frenzied, uncontrolled magical tremors.

The iron soldiers fought mutants on the edge of reality, while the invisible magical tides behind the mutants continuously eroded the massive energy released by the Deep Blue Well’s great shield. Destroyed monsters “returned” as projections, and freshly repaired artificial soldiers repeatedly reentered the fray through underground passages. In this brutal clash, the boundary between reality and illusion trembled violently like a fragile reflection on the verge of shattering. The precarious balance seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

Behind the two bloodied armies, their commanders faced off from afar, coldly calculating and allocating vast resources to sustain this deadly feast amid the fractured battlefield.

Deep within the underground bunker, armored with layers of reinforced plating, internal stabilizers, and concrete-steel composite defenses, the control center glowed brightly. In this vast chamber, over a dozen processing nodes of the Ophelia Matrix hummed deeply as torrents of data surged through these cube-like pillars. Between the nodes floated clear holographic projections.

These projections displayed real-time images captured by composite sensors at the battlefield’s edges—showing the fiercest clashes across several key zones.

“…K-3 shield generator group destroyed and offline. Redundant units activated. Load too high; shield pressure rebalancing…”

“126th Combat Squadron completely lost. Units unable to self-recover… Recovery teams en route… T-226 transport rail broken; rerouting recovery teams…”

“Warning: Insufficient cognitive core reserves. Iron soldier maintenance efficiency declining… Resetting production line priorities. Cognitive core reserves expected to recover to threshold in seventy-two hours…”

“Warning: Signal anomaly at Defense Wall 26. Barrier suspected breached. Dispatching nearest patrol units… Encountered enemy. Our forces engaged… Combat ended. On alert. Barrier expected to restore in twelve minutes.”

Veronica/Ophelia’s voice echoed coldly through the empty hall, reverberating between the processing nodes. It sounded mechanical and harsh, utterly devoid of human warmth. Suddenly, a holographic projection at the hall’s center flickered and switched to a distant scene—

At the center of the image loomed a terrifying, massive entity. It resembled countless twisted vines, shapeless flesh, and malformed bones piled together. It was as if a forest had grown on the back of a blood-and-flesh behemoth, or a twisted forest had birthed living flesh. This abomination defied all biological classification, a nightmare amalgam covering an entire hill. Countless dark red glimmers pulsed within it, converging and flowing. Atop it, a certain structure rapidly swelled—a translucent, cyst-like sac emerged, glowing with intense light, as if harboring a dreadful energy.

“Unknown biological megastructure active again. High-energy reaction confirmed… Redistributing Deep Blue Well energy to shield system. Target launch countdown: three, two, one…”

A flash of intense light erupted on the monitor. The swollen sac atop the flesh-and-vine mountain burst open, releasing a blinding orb of light that shot straight toward the Deep Blue Well.

“Target launch confirmed. Brace for impact. Impact countdown: three, two, one…”

Almost all screens flickered with interference. The energy shield above the Deep Blue Well shimmered violently, terrifying ripples spreading across the barrier. A low rumble echoed moments later through the underground tunnels and shafts. The control hall trembled slightly. Veronica/Ophelia’s voice crackled with static: “…Impact detected. Calculating damage… K-6 to K-12 shield generators severely damaged. Localized barrier breach. Initiating shield repairs… Hostile units infiltrated defense wall interior. Dispatching Imperial Guard to clear…”

…

The glowing surface of the distant “giant egg” rippled violently. After the horrific annihilation, the “Calamity Magic Bomb” shattered into countless streams of blazing fire, cascading down the shield’s surface like a torrential downpour.

The shockwave unleashed by the catastrophic demon blast rippled through the massive “body,” causing waves to ripple across the formless flesh. One by one, the resilient “veins” and “nerves” snapped instantly upon firing, only to swiftly regenerate and restore themselves to their original state. Several organs dedicated to energy supply overheated rapidly; bodily fluids boiled within their chambers, turning into blood-colored steam that erupted from the edges of this twisted forest. Meanwhile, numerous backup organs quickly took over the overheated sections, gathering immense magical power for the next discharge.

Throughout this process, the “body” continued to grow. Deep within the flesh, the last of the priests carried out the assimilation ritual. Their fervent, tainted energies poured in relentlessly, so overwhelming that even Borken—the mastermind behind it all—felt his mind waver.

At the heart of this “twisted forest,” a tangle of flesh, bone, and plant matter had sealed into a domed hall. A vaguely humanoid “tree” took root on the softly undulating, glowing ground, sensing the complex neural feedback coursing through the “body.” Borken’s eyes fluttered open. His face looked older, more worn; his form more distorted. His yellow-brown irises seemed caught between sleep and wakefulness, as if lost in a dream. He twitched his stiff limbs slightly—and in that instant, the entire twisted forest sprawling over the hill trembled and roared like an earthquake.

“Failed to pierce… the shield…” Borken muttered to himself in a low voice. “Recharging…”

Footsteps echoed nearby. The elven twins appeared in the hall—though in truth, this “hall” was an organ within Borken’s body, his very “ventricle.” They approached the treelike figure at the center, their faces blurred in the dim light as if veiled by a dream.

“Archpriest, we’ve just returned from the deep zone. The last of our brethren have merged with your body,” Relna said. “You should be able to feel the influx of power now—within a few days, the fusion will be complete.”

“I can… feel it…” Borken’s cloudy eyes fixed on the twins. His voice was hesitant, as if it took him a moment to recognize them, then another moment to remember how to respond. “The power… surges within me… destroying that fortress… it’s only a matter of time…”

“Of course, you are incredibly strong now,” Filna’s voice was gentle. “But don’t forget our original goal. We’re not here to destroy the fortress. What we need is the vast energy inside it. Embed your roots into those energy conduits, and use the rune stones we planted earlier to control that power. That’s far more important than simply razing the stronghold.”

“Yes, control it…” Borken’s voice dropped low, but then his brow furrowed in apparent pain. “Chaotic thoughts flood my mind. I find it hard to focus…”

“That’s normal, Archpriest,” Relna smiled warmly. “You’re merging the entire cult’s power and will into yourself, ascending to become a godlike being. It’s no easy feat. Until the fusion is complete, those scattered wills are still thinking independently—they naturally disrupt your thoughts. But rest assured, this will improve soon. Once those chaotic wills vanish… you will hear only one voice.”

“That… is good.” Borken whispered softly.

“Yes, it is very good.” Relna and Filna smiled like blooming flowers.

(End of chapter)