Chapter 470: Overall Advancement, Battle Like a Tide

"Boom-rumble-rumble!"

The warrior’s gaze was fixed upon the towering spire, besieged by a deluge of spells and alchemical bombs raining down from the firmament. A heavy, thunderous roar saturated the basin. Having survived the first crusade against the Utopia organization, he possessed a chillingly clear understanding of their strength and capabilities.

"They return from the Void far more formidable than before."

This was the grave, dispassionate warning delivered by the scholars of the Sky-Mechanical City, a conclusion drawn from their study of the Void and the motives driving the Utopia organization.

To enter the Void in the flesh was proof enough that the abyss had accepted them, and a wizard "embraced" by the Void could unleash power that far eclipsed any ordinary practitioner.

"Hum!"

The spire’s apex, having pierced the "surface of the lake" to reach the material world, erupted in a tidal wave of Void energy. A spherical field of reality-warping force expanded instantly, engulfing the surrounding region.

The dense clusters of spells, alchemical bombs, and sorcerous bombardments were stripped of their nature the moment they touched that zone of concentrated Void energy. Fireballs flickered into nothingness, rays disintegrated, shells fell apart, and sorcery was smothered by a more potent, abyssal force.

The energy drawn from the Void consumed itself, neutralizing and shattering the Allied Legion’s assault, all while maintaining the spire’s steady emergence from the "water."

"This power... they have indeed grown stronger. Their manipulation of Void energy has transcended crude, chaotic distortion. The force they use to dismantle these spells is guided with absolute precision."

A wizard within the Allied Legion calmly narrated his observations, informing his comrades of the transformation undergone by the Utopia members returning from the Void.

The spire’s method of warping the material world had evolved beyond traditional wizardry; it was now a surgical, refined response to incoming threats.

The structural integrity of spells was targeted and dismantled; alchemical bombs were stripped of their internal triggers based on their specific designs; and as for raw sorcery, they simply crushed it under an overwhelming weight of energy.

"The knowledge held by the Utopia organization exceeds our wildest estimates. They know the composition of our every weapon, and they can process them perfectly with Void energy."

The wizard’s summary was a disheartening conclusion. Utopia had already displayed an unnatural erudition, and even the orcs possessed formidable spellcasting; now, that knowledge was being applied with perfection to deconstruct the Legion’s assault.

"A formidable enemy, indeed. Then let us bring forth our greatest strength and crush them!"

The knight at the vanguard heard the wizard’s assessment, yet showed no hint of fear or retreat. He donned his rune-etched helmet, gripped his signature weapon—a colossal scythe—and, channeling his battle aura, surged into the ranks of the knights prepared beside him.

No matter how powerful the foe, it was no excuse for cowardice. In a war such as this, there was only the possibility of fighting until the final breath; surrender was not an option.

"Prepare to charge! The other legendary knight’s contingent is approaching; they did not choose to teleport via the 'Net' due to the proximity."

With a low command, every knight in the formation knelt slightly behind the legendary knight with the giant scythe, bracing for the sprint.

"Boom!"

A massive meteor slowly tore through a spatial rift, its volume even more staggering than the spire itself. Ablaze with searing, molten fire, it plummeted toward the Utopia tower, which was now halfway out of the "water." The legendary mage had made his move: the eighth-tier spell, Otherworld Starfall.

This meteor, forcibly dragged from a chaotic, alien plane, possessed a terrifying randomness. No one knew what lay at the core of the rock, meaning that even if Utopia understood the spell’s structure, they could not easily formulate a countermeasure.

The legendary mage’s devastating strike was the horn that signaled the knights’ charge. Battle aura boiled instantly; the collective energy of the entire formation fused into one, and they surged toward the Utopia spire.

From the opposite side of the basin, the contingent led by the second legendary knight arrived, forming a pincer movement with the scythe-wielder’s forces, charging toward the spire emerging from the Void.

"Rumble!"

High above the knights’ path, a massive spatial rift tore open amidst the churning Void. From within, an object identical in scale to the mage’s meteor erupted, colliding violently with the star hurtling toward the tower. Utopia had no way to counter the meteor specifically, so they chose to meet it with an identical spell.

"Clack-clack-clack-clack!"

The two eighth-tier meteors ground against each other in the sky, their fiery outer shells stripping away and raining down. Even these fragments were gargantuan—the smallest measuring over five or six cubic meters—falling like hail upon the path of the knights.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With battle aura surging, the legendary knight guided his forces to manifest several giant scythes of energy, which whirled outward, precisely shattering the falling debris. Any fragments that struck the formation failed to breach the aura barrier protecting the knights.

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

The two meteors cracked open completely during the collision. Once the identical shells shattered, the random cores within were revealed. The meteor summoned by the legendary mage contained a sphere of countless solid lightning-lines, which exploded the moment the outer shell was breached, darting toward the tower under the mage’s guidance.

"Hiss..."

The outer layers of both meteors burst at the same moment. The meteor released by Utopia also revealed its core, unleashing a white, frigid mist that instantly shrouded the area. The darting lightning bolts plunged directly into this extreme cold.

The intense chill produced a strange effect, forcing the serpentine lightning to slow to a crawl, creating a surreal spectacle.

Below, the knights charged in formation toward the fully revealed spire. Above, the two meteors disintegrated, the blinding lightning crawling through the freezing mist to illuminate the pitch-black dawn—a scene of chaos, imbued with the unspeakable cruelty unique to war.

However, this fleeting spectacle was quickly shattered by the relentless attacks from both sides.

"Whoosh!"

A stream of air, compressed to the limit, shot out, followed by countless similar currents from the hands of another legendary mage in the Legion. They pierced the sky like whips, sweeping away and pulverizing the falling stones before converging into a massive storm that slammed directly into the Utopia tower.

Eighth-tier spell: Gale King’s Wrath. The pinnacle of wind-elemental manipulation, these currents possessed terrifying piercing and cutting power. Because they were composed of physical air, they were difficult to block with rigid physical defenses.

"Splash!"

Water from an unknown source surged, fueled by Void energy. A cube of water, as vast as a mountain, dropped before the raging storm, acting as a defensive barrier.

Ordinary water could never withstand an eighth-tier wind spell, but as the storm struck the massive water-cube, it did not pierce it immediately. Instead, it carved an ever-widening hole within the mass, struggling to break through.

This temporary liquid, created by warping the properties of water with Void energy, possessed the weight of high-density alchemical alloy, granting the wall immense defensive properties against specific types of attacks.

Alchemical bombs rained down, but small rifts to the Void opened to dismantle their remote-detonation components, rendering them harmless.

Spells below the eighth tier were unleashed incessantly from the Legion’s lines, only to be dismantled by Void energy into base mana.

Dark energy spheres fell from sudden rifts, assimilating the ground upon impact into pools of deep purple. From within these pools, tentacles emerged, capable of warping and destroying anything they touched, lashing out indiscriminately at everything nearby.

The wizards tore these dark energy bodies apart, casting them back into the Void, while erecting shields to intercept the tentacles before purging the "pools" at their roots.

The two sides clashed without respite. Chaos filled the earth and sky; even beneath the ground and within the Void, the collision continued. The residual energy caused the surrounding space to shudder and warp, filling the air with distorted light and shadow.

As of yet, there were no casualties. In this stage of mutual defense and offense, true losses would not appear on a massive scale until one side’s balance was disrupted. Once that equilibrium broke, death would sweep through the defeated side like a gale.

Both the Allied Legion and the Utopia organization were prepared to strike the blow that would shatter the other’s balance.

The charging knights smashed through every obstacle with their aura formation, reaching within a kilometer of the Utopia tower.

Upon reaching the legendary rank, knights possessed the power to shatter Void energy and spells with their own bodies. The entire legion’s momentum was ferocious, their power unified. This form of attack, centered on the legendary knights, was deemed by the Sky-Mechanical City as the most likely method to forcibly breach the Void energy defenses.

On both sides of the Utopia tower, the two legendary knights and their contingents arrived simultaneously. Their giant scythes and warhammers, amplified by condensed battle aura, struck the tower’s base with devastating force.

At that moment, the Utopia tower fully emerged from the "water" into the material world. Accompanied by a deafening roar, a surge of Void energy far greater than before swept the surroundings, colliding head-on with the knights’ assault.