Chapter 472: Frequent Triumphant News, Human Cannonball

"Has the Sky Mechanical City entered the battlefield ahead of schedule?"

The moment the wizard received this news, a wave of astonishment rose from the depths of his heart. Although the towers before him had not yet pushed the Allied Legions to the brink, and his own unit was among the weaker ones in the Alliance—lacking a sufficient number of legends—it was still highly unrealistic for even the most powerful Allied teams to dismantle these towers in such a short span of time.

In his estimation, it would take about ten minutes for the strongest legions facing the Utopia Organization's towers to neutralize their targets and then rush to support the teams that were evenly matched or struggling.

But this speed of destruction was faster than anticipated. In the wizard's mind, the only possibility for such a result was the premature entry of the Sky Mechanical City, a force beyond the standard scale of combat.

"Negative. The Sky Mechanical City is still observing the overall battlefield situation, remaining vigilant and awaiting any plans or actions the Utopia Organization might have hidden beneath this massive invasion."

The Sky Mechanical City's operator responded quickly. The main city remained on standby, not having deployed to any specific front. As the ultimate weapon and bastion, it would not be moved lightly; even the previous failure to arrive in time could not override the rules set by the Allied Legions.

"Then..."

Before the words could fully leave his lips, the wizard's gaze fell upon the tower engaged with his team. He clearly sensed that of the web formed by the twenty-one interconnected towers, one of the lines linking to the tower before him had snapped. As this line broke, the web was no longer complete.

The immediate consequence of the broken web was the weakening of the Utopia tower's power. By the wizard's calculation, both the speed and intensity of its void energy consumption dropped to three-quarters of its original state the instant the "line" severed. This weakening brought about an immediate reversal of the situation.

"Seize the opportunity! Suppress them!"

Regardless of what had happened, this was a golden chance. The legendary wizard did not hesitate to unleash the full extent of his void power. The shadow of a giant, emerging from the void, raised its fist and brought it crashing down upon the tower and the entities summoned from the abyss.

"The second tower has been destroyed. It is confirmed to be the one closest to the first."

Before the situation on the field could fully settle, a second message arrived unexpectedly from the Sky Mechanical City. These consecutive reports of victory left the wizard dazed. What was happening? Did the Five-Race Alliance have a hidden army capable of such rapid, violent annihilation of the towers?

The second connection snapped, and the tower's power was weakened a second time. The tide of battle finally turned completely, not just here, but across every front where the Allied Legions faced the Utopia towers.

The Allied Legions began to crush the towers whose "web" had been compromised, and all these changes stemmed from the inexplicable reports of victory that left the wizard bewildered.

...

In the Elven capital of Lyahaim, on the outskirts of the Origin Forest, a massive defensive line of War Treants and Elven warriors had been established to face the Utopia tower that appeared outside the city.

Deep within the Origin Forest, emerald crystal spires had long since risen. High-energy beams condensed upon them, firing continuously at the distant tower, while arrays of alchemical cannons relentlessly bombarded the front lines, helping the Elven warriors deal with the Utopia members pouring out of the void.

These armaments, once used against the World-Eater Worms, were finally showing their full strength. Their destructive power had long since plowed the battlefield multiple times over; before the towers could link into a web, the Utopia tower had been almost entirely on the defensive.

Twisted shields of void energy continuously repelled the Elves' attacks, nullifying magical strikes and alchemical bombardment. The Utopia towers, having returned from the void, possessed power far exceeding their previous iterations, and their self-preservation capabilities were formidable.

The Elves possessed magical attainments far surpassing humanity, but their number of knights was relatively small. However, their quality was absolute; nearly half of the legendary Elven knights stationed at the Garden of Eden were guarding the front lines, clashing with the entities summoned by the Utopia Organization.

"Boom!"

The earth within the Origin Forest split open as a massive cluster of tree roots erupted from the ground, hurling boulders toward the distant battlefield. The World Tree was also participating in this fight; this "mother" of the Elves would not be deceived again. The World-Eater, a creation prepared by devils for decades, was essentially an unrepeatable monstrosity.

The battlefield advantage lay entirely with the Elves. Even when linked into the "web," the tower's boost could not withstand the frenzied firepower pouring from the Origin Forest, nor could it stop the legendary knights at the front who had sheathed their dual blades and bows, gripped their greatswords, and charged forward in a whirlwind of steel, leading a mass of Great Knights behind them.

The Elven front line was steadily advancing, pushing their area of fire toward the tower. It would only be a matter of time before it was taken.

"Hum!"

However, just as the Elves of Lyahaim were advancing with calm, steady steps, the tower suddenly emitted a roar. The "lines" connected to the web trembled, and two of them suddenly thickened, channeling vast amounts of void energy into the tower.

Immediately, the tower's power climbed rapidly. Under the observation of the few Elven wizards present, the fluctuations of void energy surged to about 2.1 times their original intensity. The effect of this boost manifested on the battlefield instantly.

A visible ripple of void energy expanded, spreading to the edge of the Origin Forest until it was blocked by the mystical barrier, forming a hemispherical void domain covering most of the battlefield. Inside, the environment shifted into a realm where the void and the material world were more significantly fused than they had been in the Bloodfang Empire.

The sky turned from dark to a state filled with purple starlight. The warriors were not greatly affected, but the mages clearly sensed the suppression of their surroundings. Magic was stifled by the void's power; spellcasting became difficult, and the few offensive and defensive spells that were released were noticeably weakened.

This domain was an environment better suited for the Utopia Organization. With the mages' attacks curbed, the Utopia tower now had the strength to target the Elven knights who had closed in.

The earth began to void-shift; large areas of space were twisted and deflected. Solid ground turned into bottomless abysses filled with destructive spatial turbulence. Pitch-black energy spheres emerged in the surrounding area, flying erratically and devouring everything non-void they touched.

With battle qi surging, the knights used terrifying reflexes and strength to shatter and deflect the incoming spheres, but they could not escape the effects of the large-scale spatial distortion. They were forced to continuously project their battle qi to quickly escape the influence of the earth-turned-abyss.

This was a pain point for the knight class. Even after advancing to legend, capable of destroying sorcery and spells with their bare hands, they struggled to find effective solutions against large-area attacks. This was why knights were always at their most powerful when coordinating with spellcasters.

"The surrounding towers have transferred their power to this one, granting it a massive boost. So, the web's purpose, beyond reinforcement, includes this effect."

Standing atop the World Tree, Elder Gawain, the Elven elder responsible for observation and defense, calmly analyzed the state of the battlefield. After communicating with the Sky Mechanical City's operator, he understood why the tower had changed so drastically.

The Allied teams facing the two surrounding towers belonged to a relatively weaker tier and had failed to put enough pressure on them, allowing those towers to channel power through the web to reinforce the one facing the Lyahaim Elves.

"The web allows these towers to dynamically shift their power, something the Allied Legions cannot do with such efficiency. This is a massive advantage for the Utopia Organization..."

On the battlefield, the Elven mages had spent great effort pulling the knights back from the front, but the thinning spell attacks allowed the Utopia tower, previously on the defensive, to shift into an offensive posture.

The sorcery released by the tower and the spells cast by the Utopia members rained down upon the Elves, forcing them to retreat and pull their lines back.

Gawain analyzed the situation silently. He was not overly anxious; half of their legendary combat power still guarded the World Tree, and they would join the fray if necessary.

The Utopia towers could transfer power through the web, rapidly adjusting the intensity of any single tower. This ensured they neither wasted power on weak enemies nor were flattened by strong ones.

"But if they possess this capability, they could concentrate power into one tower, rapidly annihilate the weakest Allied garrison, and then use the freed-up force elsewhere to break the Alliance one by one. Why don't they do this? Is the transferred power limited? Or is there another motive..."

A question and a line of thought formed in his mind. The Utopia Organization clearly had the potential to quickly break the Allied Legions, yet they maintained this "balance of power." It felt very strange.

"It seems I must try to break a tower quickly and see what happens."

After finishing his contemplation, Gawain decided to make an attempt while contacting the Sky Mechanical City operator.

But at that very moment, before Gawain could even react, he saw the tower—which had been functioning normally a second ago—suddenly explode from the middle. The upper half of the tower crumbled and fell, snapping into two distinct parts.

It happened so fast that no one understood what had occurred until the thunderous sound of the collapse echoed and the intensity of the void fluctuations suddenly plummeted. Only then did the Elven warriors realize that the tower they were facing had been torn in two by some unknown attack.

"Crack! Bang!"

With the deafening sound of shattering walls, the remaining lower half of the tower began to be dismantled. An entity was violently destroying the Utopia tower from within at an incredible speed. To that entity, this supposedly sturdy tower seemed no different from ordinary brick and stone.

"What?"

He muttered to himself, somewhat out of character. This situation was truly outside of any of his expectations. What should happen next...

"Elder Gawain, it was Mr. Wang Yu who dismantled that tower! He hopes to borrow the Holy Spear Casimir in a moment. Oh, and Mr. Wang Yu said the World Tree has already agreed!"

As the words reached Gawain's ears, the young Elven girl Sif, who had just received permission to reach the top of the World Tree, came running over with light steps, shouting. She had been using the prayer communication network to stay in touch with Wang Yu and Avia, so she knew what had happened before Gawain did.

"Wang Yu?"

Gawain murmured, his gaze filled with shock as he looked at the Utopia tower, now reduced to ruins. A figure had already appeared there; it was indeed that familiar presence.

"It works. The destructive power of a human cannonball is indeed strong enough."

Muttering to himself, Wang Yu grabbed something he had dragged out of the Utopia tower—he didn't know what it was, but it was likely the core—and crushed it into dust.