Chapter 492: Fire the Cannon!

"Retract the void energy traction device, return the World Anchor to the interior of the main city, and do not let this weapon of war be exposed to the observations of the Utopia organization until it is within range to strike its target."

Icarus issued the command. The apertures on the massive metal pillar closed in sequence, and the void fissures that had coiled around it naturally receded and vanished. Once the main power was cut, the World Anchor no longer betrayed any connection to the void; even its energy fluctuations became nearly impossible to detect.

"..."

Silently watching the colossal metal pillar be swallowed by the opening deck and stowed deep within the main city of the Sky Mechanical City, Icarus walked toward his command chamber. The areas within the city inaccessible to its inhabitants were the domain of the Tower Spirit, Astartes, who handled all operational maintenance.

He was exceptionally cautious in entrusting the care of this vital weapon to Astartes. The reason was simple: he could not confirm whether the Utopia organization had planted eyes or moles within the Sky Mechanical City. After all, Utopia’s ability to twist the minds of others made it far too easy to create traitors; the World Anchor had to be protected at all costs.

"The Twilight Church should have already pushed into the Ash Barrens. Regardless, Utopia must react to this, or I might begin to doubt whether my current observations are pointing to the wrong location."

Muttering to himself, Icarus stood ready to issue the order for the Sky Mechanical City and the allied legions, now assembled beneath it, to advance and commence the offensive.

He did not have to wait long. Soon, deafening roars began to emanate from the direction of the Ash Barrens. The gale, turned gray-black by the pervasive ash, surged like a tidal wave, rolling all the way to the position of the Sky Mechanical City, battering the main city as it swept past.

"Detected abnormally active void energy fluctuations and elemental reactions. The Twilight Church must have begun its first clash with the Utopia organization."

Observers relayed their respective data to Icarus one after another, allowing the commander to make his assessment.

"Do not be impatient. Energy fluctuations of this intensity clearly do not indicate a full-scale eruption. The engagement between the Twilight Church and Utopia is still in the probing stage, or perhaps Utopia’s current decision is merely to block. For us, this is not the optimal moment to enter or harass."

Icarus was far calmer than the others. The truth he alone possessed was like a block of ice resting upon his burning thoughts, providing a clear thread of logic that prevented emotional decision-making.

At this moment, Utopia had just engaged the Twilight Church; neither their attention nor their combat power was fully committed. While a pincer attack to assist the Twilight Church in surrounding Utopia might seem like a good choice, he had to constantly remind himself of the Sky Mechanical City’s responsibility and goal in this battle: to deliver the World Anchor to the target point...

Therefore, this was certainly not the right time for the Sky Mechanical City to enter the fray. A short wait was still required, but before that moment arrived, the Sky Mechanical City would not remain idle.

"Boom!"

In the distance, a blinding pillar of energy shot into the sky, blasting a massive hole through the clouds. Even from the deck of the Sky Mechanical City, far away, the terrifying power of that attack was clearly visible.

"Beep!"

The monitoring instruments emitted a sharp alert. The energy fluctuations on the battlefield had climbed a level; the intensity of the ongoing battle was escalating.

"Deploy five Iron Guards. Coordinate with the vanguard of the legion to begin the assault. Prepare to form a pincer offensive."

The time was ripe. Icarus decisively issued the order to attack. The troops departing now were the first-stage attackers—the vanguard—aimed at formally pushing the front line toward Utopia’s position. Once the first stage was complete, the Sky Mechanical City would begin to fully exert its role as a fortress of firepower, following the main force and using the front line as a spearhead to smash into the heart of Utopia.

"Clang!"

Metal giants of the same type as the Iron King, Bogul, were dropped from the Sky Mechanical City. Freefall, combined with their immense weight, granted them terrifying kinetic energy. Even though the gravity arrays installed in their legs operated at full power near the ground, they could not fully negate that staggering momentum. As they stomped onto the earth, the ground shook five times in succession, and the surrounding trees and rocks were forcibly uprooted from their positions.

"Boom..."

The thrusters on their backs spewed scorching, blinding flames. Their heavy feet ground against the earth, accelerating the massive behemoths until they reached the front of the formation with astonishing momentum and speed, becoming five iron walls crushing everything in their path toward the target.

While the Sky Mechanical City was deploying its vanguard, Wang Yu had already officially begun his battle. About twenty kilometers into the Ash Barrens, the girl’s Perfect Fractal captured something discordant in the space—a "wall" stretching across the center of the barrens.

The interference of void energy combined with elemental magic flow made it nearly impossible to detect by any direct means, but for the Perfect Fractal, which relied on data collection and analysis, it was discovered from several kilometers away.

"This is the first object Utopia has manifested in the material world of the Ash Barrens. Its function should be to sense intruders and provide simple obstruction."

Avia informed Wang Yu of the wall’s purpose. It was roughly equivalent to barbed wire; touching it would trigger an alarm to alert the setters of an intrusion. Breaking through it would be relatively simple, but it would still take some time.

"Can you bypass it?"

Wang Yu asked casually, already beginning to accumulate life force and pour it into the Holy Spear, Casimir.

"It is not difficult. I have a way to bypass its perception directly, but... there is no need for that, is there?"

The girl gave an affirmative answer but countered with a question of her own.

"Indeed. The Sky Mechanical City seems to want to send something to the central area. Let’s just make them focus their attention on us instead."

Wang Yu nodded and relayed the plan to the dragons behind him. Understanding his intent, all the dragons capable of releasing dragon breath began to accumulate frenzied power within their chests.

Then, at the same moment, they unleashed their breath toward the wall. They wanted to detect intruders? Then let’s give the Utopia organization a real show.

Hundreds of dragon breaths converged on a single point. The chaotic energy twisted and entangled in the air, with conflicting elements clashing violently, exciting the energy to a deeper level. Because the "thrust" of hundreds of breaths converging on one point compressed the energy significantly, it erupted with a roar upon the surface of the "wall."

"Crack!"

The sturdiness of this "wall" was quite high; upon contact, the energy was guided from a single point to the surrounding area, minimizing the load within the range to prevent a breakthrough.

But the breath of over a hundred dragons was not something that could be blocked just because one wanted to. After acting for only a split second, guiding away a mere fraction of the energy, the point where the "wall" was struck shattered, revealing what the wall had been hiding.

"Many targets. Engage at will. Leave the enemy in the center to me."

The jagged cracks spread, blowing a massive hole in the entire wall, allowing Wang Yu and the hundred-odd dragons to pass through at will. The massive energy conflict naturally drew the attention of the Utopia organization.

In the airspace behind the wall, a large number of Utopia’s towers emerged from the void. Among these dozens of towers—a number exceeding the total of all previously invaded towers—stood one especially massive structure. To call it a tower was slightly inaccurate; its complete form was a giant serpent coiled upon itself, ascending upward, inverting its massive body to construct a tower-shaped edifice.

As it manifested in the material world, the coiled serpent began to writhe. Hovering above the serpent’s head was a mage, elemental threads like nerves piercing into the giant creature’s body. This mage, whose strength was undoubtedly at the high legendary rank, was manipulating the serpent.

"I’ll handle that thing. Give me a lift, please."

He spoke to the silver dragon, Aerilian, beneath him. The other dragons had already followed Wang Yu’s command, flying in groups toward the towers that were beginning to launch high-level spells and sorcery at them, engaging in their familiar way of combat. It was time for Wang Yu to get to work.

"Understood."

A brief response, a flash of bright silver energy, and space was sliced open by a blade. When Wang Yu’s figure appeared again, he was already above the giant serpent. The silver dragon’s ability was indeed convenient, capable of largely ignoring spatial turbulence and void interference.

Raising his arm and swinging it down, the power of the Chariot imbued his fist, striking a massive mass of air with such force that Wang Yu hurtled toward the mage below—who was currently manipulating the serpent to stretch its body into a combat state—at lightning speed.

Seventh-tier auxiliary spell: Spiritual Perception. Nerve signals and sensory organs composed of mana flickered in the mage’s consciousness for an instant, capturing the existence hurtling toward him at a speed impossible to perceive with his physical constitution.

Instant-cast seventh-tier spatial spell: Aether Bubble. Space bulged like a soap bubble being blown from within, then detached and drifted toward the target descending from above. This bubble, independent of normal space, would zero out the vectors carried by the incoming target, then, after the bubble burst, perform a short-range teleportation controllable by the caster.

The effect of this spell was not as powerful as some violent spatial distortions, but it possessed excellent stability. Even a legendary knight’s power to split magic with their hands could at most avoid being teleported, but they would at least be slowed down.

The mage had already prepared his next move. On the body of the giant serpent, now connected to his consciousness, arcs of light reached their peak, racing along the massive body and focusing to launch an automatic counterattack against Wang Yu, the reckless intruder. The power of this thunderbolt was in no way inferior to an eighth-tier spell.

"Boom!"

"Clang!"

However, where the Aether Bubble met Wang Yu, there was no sound of a bubble bursting or teleportation as the mage had expected. Something exploded. Until the very moment he was smashed to pieces by Wang Yu descending from the sky, he had no time to react to what was happening.

As for the reality: Wang Yu simply ignored the Aether Bubble, smashed down at high speed, collided head-on with the thunderbolt, caused it to explode, and then landed directly on the mage’s head.

"Bang!"

The massive serpent sank a notch due to Wang Yu’s brutal stomp, trembling visibly. A massive crater appeared directly on its head, with cracks spreading and diffusing across the serpent’s incredibly sturdy, unknown material.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Pressing his hand onto the surface of the serpent’s head, Wang Yu unleashed his brute force, probing directly into it. The power of the Chariot extended inward, searching until it grasped the energy core of the serpent, which had lost control. Clutching the massive energy within, he began to pull it out.

"Ready. The energy is sufficient. Give them a blast."

Wang Yu said to the girl who had emerged halfway from the void beside him. Avia had just deactivated the "Deadlock," a special spatial spell she had attached to Wang Yu to ignore spatial magic. At this moment, she was tracing lines in the air with her hand, mana sketching and spreading.

"Come on. Casting like this is smoother."

Responding, she handed one hand to Wang Yu and pointed her thumb toward the distance with the other. This was not a "like" for the Utopia organization, but rather, an aim.

Clasping the girl’s hand, the serpent’s inner energy surged like a tidal wave, channeled by the chariot’s force toward Avia.

The reservoir is full; fire the cannon!