Chapter 657: Establishing A Foothold
Sein was right.
Almost immediately after he finished speaking, a colorful wave of elemental chaos surged into Verdant Leaf World through the stable green passage, penetrating the gaping breach in the planar barrier.
This was a concerted attack, a long-range deadly spell executed by over two thousand full-fledged mages.
Unlike Sein and the other mages who had entered Verdant Leaf World and were forced to confront immediate threats from every direction, these two thousand mages of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring outside the plane could chant and execute their most potent spells in a relatively calm environment.
The coverage of a single Rank One spell could easily span tens, if not hundreds, of meters.
Now, imagine the impact of two thousand such long-range spells striking at the same time.
Upon being released into the Verdant Leaf World, these various magic elemental attacks exploded in the sky, igniting a trail of brilliant sparks.
In an instant, the entire sky was ablaze with colors.
However, this spectacle was not one of beauty but terror, intending to harvest lives.
The primary targets of these long-range spells were the insect creatures swarming from all corners of Verdant Leaf World.
Most of these creatures possessed wings and were highly agile, which allowed them to converge on the battlefield swiftly and continuously.
Yet, their inexperience in interplanar warfare made their movements seem like a futile march toward death.
For the mages of the Magus World, these otherworldly creatures swarming together made ideal targets.
These naive and pitiful beings believed huddling together might offer safety.
However, this tactic only made it easier for the mages to annihilate them en masse.
Even the most basic Rank One spell could easily obliterate and shred the resistance of several, sometimes even a dozen, native creatures of Verdant Leaf World.
Some of these large-scale spells were unleashed in particularly strategic locations, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
Despite their limited experience in interplanar combat, the mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring continued their relentless assault on Verdant Leaf World under the guidance of seasoned Rank Three grand mages, casting spells in coordinated waves.
The green energy passage in the sky facilitated the transmission of more than ten waves of long-range spells before disappearing after three hundred sandglasses.
Subsequently, the breached planar barrier began to slowly mend. During this time, the connection from Verdant Leaf World to the outside was temporarily severed.
Yet, the area around the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s vanguard legion was now devoid of threats.
The relentless elemental bombardment had transformed the vast forests and plains surrounding the temporary fortress camp into barren wastelands.
The devastation wrought by two thousand mages in just over a hundred sandglasses surpassed even that caused by the combined forces of a hundred fifty thousand centaurs and a thousand Magus World’s knights and mages!
Ultimately, however, the most commendable achievements were credited to the thousand knights and mages who had penetrated deep into the world in the form of mission points, as the rewards were proportionate to the risks taken.
The native creatures of Verdant Leaf World lost nearly a million of their number in the early stages of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s invasion.
This was a starkly mismatched conflict.
Their individual prowess paled in comparison to the invaders’, compounded by a lack of intelligence on their enemies and inadequate time to mobilize the entire forces of their world.
However, one advantage remained for the creatures of Verdant Leaf World—they were better adapted to the environment of their own plane.
Countless insect corpses littered the perimeter of the temporary fortress camp, emitting a foul stench.
Pyromancer had begun an orderly process to incinerate and dispose of these remains.
Amidst these corpses, tens of thousands of minotaurlings scrambled to feast.
For the mages of Magus World, these nearly a million foul-smelling corpses posed a potential risk of plague.
Yet, to the simple-minded minotaurlings, these were considered a rare delicacy—a feast!
Although the mages acknowledged the high protein content in these Verdant Leaf World insects, none would consider consuming them—not even the adventurous knights.
Even the remaining twenty thousand centaurs on the battlefield declined this low-quality meat.
Instead, they turned their attention to the lush grass on the plains and the various fruits in the forest nearby.
Centaurs and minotaurlings, though both omnivorous, differed in their dietary preferences.
Centaurs leaned toward plant-based diets, while minotaurlings were strong enough to digest soil in desperate situations.
The blood-soaked plains around the fortress, strewn with corpses, provided ample sustenance for these minotaurlings.
Fortunately, these minotaurlings maintained certain moral and racial standards, feasting only on the insect creatures of Verdant Leaf World and not on the remains of those from the Magus World.
During the war between Thunderfall World and Viridian Venom Flame World, Sein witnessed the Magus World’s enslaved creatures consuming the remains of their own allies.
However, these forces were a diverse mix of races, unlike the current army composed solely of centaurs and minotaurlings.
Now, with only their own kind to consider, these centaurs and minotaurlings upheld a relatively strict discipline under the watch of their demigod-level leader.
Some minotaurlings, having satisfied their hunger, ventured into the surrounding forests, accompanied by a few centaurs.
These vast forests had been devastated by Magus World mages’ long-range elemental strikes earlier.
The forest fires continued to rage unchecked, leaving countless dead and wounded creatures from Verdant Leaf World. The plant creatures with limited mobility were decimated almost entirely.
The elemental strikes from outside the plane had primarily targeted the defenders of Verdant Leaf World, who were constantly reinforcing their ranks, and the giant trees in the surrounding forest.
Apart from the ancient durian trees that Lorianne had requested be preserved, the rest of the hostile plant creatures had been thoroughly eradicated.
The centaurs and minotaurlings ventured deeper into the forest to ensure no survivors had escaped the initial purge.
The native creatures of Verdant Leaf World had been thoroughly intimidated by the formidable display of power from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s Army.
The retreat of the severely wounded demigod-level Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly indicated that assembling another resistance force would be challenging in the meantime.
This period was crucial for the vanguard troops of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring to secure a strong foothold.
On this elevated plain, a towering fortress base quickly took shape, facilitated by the magic of Magus World.
This included the construction of a teleportation array, which was prioritized to expedite the deployment process.
Hundreds of thousands from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s Army were still waiting to enter Verdant Leaf World.