Chapter 658: Deep Infiltration
Maya did not cause severe injuries to the bamboo leaf dragonfly that retreated.
In their brief encounter, Maya matched the Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly in combat but found it challenging to inflict any damage.
As a prominent obstacle for the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Army, the demigod-class Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly faced not only frontal assaults from Maya, an equally formidable opponent but also endured elemental strikes from all directions.
Most of the elemental chaos in the sky earlier was aimed at the demigod-level Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly known as Lantz.
For many mages involved in the conflict, facing a demigod was an unlikely scenario under normal circumstances.
Now given the opportunity, many low-ranking mages supporting from outside the plane were eager to try their hands.
Although their spells might not deliver a lethal blow to a creature of Lantz’s caliber, even putting a scratch on it could earn them bragging rights!
Elemental strikes from one or two low-ranked mages might not significantly impact a demigod, but the effect was vastly different when it was a joint attack from hundreds or even thousands of mages.
Not even the toughest demigod-level knight from the Order of the Steel Fist could withstand such an onslaught from countless mages, let alone a demigod from an unremarkable foreign plane.
When the number of attacks reached a critical mass, it resulted in a dramatic transformation in their effect.
Initially, a barrage of saturating magic strikes covered the area, followed by several Rank Three knights and mages who specifically targeted the demigod-level Bamboo Dragonfly.
The retreat of Lantz was unsurprising.
Among the Magus World’s experts, the one who inflicted the most damage on Lantz was a Rank Three grand mage named Trami.
He was a recent recruit of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring and had participated in the Thunderfall World War ten years earlier, though he had remained largely unnoticed.
No one had expected this Rank Three grand mage to master venom, a rare form of magic.
When he conjured a pitch-black cross and struck Lantz from behind, the weakened demigod-level Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly used its last reserves of strength to flee eastward.
The retreat of the demigod-level Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly shattered the morale of the native forces supporting Verdant Leaf World from all sides.
Of the five demigod entities in Verdant Leaf World, three were immobile giant plants.
The escape of the severely injured Bamboo Leaf Dragonfly seemed to signal that the counterattacks of the Verdant Leaf World’s native creatures would be halted for a considerable period.
After the battle, Sein chose not to venture further into the surrounding forest but remained at the camp.
More than twenty magic towers were erected, slowly giving form to the fortress base.
Around this fortress, encircled by a geo elemental wall, nearly ten thousand plant creatures took root permanently.
These were the plant giants that Sein and his team had grown upon their arrival.
While some had decomposed into the soil, many survived.
Most of these plant creatures, engineered by Lorianne, were designed to be disposable yet durable for a considerable period.
They now formed a new defensive barrier around the fortress, capable of reanimating from the soil if needed, though this would shorten their lifespans.
The invasion of the microplane proceeded more smoothly than anticipated.
Being just a microplane, and with the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring's meticulous planning, not many unforeseen events occurred.
On the seventh day following the successful establishment of the fortress base, a light pillar emerged at the center. It expanded sideways, opening a spatial gate several hundred meters wide.
This teleportation array differed from the spatial magic Sein had previously studied, which focused more on individual teleportation and summoning passages.
This larger gate, designed for the passage of hundreds of thousands of troops, represented a different category of spatial knowledge.
Though superficially similar, the two varied significantly in complexity and energy consumption.
To sustain this gate, Sein’s mentor had acquired five high-powered initial transporters from the Capiche Business Alliance.
Three had been expended in prior troop movements, the fourth was currently in use, and the last was reserved as a backup.
The two Rank Three grand mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring were the ones who initiated the opening of the spatial gate.
Having witnessed the process firsthand, Sein believed he could replicate the feat, although his own mana reserves might fall short.
With the spatial gate operational, the early phase of the Verdant Leaf World War was set to stabilize, leaving little room for unforeseen developments.
Even if the native legions of Verdant Leaf World mounted a counteroffensive at this juncture, they would find themselves outmatched by the well-established forces of the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring.
Of course, the native creatures had yet to launch another significant attack.
After the fall of millions of their comrades, they had all but vanished, with only sporadic movements observed.
This lack of resistance meant the next move was for the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring Army to initiate their offensive instead.
The campaign pushed westward as the legions, comprising a hundred thousand aquatic beings, fifty thousand centaurs, and a hundred thousand minotaurlings, passed through the massive spatial gate.
Alongside these troops, nineteen hundred enlisted mages arrived also in Verdant Leaf World.
Back on the demiplane beyond this plane, around three hundred mages remained stationed, with Rank Four mage, Lorianne, overseeing the war efforts from afar.
Although Lorianne had refrained from deploying her clone into the microplane on the advice of Archimedes and others, she maintained an elemental projection within the fortress base.
This projection could swiftly be activated to transform into Lorianne’s clone through the power of law if needed.
This was one of the trump cards Lorianne had set aside for the invasion army.
Following the arrival of the one hundred thousand-strong aquatic races legion, Sein received orders from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring’s command center to lead an elite force of two thousand into the expansive western forest.
Sein’s group was a diverse mix, comprising over a hundred knights and a dozen mages he knew well, alongside Magus World’s aquatic races. Among them were Heisse and the other Sea Lizards.
The chief of the Sea Lizard Tribe wore a conflicted expression when it saw the unwavering loyalty of the four Sea Lizards toward Sein.