Chapter 417: Nine Months later, Planet Dawn.
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the Ancient City Ruins of the South Territory on Planet Dawn, an alliance of various tribes had gathered.
Three thousand Blue Shield Knights of the Vain Kingdom, five thousand Savage Berserkers of the Howling Barbarians Tribe, one thousand Alchemist Bombardiers of the Earth Tribe, five hundred Beast Riders of the Child of Voices, and the mixed army of the Southland City and the Principality. There was a total of fifteen thousand people camping in the green field outside the Ancient City Ruins, their flags swaying with the wind.
There was not a single cloud in the sky. The sky there was the color of dusk, turning everything into a darker shade. The sun hanging high up in the sky looked tiny as it was very far from the planet.
The Imperator was having a meeting in the tent with the commanders of the various armies, and they were having a heated discussion. Only one tall blue-skinned man did not speak at all. He was the Blue Shield Knights Captain, Rex, the war hero of the Vain Kingdom. He had turned from a civilian into the commander of the ace army of the biggest kingdom on Planet Dawn. His deeds were praised by all the people on Planet Dawn.
When the others were almost done talking, only then did Rex open his mouth. The commanders of the other tribes all respected him very much, so they stopped their argument and listened to his words.
“Rezar and his believers are currently hiding under the ruins, preparing the ceremony of polluting the Origin Water. We have about two and a half hours’ time. There’s about eight hundred high-level Mojo Puppet Colossuses, which he spent twenty years building, sleeping in the ruins. He’s installed complex magic arrays, so the path toward the ceremony altar will only open if all the Mojo Puppets are destroyed.
“This means that we have to break through the lockdown of the Mojo Puppets in a short time, find their position, and stop the ceremony. If not, the Origin Water of more than half of the Southland territory will lose its vitality, and hundreds of thousands of people will die!”
Another commander sighed. “The scouting troops have sent back a message—every Mojo Puppet is more than seven meters high. They are extremely hard and are even blessed by prayers. Even our Reasteel swords broke from slashing it and could only leave a white mark...
“This intel cost us six elite troops. Also, Rezar’s sect has one hundred [Polluters] who can corrode our weapons and bodies. No elite warriors can withstand the corrosive spell. This situation is too tough.
“It’s very difficult for the fifteen thousand of us to breakthrough in a short time. Sigh, Rezar prepared in darkness for twenty years. If we had discovered his conspiracy ten days... no, even just three days earlier, we would not be in such a situation. This is everyone that we could gather in such a short time.”
“This affects the purity of the Origin Water and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people; we cannot fail,” Rex said with a deep voice. “The Kingdom Tribune Mages have contacted the ascenders from the higher worlds. The ascenders have hired warriors from the higher worlds who will help us in combat...”
Rex then looked at the corner of the tent. A human in a red battle suit was sitting there, looking completely different from the others who were wearing chain armor. He stood up and said, “I’m the Red Horn Mercenary Group’s Captain, Lin Ge. The people of your race have paid the gratuity, so we will help you to our best ability.”
“Captain Lin Ge, are you confident?” Rex asked.
Lin Ge shook his head and said with a bitter smile, “Frankly, the situation here is much worse than the information that we received when we accepted the mission suggested. Our strength is limited, and we aren’t able to deal with missions of this level. The details have already been reported to the employer, and the second batch of external reinforcements is on the way. If we’re lucky, they should be able to reach us within two hours.”
Frowning, Rex’s face turned grave, and he said, “Time is too scarce. Are the reinforcements dependable?”
“Don’t worry, the mercenary group in the second batch of reinforcements is much stronger than us. As long as they arrive in time, solving the incident here will be a piece of cake. Their stronghold happened to be in this Star System. If not for that, they would not even have bothered to take on small incidents like this.”
“I hope so...”
Rex was worried, but Lin Ge was confident.
Planet Dawn was located in the Garton Star System, Godora’s territory. This planet was very far from the Fixed Star, so it was at dawn even in the day, hence its name. There was no moon at night too, only darkness. There was no difference in seasons; every day was cold. Theoretically, this should have been a frozen planet that was unable to birth lifeforms. Its vitality came from the river running through the surface and underground. The natural water on Planet Dawn contained magic energy. It had warmth in it that diminished the coldness of the entire planet and gave birth to plants and lives. It was called ‘Origin Water’ by the inhabitants of Planet Dawn. The Origin Water was the most important resource on the entire planet.
Civilizations on Planet Dawn was built on Origin Water. The changes and wars between nations throughout history were mostly because of Origin Water. The long-term consumption of Origin Water gave people strong physiques. The light blue-skinned Vainerians were the main race. The ancient Vain Kingdom was the strongest kingdom on this planet. The existence of Origin Water determined Planet Dawn to be a magic civilization—its technological development was slow, and it focused on individual capabilities. Its social construct had very obvious characteristics of magic civilizations, such as the ones who could control magic all had higher positions in society.
Although this was a surface civilization, as it was focused on magic just like Godora, it had a connection with the galaxy. Once someone reached a certain level of strength, they could request Godora’s help and enter the ‘higher world’, which was the galaxy. These people were called the ascenders. There had been hundreds of ascenders throughout history. Some completely disappeared, but some returned from time to time and left communicators. This was also the Kingdom Tribune Mages’ Holy Relic, used to contact the ascenders.
Not long ago, the Vain Kingdom had discovered the conspiracy of the notorious ‘Pollution Mage’ Rezar. He wanted to use some kind of large magic ceremony to divert the Origin Water from more than half of the Southland territory, giving himself an incomparable amount of magic power. Originally, the magic in the Origin Water would perish. Even if they were used, it would also be recovered through natural cycles.
But this ceremony would strip all the magic from the Origin Water in a certain area, and that Origin Water would need hundreds of years to recover. The density of the entire planet’s Origin Water magic would decrease because of this, which would lead to the planet’s temperature decreasing.
Even if Origin Water would still cycle, it required time to do so. That area would lose its protection and be covered in ice within a month, turning into a place of death, causing hundreds of thousands of people to lose their homes or even die.
In the ‘Ancient Age’ one thousand years earlier, someone had carried out the same ceremony, and that was the cause of the North Wasteland in Planet Dawn, which had yet to recover. Back then, all the tribes had formed an alliance and killed the culprit after a tragic war. The knowledge of this ceremony had been destroyed at that time, yet one thousand years later, this ceremony appeared again.
Hence, the Vain Kingdom emergency gathered troops, contacted other nations, and formed an alliance, heading directly to the place where Rezar was hosting the ceremony, preventing Planet Dawn from repeating the past. Furthermore, the southern soil was very fertile. If this place was frozen, the production of food would largely decrease. Thousands of people would starve to death afterward.
Lin Ge’s Red Horn Mercenary Group had accepted the mission from the ascenders of Planet Dawn and arrived here a few days ago to solve the problem. However, the number of Mojo Puppets exceeded their expectations, so they had no choice but to request external reinforcement. To their surprise, an unexpectedly strong mercenary group was willing to help.
This mercenary group was very well known in the industry and had a very strong background. People like the Red Horn Mercenary Group would not even have the opportunity to form any connections to them under normal circumstances. Lin Ge was very relieved—this mission was not a problem with them coming to help.
Time was scarce. Rex could not wait any more and issued the order—the alliance started to march.
Boom!
Footsteps and beast hooves formed a tsunami of sound. The army charged forward and quickly approached the Ancient City Ruins. Even from afar, they could see the dark green magic colossuses inside the ruins. They had four arms, held a huge axe, and were flickering in magic light. Their texture was like stone but also like metal. The army could see that they were hard with just one look.
“Blue Shield Knights, charge!”
Rex pulled down his visor and clipped his legs. The mounts of the knights were called Ravening Beasts; they had a snake head and a horse body. With a growl, the Ravening Beast charged forward. Three thousand Blue Shield Knights followed right behind. Facing the magic colossuses, which were more than three times their height, every single one of the knights had absolutely no fear in their eyes.
The Magic Colossuses were controlled by someone. They formed a formation quickly and collided with the charging knights!
Bang bang bang!
People fell down, and beasts flipped over. The scene turned very chaotic very quickly. The other tribes joined the battle as well. Blades and claws slashed against the Magic Colossuses and clanked, their growling louder than the explosions!
The Berserkers and the knights were at the front, but regardless, the Magic Colossuses smashed the bones of the warriors with their huge strength one after another. The place was filled with screams of agony. The enemy [Polluters] hid behind the colossuses and cast corrosive spells at the warriors.
The spell array could only be opened when all the Magic Colossuses were destroyed. Often, they had to pay the price of thirteen to eighteen elite warriors just to destroy one Magic Colossus. Even though the Red Horn Mercenary Group helped with their firearms and abilities, they were not killing the Magic Colossuses fast enough.
There were more Magic Colossuses than the estimated eight hundred. It was like a wall of desperation.
Blood slowly spread out on the green field, and the dawn in the sky witnessed this bloodbath.
“Continue charging forward, don’t stop!”
The Knights led by Rex had already lost a quarter of their members. At the same time, they had killed the most Magic Colossuses too. His face will resolute, and he went out of the battlefield and charged back in again.
His spear stabbed into a Magic Colossus’s leg. An explosion occurred on the spear tip enchanted with an explosive spell, shattering a small part of the Magic Colossus’s body. One Magic Colossus could wipe out hundreds of normal troops. The Blue Shield Knights were the elite troops of the Vain Kingdom, so every one of them was a warrior who had magic powers. They were far stronger than ordinary people. Such heavy battle damage was already very tragic.
At the same time, at a strangely shaped huge altar inside a man-made space under the Ancient City Ruins, countless believers in black were praying softly, sending magic into the magic array on the altar.
In the heart of the altar was an old Vainerian in a gorgeous bright red robe—Rezar. A golden framed mirror was floating beside him. It possessed the [Clairvoyance] spell, and the image in the mirror was a reflection of the war above him from an aerial view.
“These fools, they fell for your scheme as expected. These Magic Colossuses are used to fight with them specifically. Our magic array is hidden under the field. Blood from above is directed into this place. The ceremony can only be activated with enough blood as its fuel. Hehehe, your idea of tying the magic array with the Magic Colossuses is really brilliant, leaving them with no choice but to fight head-on with the Magic Colossuses,” a superior believer under the altar said in a flattering tone.
Rezar nodded and asked coldly, “How much more blood is needed.”
“The fuel to activate the altar will be enough in one hour if they continue fighting. You will become the lord of magic, the strongest Mage in history!” the superior believer said with a fanatical face.
“Strongest...” Rezar looked at him pitifully. He shook his head and mumbled, “Twenty years of preparation, I’m finally close to success. I’ve been stuck at this stage for so many years, and this is the limit of my talent. As long as I cross this step, I will be able to go to the higher world...”
...
The battle on the surface lasted almost an hour. In order to save time, the army almost completely gave up its defenses and attacked crazily. Half of the Magic Colossuses were destroyed, and all the Polluters were dead. However, the warriors had suffered heavy losses as well. Blood turned into a river. The rest of the people were exhausted. The casualties were increasing at a very high speed.
“Hold on. According to this speed, we can stop the ceremony in time!” Rex yelled loudly to boost morale.
At this time, he felt a chill above his head. A Magic Colossus was near him and slashed down its huge axe.
Boom!
Rex pounced forward hurriedly. The Ravening Beast was split in half, and the axe slashed right into the ground. The blood and intestines of the Ravening Beast spilled all over the floor. If he did not dodge it, this would have been him.
He did not even have the time to be glad. This colossus was already walking toward him with the axe in its hands. A shadow loomed over Rex’s head as the axe was raised up high in the air.
Rex’s felt a sudden pain in his legs, having been hit just now. He was covered in sweat and wanted to stand up with all his might.
In the blink of an eye, he suddenly realized that the shadow under his feet seemed to have expanded, followed by the sonic boom that became louder and louder.
Bang!
An alloy airdrop cabin fell down to the ground right beside this Magic Colossus, and the impact blew both the Magic Colossus and Rex away.
Dong! Dong!
Then there were more sounds of these cabins falling onto the ground. Many airdrop cabins fell onto the ground nearby.
Whoosh!
The hatch opened, and a group of warriors in heavy metal armor gushed out. The leader was a human man in a black windbreaker wearing many spherical jewelries. He was looking left and right with curiosity.
“Are they the new reinforcements from the higher world?” Despite having a very rational personality, Rex could not help but be surprised.
At this time, that Magic Colossus charged toward this human man, and its axe slashed down. Rex subconsciously wanted to yell and remind him, but what happened next made him swallow his words.
This man raised his hand and easily grabbed the axe that was more than enough to slash a Ravening Beast open. The impact from the axe only made his wrist sink a negligible amount of distance. He raised his eyebrows and said, “Tsk, the way this planet welcomes its guest is really passionate... We came right on time. Stop standing there, time to do the job.”
Lin Ge, who was in the middle of a fight, looked over and heaved a sigh of relief.
“They’re finally here, the Black Star Mercenary Group.”