Chapter 273: The Battle Begins

Chapter 273: The Battle Begins

The vast, endless wasteland stretches to the horizon, with fierce winds howling and ravaging the land.

The blood-red sky almost completely obscures the dying sun.

The scarred earth is crisscrossed with deep fissures, through which a sickly green liquid flows, emitting waves of blue-green smoke.

As far as the eye can see, the desolate plain is dotted with only a few withered trees and countless hideous creatures, their bodies rotting and skin iron-gray, wandering about.

High in the sky, six towering mage towers stand suspended.

Su Nan and Lizze float side by side atop one of the towers, overlooking the hellish landscape below.

"The entire plane has been eroded and infected," Lizze marvels at the terrifying power of the deities.

Just one divine corpse can transform an entire plane into this ghastly state; deities are indeed like viruses.

Su Nan releases his mental energy, sensing the surrounding environment.

"The concentration of energy particles is very high, and their activity level is much greater than on the Starlight Continent, likely due to the influence of divine power."

"However, these energy particles are infected with toxins, and absorbing them would damage the body."

"The concentration of toxins in the air is also very high; even knights can probably only survive for a few days in this environment at most."

Lizze frowns. "That's troublesome. The army's sustained combat capability will likely be significantly affected."

Before entering the Earth Crystal Plane, Su Nan and Lizze had anticipated such conditions, but they didn't expect the situation to be so much worse than they had imagined.

Fortunately, the main force of the army entering the Earth Crystal Plane is the Golem Corps, which is immune to toxins and better suited for combat and survival in this environment.

As for the Magic Rune Knights, they can only take turns resting and recovering inside the mage towers.

"Without the mage towers for logistical support, it's impossible to sustain prolonged combat in this environment," Lizze sighs.

Since the energy particles of the plane cannot be absorbed, the only way to recover is through the elemental pools within the mage towers.

Otherwise, after a couple of intense battles, the entire army would be nearly paralyzed.

"Time is of the essence. Let's start constructing the plane gateways."

With a wave of his hand, Su Nan summons 9,900 golems from the Magic Cube, which appear in the wasteland and begin clearing out the surrounding monsters.

At the same time, numerous mages and mage apprentices fly out from the mage towers, landing on the ground to start building the plane gateways.

In just two hours, three large plane gateways are completed.

The vast wasteland is suddenly adorned with three massive portals.

Following closely, massive Starlight Fortresses and fleets of flying ships emerge from the portals.

Each Starlight Fortress and each fleet carries thousands of Magic Rune Knights and Clay Golems.

As the Starlight Fortresses and flying fleets come to a halt, the Magic Rune Knights and Clay Golems disembark, beginning to level the ground and set up camps.

Meanwhile, Su Nan begins shuttling back and forth through the plane gateways, using the Magic Cube to transport more puppets.

As time passes, more and more plane gateways are constructed, and the Star Alliance's army rushes through them with every second counting.

When the 24th hour reaches its final second, the plane gateways suddenly tremble, then twist violently and dissipate into the air.

At the same moment, Su Nan keenly senses an invisible restraint enveloping the entire plane.

Clearly, the True Spirit Mages outside have begun to seal off the entire plane.

This special battle for the divine corpse has now officially begun.

"How many troops have been transported?" Su Nan asks.

Lizze glances at the list in her hand and says, "A total of 53 Starlight Fortresses, 13 flying fleets, and two Golem Corps."

After the plane lockdown was lifted, the Star Alliance began expanding its military forces.

With ample resources, this process has been very smooth.

This is particularly evident in the Golem Corps.

When forming the Golem Corps initially, Su Nan had a vision for a Corps, which would consist of eight large Golem Corps, totaling one million golems.

At that time, the Star Alliance's military strength was still weak, and forming a complete Corps was not feasible, so the idea was put on hold.

But now, the Star Alliance has the capability.

Currently, the Star Alliance has four Corps and five large Golem Corps.

Considering the need to leave some troops to defend the Starlight Continent, Su Nan only brought two Corps this time.

Even so, that's still two million puppets.

More than the total number of troops deployed when the Starlight Continent faced the Tide Plane!

Without the Magic Cube, transporting such an astonishing number of golems within 24 hours would have been nothing short of a pipe dream.

"The Magic Rune Knights have transported around 120,000, but considering the harsh conditions of the Earth Crystal Plane, we didn't mobilize the reserve members."

“Additionally, all the core forces of the drake knights have been mobilized, along with over thirty dragons, 285 mages, and 1,363 third-level mage apprentices, the latter mainly serving in logistics support and not participating in combat.”

Su Nan nodded in satisfaction. “That’s enough.”

The Star Alliance has deployed roughly half of its entire military force into the Earth Crystal Plane.

Even large mage organizations like the Deep Blue Alliance and the Codex of Wisdom would not be able to transport much more military force in just 24 hours.

As for other mage organizations, the number of troops they could transport would be even fewer, likely not even a tenth of their total military strength.

And this is the normal situation.

The True Spirit Mages set a 24-hour limit on troop transportation to keep this war within a certain scale.

Otherwise, without any restrictions, if all mage organizations were allowed to freely deploy troops, it would eventually escalate into a large-scale war.

This clearly does not align with their interests.

What puzzled Su Nan was how, under these circumstances, this war ultimately turned into a mage civil war.

“Never mind, we’ll deal with whatever comes our way. Let’s focus on what’s in front of us.”

After a moment of thought, Su Nan shook his head and turned to Lizze, saying:

“Begin searching for the divine corpse and start deploying the Star Cores.”

“I understand.”

Lizze turned to issue orders.

The massive army soon sprang into action.

With the camp as the center, the Magic Rune Knights and Golem Corps surged out in all directions like a flood, crushing all infected monsters in their path.

High in the sky, the Starlight Fortresses and flying fleets followed the army at a steady pace. Whenever they spotted large groups of monsters, they immediately unleashed a barrage of cannon fire, instantly reducing them to ashes.

After each expansion, mages and mage apprentices would disembark from the flying ships to begin setting up the Star Cores.

As time passed, the area occupied by the Star Alliance grew larger, and the Star Eye network gradually took shape.

However, it was at this moment that the Star Alliance army encountered true resistance.

“What’s that?”

Inside a Starlight Fortress, Fleming frowned as he watched the wave of creatures rushing toward them, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes.

They were a group of short, humanoid creatures.

Standing about 1.4 meters tall, they were exceptionally robust, with a width almost matching their height. Their heads were thick and elongated, and their chins were covered with thick, protruding crystal beards. Two small crystal fangs protruded from their lower lips. Besides their chins, their shoulders, joints, and palms were also covered with thick crystals.

They wore heavy armor, and the skin exposed outside was blackish-gray, with many areas rotten, revealing the corrupted flesh beneath.

Their faces had a sickly green tinge, as if poisoned.

“They are Earth Crystal People,” Targana said solemnly. “They have all been infected and have now turned into monsters.”

The Earth Crystal People are the primary native race of the Earth Crystal Plane, skilled in combat and able to naturally control earth and rock.

An adult Earth Crystal Person possesses the strength of a knight.

Some of the elite can reach the Grand Knight level.

Due to their innate ability to control earth and rock, Earth Crystal People can easily sense the power of earth elements, which is why there are many legendary warriors among them.

A race that was already incredibly powerful has now been further strengthened by divine power, making their strength skyrocket. Their terrifying might is evident.

Seeing the densely packed, highly toxic Earth Crystal People rushing toward them like a tidal wave, the mages inside the fortress grew more serious.

“Spell Turrets, open fire!” Fleming ordered decisively.

The Starlight Fortress hummed, and a brilliant light blossomed at the top of the fortress, like a rising sun, instantly dispelling the blood-red sky.

In the next second, over a hundred spell turrets fired simultaneously, and a dense barrage of spell beams tore through the void, crossing over a thousand meters to strike the Earth Crystal People army.

Amidst the ear-piercing whistles, hundreds of Earth Crystal warriors were obliterated before they could even scream!

From a bird’s-eye view, the densely packed Earth Crystal People army seemed to have been instantly plowed into a hundred blank trails.

At the same time, the Golem Corps and Magic Rune Knights on the ground launched a charge, colliding with the Earth Crystal People like a surging flood, causing blood and flesh to fly and limbs to scatter.

The same scene was unfolding in other directions of the wasteland.

Within a thousand-mile radius, the highly toxic Earth Crystal People and infected creatures were gradually being drawn to the Star Alliance camp, converging from all sides.

Inside the Starlight Mage Tower, in the council chamber, everyone gathered around a long table.

Su Nan sat at the head of the table, with Lizze to his right.

To the left and right of the long table were Wand, Rose, Fakado, Tulio, and other Second-Rank Mages.

At this moment, the Second and Third-Rank Mages of the Star Alliance had all gathered together.

Above the long table, a three-dimensional holographic model of the Earth Crystal Plane was floating, displaying the entire landscape.

As the Star Alliance's army continued to expand, the area covered by the holographic model continued to grow.

"The advance is going smoothly," Fakado smiled. "Although the Earth Crystal People have become much stronger, they are ultimately no match for the Magic Rune Knights and the Golem Corps."

Wand nodded in agreement, smiling. "After all, the strength of each individual in these two corps is not inferior to that of the Earth Crystal People."

The basic soldiers of the Golem Corps, the Stone Golems, possess Knight-level combat strength, which is not inferior to the Earth Crystal People.

As for the Magic Rune Knights, any one of them can match a Legendary warrior, making it easy for them to overwhelm the Earth Crystal People.

Not to mention the firepower support from the Starlight Fortresses and flying fleets.

"The Earth Crystal People are easy to deal with; the real problem is the divine creatures."

Lizze looked at the holographic model above the table. With the establishment of the Star Eye network, the fluctuations and intensity of energy particles at different locations could be seen clearly.

At this moment, there was a particularly prominent light point in the northwest fringe.

[Name Unknown, Divine Creature]



[Energy Level: 25 (First-Rank Aetheric Mage)]



[Hazard Level: High]



Everyone's gaze also turned to the light point on the screen.

The Earth Crystal People are, at best, a type of divine infection creature, only slightly stronger than other infected creatures. They do not pose a significant threat to the well-equipped Star Alliance.

The real threat during the search for divine corpse fragments are the divine creatures.

These creatures, which have absorbed divine power and survived the transformation, have undergone a qualitative change in strength. It is not uncommon for them to possess Mage-level power.

Especially with the death domain of the Toxic Deity, even if a creature absorbing divine power dies from the transformation, there is still a chance it will be resurrected as an undead creature.

Thus, the number of divine creatures in the Earth Crystal Plane must be extraordinarily high!

These divine creatures are the true threat that various mage factions must face while searching for divine corpse fragments.

"Who is responsible for that direction?" Su Nan asked.

Lizze replied, "It's Artir. She is commanding a Starlight Fortress, and dealing with a First-Rank Aetheric divine creature should not be a problem."

Su Nan pondered for a moment. "Where divine creatures appear, there is a high probability that a divine corpse fragment is nearby."

Wand immediately volunteered, "I'll go."

The others were also eager to go, but they were a step slower than Wand and felt a bit regretful.

To everyone's surprise, Su Nan shook his head.

"I'll go myself."

No one present had personally encountered a divine corpse, and who knows what side effects the fragments of the Toxic Deity's body might have. To be on the safe side, he decided to go himself.

When it comes to deities, being overly cautious is never a bad thing.

Su Nan did not want any of his mages to suffer non-combat losses.

Soon, Su Nan arrived at the location where the divine creature had appeared.

The battle had already ended.

Under the bombardment of the Starlight Fortress, the divine creature, which resembled a frog magnified many times over with a pair of wings and a grayish-white skin covered in disgusting tumors, had quickly turned into a ragged corpse.

Viscous, nauseating poison oozed from the wounds of the corpse, hissing and smoking as it eroded the ground, creating shocking craters.

"Teacher."

Seeing Su Nan, Artir immediately flew out of the Starlight Fortress and approached him.

"Send the corpse to the Starlight Mage Tower laboratory. Also, search a 200-kilometer radius around this area, leaving no place unchecked. If you find a divine corpse fragment, inform me immediately."

"Yes, Teacher."

With Su Nan's order, a large number of flying ships dispersed in all directions, beginning to search for the traces of the divine creature.

As long as they find the area with the highest frequency of divine creature appearances, they will likely find the divine corpse fragment.

"Unfortunately, time is too tight to manufacture more Star Cores to bring here. Otherwise, spreading the Star Eye network across the entire plane would make locating the divine corpse fragment a breeze."

Su Nan thought to himself.

However, he knew this was only a wishful thought.

Not only would laying out the Star Eye network across the Earth Crystal Plane be an enormous project, impossible to complete in a short time, but even if it were possible, other mage factions would not ignore it and would certainly try to sabotage it.

Su Nan did not think those dark mages would engage in a fair competition with him.

In the Earth Crystal Plane, besides the infected creatures and divine creatures, other mage factions on different battlefronts were also potential threats.

After more than an hour, the flying ships made a discovery.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end