Chapter 1219: Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign (10)
The image of an aerial fortress, the Primo Alert of the 3rd Legion, painting the sky dark around Vulcan and scattering an ominous glow, appeared on the outskirts of the mega-city, and simultaneously, the atmosphere of the battlefield grew heavy.
Kugu-gugu-gu-gu-gu!!!!
Tens of thousands of troops advanced from the edge of the horizon, forming ranks and narrowing the front.
Innumerable fighters and transport ships, so many they seemed to darken the sky.
The shadow of war cast over the outer districts caused an undeniable uproar within Vulcan itself.
[Martial law declared. 27th advisory broadcast.]
[We repeat. Citizens currently in Vulcan Sector 58 are advised to evacuate immediately.]
[The city government is currently monitoring the entire outer district, but the connection may be severed at any time…]
[Citizens unable to evacuate are advised to proceed sequentially to underground bunker facilities, referencing the provided coordinates…]
Biiiiiing! Biiiiiiiing!!
Mechanical advisory messages echoed continuously from giant electronic billboards across the city, accompanied by red warning signs.
Advertising airships floating in the sky illuminated the overcast sky with crimson letters, their warning lights flashing.
This was the final message, dispatched for citizens who remained despite martial law being declared and evacuation notices repeatedly broadcast.
The entire outer district shimmered crimson, visible even from the undeveloped lands stretching beyond Vulcan.
“Wow… I don’t know why they’re warning so diligently.”
Lennok stood on the deck of the colossal mobile fortress with Ermont, watching the spectacle.
Ermont, cupping his hands like binoculars to his eyes, tilted his head.
“Knowing the current situation, remaining there means they simply want to die, doesn’t it? I don’t recall the Vulcan City Council being compassionate enough to care for those wishing to commit suicide.”
“Are they stupid, or are they pretending not to know?”
Lennok sneered coldly.
“Just as The Legion made reclaiming the outer districts their cause for war, the City Council is simply acting similarly. They want to secure at least the minimal justification of having cared for their citizens.”
“Hee-hee.”
“Those remaining must be gangs or outlaws based in the outer districts… or mercenaries hoping to profit from the chaos. In any case, they are not worth bothering with.”
Whee-oooo!!
Lennok, pulling down his shadow robe against the blowing wind, gazed at the outer district’s cityscape in the distance.
“Rather, those broadcasts are proof that the City Council will not intervene after this time. I don’t know exactly what deal the City Council made with The Legion, but…”
It probably wasn’t much different from the City Council’s position conveyed to Lennok.
As Lennok swallowed his words, Hylaea, who had just climbed onto the deck, spoke.
“As Victor surmised, there was talk of Central Council Senators attending the Legion Parade. Considering how quickly the Annihilation Campaign proceeded, one can infer what was discussed.”
“…”
The Central Council Senator, Konrad Haven, whom Lennok had met before the Legion Parade.
The City Council’s position, delivered by him as he waited for Lennok at La Haven’s airport, en route to the Legion Parade.
Although he conveyed the position in a somewhat roundabout tone, the City Council’s policy he mentioned then was to remain neutral in this situation.
The fact that they informed Lennok of this before the Annihilation Campaign began hinted at whose side the City Council wished to favor, yet…
If there was a reason they didn’t intervene in this Annihilation Campaign—
“The City Council will believe that no matter who wins, the losses won’t be significant. While they maintain a decent relationship with Adamant Thunder, they weren’t hostile to The Legion even before Deadrise advanced to the center.”
Hylaea said.
“If Adamant Thunder wins, the item business in Sector 49, centered around the Magic Tower, can be maintained. If The Legion wins, then the Central Front’s largest warlord will join Vulcan.”
“I don’t know if they’re naive or foolish…”
Chebien muttered mockingly.
“The Legion is a military group that has absorbed the most forces even from the Central Front… The territories they occupied must have mostly been spoils of war, seized and plundered…”
“…”
“How can they so easily assert that The Legion, returning after decades, has no intention of swallowing this city whole…?”
“Well, only those involved would know the true nature of the deal between the City Council and The Legion at the Legion Parade.”
Hylaea replied to Chebien’s question.
“But based on my experience working as a broker in this city, there must be a good reason why the City Council isn’t moving. A confidence that the status quo can be maintained regardless of how the Annihilation Campaign ends… or perhaps they have a ace up their sleeve.”
“An ace up their sleeve?”
“Deadrise was once connected to Vulcan’s deepest shadows.”
Hylaea’s expression, looking up at the sky, was momentarily obscured.
“If the City Council left a ‘leash’ to control them as insurance… it wouldn’t be so strange, would it?”
“…Hylaea.”
Ermont, feeling a faint sense of unease, glanced over.
“You, about the City Council, something—”
“Everyone, that’s enough.”
The Doctor, who was the last to arrive on deck, looked up.
“It’s starting.”
Shoooooong!!!!!
As the assault ships and fighter jets sliced through the sky, other forces participating in the Annihilation Campaign began to appear one by one.
[Blaiver Magic Tower’s Divine Punishment Unit. Arrived on the battlefield leading the Flame Majesty Temple.]
Kwoo-oh!!!
The overcast sky turned crimson, and a colossal, blazing temple appeared from beyond the horizon.
Fire giants, their entire bodies aflame, carried the temple on their shoulders, groaning in agony.
Flames dripping from the giants’ bodies melted the ground beneath them, flowing like hot lava.
[Mechanized Legion. Fluid fuel resupply complete. Internal combustion engine activated. Enginium Fortress deployed.]
Chiiiiik!!!
A colossal internal combustion engine, equipped with thousands of exhaust vents and spewing thick smoke, appeared, shaking the earth.
The ancient weapon, functioning as both a giant engine and a mobile fortress, began to supply power to the machine soldiers, emitting fluid fuel.
Monsters with bodies entirely modified into machines, having almost lost their human forms – resembling mechanical centipedes and scorpions, or creatures with pipes plunged into their backs – breathed roughly.
[Ability Awakening Warband’s Fifth Seat, Esteban Eisen. Now answering the Zero Seat’s call to battle.]
Hwoooong…!!
A sleek, white airship appeared silently from thin air, accompanied by strange ripples.
A peculiar presence that interfered with the surrounding space, establishing a Collective Mind Net and expanding senses and consciousness, simply by existing.
Simultaneously, superhumans accompanying The Legion’s main forces began to tremble, their eyes rolling back as they convulsed.
The Blaiver Magic Tower’s weapon of war and colossal Spell-armament, the Flame Majesty Temple.
Machina’s Mechanized Legion’s masterpiece, the living internal combustion engine, Enginium Fortress.
The ritualistic weapon, the special airship Ability Bloom, permitted for use only by the Ability Awakening Warband’s Ten Seats.
What appeared to be shriveled saplings from the druids, and pure white makeshift altars pulled by cult military priests, followed behind.
Superhumans and otherworldly monsters, gathered around each faction’s weapons of war, occupied one side of the front and entered a state of readiness.
Enveloping the vicinity of the outer districts in a wide circle, they simultaneously raised their mana and began incantations.
From all directions, Spell-armaments and artifacts activated, launching barrier formations and spell formations into the sky.
“Six Heavenly Armaments Activated. Three Thousand Flame Seal Gates Summoned.”
[Vacuum Mana Amplification Mechanized Process Parallel Construction.]
[Avatar El Tara. Batamirya Aion.]
“Ritual Domain deployed. Collective Mind Net established. Ability Amplification Spellcraft initiated.”
Kwagwaga-gwagwagwa!!!!!
A circular spell formation, thousands of meters in diameter, etched itself onto the overcast sky and began to rotate.
Hemispherical barriers descended like parachutes between The Legion’s deployed forces, establishing axes on the ground.
Transparent, membrane-like barriers and shields unfurled dozens of meters wide and high, forming barricades.
“Spell-armament activated. Ilibatara Ten Heavenly Gates viewed.”
“Atmosphere Barrier installed. Advance deployment at 30km/h!!”
[Transmutation Ritual Formation deployed. Blessings of the gods upon this battlefield.]
Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-bat!!
Shoooooong…!!
The Flame Majesty Temple rotated violently, continuously summoning and launching blazing flame cannons into the sky.
Centered around the Enginium Fortress, The Legion’s tanks, supplied with fluid fuel, underwent real-time modification and reinforcement processes.
The Collective Mind Net unfurled around the Ability Bloom of the Warband, and the cult’s blessings rained down alternately, transforming the battlefield.
Colossal area-of-effect spellcraft and blessings, applied to the entire Legion of tens of thousands, unfolded sequentially, showering light in all directions.
Large-scale, legion-level spellcrafts, which individual spellcasters could not even attempt or would never have the opportunity to use in a lifetime, were deployed in sequence.
Massive barriers and spell formations, designed solely for war, floated in the sky, fixed in place, altering spacetime.
“Military spellcraft, developed solely for war.”
Ermont, standing on the deck of the mobile fortress and looking up at the vast light of the spell formations that instantly covered the sky, whistled.
“It brings back a lot of old memories. Back then, those spell formations never disappeared from the sky.”
“Ah, right.”
The Doctor, sitting against one side of the deck and peering into the Operation System, spoke as if remembering something.
“Now that you mention it, Ermont, that era you lived in was around then, wasn’t it?”
“There were slightly fewer outstanding high-level superhumans than now, but wars themselves were much more frequent.”
Ermont said nonchalantly.
“Before city-states were established across each continent as they are now, there was a time when invasion and conquest were rampant throughout the continent.”
“…”
“There hasn’t been a major war since the Holy War instigated by the cult. Perhaps reminiscing here for a moment wouldn’t be so bad—”
“By the way, seeing it with my own eyes, it’s truly massive.”
Sarin, neatly ignoring Ermont’s nonsense, spoke.
The vampire, sitting on the edge of the deck, swinging his legs and looking up at the sky, his red eyes glowed eerily.
“Blaiver Magic Tower’s Fire Armaments. Machina’s Sacred Mechanized Process. The druids’ Nature Rift. The Warband’s Will-thought Expansion Techniques… These were methods used so relentlessly in the past.”
“…”
“It’s been decades since I last saw a war mobilize such a massive force, even with high-level superhumans participating.”
“In this Annihilation Campaign, The Legion doesn’t only have to contend with Adamant Thunder.”
The Doctor said.
“The superhumans of the Magic Tower led by Adamant Thunder… the mercenary groups and Cartel maintaining cooperative relations must also be considered. The Legion command will also be anticipating a large-scale battle.”
“I once clashed with their war mercenaries when stealing Anathema’s gauntlet. I believe his name was Felix, a Beastkin…”
Ermont frowned, muttering as if recalling a memory.
“He wasn’t comparable to Adamant Thunder or Maiya, but he was a quite seasoned warrior. If the Magic Tower has such superhumans stationed there in large numbers, it might be something to worry about?”
“Adamant Thunder himself is a historically powerful wizard, but as he primarily wields Lightning Magic, he is not without weaknesses.”
Hylaea said.
“While his spell output is unrealistically powerful, his mana consumption is considerable, and his efficiency is poor. Even if it’s a weakness he can overcome with his own abilities, Lightning Magic itself isn’t exceptional in sustained firepower or endurance.”
“If The Legion command reached the same conclusion, they would consider it meaningful just to commit allied forces and induce a war of attrition.”
The Doctor naturally took over Hylaea’s words.
His eyes, propping his chin with both hands and looking into the system, sank deeply.
“The important question is how much allied force The Legion is prepared to ‘expend’… and what variables they will introduce to balance that.”
[The mana and elemental alignment of the battlefield are complete; the 3rd Legion’s assault unit will move immediately.]
Beep!
Deimus, commanding The Legion from the situation room, spoke as the system communication network opened.
The Legion Commander, who had been gazing indifferently at the vast spell formations and blessings covering the sky, turned his gaze.
[If we occupy air superiority and bombard the outer districts, we’ll immediately know if the enemy responds.]
“…”
[Although the 3rd Legion’s combat power has decreased, its air force, including assault ships and transport ships, is almost intact, so it will take on various roles in the Annihilation Campaign.]
Kugu-gugu-gu-gu!!!!
Simultaneously with ear-splitting sonic booms, dozens of fighter jets accelerated through the complex spell formation.
They flew at tremendous speed over the outer districts and entered Vulcan’s airspace.
[3rd Legion’s 5th Flight Squadron entering Vulcan’s outer districts.]
Shoooong…!!!
As the pilot broadcasted orders in an emotionless voice, the entire squadron changed direction.
The shockwaves spreading from the fighter jets swept over the streets of the outer districts in a gentle arc.
They dropped hundreds of bombs one after another onto the streets, pressing the detonation button simultaneously.
[Mana Incendiary Bombs will be dropped sequentially as the cityscape becomes visible.]
Puh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-bang!!!!
Following the path of the fighter jets, white flames exploded in succession, turning the ground into an inferno.
Buildings burned and collapsed, streetlights and traffic signals evaporated without a trace.
Walls of white flame surged, bisecting the outer districts and reducing everything below to ashes.
Kwagwaga-gwagwagwa!!!!
[Spell-armament activated. Spirit Summoning Formation conjuration initiated.]
As soon as the Blaiver Magic Tower confirmed Vulcan’s outer districts had become a sea of fire, they moved.
Using the blazing inferno in the heart of the heat-filled cityscape as the border of a magic circle, they began incantations.
The Flame Majesty Temple assisted the wizards’ incantations, adding will-thought and expanding the spell output and range.
At that moment, burning fire giants began to rise from various parts of the cityscape, roaring lowly.
[Gwoooorrr…!!!]
A burning legion that endlessly regenerated and increased its numbers as long as the Flame Majesty Temple existed.
The army of flames, rising with fire dripping like lava, advanced.
Kugu-gugu-gu…!!!!
[Entry route secured. 2nd Legion’s 1st Patrol Battalion entering.]
[8th Legion’s Summoning Squad providing rear support.]
The patrol battalion, fully equipped with the latest gear, led the way, clearing paths and securing visibility.
Birds and bat summons called by the summoners flew through the storm of ash, scanning blind spots.
They traversed the collapsed airspace of the outer districts, installing cameras, and began sharing information with the system.
[Western defensive line clear. Warband’s Flame Surveillance Unit moving north, checking for survivors.]
[Southern containment line breached. 4th Legion’s Engineer Company entering.]
[Northern evacuation route secured. Blaiver Magic Tower’s grenadiers and all personnel moving.]
Pa-ba-ba-ba-bat!!!
Visibility expanded at tremendous speed across the system screen.
The Operation System transmitted real-time battlefield situations, regardless of time or place.
Combining thousands of camera feeds to create a colossal 3D holographic map.
“13th Patrol Battalion moving north. 4th Company on standby for resupply at the rear.”
“After the assault unit’s air resupply, completely secure the airspace of the outer districts.”
Support forces from other legions, arriving one after another, moved from all directions of the now-secured outer districts.
Elite units from the Magic Tower and the Warband joined, breaking through blocked paths and shattering obstacles presumed to be barricades.
Deimus did not take his eyes off the hundreds of real-time screens for a single moment.
“Bridge construction. Barricade demolition. Secure a path for the tank units to move.”
“As soon as installation is complete, activate the internal imprint barrier to expand the range of the war spellcraft.”
“Drop bunkers near that cityscape. Move immediately once the engineer company finishes their work.”
Kugu-gugu-gu-gu-gung!!!!
Hundreds of superhumans fearlessly occupying the outer districts, completely unaffected by the allied bombardment raining down from the sky.
Their actions and judgments were without hesitation, as if they had been trained for this moment for a long time.
Their movements were like those who had practiced the operation to capture and secure the nearby cityscape countless times through simulations.
However, Deimus’s expression remained rigid with undeniable tension.
“Why aren’t you coming out… Adamant Thunder.”
The Legion Commander, staring at the screen without blinking, muttered in an anxious voice.
“Where are you now?”
“Victor, what do you think?”
At the same moment, The Doctor, sitting on the deck, turned his gaze toward Lennok.
“As you would know, having fought Adamant Thunder directly, that man wouldn’t surrender his battlefield so idly.”
“…”
“That wizard, who has killed countless Transcendent beings, must have prepared alternatives for the Annihilation Campaign. What do you think is the reason he hasn’t moved yet?”
“I don’t know why you’re asking me that.”
Lennok sneered coldly, pulling down his obsidian mask.
Moving the azure gauntlet on his left arm beneath his shadow robe, Lennok said.
“I only faced Adamant Thunder once, during the Anathema incident. And that was just as I was escaping after stealing the gauntlet, so I’m not in a position to add anything.”
“…”
“More importantly, I don’t know how dangerous Adamant Thunder is as an ‘enemy.’ If anything, being here is also to confirm that…”
Lennok, his red eyes flashing behind the mask, muttered.
“In any case, he won’t be in a normal state as much as I expected.”
The existence of an Incarnation Body that has reached the boundary of Level 9 and directly projects rampaging Lightning Magic.
In a sense, it is an embodiment of power that retains Adamant Thunder’s identity as much as Lennok himself.
Something that not only defies Lennok’s control but also has its output and will-thought wildly rampaging and expanding.
After temporarily severing the Incarnation Body’s connection by feeding it Jinwa’s Fruit, Lennok cannot be certain how the Incarnation Body will respond to this situation.
However, as Lennok has prepared something, he merely expects the Incarnation Body to follow that flow.
Adamant Thunder, another Adamant Thunder, who, though perhaps lacking in judgment or talent compared to Lennok, has reached the boundary of Level 9 in terms of raw power.
What it means to face Adamant Thunder, who wields the causality of lightning that Lennok himself has accumulated.
How formidable a Transcendent Adamant Thunder is as an ‘enemy.’
This Annihilation Campaign, targeting Adamant Thunder alone, will undoubtedly confirm that.
“Not in a normal state… That’s a very intriguing statement.”
The Doctor muttered, stroking his chin.
His expression, repeating Lennok’s words softly, was unusually filled with immense curiosity.
“Indeed, in that case, Adamant Thunder isn’t waiting for The Legion, but—”
[Sector 58 clear!!]
[Supply route secured. Positions established. Frontline compressed.]
[3rd Patrol Battalion. Entering Sector 55. Provide cover.]
No sooner had Lennok finished speaking than the capture of the outer districts began to complete one by one.
Cold reports, suppressing emotion, continued, and visibility expanded in real time.
Hundreds of camera feeds widely illuminated the outer districts, and finally, a familiar landscape began to appear on the broadcast cameras for Lennok’s eyes.
[Sector 49 outer boundary visibility secured.]
[Mechanized Legion’s Psionic Artillery Battalion accompanies them.]
[Collective Mind Net activated. Ritual Weapon summoned. Psychometry amplification initiated.]
Kiiiiiiiiing!!!!
As soon as the encirclement was complete, The Legion’s main force began to move.
Tanks, which had been heating their barrels while driven into the ground, transformed their shapes, and the superhumans of the Mechanized Legion raised their mana.
The psychics of the Ability Awakening Warband established a Collective Mind Net, summoned ritual weapons, and began to blow incredibly large horns.
Bwooo-oooo-oooo-oooo-
The sound of war horns announcing the start of battle.
Colossal excavators, dozens of meters in size, ceaselessly dug into the ground, creating a massive canal beside the battlefield.
Burning meteors, falling diagonally from outside the city, exploded with a thunderous roar, awakening as giant flame spirits.
Kugu-gugu-gu-gu!!!!
[Gwoooorrr!!!!]
[8th Legion’s Summoning Squad initiates entry.]
[Internal landscape of Sector 49 being scanned.]
The Legion’s patrol units rapidly entered from all directions of the outer districts.
The army of flame spirits, ceaselessly launched from the Flame Majesty Temple, continued to multiply.
The expanded consciousness of the Collective Mind Net amplified the power and spiritual presence of the spirits, followed by machine soldiers with full-body modifications.
They trampled through the cityscape within the burning inferno, suffering no damage, advancing without hesitation.
A gigantic Water God Phoenix, its entire body composed of water, rapidly accelerated across the battlefield sky.
Shoooooong!!!!
“This is Townsend. We are about to enter Adamant Thunder’s Domain airspace.”
Faint tension flickered in the phoenix’s eyes as it spread its flowing, watery wings and accelerated.
Townsend, Lieutenant General of Deadrise’s 8th Legion. An 8-level summoner who had fused his body with a Phantom Beast species.
[Lieutenant General Townsend. Bear in mind your mission.]
The staff’s instructions echoed through the communication network.
[Currently, the entire Sector 49 area cannot be observed by any of The Legion’s equipment or spellcraft. The staff already assumes that the entire Sector 49 has become Adamant Thunder’s Domain.]
“…”
[Your mission is to enter Sector 49, observe the form of Adamant Thunder’s Domain, and assist the subsequent entry of allied patrol units. Understood?]
“…Understood. I will do so.”
Townsend was a powerful summoner, a legion unto himself, capable of taking on various roles by fusing with his summon. He was fused with a summon.
Upon fusing with his summon, even if Townsend sustained fatal damage, it would only result in the summon’s recall or disappearance; the summoner himself would not die.
That was why he was given the role of being the first to enter the still-unobserved Sector 49, observe Adamant Thunder’s Domain, and return.
Townsend’s assignment to that role, bearing some responsibility for the uproar during the Legion Parade, was a result of various complex circumstances intertwined.
Beep, beep…!!
[Noise clearing. Sector 49 internal landscape observation initiated.]
“Sector 49 airspace entry complete. Observing the spatial coordinates and transmitting through the communication network…”
The Water God Phoenix, Townsend’s only Phantom Beast summon and possessing powerful innate water-elemental abilities.
The moment this Transcendent, freer than anyone else from the battlefield’s flames, entered Sector 49’s airspace.
Townsend, looking down at Sector 49 through the phoenix’s eyes, was speechless.
“…This is.”
Kwar-rur-rur-rung!!!!!!
A colossal vortex was rotating throughout the entire Sector 49 area.
A dark blue nebula thickly spread and shimmered across the heavens and earth, emitting starlight through its expanse.
An unreal spectacle, as if a fragment of the cosmos itself, rather than this world’s spacetime, had been brought here.
But what left Townsend speechless wasn’t merely the cosmic landscape filling his vision.
“Ma, mana… The entire Domain…!!”
The entire dark blue nebula hanging over Sector 49 was wholly composed of mana.
Fragments of lightning, endlessly shimmering and overflowing, as if someone had unleashed their mana to transform the entire Sector 49 into lightning.
In the center of the rotating nebula, lightning gathered and converged, continuously forging black-blue thunderbolts.
A boundless scene, as if thunderbolts were being born in place of stars within a nebula, often called a stellar nursery.
“A-ah…!!!! No!!!!!”
Townsend, fused with the Water God Phoenix, realized this and began to flee frantically, turning his wings.
A tragedy that an 8-level Transcendent, merely glimpsing it, could not properly process, rejecting the perception.
[Lieutenant General Townsend. Where are you going!!]
“The, the Magic Tower…!!! The Tower is rising!!!!”
Townsend screamed violently.
“Impossible. The entire Sector 49…!!!!”
The moment a dark blue lightning bolt erupted from its center, and the nebula opened wide.
The entire sky over the outer districts was dyed in a dark blue, void-like darkness reminiscent of the Outer Sea.
Kwaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa!!!!
“A-aah…!!!!”
Confronting the ‘something’ contained within the dark blue nebula, Townsend groaned convulsively.
Townsend could not even comprehend what will-thought and laws were contained within it.
He screamed, no longer even remembering his original mission to observe Adamant Thunder’s Domain established in Sector 49.
The moment he was engulfed by a terror that surged from the depths of his soul, as if witnessing the gods of that sea firsthand.
Townsend’s memory and consciousness were swept away by the overflowing dark blue lightning, shattering and vanishing.
Pa-aat!!
The communication between the patrol units and the staff, who had surrounded and besieged Sector 49, grew frantic.
[Signal lost. Lieutenant General Townsend’s beacon has been destroyed!!]
[Lieutenant General Townsend was killed, even though he was fused with his summon…?!]
[Impossible. Does that mean he was Soul Annihilated along with his summon!!]
[The ground is shaking. Mana resonance at depth 19…!!]
Kugu-gugu-gu-gu!!!!
The turbulent black-blue nebula rotated, piercing through all directions and fiercely exploding, scattering.
The entire Sector 49 area shook violently, raging as if to collapse everything standing on two feet.
Townsend, an 8-level summoner fused with his summon, died instantly upon entering Adamant Thunder’s Domain.
Immediately after, as the patrol units, with pale faces, looked up at the sky at the intense resonance that followed.
[The sky… is opening.]
[Impossible. That’s Adamant Thunder’s…!!!]
A colossal golden sphere, within the rifted nebula, surged upwards as if exploding, rotating elegantly in the sky.
Kwaaaaa-aaaa-aaang!!!!!!