Chapter 294 - 288: A Second-level Wizard Can Turn the Tables?
Chapter 294: Chapter 288: A Second-level Wizard Can Turn the Tables?
「Twelve hundred kilometers away, in a subterranean lair.」
The nutrient fluid roiled like boiling water. Inside a dozen massive culture vats, mutated Synthetic Beasts writhed in agony.
Their bodies swelled and tore apart madly, only to rapidly reform. The sheer frenzy could be felt even through the glass.
A Shadow-Etch Dragon emerged from the shadows in a corner. Its abdomen convulsed, and it spat out a murky crystal coated in slime.
The area of Zone 18 near the workshop still couldn’t transmit information, so they had to rely on this primitive method to bring it back.
The Black Wizard walked forward and placed the crystal into a device.
As Magic Power surged, light and shadow reformed in midair, projecting an image of the workshop: the vast, collapsed dome, Golems shut down and scattered across the floor like scrap metal, and the fluctuating energy deep within Zone 18 that was now subsiding.
"He advanced?"
The Black Wizard curled his lips, revealing sharp, bone-white teeth. A cold laugh that sounded like scraping sandpaper rasped from his throat. "No wonder he dared to blow up the Magic Furnace. So he was betting his life."
"A real genius. A pity that a breakthrough in the heat of battle is the most useless thing for an Alchemy Wizard."
Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and walked toward the depths of the lair.
There, on a massive platform, lay the base body of the second Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Beast.
Its armor was thicker and its firepower more intense. The only problem was that the High-tier Magic Power heart needed to drive this behemoth had not yet finished being cultivated and modified.
He had originally planned to wait for a perfect rollout, but now, he couldn’t wait any longer.
He would sweep through his enemies with the full might of a peak Second-level Wizard!
He dragged a set of dark-red metal armor from his storage ring. Its design was bizarre, looking less like armor and more like some kind of straitjacket.
The Black Wizard ripped off his black robes and donned the armor.
A bizarre sound echoed through the cavern.
Countless long, thin barbs shot out from the armor’s inner lining, plunging viciously into his flesh and spine.
No blood flowed out. His skin quickly turned ashen and began a strange fusion with the metal. In the blink of an eye, the dark-red armor became his second skin, rising and falling faintly with his breath.
"Flesh is weak, but it still has its uses. To enhance it with machinery... that is my path."
He whispered, then leaped into the empty chest cavity of the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Beast.
KRAK!
The ribs of the chest cavity automatically closed, locking him inside.
Wires extended from within the Tyrannosaurus Beast, fusing and connecting to his metal skin.
VMMMM—
The Black Wizard’s Level 2 Magic Power poured unreservedly through the conduits and into every limb of the steel behemoth. He had replaced its heart, becoming the power source for this war machine.
The Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Beast’s eyes shot open, and a dark-red light tore through the gloom of the subterranean lair.
BOOM!
A violent shockwave overturned the surrounding culture vats.
It raised its head, its sharp, giant metal claws tearing through the rock layer above. Leading over a hundred newly force-matured, mutated Magical Beasts, it charged toward Zone 18.
...
The chaotic and powerful pressure of Magic Power slowly subsided.
Allen slowly got to his feet.
[Spiritual Power has reached the minimum standard for a Second-level Wizard]
[Brain-region activity increased: 780%]
[Sub-thread processing power and intelligence increased: 40%]
[Magic Power capacity increased by 400%, Magic Power interference precision increased by 200%]
He raised his hand, and a wisp of azure Magic Power leaped from his fingertip.
No need to carve Runes, no need to chant incantations. With just a single thought, the wisp of Magic Power precisely twisted into the shape of an extremely complex component.
A surging power filled his entire body. His perception of Magic Power had entered a whole new dimension.
If a First-level Wizard was "using" Magic Power, then a Second-level Wizard was gradually "understanding" and "interfering with" it.
This meant his research capabilities and his ability to master complex Witchcraft had both reached a new level.
But Allen’s eyes remained as still as stagnant water, without a single ripple.
"Jarvis, report all available combat forces."
[Five Freedom Gundams, two Flame Demons. Thirty-five Peacekeepers. Two hundred thirty-four standard Golems with Magic Power reserves above 30%.]
Allen lowered his hand, and the Magic Power dissipated.
If he were from the Witchcraft School, advancing to Level 2 would have instantly turned him into a walking cannon, capable of clearing the field and slaughtering enemies with a few large-scale Witchcraft spells.
But the Alchemy School was different.
An Alchemy Wizard’s power was built on assembly lines, resources, and mass-producing units. All of it was methodical; there was no such thing as a sudden surge in strength.
Right now, he was like a sports car equipped with a top-tier jet engine but without any tires or a chassis. He couldn’t even get started.
He possessed immense Magic Power and Spiritual Power, but lacked the time and resources to match.
He closed his eyes and examined the third Core Witchcraft he had just successfully inscribed—the Golem Teleportation Technique.
’This technique has two obvious flaws: when opening the teleportation portal, the spatial fluctuations are as intense as a searchlight in the dead of night, and the portal’s construction requires a three-to-five-second delay. Use it for a surprise attack from above or a backstab assassination? Impossible. Any Wizard with half a brain would have ample time to react and create distance. So, it can only be used for frontline deployment to support a battlefield or to transfer troops. But it’s still a god-tier skill. Its strength lies in its ability to ignore terrain and teleport an entire legion to any location within 100 kilometers. Additionally, I can set five spatial anchor points, and these anchors don’t need to be fixed on inanimate objects. This gives me more tactical flexibility.’
He locked onto the only remaining units outside: two Demon Eye IIIs, two Shadow Assassins, and Freedom Gundam Unit-01.
These were the three most agile types of Golems, making them ideal candidates for inscribing the technique.
"Jarvis, are the carriers for the big bomb ready?"
[Production was completed before the battle. They have not sustained any damage from the tremors.]
"Good. As soon as I’ve finished inscribing the coordinate technique, deploy them scattered 100 kilometers to the west."
[As you command.]
’Victor must be going crazy with anxiety.’ Allen opened a communications channel.
Victor’s face immediately appeared on the light screen.
"You actually succeeded."
Victor stared intently at Allen, a complex mix of emotions flickering in his eyes: happiness, shock, and an unconcealable anxiety.
He raised his hand and threw a mangled, bloody mass of flesh in front of the camera. It was a modified Magical Beast.
"This bastard was skulking right outside my door, so I caught it!"
Victor gritted his teeth. "That Black Wizard wasn’t killed in the explosion! He definitely knows you’ve advanced by now!"
"He won’t give us any chance to breathe! You just advanced, what do you have to fight with?!"
"I know," Allen said, his tone steady.
"What I mean is..."
Victor lowered his voice. "Your Crystal Bomb is powerful, but that Black Wizard isn’t an idiot! He’ll run the moment he sees it falling! If he has some way to escape the blast’s core, we’re dead! There’ll be no escape!"
Victor took a deep breath. "It’s hard to say if the Golem Teleportation Technique can work a miracle. We should either leave first, abandon this place, and figure something out once we’re back at the fortress..."
"Victor, you know what returning to the fortress means! It means we’ll lose our territory! Our mentor is still fighting. Besides saving your own skin, you’ll lose everything!" Allen cut him off.
On the screen, Allen was pale and gaunt. The blood that had seeped from his seven orifices had already dried on his face, and he hadn’t even had time to wipe it away.
But his deep blue eyes were so bright they were unsettling.
"I never said I was relying on the Golem Teleportation Technique to turn the tables."
"From the moment I detonated the volcanic cluster, I never intended to pin my hopes for victory on my enemy making a mistake."
"I’ll find a way to make sure the bomb gets up close and personal with him."
Allen narrowed his eyes slightly. "I’m the type of person who always prepares for the worst."