Chapter 943 — Precious Knowledge

The treant leader's furious cursing changed nothing in reality. The vines that had rashly crossed the boundary and attempted to invade the crater had already been dealt a devastating blow by the garrison forces of the Deep Blue Well. As the last speck of ash from the beam's sweep scattered on the wind, this small probing attempt ended in failure, just like the dozens of tries before it.

Another treant stepped forward from beside the leader. His branches were shriveled and twisted, yet powerful magic coursed through his withered crown, and the tangled boughs growing atop his head had knotted themselves into something resembling a swollen brain—a bizarre and unsettling sight.

This twisted creature with the "brain crown" lowered his head and gazed down at the hill of crystal pillars within the crater, watching the magical glow between the pillars slowly fade. He shook his crown, and the faint light drifting among its branches flickered uncertainly. "We have already successfully taken control of several golem echelons, but through these steel soldiers we can only penetrate the outermost defensive line... The wraith in the deepest part of the Deep Blue Well is far too vigilant. She has been constantly reconstructing the security patterns within the ruins—even though this place has not suffered an intrusion for seven hundred years..."

The Arch Hierarch snorted, his voice low and sinister: "Paranoid, obstinate, persecution complex... That wraith has squatted in this graveyard for seven hundred years. She has probably gone mad long ago."

"A thought matrix does not go mad... The stability of steel and crystal is far greater than that of your mental state, Arch Hierarch," two female voices sounded in unison from nearby, their tone faintly teasing as they cut off the Arch Hierarch's muttering. "We heard you cursing endlessly over here just now—that hardly seems in keeping with your usual dignity."

The Arch Hierarch turned around, and the reflections of two elves approaching from nearby appeared in his tawny eyes.

"Lerna, Filna..." he said heavily. "Have you come solely to watch the excitement?"

"Please calm yourself, Arch Hierarch," the elf twins said, arriving before the treant leader. The two sisters, identical in appearance, wore gentle, sweet smiles and bowed slightly. "As a plant, you ought to possess a more placid and steady temperament—excessive agitation can damage your roots and crown."

The Arch Hierarch snorted in displeasure, his dry branches clattering: "There is no need to show off your clever remarks here—you would do better to pay attention to the facts before us. Look at these ruins. The energy of the Deep Blue Well is right before our eyes, yet after all this time we can still only prowl about the periphery of the defensive perimeter. You once promised you had a way to penetrate the ancient defense systems here, but from where I stand... your promises have not been fully honored."

"What we promised at the beginning was merely to penetrate the minds of a portion of the golems—that did not include the entire defense system," the elf twins said in unison, their expressions utterly composed. "We trust your memory is not quite so poor as that."

The Arch Hierarch fixed his tawny eyes on the elf twins, but after a few seconds of staring he withdrew his gaze. "You are not wrong, but you also said it was feasible to bypass the matrix through the mental network of the golem legion—and clearly, you have failed. The fact is that even after seizing several golem echelons, we still cannot enter the depths of the ruins."

"No, the approach truly is feasible—it merely requires some luck and the right timing, which is precisely why we told you to be patient," Lerna said at once. "But rest assured, we have come today to bring you good news—set aside that little failure just now. The time for our next stage of penetration has arrived."

"Hm?" The Arch Hierarch's gaze turned grave. "You mean..."

"We have been indirectly observing conditions inside the Deep Blue Fortress through those captured golem mind cores, and based on data collected just hours ago, we can now confirm one thing..." Filna's sweet smile widened, and her tone could not help but rise with excitement. "The efficiency of the Ophelia Matrix has declined, Arch Hierarch."

"The Ophelia Matrix's efficiency has declined?!" The Arch Hierarch was taken aback, and a note of disbelief entered his voice. "You are certain?"

"We have confidence in our own judgment, Arch Hierarch," Lerna said, her smile fading into a serious expression. "Starting two days ago, we detected abnormal fluctuations in the Ophelia Matrix. It seems an extraordinarily large exchange and reorganization of data took place within her—we still do not know what she is actually doing, but since that data exchange her operating efficiency has been steadily declining, and only hours ago did the rate of decline finally stabilize. Even now it remains at a reduced level."

Lerna paused there, and Filna picked up without the slightest delay: "According to calculations we have just completed, if the Ophelia Matrix maintains its current operating efficiency for forty-eight hours, very minor flaws will appear when she reconstructs the internal defense security patterns. If it lasts longer... the flaws will become exploitable. We can push our penetration line into the impact crater, and may even be able to seize control of a portion of the energy conduits on the outermost edge of the Deep Blue Well."

The Arch Hierarch's gaze settled on the elf twins. No obvious expression could be read on that lignified, sinister face, yet the light flickering in his eyes showed that this gravely twisted life form was in a rather agitated state. He let out a hoarse laugh, but soon enough doubt arose: "Wait—if the change occurred two days ago, why did you not report it then?"

"We needed to confirm—although the Ophelia Matrix has run smoothly for seven hundred years, she may also experience brief, normal fluctuations due to internal self-maintenance or the replacement of failed nodes. So we had to be certain she had truly malfunctioned before reporting to you," Filna said frankly. "Unless you would prefer to be disturbed time and again by frequent and meaningless trivialities—in which case we sisters can report every last detail in exhaustive fashion."

The Arch Hierarch stared at the elf twins for a long while, and only after a dozen seconds or so did he withdraw his gaze once more.

"Very well. I do not care about these 'details' of yours. I respect the 'cooperative relationship' between us," he said mildly. "So now show some sincerity as a partner and tell me how to proceed with further penetration—we need the energy of the Deep Blue Well. Even if we can only control a single conduit on its outermost edge, that would be enormous progress."

Lerna and Filna smiled.

They raised their heads and looked toward the distant Deep Blue Well, at the pure energy surging from the tips of the crystal pillars like a giant sword thrusting into the sky, piercing the foul clouds and churning the gloomy cyclones that covered the entire wasteland.

"Of course," the elf twins said in unison. "We will obtain the energy of the Deep Blue Well."

...

The connection to land had been completely severed moments ago.

Gaoyang rose from the dragon's back and looked at the several special devices mounted behind Metze's shoulder blades—those units no longer relayed signals from land, error icons were appearing on the holographic projections, and some of the runes on their bases had dimmed. This was the sign that even the basic response signals had vanished entirely, and it had happened faster than the technicians had previously predicted.