Chapter 1397 — 最后阶段

The earth still radiated residual heat after being scorched by the infernal incendiary bombs; dark red molten matter remained even within the vast stretches of ravines, and billowing smoke rose from the scorched and blazing ground. The choking dust and smoke carried all manner of nauseating odors—the mangled remains of mutants were disintegrating and rising into the air, the flesh of synthesized beasts gave off a foul stench after carbonization, and mingled with it all was the pungent smell of residual magical waste reacting with the air.

Without the protection of a full set of defensive armor and a breeze shield, even a single second of breathing on this battlefield scorched by raging flames would likely feel like falling into an abyss.

Fendil Vild led his soldiers swiftly across the battlefield past a ravine. The protective runes built into their armor isolated and filtered out the astonishing heat and various toxic gases in the air, but even so, when his gaze swept over the scorch marks left by living fire elementals, Fendil still felt a surge of dry heat rise from the bottom of his heart. He frowned and looked into the distance, where he saw a strange layer of purplish-black mist floating at the edge of the battlefield, with faint, indistinct roars coming from deep within it. At the far end of the mist, near the hazy horizon, a black and ominous "mountain range" could be seen.

If he looked closely, he could even see countless fine structures on the surface of that "mountain range" slowly rising and falling, swaying, and even the overall shape of the "mountain range" was undergoing subtle adjustments along with them; a faint swaying and trembling was ceaselessly traveling through the ground—a trembling caused precisely by that "mountain range" moving ever so slightly.

“Sir,” a soldier’s voice came from behind Fendir, “do you think… that thing has found us?”

“Impossible, right?” Before Fendir could speak, another soldier beside him said nervously, “We’re this far away, and we’re so small… In front of that thing, an ordinary human should be like a grain of sand, right? Could anyone really see one specific grain of sand on the ground from over a hundred meters away?”

"My aunt can," Fendir glanced at the soldier. "When she's bored, she'll even stand on the balcony and give a name to a single grain of sand in the garden, then scatter it with a gust of wind and find that grain again—as a legendary mage, this is how she trains her mental focus."

The soldier who had just spoken was instantly dumbfounded and fell silent, but right after that, Fendir shook his head again: "But I think even if that thing has noticed us, it won't care—just as you said, we are like grains of dust before it, and right now millions of these 'grains of dust' have gathered on this battlefield, every single one of them wanting to take its life... Its attention is entirely on the Deep Blue Well, so it probably doesn't pay any attention at all to what we harmless grains of dust are doing."

"That's true... we don't even need its attention—the mutants and biosynthetic beasts gathering around it are already more than enough to keep us running in circles," the first soldier to speak shook his head with a bitter smile. "And on top of that, we still have to set up a ground communications station in this scorched battlefield, close to the mutants' activity zone... Here's hoping the purification device's suppression effect in this area can keep those malformed freaks out."

"Enough talk. Let's get to work," Fendir muttered under his breath and strode forward first, but before crossing the next ravine, he could not help glancing up once more toward the "Living Mountain Range" on the horizon.

That astonishing living-catastrophe of a biological megastructure stretched across the end of the earth, and not far before it the ground was covered by a layer of "eggshell" emitting a faint blue glow—that "eggshell" was the final layer of defense of the Deep Blue Well. That ugly, deformed "Crawling Calamity" was at this moment greedily crouching before the Deep Blue Well, like a starving, thirsty beast fixing its eyes on a feast, while countless claws and fangs gathered on the vast battlefield around it, like mountains and seas.

All Fendir could see was one corner of this vast battlefield, but he knew that countless fierce battles were raging across this land known as the Tarash Plains. Soldiers of the allied forces from every nation of the entire continent of Loren had already entered this ancient place—clashing fiercely with aberrations and chimeras, struggling to push their positions forward, building purification devices—finding ways to relieve the pressure bearing down on the Deep Blue Well.

But to the true body of the “Crawling Calamity,” which was as gigantic as a mountain, most of the mortal conventional forces on the battlefield could hardly pose a threat; the only thing truly capable of opposing the Crawling Calamity was likely that aerospace fortress now entering the Tarash Plain from the western front.

Like a city, the colossal flying fortress advanced beneath the clouds, while thick radioactive clouds drifted backward above the fortress like a layer of rock pressed close overhead. From time to time, streaks of light flashed through the cloud layer—discharges caused by centuries of accumulated magic locally breaking down the atmospheric stable boundary layer. Gorgon aerial fortresses escorted the Dawn of the Mortal World on its left and right like guards around a behemoth, and countless dragoons, dragonborn, and dragon warriors soared through the sky around these aerial fortresses, like swarms of bees.

In the command hall of the Dust Dawn, a huge holographic projection was displaying real-time images sent back from every front line. Jinna Prince stood before the command console, her eyes fixed tightly on those images, and at the very center of them all, the figure of Duke Boyu Franklin, who was leading the main ground forces in action, appeared suspended in midair, with the land scorched bare by incendiary bombs and a tall, metallic-glinting tower standing high on the surface behind him.

“We’ve successfully taken the hills northwest of Talash, and the purification device is starting up,” Duke Baiyu said rapidly. “How are things on your side now? Any movement from the ‘Crawling Calamity’?”

"It stopped very close to the Deep Blue Well, and its internal energy reaction is highly unstable," Jina Prince looked up at another holographic projection beside her, an image captured by the Dawn of the Mortal World's long-range optical sensors. "We are gradually closing in, but it doesn't seem to react... The supercritical accelerator is ready; fire as soon as it enters range."

"The forces on all fronts have completed their coordination," Duke Baiyu nodded. "Ground troops will withdraw to a sufficient safe distance, and once you begin your assault, the purification towers on each front will enter the charging state and attempt to close the barrier walls. Commander Jinna, this charging process is irreversible—we must succeed on the first attempt; the enemy will not give us a second chance."

“We had no room for failure from the very beginning,” Gina Prince said softly. Then she turned to the order officer beside her, her expression turning serious. “Shut down the production modules, route all power to the shields and weapon systems, have the escort fleet return to their respective fortress hangars, unlock all supercritical accelerators, and increase speed to Forward 3.”