Book 7, Chapter 17: The Demonic Beasts’ Counterattack (2)
“No wonder they’re the overlords of this continent.”
Le Feng glanced at the veritable tidal wave of Beasts was.h.i.+ng over them as he calmly floated above Sky City.
The Demonic Beasts’ true strength, which had allowed them to dominate more than half of the continent, had finally been revealed. Just half of their forces already totalled three hundred Demonic Emperors, which was a level of strength that the five major Intelligent Races couldn’t match even if they combined their strength together.
But this was because raw power was one of the Demonic Beasts’ greatest advantages. The Intelligent Races never fought with just their Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivators. Rather, their battle tactics revolved around Origin Formations, puppets, Origin Tools, fortresses, medicines, talismans, and many other external forces. Right now, the Harpies had no more than thirty Tenth-Ring Arcana Masters and only three legendary Arcana Masters; however, they currently held the advantage because of Sky City. They had managed to force the aloof Demonic Beasts to rally together for survival through their use of tactics.
This was an exchange between raw, primal power and calculating intelligence. Millions of Beasts were facing off against Sky City and the three Floating Points. A b.l.o.o.d.y battle was sure to unfold.
As the onslaught of the Beasts commenced, fire and brimstone rained down from the sky in retaliation as brilliant Arcana Techniques were activated throughout the battlefield. At the engagement line between soldiers and Beast, weapons and claw collided ceaselessly. The sight was more than enough to make anyone’s blood boil with excitement.
Le Feng and his companions were the only ones who remained calm and motionless.
As observers, their duty was merely to observe, and never to partic.i.p.ate in the battle.
Not only did they need to observe the Demonic Beasts, but they also needed to observe Sky City’s movements.
This battle was the best opportunity to suss out Sky City’s defenses and see if it had any exploitable holes in its defense. Even though the Thousand Poisons Toad had already brought many of these defenses to light, Su Chen was only one person, and his observational range was limited. Now that a few years had pa.s.sed, and now that Sky City had even regained its mobility, who else knew what might have changed?
Currently, Sky City’s barriers had been fully activated, and the Sun-Shattering Cannons and Fiendish Annihilation Carriages were firing away with impunity. Arrows constantly rained down from the sky while Arcana Masters unleashed Arcana Techniques like there was no tomorrow, supporting their foot soldiers and providing cover fire.
Sky City was powerful in terms of both offense and defense. Its walls were as strong as iron, and yet a torrential deluge of Origin Energy incessantly ebbed and flowed from it, churning up a violent whirlpool that sent blood flying in all directions.
Le Feng’s a.n.a.lytical gaze calmly swept over every corner of the battlefield.
Individuals were chosen to be observers first and foremost based on their loyalty and secondly based on their perceptive abilities.
In the past, Le Feng had once killed a Purple-Eyed Golden Eagle. Then, he had refined it into an Aspect and obtained its power, causing his eyes to glow faintly purple whenever he activated its ability.
This ability of Le Feng’s instantly expanded the range of his vision and pierced through most concealment techniques.
As he pushed his eyesight to its limit, the situation around Sky City became crystal clear to him. Le Feng silently watched on as he made a mental note of everything he saw even as he used a special device that the Boundless Sect had given him to record down everything he saw.
The two Harpies following him took note of this but didn’t find it very surprising.
These were the terms of the agreement they had made, after all — the humans could observe the Harpies’ every move, and the Harpies could do the same to the humans.
Of course, the results of each side’s observation heavily depended on the observer’s ability.
The first wave of Demonic Beasts was already nearly completely wiped out by this point, but their armies were so vast that this loss amounted to nothing more than losing a drop in the ocean.
The Beasts on the front lines hadn’t even been eliminated yet when a new wave of Beasts rose to take their stead.
This time, the bulk of their force was made up of Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses.
These Rhinoceroses had always been the best footsoldiers in an organized battle. Their powerful defensive capabilities and unstoppable charges would definitely drain Sky City’s resources even if they did no real damage.
When the Rhinoceroses charged, Sky City’s barrier began to flicker and fluctuate somewhat.
The Ninety-nine Arcana Towers lit up at the same time as well, supporting the barrier as the Arcana Masters within them constantly activated Arcana Techniques in support.
With the addition of the Arcana Masters’ energy, Sky City’s barrier completely nullified the Rhinoceroses’ powerful charge. Naturally, the now exhausted Arcana Masters had subst.i.tutes ready and waiting to replace them.
The glow coming off of the Arcana Towers would ebb and flow as a result, as did the strength of the barrier. Sometimes, the barrier seemed to be no thicker than a piece of paper, which would prompt the Iron-Armored Rhinoceroses to take advantage of the opportunity to attack.
In that case, the nearby Harpy footsoldiers had to put their lives on the line to stop the Beasts’ advance, resulting in yet another round of bloodshed.
“Even though Sky City’s multilayered defenses mean that the city won’t fall as soon as a small breach is made, it also ensures that Sky City is not truly impregnable. As long as the enemy focuses all their attacks on a single area, they will be able to quickly overwhelm the defenses in that area, thereby gaining access to the city itself,” Le Feng commented.
One of the Harpies standing guard near him ignored him, though he was secretly quite displeased by the comment. Afterall, they had been ordered to not interact or argue with Le Feng in any way.
The young Harpy soldier accompanying him, however, was far more impetuous and was immediately provoked. He snorted as he replied, “So what if you figured that out? As long as the foundation to our Origin Formation is still intact, our defenses will automatically regenerate.”
“Clear Night!” the first Harpy hissed in anger.
Le Feng casually laughed. “Don’t be such a worrywart. Did you think we didn’t know that? After all, our Sect Master has borne witness to a battle between this city and a Desolate Beast before. How would he not be aware of the power of the Origin Formation’s foundation? After all, he had to borrow Demonic Emperor Deep Blue Flame’s power to destroy a segment of the wall and the Origin Formation itself.”
“That was in the past!” This time, when they heard his words, neither Harpy could stop themselves from responding. “It’s no longer possible to use the same method to nullify our Origin Formation!”
“Is that because the foundation of your Origin Formation has been upgraded?” Le Feng asked with a chuckle.
The two soldiers immediately froze.
Le Feng, however, had already gotten his answer.
This revelation was no surprise to Le Feng, and it wouldn’t pose much more danger than a headache to the Harpies either. Su Chen’s manipulation of Deep Blue Flame had dealt quite a serious blow to the Harpies; after the situation was resolved, Eternal Night had commanded that the Harpies’ defensive Origin Formation be upgraded.
Of course, this reinforcement came with its own price. While the foundation of the formation was now better protected, they had to expand the networks that contained in the Origin Formation, which meant that the energy expenditure had also increased.
To the Harpies, however, it was obvious that this sacrifice was well worth it.
Le Feng smiled slightly when he realized that he had hit the nail on its head. Then, he pulled out his booklet and confidently recorded down, “The defensive barrier’s foundation now consumes more energy than before.”
The battle was still progressing below them, but it seemed that no significant changes would occur for the time being. Both sides were bleeding soldiers, though it was obvious that the Beasts’ losses were far more significant than the Harpies’.
Regardless, both sides had only deployed their cannon fodder so far. Not a single one of the truly powerful fighters had appeared so far.
Le Feng, however, had no interest in observing the rest of the battle. Instead, he turned to glance at Perpetual Daylight Palace.
At the very back of that palace, there was a small strand of white smoke rising into the air.
Le Feng knew that the white smoke trail indicated that a Sark’s Nuclei was being activated to its greatest extent.
Su Chen hadn’t actually seen any Sark’s Nuclei in the past, so he had been quite uncertain as to their functions and peculiarities. But after he had obtained the blueprints to construct them, his understanding of their composition had vastly improved, allowing Le Feng to confirm that this smoke was indeed came from the Sark’s Nucleus. Due to how much raw Origin Energy ran through the Sark’s Nucleus, there would inevitably be a small portion of Origin Energy that was not converted, and that unconverted energy escaped in the form of this smoke.
However, there seemed to be something off about this situation.
Sect Master had noted that the Sark’s Nuclei would typically pump out a thick, dense fog when it was pumping at full capacity. If so, then why was this white smoke trail so thin?
Even though Le Feng might have a different appraisal of the situation compared to Su Chen, Le Feng was confident that Su Chen would never describe this thin wisp of smoke as a “thick and impenetrable fog.”
Le Feng lowered his head, lost in thought as he silently gazed at the white smoke. Su Chen’s words echoed in his mind again. “In the past, Sky City was unable to move because they were anch.o.r.ed to the Origin Energy Sea, which gave them access to a boundless store of energy. Even though they did not have the ability to move, they did have an unlimited source of Origin Energy to draw from and fuel their defenses with. Now, if Sky City wants to move, then that anchor has to be retracted. In other words, they have to cut off their limitless source of energy. Regardless, they will still have the ability to reconnect their anchor and reestablish their connection to the Origin Energy Sea. As such, it’s entirely possible that they can re-anchor themselves to the Origin Energy Sea whenever necessary. This is something that you will need to look into for me. You must find out if they’re prepared for such a maneuver. If lowering the anchor takes a significant amount of time, then your observational skills will be the key to uncovering that.”
Su Chen’s commands echoed through his ear as Le Feng calmly surveyed his surroundings.
If the anchor was withdrawn, then Sky City would be incapable of directly drawing energy from the Origin Energy Sea. Sark’s Nuclei had been engineered to be far more efficient as a way around this situation, which was why the dense fog had faded into a white smoke.
If that was the case......
It’s possible that Sky City’s defenses won’t last for much longer, Le Feng mused to himself.
But he merely continued to wait silently, watching closely for that moment to arrive.
He hoped that the Beasts’ furious onslaught would be able to pressure Sky City into revealing some of its hidden cards.
Specifically, to the point where Sky City would no longer be able to bear the brunt of the a.s.sault without re-anchoring itself to the Origin Energy Sea.
Day after day, he waited.
The Demonic Beast soldiers felt like they were limitless in number, attacking in wave after wave after repeated wave.
Rivulets of blood spread everywhere on the ground below Sky City, but the waves of Beasts behind them continued to advance relentlessly. Their attacks only grew more and more powerful as Demonic Lords began to throw themselves into the fray.
The Harpy soldiers guarding the city had rotated twice by now. Currently, the Mother G.o.ddess Sect’s guards were fighting while the imperial army rested. Behind them lay a mult.i.tude of Harpy casualties, all of whom were moaning in pain.
The moment Le Feng was waiting for did not come. However, when Le Feng saw a few of the Harpies’ new weapons, his eyes lit up and he happily recorded them down.
The two Harpies were incensed when they saw all of their secret battle tactics being laid bare before an enemy’s eyes, but the agreement stated that as long as the observers didn’t force their way into a restricted area, they were allowed to record anything that they saw. As such, the two Harpy guards could do nothing but watch and endure the humiliation.
Finally, once night fell, the situation of the battle changed slightly.
The anchor was not lowered; rather, Sky City suddenly lurched into motion.
Its movement was completely unstoppable.
Boom!
Sky City slowly rumbled to life as it began to slowly but surely advance forwards.
This advance was quite courageous!
The ma.s.sive city could be considered a terrifying weapon in its own right. At that moment, it shot through the air with ma.s.sive momentum, like a battle hammer wielded by a G.o.d of war.
Sky City had waited for an entire day to seize this opportunity. After night fell, and when their opponents’ vision would be obstructed, they had seized the moment and careened forward like a wild bowling ball.
This “mere” charge left a deep scar more than a hundred thousand feet long in the ground. Any Beasts in its path had been smashed to a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp.
Without the restriction of the anchor, Sky City’s charging attack was fully unleashed. The only thing that could stop it was a lack of enemies in front of it.
This charging attack dealt a tremendous blow to the Beast army. Their low-tier soldiers suffered a devastating blow, and even three Demonic Emperors and twelve Demonic Kings had been mercilessly trampled underfoot. These Emperor-level creatures had been killed without even a chance to fight back.
Of course, Sky City’s defensive barrier was flickering like mad all the while.
But the Harpies’ next action showed that there was no cause for concern.
Even more smoke began to waft out from behind Eternal Daylight Palace as the clanking sounds of an anchor being lowered could be heard rumbling through the sky.
Sky City had finally dropped its anchor.