Chapter 237: The Sea Clan is in Big Trouble
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 237: The Sea Clan is in Big Trouble
After finalizing the details, everyone had a general understanding of what they needed to do.
Now, they just had to wait for the dwarves to finish their War Fortress. With that, they could at least minimize the impact of those abnormal calamities while traversing the Central Ancient Battlefield.
Even when dealing with Phantoms of the Past, it wouldn't be a problem at this stage. It might get a bit difficult later on, but that wasn't something they needed to worry about right now.
"Aiko, how much longer on your end?"
Aiko was one of the few female students at the Dwarf Academy. Since becoming a dwarf, her height had been steadily shrinking; she had gone from a teenage physique to a true loli.
But don't underestimate her. She was the most talented student of Dwarven Forging at the Dwarf Forging Academy, often respectfully called "Big Sister," though she didn't particularly care for the title.
She felt it gave people the false impression that she was some kind of "tough girl" tomboy. She had chosen the Dwarf Academy partly because she liked her cute self, and partly because she was excellent with her hands. Her grades were more than enough to get her into the Dwarf Forging Academy.
She was also very lively and quite a chatterbox—otherwise, I wouldn't have known so much about her.
"Almost done! I'm finished with the technical guidance. I'll leave the heavy lifting to those strong boys," Aiko said, packing away her forging tools.
Dwarves used a vast array of forging tools. Forging was a complex science, not just mindlessly hammering iron. it involved many things, such as solidifying spell effects, enchanting special attributes, and bestowing inherent properties.
Of course, as a freshman, she hadn't mastered all those techniques yet.
The Dwarf Forging Academy's participation in this exchange competition felt almost like they were just there for the ride, especially the forging department. They hadn't learned many transcendent methods yet, and their forging was still in the theoretical or early practical stages.
The fact that they could modify the Forging Ancient City Ruins into a massive machine like this was already quite an achievement.
Most of the modules for this War Fortress were pre-existing; they had mostly just handled the assembly, modifications, and getting the big guy to move.
The heavy firearms powered by Holy Artifacts were the work of a few of the more aggressive boys. After all, what boy could resist such violent weaponry?
During this time, we weren't just waiting around. We went out to scout the situation. After all, if we wanted to leave, we had to turn this Land of Eternal Darkness into a part of the Ancient Battlefield first. Our main strategy was to leave nothing but scorched earth in our wake.
"I'm back from scouting! Sister Xiao Han, you're here! Aiko's here too? Let big sister give you a squeeze, let me rub those cheeks~"
"Alright, Minian, let's talk business," I said, seeing Minian's hands about to pinch Aiko's face out of shape.
"Right, Sister Xiao Han. There are a lot of Phantoms of the Past at the border between the Land of Eternal Darkness and the Ancient Battlefield. The speed of terrain erosion seems to be related to their numbers. The Phantoms of the Past like to stay at the boundary; they only actively invade non-battlefield areas if someone passes by. Of course, once their numbers reach a certain limit, the boundary will expand on its own."
"Did you count the specific number for that limit?" I asked curiously.
"Uh... I didn't really pay attention to that."
"Alright. Anything else? How fast are they? What's their aggro range? What kind of actions or noises attract them in large numbers?"
My string of questions left her completely dazed. In the end, she could only stammer out a few general details.
But I couldn't blame Minian. It was her first time and she wasn't specialized in this. Besides, we were about to move out anyway, so we'd find out soon enough.
Tan Han had sent Minian to scout mainly just to give her a general idea of the situation.
I didn't care about these details because I had the strength to back it up, but the same couldn't be said for Minian and the others.
"I'm sorry, Sister Xiao Han... I feel so useless..."
"Then just become useful in the future," I comforted her. Everyone had their own strengths. For instance, Minian was very well-spoken—a talent I honestly envied.
"You're right, Sister Xiao Han! I just need to become useful! I'll go back out there right now!"
"Alright, don't go. We're heading out together soon anyway. You should stay here and get some rest."
I stood up. Although I hadn't been doing the legwork, no one was dissatisfied with my behavior.
My role was combat support. Naturally, others handled the preparations. Besides, I wasn't just staring blankly into space; I was experimenting with new ways to use my spellbook, okay?
I was mastering more and more techniques for using the spellbook. Although they were mostly focused on evocation spells, that didn't mean they couldn't be applied to other fields.
I was even wondering if every spell could achieve a "Spell Domain" like the Fire Rain Domain.
Though that kind of domain looked like it consumed an immense amount of energy, and for those who couldn't control it, the threshold for effective power was quite low.
If I hadn't mastered "Resonance," my use of the Fire Rain Domain would have been limited to making it rain a bit more here or a bit less there.
It might sound like an exaggeration, but that's how spellbooks were. They weren't something you automatically knew how to use just because you owned one.
I vaguely remembered Teacher Ji Niang telling me about the first person to obtain the Fireball Spell; they actually failed to cast it. I had succeeded on my first try, but I was an exception.
In short, I had to thank my Spirit Vision... All of this was a benefit bestowed by that talent, even if it had brought me nothing but bad memories for the first half of my life.
I had once fantasized about what life would be like without this Spirit Vision—whether I would have lived a normal life in an ordinary family... but those were just idle thoughts. I knew very well that there was no starting over.
However, everything could begin anew.
With Tan Han's return, our plan officially commenced. As for that mermaid, she was forcibly stuffed in with the dwarves.
Since we'd brought her this far, it would be a waste to kill her, but keeping her around was a bit of a nuisance.
However, if we killed her and she got lucky, she might spread word at her respawn point, and the other academies would cause us no small amount of trouble. So, this was the only way for now.
Besides, the Sea Clan's water spells were quite good. In the dry Ancient Battlefield where yellow sand filled the sky, having water to drink was a true blessing, wasn't it?
We traveled separately from the dwarves. After all, that massive fortress moved quite slowly and couldn't compare to a witch's flying broom. They needed to head toward the next location ahead of us.
They would test the safety of their War Fortress as they passed through the Ancient Battlefield. The witches who couldn't ride brooms went with the dwarves to protect them. After all, the dwarves had proven through practical experience that their War Fortress wasn't invincible; it needed external units for coordinated combat.
Meanwhile, those of us who could ride brooms began experimenting to find the fastest method of erosion, using the entire Land of Eternal Darkness as our testing ground.
Furthermore, we planned to see if the Ancient Battlefield's yellow sand terrain could successfully erode the sea area of the neighboring Fallen Land. If it worked, we would immediately leave to regroup with the dwarves. If not, we'd have to find other ways to deal with the Sea Clan in the water.
Otherwise... what were we supposed to do, poison the ocean?
How much poison would that even take?
"Xiao Han, let's go," Tan Han said, waving to me from her broom.
At the border of the Ancient Battlefield, I finally saw those Phantoms of the Past that had become incredibly powerful. As their strength grew, so did their size; some had even lost their humanoid shapes, developing in more deformed directions.
They didn't have vision in the conventional sense, so no specific movements would attract their attention. However, they were simulations within the Dream Ley Lines, and they gathered information through those same Ley Lines.
Whether you walked on the ground or flew through the sky, as long as you touched Ley Line energy and left a trace that was recorded by the earth's Ley Lines, they would find you.
This was the conclusion we reached after practical testing. Of course, through the perspective of Spirit Vision, the rhythm of the Ley Line energy was much clearer.
The erosion of the terrain was also a manifestation of the Ley Lines surging. When the Ley Lines became abnormal and began "eroding and assimilating" other areas, the abnormal calamities generated by the Ley Lines would spread there.
So, theoretically, the faster the Ley Line energy flowed, the faster the Ancient Battlefield's terrain would erode. In reality, however, the speed of erosion was often hindered by various factors.
Logically, the erosion should be very fast. Did the genius who designed this map anticipate that we would use the Ancient Battlefield's erosion for a pincer movement?
After gaining a deep understanding of this dream's structure, I roughly understood how it operated. It was a self-consistent map formed by the dream's shaping of the Ley Lines.
Different regions were generated by different effects produced by the Ley Lines. This was why the so-called "erosion" was so fast—because at their core, they were the same thing: Ley Line effects.
The sea could erode the land, and the land could erode the sea, because the sea was also a scene generated by the Ley Lines within the dream.
"The erosion speed of the Ancient Battlefield is even more terrifying than we imagined. Without obstacles, and with us guiding it, this progress..."
Tan Han and the others watched the results of their slight guidance. The yellow sand unique to the Ancient Battlefield was continuously eroding the landscape of the Land of Eternal Darkness, and the sandstorms from the battlefield accelerated the process even further.
Because sandstorms were a manifestation of Ley Line abnormalities, the incoming dust was essentially surging Ley Line energy. Thus, the arrival of abnormal calamities accelerated the erosion.
"The so-called Ancient Battlefield erosion is basically Ley Line assimilation. The entire dream is built upon the Ley Lines, so instead of guiding the Phantoms of the Past, we should be guiding the Ley Line energy," I said.
"Uh... Sister Xiao Han, what are you talking about?" Minian looked at me, clearly confused.
However, Tan Han and those who understood the properties of Ley Lines caught my meaning.
"So, by guiding the Phantoms of the Past, we are essentially guiding the Ley Line energy."
"Yes. But the Ley Line energy brought by the calamities is much more massive. We can use this trait to speed up our progress. The surge of Ley Line energy in the Ancient Battlefield is like a tide, coming in wave after wave. We just need to seize the opportunity," I nodded.
"Uh... so basically, we need to switch to a more efficient method, right?"
"Exactly," I replied.
Following that, we began to change our strategy and try new things. It was clear that Tan Han saw much more in the information I had revealed.
"Did you see all of this through your Spirit Vision...?"
"Yes."
"Then, if everything is built on the Ley Lines, it's already a certainty that the Ancient Battlefield will erode the sea?" Tan Han asked again.
"Yes, but just to be safe, it's better to test it," I said with a shrug.
Time passed bit by bit. Through our collective efforts, the Land of Eternal Darkness completely vanished from the map.
Where the Ley Lines surged, the earth boiled, hard stone weathered away, buildings were buried deep, and the darkness was dispelled. In their place came surging calamities and endless Phantoms of the Past.
It took longer than expected to make the Land of Eternal Darkness fall completely, but in the end, it happened like an avalanche that no longer required our guidance.
The most threatening element turned out to be the Phantoms of the Past, which we hadn't taken very seriously before. After the Land of Eternal Darkness fell, entities resembling the Vampire race appeared among the Phantoms. They manipulated power and used the combat styles of the Vampires.
I had to admit, the Phantoms of the Past made us realize how troublesome the Vampire combat style could be—they were even more terrifying than the actual Vampire Academy.
Looking at it this way, the Vampire Academy was losing quite a bit of face by performing so poorly.
"These Phantoms of the Past are truly freaks... A Vampire form... Does that mean when the sea is eroded, there will be a Sea Clan form?"
"Why worry about that? If there's a Sea Clan form, the ones who should be worried are the Sea Clan themselves."
"Exactly! The sea is so vast; the erosion speed might be even faster than on land!"
We flew through the sky on our brooms, but there were flying creatures among the Phantoms as well—likely monsters meant to pursue floating islands, but they were just as troublesome for us witches.
At this point, we weren't so much guiding the Phantoms to the flooded Fallen Land as we were being chased there.
"This is terrifying. The second day isn't even over yet, and the strength of these Phantoms... We haven't bitten off more than we can chew, have we?"
"Don't worry. At the very least, if we fail, everyone else has to share the risk with us, right?" I said comfortingly.
We witches were naturally "free-spirited," which also made us the group most likely to cause trouble. If the Witch Academy wasn't suppressed from the start, everyone would end up suffering for it.
But at the beginning, not a single academy had taken that seriously.
"The Ancient Battlefield's erosion of the sea has begun."
I turned my head to look down at the Fallen Land below. The Phantoms of the Past began charging into the water, and even the sandstorms from the calamities behind us poured frantically into the sea.
"Is this the Fallen Land you flooded, Sister Xiao Han? It's magnificent..." Minian let out an admiring exclamation like a little fangirl. Last time, it was the forest fire.
However, the Ancient Battlefield's erosion of the sea was different from what we had imagined. We thought the seawater would recede and the yellow sand would erode the seabed.
But that wasn't the case. The azure seawater was rapidly polluted, as if a yellow river were flowing into the ocean. The blue water seemed to have a filter applied to it, becoming foul and turbid. Something was churning beneath the surface—the Phantoms of the Past.
The erosion of the sea was indeed as rapid as I had guessed, but the entities born from this erosion were a terrifying sea of undead and Undead Corpses!
The undead ignored the water, walking from the seabed toward the highlands, occupying the reefs and islands that were once mountain peaks.
As the Ancient Battlefield eroded the sea, the calamities took on new forms. Initially, the calamities were mostly sandstorms, dark lightning, extreme weather, and tornadoes. After eroding the Land of Eternal Darkness, the acid rain from that region began to appear.
And now... the eroded sea was churning with massive waves. I could already imagine the eroded sea whipping up tsunamis coupled with oceanic thunderstorms...
Even the Sea Clan would be terrified by such a sight, wouldn't they?
Just thinking about it made me shiver. I subconsciously swallowed, nearly scaring myself with my own thoughts. This operation of ours was likely bringing a cataclysmic disaster to the Sea Clan... I just hoped the sea would fall before the land was completely eroded. Otherwise, if the sea whipped up an even greater tsunami calamity, no one on land would be able to escape.
This time... it looked like the Sea Clan was in big trouble. They probably never imagined that the sea could be eroded by the Ancient Battlefield, too.
"Xiao Han, stop daydreaming. We need to get out of here fast."
"Oh... right."
Snapping out of it, I hurried to catch up with the main group. Now that we had completely collapsed the Land of Eternal Darkness and proven that the Ancient Battlefield could erode the sea, our next step was to regroup with the dwarves.
And, of course, to share the intelligence and theories we had just gathered.