Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 161 - 61: Fortress Siege Battle (Part 2)

Chapter 161: Chapter 61: Fortress Siege Battle (Part 2)

The War Fortress had a substantial reserve of Magic Stones, but if the insects continued to deplete it in this manner, it wouldn’t last even a week.

Moreover, the consumption of ammunition was secondary; if nothing unexpected happened, these insects would nonstop attack the fortress—a relentless, continuous harassment that tested the quality of the Alchemy Weapons as well.

Even the best quality couldn’t withstand such high-intensity use continuously.

Richard arrived at the Command Room and found Ivan sitting in a corner, smoking one cigarette after another.

Tobacco, a rare commodity on the battlefield, existed even in the Otherworld.

Ivan was smoking Demonized Tobacco provided by logistics, which made a wizard’s mind more active and better able to find answers to problems.

...

“Thinking about the insect problem?”

Ivan saw Richard and waved him over to sit beside him.

“What else could it be? These insects have become clever; we use Synthetic Beasts as cannon fodder, and they use their little insects in the same way.”

As he spoke, Ivan stubbed out his cigarette and threw it fiercely to the ground, then turned to Richard and asked,

“Do you have any ideas?”

At that moment, he still thought of Richard as an old wizard who liked to appear younger.

“Me?” Richard pointed at himself, somewhat amused and exasperated.

“What ideas could I have? You White Wizards should be better at handling front-line battles, shouldn’t you?”

Ivan scratched his head,

“True, I’m just grasping at straws. Wait then, I’ve already reported it to headquarters; those logistics wizards should be coming up with something.”

After hearing this, Richard couldn’t help but slap him on the back, “With logistics wizards helping, what’s there to worry about? The fortress’s Magic Stone reserve isn’t small, enduring a week won’t be a problem.

That should be enough time.”

Ivan said with a wry smile, “You’re really optimistic.”

As a commander, he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

Although the fortress’s Magic Stone could last seven days, a Magic Stone Cannon, even with spells aiding its cooling, couldn’t be used for such an extended period continuously.

Theoretically, a Magic Stone Cannon needed its casting components replaced and its Magic Conduction path reshaped after six continuous hours of use; otherwise, it became an unpredictable time bomb.

Replacing casting components was easy, but reshaping the Magic Conduction path was a technical task.

A skilled wizard could manage it in a minute or two, but an average wizard might take an hour or two, or might not even be able to do it.

Their squad’s Alchemy Wizards were decent, but their skills in reshaping Magic Conduction paths were hardly worth mentioning.

But fortunately, the Magic Conduction path only affected the energy consumption of the Magic Stone Cannon. Normally, it wouldn’t pose a problem, and the quality of the Magic Stone Cannons themselves was very solid. Using them continuously for six hours was just theoretical data.

In reality, there were many Magic Stone Cannons that operated for several days without issues.

Typically, only White Wizards who could repair Magic Stone Cannons, and commands of the White Wizards, knew this data.

Ivan’s mind flashed back to the intelligence Richard had once spoken of.

A Great Wizard of the Three Rings had been captured alive by the insects, forcing an entire Insect Nest of Black Wizards into a dormant state.

Every Great Wizard of the Three Rings had seen many battles; they were intimately familiar with these Alchemy Magic Stone Cannon data.

If he had truly defected, then they…

…

Deep within the Insect Nest, a Priest Worm clad in Moon White Silk sat at the far end of the room, surrounded by several Golden Armored Warrior Insects and some Two-Star Priest Worms lined up in two rows.

“What’s the situation on the battlefield?” the Moon White Priest Worm asked.

A Golden Armored Warrior Worm spoke,

“Those Wizard Monsters are precisely as the Priest predicted, continuously using those `Alchemy Weapons` that shoot Fireballs to destroy our cannon fodder.”

When mentioning the Alchemy Weapons, the Golden Armored Warrior Worm spoke awkwardly,

because it was a wizard term with no equivalent in Black Crystal Insect language, so they were forced to use a transliteration.

“Very well, keep it up,” the Moon White Priest Worm issued a joyful chirp.

“But sir,” a Two-Star Priest Worm stood up and asked, “the cannon fodder is being destroyed quickly. If this rate of attrition continues, I fear we won’t last much longer.”

The Moon White Priest Worm waved its antennae, “Don’t worry, our cannon fodder will run out before their Alchemy Weapons will `melt down`.”

Melt down was yet another term exclusive to wizards.

“Sir, are you sure?” a Golden Armored Warrior Worm suddenly spoke up, “Our intelligence efforts on the Wizards have made little progress; we can’t even get close to the Wizards’ main base, that floating city. Even if we tried from underground, the Wizards would detect us.

Where did your intelligence come from?”

This Golden Armored Warrior Worm had once been responsible for infiltrating the Wizards’ territories, but his every strategy had failed under the Wizards’ strict defenses.

For this, he had lost many elites among the Black Crystal Insects.

The Moon White Priest Insect’s antennae moved, “Are you questioning me, or are you questioning the High Priest?”

“Not at all, not at all!” The Golden Armored Warrior Worm repeatedly said.

Priests held a status akin to that of the Nobles in the insect swarm, and with such a heavy accusation placed upon him, he could only prepare to be cannon fodder on the battlefield as atonement.

The Moon White Priest Insect glanced at the other insects and noticed although none asked directly, there were many doubts. Seeing this, its brow’s black crystal suddenly emitted a ray of starlight, which dispersed in the air and instantly transformed into a Starlight Barrier.

Below the Starlight Barrier, all means of eavesdropping, peering, and even stealing spiritual messages would be blocked.

This was a countermeasure developed by the Priest Insects after the Black Wizards had stolen intelligence multiple times.

Within the Starlight Barrier, the Moon White Priest Insect slowly said, “The source of the intelligence is not something I deliberately kept secret. In our Insect Nest, there are still many Wizard Monsters lurking; these wizards’ methods are strange and varied. Should they intercept this information, it would surely affect the wizards’ strategy.

But now that the war had started, some information could indeed be disclosed.”

Hearing this, the other insects immediately perked up, ready to listen to what the Priest would say next.

“In the operation at the Mother Goddess Temple, we captured many wizards. These wizards are tough, both physically and in spirit, but the High Priest, with the power of the Mother Worm God, extracted lots of information from their souls.

Though some of the information is incomplete, it has still provided us with much intelligence.

Our current intelligence all comes from here.”

…

The disturbance from the insect swarm was relentless, although there was no day or night in the Insect Nest World, only eternal darkness.

To handle the insect swarm’s harassment, White Wizards were split into two groups alternating in controlling the Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons.

Although operating the Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons didn’t require the wizards to arrange the spells themselves, they still needed to use spiritual power to guide the trajectory of the spells, and such intense guidance would fatigue the wizards.

Rotating between the two sets of wizards could just maintain the firepower of the war fortress.

During this period, Richard also attempted to have Ulysses slaughter the insect swarm. The first time this was very effective; the insects, none exceeding the first level, had no resistance against Ulysses’s flames and were all burned to ashes.

However, when Richard tried to repeat the tactic, the insects had a countermeasure.

Seven to eight Second Level Priest Insects hid among the swarm, casting the Starlight Seal almost simultaneously on Ulysses, and at the same time, dozens of Second Level Warrior Worms also launched an attack on Ulysses.

The ground battlefield was not like the narrow environment of the Underground Insect Nest where the insects’ movement was extremely limited, and Ulysses could easily kill Second Level insects. But on the ground battlefield, especially in such a vast plain, these insects had enough room to dodge and had so many companions.

Such a level of attack, if not for Ulysses being a World Master, even a third-level creature would have perished on the spot.

“Gah, I didn’t feel these insects were something significant when I was with the main force, but now that I’m alone, these insects are indeed remarkable,” Ulysses said, a bit defiantly, after escaping.

Although he was chased quite miserably by the insects, he certainly had to maintain an aloof attitude in his speech.

Richard glanced at him, “Alright, being chased by a bunch of insects to the point of almost having to use the Power of Faith, you wouldn’t have been so embarrassingly defeated if you were a bit more careful.”

Besides the insect’s countermeasure, Ulysses’s own arrogance after acquiring a Second Level body also contributed significantly to his defeat.

Arriving in the Command Room, Ivan was currently sitting on a chair, his eyes intently fixed on the Crystal Ball on the table in front of him.

This Crystal Ball was his Communication Crystal Ball, which lit up whenever there was a message from the command headquarters.

“Has the headquarters not sent any messages yet?” Richard asked as he approached Ivan.

Ivan pointed at the Crystal Ball, his expression very calm, but his tone was like that of a cancer patient who knew he wasn’t going to live long.

“As you see, this Crystal Ball hasn’t lit up for three days. If it doesn’t light up in another three days, we’ll have to abandon the fortress and prepare to run.”

Abandoning the fortress was their last recourse as wizards. At the moment, the command headquarters hadn’t issued a command to hold the fortress at all costs. In the face of irresistible forces, retreating was also a viable option.

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But once they abandoned it, the command headquarters would have to breach the Great Wall forged from the War Fortresses in the Third War Zone first.

This could potentially lead to a chain reaction and cause the entire line of defense to collapse.

“Don’t mess it up, okay?” Richard approached and took the Crystal Ball into his hands, “Didn’t you smash this thing on the floor yesterday in a fit?”

“Uh…” Ivan looked somewhat embarrassed; the stress of the war had made him quite irritable. Yesterday, seeing the Crystal Ball still unlit, he had angrily smashed it on the floor.

But immediately after smashing it, he regretted it and picked it up, cherishing it like a treasure.

To be arrogant initially but submissive afterward was truly laughable.

The material of the Communication Crystal Ball was of high quality; even after Ivan had smashed it, not a scratch appeared.

Richard used a universal repair technique to tap it twice, but the Crystal Ball remained unresponsive.

“What kind of testing method is that?” Ivan scoffed. Alchemy Wizards used Magic Equipment Probes to check magic equipment, not random tapping like Richard did.

But just after he finished speaking, the Crystal Ball in Richard’s hand suddenly lit up.

“Holy shit, masterful work, Master!” Ivan exclaimed in shock.

Indeed, as a wizard long seasoned in battlefields, even a casual tap contained mysteries that a newcomer like him could not comprehend.

The Crystal Ball then transmitted instructions from the command headquarters.

“The supply convoy will arrive in twelve hours, and the internal Curse Virus should handle the insect cannon fodder.”

SEND GIFT

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