Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 164 - 64: Has Our Army Been Defeated?

Chapter 164: Chapter 64: Has Our Army Been Defeated?

Upon hearing the message from the high command, the faces of the two people caught up in the emotional moment stiffened suddenly.

“Uh… this…” Richard turned his head away, “I’ll go retrieve my Alchemy Golem. You take charge and organize the others.”

With that said, Richard left the Command Room as if fleeing.

How awkward it was to have that whisper of romance cut off midway.

Stepping outside the War Fortress, Richard opened the Secret Realm to let the Magic Statue enter, then called Ulysses to prepare for retreat.

“Ga, we’re finally retreating. If we waited any longer, that giant worm would have been ready to move.”

...

Hearing this, Richard glanced at the distant War Giant Worm, a foreboding feeling flashing through his mind.

“High command is ordering a retreat back to the Floating City… could it be that our forces have been defeated?”

After the retreat message, the White Wizards within the Fortress acted with astonishing agility. The colossal Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons were swiftly disassembled into several large pieces by two people within ten seconds, and all of it was stored in Magic Pockets.

These Magic Stone Cannons were not cheap; if left on the battlefield, their entire team would owe the Wizard Army a hefty sum of Magic Stones.

Without the firepower of the Magic Stone Cannons, the Insect Tide was rapidly advancing towards the War Fortress.

But they were fast, and the Wizards were faster.

Within a minute of receiving the retreat message, all of the War Fortress’s supplies had been packed up, the speed of which was breathtaking.

Protected by Ulysses and Richard, the White Wizards gathered behind the War Fortress, forming a wedge-shaped formation.

Richard swung his Magic Wand and killed an approaching insect, then joined the ranks of the White Wizard team.

Ivan pulled him to his side and then issued an order.

“All units prepare—now execute Plan Number Four for a strategic shift.”

Upon those words, Richard felt a lightness in his body, as if weightless.

Ivan laughed heartily at Richard, “Brother Richard, today I’ll show you the skills of our White Wizards!”

After he said that, Richard felt the scene before him change rapidly, as the entire White Wizard team skimmed through the dark clouds like seagulls, heading toward the Floating City.

Behind them, the swarm chased them like dark clouds, but the distance grew increasingly wider.

A Warrior Worm, watching the distant team of Wizards, cursed loudly, “Damn it’s freakish, these Wizards are hard enough to fight, but they’re even faster when fleeing!”

…

Arriving at the Floating City Fortress, the place seemed to have become a hedgehog at this moment, with the White Wizard Army that retreated from the frontlines now urgently constructing defensive fortifications based on the residential circle around the Fortress. Various Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons were installed and ready to be deployed into combat.

Upon reaching the Floating City, Richard and his team were immediately located by logistics Wizards and prepared to be assigned tasks.

The logistics Wizard approached the team, holding a Crystal Ball in hand.

“Squad number?”

“White Wizard Squad No. 352 of the Third Battle Zone reporting for duty!”

“The Third Battle Zone?” The logistics Wizard looked at the lineup of Richard’s team with a hint of surprise, “Wasn’t the Third Battle Zone riddled with holes by the insects? Your squad looks pretty intact.”

“Riddled with holes?” Richard reacted in astonishment, “Is the situation in the Third Battle Zone that bad?”

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

The logistics Wizard nodded: “It seems you’re lucky you didn’t encounter those giant worms. Several large worms appeared in the Third War Zone, and our fortress defenses couldn’t hold them. The Third Battle Zone Command Center had intended to deal with these with War Airships, but the numbers were too high, and they couldn’t be dealt with.

I heard that to prevent the front from collapsing too quickly, many fortresses were sacrificed and left on the battlefield.”

Hearing this, all members of the White Wizard squad clenched their fists.

They were among those abandoned pieces.

Ivan said nothing else, gestured for silence to his teammates, and then followed the logistics Wizard to the task site.

“This is the place.” The logistics Wizard pointed to a few houses in the residential district, “Set up your Magic Stone Cannons for defense here, then assign a few people to pick up supplies to transform these houses into fortresses. As for this Black Wizard…” He glanced at Richard, then tapped the Crystal Ball a few times: “You don’t have a task at the moment, you’re under the unified command of the headquarters. For now, find a place to rest.”

After the logistics Wizard left, Richard said goodbye to Ivan and the others. As a Black Wizard, he could not be much help in constructing defenses.

Passing through the bustling residential district, Richard found an area where the Black Wizards were congregating in the Floating City Fortress. Black Wizards from the frontlines were gathering in small groups, exchanging information with each other.

After looking around, Richard unexpectedly found two figures who shouldn’t have been there.

“Ali, Lawrence!” Richard approached with some surprise. Seeing Richard, they both showed happy expressions.

“Richard, you’re back!”

Ali ran to Richard’s side and gave him a tight hug.

Releasing the embrace, Richard asked with some perplexity,

“You all were in hibernation, weren’t you? How did you come up from underground?”

At this moment, Lawrence walked up to Richard and fist-bumped him.

“We were, but don’t forget, before the war began, the main force of these bugs was called away. Under such circumstances, we hibernating wizards naturally started to take action. Among the hibernating wizards, there was a Three Rings Master who led us out of the Insect Nest.”

Although Lawrence spoke lightly, Richard, who had experienced both a breakout from the Insect Nest and the battlefield, knew the risks embedded in those few words were enough to take the life of an average wizard ten times over.

“Anyway, it’s good to be alive,” Richard smiled.

After a bit more small talk, Richard steered the conversation toward the situation on the battlefield.

“According to the intelligence we have at the moment, our situation doesn’t look very optimistic,” Lawrence whispered, “I heard that in the First Battle Zone our main forces fought against nearly twenty million bugs, piling their corpses so high they could form mountains. We’ve also suffered not insignificant losses here, with more than a dozen War Airships destroyed.”

Richard was taken aback as he heard this. The destruction of over a dozen War Airships meant not just the airships were damaged. Each War Airship was protected by a White Wizard Army detachment, so the loss of these airships indicated that the White Wizard Army had been seriously hit as well.

“So now, returning to the Floating City, are we planning to…” Richard’s gaze flickered as he spoke; Lawrence saw it and simply shook his head lightly.

“It shouldn’t be like that. The ground battlefield is merely a part of the Plane War. What truly decides the direction of the war…” Lawrence pointed upwards, “is the Great Wizard and the World Master of the worms.

As long as the Black Tower Great Wizard wins, it’s no problem if the battle situation is temporarily adverse. But…”

Lawrence sighed and did not continue, but the meaning of his words was crystal clear to everyone.

If they lost, they’d have to beat a disgraced retreat.

…

On the fifth day of withdrawal from the front line, the first batch of troops from the First Battle Zone pulled back.

Those wizards, whether Black or White, each emitted a thick murderous aura, looking as if they could devour others alive just through eye contact.

This batch of wizards was escorting a large number of wizard casualties, each of them barely hanging on to life and all severely wounded with no combat capacity left. Among the escorting wizards, a considerable part were also bearing injuries, some with organs exposed, their hearts thumping viscerally, a chilling sight to behold.

By then, the project to remodel the residential area was already halfway done. After this group of wizards withdrew, the project’s progress rapidly accelerated.

On the eighth day, the second batch of troops pulled back, and they were all Black Wizards. After withdrawing, they brought both bad and good news to the wizards of the Floating City.

The bad news: the battle situation was collapsing.

The good news: the Mother Worm God had intervened.

Although the intervention of the Mother Worm God caused the battle situation to collapse, it also indicated one thing — the insects also could no longer endure the enormous casualties.

While the wizards had paid such a heavy price, the insects had to bear losses ten times, twenty times more grievous.

On the tenth day, the last batch of troops from the First Battle Zone withdrew.

Behind them, an ocean of insects spread out like a vast sea.

Above the tide of insects, a hundreds of meters long golden War Giant Worm moved slowly, its body radiating Holy Light. The insects bathed in the Holy Light were all vigorous, and their wounds quickly regenerated.

And behind the retreating wizards, a huge robed wizard sheltered them.

The robed wizard held a giant Rune Wand, and with every swing, he would summon apocalyptic spells.

A massive Rune Array materialized in the Void, from which Molten Lava Meteors shot out like a meteor shower.

After the meteors came Thunder.

Colossal bolts of lightning that streaked across the sky turned the perpetual night of the Insect Nest World almost into daylight.

But every one of these was blocked by the giant golden insect.

The Black Crystal on the forehead of the golden insect attracted the starlight from the entire world; with the help of the World Origin, the whole world was aiding the Mother Worm God.

The dense starlight almost turned substantial, forming a curtain of light that intercepted those world-ending spells.

At this moment, heaven, earth, and man were all in the hands of the Mother Worm God.

As the Communication Crystal Ball lit up, all wizards within the Floating City Fortress received their commands.

“Hold the Floating City Fortress, no retreat permitted.”

Aside from this overarching command, each wizard also received their specific instructions: the White Wizards were ordered to defend the completed fortifications, while the Black Wizards were to prepare to hunt down insects that breached the fortress.

After all, the residential area was not a true fortress. Despite being reconstructed by the White Wizards, there must be many gaps.

And it was the Black Wizards who were to fill these gaps.

Whoosh—Boom!

As a Fireball exploded at the edge of the insect tide, the decisive battle officially began.