Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 459 - 4 Sun Mayfly Swarm

After nearly half a month of flying, the War Airship passed through the space tunnel and entered the Galaxy World.

At the very moment of entering the world, wizards with keen senses vaguely felt a tremor from their souls—a Great Wizard was watching them without any attempt to conceal his presence.

"The presence of a Great Wizard guarding such an important place as the Teleportation Gate is to be expected," Richard murmured in his thoughts.

After passing through the Teleportation Gate, the War Airship didn’t directly appear in a wilderness but inside a space similar to a cavernous world.

"Caverns? Just as expected."

Richard glanced at the environment outside the airship and thought to himself that this was indeed the case.

In the war simulations before departure, he had deduced that the wizards would surely move their Teleportation Gates underground.

Without control of the skies, the Teleportation Gates were nothing but huge targets.

After the airship entered the cavern, logistics wizards specifically led the way. The War Airship carrying the White Wizard directly flew out from an exit at the top of the cavern.

On the other hand, the War Airship carrying the Black Wizards landed at the airship field.

As for supply airships, they headed towards the other side of the cavern.

Within the airship field where Richard and his companions landed, dozens of heavily damaged War Airships were being repaired.

Some of these airships were severely corroded, others had been extensively melted, and some appeared as if they had been crumpled by some tremendous force.

The wizards aboard the airships were no mediocrities; from the damage sustained by these airships, they could infer many things.

"These mayflies..."

As the airships landed, the Black Wizards stepped out. No sooner had they left than a logistics wizard beside Richard reported through a Crystal Ball:

"Reinforcements have arrived, including thirty type-five War Airships and three hundred hundred-man troops on standby."

Leaving the airship field, each leader of the Black Wizard squads received a simplified map of the base, as well as a strategic map of several thousand kilometers around the Teleportation Gate.

According to the information on the maps, in order to resist the invasion of Galaxy Mayflies, wizards had established numerous fortresses and War Fortresses.

These fortresses were interconnected like a spiderweb, enveloping the entire Galaxy World—within it, the Galaxy Mayflies were the insects caught in the web.

The only flaw was that these insects were rather ferocious.

Not only could they escape the spiderweb’s bonds, but they could also tear holes in it.

On the strategic map, several marks of mayflies had been placed over locations that should have hosted fortresses.

"The situation doesn’t look too good," Richard said to himself with a sense of growing concern as he looked at the content of the map.

The Black Wizards were divided into thirty squads according to the airships they had arrived upon.

Led by the logistics wizards, the thirty squads of wizards were divided into six groups and entered six different tunnels. These tunnels led them through numerous halls sequentially.

In these halls, teams that received their assignments would directly proceed up to the surface through passageways, while the others continued forward.

By the end, only one squad of the initial thirty wizards remained.

After slowly flying through the tunnel for about ten minutes, Richard’s squad entered another hall.

This hall was also underground but seemed to be close to the surface.

Delis’s brows had been furrowed from the first second of entering the Galaxy World.

Upon entering the hall, the frown deepened.

Several passageways connected the hall to the surface, and from the moment Richard entered the hall, faint sounds of spells booming filtered through them.

Suddenly, the Black Wizards in the hall received commands from headquarters almost simultaneously.

"Operator Richard, welcome to the Third War Zone. Your current task is to patrol the mayfly swarms surrounding the Fortress. The specific details of your task are as follows..."

Reading the message in the Crystal Ball, a trace of relief crept into Richard’s heart.

Thankfully, they had prepared Dragon Beasts as mounts; otherwise, they could expect heavy casualties should they encounter the mayfly swarms.

Delis, on the other hand, was not in the mood for such thoughts.

After looking at the message in the Crystal Ball, he cursed out loud.

"Those bunglers in logistics, not even enough Magic Equipment stock; what the hell are they doing in the workshops? Making slave collars?"

Clearly, this battle-hardened old wizard had also considered the Magic Equipment shortage, but unlike Richard, Delis didn’t have the luxury of Dragon Beasts.

As a result, his squad, like the others, would rely solely on flying for their patrols.

Hearing Delis’s curses, the logistics wizards nearby offered a helpless consolation, "Master, don’t be angry. The request for Magic Equipment was submitted long ago.

But the shortfall is too great, and the rate of damage high; we can’t keep up for the time being. If you patrol for a while, Master, you’ll get your Magic Equipment."

"Patrol for a while?" Delis snorted, "I hope I live long enough to see that day."

With that, Delis found a tunnel to begin his mission.

Several other Black Wizard squads also voiced curses—on a battlefield, carrying out missions without proper equipment was akin to a death sentence.

But the situation was as it was, and as wizards of the Military Department, they naturally couldn’t desert.

While Magic Equipment was useful, wizards could still conduct their searches by flying.

Following the mission’s directives, Richard proceeded through tunnels to the starting point for their assignment—the No. 9 War Fortress.

Upon entering the fortress, Richard faintly heard the sounds of Fireball Techniques exploding.

Before they could all emerge, a White Wizard rushed in, urgently shouting at them,

"Hurry up and reinforce us, the mayflies are about to break through!"

Outside the fortress, throngs of Galaxy Mayflies were swarming en masse towards the fortress.

The mayfly swarm, like the sun itself, loomed above, showering the enchanted fortress with massive high-energy beams that fell like raindrops, leaving molten pits in their wake.

On the fortress, a large number of alchemy gun towers sustained magic barriers and continuously fired orb-shaped lightning at the mayfly swarm. These orbs of lightning burst in mid-air, spreading out in all directions, with the stray bolts interweaving to create a vast net of thunder.

Mayflies that touched the thunder would instantly turn to char and plummet from the sky. For a moment, the skies above the fortress rained black with burned mayflies.

But on one corner of the vast net of thunder, there was a small gap—on the edge of the fortress, ten gun towers lay damaged.

In the first wave of the mayflies’ assault, these five towers were almost instantly melted down. But the arsenal of the fortress and the attacking Galaxy Mayflies did not permit them to repair this breach.

Now, led by the Fortress Commander, hundreds of wizards were using human strength to fend off the mayfly swarm.

Zzzzz...

A high-energy beam hit the ground and made a sizzling sound.

The immense energy instantaneously burned a hole the size of a bowl into the fortress’s enchanted compound bricks.

The fiery red lava mixed with molten gold, forcing the wizards on the fortress to move cautiously to avoid stepping into it and being distracted, lest they were burned to char by a mayfly beam.

Situated at the center of the formation, the Fortress Commander continually orchestrated the tactics of the entire White Wizard formation.

Sometimes deploying Magic Concentrated Fire, and sometimes using united barriers, the hundreds of White Wizards acted as flexibly under his command as if they formed a single wizard.

But even so, his eyes frequently glanced towards the entrance leading to the top of the fortress.

"When will the reinforcements arrive?"

...

Following the fortress’s wizards, Richard’s team of Black Wizards quickly flew up from the basement toward the top of the fortress.

On the way, the White Wizard began to brief the Black Wizards on the enemy they were about to face.

"The attackers this time are the Sun Mayflies. Their high-energy beams are very powerful, but a bit weaker in terms of penetration.

A magic barrier of about three thousand energy levels should hold up against them, but the consumption of magic power will be incredibly high.

So drink up your magic potions that accelerate magic power recovery quickly—don’t think about saving money here, saving money means losing your life."

Hearing this, the team members hastily drank their various magic potions—all except for Richard.

He felt incredibly comfortable at that moment, as the residual energy in the air enlivened his every cell.

Soon, the group of wizards reached the top of the fortress.

Looking into the sky at the mayfly swarm, blazing like tiny suns, Richard finally understood why these mayflies were called Sun Mayflies.

"Quick, over here!"

Following the White Wizard’s shout, Richard saw a team of White Wizards not far to his left, engaging the mayflies with manpower.

The enemy they faced was a massive horde of mayflies, nearly one hundred thousand strong, commanded by Third Level Mayflies.

But when faced with the White Wizards’ plea for help, the squad of wizards looked to Richard. Although the White Wizards’ call for aid was pressing, Richard was their leader.

Without Richard’s command, they would not and could not offer support.

Richard raised his hand: "Go aid our allies, and remember to keep yourselves safe."

"Yes!"

The arrival of the Black Wizards lifted the spirits of the defending wizards.

"Ha ha, your timing couldn’t be better."

The Fortress Commander offered a weak smile, his heart instantly relieved, nearly collapsing with the release of tension.

On his body, a charred wound nearly severed his torso, constantly draining his life energy.

If reinforcements had been delayed any further, he might have found himself fighting for his life against the host of mayflies in the sky.

But soon, his smile froze solid.

Above the heavenly vault, a dazzling meteor suddenly fell towards the ground. Through the intense light that masked its exterior, the Commander could see, that was a swarm of mayflies numbering a hundred thousand.

"It’s over."

A trace of despair flickered across the Commander’s face.

If he were not wounded, if the fortress’s defenses had no gaps, then this swarm would have been insignificant and could have even boosted his battle accomplishments.

But now, this hundred thousand strong mayfly swarm became the last straw to break the camel’s back.

Even with the help of the Black Wizards, he could not hope to withstand two hordes of mayflies, each numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Unless...

Richard, watching the sky, naturally realized the essence of the meteor.

Looking at the meteor, he began to remove his Wizard Robe while muttering, "Good thing I didn’t put on the armor, or it would be a hassle to take off."

The next instant, Richard’s body suddenly emitted a faint glow, expanding in the blink of an eye to over five meters tall.

He took a deep breath, feeling the energy radiation that permeated the air. At this moment, he felt his entire being was much more agile than during previous tests.

"Ahh, this place is really not bad."

He gestured to the Fortress Commander to pause casting.

Seeing the gesture, the Commander’s heart skipped a beat.

What was this Black Wizard going to do?

No, he already knew what this Black Wizard was planning!

"Madman, he’s a madman!"

The Fortress Commander felt as if his sanity was evaporating.

This new Black Wizard intended to tackle, alone, a swarm of mayflies that would’ve been challenging even for an entire squad of wizards to resist.