Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 465 - 10 Defending the Fortress

Fortress No. 192.

Richard, holding the dark gold World Tree staff, smashed the head of a wizard standing before him with a grave expression.

A soft Holy Light enveloped his body, rendering the spiritual attacks from the Mayflies as useless as waves crashing against a rock.

Divine Protection, one of the high-level Divine Arts mastered by Ulysses.

This Divine Art could create a triple defense barrier over the target by consuming a large amount of the Power of Faith, protecting against physical, energy, and spiritual attacks.

it was an excellent defensive spell.

"How many have we killed?" Richard asked casually.

Beside him, Ulysses’s eyes gleamed faintly, constantly scanning the surroundings.

"Three hundred and two. These Mayflies seem to be forming a formation. We better hurry."

Richard’s brow furrowed, and then he opened the Secret Realm Rift. Instantly, a snake king tens of meters long slithered out from the rift.

"Haha, is it finally my turn to act?"

The Snake King, excited, flicked its tongue, sensing through the pheromones in the air that many terrified lives were below the fortress.

"Kill everyone except for Rico," Richard said, expressionless.

During the recent battle, he had confirmed that all the fortress’s wizards had been parasitized. The Mayflies’ parasitic ability was incredibly potent, capable of infecting even undead wizards.

According to Richard’s knowledge, these Mayflies didn’t actually devour the wizards’ personalities. Instead, they used a kind of illusion tactic to trap the wizards in hallucinations.

Therefore, the wizards’ actions appeared entirely natural.

It had to be said, this method was quite ingenious.

Under this influence, the wizards’ actions exhibited no anomalies; even their close companions couldn’t spot a flaw.

Moreover, these clever Mayflies had even set up a check.

This made the wizards lower their guard, even if they knew of the parasitic Mayflies’ existence.

Mysterious, cunning, and unpredictable, the Galaxy Mayflies exhibited capabilities that truly matched the word "civilized."

The Snake King advanced deep into the fortress through the passage, while Richard headed straight for the fortress’s warehouse.

The Military Department had always been very balanced when preparing supplies. This distribution model allowed the fortress to cope with various emergencies but also led it to a peculiar state.

That was a shortage of materials on one hand and an excess on the other, only fit for storage.

The surplus in the warehouse included many dangerous goods. If utilized by these Mayflies, the fortress might not be defendable.

Buzz!

Another strong spiritual shock came.

The Holy Light on Richard’s body brightened slightly, dissipating the attack into nothing, while his gaze instantly locked onto the source of the attack.

Bang!

Richard’s figure suddenly appeared behind a wizard, the World Tree staff whistling through the air and instantly smashing the wizard’s head.

However, before Richard could continue moving forward, the Snake King’s voice suddenly rang in his ear.

"Sir, that Rico you mentioned seems to be controlled by these Mayflies."

...

Rico felt numb all over.

He had merely taken a nap due to slacking off; how could such powerful Mayflies invade?

Looking at the Mayfly subspecies before him, stretching like a dragon, Rico felt the most dangerous moment of the war had arrived.

He could feel that this Mayfly subspecies had broken some kind of barrier.

Without the aid of the White Wizard Army, it would take only a few seconds for this Mayfly subspecies to kill him.

"Sir, the legion’s enhancement is in place."

Behind him, a few old wizards from the legion formed an array he couldn’t understand.

The array was even three-dimensional.

It was a military formation he had never seen before, and he had no idea where these old wizards had learned it.

But no matter, since the enhancement was in place, all that remained was to kill these Mayflies, or at the very least, expel them.

With his inner monologue over, Rico, watching the Snake King, suddenly swelled in size, transforming into a three-meter-tall giant.

Under the enhancement of the Mayflies, both Rico’s spiritual power and magic power reached new heights.

The magic power he expended was replenished through the Energy Network by the Mayflies, and the spiritual power he consumed could also be replenished through a mental network.

While enhancing Rico, these Mayflies were also taking action themselves.

At this moment, the fortress’s complex terrain was no longer a hindrance to the Mayflies; it even became their aid.

Thud, thud, thud...

Rico’s giant-like body flickered densely with runes. He charged toward the Snake King, unstoppable, like a charging tank.

During this process, Rico’s arm transformed dramatically in mid-air. His muscles flowed, his bones proliferated, and in the blink of an eye, his right arm turned into a massive hammer.

And the runes on his body transformed into several Rune Arrays, enhancing his transformed arm like they would enhance a piece of Magic Equipment.

Boom!

Rico swung the hammer forcefully, the brilliance of the runes carrying immense power. With a thunderous roar, it all crashed down on the Snake King’s head.

The Snake King reeled from the blow, the tremendous force dazing him—but only dazing him.

The scales on his forehead sparkled with a faint golden light, a groove within the light slowly recovering. Rico’s powerful blow hadn’t even crushed the Snake King’s scales.

The Snake King, with his tongue flickering and eyes shining like the sun, stared intently at Rico.

"Spare his life."

Richard’s response brought a human-like smile to the Snake King’s face.

The next moment, a fine rustling sound traveled through the tunnels and reached the ears of several Mayflies.

"What’s going on?"

A hint of unease flashed through the Mayflies’ minds. Just now, some nodes in their psychic network had suddenly disappeared.

This meant that their comrades had died.

And before they died, they had left a baffling message in the psychic network.

"Snakes! So many snakes!"

The Mayflies were baffled by this message, fully aware of what snakes were. But the entire Galaxy World had been transformed into a battlefield by wizards, and all Magic Beasts had been eradicated—how could there be snakes?

...

Like a tide, a horde of snakes emerged from the scales at the tail of the Snake King, slithering through the fortress’s passages in search of the hiding Parasitic Mayflies.

This was one of the abilities the Snake King had developed after transcending human limits, being able to mimic a horde of snakes with its flesh.

These snakes were all species once ruled by the Snake King in the Poison Swamp. In terms of toxicity, each snake was an exceptional Biological Weapon.

Moreover, these venomous snakes had inherited the Snake King’s Physique, which rendered common spells practically ineffective against them.

Even when the Parasitic Mayflies controlled wizards to cast spells in retaliation, the tidal swarm of snakes rapidly overwhelmed them.

Richard flew over the heads of the swarm of snakes, not considering Rico being controlled a big deal.

Or rather, Richard had anticipated this.

Rico had been usurped by the Mayflies in the shadows, so him being controlled by them wasn’t exactly a surprise.

Boom!

Richard kicked open an enchanted metal door.

Immediately afterward, he saw several wizards moving materials in a warehouse.

Without a word, Richard flashed forward, his Magic Wand in hand, bearing the force of mountains, and smashed several wizards into flesh mud.

After handing over the Mountain Heart Rune to the Golden Gear Society and under the guidance of an old wizard, Richard had optimized the Rune Array on the World Tree Staff, significantly enhancing the effects of the Mountain Heart.

Now, wielding the staff at full power, its strength even reached the Ten Thousand Energy Level.

Regular wizards couldn’t withstand it.

Glancing at the materials they were moving, a cold sweat broke out on Richard’s back.

"Why does the Military Department send down everything?"

The materials being moved by these Aliens were called Sun God’s Wrath, a highly volatile Alchemy Potion that could cause a thousand-level explosion with just a vial’s worth.

The wizards were moving five large containers of Sun God’s Wrath. If these were placed properly, the entire main structure of the fortress would be destroyed.

Richard took these containers and then made a round through the entire warehouse.

During this time, he killed several wizards who tried to ambush him.

Unfortunately, in the face of absolute power, even ambushes left Richard unharmed.

Having secured the warehouse, Richard then flew toward the top of the fortress.

If nothing went wrong, a swarm of Mayflies was probably speeding toward the fortress now.

He had to organize the Fire Lizard Warriors to briefly delay them.

As long as he could wait until the War Airships sent by the Battle Zone Command Center arrived, even if the fortress couldn’t be held, he could still escape with them.

If he could hold it, the merit of defending the fortress would be recorded in his book of military achievements.

Military merits were critically important.

Upon reaching the top platform of the fortress, Richard saw a dense swarm of Mayflies quickly approaching.

"Wow, there’s really a lot of them."

Eyeing the swiftly approaching swarm of Mayflies, Richard immediately activated the Radiant Giant Battle Body.

The swarm consisted of roughly six hundred thousand Mayflies, including only three Mayfly Generals.

The Mayflies were separated by different subspecies and generals but were subtly connected to each other. The dark mass approached like a locust swarm, reminiscent of a sandstorm.

Ulysses opened a Secret Realm Rift beside Richard, and Fire Lizard Warriors surged out, their eyes shining brilliantly like Melter.

"To the cannons, intercept the enemy."

Richard’s voice echoed at the fortress’s top, and the Fire Lizards with frenzied smiles quickly manned the cannons atop the fortress.

Before joining the war, Richard had trained these Fire Lizard Warriors in the use of Alchemy Weapons for a period.

After all, they were entering a battlefield where wizards were defenders, and with the Military Department’s resources, there was no shortage of Alchemy Weapons.

The Fire Lizards numbered only five hundred, so only two hundred fifty cannons could be manned.

But that was enough to clean up any stragglers.

Ulysses and Richard both took to the sky, Ulysses’ body aflame with blue-black Flames, his massive figure making the five-meter-tall Richard look rather petite.

"Ga! This form feels great!"

Ulysses crowed joyfully, ringing as clearly as the bell of the Death God.

"Don’t get cocky," Richard’s voice rang beside Ulysses’ ear. "Those Mayflies have started to move."

The distant Mayflies, noticing these two obstacles, began to slow their approach to the fortress and rapidly changed their formation. freēnovelkiss.com

In a moment, two shields of Mayflies shielded the core of the swarm.

"Let them make their move!" Ulysses declared spiritedly.

At this moment, he seemed to revert to the master of crows who had once slaughtered widely on the battlefield of civilization.

Before he could finish boasting, he saw the two Mayfly shields open like eyelids, revealing an extremely intricate Mayfly Array to the world.

Had Richard seen the Military Department’s records on the Mayfly Arrays, he would undoubtedly recognize that this array was called the Heavenly Vault Vision.

And its danger level was marked as deep, meaning extremely dangerous.