Chapter 296: Tearing the Barrier

This sudden reversal of the battle situation did not bring only benefits.

Relying on the furious firepower of 【Great Da Guang Xiang】 and the Black Giant's self-destruct charge, which could be called an "instant kill upon first sight," Gao Jie Ming forcibly tore a precious gap in this deadlocked frontline, making the wizard legion under his command the vanguard that first broke through the Giant Spirit Realm's final defense line.

This achievement, which should have been cause for celebration, instead triggered an unexpected trouble—the focal point of the regional battlefield had shifted.

Originally, Balsar the "Star-Splitter," a level-six wizard responsible for coordinating this vast war zone, had focused his primary attention on another direction where a main legion stationed with over ten level-five wizards was operating.

That legion's fierce offensive had attracted the majority of the Giant Spirit Realm's defensive forces.

According to the plan, that area should have been the first to break through, with Balsar personally intervening to consolidate the gains.

However, the unexpected emergence of Gao Jie Ming's "detached force" completely disrupted the established rhythm.

By the time Balsar noticed that the frontline here had been torn apart, the tactical opportunity had already vanished in an instant.

It was merely a momentary delay, yet within the Giant Spirit Realm plane, reinforcements had already surged forward again, like bees pouring from a hive.

They rapidly filled the gap blasted open by the Black Giant and even launched a fierce counterattack against the wizard vanguard that had just advanced and not yet secured a foothold.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Energy artillery fire rained down like a sudden storm; the wizards who had just charged in commanded their respective cannon fodder legions to resist at the cost of their lives.

Yet, with the enemy relying on the plane's barrier and having nearly infinite troop reinforcements from the rear, the wizards were still beaten back step by step, on the verge of being pressed back into the Chaotic Void.

An invisible pressure suddenly descended.

Space distorted slightly, and Balsar the "Star-Splitter," clad in a wizard robe adorned with starry runes, appeared silently beside Gao Jie Ming.

His features were archaic, and his eyes were as deep as the universe.

Yet now he frowned slightly, gazing at the entrance to the plane barrier ahead, which was once again densely occupied by enemy warships and behemoths.

His gaze swept across the battlefield and instantly locked onto Gao Jie Ming, who was obviously the core and pivot of this legion, maintaining the 【Great Da Guang Xiang】 formation.

"Wizard," Balsar's voice rang directly in Gao Jie Ming's mind, calm yet carrying an unquestionable authority, "your performance has exceeded expectations. But now, the situation has changed."

He pointed toward the clamorous battlefield ahead: "I need to personally tear open this barrier to create a passage for the main army. However, during the spellcasting, I cannot move and must withstand attacks head-on. Long-range energy strikes are manageable, but if any enemy above level four breaks through the interception and harasses me at close range, it will disrupt the spellcasting process."

He looked at Gao Jie Ming and asked directly: "If I clear the enemies in this area ahead, how long can you hold back the subsequent reinforcements while I tear the barrier? There is no need to annihilate them all; just buy enough time."

Gao Jie Ming's heart tightened, and his brain raced at high speed.

He sank his consciousness into his internal space, quickly tallying the inventory of all "Patroller" cannon fodder units while calculating the concentration of elements in the surrounding environment, which remained turbulent due to the successive battles just fought.

In an instant, he raised his head, met the level-six wizard's gaze, and replied with a steady tone: "Three breaths. I can buy at most three breaths of time to ensure no unit above level four approaches you."

A hint of surprise flashed in Balsar's eyes, followed immediately by a trace of appreciation.

In such a situation, for a low-level wizard to give such a definite timeframe was either arrogance or genuine confidence.

Judging from Gao Jie Ming's previous performance, Balsar leaned toward the latter.

"Very good." Balsar spoke no more.

He slowly raised his right hand and, facing the tide of Giant Spirit Realm reinforcements surging forward, casually pressed down lightly.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no brilliant glow of energy.

Yet the moment his palm pressed down, the void within a radius of several hundred kilometers ahead seemed to have been wiped clean by an invisible giant eraser.

Those ferocious warships, roaring behemoths, and shooting energy beams—everything silently decomposed and annihilated in an instant, turning into fundamental particles and vanishing without a trace.

With one strike, the view became clear!

The might of a level-six wizard was truly terrifying!

Without any pause, Balsar stepped forward, his figure already appearing in the center of that cleared area, facing the Giant Spirit Realm's plane barrier, which lacked a concrete boundary like an atmosphere.

He raised both hands vaguely, and a terrifying energy fluctuation that made one's heart palpitate began to emanate from his body as immense power gathered, preparing to forcibly tear this world's amniotic membrane.

Almost simultaneously with Balsar clearing the area ahead, Gao Jie Ming also moved.

He frantically urged his will, and the reserves in his internal space gushed out like a floodgate opening.

Tens of thousands of "Patroller" cannon fodder units, resembling living missiles, appeared in the void like a migrating swarm of bees, black and overwhelming.

These level-two Patrollers were the basic units Gao Jie Ming had meticulously crafted for his aerial combat system.

The moment they appeared, under Gao Jie Ming's command, they erupted into an astonishing speed of ten times the speed of sound.

Transforming into streams of deadly light, they fearlessly charged toward the Giant Spirit Realm reinforcements that were once again swarming out from within the plane barrier!

"Explode!"

At Gao Jie Ming's command, the cluster of Patrollers at the very front suddenly burst forth with destructive brilliance!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—Self-destruct!

Continuous self-destructions!

These Patrollers were designed as expendables for extreme one-for-one exchanges; under normal circumstances, the self-destruct of each level-two Patroller was comparable to a level-three wizard spell.

But how could the "land-sea-air combat system" that Gao Jie Ming had spent fifty years building be so simple?

The core of every Patroller had incorporated partial techniques from talismanic wizard artifacts.

Their self-destruct did not merely trigger their own energy but, in an exquisite manner, violently detonated the free-floating elements in the surrounding environment!

And at this moment, this region had just endured the baptism of the Black Giants' collective self-destruction, warship detonations, and the wizards' relentless bombardment, causing elemental concentration to skyrocket to an extremely terrifying level!

Thus, before the enemy's horrified eyes, the Patrollers' self-destructions produced a terrifying chain-reaction effect.

Especially in areas where elements were most dense, the elemental detonations triggered by the Patrollers' explosions clearly surpassed the power level of fourth-tier wizard spells!

This destructive power was almost equivalent to a volley from a small wizard legion, causing the vanguard of the Giant Spirit Realm reinforcements to crash as if hitting an invisible giant wall.

Convoys were instantly torn apart and evaporated, forcibly halting the enemy's support momentum once again!

The Giant Spirit Realm's reaction was by no means slow; combat power from other defense sectors immediately began diverting here, attempting to surround and annihilate this fatal gap.

Subsequent reinforcements were also regrouping, attempting to charge again.

But it was already enough.

Gao Jie Ming looked at the enemy formation that had once again become chaotic; he himself, along with other wizards, began commanding the cannon fodder legions to retreat in unison, disengaging from the frontmost contact.

Because ahead of them, that level-six wizard—"Star-Splitter" Balsar—had already completed his preparations.

He thrust both hands forward with sudden force!

Riiip!

A deafening roar, as if fabric were being torn apart yet magnified a hundred million times, shook the entire battlefield!

Under Balsa's hands, imbued with the power of laws, the incredibly sturdy planar barrier of the Giant Spirit Realm was forcibly ripped open, creating an irregular spatial fissure stretching a thousand li!

Chaotic energy currents flickered along the edges of the fissure; through the gap, the interior of the Giant Spirit Realm and its metallic continent were now clearly visible.

The planar barrier had been forcibly torn asunder!

Henceforth, there was no need for mid- and low-tier wizards like them, nor for the cannon fodder, to throw their lives away.

The time that remained would be the stage for the high-tier wizards to perform.

Gao Jie Ming hovered in the void slightly behind, retracting his heavily depleted 【Great Da Guang Xiang】 array. Calmly, he sensed the workshop within his spatial interior, which was accelerating production to replenish his reserves, his heart utterly tranquil.

With the addition of high-tier wizards, the tide of battle had stabilized.

Next came the moment to reap the spoils of war and military merit.