Chapter 428

After talking with Wizard Artelius, Jie Ming had been paying attention to possible problems.

But he did not expect the opponent's speed of action to be so fast.

Just one month later, the calm research routine was broken by an emergency order.

Commander Frost's voice spread throughout the army through the magic network terminal in a rarely solemn tone:

【All units pay attention, enter the highest ground and underground alert state immediately. Detected large-scale high-precision excavation operations by the Sickle-Skull tribe on the periphery and deep underground layers of the camp. The target is suspected to be... cutting off the connection between the region within a radius of ten million kilometers where our camp is located and the main continent's ley lines and geological structure. Repeat, highest alert!】

The order included some detection data.

Jie Ming browsed quickly, feeling a sense of awe in his heart.

The images showed countless specialized "Digger" variant Sickle-Skull tribes building a vast and complex underground network at depths of thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers below the camp.

The purpose of this action was not to dig attack tunnels, but to dig "isolation belts" circling the camp as the center.

These isolation belts were gradually cutting off the mechanical connection of the crust and extracting the ley line energy flowing through the area.

Because it was deep enough underground, the concealment of the project was extremely high.

It was not until the camp's large-scale protective barrier recently showed periodic fluctuations due to unstable energy supply that the wizards followed the clues and discovered this astonishing conspiracy hidden underground.

"Want to 'dig and break' our foundation from the physical and energy levels?" Jie Ming frowned tightly.

This tactic seemed clumsy, but considering its depth and scale, it was indeed difficult to stop in a short time.

Unless super-wizardry capable of triggering local geological disasters or even harming the plane's origin was used for blanket bombardment, the opponent's project, which was nearing completion, could not be interrupted.

But the question is, what is the point of the enemy doing this?

Even if they successfully "dig and break" this area, causing the camp's protective barrier performance to decline and the terrain to change, the impact on the overall war situation would be limited.

Wizards rely not only on fixed fortifications, but more on their own mobile forces and supernatural technology.

Wizards have never feared head-on field battles.

Unless...

A flash of inspiration crossed Jie Ming's mind, and his gaze quickly turned to several key nodes on the camp's internal deployment map.

There, the "Basic Law Anchoring Array" and "Anti-Space Disturbance Generator" that maintained the time-space stability of the entire camp were marked.

Although these facilities could not resist plane-level time reversal, they were sufficient to isolate conventional space teleportation, time slowing, or local time loops and other small-scale time-space operations, ensuring the absolute stability of the camp's internal command and research system.

"Chaos..." Jie Ming whispered to himself, and a clear intention emerged in his mind.

What that existence behind the scenes wanted might not be to severely damage the wizards by relying on the excavation project itself.

What it wanted was the brief "chaos" covering the entire camp triggered by the sudden change in geological structure and the disorder of ley line energy at the moment the project was completed!

In this level of chaos, the camp's precise time-space protection system would inevitably experience momentary fluctuations, overload, or short windows of failure.

Although this window might only be a fraction of a second, or even shorter, for an existence capable of manipulating time, this amount of time was enough.

Only by using this method could it bypass conventional protection and launch the best timing for "unconventional clearing" directly against specific targets.

And who is the target to be cleared?

Naturally, there is no doubt.

Jie Ming remained silent, not informing others of his speculation through any channels, and did not even show extra vigilance.

In a situation where it was uncertain to what extent the opponent monitored information, any abnormal reaction could alert the enemy.

He continued his research work as usual and participated in tactical discussions.

Time passed in a superficial calm and a waiting filled with undercurrents.

One day later, the omens began.

First, a slight continuous vibration came from the soles of his feet, like a giant beast turning over in the depths of the earth.

Some high-precision monitoring instruments in the camp began to show reading drifts, and the concentration of elements in the air showed irregular fluctuations.

Frost continuously issued instructions, adjusting the output mode of the protective barrier and reinforcing key facilities.

The battle wizards were all in a state of combat readiness, and the cannon fodder legions were deployed to the edge of the camp, ready to deal with any attacks that might be launched directly from underground.

The vibration became stronger, changing from a continuous muffled sound to intermittent violent shaking.

Above the camp, the light of the multi-layered energy shields began to flicker irregularly, emitting an unbearable humming sound.

Cracks began to appear on the ground, initially as thin as hair, and quickly expanded into shocking gullies.

"It's here!" someone shouted in the communication channel.

The next moment...

Rumble!!!

A grand sound of breaking came, as if the entire continental plate was tearing apart.

Centered on the wizard camp, the ground with a radius of thousands of kilometers, like the edge of a cake cut by an invisible giant blade, suddenly arched upward and then collapsed!

Countless huge cracks, more than a hundred meters wide and bottomless, filled this area instantly like hideous scars.

Ley line energy gushed out from the cracks like a broken dam, carrying scorching magma and toxic gases toward the sky!

The camp itself did not collapse instantly due to the powerful protective barrier and prior reinforcement, but it also shook violently like a lonely boat in a storm.

The light of more than one-third of the rune towers went out, and temporary buildings collapsed in large numbers.

Under the dual pressure of physical structure changes and energy shocks, the flickering frequency of the energy shield reached a dangerous level.

Almost at the same time, from those countless huge deep earth chasms, came the sound of wing-beating and climbing that made one's scalp tingle!

A black tide, a tide made of flesh and blood, gushed out from every crack!

That was the massive Sickle-Skull army that had been waiting for a long time.

Taking advantage of the chaos of the earth tearing apart, they ignored the camp's outer defense line that would have required a huge price to break through, and surged directly from the cracks inside and on the edge of the camp, like a black volcanic eruption, instantly swallowing the entire wizard camp in an ocean of insect swarms!

The battle broke out in an instant!

The roars of wizards, the hissing of Sickle-Skulls, the roar of energy explosions, and the loud noise of collapsing buildings instantly intertwined into a death rhapsody!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Chaos, noise, energy turbulence, visual obstacles... reached their peak.

Jie Ming had already stood up during the initial violent earthquake, a faint protective spiritual light shining around him, preparing to ascend to observe the situation and join the battle.

Just at the moment when his feet had just left the ground by less than half a meter, his figure was about to move, and his attention was attracted by the enemies surging from all directions and the miserable state of the camp...

He disappeared.

Just like a character on a dynamic screen being gently erased by the artist with an eraser.

The few wizards closest to him were doing their best to deal with the enemies rushing out from the ground cracks, and the violent energy explosions and air waves covered up all subtle anomalies.

No one noticed that there was one less person in the laboratory.

(Taking a day off tomorrow. Although the fever is gone, my throat has been hurting so much that I can't speak, so I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to take a look.)

(End of chapter)