Chapter 316: Unimaginable Cooperation and Reinforcements

Time passed second by second in suffocating oppression, awaiting the sudden snap of that taut string.

Yet the anticipated final clash with the Giant Spirit Realm’s grand army did not erupt immediately.

A entirely new and distinct energy fluctuation—like a massive stone hurled into still water—suddenly surged from the battlefield’s flank, instantly seizing every wizard’s perception!

Thousands of reconnaissance witchcrafts, detection creatures, and energy sensors turned toward that direction in unison.

The next second, an atmosphere of shock and gravity silently spread through the wizard camp.

Jie Ming sensed it too: a torrent of purely condensed mental energy!

He whipped his head around. With his enhanced vision and feedback from scouting rune seals, he beheld an endless “ocean” of semi-transparent or spiritually glowing energy entities!

Their forms varied wildly—some twisted humanoid shadows, others pure geometric light spots, still others direct manifestations of abstract concepts.

They lacked physical warships, yet the combined mental pressure they exuded seemed to warp the reality of that airspace!

The Mind Realm’s army!

“How is this possible?!” Jie Ming’s eyes widened in shock, scarcely believing the scene before him.

Though the Giant Spirit Realm and Mind Realm had high-level cooperation, it hardly meant harmonious relations.

Quite the opposite: a blood-deep enmity between these civilizations spanned their entire known history.

Due to the Triangular Plane Cluster’s nature, natural spatial gates connected them.

From initial struggles over living space to later wars of conquest, technology plunder, and enslavement of peoples, their hatred had reached a point of no reconciliation short of death.

Before the wizards’ arrival, the notion of Giant Spirit Realm and Mind Realm fighting side by side was pure fantasy!

Even facing wizards as enemies—before the wizards’ true aims were exposed—the odds of wizards allying with the Giant Spirit Realm exceeded these two civilizations cooperating.

After all, to prevent desperate retaliation, the wizards had mainly inflicted resource losses on the Giant Spirit Realm; its overall combat strength remained far from critically wounded.

But between Giant Spirit Realm and Mind Realm lay genuine generational blood feud!

Yet ironclad reality stared them in the face!

The Giant Spirit Realm’s metallic flood and the Mind Realm’s spiritual light-sea now arrayed distinctly yet harmoniously on the distant horizon.

No signs of conflict between them—all hostility pointed unreservedly at the wizard camp.

“What exactly happened? What could make these mortal enemies set aside their feud to join forces?” This question gnawed like a venomous serpent at every wizard’s heart.

Yet the battlefield allowed no time for leisurely answers.

Fortunately, Oboros’s plane seal was complete.

Even with the decisive battle forced early and enemies unexpectedly united, the Wizard Civilization had severed their escape or external reinforcement options.

The only cost: hopes of fully inheriting the Giant Spirit Realm’s legacy would be heavily discounted; subsequent gains drastically reduced.

“A pity…” Jie Ming sighed inwardly.

Suppressing his swirling thoughts, his gaze sharpened again, scrutinizing the enemy formation.

Soon, he noticed anomalies.

The Giant Spirit Realm’s warship groups hovered unusually low, not occupying the full three-dimensional space from low altitude to high orbit as before.

As if deliberately avoiding something… or yielding space for it?

“There’s a plot indeed.” Jie Ming’s heart chilled.

Expected, given their abnormal initiative for decisive battle—they must have backing.

“All units, hear the order! Deploy formation!”

No further hesitation. Commands issued rapidly via magic network terminals.

Like other wizards, Jie Ming began controlling his cannon fodder legions upon receiving orders.

With his will, black giants roared deeply, advancing with earth-shaking steps.

Prowler clusters buzzed like awakened hives, forming attack formations in the air with teeth-grating whines.

Most numerous were new cannon fodder units hatched and nurtured over three years using Giant Spirit Realm resources: metal-devouring self-replicating “Iron-Eaters,” energy-circuit-jamming “Wave Jellyfish,” armor-piercing “Breach Worms”… bizarre forms in endless numbers.

These were not Jie Ming’s creations but produced by command using collected resources to bolster forces.

Individual wizard control was limited, so command distributed cannon fodder by quota to every participating wizard.

As a level-2 wizard, Jie Ming could now finely control up to a million units simultaneously.

Yet this was merely a droplet in the wizard legion’s vast cannon fodder ocean.

In an instant, centered on the wizard main array, a writhing “living” sea of metal, flesh, and energy expanded at unprecedented scale!

Most possessed short-flight or levitation, avoiding instant crushing, but they layered densely, filling the airspace and ground before the wizard camp completely.

Space constrained, this terrifying cannon fodder tide’s vanguard involuntarily pressed toward the enemy coalition the moment it formed.

The wizards’ action triggered tension opposite.

Killing intent, energy fluctuations, and mental pressure from countless units clashed wildly in the middle ground, thickening and twisting the air as if poised to ignite a cataclysmic storm!

High above, level-7 wizard Dixon hovered silently.

His profound gaze swept the massive coalition below, lingering on the Mind Realm’s spiritual light-sea and the deliberately lowered Giant Spirit Realm fleet.

“Korg and Sylas’s true auras are present… but the ‘Mycelord’ remains traceless.” He calculated swiftly. “This further validates the theory that the Mycelord is the Proliferation Realm’s collective consciousness incarnate, without fixed form. Good news.”

It meant that unless Korg and Sylas could instantly persuade the entire Proliferation Realm to die together, their ultimate plane-origin self-detonation would be greatly hindered—or impossible—due to the Mycelord’s survival instinct.

Wizards might skip the trickiest “prevent self-explosion” phase and enter direct crushing.

“Still, cannot rule out the Mycelord possessing independent consciousness, lurking somewhere for an ambush.” Dixon’s thoughts were airtight.

He rapidly exchanged information and judgments via encrypted channel with Oboros at the void seal nodes and Melist at the rear ship-plane.

Regardless, enemy forces pressed; plots hid behind the curtain.

Whatever they planned, battle was the best probe.

“Relay orders!” Dixon’s voice, calm yet authoritative, reached every wizard’s mind. “Per Plan Three, deploy attack formation. Cannon fodder legions, vanguard advance! All combat wizards, prepare witchcraft!”

“No matter their tricks,” Dixon overlooked the surging two-colored tidal coalition, cold light flashing in his eyes, “before absolute power, all is futile.”

“Attack!”

…

Three years ago, Giant Spirit Realm, between thrones.

Korg’s massive semi-fluid body no longer stable as a rock but writhed with irrepressible anxiety.

In its six compound eyes, cold gleam hid a trace of alarm it refused to admit.

Since those self-proclaimed “wizards” tore the plane barrier and invaded its world, everything spiraled out of control.

The initial landing battle, though costly, could be blamed on surprise and unpreparedness.

But then: total intelligence failure!

Every attempt to seize enemy corpses, equipment, or soul fragments erased—along with the operatives—instantly by unknown force, chillingly clean.

Desperate, it used its trump “Thousand-Soul Gold Crystal” to contact the all-knowing “Lightchaser” for intelligence.

Result?

The light entity vanished without trace!

Unprecedented—the Lightchaser was renowned for reliability. Unless… it met trouble beyond even its handling, even annihilation?

The second major battle left Korg stunned.

It assembled an unprecedented legion, confident in crushing any invader.

Yet combat began as one-sided slaughter!

The enemy seemed to fully grasp Giant Spirit Realm army weaknesses in mere moments, unleashing unheard-of bizarre witchcrafts striking vital points precisely.

The Giant Spirit Realm’s famed rapid evolution via plundering talents yielded no gains this war—instead, the enemy developed full counter sets!

Outrageous!

What terrifying analysis and technical prowess?

More alarming: personally attempting to collect a fallen wizard’s corpse, Korg encountered subtle yet powerful interception.

Energy level clearly below it, yet it suffered a hidden loss!

Such bizarre occurrences, plus low-level wizards often matching or counter-killing stronger Giant Spirit warriors with strange witchcrafts…

Korg fully understood: this was no ordinary invader but a terrifying civilization perverse in individual power, tech development, and information security!

Subsequent days saw reduced frontal assaults, shifting to systematic city destruction.

But Korg relaxed not at all—unprecedented plagues erupted in its domain!

Infected twisted, fatally rejecting symbionts, becoming grotesque sculptures in agony.

Timing too coincidental—even fluid thought knew the culprit.

Internal and external crises coiled like cold nooses around Korg’s core.

It needed a breakthrough.

Across the Triangular Plane Cluster, only one capable and possibly willing: its loathed rival—Mind Realm’s Sylas.

Swallow pride and seek Sylas’s aid?

The thought burned with humiliating heat.

Predictably, that mind-gaming woman would seize the chance to mock.

But… dignity or civilization’s survival?

Korg’s massive form heaved heavily on the throne, sighing helplessly.

It knew: wait until foundations crumbled, regret would be too late!

Reason triumphed over face.

It activated the emergency channel to Sylas.

As expected, connection opened to Sylas’s ethereal, teasing voice: “Oh? Our ever-victorious steel sovereign, Lord Korg, gracing this ‘weak’ neighbor? Surely your new toys aren’t misbehaving?”

Korg swallowed core-boiling rage, ignored mockery, and concisely detailed the wizards’ oddities, its plight, and the suspicious plague.

Sylas listened, paused, tone less playful: “To trouble even you, iron lump… these outsiders are no simple matter.”

She neither agreed nor refused immediately: “Patience, Korg. In three years, two ‘old friends’ will visit.”

“Old friends?” Korg blinked.

“Yes, from the ‘Contract’ side.” Sylas hinted.

Korg understood instantly.

To gain higher resources and tech, it and Sylas had signed an “auxiliary warfare contract” with a vastly powerful external civilization, periodically sending armies to aid their wars.

In process, they befriended some powerhouses there—comrades-in-arms.

“They… will come?” Korg confirmed, heart settling greatly.

“Of course. Contract mission nears; they’ll rendezvous first.” Sylas affirmed.

“Then, you, me, plus those two ‘old friends’—four peers! Even if the wizards’ high-levels are bizarre, can they withstand our four united?”

Communication ended; Korg alone between thrones.

Anxiety largely dissipated, replaced by reignited confidence and cold killing intent.

“Wizards… wait.” It hissed low, chill light in compound eyes. “When reinforcements arrive, your doom! The humiliation on Giant Spirit Realm will be washed with your civilization’s corpses!”

It began secretly mustering remaining forces, contracting defenses, stockpiling resources, preparing for the counterstrike three years hence.