Chapter 303: Phase 1 Completed (Two-in-One)

Benjamin and his team successfully landed on the surface of the steel city.

However, this does not mean the end of the battle, but rather it is like poking a huge hornet's nest.

Before the wizard team that Benjamin was in had time to observe the surrounding environment, the harsh sound of metal friction and the hum of energy weapons charging sounded from all directions.

I saw that the surfaces of the skyscrapers around me, which were towering into the sky and covered with metal shells, suddenly had countless gaps of varying sizes.

The next moment, like a flood of ants bursting through a dam, creatures of various shapes and races swarmed out!

Some resemble upright lizards, clad in crude metal armor; others are multi-eyed, multi-legged arthropods, wielding weapons that are a fusion of biological and mechanical. Even more are phantoms composed entirely of energy, emitting mind-numbing screams...

They have only one target - the wizard team located in the center of this block!

"Fire coverage! Clear the surrounding area!" The team leader, a level five wizard, reacted extremely quickly.

With a raise of his hand, a beam of scorching lava swept out, instantly vaporizing the first group of enemies that rushed up, and incidentally cutting a large building in front of him in half.

Other wizards also displayed their magical powers, frost, thunder, corrosive acid, mental shock...

Various witchcraft lights erupted in the narrow streets, and groups of strange creatures fell like harvested wheat.

The [Big Light] behind Benjamin lit up again, and dense energy barrages plowed through the surging enemy waves again and again, leaving behind charred and debris all over the ground.

As soon as he made contact, feeling the other party's energy fluctuations, which were generally only at the first or second level, as well as the diverse characteristics that were obviously from different life forms, Benjamin immediately understood the origins of these enemies.

"It's the vassal army!" he said in a deep voice.

The so-called vassal army is an army formed by integrating and driving the indigenous people of the conquered plane.

The Giant Spirit Realm has conquered dozens of planes, so it is natural for it to have a vassal army.

It's just that the wizard civilization itself prefers to use fully controlled, performance-customized modified cannon fodder, which is why Benjamin didn't think of this immediately at first.

Compared with the wizards' carefully designed "high-quality" cannon fodder, whose strength is often one or two levels stronger than their masters, the individual strength of these vassal armies in front of them is simply vulnerable.

But... their number is really terrifying!

The Giant Spirit Realm is so huge that its land area may be comparable to the surface area of ​​the gas giant Saturn that Jemin knew in his previous life.

Although the wizards have been divided into small groups of hundreds or thousands of people, they are fighting separately and attacking only a small part of the territory ruled by the giants.

But the defense area assigned to Benjamin and his team of less than a hundred people is still as vast as a medium-sized province in the previous life!

And in this area, the enemies seem endless.

Ten minutes!

Just ten minutes of fierce fighting!

Benjamin roughly estimated that the number of vassal troops who died at the hands of their team might have reached a staggering level of tens of billions!

But looking around, there were still endless enemies roaring out from those seemingly infinitely deep metal buildings.

They stepped on the corpses of their companions and rushed forward madly.

They built walls with corpses and soaked the metal ground with blood and energy, but their offensive did not weaken in the slightest.

For a moment, this elite wizard team was caught in a rather embarrassing situation.

Looking up at the sky, the wizard's floating fortress and the main cannon fodder army were chasing the regular army of the giant world and had an absolute advantage.

But on the ground, these wizards who should have dominated the battlefield were forced into a very embarrassing situation by the massive low-level servant army.

He could only hold on to one point, constantly consuming his magic power and mental energy to carry out inefficient cleaning.

This does not mean that wizards are weak. On the contrary, it reflects the unique war philosophy of wizard civilization - advocating the use of knowledge to leverage power.

They do not pursue extreme physical evolution, but instead devote their energy to understanding and applying the laws of the world.

The cannon fodder army is a war tool derived from this philosophy of doing things.

For wizards, the cannon fodder army, like spells, is a collection of knowledge and resources, and is itself a manifestation of leveraging power through knowledge. It is normal for its comprehensive combat power to exceed that of the wizards themselves.

It is precisely because of this that there is a "weird" scene where the cannon fodder army suppresses the enemy's main force, while the wizard itself is trapped by the enemy's miscellaneous soldiers.

He used another wave of energy barrage to clear a brief vacuum zone in front of him. Looking at the larger number of enemies pouring out like fountains from the gap in the building behind him, Benjamin couldn't help but frown.

"This can't go on any longer." He knew in his heart.

The other party's purpose is obvious, which is to use these cheap and almost endless vassal armies to drain their strength.

The only way to break this deadlock is to find and destroy the enemy's strongholds or transmission nodes where troops are transported!

Otherwise, sooner or later they would be drowned in this quagmire of flesh, blood and metal.

He raised his head and happened to meet the gazes of the leading fifth-level wizard and the two fourth-level wizards.

From the other person's eyes, Benjamin saw the same judgment and decision.

"Clear the vision! Clear all these obstructing ruins and iron boxes!" The fifth-level wizard decisively issued new instructions, and his voice was clearly transmitted to the ears of every team member through the fierce explosion.

Without hesitation, Benjamin raised his hand and shot a highly concentrated energy bomb towards the sky above.

The energy bomb rose rapidly, and when it reached a height of several hundred meters, he precisely controlled it to detonate it in mid-air!

Boom!!!

A huge explosion erupted in the air, and the violent shock wave was like an invisible hammer, smashing down on the ruins of metal buildings and the crowded streets below!

However, the effect was not as expected.

The metal used in the buildings of the Giant World is obviously extraordinary.

The energy bomb fired by Benjamin was enough to raze a modern reinforced concrete city block to the ground, but after landing, it only cleared an area with a diameter of about 100 meters.

For this vast war zone, it is just a drop in the bucket.

Most of the metal fragments that were blown away were only twisted and deformed rather than completely vaporized.

"Hard enough..." Jieming's eyes turned cold, "Then give me more!"

As his mind moved, the huge [Great Light Phase] array behind him began to hum again.

This time, it was no longer a precise burst of fire against the enemies on the ground, but rather thousands of energy light bombs with dazzling trails were poured into the sky like a fireworks launcher at a festival!

These light bullets did not hit the target directly, but under Jemin's exquisite control, they scattered in all directions towards all angles of the sky as if they had life!

They drew graceful parabolas, covering an extremely vast area of ​​air around the team.

The fifth-level wizard and two fourth-level wizards also cast spells very discerningly, erecting a barrier to cover the entire team.

When these light bombs reach the designated explosion points...

"Explode." Benjamin whispered a word.

The next moment, heaven and earth were silent!

Boom boom boom boom!!!

The horrific explosions that cannot be described in words continued in succession, eventually converging into a symphony of destruction that was enough to shatter one's internal organs!

Thousands of blazing balls of light exploded simultaneously in the sky, between buildings, and on the streets!

The shock waves overlapped and collided with each other, forming huge circular waves of distorted air that were visible to the naked eye and spread wildly in all directions!

The metal buildings were easily knocked over and torn apart by the huge waves, like children's building blocks.

The vassal troops on the ground and the remnants of previous battles were instantly evaporated or crushed into the finest dust in this indiscriminate storm of destruction.

The strong light illuminated the dim battlefield as bright as day. Even the battle going on in the air not far away seemed to be momentarily frozen because of the sudden destruction from the ground.

The aftermath of the explosion lasted for more than ten seconds before slowly subsiding.

When the diffuse smoke and scattered energy light gradually dissipated, the scene before them made all the wizards take a deep breath.

With the team's location as the center, within a radius of hundreds of kilometers, the cyberpunk-style steel jungle composed of countless metal buildings... disappeared!

Instead, there was an endless expanse of flat scorched earth covered with vitrified pits and twisted metal debris!

The vision becomes clear.

Benjamin was suspended in the center of the scorched earth, and the light of the [Great Light Phase] dimmed slightly.

The first step to break the deadlock has been taken.

Next, it’s time to find those hidden “beehives”.

Then, destroy it completely!

…

…

On the vast scorched earth after the vision was forcibly cleared, the process of searching for enemy troop transport nodes became simple and even a little boring.

Under the comprehensive saturation bombing of Jemin, ordinary metal buildings had long been reduced to ruins or slag.

At this moment, the high-rise buildings that still stand tall on the scorched earth and still continuously pour out the vassal army are like lice on a bald head, obvious as can be.

Looking around, on the plain filled with gun smoke and metal steam, every one or two kilometers, there is one or several lonely high-rise buildings standing stubbornly.

Their metal shells may be a little charred and deformed, but the structure is generally intact, and the surface flickers with an abnormal energy luster.

Massive numbers of enemies continued to emerge from it, like a beehive spewing poisonous bees.

"The goal is clear! Destroy these nodes first!" The fifth-level wizard's voice was a little relaxed as he locked onto the five nearest surviving high-rise buildings.

With a clear goal, the wizards' efficiency instantly improved.

With a thought, Benjamin took out three brand new metal discs with elemental glow on their surfaces from the space in his body.

Three elemental storage talismanic magical devices flew behind him and quickly replaced the three old discs in the center of the [Great Light Phase] that had become dim due to excessive energy extraction.

Abundant energy once again filled the array, causing the light of the Great Light Phase to shine again... No! It should be said that it was even more dazzling than before.

Because the number of talismanic magical instruments embedded in its array has exceeded 10,000 due to the uninterrupted production and replenishment of the automatic factory inside the body.

After making preparations, the wizards took action one after another.

The team leader, a fifth-level wizard, clenched his hands, and five extremely concentrated destructive rays of different colors jumped from his fingertips.

After a brief accumulation of energy, five rays instantly crossed the space under his control and accurately hit five different high-rise buildings at the same time!

The two fourth-level wizards cooperated tacitly. One summoned a huge elemental array to condense energy, while the other guided and compressed it into a giant lightning spear that spanned the sky, and threw it fiercely at another tall building with astonishing power.

The rest of the wizards also formed teams of a dozen or four or five people according to their own strength, and performed the strongest single or small-scale offensive magic.

Deadly streaks of light streaked across the sky above the scorched earth, bombarding those conspicuous targets.

And after replenishing his energy, Benjamin showed his astonishing ability to attack.

He was highly focused, and the huge [Great Light Phase] array behind him slightly adjusted its angle, locking onto the ten tall buildings within the coverage area of ​​his mental power!

The next moment, [Great Light] poured out a barrage of comments.

Under Benjamin's control, these barrages split into ten dazzling energy whips, tearing through the air and lashing the surfaces of ten tall buildings with shrill screams!

Buzz!!!

The moment they were attacked, translucent energy barriers with complex geometric patterns immediately appeared on the surfaces of these high-rise buildings, trying to resist external destruction.

However, under the continuous bombardment of Jemin's "energy torrent", these barriers only lasted for less than two seconds before shattering into pieces like fragile glass, emitting a series of unbearable cries!

The barrier was broken, and the energy whip was no longer hindered, directly bombarding the building itself!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Ten almost continuous explosions were heard!

The ten towering buildings, along with the possible transmission devices, energy cores and servant armies inside them that had not yet emerged, were completely vaporized by the extreme high temperature and destructive energy the moment they came into contact with the energy whip.

In one round of attack, ten nodes were reduced to ashes!

All that remained were ten bottomless, glass-edged pits, with wisps of green smoke rising from them—Jeremy had even cleared the deepest parts of the ground.

This terrifying efficiency of the attack made the other wizards who were casting spells couldn't help but look sideways, with undisguised admiration and surprise in their eyes.

The fifth-level wizard who led the team looked at Benjamin in amazement.

He had a sharp eye and could naturally see the advantages and disadvantages of Benjamin's attack mode.

Although the energy whip was extremely powerful, its speed and flexibility were its shortcomings.

Not to mention a fourth-level wizard, even an experienced third-level wizard could easily dodge it if he was prepared.

But when it comes to dealing with fixed targets and storming strongholds, this pure use of force to overcome cleverness and the continuous outpouring of energy is more efficient than even him, a fifth-level wizard!

"As for the drawback... I'm afraid it's the immense strain on mental strength, and the drain on that special energy pool is a bottomless pit."

The fifth-level wizard watched as Benjamin drank two more tubes of advanced potions to replenish his mental strength almost without any pause, and silently evaluated the situation in his mind.

"However, possessing such terrifying instantaneous destructive power is enough to make up for these shortcomings. What a monstrous little fellow."

He didn't say much, but the recognition in his eyes became deeper.

Seeing that the method of clearing nodes was effective, he immediately ordered the team members to continue locking all the remaining high-rise nodes within their field of vision, in order to eradicate the enemy's troop transport capabilities in this area!

Under the efficient and deadly cleanup of the wizard team, the momentum of the vassal army that had been pouring in like a tide was visibly weakened, and the originally dense team became sparse.

Without the continuous replenishment of the rear nodes, the effectiveness of these low-level vassal armies was greatly reduced.

Faced with the ruthless and wanton killings by wizards like Jemin, these vassal armies finally began to show signs of defeat. They no longer charged fearlessly, but fell into chaos and retreated.

At this moment, looking down from the sky, dazzling explosions appeared one after another on the battlefield of the entire Giant Spirit Continent.

Obviously, the other wizard teams that landed on the ground also quickly found ways to deal with the situation after experiencing the initial passivity.

Just like Benjamin and his team, they began to clean up these "soldier beehives" hidden in the steel jungle on a large scale.

The sharp decline in the number of ground vassal troops seemed to have drained some of the confidence of the Giant Spirit Realm's regular army.

The resistance of the Giant Spirit Realm Fleet and the Mechanical Legion, which were still fighting with the Wizard Cannon Fodder Legion in the sky and in the distance, began to decline significantly, their formation began to loosen, and they gradually retreated backwards.

The noise of war gradually shifted from fierce confrontation to sporadic exchanges of fire and pursuits.

"The enemy in this area has been cleared. Next... let's gather resources first. We'll have a lot of fighting to do later."

Looking at the last batch of defeated vassal troops in front of him, the fifth-level wizard began to issue new orders.

Benjamin didn't say much. Each wizard took action and captured the last group of vassal troops and collected them as trophies.

Realizing that the toughest battle of the first phase was drawing to a close, the wizards began to methodically switch tasks.

Temporary resource-collecting formations were set up on the battlefield. Whether it was the wreckage of the warships of the regular army of the Giant Spirit Realm, the fragments of the mechanical giants, or the strange corpses of the vassal army, they were all pulled, collected, and classified by invisible forces.

These materials and energies from other dimensions will become valuable resources for the wizards to create cannon fodder in their next attack.

Benjamin also put away the [Great Light] and slowly landed on a piece of scorched earth, feeling the considerable consumption of his mental energy and the humming of the automatic factory.

He looked at the devastated battlefield that was already firmly controlled by the wizards and let out a sigh of relief.

The brutal, chaotic yet efficient first phase of the landing battle finally came to an end as the giant army retreated and the wizards began to clean up the battlefield.

(That’s all for today.)

(End of this chapter)