Chapter 406 The Battlefield of Self-Confusion
Attacks of various shapes wove a web of destruction in the sky.
The bio-monster's acidic breath, the alchemical construct's energy beams, and the elemental behemoth's meteor summoning—the wizard's cannon fodder units unleashed their first volley at the same time.
The scene was spectacular, with millions of attacks trailing colorful trails, like a reverse meteor shower rushing towards the black swarm of insects.
But Jemin's heart sank.
Just 0.3 seconds before the attack was about to hit, the black ocean "came to life".
It's not about overall movement, but rather precise, node-based avoidance.
Just like the area directly in front of him, tens of thousands of Scythe-Skull Clan members suddenly dispersed to both sides, their movements so synchronized as to be chilling, revealing patches of blank space amidst the black waves.
The wizard's attack swept past, but only struck the air and the ground.
An explosion rang out in the empty space, and flames, frost, acid, lightning... all kinds of energy impacts spread out.
But the next second, the surrounding Scythe-Skull Clan moved again, revealing the giant individuals behind them with intricate patterns on their bodies.
The patterns began to glow, and the rapidly spreading attack power quickly weakened, leaving only a swirling elemental storm that overturned the surrounding Scythe-Skull Clan.
"They're absorbing energy!" exclaimed a more experienced level five wizard beside Jemin. "Those are the basic patterns of a combined spellcasting array! They want to use our power..."
Before the words were even finished, the brightness of the patterns on the giant creature's body suddenly increased.
The absorbed energy transformed into visible streams of light, spreading along the ground and rapidly infusing into the shells of the surrounding Scythe-Skull Clan.
The luster on those carapaces visibly deepened, but the light emanating from the mouths of the surrounding Scythe-Skull Clan rapidly increased.
"All cannon fodder units, deploy protective barriers!" Frost's voice came through the magic network, carrying an undeniable urgency. "Prepare to absorb the impact!"
Jemin gave the order almost simultaneously.
The black giants raised their hands in unison, and ripples appeared on the black liquid metal layer on their bodies as they began to construct an energy absorption field.
But it was too late.
The Scythe-Skull Clan's counterattack came faster than expected.
The giant entities that had absorbed the energy simultaneously tilted their heads back—if their mantis-like heads could be called "tilted"—and spewed out concentrated beams of energy from their mouthparts.
Tens of millions of beams of light shot out simultaneously, converging in the air to form a destructive net that covered the entire front line.
The first rank of cannon fodder units evaporated in the beam.
The bodies of bio-engineered behemoths, the metals of alchemical constructs, the energy cores of elemental monsters... were all as fragile as paper in the face of those beams of light.
In just the first wave, the wizard legion's cannon fodder units were wiped out by an entire layer, with at least a million units disappearing in an instant.
"Damn it!" a wizard cursed.
"Second wave of attack, spread out!" Frost's voice remained calm. "Target: the area surrounding the absorber unit, do not hit directly!"
The wizards quickly adjusted.
This time, the attack was no longer concentrated, but rather rained down on the insect swarm.
Some of the Scythe-Skull Clan members were indeed hit, their black carapaces shattering and green bodily fluids splattering.
However, the results were limited.
Even more terrifying, just as the wizards in another area were preparing for their third attack and collectively chanting spells...
Behind the Scythe-Skull Clan, another group of special individuals appeared.
They are small in size, but have unusually developed heads, and their compound eyes gleam with an eerie spiritual light.
Just as the wizards' magic was about to take shape, these individuals simultaneously unleashed their mental shocks.
It is not an indiscriminate mental attack, but a precise frequency interference.
Jemin felt a sharp mental wave pierce his mind, striking the key point in his construction of the witchcraft model.
He grunted, forcibly steadying his mind, and pointed the Divine Light of Annihilation from his hand...
A beam of dark golden light shot out, transforming into a fan-shaped light screen in the air, enveloping tens of thousands of Scythe-Skull Clan members.
Wherever the light curtain passed, the carapace, flesh, and bones all decomposed into basic particles.
But as Jemin looked around, his heart grew even colder.
Apart from him and a few other wizards with exceptionally strong mental defenses who successfully cast their spells, most wizards' spellcasting was interrupted.
The mental backlash left many people pale, and some even had blood seeping from the corners of their mouths.
“They even know our spellcasting rhythm…” Jemin murmured.
This is not something that can be achieved through simple prediction.
This can only be achieved through a deep understanding of the wizarding tactics system—knowing when wizards will cast spells in unison, knowing which spellcasting models are most vulnerable when constructed, and knowing at what frequency of mental shocks to use to interrupt them.
This requires a massive amount of real-world data.
It requires one cycle after another...
The battlefield fell into a strange stalemate.
Every time the wizards launch an attack, the Scythe-Skull Clan responds with the most precise methods.
Sometimes it's about evasion, sometimes it's about absorbing counterattacks, and sometimes it's about disrupting spellcasting.
The black swarm advanced slowly but steadily, each step hitting the "blind spots" of the wizard's tactics.
The casualty ratio is starting to become unbalanced.
For every Scythe-Skull Clan member killed, the Wizard's side will lose at least two cannon fodder units.
"Lord Frost!" a level six wizard shouted through the command system's internal mental network, "If this continues, we'll be worn down! Their responses are too precise!"
There was a two-second silence.
Then, Frost's voice resounded throughout the army, carrying a resolute tone:
"All units, abandon standard coordinated tactics. I repeat—abandon all standard tactical templates. Fight freely as squads, use your own methods, whether they are methods you don't usually use or methods you are most proficient in!"
The atmosphere on the entire battlefield changed the moment the order was given.
The wizards were stunned for a moment, then a realization flashed in their eyes.
Yes, since the enemy is familiar with our "standards"...
Then let it become "non-standard".
"Black Giant Legion!" Jemin ordered almost simultaneously, "Switch to Temporal Disorder Mode, spread out, and hunt freely! Devour Evolution is permitted!"
The thousands of black giants let out a low roar in unison.
The black liquid metal layer on their bodies began to flow at high speed, and the flow of time around them became disordered—some parts accelerated, while others decelerated.
Then, these black figures, tens of meters tall, scattered like ghosts, no longer forming neat arrays, but instead rushing towards the swarm of insects with strange, irregular trajectories.
Other wizards made similar choices.
Some controlled alchemical constructs to self-destruct and charge, some made bio-behemoths devour each other and evolve into deformed variants, and some even deliberately overloaded the elemental monsters' energy to create chaotic elemental storms.
The battlefield instantly transformed from an orderly military confrontation into a chaotic and unpredictable melee.
For the first time, the Scythe-Skull Clan hesitated in their response.
Those precise evasions are no longer perfect. Even after going through cycles, the overly chaotic attacks still cannot be completely avoided.
The frequency of those mental shocks also began to fail, because wizards no longer collectively constructed standard witchcraft models, but instead used their own unconventional methods.
A level 5 wizard even summoned a large swarm of metal bats that emitted a piercing noise—those things did not actually harm the enemy, but the high-frequency sound waves they emitted severely interfered with communication between the Scythe-Skull Clan.
The advance of the black swarm has slowed significantly.
"It works!" Jemin's eyes lit up.
Under such circumstances...
The vanguard of the Black Ocean finally collided with the cannon fodder units of the Wizard Legion.
(End of this chapter)
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