Round 16: Yatu’s Counterattack

Moriel leaned on the cold metal wall, observing this strange large construct tower. The entire tower gave off a sense of neglect, somewhat similar to Yatu. The winding ladders and various protrusions on its outer walls seemed unfinished no matter how you looked at them, while those strange disc-shaped silver plates were extremely smooth. The morning sunlight hitting them turned them into flowing white spots, too bright to look directly at.

This tower… Although Yatu hadn’t explicitly ordered Moriel and the others to stay in the inn to reflect yesterday, the three guilty-looking guys stayed put and didn’t wander around, so Moriel didn’t have much time to fully understand or observe the new tower. Besides, she had never really valued Agus’s magic construct techniques. In her view, those peculiar construct machines were at best just slightly more useful magic artifacts. As a mage, the most fundamental and important things were always one’s own mind and spellbooks. So aside from the slender sword with petrification effects that she never left her side, Moriel didn’t rely much on construct weapons to enhance her strength. For her, the treasures in the Great Library of Vatan City were far more worth studying.

“Hmph, can’t even handle such a simple task!” Yatu also scanned the area, clearly not very satisfied with the completion of the construct tower.

A swirling light inside the arch at the top of the tower flickered briefly, and a high-ranking mage stepped out, bowing respectfully to Yatu.

Moriel hadn’t seen him among the group; he must have arrived in Vilke Town sometime yesterday.

“Everything is ready, Lady Yatu.”

Yatu grunted impatiently, “Mm, I know! Wait!”

He then turned and walked toward the door, suddenly turning back to look at Moriel.

“Little girl, do you want to come and take a look?”

Moriel was momentarily stunned before nodding and following Yatu into the arch.

“I want to go too!” Dagulas clapped her hands excitedly and followed Moriel.

O’Sullivan hesitated for a moment. As soon as the hem of Dagulas’s dress disappeared into the swirl, the arch silently sank back into the floor, leaving no trace. The count stared at that spot with a dark expression.

Core Control Room.

Strangely enough, once inside the construct tower, it seemed as though the space had suddenly expanded greatly. The stairs winding around the spiral disc led down here, where the walls were mirror-like, covered with various magic runes of unknown purpose, glowing faintly and casting shifting shadows in the control room—without any sense of oppression.

Yatu stepped to the center of the control room. With a gesture of his hand, a square stone pillar the size of a book slowly rose from the ground until it was almost at Yatu’s chest level.

Moriel and Dagulas stood apart beside Yatu. Dagulas watched Yatu’s every move with great interest, like a child watching an adult perform magic tricks. Moriel was puzzled, unable to figure out what Yatu was up to. What could be done here? She had participated in the construction of several construct towers, at least the one in the Northern Theater Command was built under her supervision. Although the tower seemed unfinished, the remaining work should merely involve adding more armor and weapons… This place didn’t resemble a typical construct tower control room; instead, it looked more like a magic circle. Could it be—?

Before Moriel could fully grasp that vague idea, Yatu began.

He placed one hand on the control panel, muttering under his breath. Every mage casts spells differently through the magic network. Even a basic spell like a magic missile, well-known to everyone, has subtle variations in its execution—so even for mages who truly understand spells deeply, it’s quite difficult to identify or counter someone else’s spells.

At that moment, Moriel was carefully analyzing the spell Yatu was casting.

Normally, for a magic master of Yatu’s caliber, with his mastery of the magic network, he could cast ordinary spells with just a few syllables, sometimes even without any materials. But now his incantations were long and complex, delivered at great speed in a chaotic manner, completely deviating from normal grammatical rules. Even though Moriel listened intently, she could only grasp about one-third of the incantations, and even less of their meaning.

Strange… It seemed like some kind of summoning spell… or perhaps one to open a dimensional portal… As Moriel thought this, Yatu’s incantations began to take effect.

A faint blue light appeared in front of Yatu, floating above the control panel.

The light wasn’t dazzling; instead, it emitted a cool aura. As the runes on the walls flowed one after another into it, the light point grew larger, gradually forming a small blue thundercloud. Moriel could see that it was actually a cluster of countless tiny sparks, jumping chaotically as if bound together by some invisible force field. With each collision, countless tiny explosions occurred, generating more electric light…

Moriel focused on that cluster of light for only a short while before feeling dizzy. She closed her eyes, but still saw countless tiny dots dancing before her.

Yet she was certain the light cluster wasn’t created by Yatu. After regaining her composure slightly, Moriel opened her eyes again—she didn’t want to miss what was happening. Perhaps this was the true secret behind Agus’s construct technology.

Yatu’s spell was reaching its conclusion. He now held the light cluster in his hands, his expression serious, as if cradling a time bomb, fearing failure.

As Yatu’s final few incantations echoed through the room, the blue light cluster flickered up and down a few times before suddenly splitting into an extremely thin beam of light that fell straight onto the control panel.

The entire control room shook violently. Both Morriel and Dagulas felt a tingling sensation in their feet, as if struck by lightning. Electric flames spread from the control panel in all directions, startling even O’Sullivan, who was still lingering at the top of the tower—the flames vanished in an instant, and the light mass above the control panel disappeared, as if the energy surge that had permeated the entire construct tower was just an illusion.

Yatu waved his hand tiredly, and the walls devoid of runes became transparent. Sunlight streamed in unimpeded, as if the massive construct tower didn’t exist at all—the blue sky, the spires of the houses in Volk Town, and the plants swaying in the breeze on the Tanori Plains were all clearly visible.

“Where’s that kid from the O’Sullivan family? Bring him here.”

The three senior officials stayed in the control room, waiting for Yatu’s orders.

Yatu paced back and forth, his gaze sweeping over them one by one.

“I’ve thought about it,” he said, rubbing his beard absentmindedly. “Rather than waiting passively, we should take the initiative.”

“Since the enemy is causing such chaos just to relieve the pressure of our attacks on the night elves in the forest—” Yatu slammed his palm. “We have to admit, those damned bastards are doing a great job! They’re distracting us with too much effort! And given their combat strength last night, I realize that a cat-and-mouse game will only result in heavy losses! So I’ve decided that starting today, we’ll focus our efforts on attacking the Sleeping Forest! I don’t believe they’ll just sit by and watch while our base is under attack, playing hide-and-seek with me!”

How could they not… Morriel snapped out of his thoughts about the construct tower and rolled his eyes inwardly. Under no circumstances could he admit that Group 47 could be such selfless people.

O’Sullivan also tried to figure out Yatu’s intentions. Attacking the forest? Then why set up the command post next to Volk Town? It was still hundreds of miles away from the forest edge!

A gap appeared suddenly in the beautiful scenery of the Tanori Plains.

“All the combatants have entered the tower. We can set off now, Lord Yatu.” It was still that mage; it seemed Yatu trusted him greatly.

“Then let’s go!”

“Set off?”

Morriel vaguely understood what Yatu had just done. It was the key to activating the construct machinery from a pile of scrap metal! Morriel knew that in normal cases, constructs like golems were given life by their creators, usually through complex magical activation rituals, by forcing unwilling elemental souls into the creations, or even sharing the creator’s own life force—clearly, the electric flame mass Yatu had summoned served that purpose. But Morriel had never seen such energy before, nor had he heard that activating such massive constructs didn’t require a living, powerful soul!

Dagulas smiled brightly beside him.

Suddenly, the construct tower shook slightly. The scenery around the control room changed slightly—the view of Volk Town below began to recede and expand, as if the entire control room was rising gradually.

Hunt heard only loud rumbling noises—and a wine jug hitting his head from Sayers.

“Stop sleeping! Look what’s going on outside!” Sayes lay on the hospital bed, shouting with energy. It was hard to imagine him as a severely injured man with one leg broken, four ribs fractured, a dislocated wrist, a misaligned lumbar spine, and a crack in his head.
“Can’t people get some sleep? I’ve been working all night…” Hunter complained, rubbing his eyes, only to be met with another shout from Sayes: “Go now!”
When Hunter stumbled outside the barracks, he saw many people already standing outside, looking in one direction. He followed them drowsily—and instantly lost all his sleep.
The assembly tower he had helped build the day before was rising. The ground supporting it emitted dull noises as it continued to rise, forming a hill that grew taller and taller. The Tanori River beside it formed a large vortex, as if there was an abyss beneath.
The foundation of the assembly tower was slowly but steadily being reassembled. The huge base on top of the hill did not slide due to the changing terrain; instead, countless fine and orderly cracks spread across it. But instead of breaking into small metal fragments, they intertwined and stretched into numerous metal claws of varying lengths and thicknesses, sinking into the soil like tree roots, controlling the aggregation and transformation of the land beneath the tower.
Finally, six giant feet made of soil took shape. Clumps of mud, sand, stones, and various impurities gathered to form enormous pseudopods. The metal parts of the assembly tower extending into the soil glowed like buried jewels, reflecting the sunlight.
The giant feet lifted and lowered, carrying the assembly tower away from Vilke Town. The ground trembled beneath that massive entity, as if an earthquake had struck. Many houses near the tower cracked or even collapsed. People fled in panic, witnessing the Tanori River flood into the crater created by the tower, forming a small lake.
“It’s a miracle…” Hunter stared in awe, murmuring to himself.
In the control room, the landscape outside trembled slightly as it receded before Moriel’s eyes. The six soil feet, resembling spider legs, kept stretching and bending. Though they seemed clumsy, each step covered hundreds of feet, leaving footprints as large as Agus’s Royal Fountain.
“At this pace, we’ll reach the edge of the forest by dark,” the mage reported to Yatu, who stood in front of the console.
“Dark?” Yatu tilted his head and thought for a moment. “That’s about right. It’s sufficient.”
The edge of the Sleeping Forest had regained some greenery.
The setting sun painted the forest with a golden edge. Joelis, the acting war leader, sat on the shoulder of the tree man Huen, looking at this land that had suffered so much.
“The forest won’t die…” Huen sat on a large rock. His giant body, fifty or sixty feet tall, was covered with branches and leaves. A branch extending from his forehead bore a few sweet fruits. “No matter how much damage it suffers, it will rise again.”
It took him a great deal of effort to speak these words, with astonishingly long pauses between each one.

Jorais did not reply. Instead, she stared at a small tree rooted in patches of charred ash that had a faint dark red hue. Would it absorb our blood and souls and eventually grow towering? she thought sadly.

With the help of the treefolk, the Dark Elves managed to stabilize their defenses. The treefolk brought large numbers of saplings and seeds to replant forests on the land burned by Agus—and initial results were already visible.

But it was also thanks to… Jorais shook her head, pushing Phylgas’s image out of her mind.

After a brief meeting with Forty-Seven, Elder Uther strictly ordered the elves not to mention him or the corrupted elves. Jorais knew he was afraid of angering the treefolk—those beings would never tolerate such abominations that twisted nature. If they found out, even High Priestess Ildriss, the one who started it all, would not be spared.

The Agus people had not launched any serious attacks for some time. And ever since several of their flying machines were shot down by the treefolk’s projectiles, reconnaissance missions had also become rare.

Were they busy launching encirclement attacks? Jorais sometimes couldn’t help but worry, but she had to keep those fears deep in her heart.

Treefolk Huen’s body swayed, almost knocking Jorais off. She grabbed hold of the branches on Huen’s body. Before she could understand what was happening, Huen had already stood up.

“Enemies…” he grunted, moving his huge mouth made of countless branches and bark.

Enemies? Jorais’s expression changed. At that moment, she also felt a slight tremor—it wasn’t caused by Huen but by vibrations from the earth that were transmitted through his body and detected by Jorais.

Night fell. On the distant horizon, a tower-like structure appeared, growing larger and larger.

“Hmph! Treefolk.” Yatu sneered as he watched the creature that resembled a mix of a giant tree and a human figure approaching. “Do you think you can stop us? Get ready!”

Morriel, Dagulas, and several other high-ranking mages formed a semicircle, each with a stone pillar-shaped console in front of them. Their main task along the way had been to operate those silver discs to absorb sunlight and power the construct tower—O’Sullivan had left because there was nothing much for him to do here.

Yatu muttered something under his breath.

A white light suddenly flashed on the dark blue construct tower. The white light spiraled upward around the tower and quickly converged at the giant spike at its top.

No good! Jorais watched in horror as the distant spire emitted a white light even brighter than the sun.

“Get down!” It was the fastest sentence Huen had ever spoken. With a shake of his shoulders, Jorais was thrown out involuntarily—

The white light tore through the sky, like an enormous lightning bolt striking Huen.

There was no explosion. Huen was instantly ignited by an indescribably intense heat. He flailed his arms wildly, burning fiercely from within out. Carrying blazing flames and smoke, he rushed toward the distant giant tower—as he ran, the fire grew stronger. Finally, he staggered a few steps forward before collapsing with a roar, turning into a massive pile of fire.

Jolice had no time to mourn. She rolled nimbly to her feet on the ground, and a shrill whistle escaped her lips—Agus was attacking!