wjnovel Chapter 1122 The Fall of the Mainland
Chapter 1122 The Fall of the Mainland
The western coastline of the continent of Taril.
The continent of Taliel, which once served as the eastern barrier of the world of Aegira, now has only this last narrow, scarred coastline still putting up a fight.
The fierce tug-of-war over the past three months has pushed the purple engulfing boundary on the horizon, which symbolized complete collapse, to a distance that is clearly visible to the naked eye.
It's like a giant, ever-closed maw, slowly but irresistibly devouring the last vestiges of light.
This time, the defense line has once again changed from a network of nodes to a city-style defense.
Because they no longer have any strategic depth.
This continent is about to be overthrown.
Alyris, the current Archon of the Night's Watch, stands silently atop the towering tower of the battleship fortress.
This behemoth, combining the functions of a mobile fortress and a warship, served as the last command center and fire support point for the coastal defense line.
Her deep gaze passed over the fiercely fighting city walls and landed in the distance.
The sky was no longer a pure blue or gray, but was shrouded in a heart-pounding, constantly pulsating violet canopy—the Devouring Line itself.
According to calculations, at most one more day, this boundary of death will completely cover the land beneath their feet.
Below, the last fortress walls had been reduced to a bloody grinder.
The surging, purplish-black waves were composed of countless void monsters that incorporated features of local creatures.
They are frantically assaulting the steel barrier.
Perhaps because of its proximity to the coast, many void creatures with marine characteristics are also launching attacks in the surrounding area.
Octopus tentacles with shark-like teeth slapped against the alloy protective plates, deformed sea anemones sprayed corrosive acid, and mutated whale-like behemoths rammed their shell-covered bodies against the foundation.
The defenders on the city walls, composed of humans, elves, dwarves, and centaur warriors, put up an efficient resistance, relying on shield walls shimmering with runes and tempered spears.
There was also a large amount of alchemy, with firepower constantly being unleashed from the side and rear.
Wave after wave relentlessly cleared away these countless void creatures.
Each successful counterattack pushed hordes of monsters off the city walls, piling them up into small mountains below, but more monsters immediately filled the gaps.
The deafening roar of the alchemical ballistae and magic turrets ripped through the monster horde, and the elemental torrents and arcane beams carved out brief gaps in the void before filling them with purple again.
“Your Excellency,” a lieutenant in the iron-grey uniform of the Night’s Watch stepped forward quickly, his voice urgent, “the evacuation sequence has been initiated, and the ‘Stone’ and its escort fleet have completed their final checks. We… must prepare to leave.”
Standing beside Alyris, the tall and beautiful Apis tossed her hair, and the horse's hooves tapped out a steady rhythm on the metal deck.
Her golden eyes swept over the still stubbornly resisting city walls, her tone carrying a unique coolness and a hint of barely perceptible weariness.
“Our mission is accomplished, Alyris. The war plan was executed precisely. We held our ground for three months, buying precious time for Leviathan and the rest of the continent, and squeezing the last bit of defensive value from this land.”
Ariris withdrew her gaze from the distance and let out a long sigh, a sigh filled with helplessness and a heavy sense of history.
"Yes, it's done... but this continent will once again be occupied by outsiders. Just like the Blood God a thousand years ago, and the Void today... How unfortunate is Taril."
"Stop talking, Your Excellency!"
A dwarf master next to him, with a beard that almost reached his belt and wearing heavy rune plate armor, slammed his fist on the railing.
The steel handguards clanged against the metal with a piercing sound, and his bloodshot eyes were filled with barely suppressed rage and deep pain.
"If we keep talking, I'm afraid I'll have to smash something with this hammer to vent my anger!"
"More than a thousand years! More than a thousand years! Our ancestors were driven from their homes by the Blood God and pollution, and were forced to wander!"
"We finally managed to build the expeditionary force and restore order. We dwarves had only just reclaimed our ancestral lands a few years ago, just deepened the mines, and just heated the furnaces to a high temperature..."
"This damn void, it's starting from here again!"
He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving. "Is this land...is this land cursed?!"
Apis gently brushed the dwarf master's tense arm with her tail, trying to soothe him.
Areris looked at the enraged dwarven battle master, her voice low yet carrying a strange, soothing power: "Friend, your anger is an echo of Taril's millennia of suffering. But remember, this time, the calamity is no longer just a misfortune for Taril."
"The shadow of the void hangs over the entire Aegir; Taril is the starting point, but it will never be the end."
"What we have lost will be reclaimed in the common struggle of all continents, in the golden age to come, and will be forged into an even stronger foundation. We are not alone."
The dwarven battle master let out a heavy snort, his anger subsiding slightly, but the sorrow in his eyes remained.
He took one last look at his homeland, which was about to fall again, and said in a deep voice, "Let's go! Out of sight, out of mind! When we come back, we'll pave this beach with the bones of Void Scum!"
Although the skulls of the Void creatures killed so far are enough to cover the ground.
They turned and quickly descended the tower under the protection of the guards.
The last elite troops were withdrawing from the city walls in an orderly manner, boarding steel behemoths moored in the deep-water harbor behind the fortress through pre-designated passages.
The fleet, flying the flags of the World Alliance, the Night Watch, and the United Naval Forces, stood ready for battle.
At its core are several enormous, dark black ships.
The Sinister Skyfire-class battleships were like moving steel mountains; the silver-white Light Wall-class frigates circled around them, their energy shield generators emitting a low hum.
The Striker-class cruisers patrolled the outer perimeter of the fleet, their guns turning warily.
The Ranger-class destroyers, like the most discerning hunting dogs, have spread out to more distant waters to keep watch.
As the last batch of soldiers boarded the ship, the heavy locks slammed shut.
The engines of the "Rock" roared loudly, propelling the fortress slowly away from the coast.
Other warships also started up, guarding the command center and forming a tight defensive formation, heading towards safer waters further west of the coast.
The troops are withdrawing in an orderly manner, one unit at a time.
Only the newly rotated troops remained at the front.
Once everything is completely finished, they will activate the spatial teleportation device and leave quickly.
The accompanying space mages and convenient space teleportation devices will provide stable support for their teleportation.
This system has proven its reliability in the past few months of combat.
Even the corruption of the void cannot affect them unless they are already in an area being swallowed by the void when they are teleported.
The next day, the sky was just beginning to lighten, but the light had been compressed to its limit.
That all-consuming purple boundary finally touched the last fortress on the coastline.
Just as the purple wave was about to completely engulf the fortress—
Boom—Rumble! R ...
A deafening explosion erupted from within the fortress. It was the final "gift" personally ordered by the commander and pre-planned by the most elite alchemists and rune masters.
A terrifying shockwave, a mixture of white light from disintegrating matter and black rifts from annihilating space, swept outwards in all directions from the fortress as its center.
Hundreds and thousands of void creatures that had just poured into the fortress, or even clung to the city walls, were instantly vaporized or torn apart by spatial turbulence in this devastating self-destruction, and were thrown high into the purple sky, like a brief but cruel rain of purple blood.
The explosion briefly illuminated the receding fleet and revealed the solemn faces of Alyris and the others.
This is the final gift given to the void.
Every fallen fortress has such a self-destruction ritual.
It can eliminate a large number of the surrounding void creatures.
Even such elimination is still a drop in the ocean.
After the light faded, the purple tide surged unimpeded, sweeping over the wreckage and completely engulfing the last coastline of the Taril continent.
The mainland has fallen.
However, the war did not end; it simply shifted its battlefield.
Endless void creatures, like a purple torrent bursting its banks, began to surge wildly into the Sunset Sea.
They writhe and swim in the sea at incredible speeds, their forms more bizarre and varied than their land counterparts.
A school of fish covered in sharp spines formed a swirling vortex of death, while manta ray-like creatures trailed long energy tails as they sped through the air.
Huge, crab-like monsters with eyeballs covering their shells crawl on the seabed, while even more terrifying hunters are those that combine features of sharks, octopuses, and sea snakes.
The sea has become a new, broader, and more challenging front.
"Attention all fleets! 'Anvil-Furnace' tactical cycle! Target area: Z-7 to Z-9! Deploy attraction nodes!"
On the bridge of the flagship "All-Seeing Eye," the calm voice of the fleet commander, a senior Night's Watch officer who had taken over Edmund Iron Anchor's duties, resonated throughout the fleet via data link.
Several Ranger-class destroyers quickly moved forward and precisely deployed the specially designed alchemy devices into the designated sea area.
The device activates upon entering the water, emitting a strong energy fluctuation that targets void creatures.
Like sharks that have smelled blood, the massive purple shadow beneath the surface of the sea began to stir and converge madly toward the node. Soon, it formed several huge, churning, boiling purple whirlpools in the target area, with countless ferocious limbs and sharp teeth looming within them.
"Hedgehog formation tighten! Wall of Light, shields fully cover the core area! Strikers advance, prepare the arc-shaped fire net!" The commander's orders were clear and decisive.
The silver-white frigate shone brightly, and layers of energy shields, like giant translucent petals, protected several Sinful Skyfire-class battleships and the flagship "Eye of the Globe".
The Striker-class cruisers, like agile cheetahs, maneuvered at high speed to their designated positions, adjusting the angles of their bow and broadside guns to point at the boiling vortex of monsters.
"Hellfire, main cannons fire! Target: Node Core!"
"Yes, sir! Freeze Judgment, launch!"
The voices of the battleship captains carried an iron will.
Whoosh—BOOM! ! !
Several enormous, ice-blue magical beams roared out from the dark black battleship's main cannons, tearing through the sea and crashing into the center of the purple vortex.
After the deafening explosion, instead of flames, came extreme ice.
The ball of light exploded, instantly releasing a rain of ice spikes covering several square nautical miles, followed by an even more violent secondary ice storm.
The seawater, along with the void creatures within it, was instantly frozen and torn apart. The monster horde in the central area was completely wiped out, leaving behind a large expanse of floating purple ice crystals and debris.
"Striker! Thunderstorm coverage! Clean up the remnants!"
Commanders seamlessly transfer orders.
The Strikers-class cruisers, which were already prepared, immediately opened fire.
This time, it's a raging thunderbolt!
Countless blinding bolts of lightning shot out from the cannon muzzle, not directly attacking the sea surface, but shooting into the sky.
Razer injected itself into the low-hanging clouds, instantly weaving them into a massive electric grid covering the entire target area.
The next second, a thunderbolt, like the wrath of a god, crashed down.
Crackling and popping electric sparks leaped and exploded wildly on the sea surface, turning the void creatures that had survived the ice storm or had just entered the area into charcoal, filling the sea with a pungent ozone and burnt smell.
"Well done! Raiders, expand the perimeter! Cruiser squadron, a new group is approaching from the left flank at three o'clock, intercept with fire!"
"Frigid No. 3, shield strength reduced by 7%, requesting temporary rotation!"
"Granted! Fourth frigate, move forward to cover your position! Keep shields intact!"
"Destroyer report! High-energy reaction detected in deep water, suspected to be a large marine mammal. Coordinates have been shared!"
"Roger! Cruiser squadron, adjust angles, prepare depth charges! Battleship secondary gun groups, extend fire coverage!"
Inside the bridge, commands, reports, and tactical data streams rose and fell, yet all were orderly under the commander's calm and steady direction.
The responses from the ship captains and weapons officers were concise and efficient.
The massive crystal observation sphere atop the All-Seeing Eye flagship shimmered with the glow of spatial runes.
By sharing key data such as battlefield situation, target lock information, shield status, and fire trajectory with each warship in near real time, a highly efficient and collaborative combat network with "all-domain vision, shared data, and coordinated strikes" is formed.
On the sea, cannon fire raged, and elemental energy and arcane brilliance mingled.
The explosive bolts fired from the alchemical crossbow exploded into clouds of corrosive green mist amidst the horde of sea monsters.
The blazing beams fired from the magic turret precisely struck and killed the high-speed advancing target.
The cruiser's rapid-fire guns created a dense network of fire.
The battleships' secondary guns were delivering devastating area suppression.
The roars of the void creatures, the booming of explosions, and the hissing of seawater being evaporated intertwine to form a cruel yet magnificent ocean war song.
Despite the fleet's fierce firepower and exquisite coordination, clearing out an area of sea with each tactical cycle, the sheer number of void creatures was simply too overwhelming.
The monsters pouring into the ocean from the fallen continent of Taril seemed endless, with purple waves surging forward one after another, constantly filling the void and squeezing the fleet's operational space from all directions.
They tore at the shields with their claws, sprayed corrosive acid on the hull, rammed the ship's sides with their massive bodies, and even tried to leap onto the deck.
This is an epic battle between a torrent of steel and a raging void on a boiling purple sea, where every second consumes astonishing amounts of energy, testing the sturdiness of the warships, the resilience of their shields, and the steely nerves of every crew member.
The waves of the sunset-lit sea were completely dyed a deep purple, a mixture of despair and resistance. (End of Chapter)