Pillars of Ita

The priest's expression suddenly changed as he felt his control over the magic circle slipping away from the rune he was clutching in his claws—what was happening? Toragotos was greatly alarmed.

A mocking laugh echoed from the darkness, causing it to raise its head—as if it could see those golden eyes looking down at it sternly from the shadows—and all these unknowable changes.

Toragothos was terrified and couldn't help but roar, "Lifgard, what have you done?!" The dragon's roar pierced through the illusion, and all the illusions vanished, leaving only the empty top of the tower.

Toragotos naturally received no response, but the trembling runes in its claws still reminded it that its previous sensations were not unfounded.

It felt like a new node had suddenly appeared within the barrier left by the elves:
That node is 'assimil' the magic arrays adjacent to it. Once it is assimilated, the corresponding magic arrays are like quicksand, flowing away from between its claws.

Toragotos finally remembered something, took a step to the stone window, looked in that direction—and then his pupils suddenly contracted.

On the horizon, the barrier had already formed the main body of the sky of Vol-Salastiel, but there were still blank spaces beneath the three giant azure rings.

And in its awe-inspiring gaze, a golden river was flowing upstream from the ground, flying towards the void in the sky.

Even here, and several kilometers away—

You can also see the horizon, the tiny golden river, and the shimmering gold on its surface, sparkling like stars in the dim rain.

Like the shimmering light on the river surface.

Toragotos finally recognized what it was—a bunch of clockwork fairies.

But it wasn't just one or two, or even several; it was a vast and countless array of tiny constructs.

There, on one side, wind and rain mingled, and on the other, a sky full of stars. Three beams of starlight were slowly descending overhead, creating a miraculously beautiful scene.

The long river of light formed by the constructs is slowly flowing into the sky.

It merged into that barrier.

The clockwork fairies flew side by side, bathed in elemental rain, vibrating their hinges, waving their thin, cicada-wing-like wings, soaring into the sky.

They are bound by beams of ether in the darkness, and the ether signals formed by thousands of calculations are shuttling back and forth in these beams.

Let them form a wall, a net, a huge—brand new, node array.

People on the ground looked up and silently watched this spectacular scene—the first thing they saw was the row of 'spiral shells' floating in mid-air, emitting a faint glow.

There is also a creature living in the clouds in Aetaria, which the locals call 'potstone'. It looks somewhat like a nautilus, but is much larger.

Sailors also called them sirens.

The sirens' constructs were weaving more and more constructs from the rocks and ruins, and the countless clockwork fairies were like raindrops flying backwards from the ground.

It flew into the air like a woven fabric.

If there are thousands of craftsmen, it would not be an easy task to organize so many constructs into a well-coordinated army.

Leonard let the rain stream down his cheeks, then looked away from the air with a complicated expression.

But all he saw was a young alchemist, head tilted back, standing on the altar, in the rain, raising his right hand, fingertips out—

The other person gazed at the dim sky, letting the rain create a mist on the collar, the water flowing down the hem of the long trench coat, gathering at the edge of the boots, forming a mirror.

At that moment, the young man from the Gulmod family seemed to understand why that person was a holy son. Otherwise, how could they have received that gentle gaze from the heavens above?

The man from Gennamin had already become a holy son, and people called him Ignisius. He had heard rumors about him in his early years, but unexpectedly, Lady Marlan had chosen another holy son.

He was momentarily confused. The Gulmod family was based in the city of Gennamin and could almost be considered the other party's direct line. However, the situation was urgent, and Lady Berel had asked him to obey this holy son.

Leonard bent down to pick up the scepter and was momentarily stunned.

But Fang Zheng, standing on the altar, had no time to think about such things. Besides, everything here was just a phantom from three hundred years ago to him.

His solemn face was reflected on the mirror-like surface of the water—the boy was gazing at the sky, and what he saw through the eyepiece was not actually the dense array of structures that obscured the sky.

Rather, it's the power of the laws that emanate from behind it.

He dispersed the power of the White Knight throughout the entire sky above Vo-Salastiel. Since the White Knight could freely recombine into particles, they could either gather around him to form a defensive line or disperse far away.

As for how far he can escape, that depends on his ability. Without Miss Tata and the Seven Seas Traveler's support, a few kilometers is still no problem.

But this means that he actually used the power of the Dragon Knight to control the countless clockwork fairies by indirectly controlling the power of the Dragon Knight.

Otherwise, even if Fang Zheng had a lot of computing power, he wouldn't have been able to send tens of thousands of clockwork fairies into the sky at the same time, and that number was still increasing.

It's already approaching the 100,000 mark.

One hundred thousand clockwork fairies, even if most of them are just shoddy creatures created by the Siren constructs, would be enough to bury the enemy to death on a typical battlefield.

However, on this battlefield, it is still not enough.

What he was going to do was, after dismantling the original nodes, write a new node into the barrier, and then use this new node to invade the entire barrier.

If the central control were unmanned, he could even seize control of the central magic array directly, but unfortunately, Toragotos clearly wouldn't give him that opportunity.

Now, it's as if both of them are in control of a central point, so the next battle will be for control of the seven node arrays, and whoever controls more nodes will win.

Whoever occupies more nodes will become the controller of the barrier the moment the magic circle is fully activated.

In this battle, Toragotos initially held an absolute advantage because it possessed the genuine central magic array and occupied seven nodes right from the start.

In terms of power, Fang Zheng could not possibly be superior to his opponent, but he devised a clever method—that is, to substitute one thing for another, using a clockwork fairy to fill the gaps in the magic circle.

Use physical methods to rewrite the operational logic of the barrier.

But this requires him to recompile the logic of the magic circle from the bottom up, let the node magic circle self-check, find that there is a 'logical error' in itself, and then use the clockwork fairy to rewrite the 'erroneous' part.

In this way, the magic circle node in mid-air was gradually replaced by his clockwork fairy, and once the replacement was completed, the node naturally changed hands and became part of his control.

In this plan, the most difficult problem Torragottos faces is that they can only defend passively and cannot take the initiative to attack.

Because the latter has already entered the barrier, it is impossible for it to infiltrate the network of the clockwork fairy controlled by Fang Zheng. Every retreat of the defense line means a permanent change of control.

But Torragottos quickly realized this as well.

He had already activated the magic array using the central rune. Although he had been caught off guard and had two nodes controlled by the opponent, he still had five nodes in his possession.

Time is on our side.

Although the sticky, tenacious tactics of the Fangzheng made it feel extremely disgusted, Toragotos quickly realized that it did not actually need to launch a counterattack. It was enough to just delay as much time as possible and prevent the opponent from further expanding its advantage.

There are a total of seven nodes in the magic array, plus the one newly created by the opponent. There are four nodes in the middle. As long as I keep four nodes in my hand, I can be invincible.

Because in addition to these four nodes, he also controls the central magic array.

"Lifgard, is this your method?" Toragotos grinned, revealing sharp white teeth, his angular pupils flashing with cold light.

“My great master, this is quite different from your past cunning. You underestimate your enemy... Or is this just a desperate struggle at the end of the road?”

Relieved, Toragotos focused his attention on the etheric connection controlling the magic circle and began to concentrate on fighting off the invasion from the other side.

As soon as it changed its strategy, Fang Zheng immediately sensed it—his previous unstoppable offensive seemed to have left the opponent helpless, but now the opponent was no longer concerned with the gains or losses of individual cities, but instead was vying for the initiative at every node. It was as if he had just sent a signal to a node's magic array, and the opponent had immediately rejected it, thus slowing down his progress.

Although neither side may make any progress in the back and forth, they may simply remain deadlocked.

However, in terms of timing, it is actually disadvantageous for him.

"Reinard!"

Loren ran down from the altar in the rain and shouted towards the square.

Everyone noticed the change in the aura of the magic array, and not only that, but the monsters born from the purple flames also fell down from the magic array.

Moreover, this time was different from the past; almost all the node arrays in the sky above Vol-Salasti seemed to converge in this direction.

The shadowy creatures lurking throughout the fortress seemed to have abandoned all their goals and converged on the plaza outside the temple.

They seemed to have received a clear instruction to completely eliminate these foreign invaders before the plover could take action.

“Reinhard,” Loren shouted again to the young man in the square, “Stop them!”

The red-haired knight finally snapped out of his thoughts, glanced at the scepter in the rain, and leaped onto the earth dragon's stirrups to mount it.

Then, with a wave of his hand, the scepter in the puddle flew automatically into his hand. He then gripped the reins with his other hand and looked towards the other side of the square:
"Is this the Holy Son's order?"

Loren drew his sword—a sword that had been broken in half during the previous battle, but in his hand it looked like a holy sword for slaying dragons.

He met the other person's gaze, nodded, and then walked towards the knights' procession.

“Alright,” Leonard turned around—he suddenly realized that his hesitation was completely unnecessary. Did they have any other way to go? Ms. Beryl had clearly seen further than they did and had already pointed out the only path for them.

The two beams of starlight still meet in the sky above Vor-Sarastil.

The spatial tremors caused by the clash made the barrier in the sky tremble—Reynard saw flames burst forth on the horizon once more, and the Oath Court's fleet opened fire again.

However, the dazzling light of the cannonballs was still blocked outside the barrier.

The light reflected on his face, making Leonard's expression somewhat serious. He even glanced silently at the boy who was returning to the team—a sword of Duro, a free knight, but the other's courage seemed to be no less than his own.

He was being groomed to be the successor to the Holy Sword, and in the future, he might even become the heir to the Ancient Knights Order, yet the other party aroused a sense of curiosity.

Loren Stoneskill, huh? He seemed to have heard of that obscure family that had enjoyed a period of glory several generations ago, but had quickly declined.

In Rotao, such things are common. But 'a lion can be born from a flock of sheep' is a true story that exists in the fields of San Palais.

He watched as the boy walked into the ranks, and Leonard drew his sword and threw it down—"From today onwards, you are an apprentice knight of ancient teachings."

Loren stared in shock at the young knight on the earth dragon.

But Leonard had already turned his back, his gaze fixed on the surging black tide outside the square. He pointed his scepter in that direction and roared:
"Knights of Marlan, heed my command!"

"Follow me, annihilate the enemy—!"

Fang Zheng watched from afar as the attack arrows formed by the ancient knights crashed into the surging black current in the square, albeit for only a moment.

But it's enough.

He looked away and focused on his work. The real trouble he was facing was not that Toragotos had changed his strategy, but that the pressure of calculation was becoming increasingly intense.

The number of clockwork fairies in the sky has exceeded six figures. Although they all borrowed the power of the Dragon Knight, controlling the laws of the White Knight was already a huge burden for him.

Even Nini fell silent.

He turned to look at the little girl sitting on his shoulders, staring seriously into the air. Nini puffed out her cheeks, her face flushed red. "Nini, are you alright?"

"Ah."

Fang Nini nodded vigorously. She was just sulking because she couldn't break through Toragotos's defenses.

“It did notice,” Fang Zheng sighed. “But if Toragotos didn’t even realize that, I would look down on it.”

He spoke casually, but atop the spire, Toragotos was in turmoil, so much so that the 'priest' he had transformed into had a distorted expression on his face.

It found that although it was constantly interfering with the other party's dominance, and Fang Zheng's advance speed had greatly slowed down, it was only slowed down.

The other party is still systematically eroding the permissions it controls; just about two minutes ago, it lost another control node.

Toragotos felt a blankness in the area it had previously controlled, and for a moment its mind also went blank, which was almost unbelievable for a dragon.

what does that mean--

This means that the other party's understanding of Ether is far superior to its own, and its computing power is far beyond its reach. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the other party could still advance methodically even when it clearly held the initiative.

It tried everything, but apart from slowing the other party down a bit, it could never effectively prevent the other party from taking control from its hands.

"What the hell does this happen?"

For a moment, Toragotos was a little confused. Was he the dragon, or was the other dragon?
Dragons are a species blessed by the ether, and their understanding of magic predates that of the Zinzas serpent people and the Numelin elves, making them the most powerful magical creatures in Aetaria.

Even though I have sworn into darkness and been cursed by the ancestor of all dragons, I am still far superior to a mere mortal. Could it be that the Numelin elves have returned?
It couldn't help but think of the legendary alchemist who was the first mortal to have a close relationship with the Numelin elves, and also the founder of mortal magical civilization.

The other person also seems to be named Ed.

Fortunately, even the great alchemist himself couldn't change the outcome. The opponent only had three node arrays, and time was running out.

Moreover, it seems to have discovered a fatal weakness in the other party.

Toragotos couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, feeling somewhat fortunate that he had enough control over the situation; if he had only controlled five or six magic circle nodes...

Now, only defeat and death remain for it. It doesn't believe that its former master will leave it with a good ending once it escapes.

“Well then,” Toragotos said through gritted teeth, “let me see if your computing power is really that limitless, little guy.”

It changed its strategy once again, and began to devote itself entirely to vying with Fang Zheng for control of the last node.

"Papa!"

Nini immediately realized something. As a dragon soul, she naturally wouldn't notice such a subtle change. But she understood that she wasn't the older sister and couldn't share some of her calculation power with Papa.

Fang Zheng frowned as well, immediately realizing the other party's intention—Toragotos had actually elevated the authority of the last node, which had absorbed a nearby node.

It might sound like Toragotos has lost his mind, but in fact, this means he'll need to invest far more clockwork fairies than he initially anticipated to control this node.

The other party seemed to have realized that his computing power had reached its limit.

Fang Zheng gritted his teeth, realizing that things were not going well, but at this point, there was no room for retreat.

There's one more way.

...(End of chapter)