Magic Industrial Age.

Chapter 622-620: Michael's Mad Summoning
In the void, Luo Yi stood proudly, coldly observing everything before her.

Beside him, the red dragon Virgil soared, the swirling winds and dragon breath obscuring Roy's figure.

In that hazy, indistinct atmosphere, it appeared even more mysterious.

Only Virgil knew that the insect lord Balzeb was not an easy opponent.

Especially when He was cut off from his retreat, driven to the brink of despair, and had only one life left, He truly displayed the combat skills and magical mysteries of the Void Gods and the Great Demon to the fullest extent in order to break the deadlock.

Even most powerful true gods would not want to encounter a Grand Duke like Barzeb.

In fact, it's common for people to deliberately avoid each other.

After all, in the understanding of the true God, not arguing about the pros and cons of a moment is His principle of conduct.

Unfortunately, he ran into Loy!

At this moment, Luo Yi was definitely at her peak, wielding her sword and able to roam freely throughout the entire multiverse.

Even if we kill Him, it will only take some effort and leave our clothes slightly dirty!

After a moment of silence, Luo Yi finally let out a long sigh of relief. Once he had recovered, he patted the red dragon beside him and said, "Let's test the quality of this Mysterious Palace."

"it is good!"

As he spoke, the red dragon Virgil flipped over and leaped down.

Its enormous body already possessed terrifying power, and with the inertia of its wings accelerating, a single collision shattered an eight-armed phantom along with its dazzling shield.

The other three eight-armed phantoms followed one after another, even forming a siege, before the situation was stabilized.

In the blink of an eye, the red dragon Virgil opened his mouth and exhaled his primordial dragon breath.

The cone-shaped dragon breath was viscous, hot, and extremely penetrating, piercing through the three eight-armed phantoms and burning them to a thousand holes.

It also ignited the air around the Mysterious Palace, turning it into a giant furnace.

At this moment, beneath the eight-armed phantom, the fish-scale-shaped high-energy shield showed its marks.

Within the dragon flames, it transformed into an ice-blue color, radiating extreme cold and even freezing the flames.

Its own rhythmic movement, rising and falling, dissipated the impact of the dragon's breath amidst the flashing blue light.

That’s not all!
Beneath the high-energy shield, there are other magical shields, defensive force fields, and high-energy barriers constantly revealing their presence; a quick count reveals as many as seven or eight layers.

The eight-armed phantom that had just been scattered also reformed its shape amidst the surge of magic.

At this moment, even the red dragon Virgil couldn't help but bare his teeth!
The defense was truly exceptional, so thick that it robbed people of any desire to attack.

Even so, in the Hall of Mysteries, a group of great arcane mages were pale-faced and filled with apprehension.

Sometimes, living a long life does not equate to shrewdness and experience, especially for archmages, who are mostly research-oriented talents.

Each of them has numerous research achievements and is a frequent contributor to journals, enjoying a distinguished reputation.

However, when it comes to killing and fighting, they are used to overwhelming others with force and bullying the weak. As for having rich combat experience, that's really not the case.

At this point, without the need for incantations, everyone became less restrained, and the scene became even more chaotic.

"The Flying Insect Lord's true form descended, in its Saintly form, and it was defeated just like that? It's simply, simply..."

You're trying to say, "It's unbelievable, right?!"

But reality is right before your eyes: what you see is that person, that person's clothes aren't even that messed up!

"How did we end up running into such a monster?"

"Thank goodness, the defenses of the Mysterious Palace are strong enough, there shouldn't be any major problems!"

"Are you planning to stay in this turtle shell forever? The longer you stay, the more likely you are to lose; don't you understand that principle?"

"Most importantly, our plan ultimately failed."

Over three hundred years of busy work, only to end up with nothing. If word got out, the other great arcanists would laugh themselves to death!

"Are you still afraid of being laughed at? Shouldn't we be thinking about how to resolve our current predicament?"

“Look at those people outside, those people, they all want to kill us!”
Have you forgotten how cruel you were to your enemies—skinning them alive, tearing out their tendons, lighting their souls as lamps? We used to do it all the time, and just thinking about it now sends chills down my spine.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"How would I know what to do? Is that something I can decide?"

"Since you know that, then stop talking nonsense!"

"..."

"........."

The noisy discussion didn't last long. All the archmages seemed to realize something and looked at the center of the twelve-pointed star.

There, Michael, the master of the floating city, was deep in thought, his expression shifting between light and shadow in the shadows where the light did not reach.

"Lord of the city! Lord of the city! Give the order quickly!"

A voice woke him up, and he raised his head slightly and said, "What else is there to say?"

Let's force the levitation ring to activate; let's get out of here first.

"What about here?"

"A gentleman takes his revenge even after ten years! Leaving here doesn't mean the matter is over; we'll have plenty of opportunities."

"And the one outside?"

"I'll handle this naturally. Alright, everyone get moving."

"Leader!"

The archmages' execution ability is beyond doubt; almost as soon as the order is given, they appear at each corner of the twelve-pointed star magic circle.

With the chanting and spellcasting, the Core of Nesser was forcibly activated once again, and a massive amount of magical energy surged as dark red light flashed.

Michael remained silent for a moment, then finally raised his staff and waved it. His cloak seemed to come alive as it fluttered, and invisible magic spread into the Mystic Hall.

At the same time, a beam of light descended from the sky, casting a projection outside the Mysterious Palace.

Michael, the lord of the floating city, strode over and appeared before Loy. Their eyes met, and time seemed to stand still for a moment.

Luo Yi raised her head slightly and asked, "What brings you to see me?"

Michael pointed to the sky and said, "I suppose you wouldn't want the two sides to fight while the third party benefits, would you?"

Luo Yi looked up, squinting slightly. His holy skill, [Eye of the Azure Sky], was activated. With his vision, he could easily see at least six Abyss King-level beings through the dimensional barrier.

There are hells, there are abysses, there are evil gods, and there are the dead...

Clearly, with the news spreading, the Herka plane has become highly sought after.

Even if Luo Yi wins the Silver Top, she will still have to face the covetousness of a group of gods and demons.

By then, it's really hard to say what the outcome will be.
After a slight hesitation, Luo Yi finally lowered her head and asked, "Then what do you mean?"

"The fierce battle has come to an end!"
"As long as we leave, the [Cataclysm of the Gods] will end, the native gods of Herka will return to their rightful places, and your crisis will be resolved."

"Moreover, you can easily claim that you won, that the Herka plane defeated the Silver Top of Nesseril."

Just as he was speaking, an unusual rumbling sound came from the floating continent. At the bottom of the continent, floating rings lit up, like incredibly complex eyes blinking.

A massive repulsive force formed and surged downwards, creating a thunderous roar as if an earth dragon were turning over, attempting to push the floating continent away from the Herka plane.

However, the battlefield situation has now changed again.

Under the powerful offensive of the Flower Guard, the Silver Top's defense system has been completely destroyed.

Most of the area has fallen, with only a few arcane towers still struggling to hold on, but they are also retreating with all their might, like a lone boat at sea, enduring the onslaught of wind and rain.

The core of the Silver Dome is undoubtedly the Mysterious Palace, from which a vast urban complex radiates outwards.

Originally, the defense system here was quite well-constructed.

But first came the battle between Loy and the Grand Arcanists, and the aftermath of the fight with the Insect Lord Balzeb.
That's right, even just the aftershocks have completely destroyed it!
More importantly, when the archmages chose to retreat, the morale of the Nesseril collapsed and plummeted.

When the King of Land Warfare of Flower Territory made a strong advance, he encountered almost no decent resistance.

Even their route of advance was the most direct one: crashing into walls and creating a hole to get through.

Extremely efficient and fast!

In a very short time, they appeared outside the Mysterious Palace and began to deploy their troops from a distance of more than ten miles away, using tank main guns to suppress and bombard them!
It can be said that the tank crews who wear flowers have developed a habit.

The reason the defensive force field couldn't be breached wasn't because the magic was too powerful, but because the firepower was insufficient.

Therefore, they got used to lining up, focusing their fire, and using saturation attacks to pry open the turtle's shell.

Everyone who's used this method says it's great; in fact, no demon lord's castle can withstand it on level 138 of the Abyss.

At this moment, they hardly needed any orders; they simply followed the established rules.

They even cleared out a defensive line more than ten miles away, with the Mysterious Palace as the core.

Then, under orders from the forward command post, tractor-trailers and troop carriers arrived along the cleared path.

Following the towing vehicles, the heavy magic cannons were lowered, secured, aimed, test-fired, and calibrated—a series of procedures carried out with exceptional speed.

And that's how the entire artillery position was built.

While artillery positions are less flexible than tanks, and can easily become sitting ducks, you can't deny that the firepower and caliber of artillery positions far surpass those of tank main guns.

Once the artillery positions were completed, only the roar of artillery fire remained in the sky and earth, and countless shells crashed against the defensive force field amidst the trembling smoke and dust.

Even without an explosion, the sheer force of the impact caused the fish-scale-shaped high-energy field to ripple outwards.

To be fair, this special design does have a very good defensive effect against artillery fire, far exceeding the resistance of a hard bridge or horse, instead using buffering and dispersing the explosive force to reduce damage.

However, when the eight-armed phantom was shattered, and when the fish-scale-shaped high-energy defensive force field was overwhelmed and exceeded its defensive limit, it began to break down.

Although there was a third defensive force field, resembling a semi-circular shield formed by the thick earth, it provided a strong support.
But there is no doubt that this demonstrates that the defenses of the Mysterious Palace are not impenetrable.

That's not the end of it!
Fighter jets roared overhead, their sonic booms echoing as they dropped tactical missiles.

Since the successful development of the portable space-based artillery shell pod, bombers have been completely phased out of the research program.

Because fighter jets do not suffer from insufficient bomb load due to their size, they can still carry out bombing missions.

These fighter jets specifically targeted locations out of artillery fire's reach, launching repeated saturation bombardments that made the defensive field of the Mysterious Palace appear to be on the verge of collapse.

At this moment, Michael's composure became somewhat strained, and he couldn't help but urge, "Your Majesty Loy, do you agree with my proposal?"

Luo Yi nodded slowly and said, "After so many battles, the Herka plane has already suffered great losses."

To avoid a lose-lose situation, letting you leave is actually a very good option.

"Hahaha, then let's just..."

Before Michael's smile could bloom, Loy's voice rang out again: "Perhaps, those emperors who are used to deceit and scheming will make such a decision!"
But I want to ask one more question: On what grounds?

Michael's smile froze, and he retorted, "What? On what grounds?"

"Why should you Netheril people come and go as you please?"

How can you great arcane mages, who have caused so much death and slaughter, still feel indifferent?
Why should you be able to simply walk away after causing such turmoil to the Herka plane?

Luo Yi finally lowered her head, looked directly at Michael, and asked, "Didn't you ever think that after committing so many atrocities, you should atone with your deaths?"

"Of course you didn't think of that, because you are high and mighty archmages, standing at the top of the pyramid of power, so causing some deaths doesn't matter to you."

But I, a native human of this plane, don't really think so!

At that moment, Luo Yi's voice resounded throughout the heavens and earth: "I believe that all grudges should be repaid with blood and teeth!"

"I'd rather you know that the natives of the Heran plane can also be angry, right?"

At this moment, Michael's face turned ashen.

He looked at Luo Yi, who remained calm, but beneath that calm lay a monstrous wave as vast as a mountain and as deep as the sea.

He gritted his teeth and asked, "Luo Yi, are you really going to fight to the death?"

After only a pause, he continued, "Don't forget, the Silver Peak is just a floating city in Netheril. Behind me is the entire Grand Arcane Council, and the Netheril civilization."

Aren't you afraid that my own people will come after you?

Luo Yi said nonchalantly, "If you're so capable, why don't you call them over right now?!"

"you……"

Michael's expression froze for a moment, then he said, "Do you really think the Mysterious Palace is so easy to breach?"
"At worst, we'll have a contest: see if your artillery fire is more intense, or if we can disengage faster!"

"Don't forget, there is no air in the Astral Chaos. Your soldiers will suffocate there!"

As if to prove his point, he made a gesture of raising his staff.

Almost simultaneously, surging magical energy poured into the floating ring, and a powerful repulsive force erupted, pushing the massive floating continent shakily into the air.

It wasn't moving very fast, but there was no doubt that it was flying!
At the edge of the floating continent, spatial rifts even appeared, spreading outwards like a spider web.

This means that Michael was not lying; if left unchecked, the Silver Top could indeed detach itself.

However, Luo Yi remained calm and said, "Just because your Silver Peak has a trump card doesn't mean I, the Flower Territory, am not allowed to be prepared as well?"

"Command, execute the 'Silver Top' crash plan!"

The following sentence is an order issued by [Lord Lion] to several front-line commanders of Flower Territory.

At that moment, almost without hesitation, several responses rang out, and then orders were issued to various locations.

And so, on the floating city of the lion, the launch silos opened again, and one by one, the ballistic missiles were sent to the launch pads, and once again, amidst flames and smoke, they soared into the sky.

This time, however, they did not fall towards the floating continent. Instead, they took a detour, tracing a path almost like a full moon, and accelerated towards the floating rings below the floating continent.

Here, of course, there is also a super-large defensive force field protecting the area. The fish-scale-shaped high-energy shield ripples with light and begins to block missiles.

However, this is not a mysterious palace after all, and it appears to be on the verge of collapse under the saturation attack of missiles.

What's most infuriating is that Lion City was bombed in only one direction, causing the vast floating continent to be higher on one side and lower on the other, even giving the impression of being tilted.

Just like a ship at sea, it can capsize if you're not careful.

Of course, this alone is not enough to truly damage the floating continent.

Then, the fighter jets in the sky scattered and, under the control of their pilots, began to replace their ammunition magazines with specially made missiles.

So, when they pressed the launch button, missiles fell straight down.

After they fell to the ground, they did not explode immediately. Instead, they burrowed into the ground due to the acceleration caused by gravity and the effects of earth magic.

They then began to detonate at depths of tens of meters underground.

A rumbling sound came, the earth shook, the ground rose up, and after the smoke and dust rose into the air, it suddenly collapsed, forming a series of large craters.

More importantly, some blood-red flesh and tissue also rushed to the surface, landing on the ground, still twitching slightly.

Clearly, the explosion also damaged the magical energy transmission pipelines and even triggered a large-scale magical energy explosion.

"This, what is this?"

At this moment, Michael uttered a sharp question; he had never lost his composure like this before.

Luo Yi kindly explained to him, "This is a bunker buster, a weapon specially developed by the Flower Territory to target floating continents."

"That's right, taking over the Mysterious Palace and controlling the Core of Nesser is the fastest way to resolve the war."

However, everyone knows that the Mysterious Palace is heavily guarded and cannot be easily breached.

However, outside the Mysterious Palace, the entire floating continent is actually riddled with flaws.

"This place is not true land; it lacks the thickness of the earth. The thickest part is only a little over a hundred meters high."

What would happen if these foundations were destroyed?

"Of course, it shattered into pieces with a 'bang,' and crashed down!"

"So? How's the Flower Territory's battle plan? Is it feasible?"

That's what they say, but looking at Michael's expression, you can tell what the outcome will be.

At this moment, Michael even seemed somewhat deranged: "Loy, do you really want to kill us all?"

"We've already fought this far, and you still harbor any illusions?"

"You forced me to do this! Luo Yi, remember this, you caused all of this!"

At this point, Michael's projection completely dissipated.

At the same time, inside the Mysterious Hall, Michael suddenly looked up, a mad look flashing in his eyes, and raised his staff, smashing it down.

With a loud 'boom,' the energy shockwave spread outward, sweeping directly over the twelve archmages.

Then, ghastly green flames rose from the bodies of these twelve archmages.

No heat dissipated, but their vitality, magic, and spiritual power all turned into wisps of smoke that rose and disappeared into the void.

"Sacrifice? Sacrifice! Are they using us as sacrifices?"

"Michael, what are you doing?"

How dare you? How dare you?

Michael, I'm going to report you! I'll report you to the Grand Arcane Council! Netheril's way of dealing with traitors is to exterminate them all! You're dead!

"Lord of the City, Lord of the City, please spare me! We've known each other for so many years, and I've always been at your beck and call. I even saved your life, have you forgotten?"

"No! Help! Help!"

These great arcanists struggled desperately, but they seemed to have been subjected to the most advanced human immobilization spell, standing there stiffly like wooden puppets.

They certainly had their methods, but no matter how many lights flickered, the ghastly green flames continued to burn, and at an ever-increasing speed, trying to drain them dry.

In fact, it wasn't just the twelve archmages; countless arcane mages across the entire floating continent fell victim to this tactic.

They were not bound, but the ghastly green flames on their bodies, seemingly illusory, could not be extinguished no matter what they did.

They also lacked the power of the great arcanists, and often became terrified, dried-up corpses within moments, twisted on the ground in various poses.

At this moment, Michael was truly insane. He roared at the archmages, "It was Loy who forced me to do this. It was all his fault. Since it has to be a fight to the death, then you might as well all give up everything for me."

At this moment, he knelt down devoutly, looked up at the sky, and said, "Come, come! Witness my final move, the ultimate arcane spell [Michael's Mad Summoning]!"

"Come! Come! Great world-destroying star, eternal enemy Atorox, descend upon this place and reap the rewards of this plane!"

(End of this chapter)