Wizard: Starting with Dealing with Magical Plants

Chapter 239 Countermeasures

"We must do something!" Imperial General Brand suddenly stood up.

"We can't just sit idly by and watch them run rampant on our territory! Even if we can't defeat them, we must find a way to disrupt and delay their deployment!"

"We need to at least figure out their exact plans!"

"The general is right." The old wizard from the combat department also stood up.

"We can organize elite squads, equipped with high-explosive energy devices and spatial jammers, to launch surprise attacks and harass the Purifiers' deployment areas."

"We don't seek destruction, we only seek disruption and to gather more intelligence."

"The risk is extremely high." Master Aldrich shook his head. "You've all seen the Purifier's defensive and counter-attack capabilities."

"The squad we sent out may very well never return."

"

"Are we just going to stand by and watch?" General Brand roared.

The argument broke out again in the council chamber.

The side advocating for forceful intervention and the side advocating for cautious observation and seeking other solutions each held their own views and refused to yield.

Rowling listened quietly.

He noticed that the core figures of the research group, such as Master Veranica and Ms. Serena, although they also looked solemn, did not participate much in the argument. Instead, they occasionally exchanged opinions in hushed tones, their eyes occasionally sweeping over the complex energy projections and data streams in front of them.

The internal divisions within Santa Maria delle Grazie became even more apparent under the pressure of this crisis.

Traditional combat departments and the Imperial military tend to respond with force, even at great cost.

The research faction and some high-level officials, on the other hand, prefer to use intelligence and technology to find more reliable solutions.

Such differences may be reconcilable under normal circumstances, but in a life-or-death situation, they can become a fatal rift.

Master Veranica finally raised her hand to stop the argument.

"Everyone, arguing is pointless." Her voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"Time is limited, we must come up with a practical and feasible solution."

She looked around at everyone and said, "I propose a two-pronged approach."

"First, the Holy Tower Combat Department and the Imperial Military will jointly form a top-level rapid reaction force, which will be secretly assembled at a safe distance outside the Throat of the Dead."

"The mission is not a direct attack, but rather to conduct high-intensity reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as limited disruptive missions aimed at interfering with the deployment process if the Purifiers' actions show signs of being extremely unfavorable to us."

"Personnel must be volunteers, and equipment must be of the highest quality."

General Brand and the old wizard of the combat department exchanged a glance and nodded.

This can be considered as partially adopting their opinions.

"Secondly," Master Veranika continued, "the Research Department and the Root Pact Project team are fully analyzing the technical data provided by the Arbitrator, especially information regarding rule shielding, energy camouflage, and potential logical loopholes or communication protocols with the Purifier units."

Try to find non-violent means of interference or communication.

At the same time, strengthening research on *Lonicera japonica* seedlings, as benign imprints from ancient experiments, may serve as a unique medium for our interaction with the logic of the Purifiers.

Her gaze fell on Rowling: "Rollling, you need to be deeply involved in the second task."

"Your own characteristics, your connection to the Moonflower, and your personal experience of contacting Purifiers are all valuable research resources."

"In addition, if the rapid reaction force needs technical support or special handling during its mission, you may also need to be ready to go to the front line to provide support at any time."

Luo Lin nodded and accepted the order.

This was exactly what he had anticipated.

"Third," Master Veranika concluded, "I will personally send a formal inquiry and warning message of the highest level, along with some of our monitoring data and risk assessment, to the Purifier unit through the Arbitrator."

"Although the hope is slim, we must try."

"At the same time, the Holy Tower and the Imperial leadership will immediately initiate emergency diplomatic communications with other known large wizarding organizations and surrounding forces to share intelligence and seek possible joint responses or external mediation."

The plan takes into account the demands of all parties, but it is also full of uncertainties.

Can rapid reaction forces be effective?

Can this research find a breakthrough?

Is there enough time for diplomatic communication?

But this is the best solution we can think of right now.

The order was issued swiftly, and all the machines in the Holy Tower and the Empire were put into high-speed operation.

Rowling returned to the research lab and immediately threw himself into the intense analytical work.

The Moon Silver Flower seedlings were connected to a more sophisticated array of spiritual resonance and rule probes in an attempt to analyze the internal rule imprints and the logical connections that the purifier might have.

Meanwhile, he and Duden and others carefully studied the information provided by the arbitrators regarding the Purifiers' energy characteristics, behavior patterns, and possible non-hostile identification codes, trying to find loopholes that could be exploited.

Time passed second by second.

An atmosphere of tension hung over the Santa headquarters.

A day later, news came from the front.

The rapid reaction force has secretly arrived at its designated location and has begun long-range monitoring of the Purifier deployment area.

It was confirmed that the enemy had completed the deployment of at least three large scanning and containment devices and was connecting to the energy network. During this time, the Purifiers destroyed several cloaked, demonic constructs attempting to approach and scout, demonstrating extremely high vigilance and counter-surveillance capabilities.

Master Veranika's message sent through the arbitrator went unanswered.

The Purifiers seem to completely ignore external communication.

Diplomatic progress has also been slow.

The major wizarding organizations are generally shocked and suspicious of the existence of the Watchers' Legacy and the Purifiers, and are taking a cautious approach, making it difficult to reach any substantial cooperation in the short term.

Research progress has been limited.

Although the rules and imprints of the Moon Silver Flower are special, they are too weak and basic to be directly used for interaction with the advanced logic of the Purifier.

While the technical information provided by the arbitrator is valuable, it takes time to digest and absorb it, and it is difficult to transform it into an effective countermeasure in a short period of time.

The pressure is mounting.

On the evening of the third day, Luo Lin was trying to use the power of [Quiet Dust Star] to simulate an extremely faint fluctuation of rules that originated from the same source as the Moon Silver Flower mark, attempting to induce a deeper resonance in the seedlings in the cultivation tank.

Suddenly, he felt the empty, isolated container in his dimensional bag, which had previously been used to store the remains of the grayish-white egg-shaped object, vibrate slightly without warning!

He immediately took out the container.

The container was empty, but on the inner wall, several extremely faint, dim red lights appeared, flickering like breathing.

These points of light form a small, incomplete, and ever-changing sequence of runes!

At the same time, the silvery light of the honeysuckle seedlings in the cultivation trough suddenly intensified!

The leaves swayed violently, conveying a strong, complex spiritual fluctuation that mixed repulsion, attraction, and—a trace of inexplicable sorrow!

Its spirituality seemed to resonate in some strange way with the incomplete runes that appeared on the inner wall of the container!

Roland was shocked!

This container has been in contact with the contract beacon for a long time. Could it be that some kind of information or energy imprint from the beacon remains?

And these remaining marks were now activated by the spirituality of the Moon Silver Flower?

It was because the Purifier's actions near the throat of the dead stimulated the aberration that shared the same origin as the Covenant Beacon, thus triggering this faint resonance from a distance.

He immediately reported this discovery to Master Veranica and the research team.

The group immediately began analyzing the incomplete runes on the inner wall of the container.

The rune structure is extremely ancient and complex, full of the sense of coercion, binding and connection, which is indeed the style of ancient contracts.

Although incomplete, it seems to contain fragments of information about the aberrant energy frequency, soul fluctuation characteristics, and—some kind of forced awakening and connection protocol!

"Perhaps—we can use this!" Ms. Serena's eyes lit up. "Although it's just a fragment, if we can reverse engineer and simulate it, we might be able to create a weak decoy or interference source that simulates the fluctuations of a contract beacon or the aberration itself!"

"Interfering with the Purifier's judgment?" Master Aldrich pondered.

"The Purifier's logic is based on the identification and removal of pollution sources. If we can create a signal that makes it difficult for it to distinguish between genuine and fake signals, perhaps we can interfere with its scanning and locking, or even—mislead its actions?"

This idea is very bold and extremely risky.

If handled improperly, it could expose oneself and attract direct attacks from the Purifiers.

Moreover, given the current level of technology and understanding of ancient contract rules, it remains to be seen whether a signal sufficient to confuse the Purifiers can be successfully simulated.

But this seems to be the only direction that could potentially interfere with the Purifiers' actions at the technical level.

After listening to the detailed report and risk assessment, Master Veranika made a decision: "Immediately concentrate all resources to analyze and simulate this incomplete contract rune!"

"A special task force will be established, jointly led by Serena and Aldrich, with Rowling as a key participant."

"We need to produce at least a usable prototype before the Purifiers are fully deployed!"

Orders are absolute.

The research entered an unprecedented state of intensity. A massive amount of energy was mobilized from Santa's headquarters to support complex rule simulations and energy construction experiments.

Luo Lin worked almost non-stop, collaborating with the two masters, devoting all his star power characteristics, the stabilizing power of [Quiet Dust Star], and his perception of the Moon Silver Flower's spirituality to this dangerous experiment.

There are only two days left.

On the fourth day at noon, even worse news came from the front:

The Purifiers' deployment seems to have suddenly accelerated!

The fourth large device has been connected, and the entire containment site has begun preliminary joint energy commissioning!

A massive and icy wave of rule-scanning energy, like an invisible giant net, began to slowly but steadily spread outward from the throat of the dead!

The rapid reaction force reported that their concealed positions had been affected by the edge of the scanning wave, and the energy shielding devices were under a sharp increase in load, threatening to expose them at any moment!

The purification process may have started ahead of schedule!

The atmosphere inside the research room was extremely tense.

The simulation experiment encountered a bottleneck.

The rules and logic of the incomplete runes are too obscure. The energy fluctuations that are forcibly simulated are either too weak to produce any effect, or the structure is unstable and prone to collapse, and may even trigger unknown backlashes.

"No—it's still a little short—" Master Aldrich looked at the simulation data that had failed once again and rubbed his temples wearily.

"Our understanding of ancient contract rules is still too superficial."

"Forced simulation is like building a tower with sand."

Ms. Serena frowned, looking at the wilted moonflower seedlings in the cultivation tank, which appeared somewhat listless due to the continuous high-intensity experiments: "Perhaps—we need a more stable carrier or amplifier that is closer to the prototype—"

Her gaze, along with that of Master Aldrich, slowly fell upon Rolin.