A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 545 Iltsov's Daydream

"Haha! Good!" General Iltsov witnessed his personal guard displaying its might, not only crushing and chasing the mage group like dogs, but also launching a surprise attack from underground, easily blowing up the fortress formed by the guild.

These barbarians, blessed and transformed, were truly useful; he believed that unless a great sorcerer was present, no one could withstand their attacks. It was a pity that the "Great Mother" had not yet fully awakened, and Her power had not yet cleansed the entire earth; otherwise, she would have led an army of death and immortality to wash away the Valuans and bring unparalleled glory to the general.

He had already seen the frail Wilhelm II tremblingly hand over the crown and the emperor's robe, which were then taken by his most loyal and powerful guards and placed on his head and draped over his shoulders.

The high priestess of the Mother Goddess anointed him with holy oil and declared Iltsov to be the master of all the lands of the world, from the endless ice plains in the north to the corners of the storm in the south, and the most revered king of kings by the Mother Goddess.

"General? General?"

He heard the high priest's voice again and mumbled in response, "Wasn't the holy oil already applied?"

"What are you talking about in your sleep?" Gregory chuckled, his breath reeking of alcohol as he helped the general recall: "First you said something about 'You've ruined me,' then you were drooling and giggling, and finally, some holy oil. What kind of dream are you having?"

"A dream? Was I asleep?" Iltsov was startled. He quickly raised his binoculars. Thank goodness, the attack on the guild's stronghold and the capture of the last survivors was real.

"I never imagined I'd be daydreaming."

"Daytime? You're not wrong to say that, but it's nighttime now, or rather, the early hours of the morning." Grigory's words startled Iltsov: "You and I, most people in this city, haven't slept at all. It's only natural that you're sleepy."

General Iltsov, who presided over the ceremony, was unaware of the unusual phenomenon in the sky!

"You don't know the time?" Gregory pulled out his pocket watch, but only the one in his hand was still running normally, indicating "5:08," while all the other timekeeping devices were stopped.

"Impossible!" Iltsov exclaimed in panic. "My ceremony has been prepared for so long?"

He had originally intended to deal with the survivors and the mage order as an appetizer; what Iltsov was waiting for was for all the flesh monsters to devour and multiply each other, eventually merging into one and covering the entire city, sacrificing themselves to call upon "Mother" to "embrace" the city of Oward.

Iltsov was honored to be chosen as the executor, and he has already transformed his subordinates into controlled monsters, the only one left untouched being the detestable Richard Hench.

That brat who dared to talk back to him. If Grigory hadn't demanded the general's authority over Hench's disposal, Iltsov would have taught him a lesson, perhaps even made him swallow clumps of flesh, letting those growths erode and tear apart the fragile human body from the inside out.

Unexpectedly, the strange phenomena also included changes in the sky. Iltsov had not delved into much theology and was not sensitive to the power of the gods, so he thought that all the anomalies were caused by himself.

Gregory narrowed his eyes and smiled without saying a word.

"It's too late, let's just start like this."

Iltsov cleared his throat and stood before the platform. He began to sing the mysterious ballads of the North again, and this time the monsters that heard the general's voice began to merge and melt together, and soon the entire city was as if it were soaked in a pool of bloody, fleshy pulp.

The minced meat began to boil and bubble slightly, giving rise to all sorts of disgusting and evil entities, even more bizarre and twisted than the Blood Knight. In the city center, the minced meat began to sink and droop, revealing a bottomless hole, as if it were an abyss leading to the underworld.

Oward will become the first city to belong to the Mother Goddess!

No, there were city-states that worshipped the Mother Goddess throughout history; they should have been as numerous as the incarnations and different names of the Mother Goddess.

Oward should be called a declaration and tribute to the return of the great mother.

Whether the civilians, soldiers, and guild spellcasters knew it or not, they all received eternal life as chosen ones bathed in glory.

The town's tower was also on the verge of collapse. The boiling carpet of blood and flesh seemed to be digesting all the matter in the city. The foundation and the first floor were already broken and beginning to decompose. Gregory was still thinking about his "goods" and carried the unconscious Hench upstairs from the dungeon.

"Congratulations on your success, General." Gregory grinned maliciously. "What are you going to do next? Leap into the 'Immortal Family'?"

"No, no, no. Dear Gregory, that is the immortality of fools who reject the Great Mother and therefore deserve only this wretched existence to show the mercy of my Lord."

"What I am useful to Him is my mind and my ability to execute. If I were to abandon my physical body and throw myself into flesh and blood now, the gods would surely be disappointed in me."

Gregory remained noncommittal: "What reward will the Lord give you?"

"Do not make wild guesses! God says, He says." The fleshy blanket covering the entire city all let out a whooshing sound, especially the hollow in the center of the city began to vibrate, as if it were really speaking in an indistinct and unknowable language.

"God says there are still sinners in the city who do not believe in Him and refuse the gift of eternal life." Iltsov's face changed: "Don't punish me! I will search for them now."

The carpet of flesh fell silent, and the pale sky suddenly darkened, reaching a state of utter darkness. The light shrank to a mere sliver visible on the horizon in an instant—before dawn, the continent of Feloren lost its protection.

The aura of the Mother Goddess suddenly intensified, and Iltsov could now not only control the Blood Riders but also command the newly spawned powerful creatures, who began to swarm around the guild, searching for the last enemy.

The group of mages struggled to hold on. The first floor of the building they were in had been "digested." Paul, who had recovered somewhat, simply hardened and protected his room, and with the joint efforts of the other mages, it became a lone boat adrift on flesh and blood.

"Now there are two options." Richard held up his finger: "One is to cast a spell together to open a teleportation array. The problem is that someone has to stay behind to maintain the array, which means that only some people can escape."

"Secondly, we need to find the last anti-magic device. It's an older, pulse-type one. If it's still intact, activating it once will save us."

The windows were now sealed shut, and Pascal peered through the breach, seeing nothing but nauseating things: "The second option is definitely out of the question."

"You should all look outside. The sight now is enough to make the Istanians give up their ham sausages."

"Actually, it's all for naught. We're finished." Richard shrugged and admitted, "I never expected that the initial investigation mission, which brought together the mages and battle mages from both sides, would all be wiped out here."

Paul sighed. "We should have been prepared from the start to face a city's population turning into monsters. It's simply not something we can handle."

"So," Richard's expression changed, "the only thing we can do now is, with the mindset of mutual destruction, find the mastermind behind the ritual. Even if it means death, with so many spellcasters working together, we'll teach him a lesson!"

The guild headquarters is gone, most of the buildings are gone, and the fusion and transformation of the flesh carpet has ended. The magical reaction has now become uniform, and the central node that commands the monsters is a dazzling beacon in Richard's perception.

Suddenly another bright magical source appeared in the sky and plummeted at an extremely fast speed.

A "blue meteor" broke through the fog, and by sheer coincidence, it plunged into the gaping maw of the abyss.

(End of this chapter)