142: The last trump card!

Radiant City's alliance was like a giant rock thrown into a lake, stirring up monstrous waves across the entire Woma World.

This was not a simple "1+1=2", but a revolutionary qualitative change.

Eastern Front.

"Boom—"

Accompanied by a deafening roar.

The gate of a Dark Star Empire lord's fortress was smashed to pieces by a gigantic hammer made of pure light, descending from the sky.

Inside the fortress, thousands of undead soldiers looked up blankly, then were enveloped by a torrent of golden holy light.

The next moment, they melted rapidly like ice under a scorching sun, turning into black smoke.

In the sky, dozens of Radiant City Holy Knights, clad in silver-white holy armor, hovered, their winged Storm Dragon Horses quietly flapping their wings.

"Purification complete."

The lead Knight Commander said in the communication channel.

Below, the Commander of a Blue Star Alliance lord's army watched, dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes and said to his adjutant beside him,

"Pinch me, I want to see if I'm dreaming. The turtle shell we spent three days grinding down... it's just... gone?"

The adjutant's Adam's apple bobbed: "Commander, it's gone. And according to psionic detection, not even a bone shard was left of the enemy."

The Commander was silent for a moment, then picked up his communicator and roared with a complex tone.

"All forces, attack! Mop up the battlefield! Be quick, or there won't even be any soup left!"

Southern Front.

On the Three-Eyed Race's position, a mental power barrier, like a shimmering mirage, stubbornly resisted the artillery fire.

Behind the barrier, hundreds of Mind Hackers sat cross-legged, blood seeping from their seven orifices, clearly at their limit.

Just then, the ground began to tremble slightly.

A cavalry unit of about five thousand appeared on the horizon.

Their mounts were Storm Dragon Horses with two horns on their heads and hooves that trod wind and thunder, while the knights wore azure-green dragon-scale armor, with electric light swirling around their long spears.

It was Su Jin's Azure Thunder Dragon Riders.

"It's Infinite City's ace! Quick, concentrate your mental power, block them!" the Three-Eyed Race Commander shrieked.

However, on both sides of the Azure Thunder Dragon Riders' formation, hundreds of Radiant City priests, holding holy scriptures and chanting sacred prayers, had appeared at some point.

Soft and holy halos spread out, complementing the Azure Thunder Dragon Riders' violent thunder power. Far from conflicting, they formed a peculiar resonance.

"Holy Dispel!"

"Holy Light Blessing!"

Invisible holy light swept across the battlefield, and the Three-Eyed Race's mental power barrier instantly became riddled with holes, like a canvas splashed with concentrated sulfuric acid.

The Mind Hackers, even more so, were struck hard, screaming and clutching their heads as their mental worlds were forcibly torn apart.

"Thunderous Charge!"

Without the barrier's obstruction, five thousand Azure Thunder Dragon Riders transformed into an unstoppable blue lightning spear, instantly piercing through the entire Three-Eyed Race position.

All that remained was a crackling electrostatic field, and Three-Eyed Race soldiers twitching and foaming at the mouth on the ground.

The battle ended so quickly that other lord's armies, arriving later to assist, could only look at each other in dismay.

The Alliance public channel was already a sea of joy.

"Latest battle report! Great victory on the Southern Front! Infinite City's 'Armed Demolition Team' and Radiant City's 'Divine Purifiers' teamed up and flattened a Three-Eyed Race legion of ten thousand in less than three minutes! I was stunned!"

"'Divine Purifiers,' what the heck is that? Hahahahaha! But it's accurate. I saw with my own eyes their 'Holy Light Illumination,' and the enemy's undead army ascended on the spot, even their ashes were scattered, truly environmentally friendly."

"It's even more outrageous on the Western Front. Infinite City's Mithril Heavy Shields are upfront, and Radiant City's Holy Knights are casting 'Prayer of Fortitude' on them from behind. Now those shield guards are harder than city walls!"

"Don't even mention it. Now we don't even need to fight; we just follow behind and pick up the achievements. I suspect if this keeps up, Dark Star and those Three-Eyed Race bastards will be scared to death."

...

Black Wind Plateau.

This was one of the last large strongholds of the Dark Star Empire and the Three-Eyed Race in Woma World.

Gusts of wind carried black grit, lashing against a metal fortress.

Inside the fortress's command hall, the atmosphere was oppressively thick.

Several top lords sat around a huge tactical sand table, their faces growing increasingly grim.

On the sand table.

The red dots representing their forces had been compressed into a few insignificant corners by the blue light representing the Blue Star Alliance.

"Bang!"

The tall 'Colossus Overseer' Ba'er, whose body was partially mechanized, slammed her fist on the metal table, leaving a clear imprint.

The single eye on her chest glowed with an irritable red light.

"Enough! How much longer will this damned silence last!"

Her voice was as grating as metal.

"Bad news comes every day! Which lord was completely annihilated today? Is it our turn tomorrow to huddle in this broken fortress and wait to die?"

No one answered her.

An undead lord from the Dark Star Empire, shrouded in a black robe, his soul fire dim, spoke in a dry voice.

"Ba'er, calm down. We have no legions left."

"My 'Dreadscar Knights' encountered Infinite City's Dragon Riders and Radiant City's priests on the Southern Front... they couldn't even launch a single charge."

Ba'er's rage was extinguished as if by a bucket of ice water, turning into a deep sense of powerlessness.

She looked at her mechanical arm, covered in energy lines, where traces of battle still remained, but now it could only be used to slam the table.

"Then what should we do?"

A small, thin Three-Eyed Race lord asked tremblingly.

"The Blue Star Alliance's offensive is getting fiercer and fiercer, and now there's Radiant City too..."

"That's Eternal City! With a legend overseeing it! We... we have no chance of winning."

His words were like a needle, piercing the last shred of hope in everyone's hearts.

"Let's flee."

A voice echoed faintly.

"Leave Woma World, retreat to the Boundary Sea. Although we'd have to start over, a one-in-ten chance of survival... it's better than staying here and having no chance at all."

This suggestion plunged the hall into an even deeper silence.

Flee?

They were the elites of their respective races, and now they had to flee like stray dogs?

Ba'er's single eye stared intently at the proposer, as if wanting to burn him to ashes with her gaze, but in the end, she merely slumped back into her seat in dejection.

Because she knew that, for now, it was the most rational, yet also the most humiliating, choice.

Just as this desperate atmosphere was about to consume everyone, Maergan the 'Prophet,' who had been resting with his eyes closed as if detached from the situation, opened his eyes.

The vertical pupil in the center of his forehead glowed with a deep, eerie purple light, as if it could penetrate the human heart.

"Flee?"

He spoke softly, his voice reaching everyone's ears.

"Where do you intend to flee to?"

"Though the Boundary Sea is boundless, finding us wouldn't be too difficult."

"Defeated ones, do you think the Empire and our races would easily forgive a group of utterly failed deserters?"

He calmly stated the cruel facts, plunging those who had just harbored a sliver of hope for escape back into a frozen abyss.

"Maergan! What exactly do you want to say!"

Ba'er interrupted him impatiently, "Stop with your cryptic tone! We're about to be wiped out! Can't you see that?"

"Of course I see it."

A strange smile actually appeared on Maergan's face...

"I see our defeat, I see our deaths... I also see the Blue Star Alliance's victory celebration."

His gaze swept over everyone present, finally settling on the tactical sand table, on the area representing the Red Soil Plateau.

"But, I also see another path."

"A path they haven't anticipated."

Everyone's spirits lifted, and they all looked at him.

Maergan extended his finger and lightly tapped the center of the Red Soil Plateau, at the location of the secret realm rift that once spewed endless red mist.