Chapter 387 - 376: Upon the Ruins
Chapter 387: Chapter 376: Upon the Ruins
On the scorched earth, the smoke of battle had yet to clear.
After the ground legion arrived, the cleanup operation proceeded with high efficiency.
One thousand "Spider Slayer II" units patrolled the edges of the ruins like a scattered pack of metal wolves.
Their optical sensors glowed red. The moment they scanned a gray-robed underling of the Black Wizards, they skipped the warning protocol and directly eliminated any remaining resistance.
Overhead, seventy-two "Storm Falcons" circled on alert, the roar of their engines overpowering the howl of the blizzard.
The other five "Hive" motherships that had followed the legion hovered like black, floating mountains. Hexagonal hatches opened and closed as Mad Bee Drones flew in and out, weaving an airtight aerial reconnaissance network.
And on the outermost perimeter, five hundred "Peacekeepers" marched with heavy steps, gathering the surviving academy apprentices into a safe clearing.
Allen activated his Flash-Shadow Ring and landed on the edge of the massive crater at ground zero.
The Glacial Academy—or rather, the ruins of what was once the Glacial Academy—had become a massive crater over two kilometers in diameter.
The rock bed at the bottom of the crater had been sintered by the intense heat into a dark red, glass-like substance that still radiated visible waves of heat.
The academic buildings, the clock tower, the Magic Plant Garden, the library, the Magical Beast pens... all of it was gone. Everything nearby had also been obliterated by the shockwave.
Only this perfectly circular, one-hundred-meter-deep crater remained as proof that something had once existed here.
At the bottom of the crater, the dark-red Steel Giant, Cyclops, knelt on one knee.
Several huge dents were emblazoned on its chest plate, the deepest of which almost reached its Magic Furnace. The armor plating on its arms was severely twisted.
But its core structure was intact, and the Earth Core Furnace deep within its chest still emitted a steady hum.
Allen checked Cyclops’s damage status.
[Three deep dents in chest plate, structural stress exceeded by 17%. Bicep drive modules overloaded, irreversible metal fatigue in joints. Earth Core Furnace operating normally. Estimated repair cost: 340,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
’Good. As expected of my toughest shield. It even survived a bombardment like that.’
He raised his head and surveyed the land that had been completely wiped clean.
The Magic Plant Garden, the library, the Alchemy Workshop, the treasures in the academy headmaster’s office... all of it had been turned to ash in the "fireworks" display that had just cost 4.3 million Magic Stones.
He couldn’t even find anyone to charge a rescue fee.
From a purely economic perspective, this was a deal with no return on investment.
But that wasn’t the right way to calculate it.
On the black market, the bounty for a single Second-level Wizard ranged from thirty to eighty million Low-Level Magic Stones, and they were a rare commodity at that.
He had spent 4.3 million Magic Stones to take out three of them. The profit margin on that transaction was astonishingly high.
More importantly, he had purchased "brand credibility" for Weisren Heavy Industry.
He had purchased the heavy weight behind the words: "Harm one of my employees, and I will hunt you down, no matter how far."
From this day forward, any organization or individual would have to first consider whether they could withstand the fury of an "academy-leveling" bombardment before making a move against Weisren Heavy Industry’s employees or assets.
Internally, this was a demonstration of how much he valued his people.
He was buying the hearts and minds of his team, their unity.
This intangible asset was priceless.
Allen closed the damage report and turned to his to-do list.
"Jarvis, have you found Griffin’s position?"
"Approximately thirteen kilometers southwest of ground zero, in a snow pit. The search party has arrived. His vital signs are stable, and his life is not in danger."
A short while later, Allen was standing in front of that snow pit.
Griffin had been dug out of the waist-deep snow by two Peacekeepers. He was covered in blood and looked to have been severely shaken by the explosion.
But he was alive.
The moment Griffin saw Allen, his lips began to tremble violently.
He opened his mouth several times, but the sound that came out was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.
Allen waited.
’He thought the young Wizard would say, "Thank you for coming to save us," or, "I thought no one was coming."’
But Griffin’s first words were—
"Supervisor Ryan’s soul... they took it."
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing with difficulty.
"A black Crystal Bottle. One of the gray-robed apprentices took it... He put the bottle into a Storage Ring. That apprentice... he has a burn scar on his left cheek."
Allen looked at him.
Covered in blood, face streaked with tears, his body temperature already dropping to the point of hypothermia, yet he had remembered what the bottle looked like and the facial features of the person who took it.
Under the extreme pressure of fear, despair, and near-death, he was still acquiring and organizing key information.
’A loyal man, a useful asset.’
"Understood," Allen said.
He turned and issued an order to the search party: "Recover all Storage Rings from the neutralized targets. Prioritize the belongings of a gray-robed apprentice with a burn scar on his left cheek. Target item: a black Crystal Bottle."
Twenty minutes later, the item was found.
A Spider Slayer located the Storage Ring on a body nine kilometers northeast of ground zero. The corpse indeed had an old burn scar on its left cheek.
The items inside the ring were taken out one by one: a few Low-Level Magic Stones, a low-quality dagger, two Healing Potions, and a black Crystal Bottle.
It was completely intact.
Allen took the bottle and held it up to his eyes.
The bottle was cold to the touch. Through the translucent black crystal, he could see a grayish-white mist slowly and quietly swirling inside.
Ryan Hart.
The young Wizard who hadn’t finished the letter to his sister.
Soul Science wasn’t Allen’s area of expertise, but he had dabbled in it.
Once a soul leaves the body, it gradually dissipates over time. The black Crystal Bottle was a type of Soul Container commonly used by Black Wizards to slow this process, but its effects weren’t permanent.
Allen put the Crystal Bottle into his storage space.
"I’ll find a way," he said to Griffin, who was being supported as he walked over.
Griffin nodded, then finally succumbed, collapsing unconscious into the arms of a Peacekeeper.
Aisha was found in a temporary camp six kilometers northwest of ground zero.
The camp had already been cleared by the Spider Slayers; three gray-robed corpses lay outside a tent.
Aisha was lying in the tent. The burn marks from black Rune chains were still visible on her wrists and ankles. She was unconscious, but her vital signs were stable.
The cleanup operation was mostly complete within two hours.
Jarvis compiled the final data: The Glacial Academy originally had approximately 1,100 apprentices. One hundred ninety-three were confirmed dead, some killed by the Black Wizards and others as collateral damage in the great battle.
The remaining eight hundred or so were successively located by search parties and guided to a temporary safe zone around Cybertron.
Of the twelve First-level Wizard instructors, five had died during the Black Wizard invasion. The rest were unaccounted for, and Headmaster Herold’s remains were never found.
Over eight hundred apprentices gathered around the perimeter of Cybertron, staring at the steel city, at the Golem forces patrolling in formation, and at the Hive motherships that blotted out the sky above.
Bewilderment.
Fear.
Their academy was gone, their headmaster was dead, and their instructors were scattered.
No one knew where they would go tomorrow.
Allen stood on Cybertron’s entrance platform, looking down at the dense crowd of young faces below.
He issued his final orders.
"Have the Peacekeepers distribute emergency rations and potions, with the seriously injured as priority. Draft a report for the Mystic Code Council and the Association. State that the Glacial Academy was attacked by Black Wizards, and that three Second-level Black Wizards have been eliminated by a concerned Wizard. Attach the battle log."
’I’ve done what needed to be done, fulfilled my humanitarian duty as a White Wizard.’
’But that’s all.’
He had no intention of stationing his forces here, occupying the territory, or rebuilding, even though no one would object if he claimed this land for himself right now.
The Frost Wind Plane was too remote and lacked resources. The cost of development would far exceed any potential returns.
He had more important things to do.
The World Commerce shop had just gone online, and orders had yet to pick up. Cyclops needed repairs, and his munitions needed to be restocked.
As for what to do with Ryan’s soul, Allen already had a plan.
As for how these eight hundred-plus people would survive on the desolate ice plains, or how they would fend off raids from other Wizards, that was not his concern.
"All units, withdraw."
Allen issued the command.
Amidst the heavy roar of engines, the Golem Legion began an orderly retreat. One by one, the Flying Golems in the sky descended.
The apprentices waiting on the ground noticed the movement.
When they realized this terrifying army of steel was preparing to abandon them, a desperate commotion erupted from the crowd.
"My lord! Please, take us with you!"
"I’m willing to sign a Soul Contract! I’ll do anything!"
Their shrill pleas were torn apart by the frigid wind.
Allen turned a deaf ear. He retrieved Cybertron, and with his two employees in tow, turned and left.
Behind them, the blizzards of the Frost Wind Plane continued to howl, but the mushroom cloud slowly dissipating on the northern horizon would cast a long, lingering shadow in the hearts of every Wizard on these ice plains.
Meanwhile, eight hundred kilometers away in Snow Rock City, the Wizards who had witnessed the mushroom cloud with their own eyes were frantically trying to find the answer to the same question.
Just who was that Second-level Wizard who had gone north alone?