Chapter 220: Chapter 214: Got You
The transport Floating Ship’s engines rumbled deeply, its Anti-Gravity Rune Array blazing with light as the massive hull slowly lifted off the ground.
The moment the hull reached a height of ten meters, disaster struck.
The space in the center of the mining site suddenly twisted. Three leader-class Rock Armor Earth Dragons, each over twenty meters long, tore through the void and crashed down.
Following close behind were ten adult Rock Armor Earth Dragons.
Their eyes glowed with an eerie, blood-red light, their gazes cruel and ferocious. A violent surge of earth Elemental Magic Power instantly swept across the field.
ROAR—!
Amid the thunderous roars, earth spikes shot skyward and rock shields materialized as all thirteen beasts attacked at once.
"Enemy attack!"
The Defense Golems’ alarm system was instantly triggered.
Thirty Spider Slayers immediately swiveled their cannons, weaving a dense web of fire with their Magic Power beams.
The three Demon Eye II Aerial Fortresses locked their main cannons onto the nearest Rock Armor Earth Dragon leader.
Only the two "Purgatory" launch platforms were unable to bombard their immediate surroundings.
But these Magical Beasts were completely heedless of casualties.
Fearlessly, they charged the mining site’s core facilities. Their thick scales withstood the barrage of Magic Power beams as they began to wreak havoc with raw, primitive violence.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A Mining Golem was instantly shattered, and the refinery’s walls were pierced by earth spikes.
Chaos erupted in an instant.
Just then, a ray as dark and deep as black fog silently emerged from thin air, striking the ascending transport Floating Ship with pinpoint accuracy.
ZZZT!
The Anti-Gravity Rune Array beneath the hull flickered erratically, then died completely. Having lost its lift, the Floating Ship immediately began to spiral awkwardly toward the ground.
At the same instant the black, fog-like ray was fired, a figure in a wide, black robe appeared like a phantom amidst the pack of Rock Armor Earth Dragons.
Without even a glance at the surrounding battle, his figure transformed into a streak of light, shooting straight for the crashing Floating Ship.
Onboard was Mithril worth two hundred thousand Magic Stones!
...
「Fifty meters underground, in the temporary command room.」
Watching the dark figure on the screen rush toward the ship, Allen’s lips slowly curled into an icy smirk.
"Got you!"
He turned to meet Victor’s gaze. Victor’s eyes, too, glinted with a mixture of excitement and tension.
Without a moment’s hesitation, they blurred into motion, becoming two afterimages as they shot down the passage toward the surface.
Allen had cleverly hidden the exit to the mine’s underground passage within a supply warehouse filled with spare parts. Secrecy had been the top priority during its design, a precaution for just such an emergency.
CRASH!
The Floating Ship crashed heavily onto the ground, less than two hundred meters from the warehouse.
Before the dust had even settled, the Black Wizard, Grock, had already appeared near the ship’s cabin, ready to claim his prize.
And at that very moment, Allen and Victor burst out of the underground passage.
Hidden inside the warehouse, Allen took the Realm-Splitting Defense from Victor without hesitation. They locked eyes, and both simultaneously began pouring their Magic Power into it with furious intensity.
VMMMM—!
The exquisite silver Protective Talisman let out a pained whine, as if overloaded. The Runes on its surface flared to an extreme brilliance, then it shattered with a loud CRACK!
A terrifying ripple, one that seemed capable of tearing and crushing reality itself, swept out silently from the warehouse!
Within a radius of several kilometers, the very fabric of space was thrown into chaos, becoming viscous and turbulent as if stirred into a thick soup.
Grock, who was just about to cast a spatial-transfer spell to take all the cargo with him, froze mid-action. He felt his connection to space being brutally severed.
Spatial jump—nullified!
’This is bad! It’s a trap!’
Grock’s pupils contracted. He whipped his head around, his gaze fixed on the source of the spatial distortion.
In the next moment, his expression froze solid.
Before the doors of the unassuming supply warehouse stood eighteen Steel Giants, lined up in a row and radiating an icy killing intent.
Leading them was the terrifying eighteen-meter-tall, blue-and-white mecha—the Freedom Gundam!
Behind it were two crimson mechs—"Flame Demon IIs"—wielding high-frequency vibro-spears, and fifteen shorter, modified "Peacemaker" PX-1A units.
Before Grock could even process the visual shock, a rising tide of scraping metal echoed from behind the warehouse.
Fifty Spider Slayer IIs advanced on their menacing long legs, surging from behind thirteen Guard Golems like a black tide.
Grock realized in an instant that he had been played from the very beginning.
’The supposedly weak defenses, the urgent transfer of resources—it was all an act put on for his benefit!’
But he was, after all, a battle-hardened Black Wizard with unshakable composure.
His shock lasted only a second before being replaced by cold calculation.
He immediately used the Mark of the Beast Lord to issue a command to the rampaging Rock Armor Earth Dragons.
’Rally to me! Destroy any Golems that stand in your way!’
However, Allen had no intention of giving him the chance to consolidate his forces. ’It’s time to cut off the head of the snake. The mining site can be rebuilt if it’s destroyed, but if the Black Wizard escapes, my life will become a living hell.’
"Target: the Black Wizard!!"
The command was issued to all units via the Hive-Link System.
The Freedom Gundam surged forward, its right hand grabbing the massive hilt on its back. The fifteen-meter, high-frequency Ship-Slicing Blade slid free, its "Pulverize" Runes activating in sequence along the blade with a nerve-grating hum.
The singularity engine’s output spiked to one hundred percent. Streams of blue-and-white Magic Power particles erupted from the Dragon Cavalry system on its back.
With a single step, it launched into the air, the very ground trembling from the force.
The eighteen-meter-tall Steel Giant moved with a terrifying speed that defied its size, becoming a blue-and-white whirlwind of death as it lunged at Grock!
Feeling the crushing pressure of the fifteen-meter blade—a force that felt capable of cleaving his very soul in two—Grock knew he could not take the hit head-on.
He gave a cold snort, and a dense black fog materialized around him.
The next moment, his figure vanished into thin air.
There were no spatial distortions, no fluctuations in Magic Power. He had simply... evaporated.
Even the Demon Eye IIs circling high above couldn’t detect the slightest trace of him.
This was one of the Witchcraft abilities that had made him infamous, the very reason he’d had the confidence to personally infiltrate the mining site to scout on multiple occasions.
’Trying to run?’
From the shadows of the warehouse, Allen watched without a flicker of emotion in his eyes, as if he had anticipated this exact move.
He and Victor exchanged another glance and simultaneously began constructing a spell model.
Magic Pulse.
This was a low-level detection Witchcraft they had mastered back at the academy. Casting it would expose the Caster’s location and Magic Power signature.
Allen hadn’t used it a single time since learning it. But now, jointly cast by two First-level Wizards whose Spiritual Power far surpassed that of their peers, the effect was extraordinary.
VMMM—VMMM—VMMM—
Visible, translucent rings of Magic Power spread out from the warehouse, one after another, like ripples on the surface of water.
As the pulse swept over the area, a faint humanoid silhouette was instantly outlined in midair!
Grock’s figure, less than fifty meters from the Freedom Gundam, was revealed with perfect clarity by the all-pervading pulse.
A blue light flared in the Freedom Gundam’s optical sensors. It changed direction in an instant, its Ship-Slicing Blade once again carving a deadly arc as it cleaved down toward him!
The Dragon Cavalry’s Floating Cannons all deployed, firing ten ethereal blue beams from different angles to cut off all of Grock’s escape routes.
Meanwhile, the roaring pack of Rock Armor Earth Dragons charged forward, weathering the fire from the Spider Slayers and Demon Eye IIs.
"Flame Demons, Peacemakers, intercept them!"
The two Flame Demon IIs and fifteen PX-1As immediately moved to engage, crashing into the rampaging beasts. With their steel bodies, they forged an impassable defensive line, ensuring the Freedom Gundam’s hunt would go uninterrupted.
The battlefield was now clearly split in two.
But while Magic Pulse exposed the enemy, it also exposed those who cast it.
The continuous ripples of Magic Power were like a lighthouse in the night, clearly pinpointing the Casters’ location.
Forced into a desperate retreat by the Ship-Slicing Blade, Grock found a split-second opening after dodging a fatal blow. He whipped his head around, his viper-like gaze locking onto the supply warehouse.
He could sense them. The auras of two First-level Wizards.
’That damn Alchemy Wizard... he was actually foolish enough to step onto the battlefield himself!’
Instead of anger, Grock felt a cold, sinister laugh escape his lips.
’An Alchemy Wizard’s greatest mistake is leaving the safety of his shell to step onto the battlefield himself.’
’And just who do you think is the prey here?’
