Lynn had been somewhat curious why hadn't Qi contacted him sooner.
Was he perhaps plotting some massive operation to harvest faith?
However, the moment Qi brought him before this grand, awe-inspiring temple, even Lynn couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath.
One of the Seven Stars' temples!
In this battlefield known as Expedition World No. 13, the Goddess's faction commanded a formidable force, brimming with powerful beings.
But even among the multitude of powerhouses, there was a clear hierarchy.
At the very top, beyond dispute, stood the descended Goddess of the Weave herself.
And just beneath her were the seven legendary mages, known and revered as the Seven Stars.
They held lofty status and each wielded one of the Seven Star Artifacts granted by the goddess, presiding over vast territories and ruling over enormous systems of faith.
And now, Qi had brought him to the temple of Bede one of the Seven Stars?!
Lynn raised an eyebrow, a wild and utterly shocking thought suddenly flashing through his mind:
Could it be… today he might witness a battle at the level of a Morning Star Wizard?!
Lynn had considerable faith in Qi's strength.
If it were merely an avatar or projection of the Goddess herself, the outcome of a confrontation might be uncertain.
But if the opponent was only a Morning Star Wizard or even just a Legendary Mage, slightly below that tier then they likely wouldn't be a match for Qi at all!
And if Qi truly did slay a Legendary Mage like Bede tonight, the shockwaves would shake the entire plane!
Even the Goddess of the Weave herself might be stirred into action!
Yet just as Lynn's thoughts began to swirl, Qi seemed to see right through him. With a calm expression, he said flatly:
"This is a rare opportunity a Legendary Mage is not present in his temple."
"Hm? Not present?"
Lynn blinked in surprise, a flicker of confusion passing through his eyes.
Bede isn't here?
But if that were true, then what was with the blue-white starlight saturating this place?
Lynn narrowed his eyes slightly, recalling the time when another of the Seven Stars Wizard Linge had wielded a divine artifact.
Blue-white starlight veiling the skies, suppressing all in its path that scene remained etched in his memory.
And since there were seven-star artifacts in total, it was clear that each of the Seven Stars possessed one.
While Lynn was still piecing things together, Qi calmly explained:
"The divine power within this temple is the source that nourishes the Seven Star Artifact."
"The artifact here is still in the process of awakening. So far, only Linge's artifact has fully awakened."
"However, his temple has already been completely drained of divine power it's of no use to us."
Qi's tone remained utterly even. Then, without hesitation, he turned and began walking forward:
"Let's go."
"Bede has likely already joined forces with Linge and begun their assault on the mage army."
"While the artifact here has yet to fully awaken, we must seize this chance and take the divine power from the artifact's mouth before it wakes!"
At those words, Lynn's eyes flickered.
If he left now and war broke out right after, and he got caught… that would not be ideal.
But this wasn't the time for hesitation. He pressed a hand to his chest, took a deep breath, and followed closely behind Qi into the temple.
Tonight, he was aiming big. With the help of Maple, he hoped to wrest enough mental energy from the "spirit of the azure sky" to significantly strengthen himself…
Bede, one of the Seven Stars while his true self might not be present, the artifact granted to him by the Goddess remained in this temple.
Thus, the defenses here were nothing short of impenetrable. Countless divine officials patrolled the area, and the atmosphere was steeped in solemn, lethal tension.
Even the main gate alone was guarded by two Fifth-Circle Mages, equivalent to Second-Level Wizards in the wizard hierarchy.
And that was to say nothing of the hidden divine powerhouses, the layers of spell arrays covering the area, or the traps lying in wait, ready to be triggered at any moment each a death trap of its own.
Yet Qi moved as if none of it mattered. He walked with an air of calm elegance, heading straight for the temple.
Just as he was about to step past the boundary into its range, he casually snapped his fingers.
Ding!
In an instant, a crisp autumn breeze arose from thin air, spreading a soft chill through the space before the temple.
With that breeze came a cascade of crimson maple leaves drifting down from the void.
The wind painted the sky in red hues, casting a melancholic beauty over the sacred, solemn temple.
However, these maple leaves were anything but ordinary!
Autumn leaves drifting through the Seven-Star Temple was an anomaly in and of itself.
Almost instantly, alert clerics looked up, frowning as they raised the alarm:
"Hm? Be careful!"
"Something's wrong! There's an enemy"
But before their words could fully leave their mouths, they abruptly froze!
In the next instant, their bodies seemed to be suspended within a painting completely still, their eyes still filled with vigilance.
And in that brief moment
Whoosh!
They vanished!
No screams, no struggle, not even a trace of magical energy. As if the entire world had silently erased them utterly quiet, utterly still.
They… had been swallowed by the falling maple leaves!
Yet the red leaves continued to dance gently in the air, dreamlike and serene, like a scene out of nature itself.
No one knew that the clerics were already dead.
One step forward is total annihilation.
But Qi didn't stop. His footsteps were calm and composed.
Beneath his feet, a carpet of maple leaves slowly unfolded. He walked atop them as if moving through a crimson corridor that led straight into the divine temple.
Lynn remained where he stood, his eyes filled with barely concealed shock!
With just a few falling leaves, the enemy had been wiped from existence with an effortless execution.
As he focused on the drifting red leaves, he saw faint reflections within them images of the very clerics who had vanished!
Their faces still bore expressions of alertness, yet they were now imprisoned and frozen in eternal stillness.
This… was the power of a Morning Star-level wizard?
Lynn drew in a sharp breath. No matter how many times he had seen such feats, he couldn't stop the storm in his heart.
"Hah… The difference between a Morning Star wizard and those below… it's like heaven and earth…"
Just a snap of the fingers, a few drifting autumn leaves, and the guards outside the temple were instantly annihilated.
This wasn't merely a show of power it was a dimensional strike at the level of law itself.
Lynn's thoughts surged wildly. He knew well: when a third-level apprentice breaks through to become a formal wizard, they undergo an essential transformation.
And when a Grandmaster reaches Morning Star level, the leap is even greater.
That's why the gap between a Grandmaster and a Morning Star wizard far exceeds that between an apprentice and a full wizard!
He whispered under his breath:
"In some expedition realms… a Morning Star wizard is already a supreme being no different from a god."
At this moment, his eyes weren't just filled with awe but also a deeply buried ambition.
To step into the Morning Star realm… the view from that height must be beyond imagining.
And if he could seize this opportunity tonight, he would be one step closer to that lofty goal…
Late at night, the wind howled like blades, and the darkness was heavy and suffocating.
Pale moonlight broke through the thick clouds, casting faint silver glimmers that outlined ghostly shadows across the desolate ground.
But that deep darkness was suddenly torn apart by a burst of light!
BOOM!!
With a deafening roar, beams of brilliant light shot into the sky, illuminating the heavens and the earth!
Fierce waves of energy surged outward, turning the entire battlefield into something brighter than day. Even the fine details of dead grass on the ground were visible, and even the dust in the air cast shadows under the intense light.
War… had begun!
After more than a month of tense standoff, the armies of the Wizards and the Goddess had finally met in a full-scale frontal clash!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Across the battlefield, multicolored torrents of energy collided and intertwined becoming waves of pure destruction, sweeping across the warfront.
It was the energy of sorcery unleashed by the wizards the volatile pulses of spells cast by mages the catastrophic storms of elemental fury and the divine radiance of sacred spells!
Each explosion shook the earth, causing the sky to tremble.
This… was a war of unimaginable scale.
On the wizard side alone, the number of participating sorcerers, apprentices, and densely packed mechanical golems numbered in the millions perhaps even tens of millions!
The goddess's forces were just as overwhelming. Countless mages summoned elemental beasts and contracted magical creatures.
On the battlefield, monstrous beings roared and shrieked, unleashing terrifying energy storms. Their sheer numbers were staggering nearly ten million strong!
The scale of this conflict was so immense that the battlefield had to be divided into ten separate war zones.
Each zone… was a cataclysm of its own.
War Fortress 13 was one of the strategic command centers for the wizard army.
In the high-altitude command chamber, Grand Wizard Yude and Grand Wizard Earl stood side by side.
Through magical projection screens, they observed the bloody, chaotic battle unfolding outside. Their brows were furrowed, their expressions heavy.
The situation was grim.
Compared to other war fortresses, Fortress 13 suffered from both a shortage of troops and weaker overall combat strength. The front lines were beginning to crumble.
On the battlefield, the wizard legions were steadily retreating. Towering elemental structures they had summoned were collapsing one after another, and their burning mechanical golems set ablaze by divine holy fire were falling like heaps of scrap metal.
On the other hand, the Goddess army pressed forward step by step, unleashing torrents of magic that radiated divine light, consuming the wizard's positions.
Grand Wizard Yude's face was as dark as water, his eyes filled with fury. He suddenly waved his hand and shouted angrily:
"Fire the cannons!!"
However, the wizard who received the command hesitated, his expression slightly changing, as if he wanted to advise against it.
Firing the cannons now was not a wise decision.
On the chaotic battlefield, the forces of both sides had already become entangled. If they fired now, while it could certainly harm the enemy, it was equally likely to injure their forces!
This would be a futile outburst, not a true strategic strike!
But Yude's expression darkened as if he might kill someone, and the violent surge of magical power around him made the wizard not even dare to speak.
At that moment, Grand Wizard Earl spoke slowly, his voice deep:
"Don't rush."
His gaze was calm and profound, fixed on the front lines of the battlefield. He narrowed his eyes slightly and said:
"The first line isn't performing well… since that's the case, we'll abandon the original plan."
"Deploy the 'Titan Giant' early!"
The air seemed to freeze instantly!
"Deploy the Titan now?"
Yude's brows furrowed deeply, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes.
The Titan Giant consumed an immense amount of resources. Every time it was deployed, it was a massive drain on strategic assets, so it must be used at the most opportune moment!
But Earl merely nodded indifferently, his tone unquestionable:
"The situation can't be delayed. Execute it immediately."
With Yude's order transmitted, the long-range deployment system of War Fortress 13 was activated in an instant.
A burst of azure light flared up, like a bolt of lightning tearing through the darkness, launching the Titan Giant, embedded with azure stones, directly into the battlefield!
Boom!
Like a giant meteor, the massive, grayish-blue behemoth rolled through the air, carrying terrifying shockwaves as it crashed down onto the earth!
The ground cracked, dust flying into the air!
When the smoke cleared, an enormous mechanical war machine stood at the center of the battlefield.
It was hundreds of meters tall!
The colossal metal body resembled a mobile steel fortress, with every inch of its surface engraved with ancient magical runes.
On its chest, a faint azure seal shimmered, emanating a deep, terrifying energy fluctuation.
"Advance at full speed!"
Inside the command room, the mechanical wizards quickly adjusted the energy circuits, and the Titan Giant's heavy mechanical body began to vibrate.
Mechanical power and magic intertwined, and blue flames burned at the joints, propelling it to take its first earth-shattering step!
The energy consumption for operating such a colossal machine was staggering!
Just to activate it once consumed an enormous amount of magic stones!
Controlling it internally required two hundred mechanical wizards to cooperate seamlessly!
Inside the core control room of this war behemoth, two high-level second-level wizards, Vincent and Millie, stared intently, personally guiding the mechanical war god!
"If we can crush a million mages in one go, the shame of our past defeat will be completely erased!"
Vincent's gaze was cold, his voice thunderous as he gripped the control panel, magical energy surging through him, feeding directly into the Titan's neural network!
Millie's eyes were also fierce, her fingers quickly sliding over the control panel, sending command after command!
Boom!
The Titan Giant took a step forward, like a moving steel mountain, charging straight at the Goddess army!
It was unstoppable, its might overwhelming!
However, the Goddess army, facing such a massive machine, was not unprepared!
Though this was their first time confronting a Titan Giant, they had previously hunted dragons, titans, and ancient battle beasts. They were well-versed in strategies for dealing with colossal creatures!
"Cast Earth Transformation! Turn the ground into quicksand and bog it down!"
"A machine of this size can't move fast; we need to slow it down!"
"Summon the Sea Giants! Take the battle to the second front!"
Clear commands were rapidly issued from the battlefield command center, and all the spellcasters immediately responded!
Boom! Boom!
Torrents of magic surged, and violent magical energy flowed like a tidal wave!
The earth trembled, and the sand and mud churned!
However, just as the Goddess army was about to unleash their magic, Vincent and Millie inside the Titan Giant had already prepared!
Their goal wasn't to take things slowly it was to crush them with fury!
"Activate the Blue Stone Core!"
"Release eighty percent of the energy! Charge straight into the enemy's lines!"
"Weapon systems ready! Unleash the annihilation strike!"
As the commands were issued, the azure seal on the Titan Giant's chest erupted in blinding light, terrifying energy surging, concentrating in its arms and core engines!
Boom!!!
The Titan Giant suddenly accelerated, like a blue cannonball, carrying devastating impact as it charged wildly towards the Goddess army!
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