Have you found anything?
An upgraded subordinate came up to Hackzord as it revealed from the Distortion Door.
No…
Hackzord said while studying its hands attentively.
Probably the Eye Demon guard made a mistake.
That does happen occasionally. You could take a rest at the Red Mist Pond, sir. I’ll alert you if anything comes up.
The subordinate paused for a second before it went on,
Sir Valkries always bathes in this pond. I think… you could also relax your muscles in there every now and then.
This was a pretty good idea. Hackzord did want to indulge in such a mundane pleasure and explore the beauty of the Realm of Mind. However, the king would not put blames on the Nightmare if anything went wrong with the plan for the Western Front. Instead, Hackzord was the one who would bear all the consequences.
After a moment of silence, Hackzord answered,
It would be too much for you to connect four Eye Demon guards at the same time. We’ve entered the most crucial stage of our plan, so I’d better monitor the situation myself. This is the last stronghold on the Western Front, and we mustn’t fail the king.
The subordinate’s manner instantly tightened into formality as it heard the king’s name. It replied fervently,
You’re right, sir! I shall not let the king down!
Valkries was the one that let its guard down.
Hackzord thought to himself expressionlessly.
After Ursrook’s tragic death at Taquila, this mountainous area became the focus of the Western Front plan. Hackzord exercised all its efforts to monitor this district. It had persuaded the front to spare four precious Eye Demon guards to monitor this area so that Hackzord could remain constant vigilance about lurking enemies.
Eye Demons, whose vision would not be restricted by distance, lighting conditions, or the size of objects, were the most astute observers. They could immediately sense enemies and inform the demons connected to them.
As the connection required a great deal of magic power, only upgraded ones were qualified to connect with Eye Demons. The world that Eye Demons saw were extremely complicated. They would not be able to mobilize themselves if they accepted all the information they received. Therefore, Eye Demons would normally conduct a preliminary screening and evaluate each creature they beheld in advance. Only those who posed a real threat or act strangely would be informed to the connected demons.
Hackzord had sensed unusual movements just a moment ago.
Like the subordinate had said, Eye Demons did make errors from time to time. This was because creatures tended to have their own unique ways to respond to nature, and not all of their behaviors were comprehensible. There was, for example, someone as inscrutable as the king, and also eccentrics like the Mask. Eye Demons, which lacked independent and critical thinking skills, sacrificed a lot for the thousands of eyes that encrusted their heads. As such, even though they possessed enormous magic power, not a single Eye Demon had upgraded to a Senior Lord over the past thousands of years.
Nevertheless, Eye Demons were still deemed as a rare species by the clan, whose birth rate was only a little higher than those of the Hatcher and the Mother of Soul.
Hackzord changed the subject.
How’s the revival of the Birth Tower going?
It’s almost done. Everything’s going well.
Very good. Take me there.
Yes, my lord!
Due to the impact of God’s Stones, Hackzord could not go straight to the bottom of the valley and had to slowly make its descent through a flight of stairs.
As they went down, the surroundings gradually turned into a whirl of crimson. The air was impregnated with the Red Mist, and the towering precipices formed a giant vessel, a natural container chiseled out of rocks, where the Red Mist could easily accumulate. After more than half a year of accumulation, the lower part of the rapture was now permeated with the thick, dense Red Mist that could support thousands of lives.
However, Hackzord needed more than that.
Only when they erected the Birth Tower from the God’s Stone mine could their kind truly survive on this land, without fearing a sudden disruption of the Red Mist supply.
The sunlight was completely replaced by a ghostly blue-purple light at the very bottom of the rapture. A stone tower stood magnificently before Hackzord among the God’s Stone of Punishment Pillars.
A faint tremor of excitement smote upon Hackzord.
No matter how many times I view it, it always awes me,
the guard commented.
Before, we were only able to erect the tower when the Origin of Magic appeared.
Yes, but it isn’t the second Battle of Divine Will anymore,
Hackzord said with a nod.
This particular Birth Tower was actually not supposed to be here because it did not grow out of the God’s Stone mine but was an old one that had been set up a while ago. Although it currently relied on a huge base to support its weight, and its blotchy gray color signified a state of inactiveness, Hackzord knew this was just temporary. Soon, the tower would be reconnected to the God’s Stone mine via the Mother of Soul.
This was the upgrade they had obtained from the legacy shards. Over the past 400 years, their understanding of magic power and magic stones had experienced various drastic changes. The most important change was that they slowly became less independent of the Red Mist.
Nonetheless, human beings also made remarkable progress.
Hackzord approached the tower base and gazed at the dormant Mother of Soul.
The Mother of Soul was the origin of everything, the most important individual out of the whole clan. It would only reach its maturity when magic power reached its peak and when the Divine Will emerged. By that time, the Mother of Soul would be fused with the raw God’s Punishment Stone. Within a few years, the God’s Stone mine would transform into a high tower that would further produce more Red Mist via magic power.
Yet their new technology had considerably shortened this lengthy process. A fast-growing Birth Tower meant much less time to prepare for the war. As they would soon have ample Red Mist, they could even use the Red Mist as a weapon and quickly convert the enemy’s territory into their own.
There were nearly 100 Inferior Demons taking care of the Mother of Soul. They cleaned and fed her. In fact, the bottom of the great rapture was filled with thousands of such Inferior Demons. Through the window of the tower base, Hackzord saw those demons busy excavating the ground and transporting supplies. Some upgraded demons, on the other hand, were issuing commands on their Bogle Beasts. In the center of the rapture stood the symbotic demon newly created by the Mask. These powerful war machines would swarm toward their enemies upon an order. For a moment, Hackzord had an illusion that this place was the real front.
In fact, this rapture was, in a sense, a frontline. If they failed to stop human beings on this continent, their future would become dismally uncertain. They had to defeat the mankind here to save their civilization.
Therefore, they must win this battle for the king!
