Chapter 68: The Magic Tide
Solomon City, Bishop’s Observatory.
Gregor Mendel, the Church’s chief bishop for astronomical projects, was quickly directing everyone, closely monitoring the moon’s data.
“The moon has entered an elliptical near-Earth orbit!” As the screen suddenly started flashing alerts, Gregor immediately connected to the Holy See’s communication line. “With the strengthening of the planet’s external magnetic field, the lunar magnetic field has been disturbed, and its orbit is starting to change!”
“Is the orbital model ready?” Pope Innocent asked.
“It’s ready. This perigee… is closer than any recorded data in history. It’s expected to be the largest magic tide ever.”
“Keep a close watch on the moon.” Pope Innocent replied. “Most of the city’s power supply has been cut off. Your project’s energy needs will be prioritized until the magic tide begins to rise.”
“Your Holiness, that… is the information backup complete?”
“The bishop of the Data Maintenance Center has reported to me. Most of the data in the Raphael database has been engraved through mechanical arrays, and the probe reader has been calibrated.” Innocent said slowly. “You don’t have to worry about the observatory’s historical data being destroyed.”
“That’s wonderful. I also spent all night printing and transcribing important data.” Bishop Gregor clearly breathed a sigh of relief. “May God bless humanity, bless technological civilization.”
“God bless you.” Innocent replied.
In Solomon City, the colorful lights had all gone out. Tourists looked at the sky uneasily, as if it was the first time they had discovered that Solomon City could also experience power outages.
Within the Holy Solomon Empire, an instruction from Emperor Otto was sent to the major nobles and lords.
The level of digital control in the Holy Roman Empire was lower, so the impact of the magic tide was not as severe as in the Church’s territory. Some nobles and lords chose to believe the emperor, digging up underground cables and conduits, waiting for replacements. More lords, however, chose to ignore it.
Well, whether it was true or not, they would know in a few hours.
At the foot of Mount Olympus, Crusader artillerymen were reloading their shells when the spotter suddenly said:
“Is the moon bigger than usual today?”
“I don’t think so.” The artilleryman casually replied, his gaze resting on the moon. “Hmm, it does seem a bit bigger.”
“Like breasts.” The spotter said.
“A little bigger and it’ll be like buttocks.” The artilleryman picked up on the crude joke, and the two poor men laughed knowingly.
At the top of the Olympus Tree, a mage apprentice came to the members of the Azure Longsword mercenary group with an open box.
“Please put all electronic devices inside.” He said. “Electronic devices will spontaneously combust when the magic tide rises.”
Led by Asker, the girls reluctantly took out their phones and threw them into the box.
“That watch?” The mage apprentice’s gaze fell on Nuo’s fair left wrist.
“This is purely mechanical, driven by a spring.” Nuo hurriedly replied.
“Oh.” The mage apprentice nodded curiously, completely unaware of how much such a watch was worth.
About half an hour later, the box filled with electronic devices was placed on the open ground by the mage apprentice.
Several firefighters stood by, ready. Fire extinguishers and water guns were all prepared.
Once the contents of the box caught fire, it would mean the official arrival of the magic tide.
Everyone stared at the box, time ticking by.
But nothing happened.
Nuo’s spirituality suddenly sensed something and activated her spirit vision.
She saw four transparent spirits emerge from the air, slowly descending and surrounding the box.
They began to sing a mysterious, unknown song, in a language humans couldn’t understand, but somehow Nuo could.
The blood moon will fall, the magic tide will rise.
Weapons clash, the battle never ends.
“That’s the language of the Spirit World.” Appius, who had appeared behind her at some point, said in a deep voice. “A language that directly affects spirits.”
“Are you… the City Lord?” Through the spiritual intuition of the same Sequence, Nuo realized that this man in front of her was a high-ranking Transcendental of the “Spirit” Sequence, so high that she couldn’t comprehend it.
“See those spirits?” Appius said, “Before the human colonists arrived in the First Age, the Siris Peninsula was the kingdom of the High Elves, and this Eden Tree was their sacred tree.”
“Every time the magic tide was about to rise, their priests would climb to the top of the tree and pray in the language of the Spirit World for their tribe to survive the chaos after the magic tide’s rise.”
“In other words…” Nuo hurriedly looked at the box containing the phones. Flames were already rising from inside the box, and the firefighters were spraying it with high-pressure water guns and fire extinguishing foam.
“This magic tide will be more vast and terrifying than any recorded in history…” Appius sighed softly, looking at the clouds in the night sky.
“It’s coming.”
…
The magic tide has risen!
Asker suddenly felt a sense of shackles loosening from his body.
At this moment, the main plane’s Transcendental level cap had been raised to level 10.
Then, those Transcendental creatures between levels 5 and 10, who had been forced into slumber by the magic tide suppression, should now be awakening and becoming active.
Asker looked at the distant sky and saw countless light spots appearing in the night.
“Those are…”
“Thornbirds!” Appius immediately turned around and ordered, “Activate the Life Cage!”
The prepared Union mages quickly activated the magic circle connected to the Olympus Tree, and a huge, translucent spherical wall instantly appeared, almost enveloping the entire Mount Olympus.
Everyone’s hearts sank: although it was the City Lord’s order, the Life Cage was one of their last resorts. Why use it so readily at the beginning?
Driven by their desire for Transcendental power, these light spots quickly split into two groups: half swooped down towards the Crusader camp below, while the other half crashed directly into the Wall of the Life Cage.
At this time, everyone could clearly see that each light spot was a bird covered in thorns. Their feathers were bright yellow, fine, and shaped like pine needles, giving a sharp impression just by looking at them.
“Thornbirds, the source of ‘Vengeance’ and ‘Thunder’ Sequence transcendental materials.” Appius said lightly, as if talking to himself, and also like he was giving a science lesson to the members of Azure Longsword.
“Their main attack methods are pecking and clawing, with a small amount of electric current that can cause paralysis when transmitted to the human body.”
“And the ability of the Vengeance Sequence is to reflect a certain percentage of the damage taken back to the attacker through causal connection.”
Attack it and be counter-attacked, don’t attack it and be paralyzed? Then how do we fight?
This troublesome thought arose in the minds of the girls.
“Undead Phantom Sword.” Asker said.
“Indeed.” Appius showed an approving expression. “Undead Phantom Sword.”
Outside the Life Cage, the Thornbirds stared greedily at the large number of Transcendents inside, unable to enter, and frantically attacked the cage wall.
Every collective impact caused electric currents to surge on the wall of the cage. Many Thornbirds even smashed their heads bloody and slid down the wall.
And this damage was also transmitted to the attacker through causal connection, accumulating rapidly.
Everyone felt the trunk of the Eden Tree beneath their feet begin to tremble, as if it was bearing an increasing amount of pressure, gradually becoming overwhelmed.
“The Life Cage won’t last much longer.” Appius placed his hand on Peggy’s shoulder and said indifferently, “Activate Undead Phantom Sword, split off as many phantoms as possible.”
“Don’t worry about consumption, I’ll provide all the spirituality.”
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