"An army of over ten million NPCs?"
Shi Feng studied the detailed intelligence Fang Shihan had sent, his heart shaken by the revelation.
In the Divine Realm, he had experienced wars between kingdoms and wars between empires. In a conflict between two kingdoms, each nation's NPC count was only around a million. A single battle lasting an entire month was perfectly normal—endless siege and defense, fighting over every single inch of territory.
A kingdom could ascend to empire status by expanding its territory, which was precisely why wars were waged.
Empire-level wars, on the other hand, involved two empires clashing head-on. NPC participation could reach five or six million, with total NPC numbers hitting a staggering ten million.
And right now, the enemy had dispatched dozens of armies from the outer world. This was just one of them, yet it numbered over ten million—equivalent to the combined forces of two empires.
"At their current speed, these NPC armies will reach Steel Lion Fortress on the Twin Tower Kingdom's border in two hours at most. I've already departed with Huo Wu, leading eight hundred thousand Tier 3 experts and fifty Tier 4 experts. We should arrive within an hour."
"As for the farthest border city, Thunder Gorge City, it's currently being held by Shuishe Qiangwei with seven hundred thousand Tier 3 experts and seventy Tier 4 experts. The Red Thorn Fortress, a critical transit point, has been reinforced by Bai Qingxue's million-strong Tier 3 force along with a hundred Tier 4 experts. As for the free players, they'll likely hurry to these three locations for support soon."
"Based on our intelligence, the opposing side doesn't have many outer-world players joining this battle. It shouldn't be as troublesome as previous empire-level conflicts—we just need to focus on dealing with those NPC armies."
Border fortresses typically only had small teleportation arrays capable of transporting very few players. Faced with a sudden onslaught of outer-world NPC armies, Fang Shihan had no choice but to march her forces there manually.
Shi Feng understood this perfectly. Players couldn't simply garrison a border fortress indefinitely like NPC armies could. They needed to level up, upgrade their weapons and equipment, and couldn't just sit inside a kingdom's fortress all day. Most players set their return teleportation points to the nearest NPC city and rode their mounts to the fortress.
"Leave the command to you all for now. I'll head over to support as soon as I can," Shi Feng said, checking the time.
One hour!
At his speed, one hour was more than enough to arrive.
The Azure Thunder Airship was just one step away from completion—the final core magic array engraving. This was the most critical step. Once the engraving succeeded, the airship would be fully finished.
A Black Iron Rank airship would be a tremendous asset in a city defense battle—even more valuable than two or three ordinary Tier 5 class users.
After signing off from the voice communication, Shi Feng threw himself into the final core magic array engraving with full concentration.
The core magic array consisted of three Grandmaster-level magic arrays. Its complexity was such that even an intermediate Grandmaster would be unable to complete it.
Shi Feng had only recently advanced to the Grandmaster rank in magic arrays, so this step would normally have been beyond him.
However, his mental strength had reached the peak of Tier 5. His brain activity and computational capacity had improved enormously compared to mid-Tier 5. On top of that, he had obtained the Ancient God inheritance. All three Grandmaster-level magic arrays were extremely ancient designs, sharing remarkable similarities with some of the arrays found in the Ancient God inheritance. This made it possible for him to engrave all three in a single pass—something that would otherwise have been impossible.
"Failed three more times. It's always the final mana fusion that goes wrong. By all rights, with my control, the magic array should be engraved perfectly, but the final mana fusion just won't succeed. Is there some other problem with how I'm controlling the array?" Shi Feng stared at the core magic array diagram, his mind in turmoil.
He had successfully engraved the entire core magic array in one go, but when injecting the final mana to activate it, the process failed. This was something Shi Feng had never encountered before.
Normally, once a magic array was fully engraved, injecting mana would naturally activate and activate it. Activation failure only occurred if there was a problem with the array itself.
"Guild Leader, something about this entire core magic array feels strange," Melancholy suddenly spoke up from beside him, studying the design. "Each of the three arrays channels a different type of magical element from the outside world, but then they forcibly fuse all three into one. These magical elements each have their own properties—how can you just force them together?"
Melancholy Smile was now just one step away from becoming a Grandmaster-level magic array specialist herself. Since she didn't need to fight, she had actually spent more time researching Grandmaster arrays than Shi Feng.
From the very first time she examined the core array, she had found it peculiar. The design clearly stated it should work, so she hadn't argued. But now that activation was failing, it was proof something was wrong.
Shi Feng, however, actually smiled when he heard her observation. "Magical elements do follow their own operational patterns, and forcibly fusing them normally would be impossible. But this array is remarkably clever. It first disrupts the operational patterns of all magical elements. In the instant they're disrupted, it uses the magic array to guide them, causing three types of elements—whose patterns have been broken—to form an entirely new operational rule before they can revert. This new rule is unaffected by the inherent patterns of the elements. It's brief, but the array genuinely succeeds in doing this."
"That's actually possible?" Melancholy Smile was genuinely shocked.
In her understanding, the operational rules of magical elements were immutable. It was like a player trying to forcibly control magical elements—the resulting power was feeble because the elements resisted. That was why players advancing to Tier 4 learned to work with the flow of magical elements rather than fight against them.
As Melancholy Smile's expression shifted to one of astonishment, Shi Feng—who was about to elaborate further—suddenly froze.
"So that's it. So this is the true application of the Law of Destruction!" A look of wild elation crossed Shi Feng's face.
He had been stuck at the entry level of his final sword technique, Saint's Extinction, and had nearly lost hope.
No matter how he converted ambient mana into his own, it was limited by his mental strength—the higher his mental capacity, the wider his area of influence. This was indeed the standard approach to mana control, but it wasn't the proper way to wield world laws.
The reason Saint's Extinction carried the power of destruction was simply because it channeled a predetermined, complex magic array into effect.
In plain terms: he could use the Law of Destruction magic array that the Azure Saint had given him, and he could even integrate it with various combat techniques and mana manipulation—technically a preliminary grasp of the Law of Destruction. But he had never truly understood how the Law of Destruction's magic array actually operated.
Now he understood.
The essence of the Law of Destruction wasn't about making magical elements vanish—it was about completely shattering their inherent operational patterns, robbing them of all their original effects.
So to truly master the Law of Destruction and bring it to its ultimate form, he shouldn't rely on the guidance of a destruction magic array. Instead, he needed to use his own mental force to naturally and forcefully halt the flow of magical elements.
Of course, saying it was simple. Actually doing it was extraordinarily difficult. It required not only immense mental strength but also precise reverse-rotation control over different types of magical elements to perfectly halt their operations—essentially an inverse of the rules governing magical elements.
This realization also finally explained why the core magic array couldn't be activated.
"Is the mana intensity simply too weak?"
Shi Feng looked at the fully engraved core magic array and couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.
Mana was, at its core, the force used to manipulate magical elements. Without sufficient mana, one couldn't manipulate those elements—just as a person without strength couldn't move.
To shatter the inherent operational patterns of magical elements required tremendous power. Liquid mana simply wasn't enough; at a minimum, solidified mana was needed.
Shi Feng immediately gathered every last drop of his mana, concentrating it again and again until he had condensed a grain-like amount of solidified mana in his palm. He poured it directly into the core magic array.
BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, the Azure Thunder Airship's core magic array sprang to life as if it were a living thing. Boundless ambient mana from all around surged toward the array, and the airship's engine began to throb with power.
[SYSTEM: Congratulations! You have successfully crafted a Black Iron Rank Azure Thunder Airship. Forging experience gained: 100 million. Level +2.]
At the same time, every player who had participated in the construction received a corresponding level boost—though none earned as much experience as Shi Feng, the lead craftsman.
But compared to the experience gained, what truly captivated everyone present was the airship itself.
Five hundred meters long. Maximum capacity of three hundred. Forty high-tier Arcane Spirit Cannons, each carrying the power of an entry-level Tier 5. Twelve Floating Crystal Cannons, capable of both offense and defense, also at entry-level Tier 5. Armor plating so tough that even a Tier 5 expert would struggle to breach it. The main cannon reached mid-Tier 5 in power, and its flight speed rivaled that of a Tier 5 Transcendent-grade flying mount.
Twin Tower Kingdom, Steel Lion Fortress.
On steel walls towering forty to fifty meters high, over three hundred thousand Tier 3 NPCs of level 150 or above had assembled. Every one of them was outfitted with level 150+ Dark Gold-grade set equipment—the elite forces of the Twin Tower Kingdom. Nearly thirty Tier 4 NPCs stood atop the walls, led by a male knight approaching sixty years of age—a level 200 Tier 4 Sky Knight, clad in a set of Legendary-grade item fragments, whose presence was scarcely inferior to that of a genuine Tier 5 expert.
Inside the fortress's central control chamber, over twenty Tier 4 spellcaster NPCs chanted incantations to maintain the fortress's magic arrays. Unlike ordinary fortress arrays, three layers of large-scale defensive magic arrays had been deployed—even a Tier 5 expert's sustained assault would fail to breach them, merely draining a bit of the fortress's energy reserves.
Magic artillery towers stood throughout the fortress—thirty in total. In addition, the walls bristled with massive siege crossbows, over six hundred in number.
Ten airships hovered in the sky above the fortress. One of them was a Bronze Rank airship; the rest were high-grade airships, each barely capable of contending with a Tier 4 expert.