Fortress of Broken Mountain, Fifth Day, Night.

"What's going on?!"

The deputy commander of the fortress, Drexis, stood in front of the gate, almost about to write anger and fear on his face.

No one dared to speak, and there was a dead silence all around, and all the officers who came with them closed their mouths tightly and pretended to be dumb.

Behind him, there were a dozen equally panicked alchemists, who did not dare to make eye contact with the deputy commander's gaze;

In front of him... It's an empty warehouse.

That's right, literally, there was nothing, nothing left, not even a single rat starved to death.

Six days ago, when he last inspected the warehouse, there had been a mountain of ignition agents, alchemy bombs, and oil that burned quickly and was sticky enough to melt into water in the snow and ice.

According to the original plan, it was enough to last for ten days!

How did you run out?!

The officers who looked at each other glanced at each other, and then very "tacitly" aimed their eyes at the deputy commander of the fortress himself.

Of course, Drexis knew that he had been squandering nearly twice as fast as he had planned these days, and there was no way, he had to do it, or he would be sending Salika Jonah and the defenders out of the city to their deaths.

At first, Drexis was somewhat discouraged, fearing that the logistical reserves would not be enough to hold out until the defenders arrived, but he soon had to abandon the idea, because the Azorean elves' attacks were always ferocious, almost dying, and if he ordered the use of fire oil or alchemy bombs, he could reap the results that even the cavalry could not get.

Although his attempt to force the enemy to retreat with heavy casualties ended in failure, Drexis had no regrets, and he even felt that he had not let go enough, and that he had not been ruthless enough to avenge the sudden destruction of Seth Braha and a thousand knights.

But even then, it shouldn't be like all the stock is out after five days!

The Broken Mountain Fortress has a large number of alchemists, a mountain of materials, and another group of wizards in the reinforcements sent by Byrne this time have stayed in the Broken Mountain, so there should be no risk in terms of logistics.

Even if you consume it too quickly, it doesn't mean that you can't replenish it!

Even if you can't last ten days, seven or eight days is always possible, right?!

"Gentlemen, I need an explanation... The thousands of warriors who fought for the safety of the empire throughout the fortress needed an explanation. ”

The iron-faced Drexis turned around, his grim gaze sweeping over the alchemists' faces, "Why... You're going to let the logistics reserves run out, which is the last thing that should happen?"

Glancing at the deputy commander of the fortress whose face was hard to see, all the alchemists collectively took a half step back, and the corners of their mouths were pursed on their pale faces, and they didn't say a word.

"Say!"

"I, I, we... We tried our best!"

An alchemist, who was taken aback, explained in a panic, "We have been working since the first day of the war, working day and night, but we still can't keep up with the speed of consumption! The attrition rate of the front line is so fast that even twice the estimate is completely insufficient!"

"That's right! It's not that we don't want to, it's that we really can't do it - even a broken replacement takes a lot of time to make, and there is no guarantee of results!"

In the face of the alchemists' arguments, Drexis kept silent with a gloomy face until the other party finished speaking.

Of course he knew that, but that's not what he wanted to know.

A quarter of an hour later, when the last alchemist had shut his mouth again, and the warehouse had returned to dead silence, Drexis asked coldly

"So guys, you're going to tell me that it's really just because there's nothing you can do... Is that all?"

"Of course ......"

"Because if you tell me so, I'm going to tell the soldiers outside, that the alchemists inside the fortress can no longer provide them with any support. Drexis interrupted unceremoniously

"So I repeat, what exactly is the reason other than objective reasons ... As a result, you can't provide enough logistics?"

"This ......"

The alchemists looked at each other with different expressions.

..............................

"Bang ——!"

When Drexis, led by a volunteer (and helpless) alchemist, opens the door on the other side of the warehouse, he sees... It was a sight he had never seen in his life.

As an imperial nobleman, he even once visited the laboratory of the Imperial Capital Wizard Academy, and saw with his own eyes the intricate ancient rune carvings and how alchemical creations were born.

But the scene in front of him was something he had never heard of.

With a huge magic circle as the center, more than a dozen Byrne wizards who came with the floating city gathered in a circle and buried their heads in work, a young man with sloppy hair standing in the center of the magic circle kept shouting something, and every time he spoke, a wizard got up and modified the magic circle under his feet according to the instructions of the words.

"If the rune in the upper left corner is modified, then the corresponding part must be modified as well - add two more runes that can have a linkage effect on it, and... What is the linkage effect, your apprentice hasn't graduated yet, right?!"

"Gentlemen, we have plenty of time, but don't talk to each other, we're making a work of art, we're artists—of course, I'm the artist, to be precise, you're a brush or a piece of paper—artists don't talk to each other!"

"Don't look who's coming in again, who's going out again, you're working! No one can stop ...... without my orders."

"Everyone, stop ——!"

Before Isaac could finish speaking, the roar of the enraged Drexis was already ringing out first.

As soon as the words fell, dozens of knight officers of the fortress rushed straight into the laboratory, and pushed aside the wizards who were still "busy" without saying anything, with a hint of resentment in their indifferent expressions.

"Hey, this is my lab!"

Isaac Grantham, whose eyes widened, shouted inexplicably at the intruding knights, "Who allowed you to enter... Stop, don't move, it's all my ......"

"Wizard Isaac Grantham, I need an explanation. ”

The iron-faced Drexis interrupted him and stood directly in front of Isaac, "You... And what the hell are these wizards doing here?"

"Do what?"

Isaac's expression became even more inexplicable, and he opened his arms suddenly, "Don't you have long eyes - look around, and ask me what I'm doing again?"

Drexis wanted to knock out the wizard who dared to yell at him with a punch, but he held back when he thought that the other party was Byrne's man.

"Well, I'll put it another way. Suppressing the anger in his heart, Drexis said coldly, "Your Excellency Isaac......

"It's Sir Isaac!"

A certain arrogant maniac with a little proud face, "I am personally appointed by Emperor Conod, a hereditary imperial knight!"

"Sir Isaac, may I ask ......" Driss' expression darkened to the extreme, "have you and these wizards provided any help with the logistics of the fortress in the past five days?"

"Nope!"

Isaac replied with great joy.

"And have you treated any of the wounded legionnaires, or provided him with any help that wizards can provide?"

"No! I'm not an alchemist or a doctor, and those jobs have nothing to do with me!"

"Very well...... Drexis had already gritted his teeth, "then from now on I announce to you, Sir Isaac, that you are grounded—you will no longer be provided with any logistical resources, all your experiments will be stopped, and the wizards who work for you will be transferred to do more important and meaningful work. ”

"Instead of accompanying you, the 'artist' is here... Idle fool!"

"What... No way!"

Isaac's expression finally changed, "You, you, you... You can't stop my work, these are wizards who work with me in Byrne, you can't take them with you!"

"I can!"

Drexis, who couldn't bear him anymore, roared angrily, "This is the Broken Mountain Fortress, I am the first executive commander here, and all personnel here must obey my orders!"

"Even you, Lord Isaac Grantham, must obey my orders—or I will have the right to lock you up and watch your every move!"

"All the resources here must be used for the battle against the Azorean elves according to my arrangement!"

"For fighting elves...... Isaac frowned, "so what exactly do you want us to do?"

"What to do, it's very simple, do what every wizard can do!" Drexis said hysterically, "You and the wizards of Byrne should provide the front-line warriors with plenty of medicines, alchemy bombs and ignition agents, and even everything that can help them fight the elves!"

"But you've got plenty of people to do these things. Isaac asked rhetorically.

"No, not at all, otherwise I wouldn't be here, would I?!"

"No, no, no... You don't understand what I mean, I mean to be able to do this... The manpower of alchemy creation is already the limit of efficiency at the moment. Isaac was also spitting his way

"The alchemists of the Broken Mountain Fortress, they're experts at this, and even if we join, we won't be very efficient, and maybe even help - because I and the wizards I work with aren't very good at that. ”

Dresis was angry: "How do you know?!"

"Because I just know that I did the math the day I stayed. Isaac said calmly, "The result is that the efficiency of our two groups combined is not as good as it used to be - you still have to spare some manpower and spend a few days teaching us how to get these things." ”

"The efficiency was only 76 percent for the first few days, and then it went up to 95 percent for the next two days, and finally it fluctuated around 130 percent... It has to be ideal!"

"So... Rather than let me, a genius, waste my greatest resource, my 'talent', to help the warriors of the fortress do these useless tasks, it is better to do something truly meaningful. ”

"For example?!"

"For example... Defend the Broken Mountain Fortress. ”

When the words fell, Drexis was stunned, and even the knight officers around him were stunned.

Only Isaac was still staring at him, the corners of his mouth twitching with anger that he couldn't hold back.

This is what Lena de Salion taught him - to make faces at the other person if he really can't get angry when he wants to be angry.

In the dead silence of the laboratory, Drexis, who frowned, looked at the magic array on the ground, slowly raised his head, and looked at the somewhat crazy wizard in front of him with a little trembling.

"You're talking about... This magic array?"

"To be precise, it should be the entire system linked by this magic array. ”

Isaac finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to talk eloquently, "As we all know, after the power of the void reaches a certain strength, it can affect the material world, and even distort some of the laws—of course, it's not that easy, but you can just listen to it first. ”

"So, after I collected some of my research on Master Corona, I found a way to expand this sphere of influence, and even further affect an area, and in this way, we were able to change the entire fortress even in a short, small way!"

"To show its significance, I gave it a name... The heart of the savior, after all, guarding the Broken Boundary Mountain is guarding the whole world. ”

"So with this thing, we can hold the Broken Mountain Fortress?"

"Uh... Probably not. ”

"Why not?"

"It's not done yet, of course not. ”

“......”

Resisting the urge to beat him up, Drexis patiently said, "Then if... It's done, what happens?"

"If it's done... The power of the Void operating within this magic circle will permeate all corners of the fortress - from the towers to the foundations of castles and walls, it will be completely eroded by the power of the Void. ”

Isaac patiently explained, "At that time, this thing under our feet will become... Well, imagine it like a giant control wrench, and as long as a wizard is here, it can activate the entire magic circle, causing a series of vibrations and transformations, and finally have the effect of deformation. ”

"Of course, the accumulation of quantities will eventually cause qualitative changes, so this is a perfect plan that can use the 'seesaw' principle to achieve unexpected results, and to put it more simply, it is possible to achieve two or three times the effect with a small amount of force, and it will eventually ......."

"Infiltrate every nook and cranny of the fortress?"

Dresis's eyes lit up, and he didn't hear Isaac's words at all, "Are you saying that you can use magic to control the entire fortress and let her fight back the enemies who are constantly attacking?"

"No, I mean I can use the magic circle to cause a change in the crust of Broken Mountain, first causing the Broken Mountain fortress to collapse, and then causing a massive earthquake to bury the fortress alive underneath. ”

Isaac rightfully so.

Dresis was dumbfounded.