When a behemoth falls, death does not mean the end of everything.

The remnants of life often survive in the warmth of the corpse, survive in another form, or perpetuate.

In the depths of the Ancient Gondor Empire, the chaotic and dry wind carried the dust and mist on the plains, and in a chaotic sky, the filthy clouds circled and twisted like an upside-down funnel, covering the entire heaven and earth gloomily, and the shining energy pulses jumped and shuttled between the swirling clouds, constantly releasing kilometers of electric arcs and rumbling low thunder, and under this terrifying celestial shroud, it was the wasteland of the imperial capital that melted and then tore apart.

In the center of the vast plain, a huge impact crater is quietly dormant on the ground, and the inner wall with crystal-like texture in the impact pit is concave to the center layer by layer, and some molten objects that have not seen their original form are "inlayed" on the inner wall, like a hideous and craggy branch pointing straight to the sky, looking desolate and terrifying.

But even in the depths of such utterly destroyed ruins, there is still something "alive" -

At the bottom of the giant impact crater, the charred black earth was raised, and the crystal-like molten material solidified into a cone-like structure that seemed to be spliced together by countless prisms, and at the top of this cone-shaped structure, a beam of blue light flame with a scale of nearly a kilometer erupted out, illuminating the entire deep pit, this magic light flame erupted to a height of several kilometers, echoing the swirling charged cloud in the sky, and around the "crystal cone" that erupted the magic light flame, a large number of wandering mana phantoms could also be seen moving around.

This terrible eruption has been going on for 700 years and shows no signs of stopping.

At the bottom of the crystal cone, a pipe extending from the bottom of the crystalline prism extends forward along the trend of the inner wall of the impact pit, and gradually blends into the molten and solidified crystalline material on the pit wall.

Suddenly, a bolt of light flashed between the wandering mana phantoms, and the powerful force contained in the bullet directly tore one of the phantoms apart, and exploded a chaotic arc cloud on the distant pit wall.

The next moment, all the mana phantoms quickly left the place.

At the point where the light bullet flew, a narrow entrance opened on the outer wall of the "crystal cone" at some point, and a tall and straight female figure wearing an old imperial magister uniform stood there quietly, she watched expressionlessly as the arc cloud not far away slowly dissipated, and her hand still maintained the posture of raising her hand to cast spells.

The winds of the chaotic wasteland swept through the bottom of the pit, blowing the silver-gray hair on the forehead of the tall woman, her appearance was almost impeccable, her skin was not the slightest blemish, but the same silver-gray eyes seemed to lack the necessary emotion, cold as a machine.

She looked in the direction of the energy tube for a few seconds before slowly lowering her hand, a glimmer of light in the depths of her eyeballs.

"The cleaning is complete and the pests have been expelled.

"The energy catheter looks normal and the environmental readings are normal.

"In the year 2488 of the imperial calendar, on the 2nd day of the fire month, Sentinel 4 began to carry out patrol missions."

With a slightly mechanical voice, the tall, silver-gray female Imperial Magister looked up into the distance, a pale blue aura of runes spreading from her waist, and she immediately left the ground and flew towards the outer edge of the impact crater.

"The situation in the warning area is normal...... The appearance of each energy catheter is normal...... The rest of the sentries were observed, visually normal...... Crossing the outer ring of the ruins area......"

The female magister mechanically reported the situation as she quickly skimmed over the blast crater, and finally landed smoothly on the corrupt and torn wasteland outside the pit.

"Arrived at the patrol area outside the ruins, calibrating the monitors......" she said, looking up at the desolate and ruined Imperial Capital around her, the bleak landscape that had remained unchanged for hundreds of years caught her polymer eyeballs, and the image was clear in the optical sensor crystal.

Her gaze suddenly stopped, and a tall, misshapen, swollen monster that seemed to be a confluence of flowing red mud suddenly came into her sight.

"Sightings of threatening creatures, high arcane resistance units, begin to eliminate."

Before the cold voice of the mechanization fell, the female magister had already launched a swift attack, a complex rune aura suddenly appeared behind her, and at the same time, her legs kicked the ground hard, and the tall figure turned into a phantom under the acceleration of the double force, rushing towards the distortion in the distance at a speed close to the knight's charge.

The aberrant also noticed the swiftly attacking attacker, the monster let out a chaotic roar, and its body surged with polluting magic, it raised its arms high, and a cloud of black-red corrupted energy was already rapidly formed, but before it could launch this destructive energy, the female magister in the old uniform had already rushed over, the latter raised her arm, and an alloy blade popped out directly from the palm of her hand, quickly cutting off one of the arms that the aberrant used to cast spells, and then her figure flashed, and the blade swirled, He also cut off the monster's other arm neatly - two flashes of sword light, and the strength and speed were comparable to that of a good swordsman!

The aberrant let out a chaotic roar and tried to turn around in an attempt to catch the Magister's movements, but it was only halfway through its attempt before an alloy blade cut through the weakness behind it.

The giant-like blood-red monster roared and fell, the filthy blood and mud quickly disintegrating, the female magister raising her arms, the alloy blade shrinking back into her body, and the vast amount of smoke and dust that escaped from the death of the aberrant enveloped her.

Suddenly, the smoke and dust that should have escaped naturally froze, and another threatening energy response appeared in her perception, and she instantly raised her arm to try to lock on to the direction of the threatening target, but the smoke and dust entrenched in the air briefly interfered with her judgment - in this instant, a dry vine suddenly pierced out of the ground nearby, and stabbed straight at her back!

With a cacophony of metal crackling, the vine with dry skin pierced the alloy shell of the Magister's back, and the latter's body trembled violently, followed by a crackling sound and a series of eerie mechanical noises, and the tall female Magister's body finally came to a standstill.

On the ground, there was a rustle of vines as they crept out of the fragile and corrupt soil, and a large number of plant structures wriggled out of the fragile and corrupted soil, completely tearing open a large area of the nearby surface, and the plant structures that had emerged from the ground wriggled and reorganized in a chilling way, and soon coalesced into a monstrous and strange giant tree form.

One of the giant trees shook its branches, and the twisted and wrinkled features of its bark squirmed: "It feels good to be able to move freely...... We've spent 700 years laying out the root network, and now it's finally coming in handy. ”

The other giant tree shook its own extended vine slightly, which was the same vine that pierced the back of the "Magister": "It's amazing that these ancient iron men are still working. ”

"Not all mental cores fail, and the most advanced Iron Men can protect their cores by temporarily hibernating," the third giant tree said in a hoarse voice, "Look over there, the Deep Blue Well...... The Iron Men maintain it in their own way, and it has now been transformed into a fortress, where the production and maintenance arrays deep underground work together to sustain an entire Iron Man Corps......"

The other two giant trees shook their branches at the same time, making a rustling sound: "...... It's really hard for us to take the Deep Blue Well directly. ”

"So we need to spread little by little, little by little to take root, and ...... Find a way to solve the defense line formed by these iron men. ”

The vine that pierced the back of the "Magister" slowly retracted, and a slight chirp and mechanical friction sounded in the stilling Magister's body, as if she was trying to restart, but the damage to the Mana Hub made her reboot work.

"Take her," the roots of the giant tree wriggled as the leader "The Matrix will soon sense that a sentry has lost contact, and we will get out of here before more iron men crawl out." ”

"Yes, Grand Imam."

A giant tree said respectfully, and in a rustling sound, a large number of branches spread, wrapping the Iron Magister in a locked state, and the rest of the giant trees communicated with the underground root network, and with a large number of vines pouring out of the cracks in the earth, all the giant trees quickly merged with those vines, and quickly disappeared in place.

A few minutes later, several tall sentinels dressed in the uniforms of Gondor Magisters landed nearby, but the trees were completely gone, leaving only a distorted pile of ash that was gradually melting.

……

In a valley dozens of kilometers away from the ruins of the Deep Blue Well, countless twisted but luxuriant trees took root at the valley floor, their branches and crowns connected, and the layers of leaves made a clattering sound in the wind of the wasteland, bringing a strange life to this land where everything was destroyed.

A large number of extraordinarily tall, grotesquely spiked aberrations hovered around the valley entrance, guarding the eerie area like sentinels, and deep in the valley, countless vines were wriggling out of the ground and forming the form of several giant trees in a short time.

One of the giant trees moved its roots to a platform, and in the clatter of its canopy and branches, it placed a "female magister" wrapped in plant tissue in the center of the platform.

"It's really unexpected...... "The cargo" was put on the platform, two voices sounded at the same time like a duet from the nearby "woods", and a pair of elf sisters walked out of the woods, looking at the "tree man" in the central clearing with an appreciative expression, "You guys look going well?" ”

"Lone Iron Men are not difficult to deal with, they are very stiff in their minds," the leader of the Treants turned around, his withered and strange face staring at the Elven Twins in front of him, "Now, it's time for you to show your worth." ”

"Watch your words, 'Grand Patriarch', we are only cooperating with you, not your subordinates," the Elven Twins said coldly, "Without our help, I am afraid that you will not be able to break through the defenses of the Iron Man Legion for a hundred years." ”

"We do take what we need, but if we don't end up in the outside world, the proud twins won't burrow into this wasteland in search of allies," said the new Grand Imam of the Society of the End of Things, the leader of the Treants, in a hoarse voice, "Now, let's both of us give up this meaningless pride—only results are what we need." ”

The Elven Twins didn't say anything more, but walked indifferently past the Grand Imam to the stone platform, looking down at the Iron Sentinel in a locked state.

The crystallization of the ancient Gondor technique lay silently on the platform, breathing or heartbeat, except for the faint clicking and buzzing sounds coming from within her, indicating that her self-repair was still underway, and that she was only temporarily dead.

"It's good that at least you didn't destroy the mental core. A large number of structures, including the Mana Hub, are self-repairing, but once the Mind Core is damaged, there is nothing we can do...... This is Gondor technology after all. ”

The Elven Twins commented casually, and Raina stepped forward and pressed her hand on the belly of the "female magister" - in the glow of magic, the old Imperial Magister uniform was melted open with a hole, revealing the bionic skin that had also been melted open inside, and the protective shell that shimmered with metallic sheen underneath the skin.

Filna's fingertips sliced across the edge of the protective shell, as if slicing through the metal with an invisible blade, and when various protective spells failed, the protective case was easily opened, revealing a delicate pure copper mechanical core and a variety of ancient magical devices that shimmered with shimmers.

"It's a clever design." Relna sighed softly.

"And it's just right to heal itself at a critical moment." Filna smiled.

"At this time, it only needs to do a little bit of interference with this unprotected mental core......"

At the same time, the elven twins pressed their fingers on one of the parts of the pile of ancient magic devices, and with a slight flash of electricity, a strange mechanical friction sound sounded in the "female magister", and her eyes blinked slightly, as if she had woken up from sleep.

Rayna and Filna straightened up and came into the sentry's line of sight, looking down, "Hello, soldier. ”

"Reset complete, load the identification database......" The "female magister" focused her eyes on Rayna and Filna, and after a moment's delay, she blinked again, "Nice to see you, rebels. ”

In the open space not far away, the roots and branches of the Grand Imam shook slightly.

The druid leader, who had changed beyond recognition, let out a hoarse voice: "Now, we've got the first one." ”

Throughout the valley, countless strange and twisted giant trees shook their branches at the same time, making a rattling sound.

When a behemoth falls, death does not mean the end of everything.

The remnants of life often survive in the warmth of the corpse, survive in another form, or perpetuate.