The battle within the city limits of Sydney has now gone from a defensive wall to a large-scale hand-to-hand combat. Although the defenders had left tens of thousands of merfolk corpses in the water before reaching the hastily deformed walls, the appearance of a dozen dragon turtles quickly changed the tide of the battle.

Incredibly, however, the turtles of the ancient Roman Empire were able to resist the war against coral reefs. Unlike the most advanced steel corps used by the Americans, these are outdated European designs that date back to World War II in the 50s. They still possess powerful and effective weapons, but lack the multi-armed, Hercules-like power of the new models.

The dozen or so dragon turtles that emerged from the sea seemed to sense their weakness, and they clumsily marched towards different parts of the city, essentially splitting the army's encircling forces and extending their battle lines.

"Where is Gwen when you need her most," Gunther lamented. If his craft sister could be here, she could use her lightning spell to speed up the golem.

The gunfire made a low turn between the two buildings. One of them had already been half shattered by the onslaught of a dragon turtle. However, its body was not too far from the building, a three-story behemoth with no head and crippled limbs, which ended up being paid a heavy price by the border militia.

In contrast, tower mages suffered the fewest casualties while on duty. As Gunther flies through the broken streets, sniping at the wayward merfolk emerging from the broken storefronts, who drag civilians with brutal barbed nets, he admits in despair that their collective defense network has systematically failed in the absence of a command center.

"Help, help, oh God, someone's helping!"

"I'm going to cook you alive, you lobster mongrel!"

"Ahh

A pair of heavily armored crustacean merfolk dragged the hearty human captives behind them and headed towards the ocean. With some water breathing magic from a marine priest, the prisoners can become fit for labor or nutrition. Their prisoners, the silhouettes of six men blurred in the clunky nets, threatened, begged, cried and begged the merfolk to release them. As a paladin, the sight greatly annoyed Gunther's chest. These brazen bastards! As soon as the battle is over, they've already started looting!

With a wave of his hand, two beams shattered the merfolk's torso, severing from its chest to its groin. The third explosion cut the net, allowing the trapped prisoners inside to struggle freely.

As the prisoners crawl out of their previous captivity, they search for their savior, expecting a magician to fall from the sky and express their gratitude with a few words of schadenfreude. However, the street is deserted except for a tree-lined avenue of smoking mermaid carcasses.

After clearing the field, Gunther had already left a block and was speeding towards the next checkpoint, where a group of tower mages were fighting for their lives.

As he sailed past the docks and toward the CBD, his radiant aura turned into a bright light, and he remembered the unusually quiet towers floating above, an indifferent God who didn't care in the slightest about the suffering children below.

On Alexia's orders, Erin gathered a team of elite mages, two mages, and three high-level mages, including her star disciple Julia. They have a confessor enchanter, a shapeshifter summoner, and three other missions for healing, transfiguration, and magic.

Blackwater's firefighting team is Gwen and her companions, including Yue, Ritu, Deborah, and Elvia, as well as Alexia herself. Their barely awake master, Henry Kilroy, was tightly tied to Vetu, who promised him his safety as long as he had enough breath and a shield.

Once again, Alicia has demonstrated the incredible resilience of a man who has survived two major conflicts, exhausting 12 human development movements in half the time that Gwen mediated and revived herself. However, their break passed quickly, and the team had to make ends meet by injecting mana and meditating quickly.

With Ferris obediently abandoning her teleportation inscription, Translocation Specialist Paul synchronized the teleportation platform beneath the cathedral with the base station in the middle tower.

"If the tower is still in emergency mode, the Spiritual Core should not announce your arrival. However, the moment I activate the glyph, the teleportation circle will be lit up like Christmas, so hopefully in a hot spot. ”

"Good, Paul. Can we teleport in 'heat'?"

The two long-time teammates exchanged a cunning understanding with each other.

Paul smiled and gave me a few more minutes, and I was able to stabilize the entrance in no time. ”

While they waited, Alicia saw an armored robe that intensely emitted an aura of enchantment, so gorgeous that a pale glow could be seen in the naked eye without chanting.

"Really......" Ferris's eyes widened a little.

"Not the real deal, no," Alexia explained, taking off her shirt and struggling to take off her pants. She said a command, and the garment fluttered up and slipped over her head. "This is a replica I bought from London after doing a few things for Cambridge House. ”

Once dressed, the robe quickly shrunk to fit Alexia's figure. It was split on both sides to provide greater flexibility, while the armor part was mounted on her arms and shoulders, conforming to her chest. Below, the skirt section whizzes out impressively in a long stream of crimson chiffon.

"What are you wearing?" Gwen asked Alexia out of curiosity.

"A copy of the archmage's robes," Vitu chimed in bright eyes full of surprise, Henry also has a set, and even the replica is priceless. ”

"What does it do?" Yue asked. She had never seen a first-class magic item before. They are extremely rare in the "countryside" of frontier cities.

Alicia stretched, the second skin of her tight armor enhancing her tight figure.

"Permanent resistance to the elements, protection against cannonballs and melee damage," Alexia recited proudly.

"The real robe has the added property of greatly increasing your elemental affinity," she added wisely, spinning around to show the girls how the rare robe was cut and made.

Both teams were amazed by Alesia's unique outfit and used the opportunity to distract themselves from a nervous nerve tingle. Even Erin joins in, giving a long, meticulous account of the original archmage robes created by the wizard Morden.

Next to them, Paul had completed the modification of the last teleportation glyph.

"It was a one-way trip. I hope you're all ready. ”

"Remember to stay in formation," Ferris told her team. Reminding herself that the mage in the tower was still a member of her faction, she added a hopeful phrase: "Don't shoot unless someone does," which made Alexia raise a critical brow.

Although the girls were out of breath due to the nervous anticipation, Alicia seemed to be perfectly at ease with herself.

"Just get us in and we'll get the tower back without any trouble," she confidently confided to the crowd that failure was not a problem. It is death or glory, do or die. ”

Ferris threw a languishing expression at Alexia, which illustrates this.

Both teams were protected and protected. Erin even gives a real blow to each attacking caster. They're ready.

"I'm starting to stealth the shield," Ferris chanted. As she began to sing the chants, the air around the two teams shimmered.

"All right," Paul began. The stage began to flash with the swift silver mana of the signature. "Three-two-one-

When the count reaches "2", Alicia begins to pray.

"Authorization Delay Blasting Fireball!"

Ferris looked up, shocked and frustrated.

"What..."

The teleportation circle surrounded them.

Jules was being admonished by Lord Gunther Schultz, the paladin of the tower, when sirens sounded throughout the tower.

"Entering quarantine mode. ”

He was just as shocked as the others as the tower began to teleport "dissidents" from within, leaving only him and three others in the new retinue.

When the frantic red light of the tower's defenses went out, an order shouted loudly in the symbols of the announcement in the familiar voice of his grandfather, Mage Walken.

"I'm Master Walken - all members of the Grey Forces are to gather in the Atrium at 13:15 to hear a debriefing. Any member who does not comply will be expelled from the tower. ”

Still bewildered, Jules and the others hurried to the atrium. There, about a hundred mages have gathered, mostly young people.

When the room was filled with enough bullets, the serious image of Judge Walken in a dazzling set of armored combat uniforms appeared on the podium.

The owner and owner of the grey market is a quiet man with thick black eyes. His face used to be handsome, but now it was haggard. Now, the appearance of the judge is somewhat "forgotten". However, it was such an indelible figure, coupled with the support of two colleagues, Jeremy Lin and Ferris, that created the largest "unofficial" trading mall in Oceania. Standing 5 feet 9 feet tall, the once-humble judge now exudes an aura of command, his loose black hair trimmed with silver stripes. His hands were a rare pair of bizarre rings, while no less than six gems swirled around his head. He is the embodiment of an archmage who inspires his followers to cheer loudly.

Jules isn't the kind of sycophant, but peer pressure is a contagious contagion.

Above his head, the judge began to say terrible news.

"Grey market factions, I'm the one who brings terrible news. 20 minutes ago, we were at war. The Mermaid Gate, blocked by the Tower, is coming at us again. Now our solemn duty is to protect the tower from the hands of the enemy. ”

Illusion-enhanced glyphs built in the atrium begin to construct a real-time visual of the scene below, where a dozen shielded stations amidst the smoking ruins and a fleet of merfolk galloping for the city.

There was a discordant exclamation from the crowd below. Some urged immediate action, while others questioned what exactly Tower was doing at such a moment. Where is Gunther Schultz, its knightly protector, and where is the owner of the tower?

"I know what you're thinking. Why are we being attacked, why are the towers crippled, why are the messages spelling stuck?"

Walken paused, his three colons echoing through the almost empty hall where there should be a thousand mages ready to fight.

"We are not in battle - because we have been betrayed! Moreover, the traitor is Henry himself! The owner of the tower is not what he seems!"

The crowd gasped.

"Look what Kielroy's selfish behavior has brought us!"

A series of images created through the magic charm flash into life. This surreal image shows a woman with skin as white as snow, slaughtering what looks like a coastal military base with dark void tendrils.

The crowd panted and stunned when they saw it. The slaughter was completely indiscriminate: men, women, merfolk, savages and mages, none of whom escaped her life in search of the lamprey's tentacles.

"That's ... That's a noose!" shouted someone in the crowd.

Everyone present had heard of the noose head massacre. That was before the tower was built, where humanity lost more than four hundred promising assistants, ambushed by mermaids. But the reasons for the invasion and disappearance remain unresolved. Jules frowned. If so, why are they looking at this now?

The second set of images shows a group of mages tying up another set of what appears to be spellcasters, tying them together and stuffing them into an iron cage. The montage continues until the picture becomes a dark warehouse filled with bloodstained hospital beds, where mages, presumably captives, are dissecting their organs. Again, a fair-skinned, dark-haired young woman supervised the operation.

Angry whispers spread through the crowd. Emotions go from confusion and questioning to outright resentment and hostility.

"It is extremely dangerous for a friend and companion of our faction to be able to expose these evil actions. At the root of all this horror and suffering lies in this woman, who is also the culprit of the massacre of young people in Nusahold. ”

A projection appeared, a picture of Elizabeth, looking older, more shabby, traveling. Lumen recordings are official portraits taken from the records of the tower.

Several senior mages in the crowd gasped.

"That's ...... That's Elizabeth Winsted Sobel! She's a war hero!"

"What?" "The Clash of the Gods of the Coral Sea?"

"Exactly the same!"

"I've seen her on promotional recordings. ”

"Impossible!"

"She's dead, isn't she?"

"She's ...... Undead?"

"The witch!"

"Those poor children......"

"Those poor cries are about to cry!"

Walken surprised the room by matching several of the previous sets of photos with Elizabeth's lumen recordings. Jules felt that he had been attacked by a conspiracy. The whole thing can be fabricated, and of course, the illusion can be made and created by meticulous magicians, but the masses do not see why their patrons and masters would go to great lengths to deceive them. After all, Walken brought great benefits to the tower through the grey market. He was known to be a generous judge, reliable and protective of his assistant.

Satisfied that the crowd was enraged, Walken continued.