Chapter 217: Chapter 211: The Mentor’s Warning

The Odyssey landed on the workshop’s tarmac, and the hatch opened.

Victor used Witchcraft to levitate in mid-air. The wound where his leg had been severed had already scabbed over, and the color had returned to his face.

He floated behind Allen as they descended the ramp, his expression complex as he surveyed the orderly workshop before him.

’Yesterday, my workshop was perfectly fine. Today, it’s suddenly gone.’

"Jarvis, dispatch the Spider Slayers and Alchemy Servants to the ruins of Mine No. 3. Collect samples from the Magical Beast corpses and data on the residual environmental Magic Power," Allen ordered as he walked.

[Command received.]

Five Six-legged Golems strode out of the workshop. They joined the Alchemy Servants in the hold of a waiting transport Floating Ship, which then sped off toward the land of death.

Victor floated beside Allen, watching him skillfully orchestrate everything in silence.

「Half an hour later, in the Alchemy Experiment lab.」

The samples brought back from the ruins were laid out for inspection.

There were charred and twisted fragments of Golem armor, pieces of vitrified earth that had melted and re-solidified... and the most complete specimen: the corpse of a Crystal Shell Giant Scorpion.

"Let me take a look for you."

Forcing himself to stay focused, Victor began the examination personally.

A faint Magic Radiance glowed at his fingertips as he slowly swept them over the giant scorpion’s charred remains.

"Hm?" He suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed.

"Did you find something?" Allen asked.

"Traces of a soul brand..." Victor closed his eyes, concentrating. "It’s very faint, almost completely dissipated with the soul. But this type of Witchcraft... I’ve heard of it."

He opened his eyes, his gaze a mixture of disgust and certainty. "This is the work of a Black Wizard from the Contract School. They twist and enslave the souls of Magical Beasts, turning them into fearless instruments of war."

The Contract School.

They specialize in forging contracts with Magical Beasts and other powerful entities. However, a normal contract is a two-way street: the Wizard provides resources for the Magical Beast’s growth, and the Magical Beast obeys the Wizard’s commands. Only Black Wizards are unscrupulous, preferring to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs or drain the pond to catch all the fish.

Throughout the Wizarding World, this school produces the most Black Wizards due to the worship of certain Demon Gods, and it has an abysmal reputation.

Victor continued, "It’s a Core Witchcraft called [Sovereign Mark]."

"Its effect is to forcibly brand a Magical Beast’s soul to achieve absolute control. It can control up to three Magical Beasts of the same level at once. If the controlled beast is a leader, the user can also indirectly control its entire pack."

"However, the control lasts no more than thirty days. The branded Magical Beast’s soul will wither and die within that time."

Allen’s expression turned colder.

"So, he doesn’t care whether these Magical Beasts live or die."

"Exactly," Victor said with a nod. "To him, Magical Beasts are just consumables. He uses them up, throws them away, and just captures more when they die."

"Furthermore, given that he could control a scorpion king, he’s likely a Second-level Wizard. But just like Wizards from the alchemy school, his own physical combat abilities probably aren’t very strong."

Allen fell silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Jarvis, pull up the combat logs from Victor’s zone."

[Logs retrieved.]

The light screen switched to display footage of the siege on Victor’s workshop.

Two colossal Crystal Shell Giant Scorpion kings were frantically attacking the workshop’s defensive shield. Their attacks were chaotic, nothing more than a fearless, suicidal charge.

"You killed one of the scorpion kings then?" Allen asked.

"Yes." Victor’s expression soured. "That scorpion king’s fighting style was all wrong. It completely ignored its own defense and just kept attacking. I seized an opening and killed it with a single-use Witchcraft Tool my family gave me."

"What about the other one?"

"The other one..." Victor hesitated. "It just kept attacking my shield until you showed up. If you hadn’t arrived when you did, I probably wouldn’t have lasted another three minutes."

Allen nodded and pulled up his own combat logs from Mine No. 3.

The leader-class giant scorpion there had displayed the same fearless attack pattern.

’My mine was attacked by a second-level scorpion king and ten adult giant scorpions,’ Allen mused. ’If it’s the Witchcraft you described, then he must have at least two more leader-class Magical Beasts hidden away, waiting for me to show myself.’

Victor added, "And he can also stimulate these Magical Beasts, making them completely lose their sense of fear and self-preservation to unleash even greater combat strength."

Allen nodded. "If that’s the case, we definitely won’t be able to win without concentrating all our forces. But these two attacks probably weren’t carried out by the same person. They were too far apart to be launched almost simultaneously. They must be subordinates or disciples of the Son of the Abyss our mentor mentioned."

Allen tapped his fingers on the armrest twice.

’The one who attacked my mine is also a Black Wizard from the Contract School, specializing in controlling Magical Beasts.’

’Known abilities: forced branding, frenzy stimulation, and remote control.’

’He doesn’t show himself, so he’s cautious, but also greedy.’

’He just hides in the shadows and controls Magical Beasts to do his attacking.’

Allen continued, now speaking aloud, "His goal is clear: destroy production facilities and plunder high-value minerals, but never take any risks."

"That kind of person..." Victor said through gritted teeth as he listened to Allen’s summary, "is the hardest to deal with."

Allen said nothing, simply continuing to stare at the light screen in thought.

Just then, Jarvis’s voice suddenly rang out.

[Commander, incoming communication request from Mentor Mercer.]

It was a top-priority encrypted communication.

Allen waved his hand to accept the call, and his mentor Mercer’s face appeared on the light screen.

"Mentor," Allen said with a slight bow.

There was no trace of emotion in Mercer’s blue crystalline eyes, but Allen could sense that his mentor was in a foul mood.

"Did you get Victor out?"

Hearing this, Victor immediately floated forward, bowed to his mentor, and replied, "I’m still alive, Mentor."

"As long as you’re alive, that’s all that matters. The loss of Zone 19 wasn’t your fault. Once this is all over, you can go back and rebuild."

With that, the mentor turned to Allen.

"Was your mine attacked as well?"

"It was."

"It’s not just you two."

Mercer’s voice was as low and hard as iron. "In the last three hours, seventeen zones, as well as mines and energy nodes within my own domain, were all attacked simultaneously."

’What?!’ The thought struck both Allen and Victor at the same time.

"The enemy’s objective is crystal clear: to paralyze our production capabilities and cut off our resource supply," Mercer’s tone was icy. "This is a premeditated, organized, full-scale assault."

"The main beast tide has my Golem Legion pinned down on three fronts. I can’t spare any mobile forces to support you."

Mercer’s gaze swept over Allen and Victor.

"From now on, do your best to hold your territory. Your primary mission is self-preservation. I will end this turmoil as quickly as possible."

"Yes," they answered in unison.

The communication ended.

The control room fell into a deathly silence.

Their hope for external support was completely extinguished. From now on, they were on their own.

「For the next two days, a tense atmosphere enveloped all of Zone 18.」

Allen launched no further attacks, instead pulling back all his defensive lines.

The main force of the First Golem Legion was transferred to the Boiling Lava Lake, home to his most critical Magic Power forge. It could not be lost under any circumstances.

The Freedom Gundam returned to the workshop, serving as the ultimate line of defense for the core facility.

A squadron of twelve "Storm Falcons" began continuous low-altitude patrols across the entire territory. The deafening roar of their passage was a silent warning to the hidden enemy.

However, it was as if the Black Wizard had vanished into thin air. There was no sign of him.

「On the morning of the third day.」

A shrill alarm once again shattered the workshop’s tranquility!

[Emergency Alert! Mine No. 6 is under attack!]

Jarvis’s voice echoed throughout the control room.

On the tactical map, the blue light representing the safety of Mine No. 6—located on the edge of the Black Stone Gobi—was instantly engulfed by flashing red alerts!

Allen’s eyes snapped to the light screen.

On the screen, another colossal Rock Armor Earth Dragon was leading over a dozen adults of its kind, having appeared directly in the center of the mine!

Their movements were swift, violent, and brutally efficient. There was no probing. The moment they appeared, they charged the mine’s two "Inferno" launch platforms and the PX-1 heavy Golem!

BOOM!

Before one of the Inferno platforms could even adjust its firing angle, the lead dragon detonated its ammunition bay with a burst of violent earth-elemental energy, blowing it into a towering fireball.

"Not again!" Victor cried out. "It’s the same tactic!"

The mine’s defensive forces fought back desperately, but the enemy’s assault was too frenzied. They were trading life for life.

After just three minutes, Jarvis’s cold report came through.

[Mine No. 6 defensive forces have been completely destroyed by the invading Magical Beasts.]

[Damage report: One PX-1 model Golem, completely destroyed. Two Inferno launch platforms, completely destroyed. Ten Mining Golems...]

[Production at Mine No. 6 has been halted.]

The rapid-response force Allen had dispatched was still en route.

He watched silently as another blue light on the tactical map dimmed, turning to the gray that signified it was out of commission.

Once again, the Black Wizard had no intention of recovering the Magical Beasts under his control. After completing their mission of destruction, the Rock Armor Earth Dragons scattered, though they likely wouldn’t survive the month.

’Disposable tools.’

The look in Allen’s eyes turned utterly cold.

He understood now.

His opponent had no intention of fighting a decisive battle. Instead, he was using this low-cost, "bleed-out" tactic to take out all of his production sites, one by one.

The enemy would strike again.

And he had to find a chance to strike back.