bookandnovel Chapter 99 Killing Frostwolf City
Chapter 99 Killing Frostwolf City
Chapter 98 Returning to Frostwolf City
The Tower of Babel, second level, the Titan Forge area.
Anna's promotion ceremony ended three days ago.
Lorraine stood on the outer wall of the camp, holding the camp relocation order in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the defensive layout in front of him.
The four-tiered city wall encircles the camp in a circle, its arc-shaped structure making the entire camp completely airtight.
Inside the city walls, various witch towers are evenly distributed on all four sides: six to the east, six to the west, a dozen to the south, and a dozen to the north, like sesame seeds scattered around.
This layout wouldn't have been a problem in the past.
When defending a city, which is surrounded by enemies on all sides, it is natural to distribute firepower evenly.
But it's different now.
Lorraine has no intention of staying.
He wants to fight his way out.
Retake Frostwolf City.
"ohm."
A crisp reply came from behind: "Yes!"
"Pull up the structural diagram of the second level of the Tower of Babel. I need to see the load-bearing data for the south-facing side."
A fine stream of data flowed through Ohm's silver pupils, and a few seconds later, a sophisticated structural blueprint unfolded in the air in front of her.
Lorraine glanced at the key parameters and smiled slightly.
The load-bearing redundancy is 370%.
The industrial foundation of the Golden Age was solid; even if all the buildings were piled up on one side, this deck wouldn't even bend.
"Young Master, what are you doing?" Anna leaned closer, her gaze falling on the blueprint. After a few seconds, she still didn't understand it.
Lorraine called everyone over and pulled out the camp relocation order.
"I've inspected Frostwolf City's defenses. The outer layer consists of Tier 2 walls forming the civilian area, while the inner layer is a Tier 3 wall forming the castle area."
"Their rank is similar to ours, but they have more witches, more than twenty in total. If they want to attack Frostwolf City, we must be fully prepared."
He drew a line on the blueprint that Ohm had projected with his finger.
"Therefore, I will concentrate all the firepower, all the Witch's Towers, on one side of the Tower of Babel."
"One side?" Victor frowned. "What does the young master mean—"
'
"Move all the towers to the south side. Then, with the Tower of Babel facing the walls of Frostwolf, all our Witch Towers—a total of fifty-four towers—will fire simultaneously, and a single volley will reduce their walls to rubble."
Victor opened his mouth, then closed it again.
Fifty-four Witch Towers.
How terrifying! It far surpasses the quantity and quality of Frostwolf City.
Lorraine picked up the camp relocation order and gently raised his hand.
The moment the spiritual energy was poured in, a soft golden halo appeared on the surface of the relocation order.
To the east of the camp, six strangely shaped black spires are entwined with dark purple patterns; these are Lyra's Doomsday Watchtowers.
With a flick of his mental power, Lorraine caused all six towers to detach from their foundations simultaneously, their entire structures transforming into points of light in the subspace before being swallowed by the relocation order.
Next up were Ohm’s twelve Tier 3 magic-powered heavy artillery turrets.
Thick metal cannon barrels, heavy armor bases, and heat dissipation grilles embedded on both sides of the tower disappeared from the ground one by one, like chess pieces being picked up from a chessboard by an invisible hand.
Ohm instinctively clutched her chest; the sensation of all twelve nerve connections being severed simultaneously made her feel unwell.
"Big brother, be gentle—"
Lorraine didn't respond, but continued what she was doing.
Olivia's twelve thorn towers followed closely behind, their dark green bodies, wrapped in vines and thorns, melting away one after another in the golden light.
Anna's was last.
Twenty-four towers of fourth-order entropy.
These towers were newly built by Lorraine after Anna advanced to the fourth rank, and they are not even in the same league as the previous Ice and Fire Magic Towers.
Each tower's spire splits into two intertwined spiral structures, one side radiating a pale, frigid halo, while the other faintly emanates a dark red, high-temperature radiation.
Ice and fire, two diametrically opposed energies, collide, annihilate, and regenerate at the intersection of the spiral, forming a near-perpetual energy cycle.
The Tower of Entropy.
The ultimate weapon of thermodynamics.
When all twenty-four towers detached from their foundations at the same time, the temperature of the entire camp visibly fluctuated.
First came a bone-chilling cold, followed by an intense heat. The two extreme temperatures collided in a fraction of a second, causing everyone present to shiver involuntarily.
All revenue has been collected.
The camp was largely empty; the area that was once densely packed with towers was now bare, with only the circular imprints left by the tower foundations on the ground.
Lorraine turned around, facing the south-facing city wall.
The mental energy was once again infused into the relocation order.
This time, it's about release.
On the open ground inside the southern city wall, golden light spread out like a rising tide, and one tower after another was pulled out of the subspace and crashed to the ground with a dull thud.
Six doom watchtowers were the first to be positioned, and dark purple light patterns lit up on the towers again. Lyra's mental connection was instantly restored. She groaned, and her black and gold heterochromatic eyes suddenly lit up.
Twelve magic-powered heavy cannon turrets followed closely behind, their massive barrels pointing south in unison. Data streams churned wildly in Ohm's pupils, and he couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.
Twelve thorny watchtowers were placed between the heavy artillery turrets. The vines began to spread wildly the moment they hit the ground, entwining themselves with the adjacent towers to form a dense, impenetrable green network.
At last.
Twenty-four Towers of Entropy.
One.
Two.
Three.
The moment all twenty-four towers were in place, the entire south-facing side of the second level of the Tower of Babel transformed into a suffocating steel jungle.
Fifty-four witch towers stand densely packed on the south side of the Tower of Babel, with the distance between the spires compressed to the limit.
From a distance, it looks like an arrow tightly gripped in a hand—all its sharpness pointing in the same direction.
south.
The direction of Frostwolf City.
Victor stood on the city wall, looking down at the terrifying barrage of firepower below. His Adam's apple bobbed twice before he finally managed to utter, "Young Master—if a single volley of fire were to hit, it could probably flatten the mountain, right?"
Lorraine chuckled: "What, now that you're at the fourth rank, your skin and flesh have gotten even thicker. Want to test your firepower for Frostwolf City first?"
Victor waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, even a fourth-tier weapon couldn't possibly withstand the attack of so many Witch Towers head-on!"
"If I went down there, I'd probably be blasted to smithereens in the blink of an eye."
Lorraine has once again issued a relocation order for the camp.
The golden light shone again, and sections of the fourth-tier city walls on the north, east, and west sides began to detach from the ground, transforming into streams of light in the subspace that were then swallowed by the relocation order.
Then it was all superimposed on the south side.
What was originally a single, four-tiered city wall has now become four layers.
The thickness of the city walls on all four sides was stacked on one side, and the south-facing wall instantly became so thick that it was absurd—from a distance, it didn't even look like a normal city wall, but rather a cliff face stretching across the land!
As for the other three sides?
It was empty, without even a fence.
Lorraine never intended to defend the other three directions.
Anna stared at the ridiculously exaggerated city walls and the Witch's Tower complex, her mouth slightly agape, unsure of what to say.
"Young Master, we're not defending the other three sides. What if someone sneaks up from behind?"
Lorraine glanced at her.
"Who touched it?"
Anna paused for a moment.
Also.
On this icy plain, the Winter Legion, which posed a threat to them, has been decimated. Who would dare to provoke them now?
When they attacked Frostwolf City, unaware that the monsters had been wiped out by Lorraine, none of them dared to leave the city during the snowy season.
Lorraine put away the relocation order, dusted off imaginary dust from his hands, and took one last look at the heavily fortified south wall.
Fifty-four towers.
A fourth-tier city wall, four times thicker than the original.
All the firepower and all the defenses were concentrated on one surface.
"The time for passively taking hits is over."
Lorraine turned around and walked towards the camp, her voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.
"It's our turn to go and settle all the debts we owe!"
Lorraine entered the central control room of the Tower of Babel.
The room was small, with control panels from the Golden Age embedded in the four walls. Most of them were dark, with only the main screen in the center still glowing faintly.
There is a recessed six-pointed star pattern on the ground in front of the screen; that is the machine's access port.
Ohm was already standing inside.
She stood barefoot in the center of the six-pointed star, her long silver hair moving without wind, and the data stream in her eyes was more than ten times denser than usual. Her whole being exuded a strange beauty that blended machinery and flesh.
"Big brother." She turned around, a hint of nervousness on her face, "The mobile system's warm-up is complete, and it can be activated at any time. But—"
"But what?"
"The last time the Tower of Babel moved was at your command. Since then, the quadrupedal walking mechanism has been completely broken down. Although you have repaired it in the past few days, it has been out of use for so long that I cannot guarantee that there will be no problems."
Lorraine glanced at her, then walked to the main screen and scanned the data.
The four-legged hydraulic system is operating normally.
Gyroscope stabilization module – operating normally.
Gait coordinator – operating normally.
Power output—the main reactor provides stable power with a redundancy of 42 percent.
A sea of green.
"The data is all correct." Lorraine looked away.
"After these few days of repairs, the data is fine, but who knows if it will have problems running in practice—" Ohm pouted. "What if it breaks its leg halfway through?"
"Fix it if it breaks." Lorraine's tone was as casual as if she were talking about what to eat today. "You've known me for a long time."
Ohm opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but couldn't find a reason.
Also.
The water purification plant was abandoned, so he connected the extension cord.
The energy pipeline broke, but he reconnected it with vines.
She had been soaking in a life-sustaining jar for thousands of years, and he somehow managed to recreate a body for her.
This man seems to have no concept of the phrase "cannot be fixed".
"Alright." Ohm took a deep breath, his feet firmly planted on the six-pointed star pattern, and the data stream in his silver pupils suddenly accelerated, like two balls of burning mercury.
She closed her eyes.
Consciousness flowed along neural connections into the port beneath his feet, passing through layers of data nodes, and arrived at the core driving system at the very bottom of the Tower of Babel.
There lie dormant four giant mechanical legs, cast from refined gold and active alloys, with hydraulic cylinders at their joints thicker than buildings, lurking at the four corners of the base of the Tower of Babel like four coiled dragons.
"Mobile system startup".
Ohm's voice changed, gaining a metallic echo, as if she and the entire city were speaking at the same time.
"Four-legged walking mechanism unlocked. Hydraulic system pressurized. Gait mode — set to medium-speed cruise."
Lorraine felt a very faint vibration beneath her feet.
It's so light that you'd almost miss it if you weren't consciously trying to feel it.
But then, the second one came.
It's heavier than the first one.
The third time.
Fourth time.
Each strike was heavier, more solid, and more powerful than the last, like a heart that had been dormant for thousands of years beginning to beat again.
The walls of the central control room began to tremble slightly, and a few of the control panels embedded in the wall that had been darkened suddenly flickered before going out again.
Then, blast.
It wasn't an explosion, it wasn't a collapse.
Rather, the entire Tower of Babel moved at that moment.
Lorraine leaned forward slightly and reached out to hold onto the control panel next to him.
The ground beneath my feet tilted about two or three degrees, but was quickly corrected back to horizontal by the gyroscope.
That feeling was wonderful.
It felt like standing on a giant ship, slowly sailing away from the harbor.
But instead of the swaying of the water, there was a steady, rhythmic undulation—the cadence produced by the alternating steps of the four mechanical legs.
step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
With each step, a muffled thunderous roar echoed across the ice field.
Lorraine strode out of the central control room and climbed onto the lookout tower.
The moment the wind rushed in, his pupils dilated slightly.
The scene before me was completely different from what it had been a few minutes ago.
The base of the Tower of Babel has been lifted off the ground.
Four giant legs support this steel city that is hundreds of meters high. Each leg takes a stride of more than 100 meters, and the ice and snow that splash up when it lands are like white fireworks that have been detonated, scattering in all directions.
The ice field slowly receded beneath our feet.
Looking down from the observation deck, the once insurmountable glaciers and snow-capped mountains have all shrunk to folds on a map, shrouded in the shadow of the Tower of Babel, as tiny as a sand table model on a table.
The Tower of Babel is walking.
A mobile city is marching across the ice field.
Victor had also come up at some point. He leaned on the railing with both hands, his face showing a dazed expression, as if wondering, "What have I been going through in my life?"
"Young Master—" His voice was a little dry, "I used to think that charging into battle on a warhorse was impressive enough."
"And now?"
Victor looked at the rapidly receding ice field beneath his feet and swallowed hard.
"Now that we're riding through the city, it makes all my past experiences seem like a joke."
Lorraine chuckled softly, his gaze sweeping across the edge of the ice field to the blurry outline on the horizon.
Frostwolf City.
At the current speed of Babel's journey, it should arrive in about a day.
Frostwolf City, Lower City, Alchemist Guild Headquarters.
There was a long queue outside the porridge stall.
We've been providing porridge for over fifty days now. It's two meals a day, morning and evening, a thick porridge of mixed grains and minced meat so thick you can stand chopsticks upright in it.
All you can eat, no charge whatsoever.
This is simply unbelievable in the lower city of Frostwolf.
The emaciated commoners squatted against the wall, holding wooden bowls, slurping down their porridge. The wariness and vigilance in their eyes had faded considerably since the first day.
Instead, there was a cautious sense of gratitude.
A brand-new notice was posted on the bulletin board next to the soup kitchen. The handwriting was neat, and it bore the wax seal of the Alchemists' Association: "In accordance with our founding principles, this association is providing free meals to all residents of the Lower City during this extraordinary period until the snow disaster ends. All expenses will be covered by the association's public funds, and no compensation of any kind will be accepted. —Frostwolf Alchemists' Association"
Next to it was an earlier, crumpled notice that had been posted by the wind and snow: "In addition, starting today, the association's pharmacy will provide basic typhoid medication and anti-frostbite ointment free of charge. Each person is limited to one item per day, on a first-come, first-served basis."
These two notices alone have completely changed the reputation of the Alchemists' Association in the Lower City.
A month ago, when commoners mentioned the Alchemist's Guild, they thought of those ridiculously expensive potions and aloof alchemists who were unscrupulous merchants who only did business with nobles.
It's different now.
"The Alchemists' Association are good people."
This phrase went viral in the lower city.
Human nature is that simple: whoever gives you a bowl of hot porridge when you're starving is a good person.
As for the purpose behind this bowl of porridge, a hungry person won't think about it, nor does he have the energy to.
This morning, a group of residents from the Xiacheng District even spontaneously organized themselves and presented a banner to the association's entrance.
On a red background with gold lettering, eight large characters are embroidered in a crooked manner: "Charity in the heart, virtue benefiting all people."
A stone bust of Pym, carried by several other people, was also nearby; it was quite heavy.
In the history of Frostwolf, half-length stone statues were something that only lords or officials who had made outstanding contributions during years of great calamity could receive.
The last person to receive the statue was the old count thirty years ago, when he opened the granaries and saved half the city.
The statue has now been delivered to the entrance of the Alchemists' Guild.