bookandnovel Chapter 71 The Final Battle of Blade Winter
Chapter 71 The Final Battle of Blade Winter
Chapter 71 The Winter of Blades: The Final Battle (Part 2) (Combined)
Ohm knew what this meant.
This is a sacrifice.
In order to kill that powerful enemy, Lorraine decided to sacrifice her and himself.
That makes sense.
In the war logic of the Golden Age, any sacrifice is worthwhile for victory.
She was just a machine spirit.
It's a component.
It's an echo of an old era that should have been eliminated long ago.
If we can perish together with a fourth-tier monster, it can be considered as protecting human civilization as it is today, right?
To die for the sake of protecting the current spark of human civilization—that would be a worthy death, wouldn't it?
"never mind."
The expression on the screen suddenly changed.
It turned into a determined smile.
【（^—^）】
"Let's blast it."
"Lorraine".
"I am not afraid of death."
"Anyway, I'm trapped in this jar, trapped in this scrap metal city, and I've had enough of living."
"Rather than slowly rotting in the darkness, it's better to bloom one last time."
"Thank you."
"Thank you for talking to me during this time."
"You are the first—and the only—my friend."
Ohm's voice grew softer and softer, carrying a tragic and resolute tone.
She began to proactively use her privileges to help Lorraine unlock the reactor's final safety measure.
She was going to her death.
For this only friend.
"Smack."
A hand suddenly pressed down on the screen.
Lorraine's hand.
He rolled his eyes as he looked at the meme on the screen that seemed ready to die.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
"Who told you you were going to die?"
"Who told you this was a sacrifice?"
Ohm was stunned.
There was a momentary pause in the data stream.
【(00)?】
"Isn't that right? Reactor overload—that energy level—"
"That level of energy could indeed kill a fourth-tier being."
Lorraine smiled slyly.
"But who told you that you'd be blown up too?"
He swiped his finger across the screen, bringing up a complex structural diagram.
That's a diagram of the sealing structure of the culture tank containing Ohm's main body.
"Look here."
"To prevent the machine souls from rebelling, the people of the Golden Age added a seal to the outside of your cultivation tank."
"These seals have no interfaces and can only be broken by brute force through external high-energy impacts."
"According to calculations, the required energy level is exactly the peak value of a relay tower reactor when it is overloaded."
Lorraine looked at Ohm, her tone calm.
"Haven't you noticed that the fiery vines I've laid out these past few days are guiding energy towards the sealed node near your control room?"
"fool."
"I'm helping you escape from prison."
"Once the explosion occurs, the seal that has imprisoned you for three thousand years will shatter."
"Then I'll be able to take your brilliant mind with me."
"I told you, I don't lie to children. If I say I'll save you, I will."
Ohm was stunned.
Completely bewildered.
prison Break?
Not a sacrifice?
Wasn't the mutual destruction also for the purpose of saving her?
【(Q—Q)】
The binary code on the screen shook violently, and I was almost overflowing with excitement.
"Whoa—!!!"
"You scared me to death!!"
"I thought I was going to die!!"
"I thought you were going to abandon me!!"
Lorraine rubbed her ears helplessly.
"Alright, alright, stop howling."
"My tears are going to flood the jar."
"But----"
Ohm stopped crying, then suddenly thought of a more serious problem.
Even if I don't die.
"And what about you?"
"If you want to lure the enemy deep into your territory, you must stay inside the tower."
"If you detonate the reactor, you won't be able to escape either!"
"You don't have any seals to protect you!"
This is the biggest loophole.
The premise of this plan is that Lorraine must use herself as bait.
In this confined space, facing an impact equivalent to a nuclear explosion.
How could a mortal human body possibly survive?
Lorraine smiled.
"rest assured."
Lorraine tossed the order to relocate the camp into the air and caught it perfectly.
His eyes gleamed with a mad light.
"Who said I was going to tough it out?"
Fifteen minutes later.
Inside the Magic Relay Tower.
boom!
The heavy isolation door was violently smashed.
Twisted metal fragments scattered like shrapnel, embedding themselves deeply into the surrounding walls.
A figure shrouded in extreme cold strode into the core area of the relay tower.
Haji has arrived.
The magical energy shield around him was slightly dimmed, a trace left from his journey through the levels.
But his aura was even more violent and terrifying than before.
The pressure from a fourth-tier expert made even the dust in the air seem to freeze.
"come out!"
Haji looked around, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's.
The place was filled with that stench that he both loathed and desperately craved.
That's the smell of demonic fire.
It smells like that reckless little lord!
And the concentration is extremely high!
"I know you're here."
Haji sneered, dragging the greatsword in his hand on the ground, carving a deep trench.
"Stop hiding."
"This filthy, demonic fire smell has given you away!"
however.
Only deathly silence answered him.
as well as----
Drip, drip, drip.
A very subtle yet highly regular mechanical countdown sound.
Haji frowned slightly.
His gaze swept across the empty control panel, over the still-flashing indicator lights, and finally settled on the center of the hall.
There was no one there.
Only a strange little tower stood alone on the floor.
The tower was only half a person's height, grayish-white in color, with rusty chains wrapped around it, giving off an unsettling sense of sluggishness.
"What the hell is this thing?"
Haji stopped in his tracks.
Even though he was a fourth-tier expert, his instinctive combat intuition still kept him on guard when facing this unknown creation he had never seen before.
trap?
totem?
Or is it some kind of cursed item?
In the very moment of his confusion.
The small, gray-white tower suddenly lit up without warning.
A gray halo exploded instantly, sweeping across the entire hall at an astonishing speed.
Haji instinctively tried to dodge.
But he noticed that his movements had slowed down.
No.
It's not just about the actions.
It's the flow of thought, the magic, even the refraction of light in the field of vision—everything slows down.
"Buzz"
It was as if the whole world had been slowed down a hundred times.
[Tower of Stagnation: Activated]
[Target locked: Haji (Tier 4)]
[Slowdown effect: 90%]
That feeling was absolutely disgusting.
It felt like being thrown into a pool of extremely sticky glue, where even lifting a finger required tremendous effort.
"This is... your trump card?"
Haji struggled to turn his eyes toward the small tower.
His voice became low and drawn out, like an old cassette tape stuck.
But he did not panic.
in contrast.
A hint of mockery flashed in his eyes.
"But this level of control..."
"How long can you maintain this?"
He was a battle-hardened warrior.
Such powerful control skills usually come with significant limitations.
It either consumes a huge amount of resources or lasts for a very short time.
Even if this thing can only hold him for a minute.
so what?
Even if that little lord were to be fired at as a stationary target for a minute, it would be questionable whether he could even break through that fourth-tier magical energy shield.
"Ten seconds—or—twenty seconds?"
Haji didn't even bother to struggle.
He simply stood still, letting the feeling of sluggishness envelop his entire body.
He is waiting.
Wait until this ridiculous control ends.
Then, he would drag out the little mouse hiding in the shadows and crush its bones bit by bit.
however.
Just then.
The faint "beep beep" sound that he had been ignoring suddenly became urgent.
Beep beep beep beep beep—!
The sound did not come from the small tower.
Rather, it came from the enormous behemoth he was in.
That is the Magic Energy Relay Tower, which connects the entire city's energy network.
Haji suddenly looked up.
Even though the movement was slowed down tenfold, he could still see it clearly.
The countless runes on the massive tower, which originally emitted a ghostly blue light, have now turned into a blinding blood red.
A destructive energy surge is rapidly accumulating, compressing, and collapsing inside the tower.
The sheer magnitude of that energy caused even a fourth-tier powerhouse like him to have his scalp instantly explode.
"This—this is—"
Haji's pupils suddenly contracted to pinpoints.
That madman—
It actually detonated the entire Demon Tower?!
"No—impossible—"
Haji's brain was screaming alarms.
Not only is there magic fire here, but there are also lord buildings, and they're even active.
One ironclad rule is that territory buildings can only be activated if the lord is within territory shrouded in demonic fire.
Effective.
This proves that Lorraine is currently hiding nearby and will not be outside the area covered by the demonic fire.
However, detonating an energy source of this level would severely injure even a fourth-tier expert.
A fragile lord detonating this tower near himself—what's the difference between that and suicide?!
You're willing to risk your life just to kill me?!
"boom!!!"
He wasn't given more time to think.
The countdown has reached zero.
That blinding, blood-red light completely engulfed everything.
That instant.
No sound.
The shockwave from the explosion exceeded the speed of sound.
First came the light.
Bright light strong enough to cause blindness.
Then came the heat.
High temperatures capable of instantly vaporizing steel.
At last.
It is a terrifying impact force capable of tearing apart any material structure.
The entire underground space of Sector B-12 seemed to have been hit by a magnitude 10 earthquake.
A massive mushroom cloud rose and tumbled within the narrow space.
The sturdy alloy walls were torn apart like paper.
This is Lorraine's plan.
simple.
rough.
and----
They lack martial ethics.
The pungent smell of burning filled the entire space.
The once magnificent magic relay tower has disappeared.
Instead, there is a huge crater with a diameter of over 100 meters.
At the edge of the deep pit, dark red magma was slowly flowing; it was a mixture of metal and rock melted by high temperatures.
"Cough—cough cough—"
A violent coughing sound came from the bottom of the pit.
A charred hand suddenly gripped the edge of the pit.
Followed by.
A disheveled figure slowly climbed up.
It's Haji.
He is not dead yet.
But at this moment, he had completely lost his previous composure and domineering aura.
That once-proud ice crystal armor was now covered in scorch marks, and the left shoulder armor was completely shattered, revealing the mangled, bloody skin beneath.
That fourth-tier magic energy shield had already shattered completely the moment of the explosion.
Blood streamed down his forehead, obscuring one of his eyes.
"Hahaha----"
Haji was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently.
He looked at the hellish scene before him and let out a hoarse laugh.
The laughter grew louder and louder.
It eventually turned into a frantic roar.
"Is he dead?!"
"He's dead already?!"
"You mere ant, you think you can take me down with you?!"
He roared to the sky, his voice filled with the relief of surviving a disaster, but also with a perverse sense of pleasure.
"What a pity!"
"Unfortunately, you're only at Tier 3, while I'm at Tier 4!"
"An explosion of that magnitude could turn you to ashes, but it could only break my shield!"
"You lost!"
"You foolish, pathetic, self-important ant!"
"Even if you scheme and plot, even if you risk your life—"
"I still won!!"
Haji shakily straightened up.
He won.
Although he was injured and looked terrible, he was still alive.
As for Lorraine, he must have been completely obliterated in that horrific explosion.
This is the difference in rank.
This is the difference between mortals and gods —
A piercing roar of a steam engine suddenly broke the silence of the empty ruins.
This interrupted Haji's declaration of victory.
He turned his head abruptly.
In the distance of the deep pit, two steam-powered freight cars were speeding towards him, side by side.
Less than two minutes later, he saw a young, dark-haired man get out of the car.
"Greetings, Lord Winter of Blades."
"To think that this is actually our first meeting, let me introduce myself. I am Lorraine, the Baron of the White Wolf Territory, and the heir to the Tower of Babel."
"You seem so happy, did you think I was dead?"
Haji's body stiffened.
Looking at the strange man in front of him, his expression was as if he had seen a ghost.
"Who?!"
He shouted sharply, instinctively raising the greatsword in his hand.
"Who am I? Haven't you always wanted to kill me?"
Lorraine continued, her tone as relaxed as if she were chatting with an old friend.
"Mr. Haji, your vitality is indeed tenacious, even tougher than I imagined."
"but----"
"Who told you that the person who detonates the bomb has to stand next to it?"
Black hair, black trench coat, and a smile that infuriates.
This is the young lord—Lorraine.
He stood there in front of the crater left by the explosion, his hands in his pockets, not a speck of dust on his body.
Clean and tidy.
They looked as if they were going to a banquet.
This contrasts sharply with Haji, who is now covered in blood and in a sorry state.
"you----"
Haji stared intently at Lorraine, his eyes bloodshot.
"That's impossible!"
"I smell demonic fire! It's the Lord's demonic fire! You're right here!"
"That little tower that slows me down! It can't possibly activate without the infusion of the Lord's magic!"
'
"You can't be gone!"
Lorraine shrugged.
He raised his hand and pointed to a pile of ruins behind Haji.
There, a section of charred, dark red vine was hanging down from the broken pipe.
Have you ever heard of a plant called the Flame Vine?
Lorraine smiled and explained.
"Although this thing has no offensive capabilities, it has a very interesting characteristic—it is an excellent conductor of magic."
"Just connect one end to the magic fire and the other end to the building."
"I can remotely control any facility here, just like using an extended network cable."
"As for myself—"
Lorraine pointed to her wrist, pretending to look at her watch.
"I evacuated to a safe zone two kilometers away about fifteen minutes ago."
"I have to say, the explosion was really spectacular; it was thrilling even watching it on a screen."
puff.
Haji felt as if he had been hit hard in the chest by a sledgehammer.
He almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
I've been tricked.
I've been completely fooled.
From beginning to end, he was fighting a shadow.
He's outsmarting the air.
He rushed in like an idiot, got bombed like an idiot, and then celebrated his victory in the air like an idiot.
shame.
An unprecedented humiliation.
"I'm going to kill you—"
Haji gritted his teeth, the sound escaping from between them.
"You don't think that just because you broke my shield, I'm defenseless?"
"A mere third-tier cultivator! Even without my magic shield, killing you will be a piece of cake!"