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Witnessing this scene, the mages atop the distant Skyreach Tower grew furious. Many of them had spent half their lives on the tower, harboring deep affection for it. Seeing the orcs brazenly marching in formation into the tower's firing range, they felt utterly insulted. "How arrogant! Do these orcs truly believe our Skyreach Tower's artillery is mere trickery? If we couldn't hit those swift eagle tribe scouts and leopard clan skirmishers, do they think we’ll miss these neatly lined-up targets?"

Thus, another round of concentrated magical bombardment commenced.

Yet, once again, it missed.

This time, the mages controlling the Skyreach Tower were nearly driven to madness. Just as their magical lightning swept toward the orc army, the orcs erected over a thousand thick Wardrum Sentinel Totems, each standing four to five meters tall and inscribed with intricate patterns. Amid the chants of surrounding Shamans, each totem projected a faint blue spellward barrier spanning a hundred meters in diameter, shielding the orc army completely.

The mages, of course, recognized these totems—they were specially crafted by the Temple of War. Each totem, empowered by the prayers of twelve Shamans, could erect a vast anti-magic barrier capable of repelling spells below the eighth tier. Naturally, the Skyreach Tower’s bombardment far surpassed eighth-tier magic in potency, but at such extreme range with dispersed attacks, it was impossible to ensure every strike exceeded that level. And if they concentrated their firepower... well, they couldn’t forget Chen Xuanfeng, the Sword Saint, standing at the army’s forefront. While he couldn’t intercept thousands of scattered magical lightning bolts, stopping a concentrated artillery barrage was well within his power.

Both sides understood, however, that the orcs could never advance all the way to the walls of Shattered Star Abyss this way. Once they entered the Skyreach Tower’s five-kilometer range, the world’s largest magical artillery platform could switch to volleys of condensed arcane bombs, unleashing a devastating barrage. At that point, neither Chen Xuanfeng nor the Wardrum Sentinel Totems could fully protect the orc army.

Yet Chen Xuanfeng remained unperturbed, silently reflecting: "The Skyreach Tower’s artillery is indeed formidable. If not for Master Leimen infiltrating Shattered Star Abyss and stealing its operational data, if not for the centuries of stagnation and corruption in the Mercenary Empire leaving the tower unimproved, and if not for catching them unprepared—with many elite human mages absent—advancing this close to the city would have been impossible."

This assault on Shattered Star Abyss was the result of meticulous planning. Humanity had no idea Chen Xuanfeng possessed the means to traverse the desert with an army, while he had long since deciphered their capabilities. Decades ago, "War Saint" Leimen had infiltrated the city and, though refraining from destroying the tower for strategic reasons, secretly obtained its operational blueprints. The late Orc King Samanda had used this intelligence to devise tactics for conquering the fortress. The Mercenary Empire’s decay was such that they had left their ancestral tower unmodified for over two centuries—otherwise, Leimen’s data might have been outdated. Regardless, Chen Xuanfeng was now steeled with certainty.

"Advance, all forces—!"

Though maintaining tight formations slowed their advance, the orc army covered the distance to five kilometers outside Shattered Star Abyss in just over two hours, clearing every magical artillery emplacement along the way.

"Come on, then! Step past the second warning line, and we’ll drown you in the heaviest mana bombs, blasting you all to oblivion!" the Skyreach Tower’s mages roared, glaring at the approaching orcs.

The orc army did not disappoint. Without pausing at the second warning line, they marched onward. Yet the Skyreach Tower’s terrifying firepower still failed to strike them—because Chen Xuanfeng, astride his six-winged Demon Dragon, had already charged ahead toward the tower.

Accelerated sevenfold by his Magic Aura, the Demon Dragon broke the sound barrier, crossing five kilometers in mere seconds. Shattered Star Abyss’s defenders dared not let this monstrous swordsman near the tower, but they faced an instant dilemma: attack the orc army to force him into defense, or focus all fire on the wolfman Sword Saint?

Striking the army might pressure him to turn back, but he might also press forward—after all, even the Skyreach Tower couldn’t annihilate 100,000 elite orcs in seconds. But if they targeted him and failed to stop him...

"Lock onto the wolfman Sword Saint! Maximum-output hyper-compressed mana bombs, continuous fire—!" The senior mage snapped the order without debate—in this moment, speed trumped precision.

Hundreds of chariot-sized cerulean arcane orbs erupted from the tower’s summit, thick as a swarm of locusts, hurtling toward the dragon-mounted warrior. The volley saturated the air ahead of Chen Xuanfeng, leaving no room to dodge. Without the aerial agility of the eagle tribe, he had no choice but to draw his blade.

"Boom—! Boom—! Boom—!!!"

The Sword of Divine Punishment’s Platinum Lightning laced the sky, shredding the incoming bombs—but each split sphere detonated violently. Though unscathed, the concussive force hurled Chen Xuanfeng and his mount backward. While his blade could cleave anything save divine artifacts, it couldn’t negate explosions. On the ground, his combat energy might have withstood the force, but aloft, even the six-winged Demon Dragon couldn’t stabilize against such impacts, driven into grudging retreat.