Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Chapter 160: Chapter 60 Siege Warfare (Part 1)

The war had begun.

Richard, upon receiving his orders, hurried towards his assigned location with his alchemy golems.

He was very familiar with the place—it was the war fortress he had entered when he first emerged from the insect nest.

Along the way, one black-robed wizard after another flew to the front lines. Overhead, the White Wizard Army’s war airships blocked out the sky.

All the airships that had been in maintenance were now activated, dispatched to various battle zones to manage signal transmission and provide war support.

By the time Richard reached the war fortress, the battle had already commenced.

Swarming insects joined by obscuring clouds of the Moth Army, like a massive wave, surged towards the war fortress.

Yet this was merely an auxiliary attack, supporting the frontal assault by the wizard soldiers’ preceding bug forces.

On the main battlefield, the wizards faced an enemy force multiple times larger.

The war fortress’s alchemy weapons roared to life, as fireballs rained down into the insect tide, leaving behind wreckage.

The sacrificial insects, as a rare breed of soldier, were mostly deployed to the main battlefield, leaving only a few in these secondary battle zones to carry out the task of transmitting orders.

Hence, Richard didn’t witness the starlight barriers he had seen in the lower insect nests.

Soon, the swarm entered the trap zone.

In an instant, countless traps were triggered, unveiling the might of various elements—flame, ice, lightning, acid… The diverse magic array traps inflicted heavy losses upon the insect horde.

Pieces of insect limbs were scattered across the sky.

But Richard noticed a problem.

The strength of these bugs seemed odd.

The abilities of these insects appeared to be less than first level; otherwise, the power of the magic array traps was too great.

However, Richard was too far from the battlefield to gather enough information to be sure of what was happening.

Before long, the swarm received an order to retreat. Like water receding, the insects swiftly retreated.

During this brief hiatus, Richard entered the war fortress.

“Hey, Ivan, how have you been recently?” Richard greeted warmly in the command room of the fortress.

Ivan’s face instantly brightened upon seeing who had arrived.

“Richard, it’s been a while. You seem to have been doing well.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the alchemy golem beside Richard.

“Blue Mushroom Iron has given you so much, you’re even using it to make shells for golems now.”

Richard shrugged nonchalantly, gesturing as if he had pocketed a galaxy.

“Not bad, just made a little bit.”

After exchanging pleasantries, they got down to business.

“What’s the situation on the battlefield like?” Richard glanced at the insect horde that was lying in wait nearby, their numbers suggesting a mere distraction.

He could only imagine how horrifying the main battlefield must be.

Ivan pulled out two maps, one of the Third War Zone and one with all the battle zones.

“Based on the intelligence we currently have, the insects have mobilized about twenty million, with the majority in the First Battle Zone. Each of the second and third battle zones has about four million insects. Divided among each war fortress, that’s around ten thousand or so.”

Richard raised an eyebrow: “Sounds like it’s not that many.”

“Not that many?” Ivan’s voice rose, “This fortress has a total of only twenty people, twenty-one including you.

Twenty-one against ten thousand! Each of us has to fight nearly five hundred insects!”

Ivan’s bloodline had merged with some otherworldly creature, giving his voice a loud resonance, roaring in Richard’s ears like a fierce tiger.

Richard rubbed his ears, gesturing for Ivan to lower his voice.

“Looking at the recent situation, alchemy weapons are quite effective against the insects. The insects’ task is to constrain us, not to annihilate us.

As long as we hit them hard enough, holding a siege might be possible.”

Ivan sighed in response:

“Easy for you to say, but using alchemy weapons requires magic stones, and they’ll overheat. Magic array traps are useful but can only be used once. Next time the insects come, they’ll be useless.

These bugs have been biding their time for so long, they won’t just show this little aptitude.

This battle… it’s doubtful!”

Upon hearing this, Richard frowned. It was not good for Ivan to have such sentiments.

If the commander lacked confidence, how would the soldiers believe in their cause?

He patted Ivan on the shoulder earnestly, saying:

“Wizard Ivan, your words are filled with defeatism, which is highly improper. As the key figure of this White Wizard squad, you must believe that the great wizards will triumph in battle. Only then will your troops have the morale to continue fighting.

War is not just a physical fight, but also a mental one!

If even the commander succumbs to a defeatist attitude, then this war fortress is doomed to fail, and we’ll all die on the battlefield!”

Richard’s words sent a jolt through Ivan. As a White Wizard experienced in warfare, he deeply understood the implications behind Richard’s speech.

Ivan fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:

“`

“Richard, is this really your first time on the battlefield?”

Such words are not those that someone on their first battelfield outing as a rookie soldier would utter.

Richard raised an eyebrow, “Of course, I’m a bona fide student soldier, a pure volunteer, the unlucky chap who has to hand over half of the spoils.”

Upon hearing this, Ivan burst into laughter, “Still joking around at a time like this, you sure you’re not an old wizard?”

After the jokes, Ivan assigned Richard a combat position—combat support.

The wizard responsible for this position would assist the main attacking wizards, with the main tasks being to clear out enemies that slipped into the blind spots of alchemy weapons’ firing range, as well as transporting ammunition and cooling weapons—all sorts of odd jobs.

For student soldiers, this was a very suitable position.

Ivan stared intently at Richard’s face, wanting to see the old wizard’s expressive reaction upon finding out he was being assigned to a student soldier’s position.

He even discreetly took out an Image Capturing Crystal Ball, ready to record the moment.

Unfortunately for him, his plan was thwarted.

Richard really was on the battlefield for the first time.

Looking at Richard who moved to his post without hesitation, Ivan was somewhat flabbergasted; this was not what he expected at all.

Where was the anger? The defeat?

Why did he just head to his post so willingly?

I swear I was joking!

Ivan wanted to stop Richard, but saw him disappear from view in just a few steps.

At the same moment, a loud shout from his teammates came through his spiritual network:

“Commander! The bugs are attacking again!”

…

After arriving at his post, Richard smoothly integrated into his role.

The position suited him well.

This job didn’t require the wizard to have any battlefield experience, it merely needed the wizard to transport Magic Stones like a robot and continuously cool Alchemy Weapons.

There were many Alchemy Weapons in a war fortress, with a standard one typically housing six Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons, as well as a one-time strategic Alchemy Magic Stone Cannon.

Alchemy Magic Stone Cannon is a generic term for these weapons, and each Academy, each White Wizard Army, might use a different type of Alchemy Magic Stone Cannon.

For instance, in the war fortress where Richard was, four of the six installed Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons were the Lavoisier II type Plastic Energy Fireball Magic Stone Cannons, capable of firing thirty fireballs per minute. The power of each fireball, after numerous amplifications, reached an energy level of eight-hundred.

The remaining two were the Tesla V Plastic Energy Lightning Magic Stone Cannons, which had a staggering two thousand and five hundred energy level per shot and fired every ten seconds, specializing in single target damage for taking out native powerhouses.

However, such great power of Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons came at a price.

For every shot of Lavoisier II, five Magic Stones were consumed, and each use of the Tesla V required fifty Magic Stones.

Furthermore, these Magic Stone Cannons had to be maintained after use; their core casting components had to be frequently replaced. Otherwise, as the Magic Stone Cannons were used, these parts would wear out, causing an increase in stone consumption, heating, and could even result in a “blown chamber” during operation.

Yet, even with these downsides, Alchemy Weapons remained an indispensable part of plane wars.

Whether it was the main battlefield or these secondary battlefields, Alchemy Weapons gave significant assistance to the White Wizard Army.

Richard was responsible for transporting ammunition for two Lavaya Magic Stone Cannons, as well as for cooling during casting, which was not difficult for him.

During a lull, Richard let Ulysses out to collect insect carcass remains from the battlefield.

“Hey, why did you let your Magic Pet out?” a wizard operating a Magic Stone Cannon shouted.

“Isn’t it just sending your Magic Pet to its death in this kind of battlefield?”

“Don’t worry, my Magic Pet is not ordinary,” Richard replied loudly over the hum of the Alchemy Weapons.

Ulysses nimble maneuvered between the fireballs, narrowly avoiding them each time, as if taunting the fireballs themselves.

Try and hit me if you can!

Gliding gracefully through the battlefield, Ulysses soon snatched up an insect from the ground and flew back. Some insects saw him and attempted to attack, but under the firepower of the Alchemy Weapons, those same bugs were blasted to charred remains in the next second.

Carrying the corpse, Ulysses successfully returned to the fortress.

“Ga, kid, you’re in trouble now,” Ulysses communicated with Richard through a spiritual message.

Richard’s brow furrowed immediately, and he took the corpse from Ulysses.

Upon taking it, his expression changed instantly.

“These insects are all fakes; they’re not Level 1 Creatures!”

Richard’s words instantly drew terrified looks from two nearby wizards who immediately understood the insects’ intentions.

They were depleting the war fortress’s ammunition reserves.

But even with the knowledge of the insects’ intentions, the firing of the Magic Stone Cannons didn’t pause for a second.

It was the insects’ blatant strategy; even if you knew they were exhausting your ammunition, they forced you to continue firing as they wished.

If this were on the main battlefield, the insects’ tricks would be pointless. The group spells of the White Wizard Army could annihilate thousands of insects in one go, making the sheer number of lower level insects irrelevant.

But currently, they were defending a fortress, and if they were fooled by the insects, allowing a swarm of genuine Level 1 Creatures to infiltrate the fortress,

Then these twenty-one wizards would have no option but to flee.

Before long, the tide of insects receded, leaving behind a field of carcasses. Yet, not a single wizard felt any joy.

“If this keeps up, we won’t last much longer.”

“`

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