Sovereign of the Ashes

Clang!

The heavy blow from above collided with Sein’s magic rod.

Sein’s body sank under the impact, his legs instinctively channeling a surge of pyro elemental energy to stabilize himself.

As for the spear aiming for his waist, Sein had no choice but to swiftly draw out the heavy Alchemy Hammer he had crafted some time ago.

He recalled Natalya’s advice that weapons like hammers and axes were slightly effective against spear-type weapons.

While mages like Sein did not need to learn extensive close combat skills like a knight, basic self-defense was essential.

The force behind the spear attack was noticeably weaker than the strike from above.

Sein swung the Alchemy Hammer with his left hand, successfully deflecting the spear.

The Wild Gorilla attacking from the side was evidently weaker than the one in front of Sein.

“Don’t just stand there! Come help!” Sein yelled, a flicker of verdant flame illuminating his cheeks.

Although he could switch to his elemental body in an instant, that did not mean he was invulnerable to all physical attacks.

While weaker attacks posed no issue, the Wild Gorilla directly in front of him was clearly a Rank Three opponent!

Sein had a feeling that his powerful opponent had locked onto him—dodging was impossible, leaving him no choice but to face it head-on.

Rather than being locked onto through mental focus like mages, it felt more like an aura lock.

Among the knights of Magus World, many had developed similar abilities too.

Despite their varied origins and races, these creatures that followed the path of passive evolution seemed to share certain traits.

Before Sein even finished speaking, the Green Spikefur King had lunged at the Rank Three Wild Gorilla in front of him.

Meanwhile, the Kingfisher flapped its wings and swooped toward the Rank Two Wild Gorilla at Sein’s flank.

Both of them had been distracted by the magical blue flame in Sein’s hand earlier.

However, the ambush from within the fort had caused them to freeze momentarily.

In just the blink of an eye, Sein had exchanged two blows with his opponents.

Though not life-threatening, being caught off guard left Sein in a foul mood.

He had just been reflecting on the potential of the Azure Flame, with its unique ability to break down metals, and he was almost on to something...

He shook his head; the battlefield was not the place for reflecting on magical insights and experiments.

That was a lesson he would have to remember.

Without the assistance of Green Spikefur King and Kingfisher, the Rank Three Wild Gorilla wielding the longsword could have put Sein in significant danger.

His companions were not the only ones taken aback by the power of his Azure Flame.

The massive rhino, not far from Sein and poised to charge the metal fort once more, paused, its mouth agape.

What surprised the rhino was not just Sein’s flame that could decompose metal, but also his impressive constitution and close-quarters combat skills demonstrated in that brief moment.

“You...” the rhino’s mouth hung open in astonishment.

Sein had initially assumed this rhino was a magic beast, but to his surprise...

“You’re a knight?” Sein asked, puzzled.

The giant rhino before him was unmistakably a transformed form of a Magus World knight.

It reminded him of Natalya’s Baator Devil form, though that was only a partial transformation.

This knight before him, who had fully transformed into such a massive rhino, had to be a Rank Three Sky Knight.

However, Sky Knights who fought in such a manner were rare.

Higher-ranking Sky Knights typically relied on their battle qi reserves and advanced combat skills, rather than tapping into inherited bloodline powers for massive transformations.

Still, the world was vast and full of wonders.

This knight’s fighting style was probably not unique in the Magus World.

The giant rhino knight’s wide eyes remained fixed on the heavy Alchemy Hammer in Sein’s left hand.

With a casual shrug, Sein clarified, “I’m an alchemist.”

While the rhino knight struggled to piece together the connection between an alchemist and a heavy hammer, the battle inside the fort was nearing its conclusion.

The Wild Gorillas trapped within stood little chance against the two demigod-level creatures.

After swiftly defeating its opponent, Kingfisher joined Green Spikefur King, cornering the Rank Three Wild Gorilla and pushing it to the brink of defeat.

There were no demigod-level Wild Gorillas inside this fort; after all, such powerful beings were not common.

The Divine Tower of Verdant Spring had deployed an army numbering in the millions into this war zone.

The two sides clashed fiercely, resulting in an even greater number of total participating creatures.

On the Magus World side, there were only around a hundred demigod-level combatants deployed on such a vast battlefield.

The Wild Gorilla Army fielded even fewer—fifty at best, which was already an overestimation.

Magus World’s recent powerful strikes had targeted their enemy’s key defensive nodes.

It was no surprise that some demigod-level powerhouses from the Wild Gorilla Army had been killed either by Lorianne’s forbidden spell, the fortresses’ main cannons, or attacks from other Rank Four and higher creatures like Milena.

The metal fort had several floors, and most of the creatures resisting within it had been finished off by Green Spikefur King.

The defeated creatures from the Wild Gorilla World met gruesome ends, many with bloody holes punched through their bodies.

A small number of native creatures abandoned their resistance and chose to surrender.

Among these were even a few purebred Wild Gorillas, revealing that the relentless bombardments and attacks of the Magus World Army had shattered their will to fight.

Those who surrendered became high-value resources as enslaved creatures.

Only the most capable creatures had been stationed at the frontlines by the Gorilla Gods, so their surrender was seen as a windfall.

Many in the upper echelons of Magus World believed that while the initial stages of the war required tremendous effort, the middle and late stages would be a time to reap the rewards.

Wild Gorilla World, with its limited reserves, could only muster an elite force sufficient to hold off the Magus World Army in the early stages.

As the conflict dragged on, their elite troops would be depleted, making it impossible for them to resist the invasion and eventual conquest by Magus World.

Since the Green Spikefur King and Kingfisher took care of most of the resistance within the fort, the participating members of the Magus World Army, including the giant rhino knight, naturally allocated the largest share of the spoils to Sein.

Standing before the metal fort, Sein kicked open a large dark green metal box that the Kingfisher had dragged out with its claws.

The lid flew open, revealing rows of glowing orange energy crystals inside.

These energy crystals were unlike any Sein had seen before.

The energy crystals Sein had encountered before were those crafted to Magus World’s standard specifications—larger, fuller, and oval-shaped.

The crystals before him, however, were different. They were smaller, neatly cut, and cubic in appearance.

Nevertheless, they were genuine energy crystals.

According to Kingfisher, there were at least a dozen similar dark green metal boxes within the fort.

Sein estimated that each box of energy crystals could be worth between a hundred to two hundred magicoins.

This was the profit of war.

And this was only the first battle; surely, more energy crystals and other valuable materials were scattered across the battlefield.

For Rank One mages, a single box of these energy crystals was equivalent to the total earnings from a typical low-level interplanar war.

After instructing Kingfisher to move the box, Sein turned to Green Spikefur King, who was dragging a half-dead Rank Three Wild Gorilla toward him.

“I already have a Rank Three Wild Gorilla specimen—I don’t need this one. You can finish it off later, but be sure not to damage the heart,” he said.

“Also, break off a piece of the metal from this fort’s wall for me. I want to study the properties of this alloy. It might be a treasure since it could withstand the attacks of Rank Three and demigod-level beings,” he added.