In a certain workroom of the enchantment workshop, Wolban hurried to meet Sorceress Mauline under the guise of Ivan.
“Sorceress Mauline, what urgent matter do you have for me?”
“There is a task I hope you can undertake. It is —”
“Sorry, I’ve got a lot on my plate recently. Find someone else please.”
Wolban came in haste and left just as quickly, not waiting for Mauline to specify the task, he chose to refuse without further discussion.
In fact, Ivan had already reached his quota of tasks for the year: first, the investigation in the Night Forest, and then, recently taking on apprentices, gave him no qualms about refusing.
Mauline watched him leave the room, her face clearly filled with angry colors, cursing under her breath that he was becoming increasingly presumptuous.
Considering his actual combat capabilities, she felt some apprehension and after brooding for a moment, she chose not to pursue the matter further.
Meanwhile, in an underground chamber,
Due to the multiple protective layers of the basement, direct contact was likely to be disrupted, so Wolban communicated with Andaya who was stationed outside. Upon receiving Wolban’s message, Andaya went down into the depths to inform Ivan of the situation.
“As you said, Wolban firmly refused that Mauline, so she probably won’t trouble you,” Andaya relayed.
“I know,” Ivan acknowledged.
“I remember that Sorceress Mauline isn’t an Enchantment Group steward. Ivan letting her boss you around —I’d say you shouldn’t even bother with her,” Andaya opined.
“Aren’t they all people from Lidia’s family? What difference does it make?” Ivan queried.
“Acting this way will only embolden their arrogance,” Andaya commented.
Ivan inwardly scoffed at Andaya’s insinuating words, thinking it sounded as if the steward hadn’t been using Wolban to relay commands herself. Such matters were always tangled and unclear.
Bypassing the topic of Mauline, Andaya inquired about his research progress. After a short stay in the underground chamber, she returned to the surface to stand by.
Unknowingly, more than ten days had passed since Ivan had entered the underground chamber. According to his earlier plans, he had expanded the coverage within the statue by more than five times, and likewise, the observational scope had been broadened several times.
“My abilities are limited; this is as far as I can go,” he remarked somberly, and then continued his observation and research of the Ant King Barrier Array, looking for its flaws, vulnerabilities, and areas of uneven operation, which were his primary focus.
A week later, Ivan presented a request to Andaya; he needed some rare raw materials.
“Some of these are materials for hatching Shadow Ant servants, what do you need these materials for? These materials are quite sensitive; unless absolutely necessary, it’s best not to complicate matters and draw attention,” Andaya couldn’t help but question.
“I am trying to create a key. You can think of it as a special array-breaking drill, specifically to break through the academy’s Ant King Barrier Array,” Ivan explained casually.
With his current enchantment expertise and control over the Multi-changing Star Runes Array, developing a magicalized item to leverage the Ant King Barrier Array wasn’t a difficult task.
“Wait for it.”
Three days later, Andaya brought the listed materials, but she made a request, hoping Ivan could create two ‘array-breaking drills,’ one for Ivan’s use and one for their possession.
To this, Ivan did not object, as it was just a mid-level magicalized item, of general quality and slightly special function, its actual effect yet to be known. Your next chapter awaits on empire
Days went by, one after another.
That night, an unusual disturbance arose in Mongna Ant Land Cottage, reminiscent of ant cries.
This was the alarm triggered by someone tampering with one of the heavily guarded areas of the academy, signaling a grave breach of the academy’s rules.
“This is bad. Didn’t expect Mongna Ant Land Cottage to have a trick up its sleeve even against its own people. Now, there’s no choice but to fight with all we’ve got.”
“The Twilight Stele is already in our hands, playing games with them won’t hurt.”
“What foolish things are you saying? Quickly notify the people outside to meet up, we move to plan B, leave from the highest point, or we’ll end up dead if we’re late.”
In front of a secret vault, three outsiders had quietly infiltrated Mongna Ant Land Cottage and stolen the Twilight Stele stored there. They had accidentally triggered the hidden restrictions of the vault and revealed their traces.
This was deep inside Mongna Ant Land Cottage, the three men had to hurry and evacuate, otherwise they would be easily surrounded and killed.
An unusual alarm echoed, making the whole Mongna Ant Land Cottage tense, but most people did not know what had happened and could only wait for further notice.
In an underground chamber.
“What happened?”
Ivan was deep underground and noticed the disturbance as the Ant King Barrier Array showed violent tremors, causing the connected sensory threads to snap.
Before he could take any further action, Andaya hurried to the chamber.
“Sorcerer Ivan, there’s an enemy invasion at the academy. We can’t stay here, follow me and let’s leave quickly.”
“Wait a moment.”
Ivan did not doubt her, quickly gathered his things, and followed Andaya out of the underground chamber, leaving Troika Tower Castle.
Not far from Troika Tower Castle, the two took the opportunity to revert to their original appearances, which was much simpler than disguising themselves as others.
“Don’t worry, Sorcerer Christian has arranged everything.”
With the enemy invasion at the academy, stringent patrols were bound to follow. They naturally had to return to their original identities to avoid being caught in the fray.
At that moment, at a gap in the dome of the Ant Being barrier, it was as if it had been struck by a thunderstorm, with energy especially chaotic. Wind swirled around the gap and lightning danced, causing the soil at the edge of the gap to gradually fall off and turn into dust whirling into it.
“What formidable tactics, they’ve managed to break the Ant King Barrier Array in just a short while,” Andaya said, staring blankly at the gap in the dome, her eyes filled with shock and confusion. “What do you think?”
“If I guess correctly, these enemies have a deep understanding of the Ant Being barrier; they managed to break through before anyone else could respond.”
Ivan had been studying the Ant King Barrier Array and knew this defensive barrier seemed impenetrable but actually had many subtle vulnerabilities, mostly because the Ant Being barrier had been damaged many times.
Things that are repeatedly mended unavoidably leave traces and naturally cannot be as good as new.
However, the Ant King Barrier Array, possessing 23 bundles of runes, was a formidable defensive array. Breaking it was not as simple as it seemed and required significant research and understanding of the array.
“Are you suggesting there’s a mole? That—”
“No, a mole wouldn’t be capable of such a feat.”
“Let’s split up for now; remember to meet at the academy entrance later.”
The two had to hurry; after Andaya gave him a few instructions, she hurried away.
Ivan took another direction and looped around half the circle. When he arrived at the academy entrance, a large number of sorcerers had already gathered, many visibly angry.
The sorcerers who joined the retrieval operation mostly came from the Hunting Team, Patrol Team, and Policing Team, and even two chief stewards were there. In contrast, there were few from the Three Great Families.
“Sorcerer Ivan, we know you move exceptionally fast in the sky, please join us in retrieving the enemies,” Christian said to him.
“It’s my duty.” Ivan responded solemnly.
A group of about twenty sorcerers left the barrier and found the Eight-legged Black Spider clan had suffered heavy casualties; even their leader Harlund had been killed, leaving only a few tiny survivors in the clan.
Under the leadership of the two chief stewards and a few stewards, the group divided into several teams and chased around the academy, vowing to slaughter those audacious enough to invade the academy.