East of Tivian, above the vast Prit Eastern Sea, the massive storm that had previously stretched for hundreds of kilometers was now rapidly contracting, shrinking and swirling back towards its original eye. The increasingly concentrated and violent storm stirred up even more turbulent tides. Fierce gales and waves surged and roared in an increasingly confined space, like a scene of the apocalypse.
"What is this...?" Floating in the sky above the clouds, Harold, whose pupils had eight sharp points on their edges, couldn't help but say as he looked at the unusual storm below. Beside him, Spring, who had the same eyes, responded.
"I don't know... but the scope of this wind is getting smaller and smaller now. It looks like it's about to disappear. This is our chance."
Spring said this, and then he and Harold beside him continued to watch as the scope of the storm's rotation became smaller and smaller, finally shrinking to the point of complete disappearance.
At this moment, Harold and Spring's expressions suddenly became serious. Together, they stirred up the storms around them, driving them to dive down from the high altitude, rushing straight towards the original center of the storm. As they charged, they began to condense powerful wind blades, preparing to fight the petite knight they had previously engaged with again.
In their opinion, the terrifyingly large natural storm that had previously gotten smaller and smaller and now completely disappeared likely indicated that the knight's ability had reached its limit and she could no longer maintain such a massive storm. Now, the opponent should be in a weakened state from exhausting her strength, which was their opportunity.
With this thought, Harold and Spring, wrapped in powerful gales, dived down at high speed, wanting to have a decisive battle with their previous entangled enemy. After diving for a while, they finally saw the enemy's figure.
The terrifying and violent storm had now completely dissipated. Between the calm sea and sky, a petite knight was silently floating there.
Exquisite and luxurious skirt armor, like plate armor, almost covered her entire body. A helmet adorned with wings covered her face. Delicate patterns were engraved on every detail of the armor. A dark cape was embroidered with the pattern of howling wind. In her tightly clenched long spear, the Prit national emblem flag fluttered in the breeze.
Silently floating on the sea after the fierce storm, the petite knight stood motionless, seemingly sensing something, until she sensed the unusual movement of danger from the sky. Then, she silently raised her head and looked at the incoming enemy wind through her helmet.
Then, the knight moved the hand holding the spear flag, and with a floating posture, she stomped in mid-air. Immediately, the surrounding air was violently vibrated, and a spherical shockwave instantly exploded around the knight, spreading rapidly in all directions. A tyrannical impact wave burst out indiscriminately from the knight in all directions, and the visible air distortion rapidly expanded outwards.
"Boom!!!"
In the loud roar that was half a beat late, the sea surface below the knight, which had gradually calmed down, was shaken into a huge hemisphere by the incoming impact from above. Above the knight, Harold and Spring, who were attacking from the sky, saw the impact, which was like a high wall covering the sky and the earth with no space to dodge. Their first reaction was to immediately stop their bodies and shoot the air cannons and wind blades they had condensed in advance straight forward, colliding with the impact wall that was more exaggerated in scale than mountains.
However, what Harold and Spring didn't expect was that their wind blades and air cannons instantly disintegrated and dissipated after encountering the huge impact wall, doing almost no effective weakening to the impact wall. Just like that, Harold and Spring, with incredible expressions, were directly hit by the impact wall that had already expanded in front of them.
How is this possible! A move involving such an absurd scale and range actually has such strength! Spring and Harold thought in their hearts with surprise. They were astonished to find that the moves they used with concentrated power couldn't even compete with the impact in partial areas of a large-scale, all-encompassing move.
When the knight's impact wall fiercely struck the invisible wind shield around Harold and Spring, the wind shield could not withstand the impact and violently shattered. Harold and Spring themselves were hit by the impact, were sent flying far away, and both spat out a mouthful of blood. Their bodies were covered in cracks from the cracking of their rock skin.
Seeing Harold and Spring being knocked away, the petite knight didn't say much. Instead, she gently waved her hand. Instantly, an incredibly strong, massive wind column blew down from the sky, hitting Harold and Spring in the distance who were originally adjusting themselves. Under the pressure of the enormous airflow, the two were almost effortlessly pressed down by the airflow, were blasted into the sea, and while splashing up huge white waves, were pressed and rushed towards the deep sea in one go, into the dark deep sea.
After the waves dispersed, the sea and sky regained their calm. After being directly hit into the deep sea in one go, Harold and Spring were unable to recover immediately. After initially dealing with the troublesome things, the knight turned her gaze to the west, towards the direction beyond the sea that could not be seen.
Finally, amidst a burst of strong wind and the re-vibration of the sea, Anna suddenly took flight. After instantly breaking the sound barrier, she sped towards Tivian.
At this moment, Anna, who had received more enhancements from Dorothy, had also been conferred as the Duke of Protection and received more legal support from Prit. She had also absorbed the power of the entire hurricane, and her strength had made a terrifying leap. The power Anna now possessed was enough to profoundly affect the battle currently taking place in Tivian.
...
Prit East Coast, Tivian.
In the vast city that had fallen into slumber, battles far beyond the common sense of ordinary mortals continued. Millions of people slept peacefully, side by side with the danger that could destroy everything.
The illusory Dream World Woodland in the sky still existed. In the depths of that dreamy giant tree forest, a pure white dream cocoon, like the center of all dreams, was wrapped there, attracting the most loyal believers to go on pilgrimage.
Spreading its huge insect wings, dragging its deformed and twisted ugly body, Gu Mian, who was infinitely close to a complete Apostle, was now flying towards the dreamy heart at the top of the sky, like a moth flying to a flame, advancing steadily and firmly at the cost of burning its own life, unwavering.
Its path of pilgrimage was unwavering. In the continuous ascent, it was about to completely detach from reality again. Returning to the Dream World, returning to the center of its faith, under the shroud of divine power, no power could stop it.
And at this moment, in this vast Tivian, not everyone had completely fallen asleep. In addition to those Extraordinary individuals from Dorothy's side and the Eight-Pointed Nest side who were active in various battlefields throughout Tivian, fighting each other, there were also some others who were detached from the situation, closely and continuously observing the dynamics of the battlefield.
Tivian North Suburb, at the entrance of the East Gate of Royal Saint Crown University, in Green Shade Town, a beautiful and livable environment, at the entrance of number thirty-seven.
At the entrance of this seemingly ordinary residence, a young girl wearing a loose home nightgown, walking barefoot in slippers, with messy short gray hair and glasses, was standing here, holding a cup of machine oil coffee in one hand, while looking at the sky over Tivian at this moment, looking at the psychedelic sky above, looking at the dream cocoon in the depths of the sky's illusion, and couldn't help but slightly frown.
"Whoa... spectacular..."
With her usual lazy expression, Beverly stretched out her hand and scratched her head. A look of worry couldn't help but appear between her eyebrows. After taking a sip of the coffee in her hand, she leisurely walked back into her house, placed the coffee cup on the coffee table, then rubbed her shoulders, making a cracking sound, and then narrowed her eyes.
"This is... troublesome..."
...
'This is... troublesome...'
In another direction, above a certain low altitude area of Tivian city, the Dragon transformed from Dorothy was spreading its wings, gliding continuously in the air. In her thoughts, there was an expression of extreme solemnity.
After Gu Mian underwent the Apostle transformation, Dorothy had been trying to stop Gu Mian, but it was useless. The current Gu Mian, relying on the Moth's divinity, was extremely difficult to interfere with.
Under the influence of the Moth's divinity, Dorothy was currently unable to look directly at Gu Mian, otherwise she would be deeply hypnotized, enter a state of eternal sleep, and be unable to wake up.
Hypnosis had always been Gu Mian's specialty, but compared to relying on fluctuations and scales to hypnotize before, the current Gu Mian seemed to be able to rely directly on visual links and perform hypnosis directly through visual signals, making it impossible for people to cope or defend. The current Dorothy couldn't even raise her head to look at Gu Mian, let alone stop it.
However, fortunately, the current Dorothy could test other detection methods.
...
In a forest in the East District of Tivian, at this moment, an old man wearing a Prit Army uniform and looking extremely weak was sitting on a tree here. His expression was full of confusion and bewilderment, as if he couldn't quite figure out what was happening.
"You mean... I was just corrupted by the power of an evil god? So I flew to the capital uncontrollably to cause destruction, and you were ordered by the King to come and stop me?"
With a questioning tone, the Prit Army Marshal, Kent, couldn't help but say as he looked at the enchanting and beautiful woman in front of him, and the other party smiled and replied.
"Of course, the entire Prit is currently in crisis. I was entrusted by your King to help you deal with the thorny matter at hand. This is your King's medal. If you don't believe me, you can look at this."
As she spoke, Adele took out an exquisite Royal Family medal and showed it to Kent. The weak Kent hesitated for a while after looking at it, then couldn't help but nod in a daze, seemingly believing Adele's words.
After the ritual on the Twilight Pious Shadow relying on the Moon's Crown was held, the influence of Mirror Moon in the Tivian area increased greatly, and the influence that originally belonged to the Spider Queen was suppressed to a certain extent. Therefore, not only King Charles IV, but also the Prit Army Marshal Kent, who had broken into the city limits of Tivian and was originally corrupted and controlled, temporarily recovered and ended the battle with Adele.
Holding the medal sent by Charles IV, Adele took advantage of the time when Kent had just woken up and was physically weak and somewhat disoriented, and slightly used her ability to make him easily believe her words. Seeing that Kent did not doubt her meaning at this moment, Adele continued to speak.
"Marshal, Tivian is in imminent danger. We need your strength to fight against the evil god together."
Adele said this solemnly to Kent. Kent paused slightly after hearing Adele's words, then couldn't help but respond.
"Alright, I believe what you say and will help you, but I'm a bit weak now and can't exert my full strength."
"It's okay, I don't need you to fight now." Looking at Kent in front of her, Adele responded like this, then she pointed her hand towards the sky and continued.
"Above Prit now, there is a very large life form flying. I want you to use your ability to listen to its sound and confirm its location. Its wings are very large, and it makes a lot of noise. With your strength, you should be able to hear its sound easily.
"Note, you can only listen, you must not look at it. Do not look at the sky now."
With a serious expression, Adele instructed Kent on the requirements. Listening to Adele's words, Kent thought for a moment, then nodded and said.
"A huge creature flying over Tivian? Alright, I'll try to listen..."
As he spoke, Kent slowly closed his eyes, using his ability to sense the wind, listening to the unusual movements above Tivian at this moment.
However, as soon as this listening began, a shocking situation occurred. While listening, Kent began to sway and fall down. He instantly fell asleep on the ground unconscious, almost motionless.
Looking at the scene before her, Adele couldn't help but frown. Then, after a slight sigh, she immediately used the information channel to communicate with the distance, reporting the situation here.
...
"Hearing also cannot perceive Gu Mian..."
Flying at a low altitude, Dorothy, transformed into a Dragon, murmured in a muffled voice, her expression becoming increasingly serious.
Just now, Dorothy instructed the many secret agents and monks on the Twilight Pious Shadow to use a series of instruments and facilities on the Saint Steel ship to conduct all detections of Gu Mian other than direct vision, including "Lamp" radar scanning, mirror reflection observation, indirect puppet observation, Spirituality detection, observation using Spirituality resistant glasses, releasing mist to blur observation, and so on.
However, none of these observation methods worked, all were affected by the Moth's divinity on Gu Mian.
All detection instruments, including the 'Lamp' radar, would immediately shut down and enter hibernation upon detecting the minyin zunzhan. They couldn't be restarted. Other secret agents using any indirect observation methods, whether looking through mirror reflections, protective glasses, blurred vision through mist, or by manipulating puppets like flesh puppets to observe, would also be successively hypnotized and fall asleep. The difference in speed was less than a second. For those watching through the puppet's perspective, not only the puppet but also the manipulator linked to the puppet's vision would be affected.
No matter what method is used, whether direct or indirect, and regardless of any preventive measures, as long as one attempts to observe the current minyin zunzhan, they will be immediately hypnotized. Even inanimate objects like machinery and instruments, which have no consciousness, seem to be forcibly shut down and put into hibernation as if a concept were implanted in them. This situation is similar to how the Spider Queen's divinity can forcibly implant the concept of pain into non-living units; the Moth's divinity seems capable of doing something similar.
After all observation attempts on the Twilight Pious Shadow were unsuccessful, Miss Dorothy now heard bad news from Adele's side: Scarlet level Extraordinarys also fell into deep slumber after listening to the minyin zunzhan, with no room for resistance.
"The divinity currently held by the minyin zunzhan can probably target any form of perception. As long as we perceive it, we will likely be affected by the divinity and hypnotized!"
Floating beside Miss Dorothy's Dragon head, the Black Cat said somewhat anxiously after hearing Miss Dorothy's words, and his words were also the conclusion Miss Dorothy had reached in her heart at this moment.
Any perception, not just vision, the current Miss Dorothy could not use any means of perception to sense the existence of the minyin zunzhan, whether it was conventional senses like sight, smell, hearing, touch, or various Extraordinary detections. All perception abilities would become channels for influence under the Moth's divinity, causing the perceiver to fall into deep eternal sleep.
'What an unreasonable divinity... Now, I can only rely on her...'
Miss Dorothy thought this in her heart, then raised her head and looked towards the eastern sky where the minyin zunzhan was not present. At this moment, she saw the overwhelming black clouds pressing down like a mountain.
At the East District port, wave after wave of sea roared and crashed against the docks, constantly shaking the ships moored there. The howling wind blew from the sea, making the Prit national flag in the port area flap endlessly. The sky above Tivian, which was originally clear, had now become covered in black clouds.
Wind, fierce storms carrying dense clouds blew from the sea, sweeping across the entire city of Tivian with a roar. In this city-wide gale, all flags were blown up, trees began to sway in the wind, and a large pile of World Expo souvenirs scattered on the city ground were blown high into the sky.
In a short period, the gale sweeping across the city became increasingly fierce. The howling of the strong wind gradually drowned out all other sounds. In this gale, the leaves on the trees began to be blown off completely, the awnings of shops started to be overturned, dirt and sand were blown into the sky, and some glass was shattered by small objects blown into the sky, mixed with a large amount of water vapor blown from the sea, carrying countless scattered small objects, spreading throughout the entire city of Prit. The eastern region of Prit began to rain in the raging wind. A powerful storm enveloped the entire Tivian, and the city's visibility began to drop sharply.
Hurricane landfall, this phenomenon should appear in lower latitude regions, but it is now appearing on the streets of Tivian. The entire city is covered by strong winds and heavy rain, as if the entire city is facing a disaster. However, little do they know that the ground and low altitude of the city are merely the edges of the disaster; the real disaster is in the sky above the city.
When the howling gale, carrying heavy rain, swept across the entire Tivian, in the sky above Tivian, an ultimate fierce wind, even more violent than the storm on the ground, was ruthlessly blowing and raging. A destructive storm was coming from the sea, destroying and sweeping away everything in the sky.
If the wind on the ground was a normal storm existing in nature, then the ultimate gale with a speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour above the city was not something that should exist in nature. When the storm struck from the sea, the wind speeds experienced by the city area and the sky were completely different concepts. Although the wind experienced by the city area was strong, it was still within the normal range. The wind speed at high altitude was tens of times that of the ground wind speed.
At this moment, the sky and ground of Tivian were completely layered, becoming two worlds. The earth-shattering roar and howl of the high-altitude storm instantly overwhelmed the movement of the ground storm. Looking up at the sky from the ground, it was like seeing a huge 'conveyor belt' running at high speed above Tivian, incredibly wide, occupying the entire sky. This 'conveyor belt' was constantly pressing down and speeding forward above the entire city, making it completely impossible to keep up. Combined with the roaring sound, it felt incredibly oppressive, as if the sky of Tivian at this moment was another world, or rather... like a massive 'organism' pressing down on Tivian.
The minyin zunzhan, which had been flying upwards in the sky of Tivian, on its pilgrimage path, suddenly suffered such a powerful strong wind. For a time, its Apostle body lost balance and was forced to deviate from its original route, blown away to the distance, unable to withstand the onslaught of this exaggerated storm.
Seeing this situation, the minyin zunzhan shrieked silently, and then leaned its semi-illusory, semi-real body further towards the illusory direction, allowing itself to ignore the storm more and continue its pilgrimage. It quickly stabilized its figure, and in this strong wind, and in these extremely abnormal layered gales, it wasn't just the wind force itself waiting for it.
Wind blades, dense wind blades, tiny and dense wind blades were densely hidden within this sweeping gale. Tens of millions, hundreds of millions of wind blades swept together with the upper layer of gale, tearing and destroying everything in their path. Under these billions of spiritual wind blades, everything would be destroyed.
"---!!!"
In a silent scream, countless sharp cracks appeared on the minyin zunzhan's huge body. Tens of thousands of sharp blades simultaneously slashed at the minyin zunzhan from one side. Under the incredibly dense cutting of these blades, the flesh on one side of the minyin zunzhan's body instantly burst open, like mincing meat in a meat grinder. The illusory body tissue was reduced to fine powder by the dense blades and then scattered by the wind.
At this moment, on the coast of Tivian, above the roaring sea, a petite knight in armor, holding a flag, pointed towards Tivian. Bringing her storm army, the Duchess of Prit, Anna Field, finally arrived in Tivian and immediately began to order all storms to eliminate the Kingdom's enemies!
The storm that is now sweeping across the entire Tivian is precisely Anna's work. At this moment, she commanded a fierce and surging storm army to sweep across the entire sky of Tivian, attacking all enemies located in the sky of the Royal City. Her wind soldiers' blades are ruthlessly cutting through every inch of space above Tivian, not missing a single corner.
Since it is impossible to pinpoint the exact location of the minyin zunzhan in the sky above Tivian, then the entire area of Tivian and the sky is designated as the attack range, delivering indiscriminate and ruthless strikes. In this way, even without sensing the enemy, the enemy can be struck. This was the strategy Miss Dorothy gave to Anna.
The billion-blade storm Anna is currently stirring up in the sky above Tivian, if lowered to the city ground, could destroy the entire Tivian in a short time, flattening this metropolis of several million people and reducing it to dust. The storm currently experienced in the urban area of Tivian is just a small aftermath of the storm Anna truly unleashed. Facing this strong wind blown by Anna, even a Saint Steel ship like the Pious Twilight had to lower its altitude to seek refuge.
Under the onslaught of such a thousand-cuts-and-ten-thousand-slashes gale, the minyin zunzhan used all its power for self-repair. Its body regenerated rapidly while being pulverized into powder. As an almost complete Apostle, the minyin zunzhan possessed vast Spirituality to support the regeneration and repair of its illusory body. It stubbornly maintained its body amidst the blade storm and continued to fly upwards into the sky.
At this moment, the minyin zunzhan, while repairing its body in this destructive gale, continued its pilgrimage. Although its speed was somewhat affected, it was still able to persevere and move forward. At this moment, the minyin zunzhan had already regarded this storm as a difficult test on its pilgrimage path.
"No... According to the current resonance situation of the Saint Cocoon, the minyin zunzhan has not been destroyed yet! Although its speed has slowed down slightly, it is still enough to support it entering the teleportation point before its limit!"
"The power of this storm is strong, can it be even stronger!"
At this time, Miss Dorothy, in her Dragon form, was still circling in the low altitude of the city of Tivian. Beside her, the Black Cat, who could sense the condition of the Saint Cocoon, said directly with a serious expression.
"It can't even be solved like this..."
And Miss Dorothy, upon hearing the Black Cat's statement, couldn't help but feel a slight sinking in her heart. She immediately contacted Anna through the information channel, but Anna's reply was not very good.
"No... Teacher... This is already the limit.
"A large-scale attack covering the entire sky of Tivian, this is already the maximum extent. If I want to increase the power of the attack, I must reduce the attack range, and then it might not be able to cover the enemy!"
Hovering on the sea outside the port, Anna replied to Miss Dorothy with a solemn expression, and Miss Dorothy's heart grew heavier after hearing Anna's reply.
'Reducing the attack range can increase the attack power... In that case... I won't be able to hit the minyin zunzhan 100%, which would be very risky.
'So, should I take a gamble now? Gamble on which area the minyin zunzhan is in and concentrate the output there. If I guess correctly, I might be able to cause more effective damage to the minyin zunzhan, but if I guess wrong, it's equivalent to letting it go directly...'
Miss Dorothy thought gloomily in her heart, and in just an instant, she had an answer.
'No! I can't gamble! If I gamble wrong, it's completely over... Now I must find the exact location of the minyin zunzhan and give it a destructive blow... But... Without being able to use any method to perceive it, how can I find the location of the minyin zunzhan?'
Thinking this in her heart, for a moment, Miss Dorothy fell into deep thought. With utmost care, unwilling to gamble with fate, she was rapidly thinking about how to find the minyin zunzhan. And under immense pressure, she suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
'Perhaps... try this...'
Immediately, Miss Dorothy, with a new idea, immediately began to use her information channel to contact others. And this time, the person she contacted was Naifnis.
...
"Phew..." Finally finished.
In a hidden street house in Tivian, at the scene of a ritual with countless eerie green spirit fires floating in mid-air, Neff, who had just finished the task Miss Dorothy had assigned earlier, let out a long sigh of relief, then stretched lazily and stood up, coming to the window and looking at the scene of the howling wind outside the window.
'My task here is finished... but I don't know how things are going elsewhere. Miss Dorothy said she was going to fight the enemy in a dream, has she won now?'
Neff thought this in her heart, a trace of anxiety rising from the depths of her being. And just as she felt a little restless, Miss Dorothy's information contact connected.
"Ah... Miss Dorothy, I'm almost done here, how are things on your side? Ah? Souls, I still have some left, not all sent back yet..."
"What? A new task?"
With a hint of confusion, Neff, who had just finished listening to Miss Dorothy's words, couldn't help but furrow her brows slightly.
...
On the streets of Tivian in the strong wind and heavy rain, Neff, wearing glasses, a long robe, and a hood, was flying at high speed. The fierce wind howled, blowing her clothes, and the wind and rain hit her glasses. Neff endured it while flying at high speed at low altitude.
With wind support from Anna in the distance, Neff flew across the city at extremely high speed. Fortunately, she was an auxiliary "Cup" Extraordinary, otherwise, such a high flying speed would have been enough to make her faint.
"Okay... almost at the location..."
After flying at high speed, Neff finally reached a predetermined point, landing on the rooftop of a tall building. Upon landing, Neff immediately began working without stopping. She released a translucent Ghost and controlled it to stay on the rooftop.
Once the Ghost was settled, Neff immediately flew up again, speeding towards the next point, the next rooftop. In just two seconds, she reached the destination again. Then, Neff released another Ghost here and made it stay as well.
Just like that, Neff, enduring the wind and rain, shuttled at high speed across the city. At different points in the city, far apart, she placed the ordinary spirits she had summoned earlier. With Anna's help from the wind, Neff placed many Ghosts in a large area in about half a minute.
When the last Ghost was placed, Neff reported to Miss Dorothy.
"Huff… huff… So cold… Mi- Miss Dorothy, everything is ready!"
"Very good, begin."
After receiving Miss Dorothy's response, Neff immediately began the predetermined operation. She closed her eyes and, with the support of the minyin zunzhan, a treasure she had received from Miss Dorothy beforehand, she seriously linked with all the countless Ghosts under her control within tens of kilometers.
Then, Neff gave these Ghosts an order, telling them to look up at the sky together.
Subsequently, on the tops of countless buildings at countless points, these pre-placed Ghosts simultaneously looked towards the sky under a unified command. Some Ghosts saw nothing due to the wrong angle, while the ones who did see something saw a faint white figure faintly visible in the howling storm.
Some Ghosts saw the figure relatively clearly, some saw it more vaguely, and some saw it extremely faintly, almost nothing. Regardless of whether it was clear, vague, or faint, the moment these Ghosts observed the pale white existence, they all collapsed, closed their eyes, and fell into a deep sleep with their deceased bodies. Although Neff had cut off her sensory connection with these Ghosts beforehand and did not intervene in their perception, they were not affected. At this moment, these Ghosts who had fallen asleep also broke off their connection with Neff.
At the same moment, Miss Dorothy, who had been overseeing the entire situation, immediately focused her mind and began rapid calculations in her brain.
What Miss Dorothy was calculating at this time was the timing.
Although these Ghosts placed in various positions seemed to fall into a deep sleep at the same moment, there was still a difference within that same moment.
Previously, when Miss Dorothy had the secret agent monks on the Twilight Pious Shadow conduct observation experiments, they all failed, but it wasn't without any gain. She discovered a slight clue.
In those experiments, directly observing the Sleep and observing the Sleep through obstacles, although both would lead to being hypnotized, there was a very slight time difference in the speed of being hypnotized. Simply put, those who observed the Sleep directly collapsed immediately, while those who observed the extremely hazy Sleep through thick mist seemed to pause for less than a second before collapsing.
In other words, the more directly one observed the Sleep, the greater the influence of the Sleep, and vice versa. And no matter how small this influence was, it was enough to instantly put someone to sleep. What Miss Dorothy was calculating now was the difference within this instant.
At this time, the sky over Tivian was covered by the storm, which itself concealed the figure of the Sleep very hazily. This caused the visual effect of looking at the Sleep to be different at different distances. Closer to the Sleep, looking at the Sleep in the sky was clearer, while farther from the Sleep, due to the obstruction of the sufficiently thick storm, the figure of the Sleep appeared more blurry. Even farther away, even looking in the direction where the Sleep existed, one would not be able to see its existence at all.
The storm created by Anna was like the mist in the previous Holy Steel Ship experiment. Now, even without directly perceiving the Sleep, Miss Dorothy could calculate the Sleep's position by observing the different times it took for the will bodies to be hypnotized at different distances.
Just now, Neff uniformly made her Ghosts observe the Sleep. All the Ghosts who observed it were hypnotized and immediately disconnected from Neff. At this moment, Miss Dorothy was monitoring Neff's feelings through the information channel, including her perception of these Ghosts.
Among these Ghosts, those closer to the Sleep were hypnotized faster and would disconnect first, while those farther from the Sleep were hypnotized slower and would disconnect later. Those who did not observe the Sleep would not disconnect. Although the time difference in these disconnections, which is the difference in the speed of the Ghosts being hypnotized, was extremely small, between 0.0001 seconds and 0.01 seconds, on a general sensory level, it was an instant of less than a second, but Miss Dorothy could accurately record it and use it.
After recording, the calculation was very simple. By comparing the tiny differences in the length of the hypnosis time, Miss Dorothy could determine the distance of the Ghosts placed at various points from the Sleep. Combining this with the distances and positions of these Ghosts relative to each other and the map of Tivian, which she already knew, Miss Dorothy could calculate the precise distance of these Ghosts from the Sleep and thus the exact position of the Sleep in the sky over Tivian at this moment.
And the next thing to do is to send this specific coordinate position to Anna, who is already poised and ready.
On the sea outside the Tivian port, at this moment, a huge tornado was swirling within the storm, growing increasingly large and terrifying as it continuously churned up giant waves, capsized ships, and absorbed seawater.
Inside the tornado, within the wall of roaring wind, Anna, holding her banner high, received the information transmitted from afar and immediately shouted loudly.
"Wind! Charge with me!!"
With the command, Anna flew up, and the tornado around her, like a flood dragon, surged upwards with her, piercing towards the sky above the urban area.
At this moment, the gale that was sweeping across the entire Tivian suddenly slowed down, the heavy rain seemed to lessen all at once, and the body of the Sleep in the sky suddenly became clear and distinct. Seeing this, the Sleep, which had been struggling to advance amidst the storm blades, immediately accelerated its flight, speeding towards the illusory Woodland high in the sky.
This was the last stretch of distance. In less than five seconds, the Sleep would rush into the Woodland, enter the allowed area for Dream World teleportation, initiate the teleportation, and directly reach the dream cocoon.
"Boom!"
But at this moment, in the eastern sky, a thick and enormous tornado was flying horizontally at an incredibly high speed, far exceeding that of the Sleep, like a flood dragon leaping out of the sea, roaring and charging towards the giant figure of the Sleep.
And the previously pious and excited Sleep, by the time it reacted, the Storm Dragon had already advanced before its eyes. Within the head of the Storm Dragon was Anna, holding a long spear, her eyes closed, shielding herself from all senses, knowing only to charge towards the predetermined position.
"What…"
In immense astonishment, the Sleep, with barely any time to react, stretched out its hands and tentacles to stop it. However, its arms and tentacles were instantly twisted into powder upon contact with the Storm Dragon. Then the Storm Dragon continued to advance, directly colliding with the body of the Sleep.
In an instant, that huge, bloated, and swollen deformed body was like being sucked into a meat grinder, and amidst extreme wails, it was ground into ethereal fragments, scattering down from the sky.
...
On the wind-eroded plain, the eight-eyed witch stood on the cracked ground, smiling as she gazed at the silent, broken knight on the throne before her. After seemingly reminiscing and recalling something, she continued to walk slowly forward.
Step by step, the witch slowly approached the throne, as if approaching a trophy she was determined to obtain. Facing the witch's approach, the figure on the throne showed no reaction, merely sitting there in silence.
"Clang!"
Suddenly, a loud metallic sound echoed from all around. In front of the witch, a wall of metal bars, seemingly made of bronze, suddenly rose from the ground, separating the witch from the throne. This wall of metal bars also rose from the other three sides of the throne, instantly enclosing the entire throne in a brass cage, protecting it. The witch, seeing this, slightly furrowed her brows and stopped.
However, even though the witch stopped, the crisp sound of metal striking continued to reverberate throughout the entire space, ceaseless. This metallic sound gradually became rhythmic, and more and more similar sounds gradually mingled within it. This feeling was like being inside a busy factory.
"Ah… it's you…"
Looking at the cage before her, the witch said knowingly, and the metallic sounds from the surroundings had gradually turned into the hum of machinery and the roar of steam. The temperature of the entire space began to rise rapidly.
Amidst the roaring, the ground began to crack, and massive metal pillars hundreds of meters high continuously rose from within. Deep, mysterious runes were inscribed upon them, and high-temperature steam was constantly Spray and evaporating from the cracked ground fissures.
Above the space, the previously heavy black clouds were now gradually dispersing under the impetus of some force. What then emerged above the black clouds were countless gigantic gears, hundreds or thousands of meters in diameter. These incredibly large gears were suspended in the air at the zenith of the space, interlocking and rotating, aided by equally incredibly large chains or connecting rods, forming a whole that obscured the entire sky.
The mechanical sky pressed down on the earth with immense pressure, and the noisy roar of the running machinery filled the entire space, turning the whole world into an endless factory. In the center of the mechanical sky, directly above the broken throne, the mechanical sky, constructed by countless rotating gears, formed a gigantic, seemingly glass-like "eye." This "eye" constantly flickered with unsettling red light, seemingly warning the existence approaching the throne below, disdaining everything small.
Glancing around at the sudden changes, the witch paused slightly. Then, looking at that eye, she opened her mouth with a smile.
"I wondered who it was, turns out it's you… So, you are the final backup Celine asked for? It seems that once that secret becomes ineffective, a certain mechanism will trigger, and you will receive the relevant information here to carry out the final measures…
"Even now, you are still so concerned about Hyperion's affairs… even if it's just His successor… I thought you were the smartest one among the 'Shi' (Stone), I didn't expect you to be as stubborn and impractical as your other counterparts… I advise you, going against the 'great trend' will not end well."
Looking at the warning red eye in the sky, the witch said this, and after her words fell, the mechanical sky did not give any response, still giving a warning pressure, completely without any intention of backing down.
Looking at the situation before her, the witch slightly exhaled, and then, seemingly with some helplessness, continued to speak.
"It seems you don't intend to let me? Well, I knew this would be the result. I wasn't without foresight regarding your appearance, so I wasn't unprepared either.
"First, put that thing away. I don't intend to fight you here, but I also won't let go of what I've obtained. So…"
Looking at the mechanical sky above, a hint of meaningfulness appeared in the witch's smile.
"So, let's make a deal… You, who are maintaining the 'Golden Domain' from completely falling, cannot refuse a deal, no matter how much you favor Hyperion and His successor… At this time, you must remain neutral…
"If… I can give you something of sufficient value, then you must sell me that thing in the cage…"
As she spoke, the witch slowly lowered her head, her eight pupils in her eyes staring intently at the broken knight in the cage, and said with a smile.