"For the Genesis Hero!"
"For the Genesis Hero!"
The people from the 24 Rings roared the slogan, raising their morale; the sheer soundwaves they unleashed reverberated the air grandly.
The width of the serpent was only 1000 kilometres. So, it was a defendable area. But, even the weakest Hero was aware that if they just defended passively, they would be drowned sooner or later.
After all, a screen flashed before them and displayed the image of 168 gems, implying their enemies emerged from 168 worlds. The army numbered in the dozens of trillions in number.
On their side, the total number of fighting power, including the Heroes and Villains was just a million, barely so.
If they didn't use a potent strategy, they would be wiped out quickly. But of course, they had a strategy in effect.
"Begin building the fortress." Gehera relayed the order to Platinum Head as immediately, the Hero City Scape walked out and slammed his fist into the ground, beginning to erect a massive wall that stretched for the entire width of 1000 kilometres.
He was one of the first to join the training at the Gunmetal Gold World. With the help received there, he soon reached S-Class and was able to perform at levels never seen before.
A massive construct began to form in place as Gehera snapped her finger, causing thousands of Magic Beasts to appear before her.
"You know what to do." She said as the Magic Beasts rushed out through the serpent's body.
One of them resembled a massive lizard that rushed to a location a hundred kilometres away from the tail and burrowed into the ground and vanished. A few minutes later, a tree began to grow in place, reaching a startling height of a kilometre.
Large fruits hung from its branch that ripened with the passing of every second before the first of them collapsed to the ground, shattering to reveal a small lizard.
The lizard got up and snorted, arming itself by plucking a twig from the tree. Mana gushed into the twig as it transformed into a quill of sorts.
The lizard began to grow over time, absorbing energy from the tree as soon, it assumed a humanoid form that was the most efficient to battle. It then went forth by a kilometre from the massive tree and planted a fruit into the ground, watching it gradually sprout into a tree that reached a height of a dozen metres.
All the lizards began to do the same and gradually, a massive forest began to form in this place. it became a region within the serpent's body. If the invading army has to reach the tail, they would have to pass through this region.
Fighting the lizards would expend their numbers. If they wished to conserve their numbers, they would avoid the place and make it easier to predict their route of approach. This would further narrow down their approach into a funnel where the 24 Rings could concentrate their utmost firepower upon.
Similarly, the other Magic Beasts released by Gehera too erected special regions in the serpent body, affecting the environment of the place to create a home ground advantage.
Gehera had stolen power from quite a few Systems during the war. In the 75 years following that, she researched the powers in her arsenal and created means to better employ those abilities to further her advantage.
Tens of thousands of regions were set up in the span of a few hours. The invading army had yet to reach them.
After all, the goal of Gehera and Compass Carburettor in preparing this gigantic serpent was to buy as much time as possible. After all, the longer the time passed on, the greater their growth and accumulation.
Hence, once the serpent swallowed the universe, the entire space of the universe had now become its body. This meant that since its width was only 1000 kilometres, it created an endlessly long tunnel for the army to travel.
Therefore, it would take a significant time for the enemy to catch up, unless they were to skip large distances through teleportation.
But of course, no matter how powerful the ability, as the space was just an endlessly long tunnel, they could only travel forward.
Compass Carburettor had ensured that the walls of the serpent were sturdy enough to avoid any spatial abilities from passing through. After all, he had used an entire universe and refined it into a serpent.
By altering its laws, he transformed it into a serpent with such capabilities. The variety of powers under Gehera's disposal made things easier.
The enemy would have to expend a serious amount of their energy reserves just to traverse the distance. But, their energy sources were the 168 worlds. So, to keep up with their expenses, they would have to first establish logistics for energy transport.
Moreover, once they arrived, the mouth of the serpent closed, refusing to open. It had locked the space of the universe, barring any entry. So, the total energy at their disposal was what was available to them at the moment.
The moment they arrived within the serpent's mouth, the Invader System should have realised their scheme.
But even when it understood, there was nothing it could do but play to their tunes. After all, its mode of escape was cut off.
Moreover, if that was the case, it wouldn't have attacked them in the first place. It was aware of Compass Carburettor's threat, which was why it was attacking with all its strength. So, a retreat wasn't an option.
If it simply rushed at the enemy, it would be defeated. The Invader System was clearly aware of that, which was why it brought forth all the worlds under its rule.
But, marching with its army would take decades, if not centuries to arrive at the tail. If Compass Carburettor wasn't stopped within the next three months, he would grow to become too strong to handle.
His growth had to be curbed before that.
So, the only reasonable choice it had was to set up logistics for the energy supply and set up gates at every set distance.
The army would teleport using these gates while carrying the materials necessary to set up the next gate. The swiftest bunch would teleport to the farthest possible location before setting up a gate.
This way, they would be able to proceed forward at the fastest possible rate while still maintaining their supplies.
Even the Invader System needed energy supplies. After all, moving consumed energy. And when fighting Compass Carburettor, it needed enough to stay on the offensive with all its strength for as long as possible.
"You'll die, Compass. I'll make sure of that." The Invader System muttered as it travelled forth with a group of its strongest experts and stopped at a location where they joined hands to condense a gate.
Immediately, lakhs of experts rushed out as they set up a base of operations, quickly building a device to stabilise and contain the gate, keeping it stably functional.
They installed energy cables that passed through the gate to the source that supplied them with energy. Using this energy, the gates sustained their operation.
"Do we move in a straight line while setting up stations like this?" One of the experts asked the Invader System.
"No, all we need is for the enemy to destroy one base closer to the mouth to render all the bases deeper into the serpent's body useless." The Invader System said, "So, we need to set up as many parallel logistic chains as possible. This way, even if a base were to be destroyed, we'll be able to reroute the energy cables and maintain our energy supply."
"But, the width is only 1000 kilometres. That's well within the teleporting range of even the simplest spatial skills." One of the experts frowned in response, "This means we'll have to station a lot of troops to defend every base."
"Master, won't we end up using most of our army like this?" The expert frowned. "Whereas, the enemy only has to defend the tail."
"That's where you're wrong." The Invader System grinned, "This is an invasion. So, the moment they sneak attack one of our bases, we'll be able to bring in enough experts to the scene through the gates."
"If there are no attacks, we'll simply bring the army to the vanguard." It consumed the Mental Energy supplied by the base, recharged itself and then motioned for the group to continue its actions.
"The entirety of this serpent's body is a battlefield." The Invader System stated solemnly, "That means, the greater the area we control, the stronger and stabler our approach. Similarly, the defending side too is aware of this."
The Invader System looked towards the sides, "After all, 1000 kilometres is just too narrow for a great army to take action. So, the best way of using them is to set up bases throughout the serpent body."
"Otherwise…you have seen the gems that our worlds have turned into, right?" The Invader System continued upon seeing the experts nod, "With that size, it makes it easier to concentrate all attacks on them to destroy them. So, the one that wins the war is the one that keeps the enemy the furthest away from the gems on their side."
Its eyes shone cunningly, "And we'll expand until the tail and crush them."
