Adam understood what Evans meant. Neither he nor Lind wanted to waste much time and effort on the Dragon Plane. The benefits there were small compared to those in Cthulhu. They wanted to act fast and then move on to another battlefield.
Adam nodded, accepting the task. He then left the headquarters with two level-three mages.
One of these mages was named Sherlock, skilled in wide-range control magic. The other was Brandon, an expert in space magic. With their help, Adam could save more time and ensure enough strength to handle any sudden situations.
Outside the starship, it was bustling on the Dimensional Hub Platform. Many mages participating in the plundering of the Dragon Plane were posting personal tasks or looking for teams. This made their plundering work more efficient.
Unlike the tasks directly assigned by the headquarters, personal tasks were chosen freely by high-level mages or those with specific information. They offered rewards and promised fairness, providing another significant source of income for battlemages apart from the standard rewards from the Tower.
After asking Adam for precise coordinates, Brandon surrounded the three with a gravitational field. As the runes lit up, they vanished.
Brandon, skilled in space magic, used teleportation faster and more stably than Adam, and with less energy.
Adam felt no discomfort. Stepping out from the void, they arrived above the Makalu Mountains.
"This is the rebel organization's headquarters? It's indeed weak. I think a few space-tearing spells would flatten this place," said Brandon, estimating the area.
Sherlock chuckled, "If you do that, you'll have to compensate the Tower for their loss. We're not here to destroy." He turned to Adam, "Mage Adam, it's up to you now. Brandon and I will help you on the side."
The Makalu Mountains couldn't hold all the beings of a plane. Billions of natives were scattered across the Dragon Plane. The headquarters paid attention to this small rebel organization because they represented the will and last hope of resistance of all races in the Dragon Plane, apart from the dragons. Crushing their hope would allow the mages to control this organization's voice, making it easier to preserve and subjugate more 'slave seeds'.
The first step in persuasion was to tell the rebel organization that they had arrived.
...
Adam hadn't been away from the Dragon Plane for long, but the changes in the Makalu Mountains were huge.
During the period of frequent invasions by Cthulhu, many peace-seeking races had entered the mountains, bringing dramatic changes.
After the rebel organization made it their headquarters, they transformed the entire mountain range and its surrounding wilderness into a large city, consisting of both surface and underground parts.
The former camp became the center of this vast city. The magic array left by Adam became their most reliable protection. Now, only the core and high-level members of the new aligned races were eligible to live there.
"Master."
Near the center, on a towering tree, Lina touched her chest and murmured to herself.
The terrifying voice that had echoed in everyone's ears recently was incomprehensible to the other races of the Dragon Plane, but Lina vaguely remembered hearing a similar pronunciation when her master was still 'Chris Frost'.
Back then, she thought it was just the dragons' meaningless murmurs in their native tongue, not realizing her mistake until now.
The doubts that had always lingered in her mind were finally explained at that moment---No wonder her master's actions were so strange, no wonder he knew methods unheard of before, and no wonder he did not care for what ordinary dragons pursued, instead reveling in inciting wars and chaos.
Now Lina knew he was not a dragon, not even a creature of the Dragon Plane.
"So that's his real form."
"An intruder."
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound of knocking brought Lina back to reality. "Is that you, Kambi? Come in."
"Master, this is the information collected at great risk by our peripheral members, and it's exactly as you guessed."
Kambi, now looking younger after transcending, appeared almost adolescent, yet more composed. He had once vied for power with Lina, but no longer harbored such thoughts. He placed the documents on the table in front of Lina, saying, "Master, what should we do now? If that great being really is... one of them, we stand no chance at all. These races signing the new alignment are walking into their own doom."
The documents were a series of drawings depicting mages arriving and capturing creatures recklessly. Some images, drawn with bold strokes, showed the once-dominant dragons being captured like ordinary beasts by mages.
Lina carefully looked over them again and again, her palms sweating and soaking the paper.
Silence spread, and the atmosphere grew more oppressive. After a long pause, Lina finally spoke softly, "I know, resistance will only get us killed, but..."
Her voice trailed off. Kambi waited for a moment before speaking, "Master, the aligned races still believe they can defeat the invaders like in the ancient times. They have no idea what kind of enemy they are facing."
Having followed Adam for a long time, Kambi knew well how scary Adam could be. "Master, they are just a bunch of arrogant fools. Even the dragons couldn't resist; they..."
"I know," Lina repeated, "but we have no other choice. So far, neither master nor the city lord has contacted me. I know they are not dead, so it must be that we have been abandoned."
"The aligned races are weak, but they are at least stronger than us. The forest elves alone have no say in such chaotic times." Lina was pessimistic. She touched the wall, and a small window opened in the giant tree, giving a view of the entire camp, including the fortress-like building bustling with people in the center. "This place was originally given to us by Master, but now we are ignored. Look, even in such a critical situation, no one comes to invite us or ask for our opinion."
Kambi's eyes hardened, "Master, when the lord left, he handed over the control of the camp to you, right?"
Lina understood what he meant but shook her head, "With the magic array left by Master, we could indeed take back control here. If I wanted, the seeds left in them could teach them a painful lesson. But what would that achieve? We would only be completely isolated. By then, we might become the first race to be wiped out."
As Kambi was about to say more, a loud noise erupted near them. He instinctively transformed into his Ant form, panicked, "The invaders."
Lina's expression suddenly became excited, and she interrupted him, flying out from the tree into the outside world, saying, "Master. Is that you?"
Adam informed them of his arrival in a very straightforward and forceful manner. He simply waved his magic wand above the Makalu mountain range, creating a thunderstorm, and then boldly flew towards the direction of the original camp.
Throughout the Makalu mountains, transcendent creatures took flight. They lined up in the sky, not daring to step out of the magic array's range.
Inside, they circled, channeling all their energy, angrily watching Adam and his two companions.
"Stop there!"
Under the fearful and hopeful gazes of the mundane races of the Makalu range, someone from among the transcendent beings asked, "Who are you?"
Sherlock and Brandon looked at each other. They didn't understand a word of what these natives were saying. They shrugged their shoulders and said to Adam, "It's up to you now."
Adam ignored the warning. He wanted to organize his thoughts and introduce the current situation, but suddenly found it too troublesome. Knowing his words alone couldn't persuade the rebel organization, he flew to the edge of the magic array and simply said, "Surrender."
The leaders of the resistance organization were stunned. Just as the leader who had spoken was about to say something, Adam continued:
"I spread the Refinement Art."
"I initiated the City-State Wars."
"I facilitated the premature collision of the Dragon Plane."
"I drew the Mage Legion here."
Even the most foolish among them understood these words. They couldn't imagine that the one responsible for their ultimate disaster dared to stand before them so brazenly. This contempt made them extremely angry.
"You damned intruder! Crush him!"
The leaders roared, their energy fluctuations fully ignited. Elemental energy gathered outside their bodies. Several leaders, who were of the Spirit race, suddenly grew enormous in size. Transcendent elemental attacks were hurled at Adam like a shower.
Sherlock's eyes lit up, and he said to Brandon, "Just as we've expected, they naturally acquired elemental bodies after advancing. Their talent is stronger than most of my enslaved races."
Brandon nodded in agreement, "Yes, after capturing them and making some modifications in the lab, they'll quickly become a fighting force. It seems this plane is more valuable than we initially thought."
They were completely unconcerned about the grand elemental attacks. To any formal mage, those level-one transcendent beings, lacking advanced fundamental energy, were not worth considering.
Adam didn't make any move or construct a defensive spell. All the elemental attacks dissipated before reaching him, not even breaching the basic defense of the mage armor.
He spread his hands and then pointed towards Lind's starship in the sky, saying, "Look, you're too weak. Above your heads, there are thousands of mages stronger than me."
Adam's persuasion was seen as a blatant provocation. All the high-ranking members of the resistance organization launched a furious attack.
Someone shouted loudly, "Fellow clan members, hide in the underground bunkers!"
"Invaders, perish under the power left by the ancient greats!" someone yelled, eagerly activating the magic array left by Adam.
Adam remained still. The violent thunder that reached in front of him became incredibly tame, flowing gently like water.
"Ancient greats? No, this is my power. The magic array you rely on for survival was laid by me."
The resistance organization was dumbfounded. In a frenzy, they tried to fly out of the range of the magic array. It was then that Adam lightly tapped his magic wand forward.
Boom!
A huge explosion sounded. The elemental forces and shockwaves blew them away. The level of the magic array left by Adam wasn't very high, and it couldn't kill them outright. However, after the thunder dissipated, they were already in a sorry state.
The rebel organization was terrified. They realized an unprecedented crisis had fallen upon them. If they couldn't kill these three, the entire Dragon Plane would have no future.
"Kill them!"
"Follow the oath, everyone, kill them!"
Amidst the rising and falling roars, the entire Makalu mountain range was agitated. Every combat-capable unit launched their fiercest attacks on Adam and his two companions.
Sherlock smacked his lips, thinking Adam might find this level of attack troublesome and was about to lend a hand.
Just then, Adam suddenly called out, "Lina."
Immediately, a dramatic change occurred. From the ground, the earth, the sky, from every visible corner, enchanting and beautiful flowers bloomed.
Huge treants stood up, their thick branches crashing down, instantly countering the ordinary creatures.
Then, some high-ranking members were suddenly pierced through. Thorns grew aggressively, inflicting great damage on them.
More than the damage, those creatures were even more bewildered when they found it was their ally who had betrayed them.
"It's the power of the forest elves!"
"Lina, have you gone mad? Do you know what you're doing!"
"Traitor, you are a criminal of all races!" they incredulously questioned Lina. As they frantically cleared the plants from their bodies, they had to cut off large chunks of flesh,
Green light flickered in Lina's eyes. Gathering all her strength, she tore a leader nearest to her in half. Then, walking through a storm of blood, she knelt in the air before Adam and excitedly said, "Master."
Hearing Lina calling Adam "master", the crowd was furious, but they no longer had the mood to reproach or interrogate. The only thought left in their minds was to escape. Only by surviving could they have a chance to continue resisting.
Sherlock gently shook his finger, and rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.
Wherever the raindrops touched, all attacks were instantly put out. He looked at Adam and then at Lina, saying, "A fine slave, a fine ability. Are these your soul slaves? Do you mind sharing some with me?"
"Of course, it would be their honor."
Even though there was a fight, the rebels didn't lose many people because they had things under control.
Brandon saw the rain help the plants grow stronger. He laughed, reached towards the sky, and a huge pulling force came. The important members of the rebels, who were running away in fear, were forced to come back.
