I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 987: Encountering the Enemy

The first half of the journey to the target region went quite smoothly.

But that was hardly surprising.

With the help of the Leap Power technology, the wizard civilization had held the advantage on the main front ever since the war broke out.

Although the Behemoth Alliance’s resistance had grown fiercer and fiercer as the front lines kept expanding, on the whole the initiative still rested in the wizards’ hands.

Now and then an enemy squad that had infiltrated through was detected, but the moment the other side spotted that immense ship-plane, they would usually withdraw at once without the slightest hesitation.

After all, a legion capable of taking on an expedition of this scale was never the kind of target such infiltration squads were meant to deal with.

Inside the ship-plane, Jie Ming took advantage of the time to go on collecting training data on the new version of Leap Power.

After a year or so of the voyage, the legion’s wizards had essentially mastered how to use the new version of the technology.

Although some of the wizards were still a considerable way from bringing out the full tenfold theoretical limit, at least where basic application was concerned, the overwhelming majority could already establish a stable circulation structure.

Jie Ming had gathered a good deal of data in the process, and was quite satisfied with it.

Still, the real test would have to wait for the battlefield.

However good the figures looked on paper, they were no substitute for performance in actual combat.

He needed to observe just how much effect the new version of Leap Power could produce under enemy interference, violent energy fluctuations, and multiple wizards casting at the same time.

Just as Jie Ming was about to call up the latest training report, an alarm suddenly sounded on the bridge.

“Warning! Large numbers of enemy targets detected!” the wizard responsible for monitoring the surrounding void reported at once.

“The targets are closing on our position. Over a thousand of them, preliminarily identified as the Behemoth Alliance’s Scaled Beast faction!”

The bridge, which had been fairly relaxed until then, fell silent in an instant.

Wizard Peyton walked up to the central light screen, his expression grave. “Enlarge the image.”

As the order went out, the distant scene was quickly displayed before everyone.

Jie Ming turned to look at the light screen as well.

Looking at the data marked out on the screen, he could not keep his eyebrows from rising.

He had long since learned about the Behemoth Alliance from the materials, and knew that its creatures were generally enormous in size.

But only when he actually saw this force did he realize that his past imaginings had still been far too conservative.

Of the creatures moving through the void, even the smallest was comparable to a continent.

Their forms varied widely; the one thing they had in common was the thick, heavy scales growing over their bodies.

And among this host of behemoths, the most striking were the few dozen colossal things at the rear of the formation.

Their size exceeded the scale of an ordinary small plane; by the detection data, these behemoths were very nearly the size of stars.

Heavy scales were stacked layer upon layer over their bodies, each one like a vast continental plate, and as they moved, the space around them warped continuously.

By comparison, even the ship-plane beneath Jie Ming’s feet seemed somewhat puny.

And this was an entire refitted plane, yet before those few dozen behemoths it still looked like a small boat that had strayed into a battlefield of giants.

“That bulk is really something,” Jie Ming murmured with feeling.

If living planes did not innately command large numbers of laws, these behemoths could probably beat even a living plane of the same level.

More importantly, the auras of these behemoths were all eighth level!

As the behemoths closed to a certain distance from the fleet, they shook their bodies, and a great mass of “debris” was shaken loose from them.

The light screen at once focused on that “debris,” and soon brought up the image.

The so-called debris was in fact alive. Their shapes looked like some kind of small insect, spread densely around the behemoths and moving along with the main body.

But… “small” was only so relative to the behemoths.

In fact, every one of these so-called “little insects” was the size of a mountain range, and gave off the aura of a seventh-level life form.

Jie Ming’s expression turned thoughtful.

From the situation so far, every eighth-level behemoth was in itself the equivalent of a mothership with independent combat capability.

And the seventh-level servants were the escort and combat units operating around that mothership.

Over a thousand behemoths, plus the servant races at their sides, were enough to make up an army of enormous scale and astonishing combat power.

And this was merely one interception force of the Scaled Beast faction.

“It looks like we’ve been marked.” Jie Ming turned to look at Peyton.

Peyton had already called up more detailed intelligence on the enemy, but his expression was no longer as grave as before.

“Most likely those infiltration squads that got away earlier spotted our trail and passed word back. The other side clearly doesn’t intend to let us reach the target region unhindered, which is why they’ve hastily pulled together a force to intercept us.”

He pointed to several of the very largest behemoths and began giving Jie Ming the detailed intelligence that was not in the materials.

“These should be leader-level individuals among the scaled beasts. The Behemoth Alliance’s life forms are enormous by nature, with considerable ability to survive and fight in the endless chaotic void. They don’t need to rely on a complete plane as a base of operations, nor do they need to depend on a Law Solidification Domain, as we do, to live in the endless chaotic void.”

“Add their enormous bulk, and many behemoths can bring out combat power close to a higher level with a life-form strength of a lower level. Under normal circumstances, a single behemoth can even fight a wizard one level below it to a draw.”

Jie Ming nodded thoughtfully. “Seen that way, these behemoths really are no weaklings.”

After all, wizards fought above their level as easily as eating and drinking, and a high-level wizard could even take on a whole group of enemies one level above himself single-handed.

Seen in that light, that it took only one behemoth to match a wizard one level below it already showed how strong these behemoths’ combat power was.

But that was understandable too. An enormous body meant a more astonishing energy capacity, after all, and could carry a more complex power structure as well.

For these life forms, their innate size was an advantage in itself.

Peyton went on, “As for the leader-level behemoths among the eighth level, it usually takes only three or four of them to stand against an ordinary eighth-level wizard. Of course, that judgment assumes the wizard isn’t using Leap Power.”

At this point a faint smile suddenly rose at the corner of his mouth. “It seems the enemy commander is quite cautious. A behemoth army of this order of magnitude would be enough to cause us no small trouble even with Leap Power.”

“At least, before, we’d have had to commit a considerable portion of our high-level combat strength to repel them safely.”

As he said this, there was even a trace of anticipation in his eyes. “But things are different now.”

With that, Peyton turned and walked toward the bridge exit.

“Since they’ve delivered themselves to our door, we may as well verify the effect of the new version of Leap Power while we’re at it.”

Jie Ming realized at once what he meant to do.

“Wizard Peyton, you’re going to take the field yourself?”

Peyton looked back with a smile. “Of course. Wizard Jie Ming, haven’t you been wanting all along to see how much effect the new version of Leap Power can produce on a real battlefield? These opponents have shown up at just the right moment.”

With that, his figure vanished from where he stood.