The investigation into the remaining End of All Things forces in the wasteland had hit a bottleneck, but that did not mean the great empires beyond the Great Wall would halt their counteroffensive against the wasteland. On the contrary, precisely because the situation inside the wall remained entirely unknown, the pressure on those empires had only increased. They were more urgently driven to extend their power into the wasteland, even if it meant merely establishing an initial Forward Base.
Thus began the mortal nations' counteroffensive against the wasteland.
In the south of the continent, the Silver Empire had joined forces with the Highland Kingdom to form a massive ranger force. Together with the Guardian Giant Tree, they began advancing north along the border forests, gradually compressing the Contaminated Zone beyond the Great Wall. In the north and northeast of the continent, Typhon and Cecil had already mobilized vast amounts of manpower and resources to construct several railways running through the Contaminated Zone, intending to use these "steel arteries" as fulcrums to pry open the formidable barrier of pollution surrounding the wasteland.
Great Architect Gordon stood atop the observation platform on the first wall of South Gate Fortress, his gaze resting on the distant edge of the Black Forest. Deep within the woods, he could see faint artificial structures protruding from between the towering, twisted trees. Their metal or crystalline spires gleamed in the sunlight, like jewels set within the forest, linked one after another in a line pointing toward the Great Wall.
Those were outposts established in the Black Forest—the exposed spires of Magic Energy Broadcast Towers or Shield Generators within them.
In the past, many had considered the Black Forest a dead zone where life had ended for humanity. The nations had stopped short before its blockade, abandoning that