The treant leader's furious curses could not change reality. The plant vines that had rashly crossed the boundary and attempted to invade the Explosion Pit had already suffered devastating strikes from the Azure Well's garrison. After the beams swept through and the last traces of ash scattered on the wind, this small-scale probe ended in failure, just like the dozens of attempts before it.
Another treant beside the leader stepped forward. His branches were shriveled and twisted, yet powerful magic coursed through his withered canopy. Tangled boughs grew in knots atop his head, forming a structure like an inflated brain. It was strange and unsettling to behold.
This twisted creature with a "brain canopy" lowered his head and looked down at Crystal Pillar Hill within the Explosion Pit. Watching the magical glow between the crystal pillars gradually fade, he shook his canopy. The faint light moving through its branches flickered erratically. "We have successfully taken control of several Ironclad Squadrons, but through these steel soldiers, we can only infiltrate the outermost defensive line... The dead soul in the deepest part of the Azure Well is far too vigilant. She has constantly been reconstructing the security protocols inside the ruins, even though this place has not faced an invasion in seven hundred years..."
The Grand Priest snorted, his voice low and sinister. "Paranoid, stubborn, delusional... That dead soul has squatted in this graveyard for seven hundred years. Perhaps she went mad long ago."
"A thought matrix does not go mad... Steel and crystal are far more stable than your mental state, Grand Priest," two female voices suddenly rang out from nearby, their tones carrying faint amusement as they interrupted the Grand Priest's muttered curses. "We heard you cursing incessantly just now. That hardly resembles your usual poise."
The Grand Priest turned