Two hourglass turns later.
The sun's rays gradually rose above the horizon.
As the monsters began to retreat, the frontline academicians and scholars who had fought a brutal battle throughout the night returned to Sky Fortress No. 2. The apocalyptic devastation before them left them stunned.
The land was shattered, littered with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Among them were many colossal creatures of extraordinary size.
At the center was a massive, raindrop-shaped crater, more than two hundred meters in diameter.
The crater walls had been vitrified by the intense heat. The residual heat was gradually cooling, but it was still scorching, sending countless plumes of steam into the air.
Surrounding it were countless impact craters from smaller meteorites, and scorched earth left behind by the heat.
Beyond that...
Within the rift stretching to the far horizon, molten lava boiled. Large numbers of soldiers were following the retreating monsters into its depths to explore. From their shouted exchanges, it was clear they had already found several underground passages leading to unknown places.
Roar...
A dragonhawk cried out mournfully.
The giant bird landed and stretched its neck toward its dead companion.
Its rider stood beside it, his grief hidden beneath a helmet that revealed only his eyes.
But more giant birds, guided by their riders, circled the tilted metal fortress in the sky alongside hundreds of balloon airships from all directions. They fought to extinguish the smoke and flames, rescue the power and transmission systems, and prevent the fortress from crashing.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
When Antonio and the other frontline scholars returned to the Sky Fortress, they saw Reilo standing with a grim expression beside several scholars, all gazing at the central altar, where the air churned with explosive spatial fluctuations.
"The energy crystals you've offered would only