Atop the main building of Fortress Five.
Veylin stood facing the bitter wind, holding a test tube filled with a clear, pristine liquid-the [Supreme Clarity Potion], which could quickly relieve mental exhaustion.
He watched the ten Constructs rampaging below, his eyes filled with nothing but calculation.
After weighing his options, he tipped his head back and drained the test tube.
Bitterness exploded across his tongue. His mental power surged, and his wine-red eyes abruptly brightened as though aflame.
He extended his right hand, spread his fingers, and aimed at the rubble around the breach in the wall.
Gel Seeds had been buried there several days earlier.
**Hum-**a tremor rose from deep beneath the earth.
Behind the Black Steel Constructs, the soil churned violently, as though something were breaking through.
The next moment, countless thick vines shot skyward.
They formed an enormous semicircle more than fifty meters across around the Constructs.
The vines rapidly intertwined and piled atop one another, climbing upward from that foundation.
In the blink of an eye, an immensely thick, curving wall of vegetation several meters high rose from the ground, trapping all ten Constructs inside.
Yet these steel behemoths, which knew only to execute their "demolish the wall" command, initially failed to notice the change behind them. They continued mechanically swinging their enormous arms into the remaining wall before them.
Only several seconds later did one Construct seem to sense something and stop. With the clatter of meshing gears, it slowly turned around, the scarlet light in its single eye flickering as it scanned the towering green wall that had appeared behind it.
At that same moment, atop a castle several kilometers away.
Hector stood on a terrace with a grim expression. Beside him, a military mage was drenched in sweat, his hands trembling as he