Chapter 127: Stress Bomb

The Mother of Corpses continued its rumbling advance, leaving little time for anyone. At the corner of the mountain-like city walls, a black hole opened, and Provence stepped out, looking immaculate.

He frowned. "That incompetent fool, how did he just die like that?"

Provence had some unknown means of immediately learning of his new recruit's death. "Who did it? Was it those people with the rabbits and pandas, or the Dragon Knights? No, the plan hasn't been exposed; they haven't increased the defense at any critical locations..."

As a strategist, there was nothing he loathed more than unclear intelligence. Weighing various possibilities only made his head ache, yet indecision was a cardinal sin in warfare. Caught in this dilemma, his frustration grew. Provence made a swift, decisive choice: "Continue the plan. We have no other way out."

Several firm replies of "Yes" echoed through their mental link.

After ensuring the area was clear, Provence opened another door. From it stepped three mages, led by Ava, along with the psionicist Lin Zexi. Mages in the Pocket Dimension were as versatile as cyborgs—equally adept at serving as artillery, healers, tanks, or scouts. While individuals usually had their specialties, this did not stop mages from being the most sought-after profession in the realm. Ava and her team had already proven their worth in previous skirmishes, and now, they were to play an even greater role.

Lin Zexi provided support as Ava began her inspection. She pressed her palm against the rough surface of the wall, closing her eyes for a moment. Her consciousness expanded, scanning the interior of the masonry. She opened her eyes and nodded. "No problem. The ritual I embedded is still there; no one has discovered it."

Provence asked, "If they haven't discovered it in a place as important as the city wall, it's unlikely they’ve found it elsewhere... How certain are you?"

"The power of the stress bombs is guaranteed against a monolithic super-structure like this," Ava replied confidently.

Provence was less optimistic. "Even though the bombs have been planted, this city holds secrets that perhaps even its inhabitants don't fully understand. Furthermore..." He cast his gaze toward the towering cathedral, a deep sense of dread filling his heart. There, the most powerful monster in this world might be slumbering.

Lin Zexi also looked toward the cathedral. Suddenly, he felt deeply uncomfortable, as if the humidity in the air were so stifling that he could not find a moment's peace. Behind the clouded glass of the cathedral, a golden vertical pupil snapped open, its sharp, blade-like gaze piercing deep into Lin Zexi’s soul. The cathedral felt like an ancient crocodile roused from hibernation, revealing a hunger and cruelty that had been dormant for ages. The cold-blooded aura caused a shiver to race through Lin Zexi, and he broke into a cold sweat instantly.

In the blink of an eye, the dilapidated cathedral stood silent again under the dim sky, looking like a senile old man, devoid of any threat. But Lin Zexi could not dismiss this as an illusion like some doomed supporting character in a horror movie; that would be a gross betrayal of himself and his team.

Lin Zexi’s eyes widened, and he shouted sharply, "Detonate the bombs now! Detonate all of them! All of them!"

Ava, confused, looked to Provence for instructions. Though Provence did not know what had happened, he trusted the psionicist's perception. Psionicists were masters of the mind, walking the thin line between reality and illusion, capable of peering through facades to find truth, often receiving revelations from great existences or resonances from their future selves. Lin Zexi’s distress must be linked to this. Provence had to decide immediately.

He nodded. "Do as Lin Zexi says. Detonate all the stress bombs at once."

Ava hesitated no longer. She pressed her hand against the interface of the wall's ritual point, and the entire formation ignited like a fuse, the command racing toward several critical locations.

The stress bombs were not exactly magic or items, but technology. Their principle was analogous to directional blasting, but far more complex. While directional blasting only roughly calculated gravity and structural shifts, stress bombs accounted for the omnipresent internal stress—the interaction forces between every part of an object. This was an abstract, fluid power, flowing within every object like water, shifting in density as the object deformed under pressure. Once the stress at a specific point reached a certain threshold, the structural support would be cancelled out, causing the object to twist and collapse under the weight of its own imbalance.

Theoretically, with perfect calculation of position, timing, magnitude, and angle, the structural failure caused by the convergence of stress would trigger a chain reaction, destroying an entire building in seconds. Only the late Kant had possessed the ability to master such work; this was one of his most important legacies. Some of these stress-gathering points were completely enclosed or solid, and it was only through the use of spatial gates that they had been placed successfully.

The stress bombs were triggered. The cylindrical surfaces cracked with vertical lines, and the internal spiral axes began to spin at high speeds. Guided by sensor feedback, they emitted a highly specific oscillation wave, resonating with the surrounding structure with extreme efficiency. Rather than bombs, they were more like vibration rods.

Their full name was "Matter Oscillation Generators." They could detect the natural resonant frequency of surrounding materials, resonate with them, and decompose matter into fragments or even particles from the inside out. Not even diamonds could escape them; they were a versatile strategic military asset. The civilization that built this city had achieved mastery in magic, but their architecture and structural engineering were relatively underdeveloped. After ten thousand years of decay, the city's buildings were held together solely by semi-permanent solidification magic.

Now, even that magic could not withstand this destruction of fundamental material properties. The masonry at the key points of the wall lost all resistance to the resonant frequency, crumbling into heaps of powder. The flowing torrent of stress revealed its jagged claws, tearing at every node.

In an instant, the ground shook, and rocks flew. Within five seconds, dozens of massive holes erupted in the mountain-like wall, and countless cracks spread across the surface like the talons of a demon.

Xu Xiaoke stopped his return journey, quickly calculating the range of the impending collapse. For him, stress bombs were nothing new, but for Li Kangshan, the sight was as shocking as seeing a real mountain topple. "What is happening?"

Xu Xiaoke grabbed the stunned Li Kangshan in the middle of the road and retreated at full speed, escaping the danger zone soon to be pulverized by falling rubble. The wall shook violently, as if fighting its own fate of destruction. The pockmarked barrier finally reached its limit. Deep, terrifying cracks carved through its body, and countless bricks, once held together by mortar akin to sticky rice and egg whites, scattered into the air.

This great creation, which had stood for ten thousand years or more, finally succumbed to the passage of time and the destructive technology of another world.