After the conversation with Wizard Artarius, Jeming had been on alert for potential issues.

However, he did not expect the opponent to act so swiftly.

Just a month later, the peaceful research routine was shattered by an urgent order.

Commander Frost’s voice, carrying a rare heavy tone, resonated across the army via the Magic Network Terminal:

[Attention all units, immediately enter the highest state of ground and underground alert. Detection of large-scale, high-precision excavation operations by the Reaper Race on the outskirts and deep beneath the camp. The suspected objective is... to sever the connection of the Earth’s veins and geological structure within a ten-million-kilometer radius around our camp from the mainland. Repeat, utmost alert!]

The order was accompanied by some detection data.

Jeming quickly browsed through it, feeling a chill in his heart.

The images showed countless specialized "Burrowers," variant Reaper Race members, constructing a vast and complex underground network thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers beneath the camp.

The purpose of this action was not to dig an attack passage, but to excavate a series of encircling "isolation zones" with the camp at the center.

These isolation zones were gradually severing the mechanical connections of the crust, siphoning off the Earth’s vein energy flowing through this area.

Due to the depth of the underground operations, their concealment was extremely high.

It wasn’t until the camp’s large Protective Array experienced periodic fluctuations due to unstable energy supply that the wizards traced the clues to discover this astounding conspiracy hidden underground.

"Trying to ’cut off’ our foundation from both the physical and energy levels?" Jeming furrowed his brow.

This tactic might seem cumbersome, but considering its depth and scale, it indeed poses a challenge to stop in a short amount of time.

Unless one employs a super witchcraft powerful enough to cause localized geological disasters or even harm the Plane Origin for covering bombardment, there’s no way to interrupt the nearly completed project.

But the question is, what is the enemy’s objective?

Even if they succeed in "cutting off" this area, causing the camp’s Protective Array to become less effective, and altering the terrain, the overall impact on the war is limited.

Wizards rely not only on fixed fortifications but also on their own mobility and extraordinary techniques.

In a head-to-head battle, wizards have never been afraid.

Unless...

A lightbulb moment struck in Jeming’s mind, as he quickly directed his attention to several key nodes within the camp’s interior layout.

These nodes marked the "Foundational Law Anchored Array" and the "Anti-Spatial Interference Generator," which maintained the temporal stability of the entire camp.

While these facilities could not counteract plane-level temporal regression, they were sufficient to isolate conventional space teleportation, time deceleration, or small-scale temporal cycles, ensuring absolute stability for internal camp command and research systems.

"Chaos..." Jeming muttered under his breath, as a clear intention emerged in his mind.

Perhaps what that hidden presence wanted wasn’t to devastate the wizards through the excavation operation itself.

What it sought was the brief "chaos" that would envelop the entire camp at the moment of project completion, triggered by the dramatic geological changes and Earth vein energy disturbance!

In this level of chaos, the camp’s sophisticated spatiotemporal protective system would inevitably experience a momentary glitch, overload, or short window of failure.

Although this window might last only a fraction of a second, for a time-manipulating entity, that brief time was already enough.

Through this method, it could bypass conventional defenses, presenting the perfect opportunity for a "surpassing conventional elimination" against specific targets.

And who was the target for elimination?

It was obviously without a doubt.

Jeming remained silent, not conveying his speculation through any channels to others, nor exhibiting any extra vigilance.

Considering the uncertainty of the opponent’s information control reach, any unusual reaction might alert them.

He continued his research work as usual, participating in tactical discussions.

Time passed in a deceptive calm and an undercurrent of turbulent waiting.

A day later, the omen began.

First, a slight, continual tremor rose from beneath the feet, like a giant beast turning over in the depths of the earth.

Some high-precision monitoring instruments within the camp began to register reading drifts, and the atmospheric element concentration showed irregular fluctuations.

Frost continuously issued commands, adjusting the output model of the Protective Array, and reinforcing critical facilities.

Combat Wizards all entered a combat-ready state, with cannon fodder units deployed to the camp’s edge, ready to respond to any attack potentially launched directly from underground.

The tremor grew stronger, escalating from a continuous muffled sound to intermittent violent quakes.

Above the camp, the light of multiple layers of Energy Shield began to flicker irregulary, emitting an overburdened buzz.

Cracks began emerging on the ground, initially hairline-thin, rapidly expanding into alarming chasms.

"Here it comes!" someone shouted over the communication channel.

The next moment...

BOOOOOOOM!!!

A kind of monumental cracking sound resounded, as if the entire continental plate was being torn asunder.

Centered on the Wizard Camp, the ground within a radius of over a thousand kilometers, like a cake edge cut by an invisible giant blade, protruded sharply upward and then collapsed!

Countless gigantic fissures, over a hundred meters wide and bottomless, like hideous scars, instantly spread across this region.

The Earth’s vein energy gushed out of the fissures like a breached flood, carrying searing magma and toxic gases into the sky!

The camp itself, due to its robust Protective Array and preemptive reinforcement, did not collapse instantly but shook violently like a lonely boat in a storm.

Over a third of the Rune Towers’ lights went out, while temporary buildings toppled en masse.

Under the dual pressure of massive physical structure changes and energy shocks, the flickering frequency of the Energy Shield reached a dangerous level.

Almost simultaneously, in the depths of those enormous ground-crack abysses, came a dense, hair-raising sound of flapping wings and crawling!

Black tide, the tide made of flesh, surged out of every fissure!

It was the long-prepared, massive army of the Reaper Race.

Exploiting the chaos of earth’s rift, they disregarded the original high costs needed to breach the camp’s outer defenses, directly erupting from the interior and perimeter fissures like a black volcanic eruption, swallowing the entire Wizard Camp in an ocean of insect hordes!

The battle erupted swiftly!

The roars of wizards, the screams of the Reaper Race, the booming of energy explosions, and the thunderous crashes of collapsing structures, instantly blended into a death rhapsody!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

Chaos, noise, energy turbulence, visual obstructions... reached a peak.

Jeming had already stood up in the initial quake, a faint Protective Spirit Light illuminating around him, ready to ascend and observe the situation and join the battle.

Just as his feet lifted less than half a meter off the ground, his form barely in motion, his attention captivated by the onrushing enemies and the camp’s dire state at that moment...

He disappeared.

Like a character in a dynamic picture gently erased with a rubber by the artist’s hand.

The nearest wizards around him were wholly preoccupied dealing with enemies leaping out of ground fissures, the violent energy blasts and gas waves concealing every subtle anomaly.

No one noticed there was one less person in the laboratory.

(I’m taking a day off tomorrow in advance. Though I no longer have a fever, my throat still hurts unbearably, to the point I can’t speak, so I’m going to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow.)