Mage? Magic Engineer!

"Haha! Excellent!" General Ilysov watched as his Personal Guard demonstrated their divine might. They weren’t just crushing and herding the Mage Corps like dogs; they had also launched a surprise attack from underground, easily blasting apart the fortress the Guild had constructed.

These brutes were so useful after being blessed and transformed. He believed that unless a Great Mage was present, no one could stop their assault. It was a pity the "Great Mother" hadn’t fully awakened yet. Her power had yet to sweep across the entire surface of the world. Otherwise, he would be leading a grand army of death and immortality to purge the Valois people and achieve unparalleled glory for himself.

He could already see it: the weak William II, trembling as he handed over the crown and the Emperor’s grand robes. His most loyal and powerful Personal Guard would accept them, then place the crown on his head and drape the robes over his shoulders.

The Mother Goddess’s High Priest would anoint him with Holy Oil, declaring Ilysov the master of all lands, from the Endless Ice Field in the north to the Cape of Storms in the south... the most devout servant of the Mother Goddess, the King of all Kings...

"General? General?"

He heard the High Priest’s voice again and mumbled in a daze, "Haven’t you finished with the Holy Oil?"

"What are you sleep-talking about?" Gregory found it amusing. His breath reeked of alcohol as he helped the general recall. "First you said something like, ’You’ve ruined me,’ then you were drooling and cackling, and now this about Holy Oil. What on earth were you dreaming about?"

"A dream? Was I asleep?" Ilysov was startled. He quickly raised his telescope. Thank goodness. Breaching the Guild’s headquarters and rounding up the last survivors—that had really happened.

’I can’t believe I was daydreaming...’

"Day? You’re not wrong, I suppose, but it’s actually night right now. Early morning, to be precise." Gregory’s words startled Ilysov. "You, me, and most of the people in this city haven’t slept a wink. It’s only natural you’d feel drowsy."

Even General Ilysov, the one presiding over the ritual, was unaware of the anomaly in the sky!

"You don’t know the time?" Gregory pulled out his pocket watch. It was the only one still ticking normally, pointing to 5:08, while all other timepieces had stopped.

"Impossible!" Ilysov panicked. "Has the ritual preparation really taken this long?"

He had only considered dealing with the survivors and the Mage Corps an appetizer. What Ilysov was waiting for was for all the Flesh Monsters to devour and reproduce among themselves, eventually merging into a single entity that would cover the entire city. This entity would then serve as a sacrifice, calling for the "Mother" to "embrace" the city of Ovord.

Ilysov had been honored with the role of executor. He had already transformed his own subordinates into controlled monsters. The only one he’d spared was that detestable Richard Hench.

’That brat who dared to talk back to me...’ If Gregory hadn’t asked to be the one to handle Hench, Ilysov would have taught him a brutal lesson. For instance, he would have made him swallow a cluster of flesh, letting the tendrils of meat erode and burst through his fragile human body from the inside out...

’I never thought the phenomenon would include the sky changing...’ Ilysov hadn’t dabbled much in theology and wasn’t sensitive to the Authority of Divine Spirits, so he had assumed all the anomalies were his own doing.

Gregory narrowed his eyes and smiled, saying nothing.

’There’s no more time. I’ll have to begin now.’

Ilysov cleared his throat and stood before the high platform. He began to sing the mysterious ballads of the Northern Lands once more. This time, the monsters that heard his voice began to fuse and melt together. Soon, the entire city was submerged in a vast, bleeding mire of flesh.

The mire of flesh began to simmer and bubble, giving birth to all sorts of nauseating and evil creatures even more bizarre and twisted than the Blood Knights. At the city’s center, the flesh caved in and sagged downward, forming a bottomless pit that seemed like an Abyss leading to the Netherworld.

Ovord would become the first city to belong to the Mother Goddess!

No, historically, it wasn’t as if there were no city-states that worshiped the Mother Goddess; there should have been as many of them as there were her incarnations and various titles.

Ovord was better described as a proclamation and an offering for the Great Mother’s return.

Whether the civilians, soldiers, and the Guild’s Casters knew or consented, they were all chosen to be bathed in glory and receive eternal life.

The Town Mage Tower was also teetering on the verge of collapse. The boiling Flesh and Blood Carpet seemed to be digesting all matter within the city; the foundation and first floor had already shattered and were beginning to decompose. Still mindful of his "cargo," Gregory dragged the unconscious Hench up from the dungeon.

"Congratulations on your success, General," Gregory sneered. "What’s your next move? Planning to take a leap and join the ’great immortal family’?"

"No, no, no. My dear Gregory, that is immortality for the foolish masses. They rejected the Great Mother, so they only deserve to obtain undeath through this pathetic form of existence, as a display of my Lord’s mercy.

"As for me, it is my mind that is of use to Her, my ability to execute Her will. If I were to abandon my own vessel and throw myself into the sea of flesh right now, the Divine Spirit would surely be disappointed in me."

Gregory was noncommittal. "Then what reward will your Lord give you?"

"One must not presume to guess! The Lord says... She says..." The carpet of flesh covering the entire city let out a collective, wheezing exhalation. The void at the city’s center, in particular, began to resonate, as if it were truly speaking in a garbled, unknowable tongue.

"The Lord says there are still sinners in the city who do not believe, who refuse the gift of eternal life." The color drained from Ilysov’s face. "Do not punish me! I will find them at once..."

The Flesh and Blood Carpet fell silent. At that moment, the pale sky abruptly darkened, plunging into absolute blackness. The light shrank in an instant until only a sliver was visible on the horizon. Just before dawn, the Ferolun Continent had lost its protection.

The Mother Goddess’s presence suddenly intensified. Ilysov could now not only control the Blood Cavalry but also command the newly spawned, powerful creatures. They began to surge toward the Guild’s vicinity, hunting for the last of the enemy.

The Mage Corps was desperately holding on. The first floor of their building had already been "digested." Paul, who had recovered some of his strength, simply hardened their room and cast Protection on it. Through the combined efforts of the other Mages, they had formed a Lonely Boat, adrift on the sea of flesh.

"We have two options," Richard said, holding up his fingers. "One: we perform a group Casting to open a Teleportation Array. The problem is, someone has to stay behind to maintain the Magic Array, which means only some of us can escape.

"Two: we find the last Forbidden Magic Device. It’s an older, pulse-type model. If it isn’t destroyed, activating it just once would be enough to save us."

They had already sealed the windows. Pascal poked his head through a crack and saw that everything was covered in a nauseating spectacle. "The second option is definitely a no-go.

"You all should take a look outside. This sight would be enough to make an Istani swear off their chitterling sausages."

"The truth is, neither option is viable. We’re finished," Richard admitted with a shrug. "I never thought an initial investigation mission, one that gathered Military Mages and Combat Mages from two different sides, would end with us being completely wiped out here."

Paul sighed. "We should have been prepared from the start for what we were facing: an entire city’s population turned into monsters. There are simply too many for us to handle."

"So..." Richard’s expression shifted. "The only thing left for us to do is to take the bastard down with us. We find the one behind this ritual. Even if we die, with this many Casters working together, we’re going to make him suffer!"

The Guild headquarters was gone. Most of the buildings were gone. The fusion and transformation of the Flesh and Blood Carpet was complete. The Magic Power signatures had become uniform, and to Richard’s senses, the central node commanding the monsters was a dazzling beacon.

Suddenly, another bright Magic Power Source appeared in the sky, plummeting downward at an incredible speed.

A "blue meteor" broke through the mist and, as if by perfect, terrible coincidence, plunged with a SPLASH right into the gaping maw of the Abyss.