Chapter 732: Expand the Elemental Tunnel

The Night Wyvern was serious trouble. But Rhode did have the ability to resolve this issue. A young Night Wyvern was between level 75 to 80 and with Mini Bubble Gum's and Canary's strength and level 80 armor, they could resist it. However, they weren't guaranteed the victory since they were expert spell casters who were disadvantageous in close combat by nature. Moreover, the difference between their height and a five-floor-tall monster's was massive.

This would disrupt Rhode's battle deployment and this left him in a huge headache.

Rhode originally planned to make Mini Bubble Gum responsible for defense while Canary took on the high-level Necromancers. He lacked spell casters and there were only a number of them in the Legendary Stage. Gillian's seal was still in place and couldn't be unlocked due to the cooldown period. Other than her, Celestina was considered the only one left as a legendary spell caster. But she mostly used curse spells, which were ineffective against the Undead Creatures. Judging from the current situation, the 300 Necromancers team led by Cullen were above average in strength, but it was impossible for them to deal with the pincer attacks. Without the Night Wyvern, Rhode was sure that there wouldn't be any problems.

The Night Wyvern made the situation complicated instantly. The Battle Angels definitely couldn't take it down, so it was more practical to rely on Canary and Mini Bubble Gum. However, Canary and Mini Bubble Gum would be occupied and Rhode had to find another way to destroy the Necromancers. Moreover, apart from the Necromancers, there was also the Vampire army. Fortunately, the Vampires could only unleash their powers in close combat and their strength would be greatly weakened in the enchanted field. Many of them would become weak and useless, which was the only good news.

It was due to this that Rhode handed the duties of handling Necromancers to the Battle Angel Army, especially the Dawn Angels. He had hoped that the Dawn Angels could reserve their strength and serve as the trump card. But based on the current situation, they were the only ones who could easily settle the problem. Even though Rhode was unwilling to reveal his trump card beforehand, he tolerated it after considering the Night Wyvern.

Beni accepted the order and left after the meeting. Although Rhode confidently promised her that Canary and Mini Bubble Gum could deal with the Night Wyvern, Beni insisted on reporting this situation to Lydia. But she couldn't be blamed because the re-emergence of the Night Wyvern was a problem beyond this. After the Creation War, almost every Wyvern went into isolation due to their injuries and never revealed themselves. This definitely wasn't a good sign.

Although the biggest problem was resolved, this didn't mean that Rhode's job was much simpler now. A war wasn't simply a conflict between the strong troops. The lower-level troops were equally important. If not, why did the formidable five Creator Dragon Souls drag the entire population on this continent into the Creation War where there wasn't a winner?

In terms of miscellaneous soldiers, Rhode was in a complete disadvantage. He wished to pin his hopes on Gillian to manipulate the fire elemental creatures and turn them against the Undead Army. But Gillian told him regretfully that even though the Fiery Plain was an extension of the fire elemental plane of existence, the creatures living in that space weren't obedient. Perhaps she could control them if she regained her strength, but based on her current condition, it would be impossible.

However, Rhode did have other countermeasures.

The lobby of the fortress was as serene as ever. The whistling wind swept along the fluttering snow and tapped the windows along the corridor. Rhode stood in the middle of the lobby and looked up at the huge, majestic mural. Complex, luxurious patterns extended to the dome and outlined the shape of a towering tree. Among the seven light circles found in the diverse branches, the leftmost one emanated a faint blue radiance. That was the first Fantasy Key Rhode had gotten—unintentionally. Through this key, he summoned Agatha and the Ocean Elves. Although they weren't powerful, their careful and conscientious works were the biggest contributor to the fortress's operations. And now, Rhode needed to borrow the strength of their companions. In order to deal with the fire element, he would need the water element to extinguish their burning desires. The residents of the Silver Ocean from one of the Seven Fantasy Boundaries was the best choice to take down the fire elemental terrorists.

Agatha stood behind him silently. Her tentacle hairs wriggled while she gazed with her round eyes emotionlessly. Rhode swept her a glance before turning back and activating his system interface.

[Fantasy Tree—key. Silver Ocean. Upgradeable (Level 1) Can be expanded (Level 1)]

[Upgrade requirements: Azure Sapphires x 10 and 25,000 Gold Coins]

[Expansion requirements: Azure Sapphires x 10, 35,000 Gold Coins.]

[Summonable Creature: Ocean Elf]

Luckily I planned ahead and asked for elemental gems from Lydia.

Rhode shrugged. He thought that apart from using elemental gems to fulfill the system requirements, he could hand them to Lapis as materials. However, he didn't expect to use them now, which became a huge disappointment for Lapis. He recalled her devastated expression when he told her that he would be needing them for other purposes. She looked as though the Christmas present she yearned for even in her dreams was forcefully taken away by the delivery man after it was wrongly delivered. Even though she looked pitiful... Rhode had no other choices.

He retrieved the other Fantasy Key from his pocket. According to his observations, this key to the Fiery Plain was level 3 and the elemental summoning door created by this key could summon 100 fire elemental creatures every five minutes. In other words, they could summon up to 12,000 one hour using the 10 furnaces. What he had to do now was to upgrade the water elemental key to level 4 or 5 and he would be able to summon high-level water elemental creatures to serve him. Besides, unlike the elemental summoning door that the Undead Army had created, this fortress formed using the construction system already had a perfect summoning system in place. With the Magic Spring's enhancement, the channels linking to the other planes of existence would be much stronger.

"Alright then, let's begin."

Rhode stretched out his hand and shut his eyes. The mural emanated an azure radiance and gradually lit up like a river flowing through the complex patterns. Shortly after, the temperature of the lobby fell drastically while a thin layer of frost emerged over the clean, spotless floor. Lines of system prompt emerged before his eyes.

[Key Upgraded. Silver Ocean (Level 2). Expand (Level 2)]

[Key Upgraded. Silver Ocean (Level 3). Expand (Level 3)]

[Key Upgraded. Silver Ocean (Level 4). Expand (Level 4)]

[Key Upgraded. Silver Ocean (Level 5). Expand (Level 5)]

[Fantasy Plane of Existence Expanded. Strengthened. Upgrade Complete...]

In an instantly, whistling cold wind rose from ground level. The chilliness infiltrated his bones and spread throughout his veins. The magical crystal lights hanging on the walls flickered while a thick layer of ice froze the transparent window glass. The ground trembled. Both sides of the flat road outside the fortress sank while snow melted to form two crystal clear streams. The flat ground swelled, the water in the streams splashed, and the snow fluttered simultaneously. Shortly after, the streams froze and transformed into a brand new fountain along with the snow.

[Key Upgrade Complete]

Rhode laid down his hand and gazed at the system interface in satisfaction. After the upgrade, the Fantasy Key had much more detail. Now that the Silver Ocean key was upgraded to level 5, he could summon 500 high level water elemental creatures every five minutes. Not only that, but after the channel connected to the other plane of existence was expanded, the Ocean Elves under his command would be strengthened greatly. The essence of the Fantasy Key was to build channels between this world and other planes of existence. The firmer and more stable the channel was, the more influence the plane of existence had on this world. For instance, there was a [Water Elemental Strength +5] displayed in the system interface, which meant that within Land of Atonement, all spells related to the water element would be enhanced and Ocean Elves like Agatha would also become stronger.

"Hmm?"

Rhode realized that there were some changes after reading the creatures column. Previously there was only a short line of words indicating the presence of creatures and now, there were five pictures that resembled summoning cards. But there weren't any offense or defense values on them. Moreover, they lacked the core serial numbers a set of cards should have. Apart from their introductions, there was only a bit of description.

"Agatha, do you know what are they?"

Rhode swiped the system interface toward her. Agatha took two steps forward in silence and gazed at the cards. After a few moments, she spoke calmly.

"Reporting, Master. That's a Fantasy Card."

"Fantasy Card?"

Rhode twitched his brows.

"Yes, Master. Unlike your summoning cards, the Fantasy Card acts as a medium to us elemental creatures. You can only summon the creatures shown on the Fantasy Card here because you've attached them to the Fantasy Tree. You won't be able to summon them wherever you like."

"I see."

Rhode nodded. He thought that he fulfilled some conditions to receive another set of cards after witnessing five of them. It seemed that these Fantasy Cards were simply mediums to summon elemental creatures like the ten furnaces. He focused his attention on the five cards.

The first card was the Ocean Elves. In the picture, they drifted, played in the depths of the Silver Ocean, and appeared to be having a lot of fun. Below the picture was a complicated rune which resembled the Elves, yet was completely different. That looked like the Ocean Elves' symbol.

[Ocean Elves—they roam the eternal seas and their angelic singing voices are unparalleled (Water Elemental Attribute +3)]

The picture on the second card showed a crystal clear and incomparably beautiful fish. Unlike ordinary fish, its fins were as massive as the size of bird wings. Rhode knew that it was one of the species of fish, named Crystal Star, that lived in the Silver Ocean. They would occasionally appear in the shallow sea of this world. Rumor had it that if fishermen captured one and were unwilling to let them go immediately, their seacraft would be devoured by sea storms and vanish completely.

[Crystal Star—the brilliance that shines in the waves is the most fascinating (Storm Spell. Fury Waves)]

The third card was a flat, strange-looking creature emanating spiritual radiance and had a pair of flat wings. It had three long tails at its end and both sides of its body were filled with blades coalesced from spiritual radiance.

[Batfish—beautiful, elegant, yet deadly (All creatures with the same elemental attribute +2. Aura Restoration)]

Unlike the Ocean Elves, the Crystal Star and Batfish were only useful in water. Since there weren't any oceans or rivers around, it was meaningless to summon them. Even though they didn't need to survive in water as they were elemental creatures, they were useless without it and Rhode wouldn't waste his time summoning them. He was most mindful about the remaining two creatures. But after he gazed at them, he was astonished.

"Hmm?"

The two cards didn't resemble any fish or seem related to the ocean at all. One of them was bent over and held its two razor-sharp claws onto the stone step below. Its deep blue, translucent body exuded a bone-chilling aura and bubbles. Behind this strange-looking creature was a long, ice tail.

On the other hand, the last card looked even weirder. It didn't have any specific shape and looked more like a mirror hovering in midair. If it weren't for the two hands dancing beside this 'mirror', perhaps one would have treated it as an ordinary mirror.

[Phantom Beast—dangerous and invisible in the shape of death. (Semi-physical creature. Water Arrow Spell)]

[Phantom Mirror—you are what it is. (Able to copy shapes of any creature. Phantom Attribute)]

"Phantom Creatures?"

Of course, Rhode knew what they were. But this was an expansion of the water elemental plane of existence, so why would there be Phantom creatures?

Agatha explained in her monotonous voice.

"The Silver Ocean is the reflection of the water elemental plane of existence, Master. Phantoms and mirror images are two of the water element's distinctive features. It is due to this reason that many Phantom Creatures live in the Silver Ocean. Water represents illusion. They are easy to destroy, difficult to hone and grasp powers. As long as you see through their illusion, you can sense their true strength."

"I see."

Rhode nodded. Indeed, many spells related to illusions required items that were related to the water element. He wasn't a Mage and didn't care too much about this before. Now that Agatha had mentioned, he realized that this was actually logical.

At this moment, he came up with an idea.

"Agatha."

"Yes, Master. Is anything the matter?"

"Even though you aren't a creature summoned from my card, you are still considered my card creature, right?"

"Yes, Master. Strictly speaking, this isn't wrong to say so."

Even though Agatha didn't understand why Rhode asked this question, she pondered for a while and answered. Rhode twitched his brow and his eyes glinted with confidence.

"Good. It seems that our trouble isn't as huge as what we've thought."

Rhode raised his right hand. This time, it was the Fantasy Key he had stolen from the Undead Army.

"Now, it's time to welcome our new friends."