Free Web NovelChapter 2480: Chapter 2481: Premature Celebration
Even though this operation was more like a carefully staged performance, the results were unexpectedly good. After all, the continuous ambushes by The Imperial Timeline had caused huge casualties and were indeed a heavy blow to ordinary people. This time, even if there was too much theatricality, at least they really had fought their way in and occupied a piece of land belonging to The Imperial Timeline.
Even if Qi Chen himself didn’t feel much about it, this successful penetration into The Imperial Timeline still greatly boosted the confidence of the United Army’s various nations, and the dark cloud brought by the string of raids seemed to dissipate just like that.
Because they heard Feng Yuan muttering, Qi Chen and the others were on edge, afraid that some bad news would suddenly come from the front line.
"Feng Yuan, it’s been so long without any information coming back, could it be..."
In the end, Qi Chen still couldn’t help but ask Feng Yuan, rolling his eyes. Feng Yuan said irritably,
"That’s possible in theory, but the probability of so many Divine Beasts getting overturned when a whole bunch of Divine Beasts are working together is very low, practically negligible."
What a joke. If The Imperial Timeline really had that kind of capability, Feng Yuan suspected it wouldn’t be the United Army mounting a counteroffensive right now, but Agunas rallying Divine Beasts and risking turmoil in the Time River to erase The Imperial Timeline directly.
What’s more, this was only the Rune of Twisted Beimode. Feng Yuan didn’t believe there was any real chance of Agunas and the others wiping out, unless there were other Runes mixed in as well.
This was the only thing Feng Yuan was worried about: if, during reconstruction, they were ambushed by other Rune holders, Agunas and the others might not react in time.
Fortunately, what Feng Yuan worried about didn’t happen. When Gitalien arrived at the shattered space and saw the completely collapsed space, it said in puzzlement,
"How on earth did you fight? Why did you smash this entire space to pieces?"
"This isn’t the time to talk about that. Can you restore this space? At the very least, the space near the bridge needs to be stabilized."
"You really know how to find work for me. Forget it, repairing this space..."
With a sigh, Gitalien invoked its Authority. Although its Authority was greatly suppressed inside The Imperial Timeline, repairing this patch of space wasn’t hard. It was just that, for some reason, Gitalien kept feeling the space layers here were very strange.
Repairing space didn’t require Gitalien’s constant attention, so most of its focus went to that odd space layer. Agunas didn’t know this; it only found it a bit strange that Gitalien kept silent.
"I didn’t expect the space layer of a time branch to be this peculiar."
As Gitalien spoke, it drifted over to a section of space currently under repair. Right now, the spatial order of this region was being rebuilt, and the original appearance of the shattered world was being revealed as reconstruction progressed. Staring at the grassland, Gitalien clenched its claw, and an illusory plant appeared out of thin air.
"What’s that?"
Because nothing else could be done while the spatial order was being rebuilt, Gitalien’s movements were especially eye‑catching. Turning its head to give Agunas a meaningful look, Gitalien said,
"An independent space layer. It’s fragile, but... it’s protected by a unique set of rules. Ordinary people would probably find it hard to detect. If you hadn’t destroyed the spatial order and had only simply shattered the space, this independent region likely wouldn’t have been damaged."
"So you’re saying the United Army has to be careful of these independent space layers?"
In an instant, Agunas understood what Gitalien was worried about. If, while the United Army was attacking, the enemy launched strikes from a special space layer, that would be bad.
"Not just them. Even you might not be able to sense this kind of special space layer."
Gitalien glanced at Agunas and said faintly. It naturally knew about the United Army’s operation, but because it had to guard the Main World, it hadn’t joined this action.
It knew very well that once the forward base was completed, Agunas and the others would split up and join different formations to act separately. At that point, enemy ambushes relying on space layers would become extremely dangerous.
"I’ll have them keep an eye out."
After pondering for a moment, Agunas said this. Although it was only the commander on the Divine Beast side, it believed the human side wouldn’t treat this matter lightly. After all, aside from the Divine Beasts accompanying the formations, the plan still had plenty of teams operating on their own.
Compared to teams with Divine Beasts in tow, the teams without the Shelter of Divine Beasts were the truly vulnerable ones.
"If possible, try to get those guys to come over and help. This isn’t just our problem, after all."
Watching the steadily reconstructed space, Gitalien spoke. Before Agunas could answer, Gitalien continued,
"This time, I’ll take the Authority over the space layer into my own hands. I can guarantee those guys won’t be able to use special space layers to launch sneak attacks on the base. But that’s all I can do."
"Thank you."
Agunas understood that forcibly seizing Authority would be no small burden for Gitalien. Still, if the space layer in this place was really as Gitalien described, then doing this was indeed the best choice.
As the space was rebuilt, messages from the front once again began to come in continuously. Especially after hearing that this operation hadn’t incurred heavy casualties, many people were cheering.
"Right now we’ve only taken the first step. The trouble the United Army has already run into shows that it won’t be easy to wrap this up quickly. And I’m very worried they’ll misjudge the enemy’s strength."
On the phone, Feng Yuan voiced his concern directly. Even though top‑tier Combat Power would eventually clash—meaning battles where Divine Beasts entered the field—that didn’t mean every engagement would, or could, involve Divine Beasts.
To put it another way, even Feng Yuan didn’t believe the enemy was so outrageous that they could use large numbers of Anti-Divine Beast Runes.
However, even if top‑tier combat power was constrained, that didn’t mean they could relax. In Feng Yuan’s view, if they wanted to minimize casualties, every team needed at least one Saint Beast-Level Beastmasters accompanying it.
Whether they would actually do that, though, was hard to say.
Because this victory had come too easily. If they lost themselves because of it, there wasn’t much Feng Yuan could do.
"I just hope they don’t need a crushing defeat to wake up."
Shaking his head, Feng Yuan had no idea how things would turn out. At the very least, given the current situation, there wasn’t any Spirit Beast that could foresee the future. Not even Tamur.
This already spanned two different timelines. Merely borrowing the power of the Time River, it was hard to glimpse the unknown future.
On the other end, Qi Chen and the others fell silent as well. It wasn’t as if they didn’t understand Feng Yuan’s concerns; they simply had no way to do anything about them—or rather, it wasn’t their place to. These were never matters they were supposed to worry about.
Tonight, even the usually quiet Maomu Academy became lively thanks to the victory celebration. Though most teachers had yet to return because they had to prevent the enemy from using a base‑trading tactic, some teachers who were on rotation and resting had already gathered on the playground and set up a long banquet table.
The noise drew Feng Yuan’s curiosity, and he walked over, just in time to run into Gladys. She waved at him and said,
"Want something to eat?"
"No, I’m good. You guys are... celebrating?"
Looking at the teachers chatting happily around the banquet, Feng Yuan was a bit curious. Of course, there was no alcohol here—this was hardly peacetime.
"Don’t you think this is something worth celebrating?"
Shaking the juice in her hand, Gladys spoke. Holding his head, Feng Yuan said helplessly,
"We only took one forward base. Calling it a ’victory’ is still a bit premature."
"But we need some good news right now. The Imperial People have been on the upper hand for too long."
"Hmm, when you put it that way, you’re not wrong. Ah, whatever. They probably won’t do anything to Maomu City at a time like this anyway."
"So? Want to join in and celebrate a bit?"
"No, you all have fun."
Waving his hand, Feng Yuan had no intention of joining the festivities. It wasn’t that he was worried; it was just that, no matter how he looked at it, these were still his teachers. Partying with his teachers gave Feng Yuan a weird feeling.
As he left the playground, the noise gradually faded. Looking up at the sky, Feng Yuan sighed and said,
"This really is..."
"Carpe diem?"
Tamur suddenly spoke. Shaking his head, Feng Yuan said,
"Not exactly. But... I’m planning to visit the nearby towns tomorrow. Even though they’re patrolling, I still..."
"Worried something might slip through?"
"Yeah. Once full‑scale war breaks out, this place might end up under attack too."
