I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 1657: Chapter 1658: Suppression Chapter 1657: Chapter 1658: Suppression Many monsters’ cores contain a trace of the monster’s consciousness, and using the core for anything will incite the monster’s consciousness to resist.

However, before using the core, players would first purify the core, expelling that trace of consciousness, and only then would they utilize the core.

The Magic Dragon Turtle’s core had been purified three times before use, for fear of leaving behind any residual consciousness that might interfere during the construction of the Magic Array.

Unexpectedly, even after three purifications, the Magic Dragon Turtle’s core still retained a sliver of remnant consciousness, which began to fiercely resist during the spirit conversion phase.

This was already the final stage, and giving up now would be a great pity, so over a dozen mages clenched their teeth and began to increase their magic power output, hoping to suppress the lingering consciousness of the Magic Dragon Turtle.

“God-level creatures’ cores are indeed extraordinary, with such a powerful consciousness backlash… Pu!” Roca spat out another mouthful of blood, a look of despair on his face.

With over a dozen mages working together to suppress it, they still couldn’t deal with that sliver of remaining consciousness; they could only watch helplessly as the Magic Dragon Turtle’s phantom form repeatedly slammed into the dark gold barrier. If they allowed the Magic Dragon Turtle’s residual consciousness to burst through and escape, the defensive Magic Array would lose its guardian spirit.

Though the Magic Array would still operate without its guardian spirit, the defense it provided would be greatly reduced. What was originally a Legendary-quality defense Magic Array could now, at best, perform like a Golden or even Silver-grade formation–something Song Jian could never tolerate.

Boom~
The massive body of the Magic Dragon Turtle once again smashed against the dark gold barrier. It was evident that the point of impact was cracking, and it wouldn’t be long before the Magic Dragon Turtle’s departing soul would break through the barrier and escape.

“How could I possibly let you succeed!” Song Jian snorted coldly. With a thought, countless Spirit Swords floated up and flew toward the Magic Dragon Turtle.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
The Spirit Swords crisscrossed in midair as though they were on a different plane from the Magic Dragon Turtle, unable to touch even a hair of it.

Blazing Fire Furnace!

Song Jian shouted lightly, and immediately a massive furnace appeared in the void, bearing down on the phantom of the Magic Dragon Turtle.

The Blazing Fire Furnace was designed to smelt monster corpses, but in reality, subduing the souls of monsters wasn’t much of an issue for it either; any monster’s soul could be smelted by the Blazing Fire Furnace.

The moment the Blazing Fire Furnace appeared, the Magic Dragon Turtle seemed terrified: after letting out a roar, it started to scurry around in panic, even speeding up its assault against the barrier.

Soon, however, the Blazing Fire Furnace suppressed the Magic Dragon Turtle, sucking it into the furnace. The next moment, the fiery blaze at the bottom roared to life, seemingly about to completely smelt the Magic Dragon Turtle!

“Don’t!” Roca exclaimed in shock, his complexion changing dramatically as he grabbed Song Jian’s arm and said, “You– you’re going to smelt the guardian spirit? How is smelting the guardian spirit any different than it escaping? What value is there in a Magic Array that has lost its guardian spirit?”

Song Jian started, and in a fluster, he hastily dispelled the Blazing Fire Furnace. The massive furnace in the sky instantaneously disintegrated, turning back into countless Spirit Swords and dissipating in the air.

The phantom of the Magic Dragon Turtle, seemingly greatly injured, now appeared somewhat wilted. Yet, it continued to batter the dark gold barrier relentlessly; although its power had decreased considerably, it seemed that striking out was the only instinct the Magic Dragon Turtle phantom had left.

“Dammit, not being able to fully purify the residual consciousness is such a hassle!” Roca frowned deeply, cursing under his breath. As mages, they had never dealt with the core of a god-level creature before, and although they had purified it two more times than usual, the consciousness within the core still had remnants, and even the instinct to flee.

For the mages constructing the Magic Array, this was an experience, a refinement of their expertise, ensuring they would not make the same mistake if they were to construct a similar Magic Array again. But for the City of Hope, this was not good news at all.

Moreover, for the Mages, this was also the first time they had encountered such a situation, and for a moment, they actually didn’t know what to do!

Just as everyone was at a loss, a crisp dragon’s roar suddenly resonated within Song Jian’s body.

The “Dragon Transformation” skill in the skill column suddenly burst into light, and Song Jian had a thought, immediately using the Dragon Transformation skill. In an instant, he turned into a hundred-zhang long Giant Dragon and flew towards the Magic Dragon.

Soaring into the sky, Song Jian stretched out his right claw, ferociously reaching for the Magic Dragon;
Boom–
A massive dragon claw pressed down upon the Magic Dragon’s shell, pushing it directly towards the city below!

This time, Song Jian actually touched the Magic Dragon’s translucent Soul Body, and joy surged in his heart, while the Magic Dragon began to roar crazily, its roar filled with a hint of despair.

Suppression!

Song Jian bellowed in his mind, almost his entire body pressing down on the Magic Dragon. At this moment, the Magic Dragon’s phantasm could neither be harmed nor ignored; suppressing it was significantly more difficult.

But for some reason, under the Giant Dragon’s claw, the Magic Dragon didn’t even show a hint of resistance, just like a quail obediently being suppressed by Song Jian, who had turned into a long dragon.

Seeing this scene, Carlo let out a breath of relief. Even he had felt that the Magic Dragon’s remnant soul might break through the light barrier and escape. If that happened, the defense of the Magic Array would be reduced to merely thirty to forty percent of its capacity, barely stronger than if it had failed to form.

Unexpectedly, the situation took an incredible turn, and Song Jian, with his own strength, suppressed the Magic Dragon’s remnant soul and reintegrated it into the Magic Array.

Boom, boom, boom–
The massive body of the Magic Dragon continued to fall towards the ground, and although some tall buildings were pressed down, since the Magic Dragon was just a wisp of a remnant soul, it did no damage to these structures.

Quickly, the body of the Magic Dragon was suppressed by Song Jian under the City of Hope, with only the larger part of its shell sticking out, protecting the entire City of Hope.

Looking around, at this moment, there were three layers of defense above the City of Hope. The outermost was a Dark Gold light barrier with defense capabilities against attacks from Legendary Realm powerhouses. Below that was a transparent light barrier resembling a spider’s web, clinging to the inside of the light barrier. This served as a magical defense, capable of withstanding abilities such as shape shifting and wall phasing.

The third layer was a shell defense, clinging above the buildings of the City of Hope. This defense was even superior to the previous light barriers. If attacked, it would manifest and shield the city. Even Legendary Realm powerhouses, let alone Demi-God Realm warriors, would be unlikely to breach this defense, which could even withstand attacks from god-tier combatants.

The Magic Dragon was originally a mighty defender; using it for a defensive Magic Array was only fitting. The only slight regret was that the entire Magic Array had only a passive defense capability and lacked any means of counterattack.

Looking at the remnant soul of the Magic Dragon being slowly suppressed into the ground by Song Jian, Carlo let out a sigh of relief, muttering to himself, “It’s done!”

A thunderous roar resonated as the magic energy of the array interconnected. More than ten Mages were instantly pushed back by this vast energy. Now, the defense Magic Array could operate on its own, no longer needing their upkeep, and they were completely separated from the Magic Array, no longer able to intervene in its arrangement.

Joy swelled in Song Jian’s heart. He almost wanted to let out a long cry to express the excitement he felt. Just as Song Jian was preparing to land and return to his human form, he suddenly received a strange system notification.

…