Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2961: Solutions

There had been a clash involving dozens of Grand Magus in Solrath barely an hour ago.

Now the city was empty.

Millions of civilians had vanished.

The drone footage spread rapidly through Alliance command channels, transmitted first toward the orbital station before finally reaching General Anderson’s group waiting within the desert wastelands dozens of miles away.

Soon, the drones picked up their trail.

A living tide of infected humans spread across the wastelands beneath drifting waves of purple miasma. Men, women, elderly civilians, even children all moved together with identical mechanical steps.

No one spoke.

No one stopped.

Anderson stared at the projected images with an increasingly grim expression.

Standing beside Anderson were Archbishop Stephen and the Sword Demoness, both silently waiting for instructions while the footage replayed again and again.

The Sword Demoness finally lost her patience.

"General!" she snapped angrily. "Why are we still standing here?! We should already be chasing them!"

Her killing intent surged outward violently enough to scatter the surrounding sandstorm.

Anderson remained calm, though his expression darkened further.

"Fight against that thing together with fifty controlled Grand Magus?" he said coldly. "No. We wait."

"Urghh...!"

The female Grand Magus kicked the sand beneath her feet violently in frustration, clearly unwilling to accept such passivity while entire cities continued disappearing.

Before the argument could continue further, space nearby suddenly distorted.

A temporal rift slowly opened across the desert.

Several figures stepped out one after another.

Supreme Dunadan arrived first, cold winds immediately spreading around his body while frost formed briefly across the surrounding air. Behind him came Duke Damien, Arctus the formation master, Ayla, and the Star Tower Lord. The last two appeared visibly pale, their auras slightly unstable from injuries sustained during the earlier battle.

The final person stepping out was a dark-haired young man identical to Emery.

This was Emery’s Dark Avatar.

Since Emery’s true body remained occupied researching improved parasite countermeasures, the avatar had been dispatched instead to assist with transportation and battlefield support.

Now that Supreme Dunadan himself had arrived, Anderson’s tense expression eased slightly before he quickly explained everything that had happened.

After hearing the full report, Dunadan remained silent for several moments.

"You made the correct decision," he finally said.

The Sword Demoness stepped forward immediately after hearing the report, unable to suppress her killing intent any longer.

"Then let’s go now, Senior," she said coldly, gripping the handle of her dark blade tightly. "We find them and kill them all."

The surrounding desert winds stirred violently from the pressure radiating out of her body.

Supreme Dunadan, however, did not respond immediately.

The supreme figure remained silent for several moments, his cold gaze fixed toward the distant horizon while countless calculations seemed to pass through his mind. Finally, he spoke in a slow voice.

"That parasite is intelligent."

The atmosphere instantly turned heavier.

"I believe this was planned from the beginning," Dunadan continued. "They used Marc as bait, forcing us to waste time chasing him while that other creature quietly built its forces elsewhere."

The Sword Demoness visibly froze.

"Those fifty infected Grand Magus aren’t enough to stop us," she argued quickly. "We can hold them down while you deal with that thing.. We can win this."

This time, Supreme Dunadan still did not answer.

Instead, Duke Damien spoke calmly from the side.

"Your calculations are correct," the elderly spirit master admitted, "but Senior Dunadan must also consider another factor."

The Sword Demoness’ face suddenly turned pale. Her eyes quickly scanned the surrounding desert as realization struck her fully.

It was already confirm that Supreme Hunter Marc had been infected, which meant it was entirely possible that the supreme hunter was still lying in wait somewhere, preparing an ambush.

If another supreme-level enemy joined the battle alongside that mysterious parasite entity, then the situation could easily spiral beyond their control and they themselves might simply become additional members of the infected horde.

The atmosphere immediately grew tense.

Finally, Supreme Dunadan spoke again.

"For now, we save as many people as possible, making more preparations and wait for reinforcements."

As he spoke, the supreme figure revealed a small glass sphere from within his sleeve. The artifact looked simple at first glance, yet immense spatial fluctuations radiated faintly from within it.

"This is a high-tier spatial world artifact," Dunadan explained calmly. "It can temporarily contain more than one hundred million civilians below the Grand Magus realm."

The plan immediately became clear.

Rather than recklessly chase the enemy across the planet, they would focus on evacuating as many surviving civilians as possible while falling back toward the only remaining strategic location on Baeldum—

The city containing the last active planetary portal gate.

"Let’s hope reinforcements arrive before then," Anderson muttered quietly.

Supreme Dunadan then glanced toward Emery’s Dark Avatar before finally showing a faint smile.

"It’s fortunate that you are here," he said. "We can complete the evacuations much faster this way."

Then his expression became serious once more.

"What about your true body?" Dunadan asked. "Will he succeed in creating a better pill?"

The Dark Avatar let out a long sigh before shaking his head slightly.

"...Better not place your hopes too high."

####

Thousands of miles away, inside the crashed Proxima flagship, Emery’s Light Avatar continued moving throughout the medical chambers without pause.

The avatar was monitoring infected survivors while conducting experiments on newly captured parasites. Nearby, Hubert sat casually beside a shattered observation window while lazily flipping his golden coin.

"Danger or no danger..." he muttered quietly.

The coin landed.

Hubert glanced at the result before finally sighing in relief.

"Still no danger."

Other than Hubert, there were two other figures standing guard nearby.

One was the crimson-haired Morgana, her cold gaze constantly scanning the surroundings while dark primordial flames flickered faintly around her body, ready to erupt at the slightest sign of danger.

The other was a humanoid plant creature. Thick roots spread beneath its feet, extending its senses throughout the surrounding desert to ensure no living being could approach unnoticed.

Their vigilance was especially important now.

Especially with Emery’s true body remained completely motionless inside one of the flagship’s medical chambers,

His consciousness had already entered the Cosmic Palace.

Currently operating under Supreme Dunadan’s authority, Emery had taken over one of the highest-grade laboratories available within the Cosmic Palace.

The massive research chamber was filled with advanced alchemical equipment, floating spirit screens, and containment formations.

Already gathered inside were more than a dozen master and grandmaster apothecaries, nearly half of whom had previously served as researchers for the Alliance parasite project.

All of them had been urgently called to assist Emery in studying the newly discovered higher-strain parasites.

The atmosphere inside the laboratory was already tense from the very beginning.

"Seriously, we might achieve something meaningful if given a few weeks!" an angry voice roared across the chamber. "And you’re telling me we only have a few hours?!"

The one shouting was none other than Master Grom.

The elderly dwarf apothecaries slammed both hands against a laboratory table furiously while glaring at Emery. Several other researchers from the Apothecaries Association stood nearby organizing materials and sample records, having already proven themselves tremendously helpful since arriving.

Emery rubbed his forehead tiredly.

"Master Grom... I didn’t say a few hours. I said twenty-four hours."

"It’s the same thing!!"

Another elderly apothecaries quickly interrupted before the argument escalated further.

"Enough talking. Work faster."

Within moments, the entire laboratory erupted into motion.

Spirit projections filled the air while containment arrays activated one after another. Researchers rapidly exchanged data while dissecting parasite samples beneath layers of protective barriers. The atmosphere inside the laboratory became no less tense than the battlefield itself.

At the center of it all, Emery continuously coordinated between the researchers and his Light Avatar still on Baeldum, sharing live observations and newly gathered infection data in real time.

Minutes later, another group of apothecaries suddenly entered the laboratory.

Master Grom immediately looked irritated again.

"Kid... you’re already a master apothecaries yourself. Don’t tell me you still think throwing more people into the lab somehow makes research faster—"

Then he saw who had arrived.

The dwarf froze completely.

Walking calmly into the chamber was a legendary figure.

Master Linnaeus.

The Arbor Master.

Even among master apothecaries, the old man’s status bordered on mythical. Linnaeus and his research team from Alfa Station had spent nearly a decade studying parasite mutations and corruption biology throughout the outer sectors.

Seeing such a legendary figure personally answer Emery’s request left several researchers visibly shocked.

As the newly arrived experts immediately joined the ongoing work, Emery finally felt some pressure lifting from his shoulders.

The only person still missing was Fey Priestess Kayelin.

Unfortunately, just like countless other apothecaries throughout Alpha Quadrant Sector Thirteen, she was already trapped dealing with emergency outbreaks elsewhere.

"If we don’t stop this outbreak soon... they’ll all be in even greater danger."

His eyes gradually hardened again with determination.

Unbeknownst to Emery—

Something terrible was already began much closer to home.

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