Lady Hecate pondered, "Strategic depth..."

"Do you mean that if the Old Ones awaken at the same time, the battlefield shouldn’t be concentrated on the Material Plane?"

Shawn nodded, "That would shatter the entire planet."

"I’m afraid even the Clockwork Nirvana Twelve Realms would struggle to protect the Realm of Reality; only by placing the battlefield on other planes can we minimize damage to reality to the greatest extent."

Proactive attack.

Shawn’s proposal was just as radical as Aemon’s idea back in the day, because it essentially meant acting in advance, treating the simultaneous awakening of the Old Ones as a future that could definitely happen. In such a case, the human and material resources of the Bizarre Realm would be scattered, a strategic depth plan would certainly lead to a dispersion of power, and other planes wouldn’t be easy to move on either.

The native demigods preferred to first reclaim the Material Plane and then slowly consider the other planes.

Lady Hecate hesitated, "In that case, our forces will be very scattered."

Shawn said gravely, "But if the Old Ones awaken simultaneously, we won’t have any time to lay a strategic depth. With only one plane, we can only defend passively."

"The battlefield must be placed on other planes."

"Only then can we possibly save this planet! Only then can we possibly buy some buffering time for mortals!"

Shawn had one more sentence he didn’t say: by taking action on other planes, he could use nuclear bombs without reservation and cast all forbidden spells he mastered.

Lady Hecate pondered for a long time.

Finally, she slowly nodded, "I will propose this to the Death Chief."

"Since you plan to reclaim Candlefort."

"Then go ahead and prepare."

Candlefort.

One of the anchor points of the Spirit Realm.

Capturing it is equivalent to seizing one-third of the Spirit Realm; the region Candlefort radiates over is quite extensive. If reclaiming Candlefort is successful, much of the knowledge heritage from the Dark Era could return.

In places like Abyss City, Purgatory City, Asura City, Setting Sun City.

The incarnations of Shawn appeared one after another, the Divine Terra Church’s warbands began to gather, and the Tower of Knowledge also took action. Some high-tier scholars he had recruited started moving. As the only demigod in the Knowledge Domain, Shawn’s presence had long invisibly influenced the interior of the Tower of Knowledge. The ritual of linking the Spirit Library had long been known by everyone there, and many had become his broad followers in order to gain new knowledge and power from the Knowledge Demigod.

Casters basically had no devout faith, at most showing respect in words for a Divine Level entity.

Abyss City was undoubtedly willing to lend a hand, whereas other Witch King Cities had no response; however, the Primordial Mage Inheritance of Setting Sun City gave an ambiguous reply.

This time, unlike the expedition to the Garden Planet, only those who yearned for knowledge would covet Candlefort. In the eyes of many, Candlefort held little value.

Several months quickly passed.

With Lady Hecate’s support, the Path of Death also sent out many powerful beings, most of them Witch Demons, because they also craved knowledge. This battle was different from the previous infiltration into Candlefort; they had to face head-on the Maze Lock Defense System covering Candlefort. Although it was unclear how many would remain effective, once the defense mechanism launched, the colossal army of Candlefort would certainly activate.

Shawn waited so long because of the helper the Time Dragon mentioned.

—Ancient Power Dragon - Solthus (Challenge Level 50+)?!

Power Dragon.

One of the three Legendary Giant Dragons.

A newly born Power Dragon is about the size of a small cottage, covered in scales that shine like tiny diamonds at birth. The Challenge Level of a hatchling is 13, a young dragon is 19, and each phase sees a leap in strength. As for the Primordial Power Dragon, its Challenge Level would reach an astounding 59.

Solthus was a Power Dragon near the size of an aircraft carrier, appearing at the edge of the Terra Star System, flying directly over vast expanses of the star system into the atmosphere of Divine Terra.

Reportedly, it befriended some unknown Space-Time Wanderer during its hatchling stage, thus becoming a mercenary for the Space-Time Hub.

In actuality, it was only 362 years old, capable of growing to an ancient giant dragon by using some peculiar Time Law, enabling it to leap through the ages of dragon metamorphosis.

Legendary Giant Dragons inherently break through the biological level limits.

The ancient Power Dragon before them possessed 74 dragon creature levels, hence such astounding power. Of course, biologically, the level difference is still vast; if a 74-level Professional appeared, even if a Warrior, one couldn’t fathom the terrifying combat power they’d possess.

Candlefort.

A coalition of many forces gathered outside Candlefort. The Bizarre Realm had always suffered from a fatal issue: the inability to unite all its power, even in the most dire and desperate situations, it hadn’t formed a complete united front.

No one could achieve it, not even Shawn.

Incompatible cultural inheritances could never be in complete harmony; Shawn could only strive for the assistance he could secure.

—Power Assault [Dragon Breath Spray]!

This was the most terrifying kind of Dragon Breath Shawn had ever seen; after all, he had never witnessed the spit from a Time Dragon. A massive conical force field sprayed from Solthus’s mouth, crushing everything in front of it almost to dust, even the nearby Witch Demons showed expressions of shock, their eyes staring blankly at this legendary giant dragon.

No one knew where it came from; it was a helper Shawn had summoned out of thin air.