The giants made of these magic metals and rocks ignored the terrain, advancing with heavy steps, tearing apart the wooden walls and vine obstacles set up by the elves with their enchanted giant arms. The scorching rays from their eyes and the spell missiles launched from their arms cleared the path for the advancing wizard assault teams.

In the sky, dozens of manta ray-shaped shadow airships silently emerged, carrying wizards specifically targeting the commanders and moonlight priests within the elf units and using specially crafted dispel arrows to disrupt the large-scale defensive barriers powered by the energy of the Moon Wells of the clan.

The battle entered a white-hot state from the very beginning.

The elven rangers and warriors on the outskirts, though resisting fiercely with agility and terrain advantage, firing enchanted arrows as dense as rain, summoning vines to bind the enemy, and casting moonlight shields to block spells, found their lines beginning to falter under the planned, intensive multi-pronged fire coverage and assaults of the Imperial army, with sharp whistles for reinforcements and alarms ringing out everywhere.

Within Moonwatch Castle, the first to notice something amiss were the priests responsible for monitoring the energy fluctuations in the clan territory.

The violent tremors from the barriers and the rapidly dimming warnings from several outer spiritual nodes caused their expressions to change dramatically.

"Invasion! Large-scale invasion! Eastern Mist Shadow Outpost has lost contact!"

"A large number of enemy energy signals detected in the direction of the Stone Claw Path to the west!"

"Air units! A large number of air units have broken through our upper concealed barrier!"

The urgent reports resounded in the command hall, filled with unconcealed panic.

Iserla, the leader of the Moon Mark clan, a high elf woman with a stern face and a few dark purple streaks in her silver hair, suddenly stood up from the Moonlight Throne, her eyes brimming with a violet glow.

"Sound the alarm! All combat personnel, take defensive positions according to the predetermined plan! Activate the Moon Mark Barrier!" Her voice resonated throughout the castle, steady with an iron-blooded tone, "I will proceed immediately to the Moonwatch Platform to stabilize and guide the power of the Moon Mark Eye Well, supporting the outer defenses and striking the enemy’s air units and energy nodes!"

The orders were swiftly executed.

The piercing alarm, emitted using a specific frequency moonlight energy oscillation, echoed through Moonwatch Castle and the surrounding camps, instantly transforming the relatively peaceful castle into a high-speed operational combat hive.

Elf warriors rushed out from their barracks and posts, heading to the walls, arrow towers, and preset defensive positions.

The moonlight priests chanted hymns, bestowing stronger blessings and enchantment spells on their companions.

Lilandra also awoke, hurriedly heading to the observation room on the side of the command hall under the escort of high-level royal guards.

She watched the scenes of intense combat in the surroundings displayed in the magic water mirror, watched as their outposts collapsed in flames, watched as brave warriors fell under overwhelming numbers and firepower, her face pale, and her slender fingers tightly clutching the hem of her garment.

This was her first time facing the brutal torrent of full-scale war so directly, far more shocking and terrifying than previous sporadic conflicts and reports.

Iserla, her figure transforming into a streak of light, swiftly flew to the highest point of the castle, the Moonwatch Platform.

She knew that her responsibility at this moment was crucial, to the maximum extent mobilizing the energy of the Moon Well to provide core support for the clan’s defensive system, and to launch a powerful moonlight strike at the opportune moment, supporting the perilous outer defenses.

When the first loud explosion faintly echoed from the perimeter, Duke was performing a routine patrol with his teammates in an area near the outer walls of the castle.

The ground beneath trembled slightly, and an abnormal light of various spell explosions lit up the skyline direction.

"Enemy attack! A full-scale offensive!" shouted Hui Ye beside himself, his voice full of shock.

Almost simultaneously, the piercing moonlight alarm of Moonwatch Castle tore through the night sky, instantly activating the entire clan’s defense mechanism.

On Duke’s disguised face of Ying Ye immediately appeared just the right amount of tension and the resoluteness of a warrior, and he quickly drew his sword, instinctively looking towards the direction where the explosions were most intense, body taut.

"It’s the east and west! The scale is massive!"

The instructor’s angry roar came through the amplification magic: "All outer patrol teams, immediately assemble at the second defense circle! Quick! Don’t linger!"

Duke began running towards the designated inner defense line with his squad.

Inwardly, he calmly analyzed that the war was indeed proceeding as the wizard commanders planned, erupting from multiple points on the perimeter simultaneously, using powerful firepower to attract and suppress the living forces of the Moon Mark clan, creating all-encompassing pressure.

The real killer move should still be on its way.

His gaze involuntarily and very discreetly glanced at the highest point of Moonwatch Castle, the Moonwatch Platform, where Iserla should have gone by now.

When his squad reached an inner defense line, a section of reinforced wall and associated arrow tower area, the battle outside had become so intense that the firelight reddened part of the sky, and the sounds of explosions, spell screeches, and fighting were mixed and carried by the wind, conveying a sense of that ferocity even from a distance.

Wounded elf warriors were constantly being supported or carried by companions, and the air began to fill with a faint smell of blood and the scorched odor from spell residues.

The chaos inside the castle was intensifying, but the basic command chain was still functioning.

Duke was assigned to defend this section of the wall, tasked with defending against small elite enemy units or flying units that might break through the perimeter and approach the castle.

Like the other elves, he watched the distant flames of war with tension, listened to the commander’s reports of the battle situation coming at intervals, while silently waiting internally.

He knew that when the pressure on the perimeter reached its peak, and all the clan’s attention was drawn—especially when Iserla was on the Moonwatch Platform wholly focused on channeling the Moon Well’s power to support all sides—the planted key should come into play.

At the moment when the perimeter battle was at its most fierce, and the clan leader of the Moon Mark clan kept dispatching reserves to fill the breaches, even Lilandra couldn’t help but want to personally go to a location to boost morale.

On the Moonwatch Platform, Iserla floated above the Moon Mark Eye Well, her hands reaching out into the void, as the overwhelming silver moonlight energy surged from the well, through her body and magic wand, transforming into thick beams of light shooting towards the most critical areas of the battlefield far away, or into massive moonlight shields to block widespread spell bombardments.

Her spiritual power was highly concentrated, deeply resonating with the Moon Well, her perception extending to the entire battlefield.

Just as she directed another powerful energy wave to a position on the eastern side that was about to be breached, an abnormal change occurred. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Beneath the gentle jade stone where she habitually meditated, the phase-folding beacon planted by Duke was activated in one instance after receiving the signal of a specific frequency sent from the remote Darkmoon Town control device.

There wasn’t a world-shattering explosion, not even an obvious burst of energy.

Centered on that jade stone, space seemed to be become a piece of silk tightly grasped and twisted by an invisible hand, instantly creating a supremely unnatural fold that was difficult to completely capture with the naked eye.

This microscopic spatial fold formed a cage that accurately enveloped the floating Iserla within it.

Iserla didn’t even have time to react, with just a hint of astonishment rising on her face.

The flowing moonlight energy around her halted suddenly, as if crashing into an invisible wall that completely isolated the inside from the outside.

Her deep connection with the Moon Mark Eye Well from the Moon Well was like being instantaneously severed by the sharpest knife.

Even more frightening, she felt her ties to everything outside—energy, sound, perception—were thoroughly isolated, distorted, and trapped by this bizarre space fold.

She attempted to struggle, mustering all her strength to strike against this invisible barrier, but the space cage meticulously prepared by the wizards was not something she could break through in haste.

She was like an insect suddenly encased in amber, powerful but unable to move for the moment, only able to watch helplessly as the external situation rapidly deteriorated, with massive anger and a tinge of cold unease swelling within her heart.

She understood that she had fallen into a trap, and it was a particularly insidious one targeted specifically at her.