Chapter 593.2: A Damn Mutt... And You Dare To Dream Of Challenging The Administrator?

Chapter 593.2: A Damn Mutt... And You Dare To Dream Of Challenging The Administrator?

Just as he was thinking that Ample Time was crazy, he suddenly heard a faint sound, like the flutter of autumn cicadas’ wings, carried on the air currents from a great distance.

Before he could make out what the sound was, a shocking scene imprinted itself in his pupils.

A long, thick column of smoke pierced through the layers of fog, followed immediately by a thunderous roar like a mountain crashing into the sea, sweeping across the entire wilderness.

Orange-red flames bloomed like a mandala flower. The second it did, trees were uprooted, hills were leveled, and shards of stone and splinters of wood scattered like shrapnel, hurled into the sky by the scorching blast.

The solid earth rippled in waves like a boiling lake, lifted by the blazing shockwave...

Li Jinrong and Xiao Yue stared, dumbfounded, at the towering flames consuming everything in the distance, the suffocating heat pressing their eyes shut.

In the face of such world-destroying power, all living beings were utterly insignificant.

He had imagined what kind of trump card the New Alliance might use against those absurdly powerful Mutant Humans and the Torch Church, but he had never expected such terrifying and pure force to be revealed before him.

At that moment, he finally understood how the New Alliance’s order had come to be.

And more inconceivably, he remembered a rumor that the arrogant steel behemoth had not originally belonged to the New Alliance.

It was their prize, seized by the Burning Corps from the hands of the mighty Army!

He could not fathom what kind of strength it must have taken to defeat that invincible steel giant.

Even harder to imagine was... If they could tame such a monster, then what kind of powerful beast was worthy of being their opponent?!

Half a day ago he had still hesitated on the answer, but the explosion cleared the Mutant Humans before him and the doubt in his heart.

At the very least... Those green-skinned beasts could never be their match!

After a moment, Li Jinrong swallowed hard and, as if to test his own thoughts, spoke in a trembling voice. “That was...”

“The Heart of Steel’s main gun.”

Ample Time gazed at the distant center of the blast and smiled lightly, his bangs blown up by the hot wind settling back over his brow.

Pausing for a moment, he continued softly. “Well? Spectacular, isn’t it?”

Li Jinrong did not answer.

For at that moment he simply had no words to describe the shock he felt.

Then, rain began to fall from the sky.

Burnt black mud rained down like machine-gun fire, splattering across the battlefield scorched by powder, carried by the wind.

Alas, even such cataclysmic power could not destroy the Hive entrenched in the center of Clearspring City.

The Slime Mold had long grown into the concrete ruins. No matter how many shells rained down, they could not shake that giant tree linking sky and earth.

But to deal with the Mutant Humans... A single blast was more than enough.

Xiao Yue’s gulped once before he forced out a strained sentence. “Is it over?”

Ample Time smiled toward the distance. “Over? This is only the beginning.”

Before the man could ask further, he went on casually, “Watch closely.”

“The real show is about to start!”

...

The first round of bombardment was just a prelude.

The 400 mm extended-range shell not only marked the beginning of fire on the surface, but shattered the fog zone, churned up the soil, and exposed the Mutant Human army marching between forest and wilderness to the gunners’ sights.

After the main gun bombardment, each battery quickly confirmed the shell impact and strike coordinates. Using the computer-calculated firing data, they began the first round of fire corrections.

“Firing data set!”

“High-explosive shell loaded!”

“Loaded!”

“Ready!”

“Fire!”

The gunners yanked the lines back hard, and a dozen blasts thundered together, lightning flashing from the airship’s broadside.

Orange-yellow tracers streaked toward the ground, exploding into clusters of fire on the battlefield stripped of fog.

The Mutant Human soldiers in the wilderness had barely recovered from the earlier apocalyptic blast, many were still stuck in mud before they were swallowed by the next wave of fire.

“Spread out!”

“Get down!”

Kuru struggled to lift himself from the mire, bellowing in rage, bloodthirsty pupils full of panic.

What on earth...

Is this?

He hadn’t even seen the enemy when suddenly the blasts began.

Then a burning gust like a hammer slammed into his back, sweeping every soldier in the plain into the maelstrom.

Luckily, the shell had landed far enough away, hundreds of meters from the edge of the unit.

Yet even so, that annihilating force drove countless grunts into bone-deep terror.

That was not mortal power!

They had never seen such horrific artillery!

Kuru’s roar had barely sounded when shrieking whistles ripped the silence of the battlefield.

Flames and thick smoke plowed over the ground like a merciless harrow, sweeping from their rear.

Even though lying prone was shameful for warriors who worshiped strength and savagery, Kuru knew it was no time for bravado. Humiliated, he buried his proud head.

The advancing barrage pushed closer, tearing the gray-green fog apart again and again, exposing the muddy field.

Shells poured over the wilderness like they were free, sowing blossoms of fire, vowing to leave no inch of soil untouched.

Cradling the back of his head, Kuru finally began to feel true fear.

Especially when a boiling fireball erupted just 10 meters away, especially when searing shrapnel sliced his flesh. The fearless brute could not help but pray to the chosen Apostle.

What he was facing was nothing like the air raid the night before. Both sky and earth seemed shattered by that force. Worst of all, he had no idea how to resist it.

When the shelling at last ended, no one knew how long had passed.

Supporting his half-buried body up from the mud, he stared blankly at the ruined battlefield, no trace of survival’s joy in his heart.

There was only despair unlike any before.

The kilometers-wide battlefield had been overturned, charred black soil littered with severed limbs.

He didn’t know how many shells had fallen, nor how many of his soldiers still lived.

What kind of enemy were they fighting?!

He gazed skyward in confusion, toward the north of Brocade Lake Municipality, toward the direction of that steel airship. Unfortunately, his view was blocked by the closing fog.

It gave him a brief surge of relief, but what followed was deep humiliation and helpless defeat.

To vent his fear, to prove to his troops he wasn’t a coward, he raised his head and roared bitterly.

“Cowards!”

“Cravens!”

“Hiding in fog, what kind of skill is that?!”

“If you have guts, come fight Kuru face to face!”

He was sure those two-legged beasts had no such courage.

They only dared fire from buzzing flies in the sky, never daring to stand before the Mutant Humans!

While he flaunted his power, they only cowered at a distance!

As he thought that, Kuru’s mouth twisted into a satisfied grin.

Just as he was about to rise and rally his troops, a line of armored warriors appeared at the edge of the mist, marching straight from the north.

The long barrels of their guns gleamed coldly. Each carried a logging axe on them. Their breastplates bore green camouflage, their shoulder plates an indistinct insignia.

Their leader was even more imposing.

Standing in the wilderness like a black tower, steel covered every inch of his body from head to toe, a cannon barrel thick as a python was welded directly to his arm.

Even unseen, his eyes radiated a hunger for battle.

Kuru’s pupils shrank, his cracked lips curled into a feral, bloodthirsty grin.

So this is the New Alliance’s administrator?

He had heard of him.

The northern New Alliance’s chief, clad in iron, was said to be a mighty awakener.

But Kuru didn’t care. Armor or tanks, they were all the same fragile paper before the pure power he wielded.

Even in armor, two-legged beasts were still beasts. He would prove it with his fists and teeth.

He picked up the axe-spear from the ground, lifted his head, and roared like a beast standing tall, eyes burning with rage at the man.

“Come on!”

“Leader of the New Alliance...”

“Let me see what you’re really made of!”

His rough bellow swept the wilderness as the muddy battlefield fell quiet.

The leader finally seemed to realize the upright beast was addressing him.

Ignoring the arrogant taunt, his mouth under the helmet curled faintly. “A wild dog dares to be the administrator’s opponent.”

What a joke!

Thinking he could take a tower without even breaking it down?

What nonsense!

Raising his chin, Midnight Pubg stared blankly at the green-skinned beast, his explosive gun already aimed at its chest.

“Open your eyes, you damn mutt.”

“Your opponent is me!”