Chapter 438 - 410: An Exhilarating Ambush

Chapter 438: Chapter 410: An Exhilarating Ambush

Core Control Room.

Dull, metallic clangs echoed throughout the enclosed space.

"Nine hundred ninety-eight, nine hundred ninety-nine..."

Adam was shirtless, sweat tracing paths down the granite-hard muscles of his back. He held a barbell forged from solid steel. Instead of plates, two heavy lead balls hung from its ends—heavy enough to crush a warhorse.

"One thousand."

CLANG.

He tossed the barbell carelessly onto the floor, shattering two tiles. Adam let out a sharp breath and grabbed a nearby towel to haphazardly wipe his face. He walked to the metal rack in the center of the room, where a full suit of heavy plate armor was hung. The inside of the black armor was engraved with dark red Runes, which pulsed with light as they charged with Magic Power, as if breathing.

A faint clamor could be heard from outside.

Like the buzzing of flies.

Adam couldn’t even be bothered to make out what they were saying. It was nothing more than those lowly disposables causing trouble again, or some idiot pouring raw materials into the wrong vat.

’A bunch of useless trash.’

He reached out, stroking the armor’s cold surface. ’Once this ’Tyrant’ model magitech armor is fully calibrated, I’ll even have a fighting chance against a Level 6 High Tier Knight.’

’As for the lives of those laborers? If they all die, we can just go capture more. The peasants in the fief are like weeds anyway; cut one crop, and another will grow in its place.’

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

An urgent knock sounded at the door.

Adam’s fingers froze. A flicker of fury crossed his face.

"Get the hell in."

The heavy alchemical door was pushed open a crack, and the tall, thin foreman stumbled in, practically crawling. His hat was askew, his face slick with a cold sweat.

"My lord! This is terrible! Lord Adam!"

The foreman dropped to his knees, his voice trembling.

"Outside... those swine have gone mad! They’re trying to blow up Furnace Three and storm the core sector! The guards... the guards can’t hold them back!"

Adam turned, looking down his nose at the ant before him.

"Can’t hold them back?"

He sneered, walking over to the weapon rack and lifting a giant warhammer, easily half a man’s height, with one hand.

"What’s the use of keeping you worthless curs? You can’t even handle a bunch of laborers with wrenches."

Despite his scolding, he began to don his armor. He might normally let his subordinates die first, but his hands were itching for a fight. Even though the new armor wasn’t fully charged, this was a perfect opportunity to test it out on those rioters.

"Lead the way."

The armor plates clicked shut with the crisp sound of locking mechanisms. Adam rolled his neck, and his vertebrae cracked like popping corn.

"Y-yes! This way!"

As if granted a pardon, the foreman scrambled to his feet and led the way, his back hunched low.

...

Entrance to the Scrap Cavern.

A cold, damp wind blew out from the depths, carrying the stench of rust and decay.

The tunnel was narrow, wide enough for only two people to walk abreast.

Adam walked slowly. Not out of patience, but because the damned, narrow tunnel was far too cramped for his massive frame.

As he moved, the giant warhammer on his back would occasionally scrape against the protruding rock walls or support pillars, letting out a dull, ear-grating clang and a shower of sparks.

Each time metal struck rock, the foreman leading the way would flinch. He walked quickly, almost desperately, as if he couldn’t wait to get through this passage and escape the approaching beast at his back.

[Five meters to the ambush zone.]

Kael’s voice sounded in their minds, devoid of emotion, like a simple countdown.

Adam suddenly stopped walking.

The foreman’s heart skipped a beat. He forced a smile and turned back. "My lord? We’re almost there. The rioters are..."

Adam didn’t say a word.

He tilted his head, his gaze traveling past the foreman and into the pitch-black depths of the cavern. It was the animal instinct of a Level 5 Warrior, one he had honed through countless life-or-death battles.

There was no one ahead.

And no sound.

It was too quiet.

’If this were a real riot, I’d be able to hear the hysterical screaming from hundreds of meters away. But right now... it’s as quiet as a tomb up there.’

"You’re lying."

Adam’s voice was muffled by his faceplate, betraying no emotion.

The foreman’s face went deathly pale. His legs gave out as he started to kneel. "N-no... My lord, I..."

BAM!

No wasted words. No interrogation.

Adam threw a punch without any warning. His iron-clad fist whistled through the air and slammed into the foreman’s head.

Like a sledgehammer hitting a watermelon.

A spray of red and white exploded onto the cavern wall. The foreman’s headless corpse swayed twice before crumpling to the ground.

"Come out!"

Adam shook the blood from his fist and hefted his warhammer. His muscles tensed, and an aura of power began to shimmer in the gaps of his armor.

"I know you’re in there!"

The depths of the cavern remained dead silent.

There was only the sound of the wind.

[Go.]

Kael’s command was given.

CRACK! CRACK!

Two sharp cracks echoed at Adam’s feet.

Two vials of an oily, yellow liquid shattered, and the contents instantly spread to cover a five-meter radius on the ground, shimmering with a dull sheen. It was a potion of Grease.

Adam felt his feet slip.

Even his heavy combat boots, designed for maximum traction, were useless against the strange slick. His massive body lurched backward, his ready-to-charge stance instantly broken.

"Pathetic tricks!"

Adam roared. He flexed his core, muscles straining as he fought to stop his fall, trying to plant his warhammer into the ground to stabilize himself.

SWOOSH—

A sound of something cutting through the air came from above.

Two large, dusty nets dropped from the shadows on the ceiling. They were custom-made, steel-reinforced nets for capturing beasts; even a Level 3 Magical Beast would have no hope of escape.

But their target was Adam, a powerful Level 5 Warrior.

"Get off!"

Without even looking, he grabbed the net with his left hand. The muscles in his arm swelled, and his armor groaned under the strain.

RRRIP!

The tough netting, strong enough to contain a Magical Beast, tore like rotten cloth in his hands.

Such was the strength of a Level 5 Warrior.

Pure, brute force.

THWANG! THWANG!

Two cold gleams shot out from the darkness.

Two black Crossbow Arrows struck Adam’s breastplate.

PING! PING!

Sparks flew.

The armor-piercing arrows, powerful enough to punch through two layers of chainmail, ricocheted off his heavy plate. They left nothing more than two shallow white marks on the black armor.

"Is that all you’ve got?"

Adam sneered, shrugging off the tattered remains of the net.

To him, this was all a ridiculous farce.

’An ambush? A trap? This is like a bunch of toddlers playing house with wooden swords in front of a Knight. He was even starting to look forward to the sweet music of shattering bones he’d hear when his several-hundred-kilogram iron body slammed into that nest of rats.’

However, his mind, clouded by arrogance, failed to notice one thing.

From the shattering of the Grease potion to the arrows striking his armor and his struggle to regain his balance—this series of seemingly brief events had taken a full three breaths of time.

And in a life-or-death duel between the Extraordinary, three breaths is more than enough time to decide the outcome.

A dark figure lunged from a pile of slag at the side of the tunnel.

It was a burly, heavily-armored death-sworn soldier. He carried no weapon, but his heavily armored body became one, ramming into Adam like a cannonball.

"You’re asking to die!"

Adam threw a backhanded elbow, smashing it into the soldier’s back.

CRACK.

The sound of breaking ribs was sickeningly clear.

The Warrior coughed up a spray of blood, but he didn’t retreat. Instead, he locked his hands around Adam’s elbow and wrapped his legs around Adam’s waist like a python.

It was a killing technique taught by the Gebiewu.

Trading a life for an opportunity.

Thrown off balance by this suicidal brute force, and with the Grease still under his feet, Adam crashed to the ground.

"Get off me, you vermin!"

Adam roared, wrenching one hand free to throw the Warrior off him.

Now was the moment.

[Throw.]

Four more dark shapes flew through the air.

They were four glass vials filled with a fluorescent green liquid.

CRASH!

The vials shattered against Adam’s chest plate, leg guards, and helmet.

The moment the liquid touched the metal, it began to boil.

TSSSSS—

Thick white smoke billowed upwards.

It was Potent Armor-Breaking Acid, a compound designed specifically to eat through metal. Though the Runes on the armor flared with magical resistance, they couldn’t completely negate the acid’s violent corrosiveness. Accompanied by a low sizzle, mottled spots of corrosion began to appear on the metal’s surface.

"AGHHH!"

Even through the armor’s padding, the intense heat was enough to make Adam scream in agony.

An opening in his defense had appeared.

A silver flash tore through the darkness.

Kael burst from behind a rock pillar.

He wasn’t holding his usual shortsword, but a long spear.

A running start, acceleration, a powerful thrust.

All his strength converged on the spear’s tip.

Faced with this thunderous strike, Adam’s pupils constricted. The combat instincts of a Level 5 Warrior took over, acting faster than his conscious mind.

He slammed his shoulders down and crossed his arms. The heavy steel vambraces crashed together like twin iron gates, shielding his vulnerable throat and heart. He would rather suffer broken bones than take a fatal wound.

However, the expected impact on his chest never came.

The cold point of the spear flew true, its target the back of Adam’s left knee—the leg that was pinned by the Warrior and difficult to move!

It was the weakest joint in the plate armor, and also the spot most heavily corroded by the acid.

SQUELCH!

The spear punched through the weakened armor without resistance, pierced flesh, and pinned his leg deep into the ground.

"AGHHHH—!!!"

An inhuman shriek of agony ripped from Adam’s throat.

[Mia!]

Kael released the spear, dragging the heavily injured Warrior back with him as he retreated.

[Coming right up! Let’s heat things up for the big guy!]

Mia stood on a high rock, an orange-red ball of fire already swirling in her hand. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the fireball arcing down to detonate several jars of viscous liquid that had been planted on the ground.

Blazing Fire Glue.

BOOM!

Orange-red flames erupted, soaring toward the ceiling.

In an instant, the narrow cavern became a blast furnace.

This alchemical fire, once it caught, could not be extinguished. It would burn until its fuel was completely consumed.

Adam was completely engulfed in the inferno.

He thrashed wildly within the sea of fire, his giant warhammer swinging aimlessly and gouging chunks from the stone floor. But with one leg pinned to the ground by the spear, he was unable to stand.

Kael stood at the edge of the inferno, the firelight flickering across his impassive face.

"So, this is a Level 5 Warrior."