Chapter 689: Missile Interception, Anti-Radar Smoke, Escape System

The Giant Twisted Tree Spirit shrieked.

The thick vines on its body transformed into dozens of "vipers" and lashed at Knight.

The vines became whip-like shadows, striking from unusually tricky angles.

Goting and Merlin had already moved into position ahead of time.

Their lava whips morphed into shields, placed before Knight as protection.

The shields shattered under the vine lashes.

But they bought Knight precious time. Under Knight's lava greatsword, all the vines cut like butter, snapped clean under each swing.

Green sap sprayed into the air.

Goting and Merlin surged forward, their long whips wrapping around the Giant Twisted Tree Spirit's limbs. One hand supported Knight, the other yanked the whip back.

Propelled by their lift, Knight leaped high and rose above the Giant Twisted Tree Spirit.

He hoisted his lava greatsword and assumed a mountain-splitting strike stance, channeling every ounce of lava energy in his body.

"Lava... will purify everything."

The lava greatsword suddenly grew huge, flames staining the sky red. Under the Giant Twisted Tree Spirit's horrified gaze, it came down with brutal force.

"No..."

The lava greatsword cleaved the Silver-tier Giant Twisted Tree Spirit in two, top to bottom.

At that moment, fire swept across the land.

The enormous body of the Giant Twisted Tree Spirit began to burn under the lava's searing heat.

The vines clinging to its massive canopy writhed and struggled,

then turned to ash.

Knight stood atop the Giant Twisted Tree Spirit's carcass, raising his lava greatsword and roaring like a victor.

"The glory of the Lord of Molten Flame will illuminate the entire civilization."

Goting, Merlin, and all the Molten Believers watched Knight standing on the tree's corpse,

bathed in fire and lava.

They erupted into thunderous cheers and worship.

In that moment, this land had but one protagonist: the man standing amid the flames.

The Twisted Tree Spirits, seeing their giant fallen and that invincible man,

"squealed in alarm—"

Their morale collapsed, and instinctive self-preservation made them break and flee.

"Lord of Molten Flame..."

Tak stared at the lava giant on his screen, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Molten Demon..."

[Warning, enemy long-range strike weapons have entered interception range, automatic defense activated]

A prompt popped up on the virtual light screen.

Images of nine missiles rapidly approaching from a distance immediately appeared on the display.

Tak did not need to do anything.

The tower's upper wall panels flipped open, and five launchers popped out.

Ssss—

Interceptor missiles shot out, heading straight toward the nine cruise missiles to intercept.

At the same time, the huge crystal at the tower's top fed energy through conduits into itself and began to glow again.

It started charging once more.

The nine cruise missiles kept shifting position in midair, drifting unpredictably up, down, left, and right.

They collided with the interceptors about three kilometers from the tower.

Explosions erupted in the sky.

All nine cruise missiles were destroyed, without exception.

A curve tugged at the corner of Tak's mouth.

"Is that it?"

But the next moment his expression changed drastically.

The zones where the nine cruise missiles exploded were quickly filled by puffs of gray mist, forming a smoke shielding layer.

"What... are they doing?"

[Warning, detection of....]

Before Tak could react,

the giant crystal fired a beam toward that smoke-covered area.

An unexpected result occurred.

The beam scattered as it entered the smoke, the light immediately dispersed and the beam was effectively blocked.

[Target area detected with anti-radar smoke, detection failure... detection failure]

The missiles that were originally prepared for interception lost their targets and could not launch autonomously.

Alpha watched the screen and laughed.

"Alpha, unmanned guidance signals are clear, lock completed, approaching the target..."

Hearing the radio, Alpha pursed his lips.

"Good!"

Tak realized something was wrong with the anti-radar smoke.

"If the enemy went to such lengths, their purpose..."

Before he could finish thinking, he saw a missile pierce that thick smoke and enter the three-kilometer radius around the tower.

It sped toward the tower at high velocity.

The automatic defense detected the incoming threat and launched interceptors at once.

But the missile had already entered the one-kilometer range.

The interceptors had just been fired and hadn't accelerated enough; there was no way they could catch a tactical nuclear missile at peak speed.

The missile struck the tower's outer energy shield. The moment of impact produced a dazzling fireball that engulfed the tower.

Temperatures surged into the millions of degrees in an instant, the energy shield trembling and shuddering.

Tak was protected by the Emergency Escape Pod the moment the explosion occurred.

[Warning! Energy down to 80%...]

[Warning! Energy down to 70%...]

[Warning! Energy down to 60%...]

The virtual light screen kept popping up warning alerts.

When the warnings finally ceased,

the tower's energy reserves had fallen to 56%.

[High radiation detected, do not leave the tower protection range]

"It held."

The shock on Tak's face gradually faded.

"High radiation... they actually have nukes. They're insane!"

Before Tak could dwell further,

another warning chimed.

[Warning! Detection of long-range...]

Boom—

A violent explosion and a red alert flashed before Tak again.

[Ding, backup energy activated, energy restored +50%, current remaining energy 16%]

Tak watched the virtual light screen flooding with messages.

"Another nuke, another nuke..."

Regret flared briefly in his heart.

He understood that since the enemy had already launched two nukes, there would likely be a third or even a fourth, and his current energy could not withstand another round of strikes.

"Damn it, am I supposed to die here?"

A hard glint passed through his eyes.

"Foolish Bloodlands, they sent us without knowing the enemy's situation... to die for them..."

But I haven't lost yet.

"Inject all energy into the tower escape program!"

—[Escape Program Initiated!]

The Emergency Escape Pod shifted and loaded into the escape launch channel.

As energy flowed in, Tak's body was secured by the protective restraints.

At that moment, the virtual light screen lit up again.

[Warning, detection of long-range...]

Tak ignored the prompts. He didn't even wait for the energy injection to finish; he slapped the forced escape button.

"Damn it, hurry and escape."

The next instant,

the Emergency Escape Pod was accelerated and ejected. Tak's vision went black, a dizzying overload sensation washing over his mind.

This was the overload reaction from the acceleration during ejection.

Fortunately, as a Silver-tier Lifeform, Tak's robust physiology left him with only some dizziness and no major injuries.

As he was catapulted away,

sss—

three tactical nuclear missiles streaking with fire had already arrived...