Chapter 586 - 369: Hot Weapons Enter the Alien Race Battlefield for the First Time (Part 2)

Chapter 586: Chapter 369: Hot Weapons Enter the Alien Race Battlefield for the First Time (Part 2)

The scene ahead gave Steel Jade her first taste of the terror and brutality of war.

A dense, overwhelming horde of Soul Beasts, several times their number, charged madly toward the tribe.

Starfire Wild Boars, Armored Porcupines, Dragon Blood Pig Demons, Red-winged Flying Dragons, and more...

Most of these Soul Beasts were not even at the Extraordinary level. Some were, and a few had reached the War General Level.

But the number of Soul Beasts was nearly endless.

On the Steel Elephants’ side, fewer than a thousand Soul Beasts, ranging from Extraordinary to War General Level, stood their ground a short distance ahead. Some fought the wild Soul Beasts with their physical bodies, while others fired beams from their mouths to clear out the cannon fodder.

Sixty to seventy Steel Elephant Beastmasters stood behind a safety line dozens of meters away, using makeshift fortifications for cover. They wielded strange-looking weapons, completely different from the Silver Steel Crossbows, and continuously shot down any wild Soul Beasts that slipped through.

They were not completely undefended; about a dozen War General Level Contracted Beasts stood guard around them.

"What is that?" Steel Jade had never seen such a strange weapon. Each time one fired, it pierced through the Body of at least one Soul Beast.

Even so, plenty of beasts still broke through the network of firepower to harm the Beast Masters, fighting with a complete disregard for their own lives.

"Little girl, hide behind them. If any Soul Beasts below War General Level break through, just help intercept them."

Gang Lei tossed Steel Jade an automatic rifle before moving with the other Beast Masters to plug a gap in the defense line.

Steel Jade had never used a firearm before, but she had no time to ask questions now. She hurried over to the defensive line of stacked stones, her eyes nervously scanning the surroundings.

"Little girl, you’re not from the Grey Stone Tribe, are you? First time seeing something like this? Not quite what you imagined, huh? Don’t piss your pants when you see these crazed wild Soul Beasts."

The squad leader next to Steel Jade, who was in charge of about twenty people in the vicinity, saw her nervous expression and teased her while reloading.

"I’m from another tribe. This is my first time here," Steel Jade nodded.

"Smoke?" The squad leader pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tossed it to Steel Jade.

"What’s this?" Steel Jade asked, confused.

"It’s a special plant those Xia Clan People brought over. Sharpens the mind, stimulates the senses. You can give it a try."

"You young Steel Elephants are the future hope of our tribe. Stay back a little further. Your life is what’s most important."

The squad leader jutted his chin, signaling for Steel Jade to move further back.

"Goddammit! Shit! Why is this beast tide different from before? There are way too many Soul Beasts!"

A Steel Elephant Beastmaster, frantically spraying bullets from a machine gun, cursed loudly.

"Shut up! Keep your eyes forward and don’t let these stinking pigs break through our line!"

As he shouted, an Armored Porcupine used its stout body to break through the line of Contracted Beasts up front, tanking the Beast Masters’ frantic gunfire.

The bullets from the guns dented its hide, leaving small holes, but they failed to bring the porcupine down. Instead, they only enraged it further.

ROAR—

A dazzling white light slowly gathered in the Armored Porcupine’s mouth.

"It’s Metal Storm, Squad Leader! Quick, send a Steel Armored Elephant to block it!"

BANG!!

A dense cluster of shuttle-shaped points of light, radiating a destructive aura, erupted from the Armored Porcupine.

THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!

Fortunately, among the Contracted Soul Beasts protecting the Beast Masters, a massive Steel Armored Elephant leaped out and blocked the attack, absorbing the damage from the Metal Storm.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT~ RAT-A-TAT-TAT!

In an instant, the Armored Porcupine was focused down by several heavy machine guns and riddled with holes.

"The Xia Clan People’s weapons are so damn useful. In the past, holding off a beast tide of this scale would’ve taken at least five times as many people."

The commanding Beast Master had barely finished speaking when, from the distant plains ahead, another huge, dark mass of beasts appeared, charging frantically in their direction.

A dozen or so massive Flying Dragons, their wing membranes shimmering with surging Spiritual Light, screeched as they flew overhead.

"Fire! Fire!!"

Steel Jade had no experience with firearms, but she mimicked the others, flicking off the safety.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT~

The powerful recoil made Steel Jade’s shoulder ache. To avoid hitting allies due to her inexperience, she deliberately aimed at the largest wild Soul Beast and unleashed a torrent of firepower.

"Shit, that’s an Upper War General at least! Rifles are useless, get the rocket launcher!"

The squad leader next to Steel Jade cursed, tossed aside his rifle, pulled a large rocket launcher from a nearby crate, and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

FWOOSH~

He aimed the rocket launcher at a relatively slow-moving Acidic Flying Dragon in the Sky Domain ahead, and the rocket shot out of the tube with a whoosh.

The warhead trailed a winding plume of white smoke as it soared into the sky.

A deafening explosion boomed.

The rocket slammed into the Acidic Flying Dragon’s scales, sending it tumbling backward. Its scales shattered and caved in, and a viscous fluid oozed out as it fell silent.

The squad leader narrowed his eyes, targeting the other Flying Dragons.

rockets, 20 rockets, 30 rockets...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

From the left and right flanks of the defensive line, dense volleys of rockets flew out, slamming into the approaching flock of Flying Dragons.

Seven or eight of the Flying Dragons, their Life Force formidable, were blasted into pulp by the powerful explosions, falling from the sky to block the path forward.

"Damn effective. Finally dead..." The squad leader let out a long breath, reloaded, and aimed at the other Soul Beasts.

Just as everyone was breathing a small sigh of relief, a bizarre, stout wild boar covered in black fur suddenly leaped up from the very front of the Contracted Soul Beast line. It let out a low grunt toward the group of Beast Masters.

Purple ripples spread rapidly from its eyes.

Everyone in their small group of twenty-some people, including Steel Jade, and all the Soul Beasts in the firing zone, suddenly froze.

’It’s an Evil-Eyed Pig Demon! This is bad...’ The thought had barely formed in Steel Jade’s mind when she saw the leaping Evil-Eyed Pig Demon get snatched mid-air by an Iron-Feathered Flying Dragon beside it.

The dragon and the pig simultaneously unleashed a breath attack and a paralyzing purple ray, blanketing the area below.

WHOOSH!

The breath attack shot forward with the speed of a rocket, reaching them in an instant.

Steel Jade heard a sound like a watermelon bursting.

She suddenly felt a splash of warm liquid on her face.

Her pupils contracted violently.

She looked to the side in disbelief.

The squad leader, who had just been cursing the beast tide and telling her to get back, was gone from the shoulders up.

THUD.

The clansman who had been alive just a second ago was now a silent corpse.

"He’s just... dead..."

While Steel Jade was still in a daze, the breath attack continued to spread, sweeping toward them.

The other Steel Elephant Beastmasters roared frantically:

"Watch out! Get under the fortifications!"

But Steel Jade didn’t seem to react to anything around her.

She just stared blankly at the sky.

Gunsmoke filled the air. Blood and Flame stained her vision.

"Flame Boar!!"

With that great roar...

A towering, gold-red blaze suddenly ignited in Steel Jade’s vacant eyes.

Fine, blood-red patterns appeared on her wheat-colored skin.

A terrifying phantom, wreathed in a towering, gold-red inferno, materialized between heaven and earth.

"Burning Steel! It’s the Burning Steel Mammoth! There’s a Priest from the Burning Steel Divine Hall here! Retreat, now!!"

At this moment, a group of Flame Boar Beastmasters positioned at the rear of the beast tide saw the colossal Mammoth that filled the sky and blotted out the earth. Their faces changed drastically as they tried to command their Soul Beasts to escape.

But in the next instant.

The shadow of the Burning Steel Mammoth projected two beams of light like divine radiance, locking directly onto their position.

Then, it lifted its wavering, distorted foreleg and stomped upon the void.

BOOM!!

In the blink of an eye, everything within 500 kilometers in front of the Burning Steel Mammoth was turned to dust.

「At the same time.」

Hidden behind the Grey Stone Tribe, Han Ning and the others, who had been quietly observing the battle, stared in astonishment at the phantom that encompassed heaven and earth.

"Gang Sasi, is this... your Steel Elephant totem? The Divine Spirit of all Steel Elephant People, the Burning Steel Mammoth?"

"Yes... As you can see, everything is under the control of His Holiness the Pope."

Gang Sasi gazed at the small figure beneath the phantom of the Burning Steel Mammoth and sighed softly.

Han Ning fell silent. He had thought this battle was meant to be a demonstration of the power of the Tri-Race Alliance’s firearms.

He never expected that the Steel Elephant high command had another plan entirely.