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Chapter 727: The Times Have Changed
Chapter 727: The Times Have Changed
The red dots on the display screen continued to multiply until they numbered nearly 200 before finally stopping. By then, those red dots had formed a complete red circle, completely surrounding the clearing.
"Oooowww!" A gray werewolf, larger than the others, was the first to emerge from the forest. It raised its head and howled. In an instant, towering werewolves poured out of the woods, charging toward the small tent in the center of the clearing on all fours, howling loudly as they ran.
"Get ready to shoot, Hermione. Switch to the Assisted Targeting System. It's much more effective against a large group of enemies and works best with our Power Armor", Liam said into the microphone.
"Got it, I can see red circles around the heads of those charging werewolves", Hermione's voice came through the earpiece. "What do I do next? I've had training, but I've never used this thing in a real fight."
"Relax, the Power Armor is fully automated. Just trust the computer inside", Liam reassured her, as some werewolves broke free from the forest's cover and charged forward.
"Now—fire!" Liam shouted. Instantly, two silver-white Gatling guns started sweeping across the targets. Liam could feel the power armor's arms, operated by numerous hydraulic pumps, rapidly aiming and firing at the werewolves.
The ammunition fired from the machine guns was blue, ball-sized light orbs. When they hit the ground, they exploded like grenades, sending dirt flying in all directions. If they struck a werewolf, they created football-sized holes. Even with the werewolves' formidable strength, healing ability, and endurance, a single hit to the torso was enough to bring them down permanently.
In addition to the Gatling guns, Liam and Hermione's power armors each had two small, Grasshopper Blast Pistols on their backs. With a series of clicks, all the joints from the backs to the feet of the power armors were locked, and their feet gripped the ground firmly.
"Fire!" Liam and Hermione shouted in unison. A slight vibration followed, and four Fireballs shot from the gun barrels on their shoulders, heading straight for the cluster of charging werewolves. A series of explosions ripped through the ground, tearing up the earth and everything on it, sending debris flying into the sky.
Under this overwhelming firepower, the clearing turned into a slaughterhouse. Blood, severed limbs, and dirt thrown up by the explosions were everywhere. However, this didn't stop Ryan and the others from continuing their fire. The Life Radar wasn't something that could be blocked by a little dust. The Gatling guns' Atomic Burst Ammunition continued to create massive holes in the werewolves' bodies and heads.
In less than a minute, all the red dots representing enemies on the radar screen within the clearing had disappeared. Once they were sure no one was charging at them, Ryan and the others finally stopped shooting.
The smoke quickly cleared, revealing the devastated ground before them. The entire clearing was pockmarked with craters formed by the explosions. Around each crater, there were mangled werewolf corpses and even more fragmented remains.
"Dark Lord went to all that trouble, mobilizing so many people, and even using a powerful Magic Artifact like the Jumping Cauldron. And this is the result?" Hermione said, her voice filled with disbelief. "To be precise, it took 46 seconds. Not only did they fail to eliminate us, but we almost wiped out all those werewolves. If I didn't know about Dark Lord's hatred for us, I would have thought he was on our side, helping us eliminate the evil."
"Times have changed, Hermione", Liam said, as he searched through the bodies to ensure no one was faking death. "Under normal circumstances, with Magic abilities prohibited, we would have been limited to swords, knives, or ordinary firearms. None of those would have been effective against a horde of werewolves, and heavy weapons are too much for just the two of us to handle."
"I think according to the Werewolves' mindset, they believed that they could rush to us and tear us apart with a single-digit loss at most. However, they and the Dark Lord probably never expected that we would possess heavy firepower that can be wielded by a single person. This information asymmetry naturally led to the current situation."
After confirming that the surroundings were safe, the two of them exited their Power Armor. When they tried to wave their wands to cast Magic, they found that they were still unable to use Magic.
"I thought everything around here was set up by the Dark Lord and his ilk, but it seems that's not the case." Liam began to develop a bit of curiosity about this place, wondering why Magic was ineffective here while technological devices functioned normally.
Fortunately, the Dolls and the large Alchemical Automaton that were supposed to arrive later had not shown up yet, and Ryan and the others couldn't move the nearly ten unconscious people in the tents. So, during the wait for reinforcements, Liam started to investigate the area for any abnormalities. Surprisingly, just over a minute later, Hermione discovered something unusual at the bottom of a large crater created by the Grasshopper.
"Liam, come look at this. The thing at the bottom of the crater seems a bit off", Hermione waved to Liam, indicating the anomaly. "I don't think this was originally just a regular clearing."
"You're right." After walking over to the edge of the crater and taking a look, Liam quickly noticed something wrong. Based on his knowledge of Plants, it was clear that the grass and soil in this area were recently brought in from elsewhere, and it couldn't have been more than a week ago.
What Hermione found unusual was a block of stone at the bottom of the crater. The stone was perfectly square, clearly not a natural formation. She even noticed several marks on it that appeared to be from a chisel used by workers during construction.
Since they had discovered something amiss, Ryan and the others immediately reentered their Power Armor and began using simple tools to dig out the large crater. When the reinforcements arrived, they saw two Power Armors with specialized shovels on their hands diligently digging.
"You guys arrived just in time." Seeing the reinforcements, Liam maneuvered his armor out of the three-meter-deep pit and said to the leader, Rose Crystal, "Have the Alchemical Automatons move the unconscious people and the pot from the tents first. This place isn't suitable for them to stay."
"And what about you, Big Brother?" Rose Crystal nodded and gestured for the puppets to enter the tents and move the people, then looked up and asked. "Is there something going on here?"
"Yes, I found some unusual phenomena and want to investigate further." Liam then briefly explained what they had discovered.
After hearing Liam's findings, all the Dolls unanimously agreed to stay and help Ryan and the others explore the area. According to their leader, Mercury Lamp, such a strange Magic phenomenon was something she and her sisters needed to investigate thoroughly. The knowledge they could gain would make a perfect gift for their father, Rogen.
Over the next few days, with the help of a large number of puppets, Ryan and the others dug up a significant portion of the ground. After the entire area was excavated, Liam realized that the forest clearing was purely an artificial creation made in a short period. Through their digging, they discovered ancient ruins buried beneath the soil.
Strangely, when the sky brightened the next day, the fog and the restriction on Magic Power both disappeared. The entire area became indistinguishable from the surrounding jungle, and no similar incidents occurred in the following days.
(End of Chapter)
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