https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-792-Slaughter-Before-the-City-Wall/13677709/
Chapter 793: Player and Cultist
Adrian seized the moment, raising his Longsword high into the air and shouting, “Everyone—do you see this? This is the Sun God’s punishment upon these evil dragons!”
The Human Army soldiers instantly surged with renewed spirit, charging forward with fierce determination to slaughter the remaining Wyverns scattered across the battlefield.
Meanwhile, far off, the Dragon Beasts were met with a devastating barrage of artillery fire. Piles of corpses rose like mountains, and the ground was littered with charred remains and shattered shrapnel. Craters of all sizes scarred the earth, and even the surface had been shaved down by three feet in places.
At that moment, the earth itself seemed to form a wall of flame-light and corpses, dividing the Dragon Beasts from the Human Army.
“Damn Empire!” Ulrichia spat, her gaze fixed on the distant Sky Fleet. Her narrow, vertical pupils glowed with hatred and fury. If these intruders from the North kept advancing, their Dragon Beast forces would be worn down to nothing through attrition, and Linying City would be lost.
The Dragon Worship Church had never repaired the city walls. To these followers of the Dragon—more precisely, the Evil Dragon—attack was the best defense. Raids, burning, looting, and plundering were far superior to merely holding a fortress.
With that thought, she summoned a dozen Evil Dragon Priests and raised the Dragonhead Scepter high, pointing it toward a distant Skyborne Battleship. Her voice rose in a passionate prayer:
“Red Flame, annihilate the cowardly!
Blue Lightning, tear open the heavens!
Green Poison, corrupt the last hope!
Black Acid, eat through iron walls!
White Frost, freeze all life!”
“Hail! O mighty Mother of Five Heads, Lord of Scales and Claws!”
Instantly, the gemstone eyes of the Dragonhead Scepter flared with light. From the altar, a cascade of black beams shot skyward, summoning the phantom image of the Five-Headed Dragon in the heavens.
Red. Blue. Green. Black. White.
One by one, the five elongated pupils ignited, glowing with a terrifying light that sent shivers down the spine.
The five monstrous heads—each different in hue, each radiating dread—lifted in unison, roaring with a thunderous voice. Throats swelled with glowing orbs of elemental power, and a storm of unprecedented ferocity erupted in the sky, shaking even the fabric of space itself.
“Danger! Warning!”
“Energy wave anomaly detected—exceeding threshold!”
“Long-range strike detected. Energy signature: Divine Power!”
“Initiate Spatial Teleportation!”
A calm voice issued orders from the bridge.
“No! Our ships are bound by an unknown force—locked in space. Movement is nearly impossible. It’s as if we’re prey, hunted by a natural enemy.”
On the bridge of the Skyborne Battleship, the usually composed captain’s expression shifted abruptly. His face tightened with tension. “Hurry—activate the highest-level Defense System!”
“First-Level Defense Field—activated!”
The steel hull flared with intricate runes. A translucent energy shield began to form, enveloping the ship.
Physical attacks could no longer penetrate. Any object that came too close was repelled.
“Second-Level Defense Field—activated!”
Glowing orbs erupted from the ship’s turrets, shooting into the sky. At their peak, they exploded into radiant barriers—sleek, shimmering walls capable of blocking all forms of energy assault.
“Third-Level Defense Field—activated!”
The base of the ship extended force-field generators, emitting blinding white light. With a soft shink, space around the ship warped instantly. Hexagonal energy shields emerged from every side, interlocking seamlessly into a spherical barrier that completely sealed the Skyborne Battleship.
This was the pinnacle of Mechanical Divinity’s fusion of science and magic. Even eighth-level spells struggled to breach these three layered defenses—let alone harm the ship’s true form.
But the defense wasn’t over yet. A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the ship’s speakers:
“Long-Range Attack Interception System—online!”
Whirr—
Twelve barrel-like turrets extended from the ship’s sides, rotating swiftly. They locked onto the distant phantom image of the Five-Headed Dragon, preparing to intercept the enemy’s long-range strike.
“These primitives can’t touch us,” the captain muttered, his gaze fixed on the distant dragon image. “Their understanding of strength is crude—childish.”
To build these Skyborne Battleships, the Mechanical Divinity had poured millions of gold coins into development. The research attrition alone had been astronomical. There was no way they would be defeated by these “savages.”
“Praise the Lord of Ten Thousand Scales! Mother of Monsters! The Everlasting One!”
“Five Heads Become One—All Realms Bow Down!”
As the Cultists screamed in frenzied ecstasy, the colossal phantom monsters in the sky extended their spined necks, each head peering in different directions. Their maws—filled with blood and fangs—opened wide.
“Boom—”
A deafening shriek split the air. From the dragon’s maw, five beams of light erupted in a torrential flood—red, blue, green, black, and white. Each beam pulsed with elemental fury, carrying the primordial essence of dragon magic: Fire, Thunderbolt, Toxic, Acid, Frost.
The five beams merged into a dazzling column of five colors, splitting the sky and unleashing a cataclysmic elemental storm. The column streaked across the heavens, a towering inferno of divine power, hurtling toward the distant Skyborne Battleship from thousands of meters away.
“Activate interception systems!”
Twelve beams shot from the battleship, converging toward the five-colored column. Hundreds of Magic Annihilation Missiles, trailing thick smoke, rocketed into the sky.
“Boom!”
“Boom! Boom!”
Explosions erupted across the sky—brilliant, violent, and chaotic. Energy waves collided, creating a storm of shrapnel, flame, and fire. Thick, black smoke billowed upward in massive, churning clouds, swirling like a stormy sea.
But in an instant, the five-colored beam obliterated every missile and beam fired at it. It consumed them, transforming their energy into its own—like a ravenous dragon devouring everything in its path.
This was Divine Power.
Unlike mortal spellcasters, whose magic was limited by form and will, Divine Power could command the very edicts of the world. It unleashed strength so vast, so incomprehensible, that it defied mortal understanding.
“This power…”
“It’s beyond our instruments’ limits. It’s like the breath of the Emperor of the Ashen Flame!”
The captain and researchers alike stared upward, stunned, their faces pale with disbelief. All their defenses had been activated—yet they could only watch helplessly as the five-colored beam grew larger, faster, closing in. Would their three-layered defense system hold?
At the moment the beam struck the shield, the seemingly unbreakable dome shattered instantly. Cracks exploded across its surface, spreading like spiderwebs—then, with a final crack, it collapsed entirely.
Space itself twisted and deformed under the impact. The first and second layers were obliterated in an instant—no resistance, no effect.
“No… impossible!” The captain stood frozen, legs trembling. His eyes reflected the five-colored light, filled with horror.
“Boom—”
Thunderbolts, fire, and frost raged across the sky, creating an elemental maelstrom—a swirling vortex of unparalleled spectacle.
The divine flood consumed the hundred-meter warship whole. Every molecule was erased. The hundreds of Mechanical Divinity Players aboard were shattered into their most fundamental particles—no chance to resist, no chance to rebel.
After hitting its target, the beam fragmented in midair, scattering into a storm of colorful elemental energy. It rained down upon the Earth behind the Human frontline—the very ground where the Player Army stood.
A blinding thunderbolt struck the sky, followed by a flaming meteor streaking from the clouds. A frigid storm swept across the earth. Corrosive acid fell like torrential rain, carving countless craters into the ground.
“Holy hell?”
“What the actual—? Screen-filling attack?”
“I just joined the quest! I haven’t even seen an enemy yet! I don’t wanna die—!”
“Why’s the boss using his ultimate now? Damn it, I’m taking damage nonstop in this acid rain!”
“Don’t let it get me!”
Pain-filled screams and cries echoed from the rear battlefield. The poor Players were either reduced to charcoal by lightning, crushed by fire meteors, frozen solid in icy storms, or slowly dissolved in toxic acid.
Since the birth of the Empire of Ashen, they had always dominated with their overwhelming long-range firepower. None of the Empire’s players had imagined that, before the war even began, the Dragon Worship Church could launch such a devastating strike from thousands—or even tens of thousands—of meters away.
Unprepared, over a thousand Players died instantly. Tens of thousands were severely wounded. Their Heavy Cannons, Steam Tanks, and Aether Armors were lost or damaged, drastically reducing their long-range fire power.
The remaining Aerospace Warships activated emergency teleportation and vanished into invisibility. Without understanding the nature or weak point of the Five-Headed Dragon’s phantom image, they dared not move.
The cost had been too high. Those were Skyborne Battleships—each worth hundreds of thousands of Golden Nael, priceless beyond measure.
Above Linying City, Ulrichia stood with a fearsome expression, roaring into the sky:
“Do you see? This is the strength of the great Mother of Monsters! Her might can destroy everything in this world!”
“These humans used only minor tricks. In the face of dragon might, such tricks are meaningless! Without their weapons, they’re like weak mice—easily crushed by our dragon beast horde!”
“Praise the Lord of Ten Thousand Scales! The Everlasting One!”
“The Dragon shall return to Earth and rule the mortal world!”
The Cultists worshipped the phantom above, their voices filled with piety and ecstasy—after all, they had just witnessed a miracle.
“Roar—”
The Dragon Beasts’ roars shook the sky. Their heavy footsteps trembled the earth.
With the Empire’s firepower silenced, the Dragon Beast army broke through the blockade and surged forward toward the Human Army’s frontline.
“Gods…”
“Eternal Lord of Light above—what was that beam?”
The Human soldiers stared upward, dumbfounded, at the lingering streak across the sky. If the Players’ earlier chaos had been like a miracle, then this beam—piercing the heavens—was pure, undeniable Divine Punishment. No exaggeration.
But disaster struck again. Dust rolled across the battlefield, the ground trembled violently. The mad horde of Dragon Beasts had closed to within a thousand meters of the frontline—about to crash down like a mountain.
Adrian, summoning his last reserves, cried out, “Fear not! Eternity’s sunlight protects us!”
The world blurred before their eyes. Soldiers gripped their shields and long spears, tensing, staring forward. The heavy footfalls grew louder. The shadows of the beasts loomed larger and larger—until they stood right before them.
“They’re here!” someone screamed.
“Roar—”
A stench-laden, sticky gale blasted forward. The Dragon Beasts, jaws dripping with blood, charged into the Human Army’s defensive line. Massive bodies—weighing several tons, even up to a dozen—crushed soldiers beneath them, flattening shields and armor with a spine-chilling screech of metal on metal.
In an instant, the entire defensive line collapsed—not from a single breach, but from total, all-around crushing.
These Dragon Beasts had been born from countless human corpses and scraps of flesh. They were naturally evil and frenzied. Once among the people, they fed greedily, tearing soldiers apart with fangs and claws. Flesh flew through the air. Armor fragments scattered like shrapnel.
“No! Hold the line!”
“Damn it, that one’s breaking through! By Amanata, stop it!”
Soldiers’ wails, the beasts’ roars, the cracking of armor, and muffled footsteps wove together into a raw, bloody symphony.
“No! I will not let these evil dragons ravage Seleucus’s earth any longer!” Adrian stepped forward, sword drawn. His eyes blazed with fury. The blade in his hand flared with golden radiance.
With a single, swift motion, he drove the sword forward—piercing through thick fur, tearing through flesh, bone, and brain. The head of a Dragon Beast split open, and he withdrew his bloodied blade. The beast collapsed with a thunderous boom, white brain matter spilling from the wound.
But the beasts didn’t hesitate. With guttural roars, they charged again.
“Lowly human!”
Just then, a piercing Dragon Roar split the sky. A venomous stream of poison jetted from above, striking Adrian’s back. His armor cracked and corroded, fraying into tatters.
Adrian turned slightly, catching a glimpse of a massive adult Green Dragon diving from the clouds, claws outstretched, descending toward his back.
But the front-line beasts were already upon him—trapped in a deadly crossfire.
Then—joyful voices rang out from above:
“For the Empire! For the Emperor!”
A towering figure—over four meters tall, clad in heavy armor—descended from the sky, landing with a thunderous crack. He stood firm, blocking the charging Dragon Beast with sheer, unnatural strength.
His strange greatsword hummed continuously, its jagged blade spinning rapidly, spitting sparks of fire with every rotation.
(End of Chapter)
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