Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 232 Fiery Mountain
Following Lao Gao's gaze, they saw a huge black shadow 'growing' out of the ground in the village. Its body shimmered with starlight and silver light. Its shape was not fixed but was constantly changing, making it difficult to tell what it was.

"Holy crap... what is that?!"

The team members who remained in the distance were speechless in shock at the sudden turn of events, not to mention Zou Ping and the other two who were right in front of them. With the earth-shaking explosion, the strong tremors caused Lao Liu to lose his balance and fall backward to the ground. Zou Ping pulled him up to avoid being hit by the falling rocks.

They looked up, their entire field of vision now swallowed up by the colossal creature gleaming with silver light. Zou Ping and the others, who had been active near Haiqu, had seen many higher-ranking alien species, some of which were even larger in size. However, the oppressive aura emanating from this giant monster was on a completely different level from any of the alien species they had ever encountered.

In the eyes of the extraordinary beings, those secret realm creatures that forcibly came to the mortal world were somewhat superficial. Among those of the same level, the alien species had almost no advantages except for their size. The reason they posed a threat was mainly because they often did not fight against humans of the same level.

The enormous, terrifying being gleaming with silver light before them possessed a truly real body composed of metal and rock. Its weight and sturdiness were unmatched by any alien species, not to mention the powerful aura it carried, belonging to a higher-level being, which was far stronger than any alien species they had ever seen before.

As this mountain... no, it was a silver mountain, with a buzzing sound emanating from it, countless silver statues scattered throughout the village rushed back towards it, returning to the hill like melting liquid or malleable clay, making it even more imposing.

Only then did Zou Ping and the others realize that the silver sculpture, which they found incredibly strange and impossible to work with, was actually just a part that had split off from the monster in front of them.

The three of them fled far away, reaching a distance they considered safe, where at least they no longer felt like they could be crushed at any moment. They gasped for breath, looking at the enormous entity that had grown out of the ground—an entity that could perhaps not even be called a living being—and were incredibly grateful to have escaped unscathed.

They were also very clear that the only reason they had survived was that the other party's target was not them.

Looking at the silver hill, the group swallowed hard. What kind of method, what kind of power, could defeat such a being?
Looking around, they couldn't see Su Xun, and they couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Look!"

Zou Ping suddenly pointed to the ground near the monster. The original village had been destroyed beyond recognition, with only some broken walls and ruins remaining to prove its past existence. The numerous statues lay on the ground without any reaction. In fact, Zou Ping and his group had personally verified that the physical structure was not their weakness. If you only look at the damage they had suffered on the surface, it was not a fatal injury at all.

It was obvious that these were the spoils of Su Xun's previous attack. Zou Ping and the two men beside him had been completely flustered and hadn't noticed this. Now, upon closer inspection, they saw that the remains had actually changed color. Clearly, Su Xun's attack was not just simple destruction, but rather an alteration of their material properties at the moment of destruction.

"This is... the Commander-in-Chief's special ability?"

The group was quite surprised. Su Xun's special ability was not a secret, and many people had witnessed it during the martial arts competition. However, they had never heard of such an application before.

A deep hum emanated from the massive body of the small mountain, carrying a sense of confusion, anger, and a fear that even Zou Ping and the others could feel. Before they could think further, they suddenly saw a burst of fire erupt from the mountaintop with a loud bang, sending large pieces of rock and metal flying everywhere. When the smoke cleared, a rather large crater appeared on the mountaintop, as if an unseen spoon had scooped out a large chunk of the mountain.

Although the overall damage was not significant, it still caused the small mountain to roar even more angrily. The strange metallic scraping sound was extremely jarring to Zou Ping and the others. It was estimated that if an ordinary person without supernatural abilities were standing here, the sound alone would likely be enough to seriously injure them.

"It looks familiar..." Zou Ping shrank his neck, feeling that the explosion on the hilltop just now looked more and more familiar.

"Brother Zou, was that the rocket you fired?"

Old Liu also raised a question, and Zou Ping glared at him: "Why bring up something you shouldn't talk about? Let's get out of here!"

Clearly, another fight was about to break out here. After witnessing the monster's true form, he had completely abandoned his previous idea of ​​trying to fish in troubled waters on such a battlefield. It was out of the question. The fact that they were still alive and standing here was already extremely fortunate.

However, they didn't run too far, because the situation on the battlefield changed drastically very quickly.

Flames, seemingly appearing from nowhere, spread across the mountain like flowing water, quickly weaving into a vast net that locked the silver hill in place. The invisible flames seemed even more resilient than steel.

How could the mountain be locked? This was once again beyond the three's comprehension, but reality was unfolding before their eyes. The bright yellow fire net mercilessly scorched the silver hill within, and in just a moment, they could see many melting marks appearing where the mountain came into contact with the fire net. Rocks and metals turned into magma-like liquids that kept spilling down, making it look as if the mountain was bleeding.

The mountain is engulfed in flames!

The hill let out an extremely piercing roar, and countless silver spikes, like bamboo shoots, instantly sprang up from the surrounding ground. Zou Ping broke out in a cold sweat. If they had stayed where they were, they would probably have been impaled and killed by these spikes.

Feeling the powerful spiritual energy contained in those spikes, they couldn't help but marvel at how lucky they were to have survived. However, even with such fierce resistance, it had no effect whatsoever; the hill seemed to have no idea where Su Xun was.

Zou Ping and the others were also extremely curious about this question. After arriving here, Su Xun was no longer in their sight. At first, they could still hear the noise coming from the village, but now they could only watch the scene of the mountain burning in front of them, but they couldn't see Su Xun at all.

The three dared not linger there, and hurried back the way they came. They had only gone halfway when they saw their teammates who had stayed behind pointing to the sky behind them, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

(End of this chapter)