Steel torrents pioneering a different world

Chapter 116 Breaking the Five Calamities! A Massive Bombardment of Artillery Fire (A long chapter of 10,000 words, please subscribe)

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-

"These magical energies are actually dead... Summoning a dragon and persistently maintaining its form has other sources!"

Everyone turned their attention to Deng Dakang.

Deng Dakang was very tired and looked particularly weak.

That is a weakness characterized by a foggy mind, stagnant thinking, and dulled senses of sight, touch, and everything else.

This must be the aftereffect left by that guy who presumptuously called himself a god after his attack.

Despite his exhaustion, Deng Dakang insisted on keeping his voice clear.

“Previously, our geological team explored that area and found evidence of volcanic eruptions at least hundreds of thousands of years ago, but now it has long been an extinct volcano.”

"Don't be fooled by the impressive spectacle of volcanic eruptions. Ultimately, they lack the energy support of pulverized veins and the Earth's crust, making them nothing more than rootless, floating disasters."

"So as long as we can find the source of their energy, all dangers will be resolved!"

"Professor Deng, is this why you asked us to attack those strange trees?"

Deng Dakang took a deep breath, nodded, his eyes looking as tired as if they were filled with lead.

He stated unequivocally, "Yes, those trees! Those red-leaved, white-barked trees with human-faced features, I believe they are these guys' energy supply network!"

“We previously detected strong electromagnetic fluctuations around those trees. At the time, everyone thought those things were just some special plants.”

"But in my dreams, I dreamt of that thing twice. I guess those things are probably magical central nodes or wireless charging stations. Those trees might be a combination of communication, interference, and surveillance functions."

Seeing the doubt on everyone's faces, Deng Dakang reiterated, "I'm certain that those trees, like modern communication base stations, radar, and cameras, possess many magical functions. They might even be alive!"

“However… those trees seem to have many functions, but they’re not that mysterious, and they’re quite fragile. Don’t be nervous, everyone. They…” Deng Dakang coughed twice and weakly pointed to the trash can.

Wang Hu quickly pulled over the trash can.

After spitting out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, Deng Dakang's spirits improved considerably.

“They…have health bars! Those special trees are like their eyes, ears, and the links connecting magical particles. Destroying the trees will definitely put the nearby energy network into a vacuum.”

"If we don't completely destroy the trees, even if the magma dragon is crippled, it can still absorb geothermal heat and slowly recover given enough time!"

"At that time, geothermal energy and lava will rush in and flood our base!"

A word to wake up the dreamer!

Inside the command post, the eyes of all the staff officers and officers lit up.

Su Mingjin asked, "Professor Deng, thank you for your selfless dedication to science. You saved the entire base!"

"Professor Deng, please forgive me for the many opinions I had about you before!"

Deng Dakang gave a weak laugh: "I was too crazy, everyone, please hurry up and destroy the trees!"

"Good!" Commander Man slammed his fist on the table excitedly, making the map jump. He was very excited, like a hunter who had found the trail of his prey.

"On behalf of all the combat personnel, I would like to thank Professor Deng once again for his discovery!"

He saluted Deng Dakang, then turned abruptly and roared at the communications soldier.

"Gentlemen, let's cut off those strange tentacles! The time has come to destroy those monstrous trees."

"Correspondent!"

"To!"

"Get the rocket units here! Use high-explosive munitions and incendiary bombs to attack the trees in the boundary forest. Target synchronization! If you see any white-barked trees with red leaves, no matter how big or small, don't leave a single one of them! Burn them all to ashes!"

"Yes!"

Commander Man pointed to the main screen again, a ferocious grin spreading across his face.

"Artillery positions, get ready to bombard the area with extended-range 155mm howitzers too, don't let our heavy artillery be idle!"

"Attack helicopter squadron, once you run out of rockets, immediately return to base for resupply. Take turns firing; I want them to not even have time to catch their breath and absorb heat!"

Orders were issued in rapid succession, and the entire command system operated efficiently and ruthlessly.

Commander Man turned around, looking at Deng Dakang and Su Mingjin, the cigarette butt in his mouth twitching, his eyes gleaming with a bloodthirsty light.

"This time, we'll cut off their milk supply! We'll eradicate them completely. I want to see how long this beast can live!"

Commander Man issued a series of combat orders.

Su Mingjin then approached Deng Dakang and asked with concern, "Professor Deng, how are you feeling?"

"I'm so tired!" Deng Dakang's eyelids twitched back and forth.

"You should go back to a hospital in the modern world for treatment, or at least get some rest!"

"I need to determine whether the information I almost risked my life for is valid."

Deng Dakang coughed weakly twice and spat out another mouthful of bloody phlegm.

"Vice President Su, have we captured any intelligent beings from another world? Preferably beings with magical abilities!"

Su Mingjin shook her head: "Time is too tight. We only saw some creatures, and we haven't had a chance to capture any intelligent beings from this other world yet."

The communication situation between Zhao Chong's squadron and them was extremely poor.

Everyone had lost contact for a long time, and Su Mingjin hadn't received this good news yet!

"President Su, please make sure to capture them alive. They should be our most powerful tool for understanding the spellcasters of other worlds, uh... those who call themselves gods."

Su Mingjin nodded: "Besides the red-leafed, white-barked, human-faced tree, can Professor Deng confirm whether those guys have other vessels through which they exert their power? Can we find those vessels and completely destroy them?"

Deng Dakang recalled what he saw in his mind.

"Detailed experimental data is insufficient! I now suspect that the intelligent beings in this world may be highly bound to them!"

"Considering the opponent's previous actions, the magic they unleashed, which was almost comparable to a natural disaster, required the sacrifice of countless lives, a price that was extremely high. I don't think such a method could be used frequently!"

Deng Dakang patted his head, trying to keep his mind clear.

"Besides this, the animals of the forest and the life behind them, as well as the undead scourge, are definitely enemies. They have only temporarily cooperated because of our threat."

"Perhaps once we maintain an absolute strategic advantage over them, their mutual animosity and wariness will eventually lead to their disintegration, until we defeat them one by one in the end!"

"Is there anything else?" Su Mingjin asked softly.

Deng Dakang closed his eyes, recalling the events of his hallucination.

"Besides that, I think I also saw mosquitoes and rotting things. But I'm not sure if it was a hallucination that the other party was deliberately showing me."

Suddenly, Deng Dakang's eyes widened: "That's right, the power of three colors!"

His tone became excited: "Yes, the power of three colors surrounded the space-time gate. Perhaps the opponent's power is not only the undead and the beast horde, nor just the demonic dragon! It is estimated that there are other powerful spellcasters who have joined our attack."

Su Mingjin's expression was serious: "Can you confirm what it is? We need to confirm whether the response plan is reliable!"

Deng Dakang patted his increasingly uncomfortable head.

"I'm not quite sure. The green power should be the big tree boss in the south! The grayish-white power should be the undead boss in the north. And that power is black, no, it's kind of blue... I... um... I can't quite put my finger on it!"

The more Deng Dakang thought about it, the more his head felt throbbing and his head was throbbing with pain.

The aftereffects are just too unpleasant!

"Professor Deng, don't overthink it, get some rest!"

Deng Dakang was somewhat unwilling, but knowing that his body was exhausted to a certain limit and that he didn't want his brain to be completely overloaded and turn him into an idiot, he had to temporarily give up thinking.

Instead, it was to confirm whether the troops' operation was going smoothly.
-

The modern world, the command center.

The electronic screen is displaying information about the war in another world that has just been delivered.

Li Weiguo stood with his hands behind his back, watching everything with many other commanders, staring at the screen without saying a word, his jawline taut.

When the Dongfeng missile blasted the dragon into pieces in the video, a suppressed cheer rang out in the command center.

But Li Weiguo's heart was in his throat.

The non-combatant who just returned from the other world said the battle was fierce and the dragon was very powerful. He didn't believe that such a calamity-like monster could be dealt with so easily.

Sure enough, the next second, in the recorded footage, the lava that filled the sky seemed to have a life of its own, rapidly flowing back and coalescing!
Looking at the dragon that had been reassembled after its death, Li Weiguo felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

Seeing the dragon unleash a breath that stretched over a thousand meters long, destroying the drones hovering high in the sky, the commanders present all looked rather grim.

"This guy is extremely difficult to deal with. If he's immortal, the otherworldly base will have to abandon all its heavy equipment vehicles!"

"The bombing is effective. Provide more bombs to delay the dragon's arrival, and then try using liquid nitrogen to freeze it!"

"Then we'll need at least several dozen vehicles!"

"The think tank had already considered this matter. With eight truckloads of liquid nitrogen gas in the modern world, we can definitely launch a cryogenic attack!"

Just as everyone was racking their brains over the demonic dragon, another messenger arrived with the latest news from the otherworld battlefield.

This time, the correspondent's tone was excited, filled with ecstasy.

"Reporting to Commander-in-Chief, Brigade Commander Man has sent the latest intelligence! Professor Deng has discovered the enemy's weakness! The Demon Dragon's reorganization consumed a massive amount of geothermal energy, shrinking its size by two meters! It is not immortal; it can be consumed!"

"OK!"

Li Weiguo slammed his hand on the table, the force so great that the teacup vibrated loudly. My tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

He exhaled a long breath; those few minutes had felt like an eternity.

"Deng Dakang... what a Deng Dakang!" he couldn't help but exclaim, his worries turning into a surge of excitement.

What logistical support do they need now?

"Missiles, long-range rockets! They're preparing to sweep across the Red Leaf Forest. Make sure the enemy's magical links are broken!"

"Okay, the ammunition and supplies will be transported right away! Is there anything else?"

"General Li, Brigade Commander Man asked if the super fire extinguishers are ready. They're preparing them as a backup plan!"

"Tell Commander Man that there's plenty!"

Li Weiguo waved his hand, his eyes gleaming.

"We also have plenty of liquid nitrogen. Have logistics move all the liquid nitrogen bombs and cryogenic tanks there immediately, as fast as possible!"

The pioneering team made preparations for both scenarios.

First, evacuate to preserve our manpower.

Secondly, we should use modern science to teach these magical creatures from another world a good lesson!
Looking out into the passageway from the portal, one canister after another, steaming low-temperature equipment, was being loaded onto a truck.

Li Weiguo silently prayed for the soldiers on the front lines, hoping that these crystallizations of human wisdom could shine with the most brilliant light in their hands.

Just as he turned back to the control panel, ready to continue reviewing the intelligence on the otherworldly operation, another messenger brought a message.

"President Li, the non-combat personnel returned just now very smoothly. They received a notification in their minds that the cooldown time for the time portal to travel back and forth has been reduced."

Li Weiguo was taken aback and looked at the messenger: "How much should it be reduced?"

"The cooldown time for traveling to and from another world has been reduced from 24 hours to 23 hours."

Upon hearing this time parameter, his pupils contracted slightly.

The cooling process of time portals going back and forth has always been a major headache for everyone.

What caused the time difference between time portals to decrease?

Suddenly, a name popped into his mind without warning.

The first person Li Weiguo thought of was Lin Li.

The spacetime portal is getting bigger, and the cooldown time is getting shorter... Apart from that young man who is outside the organization, has extremely high political skills, and possesses power comparable to changing the world and creating miracles, he can't think of any other possibility.

Was it this kid who did this mischief?

Was he passive or active?
Once the synchronization time of the time portal cools down, does it mean that the protective measures of the modern world will completely fail?

Li Weiguo wrote down the news with great concern.
-

Another world!
The moment I stepped out of the portal, a hot wind mixed with the smell of sulfur and scorched earth hit me.

"It's only been a few days since I last came and it's changed so much!"

Engineer Ming Yufei drove a liquid nitrogen heavy transport vehicle, looking around.

He discovered that his vision ahead was tinged with an eerie dark red, and that flames were exploding on the distant horizon, with the sounds growing ever closer.

The muffled explosion could be heard from a great distance, making the car windows buzz.

Under the coordinator's desperate commands, he parked the behemoth filled with liquid nitrogen tanks in the designated location.

The piercing assembly whistle rang out immediately afterward.

Mingyu jumped off the bus and ran towards the queue, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Comrades!"

The platoon leader's dark face was expressionless. He tapped the combat tablet in his hand, and a ferocious image of a demonic dragon was seen by Ming Yufei and many other soldiers.

"This is a new mission from above. It's very difficult and extremely risky."

The platoon leader's voice wasn't loud, but it struck everyone's heart like a hammer.

"Our task is to transport these precious treasures to the path that this beast must take to get through."

He pointed to the transport truck that Ming Yufei and his team had just arrived, and then drew a deadly route on the map.

"The artillery and rocket forces will buy us time, but no one knows how long."

"Intelligence indicates that the dragon's breath range exceeds one kilometer, it moves very fast, and it is moving in a straight line towards our base."

"To put it bluntly, this is a mission with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death. If anyone doesn't want to go, they can say so now."

The queue was deathly silent, save for the heavy breathing.

"Nothing?" The platoon leader glanced around, snapped to attention, and saluted. "Then let's go! We must complete the mission later; don't embarrass our engineering corps!"

After saying that, he was the first to turn around and jump into his command vehicle.

Ming Yufei took a deep breath of the scorching air, feeling his lungs burning.

He turned to look at his passenger, Zhang Bin, who was also his best friend, and forced a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Old Zhang, I think there's a typo in my will. Do you think it's too late for me to go back and correct it?"

Zhang Bin was inspecting his rifle with his head down when he heard this. Without looking up, he replied, "It's too late. But if you die, I'll go back and tell your sister-in-law that the person you missed most in your life wasn't her, but the most beautiful girl in your junior high school class."

"Get out of here!"

Ming Yufei laughed and cursed, and the tightness in his chest miraculously dissipated a little.

"If I get back, the first thing I'll do is drink those two bottles of Moutai you hid under the bed!"

"Virtue."

Zhang Bin cocked his rifle, grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, and said, "Let's go, let's finish delivering this batch of packages as soon as possible and get back. I'm still waiting to watch the World Cup."

Despite his witty banter, Ming Yufei's hands trembled uncontrollably when they gripped the cold steering wheel.

Although he had experienced many battles, he was ultimately an engineer, not a front-line combatant.

If you let him pave roads and build bridges, or do civil engineering, he can create something amazing for you.

But now, he has to drive a completely unprotected liquid nitrogen transport vehicle to deliver food to a mythical monster, with a 90% chance of dying.

He was under a lot of pressure!
"Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time!"

Given enough time, he is confident that scientists can create a real cryogenic bomb that can instantly freeze everything within a radius of hundreds of meters into an ice sculpture.

But scientists simply don't have enough time.

The transport trucks slowly drove out of the temporary camp's defensive positions, leaving the once bustling base quickly behind.

Watching the armed helicopters hovering in the sky fly into the distance, with a large number of shells flying overhead and landing more than ten kilometers away, Ming Yufei seemed to see that huge magma dragon.

A sense of fear of stepping into death arises spontaneously.

The terrifying magic caused the temperature of the frozen ground to rise rapidly, and the road ahead gradually softened due to the geothermal heat.

Fortunately, this is their controlled area, and the roads are relatively well-constructed.

Just then, the car communicator suddenly emitted a rapid electrical buzzing sound, and a voice mixed with curses exploded from it.

"Stop moving! Stop moving! The lead vehicle is stuck in the mud. The other vehicles should detour."

Ming Yufei and Zhang Bin exchanged a glance, then watched the vehicles ahead pass by one by one.

Looking at the collapsed road ahead and the two comrades getting out of the car, Ming Yufei suddenly felt very envious of him.

If they were in the lead car, perhaps they would also stop moving forward because of this uncontrollable factor?

Such a shameful image flashed through Ming Yufei's mind, and then he thought of the army.

If they complete the mission, the platoon leader can train them to death, and this incident will probably haunt them for the rest of their lives.

"Forget it, I'm the brave Piggy Hero, I'm not afraid of a giant lizard!"

He said this, and then sang the Piggy Hero battle song again.

I found myself pressing the accelerator without even realizing it.
-

The hangar's massive doors were wide open, and a biting wind, carrying scorching exhaust fumes, rushed in.

A Z-10 attack helicopter, having just unleashed all its rockets, landed on the tarmac, reeking of gunpowder. The airflow from its rotors was so strong it was hard to open one's eyes.

"Quick! Ammunition! Over here!"

Qin Longlong and his senior brother struggled to push a cart loaded with aerial bombs, speeding along amidst the piercing alarm.

His palms ached from the sharp edges of the metal ammunition box; these hands were meant for drawing blueprints and writing code.

But now, war has turned everyone into cogs in a machine.

The operational efficiency of the logistics base had to be pushed to the limit, and these designers, who were familiar with the performance of aircraft, were also urgently transferred by the merchants to become temporary ground crew.

"Slow down! Do you think you can fly with this thing?" The senior soldier yelled as he skillfully attached an air-to-ground missile to the interface. Qin Longlong, panting heavily, looked at his senior soldier's calloused hands, then at his own delicate hands, and his face flushed.

"Senior brother, how many times have we tried... Is it going to work? We've attacked that thing so many times, why can't we kill it?"

"Keep attacking until they're dead! We need to buy time for the brothers who are setting up other attack methods!"

Without turning his head, the senior brother slammed his hand on the mounting bracket, the missile made a crisp click, and then he started tightening the screws.

"Every minute we gain is a chance for the soldiers on the front lines to survive. Do you understand?"

Qin Longlong's heart skipped a beat as he thought of the intermittent call signs belonging to the engineering corps on the communications channel.

Yes, if they put in more effort here, Ming Yufei and his men ahead might not be caught by that monster and could safely evacuate after deploying the liquid nitrogen bombs.

Soon, the armed helicopters, having replenished their ammunition, took off again.

Following closely behind was a swarm of drones carrying communication relay drones and a large number of loitering munitions. They formed a dense battle formation, like a steel cloud pressing down on the death forest to the south.

Inside the command center, a huge screen displayed real-time footage of the front lines.

As the flight formation reached the clearly defined black and white boundary, a large black shadow suddenly rose from the southern forest.

It's a flock of birds.

Countless flocks of birds let out sharp cries and fearlessly swooped down on the drone formation.

"here we go again!"

"Activate sonic deterrence!"

An invisible sonic weapon was released instantly, causing large flocks of birds to tumble and scream in the air.

Stimulated by the sound waves, a large number of birds regained their senses and fled in panic.

But a few birds still managed to crash their bodies into the rapidly spinning propeller.

If the drone carries a modified Gatling gun, then these guys are no problem.

The key issue is that the renovations at the rear haven't been completed yet!
and so……

One, two, three...

On the screen, the green dots representing friendly units kept going out.

A few hours earlier, faced with the suicidal bird strike, the people in command would probably have been having a splitting headache. They might have been thinking of directly launching the more expensive Dongfeng missiles!
But now, apart from a few people who feel the pinch, most people are quite indifferent.

The flocks of birds are far fewer than before, and they are no longer able to destroy these cheap drone attack swarms.

After suffering nearly half of its losses, the drone swarm finally broke through this flesh-and-blood defense and reached the designated airspace.

Data link sharing, target locked!

Several drones launched a direct bombardment at the red-leaved, white-barked, human-faced tree.

However, for some unknown reason, the suicide drone's firing angle went completely astray.

Boom...

"Hmm, there's something strange about these trees?"

"Artillery position, coordinates sent, requesting fire support!"

"Roger! Long-range artillery ready!"

Several kilometers away, rows of menacing PHL-191 box rocket launchers bared their deadly fangs.

As the command was given, the launch container slowly rose, pointing towards the sky.

"Target, target 3, the red-leaved, white-barked tree with a human face! Three rapid fires! Fire!"

The earth trembled violently, followed by a deafening roar!

One after another, 300mm caliber rockets, each over seven meters long, trailed long plumes of flame, tore through the air, emitting a howling sound like ghosts wailing, and pierced the sky.

Although the lack of satellite signals forced these massive missiles to abandon their highest parabolic trajectory, reducing their range from 150 kilometers, they are still sufficient to cover any target more than 100 kilometers away.

Qin Longlong and everyone in the base stopped what they were doing and looked up at the three trails in the sky that were gradually receding into the distance, representing the fury of humanity.

This thunderous attack should definitely leave the enemy in a terrible predicament, right?

Inside the command post not far away, you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone's eyes were glued to the main screen, their hearts feeling as if gripped by an invisible hand.

Three bullet trajectories, representing human rage, drew cold, hard straight lines on the screen, precisely striking the crimson forest.

"Approaching the target!"

Before he finished speaking, a sudden change occurred!
Just as the first rocket was about to hit the treetop, the air above the target suddenly distorted.

The rocket, which was originally intended to smash into the tree canopy, unexpectedly changed direction and went somewhere else.

Boom!

The rocket ultimately struck the ground at a distance of more than 300 meters, ending its short life of missing its target.

"what happened!"

"It seems to be some kind of force field attack? Our weapons were deflected to other places by that thing in some unknown way!"

Before anyone could react, the second rocket met the same fate, exploding in the same airspace, but still a long way from its target.

A chill ran up everyone's spine.

The fear of the unknown is far more unsettling than a deafening explosion.

As the third rocket followed suit, a technical officer shouted hoarsely, "Those trees are the problem! We need a saturation attack! Overwhelm them with sheer numbers!"

Soon, six more rockets were launched.

This time, although the tree blocked two rockets, the remaining four rockets rained down on them.

"Boom--!"

A deafening roar finally erupted!

Four heavy rockets, each over seven meters long, struck the roots of the mother red maple tree with tremendous force.

The terrifying shockwave tore the hundred-meter-tall tree in half, and the intense heat that followed instantly engulfed it, turning it into a towering torch!

"Success!"

"Hit!"

An uncontrollable cheer erupted in the command center.

Data streams refreshed on the screen like snowflakes.

"Report! Electromagnetic interference intensity in the vicinity has decreased by five percent!"

"The frequency of bird attacks has dropped sharply!"

"Snowstorm intensity...the snowstorm intensity remains the same, it hasn't weakened!"

Professor Deng Dakang gripped the control panel railing tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force, but his face showed an almost manic ecstasy.

He guessed it right!

He was right! These eerie red-leaf trees were the monster's energy base!
"Switch to the live view of fighting the dragon!"

The screen flashed and switched to the cockpit view of a Z-10 attack helicopter.

The previously intermittent video feed, which was hampered by strong interference, is now crystal clear.

The magma dragon was still slowly crawling under the bombardment of rockets, and the magma and rubble that exploded on its body began to recombine almost the instant it hit the ground.

But at the very moment the mother red maple tree was destroyed, its massive body suddenly stiffened.

The stones on his body fell off with a rustling sound.

Immediately afterwards, a whole nest of seven 90mm air-to-ground rockets rained down on its back.

This time, the results were surprisingly good!
Large chunks of lava shell were blasted into countless fragments, and the wounds no longer flowed with scalding magma, but with a dull, dark reddish-brown substance that appeared to have cooled and solidified. Its regeneration rate visibly plummeted!
"Effective! Attack effective!" The pilot's excited shouts echoed throughout the command center via clear communications.

"Alright, continue attacking the other red-leaved, white-barked, human-faced trees!"

"Artillery units!" Brigade Commander Man snatched the communicator, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement and determination. "Target: all the red maple trees within these coordinates! Burn that forest to the ground!"

"Roger that!"

The order was given, and the artillery positions dozens of kilometers away roared once again.

One after another, PHL-191 box-type rocket launchers pointed their deadly fangs at the sky. Rockets, trailing long flames, surged like a swarm of locusts, densely attacking every corner of the death forest.

Victory seems to be just around the corner!
At the logistics base, Qin Longlong and his senior were about to load ammunition onto the next helicopter when they suddenly felt that the biting cold wind around them had lessened considerably.

The thick, despair-inducing leaden clouds in the sky seemed to have thinned slightly.

"Hey kid, what are you standing there for?" The senior apprentice slapped Qin Longlong's helmet, grinned, revealing a set of teeth stained yellow by smoking. "Our job isn't over yet! Strike while the iron is hot! Hurry up!"

Qin Longlong chuckled and quickened his pace.
-

At the same time, on the snowfield where Zhao Chong's squadron had previously sniped the griffin.

The wind and snow continued to rage, almost completely burying the traces of the previous fierce battle.

Several figures draped in dark green cloaks appeared silently in the wind and snow, like ghosts. They wore hideous masks made of intertwined trees, revealing only eerie eye holes.

The lead elf stopped, his gaze, hidden behind his mask, sweeping over the dark bloodstains on the ground that had begun to freeze. A suppressed rage filled the air.

"The sacrifice Annies failed to complete her self-sacrifice! The Seven Calamities failed five times; the evil god's apostle is incredibly powerful!"

His voice came through the mask, dry and hoarse.

"The final two plagues sent by the divine decree must not be allowed to fail!"

"It's all Annie's fault! That damned deserter!"

Another elf kicked away a bloodstained pebble in anger: "If she had obeyed the high priest's command and quickly offered her life, none of this would have happened!"

As they exchanged their resentful words, an invisible, excruciating pain suddenly pierced the minds of all the elves.

That was not a physical attack, but a tearing apart from the depths of the soul!

It was as if a string that had always connected them had been ruthlessly cut!

"what--!"

The leading elf could no longer stand; his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, his eyes bulging out from the pain beneath his mask.

The warm, luminous sea of ​​light belonging to the Mother Goddess of Life in their minds instantly dried up, leaving only deathly darkness and cold echoes.

“The connection with…with God…is broken!” After he recovered, his voice was filled with unprecedented panic.

This terrified him more than death!
"Those followers of evil gods... what did they do to the Mother Goddess?!"

"The Mother Goddess is wailing! She needs us!" An elf struggled to his feet, his eyes flashing with fanatical determination. "Quick! Sacrifice our lives and summon the final calamity!"

"But we are not the most suitable catalyst, and this place is too far from the sacrifice point, so our power will diminish!"

"There's no time!" the lead elf roared. "We can't count on that good-for-nothing Anise. We must fulfill our god's will! For the sake of our people!"

"Stop them!"

The elves immediately made up their minds. They quickly tore off their cloaks, revealing leather armor covered with strange runes underneath.

These people quickly formed a circle, protecting one of their companions in the center, and began chanting a long and bizarre melody.

The elf chosen as a sacrifice raised a black obsidian dagger high, his eyes burning with fervor, and pointed it at his own heart.

Just as the dagger was about to stab down—

"call out--!"

A sharp whistling sound, piercing through the wind and snow, came from afar and grew closer.

Before the elf wielding the dagger could even react, a missile trailing a heatwave struck precisely in the center of their ritual circle.

boom!
A ball of orange-red fire suddenly exploded on the pale snowfield!

The violent shockwave sent the elves flying like rag dolls. Their so-called magical shields were as fragile as a piece of paper in the face of the violent aesthetics of modern technology.

A kilometer away, a snowdrift suddenly came to life.

Xiao Zhou pushed aside the thick camouflage netting over his head and spat out a blade of grass from his mouth.

"Pah, it really was those pointy-eared guys following us. None of them had any good intentions, just like little shadows."

The observer next to him put down the thermal imager and calmly reported, "The heat source signal is starting to dissipate; it should all be destroyed."

"Two shots to finish them off, same old routine." Xiao Zhou pulled back the bolt and gave the concise order, "Don't give them any chance."

"okay!"

boom!boom!
The dull sound of sniper rifles echoed in the wind and snow.

In the distance, in the snow, the mangled remains of the elves, which had just been blown to pieces, each exploded precisely into a cloud of blood mist, and then fell silent.

Once he was sure the target was dead, Xiao Zhou waved his hand.

Not far away, under another snowdrift, a "cat car" painted with snow camouflage started its engine.

"Cut off those pointy-eared heads and pack them up to take with you!"

"Look, that one with the intact chest doesn't need to be cut off. Just tie him up and give him to the researchers in the back as a gift. Don't forget their equipment and weapons; even a mosquito is meat."

"The robe is of good quality; it wasn't damaged by the explosion! I'll keep it as a trophy!"

What are these bottles and jars?

"Take them all away!"

"Captain, this mask is quite unique. Can we take it back as a souvenir?" A team member held up a tree-face mask that had been destroyed by the shockwave and tapped it curiously.

"Hand it over! All the spoils are to be handed over!" Xiao Zhou glared at him irritably. "What are you dreaming of?"

"Gather the body pieces together,"

Soon, the body parts were gathered together, and then Xiao Zhou took out a flamethrower and started burning them.

Only after seeing the other person's body ignite did Xiao Zhou leave, satisfied.

A moment later, the snowfield returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.

Only those few corpses, drained of their last bit of value, were burned.

However, as the snow falls, it will soon be completely covered by new snow.

When Zhao Chong's squadron's convoy was attacked by griffins, Xiao Zhou noticed something was wrong.

The captured female elf Annis had been hit on the head several times and was sleeping like a log; there was absolutely no way she could cause trouble remotely.

If we rule her out, then there's only one possibility left—there are unseen eyes following them all along.

In order to catch these people, Xiao Zhou volunteered to lead a five-person team to break away from the main group and then played a clever trick of waiting for them to come to him.

Surprisingly, they actually caught a few big fish.

Xiao Zhou sat in the passenger seat, looking at the dark sky in the distance: "I wonder how things are on the main battlefield."

The wind and snow intensified, attempting to conceal everything that had just happened on this snow-covered plain.

The traces left by Xiao Zhou and his entourage were quickly smoothed over.

After a long while, a jet-black crow flapped its wings and landed on the scorched earth, braving the wind and snow.

It tilted its head, its beady black eyes surveying the burnt, unrecognizable remains.

"Gah——!"

The crow let out a mournful cry, then suddenly flapped its wings and flew away into the depths of the forest without looking back.

As the crows flew into the forest, their mournful cries seemed to herald the start of a new chapter.

The vast forest was eerily quiet at that moment.

Then, an invisible, cold will awakened from the deepest part of the forest, carrying a raging rage, yet remaining deathly silent.

This anger was not a roar, but a deep-seated resentment, a silence that withered everything.

Immediately afterwards, an invisible wave of life, like ripples on the surface of water, spread silently from the forest.

The fluctuations swept across the main battlefield where the beast tide had previously attacked.

There, the valley was covered with the corpses of thousands of strange beasts, which had long been frozen stiff.

But as that life force swept by, strange changes began.

The carcass of a wolf-like beast shuddered violently, its shriveled belly swelling rapidly in an abnormal manner, with blood vessels and veins bursting out from under its skin, as if something was growing wildly inside.

"Pfft-"

The corpse's abdomen ripped open, and what gushed out was not blood, but swarms of tiny flying insects, as dense as black dust!

This is just the beginning.

One, ten, hundreds or thousands...

The entire valley, littered with corpses, had been transformed into a massive and terrifying incubation ground.

Countless strange beast corpses came back to life one after another. They either exploded or melted, giving rise to billions of mosquitoes from their rotting flesh.

Those mosquitoes were very small, with sharp mouthparts, and looked extremely dangerous.

The chilling buzzing sound, when combined, actually drowned out the howling of the wind and snow.

Soon, the mosquitoes began flying towards the target area!

Inside the human frontline command center, a piercing alarm suddenly blared.

"Report! Large-scale anomalous biological signals detected in area C3! The quantity... the quantity is incalculable!"

(End of this chapter)