The Creators: From Night City

Page 344

It's Chaxi.

This blacksmith's blacksmithing skills were so superb that people often forgot her barbarian origins.

These races living on the Arreat Plateau are all outstanding warriors. Being strong and powerful is just the basics, not to mention that Chasi is a blacksmith who swings a hammer all day long.

Although she had not received systematic training in warrior skills, her years of forging experience had sculpted her into a fine physique and ingrained hammer-wielding skills.

The saying "hitting someone is like hitting iron" is not wrong.

Chasi wielded a forging hammer with effortless precision, striking the hastily raised shield with a resounding clang of metal against metal. The strong adult male was sent flying backward by Chasi's immense force. Although he tried his best to regain his footing, he inevitably slid several meters backward.

These few meters became an insurmountable chasm for him.

The Rogues, who were trained by the Amazons, were accustomed to using javelins in close combat where bows and arrows were not suitable. These javelins were half a length shorter than spears, but could still be used for close-quarters thrusting.

Of course, as a javelin, throwing it is the correct way to use it.

A heavy, thick javelin embedded itself directly into the guard's shield, the immense force causing his arm to go numb. As the guard's defenses widened, another javelin seized the opportunity, cleanly piercing through his steel armor and penetrating his chest.

With his defenses breached, even more arrows rained down, piercing his vital points.

This somewhat powerful noble guard didn't utter a sound and went straight to sleep.

The mage who wielded fire was surprisingly tough. He conjured a red magical shield of fire to block the arrows, but the fire hydra he had placed so much hope in was annihilated by several icy arrows the moment it was summoned.

The basic combat knowledge of elemental counters is deeply ingrained in the Rogues.

The mage was not very powerful, and his only skill was in controlling fire. His trump card failed, so he could only slam his staff down and throw a fire star from the end of the staff in an attempt to force the crowd back. However, he did not expect that an icy arrow shining with white crystalline light would pass through the flames and directly hit his magic shield, forming a lot of frost flowers and holding him firmly in place.

The one who drew the bow was Kyoko, whose skill with ice arrows was already among the best in the Amazons.

During the ensuing battle, a third Hellfire Ballista was launched from the catapult. This time, it did not miss its target and accurately struck a makeshift house in the camp, instantly igniting a raging fire.

"I don't have time to play with them anymore."

Jiang Bing used his foot to pick up a log about the thickness of an arm, and under the watchful eyes of the Rogge, he threw it with outstretched arms.

The immense force created a ground-hugging hurricane, causing the flames on the ground to flicker and crash directly into the mage's shield. The front half of the stick instantly shattered into wood chips, and the magic shield burst like a bubble. As a result, the back half of the stick pierced through the mage's chest, blasting half of his chest cavity into dust.

"I hate idiots, and I hate this bunch of stupid and wicked morons even more."

Jiang Bing's MVP closing remarks resonated deeply with Qiaxi, who nodded frantically, almost saying, "Me too!"

More hellfire projectiles were launched by the catapults, but something absurd happened. Suddenly, an arrow carrying the force of a violent wind shot out from the front section of the city wall and accurately hit the fire projectiles in flight, causing both to explode into a rain of fire.

It was Kasha who made the move.

The powerful Amazon cursed and complained about why Akara hadn't activated the defensive array yet, while simultaneously drawing back his bowstring, slowly gathering his strength, and firing a second guiding arrow that precisely detonated another fireball in mid-air.

The Rogge members cheered instantly.

However, passively intercepting and taking hits all the time was clearly not a long-term solution. Flavi gritted her teeth and prepared to select a few elite Rogge sisters to see if they could get close enough to take down the catapults.

But a deafening roar, loud enough to shatter eardrums at close range, came from the center of the camp. Before Kasha and Flavius ​​could turn their heads, they felt a huge object fly over their heads and land in the demon's territory.

The next moment, a mushroom cloud of fire mixed with surging flames slowly rose in the demon's territory.

This time, the Gustav Cannon fired a solidified liquid hydrazine incendiary bomb.

Chapter 702 Artillery Barrage and Countermeasures Against Demons

Demons, as expected of creatures born from the Burning Hell, possess a fire resistance far greater than that of ordinary beings.

Even though their bodies were set ablaze like torches, many demons covered in solidified liquid hydrazine continued to howl and roll around, refusing to die. Even after the flames died down, most of these demons, charred on the outside and tender on the inside by the intense heat, were still able to get up.

The whippers under the command of the military supervisors also used their whips to unleash dark green healing whirlwinds, healing the wounded demons in batches.

Of course, a considerable number of demons did not survive, and were burned to a crisp by the explosion and the corrosive flames, making them beyond saving.

Jiang Bingkai's main target was not these demon minions, but the hellish catapults that were constantly launching fireballs. This shot successfully turned one of the catapults and the soil beneath it into scorched earth.

However, the second bombardment that followed did not have the desired effect.

Semi-circular shields rose up beside the siege equipment, blocking the bombardment of heavy artillery shells from the air.

Beside each hellish catapult was a dozen scantily clad, winged banshees who were tearing at their pale skin, dripping their scalding blood into a crimson inverted pentagram magic circle drawn around the demon catapult, thereby activating their magic to create powerful and solid magical shields.

They were Andariel's most loyal servants and his most capable subordinates.

Another cannonball, weighing several tons, crashed into the demon formation. The explosion turned hundreds of demons to ashes and then hurled more demons in all directions. However, the catapults, protected by the magic shield, remained standing and survived Gustav's inspection.

Therefore, Jiang Bing focused his next attack on killing the enemy's manpower.

The Palico members of the artillery crew, wearing special earmuffs, jumped around reloading shells onto the giant cannon, hoping to unleash as much firepower as possible in the shortest amount of time.

However, this terrifying artillery barrage did not cause the demon army to collapse. In fact, under the command of the demon overseer, these demons adapted to changing circumstances very quickly.

The slow-moving zombies were abandoned, while large groups of Fallen were scattered into the wide area between the two armies, allowing them to roam freely and thus reducing losses when bombarded; a large number of corrupted Rogues, relying on their speed, quickly moved towards the open areas on both flanks; and the goat-headed demons of the Moon Clan split into small groups, each centered around a drum-wielding shaman, and also quickly dispersed.

The Demon Overlord's plan was clear: aside from immobile strategic units, he only needed to disperse the density of other demon units to minimize losses during artillery bombardment.

This method is cruel and realistic, but it is exceptionally effective.

The demons' powerful bodies and generally tenacious survival ability meant that the benefits of being bombarded were not high. Only the unlucky ones who did not escape the central explosion point would be blown to pieces. Other demons, even if they were blown dozens of meters away by the spreading blast wave, would still be good demons after they landed on the ground, dusted themselves off, and got up.

Not to mention that many critically wounded goat-headed monsters were saved by the bloody sorcery of the goat-headed shamans, and the demon overseer's minions were frantically unleashing healing whirlwinds, greatly reducing the demons' casualties.

Needless to say, Fallen Ones can be resurrected by Fallen One wizards as long as their corpses aren't badly shattered or secretly gnawed on by greedy hellhounds.

On the contrary, the mindless zombies were harvested like wheat, one after another by the aftershocks of the explosions.

But that's the meaning behind their creation; they successfully served to draw fire.

The shattered flesh and blood of these zombies were not wasted. Under the whip of the whipper, a small imp, not much taller than a Fallen but extremely fast, swiftly ran across the uneven plain, over huge craters, and arrived at the place where the zombies lay dead in clusters. It threw off the wooden cage on its back, broke it, and let the deformed flesh embryos inside come into contact with the filthy flesh and blood.

Once these embryos come into contact with flesh and blood, they will frantically spread out root-like tentacles, frantically absorb nutrients, and aggregate flesh and blood, growing into a decaying nest that emits a strong stench of putridity in a very short time.

These heart-like, slightly pulsating incubation nests continuously send out fleshy roots to seek nutrients and take root in more flesh, thus continuously hatching a kind of hairless hellbird covered in blood, the Blood Raven.

Soon, large swarms of corrupted blood crows spontaneously gathered together, forming crimson whirlwinds in the sky, rapidly approaching the Rogue Encampment to carry out aerial harassment.

This is the Demon Overseer's second solution.

These blood crows can not only harass the enemy, but when their numbers reach a certain level, they can form a sky-covering cloud of crows, obscuring the enemy's field of fire.

Urged on by it, the numerous demons also began to advance towards the Rogue Encampment. There was no need to actually start the siege; they only needed to wait until the distance between the two sides was less than the killing range of the Guftas Cannon, at which point the enemy's powerful new weapon would become ineffective.

It must be said that the Demon Warlord's response was highly professional, timely, and efficient, befitting his status as an experienced old demon war profiteer.

However, Jiang Bing did not imagine that the battle could be resolved by artillery fire alone. Ultimately, the factor that would determine the outcome of the war was the contest of the comprehensive strength of both sides.

Inside 'Heiml'.

More than 700 Black King Apostles, who had undergone the third 'promotion and transformation', were fully armed and lined up in the departure square of 'Heimul' after this period of preparation, ready to set off at any time.

The pitch-black, cold armor stood straight like a forest of steel, with two heavy combat armors, each over three meters tall, accompanying each squad to provide fire support.

The elite auxiliary forces, faced with ever-increasing productivity, have been fully armored. They are all dressed in the [Heavenly Soldier] combat uniform, covering themselves completely. Beside them are rows of newly produced heavy armored tanks [Heavenly Punishment], as well as cumbersome but mainly long-range attack heavy floating self-propelled fire delivery platforms. In addition, there are a large number of floating vehicles equipped with rocket arrays, and a large number of intelligent micro unmanned combat aircraft from the 'Mother Domain' are quietly parked on the backpacks on the backs of each soldier.

Aside from the combat units, there were many auxiliary units equipped with only a small number of weapons, but more of them were equipped with tools needed for infrastructure construction. Their vehicles were also mostly infrastructure equipment. They were mainly responsible for building temporary shelters, digging trenches, constructing positions, and acting as engineering corps to ensure transportation.

This group is small, and with the presence of 'Heiml', the operational teams of [Anti-Entropy] face much less logistical pressure than ordinary troops, and require fewer backend support personnel.

Chapter 703 The Army Sets Off

The newly formed aerospace combat squadron was stroking the relatively few triangular aerospace fighters that had just been ordered and were ready for battle. Beside them were dozens of large aerospace combat armors called "Heavenly Annihilation," which were improved from the Mother Domain's "Heavenly Will," and were also parked to the side. Several Edos-type humans were also selected for the aerospace squadron and were rubbing their hands together with their native human companions, waiting for the battle to begin.

More Edos-like beings were also lined up on the side, waiting to join the battle. These androids were clearly divided into two groups. One group was the engineer backend support team centered around Lily. They wore tan nano-uniforms and mingled with several cybernetic hackers, working together to operate and maintain the precision instruments for this battle.

Their work includes, but is not limited to, operating a dense array of reconnaissance drones (map creation), deploying small unmanned intelligent early warning and armed firepower platforms (focusing on the defense of their own positions), and operating a large number of unmanned attack craft, mine-laying craft, and ultra-high-altitude reconnaissance craft (field control); in addition, they also need to ensure that the nano-communication base stations providing battlefield communications are functioning properly.

All these various tasks involving machinery fall within the scope of their responsibility to ensure safety.

Their unique mechanical body structure gives them significant advantages in data processing and analysis, instrument scanning and synchronization, and other areas.

No matter how many modifications and additions are made to the original human bodies in the cyber world, they can never match the talent of the Edos-like humans in mechanical and data processing.

Of course, manipulating nano-elements is also one of their strengths.

Aside from nano-equipment with a pre-set shape, temporarily manipulating nano-elements requires not only the corresponding nano-manipulation equipment but also the operator's extremely strong data processing and computing capabilities. This means that ordinary humans can only use nano-devices with various parameters set from the beginning. Although they can be considered flexible enough, they are far from being able to freely control Edos-type humans.

After all, they are made of nano-elements from head to toe, and these nano-elements have been deeply integrated into their bodies. As beings who have been using nanotechnology since birth, they are all 'nano-programming masters'.

This has led to the fact that almost all nanotechnology-related technological research and development, equipment production, and the use of nano-editors in [Reverse Entropy] are currently being manipulated by Edos-like figures.

In addition, another group consisted of the combat squad led by Xun Chi. They were armed from head to toe by Jiang Bing, with tight nano-armor protecting them from head to toe. Compared to the support troops, they mainly used their speed advantage to serve as "battlefield firefighters" in "special forces operations".

However, under normal circumstances, they are mainly responsible for protecting the engineering team.

The most striking sight, however, was the spellcaster legion still praying quietly at the edge of the formation.

The three witches of Izaris abandoned their usual medieval attire, donning the female combat armor [Burning Flame] meticulously crafted by Jiang Bing. These three suits of armor all employed the same 'dragon scale' structure, giving them a look reminiscent of scale armor from the era of cold weapons. They incorporated a significant amount of [Mithril] and other advanced technology, and the addition of nanotechnology made the armor as smooth and flexible as fabric, reducing the stiffness of exoskeletons. Their outer prayer robes, imbued with a strong Izaris style, were specially added by the three sisters to commemorate their homeland. To better distinguish these three witches, who were remarkably similar in height, build, and appearance, the three nano-prayer robes were painted red, yellow, and white respectively.

The armor of the Spellcaster Legion warriors is the same in theme as their combat brothers, except that the gloves are slightly different in style (specially made for high temperature resistance). The only difference is that they have a long cloak embroidered with a burning black flame sun pattern on the left back shoulder armor to indicate their identity. Of course, most spellcaster apostles also hang a metal book with a saddlebag at their waist. This is not for decoration or ceremonial purposes, but has real practical value.

Most of the Black King's apostles are not highly educated. Before joining the 'Spellcaster Legion', their understanding of magic and other idealistic things was limited to legends and folklore. This resulted in many people in the 'Spellcaster Legion' being very slow in developing and using the Spellfire, and they needed to constantly learn the various spells released by the Spellfire.

This is also related to the fact that the pyromancy system from the Dark Souls world is too convoluted. Although the use of pyromancy is essentially an imitation of the First Flame and an adoration of the Black King's 'Great Flame', it is not a skill that can be mastered by simply having a sudden epiphany. Although the 'Pyromancy Apostles' have passed the most difficult talent threshold test, they still need a lot of occult knowledge to support them in order to use pyromancy proficiently, in addition to a lot of training.

The high level of training and the rushed teaching style led these apostles to write down the relevant knowledge in notebooks and carry them with them for study at any time. If they couldn't remember something, they could just look it up in the book on the spot.

And you know what, this whole alloy block of iron, with its extra-thick spine and four corners, is not light at all. If you were to swing it and hit someone, it would be no different from swinging a meteor hammer.

True knowledge is power!

Truly feel the weight of knowledge!

Aside from these differences, the weapons of the Spellcaster Apostles are not much different. At most, they all unanimously choose simple single-edged swords for melee combat, which are convenient for enchanting with Spellfire.

There is rarely any wind in Heiml, but today the weather is perfect. A strong wind from who knows where is blowing, making the battle flag in Flying Eagle's hand, which is painted with the '∞' symbol, a typical symbol of anti-entropy, flutter and sway.

"To fight is to be honored!"

Flying Eagle's pre-battle speech drew loud agreement from everyone.

There was no lengthy speech; a spatial rift opened in the giant stone archway in the transit plaza, behind which stood Akara and Chasi, his eyes wide open.

at last.

A heavy steel combat boot treads on the muddy ground, and Flying Eagle takes the lead, being the first to step into this demon-ravaged land.

His spirits were as high as those of his brothers-in-arms behind him. In his mind, this was a mythical battle to fight for the 'Black King' and rid the world of evil.

And he and all his compatriots behind him were great heroes who would be celebrated in mythology.

The torrent of steel that surged out of the portal stunned most of the native inhabitants of the Rogue Encampment, who, along with all the Rogues, cast curious and shocked glances at it.

Only the elite troops of the Great Kingdom can be equipped with full sets of metal armor in large quantities, and the neat and uniform formation and strict military discipline are seen by everyone as a symbol of combat power.

Chapter 704 The Counterattack Begins

However, the 'Apostles' did not linger for even half a minute. The auxiliary troops immediately began assisting the Edos-like people in building an information command post on the spot, while the 'Black King Apostles' immediately supported the city's defenses, filling in the gaps in the defenses that were somewhat sparse due to the small number of people.

All the 'Black King Apostles' can be considered magical beings. The 'Apostles' who have undergone the 'Fire-Borrowing Ritual' are of even higher status. Although they do not actively gather magic, the magic accumulated in the environment still uncontrollably gathers towards them and manifests some divine power on them.

Kasha and Flavi, whose 'Eagle Eye' abilities were quite powerful, could even see wisps of golden flame rising from these tall warriors, while Akara, who was 'blind,' was bowing her head and praying silently, seemingly seeing something else.

"How do you plan to fight this battle?" Kasha asked Jiang Bing, who had climbed the watchtower.

A bright fireball was launched from a hellish catapult.

Jiang Bing casually picked up a javelin resting on the watchtower, weighed it in his hand to find its balance, attached a golden flame to it, and then flicked his wrist to throw it out.

The spear traced a graceful golden arc through the air before precisely meeting the blazing fireball in mid-air, exploding into a shower of fire.

Cheers echoed along the log fence.

“It’s not my style to just take the beating. If they don’t come to us, we’ll go to them, confront them head-on, and crush these bugs.”

Defense is not the fighting style of [Anti-Entropy]. Besides, with the rudimentary defensive facilities of the Rogue Encampment, defending in place is not a very smart thing to do.

"Ha!" Kasha excitedly punched the wooden watchtower railing.

"That's exactly how it should be done! I've wanted to do this for a long time!"

How could an Amazon who could become a near-Valkyrie be a good-natured person who would take a beating without fighting back? Kasha had been mainly constrained by a shortage of manpower and needed to prioritize the safety of the camp, so she had no choice but to act like a coward. Now that there are reinforcements waiting for the camp, she can't wait to unleash her full potential and make a big splash.

“Then it’s settled.” A golden flame flashed, and Jiang Bing pulled a communication headset from the void, tossed it to Kasha, said ‘Keep in touch,’ and then jumped off the watchtower.

The counter-offensive officially began at this moment.

Pubaba is a dim-witted Fallen One whose soul has been languishing in the Burning Hell for countless years. As a result, his chaotic mind now only has two things on it: find something to chop or find a direction to run.