A tide of aberrant monsters surged forward, brandishing blades, spears, and axes ford from their chanical bodies and letting out sharp, electronic roars.
The first to charge was a pack of chanical hyenas. They had ugly, swollen, fleshy faces with chanical parts of various designs embedded within. Their bodies were severely damaged—sixty percent of their torsos were composed of flesh, and each one sported a unique and grotesque form.
"We should stick together so we can cover each other!" Gu Shian shouted as a flaming longsword materialized in his hand, and he slashed at the chanical hyenas.
Shane's youthful face was the picture of nonchalance, as if this sort of battle were routine for him. An Anti-Demon glow lit up his Sword and Shield as he and Heidi, who was shouting "Ura!", charged into the pack of hyenas.
Colin remained composed. Behind him, a Heavy Armored Knight appeared, wielding two Giant Swords—one burning with Fiery Fire, the other wreathed in frost. The Knight charged into the chanical army to fight in his stead.
His Extraordinary Ability could be called a "Proxy." It allowed him to summon a Heavy Armored Knight to fight for him. This Knight, in turn, possessed nurous Skills, making it a terrifyingly powerful combatant.
anwhile, Colin himself stayed by Lin Qingyue's side to protect her. Lin Qingyue was the team's healer. Although she could typically use Artifacts, Forbidden Objects, and other equipnt to bolster her combat abilities, the current source of corruption affected tal. As a result, the group didn't dare use many of the items they carried for fear of them being twisted by the corruption.
Without her Artifacts, Lin Qingyue's combat effectiveness was greatly diminished, so she needed soone to protect her.
The Bloodthirsty Chainsaw in Zhou Chen's hand ignited with a scorching, pale Cyan Fla, instantly reaching a temperature hot enough to lt tal. The saw blade itself only glowed faintly red. The engine roared at full throttle as the chain spun at high speed, and he swung it at a pouncing chanical hyena.
A wave of pale flas swept out, unleashing terrifying heat that shredded the hyenas' bodies like paper and engulfed them in a raging inferno.
The Soul-Burning Fla erupted, easily incinerating the corrupting power within. Charred flesh and molten iron splattered across the ground, only to be trampled into paste by the Steel Knights charging from the rear.
The Steel Knights were hulking and sturdy. They resembled chanized suits of dieval armor, but even more so, they looked like rotting, armored Undead that had crawled from the earth. Any parts damaged by cannonfire had been patched with flesh and blood, making their forms appear swollen and deford, as if their entire bodies were covered in grotesque tumors and festering sores.
They ford ranks and advanced on Zhou Chen with heavy steps. Shields, longspears, sharp blades, halberds... Bloody veins writhed on every chanical weapon, making them look like breeding grounds for parasites.
Zhou Chen charged straight forward, eting the Steel Knight Order head-on. The next second, amidst the onslaught of blades and spears, he vanished in a flash of fire. The residual burst of flas where he'd stood was hacked to pieces.
Zhou Chen leaped out from a burst of fire at the flank of the Steel Knight Order. Small clusters of Cyan Fla ignited beneath his feet and then exploded, providing him with a violent burst of acceleration.
A gale-force wind erupted. A figure weaved through the Steel Knight Order like a twisting bolt of pale lightning. A split second later, a shower of sparks erupted in his wake, like a string of firecrackers.
By the ti Zhou Chen ca to a stop, the seven Steel Knights behind him had been sliced in half at the waist, dissolving into charcoal and molten iron within the Fiery Fire.
Before he could even catch his breath, a massive shadow fell over him from the sky.
A chanical Gargoyle descended from the sky. Two rows of thrusters on its chanical back blasted forth jets of blistering light, accelerating its fall.
The wind shrieked. At such a speed, the force generated by its terrifying mass would surely be more astounding than a road roller thrown by a Vampire.
'But what did that have to do with him?'
The mont the chanical Gargoyle landed, a deafening thunderclap erupted. The earth trembled and split into a web of fissures as the impact kicked up a circular shockwave of dust, shattering countless chanical monsters.
But before that, Zhou Chen had already used his Fire Style to teleport into the air, perfectly dodging the impact.
He descended straight toward the chanical Gargoyle, landing steadily on its head. 'A body this massive... who knows how long it would take to cut through with the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw. Still, I have another thod worth trying.'
The pale Fiery Fire spread from his feet, instantly enveloping the entire chanical Gargoyle. The flas surged like a tide, flooding into every nook and cranny.
"That's not how you make a hero's entrance."
Zhou Chen chided as he crouched down, pressing his palm against the searing steel.
An unseen blacksmith swung his hamr. In an instant, an invisible force completely disintegrated the chanical Gargoyle, reducing it to dust like a collapsing sandcastle.
The ultimate technique from the Hamr of Forging—Decomposition of All Things!
Zhou Chen had only grasped the basics of this technique. However, by combining it with Alchemy, he could still instantly decompose a low-level chanical creation that lacked an Alchemy Matrix. The only concern was the spiritual pollution hidden within its body, but his Cyan Fla was an effective counter to that.
"Alchemy?" Gu Shian, who was nearby, was taken aback. "Your skill in Alchemy is impressive. At this level, you could register as a certified Alchemist. The closest we have on our team is Delman, but it seems he's not as good as you."
"You could say it's the result of my recent training."
Zhou Chen smiled, giving a vague answer. He vanished in a flash of fire and reappeared on a Tiger Tank that was grotesquely mutated with flesh and blood. He used the sa technique again, decomposing the tank into dust.
Suddenly, missiles streaked across the sky. They passed through the massive pink halo ford by the source of corruption and crashed into the chanical Legion at the rear with a deafening whistle, detonating in a series of thunderous explosions.
Two missiles flew toward the abandoned factory, but the Slaughter cha raised its Shield to block them. A sacred light spread from the impact, weakening the power of the Abyss Curses inscribed on the Shield.
Dozens of fully ard Ascenders ca speeding down the highway from the far end.
Reinforcents had arrived.
The fastest among them was none other than Xu Li. He charged forward like a speeding dump truck on a Rampage, brutally smashing through every tree and shrub in his path. He closed in with an imnse, oppressive presence and slamd into the chanical Legion. Countless chanical monsters were smashed to pieces, triggering a chain reaction of explosions.
He easily flipped main battle tanks and cleaved them into scrap with his teorite Iron Heavy Sword.
His brute strength was simply terrifying.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Missiles rained down from the sky, carpeting the chanical Legion with explosions. They perfectly avoided the people fighting amidst the chanical horde—the result of precision guidance from a satellite's Investigation Mirror, which had bypassed the corruption's interference.
Under the bombardnt of the Enchanted Divine Missiles, the corruption levels steadily decreased, and the size of the chanical Legion shrank at a visible rate.
The Slaughter cha seed to receive an order. It began operating at maximum power, charging toward the group with earth-shaking steps.
Zhou Chen looked up at the massive robot. 'This thing is covered in Abyss Curses, and its corruption level is so high it has beco a minor source of corruption in itself. I estimate I could take it down with Decomposition of All Things if I exhaust all my Essence, but... the reinforcents are here. Why should I go all out?'
A figure with ssy hair, dark circles under his eyes, and a greasy white lab coat ambled over. It was the Star Association's Minister of Alchemy. He raised his palm toward the giant cha. Intricate Matrix patterns materialized from thin air, instantly expanding to envelop the entire Slaughter cha.
The steel groaned as if under imnse strain. The cha trembled violently, as though an invisible, sharp scalpel were slicing through it. In an instant, it was ticulously disassembled into thousands of tiny components, like flesh being stripped from bone.
"Hmm... Isn't this the ninth-generation Grim Reaper Type War Machine? It hasn't even entered production. How could an outsider have built one? Did the blueprints leak? That shouldn't be possible..."
The Minister of Alchemy muttered to himself in confusion. Then, recalling the intelligent machines rebelling all across Jinzhu, an answer began to form in his mind.
He clenched his fist. The tens of thousands of components abruptly converged, forming a giant tal sphere that crashed to the ground with a BOOM. The corrupting power within had been cleansed away by the Purification of the Matrix.
"I'm done here. The rest is up to you. I need to go investigate sothing." The Minister of Alchemy yawned, turned, and walked away, disappearing into the corrupting haze after just a few steps.
The Ascenders quickly finished off the remaining chanical monsters. Just then, two more missiles tore through the air, heading for the abandoned factory to completely eliminate the source of the corruption.
But in the next second, a pink light erupted from the factory once more. It swept over the two missiles, causing them to sprout dense, fleshy tentacles. Having lost all propulsion, they plumted from the sky.
A beautiful, alluring figure slowly erged from the factory.
The mont they saw her, everyone froze. Their eyes widened as if trying to permanently etch her face into their minds.
Qin Duoduo, who had been empowered by and even fused with the Tier Five Monarch: Desire Demon, had beco the very incarnation of desire and procreation. Her appearance was now a terrifying form of spiritual corruption. Anyone who laid eyes on her would lose their sanity, their minds consud by the singular urge to procreate with her.
CRACK... CRACK... One by one, the anti-corruption Artifacts they wore shattered. Even those with imnse Willpower, like Xu Li and Baron, couldn't resist a beauty that made their desires boil over.
She was simply too beautiful, too alluring. Everyone was captivated and seduced by her charm. Their eyes turned bloodshot, and their breathing grew heavy and ragged.
Even the won, like Lin Qingyue and Heidi, found their minds filled with the urge to procreate with her. Their faces flushed red as they rushed forward with the others, like a pack of starving beasts that had just spotted food.
This was Qin Duoduo's final gambit—a way to buy herself more ti.
In just ten more seconds, the Space Gate constructed by the Abyss Curses would open. She only needed to buy that short amount of ti, and she could escape with Qin Xu.
As she watched the frenzied, lust-driven crowd surge toward her, Qin Duoduo suddenly frowned.
'Soone is running a bit too fast,' she thought. 'He's even using Displacent Skills, constantly performing Fla Jumps. It seems the desire my charm inspires is so strong, it makes people do anything to get close and procreate.'
"Stop," she commanded. As the source of the corruption, she had the ability to control this pack of beasts.
Upon hearing her command, everyone froze in place.
But that one person didn't stop!
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