Free Web NovelChapter 72: [72] : Defending Iron Bastion, The Mana Breaker
The Iron Bastion shook violently as another wave of Void beasts slammed into the failing red energy dome.
Declan stood in the center of the courtyard, perfectly calm amid the screaming players and the deafening roar of the Abyssal Tide. He looked up at the massive twenty foot barrel of the Mana Breaker Cannon mounted above the main gates.
The Relic tier siege weapon was a masterpiece of destructive coding. And with Declan’s +20 Boundless Enhancement applied to it, it was a literal war crime waiting to happen.
"Fire the main battery!" Bram roared from his control console. The old Artificer’s black obsidian arm slammed a heavy lever downward.
The massive blue glass barrel hummed. The sound was a deep, bone rattling vibration that sucked the air out of the courtyard. Bright blue electricity arced violently along the magnetic rails.
The cannon did not shoot a projectile. It did not fire a fireball.
It unleashed a concentrated beam of hyper kinetic anti magic.
BOOM!
The sound of the discharge was so loud it completely drowned out the screaming monsters. A solid beam of blinding blue light, as wide as a commercial airplane, erupted from the cannon.
The beam punched straight through the red energy dome, completely ignoring friendly barriers, and slammed into the ocean of Void beasts.
The impact was catastrophic.
The Void beasts did not have physical bodies. They were made of shifting dark matter and corrupted code. But the +20 Mana Breaker Cannon operated on pure kinetic deletion.
Where the blue beam touched, the monsters simply ceased to exist.
A massive trench, easily fifty yards wide and half a mile long, was instantly vaporized through the Abyssal horde. Thousands of the shifting, multi eyed horrors were deleted before they could even screech.
The air outside the city turned into a massive cloud of bright blue digital pixels.
[Combat Interface]
↳ Multiple Enemies Defeated!
↳ Origin Points +15,000
Declan’s system interface briefly flashed with the massive point gain before he minimized it.
"Yeah!" A player near the forge screamed, throwing his rusted sword into the air. "We got a laser cannon! Suck it, zombies!"
The crowd of terrified gamers erupted into manic cheers. They thought they were saved. They thought the big gun was going to wipe the map clean.
Declan knew better.
He watched the massive empty trench in the monster horde. It stayed empty for exactly three seconds.
Then, the ocean of dark matter shifted. Millions of Void beasts immediately rushed in to fill the gap. They crawled over each other, a chaotic mass of glitching limbs and glowing eyes, pushing right back up against the failing red dome.
"They do not care about casualties," Declan noted flatly. "They do not have a morale stat."
"Boss!" Bram yelled, his voice strained. The old man was frantically typing on his holographic terminal. "The cannon’s cooling system is maxed out! The +20 trait gives it an infinite magazine, but the physical barrel is overheating! I need sixty seconds before I can fire another full burst!"
"Sixty seconds is a long time," Declan said.
He looked at the red energy dome. The barrier was flickering violently now. The constant pressure of millions of monsters pushing against it was draining the sub core faster than the raw mana crystals could recharge it.
CRACK.
A sound like shattering glass echoed across the city.
A massive, jagged hole opened up in the red dome right above the western wall. The barrier had finally buckled.
Instantly, the Void beasts poured through the breach.
They did not fall. They flowed like thick, black liquid. Hundreds of the glitching monsters dropped into the courtyard. Up close, they were even more horrifying. They had no faces, just random clusters of sharp, glowing teeth and jagged claws that phased in and out of reality.
The players who had just been cheering screamed in absolute terror. They broke formation and started running blindly toward the center of the city.
"Defend the forges!" Bram roared, pulling a heavy iron wrench from his belt.
Declan did not run. He did not issue orders. He just rolled his shoulders.
"System," Declan commanded in his mind. "Equip the Eclipse Severance."
The air in front of his right hand distorted heavily. The massive, dark matter shaft of the +40 Warden’s Halberd materialized perfectly into his grip. The razor thin blade, completely devoid of physical mass, hummed with a violent, chaotic static. The tiny black hole spinning in the center of the axe head pulsed hungrily.
Declan rested the heavy polearm against his shoulder. He looked at the hundreds of Void beasts rushing toward the panicked crowd.
"Void Blink."
The world went pitch black for a fraction of a millisecond.
Declan completely bypassed the physical space of the courtyard. He teleported fifty feet instantly, materializing directly in the center of the monster breach.
He appeared right in front of a massive Void beast that looked like a tangled knot of black wires and teeth.
The monster lunged, snapping its jaws at his head.
Declan did not dodge. He just planted his +10 Spiked Striders into the stone pavement and swung the heavy halberd in a vicious, horizontal sweep.
He did not activate the Gravity Well trait. He did not need it.
The +40 Eclipse Severance ignored all concepts of physical armor. The Spacetime Laceration trait meant the blade literally severed the server space the monster was occupying.
The dark blade passed through the Void beast with absolutely zero resistance.
The monster froze. Its shifting code was instantly cut in half. It let out a distorted, digital screech before violently collapsing into a pile of blue pixels.
Declan did not stop moving.
His Abyssal Sovereign class gave him a base Agility of 90. His Mythic ring added another 20. He was moving at speeds the game engine struggled to render. To the terrified players watching from the center of the city, Declan was just a blur of black leather and dark energy.
He spun on his heel and brought the halberd down in a crushing vertical arc.
The blade cleaved perfectly through three Void beasts at once. The physical space around the strike warped heavily, deleting their code instantly.
[Combat Interface]
↳ Enemies Defeated!
↳ Origin Points +450 ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"Keep the line!" Declan’s heavily resonant voice boomed across the courtyard. "If they get past me, kill them!"
He was a teleporting grim reaper.
Every time a group of Void beasts managed to slip past his swinging halberd, Declan just thought the words ’Void Blink’ and reappeared right in front of them. He was single handedly holding the western breach against an endless tide of dark matter.
But it was a battle of attrition.
The monsters did not use physical attacks. Every time their glitching claws grazed his black Predator’s Coat, they drained his health directly with Abyssal corruption.
[Health Update]
↳ -40 HP
↳ -45 HP
Declan’s health bar was taking chip damage.
He needed to sustain himself. He needed his engine.
He deliberately stepped forward and let a massive Void beast slam its shadowy mass directly into his chest. The impact threw him back half a step.
[Health Update]
↳ -150 HP
Declan smiled coldly. "Thanks."
He gripped the halberd and swung it upward, cleanly deleting the monster in half.
The massive overkill damage registered in the system. And Declan’s +30 mutated consumable, the Sanguine Engine, instantly triggered.
The passive trait converted fifty percent of his damage dealt into true healing.
A bright, blinding crimson light erupted from Declan’s chest. His physical heart pounded like a war drum. His health bar instantly shot back up to maximum.
But the healing did not stop there.
[System Status]
↳ Over heal detected.
↳ Converting to Blood Shield.
A thick, swirling barrier of dark red energy materialized around Declan’s body. It looked like a second layer of armor made entirely of floating blood.
[System Status]
↳ Blood Shield Capacity: 4,500 points
Declan laughed. It was a dark, ruthless sound. He was now practically invincible. Every time he swung his physics breaking weapon, his massive damage output fed his shield, making the red barrier thicker and stronger.
He stood alone in the breach, a blood soaked Warlord holding back the apocalypse.
"The Cannon is ready!" Bram roared from the gatehouse. "Clear the line, boss!"
Declan did not hesitate. "Void Blink."
He teleported backward, instantly appearing next to Bram on the high wall.
The massive blue glass barrel of the Mana Breaker Cannon hummed violently. It fired again.
BOOM!
The hyper kinetic beam of pure anti magic tore through the western wall, completely vaporizing the thousands of Void beasts that were trying to push through the gap. The blue light illuminated the entire server, wiping the monsters out of existence.
The breach was clear.
Declan looked down at the courtyard. The players were staring up at him in absolute silence. They were gripping their rusted swords, terrified but alive.
Declan rested the heavy halberd on his shoulder. The red Blood Shield swirled angrily around his black coat.
"Weld a steel plate over that hole," Declan ordered Bram, not taking his eyes off the endless horde outside. "We hold this city until the server breaks."
