Free Web NovelChapter 248: Chapter 242: An Utter Rout
War Zone 19, above a volcanic crater.
An acrid plume of smoke shot straight into the clouds. Two adult Molten Lava Wyverns, each over ten meters long, circled within the black smoke.
They were the absolute tyrants of this airspace. Every flap of their dark red, fleshy wings stirred up a scorching gale.
"ROAR— (Big brother, look! There are two strange, big iron birds flying over there.)" Wyvern A, the slightly smaller of the two, let out a low hiss, its vertical pupils fixed on the small blue-and-white dots rapidly approaching from the distant clouds.
"ROAR! ROAR! (What’s there to panic about? We’re the lords of this volcano. We can spit a little fire and burn them to a crisp.)" Wyvern B snorted disdainfully, puffing out a cloud of thick, ember-filled smoke.
In this territory, aside from a few tough customers down in the crater, who in the sky dared to provoke them?
Before the sound had even faded, the two streaks of light decelerated abruptly, hovering two thousand meters away.
It was Freedom Gundam No. 1 and No. 2.
The five pairs of wing-like thrusters on No. 1’s back flared open to the sides. Ten Dragon Cavalry Floating Cannons detached from their mounting points, transforming into ten azure trails that traced deadly arcs through the air.
Immediately after, No. 1’s mechanical arm reached behind its back and drew the "Meteor" Ship-Slicing Blade, which was covered in "Shatter" Runes. Magic Power from the singularity engine flooded into it, and the fifteen-meter blade instantly erupted with an azure blade aura extending over twenty meters.
Wyvern A’s vertical pupils contracted into thin slits.
"B-Big brother, that thing in the iron bird’s hand is so long!"
Every scale on Wyvern B’s body stood on end. It was nearly paralyzed by the terrifying pressure of the Magic Power.
"...Run!"
Too late.
Ten beams of high-energy Magic Power shot in from all directions, instantly sealing off all their escape routes.
The beams pierced through Wyvern A’s fleshy wings and chest. Before it could even let out a scream, it turned into a tattered rag riddled with holes and plummeted rigidly downward.
Wyvern B was scared out of its wits. It flapped its wings frantically, trying to dive into the volcanic crater below.
No. 1’s engines roared as the mech streaked forward, leaving an afterimage. The fifteen-meter blade slashed down in an instant.
SPLTCH.
Wyvern B was sliced in two from head to tail. The cut was instantly carbonized by the high temperature, not even a single drop of blood spilling out.
[Perimeter sentries eliminated.]
Jarvis’s voice sounded.
Allen sat in his command chair, monitoring the battle. ’This is my first Mercenary job,’ he thought. ’I should make it a clean one.’
He picked up his iced dew-fruit juice and took a sip. "Advance. Weapons free."
The commotion high above completely alarmed the nests inside the volcanic crater.
Accompanied by piercing hisses, hundreds, even thousands, of Molten Lava Wyverns swarmed out from the caves lining the crater.
Their dark red, fleshy wings blotted out the sun as they swarmed densely toward the two invading mechs.
They opened their massive maws, and hundreds of fiery pillars converged into a sea of fire that rained down on them.
Instead of retreating, the two Freedom Gundams advanced. Their AT Fields flared to full power. The raging sea of fire crashed against the invisible Force Fields, splitting and flowing to either side.
"No. 2, clear the field."
The massive "Titan’s Roar" cannon shouldered by No. 2 finished charging.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two beams of destruction, their Magic Power peaking at over 3200, slammed into the densest part of the wyvern swarm. Wherever the beams passed, dozens of wyverns and the flames they spat were instantly vaporized, carving a vacuum tunnel through the sky.
The next second, a torrential downpour of high-energy Magic Power beams rained down.
Twelve Storm Falcons had also arrived, their medium-sized "Judgement" Magic Guide ray guns firing continuously from under their wings.
It was a one-sided slaughter with no suspense.
The wyvern swarm tried to fight back, but their flames couldn’t even shake the Freedom Gundams’ AT Fields; instead, upon contact, the flames were repelled to the side. The two mechs charged into the enemy formation with their Ship-Slicing Blades, every slash creating a shower of blood and gore.
The dragon flock completely collapsed, and the few hundred remaining survivors began to scatter and flee.
"Trying to run?""Cut the weeds and pull the roots."
The two Freedom Gundams chased after the fleeing wyverns, continuing the slaughter.
Meanwhile, the bomber formation of twelve Storm Falcons flew over the nests.
The ventral bay doors opened.
One after another, Crystal Bombs fell with a piercing shriek into the cluster of nests on the volcano.
There was no deafening explosion.
A white light flashed. The intricate network of caves on the inner walls of the crater, the piles of wyvern eggs, and the hatchlings that hadn’t yet taken flight all solidified in an instant, turning into translucent, glass-like crystals.
Having lost their nests, the wyvern swarm went completely berserk, charging the mechs with no regard for their own lives.
The two Freedom Gundams turned into two ruthless meat grinders. The Dragon Cavalry system and the Storm Falcons weaved around them, firing in precise bursts, while every swing of the Ship-Slicing Blades was accompanied by several mangled corpses falling from the sky.
Down below.
Victor Iron Flame stood in an anti-aircraft position, craning his neck to watch the wyvern corpses fall from the sky like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
Those Flying Magical Beasts had been a headache for him for half a month, forcing his project to a halt. Yet before the two blue-and-white mechs, they were as fragile as paper-mâché toys.
"This firepower... and those bombs..." Victor’s eye twitched violently.
He pulled up a data panel and repeatedly studied the mobility of the Freedom Gundams and the effects of the Crystal Bombs.
’That guy Allen... he must own a Crystal Bomb mine or something, right?’
’I have to find a chance to trick him out of some Crystal Bombs,’ Victor thought, gritting his teeth. Although he didn’t have many Flying Golems, the firepower of his "Molten Champion" was nothing to scoff at. If he hadn’t been afraid of collapsing the volcano, he wouldn’t have needed to call Allen for help at all.
"Victor, my dear junior, the sky is clear." Allen raised his juice. "Don’t forget to settle the final payment for those forty Purgatories."
...
「At the same time.」
One hundred and twenty kilometers away, in a lake of lava.
Depth: fifty meters. Five PX-2 "Infernos" moved in a wedge formation, cruising at high speed through the dark red magma.
[External Temperature: 2300 degrees. Volcano Engine Conversion Efficiency: 100%. Energy Reserves: Full.]
Everywhere they passed, the Molten Core Lizards and Fire Elemental Creatures along their path were slaughtered.
Three of the newer models didn’t even need to use their piercing lances; they could smash any approaching Magical Beast into a pulp with their "Titan’s Fist" powered arm-gauntlets alone.
"Continue diving. Target depth: one hundred meters." Allen’s command was relayed through the network.
Eighty meters.
Ninety meters.
One hundred meters.
The magma here had become a viscous, golden-red, and the concentration of Fire Elemental Magic Power was astonishingly high.
[High-energy Magic Power reaction detected. Magic Power fluctuation: 2900. Target is approaching rapidly!]
In the roiling magma ahead, a massive shadow rapidly grew larger.
The Two-Headed Molten Core Lizard Lord.
Its right head, which had previously been twisted off by Inferno No. 1, showed no signs of injury. It was even thicker and more robust than before.
Its four crimson, vertical pupils stared intently at the Steel Giants ahead as a roar that shook the very magma rumbled from its throats.
When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with hatred.
It had already made a concession, ceding a piece of its territory to these steel men. It never expected that after only a few months of peace, they would come knocking on its door again!
’Grandma Lizard was right,’ it thought. ’Appeasing an enemy by giving up land is like trying to put out a fire by carrying firewood to it. Today, I absolutely cannot retreat again!’
The two-headed Lord put sudden force into its limbs. Its massive body shot forward like a heavy torpedo, its two massive maws wide open, charging straight for Inferno No. 1 in the lead.
However, as it broke through the resistance of the magma and got a clear view of the scene before it, its charge came to an abrupt halt.
One, two, three, four, five. frёewebnoѵēl.com
Five identical, dark red Steel Giants were hovering side-by-side in the magma, five shimmering lances aimed at it from a distance.
The two-headed Lord’s brain short-circuited for a moment.
"Surprise, surprise!" A sinister cackle echoed from the Inferno soul within Inferno No. 1.
The next second, all five mechs moved at once.
No. 1 and No. 2 activated their Anti-Gravity Runes at full power, swimming forward to appear directly in front of the two-headed Lord.
Their AT Fields flared, bracing against the two streams of Fire Elemental breath the Lord spat out, as two pairs of "Titan’s Fists" hammered the Lord’s two chins from left and right.
BOOM!
The Lord’s massive body was knocked upward.
"Pin it down!"
No. 3 and No. 4 flanked it from the sides and pounced directly onto the Lord’s back. The weight of the heavy mechs, combined with their power output, pinned the Lord down completely.
"ROAR—!"
The two-headed Lord struggled madly, its thick tail thrashing wildly. Its sharp claws scraped against No. 3’s armor with a piercing screech, sending sparks flying. Its wounds tore open, only to heal rapidly under the nourishing heat of the magma.
"Regeneration Ability? Let’s see what’s faster, your healing or my stabbing!"
No. 5 let out a strange cry as it drew the "High-Frequency Vibrating Piercing Lance" from its back, the tip of the lance emitting a deadly hum.
SQUELCH!
The lance accurately drove into the eye socket of the Lord’s left head, piercing straight through to the brain.
The Lord let out a frenzied scream. Just as its right head was about to counterattack, No. 1 had already grabbed its neck.
"Didn’t break it last time. I’ll finish the job now."
CRACK!
The right head was once again forcefully snapped off.
The five Infernos showed no Knightly chivalry. They were like a pack of cold-blooded butchers with a clear division of labor: some held it down, while others dismembered it.
The Lord’s Regeneration Ability was indeed terrifying, its flesh constantly squirming as it repaired itself. But in the face of five war machines at full power with limitless energy, this regeneration became the cruelest form of torture.
Its scales were peeled off piece by piece, and its limbs were brutally torn off by the powered arm-gauntlets.
In just three minutes.
The two-headed Lord completely stopped struggling. Its body had been dismantled into pieces.
No. 1 reached its hand into the Lord’s mangled chest cavity and gave a sharp tug.
A fist-sized, golden-red crystal emitting a blinding light was dug out.
[Target eliminated. One Fire-Attribute Magic Core acquired.]
Allen watched the battle report on the screen, his expression calm, as if he had just swatted a bug.
"Secure the Magic Core. Prepare to return to base."
Just then, a slight fluctuation entered Jarvis’s voice.
[Commander, please be advised.]
[Detecting the leader of the Fire Elemental species, the Fire Elemental Monarch, leading a massive swarm of Fire Elemental Creatures away from the center of the lava lake.]
