Chapter 427: Angels and Demons
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
Atop the walls of the Blood Shadow demon fortress, the watchful demon soldiers immediately sounded the alarm, mobilizing the entire fortress. The demons, previously listless, now stood ready for battle.
The atmosphere around them instantly became tense.
Buzzing like a black curtain, an energy shield rose, enveloping the entire Blood Shadow fortress.
However, even behind the energy shield, facing the vanguard of demigod mechanized units that first burst through the spatial portals, the bloodthirsty eyes of the demons couldn't help but show signs of nervousness.
The scale of Blood Shadow was not small, its strength considerable.
However, among all the super-large demon fortresses, it wasn't ranked at the top.
After all, it belonged to a demon lord of near-lesser divine power, not a demon prince like Dimo Gorgen. As the most important fortress under the Lord of the Shadow Shoals, compared to other fortresses of similar demon lords, Blood Shadow was relatively superior.
Within this super-large fortress.
There were eleven great demons loyal to the Lord of the Shadow Shoals, all at the demigod level, with hundreds of legendary-tier demons below them.
With the Lord of the Shadow Shoals' power, it was actually quite difficult to attract so many great demons to serve loyally.
However, these great demons valued not so much the Lord of the Shadow Shoals himself but the ancient sea god, Dagun, behind him, as many demons knew that the Lord of the Shadow Shoals was a subordinate lord to Dagun.
"The mechanical legion belonging to the devil's war army. I've heard much about them. Apparently, they've destroyed many moderately famous demon fortresses. They do look quite formidable."
A pale vampire stood on the high demon walls, looking towards the mechanical legion, speaking.
This individual was the proxy of the Lord of the Shadow Shoals, controlling the Blood Shadow fortress. Originally a vampire, he had fallen into the bottomless abyss and transformed into a demon, named Hosoren.
Vampires are undead creatures, not particularly high-ranking.
There were quite a few vampires in the bottomless abyss because vampires have a certain limit to their strength. Most vampires, upon reaching a certain level of power, would head to the abyss to seek a higher state of being, typically by transforming into demons.
There was a realm in the bottomless abyss entirely under the jurisdiction of a vampire-turned-demon lord.
"Lord Hosoren, it seems they came prepared."
"We just discovered that communications between Blood Shadow and other demon fortresses have been cut off, and the enemy forces are being teleported in large numbers."
A bull demon with a deep, bell-like voice, holding a giant axe, said.
"Over twenty demigod-level mechanical constructs have already surpassed the top combat power that Blood Shadow possesses."
"Should we ask for assistance from the powerful Lord of the Shadow Shoals?" inquired a towering, fiery demon, its body ablaze.
A streak of ruthlessness crossed Hosoren's pale face as he replied, "They are but a number of mechanical constructs. Even if they have a numerical advantage, how can they stand against us abyssal demons? This is the bottomless abyss, our world!"
Looking at the fiery demon, the fortress lord said gravely, "Moreover, asking for help from our lord without facing the enemy, when the outcome of the battle is still uncertain, what do you think the lord's reaction would be afterwards?"
The flames on the fiery demon's body rolled as it fell silent under Hosoren's questioning.
"Blood Lion Demon, Berserk Demon, Spider Demon, Giant Bull Demon—charge at the front."
"Fiery Demon, Fire Demon, Arrow Demon—provide long-range fire support under the protection of the fortress shield."
"Brain Demon, Illusion Demon, Sorrow Demon, Soul Reaper Demon—prepare all available spells."
"As for all the great demons."
One order after another was issued by the vampire lord. Finally, Hosoren looked at the mechanical legion gathering like a sea and declared, "Follow me to meet the enemy!"
The demon forces quickly assembled.
At the same time.
The mechanical legion continuously stepped out from the teleportation gates, forming an encirclement around the Blood Shadow fortress within a few short seconds. As time passed, more and more mechanical units surged forth.
It seemed they would never stop.
Iron Spiders, Heavy Cannon Crabs, Hovering Squids, and countless other mechanically bizarre creations by the Mechanist players, like a dense swarm of bees, surged out amid the buzzing of engines, sweeping towards the Blood Shadow demon fortress like a metallic tide.
Click, click.
The Heavy Cannon Crabs, equipped with ultra-long-range weapons, chose their positions and distances, then planted themselves firmly in place. Their limbs buzzed as they burrowed into the ground, while armor plates on their backs split open to raise fearsome
, cold cannons.
These cannons, engraved with strange patterns and magical runes and embedded with demonically charged crystals, were modified to draw abyssal power to form high-energy shells, capable of explosive, corrosive, impact, and high-temperature attacks.
Buzzing.
Vortexes of abyssal energy emerged from the cannon muzzles, feeding into the cannons. The engravings slowly lit up, visibly charging at an observable rate.
Meanwhile, the demon army surged out.
Half-lion, half-human creatures with black-purple, blood-red, or dark green manes and exaggeratedly sharp claws, Berserk Demons adorned with broken swords and axes, wearing armor and wielding heavy weapons, and Giant Bull Demons with fierce horns and muscles like old tree roots—these immensely strong demons formed the front line of the army, appearing first in the mechanical legion's field of vision.
Boom, boom.
In the billowing dust, the barren, withered earth trembled, fissures proliferating, the rumbling sound like the earth's mournful cry.
"Targets within range, targets locked, abyssal heavy cannons fully charged."
Before the melee troops of both sides could officially clash, the mechanical legion's ultra-long-range heavy cannons unleashed a devastating force.
Due to the fierce recoil, the Heavy Cannon Crabs hosting the cannons trembled violently. High-density abyssal energy shells were ejected, streaking across the sky like a group of meteors, trailing dangerous tails, and after tracing arcs in the air, plummeted towards the demon army.
Boom, boom, boom!
As the energy shells fell, they exploded over the positions of the demon troops, creating huge energy vortexes that swallowed the nearby earth, stones, and demons.
The already barren and cracked ground became even more pockmarked and devastated.
But the demons were not to be underestimated.
Besides the demons directly hit by an energy shell and killed on the spot, when the energy vortexes dissipated, most of the demons were only injured but not dead.
And under the influence of the bottomless abyss environment, their wounds healed at an extremely fast rate.
"I'll tear you to pieces!"
A giant bull demon, its body charred from pain, grew even angrier, entering a mindless frenzy. As its wounds rapidly healed, it roared and charged, brutally knocking aside any demons in its way.
Three energy shells locked onto this particularly conspicuous bull demon, plummeting from the sky towards it.
It agilely dodged two but was hit by the third while leaping into the air to evade the second.
Boom!
An energy vortex exploded in the air, and the bull demon caught in the center howled miserably as its figure quickly turned to ash.
"Don't you know the principle of 'the shot hits the bird that sticks its head out'?"
"Showing off like that, asking for death."
"Though, I wonder if this bull demon's meat would taste good; so muscular, probably tough, likely not very tasty."
A Mechanist player controlling a heavy cannon muttered.
Boom, boom, boom!
Explosions resounded incessantly, and the whole land trembled and wailed.
The mechanical legion's ultra-long-range strikes were significantly stronger than the demon army's. Before the troops could even meet, carpet bombings had already inflicted considerable losses on the demon army.
However, the demons were fearless and immune to injury, with robust physiques.
As time passed and after paying a certain price, they finally engaged in close combat with the mechanical legion.
The fierce battle between machines and demons officially erupted.
In such a melee, the rear cannons could no longer fire at will, as there was a high probability of hitting friendly forces. Thus, the abyssal heavy cannons raised their muzzles, targeting the Blood Shadow fortress, and began bombarding the enemy's headquarters.
Meteor-like shells fell, smashing into the energy shield of the Blood Shadow fortress and exploding.
The deep purple energy shield rippled with many waves, flickering slightly but showing no signs of shattering.
After all, the long-range heavy cannons were just one part of the mechanical legion. Relying solely on heavy cannon firepower to break through a large demon fortress's energy shield was a difficult task.
Clang!
A Blood Lion Demon swung its chillingly sharp claws, tearing an Iron Spider in half.
The three nearest Iron Spiders raised their mechanical arms, shooting high-temperature lasers at the Blood Lion Demon while their humanoid torso parts raised energy swords, slashing towards it.
"A bunch of metal trash, I'll tear you apart!"
The Blood Lion Demon stretched out a robust arm, blocking the lasers aimed at it. Pained by the hit, it roared, bent its legs slightly, and leapt towards an Iron Spider, swinging its claws and instantly turning it into wreckage.
In just a few seconds.
The four Iron Spiders attacking the Blood Lion Demon were all destroyed, while the enraged Blood Lion Demon had an arm severed by an energy sword, its body covered with charred holes from the laser beams.
If it had been a weaker species, it would have died several times over.
With a roar, the Blood Lion Demon lunged at other enemies. However, as it leaped, a white beam of light struck from a tricky angle, piercing through the back of its head.
Considering the demon's robust vitality, a beam through the head wasn't enough, so an explosive arrow followed, striking its chest.
Boom!
The explosion was fierce, turning it into a pile of mush.
This ambush came from a mechanical unit that looked indistinguishable from the most basic Iron Spider combat units.
Having just killed the Blood Lion Demon, it immediately retreated, blending quietly among other Iron Spiders, and then continued its series of sneak attacks, killing numerous demons like Spider Demons and Giant Bull Demons.
If any demon had paid close attention to it and witnessed its actions, they would have noticed that, unlike ordinary Iron Spiders, it was incredibly cunning, never engaging demons directly but lurking near other Iron Spiders, waiting for the chance to use its superior weaponry to kill.
Such Iron Spiders were not uncommon on the battlefield.
Typically, these were heavily modified by Mechanist players who personally controlled the combat units.
Indeed, a small number of Mechanist players were cunning, preferring this style of sneak attack. They would never engage directly if a sneak attack was possible, even disguising legendary units as basic Iron Spiders to ambush enemy legends amid the army.
In the intense chaos of battle, blending in with the numerous Iron Spiders made it difficult to detect any anomaly.
As time passed.
The fierce melee between demons and machines intensified.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Arrows formed from abyssal energy shot from afar, accurately exploding mechanical units, while firestorms and fireballs launched by the Fiery Demon legion provided long-range support for the demons engaged in direct combat.
On the mechanical side, Hovering Squids, flying shuttles, and mechanical eagles flew low, dropping countless light bombs that swept towards the nearest demons, blasting them into a bloody mess.
In comparison, the Fiery Demons and Arrow Demons' remote support seemed somewhat inferior.
Boom!
The ground shattered and sank as a Legendary Berserk Demon, grown to over thirty meters tall and wildly swinging its fists, collided with a similarly sized but more robust Mechanical Titan.
Chaos Hammer!
The Berserk Demon's furious fist created a hammer-like silhouette, bringing a force capable of crushing mountains, smashing towards the Mechanical Titan it faced.
The Mechanical Titan also launched a punch, with surging tail flames bursting from its massive mechanical elbow, transforming into formidable power.
Boom!
The two gigantic fists collided, the demonic arm overpowering while the metallic arm shattered.
But the seemingly advantaged Berserk Demon instead howled in pain.
Rip!
The Mechanical Titan swung its arm forcefully.
As mechanical parts rained down like rain, a flash of cold light sliced the Berserk Demon's arm in two, while metallic legs pumped surging flames, a steel spike thrusting out from the knee, brutally kneeing the Berserk Demon below the belt.
Ow!
The Berserk Demon's howl became much sharper in agony as it instinctively clenched its legs, bending forward.
A rapidly spinning blade entered its field of vision, piercing upward from below, rupturing through the Berserk Demon's lower jaw and violently breaking out through the forehead.
With a twist of the blade, the Berserk Demon's head burst apart.
Looking towards the standing Mechanical Titan, it proudly raised its head, its body smeared with the Berserk Demon's blood. The arm that should have been shattered by the Berserk Demon's punch had transformed into a high-speed spinning, buzzing blade.
It turned out the Mechanical Titan's arm housed a high-frequency chainsaw sword. When the mechanical arm shattered, the chainsaw sword had already pierced through the Berserk Demon's arm.
Caught off-guard, the Berserk Demon was killed by a series of follow-up combo attacks.
Such treacherous modifications were common to nearly all combat units controlled by Mechanist players.
Swoosh!
A fist-sized blood shadow flashed by, swiftly swooping towards the Mechanical Titan that had just slain a Berserk Demon and was posing victoriously.
The Mechanical Titan's system detected the high-speed moving enemy and sounded an alarm.
It quickly reacted, raising the high-frequency chainsaw sword to strike violently.
However, the blood shadow dodged the blade like lightning, transforming into thousands of blood shadow bats in a storm surrounding the Mechanical Titan, leaving in just a breath's time, only leaving a severely corroded frame of iron remains.
"Ah?"
"What hit me?"
"Damn your ancestors, my Mechanical Titan, my only legendary unit."
The sight went dark for the cursing Mechanist player.
Switching to another mechanical unit's perspective, he saw countless bats sweeping across the battlefield, destroying numerous machines, then finally converging in the sky into a pale-faced humanoid demon.
Looking down over the battlefield.
The Blood Shadow fortress lord tried to boost morale among his forces, starting to speak, "The Blood Shadow's—"
Boom!
A plasma ball several dozen meters in diameter, dark purple in color, came streaking from afar, densely packed and continuously smashing into the area where Hosoren was located, then exploding violently, the resulting shockwaves throwing nearby demons and machines alike into the air.
From the far side of the sky.
A Mechanist Demon with twelve pairs of dark energy wings, powered by a demon engine, was raising its arms, condensing a small sun-like dark purple plasma ball above, and hurling it down at Hosoren again.
"Damned."
The multitude of bats dispersed, flying out from the explosion zone and then reassembling into a humanoid shape.
The demon lord's complexion turned even paler, his previously elegant black and red robe torn and ragged, barely covering his body, with a gory wound on his cheek slowly regenerating.
Hiss!
A straight silver beam shot directly at Hosoren.
The vampire flinched, scattering into a million bats that spread out across the sky.
A Mechanist Angel, wielding a blade of light and moving fluidly like a stream of light among the myriad bats, struck them down into black smoke with its blade, but still, a portion of the bats managed to escape and reformed into Hosoren's figure.
Accompanied by the low hum of engines pumping, a network of mechanistic patterns that resembled blood vessels lit up on the bodies of both the Mechanist Angel and Mechanist Demon.
Engine overload!
Both the Mechanist Angel and Mechanist Demon shattered the air as they charged towards the vampire lord.
In the midst of their overcharged and furious assault, Hosoren was visibly outmatched, barely managing to dodge and finding no opportunity to counterattack.
Looking at the other great demons, their situation was similar or even worse.
Especially those facing the assault of mechanical dragons, with one even dying under the destructive death ray of the Tyrant True Dragon, while others barely survived.
"How are these mechanical constructs so powerful?"
"It shouldn't be like this, I mean, even if I'm outnumbered two to one, I shouldn't be this overwhelmed."
Hosoren felt a sinking feeling in his heart.
He had underestimated the mechanical legion, assuming they relied solely on numbers without possessing significant demigod-level combat power.
Previously, that was indeed the case.
But with the Grandmaster's research and the conversion of resources from the bottomless abyss into combat capabilities, the mechanical legion's demigod Mechanist units had long since undergone a complete transformation, especially the mechanical dragon series, which had gathered the most resources and whose combat power significantly exceeded that of typical demigod creatures.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have attracted the attention of the demon lords and been targeted.
Moreover, now the mechanical legion held both numerical and qualitative advantages.
Relying solely on the existing forces of the Blood Shadow fortress, there was virtually no chance of a turnaround.
Hiss!
The Mechanist Demon's steel claws tore through the vampire lord's arm, grabbing his shoulder, while the Mechanist Angel's blade of light slashed towards his head.
Hosoren's complexion turned deathly pale, his blood evaporating in an instant, and his body transformed into a blood shadow that retreated rapidly, dodging the lethal strike.
Looking at the relentlessly advancing, merciless mechanical constructs and observing both the ground forces and the aerial high-level battlefield where his side was severely disadvantaged, he muttered bitterly:
"You forced my hand."
"When my lord arrives, all these machines will be turned into scrap and ruins!"
The vampire lord growled lowly.
At the same time, he took out a blood-red crystal, snapping it decisively.
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