Chapter 157: Steel Cataclysm (14)

Nokle stood on the surface of the ocean and clapped his hands. Scattered across the seabed beneath his feet were vast amounts of metallic debris.

"Is everything alright? If it were two False Kings, and their elemental affinities clashed badly, I'd be done for..." Nokle sensed his surroundings with a hint of worry, but detected nothing unusual.

Yet, over a hundred meters up in the sky, a massive tear dozens of meters long suddenly ripped open. Waves of red light and sparks drifted out from within, accompanied by a torrent of scorching molten steel pouring directly down into the ocean.

The intense heat triggered a chain reaction, causing the seawater to erupt in massive, continuous plumes of steam.

Seeing this anomaly, Nokle naturally understood that Zhao Tianhe must have finished up with his target, though the exact outcome remained unknown.

A ferocious metal skull suddenly poked out from the rift. Nokle felt a jolt of alarm, but quickly realized the skull had no body attached to it.

This metal skull was likely the sturdiest part of the False King-class entity, which was why it hadn't been completely obliterated by Zhao Tianhe's continuous consecutive uses of the pseudo-Rhongomyniad.

Gargantuan billows of steam surged upward, forming a colossal column of gas dozens of meters in diameter and hundreds of meters high. It was visible to the naked eye even from dozens of kilometers away, resembling a volcanic eruption...

Only after all the molten steel had completely poured out did Zhao Tianhe slowly emerge from the rift.

At this moment, Zhao Tianhe's equipment and skin emitted a translucent, glowing crimson hue, making him look like a newly forged sword fresh from the furnace. The problem, however, was that Zhao Tianhe was a human, not a sword.

Consequently, dense networks of cracks covered his surface equipment and his skin.

The moment Zhao Tianhe deactivated the sword's shell bestowed by Unlimited Blade Works, he would likely perish instantly. Fully aware of this, he very decisively released a Command Spell to repair himself.

The restoration effect of the Command Spell was remarkably effective. The temperature on his body surface cooled instantly, and the cracks gradually faded away.

'Damn it, doing it twice in a row is simply too much of a stretch; a Command Spell cannot completely heal me. I'll probably enter that self-modification state again afterward, which continuously drains my mana and stamina. I need to go find Pixie to fix this.' Looking down at the sea surface, which was still violently boiling and spewing massive clouds of steam, Zhao Tianhe dove straight down.

He intended to gather all the dropped items in one go before the sword's shell dissipated.

One had to remember—that was a full two False King-class opponents!

And hundreds of A-rank and S-rank bosses!

The massive amount of experience points gained purely from slaying monsters directly propelled Zhao Tianhe to the maximum level of ten for his first tier!

Along with that, Artoria's talent level was boosted as high as Level 6!

'Oh no, Artoria has become too strong. I was too excited seeing so many major bosses earlier and completely forgot about this!' Zhao Tianhe felt a pang of regret internally.

Although he had established a clear romantic relationship with Artoria, on the surface he had maintained the pretext of mutual progress by first raising Ereshkigal's job class level to two. Only in the last few days had he begun raising Artoria's job class to level two, intending next to raise her talent level, which was why he had switched to Artoria's King of Knights talent today.

'No, if I temporarily switch back to Ereshkigal, Artoria will probably blow her top, right? Anyway, because of this, I can focus exclusively on raising Ereshkigal for a long time afterward.' While picking up various Summoning Tickets and Holy Quartz, Zhao Tianhe contemplated his future progression route.

Thinking is doing: all the EXP cards and Fous obtained from the Summoning Tickets were immediately dumped onto Ereshkigal, pushing her directly to Main Job Level 3, Sub-Job Level 2, and raising her talent to Level 5.

This deep-sea salvage yielded sixty-six pieces of Holy Quartz—a very auspicious number that Zhao Tianhe intended to save for later use. There were 23 Summoning Tickets, all of which were used up. They yielded various EXP cards and Fous, as well as two permanent Craft Essences and two one-time Craft Essences.

Kaleidoscope - Servant Exclusive Craft Essence
Active when equipped: Increases maximum mana capacity by 100%.

Magical Reactor - Servant Exclusive Craft Essence - One-time Craft Essence
Upon use, grants the Servant an infinite mana supply for ten minutes.

Dragon Meridian - Servant Exclusive Craft Essence - One-time Craft Essence
Upon use, the Servant connects with nearby energy ley lines and incorporates them into their body, producing massive changes.

Shroud of Martin - Master Exclusive Craft Essence
Active when equipped: Allows the wearer to don a special combat outfit formed by the Shroud of Martin.
The appearance of the special combat outfit can be customized by the wearer.
Special Combat Outfit Attributes:
Maximum HP +200
Stamina and HP recovery rate +5 points/sec

Zhao Tianhe looked at the default clothing appearance on the Craft Essence and smiled bitterly, shaking his head. That was unmistakably the red-robed combat outfit worn by Archer in FSN.

"Too flashy; it doesn't suit me." Zhao Tianhe curled his lip.

You might look at those distinct outfits in anime and think they look great on the characters, but once you put them on yourself, the vibe completely changes.

Haven't you noticed that over half of all cosplay relies heavily on post-processing?

Zhao Tianhe considered his physique to be decent, but his face fell far too short of the mark. Thus, he modified the special combat outfit into an ordinary red short-sleeved shirt with no redundant decorations, and equipped it directly.

He intended to endure the impending physical modification process the hard way for a while, as it would benefit him in the long run, and the stamina recovery rate attribute would come in handy for that.

"Still... did it really have to be this hardcore?" Zhao Tianhe looked at the final two trophies in his hands, unable to resist complaining.

Foot of Guda-ko, One-time Relic
Eye of Guda-ko, One-time Relic

A twitching, slender female right foot, along with an eyeball still attached to a string of constantly spasming optic nerves, were gripped in Zhao Tianhe's hands.

'Better eat it quickly before anyone sees!' Gritting his teeth, Zhao Tianhe swallowed the eyeball whole in one gulp and devoured the right foot in a few bites.

"Hidden talent 'Grand Summoner' repair progress initiated. Repair progress: 2%, 3%."

"Command Spell function repaired. Acquired 'Emergency Support' special effect. Can use a Command Spell to forcibly summon a Servant to one's side and grant them an additional 10-minute duration in their combatant mode."

"Special attribute Charisma +1."

"Brilliant!" Zhao Tianhe clenched his fists in excitement. With this attribute, harem... no, multiplayer activities were hopeful once more!

At this moment, the duration of the sword's shell was about to expire. Zhao Tianhe hurriedly flew out of the sea area that was still continuously spewing high-temperature steam.

Without the ultra-strong resistance of the sword's shell, Zhao Tianhe's own physical stats would have resulted in severe burns. The only reason he wouldn't be boiled alive was because he possessed the Diadem of the Sun, granting him high-temperature resistance.

"I didn't expect you punk to actually pull it all off! Hahaha~~" Nokle laughed. "Then let's get moving quickly. Broken-Blade Forest has drawn away too many forces, and quite a few troops were transferred to St. Rosas Port recently to handle the refugee crisis and the deteriorating biosphere. Right now, our only choice is to evacuate the populace to various islands and shrink the defense perimeter."

Zhao Tianhe nodded and flew toward the island alongside Nokle.

At this point, Zelos and the others had also returned to the ground, and the group gathered together to set off toward Sax Island.

Metal monsters were running amok across the Ink Sea Archipelago region, and the Vanguard troops simply lacked sufficient manpower. They had no choice but to begin evacuating civilians from the most densely populated and high-value islands first.

Right then, tens of thousands of civilians on a small island stared at the massive metallic figures slowly making landfall, able only to pray that someone could hold this monster back.

Meanwhile, dozens of A-rank and B-rank heroes stared at this False King-class monster, sighing helplessly as they prepared to make a final desperate stand or stall for time as long as possible.

"Soft ones, all must die..." This metal giant with a pair of huge crab pincers charged in giant strides toward the most conspicuous hero squads.

"Everyone," a middle-aged man said. "I'll go on ahead."

With that, the man slowly ascended into the sky, his body bound with various scrolls. He was planning to launch a suicide attack!

Filled with a resolute, point-of-no-return momentum, the man flew toward the metal monster.

Yet he had barely flown a few hundred meters when the upper body of the crab-pincer metal giant simply vanished!

"?!" The middle-aged man froze because everything had happened so abruptly!

There was no explosion, no sound, as if a chunk of the scene had simply been cut out.

However, the sound of the metal giant dropping to both knees was quite loud, snapping the man back to his senses.

What met his eyes, however, caused his heart to violently lurch!

The bodies of every single metal monster were inexplicably missing a chunk—some lost their heads, others their torsos—but without exception, they had all collapsed to the ground.

Some mysterious force had instantly wiped out the vital points of these monsters, causing their deaths!

'Causality magic?' The man had just begun wondering if this was making a mountain out of a molehill when he spotted a figure appear in mid-air.

"Ah, they did it with their fists?" The man looked at the person, a subtle expression on his face.

"Mm." The Benevolent King Death nodded, pointing behind him. "Evacuating in this direction will have fewer enemies."

Where the Benevolent King Death passed, nothing could possibly be missed.

"I need to rush to Broken-Blade Forest and can't help you. Take care." Having said that, Death vanished.

The man wanted to express his gratitude, but before he could even utter a word, Death's figure was already out of sight.

"So cool..." The man licked his lips, his expression suggesting things might be getting slightly out of hand.

All of this was merely a minor interlude; the most critical battle was still raging within Broken-Blade Forest.

The space around Gale, one of the Ten Strongest known as 'Ultimate Tremor', vibrated violently. Large swathes of metal monsters, including False King-class entities, were shattered by his punches alone.

A full ten War Ancient Trees appeared ten kilometers away, forming a simple array with a pale green light shrouding their trunks.

Relying on the advantages of living war fortresses coupled with the array, this powerful formation gathering the power of the ley lines was already sufficient to withstand True King-class opponents.

Once defenses were consolidated, the offensive naturally wouldn't be weak.

Ray attacks fell like raindrops, and various targeted warfare machinery were deployed onto the battlefield.

A giant tree-man over ten meters tall burst forth from the mud, grabbing a False King's ankle and dragging it down to the ground. At the same time, it raised its massive, hard-knobbed fist, which resembled a siege ram, and ruthlessly smashed the metallic behemoth's head straight into the dirt!

This giant tree-man was a defensive biological structure derived from the root system of the War Ancient Trees. Needless to say, its power had reached the False King-class.

Nearly a thousand of these immovable, ground-anchored False King-class tree-men broke through the earth, forming a frontline dozens of kilometers long.

Relying on these giant tree warriors, a multitude of well-equipped warriors and mages flew out from the War Ancient Trees, forming a solid defense line.

"As expected, you people also possess technology similar to mass production." A humanoid metal monster, pitch-black all over and standing only about five meters tall, slowly stepped into Broken-Blade Forest. It looked at the distant tree-trunk defense line, its tone very calm. "And you... are strong."

Gale raised his head, the frequency of his King Engine surging massively!

Boom boom boom~~~

The surrounding earth was shaken so violently that it rolled outward in waves like an ocean...

Aside from that pitch-black mecha with a falcon-shaped head, no other metal monsters—not even the False King-class ones—could approach within a hundred meters of Gale.

"Another True King-class? I'm going to die..." Blood was already seeping from beneath Gale's mask as he said with a hint of depression. "Do me a favor and let's call it a day, alright? Shouldn't everyone just go home and watch some anime to blow off steam? Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"What are you talking about?" The black mecha asked with mild curiosity.

"Ah, I forgot your bodily structures are different." Gale shook his head and sighed. "But surely you can understand my peace-loving intentions?"

"No," the black mecha replied without the slightest hesitation. At the same time, its figure flashed, appearing right in front of Gale and throwing a punch straight at his face!

Gale took the punch head-on without retreating even half a step, but the tremors surrounding his body weakened slightly.

'Such a formidable punch!' Gale felt a jolt of alarm inside, because he had intended to use his tremors to directly dissipate the force of that punch and counterattack. However, the force behind the opponent's attack was so uniquely structured that it actually canceled out his tremors, rendering his counter-skill ineffective!

Gale's previous battle with the Fire Fiend King had been observed by the black mecha via small metallic organisms. Although it hadn't witnessed the final massive explosion due to its range and destructive power keeping it out of direct view, it had gathered a general understanding of the situation from the Fire Fiend King.

'His manipulation of power is formidable; I can't gain an advantage in that aspect.' Although it had pondered for a long time on how to break Gale's counter-skill, the black mecha's agility stat wasn't particularly high.

'In that case, we'll go head-on!' The black mecha's figure swelled slightly, and the armor-like metal shell on its body looked even more ferocious as it swung its arms and began a high-speed combo attack! 'First you beat back the Fire Fiend King, and then you dragged things out this long with the mass-produced units—I refuse to believe you can keep sparring with me like this!'

Since it couldn't match Gale in technique, the black mecha planned to use brute force directly against the shockwaves generated by Gale's Ultimate Tremor to drain his stamina.

And things turned out exactly as the black mecha expected: Gale was already reaching his limit.

The opponent's strength and attack frequency were growing larger and faster, while Gale's Ultimate Tremor was starting to lag behind.