Dragonscale Marines

"Roar—!" Wind howled through the air as the screech of a wyvern and the battle cry of a player echoed simultaneously from behind the carnivex. Tucking a lance tightly under his right arm, Mantou plummeted from the sky upon his wyvern in a steep dive. "Die for me!" Mantou bellowed at the top of his lungs, the lance's gleaming tip piercing the air as it aimed straight for the carnivex's massive skull. His heart pounded with manic thrill. In his mind, he could already picture the lance skewering the demon's head—that was tens of thousands of gold dinars, over a million Faction Contribution points! Taking down this carnivex would make him rich! "Annoying... flies." The carnivex merely displayed an expression of impatient disgust. An appendage behind its back lashed out with imperceptible speed, drawing a black streak across the sky. *Slash—* The sickening sound of parted flesh ripped through the air. Mantou and his wyvern were cleaved in two, spewing green, yellow, and red viscera across the heavens. Even in death, Mantou's face was frozen in that euphoric grimace, as if he were just on the verge of becoming the hero who slew the demon. The fiend's barbed, sinuous tail swept violently sideways, slicing in half the players attempting an ambush from behind. "Nooo—Mantou!" "Mantou crashed again!" "How is this boss's damage so absurd? Even a no-lifer veteran like Mantou got one-shot!" "Knowing the bastard devs, how could a mob with rewards this high not be busted?" "My turn!" Several Redscale Conquerors wheeled through the sky on their mounts, coordinating with one another—two executing feint attacks while the third sought a vulnerability on the carnivex. Yet the carnivex unleashed volleys of virulent acid. Unable to evade in time, the Redscale Conquerors were melted down to white bone and tumbled from the sky one after another. The spectating players chattered incessantly, yet none abandoned the battlefield. The quest rewards were simply too tantalizing. What if they lucked out and landed the finishing blow? Wouldn't that be hitting the jackpot? The carnivex slaughtered through the throng to its heart's content. The massive talons, bladed appendages, fangs, and thick tail across its demonic frame mercilessly claimed the lives of imperial soldiers. Yet as it gazed upon these players, it could not detect even a shred of fear in their eyes. There was only... anticipation? For some inexplicable reason, a pang of disappointment welled up within the heart of this demon, who reveled in slaughter and sowing terror. Unfurling its colossal frame, it let loose a raspy roar. "You puny vermin... Do you even comprehend what manner of mighty, exalted existence stands before you? I am a predator of the Abyss, the incarnation of butchery and massacre, the destroyer of kingdoms, the nightmare of mortals..." *Bang!* A gunshot rang out. Not far away, a player lowered his rifle as wisps of gunsmoke drifted from its muzzle, muttering under his breath, "Man, this boss talks way too much..." "Mortal—you court death!" Enraged beyond measure, the carnivex recklessly plunged into the crowd, crushing the smug player to paste with a massive talon. *Boom!* A crater plastered with gore and shattered entrails was gouged into the earth. "Holy crap!" "Don't splash that blood on me!" Behind the carnivex's grotesque silhouette, the demonic host advanced aggressively. Seizing this precious opportunity, they finally engaged the imperial army at close quarters. "Moo—!" The goristros unleashed dull, thunderous roars. On all fours, moving with knuckle-walking gaits like house-sized gorillas, they lumbered forward and flattened the imperial shieldbearers beneath their bulk, hurling massive boulders at random intervals. "It's coming this way!" "Hold the line!" "For the Cinder Empire!" The shield wall formed by heavy ogre shieldbearers was smashed apart by hurtling boulders and trampled under the monstrous frames of the goristros. *Boom!* Dretches and babaus surged through the breaches, leaping onto imperial soldiers to tear and gnaw at them, while others shrieked in the distance as they threw short spears. Quasits leapt into the air, slashing with their claws, grappling with wyverns, and spitting venomous acid. Vrocks took to the sky flanked by swarms of corrupted crows and vultures. In terms of individual prowess, a low-tier quasit was far inferior to a wyvern. Yet their numbers were overwhelming; often, dozens of quasits swarmed a single wyvern, biting and tearing until it was battered and bloody. One quasit flapped its wings in midair, its eyes glinting with eerie light as it locked onto a seemingly slender human in the distance. *He must be weak.* *Compared to those towering ogres, well-equipped hobgoblins, and tieflings...* The quasit reasoned with its walnut-sized brain. Letting out a shrill shriek, it swooped downward, splaying its sharp talons in mid-descent. "Awoo—" *Bang!* A crisp, resonant gunshot echoed. George did not even bother looking up at the falling quasit. He lightly blew away the smoke curling from the finely crafted muzzle, his gaze fixed tensely on the battlefield. The situation looked dire. Compared to previous foes, these demons were a genuine supernatural legion. Setting aside the terrifying carnivex, every goristro was backed by goat-demon spellcasters chanting ancient incantations to weave blood-red barriers. Tactics the imperial infantry excelled at—such as disciplined musket volleys and skirmisher free-firing—had little effect against high-tier demons. Meanwhile, the lowly manes and dretches relied on sheer numbers to deplete imperial ammunition, overwhelming imperial soldiers through horde tactics. Spearheaded by these powerful demons, the Abyssal host pushed their assault time and again, driving the front lines back hundreds of meters until they were practically upon the bunkers. George gritted his teeth, his expression grim as he cursed under his breath. "Damn it, we can't let this go on... Marshal Duoluo said that when firepower is insufficient, we must fight the supernatural with the supernatural..." *Bang!* "Damn it..." With that thought, he reached into his pocket, retrieved a token, and pressed down without hesitation. "Defense Sector 48: one carnivex, twelve goristros. My unit can no longer hold the line..." Matters had reached the point where every measure had to be exhausted. His regiment alone could not endure the demons' fierce assault. If his defense sector became the breakthrough point, the consequences would be catastrophic. Having sent the transmission, George grabbed a nearby machine gun from the ground and fired frantically into the surging demonic tide. "Die!" *Da-da-da-da-da—* Muzzle flashes strobed violently. In the distance, demons fell in swathes like scythed wheat. George was immensely fond of this new weapon rolled out by the research department. The torrential spray of bullets brought him a long-lost thrill, reminding him of the day he had slain that nobleman on the battlefield years ago. "Roar—!" Suddenly, resonant roars echoed from the distance. George turned his head to see chimeras cresting the hills, crossing the defensive line as they flew in from the north. These dragon-blooded chimeras beat their wings furiously, flying with visible strain. For suspended beneath their massive talons hung tall, hulking figures. Their bodies were clad in thick dragonscale power armor, brandishing revving chainswords and bolters while bellowing wild laughter. Leading them was none other than the guildmaster of the Machine Cult—Gangtie Kuangchao! "I'm here!" "Is the very first quest since launch supposed to be this intense?!" In the sky, quasits and vrocks swarmed toward the chimeras like locusts, attempting to intercept them. Yet the dragon heads opened their maws, unleashing torrents of searing flame from the depths of their throats that formed a raging inferno across the sky, engulfing the oncoming fiends. "Right here!" "The high-bounty carnivex is right down there!" "Brothers, prepare to drop!" Under the direction of the Dragonscale Marines, the chimeras beat their wings and climbed higher. Eventually, they reached an altitude several hundred meters directly above the front line and released their grips in unison. Just like that, the Vitagis Dragonscale Marines plummeted from the sky, slamming into the ground without a single parachute or safeguard. Craters several meters across instantly cratered the earth, tossing up clouds of dust and crushing over a hundred unprepared dretches on impact. Amidst the drifting dust and debris, twelve Dragonscale Marines slowly stood up from the craters, planting their boots atop demonic corpses to reveal their towering four-meter frames. Gangtie Kuangchao raised his chainsword and pumped his fist high into the air. "Vitagis Dragonscale Marines, reporting for duty!" "For the God-Emperor! Ah, wait, no—for the Emperor!" "Long live the Cinder Empire! Long live His Majesty Cassius!" The other Dragonscale Marines cheered in unison, their expressions beneath the heavy armor wild with fanaticism. Ever since their transformation, these Dragonscale Marines had yet to encounter a worthy adversary. They were itching to test their newly acquired might. *Bzzzz—* The screeching revs of high-speed chainswords instantly filled the battlefield. Crazed dretches scrambled onto Gangtie Kuangchao's back, trying to gnaw at his flesh, but their fangs could not leave so much as a scratch upon the dragonscale armor. Gangtie Kuangchao threw himself forward into a roll, crushing and throwing off the demons clinging to him. He then hoisted his chainsword and swung it in a sweeping arc. *Slash—* Accompanied by the demons' agonizing wails, dozens of fiends were cleaved in two at the waist, severed limbs and shattered torsos flying in all directions. Purplish-black putrid blood splashed across Gangtie Kuangchao's dragonscale exoskeleton armor, unable to corrode it in the slightest. "Hell yeah, now this is combat!" "Hahaha! So this is what musou mowing feels like?" Without hesitation, the Dragonscale Marines charged into the demonic horde, swinging their chainswords in bloody rampages and hacking demon after demon in half. "Moo—!" A goristro bellowed as it charged forward, its hooves packing unimaginable force as it hammered downward at a Dragonscale Marine, intending to crush him under its massive bulk. *Boom!* To everyone's shock, the Dragonscale Marine caught the goristro's hoof head-on. With an upward heave, he actually toppled the colossal beast onto its back. The spectacle was absurd, as shocking as a praying mantis overturning a horse carriage. One had to realize that this goristro stood twelve meters tall—more than three times the size of a Dragonscale Marine! Yet bolstered by dragon blood and genetic modification, the muscle density of these Dragonscale Marines was staggering, their strength score even breaking past twenty-four. "Roar—!" The goristro wailed as it tumbled backward, its bovine eyes bulging with utter disbelief. In the very contest of raw strength it prided itself on most, it had actually lost! Defeated by these puny humanoids! "Like I said—death to all NTR scum! I'm a warrior of pure love!" Gangtie Kuangchao raised his chainsword and leapt over a dozen meters into the air. Using the momentum of his descent, he drove the blade savagely into the goristro's chest. *Squelch!* The whirring teeth of the chainsword instantly shredded the goristro's thick hide, slicing through meat and bone before piercing that colossal, still-warm heart. The goristro's eyes remained wide as brass bells, its demise gruesome beyond words. "Who else?" Gangtie Kuangchao wrenched the bloodied chainsword free, rested it against his shoulder, and bellowed in triumph. The other Dragonscale Marines also tore into the demon horde, rapidly carving bloody paths across the field. Each of them felled over a hundred demons in mere moments. The momentum of the demonic vanguard was instantly broken, granting the imperial soldiers on the defensive line a precious breath of respite. "Surround it and take that carnivex down!" "Hahaha, for the Emperor!" "I feel invincible! Who can stand against me, a Vitagis Dragonscale Marine?!" Rallied by Gangtie Kuangchao, the twelve Dragonscale Marines broke through from different sections of the battlefield toward a single focal point—and their quarry was the carnivex still slaughtering its way across the front lines. "Roar—!" "Feel fear, vermin!" The carnivex's bladed limbs slashed out, bisecting over a dozen imperial soldiers who stood in its way. Its thick, sinuous tail shot skyward, impaling a wyvern clean through, before whipping across the ground to casually slaughter dozens of players attempting to flank it from behind. Yet before long, the demon sensed an anomaly on the battlefield. Its primal, bestial instincts warned it that a dozen presences radiating immense power were closing in. It could even detect the scent of true dragons. "Mighty... vermin, and the scent of those oversized reptiles. Now this is getting interesting." "Come, then. Let me see your futile struggle..." The carnivex extended its barbed tongue, licking its lips in anticipation. Its densely packed fangs ground together as foul, rancid saliva dripped from its maw, sizzling small pits into the earth. As an apex predator of the Abyss, the carnivex favored formidable prey. Only that could validate its status as a hunter and grant it the true ecstasy of the kill. Prey so frail it couldn't even fight back, easily crushed underfoot, was simply far too dull. Little did it know that the Dragonscale Marines were thinking the exact same thing. Mowing through lesser mobs was fun, but it grew tedious after a while; going toe-to-toe with a boss on the edge of a blade was far more thrilling. To this day, they had yet to encounter a monster capable of withstanding the assault of twelve Dragonscale Marines. "Brothers, charge!" At Gangtie Kuangchao's command, the twelve Dragonscale Marines surged toward the carnivex from all directions. Swinging their chainswords and leveling their bolters, they let loose feral, euphoric whoops, roaring whatever battle cries came to mind. "For the Empire!" "For His Majesty the Emperor!" "For... for my Faction Contribution and gold dinars!"