Seeing this, Adrian seized the momentum. He raised his longsword high and shouted, "Men—do you see? This is the Sun God's retribution upon these wicked dragons!"
The human soldiers' morale soared. Surging forward with ferocious valor, they clashed with the battlefield's surviving wyverns.
Farther out, the dragonbeasts were pinned down by ferocious bombardment. Corpses piled into mountains amidst scorched wreckage, jagged shrapnel, and craters of every size. Even the earth had been sheared down three feet.
A wall of fire and slaughter seemed to divide the land, cleaving the dragonbeasts from the human legion.
"Damn Imperials!" Ulrichia snarled as she glared at the distant aerial fleet, hatred and fury burning in her narrow, slit pupils.
If these northern invaders were allowed to carry on, her dragonbeast legion would be ground to dust, and Forest Hawk City would be in dire peril.
The Cult of the Dragon had never bothered to repair the city walls. To zealots whose faith lay in dragons—more specifically, evil dragons—offense was the best defense, and burning, slaughtering, and pillaging far outshined digging in behind ramparts.
With that thought, she summoned more than a dozen evil dragon priests. Together, they raised dragon-headed scepters toward a massive sky dreadnought on the horizon and broke into a fervent, impassioned chant.
"Red flame burns away cowardice; blue lightning tears the vault of heaven; green venom corrupts hope; black acid corrodes through iron ramparts; white frost freezes the spark of life!"
"Great is She! Supreme Five-Headed Mother, Master of Scales and Claws!"
In an instant, ghostly light flared from the gem eyes of the dragon-headed scepters. Beams of black light shot from the altars into the sky, resonating with the towering phantom of the five-headed dragon high above.
Red, blue, green, black, white.
One after another, five pairs of slit pupils ignited, blazing with terrifying, blood-chilling radiance.
The five grotesque, monstrous heads reared back in unison and loosed an earth-shattering roar. Vibrant orbs of radiant energy coalesced in their maws, whipping up a violent gale across the upper atmosphere that set space itself trembling.
"Danger! Warning!"
"Abnormal surge in energy readings detected! Exceeding upper thresholds!"
"Incoming ultra-long-range strike detected targeting our vessel. Energy classification—divine power!"
"Engage spatial jump!" someone barked.
"Negative! Our dreadnought is bound by an unknown force, locked into local space. Maneuvering is nearly impossible! It's like... a lamb pinned beneath an apex predator's gaze!"
Inside the bridge of the sky dreadnought, the captain's normally unflappable composure shattered, his face taut with panic. "Hurry, activate the highest-tier defensive systems!"
"Tier One defensive forcefield active!"
Across the steel hull, intricate arrays of runes flared to life as a translucent energy film condensed over the vessel's surface.
Purely physical strikes could scarcely scratch it; anything drawing near would be repelled by the barrier.
"Tier Two defensive forcefield active!"
From launchers atop the hull, swirling clusters of light erupted and expanded across open air, interlocking into brilliant walls of light designed to absorb and deflect hostile energy impacts.
"Tier Three defensive forcefield active!"
Forcefield projectors extended rapidly from the ship's underbelly, crowns discharging blinding white glare.
With a faint hiss, the surrounding space warped violently. Countless hexagonal forcefield shields materialized outside the ship, locking together into a spherical wall that enveloped the sky dreadnought whole.
This was the pinnacle of the Machine Cult's synthesis of magic and technology. Even spells beyond the eighth circle could hardly breach these three concentric layers to harm the dreadnought itself.
Yet the defense did not stop there. A cold, mechanical voice rasped over the intercom: "Long-range interception system online!"
*Hum—*
Twelve massive barrels extruded from the dreadnought's flanks, swiveling in unison to lock onto the five-headed dragon's distant silhouette, primed to intercept the incoming bombardment.
"These primitive beasts cannot harm us. Their grasp of power is far too crude..." On the bridge, the captain stared resolutely at the phantom looming on the horizon.
The Machine Cult had spent millions of gold coins constructing these sky dreadnoughts, and the initial research costs were astronomical.
There was no conceivable reason they should fall to mere "primitives."
"Praise be to the Lord of All Scales! Mother of Evil Dragons! Immortal Queen!"
"Five heads unite, and ten thousand realms prostrate!"
Amidst the cultists' fanatical adulation, the colossal monstrosity blotting out the sun craned its spine-covered necks, thrust forward its various heads, and opened gaping, maw-like jaws.
*Boom—*
With ear-splitting screeches and turbulent detonations, five torrents of red, blue, green, black, and white light erupted from its maws, surging forward like an unstoppable flood.
Each beam embodied the breath weapon of a chromatic dragon, bearing the elemental essence native to true dragons as magical beings.
Fire, lightning, poison, acid, frost...
The five torrents converged into a radiant, five-colored beam that sliced through the heavens, stirring up a catastrophic elemental tempest.
Tearing through the skies with cataclysmic fury, the prismatic beam hurtled toward the sky dreadnought thousands of meters away.
"Fire interceptors!!"
Twelve energy beams lanced out from the dreadnought, slamming head-on into the prismatic pillar, while over a hundred magic-nullification missiles trailed thick plumes of smoke as they roared into the clouds.
*Boom!*
*Boom! Boom!*
Splendid explosions blossomed across the heavens as conflicting powers collided. Shrapnel flew in all directions, fire raged, and a massive cloud of billowing smoke rolled through the sky like a tempestuous sea.
Yet a heartbeat later, the five-colored beam obliterated every beam and missile fired by the sky dreadnought without mercy, swallowing them whole and converting their energy into its own.
Like an insatiable dragon, the prismatic pillar devoured everything in its path—both matter and energy.
Such was the nature of divine power.
Unlike the magic of mortal spellcasters, divine power could bend and command the laws of the world, unleashing cataclysmic devastation far beyond mortal comprehension.
"This power..."
"It's terrifying! It's completely off our sensors' scales, just like the Cinder Emperor's breath weapons!"
The dreadnought's captain and researchers stared up at the sky, frozen in shock and disbelief.
Having exhausted every countermeasure, they could only watch helplessly as the five-colored beam swelled in their vision, praying their three layers of defense would hold.
The instant the prismatic pillar struck the forcefield shield, the seemingly impregnable hemisphere cracked and caved in. Countless fissures spiderwebbed across its surface before it shattered into nothingness.
The surrounding space warped and buckled beneath the strike's ferocious impact.
As for the Tier One and Tier Two barriers, they were obliterated instantly, failing to blunt the blow in the slightest.
"No, impossible!" The captain stood frozen, his legs shaking, loosing an involuntary cry as the prismatic glow reflected in his eyes.
*Boom—*
Lightning, fire, and frost danced madly across the high heavens, creating an unprecedented elemental maelstrom that churned into a spectacular vortex.
The deluge of divine power swallowed the hundred-meter-long dreadnought whole. Everything within was ruthlessly disintegrated, and the hundreds of Machine Cult players aboard were reduced to fundamental particles before they could mount the slightest resistance.
Having obliterated its mark, the five-colored beam fractured in midair, scattering into countless chaotic torrents of elemental devastation that rained down upon the lands behind the human front—the staging grounds of the player army.
Blinding lightning crashed from the clouds, fiery meteors rained from above, frigid blizzards swept the plains, and corrosive acid fell in a dense downpour, sizzling thousands of pitted craters into the ground.
"What the fuck?!"
"What kind of screen-wide AoE is this?!"
"I literally just started the quest! I haven't even seen an enemy yet, why the hell did they drop this on us? I don't wanna die—"
"Why is the enemy boss using their ultimate already?! Fuck, I'm taking continuous damage in this acid rain!"
"Noooo!"
Agonized wails and frantic shrieks echoed endlessly across the rear staging lines.
Some of the poor players were charred to cinders by lightning, others crushed by flaming meteors, frozen solid by the howling blizzard, or dissolved slowly in pools of venom and acid.
Ever since the birth of the Cinder Empire, it had always been them suppressing other factions with overwhelming long-range firepower.
None of the Imperial players had imagined that before the clash truly began, the Cult of the Dragon could strike back from thousands—even tens of thousands—of meters away.
Caught completely off guard, thousands of players were killed instantly, and tens of thousands were gravely wounded. Their heavy artillery, steam tanks, and Arcane Armor suffered catastrophic losses, severely crippling their ranged capabilities.
The surviving sky dreadnoughts engaged emergency spatial jumps to slip back into stealth. Until they could analyze the nature and weaknesses of the five-headed dragon phantom, they dared not act rashly.
The loss was simply too devastating. A sky dreadnought cost hundreds of thousands of gold dinars, making every single vessel precious beyond measure.
In the distance above Forest Hawk City, Ulrichia snarled and roared at the heavens, "Do you see? This is the power of the Great Mother of Evil Dragons! Her divine might can annihilate anything in the mortal realm!"
"These humans rely on nothing more than petty tricks, which are completely beneath notice before the true might of dragons! Without those weapons, they are nothing more than fragile rats, destined to be trampled by our dragonbeast horde!"
"Praise be to the Lord of All Scales! The Immortal Queen!"
"Dragons shall walk the earth once more and rule the mortal world!" The cultists prostrated before the phantom in the sky, shouting with fanatical fervor and awe—after all, they had just witnessed a genuine miracle.
*Roar—*
The dragonbeasts' bellows shook the heavens, their thunderous steps making the earth tremble.
With the Empire's firepower broken, the Cult of the Dragon's horde breached the fireline and renewed its charge toward the human lines.
"Gods above..."
"By the Lord of Eternal Radiance, what in the world was that five-colored beam?"
The human soldiers stared up in stunned silence at the lingering scar cleaved across the sky, thoroughly awestruck.
If the players' earlier bombardment had resembled a miracle, this sky-piercing prismatic pillar had been an unvarnished divine retribution.
Misfortune did not come alone. Dust billowed as the ground trembled violently, and the frenzied dragonbeasts had already closed within a thousand meters of the human positions, poised to crash down upon them like a collapsing mountain.
Adrian forced himself to project strength, bellowing, "Do not fear! The eternal sunlight protects us!"
The men felt only confusion and dread. Gripping their shields and spears, they watched the front lines in sheer terror, listening to the heavy footfalls drawing near and watching the grotesque black silhouettes grow larger until they reached their lines.
"They're here!" someone screamed.
*Roar—*
A foul, sticky gust of wind washed over them as the dragonbeasts bared their bloody maws, rampaging directly into the human lines. Beasts weighing several—or even a dozen—tons stomped heavily onto heavy shieldbearers, crushing them flat beneath their weight. The armor buckled and flattened with a harsh screech of metal.
In a single instant, the human line was crushed to pieces. This was not a breach at a single flank or point, but an all-out, overwhelming rout!
Born from the blood and minced flesh of countless humans, these dragonbeasts were inherently evil and berserk. Surging into the ranks, they greedily tore soldiers apart with their jaws and swept their massive talons through the ranks, spraying gore and shattered armor in all directions.
"No, hold the line!"
"Damn it, that beast is breaking through! Amaunator preserve us!"
The soldiers' wails, the dragonbeasts' roars, the crisp crunch of breaking armor, and the heavy stomping of feet wove together into a primal, bloody symphony.
"No! I will never let these vile beasts ravage the lands of Seleucia again!" Adrian lunged forward with his sword, eyes blazing as golden radiance poured from the blade of his sidearm.
He thrust out with all his might, the tip piercing thick hide, tearing through flesh, bone, and brain matter to run through a dragonbeast's skull. As he withdrew the blood-soaked blade, the beast collapsed with a crash, white brains oozing from the wound.
Yet the dragonbeasts showed no hesitation, grunting as they charged straight for Adrian.
"Vile mortal!"
Just then, accompanied by a piercing draconic roar, a stream of venom shot from the sky, striking Adrian squarely in the back. The acid chewed through his plate, leaving it ragged and corroded.
Adrian glanced over his shoulder to see a massive adult green dragon swooping down, claws and teeth bared to tear into his back. With dragonbeasts charging from the front as well, Adrian was caught completely between two fires.
Right at that moment, an ecstatic shout thundered across the battlefield: "For the Empire! For the Emperor!"
A four-meter-tall armored humanoid descended from the sky, planting itself squarely in front of the charging dragonbeast.
Wielding superhuman strength, it held back the rabid dragonbeast single-handedly while the bizarre greatsword in its grip whined continuously, its serrated teeth spinning at blinding speed and spraying showers of sparks.
Chapter 789