The environment within the Doomsday Forbidden Zone was exceedingly harsh. Temperatures soared like a furnace, and scorching steam and lethal toxic fumes choked the air. An ordinary mortal stranded here would lose their life in a matter of minutes.
The Dragonscale Marines, however, were encased in a layer of hardened, heat-insulating scales. Their skin possessed regulatory functions that shielded their internal organs, and scorching steam vented continually from their pores to dissipate excess heat.
Having undergone bio-augmentation by the Machine Cult, each marine possessed a "third lung" capable of filtering toxins out of hazardous environments, allowing them to breathe normally.
Moreover, this lung resembled that of a dragon, continually absorbing elemental energy from the air and channeling it into their fundus vessels as an auxiliary power source.
Their two hearts operated like powerful engines. Beyond accelerating blood flow, they could pump massive doses of steroids and adrenaline throughout the body, driving the Dragonscale Marines into extreme battle frenzy during combat and generating immense drive.
Their tactical visors could penetrate the smoke screen, detecting life signs over a hundred meters away and analyzing enemy data.
These Dragonscale Marines were artificially manufactured war machines—the crowning achievement of the Empire's biotechnology. Soaring through the sky or burrowing into the earth was second nature to them, and endowed with red dragon bloodlines, they were naturally adapted to volcanic climates. To them, the environment of the Doomsday Forbidden Zone felt practically like coming home.
After all, their bodies had been incubated in the high-temperature culture vats of the Imperial Biological Research Institute after dozens of surgical procedures.
Breathing the air of the Doomsday Forbidden Zone, the Dragonscale Marines hungrily drew in the frantic heat, filling their bodies with surging energy in mere moments.
"Phoo—"
Gangtie Kuangchao exhaled a long breath laden with smoke, his expression pleasantly surprised. "Everyone said the environment here was atrocious, but why do I feel... like I've got even more strength in this place?"
"Strange, I actually feel... well, like I'm back in my hometown. The energy inside me feels way fuller."
"Me too."
"Could this be an exclusive dungeon tailor-made for us Dragonscale Marines?"
"That's a good thing," Gangtie Kuangchao said with a grin. "Tsk, tsk. Looks like our Machine Cult is going to sweep all the rewards from this mission."
He hoisted his blood-splattered chainsword once more, brimming with confidence. "Advance into the Doomsday Forbidden Zone!"
"Charge!"
Surrounded by dense smoke and churning energy, these four-meter-tall hulks broke into a run, barreling through the haze like a legion of heavy tanks.
Augmented in bone and muscle, the Dragonscale Marines were shockingly fast, capable of reaching sixty kilometers per hour at full sprint.
And thanks to two hearts, three iron lungs, and an intricate heat dissipation system, their endurance was extraordinary. They could maintain a full-speed run for over three hours—practically automobiles that required no fuel.
Unrestricted, the Dragonscale Marines would need less than half a day to clear the entire Doomsday Forbidden Zone.
Such was the glory of sheer stat monsters. After all, the manufacturing cost of a single Vitagis Dragonscale Marine exceeded ten thousand gold coins—enough to supply a small army of several hundred men.
Yet this was far from the end.
Rumor had it that in the near future, the Machine Cult planned to upgrade them even further.
Using advanced genetic engineering, the biologis cultists intended to take the DNA of Cinder Emperor Cassius as a template, using the bodies of their finest members as vessels to cultivate twenty-one "Primarchs," who would lead distinct Dragonscale Marine Legions.
In a way, one could consider it recreating history.
Back on the battlefield, the Dragonscale Marines moved with utter arrogance, making no effort to conceal their presence. Their pounding strides shook the earth, openly proclaiming their arrival to every living thing in the zone.
Soon enough, fire elementals—craving flesh and blood, seething with hatred toward the creatures of the Material Plane—swarmed in response to attack them.
"Roar!"
A frenzied fire elemental behemoth rose from beneath the earth, blazing fire erupting from its eyes. Its roar boomed like a volcanic eruption. Faint sword marks scarred the rocks covering its surface, and several charred, blackened arrows remained embedded in its stony carapace.
—It was the very fire elemental behemoth that had nearly wiped out the Mortal Guild.
By now, this behemoth had slaughtered over a hundred players, earning quite a "distinguished service record" within the Doomsday Forbidden Zone.
"As expected of the Doomsday Forbidden Zone. A level fifteen boss popping up already."
Gangtie Kuangchao showed no trace of fear; his face was ablaze with fighting spirit. He licked his lips excitedly and bellowed, "Dragonscale Marine Legion, kill it!"
"Taste this first!"
Before the words had even faded, Gangtie Kuangchao raised his bolter, leveled the dark muzzle at the towering molten creature, and pulled the trigger—
"Bang!"
The gunfire shrieked with earth-shattering fury.
A supersonic storm of metal erupted from the muzzle, instantly punching craters across the monster's stone-clad body. But magma flowed like blood and solidified, quickly restoring the massive, rigid frame to its original state.
Though unharmed, the fire elemental behemoth was enraged. This tiny—no, somewhat large, lowly creature of flesh and blood dared to resist!
Suicidal insect! It was of the mighty Firekin!
"Can't deal damage, huh..."
Gangtie Kuangchao frowned. He casually produced an energy round, loaded it into the bolter's magazine, took aim once more, and prepared to fire.
Assuming this was the same attack as before, the fire elemental behemoth didn't bother to dodge. Hissing and roaring in rage, it pounced directly toward Gangtie Kuangchao.
"Bang!"
A crack far louder than the last resounded, accompanied by the shriek of lightning. A thunderous bolt wrapped in metal shrapnel tore forward and slammed into the gigantic beast.
"Bzzzt—Boom!"
Arcing bolts crackled and wound around its body. The fire elemental behemoth unleashed a tragic howl as countless holes crackling with electric sparks opened across its frame.
"Now!"
Drawing his chainsword from behind his back, Gangtie Kuangchao charged forward like the wind alongside several Dragonscale Marines, closing the distance at blistering speed.
Gangtie Kuangchao vaulted off a protruding rock and soared above the fire elemental behemoth's head, raising his chainsword with a ferocious snarl.
"Vrrr—!"
The whirring teeth spun with blinding speed. Tearing through the air with a piercing whine, the chainsword slashed straight down at the behemoth's skull.
The monster raised a stone-forged arm to block, but the chainsword cleaved downward diagonally, shattering the rock and severing the arm from midair.
The fire elemental behemoth released a furious screech akin to hissing steam. A scorching gust hot enough to melt steel washed over them, and a wave of crimson magma spewed from its gaping maw, splashing straight at Gangtie Kuangchao.
Gangtie Kuangchao dodged frantically, but lava still caught him across the left chest, charring a large patch of flesh black and melting through even his scale armor.
"Kuangchao, get out of the way!"
Just then, another Dragonscale Marine stepped in front of Gangtie Kuangchao to shield him. Wielding a power spear, he was bathed in blood and reeked of death.
His name was Futejia Hepan, recognized as the fiercest warrior in the Dragonscale Marine Legion, and he too had undergone three iterative augmentations.
"Roar!"
The fire elemental behemoth roared at the "human" before it, swinging its colossal, rock-hard fist toward the Dragonscale Marine's chest, aiming to cave it open and rip out that pumping heart.
The Dragonscale Marine remained motionless. Beneath the thick armor, his muscles bunched and tautened like a sleeping volcano, gathering power capable of sundering mountains.
At the very instant the searing heat of that monstrous fist was about to smash through his chest—
He moved.
His heavy combat boots shattered the scalding rock stratum beneath him with a thunderous crash.
The power spear went from stillness to motion in his grasp, tearing through the scorching air with a shrill whistle.
Rather than a mere thrust, the tip drove forward carrying the warrior's entire body weight and the momentum of an avalanche. Turning into a lightning bolt that tore through hell, it crashed into the thickest, most hideous molten carapace over the monster's torso, unleashing a destructive energy field.
Time seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second, followed by an ear-splitting, teeth-grinding crack!
The shaft met no hindrance, piercing straight through like bamboo splitting before a blade, burying itself deep into the creature's scalding molten body until it sank in right up to the grip!
The mountain-sized body of the fire elemental behemoth froze stiff. Boiling, magma-like blood geysered from the wound, hissing as it splashed onto the hot rock and sending up plumes of foul green smoke.
Its remaining fist lashed out madly toward the marine with force enough to pulverize an iron fortress.
Yet another Dragonscale Marine stepped in front with a heavy shield, steady as a mountain. The titanic fist slammed against the shield with a dull, concussive boom that echoed like rolling thunder across the sky.
"Screeech—!"
Futejia Hepan twisted his wrists savagely. Deep inside the monster, the impaled spear churned with brutal force, its destructive energy field warping and tearing apart the creature's elemental core.
The colossal beast let out an earth-shaking shriek filled with incomprehensible agony and terminal despair.
Immediately after, three more Dragonscale Marines charged in from the left, right, and rear. Chainswords, power axes, and power swords danced through the air in lethal arcs, hacking and carving into the fire elemental behemoth's body without mercy, practically butchering it alive.
Even Gangtie Kuangchao scrambled up from the dirt, hoisted his chainsword, and drove it violently into the monster's flank with boundless resentment, snarling through gritted teeth, "Fuck you! Spit your dirty juice on me, will you?!"
Accompanied by weakening growls and whimpers, the molten glow in the magma creature's eyes faded rapidly. Its colossal bulk began to twitch and shudder violently.
Finally, the last shred of power sustaining its existence dissolved. This fire elemental behemoth—birthed several years ago, having devoured countless souls and wreaked untold devastation—collapsed like a fallen mountain, disintegrating into a field of rubble, charcoal, and lava.
"Tough bastard," Gangtie Kuangchao said, casually kicking a chunk of the remains before looking toward the towering cliff. "Let's check out over there!"
Yet the moment he took a step, the ground beneath his feet abruptly cracked and caved in. Below lay a boiling pool of magma, where a magma fish had coiled its strength, poised to leap.
The Dragonscale Marines' neural reflexes and battle instincts were far beyond those of mortal men, however. Gangtie Kuangchao simply kicked off the rock face, using the recoil to vault back onto solid ground. Landing firmly on both feet, he muttered, "Why is this place full of damn pits..."
"Boom!"
With a muffled thud, the magma fish burst from the lava pool, its armored skull shattering the crust. But it caught no prey. Instead, it saw a massive, burly figure leaping high into the air.
What greeted the beast was a chainsword cleaving downward from above, its whirring teeth spinning at maximum speed.
"Slash—!"
The sound of rending flesh and bone echoed through the air. The monster was sliced clean in two from snout to tail, dropping limply back into the magma pool.
Gangtie Kuangchao spat fiercely into the lava pool. "Treating your grandpa like prey? Dammit, where'd you get the nerve?!"
The other Dragonscale Marines didn't even bother to look, completely unbothered. They treated it as nothing more than a minor interlude; a monster of that caliber was merely free EXP to them.
"Something's not right..."
Futejia Hepan adjusted his tactical visor and peered through the smoke at the cliff face. It was riddled with cracks, as if smashed open by some tremendous impact.
"There's probably a monster in there, and most likely a big one."
"In that case..." Gangtie Kuangchao grinned, pointing toward the fractured cliff. "Let's blow it to pieces. I'd love to see what's lurking in there!"
A Dragonscale Marine hoisted a rocket launcher onto his shoulder, aimed at the cliff, and pulled the trigger.
"Swoosh—!"
Accompanied by shrill screams, rockets trailing brilliant flames and billowing smoke streaked across the sky, plunging straight into the cliff.
"Boom!"
An earth-shattering roar erupted. Unable to endure the punishment, the fractured cliff collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up a storm of dust and rubble.
Amidst the fallen boulders, a slender, gargantuan monstrosity writhed frantically, struggling out from the cliff's ruins—the giant magma worm.
For a moment, beholding the coiled form of this colossal worm, which resembled a living, shifting hill, even the Dragonscale Marines were awestruck—followed swiftly by sheer exhilaration.
"Now that's a rare beast..."
The creature stretched nearly thirty meters in length, and its gaping maw could open to three meters wide. Exuding a terrifying aura of vitality, its mere slithering caused the ground to tremble—undoubtedly a legendary creature.
Small wonder Luanshi Fusheng had mistaken it for a cave earlier. A monstrosity like this didn't look like anything born of nature.
The giant magma worm roared at the heavens, spitting out burning rocks that rained from the sky and blasted crater after crater into the ground.
"Kill!"
The Dragonscale Marines felt no fear. Darting through the rain of molten rock, they closed in on the giant magma worm. Raising their bolters, they opened fire on its long, thick trunk, sending a storm of rounds shrieking forward, blasting rock shards into the air.
They were all using mountain-piercing rounds. After all, the worm's scales were exceptionally thick and made of solid rock, making it truly no different from a miniature mountain.
Chapter 838