Chapter 197: Chapter 192: The Pay-to-Win Strike

RUMBLE—!

The earth wailed, as if a colossal beast, imprisoned beneath the crust, was frantically ramming against its cage.

At the entrance to Three-way Canyon, the once-solid rock layer was now like a brittle cracker, shattering into countless dark fissures. Billowing smoke, mixed with ochre dust, gushed from the ground like a fountain, instantly obscuring the crimson sky.

"Phase one, ’Wake-Up Service,’ complete."

Jarvis’s voice came through the Demon Eye Mk. III. "Detecting a sharp spike in underground Magic Power fluctuations. The target has been successfully provoked."

Thirty kilometers away, on a high ground with a wide field of view.

Allen was observing the battle from here.

Before him, twenty "Purgatory" rocket launching platforms had already deployed their supports, their metal legs dug deep into the rock. Two hundred and forty launch tubes pointed diagonally at the sky, ready to fire.

"Since they’re awake, let’s invite our guests to a hot bath."

Allen snapped his fingers. "Phase two, ’Forced Invitation,’ begin."

WHOOSH—!!!

An ear-splitting shriek instantly tore through the silence of the wasteland.

The piercing shrieks merged into one as two hundred and forty "Red Lotus-I" rockets launched, tracing deadly parabolas in the air. They formed a cloud of steel that descended like divine punishment, precisely smashing into the collapsing canyon entrance.

The next second.

A new sun rose upon the earth.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The endless chain of explosions merged into a rolling thunderclap. A terrifying shockwave, carrying debris and a heatwave, sent ripples that reached even thirty kilometers away.

The explosions turned the area into a sea of fire, with flames reaching over a thousand degrees licking madly at every inch of land.

It was an inhuman, scorched-earth assault.

Any giant scorpion that tried to escape from the fissures was instantly killed by the high temperature and shockwaves.

"HISSS—!!!!"

A roar filled with boundless pain and fury erupted from the center of the inferno, its sheer sonic force overwhelming the thunder of the explosions.

BOOM!!!

The fissure-covered ground exploded upward as a colossal figure burst out, charging straight through the raging flames and blasts.

The Crystal-shelled Scorpion King!

Its entire body shimmered with a purple-black halo. Its crystalline shell, capable of withstanding a Magic-guided Cannon, was now covered in incendiary agents, yet not a single crack could be seen!

Completely unscathed!

This was a Magical Beast comparable to a Second-level Wizard—its resistance was freakishly high!

In its huge compound eyes burned a venomous hatred and madness sufficient to incinerate everything.

The Scorpion King roared at the sky as the surging Magic Power within it erupted, distorting the surrounding light and forming a visible Force Field that blocked the subsequent explosions.

It sensed it.

The source of that sudden, collective surge of Magic Power was the high ground thirty kilometers away!

The enemy’s nest was there!

’Revenge! I’ll crush all those despicable chunks of metal!’ 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The Scorpion King’s massive, siege-hammer-like pincers slammed into the ground as its enormous body prepared to charge.

However, just as it focused all its attention on the distant "Purgatory" launch site,

only three kilometers away, in the shadows of an inconspicuous mountain hollow,

an eighteen-meter-tall, blue-and-white Steel Giant had long been lying in wait.

Its legs were slightly bent, its massive steel feet dug deep into the ground. On its shoulder, the Energy Gathering Rune Array of the colossal "Titan’s Roar" heavy cannon began to light up, one section at a time.

[Target has entered the optimal firing window.]

The voice of the Freedom Gundam sounded in Allen’s mind.

["Titan’s Roar" charge at 100%.]

Allen’s consciousness was seamlessly linked with the mecha. It was as if he had become the Steel Giant itself, able to clearly feel the world-destroying energy churning violently within the cannon’s barrel—a single Truth Strike purchased at the cost of burning 5,120 Low-Level Magic Stones.

"Target: the Crystal-shelled Scorpion King."

Allen’s voice was calm, like the verdict of a god.

"Goodbye, old neighbor."

"Fire."

BOOM————————!!!

In that instant, the world lost its sound.

A thick beam of light, brighter than the sun and wrapped in crimson lightning, crossed the three-kilometer distance in an instant.

Space itself seemed to be forcibly erased by this energy, as the air in its path was ionized into a straight vacuum tunnel.

The roaring Scorpion King’s body suddenly went rigid.

Its instincts screamed a frantic warning—that was the smell of death!

But it was too fast.

A strike at the speed of light gave it no time to react.

It only had time to slightly turn its body before the torrent of destruction mercilessly pierced through it.

Two years ago, Allen’s attacks couldn’t even scratch its itch, forcing him to retreat with nothing to show for it.

Today, this expensive shot from the Titan’s Roar finally bared its most savage fangs.

Before the beam of light, the Crystal-shelled Scorpion King’s pride and joy, its crystalline armor, began to disintegrate.

The moment the shell shattered, nearly a third of the left side of its body, along with one of its giant pincers, was completely "erased" from the world.

The beam passed through its body and continued to the horizon, leaving a massive, hollowed-out crater in a distant mountain wall.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Only the lingering smell of ozone in the air testified to the terror of the previous strike.

The smoke and dust slowly settled.

The terrifying beast, which had suffered a devastating blow, was somehow still standing.

[Target’s life signs... are dropping, but... have not disappeared.]

Jarvis’s voice carried a hint of anthropomorphic disbelief.

’It’s not dead?!’

Allen’s pupils contracted.

The Scorpion King, with only half its body remaining, trembled violently. Its internal organs, mixed with emerald-green blood, finally broke through the carbonized seal of the wound and gushed out like a waterfall.

"HISSS—!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream of ultimate agony echoed through the sky.

Despite such grievous injuries, it was not yet dead.

The freakish vitality of a second-level creature left it with enough strength to move.

It slowly turned its savage head, its compound eyes locking onto the Steel Giant in the distance that had just lowered its cannon.

Venom, fear, and the madness of a creature on the brink of death.

[Titan’s Roar entering forced cooldown. Heat dissipation system overloaded. Cannot fire again for ten minutes.]

[Warning: Target is burning its life force. Magic Power readings are rising instead of falling! It’s going all out!]

’So, it really was naive of me to think I could one-shot this kind of monster...’

Allen watched the beast, teetering on the verge of collapse yet still radiating a ferocious aura, and a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

’It survived a shot that cost over five thousand Magic Stones. It would be a huge loss if I can’t finish it off now.’

"Finish it off while it’s wounded."

"Freedom Gundam, draw your blade!"

"Close-quarters annihilation mode—"

The fifteen-meter "Meteor" Ship-Slicing Blade shot out with a CLANG.

On the blade’s body, high-frequency vibration Runes instantly activated, emitting a tooth-aching hum.

"Strike!"

In the mountain hollow, the wings on the Freedom Gundam’s back suddenly erupted with a dazzling blue light. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, it charged toward the giant beast!