Chapter 1630: Second Attack: Part-5
For several suffocating seconds after the flesh-cutting impact echoed across the battlefield, Vesperine froze.
Her eyes remained tightly shut, fingers trembling against the shattered stone beneath her boots while the metallic stench of blood spread through the cold air. She had seen it clearly. A streak of bright blue light descended from above like a falling star before crashing directly toward Victor’s back.
Everything inside her sank.
Everything was over... until,
CRRNNKKKKK...!!
The violent scream of grinding metal ripped through the battlefield.
Vesperine’s eyes shot open.
Her breath caught violently in her throat the moment she saw it.
Victor still stood.
A towering whitish-black metallic figure had appeared behind him like a phantom forged from steel and frost. Blue energy pulsed across the seams of its armour while steam hissed from rotating vents along its spine. In its hands rested a massive double-edged axe humming with enough force to split armoured mountains apart.
One edge had already buried itself deep into Victor’s thigh.
Blood streamed down his leg in thick crimson lines, dripping onto the cracked battlefield below, yet the blade had stopped only inches before the bone.
Because Victor had caught it.
CRCCCKKK...!!
His left mechanical arm groaned violently under the pressure. Metallic plating cracked apart while sparks burst from the joints like tiny explosions.
The force behind that strike alone could have torn a normal human completely in half.
But Victor did not move.
Did not scream.
Did not even blink.
In truth, the strike had originally been aimed at his neck. The enemy had descended from above with terrifying precision, intending to decapitate him instantly.
Victor reacted at the final possible moment.
He had twisted his body sideways and raised his leg directly into the axe’s trajectory. The sheer mass of his reinforced lower body altered the weapon’s angle just enough to prevent a clean execution strike.
Even then, the impact still carved deep into his thigh.
Just about to cut off cleanly, Victor shifted his weight backwards, reduced the momentum, and caught the axe using his mechanical hand beneath the illusion covering his body.
If he had stopped the strike head-on with the arm alone, the entire limb would have exploded into scrap metal instantly. Worse, the remaining force would have continued directly through his chest.
Behind him, the tailed metallic figure that attacked earlier collapsed fully onto the battlefield. Its limbs twitched uncontrollably while blue particles leaked from cracks throughout its armour. Sparks erupted from its visor before the lights inside faded.
Its body no longer responded.
[System Shutdown in 10 seconds]
Victor ignored it completely.
His eyes locked onto the new enemy standing before him.
Slowly, he pushed the axe away from his bleeding thigh using only his damaged mechanical arm. Muscles across his body tightened while blood continued pouring down his leg.
The whitish-black machine immediately reacted.
The pistons around its shoulders compressed inward with explosive force. Hydraulic cylinders rotated violently while steam blasted from their elbows. Instead of pulling back, the machine pushed harder.
The axe drove deeper.
Chunks of flesh tore apart.
Blood splattered across the weapon’s dark metallic surface.
Yet Victor’s face remained terrifyingly emotionless.
Noticing the difference in raw output strength, Victor immediately activated his movement skill.
A sharp distortion flashed beneath his feet.
SLUCKK...!!
His body vanished backwards in a single step.
The enormous axe suddenly lost resistance and sliced through empty air instead. Momentum carried the blade downward with frightening weight before the enemy forcefully stabilised itself by rotating its hips and shifting balance mechanically.
Victor stared at the figure silently.
This one was different.
The armour plating looked denser than the previous units, layered with overlapping metallic scales that absorbed light instead of reflecting it. Blue currents moved beneath the seams like flowing veins while tiny light flickered across the surface of its visor.
Victor’s eyes lowered toward his injured thigh. Blood continued running down his leg in thick streams, soaking the torn fabric around the wound. Without changing expression, he removed a healing potion from his storage device and shattered it directly onto the injury.
Golden liquid spread across the exposed flesh.
Steam rose immediately.
The torn muscles slowly began reconnecting while damaged tissue crawled back together inch by inch.
The machine observed everything carefully.
Then it slowly raised its massive double-edged axe again.
Mechanical joints rotated with heavy metallic clicks while blue energy gathered along the sharpened edges.
Still, it did not attack.
It simply stared at Victor through its smooth, faceless visor... except that two crimson lights glowed within the darkness like artificial eyes studying prey.
Then a mechanical voice echoed from inside the armour.
[Activating Translator]
The red lights narrowed.
"We truly did not expect to encounter His Majesty, the Dragon Emperor, in a place like this."
For the first time since the war had begun, the Terra People spoke to him directly using their own Lycorian language.
The moment those words echoed across the battlefield, Vesperine’s expression stiffened.
She had never expected it.
Not only did the Terra People know the Lycorian tongue... they spoke it fluently. Naturally. As if it belonged to them.
Victor tilted his head slightly before a faint, amused smirk appeared on his face.
*Oh? So I’m famous in your land, too?*
His tone carried a half-joking calmness, but the battlefield itself seemed to grow quieter afterwards.
For the first time since arriving, the metallic figure visibly reacted.
Its body froze mid-motion while reaching toward its fallen comrade.
Then the red lights inside its visor narrowed sharply.
*You... know our language?*
There was genuine surprise beneath the mechanical distortion.
Victor’s smirk deepened slightly.
*Of course.*
His eyes remained fixed on the figure.
*After all... we received your first gift, didn’t we?*
The meaning behind those words struck immediately.
The bait.
The first sacrifice the Terra Empire had deliberately sent into their world to initiate the war.
The battlefield fell silent for a moment.
Then the metallic figure released a low mechanical hum. Almost laughter.
"I see..."
Its voice returned to Victor’s language once again, calmer now.
"So you discovered that too."
"Interesting. It seems we have underestimated you far more than expected."
Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The machine continued speaking, casually moving closer to the fallen one.
"Regardless, the mission has failed... We will now be returning."
BOOOOMMM!!!
A deafening white beam suddenly tore through the battlefield.
Vesperine instinctively shielded her face from the impact.
But when the smoke cleared...
The metallic figure still stood there.
Completely unharmed.
Not even a scratch marked the pristine whitish-black armour. The surface remained polished and untouched while faint blue energy rippled harmlessly across it.
The machine slowly lifted its head back toward Victor.
Its glowing red eyes lowered toward the weapon in Victor’s hand.
A gun.
White energy still leaked from the barrel.
"Oh?"
The figure’s mechanical voice carried a clear interest now.
"What do we have here?"
The red lights inside the visor brightened intensely.
A faint scanning field swept across Victor’s weapon repeatedly.
"A firearm?"
It paused briefly.
"Powered by Origin Core crystals?"
The machine tilted its head slightly.
"No..."
The scanning intensified.
"A replica."
Victor remained silent.
The machine gave another low hum.
"So someone in this world managed to reverse-engineer fragments of our technology."
Its fingers tightened around the axe handle.
"That explains several irregularities we encountered during this operation."
The red glow inside its visor pulsed slowly.
"We failed to account for variables developing this quickly."
Then it sighed.
An actual sigh.
"The President is going to be furious."
Victor frowned slightly.
"You’re the President?"
He genuinely sounded surprised.
Victor had already sensed this unit was vastly different from the others. The aura radiating from this figure felt heavier.
Not merely stronger.
Superior.
He had initially assumed this individual might be the ruler of the Terra Empire itself or someone holding supreme authority.
The whitish-black figure immediately shook its head.
"Me?"
A distorted laugh escaped from the translator.
"The President?"
"Oh, please."
Its tone carried playful sarcasm now.
"I’m honoured you would evaluate me so highly, Dragon Emperor..."
The red lights inside the visor sharpened.
"But no."
The machine slowly planted the massive axe beside itself.
Then it straightened fully.
"I am merely... Arcane King."
The red lights glowed brighter.
"Chosen personally by our Saviour... Goddess Arcane."
"..."
The instant those words left the machine’s visor, Victor’s expression changed completely.
The faint amusement vanished.
His eyes turned cold.
So that was it.
That subtle difference he sensed from this figure earlier... it finally made sense.
Victor had already extracted information regarding the "Chosen Ones" of the Terra Empire from the captured prisoner before. According to him, these individuals rarely appeared publicly and almost nobody had direct contact with them.
At that exact moment, a transparent system panel suddenly appeared before Vesperine’s eyes alone.
[New Target: Allen Hatcher]
The colour instantly drained from her face.
All of it twisted together inside her expression.
Her next seduction target... was him?
Slowly, almost instinctively, her gaze shifted toward Victor.
But Victor was no longer looking at the Arcane King.
His eyes had already fallen toward the broken metallic figure lying unconscious beside him.
"Oh? Of course..."
The Arcane King tilted its head slightly.
"She is the Arcane Queen."
The moment those words entered the battlefield, Victor’s expression turned completely emotionless.
A second gun materialised instantly into his right hand.
Victor pulled the trigger without hesitation.
BANG!!
BANG!!
Twin white beams exploded forward like compressed lightning, tearing across the battlefield at terrifying speed.
The Arcane King moved instantly.
SHRRAAAKKK!!!
Its massive double-edged axe swung once through the air.
The glowing edge sliced directly through both beams.
Split apart.
The white energy divided cleanly into two streams before detonating violently behind the machine.
Yet Victor was already moving.
The instant the Arcane King swung, Victor accelerated forward like a bullet.
Distance vanished in less than a second.
He appeared directly before the Arcane King’s visor.
The barrel of his gun pressed against the machine’s faceplate.
BOOOOMMM!!!
The point-blank blast erupted like a cannon.
White light engulfed the Arcane King entirely as the impact wave exploded outward in concentric rings. The machine itself staggered backwards several meters.
But before Victor could capitalise on the opening, the Arcane King reacted.
Its fingers clenched tightly around the axe handle.
Blue energy violently surged along the weapon’s edges, causing the air itself to shriek under the pressure.
Then it swung.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Frenzied slashes tore through empty air.
Victor immediately frowned while jumping backwards.
What the hell was it doing?
The attacks hadn’t even come close to reaching him.
Then he saw it.
SHHHHHRRRAAAKKKK!!!
Blue crescent-shaped waves suddenly erupted from the axe swings.
Gigantic energy claws ripped through the battlefield toward him with horrifying speed, carving through everything in their path. The ground split open instantly while massive claw-shaped trenches exploded across the ruins.
Victor’s pupils contracted sharply.
He leapt upward immediately.
BAAAAMMMM!!!
BAAAAMMMM!!!
BAAAAMMMM!!!
The claw waves crashed beneath him one after another, pulverizing the battlefield below. Entire chunks of earth exploded skyward while the shockwaves shook the surrounding ruins violently.
Victor twisted midair before landing heavily across broken stone several meters away.
The instant his boots touched the ground, he prepared to charge again.
But he stopped.
The Arcane King had already reached its fallen comrade.
With one arm, it lifted the unconscious Arcane Queen onto its shoulder effortlessly.
Behind them, the portal opened earlier by the tailed figure still shimmered in the air.
The Arcane King stood directly before it.
Its glowing red eyes stared toward Victor with clear amusement now.
"Apologies for disappointing you... But I haven’t received authorisation to engage in full combat."
The statement alone made Victor’s face darken.
Not authorised?
After all this destruction... this thing still considered itself restrained?
The Arcane King adjusted the unconscious Queen slightly on its shoulder before continuing calmly.
"Even though she failed her mission to retrieve the artifact..."
Its visor glowed brighter.
"Do not worry."
A faint, distorted chuckle escaped the translator.
"We are not leaving empty-handed."
Victor’s eyes narrowed sharply.
Then suddenly...
SSSSHHHHHHH~
A strange breeze swept across the battlefield.
Victor instantly turned toward the distant barrier surrounding the war zone.
And his expression changed.
Bright flashes began appearing across the sky.
One after another.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.
Spatial portals began opening across the heavens like fractures splitting reality apart.
Victor’s heart slammed violently inside his chest.
"You fucking assholes!!!"
His roar exploded.
He immediately raised his gun and fired repeatedly toward the Arcane King.
BANG!!
BANG!!
BANG!!
But before the beams could even reach their target, the Arcane King stepped backwards into the portal alongside the Arcane Queen.
The portal collapsed instantly afterwards.
Victor’s breathing turned heavy.
Just as he prepared to rush toward the distant portals himself, a familiar voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.
’We already prepared for this.’
Aria’s voice echoed in his mind with calm and confidence.
Victor froze briefly in confusion before instinctively looking upward.
And then he saw them.
Hundreds of dragons soared across the sky.
And beneath their claws...
They carried enormous metallic cages?
