Chapter 397 (2): Machine Is Evolving
“???”
Solsknar gaped, confused about what had happened.
Boom!!
An orange fireball emerged amid rising black clouds, the shockwaves rumbling across the land. Solsknar flew backward, scattering the smoke with a wave. A layer of ash covered his blackened bald head, and the lower half of his long black robe was gone, revealing two thick, hairy legs.
The damage wasn’t significant, but the humiliation was. The freakish meeting gift infuriated Solsknar.
Screech!
A series of metal scraping sounds echoed. Mid-air, the Air Marshal transformed into a gliding fighter jet, opening the launchers to launch a series of missiles.
His ample energy gave him an incredible capacity, and the TNT equivalent of each missile was formidable.
The missiles were too slow, though, and Solsknar could easily dodge out of the way. Not even a single hair on his body—
Boom!!
A missile hit Solsknar squarely. He flew backward at an unseeable speed.
In the distance, a massive explosion rang out, filling the air with gunpowder and leaving the land ravaged. Where the Field Marshal had been, a heavy Tiger tank rumbled along, weighing over fifty tons and running at an impressive speed with its road wheels and tracks in sync.
The Grand Admiral stared blankly. The only water to be found was in the mouth of the volcano. With no suitable terrain, his battleship form had no use.
A few kilometers away, Wayne hid in the bushes.
(≖`‸´≖)
He didn’t know much about the Second World War aside from the famous memes, most of them related to Franc: the ninety percent new rifles, buildings that were sturdier than France defense, or the saying that “Maginot means ‘welcome’ in German[1].”
However, despite his lack of knowledge about the actual history, he did know a thing or two about the Tigers as a semi-fan of weaponry. At this point in time, the prototype of the Tigers shouldn’t even exist yet, much less for the Tigers to be deployed[2]!
“It’s the Chosen Land, though. There are even ship waifus. Why would I get hung up on tanks? Even if the atomic bombs...”
Please don’t.
“Even if fighter jets are deployed, I won’t be surprised.”
After grumbling, he turned to Hestia and said, “You shut up. Watch the fight play out quietly, you ill-mannered woman.”
“I’ll take the lesson to heart.”
“...”
Seriously, Lady? Where’s your hot temper? Why are you so meek all of a sudden?
Wayne huffed. “Lust incarnate, I order you in the name of my real identity in Heaven to return to your defiant self.”
“Will do,” Hestia said seriously. “But I have to confirm your stigma first.”
She was ninety-nine percent certain that Wayne was the Śār she once served.
“Come to my room tonight, and I’ll show you when the light is out. Remember to come alone.”
“Understood.”
“...”
Wayne turned away in disappointment. Hestia’s appeal to him went on a nosedive. Aside from her lewd body and serious temperament, there was nothing attractive about her.
He already had someone like her in his harem.
Meanwhile, with all the flags Wayne raised, the Air Marshal transformed into a fighter aircraft and zigzagged in the sky with unnatural agility.
The Field Marshal leveled up. With the Tiger tank as the base, he transformed and divided components to create two side cannons. Three barrels fired simultaneously at a frequency that rivaled a semi-automatic weapon.
The Grand Admiral was still biding his time.
The firepower forced Solsknar to retreat continuously. At first, he could still dodge with his high speed, but not long after, he became unable to escape the two Marshals’ focused fire no matter how he moved.
The machine was evolving!
Whether regular soldiers could do it was hard to say, but the Marshals were no doubt able to evolve rapidly during battles. Using them as the blueprints to reverse-engineer the designs, Prussia would be able to create a space battleship in ten years.
(￣□￣;)
Wayne couldn’t believe it. Prussia had become so OP that she could crush Franc’s defense line head-on. Windsor would have no way to resist in the coming naval and aerial battles, either.
He reminded himself that Regina had provided the key intelligence that the core knowledge of mechanical evolution was hidden in the volcano, so by destroying the Philosopher’s Stone... no, by consuming it, he would be able to destroy Prussia’s aura of invincibility. Besides, it was a good thing for him that Mechanical Augmentation held such infinite potential. He should be happy.
Rumble!!
Below the volcano, aircraft took flight with spinning rotor blades. Under the command of the Air Marshal, they dropped explosives to the ground for a dense bombardment. At the same time, the tanks lined up, firing in unison under the Field Marshal’s order.
The network of Mechanical Augmentation was a true local network.
In the sky, the Air Marshal’s weaponry had been updated, no longer limited to simple bombardment. To attack the invader more efficiently, his machine body evolved constantly, having developed an air-to-ground missile system. At the same time, the other flying squads were slowly evolving as well...
The ball was now in the Grand Admiral’s court. He was still staring at the unfolding battle, unable to do anything.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosive bombardment flattened the peak that Solsknar perched at. The powerful demigod was unwilling to waste his thoughts taking the assault head-on, so, transforming into a black python, he dug underground.
Missiles couldn’t go underground. He didn’t believe it was possible.
But it was!
A bunker buster exploded right beside the black python, launching Solsknar into the sky, pelting him with dust and ashes. Before he could land, a few fighter jets intercepted him, hurling him further into the sky. Dense firepower followed. With a sigh, Solsknar turned into black mist and reconstituted on the ground.
“Nice power. It’s enough to conquer the world. Facing real power, however, this isn’t enough...” Solsknar raised a hand to conjure a towering screen of black mist, devouring the endless barrage of missiles. There was no fire or explosion. The missiles vanished as soon as they sank into the darkness.
Facing such shameless defense, the two Marshals retaliated straightforwardly—increasing the firepower.
All fear stems from a lack of firepower!
In an instant, the TNT equivalent of their bombardment grew exponentially. Solsknar grimaced as he watched his Darkness ripple and roll with sputtering sparks. More explosions happened. The black screen shuddered and wavered, unable to continue erasing and devouring attacks.
Having his capability denied once more, Solsknar was so furious that his head felt like it would explode. He couldn’t tolerate further humiliation, so he went for his ultimate attack, drawing Darkness for a full-map attack. As he clenched his fist, a great number of metal chunks fell from the sky.
On the ground, the neat rows of tanks became distorted. Aside from the Air Marshal and the Field Marshal, no other machines could keep fighting.
Oh, there was the Grand Admiral as well.
Solsknar was about to wipe out the map when he sensed the energy of two demon lords. He frowned. The way they sneakily approached obviously meant that they were going to close the net.
Mechanical Augmentation was a good evolution path, but it hadn’t shown any surprise that really captivated Solsknar. While it was decent, it wasn’t the right path for him.
After some consideration, he concluded that Darkness and Hell suited him better.
With his mind made up, he sent his thoughts back to the Divine Realm, fading away and putting an end to his brief visit to the human world. He could see that the future of mechanical evolution lay in the exploration of technology. It was beyond him, so he wouldn’t worry about it. It was wiser to return to fields he was most familiar with.
After Solsknar’s departure, the Air Marshal and the Field Marshal didn’t stop evolving. They landed, melding their machine body with the metal shards all across the ground. As they rose, they turned into behemoths standing ten meters tall.
The thick cannons, the missile launchers on their chest plates, the rockets on their backs, and their overall humanoid structures made Wayne’s heart pound as he remained in the bushes. He could not allow them to keep evolving, or they really were going to start piecing together atomic bombs.
He rose to intervene, but as soon as he did, he saw two figures appear in the air, facing off against the two Marshals.
The Grand Admiral was ignored once more.
Wrath and Gluttony had made an appearance. They shouldn’t have, but with the evolution path right within reach, they couldn’t afford to trust their fellow demon lord.
Even if I can wait, can he? x2
Bah, he’s a demon with no credibility! x2
Gluttony had transformed from a tiger-headed man to a fly man, and Wrath had transformed from a wolfman to a half-dragon. Gluttony was facing the Air Marshal, while Wrath took on the Field Marshal. They created a portal together, planning to send the two into the projected Abyss for further study.
The two Marshals were only substitutes to quench their desires. What they were really after was the evolution path. They wanted nothing more than to find out who had claimed the path.
“Gluttony, I’ll take on the two of them,” Wrath said pridefully. “You should make preparations in the projected Abyss to make sure they won’t run away.”
“I haven’t done as much study in projected space, so just in case, you should do it,” Gluttony said humbly.
The demon lords disagreed. Their friendship capsized just like that.
“You must be able to see that the real knowledge is hidden in the volcano, Gluttony. The path remains unclaimed for now. If anyone has had a head start, it would be the three Marshals.”
“Who knows? Perhaps the Führer is much further ahead.”
“...” x2
(ꐦ￣皿￣)っლ(ˉへ￣＃)
“Fine. It’ll be everyone for themselves. Whoever takes the knowledge first will be the winner!”
“Deal. Winner takes all, and the loser will walk away with nothing.”
“Deal.”
“I swear on my true name as a demon lord that I’ll honor my word!” x2
“...” x2
Shameless demon, I knew you wouldn’t keep your promise! x2
***
In the bushes, Wayne had crouched back down. He would wait until the two demon lords reached mutual destruction before he intervened and banished them to hell.
“Boss, I’ve already reached the mouth of the volcano,” Regina said in his head.
Good job!
“What do you see?” Wayne asked. “Wait, I’ll just see for myself.”
He squinted. Above the rushing rivers of scorching lava, he saw a hovering... spaceship.
“???”
Holy shit, there really are aliens!
1. The Maginot Line was a defense line built with heavy investment in France before WWII. During the war, it was supposed to deter German invasion, but the German forces chose to attack through the weak part of the French defense line near Ardennes and went around the Maginot. It’s been debated whether the Maginot Line served its intended purpose. ☜
2. The Tiger I tanks began operational duty in 1942. ☜
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