Chapter 242: Chapter 236: Big Boy’s Debut
Black Stone Gobi.
The Rock Armor Earth Dragon leader was venting its fury, tearing into the wreckage of a Pacifista. The Arcanite armor screeched and warped inside its massive jaws.
At the edge of the skyline, four black dots grew rapidly larger.
With a deafening sonic boom, four blue-and-white Freedom Gundams ripped through the clouds, crashing to the ground in a four-corner formation.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The earth trembled violently. Four eighteen-meter-tall Steel Giants surrounded the Earth Dragon leader.
The leader spat out the metal scraps, its dark gold, slit-pupiled eyes locked onto the uninvited guests.
It could feel a threat emanating from these iron behemoths.
"Units Three, Four, Five, and Six have arrived on the battlefield," Jarvis reported in real time.
Allen sat in the workshop’s command room, his Spiritual Power connected to all units on the field via a cluster-link technique, giving him simultaneous control.
"Engage."
The wing-like Floating Cannons on the backs of the four Freedom Gundams deployed instantly. Forty Dragon Cavalry units whistled out, weaving a dense, inescapable net of firepower in mid-air.
A storm of high-energy Magic Power beams rained down.
The leader roared at the sky as the earthen-yellow quicksand on its body churned wildly, solidifying into a two-meter-thick layer of physical armor.
The beams struck the quicksand, triggering a widespread crystallization reaction, but the crystallized sections were instantly covered and sloughed off by the churning sand that followed.
"Conventional firepower is ineffective."
"Draw swords."
The four Gundams reached behind their backs in perfect unison.
The fifteen-meter-long "Meteor" Ship-Slicing Blades were unsheathed. High-frequency vibration Runes activated, and the blades let out a piercing hum.
The four units powered their legs and charged the leader simultaneously.
The leader whipped its massive tail, which shrieked as it tore through the air, lashing viciously toward Unit Three in the front.
Unit Three didn’t dodge or evade. An AT Field composed of a hexagonal lattice deployed instantly.
BOOM!
The massive tail slammed into the Force Field, erupting in a blinding halo of light. The immense recoil pushed Unit Three back several dozen meters, its feet plowing two deep trenches in the ground, but the unit itself was completely unscathed.
At the same time, Units Four and Five closed in from the flanks. Their two Ship-Slicing Blades screamed through the air as they hacked down violently onto the leader’s spine.
A deafening screech of friction rang out. The Ship-Slicing Blades cut through the outer layer of quicksand but were stopped dead by the dense, dark gold scales underneath, leaving behind two white scars less than twenty centimeters deep.
The leader, in agony, went berserk. It stomped its thick limbs on the ground, and a ring of earthen-yellow gravitational waves erupted outward.
The movements of Units Four and Five faltered as if they were suddenly burdened by ten thousand tons. Dazzling sparks burst from the units’ joints.
Unit Six took the opportunity to descend from the sky, bringing its Ship-Slicing Blade straight down toward the leader’s head.
The leader snapped its head up and opened its maw. A thick, earthen-yellow beam of light erupted forth, striking Unit Six square in the chest.
The AT Field flickered violently as its Magic Power reserves plummeted. Unit Six used the impact to flip twice in mid-air before landing steadily.
"Just what you’d expect from a monster approaching the peak of a Second-level Wizard," Allen said, looking at the data feed on his screen. "The probability of penetrating its defenses in close combat is extremely low. Keep it engaged. Don’t let it burrow underground."
The four Gundams pulled back, using their mobility to circle and skirmish. The Dragon Cavalry units fired continuously. While unable to inflict a fatal blow, they successfully provoked the leader’s rage.
The leader repeatedly spat beams of light, trying to shoot down the annoying flies, only to be blocked by the AT Fields time and time again.
It was intelligent and extremely cunning. It realized that these iron behemoths had astonishing defensive capabilities and couldn’t be destroyed quickly.
Just then, ten kilometers away from the battlefield, behind a low, barren, rocky hill.
Unit Two was kneeling, the massive "Titan’s Roar" heavy cannon on its shoulder already aimed.
On the cannon’s barrel, a complex Energy Gathering Rune Array lit up stage by stage. The ambient Magic Power in the surroundings rushed madly into the muzzle, forming a miniature vortex of magic.
[Titan’s Roar charging progress: 100%.]
[Target locked.]
Allen’s eyes were cold. "Fire."
BOOM—!
All sound between heaven and earth vanished.
A massive beam of light, wreathed in crimson lightning, crossed the ten-kilometer distance in an instant, tore through the sandstorm, and struck the leader’s right flank with perfect accuracy.
The Rock Armor Earth Dragon’s instincts screamed a warning just a moment before the beam hit. It desperately twisted its body, turning its thickest back armor toward the attack.
But this was a "Truth Strike" fueled by five thousand Magic Stones.
The quicksand armor vaporized instantly. The dark gold scales shattered and disintegrated.
The beam finally broke through its defenses, blasting a bloody hole in its side from which viscous blood poured out.
"ROAR—!!!"
The pain destroyed its reason, but it also unleashed its most primal ferocity.
The Magic Power fluctuations within the Rock Armor Earth Dragon surged once more!
VWOOM!
A gravitational wave ten times more powerful than the last erupted from its center.
The ground within a one-kilometer radius instantly sank by several meters.
Units Three, Four, Five, and Six, being the closest, bore the brunt of it.
[WARNING! Extreme gravity field. Unit power systems overloading!]
The four Gundams’ movements froze instantly. The internal structures of the mechs groaned under the strain, and their AT Fields flickered under the crushing gravity. They were like insects sealed in amber, unable to move a muscle.
Allen’s brow furrowed slightly.
’This monster is going all out.’
Unexpectedly, the Rock Armor Earth Dragon ignored the iron behemoths at its feet.
It turned its head, its gaze fixed on Unit Two, five kilometers away, which had just fired the cannon.
The Rock Armor Earth Dragon’s massive body shot forward. Its four limbs gouged huge pits in the earth as it charged madly toward Unit Two at a speed that utterly defied its size. Wherever it passed, the rocks in its path were smashed directly into dust.
The Rock Armor Earth Dragon had realized that only the distant iron thing could harm it. It had to shred the weapon that had wounded it; the other iron behemoths were no longer a concern.
Allen raised an eyebrow.
He had just been calculating that if he dropped the "Big Boy" directly, its two-kilometer absolute kill radius would inevitably crystallize the four trapped Gundams along with it.
Allen couldn’t bear to sacrifice four expensive Freedom Gundams.
Now, the leader was creating that distance for him.
"Thinking it’s so clever. What an accommodating prey," Allen murmured as he gave the final order.
High above the clouds.
Unit One hovered silently. Fixed to the pylon on its back was a cylindrical metal column—the Big Boy.
"Unit One, release the payload. Target locked, one kilometer ahead of the leader."
The pylon’s locks disengaged.
"Withdraw."
All six Freedom Gundams turned simultaneously, their Anti-gravity Arrays at full power, and rocketed desperately toward the upper atmosphere.
The metal cylinder detached from the unit and, under the acceleration of gravity, plummeted toward the ground.
The leader was in a full-on sprint.
It sensed something unusual above.
It looked up to see an unremarkable metal cylinder hurtling toward the path directly in front of it.
The leader slowed slightly. It had absolute confidence in its defenses but still wouldn’t take a hit for no reason.
The metal cylinder touched the ground.
There was no earth-shattering explosion or flash of light like a Crimson Lotus Magic Missile.
The thirty-six Crystal Amplification Arrays on the cylinder’s shell activated instantly. Inside, five tons of high-purity Crystallization Seed ore, amplified ten-million-fold by resonance, released all of its energy in one-tenth of a second.
A ring of iridescent light clung to the ground, expanding rapidly outward.
The wave of light swept over the dunes, and the black sand instantly turned into transparent crystal.
The wave of light swept over the charging leader.
Time stopped.
The leader was frozen in its charging posture, its front claws hanging in mid-air.
Its dark gold scales lost their luster, transforming into a pure white crystalline structure.
Muscle, bone, and organs—all had their material forms forcibly rewritten by this absolute law of crystallization.
The iridescent wave continued to expand until it slowly dissipated five kilometers out.
The battlefield fell deathly silent.
A massive crystal basin with a one-kilometer radius had appeared in the Black Stone Gobi. Everything within the basin had been turned into a lifeless, glass-like substance.
In the center of the basin stood a giant, thirty-meter-long crystal statue.
A light breeze blew past.
CRACK.
A crack appeared on the surface of the crystal statue.
The crack spread rapidly across its entire body.
SHATTER.
The thirty-meter-long beast crumbled into a cloud of white crystal fragments that scattered across the ground.
A one-hit kill.
Absolute annihilation.
"Target’s vital signs have flatlined. Crystallization reaction has subsided," Jarvis’s voice announced right on cue.
Allen leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief.
’Finally got rid of it,’ he thought, looking at the field of pure white crystal fragments on the screen.
"Let’s clean up the battlefield. This operation was a bit expensive. Hopefully, we can open up a few more mines in the Black Stone Gobi to cover it."
The four slightly damaged Gundams reactivated and returned to the workshop for maintenance.
Allen severed the Spiritual Power link and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Just then, a communication request suddenly popped up on the command room screen.
Source: Sector 19.
A flicker of understanding crossed Allen’s eyes.
Victor Iron Flame.
’All that commotion was bound to attract his attention.’
