dognovel Chapter 736 I'll Let You Fly!
Chapter 736 I'll Let You Fly!
As the dark figure drew closer to the ground, Zod's crimson eyes widened involuntarily.
He could clearly sense that the black shadow that had descended from the sky was enormous in size and incredibly heavy, and was by no means an ordinary demon or apostle.
As the shadowy figure came into complete view, Zuo De's body tensed instinctively, and an unprecedented sense of vigilance surged from his spine to the top of his head.
He realized that it was not a living thing at all, but a huge steel construct almost the same size as himself.
The cold, metallic shell spread out in the field of vision, lifeless, yet carrying a brutal and direct sense of oppression.
Zod had lived for a long time, fought on countless battlefields, and killed countless monsters and humans, but he had never seen anything like it.
The next moment, intense flames suddenly spewed out from the two holes on the back of the large iron shell.
The flames weren't violent, but they carried a steady and continuous thrust, causing the heavy iron structure to slowly decelerate in the air and descend to the ground in an eerily smooth manner.
The entire process proceeded without shaking or losing control, completely defying all of Zuo De's common sense about flight.
It relied neither on wings, nor on magic, nor on physical strength; it supported its heavy body solely on two jets of flame.
Zuo De's heart sank.
He could sense that the threat posed by this thing was far more terrifying than the wizard he had just encountered.
Around this enormous iron shell were dozens of smaller, but still over two meters tall, figures.
They were also encased in heavy metal, fully armed from head to toe, with no exposed skin or human faces visible.
Each of the Iron Men held a strangely shaped weapon in its hand, the names of which Zod could not name and the purpose of which he could not understand.
These iron figures each carried a device on their backs, similar to the previous metal construct. The device continuously emitted downward flames, weak yet stable, which offset their own weight, allowing these fully armed iron figures to slowly descend along with the large iron shell.
Everything was utterly unfamiliar.
Zod unconsciously tightened his grip on the priest's hand.
Within just a few hours, he encountered beings beyond his comprehension. First, a strange wizard used powers he couldn't understand to interfere with the battle; now, a giant iron shell descended from the sky, along with a group of iron men carrying fire-breathing devices.
The things on this land are gradually shattering his long-established understanding of combat.
He even began to wonder if he had stumbled into a realm that did not belong to this world.
Meanwhile, in the experimental area, Stephen and others were observing the images transmitted from Cross's perspective in real time through rune imaging.
The runes pulsed steadily, projecting the scene on the ground clearly, without missing a single detail.
When everyone saw Cross land smoothly in his mech without any malfunctions or accidents, the tense atmosphere eased slightly.
The next second, Kroos's voice came directly through the communicator.
"I have landed normally."
His voice was calm, devoid of any extraneous emotion, simply a report after the task was completed.
Nearby, Hawke had just arrived at the scene, his feet not yet fully steady, his gaze fixed on the rune image.
After confirming that all ground troops were in position and that Cross was in good condition, he did not hesitate and immediately issued orders.
"Alright, execute the operation plan."
The instructions were clear, concise, and without any unnecessary words.
The moment Cross received the order, the massive metal-shelled machine paused slightly, then slowly turned around to face the left, not far away.
The steam-armored soldiers standing in neat rows beside him raised their arms in unison the moment they saw Zod.
The rotating machine gun mounted on the arm immediately aimed at the target, and the internal components of the barrel began to charge at high speed, emitting a deep hum, ready to unleash firepower at the command.
However, just as the soldiers were about to open fire, Cross made a gesture to stop them.
He noticed the priest that Zod was holding in his hand.
Actions must not harm the target; this is a clearly stated principle in the operational plan.
Cross slightly raised his hand, a simple signal that caused all the steam-armored soldiers around him to temporarily cease their attack.
The machine gun remained aimed at Zod, but the hum of charging up did not intensify further; it remained ready to fire at any moment.
Zuo De finally snapped out of his shock.
Only a few hours had passed since his encounter with the wizard, but the impact of those few hours was unprecedented.
He was used to crushing everything with force, used to enjoying the carnage in head-on battles, but everything before him left him feeling helpless.
He didn't know what these iron objects were, where their power came from, how they attacked, or how to destroy them.
The unknown is what most easily evokes instinctive fear.
Zuo De stared at the massive iron shell before him, his blood-red pupils slightly contracting.
He opened his mouth, trying to speak, wanting to find out the other person's identity and purpose.
"you……"
The moment he uttered the word, Kroos on the other side gave him no further chances.
The massive, iron-shelled machine suddenly exerted its power, its heavy metal feet slamming heavily onto the ground, and its entire body charged straight towards Zuo De with a speed disproportionate to its size.
Kroos made no probing moves, no unnecessary actions, and went straight for a direct collision.
The massive iron body, carrying brute force, crashed to the left. At the same time, the steam-powered hammer mounted on the right arm of the machine rose high, carrying compressed steam thrust, and slammed straight down towards Zuo De.
The power hammer is covered with a thick layer of metal, and every inch of it exudes pure destructive power.
Zuo De reacted extremely quickly, making a judgment the instant the other party moved.
He suddenly turned to the side, his massive body nimbly dodging the hammer's blow.
The heavy hammer grazed his body and struck empty air, sending a powerful blast of air outwards.
Just as Zuo Degang dodged the attack, before he could even adjust his stance, a piercing mechanical turning sound rang in his ears.
"Buzzing—"
On Cross's other arm, the power saw suddenly changed direction. Its sharp teeth, spinning at high speed, unleashed astonishing cutting force, slicing directly across the arm that Zod was holding the priest with without any warning.
Zuo De didn't have time to fully defend himself.
He felt a numbness in his arm, followed by an intense, excruciating pain.
Looking down, he saw that the arm he was holding onto the priest had been neatly severed by a power saw.
The cut surface was smooth, and blood gushed out instantly.
The excruciating pain overwhelmed his senses like a tidal wave, yet Zod did not utter a single scream.
He endured the excruciating pain, exerted his strength, and created a safe distance between himself and Cross.
Blood kept dripping from the cut, and with each heartbeat, excruciating pain spread throughout his body, but he couldn't care less about any of that.
What truly bothered him was the fear that was slowly rising in his heart.
It wasn't fear of pain, nor fear of injury, but fear of the unknown.
He had absolutely no idea what kind of existence this huge iron shell in front of him was.
It is not human, not an apostle, not a monster, and not a magical creation.
It has a hard shell, a strange power source, and a weapon that can easily sever its own body. Its movements are precise and ruthless, with every move aimed straight for the vital points. It is devoid of any emotion, driven solely by the pure purpose of combat.
For the first time in his long life, Zod felt an incomprehensible sense towards his opponent.
The moment he distanced himself from Kroos, an extremely unfavorable situation immediately arose.
Zod's position was now completely exposed to the guns of the surrounding steam-armored soldiers.
More than a dozen rotating machine guns locked onto him simultaneously, their barrels accelerating to their maximum speed in a short period of time, emitting a dense and violent buzzing sound.
The next second, metal bullets rained down on Zod like a storm.
The bullets were extremely fast, far exceeding any projectile weapon Zod had ever faced before.
He relied on his fighting instincts to dodge frantically, his body constantly making difficult evasive maneuvers in an attempt to avoid the intense barrage of fire.
However, the speed of the bullet had exceeded the limits of what the human body could fully react to.
He can avoid some of it, but not all of it.
In a split second, hundreds of bullets pierced his body.
The bullet pierces the muscle and lodges in the bone, causing pain far more intense than the loss of an arm. Each bullet is like a red-hot knife, churning inside the body, tearing apart blood vessels and muscles.
Excruciating pain erupted from all parts of his body, causing him to almost lose control of his body and suffer unbearable agony.
If you keep standing still and dodging, you'll only get riddled with bullets.
Zod was well aware of this.
He gritted his teeth, ignoring the increasing wounds on his body, and charged towards Cross.
The only way to avoid the continuous fire from the soldiers behind him was to get close to the largest iron shell and use its massive body as cover. This was the only option that could temporarily save his life.
Zod approached Cross amidst a hail of bullets, and as he drew near, enormous wings suddenly unfurled from his back.
With a powerful flap of its wings, it unleashed a burst of strong wind pressure, propelling itself straight into the sky in an attempt to escape the range of ground fire.
The bullets whizzed past him, making a sharp, piercing sound as they hit the air.
Zuo De continued to rise, thinking he had escaped the firing range and could catch his breath for a while.
But when he looked up at the sky, his heart tightened again.
The enormous iron shell that had just fallen from the sky, the behemoth in the air, suddenly opened up in several places on its side.
Immediately afterwards, several long-range weapons identical to those held by the ground-based Iron Man extended from within, their muzzles and barrels all aimed at Zod in the air.
He had no safe place at all.
Zuo De could only change direction constantly in the air, dodging back and forth, relying on high-speed movement to avoid being shot by long-range weapons.
In the sky, bullets and artillery fire constantly swept past him, each time missing him by a hair's breadth.
Just as Zuo De was fully focused on dodging the attack, the sky suddenly brightened.
It wasn't the light of artillery fire, nor the flames of machine jets, but an extremely condensed and dazzling beam of light that appeared without warning and instantly filled the entire field of vision.
Zod didn't even have time to react.
The next moment, a huge beam of light shot through the air from afar, too fast to catch and too powerful to resist, piercing straight through Zuo De's chest.
The moment the light spear pierced his body, the immense impact caused him to lose all balance.
A wave of intense pain, numbness, and powerlessness washed over me.
Consciousness was as if it had been forcibly severed, and I was instantly plunged into darkness.
Zuo De plummeted straight down from the sky and completely lost consciousness.
It took Zuo De an unknown number of hours before he slowly awoke from his dazed state.
The process of regaining consciousness was very slow. His body felt incredibly heavy, as if every muscle had been completely shattered and then pieced back together. He slowly opened his eyes, and his vision was blurred for a while before gradually becoming clear.
He found himself lying on a grassy field, with soft blades of grass beneath him, and an endless plain all around him.
The wounds on my body still throbbed faintly, but the intense pain of being on the verge of death had lessened considerably.
What bothered him even more was that he had long since relinquished his apostle status and returned to his normal appearance.
The power had not completely subsided, but it was no longer in combat mode.
Zuo De propped himself up and slowly got up from the ground.
His limbs were still a little weak, and he still felt obvious discomfort in the spot where the light spear had pierced his chest. He looked down at himself and saw a flat piece of paper lying there quietly.
He bent down and picked up the paper.
The paper is of ordinary quality, with only one short line of text on it.
The handwriting was clear, the tone casual, yet it carried an undeniable warning.
"Don't come to Heldran again. If I see you again, I'll make you fly and become an astronaut."