After the next second, the rapid and concentrated sounds of firing guns didn't cease.
The barrage came from everywhere within a one hundred and forty degree fan-shaped area in front of him. All the bullets impacted against his towering body.
The dragonborn's armor might have exceptional defensive capabilities, and their scales might be tough, but they all had their limits. When a concentrated attack exceeded this limit, it would deal unimaginable damage to the dragonborn.
The dragonborn warriors hiding in the back had exploded into cheers for the heroic feat of their captain. The very next second, they saw blood erupt from their captain's body. The dragonborn had been riddled with holes by the fearsome barrage of bullets.
It was only now that the dragonborn captain's reared front hooves landed on the ground.
The captain had used too much strength in doing so. Over a hundred streams of blood shot out of his body, completely staining the earth around him a crimson red.
The blood-soaked dragonborn captain trembled slightly, but he failed to squeeze out a single word from his dry throat. Three of his four eyes had been blinded, and the light of life was quickly fading from the last.
A dull thud rang as the dragonborn captain's body collapsed limply to the ground before sliding into the swamp like the magical machine before him. Only bubbles appeared on the surface of the pool of water, along with bright red threads of blood.
The cheering dragonborn instantly fell silent!
A powerful dragonborn captain had actually been instantly torn into pieces by the enemy; such a thing had never happened in the long military history of the dragonborn.
The dragonborn were the strongest land warriors of Lance apart from the superior dragon lords. They were loyal. They were brave. They were capable of fighting off enemies a hundred times their numbers. They were unmatched.
At this moment, this gilded standard of theirs that had been established by countless bloody battles had been crushed to pieces by a group of cold, unfeeling metal lumps.
The image of dragonborn as invincible and undefeatable was quickly crumbling.
It was a massive shock to the dragonborn, as well as a tremendous humiliation.
The eyes of all the dragonborn in the camp turned bloodshot. They all roared and brandished their axes and charged toward the mud road.
Fight. Fight. Fight.
Wash their bodies with the blood of the enemy, honor their dead tribesmen with the flesh of the enemy.
All the dragonborn had gone berserk!
However, at this very moment, Mary calmly gave a series of orders while still hidden among the army of magical machines.
"Endor, immediately activate the poison plague you've spread."
"Hummingbird One, drop the Destroyer now."
"All Archers, fire at full power now."
A blood battle instantly broke out upon the narrow mud road!
Chapter 589 Clash of Flesh and Steel
The terror of the dragonborn unleashing their full strength could be clearly witnessed through this battle.
The dragonborn army wasn't composed of only warriors. There were some 'spellcasters' with relatively more powerful elementium powers hidden among them!
They were just as physically capable as ordinary dragonborn warriors, but their elementium powers were even stronger than their physical prowess, though there were very few of them. Only one out of twenty or thirty dragonborn was one such spellcaster.
Moreover, cultivating and equipping them also cost a lot of money. Ordinary dragon lords were incapable of raising such soldiers. That was why even Fire Dragon Philippa had no more than seventeen dragonborn spellcasters serving under her.
Six of those spellcasters had accompanied this dragonborn army.
These six talented dragonborn spellcasters charged to the front and waved the flame staffs in their hands. Several massive fireballs crashed into the ranks of the magical machines like meteors from the sky.
The successive explosions of the elementium fireballs blasted five or six of the magical machines into pieces. Sparks flew everywhere. Over a dozen magical machines were also blown away by the ensuing flame shockwaves.
The dragonborn spellcasters frowned at the mediocre results.
However, something even more troublesome happened next.
The dozen magical machines that had been sent flying back by the explosive shockwave quickly got onto their feet. They shook off the dirt on their bodies and started to fire bullets again as they moved back to their previous positions. Two of the six magical machines that had been caught in the center of the explosion also stood up with much difficulty.
Most of the gun barrels on their bodies had been melted or snapped by the fireballs, and thick black smoke came from within their tattered bodies. Electric sparks flashed every so often. Yet they continued to fire a barrage of bullets at the dragonborn with what weapons they had left.
That one wave of fireballs had only managed to destroy four of the metal lumps. This…this was clearly far below the bottom line of the dragonborn spellcasters.
In every past battle, their fireballs would have reaped the lives of countless creatures each time they exploded. Moreover, the loud explosion of the fireball, the cluster of fire, and the fearsome shockwaves had always intimidated the enemy. They were far more fearsome to behold than the warriors cutting down enemies with their axes.
Sadly, this was meaningless before the cold and unfeeling machines.
The six dragonborn spellcasters bombarded the magical machines with fireballs from a distance of two hundred meters away. They had no idea that right above them, a terrifying and wickedly grinning God of Death was lunging toward them.
The magic energy flying ship hurriedly increased its altitude after dropping the Destroyer. It frantically fled toward the distance.
The cigar-shaped bomb that was three meters long and one meter in diameter cut through the mist and the fog, whistling as it dove toward the ground.
All the dragonborn in the battle couldn't help but raise their head when they heard the sound. They looked on fearfully as a strange and tiny object descended from the skies and landed in their camp.
A massive fireball ten meters in diameter rose in the center of the camp the very next second. It exploded and blasted outward, sending out scalding heat waves and hot air currents.
A dragonborn warrior happened to be caught within the blast wave and was thrown twenty meters away. He was bruised and scratched all over when he finally stopped. However, he was only relieved upon getting up from the ground. He patted himself all over and realized that he hadn't lost any limbs or body parts.
The dragonborn who watched the whole scene unfold were shocked!
That was all?
That was all that thing that made them feel dread was capable of?
The power of that weapon was truly seven or eight times that of the fireballs of the dragonborn spellcasters, but these things were still too weak to be used against the dragonborn. It couldn't even kill an ordinary dragonborn warrior.
However, something started to happen to that lucky dragonborn before the others could even cast that thought away from their minds.
The dragonborn abruptly started to scream and yell. His voice was hoarse and pained.
Warts and blisters of all sizes started to swell upon his rough and slightly reddened skin. The surface of his skin began to swell, and burn marks began to appear. Large patches of the warrior's scales started to shed, almost as if an invisible fire had scorched him. The bloody blisters beneath were revealed for all to see.
The dragonborn didn't have much hair to speak of, but they still had tough, dark red hairs growing on their heads. At this moment, these hairs started to fall off in patches, as if the scalp had been burned with boiling water. The red, new flesh beneath was now exposed.
However, soon, even the skin there started to rot and turn bad, as if it had caught necrosis. The dragonborn was also constantly coughing and spitti
ng out black blood and shattered organs. It was apparent that the inside of his body was also undergoing the same rotting process as the outside.
The intense pain felt as if tens of thousands of bugs were eating the dragonborn from within. He couldn't help but start scratching at his own body. Scales began to fall as he scratched with all he had. His skin continued to rot as his flesh withered and shrunk. The claw marks he inflicted upon himself were so deep that one could even see the bone underneath.
This dragonborn was dissolving!
Indeed, all the dragonborn could see what was happening. The dragonborn was dissolving, both from the inside and outside. All of his flesh was disintegrating from the effects of that strange 'dirty bomb.' Skin, veins, blood, muscles; everything and absolutely everything was dissolving and melting into each other, turning into a disgusting pool of liquid.
When everything on the dragonborn that could be dissolved had liquified into a puddle of pungent fluid, the remaining insolubles fell to the ground with a clatter. That included a perfectly clean skeleton, dark red dragon scales, some hair, and a few short, curved horns.
That was all that remained of the mighty and towering dragonborn warrior in a mere blink of an eye!
Waves of intense coughing starting to appear in the camp while the dragonborn watched this horrifying scene play out before their terrified gazes.
It was almost as if a plague god had silently passed through the camp. Nearly one-third of the dragonborn started to cough and throw up for no reason. The blood they coughed up was also black in color. Organ bits and crawling bugs floated inside their blood.
It instantly threw the dragonborn into chaos.
They ignored orders, regardless of how much their captains shouted and roared at them. They ran about in a panic avoiding those 'companions' of theirs that were spitting up blood.
The dragonborn camp had utterly fallen into disorder!
…………
The adepts were clearly prepared for this chaotic scene.
However, the unexpected effectiveness of the magic still surprised them.
The effect of the magic was way too good, wasn't it?!
Was it Endor's poison being too powerful, or was it the Destroyer being too terrifying? For a moment, even Mary couldn't be sure which it was.
Mary had an excellent idea of Endor's power.
If she had sufficient time to plant her poisons, they could achieve horrifying effects. Killing multiple adepts of the same grade wouldn't be out of the question. But being able to so severely poison these dragonborn, whose Physique could compare to those of Second Grade body refining adepts; it seemed as if she shouldn't be able to do that, should she?
Then was it the work of that Destroyer?
Mary knew nothing of the effects of the Destroyer. Greem had only faintly mentioned something about 'intense radiation' when he passed the bomb to her. It appeared to be some new experimental weapon he had concocted in collaboration with Gazlowe.
From a certain perspective, the destructiveness of this weapon was truly stunning!
At the very least, it had instantly crippled one-third of the dragonborn. The other dragonborn had also been affected to some extent.
However, the bomb had also forced the dragonborn army into a corner. The soldiers were wildly assaulting the defensive lines of the magical machine army under the instructions of their superiors.
Finally, after so many schemes and plots, the dragonborn warriors were clashing with the magical machines with real steel and fire.
The dragonborn seemed to have realized the firepower of the magical machines' ranged weapons. Thus, all the charging dragonborn waved large tree trunks around or held up massive boulders as they approached the enemy. They successfully breached the fire suppression line with these objects as their shields. The dragonborn were finally able to engage the magical machines in a close-range fight.
On one side, you had berserk warriors forged of flesh and blood, while on the other, you had magical machines with steel for veins and iron for bones. The intense violence and brutality from the meeting of these two unstoppable forces were exhilarating.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Several Loggers were blown into the air amid a series of dull thuds of metal against flesh. They were instantly shattered into components and broken pieces. The metal axes in the hands of the ferocious dragonborn had also been broken and bent during the impact. Every inch of their bodies had turned bloody as their scales shattered from the exchange of blows.
A rain of metal bullets then came from every direction in the one moment they had paused after striking the Loggers. The bullets embedded themselves into the bodies of the dragonborn, aggravating their injuries. Finally, the dragonborn collapsed to the ground, roaring in agony as they did so.
Waves of dragonborn warriors charged forward, and waves of dragonborn warriors collapsed to the ground. The Logger defensive line was also thinning out at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The previously tight defensive line couldn't deal with the relentless assaults and charges of the dragonborn warriors. The line had been moved back again and again. Finally, the dragonborn managed to break through the mud roads and expanded the battlefield to a larger and wider plain.
The magical machine army had also made considerable adjustments to their formation while the defensive line moved backward. The formerly tight square formation had now turned into a looser pocket formation.
Archers were roaming the edge of the battlefield, continually using their long-ranged firepower to wear away at the defenses of the dragonborn. The only remaining thirty Loggers formed several small defensive circles inside of the battlefield. They used their large and robust bodies to divide the formation of the dragonborn army.
Meanwhile, the adepts hid themselves and waited like ferocious alligators hunting beneath the water. They slowly closed in on their prey.
The bloody battle raged on.
Chapter 590 Display of Powers
The rhythm of the battle had always been in the hands of the adepts.
Be it the poisoning or the radiation bomb from above, the strategies of the adepts had successfully weakened the power of the dragonborn. One-third of the dragonborn warriors had already been taken down before they could even enter the battle. The remaining dragonborn had been deeply provoked and had charged out of the camp with no regard for their own lives.
Unavoidably, they were greeted by the long-ranged firearms of the Archer magical machines during this process.
The dragon scales that had been polluted with radiation could no longer effectively neutralize the bullets as before. The dragonborn warriors were squeezed into the narrow mud road, enduring the storm of bullets as they swung their massive battleaxes and fought with the Loggers.
It didn't matter who fell in the battle. Their remains would be shoved into the pool beside them to make the necessary space for the fight to continue.
The ear-piercing rumbling of chainsaws, the furious roars of dragonborn warriors, the dull thud of flesh against steel; all the strange sounds merged into an annoying noise that reverberated throughout the skies of the dark and murky Swamp of Sorrows, lingering in the air.
The mud road sealed off by the wall of metal had finally been opened up once more through the bravery of the dragonborn warriors and the desperate fighting of their superiors. As they disposed of the final row of Loggers, the magical machine army had no choice but to retreat into the distance. They formed a loose defensive line around the exit. All of the magical machines on the perimeter were Archer models.
The remaining two or three dozen Loggers moved into a formation near the exit of the mud road. They used their strong bodies to segment the dragonborn warriors into disconnected and disorderly groups.
The adepts hidden within the army took this opportunity to enter the battlefield. They quickly started to assassinate the stragglers amongst the dragonborn warriors.
Everyone from the Crimson Clan apart from Mary and Zacha ha
d already entered the battle. Even the three experimental magical machine warriors had been thrown into the fray.
The Goblin Tinker was only three meters in height. It looked like a mix of various alchemical parts on the outside. One could see the spinning and interconnected gears and components on the surface of its body. The Tinker had no dome-shaped metal body. Its fragile internal constructions were exposed to the enemy.
A little fellow like this appeared to have no combat ability at all. It would probably fall apart the moment a dragonborn's axe struck it. Yet, the Goblin Tinker's performance was genuinely eye-catching once it had been put into the battle.
It usually shook as it moved around on its two robotic legs, puffing out smoke and not being all that fast. However, the moment a dragonborn charged at it with axe in hand, a robotic flying claw would shoot out of any position of the Tinker's body. The claw would grapple onto a distant target and pull the Tinker away from danger with the rope attached to it.
It was this bizarre movement ability of the Tinker that gave it exceptional mobility and agility in constrained battlefields. The few dragonborn warriors that tried to pursue it could only eat dust. They were never able to catch up with the mysterious repositioning powers of the Tinker that made it fast as a mouse.
The Tinker's offensive powers mainly came from the miniature magic energy cannon and the enhanced goblin rockets it possessed.
The miniature magic energy cannon installed within the Goblin Tinker could fire an Energy Laser with an energy rating of one hundred and thirty points. The laser could deal attributeless overload energy damage. However, due to the limitations of the energy source, the Tinker could only fire this attack once every one hundred and fifty seconds.
The enhanced goblin rockets were the improved versions of the conventional goblin rockets. The explosion of the missile no longer relied on shrapnel for damage, but the violent space energy contained within it. Multiple technicians had assessed the primary offensive power of the enhanced rocket. It was confirmed to be around eighty to one hundred and ten points.
It didn't sound very high, but if anyone saw the mass of rocket launchers around the Tinker, they could easily foresee the fearsome outcome of going against it.
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