Chapter 37: Surprising Both Allies And Enemies Alike
Metal City
The walls of the Metal City are being heavily assaulted, it’s defenses could not hold even for an hour of bombardment of magic techniques from the enemies Core Formation level cultivators. The disciples of the Metal Sect are all a nervous wreck. Despite being trained for months for this exact moment they still could not stomach the brutality of war a face first.
Most of them remembered that they ran away from all this fighting in the past. But now here they are fighting again, but this time they are like cornered rats with nowhere to go even if they wanted to run, there is only one way to live and that is to fight.
Had it not been for the tens of thousands of Knight Golems situated in the Metal City the Sect disciples’ morale might have wavered long ago. But the presence of the staunch unemotional Golems at their side calmed their nerves and even invigorated their hearts.
After all the Metal Sect has given them more that they could even ask for and protecting this place that they call home is worth fighting for with all of their might in their hearts and minds.
After the front walls are breached thousands of the Metal Sect disciples have perished on the walls as they stood their ground against the incoming enemies. For every disciple dead there would be at least twelve Knight Golems beside them as they try to assist the human cultivators.
Eventually they have been pushed back into the inner ring of the Metal City to regroup and reform their defense lines, while the Knight Golems furiously charged at the invading cultivators. But alas the enemies are far more accustomed to fighting than they are.
But just before the invading cultivators unleash a volley of magical explosion towards the inner walls they were struck by innumerable hail of bullets coming from the skies as the Mechanized Jet Fighters dive bombed the invaders.
Hundreds of enemies were caught off guard during the first strafing run, but their experience in combat allowed them to regain their bearing and recover from their shocked state. As the Mechanized Jet Fighters pulled up to climb back to the skies to perform another run the invading cultivators realigned their weapons up and started firing ranged magical attacks.
Thousands upon thousands of Mechanized Jet Fighters were struck and exploded mid air some even crashing towards other Fighters before exploding in a fiery display up in the sky.
But the Knight Golems attacked the invading cultivators almost immediately after they realigned their aim towards the Mechanized Jet Fighters. Though not caught off guard the invading cultivators were still hard pressed fighting a melee on the ground and strafing run from the air.
One of the invader’s commander shouted “Foundation Establishment focus on the ground! Core Formation clear the skies!!”
With that the previously messy battlefield returned to being organized as the Foundation Establishment cultivators fought against the Knight Golems and the Metal Sect’s disciples, while the Core Formation level cultivators who can naturally fly without the assistance of any magical tool flew up and scattered the Mechanized Jet Fighters left and right as if they were flies to be swatted.
While the Knight Golems are fighting against the enemy Foundation Establishment level cultivators the Metal Sect disciples on the other hand were still organizing their defense line while the others are tending to the wounded. The disciples are still reeling from their retreat to the inner city walls as they simply lacked actual field experience in terms of war.
When the disciples finally regained their wits they started providing support fire from the top of the walls, while the Metal City’s automated defenses started activating to fend off the invaders. But despite all of this preparations the invading Foundation Establishment level cultivators are simply more equipped and more trained on the battlefield, slowly but surely the disciples of the Metal Sect were being pushed back yet again.
The outer city walls were created for the newcomers, refugees that have yet to make substantial contributions to allow entry towards the inner city which had more amenities that make for a higher quality of life. The entire Metal City was built around the original Metal Sect, if they are pushed back yet again the Sect gates will be their final stand as there would be no other paths of retreat.
As Sera Hawke finished cleaning enemy stragglers near the tunnel a number of huge explosions could be heard making her turn her head at break neck speed.
“what the hell is going on now!?” she said exasperated
What Sera saw made her mouth agape as the outer walls of the Metal City crumbled to fragments while the invading cultivators charged inside.
The invaders were swift as they managed to rush through inside the outer walls of the Metal City. Even though the outer ring of the Metal City is non essential infrastructure and personnel it still contained potential candidates to enter the Metal Sect.
With a sigh Sera said “I expected them to hold out for at least half a day… nah who am I kidding!?”
Behind her were only around four thousand Knight Golems, the fighting inside the tunnel was a costly one for the Golems since there is no place to maneuver or dodge everything is just straight up slug fest. Had it not been for the Knight Golems numerical advantage against the invading cultivators, which had over a dozen Core Formation level cultivators could have overwhelmed them instead.
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Seeing the advance of the invaders inside the City and the retreat of the defenders Sera Hawke is sweating bullets thinking about what to do next. Clearly sending in more Knight Golems into the grinder as canon fodder is nothing more than a stop gap measure to delay the inevitable. What she needed right now is a weapon that would bring decisive victory.
“d-damn it it’s only a prototype! But I suppose now is the best time to try it out” Sera said to herself as she turned her head over one of the mountains
Meanwhile up in the skies over 50 of the enemies Core Formation level cultivators dominated the entire air space. Aside from minor injuries everyone of them are in excellent fighting condition despite just finishing off over fifteen thousand of the Mechanized Jet Fighters.
Despite fighting valiantly and using modern day strategies in fighting air to air combat the Core Formation level cultivators are simply too powerful for the Foundation level Mechanized Jet Fighters to even compete. Had it not been for their vast numbers they would likely have not inflicted any injuries to them in the first place.
Five thousand meters up in the air and all the defeated Mechanized Jet Fighters are falling down the skies either broken or performing an emergency crash landing in hopes to join the fight again.
Sera used the holographic interface from her tiara to communicate with Bellato.
“Report, what is the City’s situation?” she asked Bellato sounding a little apprehensive
Bellato replied “the City’s defenders are not doing too good, they are constantly being pushed back. Right now they have been pushed back towards the inner City if nothing is done at the current trend our defenders would be forced back to the Metal Sect’s main gates!”
Although sounding a little nervous Bellato is at the very least calm enough to think straight after all he and his Lady Sera’s subordinates have already been baptized in blood before back in the Continental Isle, They have already seen this much bloodshed.
Sera then said “ attack them now re take the airspace if the Metal City, we cannot let them free reign over our airspace delay them if you can’t push them back!”
“by your will Lady Sera!” he said with a reverent bow from the other side of the communication
With that Sera cut off the communications with Bellato and her gaze focused on one of the mountains, the one that contained the Giant Mech prototype.
She had already summoned the Giant Mech prototype but due to its nature the boot time is quite slow, not to mention its movement also being sluggish due to its 100 meter size.
“a lot of problems have been revealed in creating such prototype. After I iron out its flaws it would be ready for mass production, only that the amount of heavenly and spiritual metals are quite astronomical. After I have cleaned this mess of an invasion I would parade hundreds of the mass produced version to all of the nearby third rate Sects. He! he! he! he! he!”
While waiting for the Giant Mech to heed her summons Sera also contemplated the underlying problems within the prototype. Such as its sluggish movements back on earth making such a monstrosity of this size move alone is already quite a miraculous feat, not to mention the power source of such a thing, even a built in state of the art nuclear reactor would not be able to provide enough energy for a 100 meter Mech.
After no less than 10 minutes the secret opening of the mountain finally opened its gates as the Giant Mech prototype slowly climbed out and flew towards Sera Hawke. Although sluggish and rough on the edges the design itself held a lot of potential, it was designed in a humanoid shape and closely resemble a Gundam model from the old shows back on earth.
The humanoid shape would make its movements easier for Sera to control since it would be like controlling her own body by the time she managed to straighten out some of the flaws of the current prototype, in her mind once the design of the prototype has been perfected streamlining the entire procedure would be a lot easier on the drones back on the factories.
When the Giant Mech prototype finally made its landfall it knelt on one knee in front of Sera as its chest cavity opened up, its spacious chest area is designed to hold several hundred Knight class Golems or to hold weapons and the likes of supplies.
After Sera, the Sentinels and several hundred Knight Golems entered the Giant Mech Prototype it wasted no time and quickly flew towards the Metal City where its strength is very much required.
The several thousand Knight Golems that could not hitch a ride just ran towards the City in a rather straightforward manner.
Just as his communication was cut of with his Lady Sera, Bellato and the rest of Sera Hawkes subordinates given to him to command eagerly jumped down to meet the enemy Core Formation level cultivators and retake the airspace of the Metal City.
“hm?!” one of the invading Core Formation cultivator got surprised by the arrival of Bellato and the other 100 Core formation level cultivators nurtured by Sera Hawke’s experiments.
Although surprised he managed to regain his wits about him and started attacking ranged magical attacks.
“HUH!?” one of the disciples of the Metal Sect noticed the Core Formation level cultivators wearing Metal Sect uniforms
“finally!”
“look! Reinforcements have arrived!” another said
“UUUOOOOOH!!!” although many of them did not fully understand what was going on they were infected with the mob effect and joined the cheering while being completely oblivious on why or what are they cheering for in this chaotic battlefield.
Even though the battle eased up somewhat, it was more likely because of the sudden morale boost rather than Bellato’s reinforcements.
Bellato and the rest of his subordinates endured the rushed offensive of the enemy Core Formations all the while dispersing in a wide area of the airspace of the Metal City. The bodies of Bellato and the rest of Sera Hawke’s test subjects are greatly enhanced due to the torturous medical and training regiment that they have gone through under Sera.
Painful as those days were, those are already in the past and now the fruits of their pain and labour has now shown its effects. The enemies’ rushed attack just bounced off from their bodies without too much effort, a testament to Sera’s successful experiments.
Sera Hawke’s subordinates fought fiercely but the invading cultivators are no pushovers either. As time progresses more and more of the Metal Sect’s side are getting injured and being pushed back. The enemies are not just veterans but are Elites!.
The battle for air supremacy is not going well for the Metal Sect side, even more so for the ground forces as the walls of the inner City are getting hammered and all of the automated defenses being picked off one by one within the vicinity.
Things are getting desperate for the disciples of the Metal Sect as morale is plummeting fast even though no one has voiced it, the look on their eyes and the body language of the Metal Sect disciples are considering to surrender all it require is a tipping point for a cascade of mass panic to erupt from their side.
And just as things could not get any more worse… it did, several Core Formation level cultivators from their side fighting for air supremacy has been killed right in front of their very eyes.
“o-oh no!”
“NOOO!”
Witnessing the deaths of their reinforcements caused a severe blow to their already low morale now that several of their emotional support in this battle has perished the tipping point of this entire battlefield was just about to tip into absolute chaos… when suddenly!.
A giant shadow loomed over the entire sky of the Metal City, Sera Hawke and her Giant Mech prototype has at last arrived just in the nick of time. The giant Mech stood in the air imposingly and ominously to both enemies and allies alike.
For several tens of seconds the entire battlefield stood to a grinding halt, even the two Foundation Establishment cultivators from either sides that started choking each others necks after running out of magical energy stopped their movements in the presence of a towering metal figure.
Using the loud speakers Sera said “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? GET THIS INVADERS OUT. OF. MY. PROPERTY!!”
“N-N-NASCENT SOUL!!” nobody knows who said it or which side it came from but in every ones minds knew it was the truth
A Nascent Soul level expert is someone to be revered by all factions on the level of third rate and below. This sight, her words both have made the invading cultivators pale so much they looked like some one poured white paint all over them.
It was then that two extremes happened. Extremely high Morale for the Metal Sect disciples so much so that a handful of the peak Foundation Establishment disciples actually managed a breakthrough towards Core Formation.
As these disciples attracted tribulation lightning from their breakthrough, Sera decided to help them weather the heavenly lightning tribulation with just an extension of a giant metallic hand of the Mech prototype. Such action was truly awe inspiring in the eyes of the disciples of the Metal Sect.
“DAMN IT! Who said the Metal Sect has no Nascent Soul!” one of the peak Core Formation of the invading cultivators said
“ we don’t have any choice now! Stick to the plan this is within our preparations!”
“such a loss damn it!!” another said before pulling a teleportation talisman from his spatial pouch
Like a well rehearsed army they quickly followed suit, each and every one of them still alive hastily pulled out their own teleportation talisman and activated it. In just a few moments the entire Metal Sect fell in silence before…
“all hail Lady Sera!!”
“ALL HAIL THE MATRIARCH!!”
“UUUUOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!” they cheered simultaneously before landing on their butts
The disciples barely held on, their bodies felt like jelly after several hours of fighting for their survival. Meanwhile Sera Hawke herself is looking at a distance indifferent to the cheering crowd below her.