Chapter 855: Apocalypse... Ah-le!?

The spatial gate parted, and a colossal mechanical arm, rivaling Anton's titanic leg in sheer scale, thundered forth from the rift of time and space!

“This device was completed at the cost of my life; it shall aid our future Prime Machines in discovering that which our countless architectural engineers collectively died to build—a weapon to lead our rebellion against Bakal’s reign. Its name is Gaebolg!” Thus spoke the last Prime Machine of the Empyrean upon his deathbed.

This was the giant mechanism summoned upon a Mechanic's first awakening, a creation condensing the iron will of the Empyrean people.

(The Empyreans are represented among the players by all Gunner classes, who predominantly employ technological means of assault.)

The pride of the Empyreans, this mechanical titan from another dimension, delivered its most brilliant and magnificent strike.

Deprived of the protection of its symbiotic monsters, Anton suffered a devastating double blow from within and without, delivered by the Empyrean Navy and the bands of adventurers.

At the joints of the tortoise-like legs, exploding flames and scattering magma kicked up a tempest of dust that blotted out the sky, while ten-thousand-foot waves surged in all directions; even for a being as mighty as the Seventh Apostle, those four colossal legs finally collapsed in utter helplessness, and half its body sank into the sea.

Returning to the Noble Sky, the gathered adventurers leaned warily against their weapons in exhaustion, sitting randomly across the deck to rest, the sea breeze drying the sweat on their faces; they lacked even the time to wipe away the blood splattered on their visages.

“Hurry and rest, a fiercer battle is yet to come!”

There was no post-battle relief to be found; instead, a suffocating solemnity, like the calm before a gathering storm, shrouded the entire battleship.

The tempest at sea raised towering waves that crashed violently, surging over the guardrails of the great vessel.

Gazing into the distance, with the giant legs severed, Anton’s core region—that towering black volcano—was now enveloped in an invisible energy barrier.

Virtually any assault originating from the outside world would be deflected entirely.

This also meant that if they wished to breach Anton’s core and destroy it utterly, they had no choice but to enter its confines in person.

Consequently, these adventurers would no longer receive any assistance from the external world.

Of course, even without this layer of protective energy shield, those external attacks would amount to little against a shell of Anton’s caliber; after all, it had only its four legs exposed to the elements.

And the head was by no means its vital point; attacking it was entirely futile.

Therefore, the first task of the raid team was to infiltrate the Energy Center and disrupt the power transmission used by Anton to protect the Black Volcano’s energy shield.

Only by doing so could they gain entry to the interior of the Black Volcano, where its mastermind—its vital locus—resided.

The second step required them to suppress the Hatcheries within Anton's body, preventing the continuous spawning of monsters while simultaneously halting the self-healing of the Energy Center.

The Hatcheries bred various monsters to accelerate Anton’s rate of self-healing (in Anton’s eyes, these were likely akin to mere parasites).

Yet should the energy heal itself, the monsters inside the Black Volcano would be sustained by such ample power that any and all attacks against them would be rendered useless.

Each phase was inextricably linked to the next.

Only when the other teams were securely in position would the time come to enter the Black Volcano.

There were five teams in total, with four of them working to create conditions under which the single strongest team could safely enter the Black Volcano to do battle; this was the core logic of the entire operational plan.

After... opening the path to the Black Volcano, the five teams were redistributed into new formations.

The peak combat powers of what were originally teams one and two were now entirely concentrated into team one.

“It feels so complicated...” Song Qingfeng and the others, who were watching from behind, let out a sharp breath at the sight, “Just watching you guys play makes my head ache. Is this boss really that difficult to defeat?”

“Exactly...” Jiang Xiaoyue spoke up while munching on a peach, “Wasn’t it always things like the Zombie King or the Headless Knight before, where you just went in and kept poking until it was over? At most you needed some combat techniques, so why is it now that this person fights that, that person fights this, with all these separate teams and assigned tasks?”

Rubbing her somewhat strained eyes after witnessing this dazzling and chaotic array of operations, her beautiful, large eyes were on the verge of blurred exhaustion.

“Sister Su, did you understand any of that?”

At this moment, Su Tianji, who had just wandered over to watch from behind, felt her own head spinning: “It’s over, it’s over... I don’t understand these games at all anymore. Am I getting old?”

“Isn’t it simple?” Xiao Yulv, standing nearby, summarized loudly, “The carry of team one, with the help of team four who are just tagging along for the free ride, finally managed to hack their way into the core of this giant turtle!”

“Oh!?” Everyone’s eyes lit up, suddenly seeing the light.

Jiang Xiaoyue said, “So we’ve just been watching Sister Xue tag along for a free ride this whole time!?”

Nalan Mingxue’s beautiful face turned dark.

“What do you mean tagging along!” Lanyanduan beside her immediately grew indignant, “Our young mistress also killed the Tog and several Gatekeepers, alright!”

She then rolled her eyes at Xiao Yulv: “You only know how to talk nonsense, it serves you right that you don’t get to play.”

Xiao Yulv’s neck and face instantly flushed crimson as he argued, “The boss—the boss has already spoken! This young master will be able to play very soon!”

“By the time you can play, a completely new version will have launched, and you won’t even be qualified to tag along!” Lanyan retorted, “Just remain a backseat gamer!”

“Ah—!” Xiao Yulv let out a tragic, miserable wail, chilled to his very core.

...

Just as the few of them were exchanging words, the Anton raid reached its most critical juncture.

Within the Black Volcano, a faint blue light of energy slowly descended from midair.

With dark gold skin and long, ash-white hair, his locks stood on end due to the surging energy.

From his form, one could perceive a torrential, boundless power; as Nalan Hongwei and the others stood before him, the contrast between the energies within their respective bodies was like a firefly next to a bright moon.

“Relinquish your struggles.”

The moment he spoke, Anton’s massive maw parted, and a voice like thunder echoed simultaneously: “Relinquish your struggles!”

Surging torrents of blazing fire erupted from the core of the earth; everything, it seemed, was entirely within his grasp.

“I am...”

Before it could finish its words.

“Ultimate Blade Technique!”

“Holy crap?! Here it comes again, the instant-hold maneuver! Awesome! DPS! Maximum DPS!”

In an instant, all attacks dissolved into a terrifying tempest, completely swallowing the figure whole!

“Dark Authority!”

“Chaos God Slayer!”

“Ghost Blade Technique: Hurricane!”

“Apo... wait, what!?”

The boss remained utterly motionless, having not moved so much as a single finger; the several individuals who had just looked so awe-inspiring performing their “Ultimate Blade Technique” and “Dark Authority” were now all lying flat upon the ground, neatly arranged in a row.

The solitary remaining Saint, who hadn’t even finished casting his Apocalypse, stared blankly at the boss before him, their eyes meeting in silence: “...”

“Uh...?”

...

“The volcano blew up!” Nalan Mingxue, who was still suppressing the energy, witnessed the sole remaining Saint running frantically out of the volcano while desperately spamming heals on himself, “The volcano raid team wiped—!”

Boom!

The earth trembled violently, and behind him, a thick, peerless pillar of molten volcanic light erupted from the crater, piercing straight into the heavens.

A terrifying volcanic cloud blanketed the entire sky, and magma fell from the heavens like meteors, resembling a rain of fire that could bring about the end of days!

The lava flowed through the fissures of its body, spreading everywhere; within and without the scorching tortoise shell, there was no longer a single place left to stand.

The sea waves towered to the sky, and Anton’s limbs slowly pushed up from the seabed; its originally dull eyes lit up like the morning star in a dark night, bursting forth with a grim and scorching light of fire.

.