Chapter 178: Demon

The capital of Bangzi Country.

Their President sat in the office with a gloomy face, watching the live broadcast of Sakura Mountain.

In their view, the generous amount of time those Mysterious Force gave to Sakura Country was simply too long.

This made their Bangzi Country feel as if they had been slighted by comparison.

Furthermore, the cost of this slight was a massive loss of manpower and material resources.

Although people on the internet could not see the live broadcast, they had guessed most of it through various anomalies.

Soon, some felt that the current President of their own capital must be too incompetent.

This was what led the Mysterious Force to value Sakura Country more, to prioritize their region, and thus provide an early warning time.

Even more opposition members stated that their President, whose approval rating was plummeting, was no longer qualified to hold such a great responsibility and must apologize and be replaced!

"Have you notified the Sect Leader of the Morning Star Church?"

The President picked up his phone to scan the comments on it, let out a muffled snort, and then looked at the secretary beside him.

The secretary immediately leaned over and whispered:

"Notified, that Sect Leader will be here immediately, though he said in advance that he does not know about this matter regarding Sakura Country."

"Hmph, doesn't know? Who knows which of these guys' words are true!"

The President muttered:

"In the intelligence shared last time, they insisted that the Bishop of the Holy Church was an ordinary person, but now it turns out that person is already a transcendent in the Shepherd organization!"

"By the way, have we also discovered traces of the suspected transcendent organization, Dawn?"

Hearing the President ask this, the secretary tensed up, took out a file, and placed it on the desktop:

"This is the investigation report just compiled by our intelligence department."

"Our Bangzi Country's Dawn organization is considered to have a very high probability of being an organization that started fifty years ago by following a few swindlers from Ouluoba!"

"After friendly heart-to-hearts with intelligence personnel, they even recalled their psychological state when they first started swindling..."

"This group of swindlers has wasted so much of our manpower and material resources! They must be severely punished without leniency!"

After hearing the report, the President thought of the current difficulties and could not help but feel very annoyed.

The secretary nodded repeatedly, though in his heart he knew the President was actually venting his recent frustrations.

"Hey, look!"

"The video has changed, a Space-Time Rift has appeared!"

Suddenly, someone in the office exclaimed.

It was the live broadcast on the large screen hanging on the wall.

On the summit of that Sakura Mountain.

A thin red line had appeared!

On-site, at Sakura Mountain.

Tens of thousands of fully armed officers and soldiers widened their eyes as they saw the red line appear on the snow-covered summit.

Some officers and soldiers from Sakura Country could not help but hesitate.

In a certain sense, Sakura Mountain was the holy mountain in their hearts!

In some sects, it even belonged to the mortal dwelling of a god!

If the battlefield were on its summit, wouldn't it mean that once the fighting started... this holy mountain would suffer?

However, looking at the bright side.

Since the Space-Time Rift would appear on the summit, and no mysterious powerhouse appeared to stop it.

Doesn't that mean this Sakura Mountain is actually not a holy mountain for the likes of us at all?

Its name as a holy mountain was clearly added on by later generations!

So, if they pulled the triggers and opened fire, blowing this holy mountain to pieces... then there would be no problem, right?

Whoosh!

As the Space-Time Rift began to open, the white snow covering the top of Sakura Mountain was also illuminated in a dark red.

Gazing at the rift that slowly unfolded like a demon's eye.

Even though the generals were in the safety of the rear, they could not help but swallow hard.

After a while, they began to issue orders one after another.

Artillery and tanks began to turn their barrels, and missile units began setting parameters.

The soldiers on the front line put on the hastily produced combat helmets.

And injected themselves with different types of mental stimulants, categorized by type.

Drones occupied the high and low altitudes, waiting only for the order to launch an offensive.

After another few minutes, the Space-Time Rift fully unfolded.

As a dark red single eye emerged within the Space-Time Rift and swept across its surroundings.

It caused living beings within a radius of over a hundred kilometers to inexplicably feel a sinking in their hearts.

That single eye seemed to realize it could not pass through this Space-Time Rift, so it closed its eye and retreated back.

With a flash of red light.

Over a hundred purple-black minotaur monsters, about five or six meters tall, appeared on the summit and let out a collective roar.

These minotaurs were clad in chainmail and held giant axes or large hammers in their hands.

Although they were only cold weapons.

It still greatly energized the experts watching the live broadcast!

Unlike the big-eyed monster from before, having weapons and equipment was a sign of civilization development!

"Could the world behind the Space-Time Rift truly possess a fantasy civilization or even nations, just as described in some novels and movies?"

"In that case, perhaps the diplomats might have a use for their skills again?"

The generals heard the experts' whispers, but they had no interest in this.

They were more curious about whether the monsters appearing this time... were entities their armies could handle.

"Open fire!"

Following the lead of the general from the Flower Flag Country, the order was given.

The Sakura Country side hurriedly followed suit.

Thus, the minotaur monsters that had just appeared on the mountaintop, because their hatred was initially focused on Su Ping, had several leaders stepping forward, preparing to lead their squads to charge toward Su Ping's location.

Artillery fire covered the summit of this snowy mountain in an instant.

Cannons, rockets, drones, and the Fire God Cannons of armed helicopters.

And even missiles that occasionally tore through the sky and descended.

While the deafening roars were incessant, bursts of fire also continuously erupted from within the mushroom clouds rising into the air!

This wave of minotaur monsters possessed both offense and defense, and even more organizational and coordination skills, capable of lining up to fight.

Their overall strength was no worse than the big-eyed monsters.

However, under modern firepower, especially firepower projected without regard for cost.

They performed worse than their big-eyed colleagues.

Many Qi Refining stage minotaurs could not withstand the impact and penetration of large-caliber shells at all.

Their bodies were torn to shreds in the very first second the explosion's fire appeared!

After more than ten seconds of continuous bombardment.

Amidst the mushroom clouds and fire, a minotaur with almost no intact flesh suddenly rushed out from within.

This Foundation Establishment minotaur swung the giant axe in its hand violently forward, carving out a Golden Light that tore through dozens of whistling shells or rockets in mid-air.

It landed and rolled under the explosion's fire.

This Foundation Establishment minotaur immediately realized that the attacks before it did not seem to have the function of tracking and killing enemies.

It let out a low roar, its eyes turning blood-red as it charged toward the mortal positions at the foot of the mountain.

The officers and soldiers saw that, in just the blink of an eye, that minotaur with its immense pressure had moved from the mountainside to the foot of the mountain, and after stepping on a landmine, at the moment of the explosion, it actually flashed violently, unable to escape the landmine's kill radius.

Then came the continuous detonation of bombs.

This forced the Foundation Establishment minotaur to dodge constantly, and for a short time, it failed to break through.

However, this pause also caused more firepower to be mobilized to open fire on it.

Under the coverage of firepower, no matter how well this Foundation Establishment minotaur could dodge, it was inevitably hit by several shells.

It took the impact and the burning of the explosions head-on.

"These monsters' movements are too agile!"

"Even landmines can't do anything to them; with that astonishing reaction speed, the effect produced by a landmine being triggered and exploding is not as good as detonating it remotely!"

"Besides, shouldn't there have been poison gas shells fired over earlier?"

"Although we were prepared, it seems our poison gas isn't toxic enough... but this is also normal; we and they are perhaps fundamentally different."

"It's a pity these monsters leave no corpses behind, otherwise, if we performed a full set of examinations, we would know what poison is effective against them."

"Attention, the first line of defense in the seventh defense zone has been breached!"

The generals who were whispering to each other suddenly discovered that on another defense line.

Another minotaur monster had rushed out.

And this monster's speed was even faster than the previous one!

Furthermore, the twin hammers in its hands could always blast rockets and shells flying toward it from a distance.

It could also cover a hundred meters in a single step, and even firepower coverage failed to stop it.

Several drones lowered their altitude slightly, only to be destroyed by a hammer swing from the opponent from a distance.

This left the pilots remotely controlling these drones in a state of confusion.

At least the big-eyed ones had a beam of light before.

This time, the minotaur monster just swung its hammers through the air, without releasing any air fluctuations, and the instruments detected no heat changes.

The machines were just smashed to pieces.

This made them suspect whether the opponent's hammers also possessed some kind of spatial ability.

Thud!

This Foundation Establishment minotaur monster rushed in front of the main battle tank.

These steel monsters were knocked flying into mid-air like toys under the frontal impact, and then smashed back to the ground head-first.

Roar!

After the Foundation Establishment minotaur knocked away what it considered a strong enemy but was actually a weakling of a main battle tank, it roared, and the fear-inducing pressure of the Abyss erupted, expanding its range once more.

This time, although the officers and soldiers operating the cannons and rockets felt their hands and feet go cold, and their brains felt as sluggish as if they had taken suppressants.

They at least still retained their reason and knew what they should do.

He Mao Chun Yi Lang also appeared on the battlefield, relying on modern equipment to see and hear everything from all directions.

There was no help for it; this was, after all, related to his assessment.

It was impossible not to take a little risk!

Fortunately, he had not been without gains during this time.

Accompanied by calling out to the Black Crow God in his heart.

The frontline officers who were with He Mao Chun Yi Lang all felt a chill run down their spines.

They saw a large mass of black shadow emerge from He Mao Chun Yi Lang's back.

Then, this shadow slowly transformed into a monster with a crow's head and a human body.

Waa!

The monster let out a shriek, then immediately transformed into three giant black crows and flew out of the tent.

As they flew out, they grabbed the rectangular metal boxes that had been placed outside the tent long ago.

They immediately turned into streaks of black light, heading toward the Foundation Establishment minotaur that was wreaking havoc on the front line, having already stomped out a large crater and overturned several rocket artillery vehicles.

This minotaur also noticed the appearance of the black crows, but it did not care about their attacks.

These incense god avatars, even if their main bodies were forged from Mysterious Remains.

Given their current abilities, they were still too weak for an Abyss monster at the Foundation Establishment Stage!

However!

As the black crow avatars dodged a long-range hammer strike from the minotaur, they slammed violently into its body.

The metal boxes they were holding also exploded at close range at this moment.

The minotaur was instantly engulfed in high-temperature flames.

These metal boxes were all filled with specialized incendiary agents.

The high-temperature flames produced made even the Foundation Establishment minotaur feel pain.

Ao!

It collapsed to the ground abruptly, and layers of mud covered its body.

Yet, even the mud could not stop these flames from burning.

As long as there was a tiny gap, flames would gush out from the crevices.

Normally, this would not matter to the minotaur monster; it still had many ways to clear away these flames.

But on this battlefield where every second counted.

The explosions and flames brought by the black crow avatars were meant to serve as a hindrance.

And this effect was sufficient.

Just the next second, a missile descended from the sky and slammed into the minotaur's body.

It made the crater it had stomped out even deeper amidst the mushroom cloud.

And this was just the beginning; for the next several dozen seconds, all kinds of rockets and artillery fired as if ammunition were free.

It was not until He Mao Chun Yi Lang shouted that it was enough that they stopped.

In the large crater.

He Mao Chun Yi Lang saw in the footage captured by the drone that the minotaur monster still retained most of its complete form.

However, from the perspective of the Shikigami.

This monster... should be dead.

Reality was as judged.

Because this minotaur monster, having lost its ability to dodge after being ambushed by the black crows and burned by flames, had been bombarded continuously for dozens of seconds.

It had reached its limit, and after struggling instinctively a few final times, it turned into thousands of light particles.

He Mao Chun Yi Lang's black crow god avatar circled once in the high sky.

It also caused the artillery fire bombarding the mountaintop to pause slightly.

The snowy peak of Sakura Mountain had very clearly disappeared.

Everywhere was fire and billowing black smoke.

But the good news was that neither the black crow god avatar nor the drone saw any more minotaur monsters that could be acquired.

The first wave of this Space-Time Rift... it looked like they had held them off?

"Do not be careless; according to the experience of Bangzi Country, there will be a second wave of monsters!"

"That's right, the Space-Time Rift hasn't disappeared either, hurry and replenish the ammunition!"

"Where are the experts? Is the duration of the mental stimulants still sufficient!"

"Logistics, get moving! If anyone causes a problem at this time, I will make sure they have a problem!"

Everyone was only happy for a moment, proud that humanity had won against the invasion of otherworldly monsters for the first time.

Then they immediately busied themselves again.

Su Ping watched all of this; he did not take extra action this time.

He gave He Mao Chun Yi Lang's performance a good rating.

Being able to think of combining the avatar abilities of an incense god with technological weapons.

He could be considered a qualified modern Yin-Yang Master.

Besides, modern firepower truly had astonishing destructive power.

It relied on brute force to break through the shields and tough flesh of those minotaur monsters.

It was equivalent to a Body Cultivator in the Cultivation World using their fists to continuously hammer and break a Golden Light talisman's shield.

The difference was that a Body Cultivator needed to consume their own physical strength and Essence Spirit and Qi with every hammer strike.

Under modern firepower, however, one only needed to consume weapons and ammunition.

As long as they were given time to adapt and transform.

These weapons and ammunition could even become more abundant the more they fought!

Su Ping looked forward to the days when he could buy a normal Abyss Challenge Scroll and enjoy the harvest as a hands-off Shopkeeper.

However, for this place right now, he still needed to take action himself.

He Mao Chun Yi Lang's Shikigami was not yet capable of handling things alone.

The modernized firepower is still not enough, not targeted enough!

Facing a Boss-level Abyss monster.

The variables are still too great.

Above the Sakura Mountain at the peak of the snowy mountain, which was already gone.

As the last minotaur monster also turned into points of light.

The Space-Time Rift once again emitted a red glow.

Accompanied by laughter that made it seem as if the entire sky had begun to shake.

From within the Space-Time Rift, there appeared a goat-horned demon with a goat's head and two horns, crimson skin, dark red bat wings, a height exceeding eight meters, and a scorpion tail!

As soon as this demon appeared, its laughter radiated to the surroundings.

The officers and soldiers, who had originally thought they could continue fighting by relying on their helmets and potions, felt nothing but a dizzying spin under this laughter.

One by one, they fell to the ground in pain, letting out wails.

It's a bit late, I'll make up one chapter tomorrow.