Chapter 543

"..."

Hearing sighs like a crow's mouth, then hearing the roar outside the hangar, everyone, including Sui Yue, turned their gaze to Ailika.

"Ah... I didn't know this would happen!"

Knowing she was in the wrong, Ailika snorted a remark, then immediately sealed her heavy 3D helmet, picked up the rotary machine gun and heavy protective shield, and ran out of the garage.

"Ah... Teacher, you've seen me embarrass myself." Ran Bing shook their head and sighed.

"Hahaha! What's the big deal?!" Ailong didn't mind; instead, upon encountering the enemy, his demeanor instantly became much excited, and he burst out laughing as he commanded:

"Wasteland Hunters! Twist your butts over here! Smash the invading Extreme Devouring Beasts!"

"Yes! Teacher!"

The Wasteland Hunters, thanks to Ailong's calm and boldness, plus Sui Yue's presence, surged out of the hangar with high morale, and relying on the convoy, deployed their formation.

However, as everyone clearly saw the incoming enemy, their mood instantly turned grim.

Because the creature emitting the earth-shaking roar turned out to be a beast forty meters tall, with sharp bone spines lining its back like a moving mountain range, appearing like an ultra-gigantic lizard or crocodile Extreme Devouring Beast.

Moreover, at the tip of this Extreme Devouring Beast's mouth grew a ferocious-looking "human face."

This is the King-level Extreme Devouring Beast that strikes fear into everyone in the lighthouse, requiring electromagnetic cannons to halt its advance.

"Howl—!"

At the same time, there were many snake dogs and various proliferating Extreme Devouring Beasts, such as Ground Howls with air sacs or voice sacs on their jaws, forming a vast beast horde that trampled the town ruins and charged toward the convoy and the hangar's location.

"My goodness..."

"We're dead, we're dead..."

Many Dustfolk laborers, upon seeing this formation, either had their legs go weak from fear and collapsed on the ground, or scrambled and crawled to hide in the warehouse behind the Wasteland Hunter soldiers and the heavy 3D units.

"Quite the spectacle." Ailong also restrained his laughter, using the off-road vehicle as cover, pointed his gun at the Extreme Devouring Beast horde, and continued in one breath:

"Team 1, concentrate fire on the King-level! Team 2, deal with the little pests! Team 3, provide cover, and free up personnel to cooperate with all Dustfolk in checking whether the old society's weapons and equipment are usable!"

"Yes! Teacher!"

With the order issued, the Wasteland Hunters sprang into action, while the Dustfolk hurriedly followed a few engineers into the hangar to inspect the seemingly intact main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers.

And just then…

"Hahaha!" Sui Yue burst out laughing, aimed the 100mm plasma cannon at the King Extreme Devouring Beast's human face, pulled the trigger, and exclaimed excitedly:

"Finally, a guy who can boost my merits has arrived! Maybe I could have been enlisted in the legion years earlier!"

At the same time, a sputtering blue plasma cannon shell shot out of the barrel, arcing over the town ruins' sky.

?!

The King Extreme Devouring Beast sensed something wrong, tried to dodge but failed, and its foremost human face took a direct hit from the plasma shell.

"Boom!!!"

The shell exploded, spewing hundred-million-degree plasma "flowers" that swiftly engulfed the human face.

"Roar…!"

Feeling intense pain, the King Extreme Devouring Beast repeatedly retreated, continually raising its forelimbs to try to shake off the scorching plasma, but its limb structure couldn't accomplish that, so it had to endure the burning.

But the attack wasn't over yet.

Sui Yue's handheld 100mm plasma cannon could fire roughly every three to four seconds, as if there were no worries of overload or overheating.

Soon, the King Extreme Devouring Beast's head was rendered unrecognizable, meaning its entire upper half had been blasted to pieces.

Finally, it tilted to the right…

With a "Boom—-—Rumble—-—!" it collapsed, crushing many ruined buildings and the Mana Flowers inside them; many of the proliferating Extreme Devouring Beasts that followed its charge also couldn't escape being smashed flat.

Even if it could heal and rebirth, for now the King Extreme Devouring Beast poses absolutely no threat to the Wasteland Hunters.

As for the Extreme Devouring Beast horde,

Sui Yue naturally wouldn't play favorites; after dealing with the biggest target, the King-level, he coordinated with the Wasteland Hunters' firepower, continuing to unleash plasma cannon shells.

And any Extreme Devouring Beast directly hit by a shell, instantly vaporized, had its core destroyed as well, completely losing any threat to everyone.

Meanwhile, the Ground Howls with air sacs or voice sacs on their jaws, seeing humans suddenly become ferociously abnormal for no reason, wisely chose to counter-bomb from afar.

"Roar! Roar!"

Sparkling pink biological cannon shells, accompanied by the Ground Howls stroking their air sacs with a pair of auxiliary limbs, were sprayed from their mouths, forming a perfect arc in midair, sweeping over the town and base to land in the Wasteland Hunters' position.

"Boom! Boom!"

"Ah!"

"My heavens!"

The first barrage was nerve-wracking but harmless, merely eliciting sighs from many Wasteland Hunters.

The Ground Howls were merely probing; once they launched a second barrage, the attack range would become smaller and more accurate.

Although the biological cannon shells aren't particularly fast, the trained reaction speed could still dodge them, but the snake dogs serving as fodder had already arrived.

With the snake dogs harassing and drawing attention, the Ground Howls' bombardment began to pose an extreme threat.

At this moment.

A young female Wasteland Hunter who had mounted a light machine gun on the rear of an off-road vehicle, her left hand rhythmically pulling the trigger and her right hand supporting the ammo belt, was focusing on suppressing fire on the eastern side of the position, about fifty meters out, where several snake dogs lurked.

And while firing, she roared loudly: "Ah ah ah! Die! Die!"

It seemed she hated the Extreme Devouring Beasts to the extreme.

Moreover, being overly focused on helping her comrades suppress fire, this female Wasteland Hunter failed to notice in time that a biological cannon shell was rapidly rushing toward her.

A "Boom—-—!" sound.

The shell exploded, thick smoke billowing up.

However, that female Wasteland Hunter was unharmed, and she couldn't help but stare blankly, slightly tilting her head up to gaze at the giant figure standing to her left-front.

Just then, Sui Yue, who could take in the whole battlefield situation, instantly used his simple armor and towering physique to deliver a lethal blow to the female Wasteland Hunter behind him.

Although the explosion was fierce, it had not yet melted through the armor; at most it only made his training uniform ragged, and his skin was scorched somewhat red.

"Damn it!" Sui Yue, whose temper was even more violent than his brother's, was very angry.

When the Earthhowl launched its second and third rounds of bombardment, he had already made several similar moves.

Although Sui Yue despised the lighthouse system, he still felt strong approval and affection for those hunters who risked their lives to seize supplies for the civilians, and he did not want anyone to die under his watch.

Immediately, Sui Yue took down the 100mm plasma cannon, placed it on the off‑road vehicle behind him, and, glancing with his peripheral vision at the still‑dumbfounded female hunter, said in a low voice:

"Watch it, don't let anyone touch it."

Having said that, with a gust of wind, Sui Yue vanished from the position at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, like an after‑image beyond frames, and rushed toward the distant swarm of Devouring Beasts.

The 100mm plasma cannon wasn't particularly heavy, and carrying it wouldn't be a major hindrance, but Sui Yue wanted to enjoy a close‑range slaughter; if he kept carrying it, it would be somewhat in the way.

Moreover, the Empire's standard weapons in the main universe all have biolocks; even if left in the off‑road vehicle, Sui Yue need not worry about them being stolen.

The female hunter left behind finally came to her senses, realizing she had been saved by that "god" whom many feared and dreaded, and she raised her voice to shout at Sui Yue's back:

"Thank you!!"

Then she replaced the machine gun's ammunition belt with a new one, preparing to continue fire suppression to the east.

Not only her, but many other hunters rescued in passing by Sui Yue also felt grateful toward him.

After all, having a "god" fighting alongside them made their sense of safety more than enough!

Unbeknownst to them, the hunters, the most important armed force in the lighthouse, grew ever more approving of Sui Yue and of Sui Yang, who had intervened from the start, and could no longer separate themselves from the two "new recruits."

There's no helping it; the martial deterrence of any Astartes is, to ordinary humans, an extremely strong "personal charm."

But Sui Yue didn't think about all that; he simply acted on his conscience, and he had already rushed to the area where the Earthhowls gathered.

A single leap.

Sui Yue leapt onto the roof of a four‑story dilapidated building, looking down; his movements were somewhat "lewd," and he faced over a hundred Earthhowls whose attack style was extremely annoying.

Immediately after, he took off the two silver metal discs attached to his lower back and, with both hands, flung them sharply to the left and right.

"Clang! Clang!"

Accompanied by a pleasant metallic ringing, the two discs each unfolded into curved, sharp five‑petal blades.

These were, among the close‑combat weapons most favored by recruits in past hunting drills, one of the——

retractable boomerang.

This was originally a weapon of the Iron Blood Clan, containing a crystal core; after being thrown, it could automatically and intelligently return to the wielder's hand according to the individual's combat system (the Iron Blood Warrior's wrist computer).

It was later acquired by Umbrella, which spent over two hundred years modifying and upgrading it.

There were no major changes; it merely added biolock, friend‑foe identification, longer endurance, etc., effectively preventing accidental injury or killing.

At this moment.

With blades unfolded, Sui Yue locked his gaze on the two nearest Earthhowls and, summoning all his strength, hurled the two boomerangs in succession.

"Bang!! Bang!!"

Because the force was too strong, the boomerangs produced sharp sonic booms the instant they left his hand.

"Pfft! Pfft!!"

Before those two Earthhowls could react, they were beheaded by the vortex‑wreathed boomerangs, and the force did not diminish—nearby Earthhowls also suffered collateral damage.

How could Sui Yue possibly stay idle?

"Clang! Clang!"

He again swung his arms, deploying the wrist blades strapped to his forearms, then leapt from the rooftop in a sprint and charged alone into the swarm of Devouring Beasts.

"Roar!!"

At first, the surge of Devouring Beasts composed of Earthhowls, Snake‑Dogs, and Spike‑Eels could still emit roars inclined toward anger.

After all, no matter how fierce humans are, they shouldn't have to face them alone, right?

After half a minute passed.

"Howl… howl…"

The whole abandoned town began to reverberate with the mournful howls of the Devouring Beasts, fearful and akin to a dog's tail being tucked.

It turned out that Sui Yue, who had plunged into the Devouring Beast swarm, was tirelessly swinging his arms madly, cleaving everything in his reach to pieces.

Rubble.

This is one of the favorite terms of the Astartes.

And Sui Yue's current action perfectly exemplifies what rubble means.

While those Devouring Beasts were being chopped and cut into fragments, Sui Yue also expended energy to stomp and shatter their crystal cores, ensuring they could not heal or revive.

Seeing that the offensive‑defensive balance could easily shift, they instead became the ones being slaughtered; the Devouring Beasts, guided by animal instinct, no longer obeyed the Mana ecological directive and immediately chose to turn and flee.

What's the fuss?

Witnessing their kin unable to revive, and also sensing… well, feeling Sui Yue's frenzied fighting style—after all, the Devouring Beasts cannot clearly capture his motion trajectory with their sight.

Before, they feared no death; now they are terrified to death.

And Sui Yue couldn't be bothered to give chase.

Because the most important task at present is to locate the crystal core of the King‑level Devouring Beast.

He changed direction and retrieved the boomerangs.

This recruit, who had just come of age a few weeks ago, used his wrist blade to cut open the skin of the King Devouring Beast.

Gazing at the dark, foul‑smelling interior, Sui Yue furrowed his brows, but after only two seconds of hesitation he drew a deep breath, charged in "without hesitation," and churned everything upside down.

Soon, in the chest cavity of the King Devouring Beast, Sui Yue discovered a crystal core larger than himself by a ring, flashing with a faint red light.

After smashing it, and before the mountain‑sized corpse fully rotted, Sui Yue finally burst out of the King Devouring Beast's interior.

"Hah!" and he heavily expelled a mouthful of foul air.

Astartes fear neither corruption nor toxic gas, and can survive about four hours exposed to the vacuum of space, but that does not mean they are willing to endure a nauseating smell.

More importantly, his whole body was still smeared with sticky blood.

This made Sui Yue quite unhappy.

However, when he returned to this side of the warehouse…

"Wah!! We won! We actually won!"

"Oh my god! Fierce! It's really too fierce!"

"Thanks to Sui Yue being here, we've made a killing this time!"

All the hunters and civilian laborers freely vented their emotions and loudly cheered for the returning Sui Yue.

At this moment, everyone felt sincere respect and conviction toward Sui Yue, as well as toward Sui Yang, who remained at the lighthouse.

Even Elon and Ran Bing, who knew the inner workings of the lighthouse's regime change, also looked forward to the arrival of the Human Empire.

After all, two Astates are enough to wreak massive slaughter; what about millions of Astates?

Seeing this scene, it was impossible for Sui Yue not to be moved; mainly because he's young, but this also strengthened his resolve to uphold the ideal of "for humanity."

"Alright!"

Elon, on the other hand, curbed the excessive cheering, waved at a few hunters, and ordered: "Quickly clean up our hero!"

"Yes!"

The hunters who received the instruction hurriedly fetched water to help Sui Yue with a simple rinse.

"Teacher…" Ran Bing also timely came to Elon's side and reported: "The engineers' preliminary estimate is that the equipment, fuel, and batteries in the warehouse can all be recycled and reused, which is enough to multiply our armed forces many times over."

"Hahaha! Good! Good!"

Upon hearing this news, Elon also couldn't help but shout repeatedly.

"…"

And Sui Yue also couldn't help but reveal a faint smile.

It seemed that gathering supplies and equipment made the lighthouse ever stronger, giving him a satisfaction akin to playing simulation and survival games before he became an adapter.

——————

…

Meanwhile.

Main Universe.

Inside the Meditation Hall.

Sui Bian, seated on the golden throne, was using Psychic Gaze to watch the real-time footage of the hunter squad.

(End of Chapter)