Chapter 105: Artifact Shield

A standard Congreve Rocket Launcher is single-barreled, capable of firing only one rocket at a time.

Meng Yifan's current strength attribute has been increased to 200 points, twenty times that of an ordinary man, and he can easily lift objects weighing two thousand kilograms; feeling that the single-barreled rocket launcher was too light and its power too small, he had Wang Dachui custom-make a Congreve Rocket Launcher for him.

This custom-made weapon has a very simple overall structure: it is a row of four Congreve rocket tubes, with four rows stacked vertically, totaling sixteen barrels.

Such a big piece of equipment weighs over four hundred kilograms, which an ordinary person certainly could not move, but to Meng Yifan, four hundred kilograms is like an ordinary person carrying a package of a dozen kilograms; not only can he lift it with ease, but he can also move as fast as flying.

The sixteen rockets are connected internally by fuses; Meng Yifan lit the fuses and then aimed at that Divine Machine Battalion commander.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" One after another, the Congreve rockets, each over a meter long and as thick as a calf's leg, spewed flames from their tails, carrying a sharp whistling sound as they broke through the air, their speed increasing rapidly until they soon reached supersonic speeds.

Over a distance of more than a hundred meters, the rockets flew across in almost a second; Meng Yifan has Level 2 Shooting Technique, and the sixteen rockets fired by him, like a rocket matrix, had already locked down all the space around Zhang Chao, leaving him nowhere to hide.

"What kind of weapon is this? Rockets? Strange, how could they fly in a straight line like that?"

Zhang Chao is a chiliarch of the Divine Machine Battalion; they had once used rockets like the 'Fire Dragon Issuing from Water', but the actual combat results were very poor, and there were even instances where a rocket would fly out, circle half a turn in the sky, and finally fall back down to blow up the launcher, so the Divine Machine Battalion had basically abandoned rockets, mainly using direct-fire firearms like the Shenwu Great General Cannon.

Watching the sixteen rockets coming head-on, Zhang Chao was completely unafraid; he is a Third-Grade High-Level Martial Artist, his body as steel and iron, with powerful defensive capabilities, and he also possesses a special Dharma Artifact.

"Grow! Grow! Grow!" Zhang Chao took out an earthy-yellow shield from his back and channeled his True Qi into it; the shield, which was originally only half a meter wide and one meter high, instantly surged, suddenly becoming a massive shield fifteen meters long and five and a half meters wide, looming over Zhang Chao.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The Congreve rockets struck the Artifact Shield one after another; the rocket warheads exploded violently, unleashing a powerful impact force that would have collapsed even a city wall.

Yet, although that Artifact Shield was forced to retreat continuously from the bombardment, earthy-yellow light flickered incessantly on its surface, and it actually blocked all the rocket explosions head-on.

Zhang Chao held up the enlarged shield; although he blocked the bombardment of sixteen rockets, each rocket had been flying at supersonic speed, containing massive kinetic energy, and the rocket heads were Explosive Shells that could detonate upon hitting the shield, forming an even stronger impact force; the rocket's kinetic energy combined with the warhead's explosion meant each rocket could generate an impact force of over two thousand kilograms.

The sixteen rockets arrived near Zhang Chao almost simultaneously, then exploded one after another within a second, forming a terrifying level of power.

This shield is a defensive Dharma Artifact, made from materials that are Heaven and Earth treasures, which is very miraculous; it can block the impact and explosion of the rockets, and this Artifact Shield can reduce the impact force by eighty percent, but the remaining twenty percent of the impact, which is still four or five tons, must be borne by Zhang Chao himself.

"Pfft!" Zhang Chao's body shook violently, and he opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of fresh blood; it was as if he had been struck several times hard in the chest by someone with a sledgehammer; fortunately, he is a Third-Grade High-Level Martial Artist, his body tempered by True Qi to be like steel and iron, so he was able to withstand this terrifying impact force; if it had been an ordinary person, even if the Artifact Shield could block it, the person behind the shield would have been shaken to death.

"Damn, it actually blocked it." Meng Yifan looked at the large, flickering shield in disbelief.

The explosion of sixteen rockets had not destroyed this shield, not even leaving a single dent.

Meng Yifan saw clearly that when the rockets exploded, layers of earthy-yellow light flickered continuously on the shield; it was that layer of light that neutralized most of the explosion's power.

"Another Dharma Artifact that can be used by a Martial Artist." Meng Yifan looked in surprise at the shield that could change size.

Although the technological level of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty is stuck at a level similar to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, because of the mysterious and unfathomable Immortal Masters, the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty possesses many Dharma Artifacts that can also be used by Martial Artists, and coupled with powerful Martial Artists, its overall strength is still very formidable, which makes Meng Yifan's path of rebellion destined to be very difficult.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Meng Yitong and the other two also fired their Elm Cannons; they were also loaded with Explosive Shells made by Wang Dachui, with the goal of detonating the Gunpowder Barrels they had buried underground.

"Boom!" Meng Yitong was lucky; the Explosive Shell he fired happened to hit a Gunpowder Barrel buried in the road; the shell exploded, igniting the Gunpowder Barrel which also exploded, directly blasting a large crater in the ground twenty meters in diameter and two meters deep.

A dozen nearby Divine Machine Battalion soldiers were blown to pieces, their body parts flying everywhere.

Within this twenty-meter explosion radius, there were two Shenwu Great General Cannons, which were also blasted until their barrels were twisted and completely ruined; even the heavy Shenwu Great General Cannons were blown into the air, and seven or eight unlucky fellows were directly smashed into meat paste by the heavy cannon barrels.

Not only that, the Gunpowder Barrels buried by Meng Yifan and his men contained many iron fragments and iron nails; when the Gunpowder Barrels exploded, these iron fragments and nails flew out in all directions, causing all fifty or sixty soldiers within a hundred-meter radius to be hit.

"Ah! My eyes! My eyes!" An iron nail was stuck in a soldier's eye, and he screamed in pain incessantly.

"My leg is broken, doctor, come save me." A soldier's right leg had been severed by iron fragments, and a large amount of blood gushed out; he clutched his right leg, rolling on the ground in pain.

Some other soldiers were hit in vital parts by iron fragments and died on the spot.

Zhang Chao ignored the injured soldiers and shouted loudly: "All troops, listen to my orders! Target the small hill one hundred and fifty meters to the front left, fire!"

The Divine Machine Battalion is worthy of being an elite force; although they suffered a surprise attack from Meng Yifan and his men, under Zhang Chao's command, they quickly launched a fierce counterattack.

The Divine Machine Battalion, while marching in the wilderness, must always be on guard against attacks from the Demon Race, so the firearms they carry are always loaded with ammunition; at this moment, fifty or sixty Shenwu Great General Cannons turned their muzzles, aimed at the small hill where Meng Yifan and his men were located, and spewed out fifty or sixty scorching cannonballs.