Chapter 119: Charging the Formation

Meng Yifan, with Shuke in tow, finished off the last Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat. Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, he heard Meng Dayong suddenly shout, "Yifan, look quick, the experts from the Divine Machine Battalion are charging up!"

While hunting down the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rats, Meng Yifan had been keeping his eyes on all directions and his ears open, constantly observing the situation of the Divine Machine Battalion. The moment Zhang Chao and his experts emerged, he spotted the movement on the opposite side.

"Bastards, they really know how to pick their moment." That special shell had caused over fifty of Meng Yifan's soldiers to become casualties and had also created small-scale chaos.

This was only because Meng Yifan had acted fast enough and his Ghost Head Blade was a counter to the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rats; otherwise, if he had let those Bloodthirsty Ghost Rats attack his soldiers, at least five or six hundred men would have died, and the other soldiers would have been affected to the point of being unable to continue fighting.

"Two Third-grade Experts and thirteen Second-grade Experts—the Divine Machine Battalion has quite a lot of experts." Meng Yifan was somewhat alarmed; he had not expected that after suffering over fifty percent casualties, the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion could still mobilize so many experts.

If they had mobilized all their experts to launch a charge when they first arrived, the trenches Meng Yifan and his men had dug would have been useless. With only a thousand soldiers who had been trained for a few days, Meng Yifan really might not have been able to block an attack from so many experts.

Meng Yifan quickly calculated the strength of his side; their most powerful experts were Meng Yifan, Meng Dayong, Wang Dachui, and Shuke.

The others were at most First Grade Martial Artists; in a clash of such experts, they would not be able to withstand even a few moves if they went up, and they would not be of much use.

Judging from the comparison of strength between the two sides, Meng Yifan's side was at an absolute disadvantage, but it was not without hope of victory.

On one hand, Meng Yifan and Shuke were very special and could be counted as Third-grade combat power; the two of them could hold off the two Third-grade Experts from the Divine Machine Battalion.

On the other hand, Zhang Chao definitely did not expect that the damage caused by that special shell was far less than he had imagined. Most of Meng Yifan's soldiers were still intact, and if the elite squad led by Zhang Chao wanted to charge the formation, they would first have to face the bombardment of Meng Yifan's soldiers' Elm Cannons.

"Brothers, listen to my command, aim at the enemy, prepare to fire!" Meng Yifan shouted loudly.

Zhang Shagen, Xu Le, and the other soldiers took their respective positions, preparing the Elm Cannons in groups of a few, waiting only to fire.

"Fire!" Meng Yifan gave the order.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The dense crowd of soldiers suddenly stood up and placed over ninety Elm Cannons on the edge of the trench. Then, these Elm Cannons emitted deafening roars almost simultaneously, and over ninety Explosive Shells shot out, flying toward Zhang Chao and the others.

"Impossible, how can they still have so many people capable of fighting?" Zhang Chao was dumbfounded; this was not what he had imagined.

That special shell refined by the Immortal Masters of the Imperial Observatory had great power and had once shattered a Monster Army of ten thousand with a single shot; how could it not have caused much damage to the rebels of Luolong County?

Zhang Chao could not understand it, but with over ninety shells already incoming, he had no time to think further.

Zhang Chao was a Third-Grade High-Level Martial Artist and was confident he could dodge these shells, but if he dodged, those thirteen Second-grade Martial Artists would be blown to pieces.

Zhang Chao did not dodge; he shouted loudly, "Wang Zhanbiao, you guys hurry up and channel your True Qi into my body."

Wang Zhanbiao and the others did not dare to hesitate; they hurriedly circulated their cultivation arts, reached out to press against Zhang Chao's back, and transmitted their True Qi into Zhang Chao's body.

The True Qi on Zhang Chao's body surged violently, and he channeled this abundant True Qi into his Artifact Shield.

The Artifact Shield hummed, then expanded against the wind, quickly becoming a huge flat surface fifteen meters long and five and a half meters wide.

Then, the Artifact Shield deformed rapidly, its four sides concave toward the center, forming an egg-shell structure that wrapped Zhang Chao and the others entirely inside.

Not only that, but Zhang Chao also condensed his True Qi into steel and deployed the Divine Bell Cover.

Zhang Chao was a Third-Grade High-Level Martial Artist, and his True Qi was naturally thicker than Wang Zhanbiao's.

The Divine Bell Cover he deployed was even more massive than the one Wang Zhanbiao had deployed; it could extend two feet from his body, looking just like a real, massive bronze bell, shimmering with golden light and appearing extremely sturdy.

With the massive Artifact Shield in front and the Divine Bell Cover deployed by Zhang Chao in the back, under this double protection, it should be enough for Zhang Chao and the others to withstand the attack of these cannons.

"Boom! Boom!" Over ninety Explosive Shells struck the Artifact Shield and then exploded violently.

The cannon fire roared, causing the Artifact Shield to vibrate incessantly. Light flickered on its surface, resisting waves of impact. Where the shells hit, the shield dented, and Zhang Chao maintained the Divine Bell Cover with all his might, pushing the dented parts back out to help the Artifact Shield defend.

Zhang Chao was enveloped by the Divine Bell Cover, his hands supporting the massive Artifact Shield. The explosions of the Explosive Shells created a powerful shockwave. After this force was dissipated by the Artifact Shield and defended against by the Divine Bell Cover, only about ten percent of the power remained to act upon Zhang Chao.

If it were a small number of Explosive Shells, Zhang Chao could have easily resisted them, but with over ninety shells exploding one after another, the resulting impact force was too great.

Zhang Chao was a Third-Grade High-Level Martial Artist, and he had fourteen experts behind him transmitting True Qi to him; working together, they held up the Artifact Shield and the Divine Bell Cover.

However, the transmitted Vibration Force still made Zhang Chao feel as if he had been struck in the chest by a Big Iron Hammer, shaking him until he vomited blood repeatedly.

After a dozen seconds, the explosions ended. Zhang Chao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, controlled the Artifact Shield to shrink back to its normal size, and then shouted loudly, "Charge for me!"

"Charge!" Wang Zhanbiao roared, exerting his Lightness Skill to the fullest, charging toward the trench where Meng Yifan and the others were located.

These Second-grade Martial Artists were all veterans of the Divine Machine Battalion; they all knew that they had to take advantage of the interval after the enemy's cannons fired to rush over and engage in close-quarters combat with the enemy, so that even if the enemy reloaded their cannons, they would not dare to fire.

"Those two Third-grade Martial Artists are left to me. Dad, the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher and the Artifact Demon-binding Rope are for you; you, Master Wang, and the other soldiers intercept those Second-grade Martial Artists," Meng Yifan shouted. Everyone followed the order and began the battle.

"Eat quickly." Meng Yifan handed a large piece of flesh to Shuke, and Shuke opened its blood-red maw and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Squeak! Squeak!" Shuke's energy had always been maintained at the Second-grade Peak; after swallowing this large piece of flesh, its strength rapidly increased, becoming an existence comparable to a Third-grade Martial Artist.

Not only that, but Shuke's body underwent a violent change; its size grew rapidly. Originally, it was similar to a rural farm dog, but now it was 80 centimeters tall, plump and strong, becoming as burly and powerful as a purebred Tibetan Mastiff.

Even more astonishing was that the scales on Shuke's body became tougher, its defensive power became stronger, and a one-foot-long, cold-glinting sharp horn grew on the top of its head.