Siege
After sending another burly Sarkaz soldier flying with a slash of her sword, Xia Yu suddenly paused.
Mainly because her SAM Armor faceplate displayed a target with significantly higher energy than the Sarkaz warriors appearing in her field of vision.
And it was dressed as an ordinary Royal Court soldier.
Oh, it's you, Damazti Cluster.
She pretended not to notice anything and continued fighting, slashing left and right, beating the Sarkaz warriors so badly they couldn't even lift their heads.
Soon, that guy with the high energy reading followed the flow of people to the very front, charging over with a raised blade and a fanatical expression.
Seeing this, Xia Yu threw away the sheathed longsword in her hand. Shamash appeared in her right hand once again, held high!
'Not good!'
The Damazti Cluster looked at that highly familiar Greatsword, panicking and trying to retreat in terror.
It recognized that sword; the Sanguinarch had been reduced to a little boy by a Sea of Fire from that very blade.
But it was already too late. The distance between the two was simply too close. The terrifying Iron Man delivered a direct vertical cleave, and the Shapeshifter was chopped into two halves.
Becoming the first 'corpse' in this battle.
Looking at the corpse split in two, Xia Yu raised her sword again, intending to continue mutilating the body!
The surrounding Sarkaz warriors went even more frenzied upon seeing this, throwing themselves forward one after another... Well, it was of no use.
Even if they used all their strength, they couldn't break through that suit of iron.
With another sword strike, the body that was already in two halves became four segments.
The Damazti Cluster still didn't move.
It only had one thought: 'Endure!'
The Damazti Cluster didn't know how this Iron Man had recognized it, but there was no doubt that the other party didn't want to kill anyone, likely because of Theresa.
That was why even something as notorious as the Sanguinarch was left with his life.
Therefore, this Iron Man wouldn't use that Sea of Fire move in a crowd. It hadn't thought of this just now simply because that person had switched weapons too quickly, and it was closest to her, leaving it no time to react.
Now it had figured it out. It was fine, it was just mutilating a corpse. You can mutilate it however you like, I don't care.
After all, why do you think the word "cluster" follows Shapeshifter?
Pure physical corpse mutilation couldn't be said to be useless, but the damage to it was indeed limited. If it were that Sea of Fire, it would be a bit more afraid.
Head-on combat was not the Damazti Cluster's style. It planned to just endure this for now, and wait until Theresis and the others started fighting to see if it could land a sneak attack.
Besides... a Shapeshifter... didn't just have one body!
In the rear, a Sarkaz warrior narrowed his eyes as he watched the Iron Man mutilating the corpse.
What a joke, someone like it who wasn't suited for head-on combat definitely couldn't lead the charge. The one just now was merely a clone, used to fish for intelligence.
Look, hadn't it just traded for the important intelligence that that person had the means to detect it!
Yes, the Shapeshifter had already appeared now. At least from the Iron Man's perspective, it had appeared. Then, once they started fighting in a moment, that person probably wouldn't have the time to observe every approaching soldier.
Vigilance against the Shapeshifter would also be concentrated on that pile of mangled flesh.
So just wait, wait for an opportunity, and ambush her!
On the other hand, Xia Yu looked at the Shapeshifter corpse in front of her that she had finely minced into meat paste, feeling somewhat speechless.
'Bro, can you really endure this much?'
But the next moment, a torrent of Arts resembling withered branches surged towards Xia Yu.
The King of the Sarkaz Foragers made his move!
Under the cover of that Arts, Theresis and Quisatustar—one on the left, one on the right—began charging towards her, wielding a blade and a sword!
Seeing this, the surrounding Sarkaz warriors let out heaven-shaking war cries, their morale boosting once again.
As expected of elite soldiers who could clash head-on with hundreds of Victorian warships relying on flesh and blood and terrain advantage.
This morale was truly impeccable.
Meanwhile, outside the battlefield.
"Tch, it seems they also understand that they're bound to lose," the Sanguinarch stood beside Theresa, his face full of displeasure.
In his opinion, if the King of the Sarkaz Foragers and Theresis truly wanted to win, they wouldn't use this fighting method.
The Sarkaz possessed many taboo Arts.
"Hey, how do you think their fight will turn out?" he turned his head to look at Theresa.
The latter, however, was staring intently at the battlefield. "I don't know either."
She genuinely didn't know; after all, this was also her first time meeting Firefly.
"How on earth did you find this monstrosity?" The Sanguinarch looked at the Iron Man charging left and right within the Sarkaz military formation, visibly annoyed. "If you had told us you had a trump card like this earlier, why did we even scheme so much?"
"Theresa, the reason you disagreed with our ideas, wasn't it because you were worried that after the war, the Sarkaz's vitality would be severely damaged again, and they would never be able to stand up?"
He opened his mouth to entice her, "But with such a powerhouse, what's there to worry about? Oh, look, Nachzehrer's Arts blasting on her only made her sway!"
"Even if dozens of warships fired a volley at her, she probably wouldn't suffer a thing, right? With such a trump card in hand, and she can even fly, she's practically a miniature Steam Knight. Used for decapitation strikes against warships, she'd hit the mark every time!"
"Her existence is enough to turn the tide of a war. What are you still afraid of?"
"Do you know why she's holding back so much, not killing a single person?" Upon hearing this, Theresa reached out and viciously rubbed the Sanguinarch's hair. 'Trying to entice me? Hmph!'
"You!" The Sanguinarch looked like he wanted to resist but had no way to. Why do you think he returned to Theresa's side? Naturally, it was because he was too heavily injured right now.
Moreover, he knew all too well what kind of things the Sanguinarchs under his command were. It was hard to guarantee that no one would want to use this opportunity to backstab him, considering his previous brutal actions...
He himself knew that he had enemies everywhere.
To tell a joke, in a time of crisis, the Sanguinarch actually felt that compared to those Sanguinarchs in his own Royal Court, Theresa was more trustworthy...
"Didn't you order it?" Faced with Theresa's offense, he could only swallow his anger.
After all, a tiger down in the plains is mocked by dogs.
'Endure!'
"Order? No, I don't have that much capability," Theresa shook her head. "I merely reached an agreement with them."
"What agreement?" The Sanguinarch frowned.
Theresa felt it was fine to tell him; anyway, it would definitely be announced in a meeting later. "They provide food and international trade channels, helping us build our own industry and develop agriculture..."
"The price?" The Sanguinarch narrowed his eyes upon hearing this.
He didn't believe there would be such a good thing in the world.
"Kazdel cannot engage in even a single war of aggression," Theresa grabbed another handful of his hair. She had to admit, the Sanguinarch's hair quality was truly good.
"Isn't that just your Babel?" Hearing this, the Sanguinarch felt it was largely the same as Babel's propositions.
"That's right, it is my Babel," Theresa smiled gently at this. "Of course, next, it will also be your Babel... unless the Sanguinarch's Court doesn't want to live anymore."
"Do you think this can extinguish the Sarkaz's tens of thousands of years of anger?" The Sanguinarch said sarcastically upon hearing this. "Theresa, so-called revenge is not something that can be covered up with a simple phrase like having enough to eat and wear."
"The souls of the departed are not some illusory faith either!"
"I know," Theresa nodded, "But I don't care. After all, I've already said it: I'm going to be a tyrant, aren't I?"
"...As long as you don't regret it," the Sanguinarch also knew that he couldn't persuade her.
Meanwhile, the battlefield had become even more white-hot.
Xia Yu sent Theresis flying with a slash, leaving another long trail behind.
Then she blocked the torrent of Arts from the King of the Sarkaz Foragers.
'I must take care of him first!'
Xia Yu looked up at the King of the Sarkaz Foragers in mid-air.
It wasn't that his Arts were so strong, but if he was allowed to keep bombarding like this, even if she didn't strike, the Sarkaz soldiers around her would be shaken to death by the shockwaves of the Arts.
There was no helping it; to the ordinary Royal Court Army soldiers, the Arts of the King of the Sarkaz Foragers was already terrifying enough.
So the next second, the pale blue Energy Cape on her back trembled, and she shot into the air, flying straight towards the King of the Sarkaz Foragers...
Seeing this, Theresis, who had just been knocked away, brazenly attacked, delivering a powerful horizontal slash from the flank.
The slacking Quisatustar drew his sword for the first time from the right, the two of them forming a pincer attack!
The King of the Sarkaz Foragers also readied his next Arts, unleashing a surging torrent of Arts directly towards Xia Yu's direction.
But the next moment, pale blue energy erupted from Xia Yu's body. With a boom, she instantly broke the Sound Barrier, directly leaping upwards. In an instant, all three attacks missed entirely!
Xia Yu watched the three attacks converge, and then the energy behind her erupted once again, pouncing towards the King of the Sarkaz Foragers like an eagle swooping on a rabbit.
The latter was clearly no pushover either; the Arts he had already prepared around him shot out one by one. Yet Xia Yu twisted and turned, unexpectedly charging out from the sky full of Arts rain, and reached out directly to press down on the face of the King of the Sarkaz Foragers.
Seeing this, the King of the Sarkaz Foragers directly swung the long Staff in his hand! This Staff could not only release Arts; the destruction it caused when smashing an enemy's skull would not be inferior to a specialized War Hammer.
But the next second, the King of the Sarkaz Foragers felt Theresis's helplessness.
The Staff struck heavily on the Iron Man's pauldron, but she didn't show even a sliver of sluggishness. Moreover, the massive recoil force from the counter-shock was somewhat unbearable even for the King of the Sarkaz Foragers.
If it were when his flesh and blood body was still normal, just this single hit would have made the Staff fly out of his hand, completely numbing his arm.
However, he soon didn't have to worry about whether his hand was numb or not.
Because Xia Yu's hand had already covered his face. Then, pressing down on the head of the King of the Sarkaz Foragers, she plummeted towards the earth like a meteor.
The ground was smashed, forming cobweb-like fissures. The entire body of the King of the Sarkaz Foragers was pressed into the crater by Xia Yu.
'An opportunity!'
Seeing this, the Damazti Cluster, which had been lurking for a long time, brazenly made its move. A sharp edge stabbed silently towards that person from behind...
It knew it! Killing the Caster first in battle was common sense. That person would definitely strike at Nachzehrer first; it just needed to wait on the sidelines...
See, hasn't it arrived?
At the instant the two of them crashed into the earth, there was bound to be a moment of stun. This was exactly the opportunity it was waiting for.
As for whether the weapon in its hand could pierce the opponent's armor?
The Damazti Cluster didn't hold much hope for this point; even Theresis was helpless against this suit of iron.
It was just doing everything it humanly could and leaving the rest to fate.
But just as the attack was about to get close to that person, countless streams of blazing energy suddenly erupted from behind the Iron Man.
'Crap!'
The Damazti Cluster had just lunged forward when it was sprayed in the face by this energy, flying backward. Meanwhile, under Xia Yu's secondary application of force, just when the King of the Sarkaz Foragers had finally gathered a bit of strength and tried to break free from her confinement, he was forcefully pressed into the center of the cobweb-like shattered earth by the second-stage blow.
'Trying to sneak attack?'
For the SAM Armor, the back was not a weak point at all.
That cape formed by energy looked pretty, right?
If it were actually used to cut things, it probably wouldn't be inferior to any divine weapon.
Right at this moment, Theresis also arrived in a hurry, swinging his sword horizontally to force Xia Yu away from the King of the Sarkaz Foragers.
But the next second, Xia Yu grabbed the head of the King of the Sarkaz Foragers and turned around with astonishing speed, using the King of the Sarkaz Foragers as a weapon and swinging him towards Theresis.
The former could only helplessly stop his hand; after all, if he continued, the one being slashed would only be Nachzehrer.
At this time, the Damazti Cluster attacked again. This time it had learned its lesson and didn't go for the back. Another clone brazenly struck from the side, forcing Xia Yu to block.
But Xia Yu had absolutely no interest in its attack. She merely turned around and once again swung the King of the Sarkaz Foragers like a club, smashing him towards Theresis.
This was the sound of the Damazti Cluster's dagger pressing against Xia Yu's flank. Without a doubt, it couldn't break her defense.
As for Theresis's side, he could only retreat again.
Finally, the Arts of the King of the Sarkaz Foragers were ready. Being held in someone's hand and swung like a whip was not a good experience. Thus, under his Arts, countless withered branches spread from his body towards Xia Yu's right hand that was gripping his head.
Forcing her to let go of him.
Of course, Xia Yu had never thought of constantly using the King of the Sarkaz Foragers as a weapon. Very straightforwardly, she grabbed and tossed him towards Theresis.
Simultaneously, she sent the sneak-attacking Damazti Cluster flying with a kick.
Finally, Quisatustar waited until his opportunity arrived.
That person's hands and feet were both in motion; if he struck now, she definitely wouldn't be able to dodge!
Quisatustar drew his sword. Learning from the Damazti Cluster's lesson, he didn't aim for the back, but instead slashed brazenly towards Xia Yu's neck.
"Tch," upon seeing him, Xia Yu recalled the storyline of Shining and Nightingale.
So, directly without dodging or avoiding, she used her neck to forcibly tank Quisatustar's longsword.
Quisatustar struck Xia Yu's neck with his sword. The latter didn't budge an inch, and then directly sent the former flying with a knee strike.
Once wasn't enough to vent her anger. Xia Yu's body spun, and once again, a high whip kick punted Quisatustar high into the sky.
'Not good!'
Quisatustar finally realized something. This movement... no matter how you looked at it, it seemed like an execution!
Congratulations, you guessed right.
Xia Yu reached out and summoned Shamash, brandishing the Greatsword.
"Disgusting piece of trash!"
[Skyfire — Might of An-Utu]!
It wasn't an ordinary Heavenly Fire, Unsheathe!, but Might of An-Utu. This was already giving Quisatustar, this dog, enough face.
In an instant, the sky full of crimson flames practically threatened to burn a hole right through the heavens.
It even blasted all the way to an altitude of six thousand meters, crashing straight into the Barrier Layer!