#994 - Welcoming destruction
Boom—
Remote artillery fire tore through the sky, the shockwaves blasting deep craters into the ground!
A Latvian armored vehicle carrying soldiers was instantly overturned by the blast, and several combat robots were blown into scrap metal!
Like locusts, the Ultron robots charged towards the armored vehicles under the cover of artillery fire. Countless missiles and machine gun bullets flew over the soldiers' heads, and explosions erupted around them.
Soon, the soldiers recovered from the bombardment: they had to keep moving forward!
To locate Ultron's central core, they had to keep moving forward!
They needed drone cover, which meant their vehicle couldn't be left overturned in the desert, or it would be blasted into scrap metal by the artillery!
The driver crawled out of the vehicle:
"The vehicle's flipped!"
"Damn it, then right it! The enemy's coming—cover us!!!"
Soldiers in mechs immediately stood up. Under the cover of their comrades, they braced their hands against the side of the vehicle and used every ounce of strength to flip it back over!
But Ultron's robots swooped down from the sky, and a barrage of gunfire and missile strikes instantly engulfed him!
"Bombardment—"
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang—
Boom!
The explosion shook the vehicle violently, but thankfully, it didn't overturn again. When the surrounding soldiers recovered from the blast, the soldier in the mech was already twisted and motionless in the crater.
The scene sent a chill down everyone's spines.
But it was only a momentary chill.
Boom!
Another shell struck, but this time the vehicle didn't flip!
Four soldiers clung to the outside of the deformed armored vehicle, gripping their firearms. The armored vehicle swerved and dodged the artillery fire and bombardment in the desert, frantically advancing towards the direction the enemy was coming from under the cover of the drones!
For every step they took forward, the enemy density increased. Drones fell from the sky one by one, the Ultron robots on the ground became more and more numerous, and the artillery fire became more and more intense.
Boom!
Finally, a shell struck the rear of the armored vehicle, completely destroying its power system.
But as the captain crashed to the ground, he was surprised to discover...
He seemed to have landed on something very hard, and it wasn't the wreckage of the vehicle.
"Damn, what are the odds of landing on a rock in such a big desert?"
But it wasn't a rock.
It was metal.
The metallic footsteps of the Ultron robots grew closer and closer. A strange smell filled the air. The captain shifted his gaze from his dead comrades and looked up to see the scene before him:
The desert seemed to have disappeared. Before him was a world covered in metal.
The Ultron robots pointed their guns at his head, but he smiled:
They had found the direction.
Bang!
[C07 Sector Detected Anomaly]
[A06 Sector Detected Anomaly]
[A07 Sector Detected Anomaly]
As one casualty report after another arrived, Riel finally saw something other than endless robots and artillery fire:
Ultron's scale was far more exaggerated than Riel had imagined!
When the human-controlled mechanized units formed a battle line and advanced towards the Middle East, having seen mountains, rivers, plains, and deserts, and then ruthlessly cut off Ultron's transport routes, the scenery they could see suddenly changed. Everything abruptly transformed into endless machinery!
The horizon had disappeared!
Roads and power transmission networks created by Ultron completely covered the surface like lichen. All traces of nature were completely eroded. Giant furnaces and factories spread like anthills on this layer of metallic lichen. Mobile, giant manufacturing complexes moved slowly on its surface, constantly spitting out materials to create new units and weapons!
Just estimating those mechanical nests that almost covered the surface, the area they occupied probably exceeded 150,000 square kilometers, not to mention the large number of logistics routes and outdoor mines—
Ultron's industrial capacity had completely replaced the "natural order." This was no longer a part of Earth, but a part of Ultron!
Those robots emerged from the scars in the earth torn open by metal like a tide from hell, densely packed, pitch black, like a swarm of insects invading the human world!
The overwhelming numbers approached the battle line, and perhaps because the humans had touched its core, the pressure on the battle line increased exponentially as the Ultron robots swarmed out!
Only then did people realize that not a single word Riel had said was false or exaggerated, or rather, Riel's estimates far underestimated Ultron's capabilities. This terrifying robot probably already possessed the ability to sweep across Europe—
At this moment, everyone could only pin their hopes on Riel's strategy being able to be executed!
Whoosh—
The Throne of Kings broke through the clouds. In contrast to the landscape of Ultron's robots, which seemed to have crawled out of hell, this giant fortress seemed to be rushing from heaven to hell. All artillery fire was unleashed, and a terrifying electromagnetic projectile struck a peripheral honeycomb data station directly.
The battle that would truly determine the situation had begun!
Riel tapped the chair.
[Operation Begin, Titans Ready for Deployment.]
At the core of the metal factory that was corroding the Earth, a giant mechanical fortress, and also in Ultron's core data group, Ultron looked at the Throne of Kings rushing towards him, and a smile appeared on his mechanical face—
If an ordinary person saw such a smile, they would definitely feel chills.
"You have no idea what my abilities are, arrogant and foolish humans."
"Why do you think you were able to kill your way here?"
"The folly of humans lies in the fact that they always think they can predict everything."
"How will you face the endless barrage of ranged artillery?"
Ultron liked to launch attacks with endless robots. This was the tactic, or rather, combat habit, he used in Turkey and Italy.
However, the experience of being defeated by the Throne of Kings' firepower suppression had already allowed him to fine-tune his industrial production lines. Actions that would take humans years or even decades to correct could be achieved in less than an hour of calculation and adjustment for him.
At this moment, beneath the mechanical nests all over the surface, a staggering amount of ranged firepower was hidden: cannons, missiles, and autocannons were all available.
"It's unwise to fight by bringing your home base. Perhaps this is the folly of humans, pitiful heroism, forever unable to stand against true power."
"Despair before my power."
The metallic ground opened up into densely packed, gigantic maws.
Just one look, without any need for decisive calculation or a clever brain, was enough to understand that this was absolutely firepower that the Throne of Kings could not intercept.
[Ultron: Foolish Humans.]
[Ultron: Like moths to a flame.]
[Ultron: Try some more trash talk?]
After a long silence, Ultron received a reply:
[Welcome Your Destruction.]
Ultron saw the Throne of Kings falling.
The feeling of joy changed instantly, and Ultron froze.
