The launching of a nuclear missile implied many things.
It was not only about the immediate destruction that would be caused by the detonation of a weapon of such magnitude, but also about the certain consequences and the possible consequences that would gradually show up or not in the not so distant future.
Leaving aside the fact that the explosion of a nuclear missile devoured everything near the impact zone, environmental pollution and radiation were two colossal problems that might not show their terror at the beginning but in a very short time would definitely show their claws.
"The fact that this guy Angelo was forced to launch a nuclear missile so close to his base is proof of how much the dragons pushed him into the corner." Nangong Lingxin sighed as she watched the large cloud of smoke and fire rising into the sky.
"Hopefully the detonation was over 100 kilometers away from the human base..." Kang Lan pursed her lips in a straight line before pointing out, "Otherwise the radiation will eat the humans alive even if they are safe from the blast."
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Bai Zemin, and after a moment of silence asked, "What do we do now?"
A nuclear explosion was certainly not within what Bai Zemin expected. However, after some thought he realized that at this point he had few other choices; if he had more than one to begin with.
"The plan hasn"t changed." He said as he gently patted Little Snow"s silky fur, "We will annihilate the dragon army right here and try to help the American troops within the scope of what is possible. However, remember that your lives are far above theirs. Do not even consider sacrificing yourselves to help another, whether human or G.o.d himself."
"Of course." Feng Tian Wu was the first to nod.
"Hehehe, even if G.o.d asks me for help I won"t give it forget about my life." Nangong Lingxin grimaced, "Our Leader is you. If it weren"t for you, me, my brother, and my father... we"d all be dead."
ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ ꜰʀᴇᴇᴡᴇʙɴ(0)ᴠᴇʟ.ᴄ0ᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴘᴇᴇᴅ.
Kang Lan nodded, and although Shangguan Bing Xue said nothing it was evident from the indifference in her eyes that she had no interest in listening to anyone other than the young man beside her much less sacrificing her life for someone she didn"t know.
Curious, Bai s.h.i.+lin asked, "Father, who is G.o.d?"
The girl didn"t even seem that concerned about the terrifying explosion that even now made the sky lament.
"No one important." Bai Zemin stroked the little girl"s silver hair as he said with a nonchalant smile, "Just someone who Dad will kick his a.s.s if he gives us trouble."
"Oh!" Bai s.h.i.+lin clapped her hands with sparkling eyes having no idea how crazy her father"s words were.
As for Kang Lan and the others who already knew about the existence of Higher Existences thanks to the high status they had within the faction couldn"t help but smile wryly.
"Get ready, we"ll be arriving at the war zone in around 2 minutes."
...
"Hold the barriers!" Andrea shouted as she pointed her magic staff to the front and extended her free hand forward.
There were hundreds of magical barriers erected in a northerly direction.
Some barriers were weak, some were stronger, while others were simply large gusts of wind blowing in the direction of the blast. However, it was evident that Andrea"s golden barrier was the most powerful of all by far.
She did not hold back and consumed as much Mana as necessary to support the retreat of the human troops.
"Hold on a little longer until everyone retreats!" Angelo descended from the sky. His body was covered in blood but his movements were swift and fluid: "Hurry up! Just 3 kilometers back and we"ll get out of the radiation area!"
The explosion of the nuclear missile had an effect of 20 kilometers, but the shock wave extended for another 30 kilometers so that everything within 50 kilometers around the area where the missile exploded had been swept away.
The problem was the radiation that was rapidly spreading and pus.h.i.+ng. Although at this point it was weak after extending 47 kilometers, Angelo estimated that it still had enough power to extend for another 2 or 3 kilometers before coming to a complete stop.
As for the two Fourth Order dragons.... Angelo had no idea if they had survived or not since all he could think of at that moment was to get away as fast as possible before being swallowed by the blast.
The Second Order dragons and the few Third Order dragons that were on the battlefield managed to resist the radiation well thanks to their tough scales and tough flesh, but the First Order dragons were not as lucky.
Roars of wailing and pain could be heard everywhere as the human troops retreated in haste even leaving their weapons behind to gain a little extra speed the beasts began to fall lifelessly like flies from the sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ...
The First Order dragons fell and writhed for a minute or so before losing their lives completely. Although not so obvious to the naked eye, the scales of the beasts had lost much of their gleam and their bodies seemed to shrink as the radiation consumed their flesh.
Approximately 2 minutes later and just as the human troops had retreated far enough to get out of the area affected by the nuclear missile"s radiation, a roar containing both anger and pain proportionately equal echoed from a long distance from the area.
"Angelo... Don"t tell me..." Jack looked at Angelo with wide eyes unwilling to finish his words.
However, the ugly expression on his Leader"s face told Jack and the others that the nightmare was real.
"... Let"s hope one of them is dead." Angelo tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword as he watched the now just over 5000 dragons pus.h.i.+ng forward.
5000 might not seem like much compared to before, but if one took into account that those 5000 dragons were all Second Order and Third Order dragons things were different. Plus, considering that there was a Fourth Order dragon alive... Things were still far from good.
"How are your wounds?" Robinson asked in a deep voice as he loaded a skill onto his two-handed axe.
"... It"s bad." Angelo shook his head. "Putting aside my wounds from before, the shockwave hit me in the back. I think I have 5 or 6 broken ribs and some pretty bad internal bleeding."
Hearing this, everyone"s expression changed noticeably.
After a brief silence, Andrea asked softly, "Angelo... Can you continue fighting?"
Angelo said nothing, and everyone took his silence as a negative answer that made their hearts sink into the abyss.
In reality, Angelo could still fight. The problem was that with his physical condition he could probably only fight for another 5 minutes against dragons of Third Order or lower.
As for fighting a dragon of the Fourth Order... Angelo no longer had that confidence even if the dragon was half dead.
At the end of the day, a dragon was a dragon.
Soon, the sound of gunfire resumed, as well as the activation of various skills.
Humans and dragons clashed again except that this time both sides were giving their all to the point where many launched suicide attacks knowing that this was the last push before the true end. This was especially so for the humans, as right behind their backs were their families.
If they lost their home, the home they had worked so hard to achieve in the midst of this cursed world, there was no use for them to go on living.
"Humans!!! d.a.m.n treacherous ants!!!"
A male roar filled with anger and pain echoed from the distance, and under the terror-filled eyes of the human army they watched as the embodiment of chaos rose from the ground.
Wings half shattered, scales practically 100% destroyed, body completely covered in blood. The condition of the male dragon was so bad that on his chest one could see his heart beating beyond a thick layer of burnt flesh and glowing bones.
Despite all this, however, a dragon was a dragon... and this was a Fourth Order dragon!
"You all must die so that the soul of Dealla may rest in peace!!!"
The red-scaled dragon opened his jaws wide after reaching maximum alt.i.tude and his magic burst out fully along with a strong mana surge that made all human soul evolvers below level 80 vomit blood.
The wave of mana was so heavy and the magical power so overwhelming that even Angelo and the soul evolvers closest to him staggered back several steps. After all, none of them were unharmed and people like Angelo with serious injuries were not few.
10... 200... 900... 1000...
Starting from a dozen and growing to over a thousand, magic circle after magic circle appeared in the sky as the throat of the Fourth Order dragon heated up and a great ball of fire gathered in the center of his wide open mouth.
The Fourth Order dragon had consumed everything he had to launch a single attack so after this he would fall unable to fight if not dead. However, this situation could not be worse for the human troops of the United States of America.
Subconsciously, Andrea took half a step back. Her beautiful honey-colored eyes trembled as her tiny pupils reflected the glow of the thousands of glowing magic circles in the sky: "I.... I can"t stop that no matter what-"
Andrea choked on her own words and could no longer continue, but everyone understood her.
A sigh of regret came from Angelo"s heart as he took a step forward, "It"s all right... I do can stop that."
"With your current condition?" Jack, who was Angelo"s best friend, looked at him with wide eyes. Suddenly he seemed to think of something and immediately exclaimed," Angelo, don"t tell me you"re thinking of sacrificing yourself here!"
"If you have a better idea tell me, but be quick my old friend. I"m afraid that dragon won"t give us time to chat." Angelo smiled bitterly as slowly his Mana began to fall. Strangely, however, his aura seemed to be slowly growing.
"Angelo, you can"t!" Andrea looked at him in shock and said sadly, "If you die who will lead us? You promised to lead our country to a new glory never seen before!"
"... Sorry." Angelo raised his sword and sighed. "I guess that"s not my destiny after all."
Robinson looked at Chen He and couldn"t help but spit out, "Yo, friend from China. Looks like you"re not so important to your Leader after all."
"The same way you guys don"t seem to be that important to that blonde girl?" Chen He looked at him indifferently and replied fearlessly, "You put your life in other people"s hands because you are weak not only physically but also mentally. At least have the b.a.l.l.s to admit your defeat and don"t look for excuses... or do you Americans always do this?"
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what did you say?!" Robinson took a step forward and was about to punch Chen He when suddenly a sound similar to the tearing of a piece of cloth but amplified thousands and thousands of times sounded in the sky.
Subconsciously, Angelo stopped what he was about to do and although he couldn"t see he did the same as everyone else; raising his head to look up at the sky.
Rooaaaaaaaarr!!!
A roar that expressed the lament of a wounded beast but also its unwillingness shook the sky.
Under the wide eyes of the intelligent dragons and desperate humans, the great Fourth Order dragon practically dead but powerful enough to end the war between the two races froze in the sky.
The magic circles disappeared one by one, slowly. But everyone"s focus was on the large arrow wreathed in blue flames that pierced the beast"s chest from his back.
"That"s..." Chen He"s pupils contracted when he noticed that beyond the fire was a giant ice arrow covered in flames.
"Hu... man..." The red-scaled dragon barely managed to finish a word in a weak and trembling voice before the gleam in his eyes disappeared completely.
[Critical Hit!]
The ma.s.sive body of the beast plummeted down and struck the ground with the same intensity with which a mountain would strike from such heights.
Finally, everyone could see a great golden bow over 20 meters high with beautiful opaque runes floating in the sky. Beyond the bow, a small sphere of blue fire floated silently and those with good eyesight noticed that inside the sphere was a large white dog with people on it.
"Angelo, don"t tell me you had already given up? Give me a break, we came a long way to help you you know? You still have to pay travel expenses."
A youthful yet powerful and commanding voice thundered in the sky making everyone involuntarily feel the need to bow to its owner.
Hearing this voice, Chen He could not help but smile as he closed his eyes and finally relaxed his tense muscles.
This young man was the first one Chen He saw as his rival since he was born, the first one who made him admit defeat, and the only one he didn"t mind losing to.
His rival in every sense of the word; even in love. But even then, a good leader and a great friend.
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