Chapter 2403: The Decisive Battle (XI)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Careful!”
The human soldiers had sensed this development, but it was too late.
Raaaah!
With a brutal roar, the earth beneath the center of the human army to the south cracked apart, and an enormous being exuding a foul and burning stench extracted itself from the earth, like a mountain rising up in the middle of the battlefield.
Rumble! As that enormous being emerged, thousands of human soldiers, whether they were archers, infantry, cavalry, or ballistae, were tossed several thousand feet into the air as if they weighed nothing.
Several cavalry were swallowed up by that being before they could even land.
Shock!
Incomparable shock!
Everyone on the battlefield felt unprecedented shock.
Even the intense sounds of fighting were drowned out by this sudden development.
A dark green poisonous mist rolled out across the battlefield, and when everyone saw the appearance of this creature, they were struck dumb again!
What sort of creature was this!?
The largest beings on the battlefield before this had undoubtedly been the soldiers of the Archaic Celestial Army, but this monster that had come out of the earth was ten-some times larger than the Archaic Celestial Army soldiers, five to six thousand feet tall!
Even the King Ape, the largest of the Behemoths from the war with Arabia, was not even one-fifth this creature’s size.
When this monster appeared on the battlefield, it obscured the heavens.
This creature was pitch-black, and it had the slippery body of a snake with scales that were countless times harder than steel and covered every part of its body. Besides that, a lingering poisonous mist was constantly being released from beneath its scales.
It had the appearance of a giant lizard, with four sharp and terrifying clawed feet, but rather than one neck, it had nine of them, each one a thousand feet long. Topping these necks were nine enormous and wicked triangular heads, bearing nine pairs of crimson, cruel and brutal eyes that were bursting with destructive energy, enough to instill the worst of nightmares in anyone who looked into them.
Brutal, cruel, chaotic, destructive… This was a monster that existed purely for destruction!
“Nine… nine heads!”
“What in the world is this thing?!”
Those nine pairs of eyes left even the most resolved of soldiers with shaken wills.
Just looking at this terrifying creature could make anyone feel insignificant, puny, and afraid.
This was the relations.h.i.+p between predator and prey!
Raaaah!
Moments after emerging, that pitch-black monster began to move. Its heads all opened their mouths, and a moment later, gouts of flame emerged and instantly swept out for tens of thousands of feet around them.
“Aaaghk!”
Screams rang out as the earth was turned into a sea of fire. Archers, infantry, and even some of the Aswaran Cataphracts were instantly burned into ash and smoke by the monster’s flames.
Even steel was melted down from the high-temperature flames.
As for the steppe beneath, it was scorched into red sand.
It was also a fire attack, and the monster had a far smaller range than the kerosene bombs used by the human army, but the scorching and poisonous flames were far more effective. In a flash, the surrounding radius of nearly ten thousand feet around the monster had been swept clean of human soldiers.
No struggle!
No resistance!
Even the largest reserves of Stellar Energy had instantly been burned up by the flames of this enormous Behemoth.
Raaaah!
The terrifying Behemoth did not pause. As countless people watched, it strode forward, each step crossing a thousand feet as it made its way toward more human soldiers.
The nine heads were like nine giant flamethrowers, sweeping over the battlefield.
Thirty thousand!
Fifty thousand!
One hundred thousand!
In front of this monstrous being, an even larger army would still be useless. Whether they were ordinary soldiers or officers, they were all obliterated by the poisonous flames.
Bang!
The monster slammed a foot down, and a shockwave rolled across the earth as thousands of soldiers were flattened.
The orderly ranks of the human army instantly fell into chaos.
Neigh!
Warhorses scattered in all directions. These warhorses had gone through prolonged training and were not easily frightened, but nothing was immune to the frightening aura of this creature.
This fear was branded into the depths of their souls.
Whoos.h.!.+
Wherever the flames went, the army crumbled!
One hundred and fifty thousand!
Two hundred thousand!
Three hundred thousand!
It had only been present on the battlefield for a few moments, but it had already obliterated three hundred thousand soldiers, their ashes drifting across the battlefield. And this monster was continuing to make its way through the human army.
No force on the battlefield was capable of stopping it!
And given the monster’s frightening lethality, even an army of one million soldiers would be swiftly ma.s.sacred.
“Kill it!”
A squad of about one hundred giant bird soldiers changed directions, trying to use their kerosene bombs on the monster. But before they could get close, a gout of flame shot out, and this squad was wiped out of existence.
This was no longer a war, only a one-sided ma.s.sacre.
“Kill!”
Countless soldiers still attempted to fight this monster. Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+ The experts of the Shadow Dragon Division dodged the flames, using their nimble movement arts to approach the monster.
“Release!”
At the same time, tens of thousands of ballistae pointed at the enormous being. There was no need to take aim, and in a flash, tens of thousands of ballista bolts howled out. Even the giant ballistae in the rear had started targeting this monster.
Through w.a.n.g Chong, the Great Tang already had set procedures for dealing with Behemoths. Both ballistae and giant ballistae were good weapons for dealing with these t.i.tanic beasts, particularly the giant ballistae, which were capable of swiftly killing Behemoths.
But the final result was far different from what many people had imagined!
Boomboomboom!
Sharp swords cut at the pitch-black scales and numerous ballista bolts struck the monster’s body, but all of them failed to penetrate the scales.
At that moment, sparks flashed off the monster’s body, but the monster itself was unmoved, a mountain of steel.
“Let me do it!”
With a clang, Invincible Great General Li Siye took out his giant Wootz Steel sword and charged at the Behemoth.
In their plans, it was still far from the right time for the Great Generals to make their move, but this Behemoth was so devastating that it could easily destroy the entire army.
“It’s useless!”
Atop the altar, Essence Supreme grinned.
“Do you think that Behemoths meant to end an epoch are so easy to destroy?”
A Doomsday Behemoth!
This was the ultimate power that the Celestial G.o.d Organization used to destroy the world.
The Celestial Army was used to deal with the human armies, but their efficiency was too low. These Behemoths, on the other hand, were impervious to weapons and were so powerful that even five Saint Martial realm experts would find it hard to block its attacks. They were moving fortresses that could keep fighting so long as blood continued to flow through their veins.
The Great Tang had been constantly gathering intelligence, and it had believed that they were building another Behemoth Army. But this was not the case at all. In truth, Essence Supreme had been awakening the Doomsday Behemoths.
Legends regarding them could be found throughout the long river of history. The strongest civilizations and strongest armies could not stop their ravaging.
These civilizations had only left behind small s.n.a.t.c.hes of information regarding the Doomsday Behemoths. In the Central Plains, some people had called it the ‘Nine-Infant’.
(TN: The Nine-Infant was a mythological monster said to have nine heads and have a cry that sounded like a wailing baby.)
In terms of killing power, they rendered the Celestial Army unnecessary. These Doomsday Behemoths were enough to destroy the world. Of course, the most important part was…
“I never said that I only had one pet!”
Essence Supreme smirked, his calm and aloof expression frightening to behold.
Rumble!
As if in response to Essence Supreme, the earth trembled once more.
Raaaah!
Deafening roars erupted from the depths of the earth.
Boom! Boom! Boom! More parts of the earth split open, and seven more of these enormous black Behemoths emerged, their heads blotting out the skies.
“!!!”
The world fell silent, and as countless soldiers stared at these mountainous creatures, they felt their hearts stop.
Eight!
In short order, eight of these terrifying Behemoths had appeared!
One was hard enough to deal with, but eight… This was the human army’s worst nightmare.
Everyone instantly felt like they had fallen into an ice house.
Raaaah!
With a metallic roar, seventy-two gouts of flame erupted across the sky, intersecting with each other and obscuring the heavens.
“Ah!”
Screams resounded across the battlefield as countless soldiers were set aflame. Even their armor and weapons were set aflame, engulfing the area with smoke.
One million!
The moment these Behemoths appeared, the human army hit a frightening number of losses.
At the same time, far from the continent in the distant depths of s.p.a.cetime, w.a.n.g Chong and Heaven’s battle was also going through a momentous development.
In the void, w.a.n.g Chong saw countless stars emerging.
These stars had come from nothing and were rapidly increasing in number. In the end, they became a river of stars, and in the center of the river of stars, a dazzling point of light emerged. Soon, misty nebulas appeared around w.a.n.g Chong.
More and more objects continued to appear around w.a.n.g Chong, and they continued to evolve and produce even more objects.
The universe!
w.a.n.g Chong came to a moment of startled understanding.
Heaven was simulating the birth of the universe!
“Starting countless epochs ago, We had a dream to explore the infinite universe and comprehend its secrets. The lives in this world are too lowly, and even the twelve Supremes that We chose are too unsophisticated. They have no idea that there are many more worlds besides the one we reside in. The universe is vast and boundless. Eons ago, when We saw those storms of primal chaos, We understood the foundation of the universe.
“After the great purge, We had planned to make this world the true world for humanity and move all living beings within it. We even thought about moving the land itself, making it into a brand new world. We call it the Myth of Creation.”