A loud explosion could be heard from within the resting area. The explosion sound came from the heads of the soul engineers. All their heads had exploded from Huo Yuhao"s spiritual blast.
At this very instant, all fifty soul engineers who were resting in the resting area had been killed.
It was only now that the whole camp started to react to what had just happened. The linked soul tools started to establish a defensive barrier to cordon the area off from the rest of the world.
It was a logical move for them to contain the intruders since there were only two people. Based on their calculations, it should be relatively easy to capture or kill them.
Little did they expect their enemies to be so powerful.
After unleashing a spiritual blast, Huo Yuhao did not wait around. He grabbed Tang Wutong and flickered around the camp like a ghost.
There were many defensive soul tools within the camp which were specially designed to fight against intruders. They shot several laser beams towards Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong, but they just couldn"t hit the couple who were flickering around in the camp.
Huo Yuhao was not only capable of predicting where the beams would go because of his spiritual detection ability, but was also a Cla.s.s 9 soul engineer! He had long discovered the flaws in the arrangements of these soul tools.
The biggest problem with these defensive soul tools was how they were arranged in a way so as to minimize damage to the soul tools within the camp. On top of this, their power was limited to protect the soldiers. This resulted in countless blind spots, which Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong gladly took advantage of.
With his spiritual blast as a continuous ranged attacks, Huo Yuhao was able to unleash his powerful attacks without even seeing the soul engineers.
The most powerful soul engineer among them was only a seven-ringed Soul Sage. Their self-defense soul tools were mainly focused on protecting against attacks which were physical or soul-power-based. Not everyone could be equipped with high-cla.s.s soul tools which could protect them against spiritual attacks. Other than the seven-ringed Soul Sage, which required Huo Yuhao to kill him with spiritual shock, the rest of them perished under Huo Yuhao"s spiritual blast. Spiritual attacks were no doubt the most effective way to kill soul engineers.
It took them only a couple of minutes to kill all of them. In the end, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were the only ones still alive within the camp.
Following which, Huo Yuhao entered the core area of the camp and shut down the linked defensive system with the help of his understanding of soul tools as a Cla.s.s 9 soul engineer.
The soldiers who were camped outside had already erupted into chaos. However, they did not dare to enter the area where the soul tools were stationed after the linked defensive system had vanished.
The soul engineers in the camp were held in great esteem by the soldiers. Besides, there were already orders given to not enter the area unless they were given permission by the soul engineers.
One must understand that any of the soul engineers would have a higher rank than the commanders amongst the soldiers. Soul engineers had extremely high social statuses in the Sun Moon Empire.
After completing their sabotage work, Huo Yuhao concealed himself and Tang Wutong as they snuck out of the area where the soul tools were stationed. Following which, they accelerated through the air with their Cla.s.s 9 flying soul tools and returned to where they had hidden the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion.
“# 1 to #12, listen carefully. I want you to lock onto the coordinates that my spiritual energy is pointing at. Change your sh.e.l.ls to Cla.s.s 4 sh.e.l.ls and get ready.”
Because Huo Yuhao"s voice was projected with his spiritual energy, every single soul engineer in the legion could hear his words clearly.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao also informed his companions within the spectral demiplane.
Following which, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion and the Fort Soul Engineer Legion started to move out from the black doors, and line up in their formations quickly.
Hu Yuhao"s eyes were radiating a certain glow as he used his spiritual energy to keep the doors open, lock onto the position of the aerial surveillance soul tools, and fix the coordinates for the artillery with his Spiritual Sharing ability. He was capable of mult.i.tasking, and had fully exhibited the importance of his spiritual energy in war.
Huo Yuhao gazed into the distance as a smile escaped from the corner of his mouth.
Following which, twenty of the three hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons started to take aim after receiving the coordinates from Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Sharing.
At this very instant, Huo Yuhao was like their eyes. The long black metallic barrels began their adjustments as they aimed towards the distant sky.
After repeated improvements, the current cannons were far more accurate than before.
The earliest versions of the cannons had forty-eight barrels. Because they required sixteen barrels for every shot, they could fire three times consecutively. Afterwards, they would have to be set aside to cool before they could be used again.
Now, regardless of whether it was their cooling mechanisms or their material, the cannons had improved tremendously, and could sustain extended periods of continuous firing.
The sixteen barrels used to only be able to fire in a single direction. However, after Xuan Ziwen improved its design, it was now able to aim in a single direction with just two barrels. This would allow the cannon to be a lot more accurate in its firing.
“Fire!” Huo Yuhao ordered.
At that instant, twenty Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons fired in unison with a deafening belch. Three hundred and twenty Cla.s.s 4 sh.e.l.ls ascended into the air instantly as they headed in the direction of the distant sky.
He Caitou was standing by Huo Yuhao"s side as he grabbed his own chest. The mere thought of the cost of these sh.e.l.ls made his heart ache. Those were all stationary soul cannon sh.e.l.ls! Even though Huo Yuhao"s newly researched manufacturing technique had helped to reduce the cost of producing these sh.e.l.ls, it still cost a small fortune to launch a few hundred sh.e.l.ls at once.
Huo Yuhao turned his head and smiled at He Caitou. He said, “Senior brother, don"t worry about it. We will not be taking a loss. Those aerial surveillance soul tools have the ability to dodge attacks. If we were to scrimp on the sh.e.l.ls, they might not be enough to destroy them.”
While they were speaking, a deafening explosion could be heard from the distant sky.
Several b.a.l.l.s of fire could be seen in the background. Because it was the middle of the day, the fireb.a.l.l.s were not too obvious. However, it was still apparent enough that the b.a.l.l.s of fire were not just timed explosions.
“We hit them!” He Caitou waved his fist in excitement.
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “We have managed to clear all one hundred aerial surveillance soul tools in the vicinity. Senior Brother, lead the Fort Soul Engineer Legion to clear up the camp I have just returned from. I have left plenty of spoils for you there.”
The aerial surveillance soul tools were useless to Huo Yuhao. They were of no use for the mission he was leading. In fact, Huo Yuhao was probably better than all those soul tools when it came to surveillance and reconnaissance work. However, the soul tools in the camp were different. They were all high-quality heavy weapons—the fruits of the labor and research the Sun Moon Empire had done. In fact, such areas would usually contain precious resources like the Sealed Milk Bottles! They should also have plenty of stationary soul cannon sh.e.l.ls. Even if this area did not have the strongest soul tools, they should still have an abundance of resources.
After hearing Huo Yuhao"s words, He Caitou immediately understood what he meant. Following which, he joyfully led the Fort Soul Engineer Legion to collect their spoils.
However, it was not just him who headed out. Bei Bei was also moving out with the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion.
Even though the three legions had trained for a long period of time, they had still not fought any battles in their capacity as soul engineers. Since this was already a sure victory for them, it would be good for them to go out and experience fighting. It would also be a good way for them to improve their capabilities.
The outcome was one which everyone had long expected. There was no other possible outcome when five thousand normal foot soldiers met two soul engineer legions.
Under the instructions of He Caitou and Bei Bei, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion and the Fort Soul Engineer Legion only used non-stationary soul cannon sh.e.l.ls, soul rays, and similar expendable items to finish the soldiers off.
The entire battle took less than twenty minutes, and the entire army of five thousand soldiers was obliterated. Without the protection of soul tools, these soldiers had pretty much no capabilities on the battlefield.
While they were destroying the soldiers and collecting the spoils, Huo Yuhao had already ordered his Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion to return into the spectral demiplane. It was best for them to return first, since they were the slowest legion. After they had returned, it would be easier for Huo Yuhao to make his next move.
Even though it was fairly tedious to disa.s.semble the heavy weapons, the legion of soul engineers found it relatively easy with the help of the all-terrain self-driving forts.
They first began to clear up the leftover supplies before disa.s.sembling the heavy soul tools.
Huo Yuhao grabbed Tang Wutong as both of them floated in mid-air. Huo Yuhao was observing the disa.s.sembly process while using his spiritual energy to detect any enemy movement in the distance.
Tang Wutong smiled. “Seems like it isn"t too difficult to deal with the Sun Moon Empire!”
Huo Yuhao replied, “This is but the start. Besides, the explosions in the air earlier must have alerted the other nearby camps. Their a.s.sistance is probably late because of the precautionary measures they have to take and the long distance from their camps to this one. We must leave the moment I detect any movement from them.”
Tang Wutong asked, “Then what do we do with the equipment we can"t bring along with us in time?”
Huo Yuhao smiled before replying, “We will of course destroy it. We can"t leave it behind for them to use.”
Tang Wutong said, “Even if their reinforcements were to arrive, they would probably lose to us too. Logically speaking, the Sun Moon Empire would not set up their soul tool camps with overlapping ranges. Hence, if the other camps can"t reach the area here, their soul engineers would have no chance against us.”
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “No, we can"t a.s.sume all of that. Firstly, we can"t afford to lose anyone. We only have this number of people. Hence, I cannot risk any of their lives. Not even a single one of them. I would rather we lose out on some of the spoils than give the enemy a chance to deal damage to us. Besides, there is also the possibility of us getting tangled in the combat and losing the chance to retreat. This is near the frontline, so there must be plenty of troops from the Sun Moon Empire around. Once we get caught in battle, our plan will have failed. Hence, we must strike and leave immediately. We must make sure no one knows the profile of our army. The unknown enemy is often the scariest enemy. Our main goal is to exert pressure on the Sun Moon Empire! Oh! They"re here!”
Huo Yuhao solemnly gave the signal to begin retreating.
The fellows from Tang Sect had spent so much time together. Because Huo Yuhao had been the main control-type soul master all along, they reacted according to his warnings without any hesitation.
After taking everything they had dismantled, the all-terrain self-driving forts started to shoot soul rays at the soul tools which they were unable to take with them. In a short amount of time, they transformed the soul tool camp into ruins.