64: Mechanical Guards! Why aren't these monsters losing health?

"Blow it up! Everyone get the hell back! Demolition Team Three! Stuff all your precious babies into that hole!"

"Be careful! Don't collapse the load-bearing rocks nearby, or we'll all be taking a lava bath!"

The area in front of the steel suspension bridge spanning the lava river had now turned into a bustling, massive construction site.

Retired Soldier King's "Artificial Land Reclamation" plan was initially dismissed as a fantasy by all players. However, when Wang Wei (Luban No. 7) used his professional modeling software to calculate that precisely blasting a few key nodes of the cavern dome above could trigger a controlled, small-scale landslide, every player's eyes lit up.

Violence was the language they knew best.

Especially this kind of epic-scale violence that could alter the terrain!

Thus, under the professional command of Retired Soldier King, the Retired Soldier King, tens of thousands of players transformed from bandits looting and pillaging into a disciplined unit of "combat engineers."

Using flying skateboards and grappling hook guns, they transported tons of explosives to designated locations on the dome.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a deafening roar, a mountain-like rock fell from the sky, trailing thick smoke as it crashed heavily into the rushing lava river, kicking up towering waves of fire.

"It worked! It’s effective!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Keep going! Pave a path in the river and circle those bastards to death!"

The players cheered, full of energy.

Li Qiang (Also a Ruthless Person) had just stored that golden chest in the warehouse. Coming back to see this bustling scene, his lips couldn't help but twitch.

"Old Zhao, are you sure this is faster than us just charging across?" He looked at the lava river, where only a corner had been filled after all that time, expressing his doubt.

Retired Soldier King didn't even look up. Holding binoculars to observe the energy barrier on the opposite bank, he said calmly, "This is the only way. That shield's energy comes from the ley lines and is connected to the entire city. Unless we have the power to uproot Black Iron City from the ground, don't even think about breaking it with conventional methods."

Just then, Wang Wei, who was calculating the explosive yield for the next round, suddenly looked up. The data stream on his goggles began to flicker frantically.

"Something's wrong!"

Wang Wei's voice sounded exceptionally piercing over the noisy communication channel.

"In the river! The lava temperature is rising abnormally! There's a high-energy reaction!"

No sooner had he spoken.

The lava river, which had just been rushing along, suddenly began to boil violently. Huge bubbles rose from the riverbed like molten iron coming to a boil.

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

"What is that?!" A sharp-eyed player pointed at the center of the river and let out a terrified scream.

Everyone's gaze shifted there.

Amidst the crimson lava, pitch-black, spindle-like shadows were slowly floating to the surface.

Splash—!

The lava exploded.

The first black shadow broke through the "water" and landed steadily on the scalding rocks by the shore.

It was a humanoid mechanical creation forged entirely from an unknown black metal. Its frame was slender, its armor streamlined, and its joints glowed with a dark red light, as if lava were flowing through them. Its face had no features, only a single eye emitting an ominous red glow.

Most terrifyingly, they ignored the heat that was enough to melt steel. Lava flowed down their smooth armor without leaving a single mark.

In their hands, they gripped longswords as sharp as obsidian, vibrating at high frequencies.

[Mechanical Guard]

"Holy crap! Water ghosts! Water ghosts crawling out of the lava!"

"These mobs look so damn cool! They even have their own flame auras!"

Before the players could react from their shock, more black shadows crawled out of the lava.

Ten, fifty, a hundred... In an instant, hundreds of Mechanical Guards had silently formed a neat phalanx on the riverbank. Their hundreds of crimson monocles coldly locked onto the players performing "infrastructure work."

"What are you afraid of? They're just a bunch of elite mobs! Brothers, open fire! Tear them apart and sell them as scrap metal!"

Li Qiang roared and was the first to raise his newly acquired [Six-Barreled Flame Dragon Revolver Rifle].

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"

Tongues of fire spat out. Bullets infused with Blasting Flame poured like rain toward the Mechanical Guard at the very front.

However, a horrifying scene unfolded.

-1

-1

-1

...A string of bright red, mocking numbers floated up from the guard's head.

The bullets hit its obsidian-like armor, and aside from a few negligible sparks, not even a white scratch was left behind.

"What?!" Li Qiang's eyes nearly popped out. "They're not losing health?!"

Meanwhile, the attacks from other players also landed.

Fireballs, frost arrows, even being struck by a power hammer—none could cause any effective damage to these monsters.

They were like the Incarnation of absolute defense.

"Physical attacks are useless! Magic attacks are just scratching them!"

"What the hell are these tin cans made of?!"

In the moment the players were stunned, the Mechanical Guards moved.

No roars, no battle cries.

Only deathly silence and efficient slaughter.

Their figures turned into streaks of black lightning, instantly charging into the players' chaotic formation.

Shink—

A flash of black light.

A heavily armored warrior player charging at the front was sliced clean in half—man and shield together—by a high-frequency vibration blade.

That thick shield made of refined steel was as fragile as paper before the vibration blade.

"Holy shit! My shield!"

"Instakill! The front line just got instakilled!"

"Scatter! Quickly, scatter! Don't let them get close!"

Panic spread like a plague.

The attack and defense of these Mechanical Guards were completely disproportionate. They were like a group of top-tier assassins with god-tier gear, hacking and slashing through a starter village.

The human-wave tactics the players were so proud of appeared pale and powerless for the first time against these killing machines.

"We can't hold them! They're rushing toward the demolition point!"

"Engineer Wang! Think of something! Where's that damn Dragon of yours? Fire the cannon!"

"I can't! Their targets are too small, and they're mixed in with the crowd. Firing the cannon will blow our own people away too!" Wang Wei's voice was filled with anxiety.

He controlled several miniature reconnaissance drones, risking them being destroyed to get close to the mechanical sentries and frantically scan their data.

"Found it!"

A few seconds later, Wang Wei's voice rang out in everyone's communication channel like music to their ears!

"Their armor is a special high-temperature resistant alloy, with extremely high mitigation against conventional attacks! But! They are powered by internal miniature lava cores. To maintain operation, they must perform high-intensity heat dissipation!"

"The weak points are the vents! Under their armpits, inside the knees, and at the back of the neck! There are exposed exhaust grilles there!"

Wang Wei spoke extremely fast, like a machine gun.

"Don't use fire attacks! That will only charge them up! All ice mages! Listen to my command!"

"Lin Xiaowan! You have the strongest frost magic in the whole server! Organize all ice mages! Focus fire on their joint vents!"

"Use the principle of thermal expansion and contraction! Freeze their joints, then have Brother Qiang and the others smash them with heavy weapons! This is the only way!"

The order was instantly transmitted to every corner.

The formation that had already begun to collapse started to reorganize under Wang Wei's precise command.

"Rich Woman! It's up to you!" Li Qiang shouted.

Lin Xiaowan (Rich Woman Hungry) didn't waste words. Standing on a high rock, she raised her staff, and bone-chilling cold air spread out from her as the center.

"All ice mages! On my command! Target thirty meters to the front-left! That tin can with the coolest slashing pose! Focus fire on its right knee!"

Hundreds of ice mages chanted simultaneously.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A sky full of ice shards and cold currents precisely covered the Mechanical Guard that was currently on a rampage.

Crack!

A thick layer of frost instantly condensed on the guard's right knee, and its originally fluid movements showed a distinct stiffness.

"Now! Brother Qiang!"

"On it!"

Li Qiang was already poised to strike. Like a hunting leopard, he rushed forward with a sliding tackle, his power hammer carrying the force of a thousand tons as it slammed hard against the frozen mechanical leg!

Clang—!!!

A crisp sound!

The armor at the joint shattered! The black mechanical sentry lost its balance and fell to one knee.

"It works!"

The players erupted into thunderous cheers.

Just when everyone thought they had found hope for a counterattack and were prepared to steady their ground in one go.

Creeeeeak—

A massive, ear-piercing sound of metal grinding suddenly came from behind that giant energy barrier on the opposite bank.

Everyone's movements paused, and they instinctively looked up.

The indestructible energy shield still stood, but behind it, the inner city main gate of Black Iron City—which had been closed for who knows how many centuries—was actually opening slowly and heavily.

A massive, terrifying shadow, two or three times taller than a normal mechanical sentry, slowly stepped out from the gate.

Its physique was incredibly burly, like a moving city wall. Its right arm was not a blade but a five-meter-long giant alloy drill bit that was still spinning at high speed. Just standing there, the sense of pressure made all players feel suffocated.

[Elite · Executioner]

However, that wasn't the most shocking part.

Behind that massive "Executioner," a relatively "small" figure followed.

Its gait was somewhat staggering, and more than half of its head was covered in crude metal. On the remaining half of its face, lines of pain were etched. Its right arm had been modified into a sinister, six-barreled Gatling gun that was still emitting green smoke.

When that figure completely stepped out from the shadows of the gate and was exposed to the light of the lava river.

Li Qiang's pupils snapped to the size of pinheads.

His breathing stopped at that moment.

Although its appearance had changed drastically, that silhouette, that figure who had once guided them through the underground tunnels—somewhat upright yet somewhat cowardly... "That... that's..."

Li Qiang's voice was dry, filled with unbelievable horror.

"Ba... Old Ba?"