Lord of Prayer - Chapter 183 - 141: Gundam

Chapter 183: Chapter 141: Gundam

Scorching red bullets lashed through the air. One after another, mechanical bodies were blasted apart by the fiery downpour. Shattered flesh and metal littered the wasteland, and a mixture of grimy motor oil and foul blood stained the entire land a deep, dark brown.

Under the suppressing heavy firepower, the mechanical army’s advance slowed to a crawl, their numbers visibly dwindling.

Gu Shian was like a walking armory, carrying a massive amount of firearms and ammunition. He had already pulled out no fewer than thirty rockets, not to mention devastating weapons like a Plasma Cannon that could blast straight through an enemy position with a single shot. His firepower was enough to wage a small-scale war.

If the entire White House Squad were here, working in concert, they could probably wipe out the whole Steel Legion in no time.

But soon, they all realized something was wrong.

The fires of war raged. The ground was littered with a dense scattering of broken parts. Under the influence of the contamination, every tiny fragment seemed to gain a will of its own. Slender, bloody tendrils extended from each piece, spreading out like a spiderweb. They intertwined and wove together, forming a vast network that gathered the broken gears, springs, chains, motherboards, electronic components, steel limbs, and torsos, and began to reassemble them.

Then, one by one, monstrous creatures of flesh and steel crawled up from the field of wreckage. Their incomplete bodies gradually repaired themselves, like demons summoned from Hell, and they charged forward, roaring and screeching.

Even when blasted to pieces and completely dismantled, they could use their parts to form new bodies, held together by corrupted flesh!

The ground trembled as the legion of flesh and steel charged wave after wave, continuously closing the distance with the group.

“As long as the source of the contamination remains, they can keep repairing and regenerating. Unless we can break down all the metal in this area into dust, but only the Minister of Alchemy is capable of Alchemy on that level.”

Zhou Chen saw the nature of these mutated monsters and turned to Gu Shian. “Do you have anything with more kick? Blowing up the factory might stop the source of the contamination.”

“I do. The EX Plasma Energy Cannon. But its range is limited, a maximum of 150 meters. The closer you are, the higher the damage.” Gu Shian pulled out a pitch-black Energy Cannon that glinted with a cold, metallic light and looked brutally stylish.

“Cover me. I’m going for their base.”

As the only Ascender on the team with a movement ability, Zhou Chen took the Energy Cannon and vanished on the spot. A gout of pale fire erupted every fifty meters, forming a dotted line of flames as he charged straight into the abandoned factory.

A dense, low muttering filled the air, rustling like insects, as if trying to burrow into one’s brain.

This level of mental contamination was child’s play for Zhou Chen. In terms of sheer unpleasantness, it wasn’t even as bad as the canned laughter from a short-form video played out loud.

He looked around. The factory grounds and its many buildings had already been corroded by the contamination. Writhing flesh grew everywhere, giving it a foul, rotten appearance. At the same time, parts of it glinted with a metallic sheen, covering every surface it could and emitting a thick, putrid stench.

Just then, two golden, humanoid silhouettes appeared in his vision within one of the factory buildings, as if he had activated an eagle-eye view from a video game, allowing him to see enemies directly through structures.

’A little X-ray vision isn’t cheating.’

After adjusting his position to ensure the Energy Cannon could hit both targets in one shot, Zhou Chen decisively pulled the trigger.

A terrifying blast of light erupted from the cannon’s muzzle, bringing pure destruction. It effortlessly melted the wall and shot straight forward, plunging into the twisted, corrupted land.

But when the blinding pillar of light dissipated, what Zhou Chen saw through the hole in the wall was a Shield, scorched crimson by the intense heat. An evil, twisted Abyss Curse was inscribed upon it in a circular pattern, granting it an indestructible defense.

BOOM!

With a tremendous crash, the factory ceiling was smashed open by a behemoth. Rebar and concrete flew everywhere. It was a monstrous Mecha, its eyes glowing with a frenzied crimson light as it let out a deafening, abominable, mechanical roar.

The gaps in its frame were filled with writhing crimson flesh and tentacles, from which extended countless blood vessels and cables. In its left hand, it held a large metal Shield; in its right, a sharp Giant Sword. On its back were six mechanical arms, each equipped with a circular saw.

Zhou Chen’s eyes widened in shock. ’I feel as if a hundred thousand alpacas are stampeding through my mind.’

’Fuck, where did this Gundam come from?’

The high-speed saw blades rushed toward him. With a flash of fire, Zhou Chen vanished. A sharp cutting sound followed as dirt and stone flew, and the saw blade carved a deep trench in the ground.

In mid-air, Zhou Chen fired again. The expanding pillar of light shot out silently, piercing the Mecha’s back with terrifying heat and melting two of its mechanical arms clean off at the base. Molten metal dripped to the ground.

Immediately after, however, a dense mass of tentacles and cables shot out from the Mecha’s back, catching the two arms before they could even hit the ground. A large amount of corrupt flesh grew from the wounds, fighting against the residual heat with a sizzling sound like grilling meat, which gave off a strange, fragrant aroma.

SPLAT! SPLAT! Foul blood splattered as the two mechanical arms were forcibly shoved back into place despite the searing heat, sending up clouds of smoke. Layers of mutated flesh proliferated, replacing the damaged mechanical structures, reconnecting the arms, and bringing them back under control.

Amidst the whirring of the saw blades, the two mechanical arms attacked from the left and right. Zhou Chen knew this thing wouldn’t be easy to deal with. He used a series of teleports to return to his group’s position. Just as he was about to wish for his Essence to be restored, he saw Shane toss him a high-purity Essence Crystal.

“Were you successful?” Shane asked.

“No, that Gundam’s Shield blocked it,” Zhou Chen said, shaking his head.

Gu Shian stared at the walking, mutated Mecha in the distance, unable to hide the shock and disbelief in his voice. “This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous… By my estimate, it’s been less than ten minutes since the robot uprising began. To create such a large-scale killing machine in under ten minutes… unless the other party is a master-level figure in the Alchemy Realm.”

“Qin Xu and his daughter have no experience in this area. Even if they started preparing right after they fled yesterday, they wouldn’t have been able to assemble even a single finger.”

“Gotta say, you’re right,” Zhou Chen agreed, nodding as he absorbed the Essence Crystal.

As an Alchemist and a Blacksmith, he was more shocked than anyone. That thing had no Alchemy Matrix at all; it was a pure product of technology. It wasn’t even a model activated by Qin Xu’s Extraordinary Ability, [Model Activation]. It was a real, giant robot.

Although it had now been corroded by contamination and inscribed with an Abyss Curse, mutating it into a bizarre, twisted creation, its fundamental nature hadn’t changed. It was a genuine piece of technology.

’How did Qin Xu and his daughter build something like this in a dump like that?’

“Our firepower is about to be overwhelmed! Once that Gundam gets here, we’ll be forced into close combat.”

Amidst the roar of machine guns, Colin remained composed and shouted to Zhou Chen, “Do you think that Gundam will be hard to deal with?”

“It should be easy enough to fight, but as long as the contamination source exists, that thing can regenerate with flesh at any time. We’d have to grind it to dust… Look out!”

Zhou Chen suddenly kicked away the machine gun next to Lin Qingyue. The gun had been set aside to cool down after overheating, but now, fine, fleshy tentacles were sprouting from it. If Zhou Chen hadn’t been so quick, those tentacles would have pierced Lin Qingyue’s body.

“Thanks…” The words had barely left Lin Qingyue’s mouth when she abruptly threw down the firearm in her hands—countless fleshy tendrils were emerging from its barrel.

At the same time, several other firearms were corroded by the contamination, sprouting mutated flesh, and were thrown away by the group.

“Alchemy Weapons are being affected too! The contamination is getting stronger!” Zhou Chen pulled the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw from his backpack and enveloped it in Cyan Flame to prevent it from being contaminated.

The Soul-Shocking Copper Whistle hanging around his neck was also a metal object. He yanked it off and burned it with Cyan Flame to shield it from the contamination.

The mutations in their firearms caused their net of firepower to weaken instantly. The ground rumbled as if a mighty army was stampeding toward them.

Without the suppressing fire, the mutated legion of steel and flesh rushed in with a frenzy!

In an instant, a torrent of blood and iron engulfed them all.