One thousand two hundred years ago, steam machinery technology was discovered by explorers from the ruins of ancient civilizations, and human civilization has since entered the age of steam machinery.
With the shelter of the steel castle, mankind is no longer dominated by night and fear, and the population has entered the era of the Big Bang.
Since then, humans have transformed from a weak race surviving on this misty continent to a powerful group at the top of the food chain.
The great scientist who built the first steam steel city was called Dorena Spuglin. He was the first emperor of the Omar Empire.
It was also from that time that the ancient slave country was divided into two large empires today, one is the "Cid Empire" that continues the ancient heritage, and the other is the "Omar Empire" that follows the steam technology line.
... .
"Steam technology" is the foundation of the Omar Empire.
And the steel monster slowly emerging from the Storm Lake in front of us is the technological crystallization of the efforts of generations of scientists from the "Royal Academy of Omar". It represents the pinnacle of steam technology in the Mechanical City - [City of Destruction]. !
This is a "Behemoth Lord" ultimate war fortress, a pure war weapon.
Because it does not have ordinary residential buildings, its size is not as large as some lords' steel castles, but its firepower and mobility have an overwhelming advantage over mechanical cities of the same level.
All the designs in the entire mechanical city exist for war.
The huge and exaggerated composite tracks hold up this giant conch-shaped steel city, which is as indestructible as an iron can.
What catches the eye is the defensive armored wall that is more than two hundred meters high and is as solid as a reservoir dam. Looking upward, among the spiral floors, there are densely distributed super cannons with terrifyingly large calibers, aiming in all directions at 360° without blind spots.
State-of-the-art large steam boilers, steel-burning furnaces, city-breaking cutting machines, war arm hammers, destroyers, and whaling harpoons.
This is a steel monster armed to the teeth.
The moment it came out of the water, the steam cabin that had accumulated a lot of pressure suddenly released its pressure, and white steam steamed, as if a giant beast came out of hell, with fierce flames raging into the sky.
The three main war elephant-level mechanical cities of the "White Wolf Phantom Thieves" were just like hyenas trembling under the feet of a lion in front of this [City of Destruction].
"This thing... is too exaggerated!"
From a distance, Renn couldn't help but swallow his saliva as he looked at the mechanical city that suddenly emerged from the lake.
The steam machinery in front of him, representing the pinnacle of technology in the world, made him feel a hundred times more shocked than when he saw an aircraft carrier in his previous life. This technology tree is a bit too crooked and scary.
... .
This "Black Market Fair" gathered most of the Phantom Thieves in the southern part of the Oma Empire.
There are more than a hundred main mechanical cities of the Phantom Thieves, plus those micro mechanical cities for supply and troop transport, there are thousands of them.
In the blink of an eye, the first round of artillery robes from [Destruction City] had already been blasted down intensively.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
The dense sound of artillery exploded all over the sky, deafening.
For a time, thousands of cannonballs rained down on the mechanical city of the Phantom Thieves by the lake, causing large swaths of fire.
What shocked Renn the most was...
At this time, he saw with his own eyes that the mechanical monster slowly came ashore, "eating" a small steel city like a whale!
Yes, just eat it!
After the Steel City came ashore, a large hole opened in the exaggerated city wall, like a giant beast opening its mouth, revealing a high-temperature steelmaking cabin like a crater.
Then, dozens of harpoons were ejected, easily penetrating the small mechanical city closest to it. Like a prey that was tied up, the Mechanical City couldn't struggle despite all its power.
The winch pulled back, and before the phantom thieves in the Steel City had time to escape, even the castle leaders were pulled into the furnace and turned into molten iron in an instant.
It rolled into the battlefield with an invincible attitude!
... .
"The steam boiler is running at full pressure, and the boilermaker is adding coal... Adding coal!"
"Artilleryman, reload ammunition to counterattack..."
"Don't panic, everyone. It takes a long time for large artillery to reload ammunition... Everyone, hurry up and spread out and escape!"
"..."
The Phantom Thieves also responded very quickly to the battle. After being caught off guard by this round of artillery, the team commanders also responded quickly.
The steam machinery city increased its power and spread out in all directions.
Although their artillery power is not as powerful as the top-tech [Destruction City], this distance is still enough for them to fire intensively and destroy some of the buildings on the castle.
After all, no matter how powerful the enemy is, they only have one mechanical city.
... .
The shore of Storm Lake suddenly turned into a mess.
At this moment, [White Wolf] Bazel finally understood where his bad premonition came from.
He stared at the Omar people in front of him fiercely, and said with murderous intent in his tone: "Do you think that by ambushing such a Behemoth Mechanical City in advance, we can kill all the hundreds of Phantom Thieves in one fell swoop?"
Although the "City of Destruction" is incomparable, it is simply wishful thinking to try to wipe out hundreds of Phantom Thieves with just this super mechanical city!
From his point of view, this siege will be like countless previous sieges, returning without success.
After a pause, he said with an unkind expression: "Although [City of Destruction] is powerful... we still have time to save your lives before we escape!"
"Oh? Let's wait and see..."
Omar and the others stood there with normal expressions, as if they didn't care about this threat at all.
"snort!"
Bazel snorted, and the silver wolf he transformed into stopped talking nonsense. His muscles were tense and he was ready to take action at the first sight.
"Brothers, whoever kills this Prince Omar will receive a reward of 100 million!"
Surrounded by desperadoes licking blood from their swords, the Phantom Thieves howled excitedly when they heard the bounty. The moment the leader took action, they swarmed up and tore the Omar royals into pieces.
But at this moment, something strange happened suddenly.
... .
Suddenly, clusters of blood-red paintballs exploded in the sky.
PIU~Bang!
PIU~Bang!
PIU~Bang!
A series of fireworks shot into the sky, exploding large clouds of blood-red dust in the sky. In just a few breaths, the air around Storm Lake was filled with a faint red mist.
"What are these guys doing again?"
Bazel sniffed it and smelled a faint medicinal fragrance, and instantly showed a hint of suspicion.
What puzzled him was that the dust was not poison, and the explosion could not hurt anyone. Why would it be used
Faintly, he felt something was wrong, and Wolf Claw hesitated for a moment.
At this moment, the black-robed staff member next to the eldest prince Quentin glanced at the group of monster thieves and spoke again: "I have been planning for this day for three years... Didn't you think that I would let you escape so easily? Alright?"
Three years of planning
Bazel thought about it and was horrified.
Ever since he was plotted and ambushed just now, he had been keenly aware that there was something strange about this matter.
First of all, there is no trace of a large-scale mechanical city near the shore of Storm Lake, which means that [City of Destruction] wanted to lurk in the lake, at least a few months ago.
Secondly, the location of this "Black Market Fair" was also chosen after consultation between him and several leaders of the Phantom Thieves, and now he just fell into a trap.
This also means that there are "insiders" in the decision-making levels of the major Phantom Thieves groups!
There are various signs that their transaction has fallen into someone's scheme a long time ago.
Thinking of this, Bazel knew that things were dragging on and something might happen.
After giving the order, he immediately took action.
"Start immediately and kill the eldest prince Omar!"
At this time, several members of the Omar royal family were already prepared.
The heavily armored knight commander Rhine, filled with fighting spirit, stopped in front of a kind of phantom thief without hesitation. As the first knight in the palace, he has super strong defense that can withstand artillery!
The archmage [Yama] Heimos also finished chanting the magic spell, and the six-pointed star flashed, summoning four "Hell Flame Demons" more than eight meters high to protect the eldest prince Quentin.
For a time, the Hyacinth Tavern was caught in a fierce battle.
... ..
On the other hand,
Renne, who had already run several kilometers away, naturally discovered the "red fireworks" exploding in the sky.
"These dusts... can't be graphite bombs or something. By the way, is the world's technological level so high?"
This idea just came into his mind, but when the dust fell and rushed in from the filter of the gas mask.
The smell was like a cat inhaling mint, which made him jump.
"Eh... No. Is this medicinal powder?!"
Renn has been a potion master's apprentice for a few days and is no longer unfamiliar with the taste of medicinal herbs.
The red dust was inhaled into the respiratory tract, and suddenly it was like cold water dripping into a frying pan, making the blood in his body boil.
"No, there's something wrong with this powder!"
The abnormality in his body made Renn instantly shocked.
His intuition told him that a disaster was coming!
At this moment, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over his body, as if his hairs were being blown by the wind and itching.
He raised his hand and saw that on his exposed skin, thin red lines were growing like hairs!
"What's going on?"
In just one or two breaths, nearly an inch of red hair sprouted from the pores all over his body, making him look like a red-haired baboon.
The red hair grew longer and longer, accompanied by the feeling of severe dehydration and blood loss, and a strong feeling of dizziness rushed into Ren's heart.
Looking at the physical condition projected by the "intelligent brain" again, he suddenly understood!
[warn! The catalyst invades, the 'zombie potion' is activated, and the host is expected to die in 30 seconds...]
[warn! A large number of unknown life forms were discovered to invade...]