Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert Chapter 625

Though the sight of their brethren falling should have instilled terror, the Blade Battleship Birds showed no such emotions.

Instead, witnessing their kin perish only fueled their rage, driving them into a frenzied charge against the Mechanized Corps.

“Uahahaha! Come on then, you feathered buffoons!”

“Perish! Just perish already!”

Tudadadadang!

The Mechanized Corps unleashed a barrage, filling the Blade Battleship Birds with countless bullets.

As their blood rained from the sky, the creatures became stained crimson.

With each drop of blood that painted them redder, the number of attacking Blade Battleship Birds noticeably dwindled.

“We’ve nearly annihilated them.”

“Only a handful remain. Let’s finish them off and take a breather.”

Just as relief started to show on the faces of the Mechanized Corps soldiers—

—Kwoooar!

Another formidable roar ripped through the sky.

Unlike the sharp cries of the Blade Battleship Birds, this sound was significantly deeper.

Park Woosik’s expression shifted to one of urgency.

Behind the remaining Blade Battleship Birds, a monster emerged, possessing a lion’s body with the head and wings of an eagle.

“Damn it! Griffins.”

Griffins were beasts that surpassed Blade Battleship Birds in the monstrous hierarchy.

While their aerial speed was lesser, their ferocity and savagery were dramatically higher.

Their offensive and defensive capabilities were also vastly superior.

The Griffins then turned their attention and charged toward the Mechanized Corps.

“Disregard the Blade Battleship Birds. Engage the Griffins first!”

Pubububung!

An immense volume of gunfire converged upon the Griffins.

The Blade Battleship Birds would disintegrate after mere moments of gunfire, but the Griffins were on a completely different physical plane.

Their colossal forms could not be felled by a few bullets alone.

Their hide was tougher than hardened steel.

Even after absorbing a relentless hail of bullets, they sustained only superficial wounds, their powerful muscles remaining intact without tear or rupture.

The downpour of bullets, falling like a relentless rain, only served to magnify the Griffins’ growing fury.

—Kraaaah!

—Kyaooo!

Screeching with unrestrained ferocity, the Griffins rapidly closed the distance to the Mechanized Corps.

At this critical juncture, Park Woosik bellowed.

“Frontline! Intercept them!”

Responding to his command, the mechanized Awakeners, outfitted with unusually large components, advanced.

The equipment they wielded were sonic emitters.

These were specialized attachments designed to bombard opponents with powerful shockwaves.

Wooong!

Concentrated ultrasonic waves struck the Griffins with immense force.

—Kwoooar!

The shockwaves penetrating their auditory canals sent the Griffins into a state of disorientation, causing them to lose control and crash.

The instant the Griffins impacted the ground, the mechanized Awakeners swarmed them, driving their weapons deep into their bodies.

The Griffins thrashed violently, attempting to dislodge the mechanized Awakeners, but their efforts proved futile.

The formidable strength of the mechanized Awakeners tore through the Griffins’ wings as if they were mere paper, and with their wings rendered useless, the grounded Griffins were no match for the mechanized Awakeners wielding their close-combat weaponry.

This did not imply the Griffins succumbed without a fierce struggle.

After their disastrous descent, the Griffins utilized their imposing physiques to engage the mechanized Awakeners in a savage, close-quarters confrontation.

As the Griffins wreaked havoc in this manner, breaches began to appear within the Mechanized Corps’ sustained barrage.

Through these openings in the onslaught, Blade Battleship Birds surged forward, assaulting the mechanized Awakeners.

The mechanized exoskeletons of the Awakeners were constructed from metal, rendering them largely impervious even to the sharp beaks of the Blade Battleship Birds.

Given sufficient time, they could have repelled the Blade Battleship Birds without significant difficulty.

The escalating problem was the appearance of yet another formidable flying-type monster.

—Kwoooooooar!

The moment Park Woosik identified the source of the savage roar—an intensity far exceeding that of either the Blade Battleship Birds or the Griffins—his visage stiffened with apprehension.

A sinuous body reminiscent of a dragon, vast wings spread wide, and four powerful legs.

“W-Wyverns.”

Wyverns—monsters possessing physical prowess and might that were incomparably greater than the two prior aerial adversaries.

Even a solitary Wyvern possessed the capability to obliterate an ordinary assault squad in mere moments.

A collective hush fell over everyone as this terrifying entity materialized.

Had there been only one or two, the panic would not have escalated to such a degree.

However, dozens of Wyverns now darkened the sky, spread across the heavens.

These creatures immediately executed a steep dive toward the Mechanized Corps.

Kwaang! Crunch!

The metallic frames of the mechanized soldiers were violently ruptured or pulverized by the Wyverns’ devastating body slams.

Kwaaaah!

Certain Wyverns unleashed potent breath attacks.

While their power paled in comparison to a true dragon’s fiery exhalation, it was more than sufficient to incinerate a human.

Even a human encased in metal.

The Wyverns’ breath attacks possessed a heat so intense that even specialized alloy-forged metal components instantly liquefied.

“You primitive lizard fiends….”

Clank!

Mechanized Corps Commander Park Woosik swiftly detached and replaced the component on his right arm.

The newly equipped attachment was a formidable chain sword.

Park Woosik plunged the whirring chain sword into the carapace of a rampaging Red Wyvern nearby.

Wiiiing! Pakakakang!

The Red Wyvern’s formidable scales proved resistant to the chain sword, its strikes merely igniting sparks without penetrating deeply.

Nevertheless, the creature seemed capable of feeling pain, for it succumbed to a furious rage.

“Kugh!”

Grasping the Red Wyvern by its neck, Park Woosik exerted force to wrench its jaws apart. He then thrust the chain sword relentlessly into its gullet.

Kwagagagak!

—Keeeeh!

The Red Wyvern thrashed in excruciating agony.

But Park Woosik maintained his unyielding grip until the very end.

After an extended period, the Red Wyvern’s movements finally ceased. Only then did Park Woosik manage to stand, breathing heavily.

“Huff! Huff!”

Abruptly, his attention was drawn downwards, below the fortress.

—Kwoooar!

The guttural roars of monsters echoed from below.

A monstrous horde had indeed reached the fortress’s base.

It was a colossal force, encompassing every variety of monster, from the gargantuan to the minuscule.

While the flying-type monsters had fully captivated the Awakeners defending the upper levels, the ground-based monster army had pressed forward relentlessly.

“C-Commander! There are monsters below us as well…!”

A mechanized Awakener, finally acknowledging the threat at the fortress’s foundation, cried out.

Park Woosik reactivated the chain sword and responded.

“Stop panicking, you fool! This was anticipated.”

“But…!”

“Leave the ground level to the other Awakeners. Our sole duty is to control the skies. Not a single one must breach the fortress. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Instead of wasting breath on replies, eliminate one more.”

Tudadadadang!

A barrage of bullets erupted from the subordinate’s integrated weaponry.

Park Woosik, too, engaged the flying-type monsters with the ferocity of a berserker.

Yet, regardless of their slaughter, the flying monsters continued to pour in without end.

For a fleeting moment, he was overcome by despair, witnessing the sheer immensity of the flying monsters blanketing the sky.

“Fuck!”

A decisive trump card, capable of turning the tide instantly, was desperately needed.

And then—

Kwarrrung!

As if in answer to his desperate plea, countless bolts of lightning descended from the heavens like a torrential downpour.

The lightning struck the flying-type monsters directly, incapacitating them in a cascade of electrocution.

Numerous flying monsters plummeted to the earth as if swatted.

“What in the…?!”

Stunned, Park Woosik’s gaze shot towards the sky.

At the nexus of the monster-filled sky, a figure floated, having ascended to become one with the lightning itself.

It was Levin, now in his Thunder God Transformation.

“Fuck!”

At that precise moment, Levin’s arrival was a sight so welcome it brought tears to his eyes.

Levin addressed them,

“Are you all situated?”

“We’re managing, so focus on those Wyvern abominations first. We’ll handle the smaller threats.”

“Understood.”

Upon his affirmation, Levin became a whirlwind of destruction in the skies.

Each flash of lightning emanating from him was met with the screams of Wyverns, sending them crashing from the heavens.

The spectacle was, in a word, breathtaking.

“Excellent! Fuck yes!”