Chapter 255 Ironclad Demon Guards

Deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains of western Hunan lies a perilous volcanic crater.

This is a blind spot that human satellites cannot detect. Thick volcanic ash and persistent, highly toxic miasma completely isolate this vast primeval jungle from the outside world.

At the bottom of that enormous crater, which resembled the gates to hell, dark red magma churned like boiling blood, emitting an extremely pungent sulfurous smell and terrifyingly high temperatures.

But what's truly chilling isn't the harsh environment that's enough to melt steel, but rather the dense, piercing "crackling" sound of metal chewing that seems to tear your eardrums from the edge of the lava lake.

The mutated gray wolf "Silver Moon," draped in a large black cloak, leaped down the steep rock face. It landed lightly on a protruding obsidian rock, dropping the heavy wooden crate on its back with a "thud."

Those were the heavy tungsten gold armor-piercing cones and armor core parts that it had traded for top-grade spiritual medicine from Bloodstone Town in the Yellow District a few days ago.

"Your Majesty. The deal from the Yellow Zone... has been brought back." Silvermoon knelt on one knee, bowing her proud head towards a massive stone platform in the center of the lava lake in extremely broken human language.

On the stone platform, a terrifying figure, as large as a heavy tank, was coiled.

It was an ancient iron-eating giant bear that had undergone an extreme mutation. Its fur had long since transformed into a dark red, hard keratin under the tempering of spiritual energy and the high temperature of the volcano, and a black bone armor resembling a breastplate had even naturally grown on its chest. Just sitting there breathing, its exhalations could ignite clusters of eerie blue demonic flames in the air.

The absolute ruler of the Hundred Thousand Mountains in western Hunan, a third-tier great demon—the Earth-Splitting Bear King.

"Splash!"

The Bear King slowly opened its pair of dark golden vertical pupils, each the size of a lantern, and casually raised its giant paw, grabbing at the air. The heavy wooden box brought by Silver Moon was instantly sucked in by a powerful demonic force, shattering in mid-air.

Heavy tungsten-plated armor-piercing cones, gleaming with a cold metallic luster, clattered and jingled as they lay scattered on the stone platform.

The Bear King casually picked up a tungsten cone, as thick as an adult's forearm and capable of easily piercing an alloy steel plate, examined it for a moment, and then, like eating a carrot, stuffed it directly into its gaping maw full of fangs.

quack!quack!

The sickening sound of metal shattering echoed through the empty crater. The extremely hard tungsten cone, under the bear king's terrifying bite force and the demonic fire burning in its mouth, was actually chewed up and swallowed.

"Humanity's iron shell is getting harder and harder."

The Bear King's voice, like a muffled thunderclap, resounded throughout the bottom of the volcano. Its intelligence was already comparable to that of an adult human, and its dark golden eyes gleamed with a ruthless strategic vision.

"I have received the battle reports from the front. Those hairless monkeys have abandoned their long-range artillery and are now charging into the forest like mad dogs, slitting our throats and drinking our blood. They are using the blood and bones of our tribe to repair their frail bodies."

The Bear King stood up, and his enormous shadow instantly enveloped the entire lava lake.

"We demons are born with incredibly strong bodies. But our flesh and blood will eventually be cut open by their sharp blades. Since humans can eat demons and turn our flesh and blood into their spiritual veins..."

The bear king grinned cruelly, revealing a mouthful of fangs covered in metal slag.

"Then we'll eat their iron! We'll let their proud industrial armor grow into our bones!"

With a roar from the bear king, deafening howls echoed from the dark caves surrounding the crater.

Hundreds upon hundreds of low-level demonic beasts, already tortured to the point of near death and even driven to utter madness, were dragged to the edge of the lava lake by several enormous ape demons using iron chains. These low-level demonic beasts included mutated wild boars, ferocious hyenas, and even slender jungle cheetahs.

Around the lava lake, there was an extremely exaggerated "steel mountain". It was full of human exoskeletons, track armor pieces, and destroyed mechanical bodies captured from the front line of the Yellow Zone.

"Eat!" the Bear King commanded.

Several high-ranking ape demons who were overseeing the battle immediately brandished their barbed whips and cruelly forced the cold, even dried blood-stained metal armor fragments into the mouths of the low-ranking demon beasts, compelling them to swallow them.

"roar--!"

A massive, second-tier mutated wild boar was forced to swallow a palm-sized fragment of an exoskeleton. The metal lodged in its esophagus, tearing its internal organs. It writhed on the ground in agony, letting out piercing screams.

But the ape demon supervising the battle didn't give it a chance to catch its breath, kicking it into a boiling pool next to it that was extremely hot, mixed with volcanic lava and a high concentration of demonic beast blood.

This is not eating; it is an extremely cruel alchemy of species that defies the laws of biological evolution!

The mutated wild boar struggled frantically in the pool of blood. The extremely high temperature, both savage and intelligent, only melted the metal armor inside its body, while the high concentration of demon blood essence and its own ferocious will to survive forcibly urged its cells to accept and fuse with the scalding molten metal.

boom!

In less than ten seconds, the mutated wild boar could not withstand the onslaught of the molten metal in its blood vessels, and its entire body exploded like an inflated balloon, splattering bits of flesh and molten iron all over the surrounding area.

"Next." The Bear King coldly watched this scene, without the slightest pity in his eyes.

In this enormous breeding ground for worms, the demon race, just like humans, is frantically testing the limits of genetic collapse in their struggle for survival.

Countless low-level demonic beasts were forced to swallow metal and kicked into the boiling blood pool. The mortality rate was an astonishing 95%. The entire bottom of the volcano was filled with a terrifying stench of charred flesh and molten metal; it was truly a living hell.

However, life will always find an extremely distorted way out even in desperate situations.

Just after hundreds of demonic beasts died in succession, a deep, muffled roar, like the clash of steel, suddenly came from the blood pool.

Whoosh!

An ordinary mutated giant wolf slowly crawled out of the boiling blood pool.

Standing at a distance, Silver Moon gasped.

That could no longer be called a "wolf". Its size had doubled, and its original gray fur had completely fallen off, replaced by a layer of metallic scales that were perfectly integrated with its flesh and blood, radiating a dark golden luster!

The human metal armor it swallowed, under the catalysis of volcanic flames and life force, strangely replaced its keratin layer and bones. A row of extremely sharp alloy barbs protruded from its spine, and the claws on its limbs transformed into tungsten gold blades similar to high-frequency vibrating knives used by humans.

What's most terrifying is its eyes, which are no longer the eerie green of a wild beast, but a dark red filled with an extreme desire for slaughter, a mixture of mechanical and bloodthirsty nature!

"It's done." The Bear King looked at the monster born from the blood pool, his eyes flashing with an extremely fanatical light.

The mutated wolf shook its body violently, its metallic scales rubbing against each other with a chilling clang. It hadn't lost its agility and wildness; instead, it possessed a physical shell with defenses far exceeding those of other mutated beasts.

"Silver Moon, test its skin," the Bear King commanded.

Without hesitation, Silver Moon drew the high-frequency vibration knife it had seized from the human officer from its waist, pushed the power to the maximum, and transformed into a silver lightning bolt, slashing ruthlessly at the neck of the metal mutant wolf.

when--!

Extremely bright sparks exploded inside the crater.

The high-frequency vibration blade, powerful enough to slice through second-generation exoskeleton armor, only left a scratch on the metal wolf's neck scales. The powerful recoil even made Silver Moon's hand go numb, and the vibration blade almost flew out of her grasp.

The metal wolf merely tilted its head dismissively, and with a casual swipe of its tungsten claws across the rock, it carved five deep furrows as easily as cutting tofu.

"Perfect."

The Bear King looked up and let out a roar that shook the entire Hundred Thousand Mountains.

"Use the alloys sent by humans to mass-produce these 'monsters' for me! Then, analyze the patterns they exhibit, and I will mass-produce these 'warriors'."

The bear king's massive forelimbs slammed heavily onto the stone platform, causing lava to churn.

"Give them the name—Ironclad Demon Guards! Assign them to the vanguard at the forefront. Let those human hunters who think they are invincible taste what it's like to have their throats crushed by their own steel!"

At the bear king's command, the metallic chewing sounds inside the crater became more frequent and frantic.

An industrialized mass production, unique to the demon race, began in the dark, sunless depths of the mountains.

......

Three days later, on the Jianghuai defense line, at the 19th outpost in the Yellow Zone.

In the darkness before dawn, a squad of fifty elite hunters from the Loose Alliance was making a silent advance into a dense forest under the cover of night.

Each of them had been implanted with a bio-based spiritual root, and even the weakest among them was equivalent to the mid-stage of Qi Refining. After a month of frenzied hunting, their pouches were stuffed full of low-level demon cores, and they were now confidently preparing to wipe out a small demon stronghold.

"Captain, something's wrong up ahead." A hunter acting as a scout stopped, looking at the radar scanner on his tactical terminal with a furrowed brow. "The radar isn't showing any life force waves... but the heavy metal detector is going off like crazy. There's a huge mass of high-density metal moving in that forest ahead."

"Could it be that the military's armored vehicles got lost?" The hunter captain frowned.

Before he could even issue a warning.

The dense bushes were suddenly and violently smashed open. In the dim light of dawn, a dozen eerie figures, their bodies radiating a dark golden hue and as large as oxen, charged directly into the human hunters' formation like fully armed metal chariots, carrying an extremely ferocious aura.

"Fire! Armor-piercing rounds to bombard the ground!" Although the captain was surprised, his combat instincts honed in the yellow zone made him pull the trigger instantly.

Da da da da!

A dense barrage of psionic armor-piercing bullets, like tongues of fire, slammed into the dozen or so figures.

However, a scene that filled everyone with despair unfolded.

Those armor-piercing bullets that used to easily tear through the hides of demonic beasts instead exploded into a dense shower of sparks upon hitting these monsters, before being deflected. Their metallic scales were not only incredibly hard, but also possessed a strangely contorted force-absorbing arc.

Roar!

An armored wolf charged through a hail of bullets and reached the scout. The scout roared, drew his high-frequency vibrating blade, and slashed at the wolf's head.

Clang! The high-frequency vibrating blade struck, leaving only a shallow scratch on the carapace surface.

The demonic wolf opened its massive maw, filled with alloy fangs, with extreme cruelty, and bit down on the scout's neck. With an extremely crisp sound of metal cutting through bone, the hunter, who had been implanted with a bio-engineered spiritual root and whose physique far surpassed that of ordinary people, was instantly killed, his blood splattering all over the faces of those around him.

"What the hell are these monsters? Are their skin made of tungsten?!"

The defensive line collapsed instantly. The hunters' pride in their firepower and physical strength proved utterly inadequate against these metallic beasts that seemed to have stepped out of a cyberpunk nightmare.

Screams and the sound of metal tearing echoed mournfully along the dawn's defensive line.

......