260 Chapter 259: Battle-automata Reinforcements (1/2)
”Ugh…”
Held aloft in the air, too helpless to move, I could only slump against the whips that raised me high up as blood spilled from my mouth. My impaled limbs twitched, but they otherwise remained restrained.
Creak…
Even though the whips had already coiled around me and held me fast to the verge of defeat, they continued to writhe like serpents, possessing a semblance of life.
”Mo Hou Acid.”
Watching me in amusement, Sha Chen announced the name of his poison proudly. He regarded me with scorn, his lips curling into a distasteful sneer. The point of his whips recoiled, almost as if to poke at me curiously. The Dark Sage's venomous qi was imbuing it with unnatural life and sinister, cruel sentience, but he didn't seem to care.
”That's the name of the poison laced upon this iron whip.”
His expression triumphant and his eyes wide with glee, Sha Chen continued arrogantly, clearly thinking that he had won.
”This poison will destroy you, and then destroy your muscles by causing your tendons to rot. Just like your old master.”
What an idiot. Master had learned Heaven and Earth Formula like me. He was immune to all poisons. Clearly this delusional freak was unaware of that, and somehow believed that Master had been handicapped for the rest of his life.
The guy shouldn't have locked himself up in isolation and read more about the news. Master was running around on both legs and annihilating entire orthodox sects on his own even at his advanced age. If the Martial Arts Alliance hadn't gotten their act together, united and faced Master and Heaven and Earth Sect seriously, they would have been utterly destroyed.
”But before that…allow me to give you a taste of despair.” Sha Chen paused for a moment, bathing in sadistic glee. ”Hmm, cutting off an arm or leg wouldn't do. I want you to feel the despair of losing mobility in your limbs. I want you to realize the horror of being unable to move as the muscles in your arms and legs slowly rot away, weakening to the point of paralysis. I should take something less obvious.”
His iron whip slowly rose and stopped as if the barbed tip was staring at my glasses.
”Ah…you rely on visual aids to see, don't you? Perhaps…you treasure your sight?” Sha Chen chuckled cruelly. ”I wonder…how would you feel if I deprive you of your vision? Yes…maybe taking your eyes would serve as a best moment for this battle.”
”That's quite the extreme measure to take against someone who didn't see eye to eye with you,” I retorted defiantly, blood still dripping unceasingly from my mouth.
”Heh…still so sprightly, huh?” Sha Chen's eyes were wide in madness as he continued to toy with the idea of torturing me. ”I wonder how you'll react after I take your eyes.”
”You don't want to do it,” I warned. ”An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you take my eye, you had best prepare to lose your own in return.”
”Ha ha ha ha ha ah!” Sha Chen burst out laughing. ”I would like to see you try and take my eye!”
Then his whip surged forward. I jerked my head to the side, having read the flow of his qi, and the barbed tip grazed my face, leaving a thick line of blood across my cheek. It stung excruciatingly, but at least I hadn't been blinded.
”Tch. Still struggling like a rat.”
Clicking his tongue, the Heavenly Venom King withdrew his iron whips to repeat the maneuver. However, before he could, superheated plasma blasted through his back, burning a hole through his body and causing him to stagger forward.
”Kuh?!”
Almost toppling over, Sha Chen spun around. A pair of Castellax battle-automata with Darkfire cannons were marching forward, their shoulder-mounted gun turret swiveling to aim at him. They unleashed a second blast of azure plasma, the crackling energy slamming into Sha Chen and exploding violently.
”Ugh!!!”
With a holler, the immolated Sha Chen burst out of the inferno, desperately slapping at himself.
”You're not going to extinguish the flames like that,” I told him. Sha Chen turned toward me, his eyes wide, and qi beams from the mobile turrets that had separated from my damaged Snow Aegis lanced through him.
”AAAAAAAAAAH!”
Screaming, Sha Chen unwittingly released me. I flopped down onto the ground helplessly, almost blacking out as I hit the dirt. I was way too injured to rise up for now, and could only bury my face in the soil and sprawl across the ground motionlessly.
That was fine. I had someone to fight for me.
Another two Castellax battle-automata emerged from my storage device, their Mauler bolt cannons spitting mass-reactive rounds that pierced Sha Chen's defensive aura and detonating inside his protective field. Blood sprayed the dried mud as Sha Chen staggered backward, unable to withstand the violent onslaught. Behind him, the first two Castellax battle-automata released another blast of plasma that engulfed him in an incendiary cloud.
”Fuck!”
Sha Chen shrieked and ripped apart the cloud of superheated plasma with his iron whips. Huffing as horrendous burns patched all over his skin, he sent his iron whips at the battle-automata. The automatons didn't even flinch as the barbed whips scraped across their metallic plating, leaving not a single scratch.
”Battle puppets? And high quality ones at that?!”
Sha Chen was gaping at the sight of the ancient battle-automata that were produced in legions during the Dark Age of Technology. He desperately struck at them again, but their armored plating proved impervious to his weapons. Even if by chance he managed to penetrate their protection, he would find that these cybernetica constructs were completely unaffected by his poison. After all, they were beings of iron and electricity, not flesh and blood.
”What the hell are these?!” even though he had literally just acknowledged them as battle puppets a mere few seconds ago, Sha Chen was raging impotently and asking stupid questions. To be fair, his question wasn't meant to be literal. He probably was expressing his frustrated surprise at the lack of effect his poison was having on the machines.
”The flesh is weak. Strength can only be found in the purity of the machine.” I closed my eyes as I muttered the mantra of the priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus. My Cybernetica maniple responded to my psychic commands, their crystal-lattice psionic minds linked to mine through arcane technology. ”All shall fall before the wrath of the Omnissiah.”
”What the fuck are you babbling about?!” Sha Chen roared at me. What a stupid move. While he was screaming at me, my Castellax battle-automata closed in, pumping shell after shell, plasma blast after plasma blast into his wrecked body. Sha Chen jerked and shrieked in agony as he was struck from all directions.
”Annoying buggers!” he shouted as he whipped his whips out, trying to scythe the Castellax battle-automata down, but they didn't even flinch from the strikes. The huge robots continued to lumber forward, puring more of their destructive hail of attacks into him.
Credit to the Dark Sage, he really was durable. My Castellax battle-automata cohort had unleashed enough ammunition to take out an entire infantry platoon, yet Sha Chen was still alive. His injuries seemed grievous, but he was stll standing somehow, as if he hadn't taken a single fatal wound. He actually seemed more annoyed than hurt.
”Get away from me!”
With a shout, he lashed out his whips, knocking the Castellax battle-automata with brute force. They finally stumbled backward, but didn't falter. Their atomantic shielding shimmered, transparent fields of defensive energy absorbing and deflecting the power of Sha Chen's attacks in a mysterious manner. The Dark Sage turned on them, but my mobile turrets hovered upward and unleashed a withering barrage on him, their qi beams punching through his body and causing him to topple over.
”Annoying flies!”
Throwing a hand back, Sha Chen tried to swat my flying mobile turrets out of the sky, but they reacted quickly, zooming away to avoid his wrath. As his whips slashed futilely in the air, the mobile turrets then countered with another concerted volley of qi beams that crashed painfully into him, causing him to sprawl on the ground.
Sha Chen then rolled away in an undignified manner as my robots closed in and stomped on his position, attempting to crush him under several tons of machinery.
”Bloody hell…what is it with these battle puppets? I've never seen anything like them before! A new design!?”
Sha Chen swept out with his whips, which coiled around the Castellax battle-automata's arms, only to be deflected by shimmering refractive fields. The turret atop their shoulder tracked him and blasted him at near pointblank range. The Heavenly Venom King staggered as a series of mass reactive rounds detonated across his chest.
”Ugh!”
Twisting around, he barely parried the fist of another Castellax battle-automata. Crackling in a blue power field of destructive energy, the power fist of the Castellax battle-automat packed enough armor penetrating power to tear through his defensive aura and smash right into his old body, sending him flying.
”Kuh!”
Sha Chen flipped about in midair and landed on his feet.
”These are really troublesome opponents.” He sighed and shook his head. ”I know poison has no effect on battle puppets, but that doesn't make them any less of a pain to deal with.” Gritting his teeth, his spread his legs and readied his unfurling whips, which were getting ready to strike out like a serpent again.
Then he suddenly frowned.
”Wait, why am I using my whips and poison against such enemies in the first place? Plot-induced stupidity?”