At that moment, Xu Mochen pressed his advantage and brought out several more powerful weapons: shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and mortars.
First came the shotguns. Their barrels were a section shorter than those of the automatic rifles, but their calibers were even larger. There were two models: the Thunder-23 Type and the Thunder-24 Type.
The Thunder-23 Type shotgun could be used without Soul Power and was a Level 3 Soul Tool. For now, only a small number had been issued, and its range was very short—just fifty meters. But when an ordinary Sun Moon Empire soldier fired it at Bone Douluo from close range, Bone Douluo clearly saw countless steel pellets bursting from the muzzle amid waves of heat! A moment later, a powerful impact made him stagger again!
The Thunder-24 Type shotgun was a Level 4 standard Soul Guidance Weapon that consumed a certain amount of Soul Power. Its range had increased to seventy meters, and its power had risen by an entire level! The force of the blast made Bone Douluo, who had activated his First Soul Skill, take another step backward.
In the end, Bone Douluo judged that a direct hit from a Thunder-23 Type shotgun could break through the full defenses of Soul Masters below level fifty and injure some below level sixty! The Thunder-24 Type shotgun could directly break through the full defenses of Soul Masters below level sixty and injure some below level seventy!
Of course, that was the power of a single gun. If more than ten of these guns hit their target head-on at once, most Spirit Emperors using their full defenses would be turned into sieves. Even Spirit Saints would have to give them a wide berth.
Next came the sniper rifles. The Headhunter-15 Type was the only standard sniper rifle the Sun Moon Empire had developed so far. It was a Level 5 standard Soul Tool and consumed quite a lot of Soul Power. Of the three thousand Sun Moon Empire Marines present, only ten had been issued one.
The rifle also required special sniper bullets made specifically for it, which were quite expensive. But its range reached an astonishing one thousand meters! It looked more intricately and precisely constructed than the semi-automatic rifles, and a strange cylindrical "canister" was strapped to its barrel.
When Bone Douluo was targeted by the sniper rifle, his sixth sense immediately picked up a trace of danger. When the bullet struck his Bone Armor shield, he retreated three steps in a row! A fine crack even appeared in the shield, which had previously remained completely intact!
In the end, Bone Douluo concluded that if this rifle hit a vital spot on a Soul Master below level seventy, the target would be either dead or crippled, even while defending with all their might! Even many Spirit Saints would find it extremely difficult to block the rifle's attack head-on!
The heavy machine gun demonstration that followed dealt another brutal blow to everyone present's fragile hearts. Two soldiers operated an "iron box" mounted on a huge triangular stand, with a "steel pipe" fixed to its front.
One soldier took a metal belt lined with bullets from a box and fed it into the side of the iron box. The other pulled a lever on the side, then aimed at Bone Douluo and gripped the two handles tightly.
As the Butcher-25 Type heavy machine gun unleashed a stream of fire with a "rat-tat-tat-tat" like a monster's roar, flames flashed and dust billowed everywhere! A terrifying "Metal Storm" of machine-gun bullets swept over Bone Douluo from head to toe!
Feeling the overwhelming attack surging toward him, thick with murderous intent, Bone Douluo could no longer maintain the bearing of a superior expert. He immediately activated his Second Soul Ring. With a roar of, "Second Soul Skill! Bone Scale!" the Bone Armor shield, already marked with cracks, instantly returned to its original state. At the same time, dense reddish scales appeared all over his body and across the armor!
With those scales in place, Bone Douluo's defenses rose by another level! With his First and Second Soul Skills stacked, his defensive power now matched the limits most Soul Douluos could reach without using their Seventh and Eighth Soul Skills!
A series of explosive cracks rang out around Bone Douluo as his body trembled again and again in the terrifying Metal Storm! In the end, he still couldn't hold his ground and stumbled back three steps! By then, the heavy machine gun had just finished firing its prepared three hundred rounds!
Bone Douluo's chest was still rising and falling slightly, and his forehead was already covered in sweat. He was still unharmed, but it was clear he had needed to expend a great deal of effort to block those bullets.
After catching his breath, Bone Douluo told the wide-eyed crowd, "If Soul Masters below the Soul Douluo level encounter this weapon, they must never try to meet it head-on! Otherwise, they'll be dead or crippled!"
Xu Mochen took the opportunity to "frankly" tell everyone that the Butcher-25 Type heavy machine gun was a Level 5 standard Soul Guidance Weapon. Each shot consumed relatively little Soul Power, but sustained fire used an enormous amount! Its range could reach an astonishing two thousand five hundred meters! It was also the only fully automatic weapon currently fielded by the Sun Moon Empire that could fire continuously—and one of the Sun Moon Empire's trump cards!
A single shot was certainly powerful, but its strength was still limited: it could only ensure that it broke through the defenses of most Soul Masters below the Spirit Saint level! But if it fired continuously and a Spirit Saint foolishly tried to take every shot head-on, even their Spirit Saint-level defenses would likely fail to hold!
Finally, Xu Mochen decided to bring out something big. The Punishment-65 Type and Punishment-66 Type rocket launchers, along with the Thunderbolt-44 Type and Thunderbolt-45 Type mortars, were brought out.
Without exception, these Soul Guidance Weapons consumed a considerable amount of Soul Power each time they were used! The Thunderbolt-44 Type and Thunderbolt-45 Type mortars were Level 4 and Level 5 standard Soul Tools, respectively. They specialized in area attacks, with ranges of one thousand two hundred and one thousand five hundred meters, and blast radii of eight and ten meters!
Xu Mochen first had Sun Moon Empire soldiers use the Thunderbolt-44 Type and Thunderbolt-45 Type mortars to attack Bone Douluo. The Thunderbolt-44 Type only made Bone Douluo, who was fully protected by his First and Second Soul Skills, shudder slightly. The Thunderbolt-45 Type made him tremble a little harder, but he still managed to hold his ground.
In fact, the Thunderbolt-44 Type mortar was not as powerful as the T334-Type High-Explosive Grenade, another Level 4 Soul Tool. The Thunderbolt-45 Type was only a little more powerful than the T334-Type High-Explosive Grenade. Their area of destruction, however, was truly terrifying.
Eight- and ten-meter radii might not look very large at first glance! But on closer inspection, the two weapons' blast zones covered more than two hundred and three hundred square meters, respectively!
These weapons were not only easy to transport; as long as their shells landed in the middle of a tightly packed formation, they would inflict heavy casualties on the entire army! One round of bombardment might even make the whole force collapse in an instant!
Xue Qinghe, Ning Fengzhi, and the others simply couldn't understand how something made of a stand, a long steel tube, and a square metal base could make a conical metal piece no bigger than a palm unleash such an astonishingly wide area of destruction!
When two Sun Moon Empire soldiers used the Punishment-65 Type and Punishment-66 Type rocket launchers—both devastating against individual targets—they finally showed everyone what made them two of the kings of individual damage among standard infantry weapons!
As the Level 5 Soul Guidance rocket fired from the Punishment-65 Type trailed a long flame and whistled toward Bone Douluo, he felt his heart skip a beat. But before he could react, the powerful rocket slammed into his Bone Armor!
With a thunderous boom, the Bone Armor that had just been restored to its original state was once again covered in cracks. The tremendous impact sent Bone Douluo stumbling back five steps before he could steady himself, leaving him looking considerably worse for wear!
Before Bone Douluo could regain his footing, another Sun Moon Empire soldier shouldered a Punishment-66 Type rocket launcher and immediately fired a Level 6 Soul Guidance rocket!
"Boom!" Another, even more earth-shaking explosion rang out! Under that frenzied attack, Bone Douluo's Bone Armor shield was completely shattered! Caught off guard, Bone Douluo himself was blasted into the air! Gasps and shrieks erupted from the crowd as he went flying!
"Lord Bone Douluo!"
"Uncle Gu!"
"Senior Gu!"
Xue Qinghe, Ning Fengzhi, and Xu Mochen cried out in alarm at once, then rushed forward to check on him. Fortunately, their fears proved mostly unfounded. Although Bone Douluo had been blasted away, he quickly gathered his Soul Power to control his body and eventually landed safely on the ground!
But he looked to be in truly poor shape: his hair and clothes were in disarray, his clothes were torn in places and stained with dust and gunpowder soot, and patches of black grime speckled his already gaunt face. His chest heaved violently, and he coughed several times.
Clearly, in the face of the two rockets fired one after another, even Bone Douluo—who had continuously used his First and Second Soul Skills—had suffered minor injuries. Fortunately, he was otherwise all right. Still, his previously inscrutable bearing had vanished completely; now, he looked utterly disheveled.
Bone Douluo raised a hand to stop Ning Fengzhi from using his Martial Soul to boost him. He hastily straightened his clothes, his face flushing and paling by turns, while the shock in his eyes still hadn't faded!
Who was he? He was a Titled Douluo with a top-tier defensive Martial Soul! His offensive power might have been inferior to that of other Titled Douluos at the same level, but when it came to defense alone, even most Super Douluos at level ninety-six couldn't compare to him! This time, he'd been injured because he had used only his two weakest Soul Skills, grown careless, and been caught off guard! Even so, the weapon's terrifying power was plain to see!
Still, Bone Douluo didn't forget to assess the weapons. He immediately reported in a slightly trembling voice, "Your Highness, Sect Master, the first weapon can break through the full defenses of most Soul Masters below the Soul Douluo level! The second is even powerful enough to break through the full defenses of most Soul Masters below the Titled Douluo level!"
"These weapons are far too powerful! If the Sun Moon Empire can truly mass-produce and equip its forces with these weapons, along with all the Soul Guidance Weapons it demonstrated earlier, then I have to say that its military strength would be an utterly astonishing force to any power on the Douluo Continent!"
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