Southern border, outskirts of Black Rock Mining City.
The earth was trembling.
It wasn't an earthquake.
Something was walking this way, one step at a time.
Every step split the ground open into a massive ravine. Layers of rock collapsed one after another, like cookies crushed beneath a giant's foot.
The distant Blackstone Mountains stretched across the horizon. Three of them had already been broken clean through.
The breaks were as neat as if they had been chopped apart with a blade. Loose rocks came tumbling down, kicking up clouds of dust that filled the sky.
"Open fire!!"
The commander of the human defensive line shouted himself hoarse.
More than a dozen heavy tanks fired at the same time. Their shells blazed through the air as they slammed toward the enormous shadow in the distance.
A moment later, more than a hundred missiles screamed out, trailing long flames and blanketing the entire area.
The light from the explosions merged into one continuous blaze. Billowing smoke swallowed the entire shadow.
"Did we hit it?"
The soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons and stared nervously into the smoke.
The smoke slowly cleared.
The shadow was still there.
It continued forward, one step at a time.
There wasn't even a mark on its body.
The explosions from the shells and missiles had left only a few shallow black marks on the rocky armor covering its surface.
They hadn't even broken through its skin.
"Impossible..."
The commander's face went deathly pale as he collapsed into the command vehicle.
"Those were armor-piercing shells! They can punch through even a battleship's armor!"
Boom—
The shadow reached the tank formation.
It raised one foot and gently stepped down.
A heavy tank weighing more than thirty tons was crushed straight into an iron pancake.
The soldiers inside