Target: The Magical Beast Lord

Early that morning, Cheng Yu slowly climbed out of a mechanical-style bed, then rolled over, intending to go back to sleep. (:3["]=

"Big Shot and Big Sis are already upstairs watching the show. You sure you don't want to get up?" (￢‸￢) ?

Why should I go join in just because Big Shot and the others are watching a show?

"Are you sure?" 乁( ˙ ω˙乁)

Hmm? Cheng Yu frowned. Something's off with this bootlicker, he thought.

After thinking it over, Cheng Yu got up anyway and headed toward the main city's upper floor.

Yesterday, after the Main City reached level two, Cheng Yu and Yog moved into the Steel Main City. The first floor was very spacious, so they simply moved their old furniture inside and partitioned off rooms for themselves, Big Shot, and Big Sis. Even then, there was still plenty of space.

The second floor was different. It resembled a conference room, with a ridiculously large screen surrounded by smaller ones. Six seats were arranged in tiers: three at the bottom, two a few steps higher, and one another few steps above those.

Big Shot wasn't sitting in any of the seats, though. A sofa stood a short distance beside the highest seat, and Big Shot was drinking tea there, using the mechanical platform beside the seat as a coffee table.

Cheng Yu's mouth twitched. Big Shot was Big Shot—he certainly did things differently.

Then Cheng Yu looked at the largest screen in front of the seats. On it, Purifier 0-1 units were slaughtering some bizarre-looking beasts, while Purifier 0-2 units behind them blasted the beasts apart with all guns blazing.

Cheng Yu nodded to himself. They certainly lived up to their role as the Purger Series' planetary ground firepower specialists. But...

What's with their opponents?

"I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" ＜(￣︶￣)＞

Cheng Yu frowned. The bad news.

"Uh, the bad news is that one of this forest's bosses has set its sights on our base."

And the good news?

"The good news is that there's a small iron deposit not far from where that boss sleeps. It contains about eight or nine hundred thousand tonnes."

Cheng Yu's eyes lit up. Eight or nine hundred thousand tonnes! They'd struck it rich!

He immediately ordered,

"Drag these magical beast corpses back for fuel. We can't waste them. Their corpses might even contain more energy."

The system replied, "Your guess is correct. The corpses of these high-energy creatures do contain quite a lot of energy."

Then Cheng Yu greeted Yog and headed out of the main city, telling the system as he went,

"Show me how many troops I have now."

Basic Unit: 10,000 units

Purifier 0-1: 8,000 units

Purifier 0-2: 1,000 units

Cheng Yu rubbed his chin and asked the system,

"Do we have enough steel left to build another thousand Purifier 0-2 units?"

The system replied, "No. Five hundred is the limit."

Cheng Yu clapped his hands. "All right, five hundred it is. Add another five hundred Basic Units to clean up the battlefield and locate the iron deposit."

Then he asked the system,

"How long will it take?"

The system replied,

"Two hours."

Cheng Yu nodded, then seemed to remember something and asked,

"What was going on with the footage on the main city's screens this morning?"

The system answered,

"Take a guess. Besides observing enemies, do you think their eyes can upload what they see to the main city?" →_→

Cheng Yu understood. Well, that was a little embarrassing, but he couldn't let this bootlicker see it.

Two hours passed in a flash.

Looking at the vast, utterly silent steel legion before him, Cheng Yu was very pleased. He pointed in the magical beast lord's direction and shouted, "Move out! Target: the magical beast lord!"

Although he could issue orders mentally, he felt this way was more imposing. Watching the steel torrent surge forward, Cheng Yu felt his spirits soar.

Then he turned around and returned to the Steel Main City to command them remotely.

The system popped up and said,

"With all that swagger, I thought you were going to fight in person." ( ﹁ ﹁ ) ~→

Cheng Yu shrugged.

How could I? You said it yourself-five 0-1 units could pin me down and beat me senseless. What would I go for? To get beaten up? ╮(﹀_﹀")╭

Arriving on the main city's top floor, Cheng Yu greeted Yog, then sat down on the second tier with a perfectly casual expression.

Come on. Big Shot might not mind, but sitting at the same level as him? If it were me, I'd definitely find some way to make the other guy's life difficult. (oﾟωﾟo)

Cheng Yu thought this furtively.

Ken was the name of a bear-shaped magical beast lord. Just a day earlier, its magical beast subordinates had reported that a bunch of very strange magical beasts had appeared not far from where it slept.

Their bodies were covered in steel, and they moved strangely. Among them were some bug-shaped magical beasts that even ate coal. Ken privately wondered whether they were connected to that bug deep in the forest.

So today, it had sent some subordinates to warn them to stay away from its sleeping quarters. But those fellows still hadn't returned.

Surely nothing could have gone wrong, Ken thought. Just then, a fox-like magical beast ran over.

"Boss! Boss! It's bad! It's bad!"

Ken sent the fox flying with a swipe.

"What's all the fuss about? What could possibly have happened?"

The fox magical beast immediately scrambled up and continued,

"Those weird-looking creatures are attacking!"

Ken froze at first, scarcely able to believe it. How dare they? Then it frowned and roared,

"They're asking to die!"

Then it charged out of the cave.

Arriving at the battlefield, Ken saw countless severed magical beast limbs and charred corpses, pits filled with molten earth, burning trees, and magical beasts scattering in every direction.

Ken let out a roar, trying to stop the fleeing magical beasts. But they were already scared out of their wits. Furious, Ken charged toward the blood-drenched, spider-shaped magical beasts.

With one swipe, it sent several Purifier 0-1 units flying. They smashed through several trees before landing. Though their bodies were somewhat deformed, they stood up, moved around a little, and sprang right back into the battle.

Ken saw this too. That blow would have killed an ordinary magical beast outright, yet these creatures had simply stood up, moved a little, and recovered?

Ken's gaze hardened. This time, it stomped a Purifier 0-1 unit to pieces. Only after several seconds passed without the fragments moving did Ken let out a relieved breath.

But as more and more wounds appeared on its body, Ken's expression grew increasingly grave. It decided to retreat. With such a commotion here, its good neighbors would surely come with reinforcements.

At that thought, Ken turned and ran.

Inside the Steel Main City.

Watching the legion's first battle, Cheng Yu nodded in satisfaction and remarked,

"They really are a series designed specifically to deal with organic life. Their killing power is just incredible."

Cheng Yu had seen it clearly. A wolf-shaped magical beast five times the size of a Purifier 0-1 had faced one of the units head-on. The unit ran on four Blade Legs, raised two more, and extended another two horizontally. The instant they collided, the wolf was disemboweled and all four of its limbs were severed.

Cheng Yu had clicked his tongue at the sight. That was far too bloody.

When he saw the bear-shaped magical beast lord fleeing, he sneered. "You're even trying a trick that old?"

He immediately ordered, "Pursue it, but keep your distance."

Ken could feel that those magical beasts were deliberately trailing behind it. Were they afraid of an ambush ahead, or did they intend to wear it down like this?

But it didn't matter. With something this big happening on its territory, its good neighbors would surely come to "help." Weren't they the best "reinforcements" it could ask for?

Just as Ken had expected, Gu, a gorilla-shaped magical beast, questioned a magical beast fleeing Ken's territory and learned that a group of magical beasts of unknown origin had nearly driven Ken back to its home base.

It immediately brought a band of underlings to a spot near the border to see if it could take advantage of the situation. Instead, it saw Ken running desperately in its direction, a dense black mass following behind.

While Gu was still stunned, Ken plunged straight into its herd. The pursuing magical beasts stopped about five hundred meters away. Then some strange magical beasts appeared behind them, resembling humans but with no heads and six arms.

Seeing another herd of unknown origin, Cheng Yu sneered.

"There really was an ambush. All Purifier 0-1 units, hold position. One thousand Purifier 0-2 units, advance."

Watching the thousand Purifier 0-2 units reach their designated positions,

Cheng Yu gave the order,

"Target the herd ahead. First salvo, indiscriminate fire coverage. Fire!"

Gu saw those strange, half-humanoid magical beasts raise their six arms and instinctively sensed danger. It immediately activated its innate ability and sank underground. Looking up, it witnessed a nightmare.

It saw countless white points of light, large and small, shoot from the humanoid magical beasts' hands and fall among the herd it had brought.

The smaller points blasted the herd into minced flesh, releasing the aroma of cooked meat. The larger ones landed with deafening explosions, blasting the nearby magical beasts into charcoal. Those struck directly vanished altogether.

Though very little time had passed, it felt like ages to Gu. It tried to find surviving magical beasts, but there were none. Nothing remained but severed limbs, charcoal-like corpses, and scattered pools of molten earth. Not far away, Ken had also collapsed, its body riddled with small, bleeding holes. There was a large crater in its back as well, the flesh around it charred black.

Gu wanted to slip away, but then it saw those magical beasts turn their "gazes" toward it. Drill bits appeared at the tails of the spider-like magical beasts, and they began burrowing. Gu hurriedly jumped out and shouted,

"I surrender! I surrender! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

"Hmm? A magical beast that can talk?"

Cheng Yu found that rather interesting, so he ordered,

"Bring it back. Send out more Basic Units to recover those magical beast corpses, along with our wrecked units."