Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1774 General Iron Claw
The steam-powered warships tasked with providing support quickly approached the target. They had no intention of building a bridge between the two ships, as that would be too inefficient.

After closing the distance to a certain point, the naval soldiers who were already waiting on the ship directly fired two specially made naval grappling hooks at the other side with their crossbows.

With a soft 'whoosh', the zipline slicing across the sea.

In the blink of an eye, two specially made steel cables connected the two ships.

The water-based mages, led by Jabar, were undoubtedly prepared for this.

During the time that the sea creature troops did not appear, they were not idle. They all carried out relevant training, and now they had all prepared the same specially made pulleys.

Then, they simply slipped their arms onto the steel cable and slid quickly to the other side.

At this moment, the physical training that the Great Zhou mages had to undergo every day undoubtedly came in handy. The water mages were all quite agile and did not falter at the crucial moment.

"Hurry up! Everyone, hurry up!"

However, while things didn't go wrong, there were over seventy mages on the ship, not to mention the naval soldiers. It would still take quite some time to transfer them all.

Just then, the ship's deck suddenly burst open from below, and amidst flying wood chips, a burly figure leaped out and landed on the deck with a 'bang'.

The sound made the hearts of the water mages, who hadn't yet managed to retreat to the opposite ship, skip a beat.

Looking back, a towering figure, as thick as an iron tower, immediately came into their view. It was none other than General Iron Claw, who had invaded the ship from the bottom!
After entering the cabin, he quickly discovered that the passageway was too narrow for him to fit through, so he had to use a pair of iron claws to find another way.

Judging by its appearance alone, it looks like a giant black crab that walks upright.

But anyone who has ever seen a crab knows that crabs are born with armor! And if you dare to stick your finger in their pincers, they'll crush it.

If an ordinary crab can do this, its body must be even more robust than that of an average human, and its pair of iron claws must be enormous. You can easily imagine how powerful it must be...

Compared to the water mages who were stunned, the naval soldiers on the deck relied solely on muscle memory to quickly draw their guns, load them, and fire a shot at General Iron Claw, who had just jumped aboard.

The Thunder Rifle is highly stable, and given the close range and the large target, there is virtually no possibility of it missing its mark.

The bullet hit him instantly, and before the naval soldier could even show a hint of joy, his expression froze on his face.

The bullet struck General Iron Claw with a sound like it was hitting a metal plate. Then, the bullet was deflected, leaving only a faint dent on the surface of General Iron Claw's carapace.

Looking down at the bullet wounds on his body, a hint of surprise flashed in General Tie'ao's eyes.

Although he possesses the strength of the peak of the Vajra Realm, opening the protective shield still consumes true energy, thus affecting his combat ability.

Thanks to his innate armor, and his constant tempering and strengthening of it, he was able to improve his strength.

It's no exaggeration to say that the strength of his armor surpasses that of many enchanted armors!
This also allows General Iron Claw to withstand ordinary attacks by relying solely on the strength of its carapace, without even needing to activate its shield, thus saving its true energy for offense.

However, what he didn't expect this time was that human weapons could leave such dents on his armor.

The next second, he moved sideways like a rampaging steel war machine, instantly rushing in front of the naval soldier. At the same time, his iron claws fell, and the naval soldier's head was smashed open like a watermelon!

At this moment, the horrific scene of bloodshed nearly made the mages on deck stop breathing. Some of them attempted to chant spells, but how could their chanting speed possibly outpace the Iron Claw General standing so close?

The iron claws swung like two giant hammers, creating a bloody storm on the ship's deck with each swing, accompanied by a whistling wind.

In the chaos, a mage mingled in the crowd, attempting to complete his incantation, but General Iron Claw noticed his presence immediately and suddenly appeared before him.

Seeing the iron claw, stained with blood and bits of flesh, raised high, the mage was instantly terrified, his tongue tied in knots, and his chanting stopped.

[Your Majesty, Mom and Dad, your son will not be able to care for you in your old age and see you off in your final days!!]

With a wailing sound in his heart, the mage had already mentally prepared himself to be smashed into a pulp by the iron claw, and only hoped that he could die quickly.

However, at that moment, the surrounding air suddenly froze, and the atmosphere of the entire space changed accordingly.

The water mage, who had been terrified and pale just moments before, suddenly displayed an unprecedented calmness, and his eyes shone with astonishing light.

In the split second between life and death, General Iron Claw, realizing the situation was dire, displayed astonishing reflexes. His burly body leaped backward as if electrocuted, simultaneously unleashing his true energy shield at top speed and maximizing its strength!
At that very moment, a bolt of lightning shot out from the mage's fingertip, striking the Iron Claw General who had jumped back with lightning speed!

In an instant, terrifying lightning bolts burst forth, shattering the protective shield of true energy covering General Iron Claw's body, but also saving his life.

Using the force generated by the electric shock, he jumped back into the sea with a 'plop'.

Zhou Xu, who witnessed this scene, sighed inwardly.

He looked down at the body he had possessed.

My body is still too weak, limiting my performance.

He had just finished deploying the restrictions and was not in his best condition.

According to the original plan, he would next test whether the restriction could function properly, and after confirming that there were no problems, he could head home.

Who would have thought that at this critical juncture, a pterosaur rider would fly over and inform him that the patrol fleet had been attacked, presumably by the sea creature forces that had returned.

Upon learning this news, Zhou Xu quickly sensed it and then heard believers praying to him.

He originally intended to fight directly in his soul form, but the moment his soul form appeared, it would only appear on the praying believer.

The Iron Claw General was too close to the believer, almost touching his face, and the iron claw was about to smash down.

The opponent's strength is at least at the peak of the Vajra Realm. At such close range, and with him in poor condition, his soul body is directly exposed to the opponent's attack range, which is somewhat dangerous.

That's why they opted for possession as a second-best option, which led to the scene before us.

[Fine, this is fine too. Let's use you guys to test the newly deployed restrictions.]

(End of this chapter)