Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 649 Unstoppable Madness (Part 1)
"Commander Nebrius, if you insist on implementing 'KZ: Endgame Project,' then I will have to stop you. Shaneva may disregard the future of Crusd and insist on acquiring absolute power, but you must preserve the last glimmer of possibility for Crusd's civilization." Dark took a half step back, raised the "Imitation-Mad Bear" pistol, aimed it at the eye manifested by the [Core of Khitania], and roared, giving his final advice:

"There is still a chance, there is still a chance, Commander Nebrius! Now that you have completely merged with the [Core], and you are inseparable, you can simply slumber here with the Core. I can assist you and guide you into a deep sleep."

"Professor Igor told me in his villa that even if one merges with the [Core of Khitanria], one will not die if the core is destroyed after entering a state of slumber. After you fall into slumber, Adaloni and I will destroy the 'Fortress Layer' and bury you here. When the war ends and peace arrives, let's welcome the new world together, okay?"

"You...you think I'd agree?" Nebrius sneered a few times, walked up to Dark, slowly raised his foot—covered with messy mechanical components and various metals—and placed it on top of Dark's head in an attack stance, saying:
"The power of the Western Lands has collapsed, the curtain of the Eastern Kingdoms has been quietly drawn, thorns and steel have perished together, and the howling of the lost will never cease."

"It's too late now, Dark. The Crusad Federation has no reason to exist anymore. I know that after Shaneva leads the Federation to its destruction, this place will become a paradise for the 'heartless' and the lost, and humans will become their food and slaves. But even so, it's better than becoming Shaneva's 'object'."

“So, Commander Nebrius, my answer to your question is—'No.' I will not merge with you. Instead, I will destroy the [Core of Khitania] attached to you. I am a Crusader, and I cannot stand by and watch my homeland be completely destroyed.” As Dark spoke, he caught Nebrius’s enormous foot as it fell with one hand.

Nebrius was clearly taken aback; he had not expected that Dark's power had grown to such an astonishing level.

His kick had the force of at least 10 tons. If it were an ordinary person... even a seasoned warrior or a veteran who had been on the front lines for many years, their internal organs would be shattered, they would vomit blood, and they would eventually die from the pain and torment because their body's repair ability could not keep up with the damage.

Dark not only caught the fatal blow with one hand, but also fought against Nabrius's full strength for more than half a minute. Under Nabrius's astonished gaze, Dark suddenly exerted his strength and completely flipped him to the ground.

If Nebrius is a true "alien monster" at this moment, then Dark is a "humanoid monster" hidden in a human skin.

Faced with such power, Nabrius had to take several steps back before he could barely steady his still somewhat uncontrolled body.

Immediately afterwards, he changed his attack strategy, suddenly spreading his blood-soaked back to reveal two exhaust pipes, each as thick as a Dak's thigh, hidden between his muscles and bones, and pumping in the ample fuel stored within his body.

Suddenly, blue flames shot out from the exhaust pipe, like a flying dragon, lifting Nebriusto up and suspending him stably in mid-air like a single-soldier machine.

"Dark, Dark." Nebrius's voice finally lost all human characteristics. Perhaps in the struggle between the bloodlines of monsters and machines within him, the mechanical part had completely gained the upper hand, making his voice completely mechanical.

As the mechanical bloodline continued to expand, Nebrius's entire lower body, which had previously been a messy patchwork, gradually transformed into a unified and neat mechanical form. Apart from slightly retaining its original structure and state, the entire body was coated with a black and gold style paint.

Dark discovered that the dark magical energy within him had begun to "bounce back" when it touched Nabrius's massive body. He was certain that this mechanical skin granted Nabrius some ability to rebound and become immune to magical energy.

Seeing this, Dark stopped trying to attack Nebrius with his magical energy. Instead, he poured some of his magical energy into the "Imitation-Mad Bear" pistol, especially into the silver bullets in the magazine, and then pulled the trigger.

boom!
The first shot was easily deflected by Nabrius's tough skin.

boom!
Although the second shot penetrated the flesh of the upper body, it did not cause any further substantial damage other than slightly lacerifying the skin and causing a small amount of bleeding and pus to flow.

boom!
The third shot hit the right spot, striking the surface of the [Core of Khitanria] and causing some noticeable cracks.

Dark could see that as the surface of the [Core] was damaged, Nabrius's body trembled a few times in the air, and the blue flame in the exhaust pipe "disconnected" for a second, but then returned to normal.

Just as Dark was preparing to launch another attack, Nebrius let out a strange, mechanical laugh.

He raised his hands, which had transformed into "electromagnetic functional guns," and opened the two portable cannons hidden beneath his flesh on his shoulders, aiming them at Dark.

“Such a powerful individual, Dark, I originally did not want to kill you. But your uncooperative attitude makes it impossible for me to keep such a threat to Crusad. A non-cooperative individual with formidable strength, someone who dares to attack his superior, is destined to be a calamity.” Nebrius said, not giving Dark any further chance to react.

Instead, taking advantage of the last syllable echoing in the empty factory environment, they unleashed all their firepower at Dark.

In fact, the kick he had just taken from Nabrius had caused some damage to Dak's internal organs. He had to swallow the blood that was welling up in his mouth to avoid looking embarrassed in front of Nabrius.

Given his current physical condition, Dark is no longer capable of resisting forcefully or taking the opportunity to escape.

As the artillery fire and electromagnetic beams gradually approached him, Dark felt that everything around him began to slow down rapidly, as if the passage of time and space had stopped at that moment.

His heart began to become incredibly calm, just like those lost souls and superhumans before their deaths. The life force began to gradually take over all his senses, and a holy, radiant white light began to gradually emerge around Dark's body like mist.

"Is this the end?" Dark looked around at the gradually intensifying white light and asked sadly.
"Could it be that the two cycles of reincarnation that 'Zero' risked his life to activate, the 'Curse of Reincarnation,' created for me, only allowed me to prolong my life for a few more months? Then, what is the meaning of what I have persisted in? What is the meaning of my identity as a human being?"
"The day I was transformed from a 'monster' back into a human, I thought it was a blessing from God, a reward from the Creator. If this is the inevitable end, I might as well be that 'stone-armored monster' who survives by instinct, wandering the southern swamps until I am killed or captured by humans. Heh, the destined one of the 'Orderers,' the destined 'Troublemaker,' is he merely an object of sacrifice?" Suddenly, Dark felt the electric current stinging his body from the electromagnetic pulse. After a brief period of paralysis, the intense pain from the powerful impact of the artillery fire and the burning sensation actually roused him from his brief near-death hallucination.

boom!
The first round of intense artillery fire was not as painful as expected. The "Hate Skin" attached to Dak's body gathered absolute power at the critical moment, temporarily hardening Dak's skin into a state comparable to that of an alloy.

Surprisingly, despite the violent impact, his clothes were only scorched, without any damage to his skin.

Nabrius, clearly enraged by his missed attack, seized the opportunity before Dark could react, grabbed Dark in his tar- and blood-soaked hands, and tossed him into the air like a shuttlecock. Just as Dark was about to hit the ground, Nabrius slammed him upwards!

Whoosh!
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang...

After a brief but long flight, Dark's body crashed through the already extremely sturdy floors of the "fortress layer." His relatively "small" frame pierced through layer after layer like a bullet, leaving bloodstained holes in the ceilings of each floor, before finally reaching the top under the scorching sun and coming to a brief stop.

A few seconds later, as gravity gradually gained the upper hand, Dark's already slightly mangled body began to fall uncontrollably toward the ground. Just as his head was about to hit the solid ground and turn into a pile of broken flesh, Adaloni's solid and strong dragon body suddenly appeared in front of him.

Just as his head was about to hit the ground, he quickly jumped forward and reached out to hug his lower back.

"Now, what's the situation? Has Nebrius gone completely mad?" Adaloni laid Dark down in front of Hoshino Shota, who had regained consciousness and was sitting against the wall of the "living floor," while taking out bandages from the backpack Dark had left him and making temporary bandages for him.

Fortunately, "Hateful Skin" clearly had a deep level of acceptance of Dark. In just one day, this ordinal monster had recognized Dark as its only "supreme" master.

Therefore, in the instant when Nebrius used artillery and brute force to attack, "Hateful Skin" attached itself to Dark's vital parts as much as possible to ensure his safety.

This also meant that even though Dark, who had escaped passively, was covered in blood and had some parts of his body mangled, he was still conscious and had not suffered any serious injuries or fatal internal damage.

"Hoo..." Dark awoke from his brief unconsciousness and stiffness. Ignoring the pain all over his body, he struggled to sit up, using his wounded right hand to support himself on the ground, and answered Adaloni:

“Nebrius has indeed gone completely mad, Adaloni. He has become a complete monster. I… cough cough, I can’t remove the [Core of the Catharia] from him or destroy it. Now, it has completely merged with Nebrius.”

"So what do we do now, Dark?" Adaloni asked, looking into Dark's bloodshot gray eyes with his vertical pupils, which were half gold and half blood red, waiting for Dark's definite answer.

After a few seconds of silence, Dark looked at the even more dilapidated, gloomy, and crumbling "fortress level" and sighed:
"Let's leave. We shouldn't get involved in Crusted's internal battles anymore. Whether Shaneva wins or Nebrius succeeds in his revenge, Crusted's destruction is irreversible. Adaloni, perhaps... when we return, Crusted will no longer exist, and humanity will become the slaves and food of the Lost."

“Let’s go then, the two of us… with Hoshino Shota.” Adaloni said, carrying Hoshino Shota in one arm and Dark on his back in the other.

“Just now, Hoshino Shota told me that there is a neglected town on the edge of the Transnabuya Mountains called Torii Town. It was established by people who fled here from the Khitanlis. Most of their ancestors came from the Toyo Province, so they are Hoshino Shota’s fellow townsmen. We can go there to take refuge for a few days, and then go to Nabsk after we get definite news about Wright.”

After receiving a nod of agreement from the weakened Dark, Adaloni spread his ten-meter-long dragon wings and pushed off the ground with his feet, preparing to take off.

However, at that moment, he suddenly noticed that a thick, chilling smoke was rising from the bottom of the "fortress layer" in front of him.

Immediately afterwards, a loud crashing sound reached the three people's ears from below and from afar.

Soon, Adaloni, Dark, and Hoshino Shota were shocked to discover that the "fortress layer" of the absolute building in front of them, which had been built by successive rulers for thousands of years since the Crusad Empire, was experiencing a chilling series of explosions starting from the bottom.

The blast wave made the muscular Adaloni almost lose his balance, and the blue flames filled the surrounding air with a foul smell of gasoline.

However, what was most surprising was that as Nebrius's enormous body rose into the air and hovered in mid-air, the seemingly indestructible "fortress layer" completely collapsed, turning into a pile of ruins and rubble.

Indeed, the "Fortress Layer," which even the "Artificial Heavenly Punishment Fire" failed to completely destroy, was utterly reduced to ruins by Nabrius's greedy onslaught.

Just as Nebrius was muttering incoherently and preparing to swoop down toward Dark, a huge black young dragon suddenly appeared from behind Adaroni and came directly above Belogersk.

They appeared at the same height as Nebrius in his monster form!