Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 662 Ruthless Crushing

"Hahaha! Don't worry, Dean, we'll go easy on these new cans."

The bloodline warriors, led by Ironhead, burst into laughter, trying to comfort their old comrades... Instructor Dean, like them, had also undergone a bloodline awakening ceremony personally presided over by His Majesty the Emperor.

However, he wasn't very lucky and failed to advance to the extraordinary level. The failed ritual only gave him a slight increase in physical strength and reaction speed, which would allow him to at least serve as a squad leader after returning to the Northern Army, leading ordinary soldiers like himself to fight bravely against the enemy on the front lines.

His military career over the next few years left him wounded multiple times. In the final battle at Big Bear Lake, he lost both arms while holding the line. The National Medical Center's Minister Egno personally performed the surgery and replaced his arms with a pair of brand-new alchemical prosthetics.

Dean was indeed quite harsh and critical of these trainee Starfire Warriors, but deep down he didn't believe that mortal soldiers equipped with demonized armor would be powerless against bloodline warriors... In fact, he hoped that mortals could be on equal footing with these extraordinary beings who had risen through luck and destiny, thanks to His Majesty's wisdom in creating such things.

In this way, it can be considered as making up for his biggest regret in life to some extent.

Hearing his old comrades' undisguised sarcasm and blatant contempt, Dean felt a surge of anger... He turned to look at the new recruits led by Sek, the meaning in his eyes clear—

No one is allowed to back down. Let these arrogant guys see the strength of the Starfire Warriors!
Sai Ke and the others were already seething with anger because of the other party's jeers, but due to the difference in strength and rank, none of them dared to speak up and retort.

Who do they think they are? The Starfire Warriors are the best of the best among ordinary soldiers. These bloodline warriors are just spouting nonsense because they have more combat experience and rely on their seniority and status!

Before Instructor Dean could speak, the four squad leaders stepped forward in their magical armor and said in unison, "Instructor, please allow us to represent the Starfire Special Forces Squad and have a tactical exchange with Commander Ironhead and the others!"

Its momentum is not weak...

Dean nodded, a rare gentle expression on his face, and encouraged in a deep voice, "The officers will stop short of pushing you. Do your best to use the combat skills you've learned. Today's special training will definitely benefit you greatly!"

He paused, then emphasized again: "Remember, maintain absolute focus during combat!"

"Yes, sir!" the four replied in unison.

……

The spacious and brightly lit training ground was immediately cleared of any irrelevant staff. The hot-tempered Baler was the first to lose his temper and stepped forward before the others. He walked to the center of the field, clenched his fists in salute to the bloodline warriors, and hummed, "Please instruct me, officers!"

Ironhead pursed his lips and didn't answer. His teammate Spider walked up from behind him and stood opposite Baler. "Then I'll teach you close combat skills first... A quick battle is also good. Wearing this metal can is really making me feel suffocated."

Dean, standing to the side, immediately sensed something was wrong... His bloodline talent was agility, which was a natural counter to Baler, who had fused with the Demon Fire Source Beast. It should be noted that the magic armor controlled by Baler was best at mid-to-long-range scorching fire magic attacks. Once the opponent successfully dodged and quickly closed in, with his terrible close combat skills, he would have almost no chance to fight back.

"As previously agreed, the winner will be determined once someone is knocked down or successfully pinned for five seconds!"

The spider chuckled through the helmet, "No problem, but I bet he can't even touch my magic armor..." Dean shook his head helplessly and said, "Let's begin!"

Just as Baler was holding back his energy to accelerate the soul fusion process of activating the magic armor, he suddenly heard his opponent's merciless taunts. After being infected by the memory fragments of the magic fire source beast, his already frenzied emotions were ignited. Under the stimulation of his ferocity, he let out a howl that was not human even through the thick steel helmet!

“Hoo—ah!”

With a powerful, invisible force, he stomped his feet heavily on the ground, one in front of the other, creating spiderweb-like cracks in the hard stone tiles. A superhuman roar erupted from his throat as he charged straight at his opponent.

Although it was only a one-on-one battle, the sheer force of the nearly three-meter-tall full-metal magic armor at full speed was still incredibly imposing. Baler seemed to have forgotten his forte of casting spells and instead chose to engage in close combat with his opponent.

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd as everyone realized that he might have been possessed by a beast spirit, which was why he was deliberately playing to his weaknesses and offering them up.

Only those familiar with his personality, such as Seker and his instructor Dean, noticed that a layer of dark red fire was faintly emanating from the fists of Baler's rapidly swinging arms. This was the familiar movement he used to accumulate magic power when unleashing the scorching flames of the Demonfire Source Beast.

He wanted to use the intense explosion caused by the flamethrower to fight the spider to the death, inflicting eight hundred damage on the enemy while losing a thousand of his own!
In a flash, Baler quickly closed in on the spider, raising his arms to try and grab his opponent's shoulders, while simultaneously thrusting his left knee into the opponent's waist and abdomen... With the scorching flames and the knee strike executed at the same time, he was confident that his opponent would have no chance to dodge at such close range.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned...

Suddenly, the spider, who had been standing still, lowered its body, causing its fiery palms to grasp at empty air. Then, it bent its knees and exerted force... in a posture that no ordinary person could imagine, it leaped from its spot and soared over Baler.

The loud thud of the heavy armor hitting the ground echoed behind him. Baler knew something was wrong and was about to turn around when he caught a glimpse of an iron arm sweeping towards his neck out of the corner of his eye.

Bang!
The connection between the armor and the helmet was struck hard. Baler felt as if his temple had been hit hard by an iron hammer. He lost his balance and fell to the ground... But the scorching fire gathered in his fists was about to be released and burst out, engulfing the two of them in flames.

Spider had anticipated his "mutual destruction" move and, before the man could even crash to the ground, swiftly raised his right foot and kicked him away from in front of him.

It wasn't until Bale was four or five meters away that the scorching explosion was triggered, instantly engulfing his entire body.

Sek and Gregor rushed over and dragged him out of the embers and smoke... The mottled flame marks on his armor made him look like he had been thrown into a furnace and burned, blackened and wretched.

The steel and enchanted metal armor on the neck, which had been struck by a horizontal swing, was slightly dented, demonstrating just how powerful and heavy the spider's attack had been.

Sek ripped off Baler's helmet and found that he wasn't in any life-threatening danger, but had temporarily passed out due to the triple shock from the explosion and the two heavy blows... Embarrassingly, his pale face was covered in snot and saliva.

(End of this chapter)