As a thick, solid, entirely silver tail stepped out, the ground immediately ruptured, cracking into a deep basin. Hua Bu Luo and several other high-ranking commanders snapped back to their senses, their faces changing drastically as they roared, "Attack quickly! Strike!"

The sound boomed like thunder, echoing across the entire venue.

Under that sonic wave attack just moments before, the soldiers conducting the sweep at the 100-meter mark had suffered the most. Out of thirty thousand troops, over two thousand were killed by the shockwave. Blood seeped from their ears, and thousands more were left mentally shattered, rendered idiots even if they survived.

The rest, whose physical constitutions were at least Level One, merely felt dizzy. Now, galvanized by the shouts of the high commanders, they snapped back to alertness. Without a word, they frantically pulled their triggers. Machine guns chattered incessantly like a whirlwind, spitting out streams of bullets that slammed into the silver-white tail.

Bang, bang, bang...

The machine guns and heavy machine guns held by tens of thousands of soldiers opened up, spitting bullets like a swarm of locusts toward the terrifying massive tail that had just emerged. However, in the next instant, everyone was stunned.

The colossal tail, having endured the bombardment of over a hundred thousand bullets, remained entirely unharmed. The bullets behaved as if they were made of rubber; upon impact, they were repelled, unable to penetrate the surface.

Ye Chen’s pupils constricted slightly. Although he had anticipated that the monsters guarding this civilization ruin would be immensely powerful, he hadn't expected them to be this terrifying—they were Silver Mechanical Beasts, unique products of the Atlantean ruins!

The Atlantean civilization possessed the technology to manufacture intelligent mechanical beasts. According to the civilization's hierarchical stratification, mechanical beings were divided into five levels:

Chromium Iron Grade: Constitution Level 100 Bronze Grade: Constitution Level 500 Silver Grade: Constitution Level 1000 Gold Grade: Constitution Level 5000 Purple Gold Grade: Constitution Level 10000

Biological Level Strength was calculated as one level for every ten people's strength, with ten levels forming one Stage, ten Stages forming one Realm.

A creature reaching Constitution Level 1000 had attained the Spirit Iron Realm. This name derived from biological evolution; once constitution reached Level 1000, the entire body’s skin and bones became incredibly tough, resembling metal. The character 'Iron' was used not to denote hardness equivalent to iron, but merely to signify extreme toughness.

Seeing this, Ye Chen couldn't help but feel a secret sense of relief. Fortunately, he hadn't acted rashly and come to investigate alone; otherwise, even activating his Superman Mode wouldn't have been enough to win. Although his current Level 53 constitution, when boosted by Superman Mode, could unleash strength equivalent to Level 1060, he wouldn't be able to breach the defense of a Silver Grade mechanical being at all—he would only be annihilated.

At that moment, another terrifying massive tail strode out from the entrance. A mechanical being, five zhang tall, entirely silver-white, and bearing a resemblance to humans, walked out of the spatial connection point. It had a single metal horn on its head, one eye in the center of its brow, and held a metal battle-axe in its hand, radiating immense authority.

Thud-thud-thud-thud...

As soon as it stepped out, it was greeted by a barrage from over a hundred thousand bullets. The more potent machine guns could fire thousands of rounds per minute; activating suppression mode made the volume of fire truly terrifying. Under the assault of nearly thirty thousand troops, the sheer number of bullets striking the Silver Mechanical Beast every second was staggering.

Machine guns ranged from light, medium, general-purpose, to heavy machine guns, and even autocannons—all rapid-fire types. Most of the weapons deployed here were general-purpose and heavy machine guns.

This Silver Mechanical Beast was incredibly tall, like a giant. Its body, fifteen to sixteen meters high, was equivalent to a four-story building. Even firing blindly, a hit was guaranteed. Although its metallic chassis, fused with unknown materials, offered formidable defense, under the bombardment of over a hundred thousand bullets, the sheer kinetic force still knocked it flying backward.

"Roar~~~"

"Humble intruders!"

"In the name of the Goddess of Light, slay all invaders!"

"Defend the Sanctuary!"

Four or five more mechanical beings, identical in appearance and all Silver Grade, rushed out from the ruin entrance. They spoke in the Atlantean language, which no one present understood, except for Ye Chen. He knew precisely what they were saying.

In his previous life, he had learned the languages of various civilizations from the "Sage" device unearthed from the Atlantean ruins. Furthermore, any knowledge could be directly imprinted into his mind via a special method from that "Sage" device. People of that civilization didn't need to study conventionally; they simply paid a fee to acquire any necessary knowledge from the "Sage" device. A fifteen or sixteen-year-old child could rival a modern high-level scholar.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Bullets struck the Silver Mechanical Beasts, rebounding off their surfaces and peppering the ground with spent casings. Under the force of the impacts, they were shoved backward, but they quickly scrambled back up. As long as their energy wasn't depleted and their metal didn't rust or decay, they were seemingly immortal.

Seeing this, Ye Chen frowned. If this continued, their carried ammunition would inevitably run out.

Far away, Qin Lan, Hua Bu Luo, and the others recognized the severity of the situation. They exchanged glances, conferred briefly, and then decisively issued an order: detonate the explosives!

"Frontline squads, attention! Frontline squads, attention!" As the command was relayed, a General charged forward, shouting to the small teams poised to trigger the charges, "Detonate immediately!"

"Understood!"

The captain of the frontline team acknowledged the order and ignited the fuses.

Sizzle, sizzle~~~ The sparks raced along the fuse—

"BOOM!"

A world-shattering explosion erupted. The explosives buried behind the spatial connection point of the ruin detonated with a roar, shaking the earth and heaven. The few mechanical beasts that had been knocked near the blast zone all endured the terrifying, destructive explosion.

"Blow them up! Blow them up!"

"Blast them hard!"

Many generals cheered.

Ye Chen remained calm, a slight smile touching his lips. This was the desired effect. No matter how powerful the defense, the tearing power of massive simultaneous explosions was enough to breach the outer metal shell and inflict catastrophic damage.

Considering that several tons of explosives had been stacked there, the resulting power was unimaginable.

As the towering flames subsided, everyone quickly looked on. They saw all the Silver Mechanical Beasts lying on the ground, looking utterly miserable. Some had limbs blown off, with electrical arcs sputtering and hissing from the fractures.

Their cores had sustained heavy damage, and the mechanical beings began issuing incessant alarms.

"Beep, beep~~~ Energy output system malfunction. Immediate repair required."

"Beep, beep~~~ Focus light system malfunction. Immediate repair required."

"Beep, beep~~~ Combat optical brain malfunction. Immediate repair required."

Alarms blared within the mechanical heads. Struck by the bombs, many systems had failed, rendering them incapable of normal operation.

Seeing the Silver Mechanical Beasts immobilized on the ground, everyone rejoiced. But just then, with a tremendous boom, six more Silver Mechanical Beasts charged out from the ruin entrance, their feet stomping the ground and causing large fissures to open.

"Defend the Sanctuary!"

"Slay all intruders without mercy!"

"Kill!"

The six Silver Mechanical Beasts all raised the cold weapons in their hands and charged toward the sweeping soldiers at the 100-meter line.

Thud-thud-thud...

Hardened by the apocalypse, the soldiers reacted instantly. The moment the six Silver Mechanical Beasts appeared, they were momentarily stunned before rapidly pulling their machine gun triggers. Countless bullets flew out like locusts.

Smash!

The foremost Silver Mechanical Beast, struck by tens of thousands of bullets, was immediately sent flying backward by the immense impact force, slamming heavily onto the ground and leaving a cracked pit.

Qin Lan and the other top commanders exchanged glances. To conserve ammunition, they quickly made a decision: use nuclear weapons!

A General received the order and rapidly sprinted into the distance, circling behind the racetrack and diving into the subway tunnel to relay the command to the personnel deploying the nuclear device.

"Understood! Immediately!"

The staff responded, immediately activating the power of the nuclear weapon. Following this, everyone swiftly evacuated the subway tunnel and notified the sweeping soldiers at the 100-meter mark to pull back. The waiting reserve troops launched rocket artillery to stall the Silver Mechanical Beasts and cover the retreat of the sweeping soldiers.

"Countdown initiated."

BOOM—

Beneath the ruin entrance, the ground suddenly ruptured, erupting like a volcano. A fierce surge of power swept over the six Silver Mechanical Beasts—each with a Constitution Level of 1000 and terrifyingly abnormal physical defense—engulfing them instantly in firelight.

Flames soared to the heavens!

Standing far off on the highway, Ye Chen could still feel the heat washing over him. The blaze appeared as a brilliant, intoxicating firework, stunningly beautiful.

Rumble, rumble~~~

The firelight shot into the sky, seemingly pushing the clouds aside.

Any nearby monsters or beasts hearing the massive roar would surely flee far away. Animals possess an instinctive fear of ground tremors; thus, whenever the earth shook, creatures would rapidly flee downhill—this was innate, something that even transformed monsters could not easily discard, unless they had achieved true intelligence.

Moments later, the fire gradually faded. Everyone looked quickly, finally seeing the six Silver Mechanical Beasts lying there, completely mangled and scorched black. Even if their bodies hadn't been physically destroyed, the nuclear electromagnetic pulse would certainly cause the internal systems of the Silver Mechanical Beasts to paralyze and fail.

The device deployed in the subway tunnel was an enhanced nuclear landmine; its TNT equivalent wasn't huge, just enough to obliterate half of the racetrack area. Those six ferocious Silver Mechanical Beasts were reduced to scrap metal.

Ye Chen couldn't help but marvel in his heart: truly the crystallization of human intellect. If the TNT equivalent had been large enough, shattering a planet wouldn't have been impossible.

At this point, with the six Silver Mechanical Beasts destroyed, everyone turned their gaze toward the ruin entrance, their expressions somewhat apprehensive. They silently prayed that no more mechanical beings would emerge; otherwise, they doubted whether the remaining ammunition could sustain another fight, and this was merely the guard force. Who knew what more powerful entities lay inside?

Ten minutes passed.

No more Silver Mechanical Beasts emerged. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.