《Molting the Mortal Coil》Chapter 320 - Desperation

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The large and magnificent three story building had been the center of the compound. Large and imposing, the building had symbolized the greatness of their group. It was too bad that now, it was covered with crossbow bolts. The collection of so many arrow fletchings made it look like the building was a feathered beast. The rain of crossbow bolts prevented the Slavers inside from exiting the building, trapping them within.

Inside, the second floor used to be a disturbing storehouse of living human goods. Locked in small cages and stacked up like crates. Fearsome and depraved guards would travel between the rows of cages, terrorizing the occupants to keep them docile and break their minds down to adjust them to their new position in life.

Now, that terrible floor had been utterly transformed. A huge metal object sat in the center of the floor, a small rectangular box mounted atop a larger rectangular box. Its shiny black steel exterior absorbing and deflecting the attacks of the hundreds of Slavers that surrounded it. At random intervals a small flap would swing open on the side of the small box and a flurry of crossbow bolts would fly out into the crowd, some of them smashing against shields or getting blocked by glowing weapons. When the Slavers fells to the bolts they weren’t dissuaded, they were merely put on guard, having to attack in a conservative manner to protect themselves from retaliation.

Someone from the modern world would recognize this object, or at least the inspiration for the object. The armored hide and treads were the signature features of a tank. More accurately, an Armored Personnel Carrier as it didn’t actually have any weapons, only firing ports for the occupants to use. It was something Sage developed a long time ago at the Holy Flame Sect. It was one of the secret weapons for the Holy Flame Sect to use, along with the Steam Cannons. He’d left before any large scale steam cannons were developed, so he’d only been able to get the APC finished and had to leave the later models up to the Holy Flame Sect’s Blacksmiths to build on their own. In fact, the treads weren’t even finished when he left, he threw these together on his own because the original plans required a huge amount of metal with complicated chain type segments. He’d had some Hoplites weave him a substitute out of Steelsilk that worked decently enough.

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The outside of the black metal box was getting pretty dinged up, but that only served to reveal a second layer of metal underneath that was glowing with array symbols. The outer armor layer was only intended to protect the Formation Arrays from being damaged when they weren’t activated. It couldn’t have its full defenses up all the time, as that would be too wasteful. Instead it relied on the thick armor to protect the arrays and then the arrays amplified the defensive strength of the thick armor. Spirit Steel was only the most basic of materials, rated at rank 2. The sheer thickness, shape, and hardening of the armor meant that even rank 3 attacks would take a long time to destroy it. Even if it only felt like they were chopping through wood, if the wood was a foot thick it would take some time. With the enhancement of the defensive arrays, it raised the strength by a whole rank: which meant only rank 3 or higher attacks would damage it, and even rank 4s would take time to break through.

Sage only needed a few more minutes, so he hoped that the huge crowd of Slavers surrounding them would block the three rank 5s from reaching them. Or, perhaps they’d think with so many men being dispatched they wouldn’t have to act. Either way, it should buy him some time. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that the tank would perfectly protect them, it was just supposed to be a way for lower level cultivators to move around a battlefield without being instantly killed by those of higher rank.

He sat down on the floor of the APC and crossed his legs. Then he sent his consciousness inward and called forth one of the Heavenly Materials. A cyan colored sphere flew out from the center of the Inner World and out into the real world. Sage held it in his hands as he needed to fully utilize its power. The yellow light that shone from the orb started to grow, getting brighter and brighter, extending to cover a greater area by the moment. The bubble of light expanded out of the tank and into the floors and ceiling. Sage held a few Spirit Stones and Spirit Jades, drawing madly upon them to support his Qi expenditure. It grew larger and larger until the building was completely shrouded in the yellow glow.

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The oiled and hairy leader of the Slavers didn’t realize how dire their situation was until the yellow light entered the third floor. His two generals tried to dispel the light, using various methods to attack it and not having any effect. They suddenly grew worried and a messenger arrived from the second floor to explain what was going on there. At that point the three leaders leapt to their feet and started pushing their way through the crowd.

Then they felt it.

The whole building started to shake. There was a low rumbling sound and also much louder sounds of everything starting to move. Squeals of wooden furniture legs shifting on the floor, hanging lamps swaying on their hooks, things hung on the wall slipping off and smashing to the ground, cups and dishes spilling to the floor. The attacks upon the tank stopped as the Slavers all realized what was going on at the same time.

“Earthquake!”

Once the first man yelled it out, the whole crowd surged into motion. Most of them didn’t know what to do. Some ran about aimlessly, many fell to the ground and curled up into a ball to cover their heads, but most of them just stood there in shock. Only a small portion ran to escape, but there was still enough of them to cause a traffic jam with those in the stairway wanting to escape there to enter the room. It was utter chaos.

After a few moments the rumbling stopped and the Slavers looked around. They still seemed quite uneasy, though also pleased because the building was still standing. Many were actually quite thankful that all the cages had disappeared because that meant less things to fall down upon them. Unfortunately for them, the delay was only temporary.

The cause of the tremor was of course, Sage. He’d used the Sovereign Stone to affect the building. More specifically, the foundation the building was built upon. Affecting such a large area at the same time was very energy draining, so he’d been careful to run a small test first to see how it affected him. It required a high volume of Qi to affect such a large area to start out, but maintaining the tremor was much easier. Like pushing a car or a swing in a playground, it was hard to get started, but easy to keep going. His high recovery rate coupled with the pile of Spirit Stones in his lap should be able to support the expenditure. Once he recovered his energy again, Sage started again.

The whole building started to rumble once more, but the temporary delay had bought enough time for the three leaders to push through their men and burst onto the second floor. The building began to shake again, but the trio of rank 5 warriors pushed through the chaotic mass of Slavers and quickly ran towards the huge metal box in the middle of the room. Their bodies started to glow with a terrifyingly bright orange glow like a burning corona.

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