Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme-Chapter 999 - 612: Thunderbolt

"He has begun constructing siege machinery!"

"Not just siege machinery, but defensive structures too."

Atop the city walls, a host of Demon Abyss Lords observed from afar, watching Xu Yang's busy Gongshu Mechanics and Gongshu Disciples, their brows furrowed, a sense of unease emerging.

Unless there is an extreme disparity in strength between the opposing sides, sieges typically follow this set process: First, construct siege engines to attack the enemy's defenses and even breach the walls, then cover shooters with infantry and cavalry to seize the gates, and finally break into the city to capture it.

That is the attacker's process. As for the defenders, there is a corresponding response: either strike out while the enemy is constructing their siege engines to destroy them or set up similar siege engines within the city for a long-range bombardment, entering a mutually exhaustive period of "exchange."

So now, should they strike first or engage in a long-range bombardment?

It would be a long-range bombardment, of course!

Xu Yang has become notoriously infamous during this period, having attacked and killed dozens of territories, all belonging to high-ranking Lords on the Reputation List. Now, which First-Order Lord in the Demon Abyss does not know that a monster with extraordinary combat skills has emerged from the Sky-reaching Tower, one that even Legendary Heroes cannot contend with and Second Order Soldiers struggle to surround and kill?

Under such circumstances, who would dare to leave the city to confront him?

One can only play to their strengths and engage in artillery duels.

The Demon Abyss Lords turned their gazes around, only to see the broad city wall topped with a variety of defensive buildings and siege machinery—among them, "giant trebuchets" of Rare Level and many Engineering Heroes and Engineering Troops, clearly prepared to engage in artillery warfare with the opponent.

This was the advantage of the defenders, who could pre-place machinery.

However, not all was disadvantageous for the attackers. The teleportation point was not within the range of any of the enemy's soldiers or attacks, including siege weapons.

Tactics like artillery dueling could only wait until the opponent had completed their preparations, and the battle formation started to advance.

Before that, they could do nothing but watch as the enemy constructed their siege engines and military camps.

Xu Yang was well aware of this and boldly constructed a camp outside the city, where he built Gongshu Mechanism Towers, crossbows, cannons, and poison water, transforming this temporary camp into a military fortress, heavily armed to the teeth.

Only then did he begin to assemble Cloud Ladders, battering rams, Thunderbolt Cars, and Mechanical Beasts among other siege machinery.

As a special Engineering Troop type, the efficiency of Gongshu Mechanics and Gongshu Disciples needn't be mentioned. Soon, a batch of siege machinery appeared before Xu Yang, with dozens of "Thunderbolt Cars" being the most eye-catching.

Gongshu Thunderbolt Car

Equipment Tier: First-Order (Epic)

Equipment Attributes: 100 Blunt, 80 Explosive, 50 Fire.

Mechanical Special Skill: Thunderbolt (fires special Thunder Fire Stone made by the Gongshu Family, causing violent explosions upon hitting the target, damaging enemies, and igniting persistent Thunderbolt Flames that continuously damage enemy troops and buildings).

Equipment Introduction: Siege machinery created by the Gongshu Family using domineering mechanism techniques that can launch specially-crafted Thunder Fire Stones at targets from great distances, with power, range, and accuracy far surpassing regular trebuchets. It can only be operated by Gongshu Disciples, and it places a significant burden on the machinery itself, capable of firing only thirty Thunder Fire Stones before requiring maintenance to replace damaged components.

...

Dozens of Gongshu Thunderbolt Cars were completed, each with two Gongshu Mechanics or three Gongshu Disciples stationed nearby as "gunners" to operate the siege machinery.

Aside from the Thunderbolt Cars, there were Cloud Ladders and charging vehicles—the former could help soldiers scale the city walls, while the latter could crash into city gates. Xu Yang did not build many Cloud Ladders, focusing mainly on the charging vehicles and Thunderbolt Cars.

This time, he brought five hundred Gongshu Mechanics and nine hundred Gongshu Disciples, theoretically able to operate five hundred and fifty Thunderbolt Cars.

But that was only in theory. As an epic equipment produced by the Mechanical City, the Thunderbolt Cars were extremely costly to make and had limited production. Xu Yang had saved up for more than three months to accumulate one hundred and eighty cars, of which thirty were still left in his territory for emergencies.

Thus, he could assemble at most one hundred and fifty.

But that was enough.

Under the busy work of a host of Gongshu Mechanics and Gongshu Disciples, one hundred and fifty Thunderbolt Cars were deployed in front of the camp gates, directly facing the enemy's iron and solid fortress.

In front of the Thunderbolt Formation, there was also the Yellow Turban Army Formation, with several hundred Yellow Turban Strongmen at the front, thirty thousand Yellow Turban Foot Soldiers and Yellow Turban Gunners at the back, and hundreds of Yellow Turban Mages and Yellow Turban Bombardiers in the center, all ready to fight.

This was to protect the Thunderbolt Formation, preventing the enemy from making a desperate sortie to sabotage the Thunderbolt Cars.

With the formation set and preparations complete, Xu Yang did not speak further and immediately gave the order to attack.

"Boom!"

"Alright!"

Gongshu Ling smiled brightly, her sharp canine teeth revealing nothing cute or docile, but rather, a dangerous air of a war maniac. Within her blood boiled the Gongshu Family's fondness for warfare, visibly in stark contrast with her small stature, as she manipulated a Thunderbolt Car she had personally assembled.

Instantly...

"Click-click-click!"

The sound of mechanics echoed as the giant mechanical arm transformed, with numerous steel wires, iron chains, and mechanical parts extending out and attaching to the Thunderbolt Car, turning it instantly into a Mechanical Giant Beast.

Gongshu Thunderbolt Car (Strengthened by Domineering Mechanism Hand)

Equipment Tier: First-Order (Legendary)

Equipment Attributes: 500 Blunt, 400 Explosive, 200 Fire.

Mechanical Special Skill: Thunderbolt.

Equipment Introduction: The Thunderbolt Catapult, fully enhanced by Gongshu Ling using the domineering mechanism technique, features far more terrifying power, range, accuracy, speed, and enhanced quality, capable of firing ninety Thunder Fire Stones without damaging the structure.

...

Gongshu Ling's domineering mechanism technique could enhance the power by 400% and the quality by 200, directly turning the Gongshu Thunderbolt Car into a supercharged Gongshu Thunderbolt Car.

Using the Overbearing Mechanism Hand, Gongshu Ling alone could control the entire Thunderbolt Car. Massive amounts of steel wires and iron chains moved with mechanical contraptions, and a specially-made Thunder Fire Stone was launched with astonishing speed and power.

With incredible speed and terrifying force, the special Thunder Fire Stone ignited into flames due to the friction with the air during its flight, resembling a fiery comet crashing down to earth, delivering a massive blow to the enemy's iron-strong fortress.

"Boom!!!"

A deafening explosion shook the earth and the mountains, as the Thunder Fire Stone struck the fortress, instantly shattering, with a sound like thunder. Hundreds of meters high and dozens of meters wide, the stone city walls, along with the defense structures atop them, were blasted into collapse. The exploding Thunder Fire Stone covered the segment of the wall with burning oil, evoking cries of agony.

With just one strike, a small section of the city wall crumbled, completely destroying the defense structures, the defending soldiers, and all the siege machinery, entombing them in a sea of flames.

The might of a single attack was horrifying to behold!

"Hahaha!"

Follow current novℯls on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

With laughter erupting, Gongshu Ling was even more invigorated. The Domineering Mechanism Hand controlled the machinery, priming for a second attack.

The surrounding Gongshu Mechanics and Gongshu Disciples also sprang into action, controlling the Thunderbolt Cars to unleash a barrage of Thunderbolt Fire Rain, an overwhelming assault on the enemies' strong fortress.

"Holy shit!"

"Not good!"

"They have an epic-level, no, a legendary engineering hero!"

Witnessing this scene, the defenders inside the fortress, the Lords of the Demon Abyss, finally snapped out of their shock.

Although they had also invested heavily this time, bringing along many rare and even epic siege weapons.

But there's a gap even among epics, and such a terrifying strike from the enemy was undoubtedly the handiwork of a legendary engineering hero. With such a hero on their side, even if they were both employing epic machinery, the enemy had the upper hand.

Indeed it was so. Faced with the long-range bombardment of the Gongshu Thunderbolt Car, their siege weapons had no way to retaliate.

This was the strength of the Gongshu Family's domineering mechanism technique, greatly bolstering the power and range of the machinery, allowing them to overpower their opponents even with epic-level equipment through the advantage of range.

"Boom boom boom!"

As Thunder Fire Stones rained down like hail, they pounded against the iron-strong fortress, leaving only the roaring sound of thunder to hear and a vision of a sea of fire everywhere.

Though the city wall was ten thousand meters in length and dozens wide, under the onslaught of the Thunderbolt Fire Rain, a barrage of a hundred and fifty meteor-sized stones, it too suffered heavy losses, with a great number of structures collapsing, a myriad of machinery shattered, and countless defending soldiers and warriors buried in the sea of flames.

"Retreat, retreat, retreat!"

"Get down from there, quickly!"

Such sights drove the Demon Abyss Lords to pain, hurriedly ordering the troops on the city walls to retreat, not even bothering with the siege weapons that they had set up.

But retreating didn't solve the problem. The Thunderbolt Cars continued their relentless bombardment, and as the iron-strong fortress swayed perilously, the Demon Abyss Lords were at their wits' end, hastily using their special skills for defense.

"The enemy lord 'Bai Yuansheng' has used a special skill—'Solid as Gold Soup'!"

"The enemy lord 'Liu Yisi' has used a special skill—'Enhance City Defense'!"

"The enemy hero 'Ma Jun' has used a special skill—'Copper Wall Iron Armor'!"

"..."

A riot of colors flashed within the enemy's city, and with many special skills reinforcing the defenses, they finally managed to withstand the Thunderbolt Fire Rain.

But...

"This is just addressing the symptoms, not the cause!"

"They have a legendary engineering hero, they must have trained the corresponding engineering troops."

"Engineering troops generally possess logistics skills and can carry a lot of machinery and siege resources."

"Their siege weapons can keep firing nonstop until they reduce this city to rubble and bury us in a sea of fire."

"We must counterattack. Who has a legendary engineering hero or siege weapons? We can't let them keep bombarding us like this."

"This..."

Within the city, the people of the Demon Abyss racked their brains for solutions, but they were helpless.

Legendary heroes weren't as common as cabbages; where could they be found so easily? Among their hundreds of Lords, only three or four legendary heroes could be mustered, and those were battle-oriented Generals, not engineering types. They did have a few pieces of legendary equipment, but in this current situation, deploying them was tantamount to sending them to their doom.

What to do?

"Defend, defend my ass!"

"I told you, just sally forth and crush them, and that's that. You insisted on defending the city."

"Amongst us, we have hundreds of Lords, nearly a thousand heroes, and an army of a million. How much can one person withstand?"

"Charge out. With battle heroes and legendary heroes of physical strength reaching a hundred entangling him, the rest can strike the camp and destroy their siege weapons. Best to kill their engineering hero as well. Let's see how he attacks the city alone!"

"A million-strong army, and a spit each from us could drown them!"

"Attack!!!"

With everyone putting their heads together, they finally arrived at a desperate measure and leapt into action, ready to turn defense into offense.