Chapter 2518: Metal Forest
Steel forest, in the literal sense—this was a forest forged entirely from metal.
Looking out, everything visible—trees, grass, and even the ground—was made of metal. Because the overall color was dark, it appeared gray and hazy from a distance, but upon descending, one could clearly see this metal forest, every part of it exuding a grim metallic sheen.
"What is this place?" Bubble Bean carefully sidestepped a sharp branch protruding from a nearby tree. "That was one of Warren's people just now, right? What exactly are they trying to do? Silence us?"
Xu Huo's expression was grim. "I'm afraid we've been thrown into a relic zone."
"What?" Bubble Bean raised his voice. "Didn't they say the entrance was blocked by outer zone players... So that old bastard didn't have a single truthful word in his mouth!"
The entrance was indeed blocked—they couldn't get out—but that didn't necessarily mean they couldn't get in.
After cursing Warren's entire family, Bubble Bean finally said, "If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have gambled on clearing this instance. I'd be fine just holed up in Mao Guo Town!"
Who could have predicted it? Xu Huo had initially guessed this matter involved the relics of super players, but he never expected it to start with a district defense battle. Warren and his people had already prepared to burn their bridges, willing to pay any price—naturally, they wouldn't bother with moral boundaries at a time like this.
The three of them hadn't stood in place for even half a minute before the sound of metal grinding and colliding echoed from afar. As the noise drew closer, the ground began to tremble. Soon, a ten-meter-tall metal mutant beast crashed through the surrounding metal trees, charging straight toward them. Accompanied by an awkward, discordant roar, they could even see its fully metallic tongue and teeth through its open mouth!
Though it had the appearance of a mutant beast, this thing was essentially a mechanical beast. But it was covered in thick metal armor, so even sharp, knife-like branches and leaves couldn't damage it upon impact. The trees and plants it sent flying in its wake became deadly projectiles flying everywhere!
A torrent of metal fragments sprayed out, striking Xu Huo and the others before the metal beast even reached them. Because there were so many, the barriers of their defense items would barely appear before being pierced by the continuous assault. Worse still, the dense metal forest itself was a trap—everything behind them was equally lethal!
Xu Huo unleashed his spiritual realm, using the spiritual gate to teleport himself, the Painting Woman, and Bubble Bean to another location. But due to the overwhelming density of the metal, they could only move short distances at a time, and only near the ground, so they couldn't shake the pursuing metal beast.
During the escape, Bubble Bean used several restraining items, but most failed to buy them any time against the beast's brute force. However, one sticky item proved extremely useful—once deployed, it spread like glue, coating the surrounding trees and forming a small net between them.
The metal beast lacked judgment and charged straight into it, getting stuck to the trees. The sturdy metal giants finally managed to hold it back. Watching it struggle and roar behind them, an uneasy Bubble Bean tossed a few explosive items at it.
With a series of "bang bang" explosions, smaller trees and plants were blasted everywhere. Some fragments struck the metal beast, but they had no effect, barely leaving faint scratches on its armor.
Although this metal beast was trapped, the commotion it caused attracted three more identical beasts from the surroundings. They charged recklessly, crashing through massive metal trees and hurtling toward Xu Huo and the others!
In a metal forest like this, even moving required caution, let alone fighting these metal beasts. Winning or losing, they would come out at a disadvantage.
Realizing their path was blocked both ahead and behind, Xu Huo tossed Bubble Bean and the Painting Woman out to draw attention while he teleported behind one of the beasts. He struck its back with a single palm!
In an instant, the metal beast and the tree trunk it had clamped in its jaws both turned to powder!
The gray-black molten residue was swept away by the wind, drifting like smoke past Xu Huo as he landed. He straightened his legs slightly and reached out to brush against a nearby metal tree.
This tree, its color distinctly different from the others, did not turn to powder under the effect of "Life Core." It remained intact, just like the forest floor—apparently made of similar metal.
"Don't just stand there! Come help!" Bubble Bean shouted from not far away.
His luck was truly terrible. The metal beast that had been stuck earlier had also broken free. Aside from the one Xu Huo had erased, the other three were all charging straight at him. Everywhere he dodged, the beasts trampled flat. Under their relentless assault, his defenses and attacks seemed pitifully weak. He barely managed to chop off one beast's head, but the remaining two teamed up to shove the massive corpse toward him!
Bubble Bean had no intention of facing that heap of metal—even through a defense barrier, the impact could cause internal injuries. He tried to climb a tree, only to discover halfway up that the trees themselves randomly dropped traps. Leaves and branches rained down like a storm of hidden weapons. Despite pushing upward with all his strength, he couldn't hold on for long before falling, barrier and all.
Below, two metal beasts waited with open mouths!
At such close range, bombs were useless. Xu Huo used his black blade to sever one beast's head and blocked the other with "All Things Want to Cut Everything." Bubble Bean landed and finished off the second beast with a strike to its head. Finally, the last metal beast collapsed.
Breathing heavily, Bubble Bean looked at the massive corpses around him and couldn't help saying, "What kind of monsters are these? Ordinary items are completely useless!"
Xu Huo placed a detector on the metal beast. "Detection result: A-class ultra-hard metal. Suitable for constructing high-risk-resistant residential buildings and commercial structures."
"Metal of this level is only good for building residential buildings?" Bubble Bean felt this was completely different from the A-class metal he had seen before. "If this stuff is only for buildings, what materials do they use for defensive fortifications and district government structures?"
"Only some parts use this A-class metal," Xu Huo replied. "Besides, there's no drive chip inside the metal beast's abdomen—it's likely an item."
Similar to armed robots, such machinery usually had chips as their intelligent core. These metal beasts had none, and their performance exceeded ordinary metal, suggesting they were items fused with other materials, somewhat like the paper items made by Paper Servant Masters.
"Could this really be a relic zone?" Bubble Bean paused, then said, "We haven't ended up in a super player's instance, have we!"
Xu Huo's gaze was cold and heavy. Hard to say. If the super instance in District 001 hadn't completed its handover, then trapping several thousand elite A-class players inside would make perfect sense.
Taking a break tomorrow, no update! ^_^