Chapter 488

Chapter 488: Like Waves?

El finally grasped the creature’s original attack strategy.

It was essentially a massive troop transport vehicle. Upon crashing into the city wall, not only would extraordinary beasts surge up its burning body to the ramparts, but a horde of extraordinary beasts would also emerge from within it—truly a beast among beasts.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Just as El was about to swap out parts for these extraordinary beasts and clear the minor threats, he was suddenly struck by a wave of unease.

A troubling question dawned on him—would merely extinguishing the flames truly kill such a burning giant beast?

Or rather, while his actions had resolved the major crisis at the city wall, hadn’t he also inadvertently saved the creature from the fire consuming it?

As if in response to his thoughts, the Willow Man’s head split open, and a grayish-white extraordinary beast crawled out, its eyes brimming with killing intent as they locked onto El.

A single glance was enough for El to realize that this creature was no ordinary foe; it was likely the first to break free from the Willow Man after the crash.

Its eyes turned crimson in an instant, as if beams of light capable of piercing through anything surged toward El.

Big trouble!

El thought, but his body was too drained to react.

If the boy had any gaming experience from another world, his current state of exhaustion would be easily explained—

He was out of energy.

It was that simple. After awakening a new ability and swiftly putting it to the test in combat, his remaining mental strength was only sufficient to deal with some ordinary extraordinary beasts.

And the creature before him was clearly not something that could be defeated with such minor tactics.

El felt the shadow of death closing in, and a pang of regret stirred within him—

He had only been in school for a few months, and now he had dragged this Extinction Legion fighter into peril, his wet clothes adding to his discomfort.

He closed his eyes, but the anticipated death did not come; not even a hint of warmth touched him.

El opened his eyes to find an Energy Shield unfolding before him.

Part of the deadly beam was absorbed, while the rest was deflected in various directions, leaving him completely unharmed.

As the beam dissipated, the Energy Shield transformed into streams of light, flowing to the right.

A fierce wind swept through, and El looked up to see those streams of light gradually merging into an empty sleeve, reforming into an arm.

A man, riding the gusts, descended from the sky and extended his hand to the exhausted El:

“Long time no see, ‘Boss.’

“I’ve been ordered to come and assist, so what’s going on?”

El stood up and pointed to the grayish-white extraordinary beast:

“It looks like the pilot of the Willow Man; have they evolved to this extent?”

“Hmm…”

Luke rubbed his energy arm against his chin:

“I don’t know, but we can try to capture it alive.”

Thick fog suddenly billowed over the city wall, completely enveloping the three people.

The extraordinary beast standing on the lifeless body of the Willow Man watched this scene; the eyes on its head began to split, rapidly multiplying from two to sixty-four, densely covering its entire head.

Since the ray attack was executed through eyes, having more eyes naturally enhanced its power.

With such extensive coverage, what purpose did the thick fog serve in obstructing vision? It merely added to the absurdity.

The extraordinary beast began to gather energy, and roots extended from beneath its feet, embedding themselves into the "brain-dead" yet undecayed Willow Man, siphoning its life force for its own use.

On its head, sixty-four eyes aligned in a tight formation, preparing to unleash a saturating bombardment on the three people atop the city wall.

The massive accumulation of energy caused the air around the extraordinary beast to crackle, making an all-encompassing strike on the city wall inevitable.

In the thick fog, El and Liu Xiaoheng glanced at Luke, their expressions clearly conveying—

You have the higher level of education, so think of something!

Seeing this situation, Luke remained completely composed. If there was any difference between him and El, aside from education, it might be their experiences.

Among his past memories, one stood out as particularly useful at that moment: Luke had been a member of the first team and had once mastered the spaceship’s defense system.

To put it simply, compared to ordinary superpowered individuals, Luke was more adept at using tools.

According to the current division of responsibilities regarding artificial intelligence in Hope City, matters related to the inner and outer city battles fell under the jurisdiction of [Skydome], while those pertaining to the spire (the spaceship) were still managed by Infinite Scroll.

He tapped on his communicator:

“Infinite Scroll.”

“I’m here.”

“I request full power fire from the ship’s cannons, targeting the 14th section of the outer city wall to the east, exact location…”

“Request approved. You are currently within the fire coverage area, please prepare for evacuation. Launch countdown: 5, 4, 3…”

At the center of the inner city, atop the spire.

A metal cannon, over ten meters long and radiating a sense of advanced technology, slowly turned to an angle, its barrel lighting up in segments as it aimed toward a direction six degrees east-north.

On the city wall, Luke noticed the subtle expressions on the two faces:

“Infinite Scroll says we should run.”

“Got it.”

El’s body flickered and appeared several meters away, turning to look back.

The remaining two people bolted toward the inner side of Hope City, one riding a whirlwind and the other jumping down the inner side of the wall, later lifted into the air by a gust of wind, escaping this perilous place.

The countdown from Infinite Scroll continued, devoid of emotion:

“…2, 1, launch.”

As the three raced away with all their strength, the extraordinary beast on the other side continued to gather its ultimate attack.

The memory of battle could not replace experience; in its view, no matter how many tricks and techniques the humans had, there was no possibility of survival under its saturating bombardment.

At that moment, it felt like a balloon about to explode, with energy accumulating until its entire head swelled in preparation for the final release.

Just as the extraordinary beast reached its maximum power and prepared to unleash, it suddenly saw a glowing dot.

The dot appeared on the other side of the thick fog over the city wall and was rapidly growing brighter.

The next moment, a massive beam of light, capable of covering the entire Willow Man’s body, fell from the sky, directly engulfing the extraordinary beast that was gathering energy.

The high temperature seared its skin, roasting its insides, and the surrounding seawater instantly boiled, turning into high-temperature steam that wafted around, making the extraordinary beast feel as if it had entered a steamer.

Its skin quickly vanished, taking its bones along with it, and with nowhere for the energy it had accumulated to escape, a secondary explosion formed inside the extraordinary beast’s head.