Chapter 498.3. Annihilation Storm

This, this is…

Guo Nu suddenly opened his eyes wide. He finally saw what was releasing the light. It was a stationary shell! As a Class 8 soul engineer, Guo Nu was also very adept at creating all types of soul tools. He could immediately recognize what that shell was.

His voice cracked as he exclaimed, “A Class 9, a Class 9 stationary shell!”

As he exclaimed, he immediately turned and ran away. At this moment, he hated his parents for only giving him a single pair of legs. He ran as fast as he could.

However, at this instant, Guo Nu suddenly felt that everything around him had turned illusory, and became unreal. The entire spatial dimension seemed to have been torn to pieces instantly. This included his Class 8 protective soul barrier and his Invincible Barrier.

Guo Nu was dazed. He only felt that his body and spirit had flown into the air, and were flying higher and higher. Everything around him was unreal. Below him, an unprecedentedly bright light made his distorted reality even more surreal… and then, he didn’t know what happened anymore…

Class 9 stationary shells were known as the most destructive Class 9 soul tools. This was because it was very difficult to construct a Class 9 stationary shell that wasn’t weaker than a Class 9 soul tool. In the process of making it, one didn’t have to worry about whether the shell could handle its explosive nature. As a result, Class 9 stationary shells were the symbols of extremity.

More simply put, the power of a Class 9 stationary shell was equivalent to an all-out attack from an Ultimate Douluo. It could even cover a larger region!

Guo Nu wasn’t weak. He was a Class 8 soul engineer. However, he had no chance against a Class 9 shell from such a short distance away, no chance at all.

Annihilation Storm!

Even Huo Yuhao didn’t know the true strength of this stationary shell. He had absconded with the shell before Nangong Wan could warn him.

Right now, this shell that the Holy Ghost Church had used a lot of effort to obtain in the past fully unleashed its strength.

The first step was only a terrifying explosion followed by an extreme surge in temperature and heavy pressure. During the explosion, thin bearings were released from the shell. Each of these bearings was only the size of a fingernail. They scattered very quickly during the explosion. They penetrated almost anything, but they would stick to metal the moment they touched it.

They were called Metal Bombs, and were Class 3 soul tools. However, they were also stationary soul tools, and could only be used once.

Metal Bombs were also known for destroying soul tools. They were made from special and rare metals called Golden Fusion Crystals. These rare metals could fuse with most other metals. Soul engineers used a special point about this rare metal to carve high-explosive core formations on the crystals.

Once these crystals touched other metals and fused, the high-explosive core formations in them would come into effect. Because the crystals were already inside metal, the explosion would occur inside the metal. As a result, the metal would be turned into smithereens during the explosion and scattered, thereby causing even more damage.

These secondary explosions were the reason why this Class 9 shell was called Annihilation Storm.

When creating this Annihilation Storm, one thousand and eighty Metal Bombs had to be created, before being placed inside the Annihilation Storm. After that, Golden Fusion Crystals had to be used, while creating a protective layer to prevent the Metal Bombs from touching any other metals. The protective layer was a vacuum that contained spatial power. This could only be done using some very complex core formations. A strong defensive core formation was then placed on the surface, while all types of explosive core formations were installed inside, along with some complex core formations to support them. The result was this Annihilation Storm.

Once it blew apart, the explosive strength that it unleashed was like an ordinary Class 9 high-explosive stationary shell. After that, the Metal Bombs inside would be scattered in a region spanning a kilometer across. These Metal Bombs would generate a second explosion when they touched any other metals.

As a result, this Annihilation Storm was much stronger when there were a lot of metals around. However, its true explosive strength was still weaker than the stationary shells that the Sun Moon Empire had used to bomb the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

Although Huo Yuhao didn’t know the true strength of this Annihilation Storm, he knew that it had something to do with metals. This time, his target was the soul formation. Moreover, there was no better choice for him, so he unleashed the Annihilation Storm here.

Even Huo Yuhao didn’t expect he’d make such a correct choice.

Under the terrifying explosion, the entire soul formation became like a high-temperature, high-pressure ocean. Almost the entire soul formation suffered from the shockwaves as tremendous booms resonated through the air.

It was a Class 9 stationary shell. It was so terrifying that anyone would shudder just looking at it.

The right thing that Guo Nu did before he died was to command his men to unleash their linked defensive formation. The soul formation of the Second Soul Engineer Legion was engulfed by that linked defensive formation immediately.

When this defensive formation was used too suddenly, it first needed Milk Bottles to provide soul power. If it lasted too long, soul masters needed to pour their own soul power in.

As a result, the explosion of the Annihilation Storm was like an explosion within the linked defensive formation. The protective strength of this linked defensive formation was quite impressive. Even though it instantly came under enormous pressure and was slowly breaking down, it still managed to resist the Annihilation Storm at its peak strength.

However, there was still a flaw in this. Because the explosive strength of the Annihilation Storm couldn’t spread out, it naturally took effect on everything within the formation.

Almost all the soul engineers were killed instantly. These soul engineers averaged three rings. How could they possibly resist the strength of the Annihilation Storm? The Metal Bombs that flew out landed inside the formation as they were blocked by the formation itself.

However, there were soul tools everywhere inside the soul formation! What were soul tools made from? Metal!

Metal Bombs were very complementary to metals. This meant that they became even more explosive as a result of this. Only a few rare metals couldn’t be destroyed by these Metal Bombs.

However, the soul tools used by the Second Soul Engineer Legion weren’t the best in the Sun Moon Empire. How could they possibly be made from the rarest metals?

Suddenly, the Metal Bombs that were deflected found their carriers.

In the next moment, a second round of explosions occurred.

The linked defensive formation collapsed. Broken pieces of metal were flung everywhere.

Linked defensive formations were supposed to be stronger, but they were mainly used to block external attacks. Since when were they used to contain attacks? It wasn’t easy for this linked defensive formation to contain the first explosion. However, as all the soul tools were destroyed, the linked defensive formation also collapsed. It had no chance against the second round of explosions.

The nearby tents were immediately torn to pieces. The broken pieces of metal were flung more than a thousand meters away. Within this region, almost no soldier survived. The explosion and flying metal shrapnel opened a huge gap in the Sun Moon Empire’s base in just a couple seconds.

The explosions were so tremendous that the entire base was alerted!

————

At the core region where the evil soul masters were stationed, all the evil soul masters rushed out of their tents, and only saw surging lights in the distance.

Suddenly, deafening alarms rang out across the entire base. Linked defensive formations in the various soul formations were unleashed. These linked defensive formations appeared extremely bright at night.

Zhongli Wu also walked out from his tent. Seeing the bright lights in the distance, he was also astonished.

“What’s going on? Where is that place?” Zhongli Wu shouted.

Evil soul masters were very united. Many evil soul masters immediately gathered towards Zhongli Wu. Huo Yuhao estimated that there were around forty soul masters here. Apart from the Titled Douluo, the rest were all at least Soul Emperors.

Tang Ya naturally walked out from her tent. She looked as indifferent as ever, not much different from before. The Scorpion Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng was beside her. He looked on in shock, very grim.

Zhongli Wu was very calm, and said, “An enemy attack! Everyone, be prepared to defend! Don’t separate from the group without my orders.”

Screams rang out in the distance. The sky above Heavenly Spirit City brightened, and countless soul masters, emanating light from their bodies, shone brightly on the horizon.

This was…