A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

Huge, fiery red rocks streaked across the sky like meteors, crashing down on the human positions. Each rock exploded upon impact, sending dust and debris flying everywhere; its power was comparable to that of heavy artillery. The soldiers, hiding in foxholes and makeshift artillery bunkers, felt a surge of relief. Thankfully, they had prepared in time; otherwise, such a volley on flat ground would have wiped out seven or eight out of ten men!

Scout Zheng Wang lay prone in a patch of grass behind the orc position. More than a hundred meters away, a series of clumsy catapults were in operation. The orcs brought over huge stones, and then a shaman cast a spell, turning the ordinary stones into bright ones before launching them!

This is the orcs' artillery position! Zheng Wang suddenly felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a mouthful of blood welled up. He forcibly suppressed his nausea and swallowed the blood that had risen into his mouth! He sprayed some medicine to eliminate the smell, but once he spat out blood, the bloody smell would be easily detected by the orcs with their keen sense of smell.

The First Division had limited artillery ammunition reserves and could not blindly suppress the orc catapults with artillery fire. Without artillery, there was no defense! Once the ammunition was exhausted, the front-line defending troops would face the danger of close combat with the orcs. The huge gap in numbers and strength could not be bridged by courage alone!

To conserve ammunition, precise enemy location was crucial. The aerial reconnaissance aircraft were suppressed by the orcish wyvern riders. As for calling for air support, Tianjing City had already redeployed its remaining advanced fighter jets. Moreover, given their status as rebels, they could only send ground reconnaissance teams to guide artillery fire for precise strikes.

Zheng Wang's reconnaissance team was ordered to carry out this mission. On the way, they encountered orcs. Several of his comrades sacrificed themselves to cover Zheng Wang's escape. Zheng Wang was also punched. Although it was not a direct hit, it still caused serious internal injuries. At this time, his internal injuries worsened, and he felt his strength and heat leaving his body little by little. Fortunately, the mission could be completed. While he was still conscious, he transmitted the accurate coordinates back.

Less than a minute later, the whistling sound of a cannonball streaking across the sky rang out, and in Zheng Wang's gradually blurring vision, the orcs' catapult position was engulfed in a sea of ​​fire!

As soon as the orcish artillery fire ceased, the soldiers on the front lines immediately began firing. They discovered that the majority of the enemy were black wolves and shadow panthers, mixed with a small number of gray werewolves and golden-maned lionmen, while the giant green-skinned orcs were even rarer. Before this round of artillery fire, several giant flying lizard-like dragons had flown in; after one was shot down by the concentrated fire, they left and never returned, demonstrating that even these dragons were few in number for the orcs, and they couldn't afford to expend them.

The orcs' tactics seemed somewhat outdated to the humans. They employed a strategy of artillery bombardment followed by infantry charges, and vice versa. The catapults and black wolves were completely incapable of coordinated attacks. Indeed, the catapults had ceased fire for quite some time before the orcs finally began their assault. Of course, in their battles with the humans, the orcs were also learning from their experiences, such as adopting sparse formations to reduce casualties while increasing human ammunition consumption.

……

With the enhancement of the individual exoskeleton system, the assault team's combat power was comparable to that of a high-level Bronze soldier. Over thirty high-level Bronze soldiers facing four Gold soldiers seemed hopeless. However, there was no turning back once the arrow was released; as long as they remained determined, there was still hope. Zhang Xi immediately injected Demon's Tears, feeling the intense pain and pleasure coursing through his body. With the enhancements from his equipment and the drug, his combat power had reached the high-level Silver rank. The other soldiers also pressed the red button without hesitation.

The human aura suddenly surged, startling the four arrogant orcs. Before they could even react, the two sides were locked in combat. From the rear, several more warriors rushed out as support. These were the last men they could muster. They increased their firepower to prevent other orcs from getting close, giving the assault team time and space to focus on the four gold-tier orcs.

The boundary between bronze and silver is the elemental energy field, which cannot be controlled by willpower; its strength is only affected by physique and absolute power. The boundary between gold and silver is the manifestation and control of elemental energy. Reaching the gold rank allows one to channel internal elemental energy to the surface of the body, enhancing attack and defense—a phenomenon similar to battle aura in novels. In fact, later humans did indeed call this manifestation battle aura! Based on the color of battle aura, it's no longer divided into ten ranks (bronze and silver) but into eight ranks. However, there are no records of individuals like Zhang Xi who can create elemental energy blades detached from their bodies.

The four beastmen's aura colors were: two white, Gold Rank 1; one red, Gold Rank 2; and one orange, Gold Rank 3. This was somewhat comforting for Zhang Xi; they were all at the initial Gold Rank, and although their chances of survival were slim, they could still put up a fight!

The assault team of more than 30 people charged towards the four orcs with Zhang Xi as the spearhead. Just before making contact, Zhang Xi activated his acceleration anklet and used the speed difference to pass through the four orcs.

Just as one of the orcs was about to turn around, he was suddenly grabbed by a warrior following behind. The warrior, wearing an exoskeleton system, was nearly as large as the orc. This warrior used a strange posture to lock the orc's joints, likely some kind of joint lock technique from martial arts. The orc's body structure is similar to a human's, and with his joints locked, he had nowhere to exert force and was temporarily unable to move. A follow-up warrior then plunged a blade into the trapped orc's carotid artery. This strike was highly professional and skillful, slicing along the side of the neck muscles, ensuring that even strong neck muscles could not impede the blade!

A flash of white light streaked across the orc's neck, and amplified by his battle aura, the orc's neck force field forcefully stopped the blade. The warriors saw this and understood: since they couldn't harm them, they would restrain them. Everyone followed suit, abandoning the fight and splitting into four groups to try and hold their opponents.

After being enhanced with drugs and equipment, the assault team's combat strength had reached the peak of the Bronze level, just about to touch the edge of Silver. However, even so, in the eyes of the four orcs, they were as weak as three-year-old children. Who would have thought that a moment of carelessness would allow Zhang Xi to break through their defenses, and three of them would even be entangled.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. The remaining orc turned and gave chase, but Zhang Xi had already launched his charge, quickly creating distance. Just as the orc locked onto Zhang Xi and was about to charge again, he was struck by a heavy sniper bullet and staggered!

It was Xu Liang who fired that shot. After hitting his target, he continued firing relentlessly. Although he couldn't cause any damage, he annoyed the orcs. Zhang Xi seized the opportunity and successfully reached the portal. He casually chopped down several orcs, then leaped high into the air and arrived at the portal's node.

This portal is actually a spatial stabilizing elemental energy array set up on a giant spatial rift. If the nodes of this array are destroyed, the portal will revert to being an unstable spatial rift. This drastic change will cause spatial fluctuations. In mild cases, there will be no significant change, but it will certainly be impossible for a large army to pass through, and the orcs will have to spend a considerable amount of time resetting the elemental energy array. In the worst-case scenario, it will cause the spatial rift to collapse—a rift of this scale powerful enough to annihilate the entire Malingshan Mountain in a spatial collapse.

This node was set up very securely, and could not be destroyed unless power above the Gold Rank was used. Zhang Xi certainly did not have the power of the Gold Rank, but he was prepared. He took out a metal tube that looked like a fountain pen. It was the so-called failed laser gun that he had obtained from Gao Longzhi. With a flash of laser light, a gold-level magic crystal fell off the magic circle at the edge of the space gate and was caught by Zhang Xi.

Success! At the same moment, everyone in Chengdu felt a tremendous shock reverberating deep within their souls, and the massive magic array at the edge of the spatial rift collapsed!

Zhang Xi turned around and saw four orcs charging towards him. All thirty-odd assault team members had been killed in just over a second – a clear result of the power disparity. One of the orcs, a Gold Tier 3, had already leaped up and charged at Zhang Xi, his large, blue-glowing blade slashing horizontally. The speed was too fast, and he was in mid-air; Zhang Xi had no time to dodge and could only turn his body as far to one side as possible to minimize the impact.

As the broadsword slashed his right chest, Zhang Xi pressed the trigger again, and a laser beam pierced the orc's skull! The two fell from the sky almost simultaneously.

The spatial rift pulsated once more and then suddenly exploded, the force of which caused the entire Maling Mountain to tremble.

Zhang Xi was hit hard. Although his nano vest was sturdy enough, the huge kinetic energy still put him in a state of serious injury. His consciousness was blurred for a moment, but before he lost consciousness, he still remembered to put the blue battle knife into his space and activate the Invincible Hearthstone!

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