Despite the extremely ominous magical reaction that suddenly appeared behind the camp, Sylvie couldn't afford to worry about it.

Apart from maintaining a minimal level of surveillance and a hasty warning, she focused all her attention on the demon army several kilometers to the north.

There was something unprecedented there, something she couldn't even classify as dead or alive, its very appearance reeking of evil.

Its size was roughly equivalent to a two-story building, its outline resembling a reptile, similar to a crab or spider, but its limbs and torso were made of dark stone. There was no sense of agility in its movements, each step methodical, completely disregarding the occasional shells falling around it. Even when accompanying demons were blown to dust by the artillery fire, these monsters didn't pause in the slightest, somewhat similar to the machines Roland invented.

But it wasn't a true machine.

Through the thick shell, she could see a mass of wriggling flesh hidden inside, the glow of magic flowing through it, channeling into every part of the shell along thousands of veins.

If she had to describe it, Sylvie could only think of the word "parasite."

A living thing parasitized on stone and metal.

Compared to this crawling monster, those fearsome "siege beasts" seemed less terrifying.

Fortunately, it wasn't indestructible.

The fragmentation shells fired by the First Army could still inflict damage on it, and it didn't even need a direct hit. As long as it landed near the crawler, it could damage its lower limbs, rendering it immobile.

It was a pity that compared to the tens of thousands of demons, their targets were too small – even though Sylvie had been guiding the artillery squad to fire at them ever since these monsters appeared, the shells flying several kilometers simply couldn't hit their mark. By the time the Terrorbeasts broke into the artillery positions and launched their attack, only one of the five crawlers had been wounded and stopped.

As the rear positions descended into chaos, she couldn't help but sweat for the front lines.

The artillerymen probably had no idea how much of a threat they posed to the demons.

In fact, of everyone participating in this battle, only she had witnessed the incredible destructive power of the fortress guns – especially when the demon hordes appeared on the surface, their dense formations turned the battlefield kilometers away into a slaughterhouse.

Whenever a shell landed in the army, it would kick up a column of earth nearly ten meters high, along with a shower of severed limbs. The blown-off stones were enough to pierce the enemy's hides and bone armor, not to mention the scattered shrapnel. The hulking bodies of the Fiends became the best targets in the face of flying arrows, and often after a single bombardment, dozens of demons lay layer upon layer around the crater, their magic-infused blood seeping into the soil like a blooming blue flower.

Just three rounds of salvo fire caused the enemy's formation to falter – and this was with the occasional shell falling off course. Although the demons later dispersed their ranks, the whistling reapers still put them under tremendous pressure, as could be seen from their running speed.

If it weren't for the Terrorbeasts' interference, the enemy might have been completely routed.

Afterwards, the artillery squad managed to restore some of the cannons, but their accuracy and rate of fire were greatly reduced. The demons took this opportunity to advance quickly. By the time multiple magic source reactions appeared behind the positions, the enemy army had approached within two kilometers of the defensive line.

At this moment, the front-line soldiers should be able to see the demons surging from the horizon with their naked eyes.

Sylvie sent a warning signal to Shaw, who was stationed on the front line, according to the pre-arranged plan.

"The enemies have all entered mortar range."

"Understood, I'll notify the command," she quickly replied. "By the way, what's the situation in the rear? Haven't they taken care of those flying demons yet?"

"There's been a bit of... an accident," Sylvie hesitated. "But it should be fine."

"If Andrea was here, she would have ended the battle long ago, right?"

"Um... maybe," in order not to worry Shaw too much, she decided to conceal what she had seen for now. As she spoke, she suddenly noticed that the four crawlers of the demon army had stopped advancing.

They spread out their long legs, and one by one, they crouched down.

What were they trying to do?

Sylvie soon saw the shells on the back of the monsters open to both sides, and a black crystal-like cylinder extended from within – it was about the thickness of a person, its surface covered in mucus, as if it had grown out of flesh. Like the crawler's body, the long pillar was also covered in blood vessels and meridians, expanding and contracting with the flow of magic.

The next moment, the magic vortex within the monster's body spun rapidly and burst into a dazzling light.

In an instant, the black stone pillar was pushed out with tremendous force, soaring over the heads of the many demons, heading straight towards Wangbei Slope, its momentum like a crossbow magnified a hundred times!

And the First Army's mortars also roared at this moment –

More than a hundred shells soared into the sky, drawing a high parabola, and then, under the influence of gravity, fell towards the rampaging demons.

For a moment, the shells and stone pillars crossed paths, as if representing the power grasped by the two races after four hundred years, colliding once again.

"Shaw, raise the shield!" Sylvie shouted with all her might.

As soon as she finished speaking, the thick stone pillar flew to the top of the defensive line.

Then, with a flash of magic light, the entire pillar exploded, the crystals bursting into dense, needle-like shards, mixed with blue blood, shooting towards the soldiers below who were waiting for the enemy.

…

At the same time, the artillery positions were silent.

Agatha and the others took away the artillerymen near the giant beast as quickly as possible. At the same time, the anti-aircraft machine gun squad was fighting with the last few Terrorbeasts. Only a dozen Divine Punishment Witches and a High-Ranked Demon, completely hidden in armor, remained on the field.

The latter coldly scanned the crowd, suddenly looking up to the sky and howling, its voice even drowning out the roar of the machine guns in the distance – anyone could feel the anger contained in this howl.

Then it stretched out its right hand and clenched it straight towards the sky. A ray of light jumped out from the palm of its hand, instantly transforming into a crackling long sword!

Then it raised its sword and slashed fiercely at the fortress gun next to it. Accompanied by a chilling tearing sound, the steel-cast gun barrel was split in two, its broken ends appearing bright red, as if they had been scorched by high temperature.

The Ice Witch couldn't help but hold her breath. That was clearly a weapon made of magic!

However, Zoe remained unmoved. "What, are you dissatisfied with your opponent? You came here with the determination to fight to the death, but you find that you're facing only a group of mortals?" She raised the corners of her mouth, her expression relaxed, with a hint of mockery in her tone, but her eyes seemed to be burning with flames. "Your biggest mistake was running down here yourself. If you had stayed in the sky, you might have been able to survive for a while longer. Now, you can feel what four hundred years of accumulated rage tastes like. As for your little anger, it's not worth mentioning!"

Although they couldn't communicate, their attitudes were clear. The demon roared and threw the magic sword in its hand – the latter, like a dazzling thunderbolt, shot straight at Zoe!

The two Divine Punishment Witches next to Zoe clung tightly to her and simultaneously activated the "Divine Punishment Domain"!

A strange force instantly distorted the space around the witches. The thunderbolt seemed to have crashed into a void. The dazzling light was swallowed by the bottomless darkness and disappeared in an instant!

The High-Ranked Demon couldn't help but freeze in place.

The remaining Divine Punishment Witches raised their large-caliber energy firearms.

A storm of gunfire swept across the entire artillery position in the blink of an eye – the demon's body burst into clusters of blue light barriers, but they quickly dimmed in less than a breath.

And that dark armor failed to help it survive this round of bombardment.

In the hail of bullets, the High-Ranked Demon was like being hit by one iron hammer after another – under the tremendous impact, its body was not much better than a piece of torn cloth that was twisted arbitrarily. When the gunfire subsided, its internal organs and bones had already turned into a pool of mud.