Apocalyptic Forecast - Chapter 22
Chapter 22: Reinforcement
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the test tube in Red Glove’s grasp, there appeared to be a torn limb.
It had metallic skin and crystal-like bones. It was a finger, and there was no doubt that it was part of a holy relic. It did not matter whether it was to be used as the stigma’s seed or the descent’s support, it would be more than enough.
“There’s so much elementium, it should be well adequate for the initial stages of the development?”
Red Glove smiled and suddenly smashed the test tube inside the box.
Instantly, the glass shattered into countless pieces before immediately dissipating into thin air. The contents were clearly not matter. The entire test tube was an archiving tool created by solidifying the dissolving agent of all things, to ensure that its contents would be sealed off completely.
The moment it came in contact with the outside world, the phalanx twitched slightly as if it rejoiced at the prospect of finally tasting the air of freedom.
Instantaneously, all the elementium that had accumulated in the box had disappeared, they had been completely absorbed by it. Then, a sharp scream came from the assembly hall.
Though, rather quickly, faded out into silence.
Droplets of dew-like, crystal elementium appeared, and like rain after a drought, they seeped into the finger’s bone. Immediately, an aura of insanity and malevolence emanated from the phalanx.
Like a tide, it swept in all directions.
It was a storm. A ravenous and evil storm.
It blew wildly, far and wide, shrouding everything in its path. It voraciously leeched on all hearts and minds, pulling in all the elementium it sensed…it covered the entirety of Old Pond Town!
The magnetism at its core, even an Ascender would find it hard to control themselves within that frightening storm.
Red Glove took a few steps backward and heard a cracking sound. It was the sound of his hair being ripped off.
The few strands of hair on his head were as dry as dead grass, and they were yanked by the violent wind and fell to the ground.
He brought his hand up to touch his face, he could feel faint traces of wrinkles.
He seemed to have aged a few decades. At the corner of his eyes, there appeared to have formed deep wrinkles and age spots.
Quickly after that, blood and flesh began to sprout from the cracks of the finger bone. The bone grew in an instant, the remnants of the stigma had been awakened. It instantaneously absorbed the stolen elementium, quickly growing toward its complete form.
The seed was growing.
No, it was more fitting to say it was… Recovering.
It will enter the first phase of its transformation, namely, the White Silver stage. The legendary first metal, the foundation of everything, it was the fertile soil that was completed with the three elements of salt, sulfur, and mercury.
On that basis, the subconscious that exists within the holy relic will be awakened and cast an apathetic glance at the world that had been long unfamiliar to it.
That would be quickly followed by the second stage – Gold. After the characteristics were found, the attributes were achieved, and the elementium was purified, it would form a flame, much like the Sun.
Only that its flames were green, with an icy chill. Every place it passes will seem as if they had been weathered for thousands of years.
Reduced to ashes.
Then came the third stage – Ether. The realm beyond mortals.
Its rotten body would be no more. A blinding beam of light was released, incomprehensible power brewed from within as it gained divine energy, returning to its original state of transcendence, as it struggles with all its might to rid itself from the shackes of the laws of physics.
Just like the scales of a dragon, the feathers of a phoenix, Medusa’s eyes, an angel’s wings, and a devil’s horns.
It will no longer be constrained by logic.
Lastly, there was the fourth and final stage – Star Antimony.
The phalanx had now transformed itself into a long, slender, and pale palm, materializing from thin air. It looked as if it was painstakingly carved by the finest craftsmen, each of its details flawless as can be.
It has completed its Ascension and is now far beyond the ranks of ordinary men, beyond the reach of mortals!
It was just one step away from reaching a legendary state
But at that moment, a roar came from afar. The ground shook and the mountains trembled. Steel rose from the earth, and slowly enclosed Old Pond Town within it.
Complete isolation from the outside world.
The palm’s growth abruptly stopped.
There was no more elementium to sustain its recovery toward its original state.
As if it sensed the darkening sky outside the hall, a regretful sigh sounded from the void.
Red Glove’s expression suddenly changed, and he retrieved a depth-measuring device that resembled a typical pocket watch. He saw the rapidly soaring numbers and in less than a second, the border’s degree had already reached 60%…
This place was being isolated from the interior by the Astronomical Association!
It was almost there.
In the next few seconds, the holy relic would have reached the fifth stage – Philosopher’s Stone and become a true spectacle in the mortal realm! It might even revert to the transcendental stage – Crown, but when that happened, it would not be impossible for it to possess divine powers…
However, at that very moment, it was not easy to cross the abyss between the fourth and the fifth stage.
They were just one step behind!
“That’s impossible…Is this just a coincidence, or have we been detected?”
Red Glove was stunned and whispered somberly to himself. He could not think of any flaws in his plan, or was Wang Hai harboring secrets that he was yet to find?
Not soon after, he heard a strange voice.
Soft whispers carried by the wind.
“I can’t take care of so many things at once. Even if it’s just a palm, it’s far more than I can handle.”
As he said that, the palm pointed behind him as if to ask him to move backward slightly.
In the following moment, it held up two fingers, pointing them toward the ceiling of the assembly hall and waved. Then, there came a sound like rags being violently torn apart by a machine.
A hurricane burst forth.
Wherever it went, all the bricks and stone were instantly turned into ashes, the wooden beams withered and broke as they were swept into the sky by the raging winds.
The palm rose until it was between the heavens and earth, and it slowly clenched itself close.
There was another piercing shriek, and the turbulent world suddenly quieted, as if the deafening cry had singlehandedly put a stop to the transformation process.
The isolation process was abruptly put to a halt.
It seemed like the entire space had been frozen in the hurricane.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar came from afar.
.
“Illegal cross-border activity detected, analysis of soul mark completed, threat level increased-”
In the short amount of time since its appearance, an alert from a space satellite had appeared on Ai Qing’s phone, and had even determined the palm’s origin:
“The Alien belongs to the terrorist group, Green Day – it is the fourth creature of ‘Ten Disasters’: Windstorm, Grade A threat. Disaster warning sent.”
Those who were previously full of shock and opposed Ai Qing’s report were now sighing in relief and wanted to thank her sincerely for her persistent effort.
However, Ai Qing’s expression darkened as she silently flipped her phone open.
She did not receive any news about Huai Shi and the others’ successful evacuation.
“Tsk…”
She frowned anxiously. Shortly after, she decided to matters into her own hands. She looked up and asked, “What are you all waiting for? Are you waiting for him to order his food? Does the Special Affairs Bureau not have a final plan prepared?”
Less than ten seconds after they had received instructions from both the middle-aged person and Ai Qing, yet another roar could be heard from afar.
Thunderous roars one after another, the ground shook.
Three kilometers from the outside of the blockade, on the hillside of the high grounds, smoke and dust continued to build up. The pungent smell of smoke wafted through the air while catastrophic earthquakes tore up the terrain.
A steel giant was emerging from the ground, blinding light shimmering off of it.
With the command of the headquarters, its enormous base unfolded, like it was wedging itself into the earth. The barrel of its canon slowly pointed upward, shifting its aim toward the sky.
Measurement of distance completed.
Calculation of impact point completed.
In the next instant, there was a burst of flames!
Eleven long-awaited howitzers rumbled, projecting its deadly metallic light into the sky. In a moment, it would have enough power to obliterate the church ten times over.
The palm that was at a stalemate with the strength of the blockade seemed to have sensed the sudden incoming attack. It lifted its pinky slightly and waved it to the side.
The hurricane rose suddenly, a faint metallic light glinting from within. The wind roared violently, and there was a sharp burst of noise as countless sparks flashed from within.
The Wind of Steel engulfed the projectiles, obliterating half of them. Then, it waved its pinky again, and the Wind of Steel collapsed inwards, engulfing the remaining projectiles and disintegrating them.
A blazing flame erupted in the sky.
The flash of light illuminated the unscathed palm.
Then, the second round of bombs fell from the sky.
“Very good, keep it up, keep suppressing it with firepower.”
In the command room, the middle-aged person was getting increasingly excited, not the least bit discouraged.
The Windstorm’s palm’s attack had proven a point, that in its current state, it would not be able to endure the bombing directly – otherwise, it would not have wasted its time on defending itself.
The interior was a refuge for ordinary people and the cornerstone of the world. It had the most stringent rules and regulations. Unless it was a humanoid that had reached the rank of ‘predator’, they would most definitely not be capable of defying the laws of physics.
Under the army’s siege, granted there was sufficient firepower, history would tell us that defeating a ‘crowned’ enemy was entirely possible.
“It’s a shame, if only we had missiles…”
Ai Qing let out a defeated sigh, and heard someone yell out, “Reinforcements from the high-tier interior have departed!”
She was stunned. She initially felt comforted at the news of the reinforcements, but could not help but feel an underlying sense of uneasiness as well: The East Xia’s interior guardians who were currently in rotation seemed slightly… unreliable?
When she thought of the rumors that circulated among her colleagues, her heart suddenly sank.
Under the fierce attack of the sixteen howitzers, the palm was constantly counterattacking. However, the palm, whose strength was on par with the strength of the blockade, was gradually depleting with every attack.
It had been suppressed.
Even half of the church had collapsed. Unfortunately, there were traces of survivors to be seen.
This was expected.
The Alien that was most commonly known as the Windstorm Creature was the best at absorbing others’ elementium to be used as fuel by creating an elementium vortex. Now, the church, no, the entirety of Old Pond Town might even be…
In that brief period of time, the atmosphere in the command center had become intolerably tense.
In the past, the direct ‘airdrop’ of reinforcement into the interior through the secret transit would take less than three minutes. However, this time around, they were taking much longer. Only messages from the interior guardian of the incoming reinforcements were being sent through as they reassured the people in the command center.
“We’ve departed!”
“We’re coming, we’re on the way.”
“We’ll be there in a minute!”
Every few minutes, another message would come in. In the beginning, people still had hope. Minutes went by and the morale began to dwindle as discouraged heads dropped one by one with each new message.
Until finally, bad news came from the firing grounds.
The ammunition had been exhausted.
“There’s a little traffic jam, I’ll be right there!”
As the notification of the message came up, the practically unscathed palm suddenly lifted and overpowered the force that isolated the interior. In a swift movement, it curled its five fingers, balling them into a fist. A hurricane gathered and was cast upon the iron fence that enclosed Old Pond Town.
In the blink of an eye.
Smash!
The earth trembled as the two made impact.
From within the howling winds of the hurricane, countless sounds of bombardment could be heard. The invisible wall that was physically enclosing the town shook, the iron fence began to vibrate, its foundation started to shake and cracks appeared.
The blockade was loose.
A similar crack had also appeared on the palm, but it did not seem to care and lifted itself again. Smash!
Bang!
A larger crack had started to form on the iron fence, its metal wailed.
Everyone in the command center paled, but the reinforcements were still nowhere to be found. There was only a breezy message:
“Hold on, I just need to turn a corner and I’ll be right there!”
Bang!
The fist collided again.
This time, the crack on the iron fence widened significantly, a sizable gap had been created.
The Windstorm Creature had broken out!