Chapter 380: Blackening Makes You Three Times Stronger—Also Applies to Stolen Mecha
"What a magnificent sight!"
Watching the dragon beasts stampede below, Cheng Tian couldn't help but exclaim.
He had seen the movie Jurassic World 2, and the scene of dinosaurs fleeing due to a volcanic eruption, as well as a Brachiosaurus wailing as it disappeared into the lava dust, left a deep impression.
However, after an initial panic, the superpowered dragon beasts below began to display the vast differences between them and ordinary dinosaurs.
Most individuals with purple skin and plum blossom bloodline mutations could fly, so naturally, there was no need to elaborate; those who couldn't fly were quickly swallowed by the rapidly spreading lava.
The dinosaur individuals with green skin and pentagram bloodline mutations basically transformed into spheres during their escape, using Sonic's spin dash to speed along, leaving all others in the dust.
A significant portion of the dinosaurs with red skin and spade bloodline mutations simply embraced the lava, allowing it to cover them. Theoretically, almost all those with a bloodline mutation degree above 70% could be nearly immune to the high temperatures of lava... but their behavior was, to some extent, self-defeating, because being immune to lava doesn't mean they don't need oxygen.
The high temperature wouldn't kill them, but the lava solidifying due to rapid cooling upon contact with air would seal their mouths and noses. Unable to escape the lava's embrace in a short time, they ultimately couldn't avoid the tragic consequence of suffocating to death.
The individuals with blue skin and heart bloodline mutations, and pink skin and diamond bloodline mutations, were the most useless in this escape.
They couldn't accelerate their escape, couldn't resist high temperatures, and couldn't fly... Yet, ironically, they were the most needed in the critical escape phase that followed.
As mentioned before, the rising sea levels caused by the Great Cataclysm had submerged a considerable amount of land. This meant that Java Island, already an island, didn't have much land for dinosaurs to inhabit. As a result, the fleeing dinosaurs were quickly blocked by the sea.
The problem was that the green-skinned ones who ran first had no swimming ability, and their heavy weight meant they could only stare helplessly at the sea. Meanwhile, many of the pink-skinned ones, who possessed swimming ability, were swallowed by lava due to their generally slow speed.
The blue-skinned ones, possessing ice abilities, could theoretically create temporary ice floes to survive, but they faced the same problem as the pink-skinned ones.
Without human threats, they were clearly not as intelligent as the groups in the swamp forest and didn't understand the concept of working together.
The lamentations of dinosaurs began to echo along the coastline, one after another.
"What a pity. If it weren't for already having Little Blue, this would be a good opportunity to acquire subordinates."
Aileen, who could now make wind elements more active after bloodline purification, allowing her to easily lift and glide with Lightning Rhythm for longer periods, said with some regret.
"Taking advantage of the dragon's peril? Not bad ~"
Cheng, who saw absolutely no problem with such an action, responded while his gaze settled on several massive Brachiosaur-type dragon beasts.
Just as Aileen said, in this situation, taking advantage of the dragon's peril to acquire subordinates would result in a very high probability of compliance. Although this would lead to a very low default initial reputation starting point between the two parties, as long as the subordinate could be acquired first, everything else was not a problem. There would be plenty of time and energy later to cater to their preferences and slowly build a good relationship.
It was just a pity that Aileen temporarily had no interest in taming new dinosaur subordinates, while Cheng Tian had a better option... waiting for them to die, then collecting their materials directly for mad scientist modifications!
Cheng Tian wasn't quite sure of the scientific names of these large-bodied dinosaurs. In his eyes, the differences between Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Mamenchisaurus weren't significant, and he wasn't sure which one might be useful in the future, but that didn't stop him from directly collecting their corpses.
The research institute had already been established in the swamp forest, but the effect of the portable research institute could still take effect. As long as these corpses were ownerless, Cheng Tian could recover them by touching them.
This wave of volcanic eruption, whose origin was peculiar, actually greatly helped Cheng Tian. The variety of dragon corpses was so rich that Cheng Tian might even need to filter and abandon some dinosaur materials.
But before that... golden arrows of sanction circled the Helion's fuselage and shot towards the direction of the smoke-billowing volcano, colliding mid-air with a large rock that shot out from the black smoke.
The clearly more miniature arrow easily pierced through the massive rock, simultaneously flying towards the purple metal Pteranodon that also emerged from the black smoke!
At the same time, the other metal dinosaurs from the volcano performed actions that Cheng Tian had imagined superpowered dinosaurs would be capable of.
The red metal Tyrannosaurus Rex, naturally immune to lava and possessing immense strength, simply advanced down the mountain by treading on the lava, its feet leaving two brighter gliding trails on the lava surface.
Not far behind it, a blue metal Allosaurus was opening its mouth wide towards the ground below, its frozen breath instantly solidifying the flowing lava into a lava rock slide suitable for gliding. It descended rapidly at a slightly slower speed than the Tyrannosaurus Rex, with a pink metal Plesiosaurus and a green metal Triceratops following closely behind.
But when Cheng Tian noticed this situation, his gaze unconsciously shifted to the very end of the opposing team—
His own Gates LB Aoko, with its entire roller mechanism fully engaged, was also sliding down with them!
Was it aliens operating it? Or... some kind of unmanned operation!?
Based on a strange intuition, Cheng Tian subconsciously felt that the main body of this metal dinosaur squad might not be the leading red Tyrannosaurus Rex, but rather his stolen Aoko.
Cheng Tian's mind was wandering, but his hands were not slow at all. He instinctively controlled the Helion to cross paths with the purple metal Pteranodon.
And at the moment of crossing, the Helion suddenly transformed, changing from its helicopter form into a combat humanoid mecha!
In this state, the Helion could not fly. Its heavy body immediately performed a baptism of earth's gravity, but in return, it unlocked the high-energy beam cannon release function exclusive to this form!
The forearms of its two humanoid arms bent directly upwards, revealing the already charged muzzles at the elbows. In an instant, along with two Heart Image Crystal wingman drones, four high-energy beams simultaneously blasted towards the purple metal Pteranodon from different directions, forming a deadly trap!
As the most agile but lowest HP individual among the five metal dinosaurs, the purple metal Pteranodon urgently twisted its body, dodging three of Cheng Tian's high-energy beams in a distorted, deformed state impossible for a biological creature, but one of its metal wings was still shot through!
Cheng Tian, proficient in graze shots, was equally skilled at pinpointing the most difficult evasion points for other flying units!
The purple metal Pteranodon crashed!
However, just as Cheng Tian was enduring the strong impact of the fall and rebound, preparing to finish it off with a laser blade at close range, the falling purple metal Pteranodon seemed to be attracted by some powerful magnet, like an iron nail. Disregarding its normal falling trajectory, it began to rapidly return towards the direction where the metal dinosaurs were located—
Then, to Cheng Tian's utter astonishment, it collided with the Gates LB Aoko at the very end of the queue, emitting a very loud "click" sound, as if some interlocking component had successfully connected!