The last meal before the attack began in a clearing amid the ruins.
Cold winds howled. Several steam lanterns flickered in the night, illuminating everyone's tired and tense faces.
Metal plates held rough chunks of meat and grain porridge, but few could really stomach it.
Elves, dwarves, tauren, other beastkin, and even humans all seemed somewhat silent.
The atmosphere was heavily oppressive.
They understood that this might be the last full meal of their lives.
Tomorrow would be a battle for survival with slim chances of living.
Most of them had a high probability of dying inside, torn to shreds by those hideous bugs, or becoming nutrients in the green pools.
Excitement and fear intertwined in everyone's heart, swallowed down with the food.
Only Erica was an exception in the queue.
This centaur maiden was completely unaffected by the atmosphere. Gnawing on a huge piece of roast meat and guzzling cheap ale, she ate with more relish and drank more joyfully than anyone.
After eating her fill, she sprawled out amidst a pile of fur blankets with an enviable carefree attitude, snoring loudly.
Her tall, fit body lay across the blankets. Her full breasts, bound by leather straps, rose and fell gently with her breath, appearing completely devoid of fear for what would happen tomorrow.
Jerry looked at her and smiled slightly.
He took off his robe and gently covered Erica's abdomen and chest, shielding that enticing spring scenery.
Only then did he turn and walk toward the campfire.
Onyxia, the once-arrogant black dragon, was now sitting casually by the fire, relishing a piece of roast meat as thick as an adult's arm.
Firelight reflected on her face, clearly showing that her stunning features had gained more and deeper traces of insectoid corruption—several dark green chitinous plates on her originally shiny black dragon scales, faint glimmers of compound eyes at the corners of her eyes, and even purple-blue vein-like networks pulsing under her fair skin.
But the dragon race's powerful self-healing ability was extraordinary.
Although the insectoid corruption on her body was more severe, the injuries Jerry inflicted on her during the day had completely healed.
Jerry sat down beside her, fished out a few pieces of exquisite dried meat from his bosom, tore off a small piece, tossed it into his mouth, and chewed a few times.
"Tell me more about the Zerg."
Jerry got straight to the point, his voice exceptionally clear in the night silence. "Especially about that battle between the Five Chromatic Dragons and the Hive."
Onyxia seemed to have anticipated his question.
She didn't hesitate at all and spoke directly, her voice carrying the unique low, magnetic quality of dragons, as if narrating an ancient and tragic epic.
"That was the beginning of a disaster."
She chewed the roast meat, the light of memory surfacing in her pupils. "About a few hundred years ago, the Silent Plains were still a fertile paradise. Human fortresses, orc camps, and even our dragon trade routes crisscrossed it. Until that day... a huge fire meteor appeared in the sky."
"It crashed in the center of the Silent Plains. A massive crater became the starting point of all nightmares.
Then, the Zerg surged from underground like a flood, beginning to devour everything.
At first, we dragons didn't pay much attention.
Dragon Island hangs alone overseas, protected by a natural ocean barrier. We thought this was just a trouble occurring on the outer continent, unrelated to us."
"But, less than ten years later, bugs arrived at Dragon Island by swimming."
Onyxia's tone carried an indelible shock that penetrated to the bone marrow. "Those ugly creatures actually crossed the endless ocean. They... they dove from the deep sea, dug a big hole in the seabed, and tried to infiltrate the interior of Dragon Island."
This finally enraged the leaders of the Five Chromatic Dragons.
The Silent Plains, in their view, were more like their back garden, private territory where they occasionally went ashore to hunt and patrol.
Now, someone was setting fire to their back garden and even wanted to burn into their bedroom. This was undoubtedly an intolerable affront to the supreme dignity of the dragon race.
"The whole race mobilized."
Onyxia's voice carried a low roar due to anger: "All adult dragons, and even those hatchlings that had just broken their shells, joined the battle. It was a massive war, a war of... eggs hitting stones."
Her voice became low.
"The result... you've seen it too. We... failed." Onyxia slowly gnawed the roast meat in her hand, as if savoring that tragic ending: "The Queen was heavily injured and fell into a slumber. This was exchanged for a painful price paid by us Five Chromatic Dragons.
But the swarm didn't sleep with her. Instead, they continued to attack relying on instinct.
We survivors who weren't injured so heavily were teleported out by those powerful dragons with spells at the last moment before their deaths."
"What happened afterwards is... what you see, and what I experienced."
Onyxia reached out, pointing to the increasingly heavy insectoid traces on her body, a faint mockery in her tone: "We survived, but paid a huge price.
No companions could save us, nor could anyone resist the Zerg corruption.
In the end, those survivors who escaped by luck were either killed by their own kin or other surviving companions after the corruption reached its limit and they became hideous, or chose to end their own lives to maintain the final dignity of the dragon race."
"The Black Dragonflight, known for thick skin and tough flesh, is the most durable among the Five Chromatic Dragons."
Onyxia pointed to her skin with plates and the mutations on her body like steam pipes, her tone calm but carrying a helplessness and coldness of seeing through life: "Although not proficient in fire magic like Red Dragons, nor possessing powerful arcane abilities like Blue Dragons, nor having healing power like Green Dragons.
But relying solely on this, I held out until the end."
Onyxia sighed softly here.
"However, my body's insectoid corruption has also reached its peak.
I can feel my consciousness slowly merging with the Zerg will.
I estimate that in another dozen years or so, I won't be able to hold on anymore. I'll either become a slave to the Zerg or completely collapse.
So, my time... is running out too."
Jerry listened quietly without interrupting.
"Which direction is Dragon Island?" Jerry suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.
Onyxia's chewing motion paused noticeably. The meat chunk in her hand dropped and rolled into the fire. She looked up, that golden dragon pupil staring straight at Jerry, her gaze complex.
"You want to go to Dragon Island?"
She didn't answer directly but asked back, wariness in her voice.
Jerry just looked at her and shook his head, saying, "I heard dragons return to the Dragon Graveyard on Dragon Island before they die."
Hearing this, Onyxia stood up immediately. Her height of over two meters seemed even taller in the firelight.
Holding another piece of roast meat, she pointed continuously in directions around the empty ruins, turning a full circle, but finally shook her dragon head and sighed softly.
"I... I can't remember clearly."
Onyxia's voice carried a trace of confusion and regret. "It's really not that I'm unwilling to tell you. If you're willing to go, I'd be happy to let you.
At least, you could help take my corpse there and bury it. The corruption made me lose a lot of memories, especially those ancient ones.
Dragon Island... to me, is like an illusory dream."
As Onyxia spoke, a trace of chaos flashed in her eyes. She seemed to be really trying hard to recall but gained nothing.
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, Onyxia pointed at Jerry with her free hand, wariness resurfacing in her eyes.
"You... wait, you don't want to rob graves, do you?"
Onyxia's tone carried a trace of incredulous anger.
Jerry chuckled, as if hearing an amusing joke.
He reached into his bosom, pulled out a diamond the size of a fist, and tossed it casually.
The diamond drew a perfect arc in the air. Under the illumination of the firelight, it reflected dazzling brilliance, like a small star.
However, Onyxia had no reaction.
She didn't even glance at the diamond, letting it roll onto the ground.
Onyxia just continued gnawing on the roast meat in her hand continuously. A trace of disdain even flashed in her golden vertical pupils.
"These things have no meaning to me."
Onyxia finally spoke, fatigue in her voice: "Instead of robbing dead wealth, better to look at living treasures."
The fire crackled, bursting sparks fleeting in the cold night wind.
Onyxia's deep gaze passed through the dancing flames, cast toward the distant, dead darkness occupied by the Zerg.
Jerry said nothing. He just bent down and picked up the huge diamond abandoned by Onyxia like a worn shoe from the cold ground.
The diamond felt cold and heavy in his hand. Firelight flowed and refracted on its countless perfect facets, emitting brilliant and intoxicating light.
Any mortal would go crazy seeing it.
Jerry held it in his palm; his small hand made the diamond appear even larger.
He rubbed the diamond's cold edges, as if appreciating a rare piece of art, but the corner of his mouth hooked into an imperceptible arc of faint mockery.
Jerry lowered his head, muttering to himself in a voice so low only he could hear:
"Although the Five Chromatic Dragons are darlings of the elements, their bloodline also carries an eternal curse... that is greed..."
Jerry's voice was extremely soft, almost drowned by the wind and the cracking of firewood, but Onyxia heard it clearly.
Her pair of golden vertical pupils constricted abruptly, her sharp gaze shooting at Jerry like a knife.
"What are you muttering there?"
Jerry looked up, his face returning to that harmless, innocent boyish expression.
He shrugged casually, as if the whisper just now was meaningless sleep talk.
Jerry didn't look at Onyxia again. He just casually stuffed that invaluable huge diamond into his pocket with a clunk, like stuffing an ordinary stone.
Having done all this, Jerry clapped the dust off his hands and turned to leave decisively.
"Find a place to sleep!"
Jerry's lazy voice came from ahead. With his back to Onyxia, he waved his hand. "There's work to do tomorrow!"
His figure soon merged into the darkness at the edge of the camp, leaving Onyxia alone, sitting blankly by the fire.
"Sleep my ass!"
Jerry muttered, but didn't return to the bedroom on the train at all. Instead, he nestled on the cold metal bunk in the command room.
The night was deep, but he wasn't sleepy at all. His eyes flickered with suspicion and uncertainty.
A dragon that doesn't love shiny things. This thought was like a thorn stuck in Jerry's logical framework, making him feel an unprecedented unease, a sense of disorder inexplicable by existing knowledge.
What dragon doesn't love shiny gold things?
Jerry asked himself again inwardly. This didn't conform to the nature of any creature he knew, nor did it fit the greedy instinct deep in the dragon bloodline.
This was unusual, even making him feel a vague fear—an instinctive wariness toward the "unknown" beyond comprehension.
Jerry subconsciously reached into his robe pocket, rubbing the diamond he had casually put away, but felt another familiar object.
It was a vibrating egg used before, its smooth shell covered in various runes.
In the night, a glint flashed in Jerry's eyes. On his cold face, a trace of malicious inquiry suddenly appeared.
"Then let us use action to experiment."
"Synthesize!"
A sleepless night.
When the first glimmer of dawn broke through the horizon, the slumbering train emitted a deafening roar.
The huge steam engine began to roar, pistons pumping rhythmically. Thick white steam spewed from the chimney, like a giant beast waking up.
Rumble... Rumble...
The massive locomotive began to advance, rushing toward the distant dark purple creep land with unstoppable momentum.
The mechanical arms under the locomotive moved quickly, continuously laying tracks while carrying the train over them.
However, when it truly touched that creep, the train's speed dropped immediately.
These creep blankets, looking soft from afar, proved exceptionally tough upon close contact.
Carpets woven from complex biological fibers stuck the tracks firmly to their surface, preventing them from penetrating.
The train could only rely on its massive weight to "stab" in vividly, like a clumsy giant beast forcibly rushing into a soft mire.
The crushed creep made strange creak... creak sounds. Every inch of pressed surface would squirm and rebound, or struggle like a living thing.
The train traveled on it, swaying left and right, extremely unstable. This scene lasted for about a hundred meters, but a sneer curled the corner of Kelia's mouth.
"Activate heating system, full power output!" Kelia ordered coldly in the command room.
Immediately, the large-caliber nozzle at the very front of the locomotive opened abruptly. Like a hellish furnace, it spewed blazing flames reaching thousands of degrees.
The scorching tongues of fire instantly swallowed the creep ahead. Those seemingly tough biological tissues melted and charred rapidly like wax before the high temperature.
Sizzle...
The sound of burning creep was like thousands of venomous snakes hissing.
A heavy biological stench, burnt and cloying, spread rapidly, sickening the drivers of the small trains following behind.
Wherever the flames passed, the creep was quickly cleared, revealing the soil polluted black underneath.
New tracks were immediately laid on this hardened scorched earth, allowing the train to speed up and break through this weird biological barrier.
However, the Zerg reaction was not slow either.
Those worker bugs busy carrying corpses by the distant green pools, like sharks smelling blood, quickly dropped their "cargo" and let out piercing screeches.
They gathered densely from all directions, their numbers like a black tide, wanting to stop this steel beast charging at their "heart."
Just then, the fully armed locomotive finally played its true role for the first time.
Under the metal armor plates on both sides of the locomotive, dozens of rotating gun barrels suddenly popped out. Large-caliber autocannons and high-pressure steam guns emitted earth-shaking roars.
Tongues of fire were like dragon roars. A rain of steel poured out, sweeping down the bugs pouncing up like harvesting wheat.
Thick green bug blood and broken shells splashed everywhere, instantly dyeing the creep ahead red.
Simultaneously, a huge figure catapulted from above the Iron Fortress like a cannonball, shooting straight into the sky.
It was the Black Dragon Onyxia!
Her huge body unfolded in the air. Wings bearing traces of insectoid corruption flapped, creating a low wind noise.
Onyxia didn't rush toward the bug swarm under the autocannon fire but flew straight to the high sky in front of the train, opening her maw.
"Roar!"
Scorching dragon fire spewed from the depths of her throat, pouring down like a golden waterfall, instantly swallowing the entire patch of creep in front of the train and the countless struggling bugs on it, opening a path of destruction for the train.
With dragon fire and artillery clearing the way, the huge steam train was like an icebreaker, forcibly rushing out a channel made of scorched earth and wreckage in the ocean of purple creep.
However, as the train traveled deeper into this forbidden zone, the situation became increasingly grim.
The number of bugs didn't decrease but grew geometrically.
From all directions, endless bugs surged from every corner of the horizon like a black tide. Fearless of death, they climbed and crashed, trying to use their flesh and blood to block the steps of this steel beast.
Even though the steam cannons on the locomotive poured out a rain of bullets ceaselessly, they could only barely maintain a fragile balance.
Meanwhile, several huge black shadows gradually appeared on the distant horizon.
They were like twisted and weird peaks growing out of nowhere on this land. Their bodies presented a mix of bone white and dark red, surfaces covered with constantly wriggling giant tumors and bottomless holes, like living, breathing biological fortresses.
Boom!
Onyxia's massive body landed heavily on the speeding locomotive with a gust of wind.
She folded her wings and transformed into that human female form, bare feet stepping steadily on the scorching metal deck.
The wind blew her raven hair, revealing that face both glamorous and bearing hideous insectoid traces.
Jerry also climbed up from the command room below, standing beside her, the cold wind flapping his robes loudly.
The two stood side by side, looking at those terrifying giants gradually becoming clear in the distance.
Onyxia raised her arm, slender finger pointing to the most massive and majestic one among those shadows.
"That is where the Hive is." Onyxia's voice sounded a bit hoarse amidst the roar of artillery fire: "Only, when we dragons attacked back then, there was only one here. Didn't expect... after a few hundred years, they have proliferated to this extent."
Onyxia paused, a complex look flashing in her golden vertical pupils—a mix of hatred, fear, and a trace of... nostalgia.
"But, the biggest one, undoubtedly, is where the Queen sleeps!"
Onyxia said with certainty, "Don't be fooled by it just being a nest. Its internal volume is astonishingly large, like a huge maze made of flesh and bone, extending in all directions, bottomless. Back then, hundreds of us dragons flew into it without feeling crowded at all.
And..."
Onyxia took a deep breath, seeming to recall some extremely terrifying memory.
"The swarm inside is truly endless.
The most terrible thing is that some massive monsters with body sizes of over ten meters, or even dozens of meters, reside there. They are the Hive's elite guards, terrifyingly strong in power and defense, capable of engaging in bloody frontal combat with adult giant dragons."
Jerry just listened quietly, no expression on his face. He simply shrugged casually, as if Onyxia's description, enough to make any army despair, was just precautions before an outing to him.
Just then, a violent explosion suddenly came from their rear!
BOOM!
That sound even drowned out the artillery roar of the locomotive.
Jerry and Onyxia turned back sharply. Not far behind them, that team of steam trains pieced together from various fortresses had fallen into complete chaos.
A small train running at the front, whether tripped by the creep or having its boiler destroyed by bugs burrowing from underground, was completely paralyzed on the tracks. Like a fragile tin can, it was instantly submerged by the tide-like bug swarm.
And this pause was fatal.
Other steam trains following closely behind couldn't brake in time. Amidst panicked screams, they crashed headlong into their companions in front.
A chain reaction occurred instantly. One after another, speeding steam trains rear-ended, crashed, and overturned like dominoes!
Violent explosions rang out one after another. Orange fireballs rose into the sky, dyeing half the sky red.
Their retreat was completely cut off.
Jerry just turned his head indifferently, glancing at that sea of fire turning into a living hell.
Jerry's eyes held not a shred of pity or hesitation.
"There's no way to save them now."
He said lightly, his tone as calm as discussing the weather. "They can only pray for themselves."
In the distance, the mountain-like hives became clearer, their huge shadows obscuring the sky, emitting a suffocating biological stench.
Just as the locomotive was about to crash into the gap between two of the giant hives, the earth trembled again. A massive black shadow rose from the ground—a Giant Beast Bug over ten meters tall.
Its body was solid and heavy as an ox, with two sharp mandibles on its neck clicking in the air, churning the atmosphere.
Its target was clear: this steel-cast locomotive.
Jerry stood atop the driver's cab, eyes calm.
He slowly raised a hand, a dark red orb of light condensing in his palm. It didn't shine blindingly, but emitted a restrained power that slightly distorted space.
The moment before the Giant Beast Bug hit the locomotive, he simply pushed gently.
The orb sank silently into the bug's body.
No explosion, no roar. The Giant Beast Bug's hard carapace just paused in the air.
Then, a tiny crack extended from its head to its tail.
The crack widened, and the bug's massive body split cleanly and smoothly in half down the middle. Churning flesh and tissue were visible at the break, and foul-smelling blood poured down like a waterfall onto the creep in front of the locomotive, sizzling corrosively.
However, this was just the beginning.
Low growls came from the distance, followed by more Giant Beast Bugs emerging from the surging swarm.
They varied in size but were invariably massive and hideous, carrying the brute force to crash through everything.
Onyxia had already soared into the air again. Her huge body tumbled in the sky; every flap of her insectoid wings generated a gale strong enough to overturn a steam train.
Onyxia wasted no time tangling. She dove straight down, dragon claws sweeping. A Giant Beast Bug's carapace shattered in response, its viscera and blood splashing onto the ground like paste.
Immediately after, Onyxia opened her maw wide, pouring out a golden torrent of fire again, incinerating several charging Giant Beast Bugs to ashes.
Jerry stood on the locomotive like a symphony conductor, hands waving gently.
His spells seemed casual but were precise and deadly.
Orbs of light, ice spikes, wind blades—silent yet powerful. Every fall accurately shattered a bug's carapace or severed its limbs.
Under Jerry's protection, not a single Giant Beast Bug could touch the armor at the front of the locomotive.
But no matter how powerful they were, they couldn't cover everything.
Occasionally, a few Giant Beast Bugs bypassed their defense and slammed violently into the cargo carriages at the rear of the train.
Under their sharp mandibles, the hard metal shell became like paper.
With just one collision, a huge hole was torn in a carriage, revealing the terrified steam-armed warriors and engineers inside.
These warriors didn't even have time to raise their weapons before being hit by debris or huge carapace fragments sent flying by the bugs. Their screams couldn't even be heard over the wind.
Their bodies shattered, thrown out of the carriages like dolls into the swarm.
In the command room, Kelia gritted her teeth seeing the two rear carriages completely destroyed.
Following the emergency plan designed for the train, while moving at high speed, she decisively pressed the red button.
Creak... screech...
With the ear-piercing sound of metal breaking, the thick locking pins connecting the locomotive to the rear cargo carriages were torn off by mechanical arms.
The disconnected cargo carriages were cast off like burdens. After sliding randomly on the tracks for a while, they were swallowed by more Giant Beast Bugs.
This action further accelerated the locomotive, sending it shooting forward like an arrow from a bow.
But it also took away most of the train's combat power.
The originally few armed warriors and engineers were now reduced to a few scattered individuals in the driver's cab and a few important function carriages.
But the target hive was getting closer.
After another ten minutes or so of high-speed impact and slaughter.
Finally, this steel beast, covered in smoke and damage, crashed headlong into the gap between two huge hives.
In the gap between hives, the light was dim, the air filled with the thick smell of decay and bio-matter.
Inside the hive, new threats appeared.
Some flying giant insects, shaped like huge wasps, swarmed out from holes above the hive.
Emitting low buzzing sounds and a foul stench, they charged at the uninvited guests.
But they were no match for the Black Dragon Onyxia.
Onyxia let out a dragon roar. Her huge wings whipped up a hurricane strong enough to shred steel; these giant wasps appeared incredibly fragile before her.
She didn't even need to attack deliberately; just one wave could smash the oncoming wasps to pieces, turning them into a mist of blood in the air, falling like sporadic red rain on the ground ahead.
And it was even more impossible for them to approach the locomotive.
Jerry stood atop the driver's cab, transformed into a firepower turret.
His palms waved gently, seemingly without effort, yet with every wave, several fist-sized arcane orbs or ice crystal blades would whistle out, silently cutting through the darkness, accurately hitting every flying insect attempting to approach.
Those spells that didn't look powerful were like precise scalpels, tearing every invader apart from the middle.
Not a single flying insect could dodge. They didn't even have a chance to resist before instantly becoming wreckage and flesh, falling to the ground and turning into a pool of thick blood plasma.
Seeing that the main hive Onyxia pointed out was less than a few hundred meters away, victory seemed within reach.
Just as the locomotive was sprinting toward the target with a do-or-die momentum, a deafening sound of metal shattering suddenly came from beneath it!
BOOM!
Accompanied by violent vibrations, the behemoth that exhausted years of time and countless efforts of the Iron Fortress actually lifted off the ground instantly!
As if it had hit some huge spring pedal, without any assistance, it flew straight backward into the sky, losing control and tumbling wildly in the air.
Jerry sensed something wrong immediately.
Legs exerting force, he rushed into the carriage in an instant.
Inside, the few remaining steam warriors and engineers screamed in despair, trying to grab something, but it was too late. Jerry didn't hesitate. Like grabbing chicks, he grabbed Erica with one hand and scooped up Kelia with the other. In an instant, he forcibly tore open the connection, leaping out of the train about to be swallowed by flames with the two of them.
The next second, a Digger Bug, larger than seen before, suddenly popped its head out of the huge hole beneath the train.
Its body was as huge as a locomotive, covered in charred hard carapace. Most lethally, its huge mouthparts were spewing blazing red flames.
Like a magma waterfall, the flames instantly enveloped the entire tumbling locomotive rushing toward the sky.
"Roar!"
This time, the sound from the Digger Bug's mouth was no longer the piercing screech of the Zerg, but a roar carrying a trace of savagery and ancient aura!
This roar shook the sky, even making Onyxia tremble.
This was actually a Dragonborn too!
But not the blue Dragonborn that once possessed extremely high magic resistance; this was a pure, irritable one that burned everything—a Red Dragonborn!
Under the shroud of red flames, the steam warriors and engineers who didn't escape the carriage in time were instantly ignited before they could even scream.
Their bodies carbonized rapidly in the Red Dragon fire, turning into charred shells, then annihilated into nothingness.
Although most of the Red Dragon Digger Bug's body was still buried deep underground, its entire head was exposed.
Even while facing the direction of the burning locomotive, its crimson compound eyes had locked dead onto Jerry in mid-air, holding Erica and Kelia.
Its massive body seemed to be gathering strength, preparing to twist and incinerate the three of them with flames.
However, the Black Dragon Onyxia was clearly faster.
As if sensing the call and contempt from the dragon bloodline, or perhaps unable to accept that this ugly bug also possessed the noble Dragonborn identity, Onyxia's golden pupils instantly became bloodshot.
"Vile beast!" Onyxia let out a furious dragon roar, the sound vibrating the Red Dragon Digger Bug's consciousness directly on a spiritual level.
The Black Dragon's figure dove suddenly from the sky like a huge meteorite, crashing heavily onto the side of the Red Dragon Digger Bug's massive head!
Crunch!
Onyxia's pitch-black maw, without any fancy moves, bit fiercely onto the Digger Bug's neck.
Dragon teeth sharp as steel knives, chewing now like gum, effortlessly tore open the Digger Bug's hard carapace and muscles, even snapping its bones!
Thick insect blood smelling of sulfur sprayed out instantly, dyeing most of her lower jaw red.
The Red Dragon Digger Bug let out a wail full of pain and anger; its flame breath stopped instantly.
Its huge body twisted but was firmly pinned by Onyxia, unable to move.
Screech!
An unprecedented screech filled with intense pain and anger crazily came from the depths of the entire hive, from all directions instantly.
The sound seemed to possess magic penetrating matter; even on this chaotic battlefield, it entered every creature's mind clearly.
Jerry had no reaction; his cold face showed no wavering.
He merely frowned, as if the screech were just an annoying noise.
But Erica and Kelia, held by him, instantly showed expressions of pain.
Erica's fit body trembled violently; she hugged Jerry's arm tightly, lips losing color from the sudden intense pain.
Kelia let out a suppressed groan, curling up, the feathers on her back trembling constantly, head splitting with pain.
However, this screech came fast and went fast.
In just a few breaths, as if forcibly cut off by some stronger power, or perhaps simply because the body emitting the screech had been completely severed.
The screech vanished without a trace instantly; the surroundings fell into the ear-piercing sounds of battle and burning again.
But the locomotive wrapped in flames was now violently deforming in the fire.
Huge molten metal and burning parts melted and dripped along its body like burning chocolate, making terrifying sizzle sizzle sounds, as if this creation carrying humanity's hope was heading toward its final demise.
Jerry landed gently on the creep-covered ground holding Erica and Kelia.
This ground was covered by creep of mixed colors: dark purple seen before, charred black after artillery fire, weird bright red, and dark green with a hint of life.
The moment they landed, the mycelia of various colors under their feet, sensing the breath of the living, immediately wriggled like living things from all directions. With a trace of exploration and aggression, they tried to wrap around Jerry's body.
However, before approaching Jerry's body even a fraction, as if touching invisible blades, with a sizzle, they were instantly cut to pieces, turning into particles invisible to the naked eye.
As if stimulated by something powerful, the mycelia wanting to wrap around retreated rapidly like a tide in an instant, clearing a spherical area around Jerry, Erica, and Kelia completely, revealing the scorched black soil underneath.
Jerry released the hands holding Erica and Kelia tightly; his expression remained as cold as ever.
His pale grey eyes stared straight at the huge main hive ahead, which pulsed as if alive.
The creep underfoot and the biological stench in the air seemed unable to affect him at all.
Erica and Kelia were still recovering from the pain of that mental screech, bodies trembling, barely standing firm.
"Let's go."
Jerry said lightly, voice devoid of emotion yet possessing unquestionable power: "There is our destination."
However, Erica didn't move a muscle, her beautiful face pale with struggle.
She tugged gently on Kelia's hand beside her; the latter was still trembling slightly, obviously not fully recovered from the impact of the mental screech either.
Erica looked at Jerry with her amber eyes; the look was no longer her usual cheerfulness but covered with a layer of deep depression and self-blame.
"Jerry, you... you go."
Erica spoke with difficulty, tone full of helplessness and resolution. "We... we are just burdens to you. Taking us will only drag you down. Without us, you can go further, faster."
Erica's gaze subconsciously swept over her tall, fit body, touching the extremely small but spotted insectoid plates newly grown on her thighs.
Jerry listened to her, looking at this centaur maiden who was always lively and full of life, now showing unprecedented dejection and self-deprecation.
For the first time, a smile appeared on Jerry's cold face—very faint, but full of understanding and unquestionability.
Jerry said nothing more, just took a step forward, walking straight to Erica.
Erica subconsciously retreated half a step, thinking he was going to scold her.
However, Jerry just reached out, gently wrapping around her thick yet flexible waist. With a slight force of his palm and a light leverage, his boyishly lean figure flipped onto her broad, sturdy horse back like an agile bird!
"Woo..."
Jerry's weight was light, but that sudden weight carrying a masculine aura and the intimate touch still made Erica stiffen all over.
Her strong centaur body tensed abruptly, muscles bulging instantly.
Jerry's legs hung naturally; his knees just encircled the junction of Erica's thick, sturdy thighs, tightly fitting the warm, powerful muscles on both sides of her horse belly.
"We are one!"
Jerry's voice sounded above her head, carrying an unquestionable dominance and intimacy: "Since the start!"
Jerry squeezed her horse belly hard as he spoke—not a real rein constraint, but a signal only a rider and mount familiar with each other could understand.
"Go!"
Hearing Jerry's unquestionable voice, Erica's fit body trembled violently, but the dejection and self-denial in her eyes were instantly replaced by an indescribable fanaticism.
It was a strange pleasure of being recognized, being needed.
Erica's mouth grinned again, revealing that signature bright smile full of wildness and vitality.
Erica extended her powerful, long arm, scooping up Kelia who hadn't fully reacted yet, letting her hug tightly in her arms like a pendant.
"Sit tight, little one!"
Erica let out a hearty shout, her voice regaining its former loudness.
With force from her four hooves, Erica's massive body, blending the beauty of human female strength and horse wildness, rushed out like a cannonball.
Every step made the earth rumble. The creep beneath her was trampled into splashing juice under her iron hooves but couldn't hinder her speed at all.
High in the sky, Onyxia let out a dragon roar piercing the clouds, as if guiding them on the shortest and most direct path. Her huge dragon wings flapped, raising a gale, blowing the dense swarm ahead askew.
Jerry sat steadily on Erica's back; his palm just pinched gently, seemingly casually.
Hum!
An invisible barrier, almost imperceptible to the naked eye and rippling like water waves, instantly unfolded with the three of them as the center, wrapping them seamlessly.
This barrier was their strongest fortress at this moment.
Endless swarms, like a black tsunami, pounced from all directions.
Low-level worker bugs, fierce Zerglings, and even some slow-moving but astonishingly defensive giant beetles roared and crashed into that invisible barrier.
However, the result was devastating.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Any insect beast touching the barrier, regardless of size or shell hardness, the moment it made contact, was as if hitting a steel wall speeding at supersonic speed.
Their seemingly indestructible bodies were instantly smashed to pieces under the huge kinetic impact!
Bones broke, carapaces disintegrated, green blood and viscera splashed everywhere.
Those bugs didn't even have time to let out a wail before disintegrating in mid-air, turning into masses of blurred flesh and blood, then thrown backward by the powerful impact force, knocking down more of their kind.
A rain of blood formed by Zerg remains fell on the path forward.
Although the steam train carrying the highest technological crystallization of the Steam Age had turned into scrap iron, at this moment, the assault combination formed by Erica, the strongest "biological mount," and Jerry, the most terrifying "mobile turret," became faster and more unstoppable instead!
Erica felt Jerry's incredibly stable center of gravity on her back, felt the whistling wind in her ears and the muffled sound of bugs turning to powder against the barrier; the pride in her chest was completely ignited.
She ran faster and faster, hooves flying, muscles bulging, as if having inexhaustible strength.
Jerry sat upright on Erica's back, body undulating slightly with the rhythm of her running, but his eyes glanced occasionally at Onyxia hovering high in the sky.
Simultaneously, his invisible mental power, like a spread net, quietly paved out in all directions, trying to probe every corner of this area.
However, his usually successful mental scan was greatly suppressed here.
The closer to the huge main hive, the air was filled with a sticky, heavy mental interference, like a wall converged by hundreds of millions of wills, rudely blocking his perception outside, making his probing blurred and dull.
But more importantly, it was the feeling of being peeped at that Jerry had felt since entering this area.
It was a cold gaze full of scrutiny, following like a shadow.
And only now, being so close, could Jerry finally completely confirm the source direction of that gaze—deep inside the main hive ahead, pulsating slowly like a living mountain range.
Is it the Queen?
Did she wake from slumber long ago?
Or... something else he didn't know...
Several guesses flashed through Jerry's mind but were quickly tossed aside.
Thinking about these now wasn't important.
He pulled a palm-sized alchemy tool from his pocket, embedded with a slender blue needle.
As soon as the needle was exposed to the air, it began to fluctuate violently up and down, the span between the highest and lowest points extreme.
This indicated that the spatial crystal wall here was very thin and the spatial strength was not high. Although seemingly stable, it was actually full of uncertainty.
Confirming this, Jerry stuffed the alchemy tool back into his pocket.
He reached out and patted gently on Erica's back; a pale cyan wind element rune sank into her body.
"Gale Art."
Erica felt her body lighten, hooves as if stepping on clouds; the surrounding air resistance vanished as well.
Her running speed increased another level; her whole person turned into a blur flying close to the ground.
Simultaneously, the Black Dragon Onyxia hovering in the sky also completed her final charge.
Her pair of golden vertical pupils locked dead on the largest hive in the distance.
The flames of revenge burned to the peak in her chest.
"Roar!"
Accompanied by an earth-shaking dragon roar, her massive body no longer hovered but retracted wings. Like a black missile locked on target, carrying a screech tearing the air, she dove straight down from high altitude!
BOOM!
Onyxia's body, carrying unparalleled kinetic energy and mass, smashed headlong through the outer wall of that huge hive covered in slime and carapace.
The sturdy biological tissue cracked like rotten wood before her; a pitch-black hole appeared on the hive.
And her vigorous figure didn't pause at all, disappearing just like that into the bottomless dark wormhole like a giant beast's mouth.
Erica followed Onyxia closely, carrying Jerry and Kelia, turning into a blur, rushing into the huge wormhole Onyxia crashed open.
Stepping inside felt like walking into true night.
It was pitch black all around. Thick ink-like darkness wrapped them tightly like a living thing.
The air was filled with a richer scent of rotting sweetness, mixed with the unique smell of biological decomposition, choking and unpleasant.
In the distance, the dragon fire sprayed by Onyxia, like a flickering ghost fire deep in the tide, loomed deep in the huge tunnel, becoming the only guide in this desperate darkness.
"Damn it, can't you slow down?"