Chapter 572: Storm

Li Mochen was initially startled, but then he looked behind him with a gaze mixed with surprise, curiosity, caution, and suspicion.

Standing just three meters away from him was a young woman in a purple trench coat.

It was the latest style launched by Catilo Fashion in recent years, which set off the girl's already snow-white and delicate skin, making it as crystal clear as porcelain and jade.

Her waterfall-like golden hair, curved eyebrows, plump cheeks, and full lips were all breathtaking.

Understanding, Li Mochen rose and bowed to the young woman.

"Good day, Your Majesty the Goddess of Magic!"

The stunningly beautiful woman before him was none other than the earthly incarnation of the Goddess of Magic, Diana—

"No need for formalities, young Mr. Wiltonstein. I believe that before long, you will become one of us. You are walking on the right path, with steps that are firm and steady. Among all the humans I have seen, you are the closest to the ancient godhead."

Diana spoke kindly, raising her hand in a gesture of emptiness, but then a strange look appeared in her eyes: "You harbor hostility toward me, don't you? I can feel it; you have a strong sense of wariness."

Li Mochen was indeed cautious and wary of her, but not because of Anthony.

In fact, the Goddess of Magic had already extended an olive branch to them during the war in Manhattan, showing her goodwill.

The reason for his intense wariness stemmed from Diana's identity.

The most ancient Goddess of Magic in this world was Hecate, who was also the goddess of the threefold crossroads, magic, ghosts, and the underworld—a very powerful deity in Greece, strong enough to rival Zeus.

Legend had it that she had a very close relationship with the Night Goddess Nyx, also known as the 'Supreme Triple Goddess,' and was likely her offspring.

Nyx was the ancient goddess of night, representing the 'essence of night,' who personally forged the underworld; Hecate held dominion over night and the netherworld.

During the divine war at the end of the Roman era, Hecate had fallen.

However, the subsequent Goddesses of Magic all had intricate connections with Hecate.

And the one before Li Mochen, though a Goddess of Magic who rose from America, was of Italian descent before becoming a goddess. The Latin word 'Diana' means 'bright as day' or 'moon goddess.'

——In Roman times, Hecate was indeed a powerful moon goddess.

Moreover, this goddess also held dominion over the threefold crossroads, darkness, the moon, beacons, ghosts, the underworld, magic, witchcraft, and sorcery.

Li Mochen had to be on guard against her, both because of Nyx and because the Goddess of Magic herself possessed a certain degree of fate power, which was even one of her primary domains.

Of course, he did not show this wariness overtly before the goddess.

"Your Majesty, 'hostility' is too strong a word. I'm just curious about your purpose. This timing is quite special, isn't it?"

Diana understood and smiled apologetically, "It was indeed presumptuous of me to come so suddenly. But I can assure you, I come with goodwill toward you."

Then she asked softly, "Given your time constraints, I'll get straight to the point. Young Mr. Wiltonstein, do you need any help?"

"Help?"

Li Mochen's expression tightened slightly, then he looked at the opposite side somewhat speechlessly.

He had already understood the Goddess of Magic's intention. She was clearly planning to offer timely assistance, extending a helping hand to the Wiltonstein family in their 'critical moment.'

Of course, the Goddess of Magic's help would not come without a price. She undoubtedly wanted to forge a good relationship with him and Conshuli, hoping to borrow his power at some future point; or perhaps even to bring the entire Wiltonstein family under her banner.

Li Mochen was not averse to this; Dwight Payton, Anthony Braden, and Bethel Einstein had all done the same. That the Goddess of Magic had such thoughts was actually a good thing for him.

The problem was—

"Your Majesty, I and the Wiltonstein family are deeply grateful for your goodwill. As for help—if we truly need it, we will certainly seek your aid at the first opportunity and ask you not to withhold your assistance."

"Wow!"

Diana caught Li Mochen's implication and raised an eyebrow in surprise: "It seems young Mr. Wiltonstein is very confident. You believe the Wiltonstein family can resolve today's battle without any external help, right? And with minimal casualties?"

But judging by the current battlefield situation, she could not yet see how the Wiltonstein family had much chance of victory.

In terms of top-tier combat power, the Wiltonstein family had indeed fielded a lineup comparable to the National Progressive Association. But at the grassroots level, the latter's strength and resources were so formidable as to be despairing!

The entry of demigods like Viktor Maxim, Alex Granger, Uhtred Demacia, Douglas Duncan, and Faust had indeed helped the Wiltonstein family stabilize the fronts for a time. But as the opposing side successively deployed a full forty-six demigods, the battlefield situation began to tilt back in favor of the National Progressive Association.

If not for the Wiltonstein family's continued advantage in magical power and Li Mochen's divine power of life and death, which greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of their demigods, the scales of war would have tipped decisively.

"I believe young Mr. Wiltonstein indeed has the power to handle this crisis. But if you overconsume your family's strength as a result, wouldn't that be a loss outweighing the gain?"

She did think highly of Li Mochen, and it was the appearance of the two ancient dragons that had made her decide, following Einstein's advice, to lend a hand to the Wiltonstein family.

But now, this young man named Andrew Lee Wiltonstein was telling her that it was completely unnecessary.

"Your Majesty sounds somewhat incredulous?"

Li Mochen chuckled, and just as he was about to say something, Sanchel Virginia, who was leading the temporary参谋组, suddenly stood up: "Found them! Sir, they split the control equipment into two parts. One is hidden east of the battlefield, coordinates X350, Y451! The other is near the entrance to Highway 41, coordinates—"

As he spoke, a magical projection appeared before everyone's eyes. It was a topographic map of the entire battlefield, with two red dots marking the coordinates Sanchel Virginia had identified for the control equipment.

"BOSS!"

Michael Wood immediately turned to Li Mochen for instructions.

After all, the 'Storm Force' was a direct unit under Li Mochen's command. Although Michael, as the overall commander, had the authority to control it, he felt it necessary to consult Li Mochen's opinion in his presence—even if only as a symbolic gesture.

Regardless of whether the BOSS agreed, Michael Wood had already decided that the assault was imperative!

Li Mochen, meanwhile, formed a hand seal and silently performed divination in his mind. Using the 'Divine Cloud Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Tower' and the 'Zhou Tian Divine Mechanism Mysterious Pivot Lock Star Secret Method,' he verified the validity of the intelligence.

About one-thirtieth of a second later, a glint appeared in Li Mochen's eyes: "Approved!"

"Get me Lieutenant Colonel Sampson Brutt and Major Thompson Adams. Tell them to launch an assault on the target coordinates immediately! Inform them that this is a joint order from me and the BOSS!"

Michael Wood then instructed another side: "Transmit the coordinates to Major General Raymond, commander of the First Artillery Group. Have him fully support the Storm Force's operation and clear obstacles with artillery fire! During this time, all fortress guns are under his command! I will contact Goudra to have the artillery groups of Wiltonstein Castle provide assistance. I only ask one thing: blast the enemies in front of the Storm Force into pieces!"

"Get me Lady Linda Rimore. I hope the Rimore clan can temporarily spare some mages to escort the Storm Force. I don't want Sampson and his men to be interfered with by any magical forces—"

At this moment, the Goddess of Magic Diana was lost in thought: "Storm Force?"

"This is my most elite force. Their total combat power can roughly face one hundred and fifty legends head-on—I mean in group combat."

Li Mochen smiled and gestured: "Please have a seat, Your Majesty. If you don't mind, why not stay here for a while? I think the upcoming battle situation is best viewed from here. I believe facts speak louder than words."

Diana did not refuse and sat down beside Li Mochen, looking ahead with keen interest.

"Can you explain to me what exactly the Storm Force under Andrew's command is?"

"Your Majesty must have heard of powered combat armor?"

Li Mochen explained casually: "Many arms companies in America are researching it. Over a month ago, my Sunrise Biopharmaceutical developed a perfected powered armor and began mass production. The 'Storm Force' is an elite unit equipped with our Warrior Type A bio-armor and Light Magic Industries' 'Demon Refiner' land-type magic-powered armor. All members are outlaws carefully selected from the Sunrise Group and the Wiltonstein Group."

"Sounds impressive?"

Diana's divine sense had already detected the so-called 'Storm Force.' In front of Holy Stone Fortress, two small, fully armed units were advancing through the trenches.

All were equipped with land-type magic-powered armor of 'Demon Refiner' class or above, including over twenty War Demons and five to six legends—quite similar to Li Mochen's description.

But the situation of these two units made Diana even more curious.

"But I think their strength should be around level 15 to 16? Andrew, are you sure they can match one hundred and fifty legends, not a tenth of that number? The power of a legend is beyond that of high-level outlaws; they can easily fight multiple opponents."

After all, even quasi-legendary experts needed five to seven to match a low-level legend.

And to defeat a quasi-legendary magic-energy professional, it often took more than fifteen level-15 magic-energy professionals working together. The gap in combat power between them was like a chasm.

But Diana's voice stopped abruptly, as her gaze was firmly captivated by the scene ahead.

While they were speaking, the two Storm Force units under Lieutenant Colonel Sampson Brutt and Major Thompson Adams had already broken into the enemy lines under artillery cover.

The sight was extremely震撼. From the magical images projected by the two legendary mages in the command room, it could be seen that this force of merely 450 men was advancing like a sweeping tide.

Ahead of them, heavy tanks, armored vehicles, magic-powered armor, beast-blood warriors, and well-equipped outlaws were either torn apart by artillery fire from all directions or riddled with bullets by the Storm Force's guns.

Diana soon realized she had underestimated the overall combat power of these 'Storm Force' troops. Their overall combat level was at least 17, with a third of them at level 18.

This force was already quite formidable, and crucially, their coordination was extremely默契, nearly flawless, and their marksmanship was exceptionally strong. During the assault, they wasted almost no bullets.

When these men formed two fists and charged forward, their momentum was like an unstoppable steamroller, crushing all resistance.

Diana watched as five legendary experts who tried to block their advance were easily blown apart by just eleven soldiers and 367 magic-energy bullets!

They seemed to be able to communicate telepathically, dividing labor and cooperating—some providing suppressive fire, others sniping—each bullet having a purpose. The legendary experts were overwhelmed and fell one after another under the barrage.

This scene not only shocked the Goddess of Magic but also surprised Li Mochen, who raised an eyebrow in astonishment.

He knew that the 'Warrior Type A Powered Armor,' optimized with Moshlar technology, especially the bioelectric感应 technology, could give the wearer a huge advantage in group combat.

But beforehand, Li Mochen had never seen a combat drill of this scale. Before mass production, due to limited conditions, Sunrise Biopharmaceutical's team combat tests had involved at most fewer than seven people.

It seemed that Gu Hong and the others' estimates were a bit conservative—the combined attack power of these two Storm Force units was far stronger than he had imagined.

"I take back my words. They are indeed powerful—very powerful—"

Diana, apparently dissatisfied with the clarity of the two legendary mages' magical projections, waved her hand and projected nine magical images in the command room.

The images displayed were indeed clearer and more直观, showing the combat footage of the two Storm Force units from various angles.

"I want to know, can elite units like the Storm Force be formed on a large scale? And what are the performance, current production volume, and cost of your Warrior Type A powered armor?"

Li Mochen was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected the goddess to be interested in such matters. For the Church of the Goddess of Magic?

"The Storm Force is special. Their current combat power relies heavily on the magic-powered armor produced by Light Magic Industries. But Your Majesty should know how scarce the production of Demon Refiner armor is. It's said that their annual output is less than 1,700 units? Due to material limitations, they've been unable to expand production."

"As for the Warrior Type A powered armor itself, it can only give an ordinary person level-12 combat power, and a level-12 professional about level-15 combat power. Its current cost is about one-third of the Demon Refiner armor. As production volume increases, the cost can be further reduced."

Li Mochen almost verbatim repeated Gu Hong's words to him: "As for the production volume of the powered armor, it's also limited by raw materials. But my chief scientific advisor tells me that within a year at most, the monthly production of Warrior Type A powered armor can reach 15,000 units. Since it's a bio-armor, its components and structure are mostly obtained through cultivation, so our material sources are relatively abundant, and there are no insurmountable obstacles for now—"

"Fifteen thousand units? You are starting a revolution, young Mr. Wiltonstein! I think every military organization in America will go crazy for it."

A strange glint flashed in Diana's eyes: "Since there's a Type A, there must be Type B and Type C, and upgraded versions of the Warrior model, right?"

"Currently under development are four tiers: Knight, Armored Knight, Earth Knight, and Sky Knight, corresponding to levels 13, 15, 17, and 19. Type B is the Archer version, more specialized in shooting than Type A; Type C is the Mage version. All are still in R&D—"

Li Mochen answered absently, because the first test for the Storm Force was about to come.

The opposing commander of the National Progressive Association had already discovered their objective and the threat, and was mobilizing forces to stop them. A force including twenty-three legends, two hundred outlaws, and four hundred beast-blood warriors was concentrated in front of Sampson Brutt's Storm Force A Battalion, with more than two additional battalions as support. Thompson Adams faced similarly strong resistance, though on a smaller scale: fourteen legends, one hundred and twenty outlaws, but more beast-blood warriors—seven hundred in total.

These two sniper battles were exceptionally fierce from the very start. In terms of long-range firepower, Sampson Brute's armored warriors were completely at a disadvantage. However, after the engagement, the casualty ratio overwhelmingly favored the Rising Sun Group.

The Storm Troops' long-range precision shots inflicted massive casualties on the enemy from the outset. In less than a minute, nearly five hundred soldiers from the opposing two battalions were killed or wounded. Often, they were shot dead by the Storm Troops' guns the moment they showed their heads.

This was also related to their lack of solid cover. The National Association for Progress had been on the offensive and had never planned to build fortifications. The Storm Troops' surprise attack caught them off guard.

The artillery and magical cover provided by the Rising Sun Group allowed all armored warriors to focus more on shooting.

After suppressing the regular troops, the casualties among the enemy's Outlaws and Beast Blood warriors also rose sharply, with the latter continuously charging.

However, the Storm Troops under Sampson Brute's command had created an invisible death line one hundred meters ahead of them, where two hundred Beast Blood warriors had already fallen. Correspondingly, the armored warriors suffered very few casualties; under Li Mochen's Divine Authority of Life, only three had died so far.

Yet what was even more astonishing were the enemy's legends. Most of these legendary professionals were now in a sorry state under the Storm Troops' firepower. Within less than three minutes of the exchange, five legends had been killed or wounded by their bullets.

Although some powerful melee legendary professionals managed to break into the Storm Troops' formation, the latter's melee capabilities seemed to surpass even their marksmanship.

Under Sampson Brute's command, they were usually dealt with in less than half a minute, causing no ripples at all.

Meanwhile, on the fifteenth floor of the 'Mystic Illusion' magic tower, many high-ranking officials were discussing this sudden change on the battlefield.

"Does the Wiltonstein family still have such a unit? All above level seventeen?"

"Did you see? Those legendary professionals appear exceptionally clumsy before them."

"Indeed! Their coordinated combat power is very strong. Without hundreds of legends, the National Association for Progress will find it hard to stop them."

"Wow, it seems the situation is about to reverse, everyone!"

"Strange, really strange! Can human默契 reach such a level? These hundreds of people move as if they were one person, a single whole. Has Light Magic Industry's intelligent technology reached this point?"

"This is not the combat assistance system of the Demon Refining Armor itself. I know them; there must be another reason."

At this moment, General Clyde Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had a sharp gleam in his eyes. He stared intently at the magical projection jointly released by three archmages, unwilling to look away for even a moment.

In fact, the scene before General Clyde Brown was precisely why the Chief of Staff had come to observe in person today.

"Daniel, is this the Storm Troops you mentioned, built by the Rising Sun Group?"

"It should be. All are level twelve magic-energy professionals, equipped with Warrior A-type bio-armor and 'Demon Refining' magic-powered armor."

Lieutenant General Daniel Boone's lips curled slightly, and he was very satisfied with the situation: "I think you must feel it was worth the trip, Clyde? In fact, today's scene is somewhat beyond my expectations. I came to see the Warrior A-type bio-armor tests before, but they weren't as powerful as they appear now."

"Of course! I am very surprised now. Their overall combat power can face 180 to 220 legends head-on. This is undoubtedly a military revolution, an innovation sufficient to overturn all existing military forces."

General Clyde Brown's voice even carried a tremor, and then he asked the same question as the Goddess of Magic: "What are their performance, current production volume, and cost? Can they be mass-formed?"

"Regarding performance, I suggest you ask Mr. Wiltonstein Jr. in person after the battle. As for cost, it's only 5.7 million gold shields, one-third of the Demon Refining Armor."

Lieutenant General Daniel Boone replied with a smile: "Mr. Wiltonstein Jr. assured me personally that if the Defense Ministry provides full support and sufficient orders, he can expand the production line to a monthly output of over 15,000 units. As for the Storm Troops, that depends on the production of 'Demon Refining' magic-powered armor; Light Magic Industry's second production line is still nowhere in sight."

"That's because there isn't enough profit incentive! The Demon Refining Armor's combat power is undoubtedly strong, but its cost-effectiveness is not as good as magical equipment. I think your Defense Ministry should pay proper attention to their magic-powered armor."

General Clyde Brown took a deep breath: "In short, I hope to see a sizable bio-armored unit appear in the Army and Marine Corps as soon as possible. We need to quickly understand its performance and flaws through actual combat."

The Defense Minister beside him raised an eyebrow: "What about the National Association for Progress's 'Beast Blood Warrior' plan?"

"Come on, you cunning old man, do you have to make me say it out loud?"

General Clyde Brown couldn't help but smile, then muttered a curse: "To hell with that plan! Their inhumane experiments have given the military a headache. With a better option, who cares about those things that are neither human nor ghost?"

CIA Director Cressey Lewis, sitting not far away, had already turned pale.

But he had no mind to argue, and at that moment, new changes occurred in the magical image before him.

"They've broken through—"

"This is terrible. The National Association for Progress's Beast Blood control device is not far ahead, right? Without the Beast Blood warriors to hold them back, the two ancient dragons will be terrifyingly lethal."