56: Rob the Gundam! Players: As long as the health bar is visible, I'll dismantle the Gundam for you!

Along with Li Qiang's hysterical roar, the entire chaotic battlefield fell into an eerie silence for a moment.

The players who were originally fighting intensely with the Dwarf Guard seemed to have been hit by a pause button. They stopped their movements in unison and simultaneously turned their gazes toward the steel behemoth, like a moving mountain, slowly emerging from the darkness.

The smug smile on the face of the Captain of the Guard, Balin Bronzebeard, froze before it could fully bloom.

The scene he had envisioned was this group of "Tall Goblins" being scared out of their wits by the pressure of Black Iron City's ultimate city defense weapon, the "Grumbling Grunt," and kneeling to beg for mercy.

However, what he saw was the exact opposite.

Fear? Nonexistent.

Cowering? Even more nonsensical.

In those thousands of eyes, there wasn't a single trace of fear; instead... a light hotter than lava and brighter than a searchlight burst forth!

It was a look mixed with greed, fanaticism, excitement, and possessiveness, as if they were looking at an unparalleled Treasure Trove!

"Holy... holy crap..."

"That... what is that? A Gundam? It's a Gundam, right?!"

"This modeling! This sense of oppression! This is a real boss! This is what a man should drive!"

"Look at the health bar above its head! [Steam Titan: Grumbling Grunt No. 1, Lv.30 (Lord Class)]! It's a Lord! It'll drop Divine Artifacts!"

"Its leg! That leg could at least be dismantled to make a warhammer, right?"

"Stop staring at the leg! Did you see that Multi-barrel Steam Cannon on its shoulder? If that thing could be dismantled and mounted on my motorcycle, I'd take off on the spot!"

In the guild channel, the players' discussion exploded instantly. They completely ignored the surrounding dwarves, whose beards were trembling with rage, and began excitedly discussing the "drop rate" and "part uses" of this "Gundam."

In their eyes, this ten-meter-tall war machine, full of violent aesthetics, was no longer an enemy.

It was a giant, sparkling annual limited gift pack labeled "Top-tier Equipment" and "Rare Materials"!

"Crazy... these Tall Goblins are all crazy!" Balin Bronzebeard looked at the players' frenzied expressions and felt his worldview being hit like never before.

Just then, Li Qiang raised his communicator again.

"All combat personnel, attention!"

"This is not a drill! Repeat, this is not a drill!"

"Team A is responsible for fire suppression; hold down those nuisance dwarves! Team B and Team C, follow me to outflank from the left and right wings! Target: dismantle that iron lump!"

"Remember! Our slogan is—"

"As long as it has a health bar, we'll kill even a god for you to see!!!"

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh!!!"

The players gave a sky-shaking response. The formation that had been a mess just a second ago now displayed an amazing level of execution.

"Fire!"

With Li Qiang's command, the Demonic Energy Gatlings of dozens of heavy-fire motorcycles roared simultaneously, and a dense barrage of explosive fireballs formed a wall of fire, forcefully isolating Ba Lin and his Dwarf Guard from the Steam Titan.

"You lunatics!" Ba Lin was forced back by the blast wave of the explosions. He watched as hundreds of players drove their bizarre-looking motorcycles, like a pack of sharks smelling blood, and charged at the "Grumbling Grunt" from two directions.

Inside the cockpit of the "Grumbling Grunt," the dwarf pilot was also dazed by these reckless guys.

But he faithfully executed the orders.

Facing the charging enemies, the Steam Titan's searchlight-like red cyclopean eye flickered, and it raised its battering-ram-like mechanical foot.

"Thump!"

A stomp.

The earth shook violently. A player at the very front, along with his bike, was instantly crushed into an iron pancake; even the white light of his death appeared exceptionally flat.

Next, the Multi-barrel Steam Cannon on the mecha's shoulder began to rotate, making "clack-clack-clack" mechanical sounds.

"Swoosh—swoosh—swoosh—!"

What sprayed from the barrels weren't shells, but countless steel bars over a meter long, accelerated to the extreme by high-pressure steam!

The rain of steel bars instantly covered an area. A dozen magic motorcycles were shot into hedgehogs on the spot, and the players on them turned into white light without any suspense.

This terrifying lethality caused the players' charge to falter.

"Holy crap! This firepower is way too intense!"

"How are we supposed to charge? Getting close means death!"

"Don't panic!" Wang Wei's (Luban No. 7) calm voice rang out in the command channel. He was hiding behind a huge rock, and the data stream on his monocle was scrolling frantically.

"I've scanned it! This guy is just a big iron dummy! Its turning speed is extremely slow, and its fire has obvious trajectories and wind-ups! As long as we keep moving at high speed, it won't hit us!"

Wang Wei quickly marked several red dots on the team map.

"See the hydraulic joints on its legs? Those are the weak points! And that largest, smoking vent on its back! That's definitely the exhaust pipe for its core power furnace!"

"Its attack pattern is broad and sweeping, seeking area damage but lacking precision strike capability! We need a suicide squad to rush under its feet and break its balance!"

Wang Wei's analysis instantly pointed the way for all players.

The "Dismantling Style" playstyle was back online!

"Suicide squad! Count me in!" Li Qiang roared, twisting the throttle hard as his tyrant no. 1 shot out like an arrow, using a flashy Z-shaped movement to dodge another round of steel bars and heading straight for the Steam Titan's feet.

"Protect Brother Qiang!"

"Rich Woman! Give us an ice path!"

Lin Xiaowan (Rich Woman Hungry) had already understood. She pressed both hands to the ground, and a crystal-clear path of frost instantly condensed on the rugged terrain, providing a perfect runway for Li Qiang's advance.

Dozens of the most stubborn Berserker players followed Li Qiang, howling. What they needed to do was not attack, but draw fire to create opportunities for the real "demolition team."

The style of the battlefield instantly became incredibly bizarre.

The giant Steam Titan, like a clumsy giant, continuously bombarded the ground with its incredibly powerful weapons.

While hundreds of players, like a swarm of annoying flies, wove through its surroundings at high speed on motorcycles, occasionally firing a shot that hit its heavy armor and sparked a series of harmless sparks.

"Now's the time!"

After Li Qiang successfully drew the mecha's frontal attention, the "Assault Team" commanded by Retired Soldier King snuck up from the mecha's rear blind spot.

"Sapper group! Go!"

Dozens of players with entrenching tools and wrenches used their hands and feet like geckos to quickly climb up the mecha's rough armor plates and exposed pipes.

"Target! The hydraulic pipe behind the knee! Pry it off for me!"

A player finally managed to climb to the designated spot, took out a crowbar, used all his strength, and shoved it under a brass pipe thicker than his thigh.

"One! Two! Three! Heave!"

"Creak—"

The pipe made a tooth-aching sound as a gap was pried open.

"Pshhh—!!!"

A blast of scalding high-pressure steam instantly erupted from the gap. Before the player could even scream, he turned into white light from the high temperature, but a successful smile remained on his face.

"It worked! The left leg's pressure has dropped by ten percent!" Wang Wei's voice was full of excitement.

The Steam Titan's left leg visibly wobbled, and its movements became somewhat sluggish.

"Well done! Next one! Go!"

This suicidal attack left the distant dwarves dumbfounded.

"Are they... are they out of their minds?" a young dwarf warrior muttered to himself.

"No... they are... dismantling the 'Grumbling Grunt'?" Balin Bronzebeard's voice was full of disbelief.

In his understanding, war should be the clash of hammers and axes, the exchange of muskets and cannon fire.

But what was this group of "Tall Goblins" doing?

They were holding wrenches and crowbars, like a group of the craziest maintenance workers, trying to dismantle a running war machine into parts alive!

This was no longer war!

This was the ultimate profanity against the God of Machinery!

The players' "demolition" project was in full swing.

A Mage player used Shaping Magic to turn soil into cement and smeared it firmly onto the mecha's ankle gears.

A Rogue player risked his life to climb to the mecha's waist and stuffed a bag of explosives mixed with chili powder into a rotating drive shaft.

Even more, a lifestyle player treated himself as a part, jamming his entire body into a giant gear gap to slow the rotation of the mecha's waist. As his health bar plummeted from being crushed, he shouted excitedly in the guild channel: "Brothers! I've jammed it! Quick! DPS! Don't worry about me!"

"Lunatics! A bunch of total lunatics!" The dwarf pilot in the cockpit felt like his mind was about to collapse.

The warning lights before him flashed frantically, and the needles on the pressure gauges and thermometers were all swaying wildly in the red zones.

"Warning! Left leg hydraulic System failure!"

"Warning! Waist drive shaft overloaded!"

"Warning! Core furnace temperature too high! Cooling System malfunction!"

He tried to operate the mecha to shake off those "ants," but these ants clung on for dear life; as soon as one was shaken off, three more climbed up!

"The last resort!"

The pilot gritted his teeth and pressed the last red button.

"Overload Mode: Steam Jet!"

Hum—!

From the gaps in the Steam Titan's armor plates, white steam hot enough to melt steel suddenly erupted!

The players clinging to the mecha were instantly swept away by this indiscriminate area attack, turning into a sky full of white light.

However, this also became the straw that broke the camel's back.

The power core, already on the brink of its limit, let out an overburdened wail after this frantic overload.

"Warning! Warning! Furnace core pressure overload! Imminent explosion! Pilot, please eject immediately!"

The cockpit canopy popped open with a "bang," and a seat carrying the panicked dwarf pilot shot into the sky.

And the Steam Titan, now out of control, its giant red cyclopean eye flickered twice and then went completely dark.

Its massive body wobbled a few times, and finally, with a deafening roar, it crashed backward.

"Rumble—!!!"

The earth shook once more.

The entire field fell into a second of dead silence.

Then, a sky-shaking carnival belonging to the players erupted!

"It's down! It's down! The Gundam is down!"

"Holy shit! We actually took this thing down!"

"Don't just stand there! Go! Loot the boss! First come, first served!"

Li Qiang was the first to scramble up. He didn't even bother to repair his motorcycle, which was nearly scrapped from the steam blast, and charged like a hungry wolf toward the steel giant still emitting billowing smoke.

All the players went wild.

They swarmed forward like locusts into a granary, climbing onto the massive mecha wreckage.

"This cannon is mine! Nobody fight me for it!"

"That leg! I want that mechanical leg! Who can help me unscrew the bolts!"

"The core! Where's the core? Engineer Wang! Is that red-glowing heart still there?"

"Don't push! Don't push! Let me touch it! Just one touch! To get some lucky aura!"

Balin Bronzebeard and his Dwarf Guard stood dazed, watching this magical scene.

They watched as the "Tall Goblins," with wrenches, hammers, and even teeth, dismantled their Black Iron City's proudest war machine with inconceivable enthusiasm and efficiency.

Heavy armor plates were pried off one by one.

Complex pipes were torn apart one by one.

Precision gears were removed one by one.

In less than ten minutes, the once-majestic Steam Titan was picked clean, leaving only a bare skeleton.

With the help of a group, Wang Wei finally dug out a sphere composed of countless gears and red crystals from the mecha's chest furnace, which was still emitting incredible heat and pulsing slowly like a heart.

"[System Notification: Congratulations to the player team for successfully killing the Lord-class Boss 'Steam Titan: Grumbling Grunt'!]"

"[System Notification: You have obtained the key item—'Remnant of the Black Iron Heart'!]"

"[System Notification: You have obtained the blueprint—'Dwarven Steam Core (Damaged)'!]"

Looking at these notifications, satisfied smiles of a bountiful harvest appeared on all the players' faces.

And Balin Bronzebeard, looking at the 'Grumbling Grunt' which was now just a skeleton, then at the players joyfully dividing the 'spoils of war,' his legs went weak and he slumped onto the ground.

Only one thought remained in his mind.

"Moon Goddess... no, God of Forging above..."

"What... on earth... kind of monsters have we provoked..."