Countless armored vehicles started moving. Heavy tanks, light tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled cannons, and anti-tank turrets roared as they left formation and charged toward Alex.
Shouts went up. "Stop him, stop him! Don't let him get in here!"
But his speed was blinding, and they could barely track his movements.
A heavy tank was the first to open fire. The shells were like the hand of Death, crossing a mile in less than two seconds and intercepting him in the air.
Riley's control system was state-of-the-art, and it could easily calculate Alex's path and anticipate where he would be.
When the forty-pound shell reached Alex, he hit it, and it exploded in mid-air. His entire body was instantly wrapped in a cloud of smoke and fire, and he was only knocked back several feet.
This time, there was no obscuring smoke, and everyone had clearly seen how easily Alex had resisted the tank's attack. They couldn't believe their eyes.
Exploding a tank shell with his fist? What kind of man was this?
Alex resumed his advance toward the base, and another dozen tanks opened fire. He drove a flurry of punches into the air, and the shells exploded over a hundred yards away from him. Only when one of the anti-tank guns opened fire did he move to one side to avoid the armor-piercing bullet.
He wasn't afraid of ordinary shells. Those were explosive. It didn't matter how many dozens of yards or even hundreds of yards the explosion would spread over. Because the power was spread out, it wasn't a big threat to him with his sub-sacred body.
The unassuming anti-tank gun was different. It fired an armor-piercing bullet made from a tungsten alloy, and it could punch through a steel plate over a foot thick. Even the new and improved Alex was unwilling to face such a bullet head on.
His body's greatest weakness was the substantial force exerted against a single point, so the armor-piercing bullets were more of a threat.
However, there were only a few of these anti-tank guns, and their firing speed was slow. So, as long as Alex kept moving at such a high speed, they wouldn't be able to get anywhere near him.
Two miles.
One mile.
A thousand yards.
He was getting closer and closer to the base.
As the crowd watched, he collided with the first tank. It was a light tank, which meant it only weighed about twenty tons, and when he struck it, it was thrown into the air. It turned a few somersaults before landing on another armored vehicle and crushing it.
There was an audible hiss as countless people sucked in a breath of cold air.
Alex had just used his own body to knock over a tank. How was that possible? Even though it was just a light tank and not a forty- or fifty-ton heavy tank, it was still incredible.
Riley was screaming. "Don't just stand there! Get him!"
There were dozens of tanks on the field, and now, they rumbled into a circle with Alex at the center.
These steel monsters weighed dozens of tons, and they could crush a truck just by rolling over it.
But Alex wasn't worried. He started taking giant steps around the circle, moving forward a dozen yards at a time. With each step, he threw a punch, and each strike took out one tank.
Light tanks and armored vehicles were sent flying. The heavy tanks were only forced back a few yards, but the power of his punches took the tank crews out of the battle.
One step, two steps, three steps…
He took ten steps and punched ten times, destroying ten tanks.
And he was just getting started.
The sound of groaning, tearing metal spread across the battlefield, as one after another, his fists destroyed the steel monsters.
Tanks charged at him, and countless bullets and shells struck him, but he wasn't fazed. He kept mechanically throwing out his fists. Twenty punches. Thirty punches.
one punch, one tank.
In less than ten minutes, dozens of armored vehicles had collapsed under Alex's fist. Just like that, he had torn open an enormous hole in the steel wall, and all the soldiers stood there, trembling, looking at this scene in disbelief.
The weapons they had been so proud of had crumbled into nothing.
A distant roar rapidly grew louder as a fleet of helicopters arrived.
Although these helicopters were equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers, they weren't very powerful, and they were mainly used for transport. The few attack helicopters mixed in were different. This type of helicopter was designed for ground attacks and was equipped with anti-tank missiles.
Alex frowned. The shells and missiles that the helicopters were bombarding him with were starting to be a nuisance.
He jumped onto a disabled tank, stretched out his hand, and pulled with all his might, tearing out the tank's main gun barrel. He gripped the ten-foot-long tube like a javelin and shot into the air.
A stream of sizzling white light shot out from his hand, directly breaking through the space-time boundary. It bounced between the three attack helicopters, piercing each one. Then it disappeared into the void.
The helicopter pilots had not expected Alex to be able to attack them, and now, they flew away like frightened sparrows. Alex, who was no longer under fire, turned into a bright purple light and headed toward the main battle formation.
He punched every armored vehicle blocking his way.
He behaved like a wild dragon that would kill anything that brushed against it and injure anything that got too close. By the time he was done, the entire wall of steel lay in ruins.
When he reached the command vehicle, he saw the panicked Riley inside. He didn't bother attacking the vehicle; he reached straight for Riley, killing him instantly. That man would never hurt anyone again.
Alex had broken the army and taken out its leader in one swift, terrifying attack.
He was like an invincible war god.
After he left, the entire battlefield was silent.
No one could understand what had just happened. It was as if a god had manifested on Earth.
**
Back in Baltimore, Si Roper and his grandson, Sam, looked at each other and stepped forward.
Donny's expression was cold as he smiled bitterly at Sam. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of this invitation?"
Si flushed bright red and looked down at the floor.
"I still clearly remember the hospitality your son extended to me the last time I saw him," Donny said, scowling. "I will never forget it. Now, I can't help wondering whether, by accepting your invitation today, I am signing up for more of the same."
Si couldn't seem to lift his eyes from the floor. "Mr. Fitzroy, I invited you here today so we could apologize to you."
"Apologize?" Donny was incredulous.
When Donny had used the skills that Alex had taught him, it had made countless people envious. When Sam had found out about it, he had ordered his men to kidnap and interrogate Donny, trying to force him to share the secret.
Sam had thought several times that Donny's will was about to break, and that he might be about to tell him about Alex's techniques. But Donny had held out and had not spoken a single word about it.
Sam couldn't have known that Donny had been cultivating his power all day long, and that his mind had been completely calm. Donny would never have revealed Alex's teachings, not even if Alex had died. But he had had faith that Alex would survive.
So he had gritted his teeth and had refused to speak, prepared to die under Sam's questioning.
Although Donny didn't know it yet, after Alex had escaped death in the Valley of the Buried Heart, he had indeed gone looking for Donny. Even if Donny had died, Alex would still have found his body.
But Donny had survived.