"What a treacherous path... No wonder the empire's previous campaigns ended in failure," Selene muttered as she stood high above, surveying the complex and ever-changing terrain below.
Unlike the settlement located on the alluvial plain some seventy to eighty kilometers outside Yueshan Pass, this larger tribe, hidden deep within the mountains to the west, was truly remote.
After crossing the alluvial plain and navigating through thickets, everything around her began to change—karst landscapes, rising plateaus, small sand dunes, folded mountains, rainforests... The diversity of environments seemed almost unnatural, as if the forces of nature had sculpted this land in a frenzy of creativity.
According to the map provided by the Governor of Patrypol Province, Selene had flown nearly four hundred kilometers without encountering any large tribes—only small clusters of settlements scattered throughout the area.
"Such a distance... what were they thinking, venturing this far just to raid the empire?"
Now, Selene began to understand why the empire, at its peak, hadn't annexed this region. It was a barren land, practically worthless.
Everyone knows that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but the imperial army wasn't made up of superhuman beings like Selene. To cross such a complicated landscape, they would have had to take the easiest paths, winding through the terrain, which would have taken a considerable amount of time.
Moreover, the empire's transportation was primarily reliant on horse-drawn carriages. The combination of long distances, difficult terrain, and the occasional dangerous beast made any campaign here costly and time-consuming.
Aside from providing some wild game and rare goods, this region offered little in return, yet maintaining control over it would have required enormous resources each year.
Think about it: to maintain control, you'd need to build fortresses, station troops, and deploy officials, all of which are major expenses. The local agriculture could never support itself, and the difficult terrain made trade nearly impossible. All resources had to be supplied by the imperial government.
Transporting ten sacks of grain might result in only two actually reaching their destination—how could this be sustainable? It was an unsolvable problem.
Furthermore, this area was notorious for its rebellious inhabitants (the southwestern barbarians).
Given the frequent uprisings, sending imperial troops accustomed to life on the plains into these harsh, mountainous regions was a losing battle. The terrain prevented the use of superior numbers, heavy armor became a burden, and heavy weapons were practically useless...
But the mountain-dwelling southwestern barbarians thrived in such an environment, moving effortlessly and quickly.
Guerrilla warfare had made the empire's efforts to subdue the region a nightmare.
Eventually, the empire decided to construct a fortified wall along the southwestern mountain border, effectively isolating the region and blocking the barbarians' path to expansion.
The emperor at the time must have thought: "To hell with this land! You can't come out, and we won't bother with you anymore!"
"Hmm? Is this... it?" Continuing her journey, Selene finally began to sense a large concentration of life forces after crossing yet another range of folded mountains.
A cluster of life forces this dense could only indicate a large human settlement.
As she descended to a lower altitude, the air became humid, and the stifling heat started to fade. Outside the folded mountains was a small desert, but inside, the environment was entirely different—pleasant air, bright sunlight.
The area felt more like a rainforest, with the scent of decaying vegetation thick in the air, and the ground was covered in dense undergrowth. Vines twisted around the trees, and roots formed natural obstacles.
"It should be just ahead," Selene murmured as she hovered in mid-air. Even from several kilometers away, she could sense the presence of tens of thousands of life forms deep within the rainforest.
To show mercy to the enemy is to be cruel to oneself. When dealing with enemies, one must be as harsh and unforgiving as winter.
"Alright, time to conduct the experiment... Although we have no personal grudge, it is your honor to serve as the subjects of my experiments, stepping stones on my path to greater heights!"
Opening her storage space, Selene looked at the greenish-gray, cone-shaped nuclear warheads. At last, she could begin the experiment she had long awaited.
The curved, convex outer ring, the concave inner circle, and the yellow-black fan-shaped symbol in a triangular pattern all seemed particularly terrifying at this moment.
Although each nuclear warhead had security locks and keys, requiring a specific sequence to activate, Selene had no need for them.
Nuclear Force Manipulation!
Selene could directly manipulate the uranium-235 or plutonium-239 within the warheads to initiate a reaction!
The last time she used Honkai energy to induce nuclear fission near the southern capital, it had been a successful experiment. However, without fully understanding the scale of the destruction, Selene had nearly blown up the entire capital.
This time, she planned to conduct a more controlled experiment on the southwestern barbarians. The nuclear warheads she had acquired serve as perfect tools for this.
Through this experiment, Selene intended to simulate and learn about the effects of nuclear radiation, nuclear fallout... especially their lethal impact on the human body.
It was troublesome, indeed. Mastering any ability required practice, but Selene's powers were so destructive that training with them was nearly impossible!
"Let the experiment begin! First warhead, second warhead, third warhead..."
As she floated in the air, every time Selene moved a finger, a nuclear warhead disappeared from sight.
Ignoring the panic among the barbarians as these cone-shaped objects materialized from nowhere, Selene teleported each warhead to a different location around the settlement.
Since she was going to blow it up, she might as well use them all, ensuring the barbarians would vanish without a trace, she thought "mercifully."
"...Seventeenth warhead."
After placing all the warheads, Selene clasped her hands together.
"Art is—"
Beep!
With Selene's forced manipulation, the heavy atomic nuclei within the warheads bypassed all safety protocols, triggering a chain reaction. The sound that followed was the herald of countless deaths.
"—an explosion!"
In the next moment, the southwestern barbarian city, once a thriving hub, was engulfed in seventeen blinding flashes of light.
Seventeen fireballs erupted on the ground, quickly merging into one massive fireball with a radius of several kilometers. It was as if a new sun had descended upon the earth, consuming the entire rainforest.
There were no screams, no chance to flee. When the second sun appeared in the sky, all the barbarians had already been vaporized.
Whether man-made structures or natural formations, everything disintegrated in the face of this "sun." The so-called defensive walls were reduced to nothing in an instant.
The "sun" then surged across the ground, shooting skyward!
BOOM!!!
The sun swelled and changed form, with countless waves of light and heat radiating outward, engulfing everything within a radius of tens of kilometers.
The unstoppable shockwave uprooted forests and mountains alike. In the face of this apocalyptic explosion, everything seemed insignificantly small.
The superheated air ascended rapidly, forming a massive crown-shaped cloud—a colossal mushroom cloud slowly took shape.
The explosion produced a mushroom cloud twenty kilometers wide and forty kilometers high!
At that moment, the entire world fell silent, leaving only the endless roar of the blast.
The earth trembled, and the world itself seemed to be crying out in pain!
Even four hundred kilometers away, where the imperial army was besieging another southwestern barbarian settlement, the soldiers could see the majestic mushroom cloud rising into the sky.
Whether Imperial Guard or local garrison troops, everyone stared in terror at the cloud towering above the southwestern mountains. The intense light caused temporary blindness in many, while the deafening explosion left their ears ringing.
Fiery red flames burned in their vision, turning the entire southwestern region into a glowing inferno. The area near the explosion's epicenter was as bright as day.
The garrison soldiers were utterly stunned by this "sun," their faces frozen in shock as they watched the awe-inspiring sight.
Even the veteran Imperial Guards who had witnessed the southern capital explosion before were once again dumbfounded by the overwhelming power of Selene's "Heavenly Wrath." No matter how many times they saw it, this god-like force never failed to leave them in awe.
"No matter how many times I see it... it truly lives up to its name—'Heavenly Wrath'! With such power... we're not even on the same level," mused Gensa, a captain of the Imperial Guard, dressed in his officer's uniform.
Since Selene had not concealed the event, and with Honest and Budo spreading the word, the technique she had improvised during the southern capital explosion—"Heavenly Wrath"—had quickly gained notoriety.
Although they found it odd that this explosion was fiery red rather than the usual purple, the familiar mushroom cloud and the intense light and heat made them think it was the same technique.
"Whew..." Selene exhaled softly, looking at the last remaining large southwestern barbarian settlement. Captain Gensa, steeling himself, shouted, "Order: Continue the attack!"
"But... Captain, should we still continue the assault?" A garrison officer standing behind Gensa asked hesitantly, glancing nervously at the burning sky.
"What are you panicking for? The explosion won't reach us. The General will handle everything!"
In this massive explosion, it was likely that the other large southwestern barbarian settlement had already been wiped off the map.
Now, the key was that the war so far had mainly been handled by the commander herself, making them feel like they were mere spectators—almost irrelevant!
That wouldn't do. Clenching his fists until they cracked, Gensa resolved that they had to take down this settlement before the General returned!