Chapter 234: The Metal Statues Attack
"Get out of here, quickly!"
Seeing the command vehicle completely malfunctioning and gradually collapsing under the continuous lightning strikes, Sitwell and Crossbones immediately jumped out without hesitation.
Under normal circumstances, a car's exterior is metal and its tires are insulated rubber. If struck by lightning, as long as the people inside don't touch the metal parts, they generally won't be harmed.
However, due to the high energy of the lightning, it still causes physical damage to the vehicle, such as burning the body or damaging the engine.
George focused all the descending lightning bolts on the armed helicopters, tanks, and vehicles. Each target was struck simultaneously by over a dozen lightning bolts—continuously and relentlessly.
So if they didn't escape in time, the moment the vehicle failed, death would be certain.
Likewise, the elite HYDRA soldiers realized this. Those on the tanks and vehicles quickly jumped off and hid, while those on the helicopters parachuted off in unison in an attempt to save themselves.
"Parachuting will only get you killed faster."
Seeing this, George slightly adjusted his wand, redirecting the lightning from the helicopters toward the parachuting HYDRA soldiers.
As a result, by the time those soldiers hit the ground, they had all turned into charred corpses.
"Truly different."
Coulson looked at the slain HYDRA soldiers and muttered to himself.
Of course, he didn't sympathize with those HYDRA soldiers. As a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he didn't have much compassion for enemies.
It's just that the former X-Men, under Professor X, rarely killed their enemies, but now George's Superpower Academy was clearly much colder and more ruthless toward adversaries.
"If possible, I hope to never become this guy's enemy. He's terrifying."
"Retreat! Retreat! Fall back first!"
After escaping the command vehicle, Sitwell immediately issued the retreat order via walkie-talkie, while he and Crossbones withdrew to the area beyond the storm clouds.
Under the current circumstances, they couldn't possibly continue fighting under a barrage of lightning.
The key issue was that even if HYDRA's soldiers weren't afraid to die and could withstand the lightning, they didn't even know where the enemy was.
So all they could do was retreat for now and notify headquarters to send combat suits capable of insulating against lightning, then resume the next phase of their plan.
"Professor."
George turned to look at Professor X, who placed a hand on George's shoulder, and together they unleashed their psychic powers, spreading them outside the academy.
Though the HYDRA soldiers all wore devices to block brainwaves and were immune to mental control, that wasn't the point. George didn't ask Professor X to help control the retreating HYDRA soldiers.
Instead, the goal was to locate them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As George adjusted direction once more, lightning began to spread out and strike the HYDRA soldiers retreating below.
One after another, HYDRA soldiers fled madly outside the storm's coverage, but before they could escape its range, lightning caught up to them. No matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun the speed of lightning.
These HYDRA soldiers were physically stronger than ordinary people, but compared to soldiers from the Divine Realm, the gap was enormous.
Even Divine Realm soldiers trembled all over after being struck by his lightning; HYDRA's soldiers were basically dead after two or three bolts.
Area-of-effect magic might not threaten powerful individuals, but for ordinary people, it was absolutely lethal.
Of course, not all HYDRA soldiers were killed by lightning.
In the end, some still managed to escape the storm's coverage and survived by sheer luck.
Among them were Sitwell, Crossbones, and those Winter Soldiers whose bodies had been enhanced to rival Captain America's in every aspect.
However, the reason they survived was mainly because George intended to capture them alive, so he didn't deliberately target them. Otherwise, if hundreds of lightning bolts struck a single person, even a Winter Soldier would be knocked down.
"Go!"
George stopped waving his wand and put away the ancient magic, then commanded the metal statues stationed at the academy.
Immediately, the previously lifeless metal statues opened their eyes and emitted all kinds of strange roars as they charged outside the school.
Their mission was to capture the remaining HYDRA members who had escaped.
The Mimicry Transformation spell sometimes felt very metaphysical to George. Unlike the Awakening Charm, which simply grants sentience to lifeless creatures, this one bestowed special abilities.
And these abilities actually came from George's own mind.
For instance, when he used Mimicry Transformation on a metal dragon statue, it could flap its wings and fly, and even let out roars like a real dragon.
Under normal conditions, a huge metal block—even with a hundred pairs of wings—shouldn't be able to fly.
If this spell could be thoroughly researched in the future, George believed every metal statue could truly exhibit the abilities he envisioned for them.
For example, the Nine-Tailed Fox statue could charm, the Phoenix statue could resurrect, and the Hellhound statue could devour souls.
In fact, that magician named Sun Long from Morgana's faction had already brushed against this power—he could turn ordinary cloth dragons into real dragons capable of breathing fire.
"These statues are actually alive!"
Coulson and the others were once again stunned as they watched the metal statues rushing off.
When they had entered the school with George, they saw those four-to-five-meter-tall metal statues, but they never imagined that they were alive and capable of following George's orders in battle.
Fighting against metal statues that tall, they began to silently mourn for the HYDRA soldiers.
If those statues were solid metal, they would weigh at least over a hundred tons.
In close combat, they could probably beat the crap out of someone—even those enhanced Winter Soldiers wouldn't stand a chance.
As for regular firearms, they were completely useless against the statues unless HYDRA's energy weapons could have some effect.
And in reality, things went about as Coulson and the others had predicted. However, George had made the statues from the most durable alloy available, so even energy weapons had very little impact on them.
The key was that as long as the statues weren't completely shattered, they could still fight.
Soon enough, they saw Sitwell, Crossbones, and the Winter Soldiers—all beaten black and blue—being dragged by various metal statues to the square in front of the school.
"Next time I'll get some Vibranium from Wakanda to make the statues. That way the defense will be strong enough."
Looking at the small craters blown into a few statues by energy cannons, George thought to himself.
Ordinary energy guns posed no real threat to the statues, but high-powered energy cannons could do real damage.
However, if he switched to Vibranium, the defense would be maxed out.
(End of Chapter)