Steel Beast

 is the fourty-third offline mission and the fourty-sixth online mission in Earth Defense Force 2025 and the fourty-fifth offline mission and the fourty-eighth online mission in Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair.

Objective
2025: Earth Eaters have appeared over the city. Go and engage!

4.1: Earth Eaters have appeared over the city. Go forth and engage!

Storyline
Storm Team stands alone in front of a bridge in a city. HQ informs everyone again that the flying objects littering the skies are now called Earth Eaters, then orders all units to attack them.

Two of the Earth Eaters open and they drop two giant walking machines, which the Tactics Officer reports. One Soldier remarks that they are walking over the buildings and another jokes that "they wouldn't even flinch at bad roads." Truly monsters. Then two soldiers report that they have lasers in their legs. Storm Team fights off their own machines while more Earth Eaters descend.

When both are dead the TO warns about another wave and two more battle machines drop. HQ then names them Deroys and orders all units to attack the Deroys, while the TO confirms the reports about their laser legs. HQ then repeats what she said.

One more Deroy arrives as the last wave while the TO reports that the Earth Eaters are covering the skies all around the world causing drastic climate changes and that they started bombing the earth. HQ then notes that the EDF will have difficult time with their limited resources. Ohara, who still is panicking since the last mission, starts heralding the end of the world.

When the last Deroy is destroyed the mission ends.

4.1 Changes
More Deroys spawn during the mission. The Tokyo Tower copy is already destroyed at the beginning of the mission.

Allies
No allies on this mission.

2025
Bring weapons with high accuracy and range.

The mission starts out with a single Earth Eater opening its bay doors and releasing a Deroy. You may kill this Earth Eater if you like and cause it to drop a few power-ups, but it will be unnecessary as they are otherwise kept shut through the rest of the level. First, 2 Deroys deploy and you must face off against them at the same time. It is recommended to focus on one and then the other, although taking out their "knee lasers" is a very good strategy to keep yourself at least relatively safe. If you wish to farm power-ups, shoot out as many leg joints from them as you possibly can before downing one of the Deroys. Follow this up with the second Deroy in the same manner.

After a few seconds, a second wave of Deroys will deploy. Again, destroy their knee lasers as necessary and whittle each machine down. A third Deroy will spawn either when both are destroy or after a certain amount of time. Finish off this third one and the mission will end, so pick up all the power-ups you need first or you will miss out on collecting them.

4.1
This mission is mostly the same as before and the same tactics apply, however there's more Deroys dropping and some of the hatches open multiple times, so you might want to destroy them during the first wave to prevent another wave.

There are six Hangars placed in a half circle. Going from left to right, based on the direction you are facing when you spawn, they can be found:
 * 1) Behind the player to slightly to the left (8 o'clock) above the tallest skyscraper. It will only drop once during the second wave. You shouldn't bother with destroying it..
 * 2) 10 o'clock above the river it also only drops once during the second wave. Don't bother with it.
 * 3) 11 o'clock next to an Earth Eater Cannon, it drops during the first and third wave.
 * 4) 12 o'clock farthest from spawn you should directly look at it, drops two Deroys during the first wave and one during the third.
 * 5) 1 o'clock, drops during the first and third wave.
 * 6) 2 o'clock closest to the player above the park near the bridge, drops during the first and second wave.