Chapter 919: Chapter 919: Who Is Ambushing Whom?
The crackling gunfire erupted in an instant, with bullets soaring through the air like a swarm of locusts, startling the players standing by the convoy.
No one expected the Southern Legion to have such tricks up their sleeves, managing to assemble an army right under their noses!
However, the only effect these guys had was merely to startle them.
Hearing the clanging sounds, I Max Black took heavy steps to swiftly dodge and hide behind the off-road vehicle.
His heart was pounding hard while he was still in the car, and indeed these guys were lying in ambush ahead.
Thanks to the bonus from his high perception attribute, he sensed the threat in advance.
So, the group didn’t march straight into the enemy’s ambush circle but stopped at the edge of it.
The opposite side clearly didn’t anticipate their sudden brake, and the Looter forces hidden at the edge of the abandoned town hadn’t fully opened fire yet.
Nevertheless, the firepower net formed by hundreds of people firing simultaneously was fierce enough.
"Damn! This bunch of bastards has quite the firepower!"
I Max Black was startled and didn’t dare to stick his head out while hiding behind the truck.
The other players who came along with him, however, were excitedly yelling.
Half of them were newbies, and the other half were veterans in the legion.
But perhaps out of pent-up tension, even the old guys were shouting aloud.
"Prepare for battle!"
"Let’s do it, brothers!"
The battle erupted in an instant!
However, Wyatt, hiding from a distance, felt more and more that something was off.
Especially when he saw that the blue "power armor" was scared into hiding behind the off-road vehicle, while a group of Guards Corps pressed forward, abandoning the Manager. A strong sense of discord filled his heart.
Is this guy really a Manager?
Although it seemed reasonable, it felt problematic in many senses.
"Hahaha! Try this!"
A strength-type player with the group excitedly shouted as he retrieved a heavy machine gun from the off-road vehicle’s trunk, chambering it with a click.
The 30-kilogram heavy-hitting gun in his hands was like a chick. Holding the barrel with his left hand, he pressed the stock against the exoskeleton shoulder plate.
Aim the 20mm muzzle at a low wall 300 meters away, without a word he pulled the trigger, the tracer rounds spearing towards the Looters hiding by the low wall like javelins.
The fierce firepower quickly overwhelmed the other side, reducing several Looters and the wall to pieces.
Blood mist and rubble scattered in the air, the thunderous boom making people feel the world spinning.
The bloody scene sent chills down everyone’s spine around.
No wonder they’re from the Guards Corps!
The rumor is that the Guards are the Manager’s ace troops, and seeing them today, they truly are remarkable!
Yet the Looters were just briefly intimidated by the scene.
No matter how fierce these guys were, they were just about thirty people, not even forming a full hundred-man squad!
Watching the lackeys whose morale shook, the leading Thousands of leaders clenched his teeth and shouted to the nearby Centurions.
"Hold steady! They’re only about thirty! We outnumber them by hundreds! Even if each spits once, we’ll drown them!"
He then grabbed a Centurion by the collar, spraying him with spittle as he spoke.
"Old Six, lead about a hundred brothers around their side! Bring the rocket launchers too!"
"Got it!"
The Centurion yelled, ducking through the chaotic battlefield, shouting at the hesitating lackeys squatting in front of a house.
"Don’t just damn dawdle here! Get up with me, any more delay and the Alliance’s reinforcements will arrive!"
Though fearful, the glaring exaggerated eyes ultimately pushed the men to grit their teeth and follow him.
They rounded to the west side of the abandoned town, attempting to use the trees for cover, and circled towards the convoy’s rear to launch a surprise attack.
It’s fair to say it was a decent plan, but they picked the wrong opponent.
Over a hundred lackeys flooded out of the town, and as they entered the woods, they ran face-first into a line of armor exuding an icy aura.
Unlike sharing ten exoskeletons among a hundred of them, each of these foes had a "big piece" for themselves, with a few even wearing "Xiaguang" power armor.
Yet it wasn’t just these gears that were intimidating; it was the aura these warriors emitted.
These guys were battle-hardened veterans!
Just meeting the gaze of one power armor wearer sent a chill up Old Six the Centurion’s spine.
It’s the Storm Corps!
But why?!
Meanwhile, facing the Looters who delivered themselves to their doorstep, Kakarot, leading the squad, displayed a sinister grin.
"Damn, after guarding home for so long, finally a chance to stretch my legs—"
Before he could finish, a crisp "clang" sounded from his breastplate.
A Looter had shot him, but hitting the ceramic steel breastplate of his power armor didn’t even leave a dent.
Seeing the clueless one interrupting him, Kakarot immediately drew a short javelin from behind and hurled it viciously at him.
"Whoosh—!"
The piercing sound tore through the woods!
With the dual bonuses of strength attributes and power armor, the javelin shot like lightning, pinning the Looter who fired back to a tree, causing the thick branch to sway.
The brutal means intimidated all the Looters, and several couldn’t help but show fear, instinctively retreating a few steps.
However, there was also a gutsy fellow who steadfastly set up the rocket launcher in his hand.
But before he could fire, a transparent dagger slit his throat.
Transparent ripples dispersed in the air, and a player in an exoskeleton appeared beside him like a ghost.
With a splat, blood spurted into the sky, and the redirected rocket launcher shot straight into the crowd, catching several Looters off guard and blowing them away.
"Damn it... Using a high-explosive bomb on power armor, what were you thinking, man."
Return to soil & Rest in peace clicked his tongue, quickly activated the optical camouflage, and transformed into a transparent ghost moving towards the Looters around him, who were showing expressions of terror.
Meanwhile, the sound of gunfire like a torrential storm erupted in the woods.
The battle erupted instantly!
And quickly reached a fever pitch!
Faced with an entire company of the Storm Corps, the mere hundred Looters were absolutely no match, and the entire battle was a one-sided slaughter!
"Stop them!!"
Seeing that victory was hopeless, the Centurion named Old Six shouted in panic and started running in the opposite direction of the battlefield.
However, he hadn’t taken two steps when a piercing sound traversed the air and went through his neck, leaving him hanging on a tree.
Stepping meteorically to his back, "Kakarot" reached out to pull out the blood-stained short spear, casually tossed it behind him, and fluidly took down the short-barreled submachine gun hanging on his power armor.
The nearby Looters looked at him with fear, their legs feeling as if they had been filled with lead.
Knowing they couldn’t escape, they turned their fear into reckless roars and screams, brandishing their weapons and charging forward.
But in just a few breaths, the bullets pinned them to the ground.
After emptying his clip, "Kakarot" reloaded the magazine, glanced at the bodies littering the ground, his eyes devoid of the slightest pity.
These scoundrels have all stained their hands with the blood of survivors, they are no longer worthy of being called humans, even more detestable than the Variants in the jungle.
Cocking the submachine gun in his hand again, looking at the remaining dozen or so Looters, he said coldly.
"Leave no one alive!"
...
At the same time, Claw, commanding from within the abandoned town, heard the gunshots coming from the nearby woods.
Before he could gather his wits, a howling shell crashed onto the roof of a nearby abandoned building.
"Boom——!!!"
The deafening explosion shattered the house’s windows, causing everyone inside to duck in panic.
"Damn it——why are there still shells?!"
A Looter with modified implants exclaimed in shock, the arrogance on his face replaced by doubt and uncertainty.
Claw was the same.
The deafening noise bewildered him completely.
Wasn’t this supposed to be an ambush?!
Why are they bringing out shells, it feels like we’re facing the Regular Army!
Before he could react, shell after shell exploded around him, scorching shrapnel slicing through the air with black smoke, the communication channel filled with chaotic shouting.
"It’s mortars!"
"Seems like it’s coming from the west!"
"No—! Wait, there’s movement from the east too!"
The entire command channel was in turmoil, even though they hadn’t been hit by EMP weapons.
Apparently, the other side disdained using such high-tech weapons.
Or perhaps they thought keeping their radio communications intact would only accelerate their chaos and amplify their fear...
Unable to control his subordinates, Claw cursed in panic and confusion.
"Damn it... what the hell are the Southern Legion fools doing! Where the hell is their heavy weaponry! Why haven’t they used it yet!"
The guy named Wyatt promised him, saying they had a trump card in this town, just a button press away from turning the opponents to ashes in an instant.
Seeing his subordinates suffer continuous casualties, while the allies remained inactive, Claw couldn’t help but curse inwardly.
Are those guys planning to keep that trump card hidden like a secret egg?!
Just then, a Looter staggered in from outside.
Claw instinctively drew his revolver and aimed at his head, only lifting the barrel upon seeing it was one of his own.
The man fell to his knees with a thud, looking terribly disheveled, wailing incoherently.
"Boss! Their firepower is too overwhelming! The brothers can’t hold out anymore!"
Listening to the thudding shell sounds outside, Claw looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
"Impossible! They only have twenty to thirty men in total! You have two to three thousand, how can you not contain them?!"
"But, but..." The Looter was so anxious he was scratching his head, struggling to find an explanation.
These guys seem to have three heads and six arms, moving so fast they leave only shadows, as sharp-eyed as Eagles.
Although the Southern Legion also provided them with some exoskeletons, since they’ve only recently made the switch, it hasn’t fundamentally changed their combat power.
The ongoing casualties among allies have especially shaken their will to continue fighting.
At the end of the day, they are just a bunch of bandits, far behind a Regular Army in both organization and training.
Three thousand might sound like a lot, but if they can’t properly deploy on the battlefield, they’re no better than three hundred.
Each person spits once?
They’d need the chance to spit first.
At this moment, Claw didn’t even know that the two teams he sent out to flank had already been wiped out halfway by the Storm Corps.
In less than half a minute, yet another Looter ran in from outside, panic-stricken, and shouted.
"Boss! To our west! A team suddenly came out of nowhere! From the gunfire, there must be several thousand of them!"
Upon hearing this, Claw almost spat out a mouthful of blood, wishing he could crack open that guy’s head to see what kind of rubbish was inside.
"That’s bullshit! Where are there thousands of people! The entire No.10 settlement is only 2,000 people. Can they create people out of thin air?!"
The Looter’s face turned pale, stammering and unable to speak.
Maybe there weren’t as many as several thousand, but there were definitely a few hundred.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many brothers being chased back by gunfire.
However, before he could explain, a panicked shout, mixed with gunfire and artillery, rushed inside.
"Boss! The Alliance people... Damn, they are charging at us!"
Claw’s face completely changed, and he walked outside in big strides, ignoring the roaring artillery outside.
Just then, a mortar shell landed not far away, making him stagger and almost fall.
At this moment, he couldn’t care less about cursing, hurriedly rushing to the east side of the town.
It was at this instant that he happened to glimpse a power armor standing on the crooked street.
Around that person lay about seventeen or eighteen corpses, the ruins around them covered in a bloodied mess.
Fear flickered in Claw’s eyes.
Only now did he realize what kind of adversaries he was up against.
This scene didn’t look like they had been ambushed at all.
Instead, it seemed like they were more like prey being stalked by beasts...
At this moment, "Kakarot" didn’t know that the leader of these Looters was watching him, much less the psychological drama going on with that guy.
Pulling a short spear out of a scrapped heavy exoskeleton, he shook the blood and fragments of bullet-proof armor off the spear, and facing the panic-stricken Looters, burst out laughing heartily.
"Hahaha! Damn, this feels great!"
...
It had been a long while since they had fought such a hearty battle, and the Storm Corps players charging into the abandoned town were like tigers among wolves, swiftly racking up kills.
Seeing the opposing fire weakening, which couldn’t even be called perfunctory in the end, the thirty or so acting as bait couldn’t hold their cover any longer, tearing off the disguise of "ambushed" and dashed towards the town 300 meters ahead.
Watching the players leaving cover and rushing forward, I Max Black hurriedly shouted.
"Damn, you guys cover me!"
Before the words were out, he was rebuffed immediately.
"Cover your ass! Just do your job as bait, stay here, and don’t move."
"All in, all in!"
"Long live the Manager!!!"
"You should speak in United Human language, or else they won’t understand your screaming!"
"Whatever!"
"Aawooo!!"
Evidently, this bunch of bastards didn’t respect him like a Manager at all.
Seeing everyone abandon him to rush forward, I Max Black was left with no choice but to come out from behind cover and charge ahead after them, half-laughing and half-crying.
It wasn’t that he was worried about being left alone.
It was mainly because he was afraid that by the time the fight was over, he wouldn’t even have a single kill to his name, which would be too embarrassing.
Unfortunately, as a player with perception attributes, trying to use strength to support nearly a ton of exoskeleton was a bit too much, and relying entirely on the overburdened motor to catch up with the other players was not very realistic at all.
By the time he finally reached the abandoned town, the battle at the south side had basically ended.
The ground by the destroyed shanties and enclosing wall was littered with the corpses of Looters.
The scene, with its bloody carnage, was like hell itself!
Seeing the battlefield that no longer required him to do anything, I Max Black sighed and found a stone block to sit on.
"Damn! They didn’t even leave me a sip of soup."
For a moment, he suddenly understood the feeling of the Manager.
A long time ago, that guy used to charge with them.
But at some point, they had developed to the stage where he no longer needed to intervene personally.
And rather than him intervening personally, they did indeed prefer him staying safely behind.
After all, that guy couldn’t be revived like them, and the penalty for his death was so severe that none of them could afford it...
In this light, it did seem quite lonely, having immense strength but no avenue to use it.
But then again, I Max Black thought, that guy wasn’t a player; his mindset might not be the same as theirs.
For all anyone knows, he might actually enjoy his life behind the scenes too.
That’s one way to look at it.
The distant sound of gunfire had gradually faded.
With more than half the losses, the Looters finally gave up resisting, abandoning their positions one after another and escaping towards the outskirts of town.
But this would do little more than delay their deaths.
To this point, the Storm Corps had only deployed two companies of troops; the remaining three companies were waiting on the escapees’ inevitable route.
According to the plan, Springs, ambushed along the road, would take down a portion of them and then track the footsteps of the remaining ones back to their base, where they’d eliminate them all at once.
I Max Black brushed off the dust from his armor, preparing to move forward and join his teammates.
Then, suddenly, a sense of danger crawled up his spine and reached the back of his head.
In that instant, a silhouette shot towards him like a cannonball.
Instinctively sensing the threat, I Max Black almost instinctively turned around, immediately meeting the sharp claws aimed at his face with a punch.
"Clang!"
The sound of metal clashing rang out, followed by I Max Black catching sight of a vicious face.
The person had a pair of sharp claws embedded in his arms, seemingly made of titanium alloy, which managed to chip his fist with two gaps.
Not only that, it seemed that the guy’s legs had also been modified, as the explosive power and speed were clearly beyond a normal person’s level.
Having failed the first strike, Claw used the recoil to flip in the air and landed firmly on the ground.
Reassuming an offensive posture, he stared intently at the Azure Power Armor, his tired eyes resembling a viper’s forked tongue.
Seeing that this guy wasn’t continuing his attack, I Max Black stood casually on the spot, waiting for him to make his next move.
It’s not that he didn’t want to take action himself; it was just that this iron lump was too damn heavy, and moving was too much of a hassle unless necessary.
After staring at the "Manager" for a while without finding a flaw, Claw let out a chilling laugh.
"Not bad skills..."
"Same to you."
"Hehe, I thought you pampered types were all cowards on the battlefield, but I didn’t expect you to have some tricks."
I Max Black wanted to shrug, but his shoulder pads didn’t move an inch, so he gave up.
"That’s because you haven’t seen me in action on the battlefield."
"Oh really?" Claw squinted his eyes, scrutinizing his prey before him, then suddenly smiled, "Your underlings are strong, but what you shouldn’t have done was give me the chance to face you alone."
Seeing that his words were unusually verbose, I Max Black couldn’t help but yawn.
"And so? Now that you’ve seen me, what can you do?"
As I Max Black yawned, Claw’s pupils suddenly constricted.
Finally capturing that fleeting flaw!
His legs surged with power, exploding with terrifying strength, even cracking the concrete beneath his feet!
Those sharp claws turned into a mere blur, darting towards I Max Black like an arrow from a crossbow.
"Die!" He shouted excitedly, using every ounce of his strength to thrust his most potent strike at the person’s throat.
From now on, he would become a legend among the Looters, worshiped by all Looters in this land!
He would personally decapitate the Alliance Manager!
But at that moment, a massive fist smashed towards his face like an iron hammer.
Claw was suddenly shocked, hurriedly raising his arms to defend, but they were firmly seized by the hand reaching for his face, catching the pair of titanium alloy claws.
The tough blade emitted a distressing hum under the heavy burden, but I Max Black finally breathed a sigh of relief as he gained control over his opponent.
Strength and reflexes were not his strong suits, but fortunately, this exoskeleton delivered somewhat, using scarce remaining power to drive the motors into overload, predicting the opponent’s next move and blocking this deadly blow.
The blade embedded deeply into the steel armor, but this made the titanium alloy claws even harder to break free from.
Gazing at the Looter showing a terrified expression, I Max Black suddenly had a mischievous glint in his eye and a wicked smile on his face.
"Want to hear a secret?"
Without waiting for a reply, he unveiled the visor of his helmet.
"I’m not actually the Manager."
Seeing that face, Claw was completely stunned, as if electrocuted.
Not... the Manager?
Then what was the point of staying up all night here in ambush?!
Before he could recover, a compact javelin "whoosh" flew from the side, piercing into his humerus.
The titanium alloy components instantly shattered, leaving him only enough time to let out a pained howl before the ceramic-steel spearhead savagely severed his arm and continued to pierce into his rib.
Sparks exploded immediately, with Claw, speared clean through, dying instantly, collapsing before I Max Black.
"Damn... stealing the kill." I Max Black closed the visor of his helmet, tossed aside the titanium alloy claw in his grip, and flipped a middle finger at Kakarot not far away.
The latter chuckled, teasingly remarked.
"Wasn’t I worried you couldn’t handle him."
I Max Black rolled his eyes, unwilling to argue further.
"What about the nuclear bomb? Is it really there?"
Kakarot walked over, pulled the javelin out from the corpse, and put it back into the gun bag behind.
"We’ve already found it, right in the town center, but the opposition has already activated the nuclear bomb, setting it to explode in one hour."
Clearly, the opposition was planning to detonate the nuclear bomb while they were clearing the battlefield.
This hour was likely intended as their escape window.
However, the Southern Legion was unaware that the Guards Corps had been monitoring their actions for a long time and had already learned of this trump card in advance.
Planning to scare the Alliance with the nuclear bomb,
I Max Black’s expression turned serious.
"Can it be dismantled?"
"Hardly, we’ve pretty much given up," Kakarot shrugged, but then switched the tone, smiling and saying, "Besides, why dismantle it?"
"Since there’s still an hour, and we’ve roughly determined the coordinates of their lair, why not load it onto the Viper transport plane and send that thing back to their lair?"