The Legendary Mechanic, page 74
Both sides were ready for the battle. The only question here was: who was more prepared?
“Enemies will soon reactivate their radars. We don’t have much time left; we need to launch attacks now!”
Ugar commanded in a dead serious tone, “Bomb-detecting team, you go first!”
With the vehicles carrying portable bomb-detectors leading the way, the Germinal troops were able to quickly detect where Stardragon had planted bombs and detonate them with their machine gun. Germinal was steadily and safely advancing.
This time, when the anti-radar equipment discovered signals from Stardragon’s radars, it was unable to destroy the radars as Stardragon’s radar would switch off before anything could be done to it. Ugar knew that the real fight would be starting soon.
The helicopters’ rotors were roaring as they flew close to the ground. The Germinal troops had to advance against the merciless firing.
Among the flames and explosions, Ugar commanded in fury, “Fire the graphite missiles!”
A handful of graphite missiles soared through the air, landing among the helicopters. Graphite missiles could cause local short-circuit, hitting the helicopter squad hard, causing many to malfunction. The enemy firepower was reduced significantly.
“Mihawks, after your troop gets out from the jungle, lead the assault troops to fight the enemies head-on! Your task is very important; you have to distract the enemies!” Ugar spoke into the walkie talkie.
Mihawks was sitting in one of the transport vehicles, and he replied with a light grunt. Mihawks was extremely well-built, and he was a master of martial arts. His strategic task was to lead a few teams of elite fighters to assault the enemy camps with bombs. His agile combat style, coupled with bulletproof vest, allowed him to dive smoothly through the bullet storm.
Superhumans were mainly assigned to assault and assassinate on the battlefields.
At the Stardragon base, Huang Qiuming stared at the Germinal army expressionlessly as they trod through the jungle. “Artillery, get ready; armored vehicles, stand by; elite team, prepare to fight the enemy assault team!”
Stardragon’s elite team consisted of the strongest and the best soldiers, including Superhumans who were biologically equipped with skills to fight. Stardragon was very prepared for this battle.
This large-scale battle scene left the logistic team leaders—Sleepy Winter, Flash Fried Rice, and Rainy Kim—in awe. Judging from the intense atmosphere, hazy smoke, and deafening explosions, they knew that the battle was too high level for them to join in.
“Thought I was going to die when the missiles flew over just now.” Twinkle Fried Rice heaved a sigh of relief.
Sleepy Winter laughed bitterly. “Let’s just stick to delivering resources. No way we can handle any battle tasks.”
Rainy Kim’s expression was calm. With a hint of determination, she said, “I want to give it a shot.”
“We only have a few handguns, what can we do?”
“I want to try.”
“Forget it. If we go, we will just court our own deaths!”
“I. Want. To. Try.”
Sleepy Winter and Twinkle Fried Rice made eye contact and relented. “Okay, okay. You’re the boss; you are the prettiest. We’ll follow you. Let’s go together.”
Expressionless, Rainy Kim started walking right away after getting their agreement, and the other two could not do anything but keep up behind her.
…
It was a party of gunfire and explosions. Han Xiao slowly drove his car to the target location on the cliff, where he could see the grand fireworks in the distance in the jungle.
There were spider detectors hidden in the jungle. Some of them had been destroyed, but some lived and were loyally updating the battle situation for Han Xiao. Judging from their location, Germinal troops were going to get out of the jungle and into the open fields very soon.
In the distance, on the Tedramira River, explosions appeared on the surface of the water as well. Han Xiao took out his binoculars, and he could see that the Germinal ships were also getting attacked, and the attack was worse than the one they were facing in the valley.
Germinal ships had yet to reach the straits, and they were already getting bombed heavily by fighter jets. The missiles rained down like a storm, and the machine gun interceptor array would not stop even for a second. Huge fiery explosions lit up the night sky and seemed just like fireworks.
“It’s time to get ready.”
Han Xiao took out a few foldable battery ports, came up with a task with decent rewards, and issued it to Frenzied Sword.
Tasks like setting up traps and stuff were obviously for these fresh, young players.
As Frenzied Sword rushed off to set up the traps, Han Xiao took out a mechanical neck brace and wore it around the back of his neck. It was a soft layer made from unknown material. He turned it on, and a numbing electric shock started to spread from his neck to his brain. Han Xiao shivered slightly and felt adrenaline rush through his body.
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You have entered [Excitation] mode.
All attributes +5%
Duration: 20 minutes
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This machine was called [Electromagnetic Pulse Controller]. It was a special piece of equipment that used EM waves to adjust biological conditions and improve the user’s attributes. Han Xiao had gotten this blueprint from talent fusing by accident.
After getting ready, with all the needed attributes turned on, Han Xiao lay down with his Ghost sniper rifle in hand and the Red Falcon lying next to him. His eyes were sharp as eagles, and they were glued to the battlefield.
BOOM!
An area of trees was blown up. The Germinal troops had finally made it out of the forest.
“Come on, baby.”
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and aimed.
Chapter 138. A Wild Black Phantom (2) |
“Airstrike!”
Stardragon’s missile-carrying vehicles fired mercilessly at the Germinal troops. The missiles approached with high-pitched screeches, adding to the heavy atmosphere
Ugar did not panic; he commanded the troops to close up the gaps in their formation, with the vehicles carrying multi-barreled machine guns at the front, forming an assault formation. This reduced the area of target, and the machine guns destroyed all the missiles in the area in midair, forming a vacuum, allowing the troops to smoothly sail through the explosion waves.
Huang Qiuming paused.
He had just received news that the battle at Tedramira River was at a heated stage; the strategic team had primarily marked out a few locations where Germinal teams could have gathered. The strategic team advised him to change from the original plan to use Plan B. Huang Qiuming made some rearrangements and instructed the interception ring to leave a gap.
At the same time, Rainy Kim and the others made it to the front line. Large number of soldiers gathered with proper attire and equipment, armored vehicles had their engines running, and elite soldiers were standing by.
“How are we going to join in the fight?” Sleepy Winter asked helplessly.
Rainy Kim frowned and thought for a while before nodding. “I don’t know.”
Then why are you nodding‽ Sleepy Winter wanted to bang his head against the floor.
Twinkle Fried Rice suddenly pointed to the battlefield and shouted, “Someone is coming! Oh sh*t! It looks like a high-level player!”
The other two turned to look in the same direction. They watched as a buff man led a team of well-armed soldiers on heavy-armored motorbikes to separate from the main troop. They sped toward the Stardragon base while smoothly dodging all the bullets.
…
Mihawks dodged a series of attacks on his heavy-armored bike, but he inadvertently triggered a mine, and his bike was blown apart. He began to run, at a speed almost as fast as the motorbikes, through the bullets. His task was to deliver the bomb that he was carrying to the Stardragon base.
Superhumans usually fought in assault teams on the battlefields. Mihawks could see that the enemies had sent their elite teams toward them.
He concentrated expressionlessly and adjusted his inner energy to save up for later.
Suddenly, Mihawks instinctively felt that there was imminent danger, he reacted extremely quickly, pushed hard with his legs, and was going to change direction.
But he was not fast enough.
A bullet with blue light trailing behind it hit Mihawks’ neck from the side and caused a huge splatter of blood. He was critically injured. He groaned and spat out mouthfuls of blood. There was absolutely no cover on the fields; his only choice was to keep running forward, but his wound caused him to slow down significantly.
A combat fighter, who could fight through gunfire, had been critically injured by one shot!
Huang Qiuming was shocked.
“That was not us. Who’s the sniper‽”
He remembered the suspicious target that had been detected at the start and felt that this shot seems really familiar. He pondered for two seconds, and his eyes widened.
Only a monster sniper could critically damage a superhuman—the Black Phantom that only recently had become involved in underground activities.
Bullet with blue light, it must be him!
What is he doing here? Why help us?
“Commander, what do we do now?” the vice-captain asked.
Huang Qiuming considered and made up his mind decisively “He doesn’t look like enemy. Don’t care about him; focus on fighting Germinal.”
Usually, snipers’ skills would be of very limited use in this kind of battle, but when super snipers like Black Phantom came into the picture, it would be a completely different story.
The Stardragon did not know why Black Phantom was helping them, but needless to say, this helped them greatly!
…
Ugar was furious.
“One shot to critically injure Mihawks, that must be that damned Black Phantom! Not long ago, he got Freire’s team too. This monster must have joined the fight at Stardragon’s request!
Ugar felt immense pressure when he thought of Black Phantom’s kill statistics that had been circulating on the Dark Web. He had been crowned a ‘Superhuman killer’—way too dangerous. Even though Ugar was stronger than Mihawks, he did not want to have a taste of Black Phantom’s strength.
Mistaking Han Xiao for someone on Stardragon’s side, Ugar angrily commanded, “Team 3, locate and terminate the sniper. Take the test subjects with you; you must at least divert his attention away from us!”
One armored vehicle left the main troop and sped toward Han Xiao’s location.
…
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You have dealt 1,297 actual damage to Mihawks (LV 40)!
You have critically damaged Mihawks!
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Mihawks has entered a weakened state. All attributes have decrease 50% for 10 seconds.
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Wow, this guy is quite tanky. Han Xiao was surprised. This shot’s theoretical damage was 1,600. Taking combat fighters’ body attributes into consideration, it would be about 1,300. This had knocked out Bai Jin, who was LV 48, in one hit, but Mihawks was still up and running. Combat fighters are indeed very tanky.
This time [Flaming Will] was not too good; it only buffed his attack by 148%. His Ghost sniper rifle had been maxed out in all its attributes after the strengthening. None of the EXP earned had gone to waste. Han Xiao either saved the EXP or used it to level up skills, talents, and equipment, which were the key to having strong firepower!
After his first shot, Han Xiao activated a new task.
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[Tedramira River Warfare (Misc.)]: You have joined in the battle between Stardragon and the Germinal Organization. Since you have chosen your side, see what you can do for your allies.
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This was a class C mission. The player had to kill Germinal soldiers and prevent them from escaping. Reward would be based on task performance.
The reward EXP shouldn’t be less than three hundred thousand. Han Xiao was satisfied that he could earn EXP by being a busybody.
Han Xiao fired single shots at Mihawks, who could not escape the fate of being swallowed by the explosions and shots. His death was tragic.
This marked the end of a combat fighter who was even stronger than Pan Kuang.
Combat fighters are great in close quarters against few people, but if you want to deal with armies, even if it’s not technologically advanced, you must at least be half as strong as Bennett, Han Xiao thought to himself.
Combat fighting makes use of energy. Everyone wants to be a hero, and combat fighting allows fighters to dominate whenever and wherever, without the need of weapons.
However, even though this style of fighting is very strong, one must have gone through the necessary growth. C class marks this line, the level cap for players of in the 1.0 version.
…
The snipers had greatly weakened the assault team, which had been caught by the counter troops from Stardragon. The assault plan had barely started and was already failing terribly under Han Xiao’s intervention.
At this moment, he noticed that a troop had veered off from the Germinal main troop and was moving toward him. He changed his target and started firing using the Red Falcon sniper gun. Because Stardragon was also present, Han Xiao intentionally avoided using the high-explosive bullets.
A sniper rifle could only deal limited damage to armored cars, so Han Xiao activated the portable battery that had been set up beforehand.
Three hundred meters in front of the Germinal troop, four portable batteries transformed into small multi-barreled machine guns. They fired rapidly, and some of the armored vehicles exploded on the spot. The remaining soldiers had to spread out and launch counterattacks on the portable batteries.
Once the team spread out, the portable battery was a lot less effective because it had to rotate and aim instead of aiming at one spot.
The portable batteries did not have defensive mechanisms, even if Han Xiao used platinum as the surface material, and two out of four were blown to bits very quickly. Overall, the result was good. More than half of the vehicles were destroyed, and the enemies were significantly weakened.
At this moment, the troops did something that Han Xiao did not expect. The opened the rear of one of the armored vehicles. Three humanoids jumped out of the car and ran toward the portable batteries at a speed faster than car. They looked really strange, and Frenzied Sword was taken aback.
“What in the world are those things?” Frenzied Sword wanted to use detection on them but was informed that he was too far away.
The three humanoids were well-built and expressionless. There were large amounts of metallic joints and structures inside the arms, legs, and spinal regions. The metal was fixed into the bones at joints, such as in their knees and elbows. As they were running, the metallic joints would have blood seeping out. There was no doubt that every movement would inflict great pain, but the trio seemed emotionless as if they could not feel any pain.
Moreover, there was a layer of thin armor growing from the skin of the humanoids.
Han Xiao recognized the humanoids the second he saw them.
Chapter 139. A Wild Black Phantom (3) |
Germinal’s super soldier project has been brought forward a year?
Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.
This project was originally intended to create humanoids with battle potential. Through exoskeletons cybernetics, they improved test-subjects’ physical capabilities by experimentation. Through the pure strength of the technology, it supported their physical body, and as a result, warriors with the battle power of super-soldiers could be mass-produced.
However, the technology was still in its infancy. The process was very painful because the exoskeleton had to be directly connected to the nerves, and various mechanical parts had to be implanted into the body to strengthen the physique.
Only experimented Valkyrie specimens whose mental resilience was strengthened could withstand such modifications. At the end of it all, their sense of pain would fade away, and they would only move on instinct.
By the whole of Galaxy’s standards, it was a very undeveloped modification technique and had already been eliminated long ago. But on Aquamarine, the Germinal Organization was able to develop the technique further by neglecting the physical condition of the test-subjects.
The exoskeleton was not only a piece of equipment that could be worn externally, but it could also be infused as a part of the body. Doing so would connect one’s nerves to the armor, giving the person greater mobility. However, the Germinal Organization had yet to develop the technology to maturity. By experimentation, they only managed to develop to infant stages of the technology.
Aquamarine’s major players each held one or a few advanced skills, and [Nerve Integration] was an advancement knowledge that was in Germinal’s hands.
The advanced skill that Han Xiao had learned was only [Advanced Material Composition]. For the players on Aquamarine to obtain the advancement knowledge, they had to have a large contribution after entering the camp. Han Xiao set his sights to the very distant future. Advancement knowledge was very rare on Aquamarine, but in the long term, one could also spend some Aquamarine dollars to obtain it easily. If he were unable to obtain other advancement knowledge from Aquamarine, there would still be other opportunities to do so in the future.
In the original plan, these super soldiers had special effects, but the three experimental super soldiers before him were not yet complete. The bodies even had a large amount of heat armor equipped, and these three were only using the external exoskeletons to strengthen their physiques, which were also incomplete.
Looks like Germinal’s experimental project hasn’t matured yet. Exoskeletons… Come to think of it, when I was escaping the lab, I left a Lightweight Mechanical Arm behind. Seems like Germinal has been using it to experiment.
