Chapter 521: Filled With Smoke

Ding!

As Shen was facing his subordinate, he suddenly gave a frown.

The two of them had simultaneously received a prompt from their personal systems.

[System prompt: In 30 minutes’ time, Electronic Guardians will be entering the battlefield. They will be part of the Player faction. After the Electronic Guardians join in, the rewards for all Players would be cut in half. Please hurry and attack the target.]

After reading the prompt, Shen’s face took a deeply thoughtful look.

“Truly… … so impatient.”

…

The red bearded Captain Scola and the other Player Guild Leaders who were standing near the teleportation matrix had also received the same system prompt.

Everyone’s expressions turned odd.

The red bearded Scola’s eyes darted about. Seeing the odd expressions on everyone’s faces, he quickly shouted, “See? I was right! As I had predicted, the system is on our side! The Electronic Guardians will be joining this battle! Winning this battle becomes that much easier!”

“But… … our reward will be halved.”

One of the Player Guild Leaders spoke up.

“That is why we need to hurry!” The red bearded Captain Scola shouted, “Before the Electronic Guardians arrive, do everything we can to snatch as much loot and rewards! Gentlemen, let us move out!”

Three to five Player Guild Leaders with rather outstanding strengths were quickly selected from the newly formed alliance. Those Guild Leaders would act as the members of the executive committee for the alliance.

All of them were highly experienced Players. Thus, there were not too much disagreements in the arrangements for the battle. Everyone agreed that a battle like this required sending forward their most powerful members through the gate first. They needed to set up a forward position within the enemy grounds to secure a steady flow of reinforcements through the gate.

“For the first batch, we will need those with the most powerful defensive abilities.” Captain Scola looked at them.

…

All the Angel Corps’ combat personnel within the central square had reorganized their line of defence. Their weapons and equipment had been inspected again as well. Although they had only fought off seven waves and had not lost too much in terms of energy sources, it was only prudent for them to make use of this precious time to replace their power cartridges.

The Angel Corps’ combat personnel went so far as to bring out war supplies out from their tanks and placed them on the streets for the outsider Awakened ones who had chosen to participate in the defensive battle.

Tens of [B+] class protective suits, melee and ranged equipment, standard shields and others of the likes were distributed. There was also hundreds of healing type substances etc.

Some of the outsider Awakened ones took this opportunity to step forward and inquire about the situation. After all, Zero City suffering from an invasion was simply unheard of.

Unfortunately, most of the Angel Corps’ combat personnel in the front lines do not know much about the situation as well.

Then, the detection device placed in the front line suddenly gave a reading. The staff member in charge of the device quickly shouted, “Incoming teleportation!”

“Get ready! Prepare to fire!”

The officer in charge of the first defensive line bellowed.

Countless weapon muzzles were aimed at the teleportation matrix.

Could this be another probing type of attack wave? Just like the first seven?

The officer in charge thought to himself.

However… … when the green light faded, the officer in charge became crestfallen.

…

After the green light faded, they saw a colossal object within the central square.

It was truly colossal.

It rose up a good seven or eight floors high, had black coloured body and a layer of rough skin.

Its hind limbs were thick while its fore limbs were comparatively thinner. Its body stood upright and its large head pulled open its mouth. Next, a Heaven shaking and Earth moving roar echoed out.

Its long tail rapidly lashed out and a Thunderstorm Tank that was closest to it was immediately overturned by the swipe of the tail.

“Fire!”

Following the command given by the officer in charge, numerous energy beams shot forward.

The monster’s body immediately released a sphere of translucent, blue coloured light. The many beams striking its body became as rain drops striking the surface of a glass window, capable of only creating minor ripples.

The turrets from the Thunderstorm Tanks’ roared and the Sentinel mechs’ energy rifles blasted away at maximum power.

Standing amid the rain of beams, this Godzilla lookalike raised its head up and unleashed another roar. Next, it stepped forward and charged the Sentinel mech that was situated closest to it.

With a swipe of its seemingly slender forepaw, it swiftly caught a Sentinel mech up. With a grip, a cracking sound could be heard as the Sentinel mech burst like a crushed egg.

Thankfully, that was just a remote-controlled mech that had no pilot inside it.

The monster held strong against the countless energy beams fired at it and proceeded to charge the line of Sentinel mechs. In less than three seconds, it had destroyed a total of four Sentinel mechs.

“Fire everything! Don’t stop!”

The officer in charge of the first defensive line bellowed.

His command could be heard by every combat personnel through their earpieces.

The officer in charge then noticed that the translucent blue light on the monster’s body was steadily dimming. He felt relieved… … it had only been 15 seconds. As long as they could take down the energy shield, they would have the opportunity to destroy this monster within the one-minute limit.

However, at that very moment…

The abdominal and throat parts of the monster suddenly expanded.

Blue coloured light radiated from the surface of the monster’s abdominal and throat areas. Seeing that, the officer in charge’s face sank and he quickly shouted, “Energy shield! Full power!”

The tens of combat personnel quickly obeyed the commands. The very moment they activated the energy shield, causing a silver coloured light to flash out from the defensive line, the monster opened its jaws to unleash a large pillar of light.

The one to withstand the worst of this move was the remote-controlled Sentinel mechs in the very front. This attack instantly decimated them.

The blue pillar of light engulfed tens of Sentinel mechs in an instant and the sound of explosions rang out non-stop.

Next, the monster moved its neck and the blue pillar of light swept toward the defensive line of the Angel Corps. When that happened, the silver coloured energy shield blocked off the blue coloured pillar of light.

However, everyone there noticed how the silver coloured shield trembled for a moment under the attack.

This roaring blast from the monster lasted for around five to six seconds. Behind it, over 20 mechs were destroyed and four Thunderstorm Tanks had been trampled flat.

“Fire everything! Launch the energy-tier Flamedragon grenade!”

The officer in charge howled.

Two massive turret-like fortifications stood on the south street area behind them. Electrical charges flickered about before the thick turret muzzle before blasting out a fiery ray of light.

Boom!

A blue coloured blast shot out.

This was a kinetic grenade fired out using an electromagnetic-tier weapon.

However, when this grenade blast struck the monster’s body, it only managed to cause the translucent blue light protecting its body to flicker and to push the monster down the ground.

It failed to punch through the monster’s protective shield.

Instantly, the second volley of grenade blast was launched.

This one struck the monster squarely on its abdominal area.

This time however, the translucent blue light was no longer capable of blocking off the power of the electromagnetic turret’s blast. The blast directly punched its way through and a large wound appeared on the monster’s abdominal area.

Copious amounts of glowing blue coloured blood and organs flowed out from the wound.

The monster whimpered. After that, its body suddenly expanded.

“It is going to self-destruct! Energy shield at maximum! Hurry! Take cover!”

The officer in charge, who was inside his mech, quickly brought his mech into a crouching position. He also moved his mech’s limbs to minimize exposure.

Then, a canvass of blue spread out across the central square.

In that instant, the blue colour seemingly encompassed the entire area.

…

Inside a mech positioned beside the Board of Patriarchs’ building, Angel Wu, who was monitoring the situation through his mech’s monitor screen, watched as his screen suddenly flickered and was filled with the same blue colour. Even after a few seconds had passed, no other image could come through.

…

Nothing could stand before the might of the blue light. The scrap pieces of remnant metals, the destroyed tanks and wreckages that were lying inside the central square were all blown away.

That was especially true for the west side of the central square as the Angel Corps’ defences were only set up on the east side.

The Sea of Love, which was in that direction, was utterly destroyed by the blue light.

The extreme heat incinerated the sands on the beach. First, the heat transformed the sands into crystal like liquid before sweeping them up together with the waves. After that, it became mists that rose up to the sky.

After the sand and stones were blown away, the Sea of Love was utterly transformed into a stretch of ruins.

As for the east side, where the defensive line was set up, the energy shield was activated and the silver coloured light blocked the explosive blue light. A few seconds later, the tens of shielding equipment behind the defensive line began blowing up in succession.

Clearly, the power of the explosion was beyond the limit of what the energy shield could withstand. In just a few seconds’ time, over 10 shielding equipment had exploded and the sounds of their explosions rang out like firecrackers.

The mechs began generating their own personal shields.

This explosive blue light lasted for a good 10 seconds.

When the blue light finally disappeared, the officer in charge brought his mech up from the ground and checked the timer on the detection device… …

There on the surface of the device: 66 seconds.

They had exceeded the one-minute time limit.

When the officer in charge raised his head, what he saw made his scalp tingle.

In the middle of the central square where the huge teleportation matrix lay, the monster’s corpse was like a mountain. It lay to the side. However, tens of monsters of relatively smaller size had appeared on the teleportation matrix.

Although each of them were relatively smaller, around three to four storeys high… … there were tens of them.

The monster had withstood their barrage for over a minute, allowing reinforcements to arrive.

“Fire! Fire at will! Fire everything! Kill! Kill! Kill them all!”

The officer in charge shouted. Then, he turned to check his side.

Beside him were two silver coloured mechs. Piloting those two were his two most capable assistants – himself included, the three of them were among the First Rank combat personnel from the Angel Corps.

They were different compared to the ordinary combat personnel from the Angel Corps. Only those of the First Rank or above could qualify to be part of the main powerhouses of the Angel Corps.

Only First Rank combat personnel would have the qualifications to be sent out for field missions outside Zero City.

Even within the Angel Corps, experts like these were limited in numbers.

Among the members of the Angel Corps, there were only slightly over 10 combat personnel who could be categorized as extraordinary – these personnel were given the title ‘Angel’. For example, Floating Angel, Tiger Angel, etc.

The First Rank combat personnel were second only to Nicole’s group.

The officer in charge watched as the tens of monsters run rampant within the central square.

The several combat aircrafts that were hovering up in the sky fired grenades down at the monsters. However, one of the monsters caught the grenade and threw it back up. An explosion rang out in the sky and the destroyed aircraft came crashing down. It ended up crashing down on a Thunderstorm Tank and a mech.

The Angel Corps members inside the Thunderstorm Tank cried out in misery and attempted to extricate themselves from the tank. However, they failed and were burned to crisp.

Some of the monsters had already charged into the defensive formation. Their large bodies gave them an advantage, allowing them to easily knock over the tanks and kick the mechs away. Two manned mechs were forced to give up on their long-ranged weapons as they wielded the mech’s Beam Blade to engage the monsters in a melee battle.

Two monsters were cleaved down on the spot. At the same time however, two mechs were also torn apart.

The officer in charge watched as a manned mech was torn apart, pilot still inside, before being tossed away.

His eyes became bloodshot.

“Let us move out! Hack them to pieces!”

The officer in charge had his mech pull out its Beam Blade. Next, his mech bent its knees and it shot into the air, charging straight into the central square’s battlefield.

With a slash of his Beam Blade, he cleaved one of the monsters neck.

The officer in charge could sense that the monster’s energy shield had blocked off a part of the Beam Blade’s power. However, it would appear that these lesser monsters were much weaker compared to the colossal one from earlier.

“Enter melee mode! Hack them to pieces!”

The officer in charge roared loudly as his Beam Blade stabbed into another monster’s abdominal area. However, the monster suddenly radiated blue coloured light as it got ready to self-destruct. The officer instantly activated his mech’s defensive shield. As expected, the monster exploded with a blue coloured light. The shockwave of the explosion sent the officer’s mech tens of metres behind. Despite that, his mech’s legs remained steady as it stood its ground.

With a backhanded move, he grabbed a tank turret off the ground and shoved it into the mouth of a monster that was attempting to ambush him.

Behind him, his two First Rank assistants were manning their own mechs as well as they fought. The three of them quickly formed a triangular formation and they engaged up to five monsters.

Time ticked away…

This minute was about to end once more.

“Kill! Kill them all!”

Boom!

The officer fiercely thrust his Beam Blade into a monster’s abdomen. However, just before dying, the monster bit down on his mech’s arm. In the middle of the struggle, the officer suddenly felt his mech shuddering.

Another monster had barrelled over from the side, sending him flying.

His mech’s limb was torn off as a result.

With its arm torn off, large amounts of lubricating oil and electrical sparks poured out from the hole on the mech.

The mech fell heavily upon the ground, but the officer was quick to pull out the mech’s energy gun with its other working arm. Using the gun, he fired repeatedly at the monster that was charging at him.

Bang! Bang! Bang…

Six beams of light were fired out in succession. When the monster was less than three metres away from the officer’s mech, the monster’s energy shield finally broke down and the beam punched through its head. After that, it fell to the ground.

“… phew!” The officer in charge breathed a sigh of relief. There was this feeling of having survived a calamity.

At that very moment however, a sharp and anxious voice rang out from his earpiece.

“Chief! Dodge!”

Mm?

The officer raised his head only to see blackness on his screen…

Boom!

Darkness claimed him.

…

Their one minute of melee battle had come to an end.

In the final second, a dark, colossal figure appeared through the teleportation matrix once more.

A large steel foot stepped down on the damaged mech of the officer.

It flattened the mech into scrap metal.

A colossal mech had appeared through the teleportation matrix.

It was at least 20 metres tall, a truly large-scale mech.

After appearing, the first step this colossal mech took unexpectedly crushed the officer in charge, who was inside the damaged mech.

The death of the officer in charge of the first line of defence, the fact that they were now in the melee stage of defending the frontline and the emergence of the colossal mech declared something…

The first defensive line in the central square… had fallen!

…

There was a terrifyingly grim expression on Angel Wu’s face. He moved his mech, bringing it up from the ground.

Its large body strode toward the south street.

“What do you think you are doing?”

Bluesea stood in the middle of the street.

“My men are fighting. They are bleeding, and dying.” Angel Wu’s voice rang out through the mech’s speakers. “Am I to just sit here and watch?”

“You knew from the start that those sent to the central square would die.” Bluesea’s voice seemed devoid of emotion and he continued, “Could it be you have just realized this?”

“… … …” Angel Wu gnashed his teeth.

“Stay and get ready for battle. The coming battles would certainly be more miserable.” Bluesea revealed a mournful smile. “It is likely that we would all die soon, but we should prepare ourselves and do our utmost so that our last stand would shine spectacularly.”

At that very moment…

Boom!

A loud explosion reverberated through the place as a mushroom cloud rose above the central square.

Zero City’s various explosive-proof energy shields that were set up along the south street automatically activated. Layer after layer, they shone as they blocked off the power behind the explosion. However, the explosion was still capable of flattening the area – up to tens of metres – closest to the central square.

A high number of mech pilots in the vicinity of the central square was killed off. Tanks were decimated, mechs destroyed and combat aircrafts brought down.

At that very moment, Zero City… …

Was filled with smoke.

…

The green coloured light swept across the teleportation matrix.

Tanks of a relatively smaller size appeared on the teleportation matrix.

Additionally, there were also over 20 figures in protective suits.

Through the use of the colossal mech as their meat shield, the invaders had successfully sent in their vanguard forces.