Chapter 533: Desperation

Countless number of appendages covered in electrical current swung around like whips everywhere.

They had gathered so tightly that the sight of them gave all the onlookers goose bumps.

A more detailed observation revealed that the ‘thing’ was actually composed of many mechanical monsters; the tentacles covered the monsters’ bodies.

Those monsters were slightly larger than the average human was. Its torso was extremely thin. However, its entire body was filled with long tentacles that snapped around like whips. Electrical currents could be seen flowing through them. As for its head, it was filled with suckers. Each of those suckers was as big as a bowl. They opened wide as they emitted waves of light.

Looking at this incoming wave of Electronic Guardians, the defenders saw that there were at least several hundreds of them.

The rate at which they were crawling forward was terribly quick. They moved faster than a normal running human and swarmed forward.

“Fight! For Zero City!”

Angel Wu’s mech raised its war blade into the air as he roared.

Behind the Angel Corps’ combat personnel was the defensive perimeter. Up above their heads were the Alpha carriers lining up toward the temporary passageway portal.

…

“Those are… … Electronic Guardians?” Chen Xiaolian observed the swarm of incoming mechanical monsters using a pair of binoculars.

“Yes.” Bluesea was at the back of one of the cannons. With a flick of both hands, he raised the cannon barrel and said, “Xiaolian, be careful. Do not let those things get near you. When they get close to anyone, they would release a special disruptive energy that disrupts machines. The top-grade mechs that Angel Wu and the others are using are equipped with anti-disruption energy shield from Zero City. However, there are only a small handful of these mechs available. We can only open fire at the Electronic Guardians with artillery from behind. Once they approach, then we will have no choice but to engage in a melee with them!”

After saying that, Bluesea suddenly grabbed Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder. Next, he turned and got Guan Shan to come over.

“The present situation is even worse that I had anticipated! Xiaolian, later… … I mean to say, if things are going badly, you… … leave here first! The teleportation portal is up in the sky. Considering your power, you should be able to jump up there and escape… …”

“You want me to escape first?”

“You are not someone from Zero City. You have no obligation to stay and be buried here with us.” Bluesea shook his head and looked at Guan Shan. “Remember, leave once the opportunity arises!”

“… … …sir.” Tears filled Guan Shan’s face.

“What are you crying for? I am not telling you to give up. You are a seedling of our Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild! Go, kid! Stop crying and go!”

Bluesea kicked Guan Shan before moving behind the turret cannon. The image of the target area within the battlefield quickly appeared on the screen and Bluesea pressed the fire button. Instantly, the cannon roared.

“Fire! Fire at them from afar to support Angel Wu! Blast those Electronic Guardians at the back! Stop them from advancing!”

…

Zero City’s defenders were wise in their method of engaging the enemy. The supporting long-ranged barrage from the defensive perimeter struck the central and back positions of the Electronic Guardians. The area covered by their barrage was around 50 metres away from where Angel Wu’s squad was engaging in a melee against the Electronic Guardians. The barrage intercepted the advancing Electronic Guardians, alleviating some of the pressure on Angel Wu’s squad.

The turrets blasted away and everyone in the entire defensive perimeter scrambled desperately.

All the War Bastions and turrets were set to fire, disregarding the amount of energy left on them.

Some combat personnel raised their own energy-tier weapons and opened fire.

When the blasts struck the incoming Electronic Guardians, they quickly reacted by raising their heads to release the formless waves of light from their suckers. The waves of light blocked off the incoming barrage. However, sounds of explosions could be heard as some Electronic Guardians failed to block off the blasts coming at them. The blasts struck them and flames burst out.

Even so, the ones at the front still managed to break through the suppressing barrage. Over tens of those octopus like monsters arrived before Angel Wu’s squad of mechs and engaged in a melee against them.

…

The first wave was about to make contact…

Phase Angel’s green coloured mechanical body quickly released waves after waves of green coloured light. The two high-powered discharge equipment on its shoulders burst forth with magical waves and the green coloured wind swept through their formation.

It was a very unique magic; one capable of identifying between friend and foe. Any Electronic Guardian to enter the area would suddenly be slowed down.

As the Electronic Guardians’ charge became slower, the mechs from the Angel squad unleashed their first wave of attacks.

The Force Angel, who was in the front most position, abruptly raised its left leg and stamped down the ground with it. With its body in a stepping forward posture, it then sent its large shield barrelling forward. The moment the shield made contact with several of the Electronic Guardians, flames and electrical currents erupted. However, the large shield’s energy shield quickly shone out.

After slamming down several of the Electronic Guardians, the Force Angel swung its flail forward. It smashed two Electronic Guardians, sending them flying.

Broken mechanical fragments were scattered in the air. The Force Angel’s shield became like a wall and it blocked the advance of the swarming Electronic Guardians.

One of the comparatively ordinary Angel Corps mechs standing in the vanguard position swiftly rushed forward to meet an Electronic Guardian in combat. Its war blade swung and cleaved apart the head of the Electronic Guardian. At the same time, it swung upward to hack the mechanical octopus coming from behind the first.

However, there were just too many of them. Two of the mechanical octopuses just attached themselves to the mech’s body and their tentacles quickly wrapped themselves around the mech’s limbs. As they did so, even more of the mechanical octopuses slid forward to wrap the mech’s legs.

The mech struggled to brandish its war blade and countless tentacles quickly fell to the ground. After hacking more than seven of those mechanical octopuses, the mech finally fell with a crash. Several mechanical octopuses had tightly wrapped themselves over the mech’s body.

The Electronic Guardians were very smart. The instant they managed to wrap themselves around the mech, their suckers would hastily release the waves of light. The outer surface of the mech rapidly collapsed. Although the mech possessed its own energy shield, once the level of absorption power exceeded a certain level, the energy shield would be broken.

This mech was the first to explode.

Strangely, after it exploded, the flames from the explosion quickly contracted. It was as though a certain force was pulling the flames as both the flames and the mech were instantly reduced to a small dot

Another Angel mech beside the fallen mech had its head latched onto by one of the mechanical octopuses. As it was swinging its war blade to get it off, “pew pew” sounds came from beside it as an energy gun fired out.

The Light Angel. Among all the True Angels, it had the smallest body size. It was even smaller than an individual mech. Its surface was silver in colour and its sleek appearance was similar to that of Nicole’s Floating Angel. Even in terms of abilities, it was slightly similar to that of the Floating Angel.

The Light Angel moved dextrously. Its marksmanship was second only to the Floating Angel. At present, the Light Angel was moving about within the chaotic battlefield and opening fire continuously with its energy-tier weapons. It was providing fire support for its allies. Whenever the mechanical octopuses successfully entangled one of its allies, it would quickly open fire to get rid of the octopuses.

The Light Angel held onto energy guns in both hands and its thrusters were operating at full power as it flew back and forth in the middle of the air.

Beams of light flashed instantly and its marksmanship was put on display as eight of those mechanical octopuses quickly fell.

The melee battle was becoming increasingly intense.

…

“This is a rare sight.”

Shen was standing on a high ground within the central square and he had a special pair of binoculars out as he observed what was happening in the distance.

He gave a gentle sigh.

The muscular driver, who was beside him, knitted his brows and said, “I have never seen this happen before… … those Electronic Guardians are too terrifying… … fighting one of them might be all right, but once their number increases and they swarm forward… …”

“The Angel Corps do have some ability.” Shen nodded his head as he suddenly put down the pair of binoculars.

“Sir… … you don’t want to keep watching?”

“Nothing to see here,” Shen suddenly said in a hushed tone. “After seeing something like this before, seeing it another time feels pointless… … sigh. The rabbit dies and the fox grieves… …” [1]

The muscular driver was stunned and he whispered, “Sir, you mean… … you have witnessed something like this before?”

Shen turned around to look at his new assistant and said coolly, “You are still young. You lack experience.”

“The Angel Corps… … is there hope for them?” the muscular driver suddenly asked. “Although we are on different factions… … if their enemies are those disgusting monsters, I suddenly hope that they can hold on longer. I don’t know why. I know that those Electronic Guardians are sent to help us, but when I see them, this feeling of distaste just bubbles up from my heart.”

“… … …” Shen cast a profound gaze at him before saying coolly, “The Angel Corps… … they will not be able to hold out for long. Electronic Guardians… … humph, those are created by the system specifically to deal with disobedient things.”

After a pause, Shen then muttered to himself. No one else could hear those words but himself.

“This is the limit for the Angel Corps… … once, there had been a group that was better than them, but in the end, they too failed to fight off these Electronic Guardians… … humph! Zero City? It is just another cycle.”

…

Angel Wu was in trouble.

The Phase Angel was still maintaining its Domain Check skill. Thanks to its existence, they were able to significantly reduce the movement speed of the mechanical octopuses. That was how the Angel squad could continue fighting off the mechanical octopuses for several minutes without falling.

However, the number of mechanical octopuses engaging them grew. More and more of them appeared near the Phase Angel. As for the Task Angel, who was in charge of defending the Phase Angel, it was already at its limit. It had taken down at least 30 of those mechanical octopuses. However, those victories came at a price. The black coloured mech was broken all over. That was especially true of its left shoulder and its left arm hung limply. Earlier, one of the Electronic Guardians had wrapped itself around its knees when it was moving on the ground. Although the Task Angel had swiftly hacked the entangling tentacles, they suddenly exploded, damaging its knees. Thus, it had lost a considerable degree of its mobility.

Another Electronic Guardian charged toward the Phase Angel – as it was activating its Domain Check skill, the Phase Angel was bereft of its combat abilities.

The Task Angel hastily charged forward, using its body to block off the incoming Electronic Guardian. However, by doing so, it was struck by the Electronic Guardian’s waves of light, which slammed it down to the ground.

Seeing even more Electronic Guardians crawling forward, Angel Wu extricated himself from the enemy before him and swung his war blade before the Task Angel, hacking several of the mechanical octopuses away. The Task Angel grabbed hold of Angel Wu’s blade and stood up.

Angel Wu, however, was in an even worst shape.

His Angel equipment had sustained heavy damage to begin with. At present, its combat capabilities had fallen severely. The way his mech swung its war blade was full of faults and it staggered as it moved. Its energy reserve was unable to keep up with the intensity of the battle and his energy shield grew extremely weak. After getting struck by the formless waves of light several times, the surface of Angel Wu’s mech was now covered by gouge marks. On areas where the energy shield was deficient, the steel plates were utterly ruined.

Angel Wu knew all too well that under such circumstances, his side would only be able to hold on for less than three minutes. As for himself, he might collapse at any moment.

Up in the sky behind him…

Was the line of aircrafts heading toward the teleportation portal and a stretch of darkness…

“Maybe… … this is the end… …” Angel Wu was filled with unwillingness as several more mechanical octopuses latched onto his mech. Next, his mech suddenly collapsed as even more mechanical suckers latched onto the surface of his mech. Angel Wu could practically hear his mech wailing… …

“I am sorry… .. I, have already given my all… …” Angel Wu sighed to himself.

Suddenly, he saw light.

Golden light.

…

1 The rabbit dies and the fox grieves. An idiom meaning: Feeling sorrow for the loss of an ally. Story: Once upon a time a rabbit and a fox allied together to fight against a hunter. However, the rabbit ended up dying and the fox grieved for the rabbit.↩