Chapter 816

Chapter 816

It was a high-speed, close-combat type mutant. After it was captured alive, the bone blades growing from its body were broken off while its four limbs were tightly bound using a gel-like substance. The mutant was constantly attempting to break free, but no matter how hard it tried, it could not move a single bit.

Xia Xiaolei, on the other hand, looked as though he was about to vomit. However, he continued to hug it tightly.

Tens of tendrils had emerged from Xia Xiaolei’s body, their tips penetrating the mutant’s body. It made the whole scene even more bizarre.

There was anxiousness on Lun Tai’s face as well, but he said nothing to urge Xia Xiaolei, for fear of disrupting his concentration.

“Lun Tai! Hurry, look outside!” Roddy’s voice came from the guild channel.

Lun Tai strode forward. Arriving before one of the firing holes, he pushed a Player aside and looked outside.

Surprisingly, the mutants who had been surrounding the fortress to the point of overcrowding were retreating as fast as the ebb tide.

“This is...” Lun Tai looked at the open space around the fortress. There was not a hint of joy on his face. Instead, his brows furrowed tightly.

Since the very beginning, these mutants had shown not the tiniest bit of fear or cowardice.

Putting it in another way, they simply did not have a will of their own.

For something like this to happen now could only mean one thing.

This was a temporary retreat for an even more furious wave of attacks.

As expected, even before the mutants were done retreating, heavy footsteps could already be heard from the distance.

Like thunder, the sound of every footstep shook the whole world.

Practically everyone there stopped firing from shock. They instead stared blankly at the mountainous silhouettes coming from afar.

The biggest creature on land was the elephant.

And yet, the giant monsters making their way to the fortress could practically play with elephants like little kittens in the palm of their hands.

More importantly, there were more than one of them.

Every one of the giant beasts was nearly 20 metres tall and their bodies were covered with a thick organic carapace. When compared, their makeshift fortress could only reach their waist. Every step the giant beasts took could cause the ground to quake and throb.

On each of their left arms was a massive bone shield, which they used to firmly protect their front side. Their right arms, on the other hand, bulged unnaturally to form a thick hammer.

Although their advancing movement appeared sluggish, the outrageously massive stride of each step made it so they were not as slow as they appeared.

“Fire! Fire! Don’t you mother f**kers stop firing!”

A voice rang out and everyone there immediately gathered in the direction of the giant beasts. Picking up the heaviest weapons they could find, they aimed at the giant beasts and opened fire.

Nearly a hundred bullets and beams of light burst out simultaneously. That included even three arcs of light from the main turrets of the Thunderstorm Tanks.

After the explosions, smoke and flames had dissipated, however, the giant beasts continued to march forward, not stopping at all.

Unfortunately, the organic carapace covering the giant beasts’ bodies was probably over one metre thick. In the earlier salvo, attacks from small-calibre bullets were simply incapable of inflicting any damage to them. And while energy-type weapons and large-calibre bullets were able to pierce through some of the carapaces, in the face of such colossal bodies, the amount of damage they could inflict was very limited.

The best result came from the main turrets of the three Thunderstorm Tanks. However, even though every one of their attacks managed to pierce through the bone shields that the giant beasts were carrying, they could only leave a hole with a diameter of less than half a metre on their bodies.

Meanwhile, the giant beasts also possessed a frighteningly tenacious life force. Those wounds were completely incapable of affecting their mobility in the slightest.

“Not enough firepower! Don’t disperse your attacks! Concentrate fire! Concentrate fire!”

An Awakened roared. Bringing out a laser marker, he aimed it at the body of the frontmost giant beast. “Everyone, open fire on the same one! One at a time!”

“How is this possible?!”

Another Awakened who was beside him screamed like a mad man before dropping the gun in his hand and running to the back.

However, after taking just a few steps, he was stopped by Qimu Xi.

“Go back, fight!”

Qimu Xi cast a cold stare at him, the short sword in her hand had – at an unknown moment – appeared on his neck. An icy atmosphere made its way through his protective suit, causing goose bumps to rise up all around his neck.

“We... we can’t win! We won’t survive!” The Awakened had begun rambling incoherently.

Once again, a giant flower of blood blossomed from amidst the group of giant beasts.

But their rate of advance did not change.

“Xia Xiaolei, Xia Xiaolei, Xia Xiaolei! Are you not done yet?”

Lun Tai gripped his fists. He could no longer worry about his actions being disruptive and he whispered urgently at Xia Xiaolei, who was behind him.

“Their genetic makeup... is too complicated and messy...” Xia Xiaolei’s body quivered, his eyes still closed. “Give me a bit more time, just a bit...”

The mutant that Xia Xiaolei was holding was also quivering at the same frequency as Xia Xiaolei. It was no longer struggling furiously as it was before.

The tendrils piercing its body had seemingly gone deeper as well.

Outside, the sound of cannon fire rang out again and again. However, the interval between each cannon fire would grow with each attack.

Lun Tai knew that Bei Tai would not be able to hold on for much longer.

“Roddy, after another 30 seconds, use Gundam.”

Lun Tai gritted his teeth and said grimly through their guild channel.

By now, there was no longer any room for them to hide their trump card.

Their last resort would be to give up on the people here. Have Roddy use the Gundam to ensure the Tidal Fighter’s safety as it took off and rush straight towards the given coordinates.

Even though there was a high number of flying-type mutants in the sky, they were not a big issue for the Gundam’s formidable combat power.

By doing so, they would no longer have these Awakened ones and Players with them during the final battle with Aderick. The Gundam use time would also be used up. However, they could not simply die here with these cannon fodder.

Yes, cannon fodder.

Lun Tai was not Chen Xiaolian. For him, there was no such thing as ‘Since I have saved you, I would do my best to take responsibility for you all until the end’.

He had chosen to gather up all the participants in Griffith Park and head towards the given coordinates together. All that was just to have these fellows fight at the forefront while he looked for an opportunity to kill Aderick.

As for him doing his best to keep them alive, it was simply because he had hoped he could maximize the number of chips in his hand for the final battle.

However, if he were to find out that it was truly impossible to do so, he would not hesitate to abandon them.

Only, until it was absolutely necessary, Lun Tai hoped that it would not come to pass.

“Twenty-five...”

“Twenty...”

“Fifteen...”

Lun Tai slowly counted in his mind.

Outside, the sound of cannon fire was joined by that of other firearms, the interval between each attack becoming increasingly long.

There were less than 200 metres between the giant beasts and the fortress.

At the same time, the smaller mutants that had retreated earlier surged forward once more.

Up in the sky as well, the flock of flying-type mutants appeared again, like a cloud of darkness.

The timing of the monsters’ movements was impeccable. With their movement speed, the other mutants would arrive to join the battle the moment the giant beasts descended upon the alloy fortress.

Should that happen, they would all be killed.

“Ten...”

“Five...”

“It’s done!”

Xia Xiaolei, who was behind Lun Tai, shouted.

Before them, the mutants – with such high numbers that they completely covered the land – that had been charging towards the fortress, even the giant beasts, abruptly halted their steps.

Next, they all let out a sharp roar and began killing one another.