Chapter 843

Chapter 843

Yang Yi wore a metal arm guard on his left arm. He pressed his left arm twice. Next, a mechanical clicking sound rang out as the arm guard immediately expanded, enveloping his whole body, forming an exoskeleton suit, complete with helmet.

He also brought out an energy rifle from his storage gear.

Tina, on the other hand, was equipped with two small, silvery-white pistols, one in each hand. However, the muzzles of the pistols were as big as hair dryers.

Yang Yi took the lead with big strides while Tina followed closely behind, her eyes constantly darting around.

The farther ahead the two ventured, the higher the humidity level became. Due to the humid air, water droplets swiftly formed upon the exposed surface of their bodies before dripping down every now and again.

That was especially true of Tina, whose long brown hair had become completely wet, sticking to her shoulders.

The two of them were transferred not too far away from the city and only needed to walk for around ten plus minutes to return to the peripheral area of the city.

Although the fog was becoming increasingly thick, it had yet to completely block off their line of sight. There was a small settlement up ahead, packed full with dilapidated huts. They were made from planks, built along the terrain there. Some of them had already collapsed while some others were already on the verge of collapsing.

Wind blew over from the front, carrying with it an obvious ocean stench.

Neither one of them gave the order, but both Yang Yi and Tina slowed down at the same time. Exchanging glances, they then slowly lowered their bodies.

They crawled forward until they arrived at the edge of the shanty town. Peering through the fog, they saw that a strange plant had risen up in the centre of the shanty town.

Clearly, this was the Misty Ocean Tree mentioned in the instance dungeon prompt.

Appearance wise, it appeared more like a mollusk than a plant. Tens of flexible tentacles protruded out from its trunk and were raised up high around it. The tentacles sprayed mist out nonstop.

In the area around the Misty Ocean Tree – within the shacks – were monsters of varying appearances. They looked like something formed through the fusion of humans and aquatic lifeforms. Moreover, there were also many kinds. Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

The hundreds of monsters standing guard at the outermost perimeter area were not too big. Rather, they were slightly smaller compared to normal humans. Except for the fact that they possessed a tuna’s head, there was nothing else special about them.

The monsters farther inside were all practically of varying appearances. Some looked like octopuses and some looked like swordfishes. Likewise, they all possessed a four-limbed humanoid body and were bigger in size. The monsters walking in a circle right below the Misty Ocean Tree had bodies with bulging muscles, obvious gill slits on their necks and eyes that extended out from either side of their heads. Their heads resembled that of a hammerhead shark.

“And here I was thinking it was something incredible. It’s actually nothing more than a big humidifier,” Yang Yi said with a hushed tone. “The number of monsters is somewhat high. One sniper, one infiltrator. Try your best to delay the moment of battle so that we can escape after launching just one attack.”

“I know.” Tina nodded. She turned and was just about to leave when Yang Yi suddenly raised his hand to snatch away the two pistols in her hands before tossing over his energy rifle to her.

“What are you doing?” Tina was startled.

Although the combat personnel from Zero City’s resident guilds have all received various types of training, they still had certain inclinations towards certain areas of expertise. Relatively speaking, Yang Yi was more proficient at long-ranged sniping while Tina was more specialized in close quarters urban warfare.

Upon escaping from Zero City, the two of them quickly found that they had been kicked out of their respective guilds. After a few days passed, they two of them eventually had to become temporary combat partners. All this time, whenever they were inside instance dungeons, it was Yang Yi who would assume the sniper role and provided cover from the back while Tina charged to fight the enemy.

“We’ll change this time. I’ll take the front.” Yang Yi held onto the two pistols. Weighing them for a bit, he then said with a tone that brook no argument, “You’ve only just given birth. Don’t let that child lose his mother.”

“I don’t think this instance dungeon will be too dangerous. Even so... thank you.” Tina fell silent for a moment before nodding.

Yang Yi continued to stand there while Tina picked up the energy rifle. With a crouching posture, she quickly climbed up to a high ground.

Thanks to the hot and humid climate of South America, the vegetation near the city were able to thrive. Tina carefully hid herself within a clump of tropical plants. Putting up the energy rifle, she aimed it at the centre of the shanty town.

“I’m in position.” Tina’s voice rang out from the rice-sized communication earpiece in Yang Yi’s ear. “From your current position, head forward by fifty metres. There are no enemies. When you reach the third house, break in through the window and leave from the backdoor on the other side.”

“Got it.”

Yang Yi replied with a deep voice. Lowering his body, he then quickly moved forward with spry steps.

Although the number of merfolk within the shanty town was considerable, most of them were spread out, leaving only tens of stronger looking ones standing guard around the Misty Ocean Tree. The shanty town was quite big. Moreover, there were also various kinds of junk heaped around the place. Following Tina’s guidance, Yang Yi carefully snuck forward and was able to quickly approach the central area of the shanty town without being discovered.

“There are no more paths. All of them are occupied.” Tina carefully observed the situation below through the energy rifle’s scope. “At this distance, there are no longer any blind spots in their defence.”

“Got it. Give me the best route.” Yang Yi kept his voice to its lowest.

He had not hoped that he could sneak all the way to the Misty Ocean Tree without a fight. The fact that he could come this far was already satisfactory enough for him.

The number of monsters they had to face this time was too high. As there were only two of them, it would be too dangerous to simply barge in and fight the monsters head on.

“Rush out through the window on your right and open fire straight ahead. Then, turn right and run as fast as possible in the two o’clock direction. Next... wait!”

Tina, who was looking through the scope, suddenly let out a low cry.

“What happened?”

Yang Yi had only just asked when he heard the sound of planks cracking.

“Run! You’ve been discovered!”

But looking at them now, they possessed a clear organizational structure and combat system. Moreover, the gurgling noises they made were clearly their language.

These merfolk were not some motley crew. Rather, this was a high-level army.

The plasma grenades exploded and the resulting flames engulfed the several merfolk who failed to evade in time. This also created a path for Yang Yi.

At any rate, this instance dungeon was not giving any punishment for failure of completion. Retreating now would only mean failure in obtaining the completion reward. It was not a big loss.

For the past few months, the two of them had been fighting, advancing and retreating together in instance dungeons. And while they were once formal combat personnel of Zero City’s resident guilds, tackling instance dungeons with so little members was still too much for them. Whenever they encountered a difficult enemy or a formidable instance dungeon monster, they would not feel ashamed about running away.

Taking advantage of the opening created by the dissipating plasma, Yang Yi charged out of the encirclement. Up ahead, Tina, who had the high ground, was quickly running away, putting more distance between her and her pursuers. Occasionally, she would stop to provide cover fire for Yang Yi.

But the merfolk arrows were continuously shooting towards Tina. Moreover, as Tina had to hastily open fire while in a state of combat, it was only inevitable for her hit rate to fall significantly. Tina had opened fire a total of 13 times, but only managed to hit five merfolk. Furthermore, all five were tuna merfolk, the lowest-level merfolk.

Yang Yi was running non-stop, but his pursuers were getting closer and closer.

But that was not all. More merfolk appeared before him to surround him.

Clenching his teeth, Yang Yi pulled out more plasma grenades from his storage gear, three this time. Considering for a moment, he kept one of them before throwing the other two backwards.

They did not have many items on them back when they left Zero City. In the days after that, the rewards they earned were also quite insufficient. The number of plasma grenades was not replenishable.

Although the plasma explosions were able to stop the pursuers for a bit, they were incapable of completely stopping them.

“You go first. I’ll catch up in a bit.”

Yang Yi jumped onto the roof of a shack and panted into his mike.

“If I leave, it’ll be even harder for you to escape.”

Tina firmly refused. With her left hand, she pulled out a silk net that was as thin as a cicada’s wing and threw it backwards. The silk net could be seen up in the air for one second before it disappeared from sight.

A few seconds later, a few of the merfolk pursuers, the ones at the forefront, abruptly started twitching all over as they came to a halt. A high number of electrical sparks flew out from their bodies, which turned into charcoal before falling to the ground.

However, the net flickered with light a few times before breaking into pieces.

“If you stay behind, that’s dying alongside me. What will happen to your son if you die?” There was a rare emotional tone in Yang Yi’s voice. “Did you forget what you said to me? That no matter what, you would maintain Gibbs bloodline!”

Tina was silent.

“Your husband is Zero City’s hero. Raise your child well.” After saying that, Yang Yi reached out with his hand and crushed the communication device to bits.

Yang Yi stopped running and turned to look at Tina, who was still standing high up in the distance. Then, he said softly to himself, “Goodbye... Flower of Rodriar. The days spent with you were quite pleasant.”

By then, however, all Tina’s ears could hear were crackling electrical noises.

She swiftly glanced backwards at her pursuers before turning to look at Yang Yi. Almost all of his escape routes had been closed off. Tina gave a deep sigh and a look of determination in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Yang Yi. I know as well, but... I’m sorry.

“And... thank you.”

Yang Yi gently tossed away the energy pistols and equipped himself with two war blades. His body was taut as he stared at the merfolk that were swarming towards him.

The hammerhead shark merfolk leading the merfolk group was none other than the one whose gills were struck by Tina’s attack. Seeing Yang Yi giving up on running away, it stopped running as well. Instead, it strode forward, waving its hands to command the other merfolk to surround Yang Yi.

Their language was incomprehensible to Yang Yi and even their faces were different from that of humans, but the hatred in its eyes were very obvious.

“At the very least, I’ll be killing you...”

Yang Yi gripped the hilt of his blades tightly, his eyes fixed onto the hammerhead shark merfolk.

Boom!

A missile descended from the sky, hitting an area that had the most number of merfolk and also disrupting the attack that Yang Yi was preparing to launch.

The few merfolk situated at the centre of the explosion had their bodies blown to bits while the others that were close by were also affected by the shrapnel and flames. They rolled on the ground while uttering strange shrieking sounds.

Immediately after that, even more missiles and beams of light arrived, transforming the ground into a sea of flames.

The sunlight, which had been blurred by the fog in the air, now cast a line of shadows down upon the ground.

Yang Yi swiftly raised his head and saw ten Sentinel mechs flying over at a high velocity.

At the same time, the loudspeakers of all the Sentinel mechs, adjusted to the highest possible volume, roared out a single sentence.

“Today, Zero City is reborn!”

Those loud words were filled with intense emotions, unyielding battle intent and glory returned.