Chapter 609: Get Up! (3/4)

Chapter 609: Get Up! (3/4)

His bloodlust now fully aroused, he was no longer content to command from the rear. He charged straight into the thick of the enemy, his claws sweeping through the air and stirring up a storm of blood and gore.

Old White and his group, having pushed to the middle of the deck, saw this and their faces twisted with surprise.

Old Six, crouched by the wall, swallowed hard and glanced at the Prop Master beside him.

“Did you bring the tube?”

The Prop Master gave a wry, helpless laugh.

“The hell would I bring that thing?!”

“Where the hell is Night Ten?” Realizing someone was missing, Quit Smoking quickly scanned the area for Night Ten’s figure but saw nothing.

He remembered Night Ten had a Gauss rifle—it should be useful against that boss, if only he had it on him.

Gust’s expression turned serious.

“No idea. I got off the plane before him… Hey, did he even get off?”

Quit Smoking froze, recalling that Gust seemed to be the last one off the plane, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Holy crap! He wasn’t on that plane that just went down, was he?!”

As he spoke, a smoking plane suddenly tilted and slammed into the deck. Its landing gear snapped, and it rolled sideways, crashing out of control.

Looking closer, the left wing was already half torn off.

Several mutants clung to it, gnawing and tearing at the cockpit. A few muffled gunshots rang out from inside.

There was no time to worry about the distant boss—saving their comrade came first.

Seeing this, Fang Chang immediately nocked an explosive arrow, drew his bowstring, and fired at the nearest mutant.

A flash of fire burst across the creature’s back. The nearby mutants were also showered with shrapnel, their backs and the fleshy wings attached to their arms turning into a bloody mess.

The searing pain made them pause their assault, and they reared back, howling in agony.

Just then, streaks of orange tracer fire arced toward them, blowing their heads off one after another.

Old White charged ahead, his axe cleaving through the fanged skull of the creature clinging to the cockpit.

Inside the cockpit, Fallen Feather gasped for breath. His chest and shoulders were torn and bloody, and he was on the verge of death.

But he didn’t die immediately.

Crimson tendrils emerged from his wounds, stitching his torn flesh back together, healing at a visible rate.

“Tha—”

Before he could finish his thanks, Old White swung his thermal cutting axe again, slamming it into the nose of Fallen Feather’s aircraft.

Sparks flew. Fallen Feather, who had been barely clinging to life, was jolted awake, his eyes wide with shock.

“What the hell?! What are you doing?”

“Borrowing this!”

Old White sheathed his axe, grabbed the underside of the nose, and yanked hard, tearing off the 20mm autocannon still attached to its feed mechanism.

Watching Old White dismantle his ride with his bare hands, Fallen Feather’s eyes bulged.

“Holy crap?! I’m out of ammo—”

Before he could finish, Fang Chang, clad in his exoskeleton, came running from the hangar, carrying a supply crate.

“Catch!”

As he shouted, Fang Chang hurled the crate toward Old White.

“Thanks, brother!”

With practiced ease, Old White caught it, punched the lock open, and fed the orange belt of ammunition into the feed mechanism.

He held the barrel in one hand and the receiver in the other, aiming the cannon at the distant boss, who was still swinging its claws. A savage grin spread across his face.

“Die!!”

He pulled the trigger.

A long, thick tongue of flame spat forward. The roaring autocannon thundered across the deck, and streaks of orange tracer fire converged on Gaen.

Old White, in his power armor, looked like a human tank. The cannon’s muzzle flash lit up his chest plate.

The boss took the full burst of autocannon fire. Its skin split open, blood and flesh flying, and it let out a pained roar.

But to everyone’s astonishment, it didn’t fall. It endured the barrage with its organic body.

Quit Smoking’s eyes went wide. He swallowed hard.

“Holy shit?! Is it cheating?!”

Old White was equally stunned, clearly shocked by the absurd defense.

What kind of monster was this?!

Gust, standing nearby, wasn’t surprised. He rubbed his nose and spoke calmly.

“Let’s analyze this rationally… It weighs at least half a ton. With its wings providing lift, it can reach a top speed of nearly a hundred yards. Its muscle density is probably higher than steel.”

“It might even have self-repair capabilities…” Fang Chang glanced at Fallen Feather’s nearly healed chest wound, then narrowed his eyes at the winged creature ahead.

Mutant slime mold itself was a gene bank storing vast amounts of DNA information. Naguo was synthesized by the Torch Church from some of those genes.

Since both came from the Torch Church, similar gene fragments might have been implanted in this creature… if conditions allowed.

Seeing their leader under autocannon fire, the surrounding mutants flapped their wings and charged madly at Old White.

Forget about that bastard, Old White thought, gritting his teeth. Since he couldn’t break through, he swung the cannon barrel toward the mutants diving at him.

These small fry weren’t nearly as tough. The 20mm rounds turned them into paste instantly.

Watching his minions being slaughtered by that power armor, Gaen roared and charged at him.

But before he could take two steps, a premonition of danger crawled up his spine. He instinctively shifted an inch to the side.

A searing pain tore through his back and burst out of his chest.

Gaen let out a pained roar, stumbling forward from the massive kinetic force. He spun around.

A blue power armor stood at the exit of the elevator, holding a rifle with a hollow, tuning-fork-like design in the middle.

Gaen’s pupils contracted instantly.

Blue-painted power armor!

No mistake!

“It’s you!! The leader of the Alliance! Hahaha!!!”

His pain-twisted expression slowly turned into wild joy. He let out a triumphant laugh, then pushed off the deck with both feet, leaping into the air.

His flapping wings kicked up a massive gust of wind, sending the surrounding players and guards stumbling and falling.

In that violent gale, aiming and shooting were impossible.

Even with heavy exoskeletons, just staying upright was a challenge.

Standing beside the lift, Chu Guang watched the figure soaring in the sky with an expressionless face, stowing the charged Gauss rifle and slowly drawing the nitrogen-powered hammer slung across his back.

A simple penetrating wound would likely not kill it.

Through the visor of his power armor, he saw with his own eyes the wound torn by the Gauss rifle healing at a visible rate.

And the strangeness of this creature did not end there.

He had aimed squarely at the left chest, yet the impact point shifted to the right chest—perhaps this thing possessed an ability similar to that of a perception-type Awakened.

"What a twisted creature."

"Does seeing me excite you that much?"

His calm voice carried through the speaker into the air. Hearing the man below acknowledge his identity, the smile on Gaen’s face grew even more fervent, every cell in his body trembling with excitement.

He was not the only one stirred—

There were also the onlookers far from the battlefield.

Watching the drone’s aerial footage, Yang Kai, seated in the research vessel, was utterly stunned, not even noticing the coffee spilling onto his pants.

"Have you lost your mind?!"

He muttered to himself, overwhelmed and bewildered by a possibility that Dr. Conclusion had never calculated.

Arzu, standing hundreds of kilometers away, felt the same.

Sensing Chu Guang’s presence through Gaen’s biomass armor, he first widened his eyes in shock, then a wild joy spread across his face.

His heart pounded so fiercely it nearly leaped into his throat, and he let out an ecstatic cheer into the pitch-black night.

"Kill him! Do it now!"

He hadn’t expected the Alliance’s Administrator to truly be on that airship!

This was a jackpot!

If that man died—

All troubles would be resolved!

Without needing the voice in his head to remind him, Gaen was indeed planning to do just that.

Though the azure-blue power armor gave him a faint sense of threat, he did not take that inexplicable unease to heart.

He had gathered intelligence on the Alliance’s Administrator—both the man himself and the armor he always wore.

After all, it was just a security-type power armor produced by Carlos Industries. Its defensive capabilities were admittedly impressive, but its combat power and mobility were nothing special.

And what use was strong defense?

He could simply toss that iron lump off the deck, like an eagle dealing with a turtle, and smash it to pieces!

"Ah... I’m so excited, my muscles are trembling! I never expected tonight’s hunt to yield such a prize..."

Gazing down at the armored figure on the deck, Gaen licked his dry lips, every muscle in his body tensing.

"I hear you’re the strongest in the Alliance. I hope your blood is different from those weak sheep—let me enjoy myself for a while."