If an ordinary person encountered this awkward predicament, they would be uncomfortable to death. Fortunately they were both contestants; moreover Sheyan was a 2nd Lieutenant and his interspatial area of his nightmare imprint had broadened greatly. Hence, he carried huge amounts of water within, directly taking a shower right in the middle of the Gobi desert. But after this, he was still left with 30-40 kg of water, enough to last several weeks.
Mogensha had already gathered the dropped loot from ‘Scorching Mouth’. It didn’t drop a key, but a clump of glowing black connective tissue. Instead of a summoned treasure chest, it swiftly swelled up greatly with inflated veins, into a bumpy purplish meat sack; looking at it, it really seemed like the beetle’s stomach.
According to the theory for legendary creatures, there should be a 70% chance of dropping a silver storyline equipment or item. But before they begun battling, the gigantic beetle was already substantially injured (Medium). Therefore, they reckoned that the possibility of a silver storyline grade equipment could still occur, but wasn’t a huge possibility. Hence both Sheyan and Mogensha awaited expectantly, furthermore this was the first time they were about to share and allocate the spoils of war. Numerous other contestant parties have triumphed over incredibly powerful creatures, yet they crumbled in the end because of internal disputes over distribution.
While they were stressing over how this object was going to open; a gush of heat wave blew over and the repulsive meat sack shriveled up and split open, exposing several objects. There were shockingly two objects radiating a black glow. Following that, the nightmare imprint pumped in the notification:
You discovered a remnant: ‘Serial no.77312 dog tag’. (this is a remnant from a soldier who had sacrificed his life for his country. You can exchange for rewards at any human base)
You discovered an object: ‘Unknown Nodule’ (No humans know what this is for)
You discovered a component: ‘Granule high energy rapid-fire magazine’.
You discovered a component: ‘Steel Canvas black Arms Strap’.
You discovered a precious object: ‘High energy crystal’ x3
Granule High energy rapid-fire magazine
Material: No.3713 Metal plastic �� mold
Category: Assembling/installation component
Origin: Homeworld Rockefeller company. No.12 Refine workshop.
Item rarity: Black
Equipment position: Firearm slot
Weight: 662g
Length: 50 mm
Effect: Substantial upgrade of weapon’s precision and firing speed (Determined by the complementing weapon’s firing speed and precision)
Effect: Explosive strike rate +1%
Selling price: 6,770 utility points ¨C20CDescription: After installing this component, you have to pay a fixed utility points fee before unloading it. While unloading, there’s a chance of weapon and component being destroyed. ¨C21CEvaluation: It must have been a component from a terribly powerful firearm. ‘Scorching Mouth’ had destroyed the rest with its acidic flames, only it was left behind. ¨C22C
Steel Canvas Black Arms Strap.
Material: Blended fabric
Category: Assembling/installing component
Origin: No.7 Colonial planet. Battle metropolis, “Metersbonwe” military workshop
Item rarity: Black
Equipment position: Weapon strap/sling
Weight: 129g
Length: 110 cm
Effect: Strength +1
Effect: Increase the explosive strike damage by 50% of the equipped weapon.
Selling price: 5370 utility points ¨C34CDescription: After installing this component, you have to pay a fix utility points fee to dismantle it. While dismantling, there’s a chance equipment and component may be destroyed. ¨C35CEvaluation: Fortunately this item wasn’t destroyed along with its previous owner. ¨C36C***
Precious item: High energy crystal x3
Description: In any human base, you can treat this like the present world diamond and trade it.
***
***
After scrolling through, Sheyan straightforwardly put out.
“The two black grade components are firearm types, if you can use it then its yours. I’ll take the rest, but you still have to pass me 6000 utility points.”
Sheyan’s allocating method could be said to be reasonable. Although black grade components aren’t like equipments which exhibit their potential upon equipping, these items were considered extremely rare. The rarer it was, the greater it worths. If there weren’t any buyers, then the price wouldn’t be high. But once someone requires it, then naturally it will reap outstanding profits. Mogensha’s eyes flushed with relief as he excitedly examined the ‘Granule High energy rapid-fire magazine’.
“I already have a good gun strap, but this magazine is extremely beneficial…..”
Sheyan refreshingly waved his hand.
“Alright, since you like it then take it. I’ll take the gun strap. For the remaining items, my servant will probably be very interested over that ‘High energy crystal’ and the ‘Unknown Nodule’, the rest is yours.”
��
Splitting such a feast, naturally they took what they required and were both delightfully satisfied. After Mogensha loaded it, his golden AK had a new astounding jet-black magazine. It looked rather out of place, but after testing fire one would understand the domineering qualities of this magazine.
Previously when Mogensha open fired at his enemies, his burst shots were only in bouts of 3 before pausing briefly. The reason for this was although his weapon was exceedingly powerful in attack, its negative aspect was that it greatly lowered accuracy; he could only maintain 3 bullets of precision. This was something similar to Sheyan’s silver storyline accessory ‘Monstrous fighting spirit’, it received an overpowered passive ability but similarly would reduce his charm but an entire 5 points.
As Mogensha tried test firing now, he could easily release burst shots of 4 now. Actually releasing 5 burst shots was possible but he still had to familiarize himself with the newly enhanced tempo. But certainly in the future, he would be able to easily deliver the maximum output! This undoubtedly suggested his horrifyingly monstrous potential.
Explaining simply, when Mogensha released his burst shots of 3 previously, he required 3 seconds of rest to stabilize the gun and aim again. According to this theory, he would be able to release 20 bouts of burst fire in a minute, that is 60 bullet rounds. But with his current burst shots of 4, then every minute according to theory could deliver 80 bullet rounds. Its effect had been raised by almost a third! Of course, this was only theory, but this black grade magazine had really boosted his offensive efficiency by at least 15%! What more 5 burst shots in the future?
Moreover, Sheyan honestly and courteously kept the ‘Steel Canvas Black Arms Strap’; and directly installed to ‘Ambition’. Firstly it added strength +1, but its additional 50% increase of explosive strike damage really catapulted Sheyan’s explosiveness. ‘Rum and Songs’ had its explosive strike damage raised from 200% to 250%, while ‘Ready’ the one off explosive strike would be able to released a terrorizing 300% explosive damage!
This battle had really drained them mentally, especially Mogensha. His innate ability ‘Beastly instincts’ was a passive ability and could only be activated once every time he fired 10 shots, and release the bullet towards the most optimum target in the battle. But now after his ‘Beastly instincts’ had been upgraded, it was able to be interchanged passively and actively. Once he actively activated it, it consumed an amount of MP; but his next bullet will definitely have the influence of his ‘Beastly instincts’!
To prevent themselves from getting ambushed by arachnids, the two found a wide spacious rock and sat over it; drinking water and resting. The black man Mogensha rather disliked the military rations they brought along. After licking his thick lips, he looked towards the distant battlefield as his eyes shimmered.
“I reckon the zergling’s meat will taste pretty good. What do you think?”
Sheyan was taken aback, just thinking of those rotting purplish flesh caused him to feel nauseous. He hurriedly stopped him.
“Oi! The corpses have already been barbequed by the high temperature here for a day, aren’t you scared of eating rotten meat?”
Mogensha disregarded that idea and replied.
“These arachnids have rather strong vitality. Even if their organs were pierced they could struggle at death’s doors for several hours. If we wanted to, we’ll definitely be able to find fresh meat. Haven’t you learn about surviving in the wild? An animal’s flesh shouldn’t have poison.”
After speaking, he drew out a military dagger as it casted a bright reflection onto the nearby rock. Next he bit onto the dagger steadily; wearing a military sleeveless garment as he exposed his swaggering suntanned muscles, as he waddled towards the battlefield. As leisure and carefree as going to a supermarket.
Not long later, Mogensha dragged a zergling back, it was still twitching slightly. Very swiftly, he split open its belly, scraping the bones as he got rid of the filth; slicing against the meat with various methods as skillfully as a butcher. Without expending much energy, he stacked several rocks together and ignited a fire before starting to barbecue. Sheyan glanced at the zergling’s purplish flesh and felt rather sick. But after Mogensha scattered some seasoning over, an unexplainable fragrance emerged. Firstly, he carved out a fleshy sizzling chunk with his dagger and delivered to Sheyan. Sheyan shook his head firmly as he kindly declined Mogensha.
But from far, suddenly a piercing and lofty shout followed.
“Ah! Master If you don’t want it, give it to me! At least I can have a free meal!”
Sheyan was very accustomed to Jinkuang’s unpredictable appearing acts. When there was a battle, this fella will surely disappear without a trace, but when there’s things to gain he would surface out of the blue. Initially Sheyan was still worried for him getting injured, but from now he didn’t care any longer. Based on this goblin’s superior than rats or cockroaches surviving ability, death was really hard to imagine.
Tossing aside his greed and cowardice, goblin Jinkuang’s equipment totally concealed everything except his teeth. Previously in the realm after his unethical and atrocious sale of counterfeit drugs/poisons, he had earned a fortune which he used to start a buying frenzy. Sheyan had previously caught a glimpse that heavenly light gold potion that the Metals professor had used, and the ridiculous goblin was actually carrying with him at all times!!! No one even knew how he managed to get his hands on it, this guy couldn’t be described with logic!
Mogensha already recognized this wretched looking goblin, understanding that it possessed remarkable abilities. He straightforwardly sliced of a chunk of greasy meat and delivered it over. Instantly a huge plate appeared swiftly out of nowhere, and a clean napkin was already slung around Jinkuang’s neck; followed by a set of stainless steel cutlery and what not. With both eyes sparkling and a drooling expression, he indulged into the meat; emitting satisfied groans while eating crudely.
“For the love of gold, free food really tastes the best…..”
Sheyan rolled his eyes and scoffed.
“Get ready for your violent vomiting the next morning.”
Jinkuang wasn’t deterred.
“Free is the most beautiful word, there is no other…….ah, mister your roasted meat is really supreme, ‘chomp chomp’, god, I dare to bet you don’t know how great the oil dripped during roasting taste, letting it drip into the fire is such a huge waste…… I hope you don’t mind me using my plate to collect the oil.”
Mogensha laughed, his teeth setting a particularly white glint in contrast to this charcoal skin.
“That is my honor.”
Under the pretext of the word ‘free’, goblin Jinkuang’s appetite had mysterious grown exponentially; as Mogensha went off to collect a Hydalisk and begun barbecuing it. This cheap slut heartily discussed about the most delicious parts of the arachnid, while slicking more and roasting it. When Mogensha served Jinkuang to his heart’s content, he politely and honestly leaked out his real motive.
“This, dear Jinkuang sir, I heard that you are an expert in concocting medicines?”
Jinkuang was originally slightly intoxicated as he gulped from the wine cup, delightfully laying on the soft sand; yet once he heard Mogensha’s words, he instantly became alerted and vigilant.
“What do you want?”
Mogensha very bluntly smiled.
“I just wish to purchase some poison for myself, this…..how about giving me some discounts based on our relationship?”
Once he heard there was business to do, Jinkuang was roused as he offered a sly smile.
“Yea sure sure…..right, what do you use? Firearms right?”
After speaking, like a magic trick a shabby looking laboratory was formed; test tubes, spirit lamps, crucibles and everything essential. He hands then started to move in a very disorderly and blurry manner, as though about to showcase a performance. Sheyan also hadn’t witness this act before, so he curiously observed by the side. Suddenly, while Jinkuang was shaking a thin neck pitcher, the pitcher suddenly cracked and shattered; soaking it thoroughly as white fumes were emitted!
Sheyan was startled, this goblin Jinkuang was an exceptional tool; if he died here because of poison, Sheyan’s losses would be great. Looking at Jinkuang’s pale, no wrong, wretched green face while disastrously tottering, Sheyan rushed up to support him. Yet the miserable Jinkuang’s eyes was filled with tears as his ugly green wrinkled face twitched, and released a pitiful voice.
“Yet another ruined pitcher, damn! Need to use money to buy another.”
Sheyan was about to offer him emergency aid, but after hearing this twisted remorseful logic; his vision darkened as he felt himself about to faint. Instead, Jinkuang wiped his tears and asked.
“Master, have you flirted too much, why did your legs turn jelly suddenly?”
“Your mu……”
Once again goblin Jinkuang showed of his concocting performance and succeeded this time; he mixed out a small beaker of white creamy liquid, nodding his head in satisfaction. But the next moment he suddenly fished out a huge plastic bucket filled with clear water, intending to pour the beaker of liquid into the water. Sheyan finally understood where did that 5% success rate of poison came from, actually this wretched slut diluted the Black venom.
But while Jinkuang was about to engage in his deceitful acts, a distinct cough travelled in from the side. Glancing back, he realized Mogensha was squatting by the side, glaring at him. Even the thick skinned Jinkuang could only laugh bitterly.
“Keke, this is a habit, I forgot our friendly relation….right, look at my new product, are you satisfied?”
Mogensha’s eyes instantly lit up with the poisonous attributes:
Black Venom (altered): This is a venom specially altered by goblin Jinkuang. After smearing this ‘Black Venom’ cream onto your long range weapon, every successful strike onto an enemy will carry 15% success rate of poisoning him. Duration of 15 seconds, every 3 seconds will release a pulse of poison damage; damage ranging from 10 – 20 points (Based on the opponent’s resistance).
Pointer: Smearing success rate of 99%, After smearing, duration last for 30 minutes.
Warning: ‘Black Venom’ every pulse of poison can appear explosive (critical) strike!
Mogensha directly asked.
“How much?”
JInkuang forthrightly replied.
“Just 2000 utility points is enough.”
Sheyan was stunned, no matter what that wasn’t his servant’s style. Instead, Mogensha unhesitantly begun the transaction…… 10 minutes later, with his head slapped against his forehead; Mogensha was howling out in anguish over the sand!
“Seaman! Seaman!!!!! Why does your F servant able to collect tax during a transaction. What logic. Look at this ridiculous individual tax, stamp duty fees, and even a *#&!! Compensation for loss of youth??! Your servant can lose his youth by concocting bloody chemicals??”
Sheyan couldn’t resist laughing out.
“Alright alright, as long as you get used to it.”
Mogensha painfully wailed.
“Your servant is not a goblin! He is a demon wrapped in goblin’s skin….. My savings!!!!”
Sheyan unfolded his hands innocently.
“Don’t look at me, I don’t gain anything from it. You should already know how proud and pampered summoned creatures can be from Phelps and Fanu in the Symbiosis sect. My servant is not your average creature, it doesn’t lose out in any aspects but amplified even more. I only wish is not to get exploited by him, don’t even think that I can get him to cough out his money.”
Mogensha understood Sheyan’s words were real, with his teary face he rolled to the corner. After planning, they decided to first rest here awhile before advancing. Originally they agreed that Sheyan would keep watch first while Mogensha rested; but a minute later, Mogensha was hobbling with an ashen face as he dashed towards the rear sand dune while clutching his tummy. Following that was a earth shaking rumbling of explosions, as he slowly dragged his feet back while rubbing his stomach. Sadly, this scenario replayed every 10 minutes….. And Sheyan might as well be the one that rested.
After Sheyan slept for 2-3 hours, to his horror he discovered tragic Mogensha reclining against a rock as he panted disastrously. His body was releasing an awful shit stench, and the most amusing part came through the nightmare imprint when Sheyan inspected his status. This was the explanation given:
Health condition: Worsening
Infected disease: Diarrhea. Reason – Consuming half-cooked zergling meat, leading to unknown bacteria breeding generously.
Disease effects: Attributes lowered by 15% until complete recovery, HP reduced by 20%, Accuracy by 50%.
Disease process: Worsening
Sheyan almost broke out in a fit of laughter; after having his body digitized upon becoming a contestant, he had never fallen sick. Even the slight rhinitis (ED: Rhinitis is basically a fancy name for a cold, google it if you’re really interested) as a seaman was completely healed. He didn’t expect such an unlucky thing like falling sick would actually happen. He secretly went to spy on the nearby Jinkuang. Sure enough, this cheap slut who stuffed his face with food was infected more severely; his face pale as he huffed miserably, of course that awful repelling stench.
Sheyan hastily checked their electronic continent map, discovering that 200km from here was a human base named ‘Fatal Helmet’. After slaying off ‘Scorching Mouth’, their reputation had rose by 1000 points, therefore they shouldn’t be assaulted randomly or bombarded by cannons. Hence, he carried the two unlucky brats back to their shabby hovercraft as flew off towards that direction.
Approximately a hundred kilometre later, continuous and chaotic echoes of gunfire could be heard in the distance; along with the distinct booming of the siege tank cannons. Tracing the sounds, a spiralling thick fog of black smoke greeted his sight. Back against several rocking hills, a fleet of humans were currently engaging in fierce battle with a flooding tide of arachnids.
The bunch of arachnids were mostly the lowest grade zerglings, relying on their exceptional agility and flexibility to pursue the humans. Mingling amongst the crowds of zerglings were several massive built, bigger zergling commanders. Overgrown incisive claws extended from their limbs. Their eyes scarlet red and droplets of gooey fluid slipped out of their lips. Their claws and fangs were viciously sharp, giving off an impression of being able to tear through any armour or carapace.
The fleet of humans seemed rather elite, not only did they have close to a hundred machine gunners clad in battle armour, they constructed 3 temporary forts. Moreover, they had 5-6 Vulture aircrafts patrolling around, and lastly 3 heavy siege tanks. Apart from that, their transport tankers were armour fortified till seemingly indestructible, and pushed to the frontlines as shields.
Mogensha rested against his back as he breathed slowly while observing.
“Looks like the humans are in deep shit.”
Sheyan could only make out, although the human’s firepower were extremely destructive, they couldn’t hold off the unceasing, daunting waves of suicidal arachnids. Just a few minutes later, the arachnid assault had already pushed in a further 20 metres. If this situation continues to persist; then very well in another 5 minutes, the human’s defensive lines would be breached by the zerglings!
There was a widely common knowledge – anything closer than 2 metres, the threat of firearms would pale in comparison to close combat weapons. What’s more ahead of these soldiers were savage zerglings who threatened with their merciless razor-sharp teeth?
At this moment, a commander was already roaring out urgently, desperately gesturing to his back; as though asking some to retreat. Instead, the carriage protecting him didn’t move one bit, yet from above consecutively marched on several people clad in white battle armour; comprising of both guys and girls. A distinct red cross was painted atop the armour, and in their left hands they held a paramedic box shaped like a shield. Its exterior could be use to resist the incoming attacks from enemies, while various medicines and tools were stored in its interior; it was extremely efficient.
The head of the pack was a middle aged man wearing spectacles; he wasn’t wearing any powered armour, instead looking rather amiable and not the least imposing. The machine gunners surrounding them whispered amongst themselves nervously, before they started cheering simultaneously. Their bodies were flickering with a faintly white glow, and their shooting speed suddenly accelerated. That state was something Sheyan was rather familiar with, they probably were utilizing the ‘Stimulant’ injection from their powered battle armour.
Currently, the several white armoured personnels had scattered amongst the soldiers. Their hands were emanating spots of blue light; before droplets of moisture like glow formed above every soldier’s head, gently merging into their bodies. That should be regenerating their life points. At this moment, Mogensha spoke out in amazement.
“I’ve come across that information previously at Steel Whip base, aren’t those the medics? Several humans in this world have awakened their mental powers; after a series of trainings, they will become powerful combat medics. They can use their mental powers (MP) and convert it for treatment healing effects.”
Under the formidable adrenaline of the ‘Stimulant’ injection; the arachnids were starting to get rapidly forced back, leaving a pile of pathetic flesh and blood. Originally the arachnid wave had already forced themselves close to 50 metres near the human frontline, but now they were forced back to a hundred metre or so position.
But at this crucial moment, the arachnids suddenly changed their formation. Primarily, they retreated like a regressing tide out of the firing range of the siege tanks. Then over a dozen commander class zerglings congregated together, forming into a pointed tip of a triangle formation. Naturally with them leading the charge, the remaining smaller zerglings followed suit behind; pressing forward ferociously with rumblings as loud as thunder!
Mogensha coughed out anxiously.
“Those guys are in huge trouble!”
Sheyan observed the remaining 2-3 zergling commanders left in the arachnid pack, and issued.
“Shit, I need to support them.”
Mogensha pondered.
“An ordinary zergling has roughly 30 points of attack; it is said that if there’s a metal ore mine near their breeding ground, then their attacks can be raised to even 40 points. Their frightening nature lies in their speedy offence. But taking into consideration your special abilities, you’ll indeed be quite impregnable; the only thing you need to worry is about explosive strikes. But the sheer quantity zerglings beneath is really too overwhelming….. I feel its best to make a detour and converge with the machine gunners.
“No no no, on hindsight converging with those guys may seem like a good idea, but it is actually more dangerous. Naturally, they would certainly push me towards the frontlines. If most of the incoming rush of commander zerglings survive, then the pressure I will receive is greater. More importantly, the impression we want to leave on them won’t be deep enough, the benefits won’t be amplified.”
Mogensha was stunned.
“Unless you intend to break in individually?”
Sheyan earnestly nodded his head.
“Why not? According to the intel gathered from the Steep Whip base, the zerglings’ attacks cannot possibly break through my defence. Furthermore as the lowest ranking soldiers of the arachnid race, their strength lies in sheer numbers, rapid movements and attacking speed. Thus, apart from having lower health, their explosive hit rate is also lacking. In a real battle, it is approximately about 1%. There shouldn’t be a problem.”
Mogensha muttered.
“Since you’ve put it that way, the risks are indeed lowered to an acceptable degree. Cough cough…. Although I’m sick now, but definitely receiving you to escape when you need, I’m still capable of that. But still I have to say, charging into the arachnid sea alone….. Is something only a madman would do.”
The confident Sheyan replied.
“Don’t forget I still have the battle ‘Stimulant’ to flee; if during that duration I can escape the battlefield and not get surrounded, then I can activate any movement speed booster and successfully make a getaway. Anyway the arachnids main focus beneath are currently on the surrounded fleet. The faraway machine gunners still have the protection of those medics, they won’t fall that easily. If I can lessen the pressure through the side, it will definitely provide adequate support.”
After speaking, Sheyan started concocting a dosage of ‘Strength of the bear’s flesh mix’, and wore his powered combat armour. Although the armour was exceedingly reinforced, its joints were particular fortified and sealed completely. During a battle, that was fine; but wearing in during daily normal activities was really like wearing a diving suit, incomparably stiff and inconvenient. Thus, where there wasn’t any danger, Sheyan didn’t put it on.
Next he picked up that ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’; due to its limitless ammunition, when Sheyan had the time he often test-fired with it. He was long ago ripped as a melon with it, and slung it across his back before placing on his helmet; leaping off and sprinting towards the battlefield.
At this critical point, every machine gunner was focusing their firepower against the frenzied charge of the ferocious zergling commanders. Even the 3 siege tanks were combining their efforts, because everyone feared the terrifying consequences of them breaking through the frontlines. But there still several machine gunners at the ends that noticed the actions of Sheyan, who was wearing the red hot ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’. They channeled their machine guns, raining the ammunitions onto the zerglings while concurrently shouting loudly.
“Oii! Good news lads we seem to have assistance. The bad news is that the assistance is only one person! Is he trying to kill himself?!”
Indeed, according to these soldier’s knowledge, Firebats (close-quarter combat pyrotechnique specialists) with such blazing weapons was the natural counter to the massive horde of zerglings. Once the Firebats engaged in a frontal assault, their superior AOE damage could completely massacre the incoming zerglings onslaught. But the prerequisite of this was that there must be an adequate amount of Firebats, and there also mustn’t be any Hydralisk around. If not due to their deficiency in range, without reaching the hydralisk they would’ve already been corroded thoroughly by the acidic fluid jets.
Furthermore, Firebats have one very fatal flaw, and that is they didn’t possess any defensive capabilities. Therefore in the starcraft establishment, Firebats are normally placed as an entire organization structure, only used for special and unique purposes. Therefore in these small bases, normally there weren’t such specialized Firebat troops in existence.
Just when the soldiers thought that Sheyan was about to get drowned inside the arachnid sea, Sheyan suddenly halted at about 50 metres from the side of the arachnid onslaught. His actions caused a slight ripple of disturbance within that side of the charging zergling onslaught. Sheyan took another few steps forward as suddenly, 10 lesser zerglings broke off from the rushing pack as they bared their fangs and pounced towards him. Once they entered Sheyan’s firing range; Sheyan immediately pressed the trigger, spraying out two long over 20 metre blazing serpents as he instantly fried the 10 loose zerglings!
Suddenly engulfed by raging flames, these 10 zerglings were set aflame as they shrieked in anguish, breaking out into frantic aimless sprints forward. With Sheyan’s incredible 23 points of perceptive sensing, he could anticipate their frantic evading route, and completely barbequed the wild zerglings after they only ran 5-6 metres out! He couldn’t even leave a zergling behind to test its offensive capabilities.
“Why is this weapon so powerful……” Sheyan was even shocked by himself. Because the ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ was a unique weapon belonging to this world, and was disallowed to be brought out; self-destructing when the user left the world. Therefore, Sheyan was completely unable to view detailed information on its offensive might! But from what he witnessed now, its range of attack and damage capability may very well vastly exceeded the traditional equipment of Firebats. But after considering its purchasing difficulty and price, but could only be dealt with effectively against zerglings; it could only be deemed as an above average tool.
After drawing out another few zerglings, Sheyan finally sampled the offensive capability of the zergling; it actually reached 37 points. Looks like Mogensha was right, this pack of zerglings probably hosted a metal ore mine near their breeding ground; hence, it explains their increased damage. But to Sheyan whose defensive threshold could probably cover over 50 points of damage, these measly 30 points or 37 points similar amounted to only 1 overall point in damage.
All of a sudden, a massive incident occurred at the temporary defence line the humans established! The earth started rumbling; suddenly a gigantic flaming beetle exploded forth, overturning a heavy siege tank in the process. Although this arachnid wasn’t as mighty as that junior class legendary creature, it was in its optimum condition. Thump Thump Thump! It swiftly dashed about, relying on its nearly 10 ton body weight; it didn’t even have to spit any flames as it brazenly flattened and knocked everyone around. Although it finally met its fate in the end, it managed to release to acidic flames before falling; melting 23 people and causing a massive chaotic uproar.
This was the worst situation, internal trouble and external aggression. Forget about the human casualties, yet the overturned siege tank translated to an obvious deficiency in firepower. Rallied by their vicious zergling commanders charging in without restraints, the zergling tidal wave behind broke out in murderous blood-lusted frenzy. The already crumbling frontlines was instantly directly broken through.
As the floodgates were opened, several troopers roared out in despair; tossing aside their gauss rifles as they charged directly into the heart of the zergling sea. Looking like they had been drowned inside the arachnid sea, suddenly flickers of dazzling azure glow radiated through the gaps; instantly shredding any zergling within its 6-7 metre radius. Even zerglings 10 metres away were affected and stunned by this earth-shattering effect. Of course, the source of the glow, the troopers were instantly decimated; their corpses dissolving into ashes.
Next, that high level medic suddenly activated a striking ability, causing the zerglings ahead to suddenly turn confused and mutually slashed at each other. The defence line was temporarily holding on, yet it was only due to the efforts of the troopers exchanging their lives for it. If the arachnids continued flooding in, then very soon they would break in and engage in widespread slaughter. This critical situation was already imminent!
At this moment, Sheyan realized his former plan had been ruined. If he didn’t act fast now, then the entire human fleet would very well be eradicated completely. He roared loudly to the heavens, containing a ferocious insanity, as he tightly pressed the ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ trigger at full throttle. Two fiery serpents slithered out swiftly, as long as 30 metres. Then he outrageously charged into the zergling tsunami as he headed similarly towards the human’s defence line!!!
From a bird’s eye view – ——
A human!
A human the size of a rice!
In a flash, penetrating in abruptly like an awl,
Releasing a courageous and reckless audacious grandeur, deeply penetrating into the boundless arachnid ocean!!!
Sheyan did his utmost to advance while controlling his flamethrower; dishing out a scorching flaming pillar against the zerglings. If one were to glance down from up high, it really seemed like a massive current of flesh being directly blocked by a fiery blazing dam cutting through it!
Although faraway the troopers were engaged in their individual bitter struggles, numerous people managed to notice a fresh red hot movement from far! Some of the soldiers were even shocked and dumbstruck, before releasing a “Woah, so damned awesome!” exclamations. But only Sheyan knew that in his predicament, charging forward while releasing his wildfire; naturally some of the arachnids will be able to break through and pounced viciously against him!
Under such circumstances, Sheyan’s vision was currently massively obstructed. All he could see what flames ahead, and wild berserking blurred zergling figures sweeping through his sides!
But more importantly, although ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ was said to be able to last 5 minutes, it’s intended usage was actually pretty similar to a cigarette lighter; triggering here and there and not bluntly pressing down like a machine gun. Using it mildly but constantly could only heat up water for 10 minutes. Yet with its currently excessive and full blown spitting of flames, this weapon’s effect usage duration was reduced to merely 50 seconds!
Sheyan grit his teeth as he continued charging forward! At present, he really was showcasing a one man show as he severed the terrifying waves of zerglings! Wherever he passed through, he left a broad 7-8 metres deep burnt traces along with smoking zerglings littering over it. Moreover, the agitated smaller zerglings had lost their vision of the commanders and wildly clawed against Sheyan’s back. Fortunately the surface area of a human’s back was rather limited, probably only 7-8 zerglings could land a strike onto him at one go. Furthermore their strength couldn’t compare to Sheyan’s, the chances of knocking Sheyan down was relatively low.
In a short 10 plus seconds, Sheyan had managed to charge into the core of the arachnid sea. Behind were immeasurable amounts of tiny zerglings fanatically pursuing him. Finally, the lucky survivors of marine troopers pressed forward as they finished slaying the zerglings ahead, but were immediately dumbstruck as they saw Sheyan; rooted to the ground in a blank distraction!
In this instance, Sheyan roared out fiercely as he activated his ‘Stimulant’. His already rapidly declining HP suddenly took a sudden dip, but next Sheyan instantly revolved around ; his attack speed had been doubled by the ‘Simulant’! Every since anchoring himself within the sea of zerglings, his killing efficiency rate had soared astonishingly. After he completed a full rotation, there was finally a shocking empty plot of land around his body. But these fearless crazy zerglings swiftly reclaimed their ground, and covered the empty land in mere seconds; once again pouncing against Sheyan.
Sheyan again executed another rotation, at least frying close to a hundred more zerglings; burning out a pathway towards the human’s defence line. He then borrowed this precious breathing seconds, releasing the trigger as he made a dash for it. The duration of ‘Stimulant’ had not yet been exhausted, his 50% boost of movement speed was still in effect. To be safe, Sheyan even quickly and randomly activated his soul equipment ‘Endless Spirited Vodka’. In this manner, Sheyan’s speed was suddenly overwhelmingly greater than the zerglings, as he boldly escaped from the clutches of the first two incoming zerglings.
The opposite excited soldiers roared out with joyous craze, their whistles and cheers went on continuously. Obviously Sheyan had just committed an unforgettable and unimaginable performance! If not for the cool-headed officers restricting them by the side, they would have already charged forward to receive Sheyan.
When Sheyan successfully entered the range of the troopers, his health was already left with less than 150 points. Although this wasn’t a critical state, the thrill and dangers of diving into the boundless zergling sea had sapped at his concentration greatly. Because if his flamethrower had suddenly malfunctioned or the fuel unexpectedly consumed before his prediction, then even if Sheyan had 10 times his maximum health; he would surely be mortally engulfed and eaten alive!!!
Consecutively, the marines* had long ago locked onto the vicious zerglings that were pursuing Sheyan wildly; they pressed their triggers, as long tongues of flame shot out. Currently, Sheyan’s armour had already been gnawed into a shredded mess, and his body covered with deep or light wounds; blood repeated streamed out. His image portrayed a picture of an impending death. Taking the initiative, the medic head quickly scuffled through the crowd, and waved his arms towards Sheyan. Sheyan could feel a cooling yet refreshing sensation raining over him, as though was was bathing in an icy cold spring. His concentration suddenly became clear; feeling much better he released a long satisfied exhalation.
(TN: Sorry for the confusion, I’ll follow starcraft’s unit name and call the trooper/machine gunner -> marines from now.
It cannot be said that Sheyan merely intercepted and stalled the zergling tide for only 20 seconds; to the human frontlines who were in the midst of collapse, it was equivalent to an injection of adrenaline. It allowed them to regroup, reorganize their formation, change their magazines and take cover behind objects. Sheyan was acting as an individual fighting squad. Once he fled behind the defence lines, he instantly collapsed to the ground and panted heavily. Simultaneously, several humans rushed up to assist him, and professional medics delivered emergency treatments.
After resting several minutes, Sheyan once again slung his ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ and stomped to the front. Presently, his back was covered and there was nothing to fear, furthermore he had the aid of long range firepower; and the refreshing bonus of the medics. Sheyan rushed in without the slightest restraint as he begun his massacre. With a powerful ally like him attracting the main focus of the arachnids upfront, the reclining marines behind fought on with relative ease. If the zerglings wanted to break through, it was simply too difficult. Every single metre came at the expense of a huge price. Not long after, one of the faraway zergling commanders seemed to realized this operation was failing; he gave the command, and the zergling wave suddenly receded like low tide. Gradually, they faded into the horizon.
Only after ensuring that the zerglings had retreated completely did the humans loosened their concentration. Several humans disregarded the filthy and bloodied floor as they sat and laid on the ground, panting heavily and puffing on a cigarette. Undoubtedly, Sheyan was everyone’s hero.
When some of them heard that Sheyan was an elite soldier dispatched by the Homeland planet to assist here, they immediately saw the light; becoming extremely cordial and warm. Although Sheyan’s 2 points of charm were terribly lacking, most marines exhibited a ‘Welcome esteemed guest’ attitude to him. Naturally, that +1 legend level was also in effect.
Although the zerglings devastated many, it couldn’t be compared to the frightening quantity of their deaths. Sheyan’s heroic attempt had reaped him great loots; fortunately in these situations, drop loots could be slotted straight into his interspatial area. If not he really wouldn’t have the time to retrieve them. Sheyan kept two dark blue grade, uncommon carapace with him; while the other random junks, he exchanged for close to 3700 utility points. It could be counted as many little drops make up an ocean.
Currently, the trend of the world now must be mentioned. Following the advancement of space navigation technologies, and the discoveries of wormholes; the humans interstellar colonies were currently edged into people’s hearts like the beginning of the maritime era (Pirate of the Caribbean era). Many independent regimes of feudal vassals have been established, but of course nominally they still have to rely on their main origins – the homeland planet. Due to the segmentation of individual colonies in the cosmos universe; apart from encountering main formidable external enemies like the arachnid race, they normally do not foster mutual close ties. Just like where Sheyan came from the Steel Whip base, it didn’t belong to the same colonial power as this ‘Fatal Helmet’ base.
Hence before validating Sheyan’s identity, the commander remained cold and indifferent for fear of Sheyan being a rival. But once he declared he was from the homeland; because the homeland had no intentions of getting a slice of this planet, there wasn’t any clash of interest between this planet’s colonial powers. Thus, they welcomed him warmly.
After exchanging formalities, this army fleet indeed belonged to the ‘Fatal Helmet’ base. Their primary goal was to invite that specialist, Celtic, to their Fatal Helmet base to set up a bio-genometrics research centre; allowing soldiers with potential to cultivate to become medics, which will substantially reduce the mortal casualty rate in war. Sheyan’s main objective was to seek for medical aid, and was actually able to encounter a genuine medical specialist; naturally he straightforwardly requested his help.
Very quickly, the unlucky Mogensha and goblin Jinkuang received unique treatment and aid, probably recovering in no time. Since he attained his goal and time was increasingly tight, they declined going to Fatal Helmet base, expressing their regret to the commander. To express his gratitude to Sheyan, he specially gifted Sheyan a new suit of an enhanced model – NBC Powered combat armour. He also generously open up the ammunitions and supplies shuttle for them to freely take.
While all this were ongoing, on a rocky hill a few kilometres away, several shadows of figures appeared out. They were wearing a protective camouflaged clothing, their sleeveless garment was drenched in sweat; obviously camping here for a long time already. The 8 human figures dispersed over the surrounding rocky hills. The place they were residing seemed to be rather inefficient, but was actually the peak vantage point for snipping. The 8 of them maintained their absolute focus monitoring the specialist, Celtic, never once slacking off.
Without any exception, beside all 8 of them was a ‘L115a4 Accuracy international AWM (Arctic Warfare Magnum)’ – a long range electromagnetic sniper rifle! Such a fearsome electromagnetic sniper rifle was sold by the ‘Holima’ Accuracy International company for a price that exceeded 300,000 interstellar currency. It carried lockdown capabilities, lethal strike abilities, electromagnetic coverage, bombardier bullets and several frightening abilities. Within the flames of war, the amounts of superior arachnids who had fallen to this weapon category had exceeded over 4000. Because of its domineering power and unparalleled precision, even the entire Star alliance military hailed it as the ‘Surgeon balde’!
A military officer dressed in camouflage uniform whispered into his earphones.
“Target has been secured, disperse!”
Under his command, the 8 of them started dismantling their rifle and swiftly left. Their movement mobile and nimble, filled with experience and elite training. Naturally, they should be people who have battled through life and death situations countless times. Obviously they were here to protect that exalted ‘Celtic specialist’; once he was in grave danger, their military commander would certainly order them to open fire. The lives of anyone else wasn’t placed in their eyes. If Sheyan had known beforehand that there were 8 guys cautiously aiming across his head within the warzone, he would certainly feet gloomy in his heart.
Concurrently while accompanying the fleet; within an insignificant looking armoured transport vehicle, several famous researches were busy at work. Slightly above them on the screen, was astonishingly playing the images of their latest battle scenes. The battle had just concluded not too long ago, but the entire process had been captured clearly by the laser drones and conveyed over. Giving them instant firsthand feedback. Data of various fist, movements and reactions were analyzed by the main computer before summarizing into the researcher’s hands.
“The battle data statistics and analysis is out.” A researcher steadied his spectacles as he announced to the rest.
“The primary targeted weapon is that latest model ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ from the homeland. Currently still in battle experimenting verification phase, yet to begin mass manufacture phase. To be able to retrieve such an equipment now, his status background isn’t low.”
“According to the previous effective statistics, this elite warrior named ‘Seaman’ stayed within the arachnid sea for an entire 31 seconds; of which he was assaulted by the zerglings for over a hundred times. But yet he is still able to miraculously escape and survive! Moreover, according to specialist Celtic’s primary date personnel LePersia, the metal content within this Seaman soldier is below 5%. It’s a negative that he is a cyborg existence.”
Another white gowned researcher, who seemed like the man in charge here, started reading another report.
“Research objective: Explosive strength outstanding, adrenaline secretion regular, Bi-digital O-ring* test feedback degree low, psychological analysis superb, other data excellent; everything is rather similar to our own elite marines. Currently, the only abnormality lies in his resistive defense capabilities and regeneration capabilities.”
(TN: some medical diagnosis test, you can check google it’s pretty complicated stuff)
“Oh? A dignified tone was released from someone, someone who probably carried authority for a long time.
“According to the analysis feedback, whenever the specimen encounters any form of damage sustained to him, his body would react with a series of instincts. Firstly, his muscles would violently shrink in, his internal organs voluntarily shifting itself; but more peculiar is that the arteries and veins would close by itself. This prevents excessive blood loss, and lessens the pain degree. Such instinctive reactions requires one to go through an extremely rigorous and harsh resistive training to take shape; yet the specimen very naturally achieves it. According to our calculations and computer matrix pattern deductions; even if the specimen gets hit with a bullet, as long as it doesn’t latch onto his brain or heart, his life wouldn’t be in danger!
“Apart from that, the specimen’s regenerative abilities far outstretched an average person. After sustaining injuries, his internal hemoglobin actually can reproduce to 3 times an average person in a short time, leading to ridiculous intake of oxygen level. In conclusion, the specimen’s resistive abilities are extremely astounding, his regenerative strength is similarly terrifying.”
“Apart from that? Is there anything else? Mr Carmen?” The dignified manly tone sounded a little disappointed.
“Nothing else.” Mr Carmen’s reply was a little unsure. “But chairman, we can ask Madam Oumanji, see if she has any discoveries.”
Very quickly, another researcher Madam Oumannji rushed over. She was probably around 40 years old, skinny, aquiline nose, her pupils slightly greyish, looking rather astute and experienced. She was also the medic who took the initiative in healing Sheyan previously.
“I’ve heard of the homeland, they mentioned before about a plan for genetically mutated soldiers. The specimen’s abnormal regenerative abilities and resistive strength is probably one of those enhanced experimentation with genes of wild beasts. Extracting the hereditary coding from infant animals, and combining it with the bio-genetics of a human. From a biological perspective, hereditary gene fragments passed down for the later generations are primarily centered around enhanced survivability, and not combative by nature. The direct examples would be the infants of horses and deer being able to gallop and sprint directly after birth. But tigers, lions, wolves and savage carnivorous wild beast do not produce infants who can fight directly after they are born.”
Until here, the female researcher paused.
“The specimen’s hereditary genes should have originated from a section of those genetic DNA fragments. Actually such research has long been around ever since the ancient earth era, the primary inspiration for all these originated from a case of an infant being able to survive even in vile and harsh conditions. During 1931 AD of the ancient earth history, a careless priest went of to do his own things while baptizing an infant. When the infant’s mother was alerted and reacted, the poor little guy had remained inside the ice-cold baptism basin for an entire 15 minutes. That time, the Siberian cold wind was wreaking havoc at the area, the temperature was minus 30 degrees! But the end results we are all clear of that; that infant grew up healthily and matured greatly to govern the world’s greatest country at that time for 8 years; his name was Boris? Boris Yeltsin? Yeltsin’s rumored stories of a wolf child, or the ape child case, we don’t need to explain further.”
“Therefore.” The madan Oumanji concluded. “The specimen may very well be the latest generation of genetically modified soldiers. Based on our current technologies, to create an genetically modified soldier is possible; but it is hard to solve the problem of energy consumption of activating the body cells substantially. For any average person, to replicate the specimen’s powerful regeneration would require an insane consumption of body energy. Not even an hour later of that function activation, the body would exhaust its vitality and die.”
The dignified voice remained silent now, deeply pondering before shutting his communication screen.
***
Faced with the commander’s generosity, Sheyan bluntly pulled Mogensha along. Although there wasn’t a need for Mogensha to change his weapon, but several special bullets could still be great for him; bullet types providing ‘Shaking’ ‘Penetrative’ ‘detection’ ‘illumination’ etc.
Sheyan also found a safe deposit box within the ammunitions and supplies vehicle, the door wasn’t locked. Based on the doctrine that a safety deposit box would contain many precious objects, Sheyan instantly rushed up to examine; wherein he discovered a dozen disk shaped weapons that most probably were landmines. On it was a warning – ‘sample electromagnetic cloud explosive’.
Description: ‘Sample electromagnetic cloud explosive’. This is a newly introduced weapon containing immense killing potential. Currently for some unknown reason, it’s launching detonation malfunction rate is high. After launching, it will deal 30 – 80 points of sound wave damage to the surrounding creatures within a 10 metre radius. Damage will be directed towards the arachnids functionality, destroying its sense of hearing and balancing organs. Hence it will also result in a 10 seconds dizziness debuff for the arachnids.
Sheyan had previously seen this deadly tool when several brave marines made a desperate suicidal charge, hence it left a deep impression on him. He tried picking one up and instantly felt his hand sinking down; even though this object was the size of a bowl, it was close to 30 kg in mass. Furthermore its detonating process was complex, no wonder the previous marines were unable to utilize it as grenades.
This object was deadly to others, yet to a 530 health points high Sheyan, he was completely unafraid of its 80 points of damage. Although its sound waves disregarded the influence of ‘Endurance*’, it was still affected by resistive defence and translated to only roughly 40 points of damage to Sheyan. Even 2 – 3 detonated in his face wasn’t fatal to him, but it could further produce an additional compelling dizziness AOE debuff effect; People would murder for this, a truly superb item.
(TN: *Disregards because endurance only guards against physical damage. Soundwaves isn’t considered physical according to author)
Without hesitation, Sheyan quickly stored everything , not even leaving one behind. But it goes without saying what this action resulted in, the commander’s face instantly turning dark as night; obviously regretting deeply the words he offered earlier. He became noticeably cold to Sheyan and gang, and instantly ordered them to leave.
Fortunately, that amiable specialist, Celtic, wasn’t a person from Fatal Helmet base. Hence, Sheyan’s greedy behavior wasn’t related to him at all, remaining as the adoration as the prior battle’s savior was still present. After hearing of their departure, he still offered some farewells. Sheyan’s goal was to heal the sick, since its objectives had been met; naturally he wouldn’t go over to Fatal Helmet base if he didn’t need to. The commander’s order to leave was exactly what they wanted. After their farewells, they boarded the Scout craft and once again calibrated their directions; heading for the nearest aircraft crash site on the map.
During the journey, in order to avoid various dangerous districts like Ionic explosion sites or arachnid infested regions; they took an entire 6 hours to reach their destination when the direct route to the crash site was only 3-4 hundred kilometres. But sadly after a long time of searching, they didn’t find any traces of the transport shuttle landing here. Instead, they only came across some native creatures scavenging for food.
Following the logic of security in being neutral, Sheyan and gang didn’t disturb those native creatures. They even discovered a species of giant spotted spanish-fly similar to the previous flaming beetle. But this fly was extremely docile, laying inside its own crevice in the shade as it gnawed on its grass and black moss.
The slut Jinkuang, was now glowing with health and vigor; like a crazy old man feeling like a youth, he leapt onto the fly’s back carapace as he complacently waved his finger forward. Riding it like a car for a few kilometres before descending, as though the this savage looking fly was something that was bred from him. Although it appeared similar to the flaming beetle, nevertheless its temperament differed more than a million miles.
According to theory, travelling through the night was an extremely risky decision. Because travellers wouldn’t have the adequate concentration, and they couldn’t see the way clearly ahead in and their car could overturn. Fortunately, the contestant’s evolved body allowed them to maintain long periods of focus, moreover obstacles that could overturn the Scout would be rather bulky and easily identifiable. Hence after discussing, they decided not to pause and directly headed for the next crash site; all the while churning a thick sand storm behind them, as the Scout zoomed as fast as lightning.
After sprinting for nearly a hundred kilometres, the distance to the next crash landing site was merely 10 kilometres away. Even though they possessed a contestant’s body, they had experienced a night of continuous bumps, their body was somewhat fatigue and their spirits worned out. Hence, they halted their journey to take a break.
Both their emotions felt rather imperative. Because 1 hour ago, Sheyan accidentally realized his achievement points had plunged by another 1 point, which indicated that Reef’s side had encountered another challenge. Moreover, once their side becomes utterly exterminated and the main lead dies as a result, it was quite likely everyone in this temporary party would be forcefully sent back to the realm. Since the mission failed, Sheyan and Mogensha would instantly lose 6 achievement points and 3 points in their highest basic attribute. Although that setback couldn’t compare to them suffering serious injuries, moreover they each had reaped a black grade component already; but if they didn’t fulfill this mission, it will still cause them to be rather dejected.
After rejuvenating their minds for 10 minutes; the two wore their battle armour and made sure they were combat ready before beginning their search for the transport shuttle. In the end, from a faraway distance, they could roughly make up the rear end of the transport shuttle. The shuttle’s abdomen and plowed open a hundreds of metre long deep gorge within the desert; it was like the desert sustained a bitter scar. Lastly, the shuttle’s head had deeply crashed into of of the rocky hill ahead. Fortunately it seemed like the emergency landing was a success and it didn’t explode in flames. It wasn’t even that intense of a collision, probably the most fatal danger for the passengers would be being drowned by the torrential pouring of sand.
But as the gap between the crashed shuttle and them shortened, their faces swiftly turned sullen. Although from afar was a peaceful atmosphere, but a clear battle traces greeted their horrific vision. Thick blood and shattered battle armour, clumps of dried brown blood stains, eerie white bones were abandoned after deemed inedible. Lastly, distinct earth-yellow bomb craters and unique vestiges of the Hydralisk’s corrosive acid vandalized the entire shuttle’s surface. Everything pointed to one thing – that an extremely violent battle had broken out at this crash site!
Sheyan who could be still classified as a battle rookie, undoubtedly Mogensha the veteran managed to discover more clues. After ensuring that there wasn’t any pertaining danger here, he scavenged around aimlessly but with an ultimate aim; occasionally finding cloth fragments underneath rocks, and a pile of bullet shells within the sand. He then prone to the ground like a dog, sniffing around and even committed the repulsive act of licking the dried blood stains. Finally, he returned with a heavy expression as he advised Sheyan.
“They probably suffered an ambush after landing for half an hour. The raid was abrupt and violent, to the extent that they didn’t even have time to carry away the supplies left in the shuttle. Even some of their heavily wounded comrades were abandoned inside the shuttle.
Sheyan surveyed the surroundings, nodding his head to acknowledge his inference. He suddenly recalled something.
“How about the shuttle’s pilot?”
Mogensha lightly shook his head.
“The shuttle’s head had utterly smashed into the hill, likewise the pilot. Even if it avoided the hill, the head would be driven into the desert sand….. Only such an action would immediately cause the shuttle to be buried inside the sand. Next, people who managed to flee were only about a dozen, if they were all ordinary soldiers; then very likely they were shredded to pieces by the assaulting arachnids within the hour!”
Sheyan sighed deeply and continued.
“You’re able to trace their retreating path right? Then let’s go up and take a look.”
Mogensha nodded.
“No problems, but we cannot use our hovercraft anymore. Because the terrain is starting to become complex, we may get ambushed anytime! From the looks of it, our hovercraft can’t even sustain one terrifying attack. Moreover, it’s easy to overlook tiny threads of clues on board the vehicle.”
If Sheyan was alone, naturally he wouldn’t be afraid of the arachnid’s ambush. But Mogensha was afraid of the extreme terrors of two zerglings simultaneously lounging at him, hence he was naturally more cautious. The two concealed their shuttle underneath the desert sand, and Sheyan naturally took the lead while holding onto the zergling’s natural counter – ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’.
The two of them traversed through the remote environment, following the clear chaotic traces towards the west. Luckily, the sunset didn’t carry any sandstorms, if not it would become increasingly difficult to follow the trail. After going around the missing shuttle for a round, Mogensha sighed repeatedly. Sheyan understood his depression. Because a shocking discovery of a pathway was found within the desert! Yet this small path was forged through various hoofprints trampling and dragging traces!!!
From this image, it seemed that the arachnid race had dispatched an entire fleet to pursue the fleeing survivors! More frightening was the evidence of a hydralisk mixing with this fleet. Mogensha glanced at Sheyan, stopping his desired words from leaving his mouth. Sheyan pondered a moment before sincerely offering.
“I know you wish to advise me to give up. But you haven’t considered properly. After we landed, we stayed at Steel Whip base for a day, and roughly half a day through the journey here. Even if there was an astonishing quantity of arachnids, they would’ve probably dispersed by now. And the reason why there was such a massive congregation of arachnids, I reckon it’s because the emergency landing caused a huge ripple of impact. If the both of us were capable to enticing the entire arachnid nest against us, luring the arachnids from its territory and incubation nest; then I believe the entire arachnid race would’ve long ago been extinguished. Hence I believe that any form of danger we encounter now, should probably be a scope we can deal with.
Mogensha reflected over Sheyan’s words and found reasonable logic within; nodding his head and continued advancing. Actually one couldn’t blame him, Sheyan was an exceptionally thick skinned badass who dared to charge recklessly into a deadly sea of arachnids. Mogensha didn’t dare to be that reckless, prudence and cautiousness were his priority.
Merely 50 metres later, Mogensha strode towards the lateral side of sand. There was a distinct permeation of brown there, as he pushed away the sand to take a closer look at the brown patch, he shrugged his shoulders.
“Another died here. His corpse was probably eaten – god bless his soul.”
Sheyan nodded his head as he continued forward. Throughout the journey, Mogensha repeatedly managed to locate the fleeing route of the small squad. It was obvious many members willingly stayed behind to fend against the arachnids, yet they ultimately got ravaged and consumed by the ravenous arachnids. After roughly 1 km later, ahead of them remained the boundless Gobi desert; yet shockingly, a profound rocky mountain valley so deep its tail could not be seen appeared! This ravine was as broad as a hundred metre; dark, eerie, horrific and between it contained craggy weird devilish liked stones. However, places that the sun rays couldn’t reach was bound to have vegetation like moss growing.
Mogensha gazed at the rift valley, deep with worry in his heart.
“Arachnids have an exceptionally keen sense of smell; if those fleeing guys wanted to rely on the complicated terrain to throw them off, they would be committing a grave mistake.”
Sheyan suddenly furrowed his brows.
“What’s that smell? Isn’t that the rotting stench of decomposing flesh?”
Mogensha also pinched his nose.
“Its coming from the ravine. Strange, arachnids normally wouldn’t waste their food!”
Sheyan took big steps towards the ravine. Currently, daylight was already prevalent. He hurriedly headed towards the edge of the ravine, couldn’t help covering his nose on they way as his pupils contracted. There was actually an appalling calamitous massacre smacked at the bottom of the ravine, roughly 3-4 km away.
The massacre wasn’t comprised of humans, it was actually hundreds of arachnids! Their corpses seemed to have been left lying around for over 24 hours, naturally starting to decompose due to the high temperature of the Gobi Desert. When the sun came out, the rotting became more rapid.
Mogensha’s eyes leaked out an astonished expression. He suddenly pointed towards a hydralisk who had its head literally ripped apart, as he loudly exclaimed.
“Holy shit! That culprit for this ambush was actually another race of arachnids! Human weapons could never cause such a gruesome injury!”
Sheyan ignored the awful rotting stench, his eyes seemed to be outlining sketches of the event 2 days ago. The group of blood-soaked courageous soldiers, in their tragic despair they discovered this massive ravine; going all in as they rushed down. From behind, the greedy and savage arachnids frantically chasing. At this very moment, the other hostile group of arachnids was eyeing them, sweeping an ambush from their back. After slaying completely the backlines of slower hydralisks, they continued on annihilating the foot soldier-like zerglings……
In that instance, Sheyan couldn’t help recalling the place where they encountered the junior class legendary creature ‘Scorching Mouth’; similarly it was an arachnid’s internal bloodbath! Looks like the arachnid race were really like the humans, their factions surmounting to great figures. Moreover, the human’s internal conflicts could still be negotiated; yet for arachnids who were conflicting, the only solution was acid, claws and fangs.
“Ak, are we still able to find the route of those fortunate survivors?” Sheyan abruptly blurted out.
Mogensha hesitated before offering. “Shouldn’t be a problem.” He put on his helmet to cut off the stench as he stood at the edge and surveyed below. Obviously, the ravine was as deep as 30 metres high; one didn’t need to wait for the arachnids to finish him off if he fell without support. Sweeping his gaze around, Mogensha discovered a gentle slope that the survivors prolly used. Moreover, they even exploded off several assisting rocks on the way, probably causing a huge amount of pursuing arachnids to fall to their death. The traces they left behind was chaotic, especially the arachnid’s pursuing trail was utterly broken off here.
The two traversed through the overwhelming hellish stench of battlefield. The corpses here belonged to a species of black arachnids, but their wounds were smaller; perhaps belonging to the party of ambushers. Next, they immediately noticed a trail of footsteps stopping, probably the survivors halting to engage in combat. This was a narrow district within the massive ravine, providing advantageous defence and difficult offense. The arachnids couldn’t easily separate themselves here, while the humans could utilize their long range weapons to carry out concentrated fire within the narrow gaps behind cover.
Mogensha glanced at the charred marks along a rock beside an arachnid’s corpse.
“There were probably Firebats around in their squad. Look the position I’m standing on isn’t bad, if a firebat hid behind here, a hydralisk’s acidic spray wouldn’t reach him. They need to go round this corner, but when going round the corner, the hydralisk would instantly suffer concentrated firepower from the front.”
The two continued forward, advancing within this temporary fort. Scattered needles (‘Stimulant’ dosage) littered the ground, ammunition shells and blood-soaked bandages; there was even a small ration can. It was huge mess. But this was a dead end! The tumbling rocks from above had utterly cut off the advancing route!
Delight surged across the eyes of Sheyan and Mogensha! Because in this temporary fort, there were few blood stains, but more critically; zero presence of fragmented or shattered armour! What did this mean? It meant the survivors lived on! The previous scene could now be easily predicted even with their toes: Due to the fact that the hydralisk were totally annihilated by the ambushing arachnids behind, the frontline zerglings were taken care of by relying on the superior advantage of that Firebat. Hence, they successfully survived!
Following that, the surviving remnant naturally had to face off with those ambushers! Presently, Mogensha had discovered several buried arachnid corpses; a sharp black barbed-tip sprouted from their bodies, and contained black scales. It seemed like that exact arachnid species from those black ones beforehand as well, except their rivals were different now.
For some unknown reasons, the black arachnids didn’t slaughter the humans — or merely didn’t kill them onsite. If not, even if there were no human bodies around, there should still be an abundance of blood stains scattered about.
“What’s this?” Sheyan suddenly pointed towards a diluted green botch on a nearby rock. The sun had yet to rise fully, and the ravine was still casted with shadows. The botch was faintly emitted a fluorescence glow within the darkness, easily identifying it.
Mogensha focusedly examined it for a moment, before getting a strand of hair from Sheyan to dip into it (Because Mogensha was bald). After confirming it wasn’t poisonous, he touched with his hand. After interacting, he withdraw his finger, as a long mild green sticky thread attached to it.
“Looks rather viscous eh?”
Sheyan raised his brows before realizing numerous other mild green spots surrounding the rock, filled with glow. Both their knowledge of information didn’t shed light on its existence. Without much efforts, Mogensha located the dispersing direction of those black arachnids. But he also worriedly mentioned, that the arachnid’s core creature ‘Overmind’ could absorb a human’s brain and retrieve their memories. If the black arachnids had such an intention and practice, then undoubtedly the survivors would rather be nibbled to death.
To their relief, as Sheyan and Mogensha repeatedly discovered along this trail, the remnant not only weren’t killed, they even reached an outstanding degree of freedom; for example several scattered litter as well as bits of cigarette buds. The arachnids definitely weren’t creatures who were polite enough to hide their intentions and beastly nature. Hence, even the pessimistic Mogensha had to admit that the chances of the remnant surviving were currently pretty high.
After travelling for 2 hours across the ravine, the two followed a narrow ramp returning to surface level. If not for Mogensha’s trailing capabilities being absolutely outstanding, they would have gotten lost long ago. As they walked back up the desert, Sheyan suddenly felt a wave of strange sensation sweeping in. He instantly dived forward, twisting his body around as he executed a blocking action!
Behind him in the air, an extremely weird creature was suspended roughly 50 metres above. From far, it appeared like a strange pear. It had brown skin, 4 long legs and two spider pedipalp* like feelers. Between its 4 long limbs was a wide purplish membrane connecting them into a webbing, contracting while the legs moved; yet the joint membrane could rapidly expand into a ventilator releasing repelling force, allowing the creature to easily float in midair.
(TN:* that’s the two feeler like things of a spider, you can google it)
As Sheyan caught sight of the creature, he instantly witnessed its 4 long legs suddenly circulating with a light greenish fluorescent. It swiftly congregated at the twin feelers, before shooting out a lump of fluorescent green mucus at Sheyan and co.
Undoubtedly, this mucus wasn’t a welcoming greeting. Both Sheyan and Mogensha reactive instinctively as they dodged, darting away to different sides. The flight of the mucus wasn’t considered fast, allowing them to safely avoid it.
But at this moment, both their eyes were widely opened. The lump of mucus was actually dividing in mid air, from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8….. Its splitting interval was even joint by a thread of green mucus. When it reached above Sheyan and Mogensha, it had astoundly metamorphosed into a light greenish and glowing gigantic spiderweb! Covering the entire heavens as it enshrouded down!
“You’ve been struck with a Queen Zerg’s special ability: ‘Capture’.”
(TN: Y’all can google the arachnid names for clearer pictures if you like)
“Your movement speed/attack speed declines by 50%.”
“Immediate restoration if you escape from this invisible state.”
Covered in green mucus, every wrestle of movement felt like an elastic rope was binding them; even a single step was extremely challenging and required excessive energy. Mogensha clenched his teeth trying to raise his gun to give that beast a taste of his prowess, but instead was stalled by Sheyan’s grip. Because from a high angle by the side, another dozen of malevolent black headed creepy crawlies had surfaced; acidic fluids brewing violently within their bodies as they portrayed a shooting posture – the thing that gave Sheyan and Mogensha the greatest headache, Hydralisk.
“If they wanted to attack us, they would’ve done so already.” Sheyan calmly instructed.
Mogensha nodded slightly. Suddenly, a voice penetrated into their ears, similar to the way their nightmare imprint connected with them. It didn’t travel through the air nor transmitted through the ears, but connected with the mental. Upon hearing, it sounded like an aged old female speaking.
��Szsss…..humans, gaaa, halt all your malicious movements…Sszxsss….if not it’ll be hard for me to withhold my children from ripping you to shreds��
“This ability, isn’t this thought transmission?” Sheyan’s heart flashed with an inspiration, as he quickly attempted to reply with his nightmare imprint. ��Who are you? ��
The voice immediately replied.
��I am the mother of the Blackthorns, Shengong. I am currently using my children to communicate with you��
Mogensha was still in disbelief.
��Children? Is your child that freak floating in the air?��
��I don’t agree with your words.��The mother of the Blackthorns replied.��In my eyes, Jenny’s skin is brimming with sexuality, her contours are perfectly alluring. Instead, humans are the freaks, nevertheless i will maintain my respect you you; although it is easy to tear you apart and devour you anytime.��
Mogensha unfolded his hands.
��Alright alright, respectable lady. We have no intentions of being your enemies. Our reason here is not to occupy territories or plunder, but just to search for our comrades; that’s all.��
The mother of the Blackthorns responded with succinct.
��Follow my children, humans. You will see them soon enough, but don’t take my kindness for weakness.��
In a flurry, Sheyan and Mogensha were now surrounded by a flock of hydralisk and zerglings, as they escorted/monitored towards the side. Gradually, a layer of thick fresh violent substance appeared beneath their feet, just like a carpet. Stepping over it felt like walking over a loose riverbank.
Sheyan’s earlier information reports had information on such a substance. Their name was ‘Creep (Spreading organic matter)’, able to digest all nutrients and supply essential nourishment for the arachnids; aiding the organs of the arachnid’s larva or drones (bee) to morph into bigger lifeforms. Under normal circumstances, such organic substances multiplied constantly and were hard to eradicate. To the arachnids, it even provided them extra regenerative capabilities.
Apart from that, the appearance of ‘Creep’ signified one thing – this area was colonized by the arachnids as a crucial core zone. Anything that wasn’t approved by the arachnids would immediately suffer the full wrath of the viciously enraged arachnids! On their journey here, Sheyan had noticed numerous densely packed clusters of arachnid lifeforms, and brown jellyfish like substance were floating in the air. If one had to describe, it was a nerve wrecking image of brain system, connected to a tree trunk.
According to the reports, this thing was called an ‘Overlord’; probably another species in the arachnid race. It doesn’t possess any offensive capabilities, but acted like a human’s factory. It can incubate and provide nourishment resources for the arachnids. To know if an arachnid community was huge, one just needed to observe how many Overlords there were. Apart from that, because overlords utilized their perceptive sensing to gauge the environment, it didn’t have eyes but could detect every invisible life form within its radius.
Sheyan and Mogensha didn’t walk for long within the arachnid nest, but could see from a distant hill depression; several military tents were scattered along its edges. A soldier currently sitting on a dried rock while puffing his cigar noticed Sheyan, instantly jumping up in surprise.
“Woah, friends! Don’t tell me you guys are also survivors from the aircrash.”
Even though Mogensha’s charm wasn’t high, it was still maintained at an acceptable level. Hence, the common interactions was still pretty accessible.
“Haha in fact the opposite, private. We have specially come to confirm your conditions and try to bring you guys home.”
That private laughed loudly.
“Mate! Honestly, this is the funniest joke I’ve heard in nearly 48 hours.”
Mogensha sighed.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t speak like that to your life saviors.”
“Life saviors?” That private asked suspiciously.
Mogensha fished out that pilot’s special harmonica out from his chest.
“If Lieutenant Colonel Dundee was still alive, then he’ll know if my words are true or false.”
��
That private immediately asked in amazement.
“Don’t tell me you are that officer that chased away those Spore Wyverns? That expert who could use a machine cannon to deliver such precise attacks?”
The black man Mogensha obviously wouldn’t express an easterner modesty, he naturally raised his brows as he brandished his personal golden AK and proclaimed loudly.
“Of course! If not for that cannon’s handle having such terribly grip like an 60 year old granny’s chest, I would have directly splattered those huge buffoons into pieces!”
The private gazed at Mogensha with adoration, he hastily ran back into the tent. Several minutes later, many soldiers started streaming out of the tent, falling in as two orderly files and bowed their erected bodies in respect! Concurrently they declared loudly.
“Our gratitude to you! Sergeant!” (Sergeant is Mogensha’s military rank in the realm, and also understood throughout all words)
Mogensha replicated their formalities, before a lieutenant colonel with his left arm wrapped in white bandages stood out. His expression stern as he extended his hand towards Mogensha.
“I am ‘Pebbles’ special forces captain, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee. Many thanks to your heroic actions and thank you for your courageous act of rescuing us today. But frankly, I really don’t wish to see you guys coming here now. Because this situation here….. I’m afraid is a lot worse than what you imagine.”
Mogensha extended his hand out to shake.
“Ho, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee. Before we set off, we already knew it was going to be an excruciatingly challenging journey. Please don’t be too worried, how about telling us about the current situation instead.”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee turned his head to glance at the fully equipped Sheyan.
“And he is?”
Sheyan stood forward, raising his voice.
“Special forces 2nd Lieutenant, Seaman, at your service. Sir!”
“Seaman.” Dundee recalled a little, his eyes flickering. “I seem to have heard of others praising your bravery before!”
This was the advantages of a +1 legend level. Although his charm was low, but with this solid first impression, it naturally made his interactions and engagements much easier. Following that, the lieutenant colonel dejectedly stroked his hands as he paced back and forth, before firming his head in resolution.
“Alright, then I’ll just explain our current situation fully. Firstly I need to inform you of the reason between the conflicts of the human race and arachnids…… it certainly isn’t like what those nonsense like conquest, environment, conflicts, survival the politicians debate about; but it’s for an ore! A natural resource that is extremely rare even in the entire universe! A crystallite superconductor ore (Unobtanium)(ED: It’s because it’s unobtainable!Sorry, couldn’t help myself)!
As he spoke, Dundee retrieved a rock that looked like Unobtanium. This crystal was silverish-blue, its surface brimming with metallic brilliance. But more awe-inspiring was that it could actually float on its own, 2cm from the palm!
“This is that unobtanium that those stinky brats hail as ‘Pandora’. Its performance exceeds all human made superconductors. Under 1516 degree celsius (china 2761 degrees) temperature, it can maintain its superconductor performance. The superconductor also contains an ultra powerful anti-magnetism energy, that under 1 billion gauss (100,000 Tesla) magnetic field intensity, it can still maintain its superconductor properties. This is 1000 times more powerful than any earthly material…. At present, the economy of the Star Alliance is on the decline, every kg of raw ore of unobtanium isn’t lower than 40 million american dollars. Please note, that’s just the raw mineral that hasn’t been purified!”
Mogensha dropped his jaws and replied.
“WOAH woah Lieutenant Colonel. I’m getting dizzy by those figures, I feel like just hearing that figure can pressure me to death. It’s that same blissful suffocating death under the pressure of a big chested lass.”
Dundee sighed and continued.
“Pandora crystals (refined by the ore) is known as the most perfect energy. What uranium or petroleum, it completely cannot compare! Hence, there are people that traverse through the universe in search of it, and are even willing to pay any price. The Pandora crystals only flaw is that apart from the humans, many other alien species also desires its stored capabilities. This includes the arachnid race, and also the reason for our relentless war against them. And also the sole reason for the hostile barriers between our different human bases; and the disharmonies between the arachnid colonies!
After listening to lieutenant colonel Dundee’s explanation, Sheyan and Mogensha finally saw the light; no wonder the entire ‘P’ planet had such a peculiar conflict. Naturally when humans encountered arachnids, both parties would fight against each other. But without the presence of an alienated race, no matter humans nor arachnids; both were united in appearance but divided at heart. They all had their personal motivations for war, and constantly wrestled internally.
Mogensha abruptly interrupted.
“Then for every human base, they are all constructed on a Pandora ore mine?”
Dundee nodded.
“Even the arachnid bases are the same.”
Sheyan suddenly chipped in.
“What do the arachnids need these minerals for?’
Dundee choked and coughed violently, before speaking.
“Only with the aid of the ore’s internal energy can they survive and propagate. The Pandora crystal ores are akin to our daily bread and butter; moreover the arachnid’s hunted prey can only make up their salads and flavor seasonings.”
“Woah ohh. Hmmm, so these arachnids are thinking of using us ‘salads’ to help them search for more ‘bread’?” Mogensha interrupted.
“No.” Lieutenant colonel Dundee honestly replied. “This empire of ‘Blackthorns’ arachnids are extremely fortunate, they have already found their own heavenly banquet – an astonishing reserves of pandora mineral ores. Bluntly speaking, based on the sheer quantity only, it should be at a tenth of the entire ‘P’ planet reserves; adequate for these arachnids to harvest for another 10 years. When their Overmind frantically absorbed the energies to mature and even expanded the entire tribe, a disaster occurred. Three nearby covetous tribes sensed the impending threat and became green with jealousy. They banded together and launched a coalition against the Blackthorns tribe! Actually such actions according to the laws of the jungle, are exceedingly commonplace.”
“The ultimate conclusion of the battle was shocking. The Backthorns were infiltrated all the way into their core mother nest, with casualties immeasurable. However, by relying on the immense amounts of Pandora crystals for their indomitable regenerative capabilities, and an unending breeding stream of new foot soldiers; they managed to completely crush and laid waste to two of the enemy tribes! The two opposing tribe’s Overmind were taken and absorbed by the Blackthorn’s Overmind.”
“Overmind?” Mogensha asked curiously. “What’s that?”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee earnestly replied.
“That is equivalent of the queen bee or the ant empress. Its capabilities is entirely devoted to controlling the entire arachnid tribe, its development and evolution direction and possessed an insanely formidable thought capability. Simply putting, it is the brains behind the entire arachnid tribe. The mother of the Blackthorns that guided us here is primarily in charge of breeding and some base functions. Of course, every arachnid tribe will only have 1 Overmind. If there is a second, the two Overminds would wrestle aggressively against each other, and break the entire tribe into two factions.”
Sheyan silently absorbed the information Dundee was pouring into them, he continued listening.
“After the Blackthorn’s Overmind had absorbed the enemy Overminds, it fell into advanced hibernation due to consumption overload. The final ‘Thick-liquid’ tribe seized the opportunity and amassed their remaining strength, initiating an all out skirmish against them! Because the Blackthorn tribe was still in the midst of restoring their defence, the Thick-liquid tribe managed to successfully infiltrate into the core zone; and kidnapping the hibernating Blackthorn Overmind. Hence, the entire tribe became like a dragon without its head, only capable of relying on its system defences to fend for itself.”
Authors note: (Some of you may be unsure of the capabilities of the Overmind. Citing an example, the mother of the Blackthorns would be the equivalent of the starcraft base nest while playing the game starcraft. Then the Overmind would be the equivalent of the human behind the computer, controlling the units in the game. If the player was captured, then the base’s self defensive mechanism would still be in effect. The established patrolling units/offensive commands that the players had set beforehand would still follow according to their latest orders. However, without the player they would become extremely inflexible.)
“For now, the Thick-liquid tribe would constantly breed out new forces daily to engage in wild assaults against this place; trying to find a weakness to capture and occupy this Pandora crystal ore mine. Moreover, the main function of the mother of Blackthorns is to reproduce and not to dictate the battle. Her mental powers are only adequate enough to mobilize only a third of the new forces for battle, and her tactics would be relatively rigid. Hence after discovering that we were locked in battle with the Thick-liquid tribe, she spared us but wished for our help against the Thick-liquid tribe! Furthermore, once the mother dies, then the Thick-liquid tribe can very easily control the entire area and buildings; our deaths would be guaranteed!”
“Wait!” Sheyan suddenly interrupted. “I have an important question. Where is the Overmind of the Blackthorns? I noticed you saying it was kidnapped but not killed.”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee was slightly startled. “That I don’t know, but i can confirm it was taken.”
At this moment, a throb emerged within everyone’s thoughts, followed the voice of the mother of the Blackthorns.
��Mozi is still alive. After swallowing the two Overminds, it has successfully attained the basic requirements of evolving to a ‘Dark Iron Lord’ rank! Even if it doesn’t evolve successfully, its power is at least 2-3 folds of the Thick-liquid Overmind. An absorption between Overminds isn’t like what you think, ravaging the physical body; but it is absorbing its level of mental energies. The Thick-liquid Overmind wouldn’t kill it, instead it will do its utmost to protect Mozi’s body. That weak bug will surely enslave Mozi, and slowly drain its mental force; before using its brainwaves to slowly attempt to absorb the mentally exhausted Mozi. Because the disparity between their mental force is so wide, the entire process will definitely persist for above 120 hours��
Sheyan calculated in flash. That means that Overmind, Mozi, still can endure for another 2-3 days… His thought process started to swiftly churn up.
Suddenly, an unexplainable gloomy sound terrorized the entire base. Its sound was like the rumbling of an aeroplane as it ascended into the sky. The ten over survivals leapt up in shocked, swiftly grabbing their weapons as they starting putting on their battle armour; obviously preparing for combat. Even though they hadn’t recovered from their injuries, their movements were extremely nimble. Mogensha was a little stunned.
“What, a battle?”
“Gogogogogo! Lieutenant Colonel Dundee shouted towards the soldiers as he equipped on his battle armour, as well as his C-14 Impaler Gauss rifle. “Lads, you guys take a rest. We will be back after wrecking havoc to those scum arachnids.”
Mogensha was about to suggest something; but several enormous elite zerglings appeared, and swiftly but fiercely mixed within the bunch of humans as they ferociously charged away. Mogensha didn’t even have the time to say anything, he only glanced towards Sheyan.
“What should we do now?!”
Sheyan instantly ordered.
“Obviously we have to follow, at least Dundee mustn’t die at all cost. If we can receive a mission from him, then at least we wouldn’t have to worry about being expelled from this world if the other side is exterminated.”
The pair swiftly raced after the rest. On the way, they witnessed numerous amounts of prune colored organism structures (or organs). The shortest was as tall as 2-3 storeys, evil and monstrous; covered with thick arms of veins and arteries at the top. It was secreting various kinds of gooey fluids, emitting growling and hooting sounds. The atmosphere was drenched with a peculiar smell.
Within them, the largest core structure was the place where humans hailed as the ‘Mother nest’. Its exterior was like a majestic and towering flesh hill, as tall as 5-6 floors; occupying 1 kilometre. Its surface was covered with ridiculously thick prune colored veins. Several hundreds of table-sized mauve colored, 6 legged beetles were excavating a nearby rocky hill; before gathering its stored crystals as they repeatedly travelled to-and-fro from the mother nest and the hill.
The beetles had a unique mouth system. Firstly spraying acidic fluids to dissolve the solid rocks, before using its teeth to chip at the rocks; finally collecting the excavated crystals. Apart from that, amongst the crystal was another resource called ‘Vespene gas’, a yellow-greenish substance that was also harvested by them. This things were not like the crystals to the arachnids, it wasn’t an essential mineral to survive; but was a crucial element for them to morph into advanced units. According to Sheyan’s knowledge, these beetles were the production units of the arachnids known as ‘Drones’. Their offensive capabilities were weak, but their importance was ranked above all armed units.
The surroundings of the mother nest was distributed by 7-8 gigantic ‘lairs’. The lairs had roughly the same composition as the mother nest, except for its smaller volume and inferior capabilities. They had only 1 function, and that was to breed larvas. These things were like the embryos that the mother nest could pour hormones and energy into it, morphing out various kind of military arachnids. After the mother nest is destroyed and with a substantial period of maturing, the lairs can be used to replace the mother nest’s capabilities. Normally, the mother nest would be able to produce 15 larvas, while the ordinary lair could only produce approximately 5.
The intense battle signal was released from a place not far from the mother nest. As the Sheyan and the rest sprinted to the front, they witnessed incredible amounts arachnid units idling lifelessly where they stood. They couldn’t sense the intense battle that was erupting at most 500 metres away, an evidence of the missing Overmind.
“Thump Thump Thump Thump” Sheyan and Mogensha stomped heavily, as the carpet mucus ‘Creep’ substances splashed rigorously. Occasionally, the jellyfish-like Overlords would descend onto the carpet ground to absorb nutrients. Apart from every structure having to be constructed on this repulsive carpet; the carpet’s other important value is to breakdown and decompose any fallen organic matters, and extract the dissolved nutrients.
All in all, the Overlord acts like a fruit tree; the Pandora crystals acts as the sunshine provided to it, while the carpet provides its organic substance and minerals. Combining the two, the Overlord produces the primary resource needed to breed more arachnids. Hence, an experienced veteran will be able to assess the total force strength of the arachnid tribe through the amount of Overlord present in the base.
After halting their sprint at a nearby slope; from a distant valley, they could see a magnificent battalion of zerglings and hydralisks marching towards them. The marching zerglings and hydralisk had an obscure green glowing from their body surfaces. With saliva and mucus trickling down, initially one couldn’t tell the difference between other zerglings. Yet when comparing to the Blackthorn tribe’s zerglings, there was a stark contrast resulting in an easy distinction.
In contrast, the Blackthorn defence line was depressingly sparse, evidently the Blackthorn mother’s control over their forces was pretty limited; the amount of arachnid units dispatched here was vastly inadequate. Fortunately, its defense structures had their own authority privileges. Amidst the sparse Blackthorn arachnids, stood roughly 20 queer and grotesque arachnid structures scattered through the region!
These structures were at most half a metre tall and occupied a car-sized area. Razor-sharp tendrils pierced out of their surface; from far it appeared like a blooming, flesh-red demonic flower. Once an enemy approaches within a hundred metres, its crimson long tendrils would swiftly pierce deep into the ground, tunneling through before erupting out from the ground underneath the enemy’s feet; cruelly impaling their opponent’s bodies!
These tendrils were extremely deadly. Under normal circumstances, a zergling could only withstand 2 blows, while the hydralisk only 3 blows. This was the special defensive mechanism structure of the arachnid’s hive, named ‘Sunken Colony’. It ravages their opponents with their agile tendrils within their attacking range, and possessed extremely high HP. This defensive line was situated near the exit of the valley. Once the enemy forces charged out of the valley; there wouldn’t even be time for them to regroup into their battle formation, before the relentless tendrils started drilling in. There was completely no way of approaching without avoiding the terrifying assaults of the Sunken colonies.
Gradually, the Thick-liquid fleet drew closer, as an intense close quarter combat broke out between both parties. Concealed around the Sunken colonies, the Blackthorn arachnids sensed their aggressors as they turned berserk, fiercely engaging in their barbaric atrocities. At present, the frontlines could be described as a carnage meat grinder. The atmosphere was polluted with a repulsive arachnid fluids stench. Lieutenant colonel Dundee and gang were frenziedly opening fire. These hand-picked special forces had a combined firepower not inferior at all to the Sunken colonies. It was no wonder the mother requested for their help.
The assault had persisted for over 10 minutes, reaching its crazed climax. The fallen arachnids over the ‘Creep’ carpet was rapidly being dissolved by it, having its body nutrients absorbed before transferred to the numerous organ structures. Hence, if one’s defenses were impregnable, one could maintain their matchless superiority. Still, the Blackthorn’s Overmind was absent, masses of troops were still idling around at other regions. Thus, the battle conclusion starting to slant towards the overwhelming size of the Thick-liquid tribe, that advantage in numbers compressed the Blackthorns to the brink of collapse.
Suddenly, under the vicious advances of 3 zerglings, one of the blooming Sunken Colony reach its critical point; ultimately exploding as blood plasma filled the sky, before splattering everywhere else. Following that in succession, 2 – 3 more Sunken Colony followed suit as they exploded consecutively. The frontlines were devastated as it started to be pushed back. Yet at this moment from afar, a dozen mining drones rapidly scurried over, swiftly digging into the ground and started incubating. An immensely wide cocoon object was taking shape slowly over the ground.
(TN:The arachnid form of building/constructing in human context)
Tightly following that, the mother of Blackthorns mental transmission rung within the human’s minds.
��5 minutes! I just need 5 minutes to rebuild and reinforce the second line of Sunken Colony defence! Help me earn just 5 minutes!��
After hearing this, Sheyan received a notification from the nightmare imprint:
“You’ve been been roped into a district storyline: ‘Arachnid’s power struggle’.”
“Arachnid’s mother nest – ‘mother of Blackthorns’ has issued an emergency mission: ‘5 minute bloodbath’. Do you wish to accept? Yes / No?”
At present, Sheyan had begun experimenting ingeniously, he didn’t select ‘No’ but instead replied.
“I request for my servant Jinkuang to receive this mission on my behalf.”
Undoubtedly, this mission would definitely raise the reputation/impression within the Blackthorn tribe. If Sheyan had directly accept the mission using his unfortunate 2 points in charm, that would be disastrous. But if that cheap slut Jinkuang were to do it, then he could utilized his forced 50 points of charm treatment to receive the mission. The disparity between the two was as if groping an A cup beauty or a D cup beauty.
The nightmare imprint transmitted a simple reply:
“Your servant must accept this mission within 10 seconds, otherwise default abandonment of mission.”
According to usual, the timid, scaredy cat Jinkuang would want nothing to do with danger at all; he would never appear in this war zone. Yet after days of interactions with him, Sheyan was extremely confident of his weakness. He suddenly cried out in a puzzling tone.
“Aiyah, I seem to have dropped my money.”
That wretched old Jinkuang suddenly popped out from a random crack on a boulder. His eyes twinkling with the ‘$’ sign as he yelled.
“Master, you need my help? Ai, where’s the money?”
Sheyan immediately transferred 5 utility points over. Without a doubt, the money-faced Jinkuang quickly completed the trade, he had zero delay when dealing with money.
“Cut the trash, help me accept this mission. If not, then refund the cash to me!”
“Refund???!!!! Master! You definitely mustn’t say such a taboo word to goblins!” Goblin Jinkuang flared out with rage. “Even if the universe perishes, a refund will never happen!”
Sheyan continued hastily.
“Hurry up and accept this mission, I’ll give you another 5 utility points after that.”
Instantly, Sheyan received the notification. “You’ve accepted the emergency mission: ‘5 minute bloodbath’. (Accepted by servant Jinkuang)” Obviously, the mission content was to hold the frontlines for 5 minutes. At present, the frontline was already crumbling apart, even the Pebbels special forces members were caught in an awkward predicament of having to fist fight with the enemies. But at this crucial moment, the unique crackling gunfire of the AK resounded out. Mogensha’s golden AK spat out its glaring blaze! His latest 5 consecutive burst shot had started to exhibit a dazzling, magnificent performance!
The first fiery bullet casually jet past the cracks of 3-4 zerglings, accurately piercing into the head of an enemy hydralisk; the hydralisk lost its balance as it toppled over. Ongoing nearby, another allied flesh-red tendril drilled out from the ground, impaling through the skull of an enemy zergling and continued mercilessly into the sky. The hydralisk’s head was the same as that zergling impaled by the Sunken colony’s tendril, an instant decisive death!
The second and third bullet curved and landed on the granite cracks on the nearby rocky hill. The rocky wall instantly erupted with granite fragments, but triggered a small scale yet violent landslide. The massive tumbling boulder fragments crushed at least 20 Hydralisk at the bottom half of the valley.
The impact of the fourth bullet viciously severed through a zerglings claw; milliseconds before that happened, the claw was 10 cm away from ferociously swiping past Lieutenant Colonel Dundee’s face! The claw was instantly mutilated, as purplish fluid spurted out. “PA!” The claw landed onto a tendril, its incisive claw carving deeply into the flesh. One could imagine how immense the amount of force the claw was carrying previously.
The fifth bullet struck against the nearby rocks as well, but ricochet and precisely found the bunch of incendiary ammunition the Pebbles special force member had left behind previously. It instantly exploded, at least taking down 3-4 zerglings with it.
These 5 collective bullets not only slayed its enemies, it rescued someone. One could say that every bullet carried an awe-inspiring significance, brimming with creativity and deadliness; immaculately exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses!
Sheyan in turn started triggering his shotgun against the few zerglings charging ahead, repelling them back in successful repetitions. An enemy hydralisk hiding behind retaliated with its acidic fluids, Sheyan could only roll and take cover behind the rocks; if even droplets of the acid were to reach him, it would’ve swiftly corroded through the battle armour. Even if Sheyan acclaimed to have the thickest skin, he still wouldn’t dare taking the lethal acidic jet of the hydralisk head on. That was purely courting his own death.
He panted for a moment, bending his back as he sprinted towards Mogensha, earnestly commending.
“Old Mo, if you continue to hide your true powers, then our mission will definitely be a failure.”
Mogensha was shuddered with a chill, he sighed and asked.
“How did you know?”
Sheyan fumed out with.
“If that AK47 is really your trump card, then you wouldn’t have been bragging it as an inelegant looking, golden ornament; but would instead think of ways to prevent unwanted attention from others. Therefore, you’re obviously trying to direct other’s attention towards your golden AK. But you’re neglecting another aspect – we are the only two over here, what are you hesitating for? Don’t you trust me?”
Mogensha sincerely replied.
“You’re correct, I am indeed hiding my true capability. But I reckon even by activating it, we still can’t defend against all these crazy arachnids!”
Sheyan surveyed through the battlefield again, and replied.
“It isn’t as bad as you think. The Thick-liquid tribe is an arrow at the end of its flight. Your view of this endless sea of arachnids is frightening I’m sure, but they most are clearly small zerglings. Once you can eliminate another 20 hydralisks, then we can link up with the Pebbles special forces to suppress the remaining hydralisks with firepower. Moreover, my resistance against the zerglings….I think you should have confidence in that. This mission is indeed possible.”
Mogensha stared intently towards Sheyan.
“Okay!”
After speaking, he kept his golden AK and slowly retrieved out a broken short spear. Suddenly, without any prompting from Mogensha, the short spear suddenly shot out with a dazzling glow! This glow shone with silvery resplendent! This unimpressive looking shortspear, twisted out a scarlet blood flag, flying upwards over the battlefield like an undaunting blaze!
Sheyan’s pupils contracted in! The murderous and domineering aura emitting from the short spear, was actually above ‘Ambition’!
Even if Sheyan couldn’t see through its origins, he knew it definitely was no common object. Mogensha was kneeling on the ground, murmuring some words to himself.
“My comrades, I offer to you my admiration and tribute!”
The short spear floated into the air, releasing a buzzing trembling sound.
“Quick, seek your foe!”
Mogensha’s thick lips was vibrating, as devout and sincere like a Voodoo cult disciple.
“I have determined the hydralisks ahead, are an enemy of steel and fire!”
The short spear automatically swivelled in mid air, its pointed top emitting with a glaring brilliance.
“Slaughter without pardons!”
Mogensha roared berserkly. This was his native aboriginal trademark warcry before starting an onslaught or hunting a prey!
“Ahhhliaaaguuu!”
(TN: sorry i got no clue what this means, probably some warcry)
The short spear jolted out with a thunderous boom! Leaving behind a compelling roar.
“FOR SPARTA!!!!!!!!!”
Sheyan deeply inhaled in.
“This! Is this short spear one of the main weapon belonging to a warrior from the 300 spartans?”
That blinding silver glow dispersed out. One by one, the hydralisk within the Thick-liquid tribe exploded into meat paste and green fluids! The glow bounced through 5, 10, 15 hydralisk! The short spear was like lightning, zapping through the hydralisk crowd. Yet Sheyan noticed several elite hydralisks were only heavily wounded by it, and barely survived. He could aso tell this short spear with its terrifying lethal assault should only be able to activate once. If not, just based on its sheer destructive potential; if used on a contestant, nobody would be able to endure such a succession of lethal punctures.
After slaying 13 hydralisks, Mogensha slumped onto the ground; panting heavily, his expression was incredibly hideous. Sheyan hurriedly tossed over the ‘Endless spirited vodka’, yet Mogensha didn’t receive it; after a brief paralysis of his body did he regain his mobility and pick up the winecup to drink. Only then did his face lustre regained a little. Sheyan probed curiously.
“Are the consequences of using that weapon so huge?”
Mogensha grinned bitterly.
“To activate its particular ability, it directly exhaust one’s entire MP. In addition, 1000 utility points or 1 potential point. After usage, 5 seconds of paralysis, and also a 20% probability of failure to activate! Fortunately, lady luck is shining on us this time.”
Mogensha looked up Sheyan with meaningful longing.
(TN: sounds gay lol)
Instead Seaman, that ability you’re hiding. I wonder when I will be able to witness it.”
Sheyan laughed.
“Link up with Dundee, get them to pressure the remaining hydralisks. As for my killer move, you’ll see it soon enough.”
After speaking, Sheyan put on his helmet as he slapped the flamethrower in his hands; aiming ahead as he charged in! Twin fiery dragons soared out with blazing fury, enveloping an entire patch of zerglings! Lieutenant Colonel Dundee’s squad already lost their Firebat during their escape; upon seeing the familiar fire dragon blazing, they really thought their fallen comrade had revived and returned to protect them!
This time, with the coordination of his allies, Sheyan received far lesser pressure when charging in. Hence, he could effectively utilize the flamethrower, regulating the usage of his flamethrower on the left and right; allowing substantial periods to allow the two flamethrower pipelines to cool down. Hence, he greatly enhanced the usage duration of the flamethrower!
The fiery blaze rolled forth, every scorching outburst directly engulfed at least 5-6 zerglings. Suffering under the immense torture of the blazing flames, they suffered continuous damage as their HP dropped radically. As long as a zergling was engulfed by the flamethrower flames for 3 seconds, the persistent flaming damages continued to fry them to death. However, their death wasn’t instant, managing to endure for 5-6 seconds before perishing. Moments before its impending death was the moment it would deliver last-ditch fatal strikes against the flamethrower user.
For an ordinary Firebat, even with the covering support of his allied forces to suppress the speedy zerglings, they could at most deal with 20 zerglings singlehandedly. If not, the frenzied retaliation of the dying zerglings could really cost his life. Furthermore, that theory was based on an advantageous terrain for the Firebat. If it was a flat spacious terrain, where the zerglings are dispersed in all directions, then the situation would be completely perilous, even 5-6 zerglings could finish him off.
But exchange with Sheyan, a monster who would resist the incessant assaults of the zerglings; Against the sea of zerglings, he could still be like Zhao Zilong, slaughtering his way in and leaving in one piece. The zerglings dying retaliation felt like tickles if it didn’t deliver an explosive strike. One could observe the Firebat Sheyan, navigating his way to and fro, weaving left and right within the battlefield. Occasionally, he borrowed the protection of the remnant Sunken Colonies as breathing space. In no time, he fearlessly attracted the zerglings, and eliminated a huge portion of the overwhelming majority of zerglings.
(TN: A powerful general in the romance of the three kingdoms.)
5 minutes sped by just like that. In a flurry, Sheyan received a notification.
“You successfully completed the emergency mission: ‘5 minute Bloodbath’.”
“Your goblin servant Jinkuang is the representative of this mission. Goblin’s special ability: ‘Haggling lvl15’ is effective.”
(TN: just a refresher – Haggling lvl15 provides a huge chance of receiving preferential treatment similar to one who has a maximum charm level)
“Your default will be taken as this world’s greatest charm value (50 points) when receiving/ completing missions.”
“Your reputation is directly raised from ‘cold’ to ‘amicable’ within the Blackthorn tribe.”
“Your achievement points +2”
In a flash, Sheyan was smiling from ear to ear – Alas, I’m finally being treated as a charming man! It was even accomplished with the upper limit of the world’s charm! A casual raise from ‘Cold’ to ‘Amicable’, it leapt across an entire reputation level. Instead for his partner Mogensha who similar received 2 achievement points, his reputation only rose from ‘Cold’ to ‘Neutral’!
(TN: Refresher for reputation levels! Hostile, Cold, Neutral, Amicable, Respected, Revered, Worshipped)
After an overhaul clearance of the remaining Hydralisks; Sheyan not only completed his mission, but even held the crumbling frontline defence. There were still two Sunken Colony erected miserably over their position, but their wounds were gushing out blood; as though they could fall into critical state any second and resolve into a pool of meat paste.
Fortunately, they were also considered a branch of organ of the arachnid nest. After the carpet had decomposed the corpses, absorbing the nutrients and directing it back to heal the wounded organ. Hence, they received quite an impressive regeneration speed. Not only them but the wounded arachnids were the same. However, in this frontline, the arachnid creatures that were dispatched by the mother were only left with a measly few; looking outstandingly pathetic.
In the midst of the battle, one of the members of the Pebbles special forces died. He was initially severely wounded before the battle, and during the battle, he suffered the directl wrath of the Hydralisk’s acid jet. It corroded through his broken helmet, naturally killing him on the spot. Such a situation happened too quickly, even Mogensha who could exhibit clutch rescues during the chaotic battles was completely unable to rescue him.
Until now, these soldiers had already witnessed their comrades falling one after another. Hence, everyone of them was rather depressed, as they say down in the blood puddles and smoked on their cigarettes; wrapping their wounds and injecting antibiotic.
Sheyan located Lieutenant Colonel Dundee, his expression wasn’t kind.
“Lieutenant Colonel, I want to criticise your commands. It has a huge problem! You guys are obviously long range fire support, why are you bent on guarding here? The hill range behind is a good firing position, and is elevated by 5-6 metres up. If the hydralisks wanted to target you guys, they would definitely have to first face upwards! If that tactic was used, firstly the wild savage zerglings must make a huge detour, or break through to reach you. Secondly, when the hydralisk aims upwards and release fire, its precision would greatly reduce resulting in your chances of survival increasing leaps and bounds!”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee was silent, but his expression terribly ugly. Sheyan continued fueling the pain.
“If your decisions were thought through, then that brave soldier wouldn’t have to die for nothing!”
After listening, Mogensha swept through his surroundings before standing up, further aggravating the situation.
“What he says isn’t wrong. No matter what, this current ground is definitely a killing zone, it is completely not suited for defence. The arachnid’s thinking is hard to comprehend, yet it is hard to believe that a military commander that has gone through rigorous training and strategies cultivation to make such an obvious mistake.”
After listening to Sheyan and Mogensha’s berating, a private stood out brimming with disappointment.
“Lieutenant! We do know that this spot isn’t suitable for combat. But, the mother nest had already commanded us to protect the zergling spawning pool below! If we really retreated to the place you mentioned, then the spawning pool would be exposed to the enemy’s attack. It won’t be able to hold up. Once that crucial structure is destroyed, the mother nest wouldn’t be able to breed out zerglings from the larvas. Furthermore, she wouldn’t be able to spawn out the new Sunken Colonies. That scenario to us, would be the true calamity of calamities!”
After hearing his explanation, Sheyan finally understood. By itself, the spawning pools didn’t possess any breeding abilities, its existence was like a male’s testicles; specially secreting the zergling hormones, before transmitting it through to the mother nest. Moreover, such a crucial organ structure like the spawning pool would require the special bodily fluids of the Overmind to create. Hence to the blackthorn tribe currently, it was an endangered structure; once destroyed it cannot be rebuilt.
At present, the mother nest can only reproduce out offensive natured units like the zerglings and hydralisks. For advanced genetic mutated species like the queen zerg, she was unable to mass produce. Moreover, her current mental abilities could control only roughly 300 zerglings, streaming them to the battlefield. However for the hydralisk, she could only control a hundred. Once she loses the capabilities to spawn zerglings, it would’ve been dangerously unimaginable. Her array of defence would be left with a hundred hydralisk and the similarly long range defence structures, the Sunken Colonies!
One could imagine, using such a defensive task force against the waves of zerglings and countless hydralisks of the Thick-liquid tribe, it really could be deemed as what that private said- the calamity of calamities! Without the unending cushion of zerglings, how would they construct new Sunken Colonies. Even a freak like Sheyan would eventually be withered away slowly and die!
The ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ had wondrous power and unlimited firepower; but no matter how sparingly it was used, the longest it could persist for was 5 minutes. After that 5 minutes, it requires at least another 5 minutes to refuel itself before being effective again! Once the battle persists for over half an hour; during the cooling down periods of the flamethrower, the sheer overwhelming quantity of the Thick-liquid tribe would be enough to raze the entire base to the ground!
The audience sunk into silence. Looking from their perspective, retreating meant death while staying also meant death. Thhe only difference was dying early or dying later. The audience was coming to terms with this fact. Mogensha suddenly broke the silence with his deep voice.
“Since most of the Blackthorn tribe’s arachnids cannot be mobilized now, why not we secretly sneak away? The Blackthorns still have to settle their internal rebuilding, the troops dispatched against us may not necessarily be enough!”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee’s eyes flashed brightly.
“That’s right, then you guys can escape!”
Sheyan’s understood his underlying meaning, immediately asking.
“How about you guys?”
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee helplessly shook his head. He started unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a nasty cyan vein underneath. A red oval elliptic tumour grew over it, its surface sickeningly glossy.
“Do you still remember that hovering queen zerg? That is a special arachnid species. Apart from its special ability: ‘Capture’, which is close to crippling a person’s mobility; It can also nurture tiny parasites and place them onto their enemies. These small parasites provided vision to the Queen zerg about everything going on with the inflicted victim. Therefore, we are doomed from escaping. As long as the Queen zerg wills, the parasites breeding on us can kill us anytime. This isn’t my first thing witnessing this vile plot. Frankly, trying to get rid of it is too difficult. To eradicate it, the best chances would be to kill the inflicted victim.
Sheyan and Mogensha wouldn’t give up on lieutenant colonel Dundee. Sheyan glanced at Mogensha, suddenly uttering out.
“Those Sunken Colonies delivers an extremely solid defence, why didn’t the Mother of the blackthorns built more of it?”
As his words faded, suddenly the metal transmissions of the Blackthorn mother rung in.
��My current mode is only an ‘I’ class, primary base expansion. Although the ‘Creep’ carpet covers a relatively large area, it has already reached the limits of nutrients it can extract. Hence, it is impossible to support spawning more organ constructions. Currently, building 21 Sunken Colonies is already the extreme limit! Aside from that Mr Dundee, I don’t deny that they’re parasites leeching off your body; however, once you fulfill the agreement between us, not only will it cause you no harm, it can also eliminate the cancer in your body. Isn’t that right?��
Dundee inhaled deeply but didn’t deny it. After a brief pause, he turned to Sheyan and helplessly replied.
“You should already know the current perilous state, it’s not too late for you guys to leave. Those damnable bugs have ceased battle for today but they’ll be back tomorrow, you have enough time now to leave. Remember that specially made Harmonica by Jeter (the pilot)? Although it seems old and obsolete, it is actually a secret signal device! It can signal a hovercraft to pick you up, but remember you have to distance yourselves 30 kilometres before activating it! If not, Jeter won’t be able bypass the bombards of the anti-aerial Spore cannons and land safely. One more thing, please pass on a message to Jeter for my family. Vanessa I love you, forever.”
Simultaneously, Sheyan and Mogensha received the notification:
“You’ve obtained Lieutenant Colonel Dundee’s emergency mission: ‘Verbal message’.”
“Mission objective: Escape the Blackthorns base, pass on his last words to his family after returning.”
“Do you wish to accept this mission? Yes / No? Once rejected, unable to receive it again.”
Clearly this mission should be a compensation in case of failing the main mission. Low difficulty and relatively high rewards. After this mission is completed, Sheyan and co would be able to mend a portion of their lost achievement points if the main mission failed. Even the penalty of that basic attribute points may very will be compensated within the rewards.
Mogensha was about to accept, but instead he noticed Sheyan deliberating; as though he had no intentions of accepting the mission. His heart surged with anxiousness.
“Seaman! Don’t for the sake of gaining a little you lose everything. It’s a lost cause over here, it’s impossible to attain victory even if we stay! The Think-liquid tribe is becoming more and more daring. So what if you can resist zerglings? Once that tribe sends out 20, no, even 10 hydralisk against you, you’ll be obliterated!”
Sheyan’s eyes was locked in conflict, he hadn’t uttered a single word. Slowly, he suggested.
“I still feel that even though staying behind is particularly challenging, there’s still a chance for a turnaround.”
Mogensha frowned in urgency.
“Such a despairing situation, how could there be a turnaround?”
Sheyan then earnestly asked Lieutenant Colonel Dundee.
“Sir, I don’t wish to give up, can I have some time to gather information? Anyway, the Thick-liquid tribe still has to replenish their forces before attacking tomorrow.
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee nodded.
“Alright, by midnight tonight, you can still find me for my pocket watch. But after that time, then it would be too dangerous outside already.”
Mogensha finally heaved a sigh of relief. There was still roughly 7-8 hours before midnight, it should be adequate time to lay some groundworks. Sheyan proceeding towards the soldiers, assisting them to wrap up their wounds and even allowing them to drink his ‘Endless spirited vodka’ for the heavily wounded; which effectively eased their pain. Under such circumstances, whatever Sheyan inquired of naturally came easier and smoother.
After obtaining first hand information from the humans, Sheyan started to scribble on the ground with a twig; frowning profoundly as he did so. Unknown what he was planning, but after a while he massaged his temples and finally sighed exhaustively. Suddenly, he called out.
“Mother of the Blackthorns! I want any information that you have currently! Especially on the Thick-liquid tribe, the more the better!”
Her transmission swiftly radiated into Sheyan.
��We have previously captured several Thick-liquid tribe members, hence we do have a pretty detailed information. Yet your scope of authority is inadequate, similarly your reputation; you do not have the rights to his information.��
Sheyan continued.
“Let your queen zerg infect me with parasite! That way you can pass on the information right.”
The mother of the Blackthorns hesitated a moment.
��The queen zerg has feedbacked, she is unable to infect you and your comrade.��
Sheyan impatiently pleaded.
“Then hurry up and share the information with me, if not I’ll immediately leave with my friend! I have no interest in accompanying you to your death. You’ve seen already, without us holding off those vicious zerglings, I’m afraid the entire Thick-liquid tribe will wreck your entire spawning pool! Next, your entire base will be ravaged and torn into shreds by those crazy beasts.”
The Mother of Blackthorns sank into deep thought for a while.
��Fine, there’s a mysteriously grand aura (Legend level+1) emitting from you. I don’t understand how a human actually possess such intimidation, even your body resistance and strength can be compared to those ultimate Ultralisk* arachnids. But you must remember, if you dare to commit atrocities against us, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee and the rest will perish.��
(TN:* you can look that up on google. It’s a heavy assault beast for the zergs)
Sheyan snorted as he started to read carefully the detailed report the Mother of the Blackthorns transmitted over to him. After reading, his eyes seemed to have been set ablaze by divine fire. Not far away, Mogensha could hear a muffled exclamation.
“It seems…..this affair is well worth doing!”
The next morning,
Blackthorn tribe base.
An unparalleled tragedy, innumerable mutilations and dismembered chunks flooded this tiny valley before quickly disintegrating. An awful dense odour, an intense suffocation polluted the air.
Distinctly seen, to construct more Sunken Colonies, the Mother had even forsaken a huge portion of the tribe’s base organs; supplying nutrients towards the surrounding newly constructed 50 terrorizing Sunken Colonies. On the contrary, at least 5 lairs as well as organ structures had withered away due to insufficient nourishment in the Blacktribe base.
What was more depressing was that the Spawning pool had been directly focused by the Thick-liquid tribe onslaught. Undoubtedly, the enemy’s Overmind had discovered that fatal flaw, commanding today’s assault objective towards the Spawning pool all without restraint! At this critical juncture, the Blackthorn arachnid reinforcements were late with keeping up. Hence, when the Thick-Liquid tribe was still left with 3 zerglings and 5 hydralisk, with their final efforts, the Spawning pool had finally been damaged to its critical point. Boom! It exploded into a snowfall of blood flakes, utterly dispersing into the atmosphere…
The Thick-liquid battle objectives, have ultimately succeeded! Even if their remaining forces couldn’t even survive the next 2 minutes, and were totally shredded into meat slices by the Sunken Colonies. But no doubt, the Blackthorn tribe would be unable to produce anymore zerglings in the future, they were unable to construct any more Sunken Colonies! The long awaited victory for the Thick-liquid tribe would finally conclude with its next full force campaign!
“The Think-liquid tribe will never have a chance of returning.” After wiping his sweat and blood, Sheyan delivered his resolute and decisive words to everyone. “Mother nest, according to our plans, every time you assemble a squad (12 units) of hydralisks, then immediately order them to begin assaulting the Thick-Liquid tribe.”
The Mother of the Blackthorns transmitted mentally.
��You’re sending them to their deaths.��
Sheyan gently replied.
“That’s correct, we want to send them to die. Following the original plan, after your fourth wave of Hydralisk squad, we’ll set off!”
At present, even if there are only 2 lairs left, but because of the abundant reserves of Unobtanium, within an hour the Mother of the Blackthorns followed Sheyan’s request and dispatched the fourth wave of Hydralisk. Sheyan finally stood up, looking calmly at Mogensha.
“It is time for us to set out. Success or failure……..depends on now!!”
Mogensha sighed heavily.
“Even though I feel your plan is a possibility, I still think it’s absolutely insane. Once there’re any deviations from your deductions, then we’ll all die tragically and without a proper burial site!”
Mogensha humbly smiled.
“I have 80% confidence in this.”
After speaking, he shook his head as if haven’t fully expressed himself. Adding on a little.
“At least.”
After finishing, Sheyan shouted out loudly.
“Blackthorn mother! Send your children over!”
Very quickly, a dark-brown jellyfish like Overlord drifted over. They had seen this thing numerous times, it could fly but didn’t possess any offensive capabilities. It could supply nutrients to other arachnid creatures, and can detect invisible units. Yet this dark-brown Overlord was indeed a rarely seen genetic alteration, it was called ‘Shenxu’. Not only was its volume increasingly massive, it had two additional abilities over the other Overlords.
Firstly, was its faster flying speeds.
Next was like the transport shuttles of the humans. It could pick humans up with its tendrils, and shuttle them around at rapid speed!
Shenxu’s strength was immense, probably being able to lift two heavy siege tanks of the humans. But there was limit to its capacity space; at most it could store 8 zerglings. Translated that to humans, it could carry 6 humans.
Amongst the six, Sheyan and Mogensha obviously made up 2. Even though Dundee wanted part of the intense action, Sheyan calculated the risk of this skirmish and came up with the excuse that the main base required an in-charge. They selected two members from the remaining soldiers; an expert in grenades and explosives, Adam Savoska, and another called Baiise, a heavy firepower expert.
The last two passengers were two elite zerglings! These two elite zerglings were survivors from the latest intense blood war, slowly maturing to their current state. Their basic attack was two folds of an average zergling, and possessed 300 HP! Exceptionally savage!
As they rode on Shenxu and floated up, the previously Kidnapper of Sheyan and company, the Queen zerg Jenny, also quietly tailed them from behind; until they got to their destined location. Within a hundred kilometre radius, there wasn’t a single arachnid tribe that had a mother nest capable of advancing into a ‘II’ class base. Therefore, this mini aerial squad only had to avoid the long range aggressing hydralisk on the ground. There was zero possibility of a single threat in mid air.
Shenxu’s flying speed was speedy, they hid within the enormous Overlord umbrella shade, but was still able to feel the chilly wind cutting in. Because the arachnids sensed their opponents through smell and heat, vision was not significant. Hence, the secret operation was conducted during daytime. Everyone – humans or zerglings or the Overlord – similarly smeared the body fluids of the dead Thick-liquid tribe creatures over themselves.
Even if this method may not be effective; according to Sheyan’s plans, even an extra metre they could infiltrate in would be worth it. Because in those crucial moments, a metre or even half a metre can mean life or death!
Not even 20 minutes of flight later, ahead of them was the primary base of the Thick-liquid tribe. Sheyan communicated through the Queen zerg Jenny to guide Shenxu, directing it to hide within the back of a mountain peak; before starting to carefully inspect the situation. Due to the Thick-liquid tribe not having suffered a single aerial assault before; the precious Overlords were all condensed and focused on supplying nutrients for production, instead of scattering about to conduct surveillance on the base surroundings.
Of course, within the roads and paths of the Thick-liquid tribe, there were densely-packed as well as scattered zerglings strolling about. They was absolutely no chance of sneaking into the base from the ground. Indeed, Sheyan had identified and was planning to exploit the Thick-liquid tribe’s weakness of their negligent aerial surveillance. Thus he was able to devise this small scale elite, infiltration plan!
Mogensha gazed down from above, breathing in the chilly air as he glanced at Sheyan’s expression with deep wonder. The two other Pebbles special force members had a similar expression on their faces! Because the entire scene there were viewing currently, was completely identical to what Sheyan described several hours ago. Hydralisks were few in numbers, but zerglings flooded the streets. More importantly…… beside the Mother nest was only a single Sunken Colony!
Sheyan shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t look at me like that. Although this scenario seems rather irregular to view, the conditions before could easily deduce such a scenario.”
Mogensha shook his head.
“I don’t believe you. You definitely possess some sort of powerful long-range investigation ability!”
Sheyan laughed.
“Since you don’t believe me, then how about I ask you some questions.”
Mogensha replied.
“Go ahead.”
Sheyan continued.
“Through the statistics of the Thick-liquid tribe’s previous two days of assault, are we able to obtain the rough size of their attacking fleet?”
Mogensha nodded.
“That is a basic quality of every solider.”
Sheyan continued.
“How many units the Thick-liquid tribe produce in the day itself, they will dispatch it out for battle. This is confirmed after nearly 3 days of consecutive battle. Hence, we can infer the daily military output of the Thick-liquid tribe from the quantity of their attacking fleet. This is pretty simple right.”
Mogensha nodded.
“That’s correct.”
Sheyan continued.
“There are only two factors restricting the arachnid output. First is the Unobtanium quantity, and the second the quantity of produced larvas. Through the Blackthorn Mother’s report, the Thick-liquid tribe only occupies a middle sized Unobtanium mine. Its Mother nest hasn’t reach the ‘II’ class base yet, hence the drones collecting the amount of Unobtanium ores should have reach a saturation state. Hence, under such a saturated state of collecting that resource, we just need to solve a very simple math problem. How many larvas do that Thick-liquid tribe incubate and convert daily into fighting troops, combined with the rate of larva spawning of the lairs in the Blackthorn tribe; we can calculate roughly how many lairs do that Thick-liquid tribe possess!”
Mogensha was finally starting to figure out something. Sheyan then sketched out in light shades as he spoked.
“We already know, there is a limitation and balance between the amount of offensive organs as well as the reproduction organs of a ‘I’ class Mother nest. If not, the Blackthorn tribe could have easily constructed an impressive array of Sunken Colonies to surround and protect their base. From that deduction, since we can obtain the relative amount of lairs the Thick-liquid tribe possess to spawn their larvas, naturally we can predict the amount of Sunken Colonies in the base.”
“Regarding why the Thick-liquid tribe are frantically trying to spawn out zerglings, the reason is fairly simple……” Sheyan curved his lips as he shrugged his shoulders. “I wanted them to do so, that is why they did so.”
Mogensha’s face contained no expression, yet the nearby special forces soldiers exposed a disbelieving expression. Even the distant Queen zerg Jenny transmitted an aggressive and hostile mental transmission.
��No one is able to hypnotize or disrupt an Overmind! Even the weakest Overmind contains a metal power far greater than what you humans can think of!��
Faced with both humans and arachnid’s questioning, Sheyan basked in the attention as he laughed and complied to their questions.
“If I intend for you to clutch your nose, the most effective way isn’t to drag your hand to your nose but to directly punch your nose. Similarly, to lure the Thick-liquid tribe’s Overmind to do my bidding, it definitely isn’t by forcefully hypnotizing it.”
Until here, Mogensha’s face suddenly leaked out an astonished but enlightened expression.
“I understand now, you…..just now when the Spawning pool was destroyed. In actual fact, that was a ploy between you and the Blackthorn’s mother?”
Sheyan lowered his voice.
“That’s correct! Spawning a hydralisk consumes the amount of crystal needed to spawn 3 zerglings, and this doesn’t include the added expenditure of Vespene gas! I believe everyone here knows, under normal circumstances, two zerglings are enough to slay off a hydralisk! Such a shallow logic is definitely clear to the Thick-liquid tribe’s Overmind. Therefore, under the pretext that the Blackthorns can only spawn out hydralisk, an entire army of zerglings would be hitting the nail on the head!”
Right here, Sheyan paused for a moment, letting them absorb in.
“We need to first consider; after our Spawning pool was destroyed, the Thick-liquid Overmind would have already deemed the Blackthorn tribe settled in the pocket for its future plans. Absorbing the Blackthorn Overmind, Mozi, would also have been inevitable. Following that, the next thing it will consider is how to evolve or advance itself, and how to evolve the entire Mother nest. Then….it is only proper that it would do its utmost to conserve and build its resources to upgrade the Mother nest to ‘II’ class!”
“Thus, with these two factors in mind; without reasonable doubts, there isn’t any need for hypnotism, forceful control, enticing, but we just needed to construct massive amounts of Sunken Colonies to ensure the safety of the Blackthorn Mother. Then one last tiny matter – inexplicably giving up on the Spawning pool. Naturally, the Thick-liquid Overmind would be delighted to follow according to our plans. You see, this train of logic is extremely simple right?”
Nobody answered Sheyan, because they (Including the Queen zerg) was speechless. Sheyan’s words were extremely clear to understand, it wasn’t at all complicated; yet he was able to establish the link between these tiny clues and traces together. This definitely requires critical forward thinking as well as extensive imagination!
Sheyan was obviously pleased with his audience’s shell-shocked reaction, he raised his voice as he build on his momentum.
“Hey Queen Jenny. Previously, through the information shared to us from the Mother nest, it didn’t mention what will happen to a tribe after all the Pandora Crystals have been harvested dry. Don’t tell me it’s starving to death?”
Queen zerg Jenny feedbacked a transmission over.
��Of course not. Before the mine is harvested dry, we will continue to explore the planet for other sources of Pandora Crystals, and then establish a base there. Then after the mine is harvested dry, the subsidiary base will become the main base.��
“Oh?” Sheyan seemed to be ignited with interest. “Then what if the new ore is too far away?”
The Queen zerg Jenny explained.
��After the Overmind and Mother upgrades to ‘II’ class, the Overmind can command the Overlords to load up those mobile troops. Every organ structure will shrink and become a dehydrated giant embryo and be transported away by the Overlords. Lastly, the Mother will evolve into a powerful hyper-drone and be transported away.��
��After arriving at the destination, the hyper-drone ‘Mother nest’ will directly transform back into the ‘II’ class (or higher) Mother Nest, and occupy the new crystal mine; before expanding out the ‘Creep’ carpets, as the Overlord plants the embryo ‘Organ structures’ back onto the carpet. The entire process would require only 1 hour. As for the arachnids like us, only when spawning do we require the Pandora crystals and Vespene gas. After spawning, we will rely on the Overlord to absorb nutrients from the carpet and pump it to us for survival. As for the Overlord synthesizing our minerals/nutrients, the amount of consumption of Pandora crystal energy is almost negligible.��
After the Queen zerg had answered Sheyan’s question, the entire space within the Overlord fell into complete silence. After a brief moment, the heavy firepower expert, Baiise, hummed out unconfidently.
“Lieutenant, how long do we have to wait in this damned meat ball?”
“Do you know why I allowed the Mother nest to dispatch an unending stream of hydralisk to die? That is because I want the these Thick-liquid tribe arachnids to become familiar with the unceasing calls for battle, I want this to become a habit within their state of mind, so they will turn numb soon after. Then when the real danger arrives, their reactions may very well turn sluggish for an additional 1 or 2 seconds.”
Sheyan gazed into the horizon.
“Now, the time is ripe. When the next wave of hydralisk reaches, that will be infiltration opportunity! Everyone, immediately smear on the body fluids gathered from the Thick-liquid tribe!”
The Mother of the Blackthorns faithfully executed her side of the arrangement, sending a squad of hydralisks for a suicidal mission every 15 minutes. Her control of 12 hydralisk was rather smooth with more room to spare, doing their utmost to spray left and right; causing a huge commotion as she attempted to dwindle the enemy forces. Because the Mother of the Blackthorns knew this was the final chance for life or death, her performance was incredibly patient and composed.
Initially, the Thick-liquid tribe’s Overmind concentrated its efforts to counter her every move, directing his army to retreat and advance to minimize casualties. But after repetitive skirmishes, it no longer wasted its time on such cowshit matters; bluntly sending a swarm of zerglings to forcefully overpower those intervals of ‘tickles’. Although the resulting casualties were more, but victory was swifter. This was like a millionaire not bothering or starting an argument with a toilet aunty over that 10 cents entry fee.
Once again from the distant desert horizon, the figures of the Blackthorn Hydralisks slithered their way in. Another batch of suicidal hydralisk was here to harass them again, or the misleading cannon fodder hydralisk had arrived to confuse their enemies. After the jetted to death two sentry zerglings, a flock of an entire 3 squadrons of zerglings were shuttling towards them. Their merciless aggressive onslaught carried a pressurizing ferocity!
The Thick-liquid tribe had at least respawned hundreds of zerglings so far, this in addition to its previous stayback security force; yet the occupied area of this tribe was still exceedingly tremendous! Just solely those massive lairs used to breed out larvas, numbered close to 13! The occupied area for these lair organs were equivalent to a huge building. With such a distribution, the defensive forces were naturally sparse and unremarkable.
At this moment, an enormous Overlord circled one round before floating towards the Thick-liquid’s Mother nest. Under normal circumstances, the Overmind would be residing in the undermost layer of the Mother nest. That was also the accumulated reserves of the Pandora crystals. The Overmind could exploit its formidable mental energy to directly harness the energies within. According to convention, if it wanted to imprison the Blackthorn Overmind, most likely Mozi would be locked up within that strictest secured perimeter!
Throughout the course of the Overlord’s journey, it startled several patrolling zerglings and Hydralisks. Instead, after a series of careless sniffing, they returned to their patrolling without a thread of concern. Regrettably, such luck only persisted until 50 metres away from the Mother nest.
In any arachnid tribe, the 50 metre radius of the Mother nest is considered as the forbidden zone. Only the Overmind and its special elite guards could entre, any others would never be permitted to approach it; even an accident would be slaughtered without considerations. Although there was only 1 Sunken Colony here, its position was terribly strategic as any creature intending to approach the Mother nest would instantly suffer from its wrath. Even though it was unable to attack the aerial Overlord, an elite hydralisk by its side had begun swelling up its cheeks as it aimed towards the sky; releasing out that scorching green acidic jet.
Concurrently at the Mother nest’s only entrance, weird starch serum was shockingly ejaculated out. “Rumble rumble” 20 vile looking tremendous zerglings burrowed out from the ground; shaking their bodies as their tails swayed threateningly. Baring their razor-sharp fangs, they raced towards Overlord Shenxu as they snarled thunderously at it. These 20 elite zerglings were the products of genetic mutation; be it offensive or health points, they were not in the least inferior to the 2 zerglings on Sheyan’s side! Suddenly dispersing out, as they dashed towards the Mother’s nest bottom entrance, tightly sealing it off.
Consecutively, every zergling in the entire base start to turn berserk, as they sprinted towards the Mother nest to assemble. It was obvious the Thick-liquid’s Overmind had sensed the enemy. Its rage was spilling over, desiring for its underlings to tear these bastards who dared to covet after its life! Then, personally draining their brain juice!
Even though the incoming acid from the elite Hydralisk was several folds deadlier than the average hydralisk, one mustn’t forget; Shenxu was similarly a mutated elite Overlord! Its flight speed had been raised exorbitantly, it had only one goal – safely delivering its passengers towards the entrance of the enemy’s Mother nest! As for dealing with those 20 elite zerglings coupled with that Sunken Colony, it wasn’t for Shenxu to wreck its nodules (its brains) about.
Just a measly 50 metres, actually felt like a bitter long stretch of 5 kilometres! If not for Sheyan’s earlier ploy succeeding, and directly caused the entire Thick-liquid base to be devoid of newly spawned hydralisks; even an elite Overlord like Shenxu would have been shot down a hundred times by now. On the contrary, the fat of that elite hydralisk was more pitiful! After it released two jets of greenish dark acid, a lump of darkness whizzed in from afar; indeed it was that elite Queen zerg, Jenny!
Her abdomen contracted, consecutively shooting out a rapid lump of darkness; spanning hundreds of metres in a second, as it pierced straight against the elite hydralisk! The elite hydralisk stood rooted, but in mere seconds, its body was rotted to the core. From it, two gigantic 6 foot bug crawled out, the twin bugs were far more sinister looking than ordinary zerglings. Yet their movement speed was slightly inferior.
Such a horrific ability that could rapidly dispatch that elite hydralisk!!!
That was the Queen zerg’s special ability: ‘Broodling spawn’! Despite the fact the queen zerg didn’t possess offensive abilities, it was the only creature that could instantly demand death; by injecting a tiny fission spore into the enemy. That spore will then mature and grow within its target, and it could even penetrate thick armour and pierce into the enemy’s internal organs. These spores treats the sacrificial victim as fertilizer; in a mere seconds, it would nurture into a pair of parasite. Once the parasites erupts out from the sacrificial victim, even an Overlord would be instantly killed.
Naturally, that ability cannot be used frequently. Even a rare elite like Jenny, can at most release it twice before triggering a half an hour cooldown period. It cannot be used against organ structures, and also contestants like Sheyan were the other exemption to these spore parasites. Obviously, they would be exempted from such an OP instant kill ability.
At this moment, the Thick-liquid Overmind was experiencing the huge deficiency in aerial defence, quickly ordering the larvas in the base to begin breeding into hydralisks. Sadly, a distant lake cannot solve a dire thirst. The spawning time for the hydralisk would require another 10 minutes! At this point in time, Shenxu was already hovering above the entrance of the Mother nest. The fully equipped, optimum condition Sheyan leapt down without hesitation, taking the lead as he fell towards the 20 elite zerglings!!!!!
Once Sheyan landed, he would have to face the fury swipes of at least 7-8 elite zerglings, and even suffer the onslaught of the Sunken Colony! The degree of damage of the elite zerglings and the Sunken Colony definitely cannot be compared to those ordinary zerglings; no matter how tough Sheyan was, he definitely wouldn’t last through 10 seconds! But firmly lodged between his hands was shockingly not that ‘Prometheus III flamethrower’, but a deep dark plate like object!
Electromagnetic cloud bomb!!!
A dazzling blue radiance flashed out piercing everyone’s retina. The 20 elite zerglings upon sensing Sheyan’s leap, fanatically swarmed towards his impending landing; instead, they ate the 80 points soundwave damage of the ‘Sample Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’ directly to their face. Their hearing was devastatingly impaired, obviously rendered crippled by the 10 seconds stun debuff!
What was worth mentioning was that Sheyan had never anticipated that his ride, Overlord Shenxu would also be affected by the cloud explosion. Fortunately being a rare elite without offensive capabilities, its defence, HP and resistance towards abnormal effects was extremely outstanding. Hence, he even managed to resist the stunning effect! If not, it would’ve really resulted in an unforeseen disaster.
Thus, at this moment, Sheyan only needed to withstand the onslaught of the Sunken Colony. The offensive might of the Sunken Colony was pretty impressive, but to Sheyan it was still within an acceptable range. But two seconds later, Shenxu’s other passengers descended as well. Because they were cooped up within Shenxu and unable to attack, after landing they immediately announced their arrival with guns blazing. Of course, they kept the objective in mind as they swiftly charged into the bottom entrance of the Mother nest.
After roughly 10 seconds later, Sheyan once again performed a suicidal charge towards the elite zerglings, detonating another ‘Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’. Presently, he had self inflicted explosions against him twice, while constantly tanking the incessant onslaught of the Sunken Colony; his HP was starting to turn critical. Fortunately, he swiftly dove into a passageway ahead of him, escaping from the vision of the Sunken Colony; finally freed from the tendril barrages.
Every Mother nest’s body composition was virtually the same. It was the same logic as the same human organ would be similar across different humans. Before he attempted his mission, he had long ago familiarized and practiced within the Blackthorn’s Mother nest. Hence, at this moment, it was like a walk in the park. On they way, the explosive expert, Adam Savoska, laid out defences as he installed his terrorizing explosives one by one. Even though this was the interior of the Mother nest body, and releasing a widescale explosion effect was impossible, its effects would still be incredibly disruptive.
The route to the deepest depths of the Mother nest was seemingly endless, laced with numerous pinkish heart valve-like objects. They were terribly obstructive, tightly knitted together forming door-like hindrances. These valves were extremely resilient, even with the desperate clawing of the elite zerglings and additional crazed bombarding of firepower by Baiise, they only managed to tear open a minute gap. If they weren’t well informed, then these damned valves would have wasted a huge deal of their time.
Luckily to save the Overmind, the Blackthorn Mother had forsaken her pride, as she regurgitated every single mystery regarding the Mother nest to Sheyan. Therefore to confront this stumbling block, Sheyan rushed up but didn’t attack the valve. Instead, he heavily smashed a punch onto the besiding flesh soft wall. Sheyan’s current strength wasn’t poor, in addition to his ‘gene mixture’, he at least had the brute strength of 2-3 matured wrestlers. With his fist smashing deeply into the soft wall, at the minimum it would sink in 20 – 30cm deep.
That valve suddenly vibrated violently, instantly withering away like a dehydrated plant. The crowd pushed through, but after Sheyan’s punch lifted off, that valve once again swelled up healthily.
The boom of repeated explosions resonated into their ears, naturally that was the sounds of Adam’s explosive being triggered by the pursuing arachnids. Ahead of them, they could already see the unique sparkle of the Pandora crystals, prompting Sheyan and gang to quicken their pace. They suddenly rushed out from this narrow vein-like channel, their eyes eyes twinkling with panoramic brilliance. They had finally reached the deepest hall of the Mother nest. Apart from the two elite zerglings, when the others witnessed such a scene, they were instantly shocked.
This scenery vaguely resembled the nightmare realm, flesh-red walls and faint dazzling sparkles. The only difference was the massive grape shaped vasculars along the walls; incessantly channeling multicolored nutrients and minerals, upwards towards the breeding rooms.
On the west side of this massive hall was an array or organized heaps of crystals. A drone was continuously shifting the crystals into a nearby digestion pool. That digestion pool was able to successfully harness and divide the immeasurable energies residing within the crystals, before channeling it into the various vasculars within the digestion pool; and then transported out to nourish other organs.
What stunned Sheyan and the rest, was a gigantic cage at the west side. The cage appeared to have been weaved together using a deathly pale ligament from a certain creature. On the interior of both sides of the cage’s red wall, were densely packed bowl sized holes. Boiling green fluids threatened to spew out, but seemed to be stopped by a formless energy screen. But the green liquid continued to bubble violently, an occasional drip would escape and splash onto the fleshy ground. It was like concentrated sulfuric acid, emitting off the corroding sound and a terribly sickening stench. It even burned out a concave depression!
At the front of the cage, was a fleshy red giant bug that looked like it was drenched in mucus, looking increasingly similar to a drone. Yet it completely stayed in position without a single movement. There was a long sorrowful wound across its head, like a timebomb had went of and fried its head. Its pinkish flesh and transparent body fluids were streaming out everywhere.
But in the middle of the cage laid another fleshy gigantic bug. This bug was greyish black in appearance, its surface was covered with wrinkles and its skin fairly lax. It really looked like a feeble old man that hadn’t drank water for days. Over its head was a block of small black crystal, as though embedded in. One could see its body shuddering gently, even its main vasculars was clearly sticking out from the middle of its head, swelling distinctly over the skin’s surface.
From such a scene, Sheyan could easily infer the recent unfolding of events. The Thick-liquid Overmind had realized that protective mechanisms couldn’t withhold this surprise ambush from the enemy. Its vicious nature was aggravated, attempting to activate the mechanisms to slay the imprisoned Overmind, Mozi. Probably because Overmind Mozi had been imprisoned for so long, it looked as if it was as it’s last breath. Hence, the Thick-liquid Overmind had become careless, and was actually sentenced to death on the spot by Mozi’s mental energy or a certain attack! It looks like the Thick-liquid Overmind originally wanted to absorb the Blackthorn Overmind, but in turn became the absorbed victim!
Such was the terrifying might of the Blackthorn’s Overmind, even its indomitable will had reached such an extent!
Not only that, Blackthorn’s Overmind Mozi was using its personal mental energy to construct a barrier, preventing the holes beside it from discharging out its acidic green fluids! Such valiant patience and formidable mental prowess, it was no wonder the tribes nearby felt threatened; and collaborated together to plot against the Blackthorn tribe.
Currently, the two elite zerglings had frenziedly pounced forward, using their sharp fangs and claws to practically tear apart the ligament weaved cage; howling out in vicious cries. Yet their yield wasn’t great, and once those acidic fluid splashed out, undoubtedly they would sacrifice their bodies as meat shields. The Blackthorn Overmind Mozi’s body trembles were becoming increasingly violent. Sheyan couldn’t care less anymore as he adorned his flamethrower, pressing the trigger as he swept forward. No doubt that fleshy dude would suffer from the fiery heat, but the ligament cage imprisoning it shouldn’t be able to withstand the blaze. It was definitely better than having acidic fluids slowly rotting away its flesh, after its mental energy had worn out.
Under the oppressive flames from Sheyan’s flamethrower, after several seconds, a huge hole had been burnt out from that incomparably tenacious cage. The two elite zerglings charged in head first, using their crown as they tried to pushed against Blackthorn’s Overmind Mozi’s buttocks. But Overminds move in a similar pattern to snakes/slugs, requiring contractions and friction against the ground to advance. But Mozi was still focusing his mental power wholeheartedly, and apparently wriggling a little was also out of the question. Upon observing the situation wasn’t good, Sheyan immediately signalled everyone else to rush up to help push this fat bug. With everyone’s cooperation, they finally managed to push the astonishingly heavy fleshy bug out of the danger zone.
After escaping the danger, Mozi instantly slumped to the ground; appearing like an amusing pile of flabby black fats. It was like a level beyond exhausted. The floodgates were unleashed over both sides, acidic greens gushing out; releasing a piercing odour and white steamy fumes. It corrupted through the ground, forming a deep crater filled with acidic soup, chunks of undigested flesh swirled around within.
At this moment, Sheyan alerted their attention towards the earlier channel which they travelled through, loudly exclaiming.
“Careful!”
As he shouts echoed out, an elite zergling the size of a small calf dashed out furiously, blood streaming out of its ear holes. Its entire body was charred with burnt wounds, indicated it past through a series of intense explosions. That elite zergling dashed with remarkable pace, sweeping in like the wind, taking an unexpected leap towards the besiding flesh wall; pushing off the wall as it easily but skillfully rotated in mid air, ingeniously evading the oncoming firepower from Adam. Baring its fangs as its claws danced towards the Blackthorn Overmind, Mozi. 5 metres, 4 metres, 3 metres…….
In the next second, it would be ravaging insanely against Overmind Mozi, clawing apart its outer skin and sinking its sharp fangs into Mozi’s flesh!!!
But at this moment, Mogensha had swung into action.
DA DA DA DA DA! A series of gunshots erupted. The golden AK working hard to spit out flaming tongues. Two fiery bullets lashed against the zergling’s waist, sending it tumbling 2-3 metres ahead of its planned landing spot. Simultaneously, a bullet struck against its stretched out claw beforehand, preventing its attack from landing onto the Overmind. The final two rounds pierced mercilessly into the elite zergling, causing it to overshoot Mozi, and heavily crash to the massive bowl of acidic soup.
The mournful howls of the zergling cried out, even with its elite physique; it was immediately dissolved by the tortuous acidic properties, even its solid bones weren’t spared. Finally, it sank desperately into the swirling soup. Sheyan yelled out loudly.
“The Thick-liquid’s Overmind is already dead! This means that the only principle control for their units is left with the Mother nest! According to the Blackthorn Mother’s usual traits, it means that the hostile waves against us now will be definitely limited. There wouldn’t be a state of unending hostile resistance.”
“Adam Savoska!” Sheyan commanded.
“Yes Sir!” Adam Savoska stood out.
“Don’t participate in the battle, don’t ever forget we’re still stuck within the Mother nest’s body. Your mission is to engage in destruction, destruction, and more destruction! The more the better. Looks like there isn’t a tunnel on that side, I wish to see an even bigger and deeper depression in front of me. Also, aren’t those suspending vasculars above our heads extremely irksome to us?”
“Consider it done, sir!” Adam slapped his backpack, smirking as he chewed on his chewing gum. “You have good taste sir, destruction is my specialty!”
Sheyan nodded.
“The other, let’s block up that channel! Right, Mr Mozi, you also don’t wish to die at this point in time right? Get your two underlings to defend with us, until we directly destroy the Thick-liquid’s Mother nest.”
Blackthorn Overmind Mozi slowly summoned his energy, wriggling its fat body towards the corner of those heaps of Pandora crystal. Mozi then transmitted and energy message towards everyone.
��Thank you my friends, your request will be implemented. Furthermore, please earn 10 minutes for me, that is enough.��
Simultaneously, the two elite zerglings obeyed Sheyan as they charged towards the channel entrance. 5 minutes later, Sheyan and gang had already annihilated the reinforcements of 5 elite zerglings and 1 hydralisk. These arachnids should be the ‘forbidden zone guards’, hence their explosive strength was greater, and similarly dropped 3 blue keys. A pity, nothing good came out of it. When they glanced over to Mozi, the crowd got a huge shock; because the mountainous heaps of Pandora crystals, were actually evaporating at breakneck speed!
That fat slug Mozi laid over the floor, looking rather meek and adorable. Yet the mental energy it emitted carried such frightening strength, displaying a misconception of the crystals evaporating in the human’s point of sight. Under such fearsome mental prowess, the Pandora crystals dissolved rapidly supplying starry specks of energies into Mozi’s body. Mozi’s body swiftly turned ample and bright, actually giving off a sparkling and illusory pure appearance.
After that illusion persisted for about 1 minute, Mozi’s body started to morph; becoming black as it swiftly hardened into a tremendous chrysalis, peacefully affixed onto the fleshy ground. The chrysalis was scattering out bubbles of blue hao. Under the influence of the brilliant halos, Sheyan and gang received a notification:
“You’re under the influence of a Dark-Iron Lord Overmind ring of light, your attack speed increases by 5%, attack power increases by 5%.”
“Arachnid allies under this influence will receive two folds enhancement of that effect.”
“Arachnid foes under this influence will receive two folds weakening of that effect.”
Another wave of Thick-liquid tribe arachnid had charged in. However, with Sheyan’s side receiving a bonus while their enemies were being weakened, the battle had become much easier. Moreover, successive explosion sounds announced Adam’s smooth mission. The interior of the Mother nest occasionally released frenziedly violent twitches and vibrations, which felt like earthquakes to Sheyan and company.
Not even 10 minutes later, cracks started forming over Mozi’s chrysalis. Mozi was actually evolving at such a time! But this was also pretty reasonable to sheyan. In the Blackthorn Overmind’s perspective, it had already slayed and swallowed two other Overminds, accumulating profound energies to engage in its next round of morphing. Sadly, it failed after being interrupted previously. Moreover, it managed to successfully counter-attack and absorbed the Thick-liquid Overmind; and further assimilating in a generous supply of Pandora crystals. Naturally, it was greatly prepared to breakthrough in one go!
In a flash, incessant sounds of cracking emitted from the tremendous chrysalis; visible chunks of shattered black carapace peeled off repeatedly, exposing forth the new shape of Mozi. That brat was still as fat and bulky as before, with a big-belly. Yet its body surface now had a remarkable layer of shining black carapace, releasing an illusion of a sparkling diamond. From hindsight, it looked like this fat bug had once again enhanced its defence by several folds. Furthermore, 3 pairs of thick bulky legs sprouted out from Mozi, it really looked like a hundred-fold amplification of a dung beetle. Its movement naturally received a massive upgrade.
Under Mozi’s command, the two elite zerglings swiftly returned to its side, starting to lick and gobble up the scattered shattered carapace shells. While gobbling it, their bones constantly cracked and fractured loudly, the naked eye could clearly see its speed transformation. During the process of eating, an elite zergling suddenly collapsed and twitched, repeated protrusions elevated its skin from inside and subsequently deflated again. Then, with a thunderous crack, its distorted bones punctured out of its trembling body, as light green body fluids gushed out from its countless wounds. It was clearly a death from a failed mutation.
Instead, the other elite zergling continued heartily engulfing the carapace shells, occasionally releasing muffled barks from its throat. Its body composite was swiftly swelling up, its exterior bones gradually taking shape; in the end, it even cleaned up the corpse of its fallen comrade. Ultimately, it morphed into a shocking mutated arachnid, its entire body covered with red bones. From its appearance, it looked like the horrendous vicious mutation of the zergling, a mighty raptor. Its name was also hailed as the commander of the zergling, looking like it belonged to a legendary class creature.
With such a monstrous freak guarding the channel entrance, any desperate attempts by the Mother nest ended in futility. Ordinary zerglings or hydralisk to this demon, was mercilessly slayed with one claw. Even an elite arachnid would be crushed overwhelmingly.
Once the elite arachnid forces were wiped out, ordinary arachnids that were dispatched here upon seeing this ferocious commander zergling; they trembled in fear, only able to exhibit a tenth of their potential. After Adam Savoska had wrecked complete havoc inside the Mother nest, the waves of arachnids finally ceased. Obviously the Mother nest had taken immense internal injuries, and sunk into a dormant state.
After this scene, Sheyan and the rest begun their counterattack out, naturally with the commander zergling leading the foray. Although the Sunken Colony at the entrance was still loyal to its origins, the entire Thick-liquid arachid fleet had lost its coordinating master in its Overmind and the Mother; they were completely unable to withstand the formidable aura of the upgraded Blackthorn Overmind Mozi, and dispersed in fear. That Sunken Colony only required a minute to burst into a blood rain.
When the conditions were right, success follows naturally; the matters from now were smoothly accomplished. The Mother of Blackthorns was still faithfully dispatching waves of hydralisk to harass. Yet when the Thick-liquid Overmind was slain, its tribe sunk into uncontrolled defence mode, completely ignoring those harassing hydralisks.
When the hegemon Mozi announced its domineering presence, the authority was instantly transferred back from the Mother of the Blackthorns. The squad of hydralisk slithered into the Thick-liquid base, successfully linking up with Sheyan and the rest. Without much effort, the Mother nest of the Thick-liquid tribe was destroyed.
Proceeding from there, the Queen zerg Jenny floated over. At present, even though the Thick-liquid tribe still maintained a huge reserves of arachnid units; under the imposing grandeur of the tyrannical Overmind, Mozi, they were completely scared stiff and held zero notions of rebelling. Hence, they offered no resistance against the elite Queen zerg.
Jenny hovered over the largest lair in the area, before her body condensed into it like a parasite. That lair had halted its incubation of larva?s, and started to morph into the shape of a Mother nest. It seemed as though the entire Thick-liquid tribe had located its main pillar, congregating around that particular lair.
24 hours later, that lair perfectly metamorphosed into another Queen Mother. However, it was now considered as the subsidiary base of the Blackthorn tribe, under the discretion of the elite Queen zerg Jenny. The entire tribe of arachnids converted their allegiance, as they came under the wings of the Blackthorn Overmind, Mozi.
At this moment, Sheyan and Mogensha could finally sit down and relax. Especially Sheyan, after such a nerve wrecking series of events; he seemed rather composed throughout the battle, but he knew of the catastrophe waiting for them if one variable went wrong. Reclining against the wall nearby, he fell into deep sleep. Similarly his companion Mogensha had also consumed much of his mental strength; originally wanting to take a slight nap, he also couldn’t resist the fatigue as he sunk into deep sleep.
Time sped by rapidly. Only when the Blackthorn Overmind and the Queen Mother (Mother of the blackthorns) had reunited, did the notification from the nightmare imprint jolt Sheyan and Mogensha awake.
“You’ve completed the district hidden event: ‘Emergence of the Blackthorn tribe’.”
“You receive the Blackthorn tribe’s friendship.”
“Your reputation within the Blackthorn tribe has been raised to ‘Revered’.”
“You can now purchase allied mercenaries from the Mother of the Blackthorns.”
The two were overjoyed, immediately investigating their loots; discovering a list of purchasables from the Mother of the Blackthorns. Within it encompassed a range of purchasable mercenaries.
“Zerglings, Hydralisk, Overlord, Drones.” This four standard units were accessible.
“Multalisk (Spore wyverns), Scourge, Sunken Colony, Queen zerg.” These four units were also available, but the purchasing quantity indicated ‘0’.
This was because, those 4 advanced arachnids required for the Blackthorns mother and the Overmind to both evolve, and construct the relevant advanced organ structures; after a series of relevant genetic research, would they be able to breed out these advanced arachnids. Of course, all these hired mercenaries were prevented from carrying out of this world, and they were the average type not the elite strains.
Mogensha glanced through the menu, suddenly gasping in shock.
“Seaman, did you notice one thing?”
Sheyan answered.
“Is it the price of the drone?”
Mogensha muttered.
“That’s right. To purchase one working drone, it actually requires an entire 5000 reputation points, and 2000 utility points! This price is far beyond that of the Multalisk and the Queen zerg!”
Sheyan nodded lightly.
“My military rank is higher, let me investigate what is really going on here.”
After a brief pause, Sheyan abruptly frowned.
“F****! To inquire actually requires 500 utility points! Let me see….. Your drone will not be permitted access out of this world, no constructing abilities…it will die after you leave this world. During your period of stay, your drone can harvest Pandora crystals and amass as your personal wealth, you can use it sell as utility points or process it.”
In a flash, Sheyan and Mogensha sunk into deep ponder. If we really traded, the valuation of the drones indirectly exceeds 5000 utility points, and what was the valuation of the Pandora crystals? How many crystals can a drone harvest? Both of them weren’t even clear about when they would have to leave this world. Hence, if they really bought the drone, it would a huge gamble.
If Sheyan and Mogensha had managed to earn a leading position within that temporary party, they would at least have some backing to take this gamble. Regrettably, they didn’t even have the principal cash to gamble! More importantly, Sheyan had considered another crucial problem – the current list was only purchasables of the ‘Revered’ reputation! They hadn’t even gotten a chance to view the ‘Worshipped’ rank purchasables! Moreover, Jinkuang that cheap slut may be ineffective against the arachnid race, hence, Sheyan wasn’t qualified to ‘preview’ the Blackthorn Mother’s mercenary list.
Not very far away from the Mother nest, the special forces marine Baiise greeted them; he seemed as though he had been waiting for a long time, probably under specific orders. The Pebbles special forces were now recognized as allies of the Blackthorn tribe, hence they received much freedom. Of course, they were still restricted from entering forbidden places like the Mother nest. This was unlike Sheyan and Mogensha, who had obtained such a privilege from their valiant and courageous attempts in rescuing the Blackthorn Overmind.
Baiise saluted respectfully and spoke.
“Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee has matters to discuss with you.”
Sheyan humbly greeted.
“What matters?”
Baiise earnestly replied.
“After getting wind that the Blackthorn tribe had colonized this entire region, we returned back to the crashed shuttle and dug out a piece of equipment; allowing us communications with headquarters. Headquarters also replied us, I guess it should be matters about that which Lieutenant Colonel seeks to discuss.”
Sheyan and Mogensha glanced at each other and nodded, their eyes brimming with delight. This was because during their latest battles, their achievement points had once again deducted by 2 points. Undoubtedly, Reef’s party had once again encountered huge trouble! 2 more lives were lost. Once their mission fails and Johnny Rico dies, then perhaps they would be forcefully transported back to the realm. If they were able to receive another side mission from Dundee, then definitely they would be able to drag on for several days.
The two of them headed straight for the Pebbles special forces tent. At present, the entire Blackthorn tribe was bustling with activities, strange enormous organs were being spawned out, some larvas being hastily bred into drones to harvest more crystals.
In actual fact, the tactic Sheyan suggested to the Mother Blackthorn was indeed rather painful, not only vicious to the enemies, it was similarly destructive to oneself. In order to deceive the Thick-liquid tribe, apart from the Mother nest, 2 other lairs, and the hydralisk den (hydralisk spawning organ); the rest were all densely packed Sunken Colonies! Their numbers added to 50 according to Sheyan’s discretion. That was planned so that even if the worst case scenario were to occur, the base could at least tank for 3 hours under the full blown onslaught of the Thick-liquid tribe.
The consequences of that was inevitable tremendous casualties to oneself. Moreover for the Mother nest to evolve, she needed to fulfill conditions of having structures like the zergling spawning pool etc. Hence, it was reckoned that the Mother nest needed several hours to fulfil her evolving conditions. After that, a longer period was needed for the Mother nest to thoroughly complete her evolution morphing.
Fortunately, the Thick-liquid tribe was colonized by the Blackthorns. Their reserves of Pandora crystals had been squeezed dry by Overmind Mozi, and the rest carried back to the main Mother nest. The arachnids from the Thick-liquid tribe would also inherit the crystals, being a part of the Blackthorn tribe now. Naturally, the resources available were plentiful now with the two combined pool of resources. Hence, the Blackthorn tribe could recklessly expand in celebration, because even a wanton squandering of resources would not bring about a economic crisis.
Following the trail of the arachnid’s viscous ‘Creep’ carpet, Sheyan and Mogensha headed over to the Pebbles special force tent. As the tide rises, the boat floats; after Overmind Mozi was rescued, their status changed from cannon fodder into allies. On the way, any arachnid that past by them would sincerely prostrate themselves onto the ground, expressing their reverence towards them. Many arachnids were assisting in the spawning of organ structures, occasionally spurting out repulsive fluids. Frequent mournful shrills echoed into their ears, the setting was really a nightmare for those mentally weaker souls.
Probably because of that reason, the Pebbles special forces tent was relocated out; stationed on a dry hill side not far from the arachnid base. This area was merely few metres from the arachnid’s ‘Creep’ carpet. Honestly, although the arachnids were a savage and carnivorous race, being their ally provided great benefits.
For example, detestable poisonous scorpions, sand snakes or scourges would never come within the radius of this intimidating base. Just the ‘Creep’ carpet alone was enough to chase them far away. Even the cannibalistic savage creatures would also choose to keep away from the arachnid’s base, preventing themselves from unwanted trouble. Moreover, the Overlords were patrolling diligently 24/7, they would never allow a lapse in security; extremely vigilant in identifying any potential threats of ambushes. This undoubtedly allowed the Pebbles team to loosen up, not even requiring a sentry for the night.
Fortunately, Dundee’s battle armour was special, hence it could withstand huge amounts of damage; instead, another Mutalisk seized the opportunity when he was distracted to dive towards him! It would’ve definitely been disastrous if the collision connected! Luckily, with a blurred flash from the side, twin hands like pincers struck out and gripped onto the Mutalisk’s neck! Twisting, the figure nimbly mounted precisely over the centre of gravity of the Mutalisk, causing the poor creature to release a mournful shrill; fluttering aggressively as it hopelessly crashed forward.
Dust filled the air. The Mutalisk struggled with intense ferocity. Yet the figure over it remained steadfast, raising his fist as he heavily pounded down; it gave off an air of an unwavering, majestic superiority! Nearby, another Mutalisk realized things weren’t going so well, trying its best to flap its wings to flee. Instead, the clear crisp ‘DA DA DA’ gunshots travelled over. The first round struck its left eye, the second and third drilled into the nearby rocky wall. Sparks exploded out followed by crumbled fragments bursting in all directions, before a massive boulder was released down; directly smashing down onto the Mutalisk! Seconds later, sticky blood streamed out from beneath the boulder.
3 minutes later, the Mutalisk underneath Sheyan had utterly lost consciousness. Red scars could be seen distinctly over its abdomen and wings; it was rather obvious, probably a symbol of its native tribe. This shape of this scar seemed to look extremely similar to the arachnids at the battlefield, where Sheyan had encountered ‘Scorching Mouth’. Mogensha had even retrieved one of the arachnids to barbeque, hence Sheyan was able to accurately deduce.
That relentless Overlord had probably reported to the Mother nest; numerous anti-air counters – the hydralisks – were swiftly slithering over. Beginning to take positions around the vantage points of their base.
Almost instantaneously, Sheyan and the rest received the Overmind’s mental transmission.
��My friend, it seems that you’ve caught a hostile. Can you bring it to me?��
Naturally, Sheyan would fulfill his request, dragging the unlucky Mutalisk towards the Mother nest. After Overmind Mozi had evolved and grew out his own carapace; he no longer cooped himself up within the heavily fortified Mother nest, like in the past of his ‘I’ class days. He would occasionally patrol around the base personally. Hence, they met up at the west side of the base.
Sheyan directly tossed the half-dead Mutalisk in front of Overmind Mozi. Mozi commanded his underling to press the Mutalisk down, before burying his head as it started to tap into its memories using his own brainwaves. Until the unlucky brat could no longer resist the pressure, its head directly splattered into blood and juice, seeping into the ground.
��We have a huge problem.��Overmind Mozi’s voice was filled with a fluster. He raised his stocky forelimb and waved it, an organ structure beside them instantly disintegrated; causing a terrifying and strange map that was constructed with living cells to appear in front of them. Then Mozi started to explain.
��My old enemy, the Redliner tribe has also managed to colonize several other tribes around it, and raise themselves to a ‘II’ class base. The Pandora crystal mines they occupied are mostly barren, it isn’t enough for them to harvest for long. Moreover, the Redliner tribe has always been my arch nemesis. On face value, our Pandora crystal mine is already the most abundant and alluring trigger. But beneath that, it is also that our animosity between the tribes is bone-deep. Hence I predict in a short time, we’ll definitely engage in an all out, death war!��
Sheyan took this opportunity to raise his internal suspicions.
“Previously, when I was making my way here, I came across a battlefield. The arachnids involved were a tribe of black arachnids, and another tribe of arachnids with a distinct red scar. The black arachnids seemed to belong to us, is it possible it is related to this animosity you speak of?”
The Overmind Mozi’s shiny carapace split open, as gigantic glossy wings fluttered out, displaying its impatience. After a brief moment, the mental transmission arrived.
��That was an elite squad that I dispatched out. If not, the Thick-liquid tribe would’ve never had the chance to kidnap me. I never expected the Redliner Overmind to hide its strength so well. Although the forces he sent out consisted primarily of ordinary units, there was actually a uniquely new yet formidable unit within its mix. It completely annihilated my squad.��
“A new unit?” Sheyan’s heart was moved. He roughly understood, but allowed the Overmind Mozi to continue his transmission explanation.
��Our Queen Mother is able to absorb the genes from some native creatures, and create new models of arachnid units. These units may not suit warfare in a space environment, but its destructive nature definitely complements its native homeground. The Mother nest of the Redliner tribe had managed to absorb a Spotted fly, and mutate it into an enormous flaming beetle; it is extremely powerful. Of course, it consumes a terribly huge amount of resources, and the chances of spawning is relatively low.��
Sheyan asked.
“Then why can’t the Mother of the Blackthorn absorb and create such units?”
The Overmind Mozi patiently emitted his transmission.
��The territory we occupy isn’t a native habitat for those Spotted flies. Hence, there is a limit to what we can capture and experiment on. But because this place contains such a lucrative Pandora crystal mine, we will definitely not give this base up. Therefore, on the aspect of researching genetic coding, we are indeed lacking. According to the information I’ve acquired, the Redliner tribe had already upgraded to an ‘II’ class base 3 days ago. They currently possess close to 10 flaming beetles. Furthermore, they are currently amassing their forces, preparing to launch an all out assault against us. Hence, we desperately need your help!! As much as possible, we need to delay the Redliner tribe from attacking!��
After receiving this information, Mogensha suddenly felt a strange inkling that he had landed himself in serious shit. When the Overmind Mozi had finished explaining, indeed so; he and Sheyan received a notification:
“You have received a side mission: ‘Blackthorn tribe’s predicament.”
“Mission difficulty: B-.”
“Mission content: Come up with a method to delay the Redliner tribe from attacking.”
“Mission description: The Blackthorn tribe requires at least 48 hours to fortify their class ‘II’ base. You must win 48 hours for them.”
“Mission description: After 48 hours, for every additional hour you drag on, you will receive additional rewards and score. The maximum cap of these additional hours is 4 hours.”
“Your current reputation within the Blackthorn tribe is ‘Revered’. Unable to refuse this mission.”
“If the mission fails, you will be penalized by your highest basic attribute dropping by 1 point, your achievement point dropping by 7 points.”
“Wait!” Mogensha heaved in shock. His eyes leaked a certain despair as he asked. “Respected Overmind….. Where is the base of the Redliner tribe?”
The Overmind Mozi swiftly responded.
��You’ll definitely be able to locate those scums 400 km east from here.��
This black man Mogensha’s vision darkened, as though he was about to vomit blood. Sheyan suddenly recalled that black lacquer like object. It was that ‘Unknown Nodule’ dropped from the junior class legendary creature ‘Scorching Mouth’. Furthermore, the description of it was – No humans knows the use for this!
But…..every creature within the Blackthorn tribe wasn’t humans!!
Wasn’t that a huge hint?
Thinking of that, Sheyan instantly handed the object over to goblin Jinkuang, permitting him to let his abilities ‘shine’, and gift it to the Blackthorn tribe. Jinkuang delightedly accepting this mission, he took great pleasure in being able to haggle especially for such a valuable commodity. Not too long later, Sheyan received the notification:
“Your servant Jinkuang has offered ‘Scorching Mouth”s genetic kernel over to the Blackthorn tribe on your behalf.”
“Your servant Jinkuang’s special ability: ‘Haggling lvl15’ is effective. Your gift is received by the tribe under the condition of a maximum 50 point treatment.
“Your servant Jinkuang’s hidden ability ‘Extortion & Blackmail’ is effective. The Blackthorn tribe’s reserves have been lessened, the Blackthorn tribe’s secret collections has been lessened, the Blackthorn tribe’s loots have been lessened.”
“Blackthorn tribe Overmind Mozi and the Queen Mother are extremely grateful to you.”
“Your reputation has risen by 10,000 points within the Blackthorn tribe.”
Witnessing Jinkuang’s wicked smile as he turned his ass around to flee, Sheyan felt a compelling sympathy towards the Blackthorn tribe’s amassed reserves. After 10 seconds, Overmind Mozi transmitted another mental transmission.
��My friend, many thanks for your support. The Mother nest has already perfectly compiled the genetic sequence to morph out flaming beetles. Roughly 10 minutes later, we can start the spawning process. The only flaw would be that it consumes a massive amount of Pandora crystals and abundant Vespene gas ores.��
Sheyan heaved a sigh of relief. To the Blackthorn tribe, they possessed an astonishing amount of Pandora crystals, one that could cause others to be envious of their wealth. Once they activated their drones to start working, they would definitely have ample resources for this. Therefore, since they now had such a powerful unit in the flaming beetle. Besides, the aggressor’s would have to amass their forces and travel an entire 400 km over here; while the defending tribe could instantly direct fresh spawned units to join the battle. Hence, they naturally had the superior advantage. The chances of successfully defending would increase greatly.
Lieutenant Colonel Dundee had always looked rather dispirited, but now he was filled with vigor. Before Sheyan and Mogensha arrived, he was pacing back and forth in front of the tent with a huge expensive cigar in his mouth; its mild fumes spiralling up. It looked like their search operation had reaped ample rewards. Upon seeing the two, Dundee spat away his cigar as he warmly invited them over.
“Beautifully done! Lads, because of your mission’s success, the Blackthorn tribe has extracted the parasites from us. Come, let me introduce you, this is pilot Maylon. His bravery saved us, and god’s grace followed suit. After conducting a rescue search on the shuttle, we actually found him buried under tons of sand; but was miraculously surviving on the automatic lifve support system from the shuttle!”
Pilot Maylon was looking rather weak, currently lying down on a makeshift military stretcher. His face was white and his body frail, trying to flash an amiable smile towards Sheyan but ended up coughing weakly. Sheyan and Mogensha simultaneously offered him a humble bow. People who were facing death but still considerate of their comrades, were deserving of the utmost respect.
Following that, the two discourteously sat down for a meal with the soldiers. Cream of mushroom soup, complimented with meat and bread; along with the delicious turkey sandwich. Combining them, they at least ate 5 portions of a soldier, before they rubbed their stomachs in satisfaction and leaned against the nearby rock; squinting their eyes against the sun.
At this moment, Sergeant Tander who was operating a portable computer suddenly yelled out in joy, delivering the computer directly to his lieutenant colonel.
“We’re connected sir, but we need your higher authority verification code.”
Dundee nodded, his face stern as he hammered in his secret code. A notification appeared on the screen, prompting him to repeatedly authenticate with his relevant information. After a while, he then passed the computer over to pilot Maylon. Maylon similarly typed in his code, and even offered several words. It seemed like their superior required more verification. Not long later, Lieutenant Colonel Dundee probably received his instructions, as he nodded incessantly before terminating the connection.
Dundee pondered for a moment before raising his head, his face was riddled with mysteriousness.
“F**, those scum higher ups are expressing suspicions on our current status; because up till now, we are one of the rare group who were able to negotiate with arachnids and survive. They feel we are under the control of the Overmind. However to the homeland, this planet’s development rate is vastly lacking behind other colonial planets, they don’t even have a direct subsidiary base here. Even the link between the Steel Whip base is purely a partnership relationship. Hence, this is a rare opportunity for us, and they want the Blackthorn tribe to express their sincerity first.”
Pilot Maylon weakly asked.
“What sincerity?”
Dundee replied.
“Maylon you are a pilot, you should be very clear. Currently, beneath the golden flight channel to planet ‘P’, there are 6 Spore Colonies installed by the arachnid. Any human aircraft that passess through will suffer from intense aggression. Coincidentally, the 6 Spore Colonies are situated 400km east of here. If the Blackthorn tribe is sincere in collaborating with us, then they should assist in destroying them; using it as proof. We will then freely gift 20 heavy siege tanks to aid the Blackthorn in defence.”
(TN:*Spore colonies are the anti air defence of the zerg, flinging seeking spores at hovercrafts. You can google it)
Consecutively, Sheyan and Mogensha received a notification:
“You received the side mission: Eradicating the Spore Colonies.”
“Mission difficulty: B+.”
“Mission content: Within 72 hours, destroy at least 1 Spore Colony.”
“Mission description: Every extra Spore Colony destroyed, you will receive additional rewards from the humans.”
“Do you wish to accept this mission, Yes / No?”
“If the mission ends in failure, penalty of 2 points of your highest basic attribute and 10 achievement points will be deducted.”
“You have to make your choice within 10 seconds.”
Seeing the mission difficulty, Sheyan and Mogensha’s eyes contracted in. It was a B+ difficulty! Up till date, this was the hardest difficulty that Sheyan had encountered! There wasn’t anything else comparable, moreover, failing the mission would incur such an appalling penalty! At this moment, Mogensha had started to slightly shake his head in rejection. Observing their current status, they had already reaped quite splendid benefits; they had risen their reputation to ‘Revered’ amongst the arachnids and their purchasing options were wide, they was no reason to take on such risk.
“B+ Difficulty mission…..the penalty for failure is indeed terribly high.” Sheyan was stumped, instead he called Jinkuang over and got him to accept it on his behalf. Then he spoke to Mogensha. “This is my own decision, it will indeed be a huge gamble. You should choose based on your own decision.”
Mogensha naturally slumped his shoulders helplessly as he chose to reject the mission; he was always a person who preferred stability. All formidable gunmen would always have relatively good patience, if not their brains would have gutted by opponents long ago. After rejecting, he felt a tremendous relief over him, as he couldn’t help glancing at Sheyan with pity. In his heart, he reckoned this Seaman’s flaw was his gambling nature. If he were to join a party in the future, he would definitely avoid that.
After accepting the mission, Sheyan instantly received a reputation boost from the human race, strangely his reputation also increased amongst the arachnids. Probably because the Blackthorn tribe would also reap certain benefits from the destruction of the Spore colonies. His reputation increasing simultaneously by 1500 points for both parties. Sheyan also received the privilege of mobilizing the Pebbles special force for two times, before he sat onto the ground and got lost in his thoughts.
After half an hour, Sheyan suddenly frowned.
“Do you recall before we arrived here, we passed through that bloody battlefield between two arachnid parties?”
Mogensha nodded.
“Yup, that’s the place we slayed the legendary creature ‘Scorching Mouth’.”
Sheyan shook his head.
“The great doubt lies in that.”
But as he finished his sentence, from far in the sky; several clumps of shadow flew out abruptly. The shadows were blur from this distance, but after Dundee used his binoculars, his face instantly changed.
“Not good! The Blackthorn tribe’s Overlord is being assaulted!”
Sheyan and the rest soon realized, those shadows were several Mutalisks (Spore Wyverns) wildly pursuing 5-6 Blackthorn Overlords. These Mutalisks were experts in the air, their physique was much smaller than the previous ones they encountered in space; yet their threat remained unwavering. With a chilling screech, they spat out lime green spores, even rebounding to others when they landed on their targets. Fortunately, the Overlords were quite spaced out amongst themselves, if not the spores would have dealt devastating effects.
Even though the Overlords were trying their best to flee, they weren’t like the former elite Overlord Shenxu, their speed was much slower. But once the Mother nest could evolve into a ‘II’ class base, then these Overlord’s speed would receive a gigantic boost! But before that, the Mutalisks were at least 3-4 times of their speed, naturally the Overlords couldn’t escape.
One by one, the Overlords exploded into mist of blood, ultimately leaving with 1 Overlord who succeeded in reaching the base. The Mutalisks were relentless, continue to breathe out attacks against it. But when these vile and vicious Mutalisks charged towards the last Overlord, a threatening string of gunshots pierced through the air! It was indeed the Pebbles special forces who couldn’t just watch as their allies were being slain; setting up a tiny ambush as these Mutalisks foolishly flew into their trap.
The searing bullet flames swivelled through the air. At present, no matter which Mutalisks, they all couldn’t be compared to those massive and overbearing ones in space that attacked the transport shuttles. Yet they were still huge 5-6 metres beasts, their wings spread out to a distance of 4-5 metres. The firepower of the Pebbles special forces was in no way inferior; in a flash, one of the Mutalisk was slain under the torrents of sharp metal. Yet this agitated the other Mutalisk, triggering them to disperse and targeted them instead.
But at this moment, a faint white glow enshrouded the bodies of the Pebbles special forces, along with a rejuvenated sigh! This was result of injecting their ‘Stimulants’, lifting their speeds instantly to the peak. They swiftly congregated together in a wide circle, as they fiercely fired in separate coordinate directions against the incoming onslaught of the Mutalisks. Such a formation looked similar to a blooming flower scattering its spores in all direction.
In a flash, two more Mutalisks were slain as they exploded into grotesque blood paste. Still, they possessed the fearless insanity of arachnids, frenziedly pressing on towards lieutenant colonel Dundee. Although Dundee had injected his ‘Stimulant’ which may have catapulted his speed above the Mutalisks, but still he had to retreat while releasing fire. This lowered his speed greatly, as several deadly lime spores simultaneously crashed down onto him. Several holes on his battle armour were instantly formed by the corroding lime spores.
Because the Redliner tribe’s Mutalisks were flooding the periphery of the Blackthorn base, their Overlords were all being recalled back in. If the Overlords weren’t behind the protective guard of the Hydralisks, they would definitely be exterminated. As mentioned before, Overlords don’t possess any offensive capabilities, yet they played the crucial role of providing resources for the arachnid lifeforms; hence the Overlords were un-sacrificable units.
Currently, Overmind Mozi had spawned out numerous anti-aerial hydralisks, as they patrolled throughout the surface of the base. Strictly speaking, an extensive large scale of hydralisk would not needed to scare off the assaults of Mutalisks. Moreover, to spawn a hydralisk, the resources of Vespene gas and Pandora crystals were much lower as compared to Mutalisks. But one must note, the flexible scope of range of the Mutalisks who roamed the air was ten folds that of the hydralisks. Hence, roughly 90% of the patrolling hydralisk were rendered useless. Several squads of Redliner Mutalisks had congregated together and engaged in widespread massacre.
The situation had not sunk into a passive state.
But at this moment, Sheyan was reunited with Blackthorn Overmind Mozi; this congregation lasted for roughly 10 minutes, no one knew what they discussed. Afterwards, they dispersed.
Not long later, at least 40 other Overlords had assembled together; as two squadrons of hydralisks escorted them hastily towards the west. It seemed like they were heading over to the Thick-liquid base for some unknown operation. If these 40 Overlords were slayed, then the entire Blackthorn tribe would face an immense shortage of resource (not the raw materials, but the processed minerals), the larvaes would not be able to be bred and spawned to reinforce the fighting strength. They would have to once again spawn out a new Overlord! Undoubtedly, this would greatly delay the development of the base!
Under this alluring aspect, most of the Redliner Mutalisk banded together to unleash a frenzied assault. In order to slay the 40 Overlord, they would first have to take care of the escorting hydralisks. If not, they would face utter annihilation as the Overlord’s defensive capabilities and health were not to be recklessly trifled with. Their own forces would undoubtedly perish under the constant, lethal acidic jets of the hydralisk; this wasn’t a consequence the Redliner arachnids were willing to face.
Just like how they imagined it to be, the two squads of hydralisk ultimately were unable to resist the frenzied onslaught of the scattered and agile Mutalisks. In a short span of minutes, they were reduced to devastating casualties, the remaining survivors couldn’t even post much of a threat anymore. In the end, the 40 Overlords, pathetically retreated back into their main base. The over a hundred Mutalisk were relentlessly pursuing, wildly rummaging from the back. Within a span of 2-3 km, at least half of the Overlords had perished.
But while the Redliner Mutalisk were frantically delivering attacks, they arrived at a spacious region not far from the Blackthorn tribe’s main base. They hadn’t noticed, that the Overlords they were pursuing were subtly lowering the flying height, and finally landed onto the ground. In order for the Mutalisks to slay the Overlords, they had to dive lower in order to attack them.
The Redliner Mutalisks gradually congregated together towards an advantageous attacking position; concentrating their firepower against the Overlords. It seemed like they wouldn’t rest until the Overlords were utterly decimated! But at the exact moment they congregated together to release attacks; within a particularly queer but humongous black Overlord, a figure suddenly leapt out. His hand was shockingly holding onto an unappealing cylindrical-like object. It was indeed that ‘Sample Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’!!!
A majestic azure brilliance flashed out! The Mutalisks had a habit of congregating to concentrate their firepower; yet when Sheyan leapt out of the Overlord Shenxu, he directly aimed towards the nucleus of the Mutalisk gathering! After a violent tremor and blinding flash, at least half of the Mutalisk in the air instantly sunk into a stunned effect! Simultaneously, from the spacious ground, vibrations and tremors became increasingly intense. “Brrr Brr Boom!” At least 6 squads of hydralisk and 5 squads of zerglings burrowed out from the ground. Consecutively, the hydralisks ferociously sprayed their acid into the air! Within these battalion of hydralisks and zerglings, most of them still had traces and marks belonging to the expired Thick-liquid tribe!
.
When Sheyan had raided the Thick-liquid base, they unexpectedly encountered several burrowed elite zerglings at the entrance of the Mother nest. If he hadn’t acted fast to utilize the ‘Sample Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’ then they would’ve certainly met with a tragic ending. Hence, he could see from this where the unique research and characteristics of the Thick-liquid tribe was; it was definitely a researched gene that raised their unit’s capabilities. When the 40 Overlords were used as baits, the Overmind Mozi had created a window of opportunity to gather the hydralisks and zerglings from the Thick-liquid tribe. While the Redliners were busy, Mozi dispatched the arachnids had buried them into the spacious region not far from his base…..
The Mutalisks affected by Sheyan’s dazzling ‘Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’ numbered at least 56. They naturally relied on their wings to stay afloat in the sky; when the terrorizing soundwaves of the ‘Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’ reverberated onto them inducing a stunning effect, they straightforwardly crashed to the ground. Of course, these powerful units wouldn’t die just like that, at most they received light injuries. Yet when they crashed to the ground, the ferocious and maniacal zerglings were viciously waiting to pounce onto them!
Within 10 minutes, repeated scenes of bloodlusted zerglings tore through the grounded Mutalisk horde, preventing them from flying back into the sky! Moreover, the hydralisk were focused in sending spurts of acid against the Mutalisks who weren’t affected. Instead of scattering out, the Mutalisk clumped up together as they soared to a higher altitude. In this manner, although they sacrificed some of their comrades underneath, it protected most of their lives instead of scattering out and giving the hydralisk more surface to attack them. It was only like an orange being peeled off its skin.
At this critical juncture, from the rocky hills far away; a peculiar demonic shaped figure surfaced. It was indeed the elite Queen zerg, Jenny! Although her abilities only allowed her to instant kill one Mutalisk, in this very moment; the formidable elite queen zerg Jenny could demonstrate her fullest potential!
Aiming towards the clump of Mutalisk frenziedly fluttering their wings, she released a thick clump of lime green.
In a flash, the green clump started dividing itself as it drifted through the air, 1 into 2, 2 into 4, 4 into 8……. When it reached the frantically fleeing Mutalisks, an astounding radiating with lustrous lime green, gigantic web was formed! It covered the heavens as it bluntly enveloped and entangled in!
Capture!
The awe-inspiring mighty mass-scale ensnaring ability, Capture!
If the Redliner Mutalisks required 5-6 seconds to escape from the effective range of the hydralisk, this time frame had been lengthened by two folds! With this bonus time, that was indeed the difference between life and death……
3 minutes later, the battle had concluded.
The Blackthorn tribe had lost a total of: 31 hydralisk, 33 Overlords, 6 zerglings in addition to one expanded ‘Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’. This added up a 5,775 Pandora crystal worth of units, and 775 units of Vespene gas.
On the contrary, the Redliner tribe lost a total of: 107 Mutalisks. That equated to a total of 10,700 Pandora crystal units, and similarly 10,700 units of Vespene gas!
Comparing the casualties of both parties, it could be determined that the Blackthorn tribe triumphed overwhelmingly!
One must understand, losing so many Pandora crystals was fine; the rarer Vespene gas was a huge issue. Normally, for every 6-8 Pandora crystals, only 1 Vespene gas resource would be obtained. The Redliner tribe’s Overmind in actual fact, didn’t commit any errors in terms of battle strategy and reaction. Even with the intervention of the elite Queen zerg Jenny, at most its casualties would be capped at 30 Mutalisks max. But what caused its total defeat, was the variable of this freak, Sheyan. He actually possessed the skills to instantly neutralize the Mutalisks, causing them to fall to the ground! This led to its disastrous annihilation!
During the battle, the Blackthorn tribe had successfully upgraded from ‘I’ class base to the ‘II’ class base! The two superpowers were now on the same footing. The first advanced organ structure that Overmind Mozi undertook was – naturally a Spire! These organ structures were shaped like a mushroom, suspended around the umbrella of the mushroom head were 10 bulky vasculars. It directly linked the mushroom to the viscous liquid on the ground, supplying the adequate genetic coding; it can allow the larvas to breed and spawn two new categories of units. The first was the former Mutalisks that attacked the Blackthorn base. The second, were the kamikaze bugs, known as scourges.
Seizing the enemy’s sudden decline in aerial prowess, Overmind Mozi rapidly activated his resources; mass producing out squadrons of mutalisks and scourges. From then on, the two sides engaged in multiple aerial warfares. But because a major portion of the Redliner tribe had been utterly crushed by the wildcard Sheyan’s ingenious plans; they suffered a huge blow in their aerial constitution leading to a complete defeat in that area.
Thus, the Redliner tribe Overmind could only give up on the aerial supremacy, changing its strategy to fortifying its turtle defences; by mass producing the multi-purpose hydralisks. Yet the fact was that, even with a over hundred Mutalisk being completely eradicated, the Redliner tribe at most suffered a huge blow; it hadn’t crushed them into a perilous state! In fact, their development could sustain a terrorizing quantity of 1:3 of the Blackthorn tribe forces! Blackthorn tribe 1: Redliner tribe 3. Once the Redliner tribe managed to amass an adequate coalition, that would be the crucial deciding factor; with both party’s existence on the line.
After assisting the Blackthorn tribe in annihilating the 107 Mutalisks, Sheyans reputation had soared once again. In actual fact, only a madman like Sheyan dared to take this gamble; because at the moment he leapt out out of Shenxu, he would definitely suffer from the deadly spore jets of the Mutalisk. Although these spores only contained 50% of the full damage, Sheyan would have to at last receive 14 of these spore bombardments! If not for his ‘endurance’ physique, he would’ve melted on the spot!
Of course, high risks signified high returns. After his boost in reputation, Sheyan had already attained the ‘Worshipped’ reputation amongst the Blackthorn tribe! He could now view and exchange for the most superior items! Upon receiving the purchasing list from the Mother of the Blackthorn, he and Mogensha both gasped in astonishment.
Your Blackthorn reputation has reached ‘Worshipped’ status within the Blackthorn arachnid tribe. Under the current difficulty, you are unable to exchange for more special units.
But you can exchange for the following passive abilities:
Zergling’s genetic: ‘Improved Adrenaline’ – Increases your movement speed permanently by 33%. Fee of 15,000 reputation points, 2500 utility points.
Hydralisk’s genetic: ‘Fleshjet hormone’ – Increases your far range attack range/distance by 15%. Fee of 15,000 reputation points, 2,500 utility points.
Arachnid race: ‘Chitin nursing fluid’ – Increases your defence permanently by 2 points. Fee of 15,000 reputation points and 2,500 utility points.
Mother nest: ‘Helping-hand’ – Increases all your attributes by 1 point. Fee of 25,000 reputation points and 5,000 potential points.
Pointer: Passive abilities of the same kind cannot be overlapped, only the highest value will be valid. (For example, if Sheyan had purchased the zergling’s ‘Improved adrenaline’ and increased his speed by 33%; in the future, he still could return to purchase the upgraded ‘Improved adrenaline (II)’ and increase his movement speed by 50%. But the overall bonus movement speed will only be 50%, and not 83%)
Pointer: You can help other contestants to purchase.
Very obvious, the best deal was that Mother nest’s ‘Helping-hand’. If the exchange was successful, then undoubtedly that would instantly compensate for their loss of basic attribute points in this world, but in fact gained more!
This was the total reputation points Sheyan had: Neutral to Amicable (3,000 points), Amicable to Respected (6,000 points), Respected to Revered (12,000 points), Revered to Worshipped (21,000 points). Sheyan’s current reputation was at the most esteemed ‘Worshipped’ status, and still had leftovers of 6,000 reputation points. In total, he had amassed 48,000 reputation points. Moreover for Mogensha, he had just broke through to the ‘Revered’ status, hence his amassed total was 22,000 reputation points. However, there was one primary concern – If Sheyan made the exchange with the Mother nest, then his reputation would fall from grace; he would no longer be able to view the ‘Worshipped’ purchasable list.
After a series of discussions with Mogensha; Mogensha would first transfer him 20,000 reputation points and 5,000 utility points, then he would top up 5,000 reputation points for Mogensha to exchange for the Mother nest’s ‘Helping-hand’. Following that, Sheyan would then exchange for his own ‘Helping-hand’. After their attributes increased by 1, his reputation had plunged to 18,000 points; currently lingering at ‘Respected’ status (9,000/12,000).
Of course, even though Mogensha’s reputation had declined to the ‘Neutral’ state, his personal relationship/friendship with Overmind Mozi and the Blackthorn Mother still persisted. Hence, nothing much was changed, just that the arachnids wouldn’t salute him anymore and that he could no longer engage in transactions with the Mother nest. Just when the two rolled up their sleeves, determine to travel to the Redliner tribe to acquire more reputation points, a sudden horrendous thing happened!
Their achievement points took a sharp decline! Due to the previous deaths, within a short span of 10 minutes, their achievement points had once again dwindled by a full 4 points!!! The only consolation was that not all deductions would go into effect, because their 6 point cap for the main mission had already been exceeded! Currently, if anyone else dies or the main lead of the mission dies, no more achievement points would be deducted.
But the underlying meaning was grave. This meant that the combat strength of Reef’s party had already reached its extreme limit. Hence, after a dozen hours without any casualties, once a sudden disaster descended; it had caused a horrifying domino chain reaction, as their forces had instantly crumbled apart!
The black Mogensha observed his string of achievement points being deducted, his heart felt rather regretful. People would occasionally make the wrong decisions. Comparing his capabilities to Crazy Harnik and Qiaoer, although they were slightly inferior; they were still pretty outstanding. The only difference was that they had chosen Reef as their fortress, while he had invested in this Seaman. Looking at things objectively now, this Seaman was really a mysterious fiend; he could actually force out a side mission wreathed in dangerous arachnid conflict, to create a heaven for himself!
“F*…….” Thinking of that, Mogensha starting recalled the side mission that he had given up on – ‘Eradicating the Spore Colonies’! He started to seeth in self-agony and regret! If he knew that the war between the Blackthorn tribe and the Redliner tribe was bound to happen, how could he have given up on this supremely difficult mission? Fortunately, Seaman this fella was rather forthright and seemed to possess the disposition of a mighty general. For now, he may have wasted his golden opportunity, but in the long run he would still certainly gain.
Suddenly, both of their nightmare imprint starting shuddering faintly, before a violent coughing sound transmitted over. This was followed by a frail female voice, which sounded rather familiar. With one hear, Mogensha could differentiate it; it was indeed that support summoner, Tulip.
��Whoever you are…… whatever demands you seek….we will accept.��
��Save us please, our coordinates are – XXX XXX.��
��Our situation is terribly desperate, with us are the 4 main storyline characters. At most, we can only last for……6 more hours…��
After Mogensha heard this soft request for aid, he slightly shook his head. Naturally, two paths laid ahead of him. One was to complete the side mission with the Redliner tribe and earn some reputation points, the other was to rescue Reef and the rest. The first path, the Blackthorn tribe had already usurped aerial control, the path on from now was bright and glamorous. Yet the second path was dark and treacherous, its risk immense yet its rewards minute. Even a fool would know which was the best option.
From young, blood shed and death was already second nature. Even the few years he roamed within the nightmare realm, Mogensha had seen it all. He calmly stood up and patted his golden AK.
“Let’s go, boss. Those Redliner arachnids are still waiting for us.”
A flicker emeged in Sheyan’s eyes as he heard Mogensha address him as ‘boss’. He didn’t refute him but suddenly exclaimed.
“How is it that we can hear that bitch Tulip’s voice?”
Mogensha pondered for a moment before replying.
“That’s probably a special method like the Mother nest’s mental transmission, but it probably wasted a shocking amount of utility points. Who knows, it may also deduct basic attribute points. Right, boss, you also think that female is a bitch?”
Sheyan smirked.
“Only a person like Reef would be tricked. While we were fleeing previously, her peak speed was even faster than crazy Harnik. If she hadn’t had other tricks up her sleeves, that would be strange. Forget it, let’s not talk about her. I’ve already calculated, the coordinates that Tulip transmitted over isn’t very far from here, it is only roughly 1,100 kilometre. At present, the Blackthorn Mother nest has been upgraded to the ‘II’ class, its gene research has also improved drastically. Even an ordinary Overlord is now equipped with that frightening flying speed that the elite ‘Shenxu’ possess. Of course, their HP and defence still cannot be compared. If we purchased an Overlord, we would only take 2 and half hour to reach there.”
Mogensha was taken aback.
“No way, are you thinking of rescuing them?”
Sheyan glanced at him, releasing a long sigh before saying.
“Do you wish to have 3 points of your highest basic attribute deducted just like that?”
Mogensha suddenly paused, his heart was slightly stirred.
“Are you really thinking of rescuing that main lead ‘Johnny Rico’?”
Sheyan laughed.
“We need to play by ear, anyway I’ve already investigated. The current enemy of the Blackthorn tribe is solely that Redliner tribe. They are currently engaged in a war for district/region supremacy. Hence, if we ride that Blackthorn Overlord over, and we do not encounter any Redliner bastards, the other arachnids would only express a cold or neutral attitude towards it. But of course, once we surface from the Overlord, the other arachnids would certainly no delay in assaulting us, and even the Overlord.
“But……” Mogensha was pretty stumped. “If we go over now, it really is not worth it at all. From there and back, we still need at least 5 hours, what if the Redliner tribe decides to attack then? Also, if we use these 5 hours to battle and slaughter some Redliner arachnids, then our rewards would not necessarily be lesser than going to rescue them; even our risk would be greatly reduced!”
“Wrong! If we hadn’t finished off those over a hundred Mutalisks, then the Redliner tribe may very well engage in a surprise attack. But now, the possibility of them attacking now is low.” Sheyan resolutely nodded his head. “But if we rescue them, our rewards may very well be much greater than staying. Still I leave you with the same words. It’s your free will, you can choose to stay.”
Afterwards, Sheyan took some utility points from Mogensha and went off to seek the Mother nest to hire one Overlord. He also hired two Mutalisks as escorts. These two Mutalisks were not for attacking, it was to attack any potential threats, and allow the transporting Overlord to rapidly flee.
After settling all the miscellaneous, Sheyan reflected as he reckoned his current strength was still too weak. He then requested and successfully mobilized three firepower airds from the Pebbles special force. They were now ready to set off. Instead, Mogensha this black man suddenly hastily climbed up into the transport compartment of the Overlord. His voice carried a tone of defeat.
“F, don’t hog all the good things to yourself.”
Sheyan shrugged his shoulders and smirked.
“We could be heading to our graves y’know.”
Mogensha chewed on his gum and scoffed.
“F it, I swear on the name of Tamushu, ever since I’ve met you, it has always been me on the losing end.”
Sheyan rolled his eyes.
“Oh, Dundee’s mission was one that I too, wasn’t confident in, so I let you choose for yourself. Since you’ve met your own choice, then don’t blame me.”
Mogensha sat down as he strapped on a tentacle (serves as a seatbelt), he shook his head and replied.
“That’s why I chose to follow you now. Hmph. Say, this Overlord can only include 8 passengers. Counting the storyline characters and the others we want to rescue, it already adds up to at least 5. We are only left with 3 now, isn’t that a little inadequate?”
Sheyan calmly replied.
“I only fear we’ll have too much space in the end.”
With his composed statement, he implied that there’s a chance that Reef’s group may deteriorate into a tragedious state! As the two conversed, the Overlord had taken off as the two mutalisks escorted it towards the destined coordinates. The newly upgraded Overlord was still slightly slower than the mutalisks, but the passengers within the enclosed belly couldn’t feel a trickle of wind leaking in. In order to avoid any unnecessary troubles, the Overlord and mutalisk both ascended to the altitude of their limits.
Overlooking the celestial body from the periphery of the atmosphere, an endless desert stretched far into the horizon. Only patches of brown vegetation and deep grey valley rifts could be seen. The mountain range appeared in the form of meandering hills that stretched to a thousand kilometres, the dust over it ridiculously sparse; leaving its profoundly sharp rocky edges glistening under the scorching heat. One could even see the crustal movement of tectonic plates maliciously colliding against each other.
Mogensha gazed into the vast planet space, suddenly speaking out.
“Hey, didn’t she say they still have 6 hours? But why did your words sound so pessimistic?”
Sheyan sighed and replied.
“We’ve already gained some military intelligence from Overmind Mozi, even the original storyline line……”
Until here, Sheyan glanced towards Baiise by his side, he noticed he and the other two soliders had their eyes shut in meditation. Naturally, it meant the realm had automatically tuned their words to a different language. He then continued.
“After the main lead gets trapped, the Roughneck’s captain, Rasczak, and his lover, Dizzy, were both sacrificed during their mission. In the end, the arachnid horde swarmed the entire area, covering every inch of the base. In the most crucial moment, the remnants of the Roughneck managed to escape by a shuttle dispatched by the headquarters. But this time, it isn’t so simple. Based on our current situation, it is very likely that their escape shuttle may be delayed……or won’t even show up!!”
Mogensha was stunned.
“How’s that so?”
Sheyan paused briefly before continuing.
“You’ve forgotten our mission…..oh wait, it’s my mission right? Eradicating the Spore Colonies. According to Overmind Mozi, these things were installed/constructed by the ruler of the arachnid race – ‘Blade Empress’ (similar to the emperor of the humans) . It poses an extremely terrifying threat to the space route. When we just entered this world, our shuttle encountered such a horrifying obstruction. And after several days later, their aerial might would’ve surely undergone a frightening upgrade. That is why I think there’s a chance that the rescue shuttle will be delayed or even destroyed!”
Suddenly, one of the mutalisks starting violently flapping its wings in warning! Sheyan immediately peeped out of the Overlord to observe. Beneath them, there was a pack of scourges passing by; their incisive bony white wings swiftly swept closer! One of the Blackthorn mutalisk swerved down to welcome them, screeching loudly in deterrence. The pace of scourges obediently dispersed, hovering for a brief moment before leaving.
Throughout their journey, they would occasionally encounter several aerial patrolling arachnids. However, after realizing that Sheyan’s Overlord was just passing by, they ignored them. Currently, the electronic map they had prepared beforehand was finally useful. According to the surrounding terrain, that Whiskey base was right up ahead.
In order to harvest the Pandora crystals, this base was helplessly situated over a dangerous and exposed flat land; fortunately, humans were naturally adept at defence. According to the coordinates on the map, Whiskey base should possess 113 marines, 8 Auto-turret forts, 6 siege tanks and 7 anti-air Missile turret. Such a military fleet should be able to resist a thousand strong arachnids. Of course, that was if these buildings weren’t invaded by unique arachnid units.
Although the coordinates shown on the electric map were exceedingly clear; in the distant fields of desert ahead, there was completely no human building structures in sight. As they pressed on forward, shockingly the ‘Creep’ carpet belonging to arachnid bases appeared! Continuing forwardly, there were 6 newly constructed lairs vigorously breeding; beside it, 23 zerglings sprawled over the ground lazily. Within this arachnid base, broken fragments of steel, crumbled walls and bunkers, even the charred and destroyed tank armours could be seen. The corpses had long been gobbled up, or already dissolved by the ‘Creep’ carpet as nutrients.
As the steel materials were transported into a spawning pool, it would rapidly disintegrate and pumped into the newly spawned larvas; enhancing their defence and strength. When they witnessed this scene, Mogensha felt a chill welling up in his heart.
“Is that….Tulip..already eaten by the overmind? And they used her to trick us?”
Sheyan shook his head.
“Unlikely so, if my deductions aren’t wrong…..forget it, this arachnid base is still rather weakly fortified, let’s wreck it first. Although only several structures have been formed, it is still representative of an arachnid base. By destroying it, we’ll definitely benefit from the human side.”
After speaking, Sheyan started controlling the Overlord to descend, Sheyan had complete disregard for those 23 zerglings below. He was already extremely experienced in arachnid warfare; after pressing his flamethrower, fiery tongues shout out as the twin mutalisks by his side joined in to help. Following that, Mogensha and Baiise’s small group similarly charged into the foray. Based on their current strength, don’t even mention 23 ordinary zerglings, even ten times of this wouldn’t matter!
3 minutes later. The entire patch of arachnid base was engulfed in soaring flames and blood. Sheyan and Mogensha both received a ‘You’ve destroyed a arachnid base, your reputation amongst the human +5000 points’ notification. But of course, such an opportunity wouldn’t present itself so frequently. It was probably that the arachnid Overmind reckoned that enemies wouldn’t turn up so quickly, hence the defence was extremely slack. If they had already constructed a Mother nest here and started harvesting Pandora Crystals, the defence would surely be difficult to crack. If they regrouped and made a comeback, it was certain that Sheyan’s group will face an all round assault from hydralisks and zerglings.
After the two wrecked havoc, they didn’t dare to stay on. After decimating the Lairs, the Mother nest and Overmind would surely retaliate in intense force. The group of them hurried to board the overlord and quickly fled the crime scene. Mogensha observed the coordinates that Tulip had communicated beforehand, he suspiciously asked.
“Their position now, it should be on a mountain? If that is so, they wouldn’t have to fear arachnids ambushing them, surely that is a fantastic move. That bitch has announced to every contestant in this world. But I think, even if there were other contestants present in this world, they wouldn’t take the risk to rescue her.”
Sheyan refuted.
“If they had adequate combat strength, then undoubtedly hiding within the mountain peak would be a good move. But after their previous battle, they couldn’t even protect their own member’s life! Under such a treacherous and uncertain environment, staying on the mountain would no doubt open themselves to aerial assaults from may scourges. Aerial and ground pincer attacks, isn’t that courting death?”
Mogensha frowned.
“Then what’s her goal for tricking us into going there?”
“Because they’ve never received any news of our death, so that bitch Tulip inferred that we hadn’t die. Her previous distress signal was probably sent when she was in an extremely perilous situation, it was probably so desperate that she felt that her allies (Sheyan and Mogensha) wouldn’t be able to save them.” Sheyan gently replied.
Mogensha’s eyes flashed with a venomous hate.
“So, she wants to drag us down with her? That mountain is probably the most fortified region of the arachnids, that bitch! Better not let me see her again!”
Sheyan disdainfully observed the sweeping plains beneath him.
“That woman should be dead by now. I guess her brains are currently dissolving inside the stomach of a random zergling. Hmph! She didn’t divulge their fleeing route and location, and she thinks we don’t know? It shouldn’t be very far from this base, and must be able to hide from the burrowing arachnids. It should also be hidden from aerial assaults, and most importantly it has to allow a contestant with innate defence abilities to flourish…… then naturally, that nearby cavern should be their best bet!”
Competing in vision, naturally nobody could compare with that old fox Mogensha. He squinted his eyes through a crack of the overlord downwards. Not too long later, he excitedly screamed out!
“There, to the left, 500 metres!!”
The Overlord quickly detoured and descended. Only now did Sheyan notice the distinct traces of a huge fleet of zerglings, trampled footsteps and claw marks guided a pathway! Following this zergling trail, a fading shadow could been seen amidst a gigantic cliff. Carefully observing, a pitch-black cave could be seen; shaped like the mouth of a voracious beast, it emitted a chilling sensation.
Due to the fact an ordinary Overlord already possessed the true-sight ability, Sheyan wasn’t afraid of any arachnids hidden burrowed underneath the ground. He directly leapt down, reflecting for a moment before shouting to Mogensha.
“I’ll leave Baiise with you. You two will keep watch outside, and I’ll bring the other two marines in. That should be enough to cover the narrow firing space of the cave, anymore will be redundant. If the enemy appears with more reinforcements, remember you have to primarily target the hydralisks!”
Mogensha understood that he wouldn’t be of much use within such a complicated and dark terrain like the cave. Hence, he bluntly acknowledged. Sheyan wasn’t afraid of Mogensha fleeing by himself. Their current interests were already closely knitted together, sharing the same mission and their roles greatly complemented each other. Yet more importantly, Mogensha’s reputation within the Blackthorn tribe was as good as zero, if he wanted to purchase any ‘Worshipped’ rank things; for example increasing his attack range or movement speed, he would’ve have to engage Sheyan to assist him with it.
After the two separated, Sheyan immediately concocted a gene dosage: ‘Strength of the Bear’s flesh’; instantly propelling his strength to 20 points! He then retrieved his ‘Prometheus (III) Flamethrower’ and slung it around his neck. The cave was approximately 5-6 metres wide, and not even 4 metres in height; releasing a stifling eeriness. Sheyan reckoned that the arachnid horde consisted primarily of zerglings, even if there were hydralisks, there wouldn’t be that many. Because in such an environment, it allowed for only 2-3 hydralisks to attack at one go. The remainder had to wait behind for their comrade to fall. It would be a complete waste of manpower. Hence, nimble and slippery zerglings would be the priority.
Truthfully speaking, Sheyan alone would be able to take down hundreds of ordinary zerglings within this confined environment. If he had firepower reinforcements behind, definitely they will be able to sustain longer. Leading the two elite marines upfront, an awfully intense stench streamed into their noses. Going deeper, corpses of rotting zerglings pitifully covered the entire region. Their faint yellowish fluids coagulated into clumps of blood ponds, splashing repulsively as the humans stomped over it.
Sheyan disregarded the filth as he dived and soaked himself with the zergling fluids. This behavior may seem erratic, but it widened the possibility of the vicious zerglings delayed reactions to him. Doing it was better than doing nothing, even if it amounted to nothing, he still wouldn’t lose anything.
Suddenly, one of the marines sprinted ahead and picked up a broken helmet. A terrifyingly distinct hole was penetrated through on this helmet. Muddied blood and white brain fluids filled the tip of the helmet. Naturally, one of the marines had lost his life here.
The 3 then continued advancing, discovering more horrific bodies on the way. Of course, the multitude of arachnid corpses overshadowed the human body parts. Yet the arachnid horde could be replenished easily, but for the fleeing humans, a death signified a permanently weakened defence! Not long later, complete bodies of the Roughneck special forces surfaced. Sheyan hurried along a curve in the cave, pushing away clumps of zergling corpses on the way. Astoundingly, underneath a clump appeared a rather familiar face.
Qiaoer.
The long range sniper, Qiaoer.
His face was rigidly cringing, blood smeared every surface of his skin. His twin eyes were horrifically widely opened. Cracks were plenty over his upper battle armour. Yet beneath it……
There was nothing.
One could easily infer, he had been pounced down to the ground by a zergling. He then tried frantically to wrestle away the zergling, but another 2-3 more vicious zerglings swarmed in, tearing through his body with their razor-sharp fangs and claws. Within a flash, Qiaoer was reduced to half a body. Because of the battle armour, his upper body was spared. The zerglings then switched their focus.
Sheyan helped to roll down Qiaoer’s eyelids, covering his eternal grievance. His formidable long range abilities was really awe-inspiring, worthy of being one who had injured the Metals professor before. Yet he carried a weightier ambition in his heart. In Sheyan’s schemes, the people he hated most were ones with dangerous ambitions…….
The casualties begun to pile up more frequently. Amidst that, Sheyan discovered another familiar face. Within the dim lighting of the cave, he suddenly witnessed a skinny figure twitching as he sprawled over a rock. Looking closely, it was that Harnik that was seemingly on good terms with Qiaoer. He was actually still alive?
Sheyan hurried forward, about to reach out for crazy Harnik. Suddenly, a bloodied zergling burrowed up abruptly. Its coercive sharp fangs directly piercing towards Sheyan’s face!
This sudden attack really caught Sheyan off guard, forcing his body backwards as he managed to dodge the zergling. Yet this action exposed his naked throat, allowing the ferocious zergling to swiftly spin and clawed against him. In a split second, a fist arrived first as it smashed directly into the zergling’s mouth! The immense brute force instantly threw the zergling against the rocky wall.
The zergling lunged forward in defiance, snapping against Sheyan with its savage fangs. Yet its fang seem to collide against an impregnable sensation, while its primitive brain was obviously not able to process the underlying strength beneath it. In a split second, the next fist pummeled heavily onto the zergling’s eye. Yellowish fluids gushed out from its ears and nose, as a powerful kick followed it. Without a doubt, this 50 HP zergling died on the spot.
Sheyan then glanced towards crazy Harnik. Harnik was still fully intact; yet sadly, an enormous laceration tore through his stomach, leaving his guts spilling out. By now, he had already died from excessive blood loss. Looking at such a grotesque and horrible way to die, even a rabbit would grieve for the fox*.
(TN:*Having sympathy with a like-minded person in distress)
A complicated feeling welled up in Sheyan as he witnessed these familiar face he used to fight alongside with. But this feeling of sympathy and melancholy was immediately disrupted by a fit of sinister laughter…..
Sheyan swung his head round in shock.
“Oi oi oi, it’s very dangerous here. Why did you suddenly come out?”
This slut Jinkuang had both his eyes shining brightly like diamonds, his hands folded into fists as he placed it on his chest and slyly replied.
“Many thanks for master’s concern, how about some consolation for my distressed heart?”
Sheyan replied. “……. in your dreams! Wait, why is that a red glow sipping out of your fist???”
Jinkuang’s rat beard suddenly twitched up, his gaze leaked out a certain fluster. Bitterly smiling he replied.
“What! That’s not possible, master is your eyesight getting worse?!”
Sheyan clenched his teeth.
“Yeah right! This greedy slut who is afraid of death, taking everything but giving nothing; why would you suddenly show up at such a treacherous location! You must’ve seen something to gain. Is it a soul equipment!!!!?”
Jinkuang hissed as he clenched his fist even tighter.
“For the love of money, master you cannot do this! If not I swear your loyalty points will drop to 0!”
With this killer move, Sheyan was instantly speechless. His expression and tone immediately changed.
“I’m just saying only, this 5 utility points is for you. A soul equipment isn’t really anything good, you still have to complete a mission for it. How about sell it to me for 100 utility points?”
Jinkuang bluntly and rudely received the 5 utility points, yet he snorted in rage.
“This noble goblin will definitely protect his own wealth, shit, this is actually a soul equipment? It wants to give me a mission? What! I have to kill a thousand zerglings? Wa, heavens this is almost as bad as having to pay taxes! Nevermind, I’ll just use our goblin’s secret arts to wipe away this damnable mission!!”
Sheyan watched on as disgusting saliva scattered while Jinkuang complained. Suddenly, his eyes popped out widely. This slut Jinkuang released his fist as a red glowing object dropped out. First he stomped over it several times, before rubbing against his filthy crotch like applying lubricant. Then he used a stone and started pounding onto it, before finally spitting a thick gooey phlegm over….. Sheyan couldn’t stand looking any longer, he sighed in his heart for this unlucky bastard. After his death, even his soul equipment was being raped and violated by such an immoral slut, what a disgrace. But what pained his heart more was that he was unable to stop, and snatch this good item over……
Jinkuang picked up the object, spitting for the last time before wiping with his sleeve…… in the end, that resentful glow of the soul equipment actually gradually faded away. His wretched goblin was now all smiles. Sheyan’s pupils had expanded as huge as ever before. Carefully examining this equipment, it was astonishingly the ring crazy Harnik was wearing. The ring was even emitted a glimmer of silver brilliance! ……. Sheyan reluctantly gave that ring one more look, deep in his heart, he understood that trying to exploit this master-servant was impossible. He stubbornly turned around as he continued to advance deeper into the cave.
Gradually, surprise attacks from zerglings within the darkness became more frequent. However, these zerglings seemed to have been injured and were nurturing their wounds. Hence, without much effort, Sheyan was able to take these guys down; at the rate that even the two marines at the back didn’t have to spare a single move. Brute fist and kicks were enough to settle. This carried on until they swung round a corner. Suddenly! A pack of hydralisks appeared! A pack of hydralisks that were just idling over a spacious channel!
In this sudden desperate encounter, only the brave would survive. Sheyan didn’t even have time to think, straightforwardly throwing a ‘Sample Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’ over. A faint blue flash illuminated the cavern darkness. The two elite marines opened fire with their fullest might, even Sheyan had raised his flamethrower and created a massive firestorm!
The ‘Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’ would’ve already caused 80 damage around its radius. In addition to Sheyan’s torrential AOE flames, and the frenzied firepower of the marines; before the stunning debuff had wore off, the entire stretch of hydralisks were wiped completely cleaned.
But every advantage would meet with equal resistance. Once the massive horde of unaware hydralisks were annihilated, the wild zerglings in front frenziedly turned their backs and surged forward. But this awkward narrow terrain was most suitable for the ‘Prometheus III flamethrower’! Within the narrow cave, at most only 2-3 zerglings could deliver attacks to Sheyan at once. Yet the fiery dragons soaring from the flamethrower were nearly 20 metres long! If the cave channel was packed fully with zerglings, one trigger of the flamethrower could deal terrorizing AOE damage to at least 20 – 30 zerglings! Moreover, for those zerglings that managed to hide themselves by the side or behind rocks, they would then be dealt with by the two marines at the back.
Impenetrable like a tightly sealed water hose, the 3 man powerhouse slaughtered their way into the cave. Along the way, Sheyan managed to amass quite a number of carapace shell materials. Apart from the uncommon dark blue grade ones, he sold the rest off to to his nightmare imprint directly; building his wealth to nearly 1200 utility points. It could be counted as a mini feat. Suddenly, the stifling aggressive pressure seemed to disappear ahead. The last few layers of surging zerglings crumbled to the ground with charred remains and countless bullet holes. A thread of light broke through from the front. Sheyan squinted both his eyes, instantly able to make out…… that thread of light was an opening!
After completely finishing off the zerglings, Sheyan finally marched out from the gloomy cave. Even a calm and composed person like him, exhaled heavily a relieved breath. His current position was at a vacant land, halfway up the mountain. The soil beneath his feet was moist and spongy. Vividly, in the distance was a tremendous mountain valley spanning at least hundreds of square-kilometres. The valley was a extensively broad central plain. Occupying the plain were huge patches of distinct arachnid organ structures. The arachnid’s base ‘Creep’ carpet had already extended all the way to the foot of the mountain.
In the spacious region below the mountain, two multitudes of zergling arachnid seas were unbelievably interweaving and overlapping each other in breakneck speeds. The sheer quantity shockingly amounted to thousands and ten thousands. The densely packed horde with its constant swarming movements… it was simply uncountable. At the frontal region not flooded by the arachnid sea yet, was indeed….. A bunch of ant-like, desperate and frenzied fleeing humans!
It was obvious, the storyline characters and fortunate surviving contestants were all there. Sheyan could clearly see, even though their fleeing speed wasn’t slow, the torrential arachnid sea was drowning in at an even more terrifying pace! Most likely in a few minutes, their fates would be drowned inside boundless sea of zerglings!
Suddenly! A chill gripped at Sheyan’s heart! A frosty sensation enveloped his entire back as if an ice slab was rubbed against him. A tremendous incoming threat from the back! Actually Sheyan should have been able to dart to the side because of his immaculate sensing and quick reaction. But presently, Sheyan wasn’t fighting this war alone! Behind him were two powerful elite marines, but with meagre health points!!! He didn’t dare to hide, he couldn’t hide!
Sheyan hastily swung round, making a wild charge forward with his arms protecting his head! When they came out of the cave, their position was a slightly concave area, halfway up the mountain. Because this was a windy region, the ground wasn’t covered in bare rocks, but a layer of eroded sandy soil. When they emerged from the cave, all their focused was directed to below the cave, hence, they didn’t notice a sudden sandstorm brewing at the back. Suddenly, two hydralisks burrowed out, instantly aiming towards them before releasing a lethal acidic jet!
Crow black scales covered the surface of the two hydralisks. From far, it looked identical to a layer of steel chains. Their size was larger than the average hydrliask by a little, yet they had a feeling of a strange quick-wittedness. As they sprayed out their acidic jet, their abdomen cavity shrunk back even more ferociously.
Without warning, the moss green corrosive acid rained down on one of the elite marines. The shocked marine was rooted to the ground. Within microseconds, his entire body had melted away like a blazing candle! Even his battle armour was completely ineffective!
Witnessing such a horrific scene, without hesitation, Sheyan quickly activate his ‘Stimulant’! His charge directly collided head on with a hydralisk. A numb sensation filled his arm, before a boiling acute pain overwhelmed his entire body!
“You’ve received an: ‘Acidic jet’ from elite hydralisk Boiling, damage of 169 points. After factoring 19 points of defence (43%), your total damage sustained is 96 points!”
“You’ve received an: ‘Acidic jet’ from elite hydralisk Boiling, damage of 186 points. After factoring 19 points of defence (43%), your total damage sustained is 106 points! You sustain an additional corrosive debuff effect. In the next 15 seconds, you will receive 50 points of accumulative damage.”
“Acidic jets are classified as corrosive elemental damages. Your innate ability: ‘Endurance’ is ineffective!”
These two hydralisk were definitely on the same level as that rare elite Overlord Shenxu. Possessing their own names was the simplest indication of that! Their powers far exceeded ordinary elite strains.
Sheyan’s current health was already 540 points! But one jet from those hydralisks were able to remove a fifth of his health points! Moreover, they weren’t even classified as physical damages, causing Sheyan’s innate ability ‘Endurance’ to be ineffective. Yet more horrifyingly, the offensive speed of these elite strains were like a high speed sprinkler. There was only a 20 metre gap between them. Furthermore, Sheyan had activated his ‘Stimulant’, and only needed at most 2-3 seconds to reach them. But in that timeframe, it was able to release two jets towards him. Initially he felt a boiling searing pain, before everything became numb. Evidently, even his nerves had been corroded away.
Fortunately, the other elite zergling had been tied down by the other marine, unable to concentrate its aggression on Sheyan. If Sheyan were to suffer heavy acidic barrages from the two deadly hydralisks, he would’ve bluntly sunk into a critical state!”
A faint blue flash exploded forth instantaneously. Sheyan had once again detonated a ‘Sample Electromagnetic Cloud Bomb’, causing the two horrifying arachnids to become stunned. What shook their hearts, was the fact that the two elite zerglings were only stunned for 7 seconds instead of the intended 10! In this period, Sheyan had managed to raise his ‘Prometheus III Flamethrower’ and triggered it wildly. Blazing flaming dragons roared out fiercely, directly consuming the two elite hydralisks.
The bullets of the other elite marines ricocheted against the layer of bone armour of the hydralisk, incessantly igniting sparks; it looked as if their bone armour had physical damage resistance properties. However, the flames from the flamethrower couldn’t be considered as mere physical damage. The acidic jets of the elite hydralisks were considered elemental damage and negated Sheyan’s ‘Endurance’ ability. Instead, Sheyan’s flamethrower flames similarly negated their scaly bone armour defence. This was only fair, and justifiable in the eyes of nature.
According to how Sheyan understood the nature of the realm, normally creatures would definitely present some obvious flaws or shortcomings. Even an elite creature would be the same. The two hydralisks possessed insane offensive long range capabilities, even their attacking speeds were close to machine guns. Moreover, they possessed a mutated solid carapace. But because of this, obviously their HP wouldn’t be that high. If not, they should be deemed as a legendary creature and not merely an elite one.
“Die! Bastards!”
The elite marine’s trigger hand slowly loosened and lowered towards the ground. His soul had already departed from his body. His body had been corroded by the acidic jets to a tragically horrendous state, a semi-corroded eyeball rolled out from his rotting face. But still, his fingers tightly clasped onto the trigger, the flaming tongues relentless escape from the gun’s barrel. Bullets randomly and sporadically pierced into the surrounding rocky walls. This courageous and loyal sergeant had undoubtedly sacrificed his own life, preventing Sheyan from being simultaneously assaulted by the two hydralisks; earning those few precious seconds for him!!!!!
Sheyan’s expression remained unchanging, his facial muscles started twitching. His index finger could no longer go further into the flamethrower tigger. Even his palm had turned white from clutching it too tightly. A short 7 seconds timeframe! This elite hydralisk ‘Boiling’ bluntly crackled within the flames, shrivelling and distorting as its skin turned charred and crisped. Suddenly, “Boom!” an explosion of greenish fluids and repulsive body parts scattered out! Spraying out throughout the atmosphere, brimming with misery and sorrow!