Vol 14 Chapter 27-1
Zero was always so indifferent. It was a different kind of indifference from Xuan. His was a combatant instinct, to place himself on the perspective of an observer so that he would not lose himself during snipes and he could fire with the calmest attitude.
He headed to the marked spot in the scan as soon as he received the order from Zheng. He set up his Gauss rifle and aimed it at an entrance to a hole. Just to be safe, he readied his last explosive bullet. Then he just crouched there and waited. Large bugs walked around him but he wasn't moved in the least bit as if these bugs were non existent. He waited quietly.
Gando came over to Zero, avoiding the bugs carefully. He acted like he would get attacked if he were to simply touch these bugs. In contrast, Nick who was in his arm was screaming. These two cowards being together made it so much effort to walk over to Zero. The bear robot sat on the ground, seemingly didn't want to move again.
"Fumoffu!" The robot spoke.
Zero replied calmly. "What about the psyche force user in your hand? Make him use soul link."
That was when Gando seemed to realize it. The robot spoke to Nick in Fumoffu then their minds were connected.
Gando asked carefully. "I heard you are an assassin. Won't you feel scared? Scared of death, scared of being killed?"
Zero replied without turning his head. "Scared. Everyone gets scared of death. People who have gotten over this fear isn't far away from death. However, compared to death, I am more scared of losing something important."
That piqued Gando's interest. "What things? What important things are you scared of losing?"
"Comrades, future!" Zero said.
"I can understand comrades but what do you mean by future? A lack of future by dying in this realm?"
"No. It's the excuse you cling onto to stay alive. I don't want lose this excuse." Zero crouched there without moving. His thought came through soul link.
"The excuse to stay alive?"
Zheng handed Roste and Nick over then charged into the sea of bugs. He brought out his full strength this time in comparison to the fight in Klendathu. The light blade, use of his full physical stats, and his movement technique. The bugs couldn't even react when the sword slashed across and shredded dozens into pieces.
Zheng stepped on the pieces of shattered bugs as he moved forward. He entered a narrow hole from the side, crossed several tunnels and made a big round to the back of the brain bug. The plan was to drive the brain bug to where Zero was. The ending of this movie depended on whether Zero could hit his target.
"Lan, mark all the bugs. If you can't do it, have Snow help you. I need to know the location of all types of bugs. I can't run into the bodyguards before reaching the brain bug." Zheng said to Lan and Snow.
The two psyche force users quickly marked all the bugs in the tunnels. Warrior bugs, blaster bugs, and even some hoppers hanging on the ceilings. The bodyguards were also marked. They had black exoskeletons and covered a thousand meter area around the brain bug. Their speed and strength were much higher than normal warrior bugs.
Zheng examined the scan as he ran. Unfortunately, he had to run into at least three groups of bodyguards with each group having three to four bugs. What he worried most wasn't being injured by these bugs since that was not likely. He was worried these bugs would slow him down. His goal was to drive the brain bug. If the brain bug went into a different path, someone in the group being surrounded by the bugs might die. Zero wouldn't be of use also, even though he was the safest among the team.
"The bodyguards are covered in this tough exoskeleton aside from their eyes and joints. However, no matter how tough their exoskeleton is, their joints will bend from being attacked. That is your chance. I think you will cause more damage in Explosion without using your sword." Xuan said.
"That's true but how do you think I will feel if I am to tear the bugs apart with my hands when I have a weapon on hand?" Zheng wasn't so interested in Xuan's suggestion.
Xuan's ideas were too logical. Zheng understood that breaking the joints with huge force was more effective than Tiger's Soul. However, it didn't feel good to do so when he had such a weapon. Xuan suggested the idea without a care. That was the difference between someone so logical and a normal person.
Zheng complained to himself but he still had to keep going. He quickly moved through several smaller tunnels. The scan showed the group around the brain bug slowed down. It wasn't a good message since it might mean the brain bug had found out their goal. It was hesitating whether it should continue moving toward team China. Zheng was 10k meters away from the brain bug with three groups of bodyguards in between. Those were the last obstacles.
"F*ck it! There's no time to hesitate!" Zheng gave a shout and jumped out from the tunnel with his sword.
He slashed horizontally and cut through dozens of warrior bugs that just came up. Then he stepped over their wriggling limbs. The first group of bodyguards appeared in front of him. These three black warrior bugs were a size bigger than the normal ones and they seemed to have some form of intelligence. They stood within the sea of bugs and didn't run around restlessly.
Zheng jumped forward then dropped straight down from six meters. Tiger's Soul chopped downward and cut the warrior bugs in front of a bodyguard in half. These warrior bugs didn't stand a chance against the light blade. But the light blade ignited sparks as it struck the black exoskeleton of the bodyguard just like when two pieces of metal met. The light blade carved an inch into the exoskeleton then stopped. Zheng landed back on the ground.
"Doesn't work as I thought. Am I not using enough strength?" Zheng muttered to himself.
Though he was aware this wasn't the time to ponder because large number of bugs were surrounding him from all sides. There were also buzzing of wings from above. Probably the hoppers. He knew he would be trapped if this continued. So he activated Explosion at once and leaped toward the bodyguards. The rock he stepped on exploded.
The first bodyguard seemed a little dazed from the strike. The other two spread their mini wings and jumped to a height just slightly below Zheng. They were only two meters apart. The pincers swiped next to Zheng's face. He continued flying forward while the bugs dropped down. The bloody scent that drifted past gave him cold sweats.