Zheng took several deep breaths. The yellings, the fears on the troopers running away, and those attacking under Kampa's commands were in slow motion during unlocked mode. He was like the audience watching through a screen. Every movement was vividly printed in his head. The brutal scene activated his qi again.
He looked at the bended knife on his hand. The knife wouldn't have been able to stab through the eyelid of the bug. That was the result of him forcing it in. That stab bended the tip of the knife. The technology used wasn't anything high tech. Its toughness was less than titanium. He threw the knife on the ground then pulled the leg out from his stomach. Blood spurted out. He stepped a foot on the dead bug and gave a hard pull with his left hand. The qi in addition to his abnormal strength made him snapped a leg off the joint of the bug. It was spear like, about one meter long, and with unbelievable toughness. He swung the leg a few times then charged at the other jungle spider.
That bug's vision had been focusing him for a while. As soon as it saw Zheng snapped off the leg, it abandoned the troopers around and leaped at Zheng.
Multiple thoughts flashed through Zheng's mind in this instant. Yet, before he could do anything, several bullets hit the tip of the jungle spider's front leg. The bullets weren't powerful but they broke the spider bug's balance and made it rolled forward. Rolling towards Zheng. He stabbed the leg forward without a second thought. The leg pierced the bug's head. A few twitches later, its body stopped moving.
Zheng pulled out the leg and panted. A dozen troopers ran toward him as they cheered. The cheers were seemingly crazy at this point. The female troopers hurriedly bandaged the wound on his stomach. WangXia walked over and asked. "You alright?"
"Not an issue. Big rewards. 100 points each. And you? Did the kills from the tactical nuke reward you points?" Zheng recalled the notification and replied.
WangXia paused for a moment then gave a bitter smile. "No points. It seems like the tactical nuke won't give you points. Maybe that's due to the nuke being their weapon."
Zheng looked around at the troopers staring at him with admiration, especially from the female troopers tending his wound. He sighed and said. "Everyone back to your assigned position. The first group continue shooting. Second group get ready! Coordinate to swap in groups of a hundred. Third group begin clean up of dead bodies and delivery ammunition!"
The troopers scattered back to their position following his shout. Other troopers on this mountain top were resting on the ground. They knew this was the time to fight for their lives. They couldn't afford to waste any energy. And maybe this was the final rest of their lives.
The second group gradually swapped places with the first group. These three hundred troopers dropped to the ground completely exhausted as soon as they were off the defense line. People had to carry them back to the bonfires. Water, ration, and over ten minutes of resting before they came back to their senses. Then they just sat there quietly.
Physical exhaustion was intense but so was the mental pressure. That boundless sea of bugs was seemingly just a moment away from breaking through their defense. They were fortunate to be in a strategic location.
"Zheng, be careful. Another of those new tanker bugs is coming up. It wasn't moving fast but the others bugs are hiding behind it."
Lan's voice was transferred to his mind along with an image. He saw an eight meter tall black bug crawling toward them step by step.
"WangXia, how are the modified grenades?" Zheng quickly turned to WangXia. He brought out several grenades that looked normal.
WangXia said. "The dynamite in this world is high tech. Inside the grenades is a thumb size unknown white crystal stabilized by black liquids. I don't know of its power so I took out the crystals from ten grenades and put them into a single shell. However, that means the amount of stabilizer is reduced. I am uncertain of its effect. It maybe dangerous. You have to decide whether to use these grenades."
Zheng nodded. He took the grenades then put them into the ring. The lack of stabilizer might mean any intense movement could trigger them. The Na ring was safer in this respect. He looked ahead and muttered. "WangXia, remember to use the tactical nukes when that tanker bug gets close. We still have forty one, don't let them go to waste. Or else we might not even make it to three hours."
Dozens of blaster bugs began moving up the road as they spoke. On the back of several of them were tumors. Now that the troopers knew what these tumors were, their fire was focused on these blaster bugs. Those bugs were killed at the 500m mark. The tumors only shot forward 400m before landing. As soon as the jungle spiders stretched out, hundreds of guns focused on them and killed these jungle spiders.
However, there was always a cost to any action. Several blaster bugs broke through the 100m mark when the troopers were focused on the jungle spiders. Rays of fire shot out. They could feel the heat despite the distance.
Kampa shouted. "Don't panic! They are still far away. Continue shooting! Do not back off one step even at the cost of your life! Otherwise you will be subjected to military punishment!" He stood in front of everyone and began shooting with his two rifles. It increased the troopers' courage. Everyone was yelling and shouting at this point. Some Caucasian tore off their uniform and jumped out just like Kampa.
The blaster bugs weren't invincible. Gunfire finally broke through their exoskeleton when they reached the 50m mark. They didn't get to shoot fire again as their bodies got torn by the bullets.
Everyone synchronized a sigh of relief. The blaster bugs charged ahead so that the next wave of bugs were still some distance away. A hundred troopers immediately dropped to the ground to catch their breaths at this opportunity. Xuan noticed it and ordered the next group to swap in.
"Zheng, the tanker bug is coming! They masked the tanker bug. Something is not right!"
Chapter 10-2
Zheng connected to the scan. He saw the masked area approaching with a pack of bugs following closely behind. These bugs were planning to use the tanker bug as a shield to block the bullets. But why was there a need to mask the location?
“Simple. The most probable cause is the tanker bug has flaw that will be exposed upon being attacked or moving differently. The second probability is the tanker bug is a kamikaze but no one would have their own troops following that.” Xuan said calmly.
Zheng nodded and said. “Xuan, send two groups of troopers over. If we suffer from big casualties, have these troopers enter the battle immediately. WangXia, use the tactical nukes as soon as you can see the tanker bug. Ignore the other bugs for now. The probability is low but we can’t let it come close in case it is actually a kamikaze bug.”
WangXia looked through the infrared binocular. On the foot of the mountain was a shadowy figure moving toward them slowly. Countless bugs followed closely behind. The amount of bugs would put even Zheng in danger unless he runs away with the Sky Stick.
WangXia readied the tactical nuke on his shoulder. His eyes fixed down at the road. He could see about 2km in distance after the enhancement from dragon blood. However, this range was not the best to fire the tactical nuke. The tanker bug entered his vision. His shoulder adjusted for a bit then he quieted down. The years of training in the special forces gave him a calming mentality. As the tanker bug moved in another 500 meters, he took a deep breath then pulled the trigger.
The tactical nuke lopped down right at the front of the tanker bug, in between its pincers. A brilliant flash of light followed by a loud thump and mushroom cloud. A ball of fire enclosed several hundred metes in diameter.
The troopers on the battlefield cheered. Every little victory was a step toward staying alive in the current situation. Every victory was a raise in morale. Of course, that was under the assumption that it was actually a victory.
The ball of fire was dying down and exposed a blue field in the center. The field covered a large area. It moved out from the remaining fire. Everyone was shocked to see the tanker bug intact. Its exoskeleton flipped open, releasing a blue gas that formed the field. This was obviously a barrier that blocked the tactical nuke.
The tanker bug continued moving forward. Its exoskeleton closed and the blue barrier disappeared. A lot of the bugs behind it were killed by the tactical nuke, but many more simply came up to take their place.
“Fuck. Is this even a bug anymore? Do bugs have barriers?” Zheng murmured. He could only watch as the tanker bug moving closer and closer. 1400 meters, 1300 meters. The timer on their remaining lives were ticking with each step. The troopers were fighting out of their minds that they had forgotten any orders. Everyone fired at the bug without conservation. Yet, bullets only caused sparks on its exoskeleton. It didn’t even need to use the barrier.
Zheng was still in his unlocked mode. Multiple tactics came to his mind, the best being using his Tiger's Soul but that was just what he couldn’t do. The second tactic was multiple tactical nukes at once. All barriers had a limit. But that would consume their tactical nukes too fast.
(Its exoskeleton can block bullets so it must be extremely tough. The barrier can block off any explosions.)
Zheng took out the bandages from his ring then said to WangXia. “Fire the tactical nuke at my signal. It can’t be early nor late. I am just testing but there should be a high chance of success.”
He picked up the jungle spider leg from the ground and attached a grenade to it. This reminded him of Alien where he attached grenades to a steel bar. After so long, he used this method once again.
Once all was set, Zheng took a deep breath and stood up. The tanker bug bug was at the 1000-meter mark by now. The troopers were still shooting nonstop.
Zheng aimed the leg at the tanker bug. Then he pulled the ring on the grenade and threw it out. Half a second later, he yelled. “Fire!”
WangXia had already aimed at the tanker bug. He pulled the trigger the instant he heard the yell. The tactical nuke followed closely behind the jungle spider leg. As the tactical nuke came to 10 meters away from the bug, it opened up the exoskeleton. The blue barrier blocked the tactical nuke but that jungle spider leg was already inside the barrier at this point.
That was all Zheng could see. The brilliant flash made him closed his eyes. He felt like he was blinded since he was focusing so intensely at the tanker bug. His eyes were painful and he couldn’t see anything. Fortunately, the psyche scan sent him the image of the area. The tanker bug inside the ball of fire was blown to pieces. The other team had turned off the mask.
WangXia saw tears coming from Zheng’s eyes and immediately opened his eyelids. “Good, not a big issue. The army doctor has eye drops for intense flashes. Don’t open your eyes for ten minutes afterward. Your body is much more resilient than normal people so this isn’t a big problem.”
Zheng nodded and patted WangXia’s shoulder. “Got that tanker bug. Freaking 1000 points and a rank D reward. We can farm to our hearts content if they send in a few more. Haha.”
WangXia smiled bitterly. “There isn’t time to make more of those grenades and not enough regular grenades. We also might not coordinate so well next time. Failure means death so we are better off not taking the risk.”
“Haha, risk equals rewards. Anyway, we made it through this wave.”
Zheng walked back to the camps. The troopers finally cheered when they didn’t see the barrier coming out of the fire. Some even threw the helmets up. Kampa stood their breathing deeply. The moving fortress almost collapsed this army mentally.
“If we are going to die, it won’t be today! Because we are giving all we have! We won’t die here! The front line back off. Second group take their place. Continue shooting!”
Zheng faced toward the road with his eyes closed. The death of the tanker bug also broke free of the limitation put on the bugs’ speed. Countless bugs charged up the mountain. The second group fired their rifles at Zheng’s command.