Chapter 42: Furious Crossfire
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“Boom!”
A tremendous explosion erupted several dozen meters away. The instant it went off, I hurriedly unleashed Step Slash toward the front right, condensing protective energy around myself. At the same time, I raised Landell’s Shield in my left hand and threw myself into a shallow ditch ahead, curling up and pressing myself as tightly as possible behind the shield.
Explosions rang out all around me. I had landed right in the heart of the blast zone. With each deafening detonation, waves of impact swept across the ground, and when the explosions struck close enough, they even unleashed terrifying shock waves.
“332!”
“189!”
“1,312!”
“112!”
“225!”
…
Above my head, my health bar plummeted. After a single barrage, I had lost more than three thousand health, but fortunately my total vitality had reached 7,900—more than enough to withstand it!
“Damn…”
Various curses came through the Star Map—
“Those bastards from Dark Tide are vicious! They just gave me a light wound the moment we arrived!”
“Fuck Dark Tide! Do they have to play this way? I’m seriously wounded…”
“Is everyone all right? Someone on our side has already been blown to death…”
…
I frowned but did not respond to the voices in the Star Map. After a bombardment, Dark Tide’s ground forces would soon surge forward. That was the true threat to the players!
In the distance, armored vehicles roared. Countless Dark Tide vehicles sped through the jungle, their headlights sweeping over us and completely exposing the players’ positions.
“Ding Han!”
Zhang Ruolin sent me a message on WeChat.
“How are you?”
I immediately replied, “I’m fine. What about you?”
“Our position is better, so we’re fine too. As long as you’re all right.”
“They’re coming. Prepare for battle. I have to go!”
“Okay!”
The next moment, I used a huge boulder as cover, set up the Wind Whisperer, and quickly aimed at the driver’s position in several armored vehicles speeding toward me.
Bang!
The shot rang out, striking the vanguard soldier directly between the eyebrows!
[Combat Notification: You struck the head of Vanguard Team member Alok, dealing a total of 1,224 points of critical headshot damage!]
The entire vanguard squad consisted of ordinary level-25 NPCs, each with around 1,500 health. He was not dead yet. I fired again!
Bang!
“1,209!”
The second shot also dealt triple headshot damage. The vanguard soldier’s head exploded, and the vehicle he was driving began to sway wildly.
Again!
I quickly aimed at the second vehicle.
Bang, bang!
Under the superlative accuracy of Advanced Shooting Level 10, at a distance of less than a hundred meters, I could practically land a headshot with every bullet!
“He’s over there, that damned bastard!”
A third armored vehicle came speeding toward me.
By then, I could no longer evade—and had no intention of doing so. I shifted the Wind Whisperer’s aim and fired two more shots, blowing away the head of the vanguard soldier in the driver’s seat.
Crash!
Amid a deafening impact, the vehicle slammed into an ancient tree, and the seven or eight people inside charged out at once.
Gunfire erupted in a dense barrage, and cracks continuously appeared across the surrounding stones.
I frowned and activated Biological Optical Camouflage. With my feet skimming over the grass, I silently slipped out from behind the boulder. About fifty meters away, I found a position with a clear line of fire, switched my primary weapon to the Roarer, and unleashed a furious burst at their heads!
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“202!”
“612!”
“609!”
“197!”
“624!”
…
The blue Roarer already possessed formidable firepower, and nearly half my attacks dealt headshot damage. Several of the enemy fell in quick succession, and in the blink of an eye only two remained!
“He’s over there, the bastard!”
The two men hurriedly aimed and fired.
I darted more than ten meters forward, then immediately activated a skill—Explosive Charge!
Boom!
Primal energy erupted, and my body became a radiant afterimage!
“This is bad! He’s a super martial artist!”
One of the vanguard soldiers shouted, but it was already too late.
The vanguard soldier’s Thorn flashed with cold light as three streaks of icy radiance swept across the enemy’s throat in rapid succession. It was the three-hit combo of Bloodthirsty Assault!
“305!”
“+67!”
“464!”
“+102!”
“645!”
“+142!”
Bloodthirsty Assault converted twenty percent of its damage into health. Combined with its original two-percent life-steal effect, it provided a total life-steal rate of twenty-two percent. Thus, the instant I killed the vanguard soldier, I recovered a total of 311 health.
I had lost more than three thousand health in the first bombardment. I needed to restore it as soon as possible. Safety came first.
“You…”
The last vanguard soldier was furious, but he had no chance to fight back. Step Slash carried me behind him, and I immediately followed with a series of basic strikes, Dragon Blade, basic strike, Earthspike Slash, and basic strike, knocking him to the ground.
At the first opportunity, I swiftly removed the two demolition grenades from his waist and stuffed them into my extra-dimensional storage space.
Just as I was about to claim even more spoils, a gunshot suddenly rang out.
Bang!
The ground beside me exploded, leaving a small crater.
A sniper!
I spun around and retreated, slipping into the cover of rocks and bamboo. I drew the Wind Whisperer and began searching for the enemy. By then, even more vanguard soldiers had charged out of the forest.
I did not waste time thinking. I located the enemy sniper and killed him with two consecutive headshots. Then I switched to the Roarer and unleashed a barrage at the soldiers rushing toward me.
The Roarer’s effective range was 120 meters, while my Advanced Shooting Level 10 could only guarantee perfect accuracy at around sixty meters. As for headshots, there was no need to pursue them. I simply fired at their bodies and killed them directly. Bullets were consumed in a furious stream, and vanguard soldiers fell in groups before me.
Whoosh!
As I fired wildly, a streak of flame suddenly shot straight out of the darkness!
Damn! An RPG!
In the blink of an eye, I spun around and used Step Slash followed by Explosive Charge. With a boom, I instantly moved forty-five meters away. The bamboo grove and rocks where I had been standing were torn apart by the RPG shell, flames bursting in every direction.
“Fuck!”
Frowning, I yanked the pin from a grenade and hurled it through the air.
My Advanced Throwing skill gave me extraordinary accuracy. The grenade exploded in the middle of the vanguard squad, and countless white lights immediately flew toward me.
Unfortunately, there were too many enemies, so I had no chance to loot the bodies. Otherwise, the grenades alone would have earned me a fortune!
Still, I had obtained a great deal of experience and points. That much was beyond doubt!
…
I did not retreat very far. Instead, I moved eastward along the edge of Westwind Forest, carrying the Roarer in my arms and repeatedly firing into the darkness to pick off vanguard soldiers. I even widened the distance to 120 meters, relying on the accuracy of Advanced Shooting Level 10 to safely trade bullets for experience and points.
Time trickled by, and Westwind Forest descended into utter chaos.
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Large numbers of players clashed with Dark Tide’s vanguard forces. Neither side was willing to give an inch, and before long the forest had become a meat grinder, gunshots echoing everywhere.
More than an hour later, all fifteen of my magazines were empty.
I hid behind an ancient tree and skillfully reloaded, pressing bullets into each empty magazine with a steady series of clicks. Sweat covered my face and body. Although it was already early winter, I felt no cold at all. Instead, my blood seemed to be boiling.
“Hsss…”
Suddenly, a somewhat familiar sound reached me.
When I turned to look, I saw a hunched figure standing beneath the moonlight, staring straight at me. Slowly, the three-part mouth on its face began to open.
A Devourer, a level-25 elite!
Without a word, I vaulted to my feet and retreated while unleashing a furious barrage at the Devourer’s head.
Bang, bang, bang…
Amid the dense gunfire, the Devourer could barely advance. The bullets pinned it in place, and within just a few seconds I had emptied an entire magazine into it, dealing massive damage and draining more than four thousand of its health.
Something was wrong…
I sniffed the air. The stench had grown even stronger.
There was more than one Devourer!
I spun around, and sure enough, three more Devourers had appeared in the forest behind me.
Perfect!
I smoothly changed magazines and aimed directly at them without any unnecessary movement. At such close range, the Roarer was practically locked onto their heads, and every shot dealt headshot damage. A single magazine of a little more than ten bullets was enough to kill one Devourer. I immediately locked onto the second and blew its head apart with another burst.
At that moment, the third Devourer came lunging toward me, its three-part mouth stretched wide in a horrifying display.
Boom!
Explosive Charge!
The next second, I was already behind the roaring creature. I locked onto its head and unleashed an entire magazine.
Kill confirmed!
As the white light of experience flew toward me, a thread of red light appeared as well—the glow of points. That meant killing mutants in Westwind Forest could also increase my score.
To be honest, I would much rather fight low-level mutants. At least they could not bombard me or snipe me from extreme range. In some ways, they were far safer.
I continued moving and found an ancient tree with gnarled roots. I quickly leaned against its trunk and began reloading.
For me, the more magazines I had filled with bullets, the safer I was.
At that moment, the voices of other players came through the Star Map.
“Damn, why are there mutants here too?”
“Hell, we ran into mutants as well! Several players have already been killed by them. It was brutal!”
“Damn it, can’t this mission show a little humanity?”
“I heard that the Dark Tide organization is the main villain throughout Star Abyss. They’re obsessed with genetic modification, and they’re just as obsessed with breeding mutants. Maybe the mutants we’re seeing were originally human and were turned into this by Dark Tide.”
“No way. If that’s true, then Dark Tide really is inhuman! I felt a little nervous and guilty after killing those Dark Tide soldiers earlier, but now that feeling is completely gone.”
…
Everyone in the Star Map was filled with resentment but had nowhere to vent it, so they could only unleash it on the Dark Tide soldiers and mutants.
Beep!
Ruolin sent me a message.
“Scheduled report. Our side is safe.”
“My side is safe too!”
“Good!”
I had just put away my phone when I frowned.
Rustling sounds came from the forest ahead. Then a creature roughly as tall as a person suddenly burst out. Its body was hunched, its exposed spine forming a serrated bone blade. Its eyes had degenerated, while heat-sensing grooves had evolved on both sides of its head. Both its arms and legs had transformed into sickle-like blades.
Bone-Blade Hunter, a second-order mutant, blue Boss!
It seemed my side was not quite as safe as I had thought…
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