Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The black, three-meter-tall Level-40 Elite Steel Beetle was moving forward steadily like a heavy tank. Its sturdy black carapace was like a piece of forged metal. The oncoming bullets, Wind Blades, and Fireballs could only dent or scratch it slightly as it deflected them with a thunk. The two and three-digit damage values that continued to appear over its head were insignificant compared to its 35,000 HP.

Around it was a line of Normal Steel Beetles slightly smaller than itself assembled in a formation. There were two to three hundred of them. Although they did not have the insane defense of their Elite counterpart, they still boasted 15,000 HP and incredibly strong defenses, allowing them to march forward despite the constant barrage of various skills and gunshots.

When the army of beetles reached the burned ground, the Elite Steel Beetle suddenly stopped moving its six appendages. Then two beams of white lasers shot out from a pair of its insectoid eyes, sweeping across the area in front of it.

As the lasers swept across the land, two straight beams of light would shine straight up into the sky anywhere the laser touched, illuminating its enemies in front of it. They were a bunch of little creatures that looked like sticks holding unknown weapons. Some were running, some shouting, others holding the mysterious weapons and firing light and fire back at it. But the lasers it fired hit the head of one of those stick-like creatures and continued to damage the creature until it melted into white light.

Immediately, the Elite Steel Beetle felt a surge of energy enter its body. It felt a little depleted after shooting the white lasers, but it was completely replenished now. So it continued going trigger-happy with its lasers.

Bang!

But after shooting its lasers for a while, the gigantic body of the Level-40 Elite Steel Beetle was suddenly shaken. It felt a heavy blow against its diamond-hard shell. Immediately, a hole was cracked open on the hard shell it took such pride in!

Instinctively, it locked on to its enemy. It was a big fella, twice as large as it. The big fella’s color was similar to itself, but its black body emitted plumes of smoke as it gave out a strange roar. The big fella smashed a red rock onto its own back, cracking its sturdy shell.

Elite Steel Beetle instinctually wanted revenge, so it turned its body toward the big fella. As it was about to aim its laser at the big fella…

Bang!

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At that moment, its eyes saw a flash of blue light. Immediately, it felt something flying into the big hole on its back, and then… it could feel nothing!

But before it lost consciousness, its insectoid eyes, which had a wide field of vision, saw that behind it and beside it, countless beetles just like itself climbed over its body, charging at their enemies fearlessly!

******

The battle was happening at the Level 30 border in the Southern Area. After some discussion, Mu Wu and Feng Luo finally decided to set up defenses at the Level 30 border. Otherwise, the battle would spread into the Level 20 area too. And, as a result, there would be not enough manpower. Also, the cleared area would be conquered by the beetle swarm again, forcing them to clear it again the next day.

The mission time was limited to one day. If the area that needed to be cleared the next day was too wide, they might not make the deadline. However, the beetles’ actions were too swift. Before the players were ready with the defenses, the swarm of beetles covering the sky had already broken through their ranks.

It only took five minutes for the battle to reach its fever point. Luckily, the ones that rushed in were the quickest ones: the Bladed Beetles. Although they had high attack points and were quick, their low HP and defense was their downfall as the vanguard of the swarm. When they faced the array of machine guns set up by the players, they were fated to turn to ashes.

But when the slow but sturdy Steel Beetles turned up, the players started to have some trouble. After that, Energy Beetles that could produce protective energy walls, and Spray Beetles with a ranged attack as far as that of Manipulators, appeared in unison. The battle became even more intense after that.

On the whole, the situation was still favorable to the players. The nature of battle was changed when there were several hundred players fighting at once. The sheer number of players ensured certain control over the area, which prevented the monsters from rushing the backlines.

For example, a dozen machine guns were enough to form a defense difficult to penetrate along 10 meters of the frontline. And a dozen Manipulators could use crowd-control skills, stacking up an insane amount of damage.

Since the Lu Conglomerate’s logistic team provided all the energy stones, ammunition, MP recovery items, and other consumables, they did not have to worry about running out of supplies and could attack with reservations. This allowed the Manipulators and Machine Gunners—the two “killing machine” classes—to unleash their full potential. Plus, with the Heavy Armor Warriors and Earth Manipulators protecting two C-45 Bear-type Mechas, they were a force to be reckoned with.

Although Bear-types were more defensively powerful, they also had a considerable attack power. The 50mm machine cannons on their shoulders could wreak havoc against the Steel Beetles.

Pow!

Feng Luo pulled the trigger of his M110. Beneath the night sky, the Eye of Thunder barrel spat out a spinning bullet encased in blue flame. It was a C-grade shield-breaking energy bullet that cost 500 credits a shot.

When the energy shield-breaking bullet exited the barrel, not only did it have a unique blue light, but streaks of lightning coursed through it as well.

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The special shot triggered the 2 percent chance of Eye of Thunder and pierced through a hole created by other players in the head of a Level-44 Elite Bladed Beetle. The shot landed right in its brain, causing 7,500 points of fatal red damage.

It was a final blow!

Your contribution ranking in the mission has been raised! Current ranking: 25th.

It had been possible thanks to Mu Zi standing behind him, who was using the recon meter and sensing skills to detect the position and remaining health of Elite or even Commander Level enemies. With the help of the energy shield-breaking bullet and his S-grade talent, he could deal up to 8,000 damage when he hit a critical spot. Even Fire Manipulators who were known for their offensive power couldn’t do that. That was why Feng Luo had been able to rise in the rankings so quickly.

That was also thanks to how densely packed the monsters were below. Under normal circumstances, a player would only meet three to four Elite monsters in a day. But Mu Zi has already detected 200 by now. Even the extremely rare Commander-Level monsters were appearing one after another.

Between the players and the swarm, the battlefield was full of various shining crystals, materials, or even equipment and weapons. Many of them might have been Fine, Excellent, or even Rare-grade. But no one dared to pick them up. Because any player, even Heavy Armor Warriors, would be in the line of fire as soon as they went out there. The poison sprays of Spray Beetles coupled with the laser beams from Steel Beetles could melt even a rare alloy shield in a second.

While players could not pick the items up, Feng Luo could see an ironic scene through his scope from above. On the field full of dead Beetles, some scorpion-like Gatherer Beetles were tunneling out from the ground, collecting the crystals or crystal cores, and digging their way back into the earth.

At least they wouldn’t take the equipment like the rebels. Otherwise, the players would have had cause to weep—especially those who had dropped their equipment upon death.

It was bad enough losing experience. Losing your equipment to monsters would make you feel like there was simply no justice in this world.

Bang!

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Feng Luo was a little disappointed, but it wouldn’t affect the points he received. Seizing his chance, he expertly finished off a Level-39 Commander Bladed Beetle, raising his rank to 19th.

But at that moment, he felt a sense of fatal danger spreading toward him. A chill went up his entire spine!