Chapter 13.2 - Rage
Only after his expression changed several times did Ricardo shake his head and say with a bitter smile, “What a lucky guy! Even I’m jealous of you now.”
Su laughed. Ricardo’s reaction was also within his expectations. “It’s not that hard to be lucky. Don’t you just have to earnestly advance in the Mysterious Fields?”
“You even believe in those types of random abilities?” Ricardo loosened his shoulders and said, “There are over ten different factions in Mysterious Fields theory alone to this day, and after arguing for more than ten years, they still haven’t gotten anywhere. Those formulated abilities are oftentimes useless too and only depend on your luck. Either way, I have no interest in those things that have no certainty!”
Towards Ricardo’s doubt, Su only laughed and didn’t argue back. He had his own opinions on the Mysterious Fields, and it was more of a type of intuition than something with reason. However, he obviously wouldn’t talk about these matters with Ricardo. In addition, when abilities were developed in the Mysterious Fields, it was his body that did it completely on its own anyway.
Their advance proceeded extremely smoothly. The scouts that were sent ahead of time were spread out rather far, making it practically impossible for the Scorpions of Disaster to mount a hidden attack on them. When they reached the barracks, there were naturally already those assigned to complete the various military tasks there. Su once again displayed his strong suit, leading five skilled scouts towards Pendulum City during the night to carry out pre-battle reconnaissance.
The intelligent landmines around Pendulum City were placed just as strictly as before. Su had the five scouts separate around the city’s perimeter while he himself made his way through the minefield to infiltrate Pendulum City. There were many abandoned houses here. Su was quite familiar with the Scorpions of Disasters’ detection methods, so hiding himself wasn’t a problem at all.
The night passed rather peacefully. Dawn quietly arrived.
At exactly eight in the morning, what surrounded Pendulum City was still the light of dusk. It was winter right now, and just like usual, clouds full of radiation hung low from the sky. As such, even though it was already daybreak, it was still rather dark.
The peace of early morning was disrupted by a sharp whistle. Three small black figures whooshed past with great speed, streaking across the dusky sky before landing in Pendulum City’s central plaza! What followed was a world-shaking explosion. Three huge balls of flame rose high into the air. Under the violent fluctuations of the blast waves, the nearby buildings were like castles made of sand as they began to collapse in a ring around the plaza.
Even though the place where Su was hiding himself was at least a kilometer away, the wind that assailed his face still contained a scorching heat and burnt smell! There was no way for him to find out the end result of those Scorpions of Disaster soldiers that had gathered in the central plaza, but under this type of great power, it was definitely disastrous.
However, the powerful explosions created by these three guided missiles were only the first attack. What came next was a bombardment of heavy artillery down on the coordinates Su selected.
Whistling sounds continuously sounded in the air. Flames rose into the air one after another, and from time to time, tank parts and even the bodies of Blue Scorpion soldiers were blasted into the air! The power of Black Dragonriders’ rapid-fire heavy artillery could only be described as frightening!
Su’s light blonde hair danced about, and he felt waves of chills running through his body. What he had experienced in the past were all personal fights. In front of his eyes right now was war!
After just a few minutes of bombardment, over a hundred artillery shells landed in Pendulum City. Heavy artillery continuously roared as it rained down on the Scorpions of Disasters’ camp, vehicle parking location, and firepower storage. Everything was blasted to pieces. Inside the intelligent landmine region, apart from the artillery shells that whistled through the air and poured down in torrents, explosions continuously erupted on the ground, accurately opening up a safe path. Under Su’s guidance, the artillery barrage landed on targeted coordinates with great accuracy. Complemented with the monitoring drones that flew above overhead the battlefield that adjusted the data, the heavy artillery didn’t even deviate more than ten meters from their target.
Su continuously moved about. Explosions and smoke were both excellent covers for him to take advantage of. He wouldn’t stop in the same place for a long time, because artillery shells were still flying through the skies, and it was unknown if the next batch would end up dropping on his own head. The tactical tablet would definitely expose his current position, and the one operating the heavy artillery was Ricardo, so only heaven knows what might happen. His continuously changing position made it harder for ambushers to lock onto him. This was a technique that every hunter living in the wilderness possessed, one that was useful regardless of which side surprise attacks came from.
After continuously changing positions, Su found that there weren’t any artillery shells that landed on places he was previously at. Only now did his mind that was constantly tense begin to relax a bit.
The rapid bombardment had already ended, and now, only one or two rounds of heavy artillery would fly overhead, accurately striking specific buildings. The power of the heavy artillery that fired this time was even greater, and on a direct impact, smaller buildings that were less than three stories tall were directly flattened. There was naturally only one conclusion for the Scorpions of Disaster personnel that were hiding underneath.
Su climbed up to the roof of an abandoned building and looked outside the window. From this angle, he could perfectly see Pendulum City’s plaza. Fiery light raged in that area, and the surrounding buildings were all completely destroyed. Over ten vehicles of various types were collapsed in disorder, among them including engineering vehicles, tanks, and transport vehicles. They were all burning ferociously, and the scorched black wreckages of people could be seen all around them.
Su silently calculated a bit. The Blue Scorpion personnel that were blasted to death were at most a third of the population he saw that night. If he included the people who were blasted to death by the heavy artillery, then there should be just a bit over half.
Su readied his rifle and pushed the bullets into the gun. He then sent his decision back to the others through his tactical tablet.
After the initial confusion, the Scorpions of Disaster’s troops reorganized. What left Su with the deepest impression were the two reapers. Even though they couldn’t move about freely and received quite a bit of damage, the fact that they were still intact after the heavy artillery and tactical missiles proved their defensive strength, and Su already experienced how great their firepower was previously. The only part that was a bit lacking was their mobility. In addition, even though they had their own intelligence, it didn’t seem to be that great.
From their layout, even though the Scorpions of Disaster had made preparations, they clearly did not expect to encounter such a ferocious long-range assault, and as a result, their losses were severe. However, the Scorpions of Disaster’s response speed was still rather outstanding. The surviving personnel quickly reorganized, and several tanks departed from various points scattered outside the city, rushing towards the city’s outer line of defense. All of the Scorpions of Disaster members were operating based on a plan that had been set in advance. They moved around busily, but not in a chaotic manner. There wasn’t the slightest bit of confusion or flusteredness. The emotion restraining computer chips’ efficacy was fully displayed under this type of situation.
The siege quickly unfolded.
Right now, Su and Ricardo’s joint army’s numbers and equipment were superior. Su’s soldiers were out west, while Ricardo’s army was east. They were broken up into a dozen or so smaller troops to infiltrate Pendulum City through the safe paths created by the artillery barrage and to carry out battles in the streets.
Compared to Ricardo’s seasoned veterans, the only advantage the Scorpions of Disaster had was that they didn’t fear death. However, with their emotions restrained, their reactions couldn’t help but be a bit sluggish, and their intellect also seemed to have decreased a bit. When fighting in the streets, sharpness and reaction speed were the most important survival skills. In addition, Su had an entire map of Pendulum City, while the Scorpions of Disaster did not.
There was an individual who excelled at close range marksmanship within every small troop that could deal with sudden ambushes from landmines. Su’s army was split up into three groups. Li Gaolei, Li, and Kane each commanded one troop. Even though Kane’s marksmanship was a bit inferior, he could still barely deal with it.
Gunshots, explosions, and miserable cries rose and fell continuously. The battle was extremely intense. The firepower of Ricardo’s troops was especially great. After upgrading the equipment of his own troops, Su’s firepower had increased comprehensively as well.
Su nimbly weaved through the flames and smoke, and from time to time, he would disappear into the buildings on the side of the road. Most of the time, there would be one or two Scorpions of Disaster that were hiding there to mount ambushes. Su would directly shift over to their side and soundlessly end the battle that had barely started with his military knife.
Ta ta ta!
Just as Su had just gently lowered the body of a Blue Scorpion soldier, the sound of unusual gunshots outside his window caught his attention. These gunshots were extremely muffled, but they possessed power that was enough to make one’s heart rate rapidly increase. In addition, it was continuous and unending, so it was quite likely that nothing would survive under this concentrated stream of bullets.
When he heard the gunshots, Su immediately thought of the rapid-fire machine cannon under the reapers’ armor. The sound of those machine cannons was quite similar to what he was hearing right now.
Su’s body flickered over to the window. When he stealthily peered out the window, what he saw immediately left him stupefied!
On the street a hundred meters out, Ricardo was currently walking over with large steps. He was actually carrying a multi-barrelled rapid-fire machine cannon! These types of rapid-fire cannons were usually only installed on armored tanks, warships, or aircrafts. They were definitely not an infantry weapon! Only someone as freakish as Captain Curtis would be able to casually use it. However, the rapid-fire machine cannon in Ricardo’s hands quickly spun around, and the terrifying stream of bullets easily tore through the constructs at both sides of the road, tearing apart the bodies of the Scorpions of Disaster that were hiding within one after another!
This wasn’t because Ricardo’s body was strong enough to Captain Curtis’ level, but rather because most of his body was covered in a special type of armor. Together with the armor, he was over two meters in height, and in the back was a row of ventilation openings that continuously released air. The most eye-catching part of it were the rotating gears at the joints. With every movement Ricardo made, the gears would spin about correspondingly. This armored suit possessed powerful mobility and astonishing maneuverability. Under Ricardo’s control, this armor was just another extension of his body, as if what he was wearing was a combat suit.
A chain of bullets continuously stretched out from the powerful ammunition storage on the back of the mechanical suit all the way into the rapid-fire cannon in Ricardo’s hands.
Ricardo walked up a few steps, and then he suddenly entered a half-squat. The rapid-fire cannon in his hand suddenly changed directions and roared out angrily again! In the blink of an eye, the cannon barrel spun around, and the chain of bullets swiftly entered the weapon. Close to a hundred rounds of machine cannon bullets landed on a three story building a hundred meters out, almost blasting it completely apart. The soldiers of the Scorpions of Disaster that were hiding within didn’t even really have the chance to release miserable screams. The only thing that could be seen was the eruption of blood and flesh, and it was terrifying to the extent where it couldn’t be determined just how many individuals were hiding within!