Chapter 26: Ambush direhorse
Speaking till here, Huckle had expressed his agreeableness. However, the other 3 contestants still appeared rather hesitant. Ironware could only be forged when hot, and to make someone foot the bill, one must first make him convinced. Thus, Mogensha pointed to the ‘AMP suit’ that Makaji had placed by the side.
“This is the battle tool supplied by my temporary member. Not only that, he understands the characteristics of those devils like the back of his hand. The crux of burying the carcasses over the battlefield, was primarily raised by him.”
Huckle instantly nodded his head in satisfaction. The existence of that ‘AMP suit’ provided ample persuasiveness already.
Finally, Mogensha pointed towards Lille and Uzel.
“Those two are powerful reserve-duty Growth-hunters. They have already gathered an incomparably comprehensive intelligence report and will be operating together with us; promising their utmost to safeguard our safety! This is the squad configuration; a valiant MT, a top-notch support, unparalleled firepower output, the combined oppression of two reserve-duty Growth-hunters, a perfectly detailed report and preparations. That is why i dare to guarantee that you guys will obtain your desired milestone before nightfall. Moreover, the price is cheap beyond imagination, gents…….what are you hesitating about?”
Hearing Mogensha’s pitch; not only Huckle exhibited satisfaction, even the other 3 contestants couldn’t help but nod. A bow and arrow user had even called another friend over! Mogensha then charged a fee and inscribed their contracts…….every milestone accomplished would cost a fee of 5,000 utility points / 5 potential points, or something of equal value. Everyone felt justified by the price, and had zero queries.
Instead, it was Lille and Uzel who had eyes that were about to spit flames out!!
This entire list of relevant milestone information, was the product of them begging their grandpas and grandmas, risking untold hardships and ultimately fine tuned it to perfection. They had offered it to Sheyan and the rest, but they hadn’t anticipated that this group of sluts would turn it into a swindling bazaar, and even profit from it! What was worst was that they couldn’t even dream of a single cent, and instead had to pay them. Where was the fairness? If heaven had eyes, why weren’t these scumbags being punished?
Uzel and Lille looked on with envy, hate and jealousy. Their sour resentful hearts urging them to pick up their swords and assassinate these scoundrels. However, they wouldn’t be able to duplicate Sheyan’s tactic. Why was that so?
The logic was simple, it was all due to the squad’s configuration.
Even though their prowess had touched the peak of this world, yet what does being a reserve-duty Growth-hunter mean? It meant that unless on the brink of life and death, they absolutely wouldn’t want to trigger that frightening strength. Yet more crucially, judging by the feedback of their actions; Lille was modelled towards a close combat agility based contestant. Uzel’s perceptive sense was immensely high, and utilized merely a pistol in battle; he was definitely hiding his true prowess. Yet it could be confirmed that these kids weren’t able to tank the front……..
Without one to tank, who the f*** will believe them!!!
Almost everyone were aware of the fearsomeness of this world’s beasts by now. So what if there were two reserve-duty Growth-hunters, the realm’s fundamental was still survival. Yes, you could kill your opponent quickly, but the same thing could be said of the opponent!
In comparison to Sheyan’s squad; MT, support, assistant MT (‘AMP suit’) with these 3 core variables, even a mentally impaired person would choose them. The logic was simple. Putting it straightforward, even in a crisis, it was surely the frontal MT who dies first. At least, there would still be some time to flee.
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An exceptionally limpid river flowed along here. On its left, stood arduously steep cliffs, while a spacious grassland occupied its right. Not too far away, was a slice of dense luscious thicket forest. The river was at least 30 metres wide, but its water relatively shallow, at most reaching to one’s calf. Craggy rocks littered the riverbank. Purple waterfowls could be seen perching atop rocks that poked through the river surface, their gaze shining down onto the water.
That creature was called a Stingbat, entirely covered in dazzling bright purple and had four wings. Its body was a hybrid of pigeons and wild duck, over their yellowish chest was a unique linear composition of sensory nerves; allowing them keen senses to detect various mini organism and disturbances in the river. Their transparent fangs and intersecting fangs were used to deal with slippery fish types, only their scorpion-like tail stinger contained definite venom. To contestants, it wasn’t considered a threatening creature, unless it numbered to the hundreds.
Intuitively speaking, one could brand these creatures as dragonflies of the present world - obviously an amplified version.
“Dammit.” Hiding within the nearby thicket, Reef frustratedly glanced at the time. “According to Uzel’s report, now is the period where direhorses would visit here to drink water, why aren’t they here yet? Don’t tell me the report was mistaken?”
“Impossible. I believe those direhorses will definitely show up.” Makaji suddenly voiced out. “Please carefully observe the rocks by the riverbanks, its surfaces have been smoothened by friction. It must be due to certain massive creatures constantly brushing against it. Moreover, the area around the largest rocks are vacant, and smooth. Besides, that exuberant meadow should be long overgrown, but only grassroots remain and also seems like their nectar was treated as dessert. This undoubtedly translates to the creature being a herbivore. There’s one final reason, and perhaps the most important one.”
Till here, Makaji paused briefly.
“When we started surveying the terrain, I waded over to the other bank and discovered many subsided vestiges at the opposite cliff. The rocky surface appeared creamy white, after sampling, it tasted rather salty. That is the main reason those direhorses will show up. Periodically, they will trudge through the river to consume rock salt to preserve their flourishing vitality.”
Indeed so. Not long after Makaji finished speaking, clamorous galloping reverberated from the distance. During the earlier battles at the valkyrie, direhorses did not show up; probably because they weren’t adept in direct combat. However, when mounted by Na’vis and their longbows, then undoubtedly it transformed into a virtual nightmare of the grasslands.
Appearing before their very eyes were roughly 50 heads of direhorses. They each had 6 vigorous long legs, and were covered with grey and blue stripes. Possessing a long neck and a tiny head, mysterious spots like pupils painted their skin. Armour coated their entire body, from the neck to the back of their head. Two antennas stretched out from their ears, which could be neurally linked to the na’vis to control their movements.
Because Pandora’s gravity was weaker than earth’s, the direhorses reached 5 metres in length and 4 metres in height. They were smart but docile, and could be easily startled sparking them to flee at a top speeds of 95 km/hr. Of course, the milestone ‘Penetrate’ required the horn to be acquired through slaying male direhorses. Currently the tough issue Sheyan and the rest faced, was that once a battle breaks out, it will trigger a fleeing stampede of these robust horses!
One must understand, as an excellent mount, direhorses possessed relatively good defence and health. With an instinctive nature for fleeing once being attacked, killing them was a rather difficult operation. Moreover, wouldn’t Sheyan and the rest have to at least slay a couple dozen of these direhorses to satisfy everyone’s request?
Hence at this very moment, a trap was essential.
The trap was laid based on the fundamental requirements the direhorses had for this place.
Makaji not only possessed in-depth knowledge on creature traits, he also contaminated the rock salt of the opposite cliff with a certain drug. That drug was concocted according to characteristics of the present world zebra, one that would cause them to prematurely start breeding season. Yet it was well known that mating creatures would turn irritable, furious and would disregard everything else. It was the same reason why many convicts were given the death penalty, due to the popular combination of rape and murder…….
The ecosphere environment of Pandora wasn’t vastly different from Earth; apart from their build and some physiology composition, direhorses can be categorized together with horses of earth. Thus, Makaji had a seventy percent confidence level of his drug succeeding. Of course if Makaji’s ‘Animal aphrodisiac’ wasn’t effective, Sheyan still had a second contingency – which was pre-installing 7-8 ‘stumbling ropes’. As long as they directed the horses to rush in only one direction alongside the riverbank, then there was still a chance of stalling at least half the pack.
Observing the direhorses lapping by the riverbank, their feet gradually trampled against the rocks; finally, they wadded over the river, and started chewing off the rock salts. At that moment, everyone was feeling very apprehensive. But not 5 minutes later, two direhorse suddenly dragged out a neigh, before they started whiffing at an opposite sex’s ass. Then burying their heads down, the two males started to collide severely against each other. Bang! Bang! Bang! The oppressive thumping sounded like two ancient warriors duelling each other.
Makaji clenched his fist in excitement.
“Success!”
Following that, more and more direhorses started to copulate and carried out duels. They could see the robust and elongated ‘whips’ of the males. A fishy foul smell assailed their nostrils. Sheyan then gestured towards Jin Ximin. The sniper then raised his gun.
Not a single gunfire rumble,
This was because he had utilized a silencer. Although it would substantially decrease the might of his weapon, it could maximize the rate of covertly striking at the enemy. (The gun used is a Steyr AUG of Counter terrorist in Counter-strike)
(TN: author writes him as a sniper but the steyr aug is an assault rifle not a sniper, so he probably still possesses a hidden sniper rifle)