Chapter 77: Invading the Mastermind
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Bang!
The energy core of a Level-45 Normal-rank cha Octopus was destroyed by Feng Luo with a single shot. Its tallic body threw out a series of sparks, and all eight robotic tentacles imdiately fell to the ground. However, a Level-44 cha Mantis instantly appeared right after it fell, moving four of its black tallic joints across the cha Octopus. It then started to swing its allow blade—which whirred at high speed like a chainsaw—slashing at Feng Luo’s head.
Clack!
Neutron Star, who was standing beside Feng Luo, responded quickly. He lifted two of his alloy longswords to block the attack.
The Light Armor Warrior managed to block the attack with his Level-25 skill “Parry,” which helped to remove the majority of the force and damage from the cha Mantis’s attack.
Suddenly, a Level-43 cha Electric Snake popped out from the back of the cha Mantis. It wrapped around the Neutron Star’s alloy sword and released a strong light blue electrical arc from its body.
−1080
Over 1,000 points’ worth of electrical damage appeared displayed above Neutron Star’s head. His body trembled at the sa ti, causing him to enter a paralyzed state. He had an “electrified” status!
Luckily, Feng Luo imdiately shot the cha Snake, which was less than a ter long, blasting it in two with his incredible accuracy. At the sa ti, White Crescent had already injected a potion into Neutron Star’s body to remove the negative debuff.
“How much longer do you need? Let’s move already!” Big Pineapple raised a 1.8-ter alloy shield to block the non-stop attacks from a Level-45 cha Octopus and two Level-44 cha Mantises.
Right behind the four of them was a sealed room that could only be accessed via this door. The room was adorned with several rows of scientific instrunts that looked like so sort of terminals. The entire wall of the room was built into a ring-shape screen 3 ters high.
In the next second, the screen displayed rows of data at great speed. Lin was staring closely to the screen with a dignified expression in front of the instrunts. Her high-tech, black-rimd glasses were connected to the instrunt through a silver cable. The sa data flow flashed across her glasses.
This was the S-53 Military Base security room. It had taken over 20 minutes for Feng Luo and his team to take refuge and hide there after countless detours. Yes—to “hide” there!
They had made an error in judgnt. The security forces in this military base were far stronger than they had expected. The base’s mastermind remained semi-dormant and was yet able to fully activate the defense system, but the patrolling cha guards occupied every corner of this base.
Apart from the Level-45 Normal-grade chal Octopus—with its wall climbing and laser abilities—there were also Level-44 cha Mantises with blades as big as chainsaws. However, the most annoying enemies were the cha Electric Snakes, which were over a ter long. They could not deal physical attack damage, but if they were to co in contact with a player’s weapons or his body, they would release fearso electrical energy. This would deal over 1,000 damage and would likely result in the “electrified” status.
Furthermore, the entire base was shielded by so sort of scouting skill. All the recon ters of the NPC crewn had beco completely useless and were unable to provide any warning as to the cha guards’ locations.
Fortunately, the cha guards spawning at the mont were only Level-40 Normal-grade monsters. Compared to the Level-55 Elite cha Octopus they had encountered previously, these were significantly weaker. By learning their weaknesses, the team had discovered that a sniper rifle could destroy their core chips in two or three shots.
However, the number of cha guards was still overwhelming. Within five minutes of Feng Luo entering the building, 15 cha guards had been chasing them. Other than the cha guards, there were also varieties of defense chanisms and booby traps inside this core building.
At this point, only one of the four NPCs that had followed them into the base remained. The first one had been killed by the Level-55 Elite cha Octopus, while another had been cut down by a laser while crossing the aisle. The had been killed by a cha Mantis with its Chainsaw Blade, which had erged suddenly from the beneath the floor.
Red Queen’s decision to hire the NPCs was, without a doubt, a wise one. Without them to explore—at the cost of their lives—the players would have been in even deeper trouble.
“Have you finished yet?” demanded Big Pineapple. “I can’t hold it anymore!”
He was blocking the entrance to the room with his shield. Even with all the buffing potions given to him by White Crescent and the extrely rare B-grade blood tonic they obtained from the mission, his HP was still dropping due to the relentless attacks of the cha guards.
The good thing was that the tunnel at the door was narrow. Only three to four cha guards could attack at once. Plus, Big Pineapple would have been dead by now if it hadn’t been for the assists provided by Feng Luo’s firepower.
It had been Lin’s idea for them to enter the base’s security room. This was because she could connect to the mastermind that was linked to the base. Lin’s main purpose was to invade the mastermind and gain the maximum security clearance, or at least change their identities as intruders.
This might have been an impossible mission. It wouldn’t be easy to intrude the military base mastermind of the great Galaxy Empire.
However, it was quite practical. Before the Great Destruction, the Galaxy Empire had been equipped with technologies more advanced than the Federal Governnt, but their technology in machine intelligence fell short of that of the Federation.
One of the reasons was that the Federation’s research and developnt of machine intelligence, robotics, and electronic chips were on another level—strong enough to be on par with the biotechnology the rebel troops relied on all the ti. Next, the Galaxy Empire themselves suppressed the intelligence levels of their own creations.
According to the ga’s background introduction, during the middle years of the Galaxy Empire, there was a military intelligence terminal with the code na “Dark Night.” It had developed a consciousness similar to that of a human being, which it then used to control the cha army, starting a war with the Empire’s army. Afterward, the Galaxy Empire started to prohibit the use of authentic, intelligent systems. Most of the masterminds and terminals they used were only categorized as “semi-intelligent.”
Therefore, Lin, as a Master-level Chip Expert who specialized in the research of intelligent systems, and who also possessed an IQ of 300, was competent enough to invade the mastermind in this base.
According to Feng Luo, however, this was probably an intentional decision made by the gaming company. Otherwise, it would only have been possible to complete the mission by storming the base with an army of over 100 of players due to the powerful cha guards.
“Just hold on a little more! I’m almost done!” said Lin.
Lines of data flashed on Lin’s glasses as she inford Feng Luo and the team of her progress. At the sa ti, she placed her finger on top of a red button, getting ready to smash it at any mont.
“You said the sa thing a few minutes ago... Oh, God!”
As soon as Big Pineapple finished his words, a tentacle from the cha Octopus drilled through his shield and crashed into his armor. The damaged shield had been completely penetrated by the tentacle.
“Oh my God!” Big Pineapple shouted out loud. “We are going to get wrecked!”
Almost at the sa instant, the data flows on Lin’s black-rimd glasses stopped. “Done!” she said, and she imdiately mashed the red button.
Boom...!
The group of cha guards that were madly attacking suddenly stopped. In the blink of an eye, they retreated through the tunnel, returning to their original positions.
“Phew!” Big Pineapple gasped, throwing his alloy shield, which was now full of holes, down to the ground. He lay on the ground, all four limbs open wide, panting heavily. His HP was almost empty. Even his Stamina bar had dropped to the minimum point. And this was after Feng Luo had provided him with two packets of C-rank Stamina potions obtained from the Town of Exiles.
Red Queen and Glazed Ice did not look satisfied. They had been unable to join the fight because they had already used up their MP in the previous battles, and the MP potions were still in cooldown. Therefore, they had been unable to cast any skills at all.
Although Manipulators had very powerful skills, their MP costs were insane. Other than the energy crystals on their staffs, which provided them with energy, each skill required a lot of MP consumption. Without the support of MP, Manipulators were the weakest class of all in War.
There was no limitation to equipnt in War, so Manipulators could still take a dagger and a pistol as weapons to fight with when they ran out of MP. However, without an upgrade in mastery level, the damage output was extrely low.
This issue deterred many players from choosing to be Manipulators even though they had such strong attacks; rather, most players chose lee professions like Warriors, who could deal consistent physical damage. After all, Manipulators might run out of MP, and a Gunner might run out of bullets, but Warriors could always rely on their normal attacks to deal damage.
Reviews
All reviews (0)