"Surrender or Die"

BOOM!!!

A deafening explosion echoed across the entire battle zone, and its powerful shockwave propagated outward from the center at supersonic speed, uprooting and flinging everything nearby into midair.

The epicenter of the Valkyrie bombing was precisely the Na'vi sanctuary where the Tree of Souls stood.

"Na... Na...!"

"Vitraya Ramunong!"

"Fwaì, oel ngati kameie!"

Upon discovering that their sanctuary had been destroyed, the Na'vi outside the explosive killing range clutched their heads and dropped to their knees, though the expressions revealed on their faces seemed to show pain outweighing sorrow.

It appeared that the destruction of the Tree of Souls by RDA and its disconnection from Eywa would cause them grief and leave them with splitting headaches.

This was simply a withdrawal symptom that occurred when someone developed a dependence or addiction to something, but suddenly stopped using it.

The ARS infantry, which had already swept into this area, took in the performance of the Na'vi while simultaneously using their helmet screens to record it and transmit it to the forward base a hundred kilometers away.

Meanwhile, the ARS infantry at the absolute vanguard had already aimed the rifles mounted on their mechanical right arms at the Na'vi, and a sergeant with red paint on his shoulder armor used a helmet external speaker to issue a loud warning:

"Attention all Na'vi, please drop to the ground and surrender immediately, or we will resort to lethal measures. You have only three seconds to think, three... two... fire!"

"Rat-a-tat-tat!!!"

As the words fell, the hundred ARS soldiers responsible for the initial wave of attacks immediately opened up with a coordinated volley.

!!!

Putting aside whether this group of Na'vi could even understand human language, a mere three seconds was simply not enough time to make a choice.

Splat! Thud!

No matter how strong or hard skin, muscle, and bone density might be, unarmored bodies were useless against 7.62mm, .50cal, and 20mm rounds. Blithering chunks of flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

"Man..."

"These guys are even more efficient than us."

"Where on earth did they come from?"

Witnessing the decisive and cold demeanor of the ARS, the RDA Mercenary forces on the left flank all wore expressions of surprise and uttered sighs of amazement.

One Mercenary was even bold enough to step forward several paces to the edge of the ARS formation and question the nearest ARS infantryman:

"Hey buddy, are you guys seriously not leaving any prisoners?"

Hearing this, the ARS soldier glanced at the Mercenary before returning his gaze straight ahead and saying, "The orders we received were to give the Na'vi three seconds to think—either surrender or die. There is no such thing as not leaving survivors, and the scene before you is a choice they made themselves. What does that have to do with us?"

"What the fuck?"

The RDA Mercenary was clearly stunned by the ARS soldier's remarks, but upon careful thought, it seemed... more or less to make sense. He nodded repeatedly and said:

"That's true. By the way, you guys came at just the right time. If you had been half a minute later, we probably would have been swallowed up by the wave of beasts. It's just... where on earth did you come from?"

"."

This time, the ARS infantry offered no further response.

However, according to their mission briefing, superiors supported them in negotiating and building rapport with the RDA Mercenary forces, but before completely resolving the alien threat, they were strictly forbidden from revealing a single detail to RDA regarding the Main Universe and the Space Gate.

As for why their equipment and vehicles were so United Defense Force-like, in reality, over the year and a half since the establishment of Atlas Division, the purchasing of weaponry had never stopped.

In Universe 01, the United Nations and the United Defense Force jointly decided to implement immediate disarmament. After all, the Mimic threat had already been eliminated, so there was no need to expend funds on maintaining an oversized military.

UDF soldiers who were demobilized either took their severance pay back to their hometowns and chose to restart their lives, or they could not accept the cruelty of reality and chose to become a Mercenary, continuing to work life-on-the-edge jobs.

Precisely because it was in the transition period from war to peace, Universe 01 Earth was exceptionally chaotic in all aspects, yet it also allowed the Investigators who integrated into society earliest to establish Atlas Division without receiving much obstruction.

Coupled with the headquarters behind the scenes "supplying money and provisions," the division seized the opportunity in the most chaotic Europe—especially Eastern Europe—to purchase a massive quantity of weaponry through the black market.

With no enemies left, the United Defense Force naturally did not want to retain an excessive number of vehicles and weapons. Choosing to mothball them required paying extra custody and maintenance fees, and the cost of scrapping them was quite high, so selling them off for disposal was preferable.

Consequently, a large amount of weaponry flowed into the black market, facilitating the purchase and stockpiling by Atlas Division, as well as serving to facilitate routine training for the ARS or to be used for emergencies.

The primary reason why the ARS had not fielded the Exoskeleton on a large scale was that the self-produced mechanical skeletons of Atlas possessed greater mobility, higher minimalism, and greater convenience for operators executing infiltration, reconnaissance, and other missions.

Hunter Company units, who excelled at surprise attacks and assassination, would rather wait in line for their own manufactured Exoskeleton than use the older UDF models.

However, to cope with the hazardous environment of Pandora, the ARS companies had temporarily fielded the UDF skeletons and joined the battle aboard UDF aerial vehicles also purchased by the division.

At that moment.

While the ARS infantry and RDA Mercenary forces temporarily cooperated and advanced slowly amidst a forest one hundred meters away.

"No! No! Tia... Oparah... dead... they're all dead!"

Seeing their own kind all fall dead from gunfire or be captured and detained, a female Na'vi wailed bitterly, screaming in a hoarse voice.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just as she was at a loss for what to do, a violent surge of airflow came from behind.

It turned out that Jake Sully had ridden a Leonopteryx to land in this forest, then flipped down from the beast's back, sprinted toward the female Na'vi, scooped her into his arms, and said anxiously:

"Hey! Hey! Neytiri, pull yourself together. Now is not the time for grief; our line has collapsed, we must retreat!"

This Na'vi named Neytiri was actually one of the primary factors arranged by Eywa to have a chance encounter with Jake Sully, fall in love with him, and successfully bewitch him.

However, Neytiri at this moment was clearly scared out of her wits, knowing only how to embrace Jake and cry out loud.

Jake, equally panicked, had no choice but to pick her up, preparing to board the Leonopteryx and escape the battlefield.

So much for defending the Tree of Souls, so much for defending the sanctuary—the current situation had long since exceeded Jake's expectations, and aside from running for his life, Jake had no other thoughts. The very reason he betrayed humanity was to be together with Neytiri.

Yet just as they were about to climb onto the back of the Leonopteryx...

Rou--!!

Accompanied by a piercing sound through the air, a metal spear drew a silver afterimage and pierced straight through the Leonopteryx from top to bottom.

"Roar!!!" Excruciating pain caused the Leonopteryx to roar incessantly toward the sky.

?!

Seeing this scene, Jake Sully had no time to ponder much, instantly dropping Neytiri to the ground and preparing to grip the machine gun slung across his back.

"Bang! Bang!"

Yet the unique, consecutive explosive gunfire of the .500 Mag interrupted all of Jake Sully's actions.

A new year brings a fresh start.

Wishing everyone a happy New Year, hahaha.

Also thank you all for your support, and thanks for the recommendation votes, monthly votes, and tips.

(End of chapter)