T3 Troops

Before setting out on what was supposedly a rescue mission but was really a fishing expedition, Gu Hang had emptied his savings.

Originally, he had used up all the Grace he'd received from the battle at Mantan Valley Manor on drawing technology and training the 3rd Battalion. But a few days ago, when Yan Fangxu led his team to burn the Incubation Nests in Xenomorph Forest, Gu Hang had earned 1–2 Grace for each nest destroyed, depending on its size.

After burning seven Incubation Nests, Gu Hang had earned 11 Grace.

He spent that Grace on 11 Marine Assault Team soldiers.

The elite assault troops who had come down from the starship looked nothing like ordinary soldiers. They wore dark brown, one-piece combat suits and masks, and were equipped with high-quality gear. Not an inch of skin was exposed in battle. Their suits looked lightweight, but with Plasteel inserts, they were even more effective than body armor.

These were elite soldiers of the Imperial Navy Marines, essentially special forces. Their training already put them at the T4 level on the system's scale. To raise their training by one level to T3, Gu Hang had to spend 1 Grace per soldier.

One Grace was enough to train a hundred ordinary people into a full company of soldiers at the level of the Empire's regular army.

But when used to train T3 soldiers, it was enough to upgrade just one person.

Training them further to T2 would cost 10 Grace per soldier—enough to raise Gu Hang's own level by one on the Hero panel.

The cost was steep, but the value was extraordinary.

At the time, he had taken the 11 Marines aside and put them through some mysterious special training exercises.

He had made up the exercises, of course, but he claimed they were a blessing from The Emperor, granted through the special training methods he possessed.

Most people would have found that hard to believe, but when it came to Governor Gu Hang, it was different.

These Marine soldiers had seen with their own eyes how those peasants had become competent soldiers in an incredibly short time.

How could they not believe him?

The Marines were ecstatic!

All 11 followed the governor's instructions to the letter, performing the exercises with reverence and devotion.

Then, in an incredibly short time, they truly felt their bodies undergo a profound transformation.

They became stronger, to the point of seeming almost superhuman.

They ran faster, hit harder, and could take more punishment. Bullets with less stopping power might not even pierce their skulls. They had two or three times their former strength; stones they once couldn't budge now felt almost easy to lift.

Their reflexes had also quickened. Birds in flight seemed like paper planes drifting lazily through the air. Their military skills improved dramatically in a short time: those who had once barely qualified as marksmen became crack shots. They also felt they had mastered an exceptionally effective form of close-quarters combat. With their combat knives, they could take down five or six versions of their former selves in a fight...

Having felt the changes in themselves so profoundly, they could hardly believe it was real.

How was this possible? It made no scientific sense!

And yet it was real.

All they could do was attribute it to The Emperor's blessing and the governor's miracle.

And they were one of the trump cards Gu Hang had prepared for this operation.

Now, these soldiers, upgraded to the T3 level, were already serving the purpose Gu Hang had hoped for.

Eleven Electromagnetic Rifles pursued the falling Heretic Priests. They didn't need to communicate; every three soldiers focused on one target. The Metal Spikes flew as if guided by aimbot. Even while the soldiers were running and their targets were in free fall, they rarely missed.

Meanwhile, Gu Hang was still sabotaging their opponents.

His enemies were powerful, so he wouldn't waste his limited Psionic Power. But just as he had cut off three Heretic Priests' control over the Storm Eagles, he could make a difference at critical moments with small efforts that achieved great results.

This time, his dirty trick was to interfere with the three priests and cut off their control over their Storm Shields.

Although the Marines had been upgraded to T3, it was the soldiers who had been strengthened, not their weapons. The Eagle Electromagnetic Rifles in their hands hadn't changed at all. The Metal Spikes struck the three men, but the Storm Shields stopped every shot.

Breaking through a Storm Shield with gunfire alone was difficult. The soldiers would have to stand there and shoot for quite a while. Still, their shots had some effect: they weakened the shields and forced the Heretic Priests to draw on their spiritual power to maintain them.

That gave Gu Hang an opening.

He only needed to give the shields a slight nudge. He didn't have to expend much effort to break them completely; he only had to make them more unstable.

A Storm Shield whose strength had suddenly weakened, with gaps and flaws appearing in it, was deadly to a priest plunging through the air.

The least skilled of them suffered especially badly. At least five or six Metal Spikes pierced his body in midair.

No human body could withstand the tremendous power of an Electromagnetic Rifle.

The man was torn apart in an instant. By the time he hit the ground, he was no longer recognizable as human, just a pile of broken body parts.

But the other two were in better shape.

From Gu Hang's vantage point, he could see that the strongest one had been barely affected. As soon as his Storm Shield faltered, he quickly repaired it, avoiding any hits. The other reacted much the same way, but he was clearly less capable than the strongest one. He still took two shots, losing an arm and a leg.

The two priests who survived the fall each made a move.

The strongest one, who had hardly been injured, suddenly sprouted a pair of white storm wings from his back. They looked somewhat like turbines. He blasted air behind himself, and in an instant, he had reached tremendous speed.

He ignored the charging Marine assault troops and made straight for Gu Hang, who was farther back.

The Howling Wind Divine Envoy had not forgotten his mission. His most important objective on this expedition was to kill the Planetary Governor.

He had planned to use the storm and the white fog to disrupt the soldiers' positions, then send the Abscess Monsters charging in to wipe out most of the troops. After that, all he would have to do was deal with the governor, who would be hiding inside the Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

But he hadn't expected the governor to leave the protection of the Infantry Fighting Vehicle on his own.

What shocked him even more was that the governor had mastered Psionic Power and could even wield advanced techniques.

His plan had gone badly awry. The governor's actions had not only stopped their assault on the human soldiers' positions, but had also put him and his two subordinates in grave danger.

But he still had a chance.

As long as he could kill the governor on the spot.