Chapter 236
"This mist is a kind of soul energy." Yuki looked around, then quickly focused his gaze on the distant mountaintop, his knees slightly bent.
Bang!
The sonic boom exploded, and he stomped a shallow crater into the hard ground. In just ten seconds, he ran three kilometers, using both his hands and feet to climb the steep mountain peak.
Upon reaching the highest point, the surroundings suddenly opened up.
To the left is a plain, which should be the Emerald Basin mentioned in the hint. Black Mountains stretch endlessly, disappearing into the horizon.
And over there... is that a man-made object?
Looking around, Yuki saw a metallic gleam reflecting off a distant mountain hollow. He squinted slightly; it looked like a small fortress.
"A human outpost?" Yuki stroked his chin. He was indeed an infiltrator, but clue 4 clearly stated that the player's identity was highly secretive.
We must gather intelligence. We don't know if we can communicate with those Zerg, Hiyori either.
If forced to choose, Yuki would prefer to communicate with humans, since he had no experience dealing with insects.
[Tip 7: Players can temporarily raise their Trust reputation with their chosen faction, limited to once per instance, lasting for 5 hours]
This tip is helpful, but don't forget it's only for a short period; this is certainly not the norm.
Judging from the clues, we infiltrators were supposed to blend in anyway, and...
What a coincidence!
Yuki slowly lowered his head and saw another small hill several kilometers away suddenly arch up, the hard black rock being stretched. Switching to his soul vision, he could see an even larger black mass.
Boom--
Almost at the same moment Yuki raised an eyebrow, the mountain exploded, like a volcanic eruption, and a huge black shadow shot out.
It resembled a giant sand worm, swaying its body back and forth, appearing just behind the city.
Is this the Zerg?
Yuki was also shocked by its enormous size. Judging from its size alone, it surpassed any monster he had ever seen. It was probably a hundred meters long and ten meters thick, and who knows how strong it was.
But just as he unconsciously stroked the hilt of the knife, the sand worm suddenly split apart.
Like a blooming trumpet flower, the insect's entire body splits open from its head, spreading all the way to its body that penetrates the ground.
What's going on? Why did it self-destruct before the fight even started?
Yuki was puzzled but impressed, then suddenly understood.
A black tide surged from the split insect body, flowing towards the fortress from behind. Because it wasn't far away, Yuki could clearly see the appearance of these insects.
The ones charging ahead looked a bit like cockroaches, about the size of a small car, with black shells and mantis-like forelegs. The ones lagging behind looked like ants, about the same size, with brownish-black shells, gnawing at the rocks with their teeth.
The former is moving extremely fast and is spreading down the hillside, while the latter is devouring iron like mud, and its entrance is expanding at a visible speed.
"These are the Zerg?" Yuki raised an eyebrow, finding them not so much disgusting, but rather somewhat imposing, and incredibly numerous.
Hundreds of them surged out within two minutes, prompting the fortress to react.
Beep beep beep.
The piercing alarm blared from afar. Yuki pulled out his binoculars and saw a silver-white metal wall. Two turret-like structures were rising behind the wall, and a large crowd of people was gathered on it, probably numbering in the hundreds.
The soldiers on the wall were not very clear; Yuki could only make out that they were quite bulky and wearing green and white spacesuits.
The reaction speed is fast, but this fortress is too small.
The total area was only the size of a village, which meant there couldn't be too many soldiers inside. As an 'infiltrator,' Yuki was worried for his fellow soldiers, but he didn't intend to interfere.
Observation is the best way to gather information. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to investigate the combat strength of both sides as soon as I entered the dungeon.
The swarm ignored the fortress that was on high alert, and crossed two mountain peaks. The only sound between the mountains was the 'swish swish' of arthropods moving. Yuki held his breath and stared into the distance without blinking.
Like the calm before a storm, the Roar swarm of insects contrasted sharply with the silent fortress. About two minutes later, a dazzling light illuminated Yuki's eyes.
Call out--
Laser beams shot out from the watchtower, skimming the entrance to the mountain pass and slamming into the swarm of insects. In an instant, the swarm was Piercer, and all life forms melted under the bombardment, leaving only two lava-like streaks.
So powerful!?
Yuki sat bolt upright; the power was immense. Players below the Transcendental Grade level would be instantly killed by a single shot. If the humans in this dungeon are this powerful, what's the point of having us players?
But he soon realized this was just a facade. The watchtower's cannons were emitting white smoke, but there was no intention of firing continuously. Meanwhile, the swarm of insects continued their relentless charge, and at that moment, a burst of gunfire, like popping beans, rang out.
Da da da da...
Countless fire snakes erupted from the gray-white city walls, and a storm of metal rained down, causing sparks to fly and blood and flesh to fly everywhere.
It was quite lively, but Yuki found that the effect wasn't as terrifying as before. The insects in the front were torn to shreds, and those behind continued to surge forward, stepping on the corpses. They quickly surged into the ravine, less than a kilometer away from the city wall.
"Kinetic weapons have a very high rate of fire and much stronger penetrating power than Earth's firearms. But these insects are no pushovers either; they have extremely strong defenses and amazing vitality, and on average, they need to be hit dozens of times before they fall."
Yuki had a general idea of what was going on. He hadn't experienced any high-tech dungeons, but he'd watched a lot of movies, and it felt a bit like the Marine from StarCraft.
They fought fiercely, but their destructive power was quite limited.
"This won't do. Could they be playing a melee-focused style?"
Call out--
Then, the dazzling laser shot out again, like two beams of light sweeping across the mountain range, cutting the mountain peak at the entrance of the valley in two.
Rumble.
Tens of thousands of tons of rocks crashed down, crushing all living things and splitting the General Bug swarm into two parts. Meanwhile, inside the ravine, the intense gunfire reached a new level.
The bullets tore the cockroaches to shreds, and when the swarm was still 500 meters from the city wall, a gap of 10 meters suddenly appeared in the wall.
Several silver-white mechs, each about five or six meters tall, emerged from the gap. They reflected a metallic luster, with disproportionately small legs, oval-shaped torsos, and two thick mechanical arms extending forward.
Bang bang bang!
Its caliber was enormous, capable of blasting cockroaches to pieces, while its left hand spewed out dazzling flames.
The charcoal-roasted cockroaches engulfed most of the mountain valley in flames, Yuki's eyes twitch as he watched.
Such formidable firepower! It seems we can't afford to engage them in a direct, open battle.
The players were almost all skilled in squad battles, and probably no one would be foolish enough to charge into battle under the cover of hundreds of rifles. As he watched, he noticed that while these mechs had fierce firepower, they were too slow and cumbersome.
Some of the remaining mechs, engulfed in flames, rushed forward but immediately ran into blind spots. The mechs began to retreat, only managing to get back to the gap thanks to the cover provided by the infantry on the wall.
The swarm of insects continued unabated, having already crossed the entrance to the collapsed ravine. Looking back, the opening had expanded to over ten meters wide, and in addition to the constant flow of Cockroach Bug, something even more terrifying was pushing its way out.
From the center of the 'trumpet flower' emerges a huge, grayish-white sphere with an uneven surface, resembling a raised tumor.
The enormous bodies filled most of the cave entrance, leaving only a few gaps for the swarm of insects to continue pouring out. The speed slowed down considerably, but judging from the 'ants' that kept gnawing at the black rocks, the gushing speed would pick up sooner or later.
Yuki didn't understand what this thing was, but he was able to make a judgment:
Humanity is doomed.
Cockroach Bug are just cannon fodder; once more advanced insects emerge, this little fortress will be overwhelmed.
He had no desire to interfere; he simply recorded what he saw on the battlefield. But then he heard a dragon's roar, and when he raised his head slightly, he saw something flying through the air.
It started as a small black dot with the roar of the engine, then quickly grew larger.
"After mechs, there's an air force?" Yuki raised an eyebrow, noticing a silver-white fighter jet with rounded lines and short wings.
It looks a bit like an enlarged version of the Y-20 I saw in my past life. Judging from a distance, it's probably tens of meters long, and looks more like an airborne warship.
As I watched, the transport plane, which was more than ten kilometers away, suddenly fired two missiles.
Grass.
Yuki quickly lowered his head and heard a muffled boom. Two huge fireballs rose from the mountaintop several kilometers away. The shockwave made his ears ring, but he couldn't see much dust being kicked up.
The cockroaches that swarmed out from all around the hilltop were instantly melted, but a bright blue light curtain rose from the cave entrance, neutralizing most of the energy and preventing the cave entrance from collapsing.
Yuki finally realized what the grayish-white sphere was; it had split open from the middle to form a giant insect mouth, from which the light curtain was being emitted.
"Is wisdom not only about fearless attack, but also about proactive defense?"
Yuki raised the threat level of the General Bug to a higher level, and then he saw the silver-white fighter jet begin to slow down, the tail hatch closed, and more than a dozen black dots leaped out from inside.
They wore silver-white metallic armor, which also emitted a blue light, and actually passed directly through the light barrier, landing in battle formation around the cave entrance.
At this moment, the swarm of insects on the mountaintop had just been cleared out, and those inside the cave had not yet poured out. It was the perfect time to land. However, a dazzling laser flashed, and a mountain peak was about to be shattered, with the falling boulders blocking the insect swarm's path back.
The laser cannons, separated by several mountain peaks, couldn't directly hit the cave entrance. This was clearly to cover the landing crew. Even the soldiers voluntarily left the city walls and, under the cover of several mechs, began a counter-charge.
Is this the Global Insect Calamity?
Yuki put down his binoculars, unsure of what to say. Judging from the battle that had lasted just over half an hour, he had enough to discard all his previous dungeon experience.
Previous instances were always eerie, small-scale, like a knife hidden in the night, stabbing you unexpectedly.
But the missions of this faction are completely different; this is war, a war fought with great strategy, a war that exhausts all courage and wisdom.
Feint attack, luring, air raid, surprise attack...
Yuki had never seen such a grand scene before, nor had he ever seen such sharp conflicts within a dungeon.
He gently stroked the hilt of his sword, looking at the dozen or so soldiers who had been fighting fiercely after landing. For some reason, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
I still prefer this flavor.
He didn't know why he liked it; clearly, this place was far more dangerous and unsuitable for the old schemer's plans.
But he just loved it; every cell in his body was cheering. He couldn't help but put away his binoculars, draw his sword, and head towards the battlefield.
The battle has returned to a stalemate; the question is whether humanity will eliminate the giant worm blocking the entrance first, or whether the swarm will break through the barrier, and the players' purpose remains...
It is precisely this balance that has been disrupted!
Chapter 5 First Kill of the Insect Swarm (5K)
Kill insects to gain reputation and obtain more information from the humans.
Having witnessed the battle, Yuki understood what "lurker" meant. Individual strength diminishes rapidly with the scale of the battle; in large-scale, systematic warfare like this, even monster-level players can't cause much of a stir.
Therefore, players on the Zerg side can only act as infiltrators; anyone who dares to join the charge will be blasted to smithereens by laser cannons and flamethrowers.
"Besides, the Zerg might not appreciate it, at least I don't have the means to communicate with them."
Yuki to himself, "Perhaps there are insect-type players among the players, and this is their home turf, but I'm not one of them."
As he climbed the second hill and approached the battlefield, he could already feel the malicious gazes directed at him. Some of the Cockroach Bug that were heading towards the cave entrance turned around and locked onto Yuki, who was rushing from the rear.
Its tentacles trembled, its limbs thrashed about wildly, and it charged forward without a word.
Wait, we're on the same side.
Yuki moved his lips slightly. Just as he had thought, the main quest did not include the "protect a certain insect species" part, so naturally he would not be accepted by the insect race according to his identity.
Many people must be regretting it now!
Yuki looked at the several enormous cockroaches. Their forelegs gleamed with a metallic sheen, their eyes were scarlet, and their mouths were full of sharp teeth. They were still somewhat frightening up close.
Considering it was their first encounter, he abruptly stopped and raised his shotgun.
Shotguns!
Gunshots rang out, and hundreds of Soul Bullet covered the area within a hundred meters ahead, instantly turning the cockroaches into a pile of rotten flesh.
"Weaker than I imagined, no, I'm just too strong."
As Yuki, if these cannon fodder could stop the Hunter's Blunderbuss, Yuki would turn tail and run, choosing to live a life of hiding from then on.
Bang!
The second shot rang out, and the Deer-Hunting Shells pierced through several cockroaches, leaving holes the size of washbasins in their carapaces. The sound of the gunshot attracted dozens of insects that were climbing the mountain, causing them to turn around in unison.
Clang--
With his long sword drawn and knees bent, Yuki launched himself forward, cleanly slashing into the insect's back and shattering its carapace.
"It's not as weak as I imagined; its physical resistance is quite high."
He deliberately didn't use any energy, relying solely on brute force to break through the shell, thus roughly confirming the monster's defensive capabilities.
Similar to infantry fighting vehicles, if it were on Earth, it would be able to ignore firearms with a caliber of 12.7 mm or less, and it would be incredibly resilient, taking a long time to fire even the most advanced rifles.
"And never retreat."
Beneath his feet, the cockroach with its back split open struggled, lifting Yuki into the air. The surrounding insects swarmed forward, slashing with more than a dozen sharp forelegs.