Bats

"Flare!"

The team members turned off their night vision goggles and switched to normal mode. Then, two shells flew out, transforming into two small suns in the air, illuminating the cave as bright as day.

The group, having regained their clear vision, were stunned by what they saw: a dark mass of bat-like creatures, like an impenetrable wall, crashing towards them.

Fear rose in everyone's hearts.

"Attack!" Hasmu had no time to be afraid. He roared as the bat-like creature swooped down to within a hundred meters.

In an instant, the stunned team members snapped out of their daze, their years of combat experience allowing them to recover quickly.

Then, red beams of light darted about, their glowing red and incandescent flares mingling. On the walls, the shadows of the team members and the bat-like creatures danced wildly like demons.

"Switch to Explosive Mode!"

The Riken's firearms have two firing modes: a normal firing mode, which fires a highly concentrated energy beam capable of penetrating even the armor of Ox Demon; and an Explosive Mode, which fires an extremely unstable beam of energy that explodes upon impact with a target, generating a shockwave. This mode is perfectly suited for the current situation of a mass charge.

However, this method comes at the cost of reducing the lifespan of the firearms, meaning it cannot be used for long. But now, faced with a choice between their own lives and the lifespan of their firearms, the team members did not hesitate.

The beam of light would often penetrate the bats in front and continue through 2-3 more behind them before dissipating. However, because bats are relatively large, typically over two meters in size, this penetrating wound does not actually cause them much harm.

Unless you hit vital organs like the head or heart, you can't kill them directly. As a result, their speed of advance is not slowed down much, and in just over ten seconds, they have already advanced to within 50 meters of the squad.

The energy beam, now in a different mode, is significantly more lethal than before, and the shockwave from the explosion can also repel the bat creatures and disrupt their formation.

However, after several rounds of firing, the bat creatures were not driven back, but instead continued their slow advance fearlessly, quickly pushing the front line to within 40 meters.

"Stun grenades! Take precautions!" Hasmu commanded while firing. This creature, surviving in a sunless Crypt, likely doesn't see directly but relies on other organs.

Similar creatures also exist on the Mother Planet of the Riken Race, and Hasmu, an elite warrior, immediately devised a way to deal with them.

Several cylindrical "cans" were launched, and at the same time, the team members activated the sound shields in their helmets.

A tremendous roar resounded, its power amplified several times in the confined space. Even many of the stalactites extending from the top of the rock wall were shaken off, and the entire cave passage seemed to sway several times.

Even with the helmet protecting him, Hasmu's head was still spinning. He shook his head, thinking to himself that those two stun grenades had almost killed them too; it was far too dangerous.

However, after seeing the situation on the other side, he thought that taking the risk was worthwhile.

The swarm of bats scattered haphazardly like headless flies, their formation broken; the stun grenade had indeed caused them serious damage. A closer look revealed dark red blood flowing from their ears and eyes.

"Kill them!" Seizing the opportunity, Hasmu ordered Chen Sheng to pursue them.

In an instant, Blaster Beam darted about, pushing the bat-like creatures that were almost upon them back, leaving their corpses scattered on the ground. But suddenly, the bat-like creatures seemed to regain their vision and pounced on the team again.

"What's going on?" It's illogical for creatures that rely on sound to locate enemies to recover so quickly from a stun grenade attack. This situation is as if someone is providing these bat-like creatures with vision and secretly directing them.

"Angulo, check what's going on?" Hasmu roared.

A scout retreated behind the lines and began adjusting his helmet. His helmet was twice the size of the others, with a ring of probes along the outer edge and a small computer integrated into it. Each probe had a different function, capable of detecting information about a certain attribute.

He kept rotating his probe, scanning the surrounding area for any potential enemies, but due to poor visibility and too many obstructions, he was moving very slowly.

"Damn it, Angulo, hurry up!"

"Captain, I'm already very fast." Although he said that, his hands moved much faster.

"Damn it, we can't hold on any longer, get the flamethrowers on!" Hasmu roared.

Two team members carrying flamethrowers, both exceptionally strong, first put down their ray guns, then fiddled with their equipment for a bit, before two pillars of fire, each two meters in diameter, shot out.

The special fuel sprayed by the jet gun is highly flammable and extremely adhesive. If even a small amount gets on your body, you will be engulfed in flames unless the affected tissue is quickly removed.

Bats are still made of flesh and blood, and they are no match for this high-fuel mixture. Furthermore, the burning bats that fly around will spread the flames to their companions.

In a short time, the bats suffered heavy casualties.

Of course, while these powerful weapons are formidable, they have significant drawbacks. First, their fuel is heavy and difficult to carry, resulting in extremely poor sustained combat capability.

Only enhanced special forces teams like Hasmu, with 50 members, have this type of soldier; ordinary ten-person combat teams would never have this type of soldier.

Secondly, fuel combustion consumes a large amount of oxygen and produces toxic fumes. Toxic gases are easy to deal with, as the disinfection device integrated into the helmet can easily shield them.

But the problem is that oxygen consumption is a major issue. This place is underground, and oxygen levels are scarce.

Hasmu and his team each carried only two small canisters of oxygen, which wouldn't last long and would only be used in emergencies.

Although the air on Big Origin Star contains toxins that are harmful to their bodies, for a civilization capable of interstellar travel, integrating a breathing mask into their helmet to filter harmful gases is very simple.

Therefore, they usually breathe the natural air of the Big Origin Star directly. Now that the underground air is severely depleted, two small canisters of oxygen are just a drop in the bucket.

If the flamethrower had sprayed for another two minutes, they might have suffocated to death; it would have been a Pyrrhic victory.

Fortunately, the bat creatures' attack had been repelled, and he quickly ordered the flamethrower soldiers to cease their assault.

"Captain, we've found it! There's an abnormal magnetic field reaction behind the upper left stone pillar!" Angulo suddenly shouted.

There was no doubt about the combat prowess of the elite special forces; the moment Angulo reported the location, it was engulfed by Blaster Beam.