Ambush, Ironclad Rhino?

However, the Ironclad Rhino herd had clearly planned this in advance. They were not merely launching a frontal assault.

From the mutated thickets on both sides, dozens more Razor Boars darted out. Though smaller in size, they were incredibly fast, with sharp claws and fangs, pouncing on the convoy and mercenaries from the flanks to create chaos.

For a moment, gunfire, furious shouts, beast roars, and explosions blended together. Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and the scene descended into utter chaos.

The heavily guarded black SUV, escorted by several elite mercenaries, tried to reverse away from the center of the battlefield. But Ironclad Rhinos and the melee blocked both the front and rear roads, making escape difficult.

Lin Ming stood behind the shattered window of the high-rise, silently watching the brutal slaughter below, his expression calm and unruffled.

The mercenary group was not weak. Especially their bald commander—his combat strength was formidable. He should be able to hold out for a while.

The bald commander, a burly man wielding a door-sized greatsword, roared as he battled the peak second-tier, ninth-rank Ironclad Rhino leader.

His moves were broad and powerful, crimson flames blazing along the greatsword. Every strike carried tremendous force as it clashed head-on with the Ironclad Rhino's horn, erupting with deafening booms.

The ground around man and beast had been trampled into a mess, while shockwaves rolled through the air.

The other mercenaries had also found their targets. Two second-realm warriors wielding sabers joined forces to pin down a mid-level second-tier Ironclad Rhino. Their blades flashed like snow as they continuously slashed at relatively vulnerable spots such as its joints and eyelids.

Though they could not inflict a fatal wound for the moment, they made it roar repeatedly and kept it from supporting its leader. The remaining mercenaries formed a battle formation, using firearms, crossbow bolts, and combat skills to fend off the faster Razor Boars, preventing them from disrupting their formation and harassing the vehicles behind them.

The battle fell into a stalemate.

Relying on seamless coordination and firepower, the mercenary group temporarily withstood the beast herd's assault. But the Ironclad Rhino leader was simply too thick-skinned and powerful. Though the bald commander was fierce and of a similar rank,

he was clearly at a disadvantage in a direct clash against a mutated beast renowned for its defense and strength. Each collision made his face a shade paler. The web of his sword hand had long since split open, blood streaming down it.

"This can't go on! The commander's blood and vitality are being drained too fast!"

A crossbow-wielding mercenary shouted anxiously. He fired an arrow through the eye socket of a Razor Boar that had lunged close, then turned toward the heart of the battlefield.

Just then, another change occurred!

The Ironclad Rhino leader, locked in fierce combat with the bald commander, suddenly let out an even more enraged roar. It violently swung its massive head, temporarily forcing back the sword strike coming at it, then raised its thick front hoof high before stomping down with brutal force!

BOOM!!!

The ground shook violently as if struck by heavy artillery! A visible shockwave spread across the ground, knocking several nearby mercenaries off their feet.

Seizing the opportunity, the Ironclad Rhino leader suddenly slammed sideways with its massive body. Its target was unmistakably the heavily guarded black SUV parked farther back! It seemed to have identified that vehicle as the core of this human team!

"Stop it! Protect the young lady!" The bald commander turned pale with shock and tried to intercept it, but the shockwave had sent his blood and vitality churning. He was a beat too slow.

The elite mercenaries guarding the SUV saw red. Roaring, they rushed forward, striking at the Ironclad Rhino with swords, blades, spears, and halberds.

But ordinary attacks were like scratches to it. Instead, its charging momentum sent them sprawling.

BANG!!!

A dull, earthshaking crash!

The black SUV's heavy armor was violently rammed by the Ironclad Rhino leader, and it was actually flipped over like a toy!

"Young lady!!"

"Save the young lady!"

Amid everyone's horrified gazes, the door on the other side of the SUV was violently shoved open from within.

A young woman with a slender build crawled out of the deformed cabin in some disarray. She wore a white research coat and rimless glasses.

Her face was pale, her glasses crooked, and her hair disheveled. She had clearly been badly frightened, yet beneath the panic in her eyes was an odd trace of composure.

The moment she crawled out, she did not look at the Ironclad Rhino leader bearing down on her with terrifying pressure. Instead, she instinctively swept her gaze around, seemingly searching for the safest escape route.

In the end, she chose a direction and ran straight for it.

The woman ran beneath the high-rise, only to freeze when she saw an unfamiliar figure.

He was very young, perhaps even a little younger than she was. He wore a gray combat uniform stained with dust and blood. His face was lean and sharply defined, but the most unforgettable thing about him was his eyes.

Black, deep, and calm as two bottomless wells. There was not a trace of fear toward the terrifying mutated beast, nor any concern or tension one might expect upon seeing a "damsel in distress."

He held a silver-white spear, its tip glinting with an eerie, cold light beneath the moonlight.

"Why is there someone else here?"

The woman was stunned for less than half a second. Under the suffocating pressure of the Ironclad Rhino leader, she almost instinctively reached out and grabbed the young man's arm, her voice hurried and breathless, carrying a faint tremble she could not conceal.

"Run... hurry and run! That monster is coming after us!"

She tried to pull him deeper into the building with her, or escape from the other side.

Yet when she tugged, she could not move him at all.

The young man remained standing firmly where he was. He did not even glance at her, merely tilting his head slightly as he calmly looked past her.

At the Ironclad Rhino leader less than twenty meters away, its head lowered, horn gleaming coldly as it prepared to launch a fatal charge.

Lin Ming truly had no intention of meddling. In the wilderness, everyone was responsible for their own fate.

The only reason he would act was that a peak second-tier Ironclad Rhino leader was worth quite a few kill points. As for saving this unfamiliar woman? If it was convenient, perhaps. Going out of his way to save her? He had no interest in that.

This woman had run over herself and even tried to drag him away with her... That saved him the trouble of stepping in first.

But this Ironclad Rhino... Lin Ming looked at its massive figure and familiar dark bluish-green heavy scales, especially the horn on its forehead with its distinctive spiral pattern and a slightly charred tip. His gaze shifted faintly.

It looked a little familiar.

It seemed that... a few days ago, while slaughtering beasts in another part of the wilderness, he had encountered an Ironclad Rhino just like this—thick-skinned and exceptionally tough.

At the time, he had been in a hurry. He had only struck it once with Mountain Splitter, from the Heaven-Splitting Three Forms, shattering nearly half its horn and driving it into the ground. Before he could finish it off, the beast had relied on its thick hide to endure its injuries and burrow underground to escape.

He had not expected to run into it here. Judging by its aura, it was even a little stronger than before, and its wounds had basically healed. It seemed it had been "nourishing itself" quite well lately.