While repairing the ships, Han Xiao glanced at the interstellar warships above Forest City and asked, "After fighting for so long, why haven't those warships made any moves yet?"
"Those are the city's sky barriers, and also its most powerful weapons. The beasts now are all small fry; it's not time to use warships yet," Nivelle said.
Han Xiao changed the subject and asked, "I heard you have some trump card equipment called General-Grade Armor, which has extraordinary power, far exceeding the Non-Commissioned Officer-Grade Armor you're wearing. Why haven't you used it?"
"The General-Grade Armor is from a long time ago. When our home planet suffered a disaster, the manufacturing technology was lost. Now, there are only four damaged sets of General-Grade Armor left in the warehouse, with a damage rate of 70%. There's no way to restore the technology."
Nivelle sighed, "Although General-Grade Armor can be used by ordinary people, only superhumans can unleash its full power. When our home planet was attacked, we sent out all our General-Grade Armor to fight back. One by one, they were damaged, and their users died one after another. But without their sacrifice, the surviving population wouldn't even be half of what it is today. In the end, we only managed to salvage four damaged sets of General-Grade Armor, covered in battle marks. These four sets of armor were heroes who protected our race and have been carefully preserved."
General-Grade Armor is completely different from soldier-class and non-commissioned officer-class armor. The latter two are standard equipment, while general-class armor is equivalent to top-level equipment, elite weaponry, and superhuman equipment. The resources used to produce one General-Grade Armor can be used to produce hundreds of Soldier-Grade Armor.
The loss of General-Grade Armor is tantamount to the extinction of top-tier power. If we possessed General-Grade Armor technology, we could mass-produce top-tier warriors to deal with dangerous beasts, reducing the threat level of Calamity by at least one level.
boom--
The ground suddenly shook, and two armored soldiers were thrown to the side of his line of sight. Nivelle could see behind Han Xiao, his eyes widened, and he roared, "Get out of the way!"
A burrowing carapace, the size of a bison, rammed past the soldiers and charged straight at him. There are many varieties of burrowing carapaces, but this one is adept at Charge and has strong defenses. Its dark carapace is like a steel plate, capable of withstanding concentrated machine gun fire, making it a very troublesome creature.
Han Xiao turned around, and a small golden ball slid out from his sleeve, instantly unfolding into [Garetan's Wrath]. Without saying a word, he immediately Willpower Burning and several burst skills, triggering true damage as well.
A dazzling beam of scorching light shot out, piercing straight through the armored beast's body, from its mouth to its anus, leaving a burn mark.
The armored beast, which would have taken the defense force more than ten seconds to kill, crashed to the ground, killed instantly by a single shot! Due to inertia, the corpse slowly slid to Han Xiao's feet, spilling out a pool of tissue fluid.
"Don't make a fuss, I'm better at fighting than you guys." Han Xiao put away his weapon and continued to bury himself in repairs, as if it were just a casual task.
"... I forgot." Nivelle opened his mouth, subconsciously regarding Han Xiao as a logistics personnel without combat capabilities, before remembering that Han Xiao was a superhuman.
Han Xiao quickly put down his tools. "It's fixed."
The armor was functioning normally. Nivelle immediately stood up, confirmed there were no malfunctions, grabbed a machine gun, and returned to the battle group, berating his subordinates for neglecting their posts.
Despite being scolded, the soldiers felt no resentment; on the contrary, they were happy because they had saved their commander's life.
After cursing for a while, Nivelle stopped and focused on dealing with the enemy, continuing to loudly command his troops.
Just as Han Xiao was about to head to the next repair site, a piercing alarm sounded at the base. He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Level 2 Alert: The Calamity has entered its mid-stage!"
An eerie chill spread as a group of dark figures flew out of the forest, their bodies shrouded in black mist. They skimmed low, barely a few meters off the ground, avoiding the minefield. They were incredibly fast and agile in the air, maneuvering and dodging numerous long-range artillery shots.
The firelight illuminated the creature's appearance: its entire body was covered in shiny black, bald skin, completely hairless, with a standing torso, standing three or four meters tall. It had no facial features, but a pair of curved tentacles that it used to sense its environment. It had four long, curved claws, strong, retractable legs, a pair of dark red Bat Wing on its back, and three whip-like spiky tails, making it extremely ferocious.
"Nightmare!" Han Xiao thought to himself. He recognized this beast from the encyclopedia, which meant that the Calamity had passed its initial stage and finally entered the middle stage. The scale of the initial stage was already so large. The Sunil people said that the middle and late stages were dozens of times more dangerous than the initial stage, and the real large-scale casualties occurred after the initial stage.
The logistics team's retreat order came through the headset, "All field maintenance personnel, return to the fifth defensive perimeter and enter the fortress!"
Han Xiao naturally complied, and entered the metal fortress with a large group of logistics personnel. The doors and windows were all locked, with no entrances or exits. This was a protective measure; the only way to see the battle scene outside was through the windows.
Snap!
Suddenly, each defensive perimeter activated its powerful high beams, countless beams shooting into the sky, instantly illuminating the night as if it were daytime. The approaching Nightmare let out shrill cries. They had been flying just fine, but when the bright lights swept over them, they swayed like they were drunk, crashing into other Nightmare and tumbling to the ground. Many Nightmare fell into the minefield and were blown to pieces.
Nightmare ' tentacles are very sensitive to light; they only move in the dark. Once exposed to strong light, they are like human eyes that have been smeared with Tiger Balm.
The Sunil people devised various targeted measures against dangerous beasts. As the Calamity progressed, they moved beyond simply firing cannons. Instead, they employed various targeted strategies based on the types of beasts in the horde. These strategies were lessons learned through bloodshed and could reduce casualties to some extent.
After all, there are many enemies that cannot be dealt with by conventional means, such as swarms of highly venomous insects, which are a sign of entering the final stage...
Each Nightmare possesses combat power equivalent to Grade D superhuman. They are extremely agile, and their spiky tails can easily penetrate armor. Wherever they go, many floating turrets are severed, and the defense team and mercenaries are immediately plunged into a fierce battle, with casualties gradually increasing.
The fierce battle raged until dawn, when the remaining Nightmare finally subsided, bringing a long-awaited lull. At least a thousand soldiers perished that night, making it the most devastating battle since the beginning of the Calamity.
Countless corpses were put into body bags and transported back to the rear. Many soldiers' families lived in the city. They fought bloody battles not only because they were driven by a sense of mission to their tribe, but also to protect their families in the city. Their bodies would be claimed by their relatives, and loud wailing could be heard from time to time at the body identification site.
Comrades who were full of energy yesterday are now mutilated corpses overnight. The atmosphere on the position is extremely somber. The soldiers, exhausted after a night of fierce fighting, are numb and unable to remove their armor for the sake of emergency operations. They sit on the ground in twos and threes, staring in a certain direction with unfocused eyes, just blankly staring blankly.
Only the sight of their loved ones being separated by death could elicit a slight tremor in the soldiers' eyes. Many of them, thinking of the possibility that they too might one day be stuffed into body bags, and imagining the heartbroken expressions of their families, couldn't help but feel a deep sadness and sympathy.
Influenced by this atmosphere, even the most unruly mercenaries dared not act rashly, remaining silent and quietly organizing their equipment.
This scene reminded Han Xiao of Planet Aquamarine; no matter where in the interstellar space, the pain brought by war is the same.
Suddenly, a commotion arose nearby as a large group of field troops returned after changing shifts. The leader seemed to be highly respected among the Sunil people, and many soldiers paid their respects as he passed by, with some even standing up to salute.
The field teams have a reasonable rotation system. Once the replacements are in place, the previous team can return to rest. Players are part of the rotation personnel who take over this batch of field teams.
Han Xiao recalled that when he chatted with Reldon before, Relton seemed to have mentioned that the Sunil Race had two of the most powerful warriors who had reached the Grade B standard. They were mercenaries in interstellar space, paid huge sums of money every year, and were idols of the entire race.
At this moment, leading the returning wilderness team was one of the two Grade B mercenaries— Fagorna.
Sunil's top military officials were all present to welcome the group back.
Fagorna waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "We've lost many brothers, but we've brought back all the bodies we could find."
The crowd parted, and more than twenty body bags were brought out, revealing the faces of the corpses. They were all superhumans from the Sunil Race, Fumi was among them.
Han Xiao glanced around and didn't see Reldon's body. He looked up and saw Reldon standing in the line. Although he had lost two more arms and a leg, he was still breathing.
A senior military official said solemnly, "They are all heroes, and we will handle their funeral arrangements properly."
Fagorna said calmly, "That would be best."
The Sunil Race superhumans looked at their fallen comrade with sorrowful expressions, and the scene was filled with grief. The Sunil soldiers bowed their heads in remembrance of their hero.
Han Xiao observed this group of superhumans and noticed subtle differences. The group led by Reldon only showed grief and silently missed their comrades.
The other group of people, besides their grief, also showed a hidden anger and dissatisfaction.