Fatal Shot

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After setting up the M110 at a better-concealed position, Feng Luo began to observe the beetle swarm using his Eye of Thunder Scope equipped with night-vision. With the help of flares in the sky, Feng Luo was able to observe the rampaging Spray Beetle Boss among the swarm, 400 meters away.

It was a dark green beetle with a relatively large body. Although it was nowhere close to the size of the Steel Beetle Boss in the Town of Exiles, its height was more than four meters. It had a huge snake-shaped head and a lengthy throat, with a huge sac in the abdomen that stored its venom. The set of wings on its back were heavily degraded compared to other beetles. Its shell thickness seemed to be far thinner than the Steel Beetle, and hence, its defense should still be an acceptable range.

Spray Beetle (Level 39, Boss). Species no.: JCG-02335. Estimated HP: 200,000. XP-S3 chip compatibility: 69%.

Compared to the information gained from the Level-45 Steel Beetle back then in the Town of Exiles, the information gained from the Spray Beetle through the Eye of Thunder was more detailed. A certain type of counter-detection device embedded into the Steel Beetle after being captured by the rebels was likely the cause.

A biochip compatibility of 69 percent was undoubtedly a relatively high value. After all, the program of this type of chip was likely to be designed for the control of Steel Beetles only.

In fact, through his observations of the Steel Beetle, Feng Luo had discovered that the Commander class had a compatibility of 90 percent and above. It was over 95 percent for the Elite class and a whopping 99 percent compatibility for the Common class.

In other words, it would be a 100-percent success rate if he wishes to capture a Steel Beetle as a pet.

Yet, knowing that there could be a Perfect-class pet lying ahead of him, Feng Luo would certainly never accept a Normal Steel Beetle as a pet.

In contrast to compatibility, there was one issue Feng Luo had yet to figure out: the success rate of the pet chip he possessed if used on the “King Beetle.”

Judging by the current situation, the chip compatibility was influenced by not only the type of beetle but also the class of the target. For example, the compatibility rate of a Commander-class beetle was lower than the Elite class and was even lower than of the Common class.

What class would the King Beetle be, given that this Spray Beetle has already reached Boss class?

“A class that exceeds Boss?”

At present, the highest class in War was the Boss class. Since it had never been officially clarified whether there would be an existence that exceeded the Boss class, it was possible that it might just exist!

Besides, it was clear the King Beetle, which stayed hidden behind the beetle army, possessed a certain level of AI, as it knew to send out Scout Beetles to spy on player’s intel and use them to its advantage by launching a large-scale counterattack against the players.

It was no mistake; even the Scout Beetle’s existence had now been confirmed. One of the Scout players who had an ability similar to Mu Zi’s ability had been using a Rare-class recon meter to scout the place and had finally managed to discover the trace of a Scout Beetle near them.

It was a small flying beetle about the size of a fingernail. Its capabilities included disguise, reconnaissance, information transmission, and even signal jamming. Hence, it was obviously the Scout class of the beetle species.

The ability to send out Scouts to spy on enemy undoubtedly proved that the King Beetle behind this scheme possessed a certain level of intelligence.

It was important to know that Master Roland had reminded Feng Luo that this Biochip could not control intelligent creatures with high AI, such as humans or higher-level creatures with mutated intelligence!

Hence, Feng Luo was somewhat worried. With these two factors combined, would the King Beetle have an underwhelming compatibility with the biochip?

But even if the chance was only 10 percent, he would still try it out because it would be so tempting. After all, this might be a unique and extremely powerful pet, making it worth a try even with a rather low success rate.

******

The emergence of the Spray Beetle Boss had caused a lot of trouble, and the player’s defenses were broken through. Dozens of players were dead in a brief instant due to the beetles charging through the formation.

Fortunately, Mu Wu had anticipated the situation, and arrangements had been made accordingly. Hence, the players who participated in the war did not panic but instead began to retreat to the second line of defense prior to the warfare and kept on fighting using the remaining buildings as their posts.

At the same time, a message from the Lu Conglomerate headquarters command center had surprised everyone. They weren’t the only ones who had encountered the Boss. In fact, several Bosses had been spotted in three out of the four areas. A Level-39 Spray Beetle Boss had been encountered in the Southern Area under Nightless City’s control.

The Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group in the Eastern Area had also encountered a Level-43 Bladed Beetle Boss. It possessed terrific attacking power where even the Heavy Armor Warrior—along with his alloy shield—was sliced into half like a piece of paper by its three-meter-long blade. Plus, its speed was horrible beyond equal, as not even the Machine Gunner’s muzzle could keep up with its motion. As soon as it charged into the player’s formation, the slaughter began, and hundreds of white lights, signifying deaths, immediately came directly out of the ground.

The Western Area under the Veterans Tribe’s control had encountered a Level-40 Energy Beetle. It formed an energy barrier that not only blocked all long-range attacks but even reflected and refracted those attacks. One after another, Chain Fireballs, Rotating Wind Blades, and bullets were reflected back by the energy barrier, causing the Veterans Tribe to be utterly exhausted.

Although no Boss-class beetles were spotted in the Lu Conglomerate headquarters area, a total of seven Quasi-Boss-class monsters had emerged in the area.

What was a Quasi-Boss? Since they were considered Quasi-Bosses, this class normally indicated less attack power, lower HP, and a less powerful skill set compared to Boss-class monsters.

Yet these characteristics did not affect the threat they possessed. This was because they were capable of insta-killing most players at the same level despite having less attack power than a typical Boss-class monster!

They may have had lower HP pools than Bosses, but they fought in numbers—a total of seven of them! The name “Quasi-Boss” was a relative term when judging their less powerful skills. As a matter of fact, the skills of a Quasi-Boss Monster were much more powerful than a Commander Monster. Thus, it was no surprise that one of them could easily wipe out several people with its skill in the blink of an eye!

Therefore, the battle in the Northern Area was, in fact, the hardest, as the player casualties of the headquarters squad had exceeded 200 since the beginning of the battle. If not for the reinforcements from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group, who had recently replenished their forces, a forced retreat would have been imminent.

Three Bosses, seven Quasi-Bosses, and dozens of Commander-class Monsters and tens of thousands of Elite-class Monsters! The Beetle group in the ruins was far too powerful and had vastly exceeded the estimation done by the Lu Conglomerate command post.

I was important to note that in most of the areas on War, the highest-level monster was a Quasi-Boss. Some of them were even only guarded by a single Commander-class Monster. It was impossible for a second Boss monster to appear in an area with a Boss Monster under normal circumstances. Otherwise, a battle between monsters would break out until one of the Bosses was driven out.

This was what the players referred to as a situation in which “a King shall not see another King”! Yet three Bosses had shown up at once in the NC-5504 ruins.

No, to be accurate, there were four, as the most powerful Level-45 Steel Beetle Boss had been taken away by the rebels and had since died in the Town of Exiles. If that Steel Beetle had been present, the situation would have been out of hand and beyond saving.

Feng Luo believed the “Young Master,” Dark Night Stars would never have expected such a situation to ever happen. He had intended to save costs when building the city by fully utilizing the remaining urban facilities in the ruins. Yet he had never anticipated that the process would be so tough!

With a total of three Bosses, along with seven Quasi-Bosses and thousands of their minions, the outcome of the conquest was yet uncertain—even with the 1,000 newly recruited Elite players and a total of 4,000 men included in the equation.

Feng Luo thought he would start cursing as soon as he received the report. In fact, in the command room of the Southern Area just below him, Mu Wu was already frowning and clenching his teeth.

The main reason was that he was the one who had first proposed the location, and therefore, he had to be the one to blame. He carried more responsibilities than Dark Night Stars. But it wasn’t the time for an argument. He had invested too much manpower and money on this city-building mission. Therefore, failure was not acceptable!

Mu Wu kept on giving out commands through the mission channel, receiving intelligence, shouting, and giving out orders. His clothes were drenched in sweat.

At that moment, he had given his all.

******

Considering the current situation, there was some good news, too.

Due to the fact that all three Boss beetles had appeared at the same time, Feng Luo could justify the existence of a King Beetle behind the beetle group, and the AI ​​of the King Beetle must not have been too high. This was because a creature whose AI was close to human beings would never have mobilized its forces so sparsely when it possesses such a powerful force.

The best course of action would have been to stall the enemies in other areas with a small portion of the army while focusing its main forces on destroying the enemies in one area, then turn to another target. That would have been more efficient than fighting the enemies in every area, as the players weren’t put at an absolute disadvantage in the latter scenario. The current situation could be described as a war of attrition. Besides, there was no way for the monsters to last in attrition warfare when fighting against the players who could endlessly replenish themselves.

As Feng Luo thought about this, he felt a sigh of relief. He knew the chances of getting a King Beetle pet had risen again. He then picked up his M110 and resumed his journey of crazy hunting.

Normal attacks would not be too great a threat to Feng Luo since he had “Death Sense,” as long as it wasn’t some high-speed, long-range attack or a melee attack. Besides, with his visual perception enhanced twofold, his sniping accuracy and KS rate were surprisingly high even at night.

The Feng Luo’s rank had once again begun to slowly rise from 25th to 24th… 21st… 19th…

As an aside, since they weren’t able to hold up until the arrival of the Nightless City club’s reinforcements, Young Master Lin Aotian and his squad from the headquarters had therefore missed the night battle, which could have increased his score in a magnificent way. Young Master Lin, who had originally ranked 30th, had now fallen to below 150th.

Besides, the mission would have been long over by the time he respawned 12 hours later. In fact, judging by the level and scale of the fierce battle, the battle would be concluded roughly by that night—long before he could even respawn.