Fatal Shot

“Theoretically speaking, this may be possible. The ocean of flowers surrounds the main base after all. For a tunnel-like this, it is obvious that it was constructed by humans.” Green Arrow said as her eyes brightened up. She spoke after she turned on the light source on her recon meter and checked out the structure of the tunnel.

As one of the top-five Heavy Armor Warrior of Storm City, Douchebag spoke in a surprised and dazed way, “If it can bring us to the main base, doesn’t that mean that we never had to go through the area around filled with monsters to enter the base? Holy f*ck, if we knew a shortcut like this earlier, he wouldn’t have had to suffer all those losses back at those earlier branch bases.”

Jing Kong answered with a bitter smile, “We did not have the structural map of the building. It’s impossible to know that an underground tunnel which is more than seven or eight hundred meters outside the base would exist. Based on the normal mission procedure, we always need to clear the branch bases first before entering the main base. It’s most likely a coincidence that we’ve arrived here.”

Sword Ki Long River was, just like always, quiet during the group’s discussion.

“Let’s go. We can’t go back up there right now anyway. It would be a good idea to explore this tunnel.” Phoenix pointed above her head before picking up her alloy sword to head forward into the tunnel, towards the main base.

The tunnel was over 10 meters deep. The section above their heads that was blown up earlier was also covered in dirt and mud mixed with the roots of plants measuring a few meters thick. With the players’ abilities, it would be quite difficult to break through it.

“Yeah, there’s no point in going out anymore. We’ve done what needs to be done. Jing Kong, does the main base also have monsters?” Green Arrow agreed with Phoenix’s point. With her recon meter on, she followed right behind her.

“It should be similar to the other branch bases. After all, the insides of these bases aren’t optimal living environments for monsters. However, there might be mechanic guards there.” Jing Kong answered uncertainly.

Concerning the idea of exploring the tunnel, no one objected to the suggestion.

While Feng Luo had a way to dig his way out of there, using the Commander-Grade Collector Beetle, he felt there was no need to do so as he was feeling quite expectant about getting to the main base through this tunnel.

As such, with extreme caution, everyone pulled out their weapons and walked along the dark and long underground tunnel.

As Jing Kong assessed, they did not encounter any monsters at the beginning of their trek. However, after walking around 100 meters, the group encountered an issue.

In their first turn since entering the tunnel, thick metallic railing appeared in front of them.

Green Arrow moved forward to investigate the metallic railing. She used her military knife and scratched at it before saying to the group, “The edge is completely rusted. The control program is also broken.”

The railing was probably controlled by an AI lock system. However, at that time, the edge of the fence had merged with the tunnel. It had probably been abandoned for a long time and had not been used, so it was natural that it could not be opened due to lack of use and maintenance.

“Let me try.” Phoenix volunteered and stepped forward, she was holding the translucent Legendary-Grade alloy sword Exquisite in her hands, she slashed powerfully at the metal railing.

“Clang!”

Sparks appeared around the metal railing as a crack appeared from the slash. However, the slash did not break the railing.

Exquisite had a B-Grade Destruction Coefficient, and yet it was still not able to cut through the metallic railing. It was evidence of the high quality of the material used to construct the railing.

“B-Grade Metal Defense Coefficient!” Jing Kong said while looking at the feedback information on his recon meter after her slash.

“Armor Breaking Slash!” Phoenix’s brows furrowed together. After hearing that, a surge of power concentrated in the alloy sword she was holding, and then the blade of her sword descended upon the railing again.

“Ka!”

This time, after sparks appeared, one of the metal railings was cut in half by her blade.

“My Armor Breaking Slash is Expert Level, progress at 80%. I’ll need around 10 minutes to create enough space for people to pass through,” Phoenix said after turning around.

“Ka!”

Suddenly, a golden flash appeared.

Sword Ki Long River, who remained silent throughout, held his Legendary-Grade golden alloy sword in his hands after also using the Armor Breaking Slash, and cut through another one of the metal railings.

“Now, we only need five minutes,” Phoenix said as she smiled brightly.

…

After around 30 minutes, with the combined effort of both the Light Armor Warriors and their Legendary-Grade alloy swords breaking through five metal railings, the group finally got another step closer to the main base.

“It looks like this tunnel is headed towards the main base.” Everyone seemed to understand this by then. As they gained understanding, they could not help but become more excited and increased their pace.

However, by the time they reached the location supposedly right beneath the main base, they were left stunned once more.

“This is the last alloy door. Its thickness is over 50 centimeters, and the material is also a lot harder than the earlier metal railings.” Jing Kong couldn’t help but take a deep breath after he saw the data displayed on his recon meter.

This place, which was supposedly connecting the tunnel to the main base, did not have metal railings blocking the way. Instead, it was an over 30 centimeter thick alloy door that had a Defense Coefficient that was higher than the metal railing from before.

“Clang!”

“It’s not working, the defense is too high,” Phoenix said after she used a skill and cut at the alloy door. However, as she looked at the slash mark that was only half an inch deep, she frowned once again.

Although one slash was capable of creating a half-inch opening, it did not seem like it was going to be possible for them to break through that door.

It was not only in consideration of the cooldown period of the Armor Breaking Slash but most importantly, it was due to the accuracy of every single slash.

Just like cutting down trees, one hack from the ax may get one depth of around one-twentieth. However, this does not mean that the person would need only 20 hacks to cut down the tree.

Since the alloy door’s surface was very smooth, there weren’t any other angles where they could exert even more force. This meant that the force generated from the slash had decreased to a certain degree.

Besides, one also had to consider the cooldown period of the Armor Breaking Slash. If they wanted to rely on this method to break through the door, they would need to continue slashing the door for at least 10 hours.

However, it was obvious that they did not have time to wait for this.

“Even a Boss-Grade monster wouldn’t be able to get through this door in a short amount of time. It looks like the system did not prepare a shortcut for us.” The group looked disappointed.

“What do we do then? Why don’t we re-trace our steps, go back, and see if there are any exits?” Jing Kong asked with a frown.

Feng Luo, who, like Sword Ki Long River, had not spoken ever since entering the tunnel, suddenly spoke. “Hold on, let me try first.”

“You want to try?” Douchebag glanced at Feng Luo. Although he believed and trusted in Feng Luo’s strength after their battle in the arena, he was still very doubtful.

While Snipers had amazing armor breaking abilities, theoretically, they were not stronger than an alloy sword paired with the Armor Breaking Slash skill. If Feng Luo were to break this door down, he would need at least 5,000 bullets. Otherwise, it would be impossible. Even if he did not take into account the number of bullets, the rifle itself would also be damaged due to overheating and overuse.

Regardless, the main issue was which sniper would ever bring so many bullets with him?

However, since Feng Luo volunteered, the others simply backed down and observed.

In particular, Phoenix and Big Pineapple seemed to already know that Feng Luo had something up his sleeve.

After everyone retreated a certain distance, a black hole appeared on the ground right in front of the door, and a shadow started to emerge from within.

“It’s summoning that type of beetle.” Apart from Phoenix and Big Pineapple, the others from the tactical squad had also seen Feng Luo summon the Bladed Beetles before. As such, when they saw the black hole, they naturally thought that was what was happening.

However, Jing Kong and the others were still doubtful. While the scythe-like blades and the tails of the Bladed Beetles were very sharp, as displayed in their previous battles, to cut through that alloy door… It should still technically impossible.

However, by the time the first beetle crawled out of the wormhole and when they saw the green shell and appearance of the beetle which was completely different from the Bladed Beetle, they instantly understood.

24K did not “summon” the Bladed Beetle which they have seen before.

It was not the Scout Beetle that usually hid in the sky, which only Jing Kong saw before from afar through a Legendary-Grade item.

However, at that moment, Jing Kong and the others suddenly had another question on their mind…

“Spray Beetle. Level-42 Elite-Grade creature… It is a new type of beetle. Just how many types of beetles can his pet summon?”

However, Jing Kong and the others had a new question on their mind.