Chapter 648 - 618: Rapid Advance

Facing the rapidly approaching Hunter, the group was a little tense, but having already prepared themselves, they didn’t panic at all.

Qian Xingxiu was the first to act.

He raised a hand, and countless points of starlight flared to life, instantly enveloping the sprinting Hunter. The next moment, the lights connected, forming into Starlight Chains.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

Almost instantly, the Starlight Chains snapped one after another. This was because the Superpower infused within them had been completely drained.

At the same time, however, Qian Xingxiu was constantly casting more Starlight Chains, binding the Hunter in place.

For that brief moment, the Hunter was truly immobilized.

Although Qian Xingxiu could likely only hold it for two or three seconds, that was more than enough time.

The others had already sprung into action.

The second attack came from Liu Miaomiao’s Life Control Superpower. The Hunter’s Life Force was rapidly siphoned away.

This caused the creature’s body to weaken rapidly, and the force of its struggles diminished even further.

BOOM!

At the same time, a watermelon-sized Elemental Energy Bomb slammed into the Hunter.

The terrifying explosion instantly sent the abandoned vehicles on both sides of the road tumbling away, while the Hunter’s arms were blasted into a bloody pulp.

This was one of the applications of Yuan Zheng’s Elemental Power Ball Superpower, capable of unleashing terrifying damage in an instant.

This rapid succession of attacks left the ambushing Hunter utterly baffled. It couldn’t comprehend how it had fallen into such a deadly trap in a matter of moments.

But it had no time to ponder this, because in the next instant, a three-meter-tall King Kong Giant Ape charged through the violent shockwave and appeared right before it.

A warhammer weighing over a hundred pounds was swung with immense force in the King Kong Giant Ape’s hands. Then, with a single downward smash, the Hunter’s head was completely obliterated.

Yan Feijie, who had transformed into a swallow and was just about to dive down from the sky, couldn’t help but curse when he saw this. "Damn it! Hong Xiuyuan, you could’ve at least saved some for me!"

"Hah! You’d have done the same thing in my position. Don’t blame me just because you’re slow," Hong Xiuyuan retorted with a smirk.

Yan Feijie was exasperated. ’Was I slow?’

Yuan Zheng’s ultimate move was an indiscriminate, area-of-effect attack. With his low Defense Power, Yan Feijie didn’t dare charge through the blast’s aftershock.

But Hong Xiuyuan, banking on the high Defense Power from his King Kong Giant Ape transformation, had brazenly tanked a wave of damage just to snatch the kill. What could Yan Feijie even say to that?

The others were even more speechless. If even Yan Feijie couldn’t get a piece of the action, what hope did the rest of them have? Little Fatty had just taken two steps forward, weapon in hand, when the Hunter died.

It made him wonder if they’d just fought a fake Mutated Zombie.

Lin Xinghai had, of course, witnessed the entire scene. To be honest, he was rather surprised by the group’s performance.

’That was the result of just a few people working together, and there are 49 of them in total. If they all attack with proper coordination,’ Lin Xinghai estimated, ’they might even stand a chance against a Third Level Mutated Zombie.’

’Of course, that only applies to Mutated Zombies with weaker Defense Power. If they ran into a Death Claw or an Armored Corpse, they probably couldn’t break through its defense even if they all attacked at once.’

After a moment’s thought, he spoke up. "Everyone’s performance was excellent. But to ensure everyone gets a chance to fight, let’s split into five teams from now on. Ten people per team. You’ll take turns dealing with any Mutated Zombies that charge us."

"If we’re dealing with a First Level Mutated Zombie, one team will handle it. If it’s a Second Level Mutated Zombie, two teams will engage. Go ahead and form your groups now."

The others nodded in agreement at Lin Xinghai’s arrangement. This way, they wouldn’t have to just stand by and watch whenever a Mutated Zombie appeared.

The teams formed quickly. Everyone had a rough idea of each other’s abilities by now, so the teams were all fairly balanced in strength.

Of course, one of the five teams only had nine members, but that wasn’t an issue. All they had to do was assign an extra Special Class Student to that group.

With the teams sorted, the group continued on their way, quickly clearing out the Abyssal Creatures that appeared on the road.

As he had said he would, Lin Xinghai significantly slowed his pace of gunning down the Abyssal Creatures.

Occasionally, a few Abyssal Creatures even managed to rush up to the group and launch an attack or two.

Lin Xinghai’s tactic of "going easy" on them indeed had the desired effect. The swarms of Abyssal Creatures they encountered next were no longer scared off by his presence alone.

On the other hand, the members of the Xinghai Squad were having a rather difficult time.

Little Fatty stared at the finger-thick strand of spider silk stuck to his Alloy Shield. He quickly pulled out a vial of Corrosive Solution and sprayed the silk, dissolving the adhesive before daring to take out his Vibrating Dagger and slice it off.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. He had it easy; some squad members had gotten the stuff stuck directly to their bodies, nearly ripping their protective suits when they tried to pull it off.

"Boss, maybe you could ramp up the firepower a little?" Little Fatty said after a moment of hesitation.

"I’m already taking care of ninety percent of the Abyssal Creatures. If you can’t even handle the last ten percent, what will you do when I’m not around?" Lin Xinghai replied, unmoved.

Little Fatty’s expression soured. ’If Lin Xinghai weren’t here, we wouldn’t dare to stand so brazenly in the middle of the street, attracting these Abyssal Creatures to attack us in the first place!’

But he could only keep these thoughts to himself. He desperately extended his Perception Power, trying his best to track the movements of every Petrifying Spider to avoid getting sprayed by their silk again.

Despite these minor setbacks, the team’s advance was not slow at all; in fact, it was quite fast. Everyone had to jog just to keep up with the Armored Vehicle.

Only encounters with Mutated Zombies could slow their pace.

...

As Lin Xinghai’s group rapidly pushed down the street, the 56th Mechanized Infantry Division dispatched its own "cleanup crew."

This was an elite force of 500 soldiers, equipped with a full 30 Armored Vehicles and 20 Mechas.

The regimental commander leading them had reached the Body Shaping Realm Middle Stage, and he had even requisitioned the division’s only Rare Level Mecha for the mission.

It was safe to say that this team’s overall strength was no less than any of the student squads.

Even so, as the team entered the Poisonous Fog District, every soldier’s face was grim.

"Condition One alert. We’re going in," the commander, Bu Pengyun, said in a low voice after taking a deep breath.

He was well aware that while this was just a battlefield cleanup mission, anything could happen the moment they entered the green poisonous fog.

A simple, easy-difficulty mission like this could turn into a hell-level nightmare in the blink of an eye.