Lord of Prayer - Chapter 333 - 223: Avengers Alliance (Part 2)
BOOM!
Flames erupted, and the tank instantly became a blazing fireball, shattering into pieces.
“Fuck, that’s a ’Fiery Fire’ anti-tank missile! They actually managed to build one of those things!”
In the tank next to them, a woman in goggles stared in shock. Her ID was [Good Bull’s Slider]. “Fall back, fall back!” she cried out. “I don’t want to get turned into barbecue!”
The words had barely left her mouth when the ground trembled violently. A Steel Giant was charging toward them.
“What the hell is that?!”
The three of them stared, dumbfounded. Where did a Mecha come from?!
The radar hadn’t detected a thing!
“It must be equipped with an anti-radar Matrix,” [Good Bull’s Slider] said through gritted teeth. “This is insane. How did someone manage to build a War Mecha? Did they drag an entire Forging workshop in here? Retreat, retreat, retreat! Fall back now!”
There was no doubt about it—they’d hit a steel wall.
“’To have friends come from afar, is it not a joy?’—A friend has traveled a great distance to challenge me. How could I not give him a proper fight?”
Zhou Chen’s laughter echoed through their comms channel, and the color drained from their faces. Their comms had been hacked!
The Steel Mecha closed the distance in the blink of an eye and drew a massive Chainsaw Sword from its back. The sharp teeth of the blade glinted with a heart-stopping, cold light.
A deafening roar erupted, like the pounding of a heart.
The Chainsaw Sword came down. The blade spun madly, cutting and sending a shower of sparks into the air as it effortlessly tore the tank Chariot apart. Metal peeled back as layers of thick armor were sawn through like paper.
The tank was split in two diagonally, and its upper half crashed to the ground. The player inside was already gone, having been teleported out of the arena.
Inside the Defender Mecha, Zhou Chen whistled cheerfully. He abruptly sidestepped to dodge a shell from the neighboring tank, then swung his Chainsaw Sword around, shattering the tank’s turret. He followed up with a vertical slash, the high-speed blade cutting down and completely wrecking the tank in front of him.
[Good Bull’s Slider], the last remaining member of the four-person team, felt her eyelid twitch uncontrollably. Without a moment’s hesitation, she threw the tank into reverse, slammed the accelerator to the floor, and beat a hasty retreat.
“Hmph. Trying to run?”
The Defender Mecha’s optical sensors flared. Six vector thrusters on its back roared to life, spewing brilliant light. A powerful boost sent it hurtling through the air in pursuit. The Chainsaw Sword tore through all defenses like they were nothing, slicing the tank in half from top to bottom and completing the triple kill in one simple, brutal, and fluid motion.
“He’s that good?”
Chengzi was stunned. She never thought this Battle Armor could be so powerful in Zhou Chen’s hands. That close-range dodge alone was something no ordinary person could pull off. It required incredibly sharp reflexes—or even the ability to predict the attack.
“Now I see why his ID is [Joyful Sawman]. He’s a natural with that Chainsaw Sword… Wait, I remember!” Li Yiliang slapped his forehead. “Fuck, he’s the guy wanted by the American Chainsaw Murder Association! I saw a post about it when I was browsing the dark web.”
A while back, the American Chainsaw Murder Association put out a warrant for an Ascender named Zhou Chen because he had contained their signature Forbidden Object: the C-220·Bloodthirsty Chainsaw Sword.
“So it’s him…” Ding Yuan said in realization.
Just then, the livestream’s comment section was suddenly flooded with bullet comments.
“Give us back the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw! Give us back the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw!!”, “Return the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw immediately, or in three days, we’ll turn you to dust and scatter your ashes!”, “Give the chainsaw back now!”, “Please return the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw.”, “The Association welcomes new enthusiasts. Please inquire on the dark web if you are interested.”…
At a glance, it was a torrent of spam from members of the American Chainsaw Murder Association. Colonel Guan’s eye twitched. “Where are the super-mods? Get banning! Network surveillance, get a move on! Trace their IPs and arrest every last one of them!”
Before long, all the offending accounts were permanently banned. Words like “chainsaw” and “Bloodthirsty Chainsaw” were added to the profanity filter, and the comment section instantly fell silent.
“Oho, so that’s the origin of the [Joyful Sawman] nickname. Any pros here have more dirt on him?”
“There are threads on the forums. Pretty much every noteworthy contestant has been doxxed already. This guy’s a Gold Medal Operator for the Star Association and an Honorary Knight of the Laine Kingdom. No wonder he’s so powerful.”
“Huh? An Honorary Knight of the Laine Kingdom? What did he do to earn that?!”
Colonel Guan watched the comments, raising an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn’t expected Zhou Chen to have this other title. Still, their situation was about to become very dangerous.
“After that last battle, the Slaying Alliance has pinpointed the location of Zhou Chen’s squad and is now making intense preparations. Predictably, they are about to launch an operation against Zhou Chen and his team—an act of revenge.
Hmm… If you ask me, it would be more fitting if they just called themselves the Avengers Alliance.”
·
“Reporting. We’ve spotted Zhou Chen and his team. They just easily wiped the four-person squad of [Pinkish-Red Fan Leader], [Turkey-Flavored Rice Cracker], [Milky-White Snow Child], and [Good Bull’s Slider]. They are currently looting the spoils.”
A scout in a white ghillie suit, wearing an anti-surveillance Matrix, lay prone on the edge of a snowy cliff, watching everything through binoculars as he reported, “They’ve successfully built a Defender VII War Mecha, piloted by Zhou Chen. In my judgment, it poses a massive threat. The other three are on an attack helicopter.
That helicopter is very different from the last time we saw it. It looks like it’s been modified a few more times—both its firepower and maneuverability have increased. I recommend we take it out first.”
“Understood. Continue your surveillance. The bait has been deployed,” came the voice of Dragon Lady Philis over the comms.
「In the distance.」
After finishing their looting, Zhou Chen’s team activated their scanner to search for other contestants in the area.
“There’s a seven-man team five kilometers out. They seem tough. Should we go after them?” Chengzi asked.
“A seven-man team?” Zhou Chen considered it. “I think we can check it out. If we can’t win, we run.
We’re past the initial farming stage, so we don’t really need more resources. Our main objective is to eliminate other contestants, so we can go straight for a full-on bombardment.”
“Good point. Let’s go take a look.”
The four of them were in immediate agreement and set off.
A distance of five kilometers was practically next door. It wasn’t long before the four of them reached the vicinity of the snowy mountain and began surveying from a safe distance.
“I’ve got a scan. The seven of them are hiding in a cave at the summit. Let’s just bomb them directly,” Chengzi suggested.
“Sounds good. I’ll provide cover from nearby,” Zhou Chen agreed.
The helicopter pulled away, steadily gaining altitude until it was nearly level with the peak. It hovered off to the side, its missile pods opened, and dozens of missiles poured out, slamming into the mountainside. A chain of explosions erupted, melting the snow and scorching the rock face black.
But Chengzi’s expression suddenly changed. The moment they opened fire, the scanner showed the seven people leaping directly out of the cave, as if… as if they knew the bombardment was coming!
A sense of foreboding rose in her heart.
The next second, a powerful electromagnetic pulse erupted from the summit. A long-buried jammer activated, trying to disrupt the helicopter’s systems. Luckily, the core equipment was protected by an Alchemy Matrix, and after a few violent shudders, the chopper stabilized.
“It’s an ambush!” Chengzi yelled.
Zhou Chen’s heart lurched. He then saw hundreds of crimson missiles rising from within the mountain, screaming toward him.
’Shit…’ His hair stood on end. Even with his armor, the combined force of hundreds of missiles would be more than enough to obliterate him.
The vector thrusters on the armor’s back snapped open, firing at maximum power!
A torrent of brilliant light erupted, kicking up a hurricane of wind. The Defender Armor accelerated to its maximum speed, weaving and dodging to evade the falling missiles.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A thunderous tremor shook the ground as dozens of figures clad in heavy, steampunk-style Battle Armor charged forward amidst the roaring blasts.
In the surrounding safe zones untouched by the bombardment, figures began to emerge. Some rose from snowdrifts, some leaped down from the mountainsides, and some crawled out from hidden tunnels underground. Even the trees began to move, deactivating their optical camouflage to reveal contestants armed with guns.
In an instant, enemies were everywhere!
