Chapter 787.2: Huh? How? Door? Open? Itself?

The Mutant Humans standing at the settlement entrance had no idea disaster was already upon them. They were still grunting at each other in conversation.

Then three gunshots rang out almost simultaneously and three heads burst into sprays of blood at nearly the exact same moment, red and white matter splattering across the ground.

“The New Alliance!” Seeing the sentries at the entrance fall, a Mutant Human standing behind the gate tower roared and raised its rifle, spraying bullets toward the entrance.

It fired for quite a while without seeing a single person. Before it realized it, the magazine ran dry. It hurriedly ripped out the empty magazine and reached for a fresh one, but before it could insert it, a quadcopter drone with a gun barrel mounted underneath flew over the gateway and stormed inside.

A burst of gunfire followed and its head exploded.

Coincidence led three players behind him and charged into the alley first. Their rifles fired controlled bursts, killing several Mutant Humans that tried to surround them. At the same time, the three squads divided into nine fireteams and entered the abandoned town from nine different directions.

The second platoon circled around to the settlement’s flank, launching a feint to draw away the Mutant Humans’ firepower.

Facing attacks from several directions at once, the Mutant Humans inside the town were completely overwhelmed.

Looking at the bodies scattered throughout the alley, a strength type player replaced his magazine and couldn’t help mocking them. “The Mutant Humans around Clearspring City were way smarter than these things.”

Another player beside him summarized, “Yeah, these guys suck. Probably new recruits.”

Mutant Humans weren’t actually stupid. They were just bad-tempered. According to veteran players, the Mutant Humans they had encountered around the outskirts of Clearspring City long ago had not only known how to make mines and traps, but could even manufacture their own rifles.

In the end, it had taken the help of their friends from the Pioneer to wipe those beasts out.

The combat footage from back then could still be found on the official forum, so it wasn’t just veteran players bragging.

However, the Mutant Humans here were completely different. Forget using terrain to fight. They didn’t even seem to understand the weapons in their hands.

The Torch Church appeared to have rapidly produced this batch of Mutant Humans through some special method.

But just like the Army’s clones grown at eight times normal speed, those Mutant Humans were far inferior in intelligence and experience to naturally grown greenskins.

60 vs 100... There was absolutely no suspense to the battle. It became a completely one-sided massacre!

Seeing how easy those Mutant Humans were to deal with, some of the players inevitably started getting overconfident.

And then, something suddenly changed.

A four-man team was attempting to cross an alley and enter the central square to search it when a gunshot suddenly cracked from directly ahead. The player at the front was instantly shot through the head.

“Sniper!”

“Scatter!”

The remaining three players were startled. They immediately stopped joking around on the communications channel and darted toward cover on both sides.

One player hid behind a concrete barrier while the other two smashed through a window and rolled into a building beside the alley.

Then another explosive crack rang out and the squad leader, who had just climbed into the building, happened to catch the scene from the corner of his eye.

The teammate hiding behind the concrete barrier was shot straight through along with his cover. Blood, flesh, and fragments of concrete sprayed everywhere.

“Holy shit?! What the hell was that?”

The player crouched beside the window stared wide-eyed, looking as though he had seen a ghost.

They had fought all the way from the outskirts of the town to its center without losing anyone. Then, in only a few seconds, two of them had gone down to two shots!

“It’s a Gauss rifle!” The squad leader grunted and crouched beside him with a grave expression.

Looking toward where his two teammates had fallen, he compared the direction with the map on his VM, circled the buildings directly ahead, and shouted into his radio, “Team A has made contact! Teams B and C, spread out! Push in from both sides and wait for the airstrike before engaging!”

After giving orders to the other two teams, the squad leader switched communications channels and continued shouting, “This is the second squad of the first platoon! We’ve encountered an enemy sniper! That bastard dropped two of our brothers! We need air support!”

A reply quickly came from the other end of the communications channel. “Copy. Can you lock down their position?”

The squad leader glanced toward the window but didn’t dare stick his head out, much less reveal that he was standing near it.

Grinding his teeth, he answered, “We don’t have their exact location, but we’ve marked the approximate area on the map... Those guys are definitely not Mutant Humans! They should be from the Torch Church’s Judgment Panel!”

“Understood. Coordinates synchronized with the air force. They’ll be there in 60 seconds!”

After ending the call, the squad leader gave the player beside him a look. The latter immediately understood, pulled a drone from his back, crouched low, moved to the other side of the building, and tossed it out. The quadcopter flipped through the air, quickly stabilized itself, then buzzed upward into the sky.

Its camera rapidly locked onto the sniper’s approximate position and transmitted the visual feed and relative coordinates to the approaching P-2 Lightning attack aircraft.

Teams B and C had already crept close to the sniper’s position and were nervously counting down.

60 seconds felt as long as an entire century when they were staring death right in the face.

The two sides remained locked in silent confrontation, but the thunder of autocannon fire suddenly shook the entire plaza!

Hundreds of large-caliber autocannon rounds poured down in an instant, smashing through an entire cluster of dilapidated buildings on the northern side of the square with overwhelming force.

Only after the flames and dust from the explosions surged into the sky did the roar of the autocannon and the scream of the attack aircraft’s engines belatedly sweep over the players’ heads.

“Phew!”

Seeing the aircraft streak past, the players on the ground were instantly energized.

Using the dust kicked up by the explosions as cover, the squad leader rolled out from behind his position, activated his exoskeleton, and charged toward the billowing cloud while shouting over the communications channel, “Surround them!”

The three teams immediately moved, attacking the ruins swept by the autocannon from three directions.

Sure enough, they spotted the retreating sniper, along with another exoskeleton-clad soldier beside him.

The Torch Church’s Judgment Panel!

The moment the players saw the equipment on those two, they immediately recognized who they were. Naturally, none of them were afraid. Instead, surprise and delight appeared on their faces.

“Holy shit, the Judgment Panel!”

“Elite mobs! Elite mobs are here!”

Although the two executioners had survived the airstrike, they had clearly taken significant injuries. Unwilling to get entangled with the encircling players, they rapidly withdrew.

Seeing the elite mobs trying to escape, the players naturally refused to let them go and immediately chased after them. But after pursuing them only a short distance through the twisting alleys, the squad leader suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Why did these two elite mobs feel like they were baiting them?

The more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed. He immediately reset the rally point coordinates on his VM map.

“Stop pursuit! Second squad, listen up! Everyone establish a defensive perimeter where you are!”

They had moved too far away from the rest of their teammates. If Judgment Panel executioners were lying in ambush ahead, their squad could easily be swallowed whole. There was a risk of letting the two snipers escape, but he wasn’t willing to gamble his teammates’ respawn cooldowns and equipment on it.

These guys are dangerous!

At the thought, excitement flashed in his eyes, and sweat began to gather in his palms.

Not from fear, but from exhilaration!

They had spent so much time bullying weaklings lately. At last, they had a chance to fight someone strong!

Static crackled through the communications channel.

Squad B Leader, “Boss, we’re not chasing?”

Squad C Leader, “Chase my ass! Didn’t you notice these two elite mobs are kiting us?”

Squad B Leader, “Holy shit?!”

At the same time the players stopped pursuing, the two retreating snipers gradually noticed what was happening behind them. The soldiers who had been chasing relentlessly had suddenly stopped.

The two exchanged a glance and one of them immediately reported the situation to the rear. “The fish slipped the hook. Enemy squad has stopped pursuit.”