Volume 13 Ancient Bronze City Ruins Chapter 630: The Open Tower Gate
"It's not a good idea to drag it on like this." Ke Lan immediately ordered, "Valentina, you and Layton go around to the right side of the enemy, Asano Akira and I go around to their left side, and cooperate with the mobile forces to form a three-way encirclement. Prioritize killing the guy who can use the energy shield! Ze Luo, Sanshisan, Ivan, the three of you stay where you are and be ready for emergency at any time!"
The energy shield released by the opponent is not fully covering. It can only block firepower in one general direction, and is completely unable to defend against attacks from the side and rear. This style of play of Ke Lan has a very familiar name among shooting game players: "Pulling the Gun Line".
The distance between the Zhongsi Guards and them was only a hundred meters. With the speed of Ke Lan and his men, they had rushed to the side of this group of modified humans in almost the blink of an eye.
The first to attack was the Blasphemer mecha's plasma-charged cannon. A ball of plasma was seen spitting out from the muzzle. It didn't seem to be flying very fast, but in the blink of an eye it exploded among the crowd of Zhongsi Guards. The dozen or so cyborgs in the core area of the explosion were instantly vaporized, leaving no trace. The cyborgs that were a little further away from the explosion location barely left behind a charred remains, or some transplanted parts with strong heat resistance.
With this one shot, almost half of the cyborgs were wiped out... Although the visual effect showed extraordinary results, Ke Lan did not relax at all.
First of all, the primary target of the plasma-charged artillery, the modified human who could release the energy shield, was not killed. When the plasma shot into the crowd, it instantly retracted the open energy shield and turned it into an extremely thick cocoon-like protective cover, completely covering its body inside.
Although he was also in the core area of the plasma explosion, the raging energy storm and the high temperature of millions of degrees failed to break its protective shield in the first time. Instead, the subsequent shock wave "pushed" it out of the core area of the explosion.
Secondly, although this plasma cannon killed more than a hundred cyborgs, Ke Lan could tell at a glance that those who were killed were the weaker ones. In the core area of the explosion, at least twenty cyborgs escaped before the plasma exploded. Whether in terms of reaction ability, mobility or physical strength, these surviving cyborgs were on a completely different level than their companions who were killed instantly.
If we make a more intuitive comparison, it is equivalent to the gap between Ke Lan, an ordinary person without special abilities, and Valentina, an ace pilot of the practical system, in the field of mecha operation.
Although the number of cyborgs killed accounted for half of the Zhongsi Guard, their actual combat power was perhaps only one-fifth, or even less.
"Valentina, how much time is left before the next plasma cannon fires cool down?" Ke Lan immediately asked in the team channel .
"About three hundred seconds."
Three hundred seconds? Ke Lan was slightly startled. In his memory, the cooling time of the plasma-charged cannon of the Blasphemer mecha he originally drove was about fifty seconds, while the cooling time of the one given to Valentina was six times longer than the original one. He didn't know whether it was due to the wear and tear of the cannon itself or some other reason.
But no matter what the reason was, they could not count on the second plasma cannon for the time being. Five minutes was more than enough for them to move back and forth in the formation of the Zhongsi Guards several times.
"Leaton will be responsible for the fire cover, and everyone else, prepare for hand-to-hand combat." After Ke Lan finished speaking, the blood-red giant claw in his hand had turned into a heavy blunt sword without an edge - his primary target was still the cyborg who could release the energy shield. When facing an energy shield that mainly relies on ablation to resist physical attacks, the heavy and thick blunt weapon is much more effective than a thin blade .
Except for Augustus, the other three rushed directly into the formation of the Zhongsi Guard.
Ke Lan swung the blunt sword in his hand and smashed it, directly sending several cyborgs flying. However, when he turned around, he saw that behind Asano Akira, there were already densely packed corpses on the ground... All the cyborgs who rushed towards him were like tofu blocks hitting the blade, and they were broken into four or five pieces in the moment they passed by...
But the most exaggerated one was the Blasphemer mecha operated by Valentina. Although the plasma cannon had entered the cooling time, she only relied on the armor-piercing sword and in just a few seconds, she had chopped down nearly thirty cyborgs, twice as many as Asano Akira.
On the contrary, Layton's medium-range fire cover yielded almost no kills, and the two multi-barreled Vulcan cannons completely wiped out the enemy.
Of course, this was not his fault. Most of the modified people rushed towards Ke Lan and the other two. In order not to hurt friendly forces, Layton could only target those modified people wandering on the edge of the battlefield. However, these modified people who dared to be alone were very mobile and difficult to lock on. Even if they were occasionally injured, it would be difficult to cause any impact on them with the recovery ability of these modified people who were parasitic on the seeds of erosion.
"Layton, don't worry about us. Concentrate your firepower and suppress the cyborg who can release energy shields!" Ke Lan quickly discovered this and said in the communication channel.
"Okay." Layton responded somewhat dully, turned his head and aimed the muzzle at the cocoon-shaped energy shield, pouring out all his depressed emotions on the bullet.
Not only Layton, but all the firepower from the mobile forces was focused on the energy shield of this cyborg - but after he shrunk the energy shield, the strength of the shield increased several times at a level visible to the naked eye. The colorful transparent shield that was originally like a soap bubble now looked like a thick piece of amber. If it weren't for the various energy weapons bombarding it and creating dense ripples, it would be easy to give people the illusion that the energy shield had become solid.
"There's absolutely no sign of the energy shield weakening... Is this thing so abnormal?" Layton pressed the "fire" button on the top of the joystick with both hands, and kept muttering, "The shield strength of this thing is comparable to that of a fortress-level shield generator, but that thing alone occupies hundreds of square meters. How can an indigenous biological organ that can be stuffed into a human stomach have such a high conversion efficiency and output power?"
"In fact, this energy shield was not released by this cyborg." Ze Luo suddenly said shockingly, "I have observed it for a long time, and I have never detected any energy fluctuations in it."
"W-what do you mean?" Layton asked in astonishment. "If it wasn't it that released the energy shield, then who else could have released it?"
"I can only be sure that his body is not the energy source of this shield." Ze Luo said.
"I think I have vaguely guessed the truth..." Ke Lan made a 180-degree turn and smashed the head of a cyborg whose skin was covered with a thick layer of stratum corneum with the blunt sword in his hand. He said, "This cyborg... the transplanted organs in his body may only have a guiding function... In other words, he is just a 'remote control'."
"Then where did this shield come from? This guy doesn't have any other equipment on him!" Augustus threw the two Vulcan cannons that had used up all their bullets on the ground, and pulled out the electromagnetic sniper cannon on his back - this sniper cannon was the one that Valkyrie had used in the Molten Mine, but after many improvements and being connected to Augustus' reactor, its power was increased by nearly fifteen times compared to when it was in Valkyrie's hands... Not to mention penetrating the wreckage of the building, even breaking the entire intact building in half would be no problem.
However, the first shot from the sniper cannon, which was fully charged, simply melted into the energy shield without causing even a slightly larger ripple.
"The shield it controls should come from the ancient bronze city ruins itself." Ke Lan said, "What we have been bombarding should be the energy shield from the ruins."
"What the hell? No way?" Layton subconsciously glanced overhead - a shield that even so many warships couldn't break, let alone their firepower. Compared with the "fierce battle" in the sky, their attack might not even be enough to scratch the surface.
"Isn't it said that the energy shield can only intercept flying objects in the air? Why does it appear on the ground?" Leighton still couldn't believe it.
"No one has ever said that the energy shield of the ruins cannot appear on the ground. We just have a wrong understanding because of preconceived notions..." Ke Lan said, "Ghost Owl and his companions can encounter light walls moving close to the ground in the outer ring area of the ruins, not to mention that this is the core control area of the ruins."
"No, this doesn't make sense." Layton fired another shot at the energy shield, as if he didn't believe it. "If the energy shield in the core control area can be activated on the ground, then why not just stop us outside? Why let us in, and then snipe and send these modified monsters to stop us?"
"Then I don't know. Perhaps this thing has limitations and can only be activated with the help of a 'guide'. And the thing in the stomach of that cyborg should be a 'guide'."
"So what should we do now? If the three fleets can't break the shield, then we can't break it either."
Layton said, lowering the muzzle of the gun in despair.
"Ignore this guy for now and get rid of the other modified humans in the Zhongsi Guard... At least from the current performance, the 'Guide' can only use these shields for defense and cannot use them for attack. It's just a hard-shelled turtle. We can't break it, so we just go around it." Ke Lan said.
"That makes sense. Then can I choose close combat? I've been itching to do it after watching you guys fight for so long." Layton said.
"You're out of ammunition?"
"I still have 14 rounds left in the electromagnetic sniper cannon, but it has too strong a penetrating ability, and you guys are moving so fast, I'm worried about accidental injuries."
"Are you okay with close combat?"
"Hey, Ke Lan, do you look down on me? After all, I recently got the M9-level license, and I'm only one step away from becoming an ace." Layton shouted.
"There's only a fine line between M9 and ace pilots? Can you fit several galaxies in this line?" Ke Lan complained. In the mecha competition, those M9-level pilots were almost pinned to the ground by the ace pilots, not to mention combat ace pilots like Valentina. Even ace pilots from sports clubs have an insurmountable gap between them and M9-level pilots.
"I just don't have time to take the promotion test—"
"Okay, be careful." However, Ke Lan finally agreed to Layton's request. With the performance and armor strength of Augustus, even if he stood there stupidly, those modified people might not be able to hurt Layton sitting in the cockpit.
"Okay!" After getting the approval, Layton immediately swallowed all the complaints he had later, grasped the two combat daggers that popped out from the hidden slots in the arm armor, and charged directly into the battle group.
…
That alien insect-type cyborg seemed to be the most powerful one among the Zhongji Guards. Although there were many troublesome guys among the remaining cyborgs, they were killed by the two unreasonable hackers Asano Show and the Blasphemer Mecha before they could exert their strength. Later on, Ke Lan and Layton could only pick up the small fish and shrimps that escaped the net. Most of the cyborgs died at the hands of Asano Show and Valentina.
"Alright." Layton pulled the combat dagger out of the chest of a crustacean cyborg, and then used the close-range machine gun mounted on Augustus' shoulder to fire a few active ammunition at zero range, killing the erosion seed in the opponent's body. "There is only one left."
Just as he said, at this moment, the only cyborg on the battlefield was the "big belly" wrapped in the cocoon-shaped energy shield.
"The battle lasted for twenty-five minutes." Ke Lan said to the commander of the mobile force, "We shouldn't waste any more time on this guy. My suggestion is to ignore it and go directly to the core tower."
"Well," the commander nodded, "Should we leave a few people behind to watch over it?"
"No need. This guy hasn't shown any attack methods since the beginning of the battle. Without other cyborgs, he poses no threat to us. If you leave people here, you will be easily attacked by other enemies." Ke Lan said, "It is better to concentrate your forces to break through the core tower, which is the key point of the entire battle."
"Understood."
…
…
After destroying this loyal guard, the airborne team did not encounter any obstacles and reached the base of the core tower very smoothly.
Like the tower body, the base is also a hexagonal column with each side about fifty meters long. In the center of each side, there is a fifteen-meter-high and ten-meter-wide gate.
The six doors were all open, but nothing could be seen from the outside. Even the light from the searchlight would be completely swallowed up by the darkness in an instant.
"Should we... go in?" Layton was the first to speak, "I always feel that... it's not a good place in there."
"I feel the same way," Thirty-Three continued. "To be honest, just looking through these doors makes me feel like something is crawling up my spine..."
"It's probably just psychological factors." Ivan looked at him and said.
"What about you? Do you have this feeling?" Thirty-three asked immediately.
"...Yes." After a moment's silence, Ivan nodded.
