Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 999: Stopping the Insect Swarm
"I'll go intercept those bugs." Asano Akira, who was sitting on an ammunition box piled nearby, stood up and clenched the scabbard of his sword.
He once "lost" this sword in the Gray Mist Forest. It was a top-level illusion combined with real scenes. The environment around Asano Akira was real, but the "swordsman" who fought against him did not exist... That came from his distorted cognition, including the fact that he had lost contact with the sword.
Asano Akira's biggest reliance is his sword, and losing his sword is his biggest fear. Although the illusion has no consciousness, it can induce the most fearful things in people's hearts - the Gray Fog Forest and the Tower of Babel, as well as the underwater hive city are integrated. Some of the residual divine power that escaped from the hive city can be used slightly to make the fog in the Gray Fog Forest have a similar function to the "dome" on the third floor of the hive city.
The only difference between the two is that the illusion of the Gray Mist Forest can be controlled by the Tower of Babel, while the illusion cast by the dome on the third floor of the Hive City can only be broken away by the will of the person who is affected... It is for this reason that everyone else who enters the Gray Mist Forest can return to normal, but Thirty-three is still trapped in the nightmare.
In fact, Asano Akira did not encounter any enemies in the gray fog forest, and the sword never lost contact with him. To use an old Internet joke, he was actually fighting wits and courage with the air in the thick fog for several days...
Although the enemy was imaginary, the damage to the sword was real. When Asano Akira was released from the illusion by Ke Lan, the sword made of Nino alloy was already in tatters - of course, in contrast, there was an open space of more than two hectares in the Gray Mist Forest that was completely razed to the ground.
Later, Layton asked Asano Akira if he wanted him to make a new sword. After all, with Asano Akira's current ability, he could implant consciousness tentacles into any weapon and didn't have to stick to the original sword.
If we use the power system in cultivation novels as an analogy, it is like a person who has just learned to control a magic weapon. He can only control the magic weapon that is bound to him. But when he reaches a higher level, he can mobilize not only the magic weapon on his body, but even a leaf or a grain of sand on the ground with just a flick of his finger.
However, Asano Akira rejected Layton's proposal and only asked Layton to repair the broken sword.
Although it is understandable that Asano Akira has a special feeling for this sword, everyone in the God Hunting Group also unanimously feels that with Asano Akira's current strength, it is a bit of a waste to only use such a sword. So they used the battle sword as the mother blade, and forged six wakizashi and kaiton style sub-blades . When Asano Akira uses the mother blade to fight, he can divide a part of his mental power and use these six sub-blades to launch sneak attacks on the enemy from different angles.
The number of six sub-blades was decided by Asano Akira himself. This method of attack is more about precision than quantity. Increasing the number will inevitably lead to a decrease in controllability and may even cause distraction, which will be counterproductive.
From a certain perspective, Asano Akira's ability is actually somewhat similar to Sanshisan's, but Sanshisan can only control a single Nino alloy, while Asano Akira's control ability is essentially to "materialize" his mental power after increasing it countless times. Not only Nino alloy, but any physical object can become his controlled object as long as it is wrapped in his mental power.
Layton even felt that it was a bit of a waste to build six sub-blades. It would be better to make six guns and do an "American Iai"... or just do it in one go and build six floating cannons from the Gundam worldview - anyway, in the original background setting, weapons like "floating cannons" are all controlled by mental power, which is not much different from telekinesis.
However, Asano Akira also rejected this proposal. In this regard, Layton's evaluation is: "Asano Akira is a stubborn guy. He insisted on making it a close combat weapon... How cool is the floating cannon? Imagine that you are fighting with the enemy with swords. After a few moves, both sides retreat to breathe. At this time, you snap your fingers and six floating cannons float up behind you, directly blasting the opponent to pieces. Then you say, "My lord, I'm going to eat shit"... This is a pretentious guy, I give him 100 points!"
…
"Can you stop them by yourself?" The Hound frowned. "How about this? Except for Layton, you stay here to control the launcher, and all of us go to the deck to block them..."
At this point, the Hound turned his head and glanced at Chi Hanfeng, and asked, "Old Chi, are your hands still shaking? Can you still drive the mecha?"
Chi Hanfeng closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them again, his expression was like that of a different person: "...Yes."
" Okay then. Everyone on the Yaguna Tor, whether they are in the command system or the logistics system, take up your weapons and follow us to the deck... As long as there is a bug that passes through the Yaguna Tor's energy shield, even if there is only one, we must not let it pass!"
…
Including the "living CPU weapons" implanted with the elite soldiers' consciousness before their death and the wounded who were still recuperating on the ship, there were only less than a thousand troops on the Yaguna Tor. However, this force composed of the old, weak, sick and disabled resolutely walked out of the safety of the ship and came to the open outer deck of the Yaguna Tor.
"There are still too few people..." Chi Hanfeng frowned, "The area that needs to be defended is too large. If the few people are dispersed, the distance between each person is dozens of meters, and we can't take care of it all."
"I know we can't take care of everything. We don't need to defend the entire deck. We just need to protect the launcher." The Hound shouted, "Everyone, follow me to the starboard side and shrink the defense line... We can only hold on until the pulse bomb is launched, and then we will win!"
The swarms of insects that swooped down from the treetops have surrounded Yagunakotor, and their numbers are still increasing. They continue to pour out from the treetops, endlessly... A part of the swarms have gathered together, forming a ball to attack Yagunakotor's energy shield, but the number of individuals in these "insect swarms" is not enough and the diameter of the sphere is not big enough. They are burned to ashes in the process of passing through the energy shield, leaving only some ashes that fall onto Yagunakotor's deck.
But the Hounds still did not dare to take it lightly. As the size of the Zerg swarm gradually grew, the "Zerg clusters" they gathered became larger and larger. In just ten seconds, several "Zerg clusters" had individuals survived after breaking through the energy shield. These surviving insects almost instantly locked onto the launch port of the pulse bomb and pounced directly in that direction.
They were greeted by fierce fire from the close-in defense guns. Although many of the weapons on the Aguna Tor were still unusable, this did not prevent the Ark from adding additional weapons to the exterior of the ship. The previously expanded weapons and external facilities had all been destroyed after the trip to the seabed, and the equipment on the Aguna Tor was basically repaired recently.
Fortunately, the wreckage of Fleet Zero was not cleaned up by the undead crew. Several "scavenger teams" took advantage of the cover of night to transport a lot of intact equipment from the crash site of Fleet Zero. These equipment were divided into three batches. One batch was sent to Griffin Fortress for the production of subsequent warships, one batch was provided to the Skadi cruiser, and the last batch was installed on the Yaguna Tor.
Twenty-four twin-mounted close-in defense guns opened fire simultaneously. The dense barrage of bullets instantly covered the swarm of insects that broke through the energy shield, killing all the first batch of insects that rushed in.
However, close-in weapon systems have their limits. With such a high frequency of firepower output, even if a large amount of Nino alloy is added to the barrel material, it will misfire after five to eight minutes of continuous firing. This is still the most extreme data without considering ammunition reserves.
The close-in defense guns on old-era ships can usually only last for one to two minutes before the barrel overheats... and in actual combat, the close-in defense guns can only fire for a maximum of ten seconds before all the ammunition is used up.
These twenty-four close-in defense guns were modified by Layton. The barrels and firing components were all made of expensive materials with 80% Nino alloy content. The ammunition feeding mechanism was also boldly modified to use an extra-long ammunition chain of 150,000 rounds... The box used to hold the ammunition chain alone was half the size of a standard container.
"Not enough! The firepower is still not enough!" The Hound frowned, "There are just too many bugs, they break in from all directions... The firepower just near the anti-cannons is not enough!"
The hundreds of people on the hound band were also carrying out blocking operations. Some of them used the manual anti-aircraft machine guns built on the deck to strafe the Zerg, while others directly shot at the Zerg with the weapons in their hands... but compared to the close-in defense guns that could unleash a dense barrage of bullets in an instant, this firepower was really not enough.
Even the close-in defense artillery couldn't stop the fearless swarm of insects, let alone these people.
A bug had already rushed to within a hundred meters of the launch port. After cutting into the bodies of three people and smashing a 25mm caliber wheeled anti-aircraft machine gun, it was nailed to the deck by Asano Akira with three blades. It was not until this time that the Hounds and their companions were able to see the true appearance of this bug.
These insects are about two meters long, with a wingspan of about three to four meters. They are the same pale color as the giant trees, with a slender trunk and a bloated abdomen. They have three pairs of thin, almost transparent wings on their backs, and a pair of mantis-like limbs on their chests. The limbs have sharp serrations at the end, which can easily cut through the light armor worn by the soldiers when flying at high speeds.
Ivan immediately dissected the insect corpse - he simply used the military dagger in his hand to cut open the insect's abdomen and torso, then raised his head with a serious face and said to the hound: "This insect does not have any organs that animals should have... I only found a gland that secretes corrosive liquid, and its bloated abdomen is also filled with this liquid... I don't even know how it can flap its wings. This is as ridiculous as a toy model without any energy device being able to move on its own!"
Ivan waved the dagger in his hand, which had been dissolved beyond recognition, and said, "Because of the simple structure, it should be very fast to 'produce' this kind of insect... In addition to their limbs, their means of attack is probably to rush close to the target and explode, splashing out corrosive liquid. Fortunately, the entire body of the Yaguna Kotor is made of pure Nino alloy, which has strong corrosion resistance. Otherwise, the deck we are standing on now would have been riddled with holes."
"What if we let these bugs rush to the launch port?"
"One or two may not be a big problem, but if there are too many, the delicate components of the launch port will be corroded, and the charge of the pulse bomb will be interrupted." Ivan said, "Or, in the worst case, it will explode directly in the barrel."
"Layton! How long will it take before the pulse bomb can be launched? We can't hold on any longer!" After hearing this, Hound grabbed the walkie-talkie and shouted.
"One minute! No, fifty-five seconds! We can launch in fifty-five seconds!" Layton's voice came from the receiver.
"Can you speed it up a bit! Can you fire it if it's less than 100% complete? It doesn't matter if it's less powerful! It's better than not being able to fire it at all!"
More than half of the twenty-four close-in defense guns have misfired - not because of overheating of the barrels or depletion of ammunition, but because a large number of insect-like monsters launched a suicidal attack on the close-in defense guns. The corrosive liquids in the bodies of these exploded insects splashed onto the barrels of the close-in defense guns. These barrels had become very fragile due to the high-intensity shooting. These corrosive liquids immediately became the last straw that broke the camel's back... no, it should be the last stone that broke the camel's back.
The close-in defense guns exploded one after another, and those who were closer to the gun position were immediately affected. A soldier who was busy dealing with the corrosive liquid that splashed on him was beaten into a pulp by hundreds of metal fragments. Another soldier who was hiding behind a temporary shelter and shooting was hit by a broken and flying gun barrel, and both the man and the shelter were blown away.
The blocking troops on the outer deck suffered about 20% casualties in just one minute.
Although people like Asano Akira and the "undead machines" implanted with the consciousness of elite soldiers were very efficient in killing insects, their numbers were too small. The defense lines in all directions were breached by the swarms, and they could only busy themselves with "putting out fires" everywhere and were exhausted.
"Layton, if you don't speed up--" The hound's roar was suddenly interrupted by a sharp explosion. The receiver of the intercom emitted an electric current noise like an explosion. The next second, an extremely bright blue light ball was ejected from the launch port hidden under the deck, passed through the gap reserved in the energy shield, drew an arc with an afterimage in the air, and fell to the Ark below--
