Chapter 99: Bladed Beetle

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Feng Luo and his team had wasted quite a while in the underground parking garage. This was because they were surrounded by the self-destructing beetles from outside, which they could observe through the recon meter. They were trapped for almost half an hour before the beetles disappeared from the detection in the recon meter.

When they decided to return to ground level, the iron gate they had used to enter was shut down due to the broken iron chain. Since their original path was blocked, they had to search for another way.

It seemed like some kind of emergency situation had happened in this building in the past because some of the vents in the garage were blocked as if it was an emergency shelter. Fortunately, they managed to find a huge rusty gate on the other side of the garage that could be opened by pulling the hinge.

As they were leaving through the huge gate, they realized that they were on the other side of the building, which was closer to the ruins area.

Stepping out from the garage, Orange covered her eyes with her hands involuntarily. “It’s so bright!”

After remaining in a dark environment for so long, they all suffered from eye irritation. However, their vision gradually adjusted as they entered the more brightly lit area.

Feng Luo could feel that his adaptability had become stronger. He could adapt to the discomfort by swinging his head slightly. He lifted his head and looked toward the sky, realizing that the sun had almost reached the center of the sky. “It seems like it’s already noon!” he said.

However, apart from the sun, he saw something else with his sharp vision.

A monster he had never seen before was within his sight. It was located on a half-collapsed building with overgrown grass around 40 meters away from them, and it was tearing at something in its mouth. It was a creature the size of a puppy. The hard maroon-colored carapace on its body revealed its class: It was a new beetle type!

Bladed Beetle (Level 33, Normal). Species Code: JCG-02351. Estimated HP: 3500. XP-S3 chip compatibility: 40.

Feng Luo held his M110 and looked through the Eye of the Thunder. He realized that this beetle’s compatibility with the chip was 40 percent, which was higher than the two previous beetles.

This Bladed Beetle’s appearance was true to its name. It had two huge scythe-shaped front limbs that were as sharp as blades. However, unlike the Level-20 Mutant Mantis, this beetle’s “blades” grew on both sides of its head, which was quite eye-catching. In addition, it had two front limbs with sharp edges and four muscular back limbs that looked strong. It also had a hooked tail covered by a carapace. Its rear end resembled an upside-down, triangular shell, and it had a pair of long, partially deteriorated wings.

A beetle with a tail? That was strange! However, upon recalling the scorpion-like Gatherer Beetle, which was also categorized as a beetle by the system, Feng Luo reluctantly accepted the fact.

This beetle was looking for food. The maroon carapace covering its body looked like a fresh scab beneath the sun. Judging by the coordination between the blades on the end of its front limbs and the two larger blades, Feng Luo and the team had managed to recognize at first sight that this was the combat form of its evolution, which could only be achieved through the continuous hunting of prey.

Feng Luo was confused. The Bladed Beetle’s appearance was vaguely familiar to him. However, he had no time to think about where he had seen it before because the maroon beetle looked up suddenly and took a glance in their direction. The two jaws of its arthropod mouth rose and fell swiftly. It immediately abandoned its food and started to release sound waves that were inaudible to human ears.

The Level-33 Bladed Beetle leaped into the air and jumped down from a 10-meter-high half-collapsed building while fluttering its wings, flying toward them.

Subsequently, the grass and trees in front of them started quivering with rustling noises. Countless maroon Bladed Beetles appeared from the bushes one after another. Moving on all fours, they rushed toward them. The nearest one was not even 10 meters away from them.

“So, another battle?” As an ace coach, there was no sign of panic on Thorny Beauty’s face. Instead, she was excited. She dropped the alloy shield from her arms to the ground with a thump, creating some dust across the surroundings.

In contrast, Chairman Jiao’s expression was clearly bitter. He obviously felt that the fighting parts in this mission were too much for him and he shouldn’t have followed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mu Zi had no time to find out the reason his recon meter was not working again. He gripped his assault rifle and attacked the Bladed Beetle that was charging toward him from afar, along with Sister Rui, who held the golden Desert Eagle, and three other Energy Manipulators. Mu Zi preferred to get rid of the monsters before finding out the answer!

Feng Luo was the only one among them who did not aim at the Bladed Beetle rushing toward them. He turned around swiftly, raised the muzzle, and aimed toward the sky. This was because, thanks to his enhanced hearing, he could sense that the danger was not only coming from the front.

He turned around to look, then immediately shouted to warn everyone.

“Heads up!”

There were over ten similar Bladed Beetles the size of puppies behind him, pouncing toward the crowd by fluttering the deteriorated wings on their backs. They were coming from the abandoned building, which was almost 100 meters tall. As the sun shone down, it reflected over ten shadows with sharp blades above the crowd.

Sister Rui turned around after hearing Feng Luo’s warning. Her short golden hair swayed with the movement of her head while covering half of her cheeky face. “Good lad,” she said. “This is such a cool scene!”

She looked towards the sky while squinting. She swiftly raised the Desert Eagle in her hands and fired a shot at the root of the wings of a leaping Blade Beetle. It rolled a few times in the air as one of its wings broke off. However, it did not fall to its death; when it lost its balance, its bladed tail sprang out, and the sharp end stuck into the wall. Subsequently, its body scratched across the wall, leaving a long mark as dust flew. It landed on a building’s balcony with the help of the buffering force of its controlled descent.

Some new Bladed Beetles appeared from the same building’s balcony and windows and were preparing to leap.

“Retreat!” Feng Luo shouted.

There was nowhere for them to take cover in their current position. If all these beetles were to bear down on them from all sides, it would be impossible to hold them off with just two Heavy Armor Warriors.

However, there was a suitable defense location not far behind them: the underground parking garage they had just exited.

******

Everyone understood the plan. Therefore, while attacking to hold back the Bladed Beetles charging at them, they retreated backward swiftly.

Fortunately, they were not far from the garage. They only faced a few Bladed Beetles that jumped from the lower floors as they retreated.

Bang!

−830

−2740

When a Bladed Beetle came within a certain distance, Feng Luo responded quickly by lifting his leg and kicking it away. At the same time, he fired into its brain with his M110.

These beetles’ defense was not too high, and their HP was only around 3,000. With the power of the shield-breaking energy bullets, one shot in the right spot would be fatal to them.

However, the Bladed Beetles’ damage was not low. Little Snow, who was a healer, dropped around 900 HP after a Bladed Beetle’s tail assaulted her leg just once.

Even as a Heavy Armor Warrior, Thorny Beauty had lost nearly 400 HP from a single slash from a beetle’s blade.

High speed, high attack, low defense, and low HP! This kind of monster would be very hard to deal with if the players were surrounded on all sides in an area without any cover. Fortunately, there was an underground garage that could block three sides.

It would be time for a counterattack and some monster-farming when the players returned to the garage.

White Crescent was the first to reach the underground garage. She took out the Death Ripper accessory that had been disassembled to fit into a backpack while she was running just now. With speed far surpassing normal players, she assembled the machine gun within ten seconds. The eight alloy barrels on the Death Ripper started to rotate slowly as she turned the gun barrel around.

Feng Luo raised his M110 and aimed toward the vital point on the head of a slightly bigger Bladed Beetle, which was confirmed to be an Elite-grade monster through the Eye of the Thunder.

The energies on Witch and Orange’s staffs emerged. A green light that represented Wind Energy and a red light that represented Fire Energy were fully charged and ready to roll.

The two Heavy Armor Warriors already stood at the entrance while holding their shields, getting ready to push away the Bladed Beetles trying to enter the underground garage.

Mr. Meng held his door-sized golden longsword, and his Level-40 Warrior ultimate skill, “Hurricane Slash,” was completely charged. The look on his face said, “My huge sword is thirsty for blood!”

It seemed like a massacre was imminent.

However, at that moment…

Boom, boom, boom…

A series of machine gun shots arose from the outside. The next moment, the entire horde of Bladed Beetles running toward them was hit by a flood of machine gun bullets coming from the side.

Maroon carapaces were crushed, and red liquid sprayed as the Bladed Beetles were torn apart by the machine gun bullets. Some Bladed Beetles were even thrown back by the strong impact and broke into pieces in the air.

A male voice speaking in a frivolous tone came through the public channel. “Hey! Is this the team of Nightless City? We’re from the head office, and we’re here to help you guys! Your firepower isn’t enough. Hold off the monsters from the inside. We’ll attack them from the outside and rescue you.”

The first part of the statement was nice to hear, but his last sentence was annoying to them.

“Listen to us and stay there,” the voice continued. “We will not be responsible if one of you is killed by the monsters! Heh!”

Following the sweep of bullets from the machine gun, at least two more assault rifle volleys and some Fireballs, Wind Blades, and Ice Arrows flew at the Blade Beetle horde in front of them.

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