Chapter 18: Clash
The thick segmented limb suddenly exerted force, sending more rubble and steel rebar flying.
Then, a massive body that defied description forced its way out of the giant pit blasted open by a missile.
Its upper body was a roughly humanoid torso covered in dark gold carapace, with four thick arms hanging at its sides, claws hooked like talons.
Its lower body, however, was a centipede-like form with a hundred legs.
Every segmented limb was as sharp as a sickle, gleaming with a pale, bone-like luster. They held its enormous frame steady atop the rubble, and the whole thing looked to be four or five meters tall.
The eeriest part was its head.
It had no facial features—only layer upon layer of intricate dark red patterns that looked like slowly flowing blood, outlining a strange, mask-like face.
On its carapace-covered back, the first missile had left a charred black hole nearly two meters in diameter.
Dark green fluid was seeping from the edges of the wound, dripping to the ground and making a corrosive sizzling sound.
The moment this monster appeared, its enormous body and bizarre appearance made everyone in the safe room who saw it through the screen feel oppressed.
“Th-this... What the hell is this thing?” 's voice was dry, and he instinctively tightened his grip on his rifle.
Even , who was always steady, had gone somewhat pale.
There was actually a monster like this in that pit, and they had been living alongside this kind of monster for all these days!
That realization sent a chill down his spine.
At the same time, on the other side of the nuclear power station.
The remaining four missiles precisely covered the positions of the three .
The violent explosions sent a towering blast wave into the sky. One of the was hit directly by two missiles, and its enormous flesh globe was instantly blown to pulp.
Countless fragments of eyeballs splattered in all directions, mixed with putrid pulp. Its eight segmented limbs twitched and snapped, and its massive body collapsed with a crash.
The other two were also knocked to the ground by the shock wave. Shrapnel had slashed countless gashes across the surfaces of their flesh globes, and murky liquid flowed out.
They struggled back up, and the intact eyes on their bodies spun wildly, flickering with alternating bright and dim light.
[Ding! Detected that the host has killed a second-order special mutant, “ ” x1, for the first time. Bonus : 100.]
[Current : 2800.]
The system notification flashed through 's mind, but he had no time to pay attention to it.
The crisis was far from over.
After adapting to the surface environment, the that had crawled out from beneath the ground immediately turned its mask-like face toward the drone in the sky.
It clearly treated the “culprit” that had disturbed its slumber as its primary target.
Meanwhile, the two surviving had also gotten back to their feet and begun charging at the power station.
Attacked from front and back!
The atmosphere in the safe room plummeted to freezing once more.
“ , what do we do now?” 's voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.
[Don't panic! I'll handle this.]
The next second, the circling at high altitude flew at tremendous speed toward the area beyond the power station.
At the same time, like a ghostly black falcon, it swept across the battlefield in an ultra-low-altitude pass, and the high-energy laser module beneath its belly flared to life.
A thin yet dense red laser beam flashed past, precisely cutting across the 's face.
“Zzzz—”
A harsh sound rang out, and a deep scorch mark was left on the bizarre mask.
Stung by the pain, the let out a shrill roar. Its body trembled violently, shaking the ground.
Then it jerked its head up, trying to lock onto the enemy in the sky.
But the Type 2 had already flown off after that single strike, giving it no chance to counterattack. Instead, it turned and flew toward the two surviving .
The followed close behind, changed course, and charged out of the power station.
The power station's outer perimeter wall was like paper to it; it smashed through with ease.
Watching, was both startled and pained.
Outside the power station, the two surviving had clearly also noticed this uninvited guest.
All the eyes on their bodies stopped rotating at once, locking in unison onto the charging .
At the same time, the red glow on their bodies flared bright once more.
Then two thick, bright red beams shot out from the fronts of the flesh globes.
Their target was the half-human, half-insect monster directly across from them.
Only now did finally confirm that these creatures' target was indeed this thing beneath the power station.
Pierced by the two laser beams, the unidentified monster's movements paused noticeably.