Chapter 158 Section 158 - Eye of the Storm
Chen Fei took a moment to glance back and found that the bird's nest beside him was empty, with no sign of the Little Bird.
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻! This little thing isn't listening again, where on earth could it have gone off to now!
He quickly looked around and searched, but there was no sign of Xiao Jiu.
"Chirp!"
A clear chirping sound came from nearby.
Following the sound, he saw his own Little Bird sitting neatly in its nest, calling out to Chen Fei.
ヽ(≧□≦)ノ I'm such a good baby, come and praise me!
"Little guy, where did you run off to just now?"
Chen Fei's finger reached into the nest and poked the little fellow.
"Chirp chirp!"
The Little Bird pecked at his finger (Daddy, what are you talking about?)
The little one was too mischievous.
"Unit 74, continue firing!"
Blake's voice came through, indicating that the line of defense was somewhat unstable without Chen Fei's cannon sniping support.
More and more Mutants appeared in everyone's field of view; they were surrounded, tight and secure.
The number of Mutants in this cavern space was no less than a thousand.
"Right away!"
Chen Fei glanced sternly at the little guy and said, "Don't run off again. If you do, I'll have to put handcuffs on you."
"Chirp!~"
It was unclear whether the Little Bird truly understood or not.
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Gunshots and explosions intertwined.
The trajectories of red bullets crisscrossed, and the swelling fireballs erupted one after another.
The Mutants that surged like a tide seemed to be driven by something, having gone completely mad, braving the barrage of bullets, heedless of their casualties, they surged forth one after the other.
The full-output Firearms were no longer sufficient to repel the horrific number of the Mutant Worm Swarm as barrels of heavy-caliber machine guns overheated, and some didn't even have the time to start changing.
Everyone was firing as much ammunition as they possibly could.
At this time, Chen Fei and his White Steel Crowbar had lost their deterrent effect. The roaring Mutants mounted wave after wave of assaults, closing in to little more than thirty meters away— the vicious tide of insects that once deluged Aircrew Base 912 was occurring once more.
Intense explosions sent countless dismembered Mutants into the air. Before these severed limbs and remains had any chance to hit the ground, the empty spaces created by the shockwaves on the earth were instantly filled again.
Someone shouted, "Everyone, pull out all the stops now!"
War Professionals were the last line of defense, holding Cold Weapons at the ready as they saw the Mutants nearly upon them.
"Thorn Rock Spikes!"
An Earth Mage cast a long-prepared Spell.
Sharp spikes burst from the ground, scattering the tide of Mutants that came surging towards them.
"Falling Star Flame!"
Fireball after fireball flew chaotically through the sky, occasionally striking a Flying-type Mutant, turning it into a huge fireball that plummeted toward the ground.
Huge Wind Blades sliced through the air back and forth, with the remains of Flying-type Mutants falling like rain.
"Soul Flame!"
Wherever the Fire Ability User's gaze landed, any Mutant that met it immediately stiffened in place as a strange, intense flame burst forth from every orifice and joint. Not even thick shells could stop the flames burning from within, quickly charring them beyond recognition.
Psychic Ability Users unleashed their Telekinesis, grabbing the Mutated Insects regardless of whether they were dead or alive and flinging them about wildly.
The immediate effects of activating their abilities indeed suppressed the fierce assault of the Mutants, but the corresponding consumption was also enormous, and they could not maintain it for too long.
Blake, who was still busily engaged with command, took a moment to shout, "Three more minutes, hold the line!"
Two minutes to complete the operation, one minute to transfer to the ground— the timing was perfect.
And the two bombs would detonate automatically after four minutes, their power comparable to that of a Tactical Nuclear Weapon. They would completely destroy this place, and no matter how numerous the Mutant Worm Swarm, they would not escape annihilation.
Such weapons of mass destruction were the key to a decisive finale.
But even under the illumination of electric lights, the sight was filled with a dense swarm of Mutants, so crowded that not a single gap could be seen. Whether with Firearms or personal powers, aiming was unnecessary—simply throw anything outside, and that was it.
The closest Mutants had already breached a distance of twenty meters, potentially turning the fight into close-quarters combat at any moment.
"Attention, anti-infantry directional mines in five, four, three, two, one!"
Boom, boom, boom, boom!~
The directional mines laid out before the blocking position detonated one after the other, flinging countless steel balls forward like a hurricane.
Even though they were directional mines, it did not mean that the area behind them was safe.
Seeing the critical situation and realizing it was pointless to hold back, Hanna Gagel resolutely said, "Does anyone have fuel? Throw it out, and throw it as far as you can. I'm about to unleash a big move."
"What?"
Chen Fei looked at Manager Hanna in astonishment. Find your next adventure on empire
"Got some, just a sec!"
The captain of the 13th Reconnaissance Squad's Dark Elemental Psychic, Blake, waved his hand and a large barrel of gasoline appeared on the ground.
This fuel was reserved for the generator, but since the Pure Light Sparrow Xiao Jiu's Illumination Technique meant that the 13th Reconnaissance Squad didn't consume much of their power reserves for lighting, not a single drop had been used from the barrel.
"I have some here too!"
Thunder Mage God Kanje also threw out ten barrels of gasoline. His Space System Alchemy Storage Device had a larger capacity and could hold more supplies.
War Professionals immediately shouldered the barrels, bursting forth with their Battle Qi and hurling them at the mutants.
"Rookie, all of you, stay away from me!"
Hanna Gagar took a deep breath and reached out to remove the eyepatch from her left eye, violently opening it.
Contrary to the sapphire-like clarity of her right pupil, the left eye was green.
The moment she lifted her eyepatch, the air around her began to subtly stir. Centered on Hanna Gagar, it started to slowly rotate, affecting a larger and larger area.
Hanna Gagar pointed towards the sky above her head and shouted.
"Wind!"
Before her words had even fallen, a sudden strong wind arose.
Her left pupil seemed to be glowing.
Chen Fei was dumbstruck. This one-eyed old woman really hid her cards well. So, her left eye wasn't blind! On top of that, it was heterochromatic—what a Persian Cat!
Boom!~
The thrown barrels inevitably burst, spewing gasoline in all directions. Touching the flames, they instantly rose into a raging inferno.
The fire, fueled by the wind's motion, began to move along, swiftly forming a slowly rotating wall of fire around the man-made structures at the bottom of the cavern, isolating the mutants from them.
The flying-type mutants fluttering midair also began to lose control, being swept along by the wind and unable to ferociously dive toward the ground.
As time passed, the wind grew stronger, and a massive storm took shape within the cavern space.
With the wind fueling the fire and vice versa, the Ability Users of the Wind and Fire Series present immediately reacted, unleashing their powers to escalate the event. The Earth Element and Thunder Series Ability Users followed, embellishing the forming storm, increasing its might, and making it more than just a howling gale.
Many unprepared mutants were swept up into the air. Flames, rocks, lightning, and even the carcasses of mutants carried by the wind turned into merciless reapers. With these elements mixed in, the storm's lethal force rose exponentially, akin to a natural disaster in its terrifying power.
Blake, the captain of the 13th Reconnaissance Squad, found a moment to glance at Hanna Gagar and revealed an epiphany—this was the "Eye of the Storm" indeed!
Just based on this trick, her Superpower Level could probably be raised another, as her control of the wind was now on par with a B-level Ability User specializing in crowd-control skills unleashing their full power without restraint.
The sky was blanketed with a swarm of insects, all swirled into the air, none able to penetrate the storm and breach the calm eye at its center.
The leader of the ground reinforcements, Thunder Mage God Kanje, finally ceased his actions. "I'm done over here!"
The bomb he was working on was set after completing its timing, with the detonation set not to differ from Blake's bomb by more than 0.1 milliseconds. Both bombs would detonate nearly simultaneously.
Blake, dripping with sweat, confirmed once again and finally said, "I'm done too!"
Both men looked at each other and nodded in unison, then cried out in chorus, "Gather, everyone move towards us."
The two bombs had begun a four-minute countdown.
Hanna Gagar's storm had bought everyone a precious opportunity to retreat; otherwise, they might have had difficulty evacuating while being tightly ensnared by the mutants.
"Contact with the ground established, everyone stand together, don't separate!"
Thunder Mage God Kanje, a First Rank in Earth Order, used a special Magic Artifact to inform the Space Series Ability Users and Space Mages on the ground, and one of them took action to bring them back to the surface.
A strange sensation enveloped Chen Fei out of nowhere. The surroundings blurred and his whole body felt light, as if gravity had been lost.
"Jiu!~"
The Little Bird cried out in the nest.
Next to the nest, mysterious light flickered—it wasn't just light. Fragmented and shattered, it struggled to piece itself back together until fragments of images became somewhat visible.
Seeing this, Thunder Mage God Kanje was astonished, "Hey, the little guy is about to grasp a new Spell!"
How many Light-based Spells had this little guy already learned?
Illumination Technique, Light Healing Technique, the blinding Light Burst Flash, and if including this one, that made four Spells.
Goodness, this Pure Light Sparrow really is something else.
Forget being a Pure Light Sparrow; many Magical Beasts at Second Rank would be hard-pressed to master so many Spells.
It's typical for creatures to grasp one Spell at First Rank, and using only two Spells at Second Rank is the norm.
A flash of light.
The sparkling fragments beside the nest finally came together to form a complete image. It barely held for a moment before dissolving into countless points of light disappearing into the air.
The environment abruptly brightened, everyone's vision became clear again, the howling storm was gone, the myriad mutants were gone, and the deep dark cavern space had also disappeared, leaving only neatly ordered modular barracks and dormitories.
Finally, they had returned from underground back to the surface.
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