Chapter 359 - Fire! Fire! Fire!
One step, two steps, three steps! Su Mo ran swiftly but, as the whirlwind rapidly dissipated, the flying foreign races behind him adjusted their speed and moved even quicker!
In any random squad of foreign races, flying types would only make up about five percent of their total number. However, with this particular squad of 8,500, the number of flying types was over 500!
With the air currents restored to their normal states, they swooped in like a flock of vultures, looking almost like a black cloud. They were not worried that the mysterious Simba would retaliate at this time. They had seen the whirlwind vanish when its power ran out, and had caught sight of the "panicky" Su Mo, who was carrying Connie and running across the deck.
The enemies knew that their opponents' defenses would be weakened once their energy had run out, which made this the best time for them to attempt a breakthrough. They launched their attack, rushing over at ten times the speed of the other foreign races' troops. They were set on having a feast on the deck of Hope One.
[System reminder 18 seconds]
[System reminder 13 seconds]
When the OS's reminder hit 9 seconds, all the flying foreign races saw Su Mo, in the form of Simba, "escape" into the door of the bridge. Seeing this, the leader of the flying foreign races could only shake his head in regret as he watched Simba and Connie enter the seemingly safe room.
At the same time, they could see many little human shapes on the deck. From a distance, they looked like food. Their skin seemed to reflect light, and they looked pretty similar to humans. However, they somehow did not look that appetizing
With dissatisfied screeches, the enemies swooped in, intending to rip apart that delicious flesh as soon as possible. What greeted them though, was a storm of death and metal!
Da da da da da! It was like a symphony written by a renowned composer, and also like the final descent of a storm that had been gathering for a long time.
When the little people slowly raised their black weapons, the flying foreign races instinctively felt that something was up, but there was no chance for them to react. They were overwhelmed! Their flesh was torn to pieces! Wings and heads were blown apart, filling the sky with thick black blood. Faced with the bloodthirsty weapons of humans, their bodies seemed as fragile as paper.
Every Type-80 machine gun could go through about 800 rounds of ammunition per minute, which worked out to about 13 bullets per second. At the bow and the stern, as well as the port and starboard, the six machine guns could go through about 80 bullets per second, all aimed at the flying foreign races heading in their direction. With the help of the OS's fire-control auxiliary system, the combat agents were not just shooting indiscriminately, but were able to carry out a controlled sweep even while maintaining a blistering rate of fire.
What was happening here?
Just think about it
If 80 bullets swept across the designated target area, nothing would be spared. Every bullet would be able to repeatedly hit the target. Under such a barrage, even solid tank armor would not be able to withstand such repeated impact, much less these weak flying foreign races, whose bodies were built for speed and flight rather than strength and durability. Under the hailstorm of 7.62mm caliber bullets, the sky burst with blood and body parts within the span of four or five breaths. Some of the flying foreign races lost their heads even before they managed to register what was happening. Their headless bodies flapped helplessly in the air for a moment before plunging into the sea below.
Eight seconds, or was it five seconds? Standing inside the bridge, Su Mo did not keep count. The flying foreign races were too occupied trying to stay alive to keep track as well. The leader of the flying foreign races was killed in this encounter without ever having the chance to send out a message. This massacre had happened too quickly. Even though the flying foreign races were almost completely wiped out from the sky, their distant reinforcements were still only on their way.
The foreign races on the sea were still happily attacking Hope One's hull with their weapons.
"Damn it, this ship's a really tough nut to crack! My blows are even rebounded from time to time it's really hurting my hands!"
"It's like a hedgehog. My blade's only leaving tiny knicks on it."
"The Oreo Clan are weak, all they have is this turtle shell. Just wait until I claim their heads I will definitely look for Cursed Tiger to register the credit!"
"Hang on, brothers. Let's not be in such a hurry to kill them. They're going to die anyway, so let's be real Taurens and go up there to catch that Golden Lion King and have a good time."
"Hey, that's a good idea. Hang on what's that sound coming from up there?"
"What? Isn't that just the sound of us attacking the ship? It can't possibly be the Oreo Clan retaliating."
"You're right. Forget it, let's just keep going regardless!"
"..."
Ordinary foreign races did not possess shelter cores. In the darkness of night, staying underwater was as good as limiting one's vision to 15 meters. Once they were separated from their leader, these underwater fighters were basically left to their own devices. They did not even register the sounds of machine gun fire coming from above. There were too many foreign races involved, which meant that there were all sorts of random abilities being tossed around. It was expected that there would be some noise. In fact, it would have been really weird if there had only been silence.
There were even some foreign races who began striking against Hope One's hull to the rhythm of the machine gun bursts above.
This wasn't supposed to be fun, but it was! No one worried about the two lions retaliating. With over 20,000 of them amassed, their attention was more focused on who would be the one to gain possession of Hope One first.
"Charge! Kill! The first to set foot on the ship's deck will be rewarded with 500 pounds of meat!"
"Whoever chops off Simba's head will enjoy a lifetime of riches. The Five Royal Clans will provide for you!"
"Let's kill Simba first, and then Su Mo! Charge!"
"Simba, it's time to die!"
"Golden Lion King, I'll rip you to pieces!"
"..."
Using the night-vision cameras located at the bow and stern of Hope One, as well as the upgraded third eye camera, Su Mo could see the undisguised madness in the eyes of all the foreign races from all angles. They were like hungry wolves that had caught a whiff of blood, and were now desperate to feast on meat. The machine guns were still firing, but they showed no fear it was almost as if they barely registered the presence of the guns at all, and just kept charging toward Hope One.
At this point, the reinforcements from behind had also quietly encircled the ship. Unlike the ragtag fighters at the front, the reinforcements had been urgently deployed, and seemed a little exhausted. They did not choose to attack straight away, but stayed motionless quietly on the water, recovering their strength.
At the same time, fire and loud noises erupted from Hope One's deck, drawing their attention. The attack originated from the starboard side. Since all the firepower had been concentrated somewhere else, after a moment's hesitation, the leader of the reinforcements stopped paying attention to the sounds coming from Hope One's main deck.
Slacking off, he summoned the game panel as he chewed on some jerky to recover his strength. After seeing the Five Royal Clans' urgent messages, he sent a soothing message to Clark of the Cursed Tiger
"The battle is going well. We have successfully surrounded the Oreo Clan. They cannot escape."
"Furthermore, the mysterious lion warrior Simba has already lost his strength, but we don't know where he's hiding right now."
"We'll just need half an hour to successfully conquer this ship!"
Three messages, sent out one after another. Without waiting for Clark's response, the leader confidently shut down the shelter core game's panel.
His actions made the Five Royal Clans want to initiate a video call and check on the battle's progress, but there was nothing they could do about it.
"Brothers, it is finally time for us to prove ourselves. It doesn't matter if we couldn't beat Old Devil Su! Don't panic! As long as we finish this job here, we will be handsomely rewarded with supplies by the Royal Clans."
"Once we get to the New World, armed with these supplies, we'll grow and develop faster than the other clans."
"By then, us rejects of our clans will be the ones basking in glory!"
"Glory! Kill Simba! Capture the King of Lions!"
Seeing tens of thousands of the foreign races shouting, with morale at an all-time high, the leader picked up his battle flag and gave the order. All the reinforcements finally charged forward!
At this moment, whether it was the troops at the front, or the reinforcements behind, the foreign races had put all their eggs in one basket and had sent forth their entire force. They were all afraid that they would be overtaken by their "comrades" and lose their share of the spoils. Although they had moved quickly on their way here, they moved even faster at this moment.
"Captain, Moore is seeking permission to attack!" From his position in the main gun turret, Moore could see the foreign races wildly rushing forward. He flipped open the safety mechanism and placed his furry hand on the firing button. Once he pressed it, the main gun would erupt at a terrifying rate of fire of 140 rounds per minute! This weapon of mass destruction could fire a single shell that had an explosion radius of 300 meters. As long as there were sufficient shells, it would make no difference whether there were 20,000 troops among the foreign races or 200,000 troops among the foreign races.
"Wait, wait a little longer. Let them come within 500 meters before attacking. Target the ones further away first!"
Inside the bridge, Su Mo had already taken off the mask of the Simba costume, directing his focus on the reports being transmitted from the fire-control radar. On the cusp of issuing the order to attack, there were streaks of blood on Su Mo's lips, and his face also seemed abnormally red.
The foreign races' battle lines were very long. Their vanguard was already within 300 meters of Hope One, but those at the back of the line were still 1.5km out.
While at sea, there was no way to replenish their supply of shells. They had to choose the perfect moment to achieve maximum effect.
"Operating System, activate the fire-control radar's overdrive mode."
"I want reports on any shifts in position within half a second!"
Under the OS's adjustments, the fire-control radar above the bridge shuddered and went into overdrive with a boom. Every half second, the positions of close to 20,000 foreign races' troops were transmitted back to Su Mo.
"Hurry, hurry, my precious ones!"
"That's right, that's right. Keep this speed up! Hurry up and get within a kilometer of Hope One!"
Su Mo's fists were clenched and his eyes bloodshot. Hope One's properties panel still displayed 99.5% durability remaining. His blood sang in his veins. The red dots on the map were gathering together and charging forward! The green dot that was Hope One looked like a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean, in danger of capsizing at any moment.
In the eyes of the foreign races, Hope One was a treasure and a chance at glory. In Su Mo's eyes, those foreign races were exactly the same thing.
"1.05. 1.03. 1.01. 0.99!"
"Now Moore! Fire your d*mn gun!"
"Fire, d*mn it! Fire! Fire!"
"Give them all you've got! Go get them!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Moore did not respond to Su Mo's enraged screams. Instead, what responded to Su Mo were the blasts of the main gun. The blasts of a 130mm caliber gun! A gun that fired a shell loaded with 40 pounds of TNT! The blasts shook everything around it, and Hope One rocked in its wake. The despairing cries of the foreign races echoed in the air. The bloodthirstiness of human weaponry, the release after one month of quietly lying in wait; it was the moment of harvest, and a time to reap what had been sown.
Hot tears sprang forth from Su Mo's eyes. It was his first step, as humankind's strongest representative, into the New World. He possessed an extraordinary level of fitness but, at this moment, with all this noise and that massive explosion, his eardrums had gone on strike.
After the massive explosion came deadly silence. It was so quiet that it seemed as if sound had completely disappeared from this part of the world; it was almost like a scene from a silent film.
The camera broadcast displayed a scene that looked like hell. His ears were buzzing, and Su Mo could not see things very clearly. There were many foreign races that had tried to escape, but had been completely vaporized by the bombardment. From the high-resolution footage, Su Mo could even see those closest to the ship, peeking out from under the sea, staring at the treasure chests floating atop the sea as their faces displayed astonishment? Shock? Confusion? Helplessness?
Their faces did not display any fear. Yes, no fear at all!
They had forgotten what fear even felt like when faced with such unearthly destruction. In fact, their minds could not even register what had taken place. Like the dazed Su Mo who was sitting inside the bridge, they too were deafened. Completely and utterly deafened.
At 6.18am, just before dawn, just before the sun would announce the start of a new day, all was silent.. The long night had ended.