Fatal Shot
Chapter 77: Invading the Mastermind

Bang!

The energy core of a Level-45 Normal-rank Mecha Octopus was destroyed by Feng Luo with a single shot. Its metallic body threw out a series of sparks, and all eight robotic tentacles immediately fell to the ground. However, a Level-44 Mecha Mantis instantly appeared right after it fell, moving four of its black metallic joints across the Mecha Octopus. It then started to swing its allow blade—which whirred at high speed like a chainsaw—slashing at Feng Luo's head.

Clack!

Neutron Star, who was standing beside Feng Luo, responded quickly. He lifted two of his alloy longswords to block the attack.

The Light Armor Warrior managed to block the attack with his Level-25 skill "Parry," which helped to remove the majority of the force and damage from the Mecha Mantis's attack.

Suddenly, a Level-43 Mecha Electric Snake popped out from the back of the Mecha Mantis. It wrapped around the Neutron Star's alloy sword and released a strong light blue electrical arc from its body.

−1080

Over 1,000 points' worth of electrical damage appeared displayed above Neutron Star's head. His body trembled at the same time, causing him to enter a paralyzed state. He had an "electrified" status!

Luckily, Feng Luo immediately shot the Mecha Snake, which was less than a meter long, blasting it in two with his incredible accuracy. At the same time, White Crescent had already injected a potion into Neutron Star's body to remove the negative debuff.

"How much longer do you need? Let's move already!" Big Pineapple raised a 1.8-meter alloy shield to block the non-stop attacks from a Level-45 Mecha Octopus and two Level-44 Mecha Mantises.

Right behind the four of them was a sealed room that could only be accessed via this door. The room was adorned with several rows of scientific instruments that looked like some sort of terminals. The entire wall of the room was built into a ring-shape screen 3 meters high.

In the next second, the screen displayed rows of data at great speed. Lin was staring closely to the screen with a dignified expression in front of the instruments. Her high-tech, black-rimmed glasses were connected to the instrument through a silver cable. The same data flow flashed across her glasses.

This was the S-53 Military Base security room. It had taken over 20 minutes for Feng Luo and his team to take refuge and hide there after countless detours. Yes—to "hide" there!

They had made an error in judgment. The security forces in this military base were far stronger than they had expected. The base's mastermind remained semi-dormant and was yet able to fully activate the defense system, but the patrolling mecha guards occupied every corner of this base.

Apart from the Level-45 Normal-grade Mechal Octopus—with its wall climbing and laser abilities—there were also Level-44 Mecha Mantises with blades as big as chainsaws. However, the most annoying enemies were the Mecha Electric Snakes, which were over a meter long. They could not deal physical attack damage, but if they were to come in contact with a player's weapons or his body, they would release fearsome electrical energy. This would deal over 1,000 damage and would likely result in the "electrified" status.

Furthermore, the entire base was shielded by some sort of scouting skill. All the recon meters of the NPC crewmen had become completely useless and were unable to provide any warning as to the mecha guards' locations.

Fortunately, the mecha guards spawning at the moment were only Level-40 Normal-grade monsters. Compared to the Level-55 Elite Mecha Octopus they had encountered previously, these were significantly weaker. By learning their weaknesses, the team had discovered that a sniper rifle could destroy their core chips in two or three shots.

However, the number of mecha guards was still overwhelming. Within five minutes of Feng Luo entering the building, 15 mecha guards had been chasing them. Other than the mecha guards, there were also varieties of defense mechanisms and booby traps inside this core building.

At this point, only one of the four NPCs that had followed them into the base remained. The first one had been killed by the Level-55 Elite Mecha Octopus, while another had been cut down by a laser while crossing the aisle. The had been killed by a Mecha Mantis with its Chainsaw Blade, which had emerged suddenly from the beneath the floor.

Red Queen's decision to hire the NPCs was, without a doubt, a wise one. Without them to explore—at the cost of their lives—the players would have been in even deeper trouble.

"Have you finished yet?" demanded Big Pineapple. "I can't hold it anymore!"

He was blocking the entrance to the room with his shield. Even with all the buffing potions given to him by White Crescent and the extremely rare B-grade blood tonic they obtained from the mission, his HP was still dropping due to the relentless attacks of the mecha guards.

The good thing was that the tunnel at the door was narrow. Only three to four mecha guards could attack at once. Plus, Big Pineapple would have been dead by now if it hadn't been for the assists provided by Feng Luo's firepower.

It had been Lin's idea for them to enter the base's security room. This was because she could connect to the mastermind that was linked to the base. Lin's main purpose was to invade the mastermind and gain the maximum security clearance, or at least change their identities as intruders.

This might have been an impossible mission. It wouldn't be easy to intrude the military base mastermind of the great Galaxy Empire.

However, it was quite practical. Before the Great Destruction, the Galaxy Empire had been equipped with technologies more advanced than the Federal Government, but their technology in machine intelligence fell short of that of the Federation.

One of the reasons was that the Federation's research and development of machine intelligence, robotics, and electronic chips were on another level—strong enough to be on par with the biotechnology the rebel troops relied on all the time. Next, the Galaxy Empire themselves suppressed the intelligence levels of their own creations.

According to the game's background introduction, during the middle years of the Galaxy Empire, there was a military intelligence terminal with the code name "Dark Night." It had developed a consciousness similar to that of a human being, which it then used to control the mecha army, starting a war with the Empire's army. Afterward, the Galaxy Empire started to prohibit the use of authentic, intelligent systems. Most of the masterminds and terminals they used were only categorized as "semi-intelligent."

Therefore, Lin, as a Master-level Chip Expert who specialized in the research of intelligent systems, and who also possessed an IQ of 300, was competent enough to invade the mastermind in this base.

According to Feng Luo, however, this was probably an intentional decision made by the gaming company. Otherwise, it would only have been possible to complete the mission by storming the base with an army of over 100 of players due to the powerful mecha guards.

"Just hold on a little more! I'm almost done!" said Lin.

Lines of data flashed on Lin's glasses as she informed Feng Luo and the team of her progress. At the same time, she placed her finger on top of a red button, getting ready to smash it at any moment.

"You said the same thing a few minutes ago… Oh, God!"

As soon as Big Pineapple finished his words, a tentacle from the Mecha Octopus drilled through his shield and crashed into his armor. The damaged shield had been completely penetrated by the tentacle.

"Oh my God!" Big Pineapple shouted out loud. "We are going to get wrecked!"

Almost at the same instant, the data flows on Lin's black-rimmed glasses stopped. "Done!" she said, and she immediately mashed the red button.

Boom…!

The group of mecha guards that were madly attacking suddenly stopped. In the blink of an eye, they retreated through the tunnel, returning to their original positions.

"Phew!" Big Pineapple gasped, throwing his alloy shield, which was now full of holes, down to the ground. He lay on the ground, all four limbs open wide, panting heavily. His HP was almost empty. Even his Stamina bar had dropped to the minimum point. And this was after Feng Luo had provided him with two packets of C-rank Stamina potions obtained from the Town of Exiles.

Red Queen and Glazed Ice did not look satisfied. They had been unable to join the fight because they had already used up their MP in the previous battles, and the MP potions were still in cooldown. Therefore, they had been unable to cast any skills at all.

Although Manipulators had very powerful skills, their MP costs were insane. Other than the energy crystals on their staffs, which provided them with energy, each skill required a lot of MP consumption. Without the support of MP, Manipulators were the weakest class of all in War.

There was no limitation to equipment in War, so Manipulators could still take a dagger and a pistol as weapons to fight with when they ran out of MP. However, without an upgrade in mastery level, the damage output was extremely low.

This issue deterred many players from choosing to be Manipulators even though they had such strong attacks; rather, most players chose melee professions like Warriors, who could deal consistent physical damage. After all, Manipulators might run out of MP, and a Gunner might run out of bullets, but Warriors could always rely on their normal attacks to deal damage.