The air grew thick with the smell of metallic dust, mingled with the unique scent of ozone and raw energy.
The four of them remained on high alert, advancing step by step into the abyss.
They pushed forward for about five hundred meters, and the tunnel began to open up.
Just then!
Qin Feng stopped dead in his tracks.
His gaze instantly locked onto the tip of a seemingly ordinary stalactite hanging from the cavern ceiling, a hundred meters ahead.
There, a glint of scarlet light—fainter than a star and utterly unearthly—flashed once before vanishing.
It was a Mechanical Race scout post!
"Ambush!"
Qin Feng’s warning exploded through the comms channel like a thunderclap.
But it was too late.
The instant the red light flashed, the entire mining area awakened like an ancient beast from slumber, baring its terrifying fangs.
HMMMMMM—
A scalp-numbing, high-frequency hum of energy erupted from the shadows on all sides!
Immediately after, seven or eight ghostly, semi-transparent, distorted figures phased through the solid rock of the walls and ceiling without warning!
They looked like specters in tattered metal cloaks, incorporeal save for a pair of electronic eyes that glowed a ghastly green and a set of razor-sharp claws forged from pure energy.
’Ghost-class stealth units!’
The moment they appeared, they raised their energy claws and unleashed the first barrage on the squad below!
Several orbs of energy, crackling with unstable arcs of electricity, screamed down from above!
"Scatter! Find cover!"
Qin Feng had roared the command the instant the orbs appeared.
The four of them dove in different directions, acting on pure combat instinct.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Violent explosions detonated where they had just been standing. Terrifying Energy Shock Waves blasted several massive craters into the hard ground, spraying shards of rock and arcs of electricity wildly in all directions.
However, this was only the beginning.
SKITTER... SKITTER SKITTER...
A chilling, rustling sound, like the crawling of a massive tide, echoed from the deeper darkness ahead.
Following the sound, a "river" of countless palm-sized metal beetles, each with a single glowing green eye, poured out of the darkness!
’Holy Beetle-class swarm units!’
Tens of thousands of Holy Beetles, like a living plague of metal and circuitry, covered the ground and crawled up the walls—a dense, seemingly endless mass. At the same moment, a deadly green light flared within each of their single eyes!
FZEW-FZEW-FZEW-FZEW-FZEW—!
The next second, a storm of fine yet dense energy beams rained down on the four of them, who had just dodged the first barrage.
This was the Mechanical Race’s most classic and deadly tactical combination: harassment from the Ghosts, suppression from the Beetles!
"Pang Chen, use your knives to suppress those beetles!"
"Shanyang, Zou Yun, form a defensive line at the front!"
Qin Feng calmly issued his commands amidst the storm of fire.
"Copy that!"
Pang Chen let out a low growl. With a shake of his arms, dozens of cold-glinting knives fanned out from his bracers like a peacock spreading its tail. He then hurled them all at a speed the naked eye could barely track.
The knives carved deadly arcs through the air, striking with unerring precision into the densest clusters of Holy Beetles.
Each knife was packed with terrifying kinetic energy, easily skewering several, or even a dozen, Holy Beetles at once and pinning them to the wall.
His knives temporarily carved out a relatively safe zone within the hail of fire from the Holy Beetles.
Meanwhile, Shanyang He and Zou Yun roared as they charged forward to meet the true main force!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the darkness.
A dozen heavy-duty robots, each over three meters tall and built from jet-black metal, emerged from the darkness. Shaped like skeletal frames, they advanced with a steady, unstoppable gait.
In their hands, they held massive Energy Rifles, the muzzles pulsing with an ominous green light.
’Immortal-class heavy units!’
They were the sturdiest frontline and most reliable source of firepower in the Mechanical Race’s legions.
Ignoring Pang Chen’s knives, they leveled their Energy Rifles at Qin Feng’s team and pulled the triggers without hesitation.
"Hold the line!"
Shanyang He roared, his heavy Long Saber a blur of motion. A wall of brilliant light formed before him, an impenetrable barrier of steel that deflected every energy beam—each one powerful enough to melt alloy.
Zou Yun, meanwhile, was like an enraged tiger. Instead of retreating, he charged forward, braving the storm of fire to attack the foremost Immortal.
Electricity arced across his menacing Power Claw as he slammed a Heavy Fist, packed with terrifying force, squarely into the Immortal’s chest.
BAM!
With a deafening crash, the Alloy Armor on the Immortal’s chest caved inward, and the machine staggered back several steps.
However, these Immortals felt no pain, let alone fear.
The moment it was knocked back, it steadied itself and once again aimed its Energy Rifle at the now-vulnerable Zou Yun.
The battle had reached a fever pitch the moment they set foot in the mining area.
"We can’t keep this up! They’ll wear us down and kill us!"
Zou Yun roared over the comms, "These damn things... there’s no end to them!"