Chapter 109: Turning the Tide
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Booooom!
It was a thundery shower. The dark sky was repeatedly torn apart by streaks and streaks of glaring lightning. Rain was pouring down in torrents.
The curtain of rain was limiting everyone’s field of vision, which in turn reduced their shooting accuracy. The mercenaries had to cover the weapons and equipment with waterproof covers against the violent storm as they were not waterproof, and they also sent their ammunition reserves to sheltered areas.
Heavy rain flooded the entire world, and its sound filled everyone’s ears. The fortresses were saturated with moisture. Han Xiao placed himself far away from the window to avoid getting soaked. He looked at the weather outside and frowned. Terrible weather like that is clearly generated by the system purposefully. I bet the next wave of heavy attack will come at this time, otherwise...
Han Xiao was only half way through his sentence before stopped that thought. How could he joke around like that and risk jinxing himself?
Ohmm!
A series of engine sounds were heard in the rain. The enemy was coming at them viciously this time. Hordes of armored vehicles were driving toward the manor in the storm. Countless rain droplets smashed onto the ice-cold metal armor.
“Fire!” The mercenaries in the manor yelled furiously, and the sounds of machine guns and grenade launchers followed.
The next moment, even greater firepower erupted from the enemy’s motorcade. More than a few small-scale missiles landed on the outer wall of the manor, which blew up the two machine guns and the gunner there.
Whilst Han Xiao was shooting his rifle, he heard Chen Li and the black dude yelling over the walkie-talkie.
“The enemy has rocket launchers; we must evade! Go and hit them hard with our machine guns and grenades!”
“Snipers hurry up and fire. Don’t make me prompt you! Hurry up and do something!”
“More than twenty speedboats just appeared on the river. Those stationed on the west side, quickly go and intercept them. Don’t let them get near the shore!”
“Shit. Helicopters!”
The sound of rotating wings was heard in the sky. Two Y5-Snake helicopter gunships were attacking from above. Flashing lightning in the dark sky highlighted the ferocious features of the helicopters. The gunner, wearing wind-shielding glasses, controlled a large-caliber six-barreled machine canon on the side of the helicopter and unleashed astonishing firepower.
The size of the canon rounds was almost like that of a small-scale missile. Their penetration capability and damage power were unmatched by the rounds of ordinary machine guns. They were even fired at a very high rate.
Da da da da da da.
The continuous canon rounds connected to form an orange line and swept the manor from above. The outer defensive walls of the manor were less than useless against enemies from the sky.
The mercenaries’ casualty number surged!
The sounds of swearing, yelling, crying, raining, guns firing, and engines roaring formed a symphony of battle—as grand as it was horrifying and as messy as it was fevered.
The helicopters were their biggest threat. Some machine gunners quickly aimed their guns at them.
However, by simply flying higher, Y5-Snake helicopters easily got out of the range of the machine guns. Those stray rounds that managed to touch the helicopters could not penetrate their armored exterior.
“Snipers! Kill the pilots!” Chen Li was yelling in exasperation.
“We will handle the helicopters. Other snipers, go and stop the ground troops from coming in!” The Hornet Brothers gave an order in the communication net from the central fortress. Thereafter, they started shooting at the helicopters.
Even with the dense curtains of rain, Han Xiao could see the sparks generated when the sniper rounds landed on the exterior armor of the helicopters. The pilot’s window was made high-grade bullet-proof glasses. It would require at least seven to eight rounds to penetrate.
Han Xiao suddenly felt something was wrong. He swiftly shouldered his gun and moved away from the sniping window.
“How dare you leave your post without authorization...” Big beard guy was infuriated by what he saw. However, he was only half way through his words when the sound of a violent explosion stopped him. The fortress wall exploded violently, and big beard guy was instantly struck flying by the shockwave and landed on the other wall. His arms were completely broken, and he cried in pain.
The two Y5-Snake helicopters were equipped with four airstrike missiles, which were used to directly blow up the three fortresses. The central fortress was hit the heaviest—it exploded into complete ruins, and as a result, the Hornet Brothers were killed instantly. Their flesh, together with dust and shattered bricks, was tossed out of the place by the shockwave.
The three fortresses had been blown up!
Without the threat of snipers, the helicopters became much more aggressive, like a horny wild dog. The massive firepower had the mercenaries hiding under cover, and they dared not even expose their heads.
Although Han Xiao successfully dodged the explosion, he was hit by the shockwave. He did not suffer much damage. However, the roof over his head was completely blown up, and the heavy rain poured directly into his area. As a result, he was directly exposed in the enemies’ field of vision. He was in a terrible situation.
The enemy had land, air, and sea superiority. The manor was being attacked in three different ways!
He turned around and glanced at the horrifying scene of the battle.
The mercenaries cannot hold on anymore.
His eyes were looking worried.
...
“The people outside cannot withstand the attack anymore.”
Two men were looking out the window at the battle from the living room of the mansion in the center of River Valley Manor. One of them had both of his hands pressing on the windowsill; he was a bald old man. He wore black-frame glasses, and his eyebrows and beard were complete white.
The other person stood behind the old man at an angle with folded arms. He appeared to be a middle age man. His short jet-black hair was slicked-back, and there was only a slight graying on the hair near his temples. The only unordinary thing about him was probably his disposition. He wore a gentle smile on his face, which made him look rather friendly.
The man with the gentle disposition chuckled. “Seems like it’s time for me to act.”
The bald old man nodded. “We have defended for so long. Xena should have eradicated all the traitors in the organization. My life depends on you now, my old friend.”
The gentle man nodded and prepared to walk out. Suddenly, he stopped his footsteps and noticed a sudden change in the battle situation.
“Seems like there is an interesting guy who just appeared. They don’t need me anymore.”
“Hmm?” The bald old man was startled and looked out the window.
...
Hiding inside the defense structure, Chen Li shouted loudly into his walkie talkie, “Is there any sniper who is still alive? Without taking down the two helicopters, we are all going to die here!”
Suddenly, a crimson bullet penetrated through the rain curtain and shot the ammunition belt on one of the helicopters’ machine canons with extreme accuracy. The crimson round then cracked, and a flame erupted from within it in the heavy downpour.
High-explosive round!
Homm!
The orange high-explosive gas filled every single gap it touched, and it travelled through the split between the armored exterior and ignited the ammunition belt. The helicopter, which had been acting all triumphant a moment ago, exploded in that instant as all the canon rounds exploded at once. The high-explosive round was not powerful by itself, but it ignited the fatal large-caliber canon rounds, which were as powerful as land mines. Those in the helicopter were all killed. The flying ball-bearings pierced through the pilot’s neck, and the blood splashed onto the side window.
The helicopter span out of control before it dropped from the sky onto the ground. Both parties could feel the violent vibration on the ground.
In the half ruins of the left fortress, Han Xiao, who fired that shot, cocked his sniper rifle to unload the cartridge that was still smoking hot. His eyes were serious and calm. In that critical juncture, he had pumped a large amount of EXP into [Sniping] such that it rose to Lv.9! This was the reason he had managed to shoot a round with such accuracy. He had hit the canon rounds on the helicopter’s ammunition belt from an extremely obscure angle!
However, this shot had also caused several bad consequences. The other Y5-Snake helicopter aimed all its firepower at the left fortress. In addition, the enemy ground troops knew that the helicopters were their trump card; therefore, they all cooperated and fired at the fortress together. A terrifying number of rounds smashed the rain curtain and exploded on the left fortress!
Big beard guy’s face turned ghostly pale as he thought he was going to be blown up in pieces. How could he run faster than the canon rounds with his two short legs? Right in his moment of desperation, he suddenly felt a large hand picking him up by the scruff of his neck and a great force that dragged him along to run away at lightning speed. The next instant, the entire left fortress blew up into ruins.
If it had been a second earlier, big beard guy would have been blown to smithereens.
After escaping from danger, big beard guy felt his collar being released. His butt landed right on the ground. He quickly turned around and looked at the person who saved him. The sight of Han Xiao, who was dressed in black, standing in the heavy rain appeared in his eyes.
Big beard guy did not bother with thanking Han Xiao for saving his life before he asked in shock, “How did you run so fast‽”
“Because I am as free as the wind.”
Big beard guy was completely dumbfounded. What kind of crap are you talking about‽
As soon as Han Xiao finished quipping, his both feet landed on the ground. His Electromagnetic Hover-boots then lit up with a dark blue glow, and electromagnetic force blasted out of them, causing Han Xiao to slide out swiftly as he was skating on ice. He was moving faster than a car, and so, with two to three slides, he reached the top of the raft of the outside wall. Much to the mercenaries’ astonishment, Han Xiao was dashing left and right rapidly like dark-colored lightning on the wall raft—no enemy could accurately lock onto him. He dodged all enemy fire.
“See my majestic skill!”
Han Xiao started sniping whilst he was moving around at high-speed. The field of vision for sniping was a few times greater there than that in the left fortress. His Snipe skill, which had just reached Lv.9, could control the entire battlefield. The movement provided by the hover boots was smooth and steady, so Han Xiao did not spend much of his effort controlling the boots. The difficulty in controlling the boots was only as high as those commercial electronic skating shoes; therefore, the high-speed movement did not affect the accuracy of Han Xiao’s shots significantly.
Rounds after rounds were fired at the enemies. High-explosive, Hayme, Flash, and Penetration rounds took turns to be fired from the sniper rifle. The most useful bullet was always used at the most appropriate time and place. For instance, when a vehicle was attempting to fire a grenade at one of the manor’s machine guns, a Flash bullet appeared at the most opportune time and made the enemy fire at the wrong angle.
_____________________
You are currently sniping while on the move.
You learned a [Moving Snipe] technique (1/100).
——————————————————————
Triggered the learning of a new skill? Han Xiao’s eyes brightened—this skill could only be triggered when the Snipe skill was above Lv.8. He fired a few more shots and realized, when he successfully shot a target, he gained a progress point. He immediately became more enthusiastic in sniping the enemies.
Han Xiao evaded the majority of attacks from the enemies with the help of the hover boots. However, the enemies recognized his area-control ability as a sniper. They would have much difficulty taking the next step without bringing him down.
Thus, Han Xiao soon felt their ‘intense enthusiasm’, and he once again received concentrated fire from the enemies. The pressure on him increased sharply, and he was frequently shot by stray rounds. He had no choice but to shield his body with his magnetic armor.
The last Y-5 Snake helicopter swayed left and right to prevent Han Xiao from sniping its vital parts. The machine canon fired consistently, causing much trouble for Han Xiao. Even with the magnetic armor, it was painful for him to take a few canon rounds.
To make matters worse, the canon rounds had a push-back effect, which already made Han Xiao miss quite a few of his shots.
The armor on his chest received three more large-caliber canon rounds. Han Xiao felt his chest tightening; he was pushed a few meters back and almost fell off the wall raft. However, the damage was not significant to him—his current HP count was more than 2000, and with the help of the magnetic retractable armor, he could suffer through much greater damage.
At this moment, the mercenaries in the manor started fighting back and actively complement Han Xiao’s battle tactics.
“Oi, sniper, stop daydreaming. Continue fighting like before; we will coordinate with your attacks!” Chen Li shouted in the communication device.