Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 849 - 848: Seal
The ocean water roared as it rushed through the pipes, waves over ten meters high crashed down like a giant's hand, flattening and engulfing the jagged reefs made of metal debris as if they were insignificant grains of sand.
Amber, with a head of red hair, stood atop the waves, holding her pirate's tricorn on her head with her left hand, while her right hand gripped a narrow curved knife, squinting into the distance to view a tiny figure in the distance.
She took a deep breath, the salty and fishy sea breeze as always,
Stepping forward half a step, center of gravity shifted forward, both hands gripping the long knife tightly, lifting it up, and slashing down hard as the waves reached their peak.
The curved knife, called [Tidal Messenger], unleashed power without a sound,
All obstacles in the conical range ahead first had a ripple of seawater surface, then were split in two without any warning, shattering and sinking into the sea.
Except, that shadow standing on the ladder.
The ordinary man named [Zhan Lu] raised the broad, sharp, pitch-black bronze blade in his hand and blocked it in front of him.
A watery light shone on the blade, but before it could bloom, it was extinguished by sword qi.
"..."
On this narrow road, with no room to retreat, especially since the other side had once severely injured his subordinates in the Realms Corridor segment.
New grievances and old vendettas surged in his mind, yet Zhan Lu remained calm inside,
He said nothing,
Just took half a step back, holding the sword with his right hand, the blade parallel to the ground, his left two fingers bracing the sword blade ridge, assuming a sword stance.
The waves ahead, like a battle formation of white horses, with the sea breeze as the horn, carried Amber tumbling in.
Two hundred meters, one hundred meters, fifty meters...
The sword blade hummed, stored power erupted suddenly, and the majestic sword qi rose from below, slicing the incoming wave into halves.
Part the sea, slash the wave.
Zhan Lu took a step on the ladder, leapt into the air, spinning like a top,
The rolling, thread-like sword qi, surged down on Amber's startled expression atop the wave, like a storm, purifying and sweeping away impurities.
The pirate woman raised her long knife, drawing blue seawater, blocking the pervasive sword qi,
Her boots stepped on the wave peak, leaping in the air, confronting Zhan Lu with knife and sword.
Clang!
The sharp, earsplitting sound of metal clashing resounded through the floor,
The shockwave from the weapon collision caused the seawater under their feet to recede, forming a semi-circular pit.
In mere seconds, the Tidal Messenger and Zhan Lu's longsword clashed over a hundred rounds,
The fierce and resolute sword qi unruly and unmatched, wantonly slicing through the waves,
The splashing seawater rose to dozens of meters, weaving a sparse water curtain around the battlefield.
Suddenly, Zhan Lu seemed to sense something, his face changed slightly, altering his sword moves, extracting the sword and distancing himself from the opponent instantly, turning his head to look toward the left pipeline.
Amber's brows furrowed similarly, listening intently – the seawater pooled under her feet had significantly reduced compared to before.
Breathing noises, running noises, maniacal laughter.
At the right of the crossroads, three people dashed out from the dark tunnel.
Ding Zhensi's Kui Ox mecha was battered all over, Chi Xiao's left shoulder was bleeding heavily, Zhi Ming's glasses were broken, only the temples hanging on his ears, the ordinary coat he wore was scorched and charred black.
Chi Xiao saw Zhan Lu on the high ladder ahead, a complex bitter smile filled with regret, shame, and relief appeared on his face, just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted by a huge fireball of ten meters in diameter shot from the darkness.
Ding Zhensi piloting the Kui Ox mecha turned abruptly, raising the energy shield dismantled from the [Shanhai · Qu Ru] mecha of a companion, blocking behind Chi Xiao.
Boom!
The fireball exploded suddenly, its bright light illuminated the dim space as bright as day,
The intense heat continued to scorch the energy shield, continuous system alarm sounds echoed in the Kui Ox mecha cockpit.
But ultimately, it held.
Ding Zhensi gasped heavily, collecting the energy shield covered with spiderweb cracks and on the verge of disintegration, staring intensely at a direction in the darkness.
Two figures walked out on the pipeline high in the tunnel.
Syndicate's [Wang Hu] with his snowy hair retracting, gradually exiting the Thunder Wolf state,
And [Raging Fire], with a cruel smile, hands resting behind his head.
"Hey, you're here."
Amber laughed heartily, "What about Supercritical? I saw your signals were together earlier."
"Ambushed by them."
Raging Fire gestured toward Ding Zhensi and the others below, speaking nonchalantly, "But didn't die, returned alive to the Mortal Realm.
We also replaced them with these three."
Raging Fire paused for a moment, glancing at Zhan Lu in the distance, "Not resolved yet?"
"Yes, he's pretty strong."
Amber nodded straightforwardly, candidly saying, "If I don't use that trick, I might lose to him."
"Then let's not waste time."
Raging Fire rolled up her sleeves, muttering softly, "The sooner it's resolved, the sooner we can finish."
The situation tensed once more, Zhan Lu quietly tightened his grip on the longsword, given his strength, independently suppressing or even defeating Amber was still feasible.
But adding Raging Fire, who was comparable to Amber, and Syndicate's [Wang Hu], might be too much for him.
After all, Chi Xiao and others' condition didn't seem combat-ready...
Crack, crack.
Raging Fire twisted her neck, flames ignited under her feet, lifting her upward, the flames in her palms blazing fiercely, rapidly expanding, in just five seconds, they grew to nearly a fifth of the tunnel.
Zhan Lu's face turned solemn, gripping the longsword with both hands, the black coating on the blade gradually peeling, revealing a dim golden light.
Just as both sides were about to unleash their killing moves, two figures rushed in from the left of the crossroads,
"Wait a minute!"
The familiar shout made Raging Fire frown, the flames in her hands immediately halted in expansion.
Tai Hao flew out of the tunnel, covered in dust, holding Geleluo Star's shirt collar.
"Wait a minute."
Tai Hao lightly landed on the ladder, placing the pale-faced Geleluo Star down with a wry smile, speaking solemnly to everyone (including Zhan Lu, who was almost holding his breath, facing an imminent threat), "We now have more important things to do."
"Why are you here?"
Amber asked in surprise, "Wasn't the presence I felt at the ventilation duct earlier you, Lose Control, Michael and them,
why are you alone here?"
"..."
Tai Hao exchanged a glance with Geleluo Star, took a deep breath, and said solemnly, "They have been sealed by creatures from the Outer Realm..."
————
Madmen, they're all madmen!
On the 39th floor of the Lost World, the Ant King was running madly, his heart couldn't stop roaring.
Earlier, Datura's [Arakawa] and the defector from the Higan Organization, [Paranoia], suddenly appeared ahead of them, attacking without a word.
Arakawa was chanting scriptures, performing spells, causing the Ant King and others to stagger, their consciousness slow,
Paranoia's figure flitted unpredictably, the dagger in her hand appeared unremarkable yet could easily slice through anything, including metal shields, energy shields, and biological limbs.
Feather Snake was the first to exhaust, a misstep allowed Paranoia to get close with glee, the dagger swiftly swung over a dozen times, slicing Feather Snake into pieces.
Fortunately, Feather Snake had equipped a device, which urgently took over its consciousness before its brain was cut open, issuing a command to surrender and quit the competition, exiting in a disfigured state—whether it can survive remains unknown.
With one less person, the Ant King and Dahan, previously exhausted from being chased by the insect swarm, found themselves at an absolute disadvantage. If not for Arakawa containing the Paranoia,
the two players from the European Heavy Industry Group would likely have already fallen, victims beneath their blades.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
The sound of footsteps behind was dense and hurried,
Dahan, running alongside the Ant King, gritted his teeth,
retrieved a ghastly skull filled with fresh blood from his backpack slot, and tossed it behind.
The blood from the skull poured out, forming a massive scarlet curtain, blocking the tunnel behind.
"What other trump cards do you have? Use them now!"
Dahan, gulping down magic potions continuously while running, his eyes bloodshot, glared at the Ant King, bellowing in a low voice: "If this goes on, we either quit or die!"
Do you think I'm Doraemon? Always having what you need?
The Ant King roared internally, yet his face remained unchanged.
He indeed had one last card up his sleeve, but once used, he would lose any further combat ability,
equivalent to automatically withdrawing from the struggle for the gate, rendering all previous efforts null.
Perhaps, he could wait a little longer...
The battle was so intense now, and there was a swarm of insects hunting players recklessly from god knows where,
perhaps if he waited a few more hours or even minutes, the number of survivors would fall below fifty, directly triggering the gate competition phase.
The Ant King wrestled internally, and as his expression fluctuated, caught in indecision,
the blood curtain in the tunnel behind was casually sliced open with a "slash" sound,
Paranoia, drenched in blood, smilingly stepped over the constantly shrinking and contracting blood curtain,
holding a dagger in the right hand, while the left clutched the collar of the unconscious Arakawa.
"Don't run away."
Paranoia smiled, flicking the blood off the dagger, and spoke gently: "You haven't told me yet what happened to my brother, Black Holy Son, in the script..."
!!!
Dahan and the Ant King's hair stood on end; they had witnessed Arakawa's methods earlier, which indeed justified his rank in individual combat prowess at thirty-eighth.
Yet now, Paranoia, ranked seven places behind him, was holding him in her hands.
And neither Dahan nor the Ant King had seen how Paranoia dealt with Arakawa...
Damn it!
This woman is definitely problematic!
Resolution flashed across Dahan's face, he retrieved a smoothed, round bone from his backpack slot, placed it in his mouth, the muscles beneath his scapula squirming, as if something was about to grow...
"Roar!"
An incomparably shrill wail shattered the oppressive and murderous atmosphere.
Paranoia instinctively looked toward the left side of the tunnel, catching sight of Dahan's face, which bore an uncontrollable look of ecstasy.
From the left tunnel, something seemed to be charging over...
Paranoia's pupils dilated abruptly; it was a sea of insects, surging massively, nearly filling the entire tunnel with a torrential wave of nests.
What is this thing?
Upon seeing the insect swarm for the first time, Paranoia instinctively raised the dagger, sweeping it across the front from afar.
The carapace of the soldier bugs at the forefront split open with a crack parallel to the ground, tumbling uncontrollably,
but hundreds and thousands of similar types instantly replaced its position, charging toward Paranoia.
"Hahaha."
Dahan burst into maniacal laughter, turning around to flee for his life. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
The next second, he saw the road ahead also being flooded by a rolling tide of insects...
Fear and despair, shock and bewilderment, surged into his heart in succession.
The former was due to the number of insect tides far exceeding imagination; even if Dahan unveiled his trump card and transformed into a four-armed Dahan, he probably could not withstand such a vast insect sea.
The latter was because of the form of these nest units.
They were too similar, exceedingly similar.
Red fire ants, leaf cutter ants, Australian giants, black ants, giant-jawed ants, Argentine ants...
All these nest units were ants magnified countless times,
from appearance, body structure to the reflective pattern on the exoskeleton, all identical to the various ants the Ant King had previously summoned,
only now equipped with weapons typical of beast-level soldier bugs.
"It really is you!"
Dahan leaped back over ten meters, shrieking: "Why? Aren't we companions? Feather Snake was depleted of spiritual power by your insects, before being cut down and disfigured!"
"It's nothing to do with me!"
The equally shocked and bewildered Ant King roared: "These aren't my summons..."
Whoosh—
Paranoia disappeared from her original spot; the next second, she appeared behind the Ant King, lightly resting the dagger against his neck.
"Call off your ants!"
Paranoia spoke softly, her tone devoid of the earlier frivolity and softness, "Or before you even think of backing out, before the facial muscles on your expression change, I'll slice your head off."
For the last time, these are not my ants, ahhhhh!
The Ant King roared internally, the edge of the dagger against his neck preventing him from moving at all.
A bizarre occurrence unfolded; after being taken hostage by Paranoia, the ant swarm, which had blocked both ends of the tunnel, suddenly ceased its charge.
Countless ants touched antennae in sync, the first row of red fire ants kneeling down simultaneously, as if worshiping a king, humbly bowing.
Paranoia and Dahan exchanged a glance, clearly seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
Rustling crawling sounds filled the air like rain, the insect tide retreating back along the original path.
Leaving behind three stunned players standing in silence.
"..."
Dahan took a deep breath, speaking slowly: "Ant King, let's cooperate,
now I understand, you fear the Mortal Realm officials discovering your control over the insect swarm, wary of your strength, taking action against you in the real world,
which is why you've hidden your abilities.
Luckily, the detector wasn't here earlier, so the scene wasn't captured.
Your secret is only known to us three.
I can sign a contract produced by the System with you, as long as you guarantee our safety, we absolutely won't disclose this information."
Paranoia squinted, maintaining the posture of holding the Ant King hostage, "As long as you reveal my brother's cause of death, I'm also willing to cooperate.
Even supporting you advancing to the gate competition, obtaining the gate is not a problem."
"..."
The Ant King's expression was rigid.
