Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 77 Shootout (2)

Not long after Avery finished up the first urban simulation program, he was already gearing up for the next one.

The easy floating ring targets were now going to be a thing of the past. He would be fighting AR enemies that could fire back going forward.

’Okay, it looks like the virtual personal shield generator is functioning properly.’

Starting from the next round, Avery would be treated as having a shield around him that could soak up a certain amount of enemy fire.

He had thought about actually purchasing a personal shield generator for this competition, but he had been unable to find one with better specs than the models already offered by the program.

Since he would definitely want something stronger in the future, he saw no reason to purchase something he would be planning on replacing.

"Ten battle bots to start with. Doesn’t look like they’ve got too much firepower, but if my shield gets depleted by a certain amount it will take points off my score." Avery mumbled as he observed his opponents while hiding in one of the buildings.

Currently all of them were patrolling the area looking for him. They were not too fast though, and each of them had split up, so they were perfect for ambushing and taking out one at a time.

When one passed by the building he was in, Avery jumped out and fired his laser pistol into it at close range.

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Its control center destroyed, the virtual battle bot fell over and stopped moving.

Naturally, the other nine were linked to this one and instantly began closing in on its location to hunt down the perpetrator that had destroyed their ally.

"This will help let them know I’m here."

Pointing his gun straight up, Avery fired off three shots and then dashed towards a building and ducked inside.

Thanks to his conspicuous fire, the battle bots that were already on the way to investigate their destroyed brethren had all gathered in one place to take their target down with superior firepower.

’They don’t have the smartest AI do they.’ Avery thought as he lined up a shot.

For the first time, he was using his personal laser cannon. It would be massive overkill to take out his enemies one at a time, but with them all grouped up, he could eliminate them in one go.

With the press of the trigger, a large green beam erupted from the muzzle and streaked across the battlefield towards the bots.

A moment later, there was a bright flash, and Avery’s targets were completely destroyed.

Of course, the physical structures were fine since the weapon was set to a training output, but had it been used at full power, the surrounding buildings would have been toppled as well.

"Yeah, that was probably overkill for those things. Maybe I got a little too hasty wanting to test it out." Avery mused, seeing his score appear in the corner of his visor.

He had done pretty well since he had cleared the stage quickly and with only a few shots. But the program was actually sophisticated enough to dock points for collateral damage he would have inflicted with his weapons. Thankfully it was not too much, but he would need to watch out for this aspect of the challenge going forward.

The next wave of enemies soon showed up and Avery went to work annihilating them.

For the next two rounds, he was up against an increasing number of simple battle bots. They each only had one weak weapon, and their responses were a bit dull.

However, things drastically changed once he had finished beating these easier programs.

Soon he was facing a squad of more advanced battle bots that even had a single light military vehicle.

’I’m not sure where Ezra got such a comprehensive program from, but it certainly does put one through their paces. Not that a mercenary would ever really see battle like this very often.’ Avery thought, planning out his strategy to take out the current wave of enemies.

As a mercenary with his own ship, most of his fights would naturally be in space. Terrestrial or colony battles were pretty rare for someone like him. Though it was always best to be prepared. There was no telling when the unexpected might occur.

Avery attempted to use his ambush tactics again, but the enemies this time were a bit smarter. He was able to take two out, but they quickly used their overwhelming forces to corner him.

He found himself holed up in a building and taking shots at them when he could.

Eventually, they stormed inside to hunt him down, but he was ready for this.

Waiting around corners, wedging himself against the ceiling, and all around using whatever tactics he could to keep from being hit were on the table for Avery.

He had no qualms about being sneaky or fighting dirty.

Still, he had not been able to fully avoid enemy fire, and his shields were down to around two thirds of their max power.

’All that’s left now though are the few outside with the vehicle. Luckily, I’ve got the perfect means to deal with that.’

For the second time, Avery ready his laser cannon to fire. He might lose a few points for collateral damage, but he felt that the time lost using his laser rifle to bring the remaining enemies down would be more detrimental.

When he popped his head out of a window, the four remaining bots swiftly trained their weapons on him, but it was too late.

They were fast, but Avery had already pulled the trigger on his weapon by the time they had turned around to fire on him.

"Not bad. It seems like the program didn’t deduct as many points this time thanks to the vehicle. Guess as long as it’s not considered unnecessary force, the damages to the surroundings aren’t considered as heavily." Avery mused as he read the breakdown of his score for this round.

After that, things continued to ramp up until he was fighting a squadron of military grade battle bots that had a half dozen heavy armored vehicles.

Honestly it was kind of preposterous to expect one person to be able to beat a force this powerful.

Unfortunately, this was simply the nature of the program. When one stage was cleared, it ramped up to the next difficulty and continued until it was too overwhelming to be conquered.

A wall that Avery was soon to hit with only himself and his three weapons to rely on.