NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Rebelling?
Anis froze for a moment and wondered if she'd heard wrong.
Attack?!
Was he trying to send them to their deaths?
"Hey, are you insane?"
Mo Chen ignored her, ordering Rose and Marian to launch the assault.
"What are you doing?! Stop wasting time—don't you realize we're trying to sacrifice ourselves so you can escape?"
Anis stomped her foot in frustration.
She was going to be driven crazy by this newbie commander. She and Rapi had both been prepared to lay down their lives for his escape!
And didn't he realize Marian was already infected?
"Yes…Commander."
An unfamiliar voice sounded beside her, and Anis turned, shocked.
Marian was standing up shakily, with dark red lines snaking across her exposed skin like veins, radiating a dangerous energy.
Though unsteady on her feet, she exuded an ominous aura.
Even her gun had transformed, covered in red threads.
"This is not good."
Marian was fully corrupted!
"Damn!"
A massive wave of Raptures appeared behind them, and Anis cursed under her breath, preparing to make a final stand with her grenade launcher.
Rose charged fearlessly at the swarm.
The numbers were overwhelming; the Rapture forces were like a boiling sea, ready to swallow everything in their path.
Anis and Rapi could only provide support from behind.
But then something strange happened.
Despite being corrupted, Marian didn't attack them. Instead, she turned her gun toward the Raptures.
"Rat-a-tat-tat—!"
The weapon roared, spewing hot flames and tearing into the Rapture ranks.
The Raptures at the front were mowed down, falling in neat rows like a field of harvested grain!
Each bullet was as powerful as a grenade.
The strangest part was that the Raptures attacking from behind ignored the team entirely, instead turning on the Raptures at the front.
They were attacking each other?
Anis froze, her grenade launcher mid-air, stunned by the unexpected turn of events.
She had never seen Raptures fighting among themselves.
What she didn't realize was that this was all part of Mo Chen's plan.
Hewatched the battlefield closely.
He had used the Punishing Virus to counteract the Rapture infection and directed the Rapture-corrupted ones to fight back.
It appeared that it was a level above the Rapture infection.
Mo Chen let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't been entirely sure it would work: this was truly a gamble with life and death!
"Boom, boom, boom—!"
The ground trembled and the earth shook violently.
A massive Rapture, almost the size of a small mountain, burst up from beneath the subway.
It towered nearly twenty meters tall, resembling a giant shield bug, with its back covered in clusters of red, blister-like sacs that were so densely packed, they made one's skin crawl.
"Roar—!"
A thunderous roar echoed through the skies!
It was a Tyrant-class Rapture—the Black Smith!
It had finally appeared.
Mo Chen's eyes narrowed as he focused on the familiar, towering figure.
For many new recruits, this would be their first encounter with a Tyrant-class Rapture.
But seeing it in a game and facing it in reality were two very different experiences.
Its massive form and the pair of enormous machine guns were enough to make anyone shudder.
"Attack!"
There was no time to waste, so he immediately issued the command.
But instead of ordering an attack on the Black Smith, he directed his team to clear out the surrounding Rapture swarm first.
Marian showcased formidable strength, her bullets surging like a metal tidal wave, tearing through the Raptures in all directions.
Rose charged ahead, not only slashing through Raptures on the front lines but also diving deep into the horde, killing distant Raptures that specialized in ranged attacks to ensure no surprise strike, taking out the ranged threats first.
Anis, however, grew anxious.
What kind of tactic was this?
Didn't he know that the Raptures would just keep coming?
The Raptures were numerous, and more kept gathering.
Although they could be cleared temporarily, they would inevitably run out of ammunition.
Most strategies focused fire on the leader because eliminating the leader would stop it from summoning additional Raptures.
Overly idealistic tactics were often unfit for the brutal reality of combat.
"Boom, boom, boom—!"
A series of explosions rang out.
Everyone's faces turned serious.
In the distance, the Black Smith was launching black, spherical projectiles from its mountainous back, like a rain of bombs hurtling toward them!
They were explosive rounds!
Each round was equivalent to a 203mm high-explosive shell, with a blast radius the size of a soccer field!
Before anyone could concentrate fire on the bombs, they were hit by a torrent of gunfire, triggering explosions mid-air that burst into fireballs, turning the Raptures below to ash.
Anis turned her head and was stunned.
It was Marian!
Marian was like a vengeful spirit, slaughtering Raptures with cold precision, her crimson eyes radiating an unsettling aura as she fought.
Infected by the Rapture virus, and yet...she was still functional?
Anis's gaze instinctively shifted to the rookie commander.
The battlefield itself was also changing.
The Raptures on the field suddenly turned their guns on the Black Smith, launching an attack against it.
The Black Smith's machine guns cut down wave after wave, but the Raptures continued their relentless assault, swarming over it like ants.
In no time, they had scaled the Black Smith's massive body.
Were the Raptures rebelling?
The team was speechless, watching the bizarre scene unfold before them in shock.
It was eye-opening, to say the least.
Mo Chen stood amidst the chaos of the battlefield.
What no one saw was that his own eyes had also turned a bright crimson.
That's right.
The Raptures were under his control.
Upon gaining control of the Punishing Virus, Mo Chen had wondered if he could use it to manipulate lower-level constructs just as he could in the Punishing Gray Raven world.
A quick test had confirmed it.
Mo Chen continued to direct the Raptures, spreading the Punishing Virus like spores, infecting more and more as he went.
However, there was a limit to how many he could control.
Once a certain limit was reached, Mo Chen could no longer control them.
And right now, his head was throbbing painfully.
If he wanted to push further, he'd need to enhance either his physical capabilities or the abilities of the Punishing Virus.
The Tyrant-class Black Smith would never have imagined that one day it would be torn apart by its own subordinates.
Those Raptures were viciously biting and blasting away at it, assaulting its outer shell relentlessly—even the strongest armor wouldn't last under such a barrage.
"Bzzzz—!"
Suddenly, Black Smith let out an ear-piercing screech!
Everyone felt dizzy and their heads spinning.