Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 890 - 117: Fierce Battle

The two hundred and ten swarm drones had just flown above the Fungus Puppets, and their underbellies sprayed out large quantities of bombs reminiscent of button batteries. These bombs fell among the puppets, instantly forming clusters of dazzling flames.

"Button bombs, the swarm drone’s anti-infantry weapons," said Nagano Souta. "They’re very effective against units without armor, but if the target has high defense, the only function of these button bombs is to obscure the enemy’s vision and hearing. This isn’t much different from the second-generation swarm drones, though the third generation seems to have a significantly increased ammunition capacity."

"But if that’s the only improvement, there’s indeed no necessity for the Dragon City Defense Army to procure new equipment," Candle Dragon remarked. "Moreover, this kind of anti-infantry equipment has limited applicability against supernatural entities... if used as riot equipment, its lethality seems excessive... "

While Sun Hang and the others discussed Bai’s Military Industry products, the power armor equipped with twin-barrel thermal fusion used its backpack thrusters to jump nearly a hundred meters, landing directly in the densest area of the Fungus Puppets!

The heavy armor stepped down several Fungus Puppets, and then flames enveloped in black smoke swept sideways. From an overhead view, the flames spewed by the twin-barrel thermal fusion perfectly painted a blazing Taiji symbol in the battlefield’s center.

"Mr Jin! Fall back!" Chen Jing harshly reprimanded, "You’re pushing too far forward! You’ve already detached from the main force!"

"No worries! Trust me, Mr Chen!" shouted the person called Mr. Jin, "With this armor on, these supernatural entities can’t harm me at all! Let me burn them all to ashes! Our contributions will all count towards the Chen Family!"

Chen Jing couldn’t help feeling a surge of frustration. This Mr. Jin was a long-time guardian who followed his father, loyal and outstanding in combat. His only flaw was getting too charged up during fights, completely disregarding his own safety—back when Dragon City was less peaceful, he had entered the ICU three times for the Chen Family, with roughly a third of his body containing artificial components. Even the heart beating in his chest was a prosthetic heart made of metal and polymers.

The Chen Family Patriarch had specifically instructed Chen Jing before departure not to spend Mr. Jin like cannon fodder—Chen Jing felt like a million grass mud horses were galloping through his mind; he wasn’t planning to use Mr. Jin as cannon fodder, but couldn’t stop the man from charging to the forefront!

"Mr Jin! Get back here! That’s an order!" Chen Jing commanded in a lowered voice over the communication channel. "Besides, the equipment you’re wearing was provided by the Bai Family, and a lot of the contribution points you’ve gained have to be shared with the Bai Family."

"Didn’t the Bai Family say these pieces of equipment were provided for free?" Mr. Jin asked while setting the puppet swarm ablaze, "Moreover, since we gave their equipment an outing opportunity, they should be paying us testing fees. There’s no reason to give our contribution points to them!"

"Forget about that for now. Fight and retreat, reconnect with the main force as soon as possible." Chen Jing said, leading a group outfitted with protective gear, including Hunters and mercenaries, over the vehicle defense line, shooting and advancing toward the puppet army.

"Concentrate fire! Take down the humanoid supernatural entities in the front row first!"

Although bullets couldn’t kill these Fungus Puppets, a fragmented Fungus Puppet was very different from a fully formed humanoid one. The former could only slowly squirm on the ground, while the latter could run at speeds rivaling professional athletes among ordinary humans.

"Prepare incendiary rounds! Aim at zones one and two, fire!"

Chen Jing and the others had a simple tactic: first, take down the Fungus Puppets in a designated zone with firearms, then before the fragmented Puppets regained mobility, "sweep" the areas with incendiary rounds.

Accompanied by a muffled "thud" sound, short, thick cylindrical rounds were fired from attached launchers or standalone tubes under firearm barrels. The fuses for these incendiary rounds had been pre-set to explode upon reaching the target zones, dispersing burning napalm evenly over the ground below.

"Zone one and two have been cleared! Incendiary round usage at eleven percent!"

"Prepare to shift attack focus toward zone three!"

At this point, Chen Jing was no longer commanding the Hunting Squad. The command was taken over by several middle-aged men in dark gray armor—veterans with rich experience, although technically mercenaries, unlike freelance mercenaries who work for pay, these men were under long-term contracts with the three major families... these contracts were usually lifetime ones.

The three families not only paid their salaries but also helped them start families. Even their offspring could secure good positions in the enterprises owned by the three families.

Calling them Death Warriors or private militias raised by the three families wasn’t an exaggeration... these actions naturally violated federal law. However, given Hexi Corridor’s status as a semi-lawless area and the fact that the three families declared these men as "instructors" hired for employee training, the Dragon City Defense Army turned a blind eye to such practices.