Chapter 16: Never Backed Down
The explosions lasted for nearly a full minute before the rumbling within the multi-layered barrier subsided. By the end, the barrier could no longer withstand the blast's impact.
Inside the barrier, aside from the hissing sound of high temperatures, it was eerily quiet. Su Xiao stared at the interior of the multi-layered barrier. If he had been inside there just now, he would have died as well. But he wouldn't let himself fall into such a situation. The Dean's plan was indeed full of changes, but in Su Xiao's view, it wasn't without flaws.
The contractors on his side had contributed a large number of explosives. Earlier, when collecting explosives, everyone was very enthusiastic. In this situation, the more explosives provided, the greater the power, and the more merits gained after killing the enemy.
[You have gained 305 Merit Points.]
[The 'Red Iron Adventure Group' has been completely annihilated (Medium-sized Group). The Hunter has killed more than half of this adventure group's contractors.]
[Team Skill 2, Hunt Group (Passive X) ability has been activated.]
[Devouring the adventure group...]
[Devouring complete. You have obtained 20% of the materials from the 'Red Iron Adventure Group's' team storage space (randomly drawn).]
[To claim this reward, the Hunter must go to the Adventure Group Guild after returning to Reincarnation Paradise (requires paying a space stripping/storage fee, approximately 30,000 to 50,000 Paradise Coins).]
[You have gained 12,000 Team Experience Points.]
[Current Team Experience: 12,000/50,000 points (Upon reaching the maximum, the team can immediately be promoted to SSS-level Adventure Group).]
[Current Team Skill Points: 0 points (1,000 Team Experience Points can be converted into 1 Team Skill Point).]
...
The explosion of Apollo just now had actually wiped out the Death Paradise side's adventure group, a medium-sized group called 'Red Iron.'
Merit Points couldn't be used for now, but the plundered team materials, although only 20%, were still a considerable benefit. Red Iron was a sixth-rank medium-sized adventure group and should be relatively wealthy.
For now, Su Xiao couldn't obtain these materials. He would have to go to the Adventure Group Guild within Reincarnation Paradise after returning. That was where contractors established adventure groups, could also upgrade adventure group levels, and transfer adventure groups.
As for Team Experience Points, that was something Su Xiao could use immediately. He obtained it because of the Dawn Adventure Group's Team Skill 2, Hunt Group (Passive).
12,000 Team Experience Points—should he accumulate them or use them to upgrade team skills? This was a difficult choice.
The power of an SSS-level adventure group was unquestionable, after all, it was the highest level of adventure group. But upgrading team skills could immediately enhance Su Xiao's strength, and Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini could also be improved.
Su Xiao closed the adventure group list. The battle wasn't over yet. The Death Paradise side still had 40 people left. His principle was: either don't provoke enemies, but once you make an enemy, you have to completely eliminate them.
All the barriers shattered, and a wave of heat rushed towards them. A huge pit appeared ahead. Inside the pit, it was blazing red. Liquid like molten iron accumulated at the bottom, emitting a pungent, burnt smell.
Over two hundred contractors had perished here. There were bound to be Scarlet Chests dropped, no less than 20 of them.
These Scarlet Chests already had owners. The contractor who had previously taken out three Holy Spirit-level items—these Scarlet Chests would be split equally among the three of them: the Poison Master, the Diamond King, and the Autistic Brothers.
After confirming there were no living enemies in the huge pit, led by the Diamond King, the contractors on their side rushed towards the Death Paradise side's base camp.
As the price for completely annihilating the Death Paradise side's main force, the Space-Time Crystal that Bubu Wang had seized was destroyed. The power of over a thousand bombs exploding was imaginable.
Rumble~
Thunder rolled in the sky. A few drops of rain fell, and then it turned into a torrential downpour.
Muddy water splashed. Contractors ran across the grassland. The heavy rain greatly reduced visibility. In the distance, a huge object could be vaguely seen—the Death Paradise side's base camp had arrived.
The contractors stopped. They wouldn't recklessly approach the enemy's base camp.
A few mechanical bees flew in the rain, heading straight for the enemy base camp ahead. Just as they reached the front of the spaceship's tail hatch, a few gunshots rang out, shattering the mechanical bees.
The remnants of the Death Paradise side didn't flee. That would be meaningless. Failing the war mission meant death anyway. It was better to stay in the base camp and fight to the death.
Once their own spaceship was captured, everything would be over. The spaceship had a core drive device, an energy hub, and a temporary space coordinate stabilizer.
If the first two were destroyed, there was still a chance to fight. But if the temporary space coordinate stabilizer was destroyed, it was completely over.
According to Su Xiao's understanding, establishing a temporary space coordinate in a war world required a large amount of Space-Time Power. If the war couldn't be won, it would be a huge loss, except for Apocalypse Paradise.
Without a temporary space coordinate, the war mission would directly fail. So the 40 contractors of the Death Paradise side were all guarding inside the base camp, making their last stand.
"Follow me and charge in."
The Diamond King tore off his upper body clothes. Covered in black body hair, he only wore a pair of black shorts, barefoot, and strode forward at the front.
This was the strength of the Reincarnation Paradise side's contractors. They would only say "follow me and charge," not demoralizing words like "charge for me."
A finger-length bullet and a metal arrow struck the Diamond King, but he didn't stop at all, charging straight towards the spaceship's tail hatch door.
"Gorilla."
A slightly amused voice came from inside the spaceship. A black blade light slashed out from the hatch, heading straight for the Diamond King's neck.
Puchi!
Half of the Diamond King's head was chopped off. He fell to the ground with a thud. His health dropped to 4%. If it weren't for the multiple buffs from the healing-type contractors, that strike just now would have definitely killed the Diamond King.
The black blade light stopped in mid-air. It was a hiltless sword composed of black metal fragments. Metal powder resembling iron sand floated around it. The hiltless sword quickly disassembled into pieces of metal fragments. Each piece looked very sharp. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that these metal fragments could continue to split.
A golden energy thread wrapped around the Diamond King. His health, which was only 4%, quickly recovered. It was a healer from Holy Light Paradise.
The Diamond King's fingers twitched, and he leaped up from the ground, casually picking up the small half of his skull from the ground.
Seemingly clumsy, the Diamond King retreated a few steps back. He had almost been killed just now.
Tap, tap, tap~
Footsteps came from inside the spaceship's tail hatch. A man wearing sportswear, looking less than twenty years old, stopped inside the tail hatch.
Bang! A dagger stopped in front of him, blocked by a kind of black metal powder resembling iron sand. In an instant, this Epic-level dagger gradually turned into black powder, being assimilated and absorbed.
"Arrived too late. The main force is already dead."
The man muttered softly, his gaze sweeping over the group of Reincarnation Paradise side contractors.
"A seventh-rank contractor."
"So what? Let's kill him! Charging one by one is suicide. In 3 seconds, we all charge together. I don't believe he can kill all of us."
"3, 2, 1, go!"
With a roar, a total of 203 contractors from the Reincarnation Paradise side charged forward simultaneously. They were indeed not united, but they had never backed down.
"Damn it."
The seventh-rank contractor standing inside the tail hatch cursed in a low voice and chose to abandon the conscription mission. Compared to dying here, the mission penalty was nothing. He wasn't a sixth-rank contractor; he had been forcibly conscripted. There was no need to hold his ground to the death.
Originally, this seventh-rank contractor wanted to intimidate the enemy with his personal strength. But after discovering that the ones coming were the madmen from the Reincarnation Paradise side, he was ready to retreat. These madmen couldn't be intimidated at all, and they were already prepared to fight him to the death.