Chapter 30: A Bloody Profit
The front wall of the alien fortress had collapsed. Although the alien side had lost their defensive fortifications, the sheer number of ground-types was overwhelming. Their charge sealed the breach in the wall, and inside the fortress grounds, an endless sea of ground-types stretched out before them.
Within the ground-type army, a fissure-type with both wings severed was staring at the breach in the wall, its eyes narrowed.
After observing for a moment, this wingless fissure-type walked toward the southeast side of the fortress, soon entering the main building at the rear.
Outside the wall at that moment, contractors were charging into the ground-type army. Among them, Diamond King was the most conspicuous. As he ran, he grabbed a ground-type, squeezed it casually, and turned it into a pulp of flesh.
With Diamond King as the vanguard, their group of over a hundred actually pushed the ground-type army back.
Roars and explosions rang out incessantly. Diamond King strode up to the breach in the wall. If he continued charging, he would enter the open ground inside the fortress. Given Diamond King's current size, he would be a living target.
Thinking of this, Diamond King prepared to switch forms. Although beast transformation granted a high health bonus, it couldn't withstand a siege from the ground-types.
Just as Diamond King was about to change his form, a wolf howl came from atop the wall. Hearing this howl, Diamond King instinctively thought of Bubu Wang.
When Diamond King looked up at the top of the wall, his gorilla face turned serious. Standing on the broken section of the wall was not an ally, but a giant wolf. The wolf's fur was gray tinged with black, and its front paws had been modified, with metallic claws showing a faint blood-red hue.
On the wolf's back, along its spine, a row of glass cylinders were embedded, filled with a green liquid.
The giant wolf's size was no smaller than Diamond King's current form. The two giant beasts locked eyes.
With a whoosh, the giant wolf pounced down from above, landing in front of Diamond King and crushing many ground-types underfoot.
Buzz~
The wolf's pupils shifted from green to blood-red, and the liquid in the row of glass cylinders on its back began to boil, turning from green to red.
"Roar!!"
Diamond King bellowed. The giant wolf showed no fear, leaving claw marks on the ground as it lunged at Diamond King.
A gray-black blur flashed past. The giant wolf pounced onto Diamond King, biting at his neck.
Diamond King swung his arm horizontally, and the giant wolf clamped down on his thick forearm.
The giant wolf was fast, while Diamond King was strong. The two giant beasts fought before the breach in the wall, shaking the ground and creating a spectacular scene.
Compared to the assault team, Su Xiao had it much easier. Originally, he planned to charge into the fortress with the assault team, but their performance surprised him. They breached the wall in a very short time, each with their own special skills.
This created an opportunity for Su Xiao. While the assault team was storming the fortress, he, Bubu Wang, Baha, and the Autistic Brothers had already separated from the main force, bypassed the fortress wall, and headed straight for the east side.
Ten minutes later, at the base of the towering east wall of the fortress.
Because the main gate was under attack and the wall had been breached, two-thirds of the aliens on the east wall had gone to reinforce. Even so, leaving one-third of the aliens to guard showed how important this side was to the alien faction.
Even from a distance, Su Xiao could still hear the explosions from the main gate.
In a pit at the base of the wall, Su Xiao was waiting. Now was not a good time to sneak in. The fortress had been surprise-attacked, and the aliens would surely strengthen guards at key locations. Sneaking into the main eastern fortress now would be at least 50% more difficult.
Su Xiao was waiting for their assault team to retreat. According to the plan, their assault team wouldn't push recklessly. They would launch one wave of attack, achieve some results, then retreat. Over 97% of their contractors were faster than the ground-types, so elite units pursuing them didn't matter. Once they lured the enemy a certain distance, they would reach the trap zone.
After waiting over twenty minutes, the sounds of battle at the main gate subsided. Their assault team had withdrawn.
"Aren't you going to sneak in yet? After they retreat, the aliens will conduct a large-scale search nearby."
A female voice came from a dark hole in the ground. A faint light flickered—it was the Ghost Girl, trapped in a round bottle. Originally, she didn't have to participate in this plan, but this girl was the type who felt restless if she didn't cause trouble for a day.
Ghost Girl had once charged into the fortress and released a large number of small ghosts inside. She knew the fortress's terrain, so she became a 3D living bottled map.
"Bottle Girl, you're like this now, don't worry too much. It's not time yet."
Baha muttered some teasing words.
"Bottle... Bottle Girl?"
Ghost Girl was so angry she stuttered. Her spirit body swam inside the liquid, growing increasingly agitated.
"Let me out. I'm going to kill this damn bird."
"Heh~ Goldfish, don't talk."
Baha's claw picked up the glass bottle from the ground, looking like he was about to shake it.
"I'm wrong."
Ghost Girl immediately backed down. She didn't want to experience what it felt like inside a washing machine. In her heart, she thought, just you wait until I get out.
Baha and Ghost Girl clearly had common topics and started chatting in the war channel.
Su Xiao pressed one hand to the ground, sensing the vibrations on the surface. Not far away, the Autistic Brothers remained silent.
The fortress defense battle only lasted half an hour before subsiding. The assault team had withdrawn. This was just the first wave of attacks. Over the next few hours, they would launch surprise attacks intermittently. This was the advantage of having fewer people—easier to hide, faster to strike, and quicker to retreat.
Less than five minutes after the battle subsided, Su Xiao heard another boom. The assault team had struck again.
An opportunity had come. Not an opportunity to sneak in, but an opportunity to create more chaos in the alien fortress.
Su Xiao suddenly vanished from the earthen hole, penetrating space to reach the surface.
A gentle breeze brushed his face. Su Xiao quickly ran into the distance. After running about two kilometers, he stopped. An Apollo appeared in his hand.
This time, he had brought too few Apollos. Su Xiao couldn't predict the future. The activation time for an Apollo was too long. In the past, he couldn't even use two he brought, and if an Apollo was stored for too long, its detonation time became very unreliable, with a maximum error of over 10 seconds. Let alone 10 seconds, a difference of 0.5 seconds could cause the Apollo to miss its target.
He hadn't used Apollos to bomb the alien army before because the aliens weren't clustered densely enough. He had only brought two Apollos, used one earlier, and now only one remained.
Now the aliens were clustered densely enough—they were all inside the fortress. If he threw one into the open ground of the fortress, with the surrounding walls acting like an iron bucket, the Apollo's power would be imaginable.
Two kilometers from the fortress, activating it here wouldn't be detected by the alien army. After 20 seconds of activation, Su Xiao would throw the Apollo. It would take 2.7 seconds to fly diagonally above the fortress, and the remaining time was for the Apollo to fall in a parabolic arc into the fortress.
As Su Xiao activated it, the Apollo in his hand gradually emitted high heat. The next second, a crystal layer climbed onto his right hand.
The second hand ticked. 20 seconds passed in an instant.
Bang!
The Apollo broke through a wave of air, flying toward the fortress two kilometers away. At the same time, at the main gate of the fortress, the contractors who were in the midst of fighting the ground-type army suddenly stopped. They split into two groups, all rushing toward both sides of the wall breach, preparing to take cover beneath the wall to avoid being caught in the explosion.
Just as the contractors reached the base of the wall, a sound of something breaking through the air came from above. A fiery red sphere fell diagonally into the fortress.
Boom!!
The entire fortress shook. A shockwave spread, and on the inner side of the fortress wall, dense cracks appeared.
Golden solar flames surged within the fortress and spread. The center of the flames even turned incandescent white.
Large patches of ground-types on the open ground were engulfed by the solar flames. Their bodies instantly carbonized, then vaporized from the high heat, evaporating away.
It was like a small sun had crashed into the fortress. Not to mention the ground-types within the solar flames, even the contractors hiding outside the wall felt the wall's temperature rise to the point of burning their faces.
A few seconds later, the solar flames dissipated. A mushroom cloud formed from ashes rose into the sky. The fortress fell silent. One Apollo had killed 115,627 ground-types, 9,535 fissure-types, and 127 parasitic-types.
When the explosion ended, Su Xiao's battle log nearly "exploded" as well. A large number of merit gain prompts appeared. This one Apollo had earned Su Xiao a total of 1,727 merit points.
To put it in perspective, from the start of the World War until before this Apollo exploded, Su Xiao had earned a total of 1,464 merit points. This included kills from enemy contractors and kills during the defense of the base camp.
With this one Apollo, his gains exceeded the total merit from the previous several days combined. After all, it was thrown directly into the alien fortress.