Fatal Shot
chapter-23

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Feng Luo was in a bad mood. His initial joy at completing the mission to clear his name had completely vanished thanks to Yellow-tooth. However, now was not the time to be angry.

After killing Yellow-tooth, he immediately cast the skill Quick Sneak and rushed toward the Forest of Exiles using a serpentine motion as quickly as possible.

Pang!

The dull sound of a Sniper’s shot rang out. However, the armor-piercing bullet that came from a cliff around 300 meters away hit nothing but the air behind him. Yellow-tooth’s sudden death had clearly stunned his teammates, who had been waiting in ambush for a while. After that, the Sniper had frantically moved his gun to fire a shot at Feng Luo’s back. In his haste, he had missed by quite a lot.

Feng Luo reached the forest within ten seconds. The dense vegetation on the periphery of the forest blocked the vision of the ambushers, making it impossible for the ambushers to attack from behind. However, Feng Luo did not relax.

From what Yellow-tooth said, he knew that there were five more of them. That was less than half of the previous squad from the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group, but Yellow-tooth had been confident enough to plan to get rid of him. After all, Yellow-tooth had known that Feng Luo had accepted a hidden mission and would not have treated him as a weak newbie, so he must have been confident in the skills of this group.

As such, the danger was still present. There was no way the opponent would give up after Yellow-tooth died!

Feng Luo quickly rushed into the forest. As he ran, he slashed around to leave behind obvious clues with his military knife. After running for 50 meters, he stopped in front of the path he had previously passed through. Then turned around and ran for a distance before sheathing the ATAK military knife back to his combat belt. He then climbed up a tree beside him like an ape and used the dense leaves to completely cover his body.

This was a simple mental battle. The average person would try to escape into the forest. The opponent would never expect Feng Luo to reject an obvious escape into the Forest of Exiles in favor of a peculiar course of action like climbing trees. Moreover, he had intentionally connected his current path with his previous exit path. The opponent would be in a rush to give chase; it was certain that they would not carefully observe the trail. As such, it was possible they would continue to follow the path deep into the forest.

Feng Luo sat on the branch with a cold smile. He took the M110 out from the anti-gravity spacial backpack and quickly assembled it. Even while in a tree, he still managed to complete the assembly within 20 seconds because of his familiarity with the weapon.

After Feng Luo completed all this, two Light Armor Warriors holding alloy longswords came running in his direction. They followed the traces he had left behind and continued their pursuit without another thought.

“Hunter or hunted?” muttered Feng Luo.

A light flashed in his eyes as he fed the double armor-piercing bullet into the chamber with an accompanying ka-chak! After that, he raised the M110 and aimed it in the direction the two Light Armor Warriors had come from.

There were five opponents. Only two Light Armor Warriors had passed by, which meant that another person, as well as the Sniper who had fired at him, were naturally the only ones left behind. Warriors with Charge would widen the distance between them and the other three by around 20 seconds. This was his chance!

Feng Luo held the M110 and hid quietly at the top of the tree. He counted accurately in his mind as if he was a timer.

One! Two! Three… Fifteen… Huh?

By the time he reached 15, Feng Luo suddenly thought he heard something.

The 100 percent auditory perception setting afforded him a great ability to distinguish sounds. And the source of the sound seemed to be coming from…

From within the Forest of Exiles?

Feng Luo held the M110 and quickly looked toward the source of the sound through his scope.

Through the fully zoomed scope, he saw the trees in one direction of the Forest of Exiles falling down one after the other. And beneath the trees, it looked as if a giant monster was coming slowly towards him.

What is this monster? he thought. Eh? No, that’s not a monster. It’s a machine!

After looking at it more carefully, Feng Luo was shocked to discover that a gigantic armored machine was moving through the Forest of Exiles.

It was an armored machine that was at least eight to nine meters tall. In front and on both of its sides was a row of equipment that looked like electric saws. It had wheels covered with treads, and everywhere it passed within the forest, the trees and plants were severed by the electric saws. After that, they were pushed aside by the mechanical arms installed on the machine. It seemed to be opening up a walkable path through the Forest of Exiles.

“What’s the story here?”

Feng Luo was still shocked and after that, a scene that shocked him even more appeared within his sights. Behind this gigantic machine were four Tiger A-50 Robots that were five meters in height!

Yes, robots naturally played a role in a sci-fi online game like War. Not only were robots present, in fact, but there was also even a Robot Pilot profession specifically designed to use robots in combat. Similar to the Doctor, the Robot Pilot was a special profession that combined combat and life professions. The difference was that the number of people with the unique Robot Pilot profession was very limited. Its ratio to doctors was not even 1,000 to one.

The reason they were so rare was that Robot Pilots really burned through cash! The cheapest Level-30 Wind Wolf A-30 Robot had a base cost 50,000 credits. Currently, the most expensive model sold in stores was the Tiger A-50 Robot—the ones moving through the forest right in front of Feng Luo’s eyes. The level requirement for piloting the model was Level 50, and the retail price was as high as 12 million credits!

In addition, the consumption of energy crystals and ammunition used by robots in combat was extremely high. Spending hundreds of thousands of credits in a single battle was a common occurrence. And if the robot was damaged during battle, the maintenance and repair fee would also be quite painful.

In the real world, a simple dent to a luxury car could mean a repair fee of several hundred thousand. The same was true for showboaty combat tools like robots driven by highly vain pilots. What better way to show off one’s wealth than to spend a million or at least 800,000 credits in a single battle?

That was why only rich people could afford to play as Robot Pilots. Compared to that, the Machine Gunner Profession—which was sometimes referred to as a profession only for tycoons—was nothing. This was the difference between a normal tycoon and a godly tycoon!

Of course, there was a reason why the robots were so expensive! The Tiger Type A Robot model, for example, had a grayish-black high-tech alloy body made of expensive metals. It was filled with explosive strength and frightening defensive capabilities. The four 12-barreled metallic heavy cannons on its back were touted as a “meat mincer” on the battlefield. The energy cannon, which required a C-Grade energy crystal for a single shot, was enough to destroy Elite-grade monsters below Level 50, and it even had two small missile launchers with four missiles. The combat strength of the Level-50 Tiger Type A Armor made it an unrivaled presence at the game’s current stage!

Of course, the might of the Tiger Armor did not mean that Robot Pilots were unbeatable in War! Just as Machine Gunners were restrained by certain game mechanics, Robot Pilots could not reach an “imbalanced” level in PK.

For one, the attack damage of the robots would be nerfed when facing monsters above the Commander-grade and players. Even if one Tiger Robot had enough ammunition, in reality, it would not be able to defeat the lowest of Level-35 Bosses. Secondly, robots had piloting level requirements. The lowest level limit for piloting the almighty Tiger Robot was Level 50.

Moreover, there was absolutely no way there was a Pilot who had reached level 50 yet. That was why, since the opening of the server, the almighty Tiger Robot had only been seen standing in the robot store within Silvermoon City, receiving the admiration and jealousy of the people.

For this reason, Feng Luo had never expected that he would personally see four Tiger model robots while in the Forest of Exiles. And upon seeing the same rebel army symbol that he had seen two hours earlier, imprinted on the silverish-gray alloy body of the tiger robot before him, Feng Luo sucked in a breath of cold air.

What is the rebel army up to?

Holding the M110 in his hands, Feng Luo was truly stunned—so much so that he no longer cared about the two Light Armor Warriors, presently fleeing in panic beneath his tree.

His mind no longer lingered on Yellow-tooth and his gang. First of all, it was because the rebel army was closing in. If he started fighting them now, it was highly likely that the rebel army would notice them, and one energy cannon shot was all it would take to take care of all three of them then and there.

Secondly, the scale of the rebel army was huge. It was likely that a large story mission had been triggered.

A large story mission! In War, players could participate in certain missions without the need to receive them personally. Wars between NPC powers represented one such example. Many unique rewards that were normally inaccessible or unavailable would appear in missions like these.

The scale of the rebel army was so huge that they cleared a path straight through the Forest of Exiles, moving directly toward the Town of Exiles. No matter how one looked at it, it seemed clear they weren’t there for a tour. Feng Luo’s guess was instantly proven true as a voice message sent by the federal army through the internal messaging channel rang in his communicator.

“Attention to all federal combatants in and around Town of Exiles 1022. A huge wave of the rebel army is heading toward the Town of Exiles. Please return to the Town of Exiles immediately and partake in its defense. Repeat. Please return to the Town of Exiles immediately and partake in its defense! Also, to all citizens, please head toward the emergency shelter immediately! Repeat. All citizens, please head toward the emergency shelter immediately!”

Every communicator of the personal terminal given by the Federation had an encrypted internal channel. It was used specifically by the Federation’s military unit. The one who announced this message was clearly the city guard of the Town of Exiles. And after the message was announced, on the lower-left corner of the terminal, every player in the Town of Exiles had a new mission reminder that read, “Protect the Town of Exiles.”

Story mission “Defense of the Town of Exiles” has begun. All players around Town of Exiles 1022 can head toward the mission hall to claim the temporary Certificate of Conscription to be eligible to participate in the mission.

During the mission, medal points will be awarded for killing rebel army units. Medal points can be used to exchange for resources, equipment, and other items. During the mission, players within the vicinity of the Town of Exiles are prohibited from fighting against each other. Violators will receive severe punishment!