Fatal Shot
chapter-67

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

Pow!

−2688

The pirate crew was smiling broadly as the lone pirate found the control lever on the cannon. Then there was a flash as a light-blue, armor-piercing round pierced right through his throat.

It was worth mentioning that the system did provide some leeway to players; at least all the heavy weapons on the pirate ship weren’t encased in bulletproof windows or heavy armor casing. Instead, they were accessible to long-range shooters and their bullets.

Feng Luo and Black Panther locked their eyes below the heavy weapon and took every chance to kill any crew member who tried to put their hands on it. In addition to the pirates they had eliminated before, the total kill count had now reached over 50 people.

However, the remaining pirates somehow seemed to have gotten smarter. All of a sudden, they stopped revealing themselves, causing Feng Luo and Black Panther to not receive any rewards for the next few minutes.

The pirates’ decision to play defensively made Feng Luo uneasy…

The two ships kept getting closer and closer, from 600 meters to 500 to 400… Sure enough, as soon as they were roughly 350 meters apart, 20 or more pirates wielding AK-47s suddenly emerged from the cabins and bunkers and started shooting.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

Nearly 20 AK-47 machine guns were firing in their direction. The firepower from the crew was by no means inferior to the three railguns. The AKs might not have been very accurate at a range of 300 meters, but the sheer quantity of bullets was just too much to resist.

−302

−317

−285

Instantly, Feng Luo was shot several times in succession. If not for the fact that the damage from assault rifles and machine guns was limited—in addition to being reduced by the 300-meter distance—he reckoned he would have lost half of his HP immediately!

It was obvious that there was a Scout among the pirates. Almost all the shots fired by the pirates were aimed toward him and Black Panther. Luckily, Big Pineapple was right next to Feng Luo. All he needed to do was lean sideways and use the alloy shield to block the barrage.

−47

−56

−69

The AK-47 shots were able to chip away 300 HP from Feng Luo, but they weren’t as effective against Black Panther who was holding up a shield. However, there were so many bullets that even Big Pineapple couldn’t take it any longer.

“Fall back. We can’t take this!” he said as he held the alloy shield. Damage values kept appearing above his head like raindrops. The strong force of the bullets’ impact even made him take a few steps back. If not for the high defense coefficient of his shield and the fact that machine guns and assault rifles had moderately low attack coefficients, his shield would have shattered beneath this heavy rain of bullets just like the Heavy Armor Warrior’s had.

Through the group channel, Feng Luo saw that Black Panther’s HP dropped to less than 20 percent within two seconds. Luckily, White Crescent, who was right behind him, quickly restored his health with a blood tonic. After that, none of them dared to stay out on the deck. Everyone ran into the cabins.

“That was a sudden counterattack!” Big Pineapple panted heavily. “These bastards.”

It made his heart ache to see all the bullet dents on his alloy shield. This shield was a piece of Level-46 Excellent-grade equipment with the Perfect rating. The attributes were even better than some Rare-grade shields. Now that it had been damaged, not only were its defense abilities greatly reduced, but fixing it would cost him a few thousand credits.

They had sustained so much damage—and before even reaching their destination. This 200,000 credit commission wasn’t easy to obtain.

Listening to the continuous hail of bullets hitting the walls and hull of the ferry, Feng Luo gave himself an extra blood tonic, then looked slightly disturbed.

“Well, that didn’t go well,” he said. “What do we do now?”

Nobody had thought that the pirates would suddenly launch a counterattack like this. Now, the pirates who were controlling the electromagnetic railguns and cannons were the ones in charge. Anyone who went out there would definitely be killed by the pirates’ concentrated fire.

In the group channel, Feng Luo could see that White Crescent was still tending to Black Panther. Neutron Star was with them. He had been shielding Black Panther before and now had only half of his HP left. The Red Queen and Glazed Ice were silent. Nobody knew what they were up to.

“Hmm. The ferry seems to be… turning?” Big Pineapple questioned curiously.

“Huh?”

Feng Luo was stunned and concentrated for a moment. The ferry was, indeed, turning. In fact, it felt like it was turning completely around.

“What’s going on?” Big Pineapple shouted. “Could it be that that red woman is steering us toward the pirate ship?”

The only one who could give orders to the boat captain was Red Queen. It appeared that Red Queen had decided to steer the ferry to face the pirate ship head-on.

This wasn’t a good decision.

“Oi! Red! What are you doing?” Big Pineapple shouted through the group channel.

Red Queen didn’t reply. Even Glazed Ice didn’t say anything.

No words were spoken. The two of them looked at each other, then ran toward the deck.

“Huh? Feng, look!” Big Pineapple said, pointing in surprise as the ladies ran.

These two women, thought Feng Luo. What are they up to?

Feng Luo looked over and noticed that the Red Queen and Glazed Ice were standing together. Clothed in a red and a white gown, respectively, they both had on a semi-transparent energy shield. Meanwhile, on the tip of their staffs were concentrated, gleaming lights. The ladies were now on the left side of the ferry, in the inner part of the observation deck. Shots fired by the pirates were blocked by the cabin walls, failing to hit them. But since the ferry was turning, their position would soon be revealed to the pirates.

I get it now… What a brilliant plan, although quite troublesome.

Feng Luo nodded. He understood the Red Queen’s intent.

The two ships were now about 300 meters apart, entering the attack range for Manipulators. Single attacks by a sniper could be suppressed because they required time to carry out. However, a Manipulator with a wide-range attack would only need to unleash a single skill to deal massive damage.

Even though the ranged attack skills of Manipulators took a long time to cast, it wasn’t a process that can be altered at will. Moreover, the attack location had to be decided through observation beforehand. But, in a situation like this, nobody dared to use such a skill because of the rain of bullets outside.

In response, they had concocted a very creative solution. While they couldn’t move, the ferry could!

Standing on one side of the ferry, they channeled their skills while the NPC steered the ferry. Once they were facing the pirate ship, they would have enough line of sight to activate their skills.

Furthermore, they were shielded by the cabin walls to begin with, so they needn’t worry about the heavy weapons from the pirate’s ship during the transition period.

Feng Luo had to admit that this was an interesting plan. Making use of the ferry to unleash a skill was the sort of style that Feng Luo liked to adopt. However, once they had direct line of sight, the pirates would notice them and start attacking. What would they do then?

Naturally, Red Queen had considered this.

As the ferry started to face forward, Glazed Ice completed her skill casting. The stream of a waterfall rose from the surface of the sea and spanned the distance between them and the pirates.

The Water Manipulator Level-30 skill “Water Curtain” was different from other skills in that it had a very special attribute. There weren’t any attack abilities but with its long-distance flying attack, but the damage of bullets or skills would be greatly reduced. Moreover, the higher the level of the skill, the larger the area of the Water Curtain would be. At the same time, the Water Curtain could seriously interrupt observation skills and devices. And since, in this case, it was a water skill activated on the sea, the effects were almost doubled; Glazed Ice’s Water Curtain was almost five meters tall.

The pirates across the way had noticed the sudden appearance of the Water Curtain, but since they were AIs and couldn’t see what was going on behind the screen, they continued to shoot carelessly. These shots weren’t a great threat to Red Queen and Glazed Ice. Even if they were hit by a Zero Star bullet, the energy shield would absorb all the damage.

Five seconds later, the pirates who were recklessly firing all looked up to the sky in astonishment. It was the great skill channeled by Red Queen—an attack that covered a frightening area of effect. It was the Fire Manipulator Level-40 ultimate skill known as “Meteor Rain”!

Meteor Rain, at the Expert level, had a cooldown of less than 10 minutes. Its power had already been demonstrated against the pirates’ speedboat previously!

The pirates were panic-stricken to realize that the sky above their heads had suddenly grown dark, followed by the falling of more than 10 smoky fireballs and countless meteorites. About half of the pirate ship was shrouded within the area of Meteor Rain.

Compared to the last time, the two ships were even closer than before—less than 200 meters apart. Every pirate who got struck by the smoky black fireballs suffered a value of −1500 appearing above their heads. Moreover, the 100 percent burn effect resulted in a continuous reduction in their HP. Even the deck, which was made of special fireproof materials, burned.

Black smoke rolled above the ship. The pirates on the deck didn’t even think about shooting anymore. Each one looked horrified as they cried out, trying to avoid death from the meteorites in the sky above.

******

This skill unleashed by Red Queen must have killed more than 20 pirates. It was a total that Feng Luo and Black Panther had taken quite a long time to achieve using their sniping skills. It had to be conceded that the truly violent occupations in War were the privileged Machine Gunner and Fire Manipulator.

As they closed in to within about 150 meters to the pirate ship, an alarm suddenly went off. Then the ship quickly changed course and steered away from the ferry.

“Have we killed more than 75 percent of them?” asked Big Pineapple.

“We killed three elite leaders,” Feng Luo replied. “We shouldn’t have to reach 75 percent.” He sighed. “Nevermind. The pirates are dealt with. I need a rest.”

In all honesty, he felt like this had been quite a tiring battle. Many assumed that sniping was an easy task. But on such a wobbly boat, for every single shot, he had to account for factors such as wind speed and distance. It also took a lot of concentration to find that “feeling.” For Feng Luo, this long battle with the pirates had been a lot more tiring than hunting red-name players.

Finally, the pirates retreated. This task was considered complete. Now, it was time to head to Silver Leaf Island.