Book 6 Chapter 35.10 – Covered In Dust
A tenacious spark was put out, but there were still many other sparks currently flickering about in the darkness. Lafite continued to move quickly and irregularly, taking advantage of the instant of time it took the mechanical bugs to take aim to avoid the high energy light beams’ attacks. Whenever a large group of miniature guided missiles attacked, they actually couldn’t catch up to Lafite’s swift, ghost-like speed and unpredictable turns, moreover exploding one after another under his force fields.
With Lafite’s abilities, as long as he wasn’t directly struck by the miniature guided missiles, he wouldn’t be seriously injured. While moving, from time to time, the thick and heavy strange shaped armor would fire a small silver guided missile into the sky, and then it would explode in the center of the mechanical bug swarm. It was only the size of a fountain pen, yet when it exploded, apart from the blinding light, it also produced a small blast of faint white smoke. However, all mechanical bugs within twenty meters of it would suddenly stop their movements, and then after releasing sparks, they would fall from the sky one after another. Meanwhile, the mechanical bugs within fifty meters of the explosion would also be affected, quite a few releasing black smoke as well, dropping down. A single small guided missile was enough to scrap close to a thousand mechanical units.
Meanwhile, four hundred of these types of bullets had been fired! Lafite was fighting while basically carrying a missile armory, if any of these silver missiles exploded, then Lafite would also go straight to the next life. Even though the technical staff promised him again and again that they wouldn’t explode, these words would only make Lafite want to smash their noses in. The reason why he didn’t do this was only because these guided missiles and armor’s designs came directly from Helen. However, even though his confidence in Helen already reached the point of blind faith, carrying several hundred guided missiles on his back still made Lafite feel instinctively uncomfortable.
Lafite wouldn’t admit that he was scared.
He wouldn’t admit that he was scared of death even if he fell, but what he didn’t want was this type of death. After the battle began, the armor was struck by the high energy light beams several times, yet it successfully scattered the energy, defending against it, slightly restoring some of Lafite’s confidence that had dropped to rock bottom.
It was unknown just what kind of unknown technology was applied to the missiles fired into the sky, seemingly able to avoid the mechanical bug swarm’s detection, not encountering any interception while slowly rising into the air. Occasionally, when they were struck by the high energy light beams, they would also be successfully scattered by the missiles’ smooth surface. The silver guided missiles continuously fired into the sky, already delivering the mechanical bug swarm significant damage. Even for a bug swarm on the level of tens of millions, for a single person to destroy close to a hundred thousand units, this was still not something that could be endured, let alone the fact that this type of damage was still continuously spreading.
Several kilometers out, Curtis was also quite active. He didn’t excel in speed and evasion like Lafite, and the armor covering his body wasn’t complete protection type either, which was why after fighting for a long time, he did indeed suffer some small injuries. However, his body was extremely sturdy, when the high energy light beams directly struck him, they could still only produce a centimeter deep little hole. This level of injury, for the captain, was basically the same as being bitten by a larger mosquito. Even though Curtis’ speed wasn’t that great, his exploitation of the wilderness’ terrain was almost impeccable. When Lafite was fast asleep in the prison, the captain was still continuously training or fighting, so his combat experience was far more abundant than Lafite’s. This was also the reason why the guided missiles on his back were a hundred more than Lafite’s in number. Regardless of whether it was Lafite or Curtis, whenever they thought about how they had to completely fire the remaining missiles, they both revealed an ugly expression. This meant that the two individuals’ stamina was going to be exhausted to the very limit. That was why from the number of missiles that were allocated to them, one could see that Helen practically grasped all of the two individuals’ details, including what they openly expressed and what they concealed. This type of woman, except for a select few exceptional individuals, really wasn’t that likable. Even the current Lafite felt love, but also hesitation.
However, no one complained, all of them fighting at full strength, evading the never-ending rain of high energy light beams. Yet, in the bit of extra time they had to think, both of them would still think about other things, about some events of the past. Being fond of recalling the past was a sign of getting old, as well as a luxury when facing death’s door.
This tide of machines was something none of the humans knew if they could make it through. If they didn’t have this batch of guided missiles Helen produced at the last moment, Lafite might only be able to destroy less than a hundred thousand combat units while relying on himself, Curtis would take down a bit less, as he didn’t possess any aerial warfare ability. However, one thing they were sure of was that this wave was definitely not the last. If, just saying if, they could wipe out this tide, then there was only a larger wave of bugs waiting for them. Even now, the human race still hadn’t found the source of the bug tide.
Guided missiles exploded in the skies, holes opened up one after another. Lafite and Curtis were completely immersed in the battle, their surroundings filled with light rays of death and powerful explosions. The smoke was already unsuitable for human life. Scorched earth stretched as far as the eye could see, with even more areas surrounded in flames.
The mechanical bug swarm finally began to use combustion weapons. The fires were not that great, the flame saplings only a dozen or so centimeters in width, but they burned especially tenaciously and stably. Even rocks that had no chance of being burned through would continuously burn, truly unknown just what kind of incendiary agent it was that was used. The flame belt became larger and larger, gradually spreading. In the blink of an eye, these flames whose surface area already exceeded a square kilometer were already everywhere. The world already lacked green. There was still black, red, yellow, and even blue, but there was just no more green. The air was quickly suffused with a poisonous smoke, oxygen quickly depleted, the few creatures that were fortunate enough to survive now starting to suffocate.
Lafite’s mind suddenly sunk. After the war, even if the mechanical bug swarm was wiped out, this type of earth, what could it even produce? What kind of creatures could survive in this type of environment? At the very least, humans couldn’t.
Could it be that wherever the bug swarms passed, only scorched earth would be left in their wake?
The last nuclear war brought mostly radiation and coldness, while the life system of this planet, through rapid evolution and mutation, quickly adapted to this new environment, moreover becoming stronger, despite this power being extremely unstable. However, the danger the mechanical bug swarm brought was different, their goal was actually to eradicate this entire planet of organic matter! Could it be that they didn’t only wish to wipe out the human race, they also wished to wipe out all life from this planet?
After a moment of sorrow, regret, and shock, Lafite was once again thrown into an endless bitter struggle.
