Hao Yuze looked around. The insects were everywhere.
They were crawling and flying out of the hive hill without any end in sight and were completely overwhelming them. They were shooting toward them like darts from all directions.Their buzzing sounds made everyone unable to think.
If not for Alex’s divine shield protecting them and burning down these insects en masse every now and then, they would have been long dead by now.
These things would have swarmed them and consumed them without even leaving behind their bones as proof of their existence. However, this protection was not going to last.
Alex was already on the edge. She was on the verge of collapsing completely. Her mana was running low, and her shields were becoming weaker and weaker because of mental exhaustion. They needed to act fast and do something about this.
Hao Yuze knew very well that he was useless when it came to fighting, but he, at the least, wanted to do something to help everyone. He wanted to find some solution, any solution, but everywhere he turned, there was only death waiting for them in the form of these insects.
“I need to calm down.” He tried not to panic and looked around with his eyes narrowed as he tried to get a sense of what was there beyond the swarm.
It took him a couple of seconds but bingo!
His gaze finally landed on something that they could actually use!
The heavy armored trucks!
He did not know how long it would last, but at least it could give them a relief of 1 minute? This 1 minute could make all the difference between life and death!
“Miss Alex!” Hao Yuze shouted as he inched closer to her and quickly filled her in on his plan.
Hmmm? Alex groaned in pain.
Though she was extremely busy at the moment, barely having any time to think, she still could understand what the new guy meant and gave the ‘yes’ signal. At this point, she was willing to try whatever.
After she gave the nod, the group then slowly tried to move.
While fighting against the swarm that was becoming bigger and bigger by the second, they slowly shifted toward the heavy armored trucks that were parked right behind each other.
On either side of the trucks, there were other vehicles as well parked.
This made it extremely inconvenient for the insects to overcrowd them and completely overwhelm them, and this was exactly what Hao Yuze wanted to achieve.
Since the access from the sides was almost blocked, the main attack could only come from the top.
And this was easily handled by the paladin and the epic-grade weapon she wielded.
As soon as the group took cover at this junction, Alex was immediately able to take a breather. The others were also able to relax a little, and their mana supplies were quietly getting regenerated.
They were finally able to slash down at the insects without getting overrun by them.
However, the setup wasn’t going to last. Everyone could see how the number of insects was continuing to increase by the second, and their attacks were also rabid and relentless.
But with this breather, the group was able to spare a person. Lan Deming hurriedly jumped into one of the trucks as he searched for any supplies that they could use.
Hao Yuze told them about the several grenades that the military group possessed. This was their main goal.
While Lan Deming looked around for these grenades, Rey provided cover to Hao Yuze as the both of them quickly moved to a nearby fighter tank.
Hao Yuze knew that he was useless in direct combat, but he was still able to use these army vehicles and knew all about their operation.
The two of them coincidentally ran into some soldiers who seemed to have the same idea, but the previous enmity was no longer there in their eyes.
They seemed pitiful, merely trying to survive. So Rey and Hao Yuze ignored them and went about their business.
In the current condition, maybe the arrogant ones at the top would think of double-crossing and some petty scheme. However, the probability of hardworking soldiers betraying them was very small.
So everyone went about their own business. It was not like they had time to think about these schemes anyways. Even a second slip-up meant death.
In this way, soon, three tankers became active, firing rapidly at the swarm, and Lan Deming also managed to find five boxes full of grenades.
Rey quickly returned back to the group, and Lan Deming did the same as well after moving all the grenades closer to them.
Judah gave them cover as he cast ice element attacks repeatedly, not allowing any insect to get near them. Though many of these were only temporarily immobilized and not fully killed, for now, they focussed more on the control side.<.com>
And once everyone was safely back in their respective positions, they then began their counterattack!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The fighter tanks roared loudly. The few other soldiers were only barely functioning, but Hao Yuze had already calmed down his nerves and started aiming for the bloody insects and firing at them.
The insects looked bizarre and had a lot of features to their advantage, like their incredible speed and their hard exoskeleton, which left little to no weakness, but they were still not immune to the attacks from these tanks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every single attack took at least one down!
While the fighter tanks started attacking from one side, Rey and Lan Deming started tactically using the grenades they had found.
They had initially hoped that these insects would be afraid of the fire because of how dark it was currently, but that was not the case. They did not seem to be bothered by the fire at all.
The good news was that they were at least taking damage. The blast effect of the grenade kicked up a storm of fire and dust that brought down dozens of these insects.
“Try throwing some at the hive!” Alex reminded them.
Rey and Lan Deming also had the same plan, as they spared a few grenades for the hive hill. If they took down the source, then perhaps this would all be over.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!
Three grenades went off at the same time. The blasts roared loudly as sparks, sand, metal, rocks, and dust erupted in the distance.
Did it harm the hive?
Everyone clenched their fists and held on, waiting to look at the result. However… when the smoke and dust cleared, once again, only a dead end awaited them.
The damned hill was still standing, and more insects were creeping out of it!
While the grenades were effective against the insects, they did not even leave a scratch on the hive hill!
“It’s fine! It’s fine! KEEP FIGHTING!” Alex shouted in a hoarse voice. “Keep fighting, and we will eventually pull through!”
Everyone nodded and continued without losing hope. Though their attempt might have failed, they still held the upper hand in this fight temporarily.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
KABOOM! KABOOM!
Attacks roared loudly. The insects dropped from the skies and scattered on the ground lifelessly. They might not have gotten the hive hill, but they did a number of the insects.
With the group attacking at full strength, grenades being tossed left and right, and the tanks firing at the swarm, it finally looked like they were about to get everything under control.
And just as they began to push down on this small advantage, suddenly, an ear-shattering, screeching sound came out of the hill, capturing everyone’s attention.
The several gazes turned to look at the hive hill when a look of utter horror appeared in them. Right in front of their eyes, more insects shot out from inside!
And this time, these insects were almost double the size of the previous ones!
The swarm that had just started to thin down once again became unruly and endless!
In just a second, everything instantly turned. With these bigger insects attacking from all sides, the trucks on either side of Alex and the others collapsed immediately.
The armored truck was now full of holes, and the cover they had temporarily arranged was no longer there.
In fact, it was difficult to even see in this madness as there were only insects everywhere with no end in sight. The swarm had become so dense that every hit landed on an insect.
At this point, it was impossible to avoid getting attacked. As if this was not enough, a few managed to slip through the defense, and Judah got stung by one of the insects.
His movements immediately became slow and sluggish. “Fuck! These are poisonous!” Alex shouted, alerting everyone.
But, it was unclear whether her voice was even heard or not. More and more insects poured in. It looked like soon, everyone would be in the same condition as Judah.
