Chapter 130 – Ambush

Chapter 130 – Ambush

In the city, where destruction and slaughter were in full swing, I surveyed the situation from above, in a calm atmosphere that didn’t suit the mood.

‘Indeed… it’s a common sight.’

Having seen various looters in previous rounds, as well as this one, this was by no means an unfamiliar scene to me.

The only subtly peculiar thing was-

‘Still, this is the first time I’ve seen it from the sky.’

The method of observation was different.

Up until now, I had only secretly watched the city being plundered with at most an observation probe or an observation ship.

But now it was different.

Rumble-

Right now, above the City being plundered by the Men, an enormous presence was asserting itself, looking down. At this point, the City couldn’t help but notice it.

“Uh… uh?”

“What on earth is that?”

“That… doesn’t seem to be a Marauder’s vessel…”

Even amidst their fierce battle, the Men would occasionally look up at the sky when the shadow of the massive Assault Landing Ship fell upon them.

And there was only one reason to approach the Battleship so closely.

‘An ambush doesn’t necessarily have to be hidden.’

It was because I didn’t want to miss a single one of them.

‘Interceptor launch.’

Chiiing- Kiririk-! Tutututang!

And launching Interceptors this close made it very easy to do so. Especially if they were Stealth Interceptors, whose existence the enemy didn’t even know about.

As Interceptors were launched one by one, and I judged that preparations, such as target acquisition, were complete.

‘Commence firing.’

I gave the order to attack.

And the moment the Interceptors let out their first cry.

Cheeeeeeeeng!

“Wh- what?!”

Kwakwakwakwakwang!

More than half of the Looters died.

“What, there are so many of them.”

I smirked as I looked at the report. Because-.

“What?!”

“There’s something in the sky!”

‘Hide, hide!’

“Where will you hide!”

The Man Interceptors, once again rotating their bodies in the air-.

Claaaaang!

Because they had dealt with the remaining Looters.

It all happened in less than 20 seconds.

“This is how you ambush.”

I smirked.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jinseonmun, without knowing why, watched his subordinates, whom he had gathered all along, being eliminated in an instant.

And it all happened in just about 20 seconds.

With eyes filled with fear, revering The Man as the Messiah-.

“Ca-Castle!”

Claaaaang!

Even those who rushed to find The Man.

The Man had raised about two thousand Marauders so far.

In particular, a considerable number of them were true elites who had been with him since the days of forming the Firearm Worship Cult.

“Kuh-huh!”

Therefore, there were quite a few who had been with him for over ten years. For example, like the one who just coughed up blood and died.

Crunch.

Jinseonmun ground his teeth.

Even though The Man had become a Villain, these people maintained at least a semblance of his humanity… a kind of safety net.

“I’ll kill them all.”

Now that they were gone.

The Man was no different from a monster.

“I will give it my all.”

The Man examined the weapon he would use to activate his Loyalty ability.

It was a 120mm Smoothbore Cannon, modified from a captured tank gun to be bolt-action. The Man held this weapon in one hand, thanks to his body, enhanced by the Villain, and the mana surrounding him.

After confirming there were no issues with the weapon, The Man loaded a shell, nearly a meter long, into his cannon.

Click-

At first glance, it looked like a giant bolt-action sniper rifle. However, this cannon didn’t require rifling. In other words, it had no grooves.

Thrummmm-

Perhaps because of that, the Artillery Shell slid in easily.

After confirming the Artillery Shell was properly seated, Jinseonmun then turned the thick bolt to close the breech.

Clack!

These were tasks that would normally have been handled by a mechanical device.

Having loaded the tank’s main gun, The Man braced the gun against his shoulder and pointed the muzzle towards the sky.

“You damn bastards.”

This was his maximum Firepower.

“Take this.”

Bang!

And just like that, the cannon fired.

Whoosh!

An immense amount of mana enveloped the Artillery Shell.

It was as if time was rewound, and the firing repeated.

Bang bang bang!

The cannons fired repeatedly. Considering the initial long loading time, this rate of fire was unbelievable.

Bang bang bang bang bang- bang!

However, that was happening right now.

Thanks to Jinseonmun’s ability, [Rapid-fire Enhancement].

***

“Oh, it’s starting.”

I grinned as I watched the Artillery Shells shoot up into the sky. I was well aware of his ability from previous rounds.

Even if he fires one shot, it’s an ability that amplifies that one shot to fire multiple rounds. It was similar to Rai’s ability to leave Afterimages, but it didn’t have the restriction of having to create his own weapons. Instead, its drawback was that it was limited to ranged weapons.

Of course, that wasn’t a big problem for me.

‘After all, most of my machine’s weapons are ranged weapons.’

His Essence combined so well with my abilities that it almost felt like it was made for me.

Of course, that’s a story for after I kill him.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

His Artillery Barrage began to hit the hull.

***

Jinseonmun shouted excitedly as he watched the tank Artillery Shells begin to embed themselves in the bottom of the Assault Landing Ship.

“How’s my power?”

The cannons fired like gatling guns. And those projectiles were fired from a tank’s main gun.

Jinseonmun’s calculation was that no matter how strong the opponent was, they couldn’t possibly withstand such Firepower. He continued to fire the cannons until the Artillery Shells glowed red with overheating and then exploded.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!

And the moment the tank’s main gun finally exploded in his hand.

Boom!

“Hahahaha! Hahaha-ha!”

The man laughed with excitement.

“If I just shoot without caring about my surroundings, this much is–“

It was when the man was looking at the sky where the smoke had disappeared.

“Uh… uh…?”

The Assault Landing Ship was still floating in the sky.

Without a single scratch.

“Gasp.”

The man’s face turned pale.

***

“In the past, I had a really hard time with that cannon.”

I reminisced about the past, lost in memories.

Fortunately, none of my comrades were sacrificed to that cannon, but even so, I had to lose quite a few machines because of it.

“But it… it didn’t even tickle like this.”

Even in the past, he had never shot like this. But the Assault Landing Ship was enduring the artillery barrage as if nothing had happened.

It didn’t even seem to have a slight tremor.

“Yawn.”

To the extent that it couldn’t even wake Seoyeon, who was sound asleep on the bridge, unaware of anything. I smiled slightly at her.

‘Last time, she wasn’t so relaxed, I think.’

Indeed, it was a world that had changed a lot without the Capital City.

“And only in the direction I wanted.”

In that direction, I decided to add one more thing.

“Photon Destroyer. Prepare for salvo fire.”

A moment later, on the ground, with a large crater.

Boom!

Only the Mana Stone containing Essence remained.

***

Meanwhile, Houston, which was allied with the attacked city of Dallas-Fort Worth, was rapidly gathering troops and sending support.

However, the distance from Houston to Dallas was almost 400 kilometers. In terms of Korea, it was about the distance from Seoul to Busan.

Therefore, even though they did their best, it was inevitable that they could only arrive in Dallas at the very end of the situation.

Thus, they…

faced a situation that was hard to believe even with their own eyes.

“Oh… my God.”

Far away, above the shining Houston City.

Countless Battleships floating like clouds.

And the scattered beams of light descending from the sky looked as if there were invisible Fighter Jets.

“What on earth is happening…?”

Just as about 20 seconds passed, all the gunfire and cannon fire that had been heard from afar suddenly fell silent.

As if the situation had ended.

“Reconnaissance Team Member? Report. What’s going on?”

“Uh… Houston. Are you seeing this?”

“The video hasn’t arrived yet. What’s going on?”

It was then that the Reconnaissance Team Member rechecked the filming equipment.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!

Suddenly, from the ground, an enormous roar accompanied an countless number of Artillery Shells being fired towards the Black Warship in the sky. The Reconnaissance Team Member’s eyes trembled as he watched the Artillery Barrage.

“Oh… unbelievable, what power…”

Kwakwakwakwang!

The light was so bright that they had to blink their eyes.

But the astonishing thing wasn’t over. Even after receiving such an Artillery Barrage… the Black Warship had no damage whatsoever!

“Is that… real?”

The Reconnaissance Team Member couldn’t believe his eyes.

Only after zooming the camera he was holding to the maximum on the underside of the Assault Landing Ship could he confirm that the underside of the Assault Landing Ship was just slightly red-hot.

“My god… what kind of defense is that…?”

It was then, as he marveled at the defense.

Boom!

This time, an artillery barrage came down from the Photon Destroyer. It was precisely at his location, as if punishing the one who had attacked it.

And the light from this shot was overwhelmingly strong, enough to break the camera’s optical sensor.

“…This can’t be happening.”

Thud.

The Reconnaissance Team Member collapsed to the floor.

His mind was in turmoil.

A giant warship covering the city, and a strange rain of light that instantly eliminated all the marauders. Furthermore, the battleship’s defense, which could not be destroyed by any opposing force.

And even the overwhelming firepower erupting from that battleship… He felt as if he had seen and filmed something he shouldn’t have seen.

“Ha… hahahaha…”

He felt like he was going crazy.

After trembling on the floor for a long time, he-

“Reconnaissance Team Member! Reconnaissance Team Member! Do you hear me!”

He suddenly heard the voice coming from the walkie-talkie.

“Ah, this is the Reconnaissance Team Member. I hear you.”

“What on earth is going on! What was that bright light?!”

“Ah, you could see that light from there?”

“Yes, it was a light that made it feel like daytime for about 3 seconds. So what exactly happened in Dallas-Fort Worth!?”

“Uh… that…”

The Man paused for a moment.

He uttered the best possible answer he could.

“Houston, We’ve had a problem.”

“Houston, we have a problem.”

Thus, a famous line, like that from the Apollo 13 Incident (where fortunately no one died), was repeated.

***

Meanwhile, I was excited to see the Essence of Jinseonmun and started running to the Onboard Research Facility.

“I finally got it!”

This Essence was practically a core Essence that would tremendously upgrade the firepower of my fleet… and furthermore, my Legion.

This was a very simple calculation.

If it was difficult to further amplify firepower itself, then the only way was to increase the speed at which that firepower was projected. It was like saying, if quality isn’t enough, compete with quantity.

[Rate of Fire Amplification Research in progress… 2%]

In particular, the degree of firepower that could be amplified now was different from when I obtained this Essence in the past. For example… like the Photon Destroyer, which could not be produced in the past.

“I can definitely look forward to an increase in firepower.”

I grinned.