Chapter 96: Beetle Storm

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

What made everyone delighted was not just the explosion in the sky but also the amount of experience points that popped up. This made them even happier.

Although the Suicide Bombeetles were only Level-20 monsters, there were penalties for killing the same monsters in War, resulting in reduced experience points. The experience point from these beetles, however, was double that of the average monster. All of their experience point totals went up a notch when hundreds of the beetle died.

"Sister Rui! Well done!" Mu Zi praised while giving a thumbs up. He then started firing with the assault rifle in his hand.

Nearly 300 beetles had been reduced to 50 after charging through the machine gun assault. What awaited them was an expert Wind Manipulator's Level-40 Tornado.

The spinning typhoon swallowed everything, including the Suicide Bombeetles. A damage indicator of −300 appeared over their bodies continuously. They exploded into balls of fire after two seconds.

The tornado, now filled with flame and smoke, blended into the fiery sky. The scene was a jaw-dropping visual sensation.

The remaining beetle was unable to battle the elites.

"Good, settled!"

A female player took a leap with the heavy alloy shield and crushed the last Suicide Bombeetle.

A −190 appeared overtop of a brown-skinned girl with an afro. Her ID was "Thorny Rose," an expert trainer. She massaged her hands and seemed to be very satisfied with her work.

This violent behavior had frightened Chairman Jiao. The regrettable thing was that although the XP gained from these beetles was relatively high, no items were dropped. The system must have designed it that way.

Mu Zi looked at his recon meter and used his detection skill. "There should be no more monsters."

"Then let's go," said Chairman Qian with a hesitant voice. He was holding his shield.

His comment was cut off by the Crazy Ripper. The sound was coming from approximately 100 meters behind the area where the Suicide Bombeetle had come from! This time, they could vaguely see a cloud flying through the air, and they heard thunder strikes from the black clouds.

"What's that?"

A doctor named Xiao Xue was shocked. "Big trouble!" she said.

Feng Luo grew tense. He was the only one who could clearly see what that "black cloud" was.

"It's Suicide Bombeetles!" Mu Zi screamed. His recon meter originally showed nothing but now was filled up with yellow dots.

But unlike last time, the Level-45 recon meter could not even estimate how many beetles there were. It could only estimate that the number was rising—breaking 8,500 and was still going up.

10,000 Suicide Bombeetles! Tens of thousands of normal beetles wouldn't have been frightening. But this was a horde of monsters. And even if they were just Level-20 monsters, it was still terrifying.

Previously, 300 beetles had been enough to be a threat to them. Now, nearly 10,000 of them would give the players no chance to fight back.

The "black tornado" in the sky was a mirage formed by countless flying beetles, and the thunderous sound was made by thousands of beetles flapping their wings at the same time.

"Are you serious?" Chairman Jiao was flabbergasted after understanding the situation.

The fearless, chubby boss, Mr. Meng, was also at a loss. "Oh crap! We are no match for them!"

Sister Rui did not talk much, but she had already disassembled the rifle and was putting it into her bag. "Let's run!" she shouted, and she started took off with the remaining pieces still in her hands.

Without hesitation, everyone ran after her.

Feng Luo, however, lingered behind. He wanted to initiate a series of explosions by shooting at the beetles.

Given that these beetles were so densely packed, the act of killing one would cause a chain reaction, and the experience he would gain would be greater than killing with his rifle.

The reason he did pursue this course of action was because he noticed that not all beetle were flying in this direction. Only 10 percent of them were chasing the players. He was worried that by shooting one of them, he would attract the rest of the Suicide Bombeetles, thus digging his own grave then. Therefore, he could only let the idea go.

******

They ran quickly, and the beetles' flying speed was slow. Although the players faced a lot more obstacles on the ground, they managed to enter a broken-down building just as the beetles were catching up. They did not have time to consider whether the old building would be safe.

Boom!

After everyone was inside the building, two Heavy Armor Warriors lifted their alloy shields to block the door, activating the Level-40 Warrior skill "Immovable Mountain." However, the door was resounding with the knocking sounds of Suicide Bombeetles trying to break in. The combined noises sounded like a hailstorm. They were lucky that these Suicide Bombeetles did not see their targets and, therefore, did not self-destruct. If they had, the door would have been broken by just a few explosions.

"Be careful..." someone spoke up. "The windows!"

The building seemed like a residential block. Their position should have been near a side door, so there were no large windows. But there were two small, one-meter windows along the side that were large enough for the Suicide Bombeetles to enter.

Crack!

One of the windows shattered into pieces, and five to six Suicide Bombeetles immediately flew inside.

Ratatatatat!

Mu Zi squeezed his assault rifle's trigger and immediately opened fire, rattling off numerous shots to kill three of the beetles.

Bang! Bang!

Sister Rui dropped the pieces of her assault rifle and swapped to the Golden Desert Eagle. She shot at the remaining three beetles with high precision. At the same time, the flames caused by the explosions blocked the windows. Now, the beetles were unable to enter. The attackers had become the defenders.

Feng Luo quickly shot a flying beetle coming in from another window with his M110. His shot, coupled with Little Witch's Fireball and Orange's Wind Blade, was able to hold off the beetle.

"No! We are unable to hold them off!"

The two Heavy Armored Warriors, along with Chairman Qian and Thorny Rose, were signaling distress. They were both relying on the Immovable Mountain skill to block the door. Once the skill's duration was depleted, they would not be able to hold back such strong attacks.

"Ah! Mu Zi, quickly! Call for help!" said Chairman Jiao immediately. He had sweated all the way through his headgear. Although it had been only a dozen-meter sprint, it was exhausting for a Manipulator who had never increased his Stamina points. His Stamina was reduced to half.

The efforts were in vain, thought Feng Luo. They must have sustained some damage!

Feng Luo noticed that the entire group of Suicide Bombeetles was organized. They broke into ten different directions to attack the ten teams of players in Nightless City. This way, the beetles could all take care of themselves.

In reality, the whole southern team channel was filled with noises. They could not even hear what each other was saying.

That's why it is better to rely on yourself rather than others, said Feng Luo in his mind.

"There's a dungeon here with an alloy door," said Mr. Meng. "It should be able to hold back the beetles!" He had already scouted the area and reported the good news in the team channel.

But Feng Luo did not care about overruling others. Right away, he gave the order. "Little Witch! Get ready with Firewall. Chairman Qian, Thorny Rose! Move away!"

The two Heavy Armor Warriors synchronized their actions. First, they used "Shield Bash." Then they both optimized the skills' recoil to withdraw swiftly.

When the alloy shields were taken away from the door, the Suicide Bombeetles immediately broke through and rushed into the building. However, a Firewall was unleashed just in time, emerging in the middle of the room to separate the players from the beetles. This line of defense initiated another round of explosive chain reactions and bought the players some time.