Chapter 975 - Mission Generated (1/2)

When the bombing stopped, the abandoned military base had turned into a mess, with the collapsed gravel blocked off countless roads. The terrain had become much more complicated, and the gravel fell from time to time with a clacking sound.

The bottom of the base was filled with smoke and dust. The falling debris had piled up into a hill, beneath which Nero was firmly buried.

Suddenly, there was a sound akin to a slimy liquid flowing in the darkness.

Whoosh!

An area of two square meters within the debris below gradually turned red as it shone brighter and brighter. The metal beams and stone pieces melted together to reveal an empty hole.

Nero crawled out of the hole, his hands continuously casting heat rays as he limped. The high temperature around him caused the very air to warp.

“Cough cough cough…”

A dull cough escaped the mechanical suit as Nero took gasps of air. He focused, activating the mechanical suit to do a full body scan.

“Left leg is slightly misaligned. Awaiting permission for mechanical suit to autocorrect bone alignment.”

“Go ahead.”

His armor on the left leg tightened a little, and the misaligned bones were set. Nero snorted in pain before relaxing. Previously, a few tons of debris had hit his body, and although his mechanical suit was fine, the shock had given him a slight injury. After all, he was an ordinary, fragile mechanic.

The radar displayed that the enemies were above him. Nero knew that this was not the time for him to relax, and he immediately opened the communicator to contact his teammates.

“Captain, Nero here. Where are you guys, and how’s the situation?”

Static sound buzzed, broken by intermittent screams of pain. Nero shouted for quite a bit before he received news from them.

“We’re not doing good here!” His teammate’s face popped up on his tactical display, filled with bruises and cuts. His tone was hurried. “I was beside the captain just now, and when the base collapsed, the captain was stunned. An artillery shot penetrated through the ground and hit us, and many of us are now injured and scattered. No matter who hears this news, save them, and bring everyone to gather. We have to escape immediately!”

Nero immediately opened the team’s health monitoring subprogram and was shocked when he saw the red on the screen.

Everyone’s injuries were worse than his, and there were several people, including the captain, who were already on the verge of death. Because he had fallen to the bottom of the base and was buried, he had managed to escape the subsequent bombing from the battleship, so he was the least injured.

It was because of his Luck Glow.

“My condition is the best…” Nero immediately felt the pressure on his shoulders.

He gritted his teeth, opening the position locator for his team. The position of each teammate was marked on the tactical screen of the mechanical suit, and the artificial intelligence within operated at a high speed to map out the fastest rescue route.

From behind his back jetted out a tail flame, and Nero flew out of the big pit at the bottom of the base to rescue the scattered members.

The terrain was complex, but there was no time for him to make a detour. His palm continuously shot out heat rays, melting through all the obstacles in front of him, saving one teammate after another before the arrival of the Kunde ground troops. Finally, he reached the position of his captain.

Blasting aside an obstructing metal plate, Nero flew into the messy room and landed with a loud thud. He saw the captain and a group of members there, all with varying injuries.

The captain was lying paralyzed on the ground, his upper body leaning against the wall. His armor was scorched black, revealing large holes. Looking up at Nero’s entrance, he squeezed out a smile, saying in a weak voice.

“Nero, you’re here. You… cough cough… you did well.”

“Captain, don’t talk anymore.”

Seeing this, an intravenous needle shot out from Nero’s finger, and he pierced it into the captain’s chest.

Aurora’s special life potion was injected into the captain’s body through the needle, and his serious injuries were cured in an instant.

The captain’s state recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye, causing him to let out a comfortable groan. He got up full of energy, clicking his tongue. “This is the special life potion of Her Excellency Aurora? What good stuff!”

Aurora would occasionally activate her ability to produce such life medicines, but the quantity was limited after all, and there was even a shelf life for the potions, so not all warriors from Black Star Army could have them. The normal members would all use the typical store bought medicines, but with Nero’s background, he naturally had Aurora’s life potions.

“Those with major injuries come over. I still have a few more of the life potions, and it will recover your combat capabilities,” Nero shouted.

One of them could not help but say, “Leave some for yourself. There’ll be another bloody battle ahead. What will happen if you’re injured?”

“It’s ok. I still have other medicines.” Nero did not seem to care.

Everyone glanced at each other before shrugging. Having a descendent with a powerful background in their team was not too bad a thing. The backer had already offered, so why were they hesitating?

Nero healed up all his teammates, and they discussed their options.

“Everyone, we’re in an unfavorable situation. We’ve been caught in an ambush, and the entire fleet is being attacked by the enemy,” the captain explained in a serious tone. “The others are too busy to respond to us, so we can only break through by ourselves. There are three Kunde battleships above us, but we have no vehicles, so it will be dangerous…”

“If the enemy continue to bomb the fleet, it will be a desperate situation for us, but now the enemy has stopped attacking and has sent their ground troops to approach us instead.” The eyes of the vice captain flashed. “This means that they intend to capture us alive. This is perhaps our only chance to escape.”

“That’s right!” The captain nodded. “If we wish to escape, we must obtain control of the airspace. The fleet can’t meet up with us, so we can only grab a spaceship. The chances are slim but not impossible.

“This debris is our barrier. If we rush out, the enemy spaceships can bombard us unscrupulously. Thus, we can only wait for the enemy soldiers to enter the base and fight with them directly. In order to prevent friendly fire, the spaceships will not open fire at random, so we need to approach this with a two-pronged strategy. One team will deal with the enemy soldiers, while the other will go to steal a spaceship…”

The captain paused. Everyone looked at each other.

This was something that would affect everyone’s survival. Out of ten paths, only one would lead them out alive.

So, the question was, who should grab the spaceship? It stood to reason that the strongest person should be the one performing this task, and the strongest in the team was Nero with the biggest background.

But to ask someone from such a huge background to accept such a huge responsibility, and only a young teen at that… Everyone was a little hesitant.

Seeing this, Nero gritted his teeth and set his resolve.

“Let me go. There’s no one more suitable than me.”

The captain looked at him, but in the end, he did not try to dissuade him, only solemnly saying, “We’re relying on you. We’ll be engaging the enemy to earn time for you… Remember, everyone’s life is in your hands.”

“I understand.”

Nero took a deep breath, regaining his calm. He controlled his mechanical suit to enter stealth mode, casting one last glance at his members. He then separated, vanishing into the darkness.

The captain breathed out heavily and turned to the rest with a severe expression, “You guys don’t need me to tell you what to do. No matter what, lure down every single enemy.”

“We understand.” The vice captain had a complex expression and nodded.

Other than Nero, everyone else understood what the captain’s tone implied. In actual fact, they had two plans. The first was to allow Nero to capture the spaceship and then escape with him.

But if this level failed, they would unhesitatingly invoke the hidden level… which was to turn themselves into suicide warriors, allowing Nero to abandon them and run off by himself.

It was not just because of Nero and his relationship with the Army Commander, but everyone also knew that the future of this young man was immeasurable. Only by allowing a person with potential to escape could they then obtain their revenge in the future.

…

After sneaking around in the dark for a moment, the commotion of his teammates fighting the Kunde soldiers came from Nero’s communicator.

At this moment, he was no longer on the battlefield but had arrived in front of a collapsed area leading to the ground level. He remained hidden, using the radar to lock onto the spaceship closest to him in the air.

His palms were slick with sweat as he carefully released a unique-looking hovering guard. It was painted in black and gold, and it looked completely different from all of Nero’s other equipment. There was an unparalleled sense of quality in it. After being released, it smartly started to circle around Nero’s head.

“I’m relying on you, brother.” Nero patted the hovering guard, his heart firm.

“Relax, kid. With your big brother here, no one can hurt you!” The hovering guard actually replied!

This was Nero’s final card. This hovering guard was a present from Han Xiao when they first met.

It was high-grade equipment personally built by a Beyond Grade A Super, driven by dark energy. In addition, it had the blessings of [Emperor’s Gift] and [Machinery Fusion]. After Han Xiao obtained the skill of [Mechanical Life Tinder], he had also transformed it into an intelligent mechanical life form, with its independent consciousness and chance to grow. He had named it ‘Sky Guardian’.

Even when Nero was a kid, the Sky Guardian without any Mechanical Force could fend off Grade C Supers.

Now, with Nero as a Grade C+ Super, along with Perfect Mechanical Sense, the Sky Guardian could unleash even more force. Even when compared to Grade Bs, Nero did not lose out at all.

Nero had never taken out this trump card of his, especially when sparring in school. Even if a pugilist rushed up to his face and beat him black and blue, he had never taken out this killing machine.

His true combat capability was unknown, even to Mia who was the closest to him.

Within the school compound, Mia had often sparred with him, but she did not know how strong he could be if he went all out.

Staring at the radar on his screen, Nero breathed in and out to stabilize himself, allowing his energy to fill every cell of his body.

“Hu, I can do this…”

Nero did not hesitate any longer and activated his thrusters.

Boom!

His entire body shot forward, blasting through the rocks at the entrance and rushing into the sky!

The three battleships immediately set their guns and fired at Nero.

The power of the battleships’ cannons were deadly to a Grade C, but the Sky Guardian accompanying Nero shook, and rays of light shot out from it, forming a golden protective shield to surround Nero.

Boom boom boom!

All the artillery cannons bombarded the area in a burst of fireworks, but the shield only showed a slight crack, which instantly repaired itself. It forcibly endured an entire round of firepower.

At the same time, the Kunde battleships above understood Nero’s intentions and activated their shields, preventing external entry.

“Open a pathway for me!”

With a thought, the Sky Guardian released a blinding ray of Mechanical Force, which quickly reformed into a hexagonal shaped muzzle. An all-consuming black beam burst out, carrying immense penetrative force.

Pew pew pew!

The rate of fire was incredible and resembled the actions of someone who was rushing urgently toward the toilet.

The target battleship’s shields were blasted apart, and Nero seized the chance, rushing into the gap created.

Pa pa pa…

Compressed orbs were thrown out from his hands and transformed into laser cutting drills with electromagnetic bases. They attached themselves to the spacecraft, quickly cutting through its hull to create an entrance to the internal compartments.

Nero did a barrel roll in midair, slamming into the spaceship. Without a word, he threw out a large number of mechanical soldiers and activated his weapons, cutting through the ship’s members as if he was chopping vegetables.

Because this spaceship was the one that had sent the ground troops to capture Nero’s team, its strength on board was insufficient, and this made it more convenient for Nero.

Firing without any reserve, Nero did not take much time to kill his way into the main control room, and he immediately took out a Virtual Intrusion chip manufactured by the army. He inserted it into the core of the spaceship’s artificial intelligence. He was not a Virtual Mechanic yet, but the army provided such virtual intrusion aspects.