Chapter 559: The Terrors of Darkniss (2/2)

When the cannon array was activated, both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were momentarily distracted by the danger that emanated from the weapon.

”What is he trying to do?”

That was the thought that came to Xuan Ning and Sha Ya. The black striped gray dragons were already under their control. They could not attack, but they could not run either. Winning was only a matter of time. If that was the case, why would Ye Chong suddenly activate the cannon array?

They also did not know beforehand that the Spider was armed with this weapon.

Ye Chong aimed at the black hair that protruded from the rock on the screen, and pressed down hard on the firing button.

Each cannon barrel in the cannon array could fire 10 shots of spheric photon grenades per second. These grenades were highly explosive.

Boom! The cannon array roared!

810 spheric photon grenades were shot towards the target that Ye Chong had chosen.

The grenades all landed within 15 meters off the target. The resulting explosion was massive!

The loud explosion was enough to send a whole person shaking. Close to a thousand grenades exploded at the same time. Ye Chong's target area now had a big mushroom cloud over it. The explosion had destroyed all the rocks around as well. A shockwave blasted out visibly from the center of the explosion.

Aooh! Two low howls came from a distance.

When the dust settled, Ye Chong saw in front of him two black colored leopards with an inch-wide stripe of white on their backs. There was also a small patch of white fur on their foreheads that contrasted beautifully against the black sleek fur on their bodies. The animals had an elegant build, with four muscular limbs; nevertheless, they were now in a tight corner.

There were small, charred holes on their black fur. The animals were injured all over. Some of the wounds were still bleeding. Despite their injuries, the animals moved with grace. They stared at Ye Chong coldly.

Beside the two leopards was a third one, lying on the ground. It suffered far worse injuries than its companions. Its body was a bloody mess. This was the animal that Ye Chong saw earlier, and the one who was hit the most from the blast. With close to a thousand photon grenades exploding within 15 meters from the target, no animal could survive the attack. Its two companions were also injured from the explosion.

”Snowshade leopards!” Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were following Ye Chong's actions closely. They saw the two wild animals now and gasped in surprise. Ye Chong could hear the fear in their voices.

These animals must be avoided at all cost! Ye Chong made the decision immediately. His hands moved across the control console, and the Spider began to run.

To think that he would encounter three snowshade leopards! He only saw one just now. As expected, non-combat holographic scanning was unreliable! Ye Chong did not know what was so scary about these snowshade leopards, but he trusted the judgement of Xuan Ning and Sha Ya.

The two snowshade leopards watched their now dead and unrecognizable companion, and then looked their beautiful fur, now marked with hundreds of charred holes. They howled again!

Aoooh!

The black striped gray dragons heard the howls and quickly made their escape.

Before the echoes of the howls disappeared, the two snowshade leopards ran.

The Spider ran as quick as it could. Both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya had already directed their laser guns at the snowshade leopards.

”I say, what'd you do to get in trouble with the snowshade leopards? My God, there are three of them!” Xuan Ning almost went crazy with the thought.

Sha Ya bit her lips down tightly, and kept very quiet. She was obviously nervous as hell.

Ye Chong did not expect a Level 9 shooter to feel so alarmed by the snowshade leopards. It seemed that they were in big trouble.

Ye Chong soon experienced the terror of the snowshade leopards first hand.

On the screen, he saw the two snowshade leopards raced towards them like bolts of lightning. They were fast! Ye Chong found it hard to describe exactly how fast they were! They were running on the ground as fast as a mech could fly in the air. It was that fast!

The two snowshade leopards could run as fast as a mech. This was a strong visual impression. Their every step on the ground resulted in cracks in the earth. They were so powerful that it was paralyzing to just think about it. Their streamlined bodies ran like the force of nature. They charged like a heavyweight mech. The ground shook and rumbled at their every step.

It was impossible to lock on to them because of their speed.

The two snowshade leopards seemed to be wary of the Spider's cannon array. They darted left and right as they made their pursuit.

High speed veering, Non-orderly wavy evasions, Sidestep Bursts, Z-steps …

Ye Chong stared blankly at them. What was this? The animals were practically demonstrating how a professional close range mech pilot would long avoid long range attacks.

No wonder Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were so afraid of them.

”To think that we'd see these monsters right after we enter Darkniss. Our luck sucks.” Xuan Ning shrugged casually. ”Oh, by the way, you should know that energy weapons are ineffective against snowshade leopard. Their fur is a tough protective material. Oh, I don't know if these 1.2 million Lux graded laser guns are good against them.”

Ye Chong did not know if the two main laser guns could harm the snowshade leopards, but he did know that a concentrated attack of spheric photon grenades could pose a threat towards them.

The Spider was still running for its life. The cannon array that rose from its tail swiveled round easily.

The snowshade leopards were too fast for their non-combat holographic scanning system to lock on to. Even if Ye Chong decided to deploy Celest now, it would be useless. The only weapon could harm the snowshade leopards was the cannon array - that was what Ye Chong thought.

Boom boom boom! The cannon array fired. To Ye Chong's surprise, the two snowshade leopards were able to avoid the intense grenade attack aimed at them.

”Once snowshade leopards start running, their sixth sense would be greatly enhanced. Even I can't lock on to them. The photon grenades are slow compared to laser beams, so they can avoid them without difficulty. This is the interesting bit about snowshade leopards. Once they start running, they seem to be hypersensitive to energy. It's impossible to hit them with laser beams. They are the nemesis of all shooters.” Sha Ya explained to Ye Chong while firing a few shots at the snowshade leopards. The animals avoided her attacks easily. Sha Ya was looking a little pale. She had never encountered these deadly creatures before, despite having heard of them for a long time.

Sha Ya had just finished speaking when the snowshade leopards closed the distance between them even more. They were now only three kilometers away. The distance was getting smaller at an alarming rate. The only thing that comforted Ye Chong was the fact that the leopards were separated from them by the Lava River. If the snowshade leopards wanted to attack them, the must first cross the Lava River. However, the thinnest part of the River was 20 meters across. It formed a natural barrier between them.

The two snowshade leopards ran quickly, leaving a clear trail of footprints behind them. Each footprint was surrounded by cracks in the earth.

The animals got closer and closer to the Lava River, but they showed no signs of stopping.

They reached the edge of the River and leaped into the air!

Ye Chong's eyes widened. At the moment the animals made the leap, he could already tell that they would be able to make it to the other side. Ye Chong pressed down on the firing button without delay.

At that moment, two laser beams shot out from the Spider towards the snowshade leopards, still in midair. This was the perfect opportunity shoot! Xuan Ning and Sha Ya took their shots together instinctively.

The two snowshade leopards suddenly twisted their bodies in seemingly impossible ways, and both laser beams missed their mark.

Another two laser beams followed. Both Sha Ya and Xuan Ning were the best of the best in their field. Despite knowing how strong the snowshade leopards were, they would not give up without a fight!

The snowshade leopards showed exactly how superior they were by twisting their bodies again in the air, despite having no foothold to support their movements. Both laser beams missed once again. The creatures had terrifyingly powerful and agile bodies.

Nevertheless, Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were both set on killing the two snowshade leopards before they landed. Another two laser beams were fired!

The outcome this time was different. Xuan Ning's laser beam hit at center of the forehead of his target, right on the white patch of hair. Bang! The snowshade leopard's head exploded while the body crashed heavily onto the rocks on the other side of the Lava River.

Sha Ya's laser beam missed by just a fraction. It graced the ear of the other snowshade leopard as it made its landing.

With only half an ear left from the laser beam attack, the snowshade leopard's cold eyes turned red. It sprinted from the pain, running even faster than before, leaving only an afterimage in its wake!

Xuan Ning and Sha Ya looked horrified. That was their best chance at killing the showshade leopards. Now that they had missed the opportunity, they were all done for.

However, Xuan Ning quickly recovered himself. He saw Sha Ya with her bloody lips, feeling guilty about having missed, and said to her with a consoling smile, ”It's not your fault. You did your best. Truth is, I wasn't sure if I could hit my mark just now. They're too fast. If I hadn't reach Level 9, I would have died if I ever encountered them before this. We killed one snowshade leopard, and that's quite amazing already. Haha, this laser gun is quite awesome, it can kill even a snowshade leopard.”

Sha Ya kept quiet, but she looked soothed. Xuan Ning was right. She did her best. The snowshade leopards were terrible monsters that lived in the inner parts of Darkniss. It must be fate that they encountered these animals so near the entrance of Darkniss.

If Xuan Ning and Sha Ya could miss, Ye Chong's amateur shooting would not harm the snowshade leopard at all. Nevertheless, Ye Chong was not about to give up now!

An auxiliary grenade silently flew out of the weapons chamber. It was directed not at the snowshade leopard, but above the Spider.

The snowshade leopard moved like a bolt of black lightning. It was too fast to aim at! When the auxiliary grenade reached 10 meters above the ground, the animal was already two kilometers away. Xuan Ning and Sha Ya had missed the opening, but still they did not give up. They continued firing at the last snowshade leopard.

Their attacks were in vain, however. The snowshade leopard stared angrily at the Spider with its blood-red eyes. It avoided all the laser beams with ease.

When the auxiliary grenade reached 50 meters high, the snowshade leopard was one kilometer away from the Spider.

At 50 meters above the Spider, the grenade exploded, but with no sound or light effects.

By then, the snowshade leopard was 300 meters way from the Spider.

On the screen, they could see the ferocity in the blood-red eyes of the snowshade leopard!

Suddenly, the Spider activated the huge laser saw in its leg. It seemed that Ye Chong opted for a close range battle as his last resort.

The snowshade leopard's whiskers quivered as though it was laughing at his effort. The animal did not slow down. Instead, it twisted its body and landed heavily on the ground on all fours.

Boom! Even from inside the Spider, Ye Chong and the two shooters could hear the animal made its landing.

Where the snowshade leopard landed, the ground fragmented. The animal borrowed momentum from its landing and darted towards the bottom of the Spider.

Only Ye Chong saw what happened. Both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya only saw a blur, and lost sight of the snowshade leopard.

Crack! The snowshade leopard had bitten off the Spider's leg that held the laser saw. Both the dismembered limb and the laser saw fell onto the ground. The fast rotating edge of the laser saw buried itself into the ground.

Boom!

There was a deafening sound.

The three of them felt a strong blow coming from below them. Suddenly, the world was sent spinning. The image on the screen turned and turned. Sha Ya and Xuan Ning were both thrown out of their seats towards the pilot cabin's inner wall.

Ye Chong reacted the fastest. He gripped tightly onto his seat, counting the seconds.

Now!