Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 561 Fighting
As soon as the swarm of 210 drones flew above the mycelium puppets, a large number of bombs resembling button batteries were ejected from their bellies. These bombs landed among the puppets, instantly forming clusters of dazzling flames.

“Button bombs, anti-infantry weapons for swarm drones,” Nagano Soya said. “They are very effective against unarmored units, but if the target has high defense, the only use of these button bombs is to obscure the opponent’s vision and hearing. This is not much different from the second-generation swarm drones, but the third generation seems to have a much larger ammunition capacity.”

“But if this is the only improvement, the Dragon City garrison really doesn’t need to purchase new equipment,” Zhulong said. “Moreover, this kind of anti-infantry equipment has a very narrow application when dealing with monsters… If it’s used as riot control equipment, its destructive power seems too great…”

While Sun Hang and the others were discussing Bai's military industry products, the powered armor equipped with a dual-tube thermal fusion system used the thrusters on its backpack to jump nearly a hundred meters in one go, landing directly in the area where the mycelium golems were most densely packed!
The heavy armor crushed several mycelium golems, and then flames carrying black smoke swept left and right. If viewed from directly above, the flames from the twin-tube molten metal jets drew a blazing yin-yang symbol in the center of the battlefield.

"Old Jin! Back down!" Chen Jing snapped coldly. "You've gone too far ahead! You've already separated from the main force!"

"It's alright! Don't worry, Young Master Chen!" the man called Old Jin shouted back. "With this armor, these monsters can't hurt me at all! Let me burn them all to ashes! Then all these contributions will be attributed to our Chen family!"

Chen Jing felt a surge of anger. This old Jin was his father's bodyguard for many years. He was loyal and had outstanding combat skills. His only flaw was that he was very prone to getting carried away when fighting and completely disregarded his own safety. In the early days when Longcheng was not peaceful, he went to the ICU three times for the Chen family. About a third of his body parts were artificial, and even the heart beating in his chest cavity was a prosthetic heart made of metal and polymer.

Before setting off, the head of the Chen family specifically instructed Chen Jing not to use Lao Jin as cannon fodder. Chen Jing was now feeling like a million grass mud horses were galloping through his mind. He would not use Lao Jin as cannon fodder, but Lao Jin had rushed to the front on his own!
"Old Jin! Come back! This is an order!" Chen Jing shouted in a deep voice over the communication channel. "Besides, the equipment you're wearing was provided by the Bai family. A significant portion of the contribution points you received will be given to the Bai family."

"Didn't the Bai family say that all this equipment was provided for free?" Old Jin asked while setting fire to the puppet group. "Besides, since we're giving their equipment a chance to be used, they should be the ones paying for our testing. There's no reason for us to share our contribution points with them!"

"Never mind that for now, Lao Jin, keep fighting and retreating, try to rejoin the main force." Chen Jing said, leading a group of hunters and mercenaries who were already wearing protective gear over the vehicle defense line, firing as they walked towards the puppet army.

"Concentrate fire! Take down the humanoid monsters in the front row first!"

Although bullets cannot kill these mycelial puppets, a mycelial puppet that has been shattered into pieces is still different from a complete humanoid mycelial puppet. The former can only slowly crawl on the ground, while the latter can run at full speed at a speed no less than that of a professional athlete among ordinary people.

"Incendiary bombs ready! Aim at areas one and two, fire!"

Chen Jing and his team's tactics were simple: first, they would use firearms to take down the mycelium puppets in an area, and then, before the shattered mycelium puppets could regain their mobility, they would use incendiary bombs to "sweep" away the areas that had been sifted by the bullets.

With a series of muffled "thump-thump" sounds, short, cylindrical projectiles were launched from the under-barrel launcher or independent launch tube of the firearm. The fuses of these incendiary bombs were set before launch, and they would explode after reaching the target area, spreading a large amount of burning napalm evenly to the ground below.

"Areas One and Two have been cleared! Incendiary bombs have been used up to eleven percent!"

"Prepare to shift the focus of the attack to area three!"

Chen Jing was no longer in command of the hunting party. The baton had been taken over by several middle-aged men in dark gray armor. These men were all experienced retired soldiers. Although they were also mercenaries, they were different from freelance mercenaries who were paid to do things. They were employed by the three major families on a long-term basis. Although they were called long-term employees, in reality, the contracts they signed were often for life.

The three families not only pay their salaries, but also help them get married, and even their descendants can get good positions in the three families' companies.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them assassins or private troops raised by the three major families... This behavior is certainly a violation of federal law, but the Hexi Corridor can be considered a semi-lawless area. In addition, the three major families claimed that these people were hired as "instructors" to train their employees, so the Dragon City Defense Army turned a blind eye to this behavior.

Unlike the hastily assembled rabble in the hunting party, these people are extremely strong in terms of combat power, military skills, and loyalty. Unlike Chen Jing, who is just a symbolic commander, they are the most important command structure of this hunting party.

“If these hunting groups were all made up of people like this, their combat efficiency would be greatly improved,” Zhulong whispered to Sun Hang. “Right now, they have to repeat a single order several times, and the reaction speed and execution of other hunters and mercenaries are far inferior to those of professional soldiers… If the Dragon City garrison were here, they would probably have already cleared out areas seven and eight, let alone area three.”

The three families equipped each member of the hunting party with a pair of tactical goggles. The tactical goggles were directly connected to the command system on the vehicle. With the assistance of the intelligent combat system, the entire battlefield was divided into more than a dozen areas. The boundaries and numbers of these areas were displayed on the AR screen of the tactical goggles, making the dynamics of the entire battlefield clear at a glance.

It is precisely because of this function that those retired veterans did not have so much trouble commanding this motley crew.

After all, it was just firing at the corresponding numbered areas. For these professional hunters and mercenaries, as long as they weren't complete novices going to the battlefield for the first time, they could basically do it... Not to mention that the three major families' hunting groups still had some thresholds when recruiting people, so real novices couldn't get in even if they wanted to.

Chen Jing also shared the data with Sun Hang and his team. Although Sun Hang did not have tactical goggles, he could still see the division of the battlefield area through a tablet computer connected to the drone.

At this moment, Old Jin, wearing heavy power armor, was fighting alone in Sector 16 near the edge of the pit. He almost single-handedly stopped one-fifth of the mycelium golems that were climbing out of the pit.

Meanwhile, Chen Jing and his men, having just cleared out the mycelium golems in Zones 1 and 2, were launching an attack on Zone 3, stepping on the ashes on the ground.

“The situation should change soon…” Sun Hang said. “How did you figure that out?” Yang Qiaoxi put down her binoculars and asked.

"Several hundred mycelium golems have been completely wiped out by now, and only a few parasitized hunters have successfully returned to their original forms as nourishment... This is a losing proposition, and the big guy in the pit is definitely unwilling to do it. But why is it still constantly creating mycelium golems and sending them up to their deaths?"

"To buy time?" Yang Qiaoxi glanced at Sun Hang, seemingly trying to find the answer in his eyes.

“What’s the purpose of stalling for time? Escape is probably impossible; that big guy’s mobility is too poor, and it can’t move through hard rock layers… Delaying the time to be eliminated? That’s even more impossible. If it knows it’s going to die, then given the characteristics of the monster, its final counterattack is something these people can’t stop…” Sun Hang analyzed one by one, “Then there’s only one possibility: it’s preparing a big move.”

"What kind of amazing tricks could this guy possibly have?" Yang Qiaoxi asked, staring at the footage transmitted back by the drone with a strange expression.

"I don't know," Sun Hang shook his head, "but we should know in a little while."

Under the firepower suppression of modern weapons, Zones 3 and 4 were also successfully cleared out, but at this time, the battle situation on Lao Jin's side began to gradually change.

The reason for the change in the battle situation was simple—the fuel for the dual-tube fusion reactor had run out.

Old Jin abandoned the heavy weapons and drew two rapidly spinning chainsaws from his back, hacking and slashing through the horde of puppets.

The number of weapons that a power armor can carry is limited. The dual-tube thermal fusion and the huge fuel backpack left Old Jin with no extra weight to carry other weapons. His only weapons now are these two chainsaw swords for close combat.

Compared to conventional melee weapons, chainsaw swords can easily cut through the thick-skinned shells of monsters. They are a common melee weapon in military powered armored units. When the chainsaw mounted on the blade spins at high speed, the whistling sound it emits has a deterrent effect that daggers or sabers cannot match.

However, the chainsaw sword was ineffective against these mycelium golems that were impossible to kill. The shredded mycelium golems piled up at Old Jin's feet and soon covered the power armor's feet and legs. Many new mycelium grew on these golem pieces, and these mycelium intertwined and stuck together, quickly forming a cocoon-like structure that wrapped Old Jin's entire lower body!
"Warning! Warning! The outer armor is corroding! It is estimated to last for another 120 seconds!"

"Warning! Backpack thrusters damaged! Jumping and airborne ability lost!"

"Warning! Right-hand chainsaw sword engine damaged! Chainsaw has stopped working!"

One bad news after another reached Jin Hongyi's ears, filling him with frustration. He swung the malfunctioning chainsaw sword in his right hand as a blunt weapon and smashed it, sending two attacking mycelium puppets flying. But when he tried to swing the chainsaw sword in his left hand, he found that it was stuck in something and he couldn't lift it at all.

Jin Hongyi turned his head and saw that the chainsaw sword had cut into the chest of a mycelium puppet. However, the mycelium puppet was holding onto the rapidly spinning chainsaw with both hands. A large amount of mycelium was stuffed into the gaps in the chainsaw, causing the chainsaw sword's engine to roar under the strain. Not only that, the other mycelium puppets around also gathered around. They all stuck to the mycelium puppet holding the chainsaw sword, their bodies merging together to form a huge lump of flesh, which firmly stuck the entire chainsaw sword inside.

"Warning! Left-hand chainsaw sword engine overheating! Warning! Chain broken! Warning! Warning! Warning!"

"Fuck your mother!" Jin Hongyi spat out a perfectly enunciated Chinese curse, released the sword hilt in his left hand, and punched the mycelium puppet that was holding a chainsaw sword, but whose body, except for its head and arms, had been fused with a large chunk of flesh.

The mycelium puppet's head was instantly smashed flat, but this did not stop it from continuing its attack on Jin Hongyi.

Countless arms emerged from the surface of the large chunk of flesh, waving wildly. Once they touched any part of the power armor, they would grab it tightly and not let go. Then, more mycelium would spread from these arms and cover the power armor.

Jin Hongyi struggled desperately, but at that moment, the alarm from the power armor's auxiliary computer suddenly stopped. This sudden change stunned him for a moment, and the next second, several fine cracks suddenly appeared on the screen in front of him—which was also the visor of his helmet.

Jin Hongyi knew that the power armor was already destroyed... and the next one to be destroyed would probably be himself.

He tried to break free from the puppet mycelium and move forward, but the power armor that had been protecting him turned into a cage after it stopped working, making it impossible for him to even lift his hand or take a step.

In this situation, the only way to deal with it is to abandon the armor and escape. However, given the concentration of spores outside, even if Jin Hongyi crawls out of the power armor and the mycelial puppets don't attack him, he will be immediately parasitized by the spores and become nourishment for that insect-grass monster.

"Damn it, after all these years of recklessness, am I finally going to die here?" Jin Hongyi was somewhat unwilling. He wasn't afraid of death, but he just felt that this way of dying seemed very frustrating.

"Self-destruct... Can the engine of this power armor self-destruct?" Just as this thought popped into Jin Hongyi's mind, accompanied by a crisp cracking sound, the helmet visor, which had been shattered into pieces, finally broke completely. Countless mycelia instantly surged into the helmet, filling every gap inside...

(End of this chapter)