This Game Is Too Real
Chapter 277: The Howling Reaper!

Chapter 277: Chapter 277: The Howling Reaper!

On the position.

The shockwave of the explosion scattered the spore cloud lingering over the mountains of corpses and seas of bones, revealing on the street made up of chunks of concrete and twisted rebar, a tank nearly ten meters long and three to five meters wide standing tall!

Crouching behind the blast shelter, "Pick up trash 99 level" widened his unbelieving eyes, rubbing his amber ones with the back of his scaly hand repeatedly.

"What the fuck?!"

He wasn’t the only one shocked; so were Quit smoking and Scrambled eggs with tomato crouching not far away.

"A mucor tank?!"

"What the hell is this thing?!"

It was literally a tank.

It had no gun tower, no tracks, and the angular, all-black body had a sci-fi look. However, the dark red slime fungus covering its body, along with the fat tentacles dragging on the ground, made it look like a centipede with a turtle shell on its back.

Chu Guang, standing on a building, furrowed his brows and stared without blinking at the monster appearing in the drone footage, while a cluster of officers around him also showed surprised expressions on their faces.

"...Is that a tank from United Human?" swallowed Vanus.

Chu Guang, clad in power armor, took down the Gauss Rifle from his back and asked casually,

"You seen it before?"

"...I haven’t, but it clearly came from the city center."

Chu Guang didn’t respond, just silently aimed and then squeezed the trigger.

A flickering arc of electricity flashed in the fork-shaped barrel for an instant, and the "long nail" burst out like lightning, striking the front armor of the tank.

However—

That armor remained unscathed; instead, a nearby concrete wall was blasted apart, revealing its steel skeleton.

It didn’t penetrate!

Chu Guang frowned.

This bizarre hit effect gave him the feeling that the "long nail" that struck the tank at five times the speed of sound hadn’t even left a scratch.

It was as if it had been deflected by something the moment it touched the armor!

And the "tank’s" reaction supported Chu Guang’s guess. The tentacles underneath the chassis slowly writhed, dragging the fusion of flesh and steel forward.

Only two hundred meters left from the frontline position!

Chu Guang made a decisive command.

"Anti-aircraft gun position!"

"20mm armor-piercing bullets, target enemy tank—"

"Fire!"

At the same time, two quadruple anti-aircraft guns deployed inside a nearby building quickly lowered their barrels and unleashed a volley.

Eighty 20mm armor-piercing incendiary bullets formed two orange-yellow firestorms in the sky, and the ferociously intersecting fire instantly pounced on the tank!

The thudding impact sounds came intensively from the front and upper side armor; the "slime fungus tank’s" advancement was noticeably halted. Yet that densely packed attack still proved ineffective as the shells were all deflected by the thick armor, wildly flying around the battlefield.

One of the spread-out shells whistlingly embedded itself in the concrete pile in front of the blast shelter, startling the lord of trash crouching behind the shelter to tuck in his neck.

"Motherfucker...

"This monster’s armor is way too outrageous, isn’t it?!"

Crouching next to Quit smoking

"Must be a tank from the pre-war era!" said Wild Wind, his expression serious, not far away.

Night Ten swallowed hard.

"The peak of combat power in the background setting..."

Despite two hundred years of weathering that left slight erosive marks on the armor’s surface, it still retained its absolute superiority over modern weapons.

Not to mention a 20mm autocannon.

Even if switched out for a modern tank main gun that could penetrate 1000m, it would likely be tough going, let alone the RPG mounted on his back.

No.

It should be said that it was bound to be tough going!

Night Ten suddenly realized if one referred to the setting of "Wasteland OL," the big fellow in front of them was the "modern tank," right?

Something like the M1 or Leopard 2, in front of it, probably couldn’t even rate as antiques like the Panzer IV or T-34, they would at most be like "Reno" or Maxim, coffin boards.

Although it was without a gun tower and shield, it didn’t affect its effectiveness.

The mucor hiding inside seemed to be using it as mobile cover, advancing towards the players’ positions using the armor’s inherent protective strength.

Night Ten had no desire to find out what would happen if it got close, but the sight of those thick tentacles dragging under the chassis made him physically uncomfortable, having seen plenty of study materials.

"Armor-piercing won’t work, we need high-explosive rounds," staring straight ahead at the position, Old White, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, "Look at its chassis!"

Night Ten subconsciously looked towards the mucor tank, noticing that although the armor was intact, the tentacles under the armor were clearly damaged.

Even as it continued to advance, its pace couldn’t keep up with before.

Obviously, the commander had noticed this too—the quadruple anti-aircraft guns had changed magazines and quickly unleashed a second volley!

The intense barrage of fire peppered the side of the mucor tank, and flames roared as they exploded.

While the shrapnel couldn’t scratch the armor, it scraped away much of the mucor on the surface and also nicked the flesh beneath the armor!

The tentacles under the chassis were severely damaged; many that couldn’t retract in time were directly blown into two pieces.

Having lost its balance, the mucor tank suddenly dropped on one side, collapsing on the debris-strewn battlefield, immobilized.

Peering out from behind the blast barrier at the scene in front of him, Night Ten excitedly clenched his fist and couldn’t help but cheer.

"Well done!"

It seemed that the lair controlling the mucor was smart, but not completely.

That thick "turtle shell" could block shells, but once it lost its mobility, all it could do was helplessly stare at the distant target.

However, the tank covered in fungal growth was not sitting idly by; strands of red fungal blocks that looked like worms wriggled out from the alleys and crawled towards the bloody armor plating, apparently attempting to repair the tentacles that had been blown off or destroyed.

They were attempting to "fix the tracks"!

At the same time, to cover for the "node creature" that had run aground, the Tide launched a new offensive without pause.

Variants swarmed out like a tide from intersections, alleys, and storefronts, charging towards the players’ positions.

The beginning of a new offensive.

The machine gunners, who had already been resupplied, steadied their water-cooled Maxims and pulled the triggers.

Tat-tat-tat—!

The machine guns spat out flames, and the whizzing bullets crazily strafed the oncoming Tide.

Sensing the worm-like sub-entities’ attempt to repair the mucor tank, the anti-aircraft guns continued to target the ground around the tank with 20mm high-explosive rounds.

One mortar shell after another bombarded down.

Each flash of light claimed countless variants.

Under the dense network of firepower coordinated by the players, the oncoming swarm of Variants fell like rice before a harvester, crop after crop going down.

In the face of absolute firepower, an individual’s strength was as insignificant as a grain of sand.

Whether Crawlers or Eaters, they all turned into rolling lumps of flesh and crumbled like tofu dregs.

A few Tyrants covered with keratin armor could withstand the burst of 7mm bullets, but when faced with the larger caliber 20mm Cavalry Guns, or even the 37mm Heavy Cavalry Guns’ concentrated fire, their ultimate fate was only one—being crushed into fragments by boiling steel.

Crouching behind an explosion-proof cover, Pick up trash 99 level watched enviously for a while.

His claws couldn’t coordinate like human palms; while everyone else was going "tat tat tat" at their targets, he could only watch from the sidelines.

"Damn it!"

"I even want to delete my account and start over!"

Night Ten, changing magazines, found time to tease him.

"Don’t do it, man, your attributes are too badass. It’d be such a waste to start over."

Besides, it wasn’t possible to create a new account.

There had been inquiries to Brother Guang before, including whether "cloning in advance to save revival time" or "creating a new account" was possible, but the responses were invariably the same two sentences—"The technology doesn’t allow it" and "I tried, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work."

For such a huge game, the operating team obviously went through a series of meticulous and rigorous simulations, considering all sorts of scenarios before ultimately adopting the current game settings.

Judging by Brother Guang’s activity on the forum, he seemed to have a significant say in the planning team. If he said it was impossible, then it definitely was.

Looking at Night Ten, who was being so carefree about it, Pick up trash 99 level rolled his eyes.

"What’s the use of badass Light attributes? You think they’re badass—I’ll trade with you!"

Night Ten chuckled.

"No way, it looks too ugly, and it doesn’t have a little brother. I won’t trade with you, no way."

"Get lost, get lost, get lost!"

You have a little brother.

But I don’t see you putting it to much use?

Pick up trash 99 level was about to retort, but at that moment, something unexpected happened!

He suddenly saw shadows whooshing over from the street right in front, accompanied by a buzzing beeper sound, they crossed over the collapsed rebar concrete wreckage and the flyover, crashing into the floor where the Quadruple Anti-aircraft Gun was located.

Explosions followed one after another from above their heads.

The Anti-aircraft Cannon that had been unleashing firepower just a second before instantly went silent.

Pick up trash 99 level looked up sharply, his amber pupils contracting slightly.

"Martyrs?!"

No—

They didn’t seem like Martyrs!

Those were lantern-sized fungal blocks, thrown over by something. Some landed on the Anti-aircraft gun position, others near the front lines.

As they hit the ground, they wasted no time, their bodies sharply contracting halfway before their bellies rapidly expanded as if a chemical reaction occurred. Then they violently exploded into a cloud of grey-green spores.

Although not as powerful as the Martyrs, they were unpredictable!

Caught completely by surprise, many players were injured in the explosions, and some even died on the spot!

"Damn!"

Old White immediately raised his gun barrel and fired a burst overhead.

Turned into sieves by the rifle, several fungal blocks fell to the ground. Quit smoking immediately lay down next to them, but after waiting a while, the blocks didn’t explode, so he stood back up.

"What the hell is this?!"

"I don’t know..." Staring at the blob on the ground oozing black slime, Fang Chang’s expression turned solemn.

Upon closer inspection, this lantern-shaped fungal mass had grown two half-meter-long meaty wings on its sides, fluttering incessantly like the wings of a dragonfly.

These thin wings clearly weren’t enough to support its two to three-kilogram body, but they were sufficient for it to adjust its flight direction while gliding on inertia.

Realizing this, a hint of astonishment appeared on Fang Chang’s face.

This thing can correct its trajectory too?!

At the same time, from the command center, a shout came through the communication channel from the anti-aircraft gun position.

"We’re under enemy artillery counterattack!"

Chu Guang replied calmly.

"How many are left?"

"Three... No, that one’s gone too, only me and another teammate remain."

Intermittent explosions could be heard through the communication channel, and the player speaking seemed to be gasping for breath, evidently having sustained nontrivial injuries.

The situation at the other anti-aircraft gun position was the same.

The unexpected long-range firepower caught the players operating the anti-aircraft guns to suppress the slime fungus tanks completely off guard.

Did that lair actually develop "Fire Support Doctrine"?

After hearing their reports, Chu Guang immediately dispatched reinforcements to the anti-aircraft gun positions.

At the same time, one of the two Hummingbird drones remotely controlled by Xiao Qi split off, following the source of that long-range firepower.

The camera on the screen moved rapidly.

Very soon.

The source of the enemy’s firepower was exposed to everyone in the command post!

Only about eight hundred meters from the front line position, next to a partially collapsed overpass, stood four trucks.

Just like the previous tank, the bodies of the four trucks were also covered in dark red fungal mats, with the extent of erosion even more excessive; the lifted containers were stuffed full of writhing flesh!

Those lantern-shaped "flying insects" were being launched from those containers!

Chu Guang noticed that continuous streams of Eaters and flesh-red worms crawled into the truck cabins, offering themselves as organic matter and energy to sustain the synthetic organism through self-sacrifice.

As the flesh inside the cabin writhed, a burp-like long moan sounded, and quickly, over twenty more "suicide flying insects" were shot into the sky, drawing parabolic arcs plummeting towards the players’ positions.

The insects vibrated their wings in mid-air, seeking their targets.

A hint of surprise emerged in Chu Guang’s eyes.

Well, well.

Autocorrecting trajectory in suicide drones?!

And capable of producing and launching at the same time!

Watching the four trucks continuously spewing Variants, a grave expression spread across the faces of everyone in the command post.

"This..."

"Variants have artillery too?!"

Even Vanus, who had seen quite a few things, was equally astonished at this moment.

Clearly, it was his first time witnessing such a bizarre sight.

"That truck... it looks like a mobile drone base station from the Prosperity Epoch, I remember it’s something used in the logistics distribution industry."

Vanus had learned a bit about the Prosperity Epoch during his time in the Academy, but for an officer, it wasn’t part of the core curriculum; he had merely heard of it.

Furrowing his brow as he stared at the screen, Chu Guang said in a deep voice,

"The ’Mutated slime fungus’ controlled by the Lair has an extremely powerful ’mimicry’ ability; they can imitate us... or possibly someone else’s combat methods."

Elena’s research had already confirmed this.

But to his surprise, those slime molds did not just mimic; they had even "assimilated" the relics of pre-war civilizations in an unexpected way.

From "Plague Knights" to "Plague Tanks," all were products of this kind of "fusion concept."

What was chilling was that the mutated slime molds not only formed a highly centralized beehive society but also possessed the ability to identify and solve problems,

Even if these methods seemed somewhat naive!

"Artillery Group A, pay attention, coordinates..., five rounds of bombardment, dense barrage."

Half of the twelve 88mm mortars divided and unleashed their firepower at the coordinates set by Chu Guang.

Some of the shells were intercepted by buildings, crashing inside or on overpasses, but many also landed near the target area.

The sudden artillery strike, although it didn’t cause substantial damage to the four trucks, did blow up the Eaters and flesh-red worms queuing up to deliver their heads.

The velocity of the Suicide Flying Insects dropped, and the suppressed Anti-aircraft gun position regained firepower.

Four more players carrying two machine guns rushed to the anti-aircraft position and established a new point of fire, their task changing from suppressing enemy ground units to suppressing suicide flying units.

But this alone was not enough.

Even under the barrage of artillery fire, a large number of Eaters fearlessly surged toward the trucks, turning their flesh and blood into artillery shells.

Chu Guang immediately made a decision.

"Artillery Group A and B, adjust the firing coordinates..., move the barrage southwest, five rounds of bombardment, clear obstacles for the ground troops!"

As the order was issued, Chu Guang immediately edited a mission and sent it to the frontline positions.

Not far from the base of the building,

Old White, who was entrenched behind a blast shelter fighting the Variants, felt a gentle vibration on his VM arm band.

A light blue pop-up window appeared.

[Mission: Advance under cover of the barrage and destroy the enemy artillery position!]

"New mission!"

"Team members! Follow me!"

Old White shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbed a few magazines from the ammo box and attached them to his exoskeleton, then continued firing while rushing towards the flank of the position.

Fang Chang, Pick up trash 99 level, and a group of players followed closely behind him, and soon a ten-person team came from behind to take over their defense zone.

Leaving the center of the battlefield, the temperature of the surrounding air dropped a few degrees.

Night Ten, who had switched to a Submachine Gun, caught up with Old White’s pace.

"What’s the new mission?"

Old White said concisely,

"Destroy the enemy artillery position!"

Quit smoking, who had several RPGs on his back and was following closely, was stunned.

"Artillery?!"

"The Variants have that kind of thing?!"

Players like Fang Chang and Wild Wind were not too surprised; after all, they had seen plenty of odd things and were no longer easily shocked.

The Mucor species were numerous and diverse; even the Eaters could be categorized into several varieties based on size, speed, and whether they emitted light or not.

According to the "Wasteland OL" Official Website’s description set for the mutated slime molds, it wasn’t strange for a sub-entity to have long-range support capabilities.

Old White did not answer Quit smoking’s confusion but proficiently opened the mission summary in the VM and shared several drone aerial photos with the team members.

Looking at the four trucks in the screen, covered in fungus, Quit smoking couldn’t help but swallow and took a while to squeeze out a word.

"Holy shit..."

Pick up trash 99 level, on the other hand, showed no nervousness; seeing the BOSS appear, his face even revealed an eager expression.

He couldn’t use his claws and muscles in a frontal battle, but a sneak attack was different.

BOSS fight!

It was time for him to shine!

"How do we get there?"

Old White: "We’ll take that small path we discovered earlier!"

They had been working on Hunter Squads missions for the past few days and were well versed in the passageways of the surrounding urban area.

Almost at the same moment as his words fell, a dozen shells landed consecutively on the street eighty meters ahead to their right.

The kicked up stones flew into the windows of the buildings on both sides and even landed at the feet of the people.

Old White’s expression turned serious, and he quickened his pace, gesturing for his teammates to keep up.

"Fire support is here!"

"Move quickly!"

The ten players, including Pick up trash 99 level, led by Old White’s team, almost represented the server’s strongest combat power.

The group set off from the flank of the position, quickly infiltrating behind the Tide under covering fire, and charged towards the enemy’s artillery position!

At this moment, on the front of the battlefield, there was a continuous fierce gunfire.

Wave after wave of Variants charged forward, seemingly determined to shred the players’ positions into pieces tonight.

Naturally, the players would not fulfill the wishes of these beasts; with strong logistics support, their ferocious firepower did not diminish.

Staring at the tank that had stopped in the center of the battlefield for a long time, Edge Shoveling, crouching behind the blast shelter, was deep in thought.

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he spoke out.

"That tank is most likely a Node Creature! We have to find a way to take it down!"

The surrounding gunfire was like firecrackers.

Barely able to hear the team leader’s voice, Ken and Qi from the construction site and brick yelled out.

"What? What’s a Node Creature?!"

Debt Giant Eye: "Something like a ’Decaying Knight’! A special evolutionary body that can control other sub-entities nearby! I saw discussions about it on the official website."

The Mole, also on the same front, called out.

"Is your information reliable?!"

Edge Shoveling yelled: "It’s not reliable! But these Variants are relentless! If we don’t deal with it... We’re going to be fighting them until daylight!"

The Mole gave Gnome King Riches next to him a look.

The latter set up an RPG, took a deep breath, turned on Thermal Vision, and aimed at the twinkling red glow amid the grayish-green fog.

The trigger was pulled.

With a whoosh, an Armor-piercing Bullet streaked with white smoke sped forward and struck the armor of the tank!

Sparks erupted!

Large chunks of the fungal mat peeled off!

Yet the metal jet of the armor-piercing bullet failed to penetrate the armor!

Not far away, the Spring Water Commander shouted loudly.

"Don’t waste your ammo, I’ve tried it, it’s utterly useless!"

Squatting beside him, Old Soldier cursed in frustration.

"This armor is just freaking ridiculous!"

Five RPGs didn’t even leave a scratch!

Even a T-72 tank isn’t this tough, right!?

For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether it was the tank cheating or the armor-piercing bullets being diluted.

The battlefield was at a stalemate.

Just as everyone was at a loss, a piercing screech suddenly came from above.

It sounded like an air raid siren being pulled and was rapidly approaching, much like the beeper on the Death Scream rockets.

A bad premonition surged in his heart, and Edge Shoveling abruptly looked up, his face turning green as he blurted out, "Fuck."

He saw a propeller plane with a wingspan of nearly ten meters falling straight down from the rooftop of a nearby building, heading straight for his position.

Elena swallowed her saliva.

"Is that... a Mosquito?"

That beeper was unmistakably the same model as the Death Scream rockets!

Debt Giant Eye also noticed the situation above and his eyes widened.

Especially when he saw the two thick and large missiles hanging under the belly of the plane, he was instantly stricken with horror.

"What does he want to do?!"

Amidst the piercing noise, a reckless laugh could be faintly heard.

"Hahaha!"

"Your Mosquito grandpa has arrived!"

"Shit—rise for me!"

The plane was plummeting straight down, the control stick pulled to the root of his thigh.

Sitting in the cockpit, Mosquito braced the control stick with both hands, clenched his teeth, and prayed with all his might.

Maybe the "Soul of the Machine" heard his prayers.

With violent shaking of the fuselage and wings, the falling nose of the plane miraculously lifted.

Mosquito felt a thrill of joy, feeling as if his blood was boiling.

Not just from the overload!

But also from the cheering that came from the bottom of his heart!

He had conquered the sky!

Suppressing the violently shaking fuselage and the bloodshot crawling up his eyeballs, Mosquito exerted all his strength to maintain clarity of consciousness, holding the control stick, watching the crosshair drawn on the windshield, inching closer and closer to the silhouette in the fog.

"Human heads—"

"Are mine!"

The moment the crosshair aligned, he fiercely pressed the bombing button.

Two 100kg bombs, loaded with explosives, fell from the sky like thunder, smashing onto the stalled tank!

The blast of fire and smoke shot up into the sky, dispersing the fog and even lifting his plane a few meters higher.

Finally stabilizing the plane, the feeling of overload gradually faded.

Catching a glance at the street boiling with flames in the rearview mirror, Mosquito finally breathed a sigh of relief while holding the control stick.

"...Lucky I chose Agility!"

The propellers began to rev up.

Taking his glider towards a more open airspace.

On the front-line position.

Scorching stones fell like raindrops behind the blast shelter, and the blast wave blew up rocks, sand, and even corpses, almost burying everyone on the front line.

Mole, coughing, climbed up from the ground, picked up the rifle buried under the cement debris, and shook off the dust.

"Shit..."

Edge Shoveling spat out the sand in his mouth, shaking his dizzy head.

"I thought I’d been sacrificed."

Outside the blast shelter, thick smoke billowed.

In the face of pure power and absolute quantity, even the most advanced armor was useless—especially since the center of the explosion occurred at its most fragile top.

The blast wave blasted the mucor inside the armor and the Variants on half a street into fragments, and the remaining Variants were clearly slower due to losing the command of the "Node Creature."

Looking at the chaotic battlefield and those disorganized Variants, I Max Black unconsciously swallowed.

"...Is it over?"

Old Soldier nodded woodenly.

"Should be..."

Even if the armor could withstand.

No creature could survive such an explosion...

Not far away, explosions came from the grey-green fog, the location ought to be the enemy’s "artillery position."

The "Suicide Flying Insects" that had been continuously harassing the front line and the anti-aircraft gun position also finally stopped, suggesting that Old White and others who had infiltrated behind the Tide played a role.

Edge Shoveling could feel that the Lair probably thought the same, deciding to set the day of the final battle today, hence from the beginning it brought out its trump cards and the momentum for a desperate battle.

But clearly, the intensity of the players’ resistance exceeded its expectations...

The Tide was receding.

Tonight’s offense seemed to be ending hastily.

However—

Would the Manager let them off just like that?

As expected, the bugle call for the charge sounded, and Edge Shoveling glanced at the VM on his arm, seeing the task popup flicker, his heart leaped.

Here it comes!

The final battle!

[Mission: The Moment of Decisive Battle!]

[Objective: Destroy the Lair on Street No. 65!]

-

(Happy New Year, everyone! I’m home for the New Year, and there were quite a few visits today, so it’s a bit late, sorry...)