NEC Chapter 78: Who Can Become the Survivor

Death, how should I put it? In peaceful and prosperous times, you might still have the choice of whether to think about it or not.

In these war-torn times, how long you can live truly has no relationship whatsoever with whether you want to think about it.

A slight buzzing sound arose.

Chen Mo had somehow stepped onto the edge of the intelligent gimbal, manipulating a controller in his hands. Behind him, a large device with a ring of miniature propellers shot straight up like a bamboo shoot breaking through the ground, drilling directly into the high sky.

That was the last tri-composite "Big-headed Eagle" loitering munition.

Taking advantage of the gap while the loitering munition ascended, Chen Mo turned his head and spoke earnestly to the wailing soldiers on the ground, or rather to everyone present.

"I'm not a local. All along this bumpy road, fleeing for my life, I shouldn't have trusted anyone."

"But I met Lady Frost and Master Locke, and you helped me several times."

"I met honest and kind civilian mercenaries like Luke and Old John."

"I also met the magic instructor who deserves my eternal respect and remembrance."

"And of course, Captain Paven!"

"I almost thought that everyone in this world was such a good person!"

"I should thank you and those bastards outside for the reminder!"

"This world is still damn dirty!"

A buzzing sound arose, and the gimbal indicated that the loitering munition had completed identification and lock-on.

Chen Mo heavily pressed the launch button. At the same time, Little White behind him fired a crisp burst from his long rifle, accurately sending bullets into Eliel's skull.

He had held back from shooting until now because he didn't want the gunfire to alert the enemies outside prematurely.

However, the commotion of the loitering munition taking off from ground level was already conspicuous enough, and the enemies slowly approaching outside cautiously stopped in their tracks.

This was an elite patrol team from Zircon Family.

Before this, Zircon Family's massive forces had swept the area around the suspected target location again and again.

Never mind the various magical beasts on the mountains, or the wild chickens and boars in the fields, they wanted to catch even the beetles and earthworms under the dead branches and fallen leaves one by one to verify their identities.

There were some gains: they caught some hiding routed soldiers, fleeing villagers, and even rooted out several old bandits who had been active in the Emerald Duchy for years, making some contribution to the regional crime clearance rate.

But they just couldn't find the young countess of Cloudmist Domain.

Zircon Family had no choice but to expand the search range.

Because of Paven's determination, Zircon Family couldn't obtain any effective information and could only use the most foolish method of hard searching.

To prevent the previous situation where large teams couldn't find anything and small teams couldn't handle the opposition, Marquis Valen personally coordinated, dividing the company-level main force in half, with around sixty people per team, and equipped them with accompanying mages.

They dispatched over thirty such search teams to comb back and forth along the north shore. When they encountered this Emerald warrior who actively came to surrender, this elite squad was overjoyed.

Upon questioning, only a few old and weak remained. What was there to wait for? Overwhelming wealth was right before their eyes!

They cast magical restraints on Eliel, the Cloudmist Domain sentry, letting the traitor go first. This would both reassure the other side and serve to lull them into complacency.

The search team pulled back a bit, preparing to quietly infiltrate the village and capture everyone in one net.

What greeted them was Chen Mo's last "Big-headed Eagle."

When that metal creation with its deadly buzz suddenly rose into the sky, the Zircon Family elites instantly became alert. The well-trained soldiers immediately contracted rapidly, taking defensive positions on the spot.

This was truly unfortunate timing.

The loitering munitions sent from East Xia had a default setting: when the operator issued an area attack command, if no precise strike point was given, the "Big-headed Eagle" would choose the "area with the densest concentration of identifiable life forms" to bomb.

Colloquially known as: pick the crowded spot to blast!

Just like in combat on Blue Star, pick the big target to blast, it's the same principle.

The enemy's formation was a central main force with wings spread out and mages bringing up the rear.

A cluster of infantry huddled together with shields raised was undoubtedly the loitering munition's preferred target, though this also caused the enemy's detachments and mages to fall outside the attack range.

The search team's mages, along with several attendants, habitually stayed at the very back.

As "glass cannons" on the battlefield, mages had an almost instinctive fear of urban combat. Those low earthen houses, narrow alleys, and randomly piled debris all seemed like deadly traps to them.

Therefore, the closer they got to such areas, the more unconsciously they placed themselves as far from the front lines as possible.

This "deep urban combat phobia" had now become their lucky charm.

In the eyes of the search team's three mages (one primary, two secondary), everything ahead looked like the scene of a grand magic show. After a thrilling tremendous explosion that stirred the heart, surging flames seared everyone's eyes.

The infantry arranged in neat formation were instantly devoured by the flames, then violently thrown out by the shockwave, somewhat like a bloody maw taking a vicious bite of watermelon, then spitting out watermelon seeds with crackling sounds.

Well, charred dark, the color was about right too, and some were missing more than half when spit out.

The core thermobaric effect had just finished releasing its destructive power when the second layer of death flames followed close behind. White phosphorus powder was scattered by the shockwave, transforming into countless points of jumping, clinging, unextinguishable white flames, offering warm comfort to the soldiers at the edge of the shockwave.

A few seconds later, when the aftereffects of high temperature and impact subsided somewhat, the third layer of poison gas began to spray and spread.

The stuff couldn't come out too early, or it would be instantly destroyed by the shockwave and flame temperature.

This heavenly loitering munition at least severely wounded two-thirds of the entire team. The troops at the blast center were a scene of death and injury, and the squads deployed on both flanks also suffered varying degrees of impact.

In the end, only a relatively intact flanking detachment on the right wing and the mage squad trailing far behind in shock managed to survive by chance.

What Chen Mo hadn't expected was that facing such an attack, the opponent didn't scatter but, after pausing briefly, launched an assault toward the interior of the village.

Chen Mo had not experienced large-scale warfare on the Starry Continent. When elite units clashed, there was an unwritten rule on the battlefield: when facing mages, especially powerful mages' attacks, you could only advance, never retreat.

Using obstacles to rapidly close distance, eliminating the opponent or forcing them to actively relocate, was the only path to survival.

If you ran, even the most agile scout couldn't outrun the relentless magical pursuit.

Therefore, realizing there was a high-level mage in the opposing camp, the remaining members of the Zircon squad immediately began their assault. The officer of the right-wing squad shouted at the top of his lungs, "Don't be afraid, they only have a few people, charge..."

A mouthful of poison gas choked his command back into his throat.

The howling north wind spread the poison gas bomb's range while also weakening its effect.

But no matter how many casualties the loitering munition achieved or how much the enemy's numbers were reduced, as long as they weren't all dead, when the battle reached this point, it would ultimately require a face-to-face fight.

The house Chen Mo chose was very particular: standalone, with open surroundings and no cover for the opponent to use.

Using the small courtyard's walls as makeshift fortifications, Little White, the Starry Continent's first skeleton gunner, swept a burst of bullets across, dropping two Zircon warriors who were trying to crouch and charge forward.

Zircon warriors fell one by one on the charging path. The small skeleton, alone with his gun, combined with Chen Mo's grenades, sent away six or seven of the opponent's advancing professional warriors in just over ten seconds.

Facing the defense of firearms, even limited firearms, even with operators whose skills weren't sufficiently proficient, it was still too cruel for the attacking side with cold weapons.

Crimson blood painted long trails throughout the village.

Pulling the trigger once more, Chen Mo suddenly remembered something Paven had once said to him.

In war, there are no heroes, only survivors!

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