The next morning, the first rays of sunlight pierced the clouds of volcanic ash, gilding the dark red land with a golden edge.
The Volcanic Fierce Apes’ lair gradually ca to life.
Six adult Violent Apes, each over two ters tall, yawned and shoved one another as they erged from the cave. They seed to be in good spirits, constantly letting out aningless whoops.
One even playfully picked up a rock and threw it at a companion’s rear, then deftly leaped away, provoking a furious roar and a chase.
Behind them, three female Violent Apes stood guard at the cave entrance, watching the males depart. They periodically glanced back into the depths of the cave, making sure their young were safe.
Target group has left the lair.
This primitive, vibrant scene was being transmitted through the lenses of five Demon Eyes, appearing clearly before Allen, who was positioned three kiloters away behind a mountain ridge.
On the lenses of his Insight Glasses, six red dots moved across a three-dinsional topographical map, tracking the targets as they set out on their daily hunt.
Allen lay prone on the rocks, his body perfectly still. He even regulated his breathing to its shallowest rate as he watched them walk right into his prearranged stage.
The Volcanic Fierce Apes moved farther and farther away, the outline of their lair blurring in the distorting heat waves.
They rounded a rugged patch of strange rock formations when the leader, the most robust of the males, suddenly stopped and sniffed the air warily.
It scratched its head in confusion and glanced around before finally falling back in step with the group.
At that exact mont, all six figures entered the red-marked zone on his virtual sand table.
DSeek: All targets have entered the designated coordinates.
Allen’s lips barely moved, his voice a whisper only he could hear.
"Remotely activating ’Final Interpretation’. Countdown... three... two... one."
A blinding sphere of white light suddenly swelled, instantly engulfing the six figures. Even the feed from the Demon Eyes turned completely white.
BOOM!!!
Only then did the deafening roar arrive, followed by a violent shockwave and a surge of Magic Power that swept out in all directions from the epicenter of the blast.
Even Allen, hidden a kiloter away, heard it loud and clear.
A few seconds later, a mushroom cloud of dark red soil and black rock fragnts slowly ascended into the air.
The spectacular yet terrifying sight was visible from as far as ten kiloters away.
The three Advanced Apprentices lingering at the edge of the Fire Silk Flower fields were startled by the sudden commotion, looking in terror toward the source of the explosion.
"What’s going on? Did the volcano erupt?"
"No... this fluctuation in Magic Power... It’s an Alchemy Bomb!"
The lead youth’s face went pale. He made his decision without a mont’s hesitation. "Let’s go! Get out of here!"
anwhile, at his sniper’s nest a kiloter from the blast’s epicenter, Allen adjusted his Insight Glasses, their lenses reflecting the distant, lingering cloud of smoke and dust.
"Quite the firework."
At the center of the explosion, rampant Fire Elental Energy raged for a full half-minute before finally subsiding.
In Allen’s field of view, the feed from the Demon Eyes finally returned to normal.
The terrain was unrecognizable. All that remained was a massive, charred crater over eight ters in diater, its edges still showing signs of lting.
A DSeek observation report promptly appeared.
Battlefield Assessnt: Three targets’ life signals have vanished. Two targets’ Magic Power signals are extrely faint, assessed as critically wounded. One target’s Magic Power signal shows moderate decay, assessed as lightly wounded.
Note: The lightly wounded individual is the target leader.
’The leader’s reaction speed and physical strength are higher than the data model predicted,’ Allen thought.
In the aftermath of the explosion, the three surviving Violent Apes let out roars laced with agony and boundless terror.
The two that were critically wounded had half their bodies blown to a bloody pulp. They struggled to rise, only to collapse helplessly back into pools of their own blood.
But the leader, despite being covered in wounds with one arm twisted at an unnatural angle, was still standing.
Its crimson eyes scanned the surroundings wildly, trying to find the damned enemy.
But all around was nothing but scorched earth and the corpses of its kin. There wasn’t a soul in sight.
It opened its maw, an orange-red light gathering in its throat, but with no target to be found, it couldn’t fire. It could only let out one futile, furious roar after another.
Allen gave them no chance for respite.
"Spider Slayers, execute Tactical Plan One."
The mont the command was issued, the five sniper-model Spider Slayers that Allen had lying in wait among the rocky shadows activated simultaneously.
They silently adjusted the ’Adjudicator’ sniper modules on their backs, locking onto the two critically wounded Violent Apes on the ground.
Allen moved his own rifle, centering the crosshairs of his scope on one of their heads.
The next second, six high-energy Magic Power beams flared to life, tearing through the air from different directions to instantly pierce the body of one of the critically wounded Violent Apes.
Its roars were cut short, and its Magic Power signature vanished completely.
Before the other critically wounded Violent Ape could even react, the six beams had already recharged and sent it to its doom.
Now, only the enraged leader remained on the battlefield.
It had watched its last two companions be gunned down in an instant, and it descended into a complete frenzy.
It gave up searching for the distant enemy, turning its rage on any target it could find.
Allen calmly issued his next order. "lee units, advance. Plan Two."
The five ambushing Spider Slayers burst from their hiding spots, charging straight for the Violent Ape Leader.
anwhile, Allen and the five sniper chanical Bodies kept up their fire, their six beams weaving a web of death that closed in on the leader.
PSSH! PSSH! PSSH!
The beams struck the leader’s knotted muscles, but only sent up sprays of blood, leaving behind several charred, bloody holes. They were nowhere near fatal.
Its physical durability was far beyond that of an ordinary specin!
The Violent Ape Leader ignored the "tickling" attacks and t the five charging chanical Bodies with a heaven-shaking roar.
With a sudden, sweeping blow, its furious strength sent a Spider Slayer that failed to dodge in ti flying. It disintegrated into a pile of scrap tal in mid-air.
Then, it seized another chanical Body. Its muscles bulged as it crushed the machine into a mangled hunk of iron!
’Two units.’ Allen’s gaze hardened.
’Still within acceptable combat losses.’
The three remaining Spider Slayers imdiately changed tactics. Instead of a direct assault, they used their superior mobility to scatter and harass the leader, luring it toward the secondary battlefield.
The Violent Ape Leader, having lost all reason, gave chase with huge, frenzied strides, paying no attention to the terrain underfoot.
BOOM!
With a massive bang, it stepped on one of the Directional Mines Allen had planted.
The shockwave and a spray of innurable steel ball bearings erupted, shredding one of its legs and exposing the bone beneath.
The leader staggered and fell to one knee, letting out a howl of agony.
But its remaining combat instincts were still formidable. It struggled to support itself on its one good arm, keeping the three chanical Bodies at bay.
Just then, one of the Spider Slayers was remotely taken over by a primary thread. Its dark gray coating seed to co alive as the entire chanical Body’s outline began to blur and distort, before dissolving into thin air.
Shadow Travel!
The Violent Ape Leader was still wary of the enemies in front of it, completely unaware that a deadly shadow had already appeared behind it.
The next mont, the Spider Slayer solidified from a blurry phantom, appearing silently at the nape of the leader’s neck.
Its two reinforced, bladed forelegs stabbed viciously into the most vulnerable part of the leader’s neck, but surprisingly, they only penetrated two centiters deep!
ROAR—!
The leader let out a piercing shriek.
’Now!’
"Full firepower, target the face!"
Allen’s ’Adjudicator,’ along with the muzzles of the five distant sniper chanical Bodies, simultaneously erupted with dazzling light.
In the instant the leader threw its head back in agony, six lethal beams poured precisely into its eye sockets, completely destroying its brain.
Its massive body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Allen rose from his sniper’s nest, brushed the dust from his clothes, and stored his ’Adjudicator’ back in his Space Ring.
He stepped onto his ’Nightwing Mk. III’ Hoverboard and flew unhurriedly toward the ravaged battlefield.
The air over the scorched earth was thick with the sll of burnt at and the acrid stench of the explosion. Allen landed beside the leader’s massive carcass, took out his tools, and began expertly harvesting materials.
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