108: Chapter 28: The Praying Mantis 108: Chapter 28: The Praying Mantis “Whether we’re going for a grapple or summoning Heavenly Punishment, we must first take out his Drone Formation.”

Deborah waved her hand, “Han.”

Han immediately lowered his center of gravity, his back brace unfolded while he reached out to grab a box, opened it, and assembled the Firearms.

Han specialized in the Firearms Path in this squad.

Purely in terms of firepower, he wasn’t as ferocious as Gleayard, but his precision in Sniping was even superior.

Deborah had given him lower-level access to the numerous drones.

The drones expanded their field of vision, better acquiring intelligence and ensuring that Xiang Shan, even while underground, could always pay attention to the activities in the sky and prepare for any attacks from Space-Based Weapons.

This was an incredibly important matter.

Therefore, to open up the situation, they first had to destroy the Drone Formation that Xiang Shan left outside.

Deborah raised her arm, and Carolina, understanding her intention, immediately took out the initial equipment “Armor-Piercing Bullet + high-frequency wave blade” arm for Deborah to switch to.

Deborah said, “Wait a few seconds, wait until he’s heavily engaged in the fight with Green Forest below and has difficulty extracting himself from the battle, then we’ll launch a surprise attack…”

A few seconds later, Deborah suddenly waved her arm forward.

Zhang Xianchong and Old Hammer were the first to leap forth, rushing towards the position.

Meanwhile, Deborah and Carolina, having shed most of their load, charged out together.

The four of them, in two groups, one after the other, maintained a speed that was neither too fast nor too slow as they ran towards the battlefield.

And at that moment, the sound of gunfire, “bang bang bang,” rang out as Han swiftly took down several drones.

The gunfire was continuous.

In just a few seconds, the drones that Xiang Shan had gathered over the days were wiped out, not one left.

And the group was only a few hundred meters away from the hole that led down to Xiang Shan.

But at this instant, several “puff puff puff” sounds were heard, and clusters of silver light suddenly exploded on the ground.

Metal particles, propelled by magnetic fields and air currents, rapidly but evenly dispersed into every corner of the air.

“Iron Dust?” Deborah was suddenly startled.

This Iron Dust was generally not used in the Wilderness.

The substance was too conspicuous, spreading over hundreds of square meters instantly.

Appearance of Iron Dust in a non-residential, unregistered combat zone could very likely attract an attack from Space-Based Weapons.

Moreover, in the open wilderness, it was all too easy for it to spread.

In urban warfare, the application of Iron Dust would be more widespread.

“Since I’ve already sent a report to the higher-ups, for a short while, no matter what happens here, it won’t attract an attack from Space-Based Weapons; instead, more satellites will direct their attention to this place…”

“That ‘mountain’ isn’t dumb enough to use Iron Dust in the wilderness randomly…”

“Is this for…

waiting for me?”

While Deborah’s thoughts were rapidly turning, a voice rang out just a few meters ahead to her left, “Miss, this seems to be aimed at us Protectors.”

Deborah said, “Mm, I know.”

“What’s the plan?

Retreat?

Summoning Heavenly Punishment would allow us to crush anything head-on, through any means…”

“But it would destroy all things of value!” Deborah exclaimed, “Value!

The most important thing is value!”

Zhang Xianchong fell silent.

That ‘mountain’ had an enigmatic origin and an extraordinary experience, potentially harboring great secrets.

Moreover, “What changes would occur in the brain of a Martial Artist who has lost his memory?” seemed to be a topic worth studying as well.

The miss’s Knight Instructor was part of the ‘Mona Project,’ so it was natural for her to take an interest in this.

The sounds of footsteps continued, and soon two contours of Prosthetic Bodies appeared in front of Deborah and Carolina.

Old Hammer said, “The visibility on the ground is too poor now, with regular Prosthetic Eyes, nothing can be seen clearly beyond two meters.

Han is as good as useless.

Moreover, the electromagnetic environment is also very bad.

If we have to fight here, we’ll only be able to rely on audio-based communication.

The efficiency is too low, we can’t leverage our numerical advantage.”

Deborah turned her head and said, “Carlo, go out and notify Han, tell him to just stay there, hold his sniping position.

If he sees anything other than us emerging from the Iron Dust area, shoot immediately.”

Carolina nodded and was about to leave.

Just then, the sound of vehicles starting came from the direction of the group.

Zhang Xianchong had very sharp instincts and immediately turned around and sprayed a burst of bullets.

But Old Hammer said in confusion, “Wait a minute, that sound is not right…”

In his auditory perception, it wasn’t just one vehicle starting up, but several from different locations!

Zhang Xianchong’s bullets didn’t hit anything!

Carolina spoke anxiously, “How is that possible?

Iron Dust should be able to block most remote control methods!”

“Maybe he buried speakers in the ground, and after the drones were hit, they started a countdown to delay playback…

Or maybe he buried wired receivers and microphones on the ground…” Zhang Xianchong said, “You can do it with magnetized materials, very simple props, and the programs inside are not technically challenging at all.”

“Carlo, go meet up with Han quickly,” Deborah said, “let’s hurry up…

no, stop that car first!

That Xiang Shan might be in it too!

Overturn it and then we’ll talk!”

Four people immediately split up.

Three moved forward, one retreated.

Seconds later, anew aberration occurred— sharp wails suddenly arose from four different directions ahead.

“Hero!

You’re courting death!”

…………………………………………

Seconds before.

With the Prosthetic Eye on Xiang Shan’s back, he saw the giant spider approaching from behind.

Without turning his head, he twisted his hands one hundred and eighty degrees into a basic fist position, ‘strike later but arrive first’ catching the two foremost spider legs, his body almost instantaneously shifting half a step backwards.

A collapsing power rolled over Rod with unimaginable speed, piercing straight through the center of gravity of his Prosthetic Body.

Rod’s balance was broken in mid-air as Xiang Shan lifted him up, poised to toss him away.

—Haven’t I told those idiots behind me?

Don’t leave the ground without Vector Thrusters…

Thinking this, Xiang Shan dodged the Submachine Gun barrels of the Prosthetic Limb, as deadly as a spider’s Poison Claw.

But with more Prosthetic Limbs, there was more room for Moves.

Rod’s spider-like limbs thrust upwards forcefully, sinking deep into the ceiling, using it as leverage to push down, aiming to smash his Submachine Gun’s Poison Claw onto Xiang Shan’s full Heavenly Court.

Xiang Shan, aware of his intention, didn’t show much movement, but with a shake of his hands, he redirected the Power off to one side.

Rod’s Prosthetic Body brushed past Xiang Shan’s chest armor, nearly slamming into a steel beam.

With another exertion of force, Xiang Shan kicked Rod diagonally downward while stepping forward.

While in mid-air, Rod’s eight spider legs splayed out, hooking onto the steel beams and, like swinging on a swing, converted the downward vertical movement into circular motion, returning to the top of the steel beams.

At this time, Xiang Shan had only ascended three or four steps.

Rod let out a sinister, unintelligible wail and hurried to catch up.

Meanwhile, another martial artist with knives for arms and an inverted triangular head, fully converted, ran from the direction in front of Xiang Shan, attempting to sandwich Xiang Shan between himself and the stronghold master.

But this was exactly within Xiang Shan’s calculations.

Martial Arts were always restrained by “density”.

But once the enemy and we were engaged in close combat, the side with the advantage in firepower couldn’t utilize it to devastate the enemy with a Metal Storm.

As for “Sniping”, it was completely suppressed by Xiang Shan’s Gu.

Since the beginning, it wasn’t that there were no Firearms Path martial artists trying to snipe Xiang Shan from afar.

But their Prosthetic Eyes, Prosthetic Hands or Firearms malfunctioned, and the bullets could never hit the intended spot; instead, they almost hit the giant spider.

Rod even had to put a stop to this kind of behavior.

Amidst the fierce attack of two Green Forest bandits, Xiang Shan defended with ease.

His center of gravity was extremely low, and his upper body almost became like a bobblehead.

Rod, known as “Poison Claw” for the deaths of most of his enemies by his Submachine Gun placed like a spider’s poison fangs, went crazy with his four spider legs and a pair of fists, like a spider swiftly spinning webs to bind its prey.

But few knew he was actually a technique-oriented martial artist, adept at using more limbs than others to constrict the enemy’s dodging space before finally killing with the “Poison Claw”.

But Xiang Shan’s evasion was not about being “fast”, but always about being “just right”.

His hands were slightly slower than his own Prosthetic Limb, yet they always deflected attacks with minimal movements and efficient leverage.

And directly opposite him was his deputy commander, who in haste to shoot might only wound his own man.

The actions of both sides were swift as the wind, and in the blink of an eye, they had exchanged fifty to sixty Moves.

Both Rod and the Blade Guest felt they met a formidable opponent, exhausting all their skills and still only being evenly matched, not realizing their battlefield was shifting below toward that large hole.

Suddenly, Xiang Shan hunched down and leaned toward Rod as the “Poison Claw” passed overhead.

Xiang Shan stretched one arm beneath the spider belly, exerting force to upset his balance.

Rod followed suit, his six spider legs stabbing back at the ceiling, but unexpectedly they struck nothing.

“Here…”

Rod was startled.

Xiang Shan then swept his right leg backward, shattering the Blade Guest’s balance like a dragon tail sweep, while pushing Rod forward, getting under the Blade Guest and kicking him up toward the hole.

The counterforce sank the steel beam downward.

Instantly, Xiang Shan calculated the upper limit of the steel beam’s tolerance and the speed of its deformation.

He forcefully jumped upwards.

Rod finally saw an opportunity to shoot, but as the ground beneath him sank, the bullet lost its trajectory and simply chased Xiang Shan’s feet upwards.

Seeing the steel beam giving way, Rod also leaped upwards, stabbing out a series of strikes with his eight spider legs.

In mid-air and without Vector Thrusters, Xiang Shan couldn’t dodge, but his hands displayed exquisite Kung Fu.

With a swing of his arms, he created a circle around his body.

Any attacks that entered were simply and unremarkably swept away by him.

Rod still wanted to shoot.

But at that moment, Xiang Shan turned his sweeping movements into grabs, seizing the spider legs and then flinging them forward.

Rod almost hit the dirt wall, while Xiang Shan’s legs dug into the ground.

—Not good…

Rod saw the silver Shadow above and immediately realized something was wrong.

—He did it on purpose, leaving the ground to draw me up…