Chapter 16: Level 2 Item – Urban Camouflage
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“Faster, faster!”
Tang Fang spoke nervously from the cockpit.
His forehead was beaded with sweat as he operated the mechanical arms, clearing away the webs.
On the deck of the Tomorrow, Li Ye led the others in firing wildly at the swarm of spiders with Falcon assault rifles.
As level-one rifles, Falcon assault rifles possessed far greater firepower than ordinary heavy machine guns and artillery. The Lava Spiders surging at the forefront were annihilated in moments.
Everyone was frantically pulling the triggers, firing without pause.
Under cover of the spider tide, several elite captain-level Spider Guards also charged forward. Each of them was as large as a truck, a truly terrifying sight.
One Spider Guard suddenly leapt into the air and landed directly on the deck of the Azure.
It sprayed lava-like venom at a nearby cannon. Before the gunner could react, both he and the cannon melted away.
The sight made Li Ye’s blood run cold.
Fortunately, the soldiers on the Azure’s deck reacted swiftly and brought it down beneath a storm of fire. The weapon they used was none other than the Falcon assault rifle Li Ye had previously traded to them.
“Done!”
At Tang Fang’s delighted cry, the Tomorrow regained power and was once again able to move.
Of the three mobile cities, the Tomorrow had the fewest webs entangling its tracks and tires.
But Li Ye did not order a retreat. The Azure still could not move, and he could not abandon an ally.
On the other side, the Conqueror was engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the Lava Spider Queen.
The Lava Spider Queen had already identified the mobile city before it as its primary enemy and began spraying webs furiously. By now, the entire Conqueror was wrapped in them from top to bottom. Even the mechanical arms clearing the webs had been tightly ensnared.
Several cannons and heavy machine guns had also been trapped in the webs and could no longer fire.
Many soldiers were likewise caught and rendered immobile.
Fortunately, its level-one cannon was still firing continuously. The Lava Spider Queen had suffered wounds across its body, and its movements had slowed considerably.
Hope rose in Li Ye’s heart.
“Hold the line! We can win!”
At that moment, all three mobile cities were fighting with everything they had. In such a desperate situation, no one could afford to hold anything back.
Bullets and shells poured forth as if they cost nothing.
After an unknown length of time, the spider tide before them was finally cleared.
The moment the Tomorrow and the Azure broke free, they hurried to support the Conqueror.
Seeing this, the stone weighing on Lei Jian’s heart finally fell away, and he let out a long breath.
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But his gunner wore a bitter expression.
“My lord, we have only three shells left for the level-one cannon.”
Lei Jian’s face darkened instantly.
The shells for the level-one Erosion Cannon could not be made from level-one iron ore. They required level-one erosion ore instead.
Each shell consumed ten units of erosion ore and one unit of gunpowder.
As a rare mineral, erosion ore was extremely difficult to find. Sometimes, it could not be bought even at an exorbitant price.
The Conqueror had only possessed eleven erosion shells in total.
“Ah, this has cost us dearly.”
After a moment’s thought, he sighed.
“Don’t hold back. Fire the remaining three shells as well. Taking down this wild boss is what matters most. We absolutely cannot allow anything to go wrong at the final moment.”
For a time, every heavy machine gun and cannon on the three mobile cities opened fire, joined by all the soldiers on deck carrying level-one firearms. A torrent of fire blanketed the Lava Spider Queen in an instant.
Though gravely wounded, the wild boss still endured the combined assault of the three mobile cities for several minutes.
Only after the Conqueror fired its final erosion shell did it let out a mournful cry and collapse heavily to the ground.
“Whew. We finally got it.”
Li Ye, Li Jin, and Lei Jian simultaneously relaxed.
At the same time, a trace of lingering fear flickered in their eyes.
Without any one of them, they would never have been able to defeat this wild boss. After this battle, they had gained a clear understanding of the combat power of wild bosses.
The rumors had not been wrong. Even a fully staffed level-one mobile city had less than a thirty percent chance of defeating a wild boss.
Super jumps, web-spitting attacks, and the surrounding tide of spiders protecting it—one level-one mobile city alone truly could not withstand such an assault.
From the beginning of the battle until now, everyone had been tense to the breaking point.
Once defeated, each person would perish alongside their own mobile city. That was simply the nature of combat in the wilderness.
After calming themselves, everyone turned their eyes toward the Lava Spider Queen’s corpse.
Now it was time to open the spoils.
[4,874 Crystal Coins.]
[1,256 units of level-one iron ore, 976 units of level-one coal, and 412 units of level-one fuel.]
[325 units of Lava Spider Silk.]
[Level-One City Component: Molten Shell.]
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[Level-One Weapon: Lava Spider Fang.]
Faced with the mountain of spoils before them, everyone stood stunned.
They knew wild bosses dropped an abundance of loot, but they had never expected so much. The crystal coins, coal, iron ore, and fuel alone would have taken an unknown amount of time to gather in the wilderness.
As for the level-one city component, the Molten Shell, it was a type of city armor. Its surface resembled flowing magma and increased defense by ten percent, making it an excellent defensive component.
The level-one weapon was exceptionally impressive in appearance, with the additional effect: “Inflicts burning damage on targets struck.”
All three lords eyed it greedily.
Finally, there was the level-two item that had dropped.
The type of this level-two item was completely random. It might be level-two crop seeds, a level-two firearm, a level-two city component, or even a level-two heavy machine gun or cannon.
In fact, the moment the Lava Spider Queen was killed, Li Jin and Lei Jian had simultaneously turned toward Li Ye with complicated and subtle expressions.
As allies, they were both afraid that Li Ye would suffer—and afraid that he would walk away with the jackpot.
Li Ye, meanwhile, gazed at the level-two item with fervent excitement.
From its appearance, the level-two item looked rather like a radio, its casing faintly glowing with fluorescent light.
[Item Name: City Camouflage]
[Item Level: 2]
[Additional Effect: Activates a camouflage field that envelops the entire mobile city, causing it to blend completely into the surrounding environment.]
[Notes: Each activation consumes five percent of the city’s energy. Maintaining the camouflage afterward consumes six percent of the city’s energy per hour.]
“What a treasure!”
Though filled with envy, Li Jin and Lei Jian could not help sighing inwardly.
“Thank you both.”
Li Ye shook their hands one by one, then unceremoniously took the level-two item.
According to their original agreement, the level-two item belonged to him, while the rest of the spoils had nothing to do with him.
As the strongest faction in the three-city alliance—and the one that had contributed the most during the battle—Lei Jian was naturally somewhat unwilling to see the best loot taken by someone else.
However, the Lava Spider Silk they had obtained this time eased some of his disappointment.
Lava Spiders had a chance of dropping one to three units of Lava Spider Silk, while Spider Guards dropped anywhere from ten to twenty. As for the Lava Spider Queen, it had dropped 325 units in one go.
The total came to 536 units of Lava Spider Silk.
“That’s not too bad.”
Lei Jian nodded.
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