by Chen Ran
Although he did not sacrifice any of them, a bloody wound had appeared on Luca's back and a piece of flesh under his feet had disappeared. Right now, there was a piece of sterile cloth tied there, but the wound was not light.
Betsy, who was in charge of monitoring Rankin's movements, said from the window: "Captain, blasting team has left the warehouse."
Antony, who was currently seated and resting on the ground, immediately said: "Very good, let us follow him …"
"Wait, they seem to be planning on going back the way they came."
Betsy's voice interrupted Antony's words. Antony stood up, personally walked to the window, and activated the long distance observation mode on his helmet. When the display continued to expand, Antony and his team clearly saw them leave the warehouse one by one. However, they didn't go towards the direction of the safe passage, and instead, went towards the exit that led to the upper level.
"You actually intend to give up, coward!" Antony cursed in a low voice, but it was hard to tell if he was angry because of Rankin's team's cowardly performance or the fact that they had lost their bait.
However, Betsy spoke up again: Captain, something's wrong. "500 meters to your left, someone is approaching."
After Antony heard this, he immediately looked towards the direction Betsy had pointed to. In Nocturnal's mode, a skinny man was running towards Rankin's direction with large strides. When Antony's gaze fell on him, the man seemed to have sensed something and turned to look in Antony's direction. However, Antony observed him from 500 meters away, and adding that the underground base was pitch black, the man did not obtain anything.
However, Antony was drenched in cold sweat. Being able to see his line of sight in the darkness, the other party must be an expert that was above him in terms of strength. Furthermore, that man was emitting a slightly hostile aura. This clearly showed that he didn't come with good intentions.
Antony immediately gave up observing this person and pulled Betsy away from the window.
"What is it, Captain?" Luca noticed that something was amiss and immediately asked.
Antony said in a low voice: "Quiet down and control your heartbeat and temperature, gentlemen. There's some amazing guy getting closer. "
Someone who could make Antony give such an order was naturally not simple. Other people, without wasting any more words, went all out to control their own heartbeat and temperature, to prevent them from being too fast or too high, and to expose their own existence.
However, Rankin's team was not as lucky as his team. When they left the warehouse, they all looked relieved. Although he gave up the test, it still saved his life. In this world, there was nothing better than to live.
A bloody path was cut open in the path of the entire two-tier base by Rankin's troops. They would only need to follow the same path to return, and the resistance they would face would be extremely small. But Rankin and the rest did not know that the biggest obstacle was already moving towards them.
Rankin walked at the back of the team with a greater responsibility than his teammates. After all, a small portion of the clan's honor and honor was placed on him. Since he was unable to join the army, he was of no value to the clan. Rankin could already imagine that his uncle, who was acting as a representative, would definitely not care for him.
Maybe Rankin could save this team and use his status as the mercenary leader to accept some tasks from the Asgard's military. They could even leave the Asgard and go to other cities to earn a living. With the combined strength of Rankin and Mag who were both at the fifth step, coupled with the average number of soldiers who were at the third step or above, and the presence of a few Wilderness Mercenaries, they would be able to complete most of the missions, or even become a resident mercenary group in a certain city.
After a few more years, Rankin could even set up a family or something.
However, all of this was not what Rankin wanted. But what could he do? Reality was right in front of him, and he had no choice but to give in.
Just as Rankin was letting out a soft sigh, his heart was suddenly moved. At the same time, a scream came out from the front of the convoy. Rankin raised his head to look, only to see Mag himself flying towards the sky. Something wrapped around Mag's neck and threw him up.
Rankin groaned, then took out his gun and shot at the thing that was wrapped around Mag. However, when the bullet hit the object, sparks flew out along with the sound of metal hitting metal. Rankin stared blankly. In such a short time of distraction, Mag had already been brought to the space ten meters above. Without waiting for the other soldiers to rescue him, under his night vision, Rankin saw a few extremely sharp black lines piercing towards Mag.
Those things instantly pierced through Mag's legs, and suddenly, a miserable howl came from the darkness.
In the next moment, an unknown object appeared in the left and right of Mag's body, ripping this Ranger into two. A flower of flesh and blood bloomed in mid-air, showering down with bits and pieces of flesh, organs, intestines, and fresh blood. The brighter standing soldiers were immediately covered in Mag's blood and minced meat.
Everyone was stunned, Rankin was no exception. But he quickly regained his senses and roared as he raised his pistol and fired again and again through the crowd in the direction of the unknown. The other soldiers reacted as well. One by one, they raised their machine guns to suppress the trigger, venting their anger through the intense barrage of bullets!
However, 200 meters away from them, there were sparks flying and the sound of metal being hit could be heard. In the frantic screaming, the blasting team's suppression was completely blocked. When Rankin and his team members opened the magazine, it was so quiet in the darkness that it was hard to breathe.
In the midst of this maddening silence, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out. Rankin didn't have time to warn him, as a black line was drawn from afar. It wrapped around a soldier's neck, and then Rankin saw it clearly, it was a vine filled with thorns. Rankin could not believe that the vines of this plant could actually block all of the bullets.
In an instant, the vines retracted, throwing the soldiers into the darkness. In the darkness, the screams of the soldiers could be heard for a moment before they stopped. Following that, the sound of water droplets could be heard incessantly. After a while, the soldier's head, which was filled with shock, slowly rolled to Rankin's feet!
Chapter 249 - Final Bullets (II)
The fear on the soldier's face was forever frozen, and it brought an unparalleled impact to his other comrades. Other than Rankin, the other three soldiers suddenly screamed and ran.
The danger level in Rankin's heart instantly climbed to the peak!
"Don't run..."
Just as Rankin opened his mouth to warn them, three thorns suddenly pierced through the darkness, accurately piercing through the throats of three soldiers. The sharp vines brought forth a spray of blood, taking away three lives at the same time!
When the vines were retracted, the darkness returned to silence, and only the sound of Rankin's thunderous breathing could be heard.
After his chest expanded and contracted thrice, Rankin roared, he quickly equipped the magazine and started firing at the darkness.
Flames kept spitting out from the muzzle, but this time, there was no sound of metal hitting metal. A vine wrapped around's ankles like a snake in the darkness, and then swung him down. Immediately, Rankin who had lost his balance was flung by the vines towards the abandoned warehouse at the side.
Rankin crashed into the wall, the force of the impact causing stars to flash in front of his eyes. While he was trying his best to regain clarity in his mind, he saw a pair of legs.
Above him was a thin man in a loose windbreaker. A cruel smile hung on the man's face. Behind him, seven or eight thorny vines swayed irregularly like the tentacles of an octopus.
Rankin struggled to reach for his gun, but there was a vine on the man's back that was used to point at his gun before him. With a lig
ht wave of the vine, the pistol slipped into the darkness. Following that, the vine headed towards Rankin. Rankin suddenly bounced up, at the same time, he pushed himself up against the ground, allowing him to fall to the man's left side with lightning speed.
The vine rolled in the air, and the man who had an expression of surprise looked at Rankin and said: "It seems like you don't want to die."
"Nonsense, who would complain about having a long life?" Rankin replied respectfully.
"Very good, this way maybe we can make a deal." He bowed towards Rankin like a gentleman and said: "My name is Gounabel, it is my honor to meet you. "Let's put it this way, as long as you answer one of my questions, I won't kill you."
Rankin's face was ashen, and he did not reply. His hands were clenched into fists, and he was trembling slightly. It was hard to tell if he was nervous or afraid.
Gounabel took all of this in, and smiled: "I want to ask you about a person, a soldier named Zero. "Tell me where he is and the reward will be your life."
Rankin revealed an expression of surprise, and said: "So it turns out that you want to cause trouble for yourself, I've already disliked that guy from the start. It's extremely easy for him to tell you where he is."
"Oh, so the answer is?"
"Un, that fellow Zero is here..."
Just as he was about to find out where Zero was going to go, Gounabel couldn't help but listen attentively. Although he knew that Zero was in this base, the underground base of the Cossacks was simply too big. If Gounabel wasn't clear on the exact direction of Zero, it wouldn't be easy for her to find him in such a short period of time. Now, Gounabel was finally going to hear his exact news, and she was not only slightly happy about it.
As a result, he did not realize that the warehouse buildings on both sides of him had started trembling.
"Where is he?" Gounabel asked.
"He's right behind you!" Rankin suddenly screamed, revealing a shocked expression.
Gounabel was also shocked, she turned around quickly, but there was no shadow behind her. Just as he realized that she had been tricked and was about to get angry, the warehouses on both sides suddenly let out an earth-shattering sound and fell towards him. The matter had happened in such a hurry that Gounabel could only watch herself be drowned in the shadows while crying in fear. In the instant he was submerged by the rock current, he felt that the body of the warehouse contained a faint trace of the power of the Earth Essence Su.
It was because of Rankin's shocking power that Rankin was able to produce such a result. Now, Rankin gasped for breath and scolded: "I do not like zero, but at the same time I don't like being threatened by others!"
Seeing Gounabel being pressed down by a pile of ruins, like a small mountain, Rankin spat towards his direction, then walked towards the darkness where his gun was. But when Rankin picked up his weapon, a 'ta' sound came from behind him.
This was the sound of a stone falling to the ground, followed by a second, then a third …
In the end, with a loud bang, more than a hundred black shadows pierced out of the pile of rocks amidst the cloud of dust. It spread out like a blossoming flower, finally poking into the ground. These black shadows were Gounabel's thorny vines. After they stabbed into the ground, they suddenly rose up into the valley. Immediately, countless stones were lifted up and rolled down to the two sides. In the end, the vines propped Gounabel up, allowing him to slowly rise from the ruins.
Gounabel's face was extremely ugly. He did not think that she would be ambushed by a mouse. He looked at Rankin, and said with an ice-cold and heartless voice: "Do you choose to commit suicide, or do you want me to do it myself?"
Rankin revealed a bitter smile.
Just now, Su Yuan's concussion had already exhausted his last bit of strength, and the last bullet remained in her own handgun.
No matter how he looked at it, this bullet was for him.
With a wry smile, he raised the pistol and moved it toward his forehead. Rankin muttered: "Suicide..."
Suddenly, his eyes became fierce.
"Kill you!"
As he cursed, Rankin turned the gun towards Gounabel's chest. He was about to press the trigger to show his unyielding nature. However, his entire body suddenly trembled, he did not know when, but a vine had suddenly appeared from behind Rankin and stabbed into the back of his head, directly striking the center of his forehead.
The vine retracted, and the corpse that had lost its support immediately fell to the ground. The vine entered the metal ground and finally appeared under Gounabel's feet, retracting back into his body.
Gounabel landed on the ground, and pulled up the hundred vines around his body and shrunk them into his clothes. He looked at Rankin's body coldly, then turned and left.
When the lanky man disappeared into the entrance of the three-tier base, the whole place became quiet again. Regardless of whether it was the killing intent released by Gounabel, or the last time Rankin unleashed her Elemental Su, they all warned the nearby wandering living corpse that they were engaged in an inhuman battle. But not long after, footsteps once again broke the silence of the base.
Antony and his group arrived at the place where Gounabel had slaughtered the entire blasting team.
Although it was a competition, seeing Rankin and his party of five being annihilated, everyone sighed. Under Antony's instructions, they collected the corpses of the members of the blasting team and piled them together.
Antony personally walked in front of Rankin's corpse and for some reason, this vicious captain sighed lightly, then picked up Rankin's handgun. Inside the gun, there was still a bullet that Rankin did not have the time to shoot out. Antony gently took out the bullet, and then placed the gun on Rankin's body.
"Captain?" Luca looked at Antony and asked: "What do we do?"
"It's cremated." Antony said in a low voice: "Although Rankin was an idiot, he finally died like a man. He should receive the least amount of respect, and not become the living corpse's food after death. "So, cremate them."
Antony lifted his head, looked at Luca, and said: "Legend has it that a true warrior can be brought to heaven. I hope that Rankin and the others can be reborn from the flames! "
With that, Antony turned and left. Looking at the background of this team leader, Luca felt that because of Rankin's death, he had undergone some subtle changes.
He was not idle either, taking out a piece of solid fuel that was originally used to fuel the troops. After Luca crushed it, he sprinkled it onto the corpses of the blasting team members. Following that, he looked at Olam, who nodded and took out a lighter.
Olam's thumb brushed past the pulley, causing a spark to ignite from the flint. When it fell into the flammable liquid, a flame immediately soared from the lighter. Olam's expression was solemn, she gently threw the lighter on the pile of corpses.
In the darkness, the lighter spun around, leaving a circle of light in the air. When it landed on the corpse, it instantly ignited the fixed fuel. With a boom, an azure and white flame suddenly soared.
The high temperature released by the flaming light made the nearby people's hair stand on end, but no one was willing to leave. They just watched as Rankin's and the other members's bodies slowly melted into the thousand degree high temperature flame s released from the solid state's combustion. That's right, not only Antony, even Luca and the rest of the members thought that Rankin was not very smart. Although this man had an uncle supporting him behind his back, Rankin's talent was limited. His potential and achievements could almost be predicted.
However, this man, who had been branded as a fool and a boor, had exploded with a tremendous amount of courage in the final moments of his life. Rankin died, but left as a warrior who wasn't afraid of strong enemies. Thus, he received the respect he deserved.
Looking at the corpse in the flames, everyone hoped that it would also be their home. Warriors of the Asgard, rather than letting them die in silence, they would rather die fighting gloriously!
/> When the flames gradually extinguished, Antony's voice broke their train of thoughts.
"Let's go, Rankin can stop here, but we can't!"
Antony was the first one to walk towards the entrance of Floor 3, the rest bowed to the dead bodies, then followed behind Antony and left. Luca quickly walked to the captain's side and asked: "What should we do next?"
"Of course it's to work hard to complete the mission!" The corner of Antony's mouth quirked into a smile: "You probably heard it too, that man wants to find trouble with Zero. In this way, the situation will be beneficial to us instead."
"But that person killed Rankin and the rest, I think he is a common enemy!" Luca emphasized.
Antony stopped and said coldly: "The enemy of the enemy is our friend, or rather, do you think Zero is our friend?"
Luca closed his mouth as if he knew what was going on. Then, he ignored his close friend and continued to walk forward. Looking at the figure, Luca shook his head.
So it was just an illusion. Luca said softly in his heart.
Chapter 250 - Cheap Shot (III)
The journey to the underground three-tier base was very smooth. There were no ambushes or traps during the journey. Other than the wormshit that filled the tunnel, there was nothing else.
From the exit to the Rest area, everyone walked in the quiet and pitch black base. Everyone's tactical helmet activated Night Vision Mode, but their range of vision was limited. From the helmet, it seemed as if there was no limit to the darkness in front of them, and they could only walk straight to hell.
They did not say anything. Although the communication channel was still working, everyone could only hear the faint breathing of the other team members from the channel. Then he mixed it with his own heavy breathing, forming a strange melody. However, this melody did not make people happy. Instead, it made them feel heavy. Just as the members of vanguard team were being pressured by the darkness, Antony suddenly raised his left hand, signalling the convoy to stop.