Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confronting the Chariot-Class Fiend

“A War Chariot-class fiend? How could it appear here?!” As Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui braced themselves for battle, preparing to join forces and eliminate this War Chariot-class fiend, the military’s second support unit arrived.

The squad leader of the mech team was visibly shocked upon seeing the roaring War Chariot-class fiend burst out from South Street, but his training quickly reasserted itself and he started calling for backup: “Headquarters, this is Unit One. We have a War Chariot-class fiend at the south entrance of South Street in the city. Requesting immediate support, requesting support.” Once the request was relayed to headquarters, the squad leader began to deploy tactics to hold the fiend at bay: “Units Two and Three, maintain a safe distance and draw its attention from the front. Four, with me—flank around and attack from behind. Five, find a good vantage point and prepare to provide cover fire.”

Previously, when Zhuang Xiaoyuan and her companion faced the General-class fiend, the ground troops that had appeared to distract the fiend belonged to the Newcomer Population Surveillance and Observation Corps. They weren’t frontline combatants, but rather a security force tasked with monitoring and guarding survivors entering the city from the outside. Because the original fiend-possessed was an escapee from their sector, they arrived promptly on the scene.

This unit’s combat effectiveness was limited—their equipment consisted of standard firearms designed for human adversaries. Against a General-class fiend, their weapons were useless, serving only as a distraction. In the end, it was Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui who dispatched both the fiend-possessed and the fiend.

This new support unit, however, was a true combat force specialized in fiend suppression.

Clad in black, close-fitting suits made from the most energy-conductive fibers, their lower bodies were encased in massive powered exoskeletons. These suits enveloped the soldiers from the waist down, granting them mobility far beyond human limits. Not only could they move swiftly across the ground, but the exoskeletons were also fitted with energy thrusters, enabling the mech warriors to briefly hover above the ground.

On their backs, they wore shoulder-mounted drive armor, providing even greater thrust and aerial maneuverability. The combination of back-mounted and lower-body armor allowed these warriors to move freely through the air. Their arms, too, were protected by gauntlet-like powered armor, endowing them with superhuman strength.

Finally, each wore a circlet on their heads—a neural interface device. Through this brainwave connector, they controlled their powered exoskeletons and projected protective energy shields around themselves.

Beyond these standard suits, each warrior was equipped with additional weaponry tailored to their combat specialty.

Units Two and Three carried a variety of rapid-fire firearms and medium- to small-caliber grenade launchers. The squad leader and Unit Four specialized in close-quarters combat, wielding heavy-gauge scatterguns and laser vibro-ion swords. Unit Five was the designated sniper, equipped with a high-caliber kinetic sniper rifle and a focused laser sniper cannon.

Both Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui had studied these frontline mech suits during their training at the academy, and unsurprisingly, their practical scores ranked first and second.

These warriors, dressed in powered exoskeletons, constituted the city’s frontline mech combat group. In fact, calling them a support unit was a misnomer; under normal circumstances, they should have been the first responders against fiends.

It was only because of the unexpected presence of Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui that the mech group, originally dispatched to eliminate a General-class fiend, found themselves relegated to support—and the target had escalated from a General-class to a War Chariot-class fiend.

Without Zhuang Xiaoyuan and Wen Hui’s intervention, the casualties here would likely have been severe by the time the mech unit arrived.

Moreover, the orders given to the mech team indicated the appearance of a General-class fiend in the city. Against a single General-class fiend, five mech soldiers would have sufficed. Even if there had been two, aided by a mid-ranked fiend-possessed as commander, the five would have been able to hold out until further support arrived.

But now, with a War Chariot-class fiend on the field, the outcome was unpredictable. The weaponry carried by human mech units was incapable of penetrating the iron skull of such a fiend; only attacks from behind to its body would be effective. Yet, the War Chariot-class boasted an agility rare among fiend types.

At their leader’s command, Units Two and Three ignited the blue energy streams of their lower-body thrusters and charged straight at the fiend. Grenade launchers at their waists opened, loading round after round, ready to fire.

The squad leader and Unit Four, activating their shoulder-mounted thrusters, split left and right to flank the fiend, aiming to slip into its blind spot before launching focused attacks.

Unit Five, unlike the others, quickly withdrew with his gear, vanishing into the forest of buildings—ready, perhaps, to deliver a deadly shot from some unseen angle.

“With their current, outdated armaments, those mechs can’t handle a War Chariot-class fiend. What should we do, Xiaoyuan?” Wen Hui asked as the five-man mech team moved into position to engage the enemy. Her tone, despite the question, betrayed no uncertainty; she had already raised her Gale Lance.

“That goes without saying. Let’s join in. I’d like to see just how strong a War Chariot-class fiend really is.” As she answered, Zhuang Xiaoyuan had already raised her Immortal Slayer Sword and charged toward the fiend.

“How about a little contest—see who lands the final blow on this one?” With a swirl of emerald wind, Wen Hui surged ahead, overtaking Zhuang Xiaoyuan, taunting her as she raced toward the War Chariot-class fiend.