Perfect World VR (8) - Command and Conquer

They had to act fast. There was no way in hell they would be able to handle so many Scorpions at once. Was it possible that even backup would not be able to handle so many enemies at once?

They were soon to find out.

"Here they come." Reyes scoped in with his Sniper and caught the approaching Scorpion units. They were merely a few meters away, it was impossible to escape now. They could only face them head-on.

Their numbers were enough to cause a mini dust cloud to form around them, it made their approach all the more terrifying. "What the fuck is that?" Jeremiah could not help but exclaim. He knew his limits and was well aware of what would happen if he dared to face them.

"Do I have to use another 96 to stop their advance for a brief moment?" Reyes was contemplating the chances of that working. Just then.

***Whoosh***

A shadow streaked past him, it frightened him somewhat. "Isn't that…" He trailed off as he watched the back of the shadow. Victor glanced back and smiled. "Backup is here."

Just as Jeremiah was about to look back, the shadow went past him and kept on charging forward. At this point, his body was glowing blue like as though electricity was flowing through his body. "Indra!!"

"Heavenly blade: Splitting the mountains – Vertical." He stopped just a couple of meters away from the approaching enemy battalion. He held his sword back like as though he were drawing it from a sheath.

He swung it vertically and with that, a blue wave spread out in an arc and slashed at the dust cloud. It was cut cleanly in half… The Scorpion units were no exception.

"Ah." Jeremiah had his mouth agape in utter shock. "What amount of training has this guy undergone?... We both got admitted into the academy at the same time so why… What is this incredible strength?"

Jeremiah was astounded. Why wouldn't he be?... Indra had just cut down a hundred Scorpions with a single sword beam.

How much more powerful could he be?... They were both in the same Squadron but the gap between their power levels… was like a chasm that could never be breached.

"This is the strength of a genius." Victor was indeed surprised by this but not as shocked as Jeremiah. He did not look down or exalt people more than necessary. He dealt with facts and nothing else.

Indra had gotten a score of ninety percent on the affinity test and his core quality was Royal blue. It would be dumb to not expect him to have this level of power. This did not mean that he was a powerhouse already, it just meant that his prospects were aimed sky high.

Reyes merely whistled. It was a sight to behold as they watched all hundred Scorpions blow up, causing the surrounding area to rumble as though an earthquake had occurred.

Indra took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This strike of his had taken a whopping fifty percent of his tachyon core gauge. He would be mad to try something like this again.

The reason he dared to be so extravagant with his attack was merely a part of the plan concocted by Elena. She asked that they made sure that the Crawler registered them as extremely powerful enemies that required immediate removal.

That way, it would expend resources to go after them and not be prepared for the surprise attack aimed at it. It was risky but the risk was within acceptable standards. In any case, who didn't take risks when in battle?

Just as expected, the Crawler registered the intruders at the frontier as extremely dangerous threats that had to quickly be removed. Without wasting another second, it began to produce Scorpion units at a rapid rate.

Compared to the Arachnids that had much tougher armor, Nathan had informed them after studying the Scorpion units, that they seemed to be an easier unit to manufacture based on their lighter armor.

This meant that if pushed to the limit, the Crawler might just produce stronger units to fend off the enemy. Of course, this meant it would take longer to produce and it would also take much more resources.

"The enemy is amassing a small army as we speak. Prepare for battle." Tanya informed Reyes and the others. At this point, the rest of the Red Wing Squadron had arrived.

The only ones missing were Tanya, Nathan, Leah, Elena, and Gary. All sixteen Squad members prepared for the battle that was on its way.

"You should recuperate before they arrive," King spoke in his usual baritone voice. "Mn, keep them occupied till I can recover a bit," Indra replied as he retreated to the backline to meditate and recover his tachyon core gauge. It was going to be a tough fight once the enemy arrived.

"You should do the same. I'll cover you." Celeste addressed Reyes. "Thanks." "No problem."

Five minutes passed and then the message they were waiting for came through. "A total of two hundred and fifty Scorpion units were produced. The Crawler appears to still be holding out on the resources it has mined."

"It seems to think that numbers can be used to subdue us. This is a correct assumption but we will have to prove it wrong." Elena's voice came through the intercom, right after Tanya's message.

"I guess it's a good thing that the enemy isn't producing stronger units. It would be troublesome to handle." Chelsea remarked. "That would most likely be as a result of the system making it easy for us. The Machine leader train of thought wouldn't be so linear in reality." Nathan commented across the intercom.

"Uh-huh, way to be a buzzkill, Holt." Jeremiah rolled his eyes. "I'm just speaking the truth."

"That's enough from you two. Hah, Nathan is right. We can only use this mission as an opportunity to test our strength and forget about learning anything about the Machines. Prepare to engage the enemy and I wish you good luck."

"Aye aye, Herald." The comms were cut and just in time, as a dust cloud appeared not too far away and was approaching quickly.

Indra slowly opened his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Get into formation. We cannot lose this encounter." His movement was gracious and with a certain charm to it. He rose to his feet and walked forward until he had gotten to the forefront of the formation.

"Remember, we absolutely cannot let anyone fall here. Protect your backs." His words were slightly cringing but he meant well by them. Elena had handed over the leadership of the operation to him.

He was willing to do his best to ensure success without any losses. "Doug, Viola." "Leave it to us," Viola remarked. She had a strangely alluring voice. She was what one would refer to as a femme fatale. One had to be careful not to offend her, else he would surely regret it.

The dust cloud soon parted to reveal the Scorpion units arranged in formations. Each formation had a total of twenty-five units in total and they moved without any space to get in between them.

To the inexperienced, it was quite a shocking thing to witness. It could even shake one's will to fight. Indeed, it did awe some of them but with Indra at the forefront, they remained steadfast.

There were at least a hundred meters between the Scorpion army and Red Wing Thunder. "Now!" Indra gave the order. At the same time. "Hasta la Vista," Doug said in a cringe-worthy manner.

***Boom***

He and Viola worked in tandem and activated the mechanism they had planned ahead of time. It was a large-scale tachyon-charged energy bomb they had placed at a strategic location.

The Scorpion formation center just so happened to be on top of the location in which the bomb had been buried. With one attack, the formation was thrown into shambles.

They had managed to clean up almost half of the enemy with a single attack, of course, this did not come without a price. With every weapon that they used, the bomb also took power from them to activate.

They had to sacrifice thirty percent of their tachyon core gauge from both ends, making a total of sixty percent just to activate the bomb.

If not for the high amount of energy required to detonate just one, Doug and Viola would have been more than willing to detonate two at a go. After all, Explosion was an art.

"Don't waste this opportunity, attack!" Indra dashed forward and the others followed after him. The battle had officially begun and they already had the upper hand.

The Scorpions tried to recover their formations but alas it was already too late to do so, thus, they were left with no choice but to fight without its help.