Chapter 443.3: Clash of Blood and Steel

Meanwhile, inside the light tank, Irene was frantically shoving a shell into the chamber.

As he fired, he yelled at Elf Wang, “Did it hit?”

“Yeah, it hit!” Elf Wang’s eye was glued to the scope as he replied absentmindedly.

Irene curiously asked, “Did it work?”

“It worked... My ass!” As the Wanderer tank swung around to face them, Elf Wang’s face went green.

Even knowing he wouldn’t really die, even knowing they were just a game world, that gaping barrel aimed at him still made his heart pound in panic.

The crushing pressure pierced straight through his soul...

He could already see himself blasted to pieces.

“Damn it... Fuck you Mole, are you sure we can do it?!”

Seeing his stiff face, Irene guessed what was on his mind and revealed a wry smile. “Asking that now is meaningless. We can only trust him this time. Anyway, you wanna fire one more shot before dying?”

“Mother... Ahhh! Damn it!” Elf Wang cursed. “Screw it, I’m going all in!”

The instant he saw the flash, he reflexively squeezed the trigger.

Flames shot out from his 60 mm gun as well, almost licking the tip of the shell flying at him.

The explosion engulfed the turret in a flash!

The two didn’t even hear the blast through the steel before fragments and shrapnel tore into them like a sieve.

It didn’t matter if they were agility type players, perception type players, or strength type players... They were deader than dead.

But... Stan, who had destroyed them, never had the chance to mock their futile struggle. The cold sneer on his lips froze forever.

The angular wedge-shaped armor folded inward in twisted collapse, and a 20 kilogram steel needle smashed straight through the Wanderer, splitting the hull clean in two like a mallet crushing mochi.

The last image burned into his retina was the turret flying apart in a blast of flame.

Even in his death, he never knew what had happened.

At the same time, inside the wrecked Model-B Tank 2, sparks crackled.

The strength type player who had been blown to bits the first time jerked as the tank recoiled.

The freshly repaired capacitor was completely blown again.

The driver, who was crouched over the maintenance gear, was also jolted into convulsions, twitching violently before finally coming back to himself. He barely hung onto life.

Shaking his head, the player scrambled to the driver’s observation window, pressing his eyes anxiously to it.

When he saw the fireball burning on the dune, he was stunned.

“... What the hell!?” Blurting a curse, he whipped around toward the commander under the turret.

“Did it work?”

“Yeah...” Escaping Mole, also shaken by the jolt, managed to answer.

“HOLY SHIT! You’re awesome!” The player swallowed hard, clenched his fists in excitement, and asked, “Brother, how’d you do it?”

Escaping Mole leaned back in his seat, finally letting his shoulders relax. He explained patiently, “The Meissner effect doesn’t only act on superconductors approaching a magnetic field. The force resisting magnetic flux changes also applies to superconductors moving away... The instant it fires, that special field has to be lifted. Otherwise, the phase-transition shell wouldn’t even launch. They have two choices, either shut down the magnetic field, or shut down the field that triggers the conductor’s phase change.”

“Whichever it did... That’s the best window to fire. As long as we hit it the instant it fires before the armor reactivates, we will be able to destroy it.”

He paused, then added, “Of course... I was only guessing.”

Luckily, it was a Meissner-effect armor.

If it had been a deflection shield, that’d be beyond high-school physics.

If he couldn’t even figure out the principle, there would be no way to take it down.

Though baffled, the driver still swallowed nervously. “... But you guessed right.”

Escaping Mole nodded, giving a weak smile. “More like I gambled right...”

Without the Meissner-effect armor’s protection, even the thickest alloy plating was paper in front of a 60 megajoules Railgun.

The moment his finger left the trigger, he felt his back soaked with sweat.

However, a look of relief spread across his face.

Though the casualties were severe, the Skeleton Corps had annihilated the enemy’s tank unit, even destroying the nearly indestructible Wanderer...

Though they couldn’t reach the airfield on time, that couldn’t be helped. It was the best outcome possible.

At least 15 tanks still made it through as reinforcements.

The toughest Wanderer had also been dealt with.

With their ace pilot’s micro-controls, holding out a few minutes should be no problem.

He didn’t know if the administrator could see his effort, but in his vision he already saw the golden pop-up window.

[Congratulations to player Escaping Mole... And fellow players, for the first kill of the Wanderer tank!]

To leave such a line on the New Alliance’s monument made his death worth it!

...

Elsewhere, in a far-off peaceful world.

No matter how fierce the frontlines, the atmosphere there was always the most relaxed. It was a safe haven for players and cloud-gamers alike.

Having logged off, Irene was already gossiping with the others on the forum.

Hearing that Escaping Mole had gone to solo the Wanderer, the cloud gamers, who had been debating its weak points, all @-ed Professor Yang to set up a betting pool.

Irene: Stop betting, guys. Mole’s been down there so long, I bet he’s already done it. Starting a pool now is just giving away money. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Mosquito chimed in slyly.

Mosquito: How do you know he isn’t just too embarrassed to show up because he failed?

Night Ten: Damn! That actually makes sense!

Star River: Ahem, Skeleton Corps brothers, where are you? Did your tank fall into a hole? My gum’s been chewed into rubber already.

Irene: Ahem, we ran into an armored division, but it’s taken care of... By the way, why’d you log off? What happened to you?

Star River: Eh, no choice. We got jumped by fighters. We dodged a round of gun fire and some unknown missile. That should be enough, right?

Yaya: Wait, doesn’t that mean the nuke’s about to launch? Σ(゜ロ゜;)

Teng Teng: !!!

Quit Bullshit: WTF?

The Lifestyle Players lurking on the forums instantly swarmed out.

Star River: Ahem, before disconnecting I fired the last missile at the airfield. The range was a bit stretched, but it should be fine!

Elf Wang: One missile?! You only fired one at them?! Is that enough?

Star River: Bro, that’s a metal hydrogen warhead! That’s metal hydrogen we’re talking about! Of course it’s enough! T.T

They didn’t even have to hit the damn plane carrying the nuke. All they had to do was to crater the runway, and they wouldn’t take off.

Irene: Ha, good then. By the way, where’s Falling Feather? Haven’t seen that guy. ( ˶°ㅁ°)

Star River: Emmm... Dunno, I’m wondering where he is too.