183: Chapter 183 You Don't Have Martial Morality

Laser cannons are currently the most mainstream short-range defensive weapons equipped on the players' fleets.

Not only is their trajectory precise, but they also have no worries about running out of ammunition, making them excellent for both offense and defense, and deeply loved by players.

However, the bugs creating such a massive, dense spore cloud effectively neutralized half of the players' offensive firepower!

Now, The Fourth Calamity were truly in a tough spot.

Ushtan watched the battle and decisively proposed an adjustment:

"My lord, given that the enemy's armor is too thick and they have environmental cover, I suggest abandoning the close-quarters frontal assault. Let's leverage the speed and mobility of our small and medium-sized ships, spread out our formation, and engage in a war of attrition!"

Lin Li nodded immediately in agreement: "That's the only way!"

"The only advantage players' ships have left now is their small size and speed. By kiting them slowly and whittling them down bit by bit, we can eventually grind them to death."

Furthermore, during the recent melee, Lin Li keenly noticed something.

Many highly skilled pilot players, facing the bio-plasma barrage from the Tyranids, managed to perform incredible, continuous evasive maneuvers in the vacuum through manual micro-management, narrowly dodging the attacks!

"This is the right way to fight."

Lin Li issued the order to change formation over the communication channel,

"Frontal assaults aren't a good idea; stick to guerrilla tactics, no need for hard battles! Entire fleet, break up into smaller units and spread out to kite the bugs!"

After the tactical adjustment order was issued.

The outer player fleet fired a round of volleys, then immediately turned their ships around and engaged full engines to run.

Although this long-range bombardment was barely scratching them, every little bit added up, and they could always chip away at the enemy's health.

With this high-mobility kiting, the Tyranids' slow-moving biological weapons naturally had a hard time hitting their targets.

The key to the battle now depended on whether the players' ammunition reserves could withstand such a prolonged war of attrition.

At this moment, Ushtan pointed to the central area of the holographic star map.

"My lord, that Star Destroyer has completely boarded the Tyranid bio-frigate."

A trace of confusion flashed in Ushtan's eyes,

"It's strange. Those bio-frigates clearly had the chance to destroy their damaged hull with acid at close range earlier. But they didn't do that; instead, they actively closed in."

Lin Li sneered,

"That's perfectly normal."

Lin Li explained,

"The Tyranids need to consume massive amounts of biological energy to fight such a high-intensity space battle. They are letting the ship get close just to capture the prey alive and absorb the fresh biological matter inside the ship to replenish their energy."

"Hehe. But the bugs' simple digestive systems would never guess that what's packed inside that iron shell isn't some shivering, ordinary food."

Lin Li leaned back in his chair, his eyes filled with anticipation. "Just watch, this bunch of The Fourth Calamity will definitely choke them to death!"

At this time.

Inside the damaged knock-off Star Destroyer, emergency red lights were flashing frantically.

The combat players from the Galactic Empire Stormtroopers and the Brotherhood of Steel were fully armed and gathered in the spacious bottom cargo hold, preparing for the impending bloody boarding action.

Through the damaged gap in the ship, one could directly see the Tyranid frigate's flesh wall, like a small mountain, slowly pressing in!

However, facing this terrifying alien that was enough to induce megalophobia.

These muscular men crammed into the cargo hold showed no fear whatsoever.

The Brotherhood of Steel's legion commander, Flame Fist, wore heavy Power Armor covered in war paint, holding a massive two-handed power sword upside down.

"Brothers! The monsters have delivered themselves to our doorstep! Get ready to receive our guests!" Flame Fist roared.

"Awoo!" The group of tough guys behind him excitedly struck their armor with their weapons, letting out strange howls.

And on the other side.

As the legion commander of the Galactic Empire Stormtroopers, ikun had armed himself to the teeth.

This guy's look was a combination of cyberpunk and mad scientist.

From his back armor, there were actually six flexible mechanical arms extending out, just like octopus tentacles!

Each mechanical auxiliary arm held a large-caliber plasma rifle or a high-energy laser gun!

And in his own hands, he was wielding a thick, heavy Promethium flamethrower!

The benefits of using energy weapons extensively were obvious: there was no need to carry piles of bulky physical ammunition boxes; just plug in a high-energy battery, and you could output crazy firepower.

Although this kid ikun usually hid in the back researching ship blueprints every day, his individual combat power was definitely no joke.

In order to improve close-quarters firepower efficiency.

Most top players in the Galactic Empire Stormtroopers had self-funded various degrees of mechanical modifications in Shelter.

There were plenty of players who had installed two to eight mechanical auxiliary arms.

There were even quite a few hardcore players who had gouged out their own eyes and replaced them with mechanical infrared prosthetic eyes that came with thermal imaging and ballistic calculation capabilities.

Even more extreme, in order to smoothly control those extra mechanical arms.

Some players had directly mounted a microcomputer peripheral on their shoulder armor, using the computer's intelligent algorithms to assist their nervous system in operating the eight mechanical arms on their backs!

After all, even for ikun, who had the highest intelligence attribute on the server, his brain could only barely micro-manage six mechanical arms at once.

This was a living, breathing hardware cheat!

Just as the group of players were howling and preparing to charge.

Nicotine Truth, wielding dual axes, suddenly discovered a blind spot.

"Wait, guys. We're in space right now! Even if a few ships are pressed together, there's still a vacuum in between!"

Nicotine Truth pointed outside the window, "How are we supposed to charge onto the meat mountain on the other side? Isn't that a big problem?"

Player Pi She replied:

"Yeah, you can't exactly expect those bugs to be kind enough to build us a boarding bridge, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking!

A loud boom was heard!

The remaining external armor of the knock-off Star Destroyer was suddenly violently pierced from the outside by dozens of massive tentacles, each as thick as a water vat and covered with sharp bone spurs at the tips!

These tentacles from the Tyranid frigate, like a deep-sea octopus hunting, grabbed onto the Star Destroyer's skeleton tightly.

The players looked at the sharp tentacles extending through the holes in the ceiling, just about to raise their guns and fire.

However, the tips of those thick tentacles suddenly folded and opened outward like flower petals, actually forming sealed, hollow flesh tunnels directly between the two ships!

The next moment.

Densely packed, acid-dripping Hormagaunts and Termagants wielding bio-firearms, like a black tide released from a floodgate, surged madly into the ship's cabin along those flesh tunnels!

Facing this scalp-numbing alien frenzy that would make a normal person have a mental breakdown.

Flame Fist, however, tilted his head back and let out a wild laugh:

"Hahahaha! Pi She, is your mouth blessed or something?! These hospitable bugs really did build us a bridge!"

Amidst the laughter.

Flame Fist's eyes widened suddenly, and a terrifying psychic wave erupted from his body!

"Burn for me!"

The pale white, high-temperature psychic flames, like a roaring fire dragon, swept directly backward along those opened tentacle tunnels!

In the blink of an eye, the hundreds of Hormagaunts rushing at the front didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly burned into ashes flying through the air by this supernatural high temperature.

Two streams of blood flowed from Flame Fist's nostrils due to psychic overexertion, but he didn't notice at all; instead, he shouted excitedly:

"Charge, brothers! The bugs have built the road for us! Let's follow these tubes and counter-attack straight inside! Let's see what good stuff is hidden in the belly of this meat mountain!"

"Kill!"

Flame Fist took the lead and jumped into the foul-smelling flesh tunnel.

He swung his greatsword madly, slaughtering like a meat grinder!

Other players followed suit and immediately formed a crossfire net.

The bugs jumping from mid-air were blown into minced meat by dense plasma beams and high-explosive grenades before they even landed.

Subsequently.

Hundreds of heavily armored tough guys spontaneously formed an assault squad.

They withstood the swarm's charge, stepped directly over the limbs and debris covering the floor, and forcefully charged into those tentacle tunnels, beginning a crazed counter-push!

This scene was outrageous.

If these Hormagaunts and Termagants, which only knew how to kill by instinct, were fighting ordinary Astra Militarum soldiers, that fearless swarm tactic would definitely be a nightmare.

But what they encountered today were The Fourth Calamity, who were even more bloodthirsty and wolf-like than they were!

This bunch of muscular animals didn't know what retreat meant.

The power weapons in their hands were sharper than the bugs' claws, and the adamantium armor on their bodies was harder than the bugs' chitin.

Even if they got sprayed in the face with acid, the players would laugh and shove their gun barrels into the bugs' mouths.

The swarm's vanguard was actually being forced into a steady retreat by the players inside the flesh tunnels!

"This feels great!"

The eight-barreled plasma rifle in Nicotine Truth's hands kept spitting blue tongues of fire, leaving nothing alive in its path,

"This firepower suppression is literally turning this into a Musou mowing game!"

Wang Shouyi 13-Spice dual-wielded ultrasonic vibration axes, swinging left and right in the swarm like a meat-grinding whirlwind.

He split a jumping Hormagaunt in two with one axe:

"Honestly, these bugs that only know how to charge mindlessly don't feel as satisfying to hack at as those blocking Greenskin bosses in the Northern Wastelands!"

The group followed the complex, tangled tentacle tunnels, stepping on sticky biological tissue, and didn't know how long they had been fighting upwards.

Suddenly, the space ahead opened up.

The players rushed out of the narrow tunnels and entered a vast, immense flesh space filled with huge biological organs and pulsating blood vessels!

This seemed to be some core incubation chamber of this bio-frigate.

"Everyone, be careful! Look over there!"

Player Pi She held his gun, pointing to the depths of the chamber,

"So many big Tyranid Warriors! Wait... holy crap! What the hell is that?!"

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

Clearly, the Hive Mind hiding in the shadows had keenly realized that this batch of food that had broken into the frigate was exceptionally troublesome.

Ordinary cannon fodder couldn't stop their advance at all.

Therefore, the hive directly dispatched heavy units responsible for battlefield command to come and reap them!

Surrounded by a group of three-meter-tall Tyranid Warriors wielding sharp bone swords.

A terrifying monster over five meters tall, its body covered in thick, purple-black keratin armor like a city wall, with hideous giant horns on its head, walked out with heavy steps!

Tyranid Tyrant!

This terrifying creature, acting as the node core of the swarm, held a massive bone greatsword that constantly dripped with strong acid poison.

Its cold compound eyes revealed a pure, hungry desire.

However.

This highly intelligent Tyrant, upon seeing this group of intruders, had a rare moment of confused biological feedback.

Because.

On this group of seemingly tiny two-legged prey, its keen sensory organs didn't smell even a shred of fear pheromones belonging to prey!

Facing this terrifying Tyrant that would make even human Space Marines prepare for a serious battle.

This group of players didn't retreat; instead, their eyes lit up, as if they had seen a rare treasure, and they started pointing at the Tyrant and commenting!

"Holy crap! Brothers, look! The character model for this Tyrant boss is so exquisite!"

"This sense of oppression is amazing! And the surrounding atmosphere of pulsating flesh, the lighting effects are maxed out, I'm so excited I'm wet!"

"Get lost! You just pissed your pants from fear earlier, didn't you? Don't embarrass our legion!"

Just as the players were complaining like tourists in front of this epic monster.

Flame Fist suddenly raised his two-handed greatsword, blocking everyone in front.

"Don't anyone move! Everyone get out of my way!"

Flame Fist issued a domineering roar in the channel,

"The first kill of this Tyrant is mine! Don't anyone try to steal it from me!"

After saying that, his body ignited with pale white psychic flames again, and he roared as he prepared to charge.

However!

Flame Fist had just taken half a step!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Six thick, azure plasma beams, mixed with dazzling laser rays, flew directly over his head and slammed into the Tyrant's face and chest armor without any blind spots!

The high temperature instantly burned several charred pits into the Tyrant's hard carapace, causing the Tyrant to let out a shrill roar in pain!

Flame Fist was stunned; he turned his head sharply and looked angrily at the mech maniac behind him, who was carrying six mechanical arms:

"Ji-ge! What are you doing?!"

ikun True Fan arrived with his men from another tunnel, grinning, while the six mechanical arms on his back continued to fire and pour out ammunition.

At the same time, he raised the thick Promethium flamethrower in both hands and pulled the trigger!

"Whoosh—!"

A scorching pillar of fire, dozens of meters long, sprayed out directly, engulfing all the Tyranid Warriors around the Tyrant in a sea of fire!

"Hehe! Who plays fair in a 1v1 when fighting a Boss?"

ikun True Fan shouted righteously,

"This game doesn't have party locking! Whoever kills it gets credit! Whoever sees it gets a share! I'm going full firepower, melting it!"

"Damn! You don't play fair! I'm going to out-DPS you!"

Flame Fist cursed in anger, swung his greatsword, turned into a blur, and charged directly into the swarm!