Chapter 58: Whack-a-Mole

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Whack-a-Mole

I don’t know if any of you have ever played Whack-a-Mole… but at this moment, Liu Shaoyu swore he never wanted to play that game for the rest of his life.

“Incendiary bombs will be deployed in five seconds. Take cover.”

“All set! Watch me scatter flames from the heavens!” From above, dozens of fireballs burst forth from the yellow armor, raining down and exploding upon the ground.

The impact turned the struck earth into a blazing inferno.

A dark figure darted out from the edge of the flames.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be five seconds?” Liu Shaoyu feigned anger. He’d almost been burned alive...

These little pests were far too troublesome! Liu Shaoyu cursed inwardly and hastened his actions. A moment’s carelessness and he could easily get bitten by one of these swarming creatures… and those razor-sharp teeth were terrifying. Liu Shaoyu resolved to wholeheartedly support the eradication of rodents once he got back.

The fire still raged, but it wasn’t particularly effective against these creatures… because they possessed a special skill: burrowing.

Under the blazing flames, they hurriedly dug underground to hide. But Liu Shaoyu hadn’t expected to burn them all to death anyway. If you saw from Monkey’s vantage point, you’d notice the wall of fire had formed a large circle, trapping the majority of the “moles” inside.

“Pulse ready,” came Long Ruyuan’s timely voice. A dazzling white light shot down from the sky, striking dead center in the fiery ring—a laser pulse cannon.

The earth was blasted apart, leaving the burrowed creatures nowhere to hide. The immense pulse energy penetrated beneath their shells, killing them instantly.

Liu Shaoyu and Monkey stood side by side within the safe zone, waiting for the energy surge to subside before swooping down to mop up the scattered “moles.”

Just then, a black line appeared in the distance where the terrain changed.

“What’s that?” Liu Shaoyu quickly raised his binoculars—and inhaled sharply at the sight.

“What is it?” Monkey, curious about Liu Shaoyu’s ghost-stricken expression, asked.

“See for yourself…”

“Holy crap!” Monkey exclaimed after looking.

The black line in the distance was rapidly advancing, and behind it, another followed, forming a dense, crawling shadow.

The two exchanged glances, their expressions growing ever gloomier.

“Run?”

“Run!”

Who would have expected… the shockwaves had attracted even more “moles.”

A piercing soundwave blared, forcing the fleeing duo to stop and look back. What they saw made their hearts sink—after dealing with the small fry, now the big boss appeared?

Amid the mass of shadows behind them, one figure stood out—a massive creature. Based on experience, social animals always have a leader… and this was clearly the chief.

But this leader didn’t look quite like its underlings.

“Is that Godzilla?” Monkey gasped.

Frankly, it did resemble Godzilla—except the inverted triangle shape of its head made it even more bizarre, and its body wasn’t quite as massive; it was around fifty meters tall by estimation, with powerful forelimbs.

“Thomas, mark that target,” Liu Shaoyu said with a frown. An enemy of this scale could only be dealt with using the ship’s weapons. He regretted not bringing a larger vessel—he wasn’t sure his cruiser could handle such a behemoth.

The monster, which had been standing upright, seemed to sense something. With a thunderous roar, the tide of rodents surged forward, accelerating and forming a triangular phalanx. The lead “moles” had shells tinged with purple and were noticeably larger.

The leader dropped to all fours, kicked off powerfully with its hind legs, and charged straight toward Liu Shaoyu.

“Damn, we’ve been targeted!” Liu Shaoyu realized, but he didn’t panic. After all, he thought, they can’t fly.

But when he saw the tail on the beast, understanding struck: it was just a giant rat.

No matter what, this battle was unavoidable.

Even high in the air, Liu Shaoyu wasn’t sure he was completely safe—these things could jump, and very high at that.

“Long Ruyuan, aim at the big one—another pulse shot.”

“Thirty seconds to ready.”

What to do in the meantime? Liu Shaoyu thought. Drawing the beast’s attention, of course. Best to lure it into the rodent horde—he didn’t expect the pulse cannon to kill it in one shot; the more small fry taken out, the better.

His black armor danced nimbly around the giant rat, firing a missile here, a laser there. Though not doing real damage, even a titan would get annoyed by so many mosquito bites. Gradually, the giant was lured deeper into the swarm.

“Now!” Seeing the timing was right, Liu Shaoyu shot up into the sky. Another blinding flash struck the monster dead-on.

A shrill roar followed. Blue fluid oozed from wounds on its hind legs under the impact, and the pain drove it into a frenzy.

Countless lesser creatures were crushed beneath its rampage. Finally, the giant was enraged.

Liu Shaoyu sensed trouble and tried to climb higher, but the beast leapt with astonishing speed, faster even than Liu Shaoyu’s engines could carry him.

“Not good!” At the very instant the beast’s claws reached for him, its upward momentum ran out. It flailed in frustration, but couldn’t touch a hair on Liu Shaoyu’s head.

Just as Liu Shaoyu thought the danger had passed…

“Watch out!” Monkey’s shout jolted him. As he searched for the threat, a wave of pain wracked his body.

“Damn, I forgot about its tail…”

As the beast fell, its tail whipped up from below, coiling around Liu Shaoyu as he ascended.

“Warning: shields about to collapse,” Thomas announced, adding fuel to the fire.

Liu Shaoyu felt as though he might explode. The constricting force of the tail was immense, and even the shield was about to give way.

Looking down at the swarming creatures below… even if the fall didn’t kill him, he’d be devoured alive.

I’m still young! I can’t die here, Liu Shaoyu thought desperately.

His arms and torso were bound, only his legs free to move.

“Engines and counter-thrust overdrive engaged,” he commanded without hesitation. It was all he could do to slow his descent.

But the planet’s gravity was immense, and with the beast’s own weight added, the overdriven engines only managed to slow his fall a little.

Struggling to maintain his balance, Liu Shaoyu maneuvered his leg thrusters close to the beast’s tail.

A series of agonized screeches rang out—it worked! The tail lacked the hard shell of the body. Just as Liu Shaoyu was feeling relieved, a surge of force came from the tail: the beast began whipping him through the air.

A roller coaster was nothing compared to this—after two spins, Liu Shaoyu was nearly knocked unconscious.

Monkey had his engines at full throttle, but the distance was too great, and ranged weapons couldn’t lock onto such a small, agile target as the tail. Long Ruyuan could only fire small-caliber weapons at the beast’s head.

As the ground rushed closer, the beast suddenly swung its tail downward…

Too vicious! If Liu Shaoyu hit the ground first, the impact would be fatal.

“Boom!” At that moment, a thunderous crash resounded.

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