Chapter 1139: Dismantled Tactics
"Activate the environmental control system," Yingyang continued, "reduce the oxygen content in area B-7 to 12% and increase the nitrogen content to 85%."
This is not to suffocate Lion. The Primarch is not affected by oxygen at all. Shadow Sun does this to change the air density, making the trajectory of the pulse weapon more stable and the penetration increased by 17.3%.
The corridors of Area B-7 have become a meat grinder.
Ryan's lion sword drew a golden arc of light, splitting an XV95 combat suit in half, including the person and armor.
The blue-purple blood splattered on the wall and was immediately extracted by the automatic cleaning system. Yingyang even took battlefield cleaning into tactical considerations to prevent the blood from conducting electricity and affecting electronic equipment.
"boom!"
A heavy pulse cannon fired from a corner three hundred meters away. Ryan dodged sideways and the bullet grazed his shoulder armor, leaving traces of corrosion on the refined gold.
The Primarch's pupils narrowed slightly. The angle of the shot was so tricky that it went against common sense. This meant that the shooter not only predicted his position, but also calculated his dodge.
"Smart." Ryan whispered, and suddenly punched through the pipeline bulkhead beside him.
The two Tau snipers hiding behind the wall had their heads crushed by the Primarch through the metal partition before they could react.
But just as Ryan pulled back his arm, the ceiling suddenly cracked, and six intelligent mines swooped down like poisonous bees.
"boom--!"
The shockwave from the explosion turned the entire corridor into a twisted metal tomb.
Ying Yang nodded slightly in front of the holographic projection - this was a "chain trap" she had carefully designed, using Ryan's fighting instinct to lure him into a killing spree.
Before the smoke and dust cleared, fifteen XV104 Storm combat submarines opened fire simultaneously in four directions.
Their weapons have been specially tuned, and their pulse beams present strange spiral trajectories in nitrogen-rich environments, specifically targeting the Primarch's predictive evasion.
Shadowsun tapped his fingertips on the holo-table, calling up Ryan's real-time bio-scan.
Heart rate, muscle tension, nerve reflex speed...
All the data weaved into a web of death in her eyes.
"There is a 0.3mm crack in the target's right shoulder armor." She suddenly ordered, "All shooters, concentrate on attacking this coordinate."
Thirty pulse beams focused instantly, and Ryan's shoulder armor finally cracked under the continuous bombardment.
But the Primarch smiled instead - this smile was captured by the battleship's lip reading analysis system, and Yingyang's pupils suddenly contracted.
“He’s in…”
Ryan suddenly jumped up and charged towards the barrage without dodging or evading. The pulse fire exploded in front of his chest, but it could not stop his speed.
Shadowsun instantly understood the Primarch's intention - he was deliberately exposing his flaws to lure her troops into close combat range!
"All units retreat immediately!" she shouted, "Activate the magnetic lock of area B-7!"
But it was too late.
The blade light of the Lion Sword exploded on the surveillance screen, and six Storm Combat Suit were cut in half at the same time.
Ryan's figure almost became an afterimage, and every pause was accompanied by the explosion of a combat suit.
Shadow Sun's tactical prediction model began to sound the alarm. The Primarch was adapting to her tactics and dismantling them like performing surgery.
Yingyang's finger hovered over a black button. This was her ultimate means of preparing for the worst-case scenario, ejecting the entire B-7 sector from the ship and throwing Ryan into the cold space.
But the cost is the sacrifice of all friendly fighters in the area and the loss of 15% of the structural integrity of the battleship.
On the holographic projection, the blue dots representing our own units were extinguishing at an alarming speed.
"Commander!" Xia'ao's communication suddenly cut in, his voice carrying a rare urgency, "Request to execute the plan!"
Yingyang's fingertips trembled slightly. This was the first time that her most trusted warrior had asked for death.
After three seconds of silence, she withdrew her finger.
"Negative." Ying Yang's voice wavered for the first time, "Activate the backup plan."
The bridge suddenly fell into darkness, and all systems went offline. But in the absolute darkness, some older mechanical structure began to operate, and the hull of the entire Tau Empire warship was covered with blue ripples, and countless nano-scale mechanical insects poured out from the gaps in the armor, frantically gathering towards Area B-7.
This is a technology that Shadowsun has never demonstrated in actual combat. It is the latest technology of the Tau Empire, specifically used to destroy the Primarch.
When the backup power was restarted, the surveillance footage showed that Area B-7 had turned into a silver metallic hell.
Walls, floors, ceilings were all covered in wriggling swarms of artificially intelligent nano-organisms that devoured anything organic like hungry piranhas.
Ryan's figure was engulfed by a wave of liquid metal.
Yingyang exhaled slowly, this was the first time she showed fatigue tonight.
But when she looked at the biometric scanner, her heart froze.
The Primarch's life signals are still there, and... they're moving!
"impossible......"
The surveillance footage suddenly started to snow, and when the image stabilized again, Ryan was standing at the exit of area B-7.
His power armor was crawling with silver nanoworms, but these deadly little creatures were falling off and dying one by one.
Some kind of energy field within the Primarch's body is destroying their quantum connection.
The lion king looked up at the surveillance camera, his lion-like pupils piercing through the lens and piercing Yingyang's soul.
“Nice try,” he said over the broken comm system. “Now it’s my turn.”
Liquid metal devourers surged like a tide, and swarms of nano-insects gnawed at all organic matter, decomposing the bodies of the Tau warriors into elementary particles.
But in this silver sea of death, a golden figure stood still.
Lion El'Jonson stood in the center of the metal torrent, his lion sword lowered, with fine arcs of electricity wrapped around the blade.
The surface of his power armor was crawling with nanites, but these deadly mechanical creations were peeling off piece by piece.
The Primarch's psychic energy disrupted their quantum link, causing them to curl up and die like ants burned by flames.
"Little tricks."
His voice was as deep as thunder, echoing in the closed corridor. His golden eyes scanned the surroundings and instantly locked onto three hidden shooting points - Yingyang's snipers were still waiting for their chance.
Ryan suddenly moved.
It was not a charge, nor a dodge, but like a flash of golden lightning that tore through space, instantly crossing a distance of thirty meters.
Before the first sniper could react, the Lion Sword had already pierced through his cover, and the tip of the sword peeked out from the back of the Tau warrior, with blue-purple blood.
“The first one.”
The Primarch drew his sword and turned, the swarm of nanoworms exploding into metallic dust beneath his feet.
Suddenly, the sniper pulled the trigger.
The pulse beam drew a spiral trajectory in the nitrogen-rich air and headed straight for Ryan's brow.
The Primarch merely tilted his head slightly, and the bullet's trajectory grazed his temple, melting a perfectly round hole in the wall.
"Ballistic correction factor 1.17." Ryan whispered, as if commenting on a poor performance, "Too slow."
He shook his wrist and the lion sword flew out of his hand, drawing a golden arc like a boomerang.
The second sniper's head flew high, an expression of astonishment frozen on his face.
The sword blade made its final rotation in the air and landed steadily back into Ryan's palm.
“The second one.”
