Fierce and Swift

Reno and Antonia raised their guns and approached the door.

Perhaps due to the mission, when Reno approached a certain distance from the door, it clicked lightly, and the lock automatically opened.

At the same time, the gate behind them closed automatically.

Reno carefully approached, aiming his left cannon forward and grabbing the doorknob with his right hand, carefully unlocking the door.

Inside, it was pitch black.

Antonia wanted to shine the flashlight inside, but Reno stopped her.

He took out a glow stick from the mech and tossed it inside.

If there were enemies in the darkness, a flashlight would easily expose them, so a glow stick was safer. Actually, there was a better option, which was a life detection device. It wasn't expensive, just one credit. Unfortunately, neither Reno nor Antonia had unlocked it.

The glow stick rolled on the ground for a few times, emitting a faint blue light, illuminating the surroundings, revealing a spacious hall.

The hall was dilapidated, with a wireless receiver placed in one corner, but it was damaged. Through the glow, scratches could be seen on the receiver and the nearby walls, indicating that it had been clawed by something.

"It looks like there's no power." Reno sighed as he looked at the broken receiver.

Was this the rhythm for them to fight in the dark?

After confirming that there was no danger in the hall, Reno and Antonia entered. As they did, the hall's door slammed shut.

At this point, they saw that there were doors at each corner of the hall - the one they entered from was the exit, and there were three other doors.

Since Reno knew his mission target was behind one of the doors, he could only approach one of them carefully. Upon opening it, they found only a storage room.

To their surprise, there was a crate in the room.

A resource supply crate!

Most of the resource supply crates had been scavenged clean by participants on the first day. After finding three crates, Reno hadn't thought about the fourth one again, but unexpectedly, they found one here.

Opening the crate, they saw a medium-sized energy box, three boxes of ammo, a key, and three adhesive bombs inside.

Reno and Antonia cheered excitedly together.

Antonia didn't hesitate to take the energy box for herself, while Reno took the ammo.

"What's this?" Antonia picked up the key and asked.

"A key," Reno replied.

"Obviously, I know it's a key. I mean, what is it used for?" Antonia clarified.

"Maybe it's for some secret hidden level," Reno replied, while also examining the three adhesive bombs.

"Hopefully," Antonia said with a smile as she held the key. "You were right, there are good things in the research institute."

Anyway, getting supplies was a good thing, which made her start looking forward to the other two doors.

She walked towards the other door.

Watching Antonia approach the third door, Reno suddenly felt a strong sense of unease.

He watched as Antonia reached the door, slowly opened it, and at that moment, his sense of alertness peaked.

"Get down!" he shouted.

At the same time, a black shadow rushed out from behind the door.

Just as it was about to pounce on Antonia, she raised her left hand, holding up an energy shield to block the shadow, while pushing herself backward to create distance. At the same time, her right hand gun fired continuously at the shadow.

The 20mm armor-piercing explosive shells entered the shadow's body one after another, precise and powerful. Under the fluorescent light, blood splattered from the shadow's body, emitting a terrifying scream.

But it wasn't dead yet, and continued to attack. A terrifying scythe-like limb swung toward Antonia.

If they were on flat ground, Antonia could easily dodge with a simple move, but in this confined space, she couldn't. She managed to dodge slightly to the right, but the limb still cut into her left shoulder. The energy shield flashed a dazzling light at the moment of impact.

The shadow wanted to attack again, but Reno had already rushed over, wielding an energy sword and slashing at the shadow. The sword pierced through the shadow, and blood sprayed onto Reno for a moment, making a sizzling sound as it landed on the mech, indicating the blood had mild corrosive properties.

Reno pulled out the sword and struck again, this time hitting the shadow's head almost splitting it open. Even so, the shadow didn't die, and its limb desperately counterattacked, piercing the energy shield with dazzling light.

Fortunately, Antonia fired a few more shots, and the 20mm armor-piercing shells entered the shadow's head, exploding directly, completely ending the shadow's life. It never gave up attacking until it died. Its sharp jaws bit Reno's hand tightly until its head was smashed, finally stopping its movements.

Only then did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the battle just now was short, the agility, ferocity, and strength of this creature gave them a great thrill.

"What was that thing?" Antonia asked tremblingly.

Reno didn't speak, just turned on the flashlight.

Under the flashlight, the shadow's figure was fully revealed.

It was a creature nearly two meters tall, with four sharp segmented limbs and two hind limbs for running. Its mouth resembled that of a dinosaur, filled with sharp teeth.

"Zerg!" Reno's body trembled, and he blurted out.

At the same time, on the main hosting platform, the host Ben had already shouted loudly, "The first climax of this competition has finally arrived! To bring more excitement to everyone, the organizers of this competition have specially arranged for these rare Zerg to appear. What you're seeing now is the Swift Beast of the Zerg..."

The audience erupted in excited cheers.

Compared to the excitement of the audience, Reno's mood was quite the opposite.

Human understanding of the Zerg was still limited. Generally, they were seen as space beasts without much intelligence or developmental potential. However, as a military academy student, Reno knew some things about the Zerg. In some new analyses and perspectives, scientists' assessments of the Zerg were rising. They were no longer seen just as space beasts, but as having collective intelligence and potential threats.

Of course, this didn't concern Reno much. What concerned him most was the terrifying combat power of the Zerg.

The Swift Beast was just one of the lowest-tier Zerg, but even this lowest-tier creature could easily hunt down planetary dominators like the Blue Storm Apes. It might not have the terrifying strength of the Blue Storm Apes, but it had lightning-fast speed and relentlessly aggressive attacks.

What was most frightening was that the Swift Beasts were not known for individual strength.

They relied on numbers.

"Be careful!" As soon as Reno saw the Swift Beasts, he shouted.

The cannon on his shoulder suddenly turned to aim at the doorway.

A Swift Beast had appeared in front of the door again, and the light reflected off its sharp teeth and the saliva dripping from its mouth.

"Hiss!" The Swift Beast let out a hiss at Reno and charged out.

At the moment it rushed out, Reno's shoulder cannon fired, hitting the Swift Beast directly and sending it tumbling on the ground.

The limited space not only hindered Antonia from using her advantages but also constrained the Swift Beast's speed, even more so in terms of its impact.

The injured Swift Beast roared in anger as it charged forward, only to be met with another blast before its demise. But just before it died, two more Swift Beasts appeared at the doorway.

"Fire!" Reno shouted, the cannons rotating and thundering out fire serpents, while Antonia's dual guns echoed once again.

The deafening roar reverberated throughout the entire hall.