Chapter 301: All this
Bartram's mood has changed almost as much as Moto-Tsune's had. There was quite a conflict in each of their positions, but they met the same range of emotions in a matter of several seconds.
They didn't expect these men to overwhelm the man, but shouldn't they at least struggle? Every time some one tried to put up a fight, they expected some resistance, but nothing like what was unfolding before them.
Zhao Wei had closed in immediately after his dodge. Trying to pull away would simply be giving them space to shoot, he might as well jump into the group.
This decision was made in the instant these shooters had missed, despite their fire rate and power, they had avoided shooting when the first four melee attackers had made their move. The moment that happened, a weakness was born.
Of course, even with the glaring weakness in the enemy's formation, Zhao Wei wasn't one to underestimate them. "Panda take down range, boost multiple!"
Panda understood and launched off his body, heading straight for the closest man in her vision holding a gun, knocking into him.
Zhao Wei on the other hand engaged the people who were packed close to him in a melee. Taking down five around him in an instant.
But even with his speed and momentum, it was hard to be faster than 8-9 attacks coming his way. After taking down two more, his speed was short compared to a sword that was heading towards him, being a tenth of a second late.
But at that moment Panda had returned back to him. Bouncing on the back of his arm which was throwing a fist, and launching herself back out into the fray.
This simple act had not only shot her back out, but also sped up his punch by that fraction it was missing.
After fighting with the apes for so long, there was no way he would've been hurt, even if it was just a hair's breadth away, there was no doubt in his mind that he would avoid spilling a drop of blood. The issue was that he'd lose a little momentum.
With his experience trying to fight a relentless horde, losing one's momentum affected the battle greatly. It wasn't much every time, just a smidge, not enough to make a difference in the immediate fight. But slowly the momentum would decrease and more exceptions had to be made in battle, and at some point one just found themselves halted altogether.
And going against a wave of innumerable beasts, that was the same as death.
It happened once every 9-10 hits or so. Once Zhao Wei's rate of attacks couldn't keep up, Panda would appear, bouncing into whatever attack he was currently going for and launching herself back out with his limb as a platform.
As much as it was a benefit to him, it also did great for her in battle. In a second she'd be bouncing on 13 or so bodies, impacting their bodies like a jack hammer. But the augmented humans were no slowpokes themselves.
If she didn't jump back out, then she'd be on the receiving end of the weapon of whoever was close by. Every 2 seconds or so she'd land on Zhao Wei, which was essentially a safe space for her.
Even though one might assume a a tenth of a second to be small. In an intense battle, that was more than one could hope for. She bounced back to Zhao Wei, landing on the back of his leg while he executed a sweeping kick.
This was a similar maneuver to the one they'd used to propel a high speed attack against Thunder Droppers early in their journey, except on a smaller scale and more frequent. It was not simple in any way and even harder still to implement in a battle.
It should be nigh impossible to accomplish, not to even mention how difficult the timing was, even if Zhao Wei's speed was boosted, his rhythm in battle could be destroyed altogether. It was only attainable because Panda had trained with Zhao Wei and lived with him the longest. Additionally watching over him while he fought in the ape's territory, she could more or less track his growth and match his speed.
There were many flaws in the maneuvers, despite it's apparent boost in critical moments both Zhao Wei and Panda knew the immense pressure on the control of their bodies to adjust their attacks in the critical moments, the transfer of weight was still not efficient, and many times, they had to focus on each other's movements instead of the enemy's. If these guys were any stronger, they wouldn't even dare to pull out this maneuver.
The detriments however, were only apparent to them. Everyone on the outside looking in only saw two bodies moving at a blurring speed, unrelentingly and uninhibitedly going through an army of experienced soldiers as easy as one would swat away a group of flies.
"D@mn! Melee pull out, create a defensive circle, close him in! Gunners bombard the middle!" Moto-Tsune ordered.
"You're not the bo..." One of them wanted to reply despite the pressure.
"Shut up and listen to him!" Bartram screamed. "We can figure out what to do after all this is over, but if that 'Thing' isn't stopped, then forget even figuring things out, we won't even get that far!"
The soldiers who were beginning to panic reorganized themselves, if there was one thing that was ingrained into them it was the ability to follow orders. If they were confused and didn't know what to do, then they'd just shut off their brains and execute whatever they were told.
But it wasn't as if only the soldiers could hear those orders. Zhao Wei also wouldn't give them the chance.
He was a good fighter, sure. Immortal? Not so much. Else he'd just stand on the spot while everyone attacked him. Even if he wasn't clear exactly how strong his defensive capabilities were, he wasn't keen on letting any of these weapons touch him just to find out.
In one dash he picked up the two closest men to him, lugging them over his shoulder like a sack of rice. And in one leap he dashed straight towards the command center where Moto-Tsune and Bartram were standing.
He could feel the body armor under their clothes, so he felt less guilty as several thumps reverberated from their bodies. They probably wouldn't die, they'd probably wake up feeling more anger than pain, directed at their comrades who continued to shoot while they were being used as meat shields.
Bartram pulled out a short sword from behind him, looking more like a long butcher knife than anything else. Bracing it, prepared for the man to come. He didn't get the chance to do anything however. Because as he was waiting for the guy to burst out from behind the two men he was using as shields, a hand gripped the back of his neck.
Moto-Tsune was just as surprised to see a man appear between him and Bartram. Pulling his gun out as quickly as possible, fumbling the hand gun for the first time since he left training, almost dropping it. Such a display would've shocked anybody, he couldn't exactly be blamed for the way he reacted.
Trying to bring the gun up to aim at Zhao Wei, he stopped. Something was prickling his skin, and he could feel something furry settle on his left shoulder.
Since he was bent down anyways, he decided to just go all the way down, lightly place his weapon on the floor, stand back up and raise his hands.
"Haa... did we really have to go through all this?..."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone