Chapter 353: The Century-Old 'Antique' and the Guy Who Only Knows How to Rush Blindly

Torso ineffective?

Leon immediately raised the gun barrel, aimed at the nearest sickle monster, and pulled the trigger.

"Tap-tap~!" two crisp sounds.

"Pfft! Pfft!" two high-energy beams consecutively pierced and blasted the sickle monster's head.

A precise headshot, although it interrupted the sickle monster's running rhythm, still could not completely deprive it of combat ability; moreover, their numbers were simply too many, and relying on Leon alone was like using a spear against a chariot—if he persisted, the only outcome would be to be torn apart by them.

Thus Leon decisively chose to retreat.

"Howl~!"

But suddenly, a large number of sickle monsters surged out from the rear passage.

Seeing the retreat cut off, Leon had no choice but to use his authority to open the gate, retreat into the nearby "cold storage room," and immediately operate the terminal to lock it, disabling the gate's automatic sensor, temporarily keeping that horde of sickle monsters outside.

"Boom——!"

"Squeak——!"

Just as Leon finished a series of operations, the gate began to emit dull thuds and sharp, piercing sounds from the sickle monsters striking and scraping it.

"..."

Looking at the gate that was already shut but gradually twisting and deforming, Leon furrowed his brows, seemingly wondering if his 'good luck' had run out, for given this momentum, it wouldn't be long before those sickle monsters could break in.

But Leon was not the type to sit and wait for death, only to complain; he replaced the magazine of his laser micro-rush, turned around, and scanned the huge cold storage room filled with numerous cold storage cabinets, cold coffins, and various cold storage equipment.

?

When his gaze swept over a row of cold coffins on the right side, his body involuntarily paused; immediately, Leon's eyes seemed to 'brighten' considerably, as if he had discovered a 'treasure'.

Immediately, he hurried to the cold coffin on the far right, then brushed off the frost condensed on the observation window with his hand and looked inside, seeing a person with a flat top, face and body covered in scars and bullet holes.

Moreover, this 'person' had his eyes open, ignoring Leon through the observation window and staring at the top of the cold storage room, his chest slowly rising and falling—all signs that this 'person' was still alive.

However, the holographic display on one side of this cold cabinet showed:

Model number: Undead Special Task Force/Withdrawn.

ID: 171.

Status: Green.

Undead…

Green…

Immediately afterward, Leon consecutively inspected the remaining twelve cold coffins, confirming that all the 'undead' were in normal condition and could be 'awakened' at any time, and he firmly believed his 'good luck' had not vanished.

The reason for Leon's considerable excitement and agitation is simple: these are twelve undead!

Exactly twelve.

You should know that before Umbrella launched the Astate Plan and possessed ten OriginalBodies, the undead were considered one of the company's most successful 'super soldiers'.

They were more obedient to orders than any Tyrant model, understood tactical coordination, possessed speed, strength, resistance, and self-healing far beyond ordinary humans, and as long as their head and heart did not suffer heavy damage, they would continue fighting until immobilized—that is, until dismembered.

After the Undead Special Task Force adopted artificial insemination and was completely replaced by the Krieg with souls, all undead were placed in cold storage, totaling 172 individuals.

Afterward, these 172 individuals, due to various reasons—either forcibly destroyed or used in experiments—were reduced to 122, the vast majority of which were stored beneath the mother nest, while the remainder belonged to the Supervisory Department.

After all, the Supervisory Department's specialty is dealing with extra-dimensional spaces, and undead such super soldiers are ideal test tools; when necessary, they can also serve as consumable 'weapons'.

Afterward, Leon had no time for excessive sentiment, nor did he dawdle; he hurried to release the lock status of all the cold coffins.

Next, the twelve undead who had regained freedom rose one by one, half-sitting in the coffins, twisting their necks, moving their arms and shoulders, causing joint sounds like 'crackle, clack!' to echo within the cold storage room.

At this moment, Leon seized the opportunity to retrieve the password from the cold coffin's computer, then orally instructed each undead, thereby gaining command over the twelve undead.

Unfortunately, there was no clothing in the cold storage room, let alone combat uniforms and weapons, so at this moment Leon could not fully equip the undead.

Furthermore, the immediate priority is to deal with the horde of sickle monsters outside the gate.

"Hiss——Boom——!"

When all the undead had left the cold coffins according to Leon's orders and stood up, the gate finally could not withstand the fierce attack, and the sickle monsters tore an opening large enough for two people to pass through simultaneously.

"Hiss!!"

The leading one, with its jawless mouth howling and waving its sickle arms, hesitated not at all as it charged into the cold storage room, as if it had long been prepared for massive carnage.

"Tap-tap-tap!"

However, what awaited it was a burst of gunfire from Leon, equally prepared; its mutated head and gaunt torso were pierced and scorched by the high-energy beams.

Moreover, the penetrating damage of the beams caused a chain reaction among all the sickle monsters attempting to rush into the cold storage room en masse; for a time, Leon relied on the terrain and, wielding his potent laser micro-rush, gained the upper hand.

At the same time, the twelve undead wearing only thin clothing formed a fan shape, spaced out, standing to Leon's left and right, waiting.

"Tap-tap…clack!"

Suddenly, the magazine of the laser micro-rush ran empty.

"Roar!!"

With no further obstruction, the sickle monsters surged forward in a frenzy, heedless, lunging at Leon and the undead.

This time, the sickle monster charging at the front locked its target onto the nearest undead.

One could see its running speed extremely fast, not inferior to that of an alien with acid blood flowing in its veins; in the blink of an eye, this sickle monster leapt into the air, waving its arms like scissors, and 'cut' straight at the undead.

But…

The undead simply leaned back, easily dodging the sickle monster's attack, and moreover, he put force into his waist, actually pulling off an extremely difficult side kick.

Accompanied by a dull 'bang!!', the undead's right foot heel, thick and solid, landed on the sickle monster's left rib, immediately producing a 'crack!' of bone breaking.

It was not the undead's right foot, but the sickle monster's right rib that suffered the fracture.

Immediately afterward, the sickle monster was kicked several meters away by the undead and fell into a pile of storage tanks containing liquid nitrogen—'clang~!'

The storage tanks were overturned by the sickle monster's weight and inertia, and one tank was directly crushed by it, liquid nitrogen rapidly flowing outward and adhering to the sickle monster's back.

At that very moment, the undead, not forgetting to press the advantage, 'picked up' another sickle monster lunging at him, raised it high, and then hurled it forcefully toward the liquid nitrogen tank…

"Splash!!"

This action directly crushed the sickle monsters that had first been frozen into 'ice sticks' by liquid nitrogen into fragments and debris.

As for the one that was snatched up and flung by the undead, it could not avoid the same fate.

During this time, another eleven undead either used superb martial arts to twist and dislocate the sickle monsters' necks and joints, or relied on their own brutal strength to wildly swing hooks, straights and uppercuts, inflicting unimaginable piercing and blunt blows on the sickle monsters.

Meanwhile, Leon took advantage of the melee between the undead and the sickle monsters, hastily replaced his magazine, and then, relying on a hundred years of honed precision, fired aimed shots.

Soon, the dozens of sickle monsters that had attacked them all collapsed to the ground.

However, more than half of them, even without heads, were still trying to straighten their limbs and attempt to stand up struggling; conversely, those shattered by liquid nitrogen and those whose limbs were torn apart by the undead were completely dead.

Is the head not a vital point?

Having observed this phenomenon, Leon guessed that dismembering them was likely the correct option; no wonder high-energy beams skilled at penetration and burning inflicted barely any damage on them, but if it were bolt‑guns and pulse weapons, they would surely be very effective.

As for the undead that helped him get through the crisis, the vast majority were unharmed, but one was rather unlucky, having his left arm severed by the sickle monster's sharp bones, and three others had their chests and abdomens slashed open, deep enough to see bone and intestines within the abdominal cavity.

Fortunately, the undead's regenerative ability is extremely strong, temporarily staunching the blood and preventing them from dying of excessive blood loss; moreover, being insensible to pain, they didn't even furrow their brows.

Although they are 'old antiques' from over a hundred years ago, in terms of physical attack the undead are still second only to the Astate; if these twelve were fully equipped, they could definitely achieve a flawless victory without injury.

After all, the only reason they were eliminated is that they are too expensive, with poor cost‑effectiveness.

Seeing this.

Leon ordered: 'You few, wrap yourselves with cloth.'

Those few wounded undead, having received a concrete order, then tore off the only clothing they had and used it as bandages to wrap themselves.

Leon then led the remaining undead through the breach, returning to the corridor outside the cold storage room, observing left and right, confirming that there was nothing abnormal for the moment; after the wounded undead finished bandaging, everyone continued onward toward the bridge.

However, Leon deliberately took a detour, intending to first go to the small armory on this deck.

Next, whether it was Leon's good luck or the sickle monsters being busy dealing with others, his party smoothly reached the armory.

Here there were only two rows of locked weapon racks and two sets of equipment holding simple protective gear, fragmentation grenades, etc.; moreover, the place was likewise splattered with blood, especially beside the terminal for unlocking the weapon racks, where there were dried blood handprints, indicating that the incident happened suddenly—some soldiers hadn't had time to unlock and retrieve their weapons before being killed by the sickle monsters' attack.

Immediately afterward, Leon continued to use his authorization to unlock, and had the twelve undead arm themselves; as for firearms, they were mainly equipped with shotguns and Gauss rifles that fire 8mm caliber flechette rounds.

Although Leon wanted pulse weapons, the pulse series is already an 'old‑fangled' product, to the point that even the UNSC Army can't be bothered to keep using them.

Nevertheless, having something is better than nothing; at least the undead no longer need to clash with the sickle monsters using bare martial arts.

After completing their armament, Leon's confidence surged.

Next, they split into three groups: the front and rear groups each consisted of four undead, while Leon and the four wounded were in the middle, maintaining spacing as they advanced toward the bridge.

Along the way they encountered scattered sickle monsters, but all were easily killed; moreover, Leon deliberately detoured around the main passage, taking nearly thirty minutes, after which they finally reached the upper‑hull area of the ship Yudora.

However, to continue onward to the bridge thereafter, they had to pass through the corridor hall.

And inside the hall…

Gathered there were countless sickle monsters, various kinds of mutants, and even not a few giant bat‑like creatures.

"Roar! Get out of the way! Die! Roar! Roar!"

On the other hand, there was a special 'individual' who stood out especially conspicuously among this crowd of mutants.

One could see a figure nearly 2.3 meters tall, clad in black refined armor, his helmet bearing a crest, wielding a plasma submachine gun in his left hand and swinging a double‑bladed energy sword in his right; this elite was fiercely cutting down foes, alone charging toward the bridge.

Moreover, this elite was extraordinarily valiant; his plasma gun continuously fired azure‑blue bolts that scorched distant mutants, and at close range, naturally using the energy sword favored by his elite kin, he sliced and chopped every obstruction to pieces.

There was no need to know that dismemberment is the mutants' weakness, for anyone who stood before this elite was effortlessly dismembered by his energy sword.

At the far end of the passage.

Having just arrived here, Leon and company did not rashly join the fight; seeing that the elite was extremely valiant and presently in no mortal danger, they opted to first observe from a distance.

Inside the hall, Leon estimated there were about 120 to 140 mutants, a number not too large; perhaps that elite chose to break through head‑on, drawing the attention of mutants along the way, thereby creating the current situation.

After all, the vast majority of the elite kin only know how to brute‑force things—when undecided, they just fight, they just charge; it is obvious that this one also belongs to 'the vast majority'.

Seeing ever more mutants pouring out, Leon immediately ended his observation and issued the order: 'Team A and I will provide fire suppression here; Teams B and C, you flank left and right, assist that Sangheili warrior, and clear as much as possible a green corridor to the bridge.'

Having said that.

The undead gave Leon no feedback, but the eight undead of Teams B and C respectively moved left and right, while the four wounded beside him began to select advantageous positions—all indicating that the undead were carrying out the order.

Soon…

"Ting‑ting~!!" The Gauss series guns roared.

The sudden volley of fire caught the mutants off guard, and the undead's accuracy was in no way inferior to that of an Astate lacking a thunder hammer or ceramite armor, so there was essentially no risk of friendly fire.

???

This left the elite at the forefront somewhat bewildered, but after only a moment's hesitation he resumed his 'roar' and joined the fight, coordinating with Leon's support to quickly clear the area.

Not long after, the number of mutants in the hall plummeted; seeing this, Leon immediately ordered Teams B and C to contract their formation and loudly reminded the elite: 'Hey! Follow me in a charge to the bridge!'

"Exactly what I had in mind, sir! Hahaha~! I'll open the way—stick close to me!"

That elite had no objection, and moreover took the lead, charging together with Leon and company through the hall straight to the bridge, which had the thickest and hardest bulkhead door.

———————

{Second fan title has arrived, everyone hurry to participate~} Fan title has arrived, everyone hurry to participate~ (End of chapter)