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Green Arrow Duck's route was the shortest.
This wasn't because the other three were giving the mech's designer preferential treatment. Rather, this particular passage was the widest, making it the ideal route for Green Arrow Duck and the leopard form of the Duck-Leopard Armor to work together and establish an effective blockade.
As they advanced, Green Arrow Duck periodically placed traps and sensors at important junctions, preventing any stragglers from slipping through or enemies from sneaking up behind them.
The other three mechs did the same, although their routes were narrower and didn't require as many precautions.
Alexei had already marked every location that needed a trap on the map. All they had to do was follow his instructions.
The mechs' hovering movement systems were remarkably fast.
In no time at all, Green Arrow Duck had entered an area where abnormal creatures were congregating. This was where the Reapers first began appearing within their reconnaissance range.
Yet the arrival of Green Arrow Duck and the leopard didn't attract the Reapers' attention.
These new vampires, whose intelligence had been reduced to little more than animal instinct, continued doing whatever they had been doing, moving toward some unknown destination.
Even when the two sides came within arm's reach of each other, the Reapers completely ignored the cartoonish plush duck and the menacing metal leopard.
The strange phenomenon gave Green Arrow Duck an idea.
Because the mechs were completely sealed—sealed well enough to operate in outer space—biological scents and body heat were completely contained beneath the cold metal armor.
Their heat sources had also been processed to some degree to make them difficult to detect externally, preventing thermal imaging and similar detection methods from picking them up.
In other words...
Did these functions cause the Reapers to classify the mechs as harmless inorganic objects?
"Green Arrow Duck reporting. I've encountered Reapers. Approximately seventeen visible targets, but the enemies aren't displaying any hostile behavior. My assessment is that the mech's protective systems are preventing them from recognizing us as living organisms."
Bullhead gave a similar report over the channel.
"Same here. I thought they'd swarm me after I charged straight into their territory. Instead, they're ignoring me."
As the one most eager to find a fight, Bullhead added,
"Wait. I'll test how they're distinguishing friend from foe."
Green Arrow Duck had no idea how Bullhead intended to test that.
But the answer soon came over the communication channel.
"Oh. Looks like if I attack one of them, they'll react and launch an assault."
"How did you figure that out, Gilgamesh?"
"I just shot the closest one. Basically everything nearby came rushing over. But it's no big deal. They're pretty easy to kill. One shot each."
Well.
For the King of Heroes, it would have been stranger if he hadn't charged ahead recklessly.
Ursa Major spoke up.
"My recommendation is that we take advantage of this characteristic and penetrate as deeply as possible into the enemy formation before wiping them out all at once.
"However, doing that makes it easy to miss enemies behind us and allow them to escape. A more aggressive and sustained advance would be the better choice."
There was a trace of helplessness in Alexei's voice.
Apparently, after spending several days in New York, he had developed at least some understanding of Gilgamesh's personality—even if he still knew nothing about the Eternals' true identities.
Fortunately, Thena was considerate enough to save him from further embarrassment.
Bonnie's voice came through the channel.
"Understood. Continue advancing."
---
Green Arrow Duck was already deep inside the Reaper horde.
Rather than retreat, he combined his reconnaissance capabilities with the leopard form's sensors, locking onto the Reapers one by one.
The missile hatches on Green Arrow Duck's rear opened in sequence.
Twenty multidirectional homing combat missiles could be launched from each side, for a maximum of forty.
All forty missiles launched simultaneously, each pursuing a different target.
Perhaps the attack itself finally provoked the Reapers.
At that instant, they displayed hostility.
But it was already too late.
The moment the Reapers roared and prepared to charge, the combat missiles struck their targets.
Streams of ultraviolet radiation exploded outward, flooding every corner and shadowed recess of the passage.
No one could hide in the darkness and survive.
The entire group was reduced to ash.
Perhaps the attack was simply too spectacular.
The Reapers also let out their own war cries, and similar howls soon echoed from deeper within the passage.
Clearly, the Reapers along this entire route had entered a combat state.
The combined Duck-Leopard Armor was completely unfazed.
The two forms could share reconnaissance and targeting data, while their locking systems worked together to prevent them from wasting attacks on the same target.
Green Arrow Duck glided forward at a speed no slower than the leopard's sprint.
The ultraviolet rounds fired from the ten-finger railguns invariably found some unlucky Reaper.
And if a Reaper somehow survived the initial attack, the leopard was there to finish it off.
Whether with its ultraviolet-glowing tail lashing through the air, its claws, or its fangs, the leopard's close-combat weapons all possessed mechanisms similar to a venomous snake's fangs, injecting ultraviolet radiation fluid into the Reaper's body upon contact.
The amount injected in a single attack was tiny.
But which Reaper could possibly escape after being left with five long claw marks across its body?
Or after being caught in the leopard's jaws and bitten to death?
And if some particularly lucky Reaper somehow escaped all of that, any enemies behind them still had to contend with the homing combat missiles.
The result was simple.
Wherever the duck and leopard charged, nothing remained alive in their wake.
---
When they burst into a large flood-control basin, a group of humans was already under attack.
Reapers were pouring in through passages from every direction.
The tunnel from which Green Arrow Duck emerged was the only one that had been completely cleared.
The humans had formed a defensive circle, firing carefully toward the outside.
Some had already been wounded and fallen.
Others were injured but continued fighting.
Judging from how carefully they only fired at Reapers that came close enough, they were probably almost out of ammunition.
The two forms of the Duck-Leopard Armor appeared.
Green Arrow Duck immediately opened fire with everything it had.
The leopard fired ultraviolet grenades down several of the tunnels.
Explosions erupted one after another.
The battlefield was cleared with overwhelming efficiency.
The humans, who had been on the verge of collapse only moments before, suddenly had no enemies left to shoot.
The Reapers hit by ultraviolet weapons didn't even get a chance to play dead and launch a surprise attack.
They simply turned to ash.
Did the humans stare in shock?
No.
They didn't even have the chance.
They were simply blinded.
The ultraviolet grenades and combat missiles detonated in rapid succession.
Even though splattered radiation fluid wasn't particularly harmful as long as it didn't enter the human circulatory system, the cumulative brightness of so many explosions was enough to temporarily blind anyone who failed to shield their eyes in time.
Even those who closed their eyes weren't spared.
Their eyelids couldn't block that level of light.
Everyone was temporarily dazzled.
Fortunately, this wasn't a flashbang attack.
Their minds remained clear, and there was no horrifying sonic blast to leave everyone stunned and disoriented.
After eliminating the Reapers, Green Arrow Duck and the leopard didn't immediately leave.
Instead, they approached the group of humans.
The leader was none other than Baba Yaga—John Wick.
His rifle was slung across his back.
The only firearm remaining in his hand was a small pistol.
The man struggled to restore his vision.
Seeing only two blurry silhouettes, John Wick asked,
"Should I call you Robin Hood or Donald Duck, friend?"
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