Chapter 658: The Kill
Maine and Dorio acted as two lethal shadows, constantly hovering at the very forefront of the pursuit.
Not only did they maintain coordination with the Na'vi hunters, but they also had to be ready at any moment for a sudden counterattack.
Dorio's gaze continuously swept over potential ambush points, while Maine kept a constant watch on the coordination gaps between the aerial gunship and the ground squad.
However, the formidable strength of this unknown adversary still exceeded everyone's expectations.
Not only did it possess the advantage of active camouflage, but its extraordinary mobility, lightning-fast reflexes, and ultimate utilization of the environment all displayed the qualities of an apex predator.
What was even more unsettling was that it seemed to enjoy this hunting game. Occasionally, it would suddenly stop, using brief intervals in its cloaking to launch precise and lethal counterattacks.
A plasma cluster shot out without warning from a dense patch of ferns, grazing past the helmet of a Hellfire Squad member and blasting a scorched crater into the rock wall behind.
A moment later, a high-speed spinning serrated disc nearly severed the arm of a Na'vi hunter, ultimately embedding itself deeply into the tree trunk beside him.
These sudden counterattacks not only effectively delayed the speed of the pursuit but also planted seeds of unease in everyone's hearts—they were hunting an extremely dangerous opponent that took pleasure in toying with its prey.
"Ah!" A miserable scream rang out. A Hellfire Squad soldier attempting to flank was struck in the leg by a plasma cluster fired from a bizarre angle. The extreme heat instantly vaporized his leg below the calf, and he collapsed screaming.
"Medic!" Sergeant Reynolds' eyes nearly burst from rage. While organizing covering fire for the wounded, he roared commands for his squad members to continue the pursuit, absolutely refusing to give the enemy a moment to breathe.
On the other flank, an Omaticaya hunter moving rapidly through the treetops attempted to hurl a spear from above, only to be suddenly struck in the chest by a nearly invisible, high-speed spinning serrated disc weapon!
The disc was incredibly sharp, instantly slicing through his leather armor and chest. He let out a muffled groan and plummeted from the high canopy, his fate unknown.
"Colin!" Tsu'tey let out a roar of grief and indignation. The arrows in his hand shot out in rapid succession toward the source of the attack, but missed once again.
Casualties began to mount, and emotions of tension and anger spread through the ranks.
This enemy was not only powerful but also incredibly cunning and cruel.
"We can't keep going like this!" Jake shouted into the comms. "It's wearing us down! We have to find a way to restrict its movement or break its cloak!"
Neytiri circled anxiously in the air. She suddenly noticed that the invisible entity seemed to be deliberately avoiding certain special plant clusters that emitted a strong luminescence and interconnected like neural bundles.
"Jake! It doesn't seem to like getting close to those brightly glowing neural vines!"
This information was immediately relayed to Falco.
He rapidly analyzed the scanner data: "It's possible! Those neural vines are critical nodes in Pandora's biological network, emitting strong bioelectric signals and unique energy fields! They might cause interference with its cloaking system!"
Maine immediately made a decision: "Herd it toward the area dense with neural vines! Tsu'tey, take your men and apply pressure from the left! Reynolds, lock down the right with firepower! Rebecca, wait for my command to lay down suppressive fire!"
The new tactics were swiftly executed.
The joint team consciously began guiding the battle toward a grove of exceptionally dense neural vines, their glow almost blindingly bright. The Na'vi hunters continuously pressed in from the flanks with arrows, while the Hellfire Squad wove a net of firepower with their plasma rifles to restrict its escape routes.
The cloaked attacker seemed to sense their intentions, and its counterattacks grew even more ferocious.
Another plasma cluster shot out, this time aimed directly at Tsu'tey, who was charging at the very front!
Tsu'tey narrowly avoided it with a combat roll; the ground where he had just been standing was blasted into a deep crater.
"Now! Rebecca!" Spotting the brief window where the enemy was exposed due to its attack, Maine shouted the command.
Rebecca's heavy weapon roared once more. The explosive rounds were not aimed directly at the invisible entity, but rather bombarded the edges of the neural vine clusters to its front and flanks. The violent explosions and the splattering plant sap, highly concentrated with bioelectricity, temporarily formed a barrier.
At the same time, Falco pushed the scanner's power to the maximum, focusing on that area! "Interference is increasing! Its cloaking field is destabilizing!"
In that exact instant, illuminated by the explosive flashes and the glowing sap flying through the air, that towering, ferocious silhouette was finally clearly exposed before everyone's eyes!
It was clad in an alien-styled armor, its head resembling some sort of fierce arthropod, exuding an overwhelming sense of oppression.
"I see you!" Sergeant Reynolds roared, and the firepower of all Hellfire Squad members concentrated in an instant.
Tsu'tey and Neytiri launched their attacks almost simultaneously. Tsu'tey's warblade carved a fierce arc, and Neytiri's arrow flew from her bow, weaving together with the Hellfire Squad's dense plasma beams to form a storm of death, pouring entirely onto the finally revealed target.
Stripped of the protection of its cloak, the hunter attempted to evade, but facing a saturated attack from all directions, its movements appeared sluggish and inadequate.
Its alien armor shattered into fragments under the furious firepower. Bizarre, fluorescent green blood sprayed from multiple wounds, scattering speckled phosphorescence across the forest floor.
It let out a low roar—a mix of rage and agony that sounded entirely unlike anything a biological creature could produce. Beneath its damaged arm armor, that plasma weapon lit up with an ominous glow once more, seemingly preparing for a final, desperate struggle.
But Dorio did not give it that chance.
Like a cheetah that had been waiting to strike, she lunged forward. Her power fist, carrying the howl of tearing air, smashed with ruthless precision into the joint of the arm the enemy had just raised!
Crack!
The ear-piercing sound of shattering bone echoed clearly across the battlefield.
That dangerous plasma weapon, along with the limb beneath it, was completely destroyed by this blow, twisting and deforming as it lost all function.
At almost the exact same moment, Tsu'tey cut in swiftly from the other side. His warblade flashed with cold light, piercing with flawless accuracy through the joint structure behind the hunter's knee.
Accompanied by another sickening crunch, the towering body instantly lost its balance.
Under the tacit encirclement of the group, this once-invincible invisible hunter finally crashed heavily to the ground.
Its body was covered in armor fragments and wounds. Fluorescent green blood continuously seeped from the ruptures, dyeing the moss beneath it into an eerie hue.
Although it was still struggling, it had clearly lost the capacity to continue fighting.
The battlefield suddenly plunged into an eerie silence, leaving only the heavy panting of the group and the faint background noise of the distant forest.
Every pair of eyes was locked tightly onto the alien body still twitching slightly on the ground. The lingering tremors of victory and the heavy weight of facing the unknown intertwined in everyone's hearts.
To subdue this threat from the depths of the sea of stars, both the Na'vi and the RDA had paid a price in blood.