50: Red Frenzy and Core Detonation

Sun Zheng's attack order was like lighting a powder keg, completely shattering the tranquility of Mars!

A deafening roar first erupted from the direction of the "Crimson Bulwark"! The "fortress one" battle fortress took the lead, its massive body crushing the reddish-brown sand as its autocannons and missiles poured like a metal storm onto the Scrin interference zone's outer defense line! Two prism tanks following closely behind fired thick beams of light, accurately striking the shimmering Scrin energy nodes!

"For humanity! Charge!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon's roar echoed across the battlefield through the sound of gunfire!

Dense artillery fire exploded into balls of fire at the edge of the interference zone! The caught-off-guard Scrin patrol units were instantly crushed under the premeditated onslaught of the humans!

This round of heavy assault indeed worked! Alarms blared throughout the interior of the interference zone! More Scrin units swarmed out from the purple energy mist, pouncing toward the front-line battlefield like a disturbed swarm of bees! Among them were even two massive "devourer" tanks!

"The enemy's main force is being drawn out! The frontal pressure is immense! But the defense line is stable for now!" Lieutenant Colonel Falcon's voice came through, mixed with the sound of artillery.

Just as the frontal battle was in full swing, the blue light of the Chronosphere on the bridge of the "seagull one" reached its peak intensity!

"Coordinates locked! Energy stable! Ghost Squad, good luck!"

"Ghost Squad, move out!"

Shua—!

The figures of the five people on the platform were engulfed by a blinding blue light, vanishing from the bridge in an instant!

Almost simultaneously, fifty meters directly above the incubation pit at the center of the Scrin lair, space distorted violently! Five figures appeared out of thin air, descending slowly under the weak gravity of Mars!

Success! The Chronosphere Teleportation delivered them precisely!

But as soon as they appeared, they found themselves in a desperate situation!

Below them was the heart-stopping incubation pit! Densely packed giant purple eggs pulsed like hearts, emitting a suffocating aura of energy! In the center of the pit's bottom, a dark red energy core churned like lava, providing power to all the eggs! The walls of the pit were covered with automated defense turrets and energy conduits!

Even more terrifyingly, directly beneath them was the "overseer" crystal suspended over an energy vortex! It immediately sensed the spatial fluctuations overhead, and the spikes at its top instantly lit up, aiming at the newly arrived squad!

"We're locked on!" "Phantom" screamed, his camouflage system nearly failing under the powerful energy field.

"Execute the plan! Fast!" "Ghost" roared, simultaneously raising his Chrono Emitter and aiming it without hesitation at the "overseer" crystal below! He had to buy time for his teammates!

Hammer and Anvil quickly took up advantageous positions at the edge of the pit, their rifles spitting tongues of fire as they attacked the nearest automated turrets!

"Dynamite!" Ghost shouted.

"Understood!" Dynamite, the Engineer, carrying a heavy Fusion Bomb, used his jetpack to adjust his posture and charged recklessly toward the energy core at the bottom of the pit! He had only one goal—to plant the bomb and detonate it!

"Phantom" pushed his electronic warfare equipment to the limit, attempting to jam the defense systems and the "overseer" crystal's lock-on!

"Ants! How dare you desecrate the holy land!" A cold, furious mental wave slammed into everyone's mind like a sledgehammer! It was the "overseer" crystal! It was enraged!

A thick Phase Beam, like a death sentence, fired toward the descending Dynamite!

"No!" Ghost's eyes nearly split from strain as he pushed his space-time power to the limit. The blue light caught up just in time to narrowly deflect the Phase Beam's trajectory, causing it to graze past Dynamite's side!

But Ghost himself let out a muffled groan from the overload, as wisps of white smoke rose from his Chrono Armor.

"Thanks!" Dynamite shouted, his speed undiminished as he continued his charge toward the energy core!

However, more automated turrets were activated, and a dense barrage of fire blanketed the space above the entire pit! Hammer and Anvil fought desperately, but they were outnumbered. Anvil's protective shield was shattered, and he was hit in the shoulder, his blood staining the Martian sand!

"Hold on!" Hammer roared, dragging his wounded comrade behind a rock.

Pressure on the frontal battlefield on the ground surged! Because the lair's core was under attack, more Scrin units abandoned their siege of the "Crimson Bulwark" and frantically rushed back to reinforce! Lieutenant Colonel Falcon's diversionary force instead fell into a bitter struggle!

"seagull one! Electromagnetic suppression! Now!" Sun Zheng roared from the bridge!

"lü ou ii, Seagull Three! Execute Plan B! Drop the EMP Bombs!"

The two transport ships took the risk of diving, dropping several specialized EMP Bombs toward the center of the interference zone!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

An invisible electromagnetic storm swept through! The lights inside the lair instantly dimmed, some automated turrets stalled, and the energy fluctuations of the "overseer" crystal became erratic!

Now is the time!

At the bottom of the pit, Dynamite finally reached the energy core! He quickly installed the Fusion Bomb at the core's most vulnerable connection point!

"Bomb installed! Thirty-second countdown! Retr—"

Before he could finish, a Phase Beam fired from the side struck him accurately!

"Dynamite!" The squad members let out a cry of grief!

Dynamite's figure dissipated in the light, but the countdown of the bomb he had installed with his life was already ticking!

"Mission accomplished! Ghost! Get them out of here!" Hammer pushed the heavily wounded Anvil toward Ghost, then raised his gun and launched a final charge at the swarming Scrin units, using his life to buy time for his teammates to evacuate!

"Phantom" activated the Chrono Beacon! The blue light flared once again!

"Go!" Ghost grabbed Anvil and Phantom, and the three were enveloped in blue light!

In the final moment before they disappeared, they saw Hammer being engulfed by purple light, and they saw the blinding red numbers ticking on the Fusion Bomb at the bottom of the pit... five seconds... four seconds... "Chronosphere Teleportation! Fast!" Sun Zheng screamed on the bridge!

The blue light completely swallowed the three, teleporting them back to the "seagull one"!

Almost the instant the teleportation was complete—

An indescribable, ultimate flash of light erupted from the center of the Scrin lair! It was as if a small sun had been ignited on the surface of Mars!

Following that was a shockwave that destroyed everything and a deafening explosion! The entire Olympus Mons region shook from it!

The Scrin lair's core was destroyed!

Operation breaking the cauldron was a success!