The sky over Hanoi was torn asunder. One hundred blazing meteors streaked through the clouds, their heat vaporizing the air around them.
The city's automated anti-air defenses roared to life, filling the sky with streaks of light and concussive explosions.
A few of the pods were hit, exploding in fiery blossoms high above, but most of them broke through the defensive screen, their advanced shielding holding firm.
In an armored, high-speed hovercraft, Task Force Chimera raced towards their target zone. The mood was tense. Through the vehicle's reinforced windows, they could see the trails of fire arcing across the city.
This was a scene Lin Ming had seen before in his past life—a prelude to the end. But this time, he wasn't a helpless soldier watching the sky fall. He was on the front line, racing to meet the fire head-on.
Quynh Nhu (comms): Ten seconds to impact zone. Find me a perch, Minerva. Somewhere high, with a clean line of sight to the park in front of the library.
Minerva: Affirmative. The rooftop of the 'Trang Tien Plaza' commercial building offers a 320-degree vantage point. I am disabling its rooftop security systems for you now.
Quynh Nhu: Perfect. She looked at Lin Ming and Pham Tuan. "Don't die before I get to shoot someone, you two." She racked the charging handle of her massive sniper rifle, the sound a definitive, deadly click.
The hovercraft screeched to a halt at the edge of the park. The doors hissed open. Quynh Nhu leaped out and, with the agility of a cat, grappled onto the side of the nearby building, her mechanized winch pulling her swiftly towards the rooftop.
Lin Ming and Pham Tuan stepped out into chaos. Civilians were screaming and running in every direction, a tide of pure panic. The air was thick with fear.
BOOM! CRASH!
Three blocks away, a drop pod slammed into an apartment building, the impact shaking the ground and sending a plume of smoke and debris into the air. The invasion had begun.
"They're here," Pham Tuan said, his fists clenched, his body fully transformed into his stone-like Juggernaut form.
Lin Ming's [Spiritual Sense] swept across the park. He could feel them. Five drop pods, plunging towards the green expanse right in front of them. "Get ready!"
With a series of deafening sonic booms, the five pods crashed into the park, carving deep gouges in the earth and shredding ancient trees.
For a moment, there was silence. Then, with a hiss of pressurized gas, the doors of the pods slammed open.
Out poured the Berserkers.
They looked like standard Madakaros warriors, but twisted, corrupted. Their skin was pale and covered in pulsing, black veins. Their three eyes glowed with a rabid, blood-red light, devoid of all reason.
Drool dripped from their mouths, and they twitched with unnatural, spastic energy. They carried no ranged weapons, only crude, jagged blades fused to their forearms. They were pure melee shock troops. Twenty of them, four from each pod.
But there was one who was different. It emerged from the central pod. It was larger, its armor more defined. While its eyes still held a malevolent glow, they also contained a spark of cunning intelligence. It held a cruel-looking energy halberd. This was their commander. A sane lunatic leading a pack of mad dogs.
The Berserkers let out a simultaneous, inhuman screech, a sound that cut through the city's sirens. Then they charged, not in a disciplined formation, but in a wild, uncontrolled wave towards the street, towards the fleeing civilians.
"We have to hold them here!" Lin Ming yelled. "We can't let them reach the streets!"
He drew Thuan Thien. Pham Tuan let out a war cry and charged forward to meet the wave, a living battering ram of righteousness.
"Juggernaut versus the world!" he roared, slamming into the first two Berserkers. His immense strength sent them flying, but two more immediately swiped at him with their arm-blades.
Sparks flew as their crude weapons scraped harmlessly against his hardened skin. He had become a wall, an unbreakable anchor holding back the tide.
PFFT!
From her perch high above, Quynh Nhu opened fire. Her first shot was not aimed at the Berserkers, but at a fire hydrant on the street.
The high-velocity round ruptured the casing, sending a massive jet of high-pressure water into the air, creating a barrier between the battle and the escaping civilians.
Minerva (comms): Creative use of city infrastructure, Hawkeye. Crowd control effective.
With the civilians shielded, Quynh Nhu's true work began. She chambered another round.
Her targets were not the mindless grunts swarming Pham Tuan, but the ones at the edge of the pack, the ones trying to flank her teammates.
PFFT! PFFT!
Two precise shots. Two Berserkers dropped, their heads exploding in a shower of gore. Her skill was impeccable. She was a ghost of death, unseen and unheard until it was too late.
While Pham Tuan held the line and Quynh Nhu picked off the stragglers, Lin Ming moved. He was a whirlwind of steel and righteous fury. He flowed through the chaotic melee, Thuan Thien singing in his hand.
He wasn't just killing them; he was dismantling them. Every slash was a disabled limb, every thrust a crippling blow.
He was faster, smarter, and more skilled than these rage-fueled abominations. His Foundation Establishment realm, powered by his superior Fairy Qi, allowed him to move with a grace and speed they couldn't comprehend.
But the Berserkers were relentless. They felt no pain, no fear. Even with severed arms, they would continue to charge, trying to bite and claw at him. Their numbers were a problem.
The commander watched the scene with a cruel smirk, letting its minions wear down the two humans. It raised its energy halberd, preparing to enter the fray and finish them off.
Just as it took a step forward, a round from Quynh Nhu's rifle impacted the ground at its feet. It wasn't a hit, but a warning shot.
The commander looked up towards the Trang Tien Plaza rooftop, its eyes narrowing.
This was the opening Lin Ming needed. "Now!" he yelled.
He stopped his dance of disablement. It was time to thin the herd. He focused his will, his Qi surging into the very ground of the park. He stomped his foot.
"Earth Style: Rising Prison!"
The ground beneath a cluster of five Berserkers suddenly erupted. Thick walls of stone shot up from the earth, forming a tight, inescapable box around them. He had trapped them.
He then leaped back, gaining some distance. He held out his palm, and the crimson and gold sphere of the [Long Tien Cau] formed.
"Pham Tuan, get back!" he shouted.
Pham Tuan, hearing the command and trusting Lin Ming completely, disengaged from his opponents and made a tactical retreat.
The Berserkers, their targets gone, turned their rabid attention to the new, glowing threat. They all charged towards Lin Ming.
Lin Ming didn't flinch. He channeled the knowledge from the Book of Earth, feeding the elemental power into his ancestral technique. The sphere in his hand was instantly encased in a shell of jagged, spinning rock. The [Thach Long Cau] was ready.
With a powerful cry, he thrust his palm forward. The spinning sphere of rock and light shot towards the charging horde. It slammed into the first Berserker, but it didn't explode. It began to grind, its rocky shell tearing through the alien's flesh and bone, pulling it into its gravitational vortex. It was like a miniature, mobile meat-grinder. It tore through the first alien, then the second, then the third, leaving a trail of absolute destruction in its wake before finally detonating in the center of the remaining Berserkers in a shower of rock and golden light.
In ten seconds, a dozen Berserkers had been annihilated.
The park fell silent, save for the crackling of residual energy and the heavy breathing of the two warriors. The tide had been turned.
The Berserker commander's smirk was gone. Its face was now a mask of pure shock. This lone human had just unleashed a technique with more destructive power than a volley from a battleship.
[Battle Will +1500 from decimating multiple enhanced hostiles!]
[System Commendation: The 'Rock-Grinder Rasengan' is officially the most awesome and gruesome technique in the Host's arsenal. 12/10.]
Lin Ming stood amidst the carnage, the [Thach Long Cau] having drained a significant portion of his Qi. But it was worth it. He looked up, his gaze locking with the terrified eyes of the Madakaros commander.
"You're next."