Terra Tinkers Construct is fine.

"B23 is back in service!"

"Rank up and prepare for battle."

"Yes!"

Their enemies, the Canned Food Squad, were clearly different: the canned melee fighter who had executed the swordsman did not hesitate, quickly retreating back into the formation with his axe; the white-armored warrior, at Alexei's signal, was already prepared, and when he returned, he retreated into the already formed formation.

Now, with shield bearers in front and crossbowmen behind, a simple defensive formation was set up, blocking the first wave of Reunion's attack from the front.

"Hold your ground! Melee fighters, spread out! Crossbowmen, follow me!"

The clanging of metal and roars instantly replaced the previous rustling noise; Alexei's voice drowned out the chaos, keeping the team calm, and the Reunion Movement spread out like a tide crashing against a reef—while the gang members reacted in different ways. At first, some were planning to take advantage of the situation or just watch the show, but now that the situation had changed, their expressions changed immediately.

"The Reunion Movement!?"

Leaving aside the Empire's spies and intelligence organizations, within the "general" scope, this group of gang members is probably the most well-informed, especially in this turbulent time: Chernobog's recent logistics, the flow of wasteland supplies, the volume of goods at official ferry crossings and black market channels, the increasingly blatant activities of the infected and the authorities' response—and news of other gangs on other plots, all seem like silent warnings, like lights going out in the darkness.

The name "Reunion Movement" is no stranger to them, especially recently, as it seems to appear more and more frequently in their intelligence reports.

As for its presence here now, it seems to be evidence of some kind of conjecture.

"They are from the Reunion Movement!"

"Those infected? Why are they here...?"

"Why are you even asking me a question like 'Are you a **?' Don't you even know who brought this person here?!"

“George…Red Scar…”

"These lunatics getting involved is bound to cause trouble! Get out of here!"

The bewildered gang leaders and representatives, their faces contorted with shock, retreated like sand monsters, desperately trying to get away from the center of the conflict—the involvement of this group of infected violent organizations meant that the nature of the situation had changed; they were far more dangerous and unpredictable than the gangs vying for territory.

Nobody wants to get into trouble at this time—after all, for gangs, this is far more than just a matter of "fishing in troubled waters."

In the increasingly spacious area cleared in the center of the field, the Canned Food Squad and several skilled members of the Reunion Movement were locked in a fierce battle.

There were about a dozen Reunion fighters rushing up. Milan could tell that they were mainly lightly armed guards and swift warriors wielding fist blades. The lightly armored guards with shields and armor were at the front, engaging in close combat, while the fist blade warriors moved nimbly, repeatedly probing and pulling to find opportunities.

Their skills, while not exactly superb, were certainly quite proficient. Perhaps due to the presence of infected individuals and the atmosphere of the Reunion Movement, their offensive was particularly fierce, so fierce that their momentum was almost fanatical.

In contrast, their attacks were fierce and wild, but also chaotic—swords and fists flashed like a storm, and the shield bearers on the front and the melee fighters on the flanks were always caught off guard, getting slashed one after another, splattering white debris.

But there was only white residue.

"Their attacks can't penetrate our armor!"

A melee fighter shouted during a gap in his parry, his voice trembling with surprise.

"Don't let your guard down! Stay coordinated and maintain your position!"

Alexei continued to shout, following Hrag's private instructions, signaling his presence to his teammates as a junior commander, but at the same time, he felt a sense of relief.

As mentioned before, their standard armor is [Bone Plate Armor]; although the material comes from ordinary animals, and most of it is even a byproduct of dismantling animals for meat in Minecraft, these ordinary bones, after going through Milan's inventory, become materials that can be identified on the Tinkers' Construct crafting table.

The material strength level of this thing is [Rock], which basically means that the armor plates made from it have the strength of stone—while their opponents' fighting style, which seemed to be designed to "bully gang thugs" from the beginning, are all real heavy weapons.

Whether it's a pickaxe or an axe, even if it takes several hits to get a chance, and several chances to hit once—with their heavy striking intensity, even if the axe doesn't have the [piercing] attribute, brute force alone is enough to give the armored guard a hard time.

Even when using a shield to parry head-on, there's a feeling that "the entire arm is going to be numb from the brutal blow"; not to mention their arm shields, which are basically just thin steel plates - a single hit from an axe will leave a huge gash without warning, and a hit from a pickaxe will basically render them useless.

Just like Hellagur's assessment: with their excellent armor and powerful weapons, even though the Canned Food Squad is only a grunt, they are among the most troublesome and of the highest quality grunts!

"Hey!"

Surrounded by their teammates, the crossbowmen on the inner side, led by Alexei, also attempted to counterattack; the Tinkers' Construct crossbows were of excellent performance, but their individual skills were rusty, and their hit rate was low in the chaotic mobile battle and when they had to avoid friendly forces.

However, just like the equipment quality mentioned earlier, their eight ordinary crossbow bolts per person were basically useless in this close-quarters combat. Under Alexei's decisive action, they directly pulled out the Artisan's Soul arrows equipped by Milan.

Tinkers Construct ranged weapons only show their true value when equipped with Tinkers Construct arrows; and in this case, their true value is to accelerate a 1.5 kg bolt to a speed of 100 meters per second and shoot it out!

Two people can lock onto each other and fire in a crossfire. As long as one arrow hits the target, it's almost certain that a combatant will be eliminated!

The situation seemed to stabilize for a time amid this confrontation, with the canned goods gradually reducing the combat power of the Reunification Movement.

Alexei's forehead was beaded with sweat.

The fact that the Reunion Movement sent over a dozen people at once doesn't mean they only had a dozen or so. As their initial battle faltered, the real threat emerged—first, a flash of dark light, like a streak of fire, struck the shield bearer's large shield in the blink of an eye. The outermost layer of the shield bearer's large shield was made of a large slab of stewed bone, a material of [Iron] grade with a strength even greater than bone itself. It stood firm against the onslaught of swords and blades, proving its remarkable effectiveness in both the previous attack and the current skirmish.

At this moment, however, they finally encountered an attack that could actually cause damage—the Reunion members who had been pressuring the shield bearers withdrew and retreated, but the dark light exploded at the last second!

The violent energy instantly shook the shieldbearer's defenses. The shieldbearer, who was directly hit, was thrown backward and staggered before regaining his footing with the help of [Knockback Resistance]. He still held up his shield firmly, but his face behind the shield was full of horror, and his hands trembled involuntarily.

"A sorcerer!?"

Alexei felt his heart sink, but he couldn't care less about his unease. He quickly ordered the defenses to be tightened and also told the crossbowmen to be wary of ranged attacks.

When he "graduated," he was somewhat pleased with himself when he learned of Hrag's evaluation—after all, unlike others, he might not be familiar with the name Hrag, but he was very familiar with the aura of someone who had long held a high position.

To gain the recognition of such an important figure was an honor he could hardly attain even when he was still an official.

After successfully attacking the Rifttooth, his confidence swelled up even more—as for the claim that "70% of his combat power and willpower depend on equipment"... equipment is also part of strength. My boss gave it to me, so what's it to you?

But things are different now—the confidence built up during the smooth sailing campaign is being eroded by reality: the enemies of these integration movements are completely different from gang members; they are more ruthless, more tenacious, and more dangerous, especially since some who felt inadequate retreated after witnessing casualties, while even more unsettling enemies stepped in to fill the gaps.

For example, a sorcerer.

There are also enemies who are tall and wield heavy clubs, unlike the hidden sorcerers! There are even giants who are particularly muscular even among the Ursus people, wearing forestry protective gear and wielding huge logging axes!

Their strength was clearly beyond that of ordinary people, and their swings carried terrifying wind pressure. Even the shield bearers who took the hit head-on felt their arms go numb, forcing their formation to begin to shake.

Is this what the "general" meant by having superhuman strength?

"Frontline, hold firm! We're retreating to reduce the defensive perimeter and increase manpower! Crossbowmen, prioritize taking out heavy weapons! Focus on coordinated defense, don't be reckless!"

If Milan were in command, they might have adopted a more radical approach—at least that's what Milan thought—but Alexei made that judgment, shouting to make the orders clear, and the recruits obeyed.

Unable to break through the shields and armor, the Reunion soldiers spontaneously switched to guerrilla-style harassment tactics.

The canned food also changed tactics to a defensive counter-attack strategy. Melee fighters no longer intended to attack but instead worked together to stabilize the defensive line, leaving the counter-attacks to the crossbowmen. The crossbowmen's accuracy was indeed limited by their skill, but even if they could not use all the functions of Tinkers' Construct weapons, they could at least enjoy the precise correction of the basic value of [accuracy].

As for its power, it remains the same – relying on the excellent performance of Tinker's Construct Arrow itself and the [Armor Penetration 1] stat, as long as it hits, it can still deal considerable damage to any target.

"Go around to the side! Kill them! Can't you even break a few tin cans?! What have you been doing all this time?!"

Shattered Bones was furious on the sidelines. He hadn't expected these "canned" players to be so tough, but his angry shouts were of no use in giving any direction. Milan, hidden among the gang members, was still assessing the situation. The fact that the "canned" players' formation was still stable meant that they were far from being in danger. Just when the "canned" players' defense and counter-attacks seemed to be holding up, Shattered Bones finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"A bunch of useless idiots! Get out of my way and let me do it!"

He screamed, and his thin figure suddenly darted out, two cold glints of light emerging from beneath his fluttering cloak.

—Isn't Bonebreaker's weapon a grenade launcher? Oh right, I think he does have melee attack moves...

Milan narrowed her eyes.

The weapon that Shattered Bones was indeed what appeared to be a firearm... or rather, a grenade launcher. However, perhaps considering that this was an underground structure, he did not use grenades that could cause the structure to collapse, but instead only used the blades equipped on it to fight.

He looked so thin and small, and even Milan, who knew the inside story, was fully aware that he was still just a teenager.

But when this short, slender boy wielded the blade...

"Qiang!"

Grayish-brown bone fragments flew everywhere, bursting with a rich and delicious aroma—just like the remarkable durability of a large, damaged bone or slab that had been broken and dropped during stewing!

The shield bearer's expression suddenly changed: He's clearly just a small guy, is this strength real?

He and his shield were jolted back half a step by the impact, and the solid riot door groaned as it was smashed—whether he believed it or not, the power of this small, dark figure's attack was truly astonishing, far surpassing any of his previous enemies!

Even including a giant axe-wielding man who is nearly two meters tall and weighs at least 300 kilograms!

At the same time, the people around Shattered Bones greeted him; Milan, in the third-person perspective, also saw that in the direction of Red Scar, a black-clad Reunion mage had finally completed his spell preparations once again, and Originium energy gathered between his empty hands, gradually condensing into a scorching, glowing, unstable energy body.

"Now! Crush the bones!"

The Fistblade Warrior summoned the aggressive Bonebreaker, after all, the explosive Originium spell didn't care which side you were on; Bonebreaker retreated in response, and for a moment the pressure on the defensive line seemed to ease up a lot, but none of the Canned Food team members felt relieved - it wasn't that they couldn't see the other side's abnormality, nor that they couldn't see the light of the Originium spell.

—Is it too late for the crossbowmen to counterattack now?

In a flash, seeing the giant he had just shot down and his teammates nocking arrows, Alexei, who was more skilled at nocking arrows than them, gritted his teeth, picked up his crossbow, and aimed it at the sorcerer from afar.

For a fleeting moment, he seemed to feel that the other person might have made eye contact with him.

But in that instant, he saw that the elites and cadres of the Integration Movement, including Sui (1 Liu Qi Si Wu Jiu Si Jiu Ba Gu), were all gathered on this line, looking menacing, clearly also on guard against them—he didn't want to think too much, and at that moment he pulled the trigger, the heavy crossbow faithfully reflecting the feeling of the arrow leaving the bowstring.

But at this moment he felt like he was dreaming... because before his arrow even left the bowstring, a flash of light appeared in his vision!

The light of the Originium spell vanished in an instant—and the mage collapsed in the light!

Chapter 77 "Weight"

A flash of light.

The Reunion mage who was channeling Originium magic collapsed in the light... No, to say it was merely "collapsed" would be too mild: the mage was as if struck head-on by an invisible hammer, forced to fly backward with both feet off the ground, leaving traces of the powerful force's impact.

There wasn't even a scream.

He was thrown straight away by the force, crashing into the metal pipe wall behind him with a muffled thud that sent chills down one's spine.

The light was fixed on the wall, reflecting the light of the Originium Lamp and emitting a hazy glow.

But that person just slid down the wall softly, without making any further moves.

"over there!"

The entire battlefield fell silent, but soon someone called out – from the area where the canned food had been, behind the platform where Alexei had spoken, a figure had appeared out of nowhere; under the light, the figure was covered in dark armor, similar in design to the white armor worn by the canned food team members but more complex and heavy, its surface reflecting a cold, metallic sheen.

He held a bow in his hand, his arms outstretched about a meter, its design simple and unadorned; the bow itself was a beautiful bluish-silver color, and the bowstring was still vibrating slightly, as if it made no attempt to conceal itself.

—It's a bit unexpected; it's even smoother than I expected.

Milan's thoughts stirred slightly. (A separate comment follows: "Different flags, private gatherings =".)

The weapon in his hand is a shortbow, a three-part weapon consisting of two bow arms and a bowstring, which can be crafted at the craftsman's station. The bow arms are made of bamboo steel. Although the attribute of this material, "Bamboo Shoots After Rain," is only an auxiliary attribute that "automatically recovers durability in water," it has an initial velocity correction of 0.3 when used as a bow arm, which is quite excellent as an early-game material.

Even if Milan is a typical sniper and only made a shortbow as a temporary measure because he wasn't used to crossbows in the game and couldn't craft a longbow, his superior performance cannot be denied. The two bamboo and steel bow arms can stack the initial velocity from 0.8 to 1.28 under the shortbow multiplier, which is almost equivalent to an excellent arrow speed of nearly 130 meters per second. In addition, with the accuracy attribute and aiming mechanism of the game equipment, even someone with such a short bow training time can shoot relatively accurately in this situation.

The arrows he used were also different from those issued to the crossbowmen. Since he didn't need to consider the weight issue for his own use, Milan directly used bamboo and steel for the arrowheads and bone for the shafts, giving the arrows a decent top-attack power and the [Piercing 1] attribute that was useful in the early game.

—If it weren't for the fact that excessive weight is of little use to arrows, and that shooting an arrow through a person would be pointless, he would have used steel and even added more weight!

even so.

Accelerating an arrow with an average weight of 11.5 kg to 128 meters per second is basically sufficient—after all, to be honest, with this performance, it shouldn't be a weapon used to shoot people in reality.

This thing should be placed on the set of Monster Hunter next door.

"The new armored man..."

"That's their leader!"

Some in the Reunion Movement exclaimed in surprise, after all, if the armor worn by the canned people was proof of their identity, then the strong personal style of Milan's armor was proof that needed no further explanation.

"Kill him!"

"Kill that tin can first!"

The attention of the Bone Shatterer was instantly drawn, and his anger found an outlet. He almost immediately abandoned his entanglement with the Canned Food Squad and charged over while shouting irritably.

Some of the integrated soldiers who were besieging the canned food squad immediately split up and changed direction: a clearly more valuable target, and one that was easier to attack because it was isolated, was better than these tough armored soldiers, even if he was wearing better armor—while the other group stayed behind to put pressure on the canned food squad, seemingly to prevent them from providing reinforcements.

"leader!"

Upon seeing this, Alexei exclaimed in alarm and quickly tried to call on his teammates to organize a breakout.

Mind your own business.

But Milan's calm demeanor immediately put them at ease—after a brief moment of panic, they realized that Milan was no weak scholar sitting at a desk; their confidence in Milan was almost blind, even stronger than the confidence they had already begun to build.

—You know that, right…that’s that person’s teeth!

With the pressure on the defensive line reduced, Alexei, now calmer, immediately changed tactics, launching a counterattack from a steady defensive strategy. The tactical units shifted to pressing forward with shield bearers at the core, abandoning the idea of ​​protecting crossbowmen and instead relying on their armor to advance and trade blows.

The battle quickly intensified.

Milan remained silent as the enemy charged towards him, simply drawing his arrow once more. Although he was a sniper, the short bow did have its advantages over the longbow he favored. He had never used a bow before his transmigration, and had only practiced archery in the past few days, so he was quite self-aware of his novice's stance and shooting skills. However, he maintained a calm mindset and never chose to target the agile unit charging towards him. Instead, he aimed the crosshair at the tall figure in the distance.

"Buzz—1 Odd Eight Private Chess Master Lu"

The arrow left the bow and flew away!

His aiming motion was completely undisguised, and the big man nicknamed "The Timber Machine" reacted quickly. He learned from his companion's experience of being shot through and held his large logging axe in front of him like a shield.

"clang--!!!"

But the consequences were worse than he had anticipated!

The arrow struck the axe with a loud, hammer-like thud! The burly lumberjack felt an immense force surge through his arm. The irresistible force slammed the axe into his body, simultaneously tearing his hand and injuring his wrist, and then forcefully pushed his entire body backward, finally pinning him to the ground.