Chapter 674: Unidentified Attackers
"Protect Rei Ayanami and the cube!" Maine's roar cut clearly through the fierce crossfire.
The Iron Guard mech, piloted by Valerie, reacted instantly. Its massive metallic chassis acted as an impregnable shield, completely obstructing the line of sight to Rei's position.
A dense volley of bone arrows and thrown spears slammed into the heavy composite armor, emitting sharp clangs as they shattered and deflected harmlessly, unable to inflict any substantive damage.
Asuka's reaction was lightning-fast. She grabbed the slightly stunned Shinji and hauled him behind the chassis of the transport vehicle to avoid stray arrows. She then poked her head out, utilizing her exceptional dynamic visual acuity to observe the attackers.
"Where did these guys come from? They seem hyper-focused on that cube!" she shouted.
The moment Rei was shielded, she clutched the dimensional cube tightly to her chest. Her expression remained placid, but her red eyes rapidly scanned the battlefield, seemingly analyzing the situation.
Through a subconscious mental link, she attempted to capture the emotional fluctuations radiating from the attackers. What she felt was a chaotic, blazing hatred mixed with a... twisted fanaticism.
"Their objective... is Hometree. They believe we have defiled the sacred tree," Rei's cool voice transmitted over the comm channel into everyone's ears.
While laying down precise burst fire to suppress attackers attempting to flank them, Maine calmly analyzed the situation: "They are not from the Omaticaya clan. Their gear is more primitive, their tactics far more savage. They could be from a hostile clan, or..."
He considered a possibility, "Xenophobic extremists among the Na'vi?"
Just then, the attacker leader who had let out the provocative howl appeared enraged by the Iron Guard's impenetrable defense and Rebecca's suppressive fire.
He sprang up from behind cover, drawing his bow. This time, the arrowhead was wrapped in some kind of oil-soaked cloth that emitted a pungent odor, and he instantly set it ablaze!
A flaming arrow tore through the air—not aimed at a person, but rather at a patch of oily shrubs adjacent to the transport vehicle.
The fire spread instantly, sending thick smoke billowing into the air and further obscuring visibility on the battlefield.
"They are creating chaos! They're trying to use the smoke to snatch the cube!" Dorio astutely grasped their intention.
Sure enough, utilizing the smoke cover, several exceptionally agile attackers swung down from the canopy on vines like phantoms, plunging directly toward Rei, who was guarded in the center by the Iron Guard!
The bone knives and stone axes in their hands glinted coldly, their eyes filled with reckless madness.
"Don't even think about it!" Asuka shouted sharply. Though she wasn't equipped with lethal weaponry, her close-quarters combat training had never lapsed.
She snatched up a thick, fallen branch from the ground. Locking onto an attacker lunging at Rei, she struck his wrist joint with brutal precision!
Crack! A sharp sound echoed, accompanied by a muffled groan of pain from the attacker, as his bone knife fell from his grasp.
Asuka's movements were fluid and explosive, displaying the exceptional physical conditioning and reaction speed of an EVA pilot.
Another attacker had his vision disrupted by a signal flare instinctively hurled by Shinji. While the flare carried no lethal force, the sudden blinding light and smoke caused the attacker to hesitate for a split second—allowing Dorio to smash him to the ground with the butt of her rifle.
Valerie controlled the Iron Guard, sweeping its mechanical arm like swatting flies, sending two more approaching attackers flying through the air. They slammed heavily against the rocks, temporarily incapacitated.
Seeing this, the attacker leader let out a roar of fury tinged with disbelief.
He clearly hadn't anticipated that these seemingly young "Sky People" would be so formidable, especially without relying on their energy weapons.
Seizing the opening, Maine ordered Rebecca to fire several flashbangs toward the area where the leader was positioned.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Blinding white light and deafening blasts blanketed the area, instantly plunging the attacker leader and his nearby subordinates into temporary blindness and disorientation.
"Retreat! We retreat!" The leader roared in distorted Na'vi. Clutching his eyes, he scrambled away with his remaining subordinates, receding into the dense depths of the jungle like a rapid tide until they vanished completely.
The battle erupted suddenly and ended just as quickly.
The valley was left with only the crackling of the burning shrubs, arrows scattered across the ground, and several incapacitated, wounded attackers.
"Sweep the area! Check for casualties!" Maine ordered, simultaneously striding over to Rei. "Are you alright?"
Rei shook her head. The dimensional cube in her arms was perfectly intact.
Asuka dusted herself off, her face full of disdain. "Hmph, a bunch of rabble."
Shinji was still reeling from the encounter, his face slightly pale.
Dorio and Rebecca quickly inspected the captured attackers.
"They're alive, but heavily injured. Looking at their attire and tattoos... they definitely aren't Omaticaya," Dorio reported.
Maine crouched down, his fingertips brushing a crude bone ornament on the arm of an unconscious attacker. The twisted patterns and dark war paint exuded a primitive savagery.
His brow furrowed tightly, his voice low: "It seems the internal situation among the Na'vi is far more complicated than we imagined. This journey to return Hometree... I'm afraid it won't be that smooth."
The Aftermath
The air in the valley post-ambush was a mixture of ozone left by plasma weapons, gunpowder smoke, and a faint, lingering scent of alien blood.
Without needing orders, the members of Maine's squad automatically secured critical vantage points within the valley, establishing a makeshift defensive perimeter.
The Iron Guard mech, acting as an impregnable steel bulwark, stood guard at the transport's most vulnerable flank. The sensor arrays on its chassis operated at maximum capacity, its multi-spectral optics constantly adjusting focus to monitor thermal signatures, motion paths, and even the most microscopic seismic vibrations.
Rei had securely placed the dimensional cube containing Hometree back into a reinforced transport case, fastening the case within arm's reach.
She walked over to Maine, her pale face devoid of any ripples, stating objective facts in her characteristic, flat tone: "The attackers had a clear objective: Hometree. They do not belong to the Omaticaya."
"I can see that," Maine stood up, dusting off his gloves. His gaze swept over the unconscious captives on the ground. "Their gear is much more primitive than the Omaticaya's, and their tactics lack discipline. But this reckless, suicidal fervor... they seem more like desperadoes incited by some extremist ideology."
He paused, his tone growing graver. "The key issue is that they knew our route and approximate timetable for transporting Hometree."
Having just completed a rapid reconnaissance sweep of the perimeter, Dorio returned and chimed in: "The tracks are clear. They positioned personnel at the high ground on both flanks and along this chokepoint, lying in wait for at least half a day. This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment attack; it was a premeditated ambush."
"So what now?" Asuka crossed her arms, her cerulean eyes roiling with impatience and a hint of offended pride. "Do we just sit here like idiots? Being sitting ducks in this godforsaken place? Who knows if those blue savages are going to rally more numbers and launch another wave!"
Standing beside her, Shinji instinctively shrank his neck down, his voice so quiet it was nearly masked by the wind: "The way... the way they looked at us... it felt like they hated us deeply. Especially... especially when we were holding the... sacred tree."
Recalling the attackers' eyes—a mixture of madness and loathing—a chill washed over him.