The ground beneath the cave trembled violently, and the blue energy barrier at the entrance flickered violently, as if it would shatter at any moment. The roar of Victor's advanced energy tanks echoed through the mountains, and the sound of energy cannonballs hitting the barrier resounded like thunder, piercing the tense air of the laboratory. Elias stood at the front of the defense line, his hands clenched tightly, the spiritual energy crystal in his pocket emitting a warm golden light, merging with his 62% brain domain awakening energy to continuously inject power into the energy barrier.
"The energy barrier's durability is dropping rapidly!" Lumina's electronic voice sounded anxiously in everyone's minds, her orb flickering rapidly, projecting the real-time data of the barrier on the holographic screen. "Current durability: 78%! The energy tanks' attacks are too powerful, and the barrier can only last for 22 minutes. In addition, 10 level-3 enhanced soldiers are approaching the entrance, preparing to launch a close-range attack on the barrier!"
Leo knelt behind the bunker, his modified energy shotgun aimed at the outside of the cave, his eyes fixed on the distant figures approaching rapidly. "Maya, take your snipers to the high ground on both sides of the cave entrance, target the level-3 enhanced soldiers first!" he shouted into the intercom, his voice calm but firm. "Their energy cores are located in the chest, which is their weakness—one shot can destroy their energy shield!"
"Understood!" Maya's voice came from the intercom, followed by the sound of footsteps moving quickly. She led three snipers to the hidden high ground on both sides of the cave entrance, their energy sniper rifles aimed at the level-3 enhanced soldiers who were advancing steadily. The crosshairs locked on the chest of the leading enhanced soldier, and Maya took a deep breath, her fingers gently resting on the trigger.
"Fire!" Maya whispered, pulling the trigger. A sharp golden energy beam shot out, piercing the air and hitting the chest of the leading level-3 enhanced soldier. With a "bang" sound, the soldier's energy shield shattered instantly, and the energy beam penetrated his chest, leaving a charred hole. The soldier let out a painful roar and fell to the ground, his body twitching a few times before losing his breath.
The other snipers also fired one after another, and several more level-3 enhanced soldiers fell to the ground. But the remaining enhanced soldiers were not afraid—they roared and accelerated their pace, raising their energy weapons to shoot at the high ground, forcing Maya and the snipers to take cover temporarily.
"Damn it, their firepower is too strong!" Jax shouted, holding his modified energy submachine gun and firing continuously at the dark symbiosis enhanced soldiers outside the barrier. The silver alloy barrel of the gun emitted a faint light, and each bullet carried a large amount of crystal energy, hitting the soldiers' energy shields and leaving obvious cracks. "Todd, is my gun upgraded yet? I need more power to break through their shields!"
Todd was squatting on the ground, modifying an energy machine gun, his hands moving quickly. He grinned and shouted back: "Almost done, kid! Hold on for a few more minutes! This machine gun will be able to shoot through their energy shields with one shot, and it can also launch a small energy explosion—enough to blow up a group of them!"
Ella stood beside Elias, holding a modified energy pistol, firing continuously at the enemy soldiers. "Lena, have you monitored Victor's communication signals? Do we know their next move?" she asked, her eyes never leaving the outside of the cave.
Lena sat in front of the laptop, her fingers flying over the keyboard, her expression serious: "I've monitored their communication—they plan to use energy tanks to break the barrier first, then send all enhanced soldiers to rush into the laboratory, capture you, Elias, and seize the spiritual energy crystal. In addition, they have sent a signal to Victor's main laboratory, requesting reinforcements—we have about 40 minutes before the reinforcements arrive."
"Reinforcements?" Elias' expression changed slightly. "We can't hold on for 40 minutes if the barrier is broken. Clara, how is the optimization of the second-generation symbiosis chip going? Can it be used in the battle?"
Clara was standing beside the test bench, busy adjusting the parameters of the symbiosis chip, with Nora beside her, using her symbiosis energy to stabilize the chip's energy output. "We've almost fixed the energy leakage flaw!" Clara shouted, her voice full of urgency. "We need 10 more minutes to complete the final optimization. Once it's done, we can inject the chip's energy into the energy barrier to strengthen it, and it can also be used by combatants to enhance their combat effectiveness!"
"10 minutes," Elias muttered, his eyes firm. "We must hold on for 10 minutes. Lumina, focus all the laboratory's energy on the barrier, and use the energy traps outside the cave to slow down their advance. Leo, Jax, you lead the combatants to defend the entrance, and don't let them approach the barrier easily. Maya, continue to target the level-3 enhanced soldiers—they are the biggest threat to the barrier."
"Understood!" Everyone responded in unison, and the intensity of the battle increased again. Lumina's orb emitted a strong blue light, and all the energy in the laboratory was concentrated on the energy barrier, making the barrier's light brighter. The energy traps outside the cave were activated one after another—high-voltage energy nets and energy mines exploded continuously, blocking the advance of Victor's soldiers.
A level-3 enhanced soldier broke through the energy trap, roared and rushed to the barrier, raising his fist wrapped in purple dark symbiosis energy, and slammed it on the barrier. The barrier shook violently, and its durability dropped to 65%. "Break it! Break it!" the soldier shouted, slamming his fist on the barrier continuously.
Elias' eyes narrowed, and he raised his right hand, the golden crystal energy in his hand gathered into a small energy ball, which was thrown towards the soldier. The energy ball hit the soldier's back, and the golden crystal energy corroded his body, making him let out a painful roar. The soldier turned around, staring at Elias with hatred, and rushed towards him, ignoring the barrier.
"Elias, watch out!" Leo shouted, firing his energy shotgun at the soldier. The energy bullets hit the soldier's energy shield, shattering it. Elias took the opportunity to rush forward, his right hand touching the soldier's chest, and the golden crystal energy poured into the soldier's body. The soldier's body twitched violently, and the purple dark symbiosis energy in his body was quickly purified by the crystal energy. In the end, he fell to the ground, losing his breath.
"Elias, the barrier's durability is 58%!" Lumina's voice sounded again. "The energy tanks are preparing to launch a concentrated attack—they want to break the barrier in one go!"
Elias turned around, looking at the two energy tanks outside the cave. The tanks' barrels were glowing with purple light, and a large amount of dark symbiosis energy was gathering. "Todd, is the energy machine gun ready?" he shouted.
"Done!" Todd shouted, carrying the modified energy machine gun and running to the entrance. He set up the machine gun, aimed at the energy tanks, and grinned. "Watch this, kids!"
Todd pulled the trigger, and a dense rain of golden energy bullets shot out, hitting the energy tanks' armor. The armor of the tanks was covered with cracks, and the purple light on the barrels dimmed. "The tanks' armor is reinforced with dark symbiosis energy, but my machine gun can break through it!" Todd laughed, continuing to fire.
At this moment, Clara's voice sounded excitedly: "Elias! The second-generation symbiosis chip is optimized! We can inject its energy into the barrier, and we can also distribute the chip's auxiliary energy to the combatants!"
Elias' eyes lit up: "Great! Clara, inject the chip's energy into the barrier first, and then distribute the auxiliary energy to Leo, Maya, and the other combatants. Lena, continue to monitor their communication signals and inform us immediately if there is any change in their plan."
Clara nodded, quickly connecting the symbiosis chip to the laboratory's energy system. A strong blue light erupted from the chip, flowing into the energy barrier. The barrier's light suddenly became brighter, and its durability quickly rose from 58% to 72%. The energy tanks' concentrated attack hit the barrier, only making it shake slightly, without causing obvious damage.
"Wow, the barrier is much stronger!" Jax cheered, feeling the surge of auxiliary energy in his body. His speed and strength were significantly enhanced, and he raised his energy submachine gun, firing continuously at the enemy soldiers. The bullets easily broke through the soldiers' energy shields, knocking them down one by one.
Maya also felt the auxiliary energy, her reaction speed became faster, and her aiming became more accurate. She pulled the trigger again, and a golden energy beam shot out, hitting the barrel of one of the energy tanks. The barrel exploded with a loud bang, and the tank was paralyzed, unable to launch any more attacks.
The remaining energy tank continued to attack, but its firepower was significantly weakened. Todd focused his fire on the tank, and after a few rounds of shooting, the tank's armor was broken, and it exploded into pieces. The dark symbiosis enhanced soldiers, seeing that the energy tanks were destroyed, fell into chaos, and their offensive became disorganized.
"Attack!" Elias shouted, leading Leo and Jax to rush out of the cave, their energy weapons firing continuously. The auxiliary energy from the symbiosis chip made their combat effectiveness greatly improved, and they shuttled among the enemy soldiers, like tigers entering a flock of sheep. The golden crystal energy and the purple dark symbiosis energy collided, making a harsh "sizzling" sound.
Lena sat in front of the laptop, her expression suddenly changing: "Elias! I detected a new energy signal—Victor's reinforcements are coming, and they are only 20 kilometers away from us! There are about 30 dark symbiosis enhanced soldiers and 1 advanced energy tank in the reinforcement team!"
Elias' expression changed, and he shouted: "Everyone, retreat to the laboratory! We can't fight the reinforcements head-on! Todd, set up more energy traps outside the cave to slow down their advance. Clara, strengthen the energy barrier again. Lena, try to interfere with the reinforcement team's communication signal, delay their arrival time!"
The team members quickly retreated to the laboratory, and Todd rushed to set up energy traps outside the cave. Clara continued to inject energy into the barrier, making its durability rise to 85%. Lena focused on interfering with the reinforcement team's communication signal, making their advance speed slow down.
Elias stood at the entrance of the laboratory, looking at the chaotic battlefield outside. The ground was covered with the remains of enemy soldiers and energy weapons, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and dark symbiosis energy. He took a deep breath, the spiritual energy crystal in his pocket emitting a warm light, and his 62% brain domain awakening energy was still surging.
"We won this round, but the war is not over," Elias said, turning to the team members. "Victor's reinforcements are coming, and we need to prepare for the next battle. Clara, continue to optimize the symbiosis chip, try to make it able to unlock higher brain domain potential. Todd, modify more energy weapons, and strengthen the laboratory's defense facilities. Lena, keep trying to contact Dr. Karen, we need the internal network data of Victor's main laboratory. Maya, Leo, you lead the combatants to rest and recover their energy—we will need to fight again soon."
Everyone nodded, and immediately took action. The laboratory, which had just been in a fierce battle, quickly returned to order. The sound of equipment debugging, the sound of weapon modification, and the sound of data analysis intertwined again. Elias walked to the medical cabin, looking at Nora, who was still resting. Her face had recovered a lot, and the symbiosis chip in her body was operating stably.
"We will win," Elias whispered, his eyes full of determination. He knew that the road ahead would be more dangerous, but with the alliance of the team, the power of the spiritual energy crystal, and the newly optimized symbiosis chip, they had the confidence to face any challenge. Victor's reinforcements were approaching, but they were ready.
At this moment, Lumina's voice sounded in his mind, with a hint of surprise: "Elias, we received a signal from Dr. Karen! She sent us a piece of encrypted data, which may be the internal network data of Victor's main laboratory. But the data is encrypted, and Lena needs time to decrypt it."
Elias' eyes brightened. This was a crucial breakthrough—if they could decrypt the data, they would be able to understand Victor's dark symbiosis network plan more clearly, and find his weaknesses. "Tell Lena to decrypt the data as soon as possible," he said in his mind. "This data may be the key to defeating Victor."
The cave was quiet again, but everyone knew that this was just a short rest. Victor's reinforcements were approaching, and a new battle was about to start. The alliance between Elias' team and the Dawn Collective was facing a new test, but their determination to fight against Victor had never been stronger.