Amid the inferno, a hulking figure emerged unscathed. The Mutated Lord—its near-imperable physique rehe miissiles almost useless. The relentless assault had only mao peel away its skin, exposing raw, bloody muscle beh.

  "Target: Mutated Lord." "ventional ons are iive. Call for air support!" The meical dog, equipped with advanced AI, quickly assessed the situation and transmitted an urgent distress signal.

  Far away in Mansion No. 8 of Tribeca, Ava was carefully tending to her pnts, wiping their leaves with a tissue. Her unicator buzzed to life in her pocket. Gng at the s, she saw a live feed of the Mutated Lord wreaking havoc. Without hesitation, she abandoned her task, tossing the tissue aside, and sprio the helipad. Moments ter, the Avalon roared to life as she took off, heading down the river toward the area.

  This was sed nature to Ava by now. At a moment's notice, she would leap into a, rushing to battle whenever her Ant and Spiders called for backup. To her, these intimidating maes weren’t just tools of war; they were rades. “Arriving in two minutes. Make sure you identify targets accurately.” Ava’s calm voice carried over the unicator to the meical units.

  “Air support inbound. Focus fire and piarget withirike zowo-minute tdown.” At her and, the Ant and Spiders adjusted their tactics. All firepower trated oated Lord, unleashing a relentless barrage.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Miissiles streaked through the air, smming into the creature in rapid succession. Tungsten-core armor-pierg rounds flew like an endless stream, their impact heating the barrels of the mae guns until they glowed red. The rapid guhundered like a pounding drumbeat, carving small ks into the Dominator’s dense muscles. Although its monstrous body resisted most of the damage, the stant pressure from bullets and explosions gradually began to overwhelm it.

  The Mutated Lord’s movements slowed. Its once-mighty limbs seemed pinned uhe unyielding hail of fire. More and more tungsten rounds embedded themselves into its muscle tissue faster than the creature could expel them. Each missile strike tore open new wounds, and its burly frame was soon riddled with craters, resembling the surface of the moon.

  Then, from deep within the bzing warehouse, ah-shaking roar erupted. “ROAR!!!” The sound was deafening, like a thundercp. It sent shockwaves rippling through the air, extinguishing fmes and scattering burning debris.

  Two drivers, stationed 200 meters away in an ammunition truck, cried out in pain as they clutched their ears. Blood seeped through their fingers, and their faces twisted in agony. “Warning: Detected high-energy biological rea!”

  The meical dog’s arm bred just as a new figure emerged from the sm remains of the warehouse. Standing atop a scorched tainer was a massive, three-meter-tall creature. Its appearance was eerily simir to I, but there was something uling in its glowing eyes—something intelligent. The creature sed its surroundings, its gaze filled with curiosity, like a newborn seeing the world for the first time. But this moment of calm didn’t st.

  Click! Click! Click!

  The air filled with the sound of armor-pierg bullets as the Ant and Spiders opened fire. The hail of rounds struck the creature, tearing into its flesh, but it barely flinched. Its defenses were surprisingly weak, even inferior to the inal Lord. However, before anyone could capitalize on this vulnerability, the creature let out another enraged roar. Its body began to writhe and transform. Bck fibers slithered out from beh its skin like wriggling snakes, swiftly c its entire body. These fibers hardened, f an exoskeleton-like shell that glistened in the firelight.

  g! g! g!

  The wave of bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the bck armor. While each impact left a small dent, the damage was superficial. Worse, the dents began to vanish as the exoskeleton rapidly regeed. “Suppressive fire! Keep it pinned!”

  Despite the tinued barrage, the creature showed no signs of slowing down. Its movements grew mgressive as it adapted to the relentless assault. With another furious roar, the creature’s arms began to morph. The bck fibers pulsated as its limbs elongated and ftteransf into razor-sharp bdes. “ROAR!!!”

  The beast crouched low, muscles coiling like a spring. Then, with explosive force, it leapt into the air, s like a onball. Its ndi shockwaves through the ground, shaking nearby tainers and causing two meical spiders to stumble. Before they could recover, the creature struck. Its bded arms fshed with white light as it swung with devastating speed.

  Ssh! Ssh!

  The sound of metal slig through air filled the battlefield, followed by the metallic groans of maes struggling to hold their ground. Two alloy-steel spiders were sliced ly in half as if their tough exteriors were made of soft tofu.

  Zzzzzzt!

  The cut surfaces sparked with electricity, each edge smooth as gss—a testament to the incredible sharpness of the creature’s bde-like arms. The absence of explosions made the se eerily quiet in parison, a ge Zack had implemented after the st massive zombie wave rehe spiders' self-destruct meism dangerous due to radiation ination.

  “Tungsten-core armor-pierg bullets are iive against the target!”“Recalg...”“ce of breaking through its defenses in melee bat: zero.”“Retreat! Call for missile cover!”

  The meical dogs, powered by AI, quickly reassessed the situatinizing the futility of tinuing the fight, they made the logical choice to pull back. While retreating, they sighe distant meical units to unch miissiles, creating a fiery barrier to shield the withdrawal of the remaining Ant and Spiders. This calcuted move highlighted the stark differeween Ant and Spiders and human soldiers. Maes never panicked, hesitated, or acted impulsively. They prioritized survival and efficy above all else, making decisions purely based on data.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Miissiles streaked through the sky, detonating just behind the retreating Ant and Spiders. The resulting inferno engulfed the area, fmes surging upward in a futile attempt to block the monstrous pursuer.

  “ROAR!!!”

  The beast emerged unscathed from the wall of fire, its i-like exoskeleton shedding fmes effortlessly. Explosions a seemed to do nothing, and its speed was staggering. Its dark form blurred into a shadowy afterimage as it sprinted after the retreating maes.

  In moments, it closed the gap, its bded arms slig through the remaining two spiders and the meical dog in one fluid motion. Sparks erupted as their bodies were torn into jagged metal scraps, scattering lifelessly across the ground. But the creature didn’t stop. It kept moving, heading toward the t es and distant buildings where more meical units were stationed.

  “I’ve arrived above your loark the bombing target!” Ava’s voice came through the unicator as her Avalon roared into view above the area. Flying low along the river, she quickly spotted two primary threats: the battered Mutated Lord and the monstrous, i-armored beast that had emerged from the age.

  The moment she saw the tter attag the meical units, Ava didn’t hesitate. “Target wo is the priority. All units, avoid the strike zone!”