c019 The Invincible Monster
The Marines of Division 45 were obviously far stronger than those of Division 42 in terms of overall combat effectiveness and battlefield discipline. One group rushed straight toward Lin Mu with swords, bayonets, and long knives in hand, clearly intending to engage him in close combat, while another group remained on the periphery of the deck and used rifles and pistols to provide continuous fire cover.
This kind of coordinated division of labor was evenly distributed and orderly, completely different from the chaotic charge of Division 42 that Lin Mu had wiped out earlier.
However, even such coordination could only add a little trouble for Lin Mu. To truly reverse the situation and defeat Lin Mu with this level of strength was nothing more than an unrealistic dream!
After Lin Mu casually killed the Marine closest to him with a single swing of his steel claws, the Quicksilver speed burst out completely. His figure turned into a blur as he shuttled among the Marines at an extremely fast speed, like a ferocious beast charging through a flock of sheep. Wherever he passed, Marines fell to the ground one after another on both sides, blood splashing across the deck.
Lin Mu's high-speed movement obviously increased the difficulty for the Marines who were armed with firearms, because once they fired carelessly, their bullets would easily hit their own companions who were entangled with Lin Mu.
Of course, this kind of situation still happened from time to time, and every time it did, it made Lin Mu feel distressed for a short while, because every Marine killed by friendly fire meant a direct loss of experience points!
"Bang!"
Suddenly, from an angle Lin Mu did not notice, a bullet pierced through the air and directly hit his shoulder, instantly opening a bloody hole.
"I hit him, I actually hit him, he's injured, I hit him!" A Marine holding a gun was overjoyed and shouted excitedly, his voice trembling with excitement.
To them, Lin Mu standing before their eyes was like a demon crawling out of hell, mercilessly harvesting Marine lives. Now that he had actually managed to injure this demon, how could he not feel ecstatic?
When the other Marines saw this scene, their fighting spirit immediately rose, and the fear they had toward Lin Mu was also reduced by a large margin. Since Lin Mu could be injured by bullets, then they still had hope of victory.
After all, in terms of numbers alone, they still possessed an absolute advantage.
One shot might not be able to completely kill the pirate in front of them, but what about two shots? What about three shots fired together?
"His shoulder has been injured, his movements will definitely be affected. Take advantage of it now, hurry up and"
The Marine who had injured Lin Mu shouted excitedly, but his words abruptly stopped halfway. His eyes widened in shock, almost popping out of their sockets, as if he had seen a ghost right in front of him!
"This… how is this possible…"
"His wound… it's actually recovering!"
"This… he's obviously not a Devil Fruit user, why is this happening!"
At this moment, all the Marines on the warship of Division 45 fell into a state of complete confusion and disbelief.
They had personally witnessed Lin Mu diving into the sea and swimming freely, which clearly proved that he was not a Devil Fruit power user, since everyone in the Grand Line and even the East Blue knew that Devil Fruit users would lose their strength in seawater. Yet the terrifying speed at which his wound was healing was something no normal human could possibly possess!
This was simply not the ability of an ordinary person at all.
This single thought appeared almost simultaneously in the minds of every Marine present.
A monster!
The emergence of this realization completely shattered the remaining fighting spirit in their hearts.
Facing a monster that could recover from gunshot wounds in the blink of an eye and possessed terrifying combat power, no matter how one looked at it, continuing to fight was no different from throwing away one's life!
In an instant, the Marine formation that had barely maintained order collapsed completely. Discipline vanished, fear spread uncontrollably, and more than a hundred Marines turned around and fled in all directions across the deck, abandoning all thoughts of resistance.
Colonel Iden naturally saw all of this chaos and collapse on the deck, and his face instantly turned pale. He immediately grabbed the Den Den Mushi in his hand, veins bulging on his forehead, and roared loudly: "Request immediate support, request immediate support! Our Marine Division 45 alone is no longer capable of fighting against Troyson D. Lin! If reinforcements do not arrive now, we will be wiped out just like the 42nd Marine Division!"
At the same time, on the deck of the Marine warship belonging to Division 48, Colonel Flender slowly hung up the Den Den Mushi in his hand and silently looked at the burning and shaking warship of Division 45 not far away, his expression gloomy and unpredictable.
"Colonel, do we need to provide support?" a Marine officer standing beside Flender asked cautiously, his voice low.
A cold light flashed in Flender's eyes as he replied calmly: "Yes, of course…"
"Yes, sir! I will immediately inform the helmsman to advance at full speed!" the Marine said with relief, turned around, and was about to leave.
"Wait!" Flender suddenly raised his hand to stop him, his tone cold and decisive: "Support must be given, but not in that way."
The Marine froze and turned back in confusion: "Then how are we supposed to support them?"
"Pass down the order," Flender said with a sneer, his voice filled with cruelty, "fire all artillery at the warship of Division 45, sink it directly, then retreat at full speed and return to the Division 48 base!"
Flender snorted coldly and continued: "Troyson D. Lin has already broken through the defenses of Division 42 and Division 45 in succession. Ordinary Marine branch warships are no longer capable of dealing with such a monster. If we directly destroy the No. 45 warship, it would be best if we can kill him along with it. Even if we fail to kill him, it can still delay his killing speed and buy us precious time!"
When the Marine heard Flender's words, his expression changed drastically, and he blurted out in disbelief: "But Colonel, there are still a large number of Marine soldiers on that warship!"
"Hmph!" Flender let out a cold snort, his eyes full of disdain. "The Marines on that warship are probably already dead or about to die. Do you intend to drag all of us into hell just because of those few people? This is called sacrificing the chess piece to protect the king, don't you understand such a simple principle!?"
Flender glared fiercely at the Marine who dared to question his order and shouted angrily.
That Marine clenched his teeth, his fists trembling slightly, but in the end he could only lower his head helplessly and respond: "Yes, sir!"
...
On the warship of Marine Division 45, Lin Mu was still happily harvesting his own experience points, his figure moving rapidly across the deck, just like a ferocious wolf charging into a sheepfold without restraint!
For these Marine soldiers, Lin Mu had no mercy left in his heart at all. In his eyes, these people were no different from hostile monsters, and killing them brought him no psychological burden whatsoever.
Moreover, the most important point was that he was now standing on the opposite side of the Marines. If he did not kill the Marines, then the Marines would kill him without hesitation.
To show mercy to the enemy was to destroy oneself!
Lin Mu understood this truth very clearly.
"Ding, kill Marine Corporal and gain 3 experience points!"
"Ding, kill Marine Sergeant and gain 5 experience points!"
"Ding, kill ordinary Marine and gain 2 experience points!"
Listening to the continuous system prompts echoing in his mind, Lin Mu felt extremely pleased. At this moment, his accumulated experience points had already approached one thousand, leaving only the final 50 points. As long as he obtained another 50 experience points, he would be able to successfully break through and advance to the next level!
But just at this critical moment, a series of deafening artillery roars suddenly rang out from afar. Immediately afterward, Lin Mu felt the entire warship beneath his feet shake violently, the hull creaking and splitting apart as if it were about to collapse completely!