As soon as the fighting broke out, the defending side realized that these uninvited guests were overwhelmingly powerful—most of them were Colonists, or at the very least, Reserve Colonists who had activated their extreme limits! But were the personnel remaining aboard the Valkyrie transport ship weak? At least a good portion of them were also Reserve Colonists, not to mention they held the advantage in numbers! If a full-scale conflict erupted, it was likely the newcomers would be annihilated, and few of the contracted personnel defending the ship would survive either.

These thirteen Contractors had come from the Hell’s Gate base. They had received a covert mission stating that due to recent special operations, a Valkyrie-class transport ship had crashed at coordinates [omitted]. The core engine of the Valkyrie was extremely valuable, and they were sent to assess it; if it was undamaged, they were to retrieve it. Of course, this mission had a strict six-hour time limit—no exceptions. In short, finding a solution that satisfied both parties perfectly was absolutely impossible.

While both sides remained in a tense standoff, the invading group of Colonists likely sensed that brute force wouldn't guarantee victory. They put forth a proposition: as long as the defenders could defeat their thirteen men under equal and fair conditions, they would immediately turn around and leave. Whether it was 1v1 or several v several, the maximum would be thirteen versus thirteen, fighting until the point of being near-death, but without inflicting permanent harm.

The rules of engagement would follow the customary, conventionally accepted protocol:

F-System style (one person challenges, and as long as they aren't defeated, they can continue to challenge the next opponent). Once combat commenced, the spatial field would forcibly set the distance between both parties to fifty meters. The duel duration would be ten minutes. If no one reached the near-death state, victory would be determined by remaining health percentage. The victor would have a thirty-second rest period between matches. Surrender was permitted. Once surrendered, the individual would enter a temporary invulnerable state, unable to attack others (this was to prevent malicious follow-up attacks). No consumables, such as medicine or stims, were allowed during combat.

Naturally, to prevent the malicious act of landing a final blow after pushing an opponent to the brink, this entire set of duel rules would be notarized by a spatial contract.

If the defenders refused, the thirteen Colonists had already issued a threat: if they couldn't gain any advantage in this world, they would instead dedicate themselves to relentlessly harassing and engaging the Contractors defending the ship in guerrilla warfare, ambushing and assassinating anyone they found isolated. This harsh ultimatum struck at the Achilles’ heel of the defending Contractors; they were, after all, just a loose collection of individuals incapable of unified advance or retreat!

Under these circumstances, the two sides inevitably engaged in combat...

Having clearly understood the entire sequence of events, Fang Senyan took a deep breath:

“The difficulty of this Battlefield Side Mission... is truly beyond what I had imagined! By interrupting the Beast Tide attack, we effectively lowered the primary mission difficulty, and in response, the system immediately spawned this intensely conflicting hidden mission!! Only by defeating these thirteen Colonists can we secure ultimate victory!”

Looking at the utterly crestfallen expression of Yao Meng, Hack, a member of the Illuminati standing next to Fang Senyan, was also visibly shocked:

“Even Yao Meng was defeated!”

The dark-skinned man, chewing gum and casually uttering an obscenity, drawled:

“That’s normal, that chick didn’t look like much anyway.”

Hack’s face darkened, but maintaining composure out of respect for Fang Senyan, he retorted:

“You try stepping up then. I should also inform you, a full seven people have already fallen to that Colonist, Chase Karl, and his long blade!”

Mogansa waved a dismissive hand:

“And how many have they lost?”

Hack’s facial muscles twitched:

“He was the first one to issue a challenge, and he hasn't lost a single bout yet.”

Fang Senyan’s expression immediately grew serious. Contracted personnel who managed to survive the Beast Tide couldn't possibly be incompetent. And this man wielding a katana had already won seven consecutive matches. Considering the prior encounters with Riel and the others, the strength of the opponent before him was evident. Could it be that Colonists truly held such a massive advantage over Contractors?

He paused in thought for a moment, and suddenly a familiar, grating staccato sound—the dada-da-da—registered in his ears! Fang Senyan was deeply startled, and an unbelievable notion flooded his mind:

“Could it be…”

He looked up. In that brief moment of distraction, the dark-skinned man had seized the lull in the conversation and entered the fray! Fang Senyan was alarmed. The opponent used a long blade, clearly favoring speed and close-quarters combat—wasn't that the perfect counter to the dark-skinned man’s style? He was about to speak when a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned to see Reef nodding, stating seriously:

“Boss, the reputation of Gold isn't just hype.”

Fang Senyan instantly sobered. Since Mogansa decided to follow him, he had indeed been exceedingly low-key, but one could not ignore the fact that every single mission assigned to him had been completed flawlessly.

More importantly, because the team’s composition was still incomplete, Mogansa was solely responsible for providing the team’s entire ranged firepower output. Before meeting Fang Senyan, Mogansa had been the leader of all ranged Contractors in the Symbiosis Society. How formidable was a Metal Mentor? The core team members she approved of couldn't be ordinary people! Perhaps this guy was even someone she had brought with her when she left her former team!

By now, the battle in the distance had officially begun. After Mogansa provocatively challenged the opponent while chewing on his cigar, the duel commenced. As per protocol, the combatants were forcibly separated by fifty meters. The cold-faced Contractor, carrying his katana, charged forward with straightforward aggression. Mogansa spat out a smoke ring, pointed the muzzle of his weapon forward, and immediately unleashed a torrent of blinding muzzle flash.

In an instant, the Colonist’s forward momentum slowed slightly. A few cold, shimmering lines seemed to materialize before him—the light trails left by his frantically moving long blade!

The bullets fired by Mogansa froze in mid-air, seemingly losing all kinetic energy in that split second. Then, much like a freeze-frame in The Matrix, they became fixed in the air, splitting precisely in two! They then drifted downward slowly, while the Contractor, head down, resumed his high-speed charge, resembling a cavalryman determined to die mid-assault!

Mogansa took a deep drag from his cigar, pulling the pale blue smoke deep into his lungs, before re-aiming and firing again.

The Colonist had already closed the distance to within thirty meters. He slowed his pace fractionally again, and the surrounding cold light reappeared. But this time, when the bullets met the edge of the blade, they triggered a series of intensely violent chain explosions!

Since various bandages and medical consumables also had cooldown timers and couldn't be used infinitely, and the rest period was only thirty seconds, this Colonist, having fought seven grueling matches consecutively, was clearly operating at a critically low health level. Yet, facing such fierce explosions, Chase Karl managed to flick his blade upward and ruthlessly continue his advance!!

At this moment, a cold glint flashed in Mogansa’s eyes, and his finger tightened on the trigger again. A blue light immediately flared across the surface of Gold...

Beast Instinct,

Activated!

“Da-da-da-da-da!” This time, five bullets ejected from the muzzle! These five shots looked ordinary, but the instant they left the barrel, the fifth suddenly accelerated, slamming into the base of the fourth bullet. The fourth struck the base of the third, and so on, until the impact reached the first bullet. That lead projectile instantaneously accelerated, transforming into a streak of white light that shot forward, piercing the Colonist’s throat before he could react!!

Critical Hit!

Near-Death State!!

Kneeling down!

The faces of the newly arrived Colonists instantly turned extremely ugly! In their minds, it was pure folly for a gunman to challenge one of their own, yet the situation had deteriorated instantly. More crucially, the opponent didn't even appear to be a Reserve Colonist!!

Logically, controlling bullet velocity was a fundamental skill every marksman had to master. But Mogansa’s velocity manipulation was simply demonic. Indeed, the only word that applied was "demonic"—first using a standard firing rate to give the Colonist time to adapt his firing parameters, and then the second attack was a cascade of velocity shifts! Human reflexes have limits, and Mogansa had exploited that gap for a one-hit takedown!

Of course, it had to be acknowledged that the katana-wielding Colonist had already defeated seven opponents previously. Many of his skills were likely on cooldown, and most critically: medical aids and bandages also had cooldown timers. This was why Mogansa managed to seize the opportunity for a headshot kill.

At this point, the dark-skinned man casually snapped his fingers, raised Gold, and fired a few rounds triumphantly into the air, exhaling a plume of smoke.

Fang Senyan smiled and gave a thumbs-up!

The opposing Colonists showed little surprise at their comrade's defeat. One man stepped forward to pull the visibly disgruntled Contractor, Chase Karl, back. Another taller Colonist with a ponytail impassively stood forth, holding an M41 fitted with a suppressor, and gave a slight salute towards the dark-skinned man in the distance, who was casually chewing his cigar!

“Whoa, an M4 matchup? Are you sure you aren't messing around?” Hack couldn't help but whistle.

Taking advantage of the thirty-second rest period allotted after each fight, the dark-skinned man was certainly not going to suffer a loss. Though unharmed, he extinguished his cigar, popped a piece of Blue J gum into his mouth—a restorative consumable that continuously replenished mental energy.