latelenovela Chapter 319 Is this Nightmare Difficulty?
Chapter 319 Is this Nightmare Difficulty?
[Simulated battle scenario loading: Giants Resurrected - Nightmare Difficulty]
[The mission is about to begin...]
[Scene loading complete...]
"Giants are resurrected?"
Ye Rui stared at the scarlet characters floating in the void before him, his heart clenched, and then he precisely retrieved the corresponding scene from the fragments of his memory.
That was the moment when Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Naga first descended upon the world.
If my memory serves me right, Golza will eventually sever its tail to survive in this battle and burrow underground.
"But this is a simulation. And it's on Nightmare difficulty."
Before he could ponder the anomaly it contained, his consciousness was suddenly seized and pulled by an invisible force.
My vision suddenly rose to a dizzying height, then plummeted downwards, accompanied by a brief but intense feeling of weightlessness.
Once he calmed himself down, the familiar touches and sights enveloped him.
A slight, persistent feeling of overload pressed against my chest, and in my ears came the deep hum of the engine and the hissing sound of air rubbing against the cabin walls.
Before me stood the iconic control panel of the Victory Flying Swallow No. 1 cockpit.
The pale blue indicator lights flashed regularly, and the holographically projected terrain map floated in mid-air, undulating slightly with the flight attitude.
He is "sitting" here. Or rather, his consciousness is fully embedded in this simulated vehicle.
Ye Rui almost instinctively reached out, his fingertips brushing over several key tactical sections on the control panel.
The cool, alloy-like feel, the crisp feedback of the buttons, and even the subtle, almost imperceptible wear marks on the edge of the panel.
Everything felt so real it made my pores shrink. It wasn't just the visuals; there were the subtle vibrations of the cabin due to high-speed flight, the unique low hum of the instruments, and the gentle breeze from the air circulation system that carried a faint ozone and metallic scent.
All his senses were frantically telling him: "This is not a game; this is a highly replicated, immersive survival test."
He suddenly looked up and peered out of the cabin through the windshield.
There was no familiar runway at the base, no city skyline.
Instead, there was a burning inferno, as if trampled by a giant.
Thick smoke, like a heavy shroud, obscured most of the sky, with only a few stubborn, murky, yellowish rays of sunlight barely piercing through the smoke curtain, casting a few futile beams of light and shadow.
The earth was scarred and ravaged, with huge ravines crisscrossing like gaping wounds, broken skyscrapers resembling pale finger bones snapped off by immense force, and exposed steel bars twisted and drooping like silent lamentations.
Further away, a blurry, enormous, and suffocating shadow was slowly moving. With each step it took, even from this distance, the dull, extremely oppressive vibrations could be felt through the machine.
"It's Golza!"
At that very moment, that cold, emotionless mechanical voice once again assaulted his hearing, each word like an icicle striking:
[Main Mission Objective: Stop Golza's advance and protect the remaining evacuation route 7 kilometers southeast. Time Limit: 12 minutes.]
[WARNING: This simulated battle data is based on the historical event 'Golza's first appearance on the Mongolian plains' with a 200% intensity increase. The AI reaction efficiency of all simulated 'friendly units' (including but not limited to Ground Self-Defense Forces and TPC regular forces) is reduced by 70%.]
[Special Note: In this scene, the 'Giant Statue' is unavailable. No Ultraman intervention is possible.]
The last sentence, like a bucket of ice water, poured down Ye Rui's spine.
"No Ultraman intervention!"
He instantly understood the meaning of "nightmare difficulty".
This was not a repetition of history; it was a near-suicidal defensive battle that had to be fought under absolute disadvantage, relying solely on a single Victory Flying Swallow No. 1 aircraft.
"Golza at 200% strength... friendly forces are almost paralyzed... no Tiga, no Naga..." Ye Rui repeated the key information rapidly in a low voice, his pupils slightly contracting due to the high-speed thinking. But at the same time, years of tactical training and his instincts as a genius analyst had forcibly suppressed the initial chill. His hands seemed to have gained independent consciousness, and began to operate rapidly on the control panel and virtual screen.
The system interface unfolds, clearly listing the real-time status of Victory Flying Swallow No. 1, its remaining energy, and the currently available "tactical weapon loadout".
“Fortunately,” Ye Rui glanced at the weapon list, his tight lips twitching slightly with a hint of relief, “the system hasn’t gone so far as to only issue me signal flares to tease monsters.”
The list includes the familiar Victory Team uniform and experimental equipment:
"Standard front-mounted high-energy laser cannon (fully powered)"
"Multi-purpose missile launcher in the fuselage (12 missiles)"
One optional tactical hardpoint: microwave launcher, airborne high-explosive mine array, quick-freeze laser generator...
His brain, like an overclocked processor, combined various data from Golza in his memory, such as skin strength, heat resistance, behavioral patterns, and the hellish battlefield environment before him, to conduct lightning-fast performance evaluations and tactical combination simulations of these weapons.
“Microwave cannon…” He hovered his finger over the item on the virtual screen for half a second before rejecting it. “The instantaneous thermal shock is extremely high, but Golza is a monster that can absorb geothermal heat and even swim in magma. Hitting it with this thing would probably be no different from giving it a sauna; the energy would be a complete waste.”
“Airborne mine array…” His gaze quickly shifted downwards. “Setting up a blockade zone to slow down the advance… is feasible, but the explosive impact of the mines alone is unlikely to effectively hinder the enhanced Golza. It must be combined with other hard-kill or strong control methods to form a series of tactics.”
"Freezing Ray..." Upon seeing this option, Ye Rui frowned even more deeply. "Theoretically, the control time should not exceed 55 seconds, and its effect on Golza, whose skin temperature is extremely high, will be further reduced. It's a godsend for creating opportunities for giants, but now... the time is too short, and the firepower cannot be connected, making it useless."
His mind was in turmoil, grappling with weapon data, monster characteristics, and mission objectives. The firepower of the Victory Flying Swallow No. 1 was nothing short of a pipe dream; a direct confrontation would only lead to certain death.
"and many more..."
Ye Rui's rapidly racing thoughts suddenly came to a halt.
A keyword he had subconsciously ignored reappeared in the mission prompt: [Stop Golza's advance].
It's not about killing or repelling, it's about "stopping".
A sharp glint suddenly pierced through the tactical fog in his mind.
“That’s right… there’s no need to kill it, or even severely damage it.” Ye Rui muttered to himself, his voice suppressing a hint of sudden enlightenment and excitement.
"Just make it 'stop,' or... 'turn' around!"
His gaze returned to the weapons inventory, but this time, his perspective was different. He was no longer looking for the "most lethal" weapons, but rather for the "most efficient obstacle-creating solutions."
Several previously overlooked, unconventional options came into view. An extremely bold, even somewhat "tricky," tactical framework began to rapidly take shape in his mind.
There are 11 minutes and 47 seconds left.
The shadow of Golza drew ever closer amidst the smoke of battle.
Ye Rui took a deep breath, the simulated air with the smell of ozone rushing into his lungs. His fingertips traced a determined path on the control screen, beginning his "nightmare" counterattack.
Ye Rui's gaze, like a precise scanner, swept over every option on the list, finally settling on a few seemingly peripheral weapon modules:
"Holographic Terrain Disruption Projector (Experimental) - High energy consumption, lasts 15 seconds, can generate realistic terrain illusions with a radius of 500 meters."
"High-frequency acoustic beam generator (for large organisms) - can directionally emit specific frequency sound waves that agitate most large organisms, with the effect depending on the target's physiological structure."
"Special smoke bomb (containing trace amounts of magnetic dust) - an upgraded version of traditional smoke bombs, which can interfere with vision and slightly disturb the geomagnetic field, potentially causing confusion in the sense of direction for some underground creatures."
These are the ones.
Killing Golza is a pipe dream, but if it's just about "misleading," "interfering," or "creating trouble"...
A clear, adventurous, yet distinctly Wild Rift-esque tactical blueprint quickly took shape in his mind. He didn't choose any directly lethal weapons, his fingertips flying across the screen, tapping and confirming.
[Tactical Mount Selection Confirmed: Holographic Terrain Jammer x1, High-Frequency Sonic Cluster Generator x1, Special Smoke Grenade Launcher Module (Full Load)]
[Weapon system loading...]
Slight mechanical sounds emanated from the sides and belly of the Flying Swallow-1, as new payload modules were virtually generated and mounted. Almost simultaneously, the onboard AI automatically generated a real-time dynamic path prediction for Golza, with a blood-red arrow pointing southeast—the location of the evacuation route.
"We can't let it go in a straight line," Ye Rui whispered, his hands firmly gripping the control stick, his feet making slight adjustments to the pedals. Victory Swallow 1 roared obediently, tracing a sharp arc as it cut rapidly into Golza's path from the side and rear.
The distance was closing. The details of the colossal creature became clearer: its rough skin, a mixture of dark red and earthy yellow, was covered with jagged, horny protrusions; its thick tail dragged behind it, each step causing the earth to groan; and the strange organ on its head, emitting a dark purple light, looked particularly ominous.
"Let's test your 'temper' first." Ye Rui's sharp eyes locked onto Golza's relatively vulnerable eye area. The halo of light from the standard laser cannon's charging gathered at the nose of the aircraft.
call out--!
A beam of bright blue, high-energy light pierced through the polluted air and struck Golza's head with pinpoint accuracy.
"Roar--!!"
The enhanced Golza reacted incredibly quickly. It didn't even close its eyes completely; it just tilted its head slightly, allowing the beam of light to explode into a dazzling cluster of sparks on its thick brow bone.
The pain clearly enraged it; it halted its advance, abruptly turning its head towards the direction from which the attack had come, a dark purple light flashing intensely in the organs on its head.
It's now!
Without lingering, Ye Rui yanked the control stick, and the Flying Swallow No. 1 deftly rolled and climbed. Just as Golza's attention was successfully drawn, he activated the high-frequency sound wave beam generator.
Buzz—! ! !
A creature, almost imperceptible to humans but abnormally sensitive to specific frequencies, was like a fingernail scratching glass, amplified a thousand times, gathered into a cone and directed at Golza's head.
This is not an attack, but the ultimate form of harassment.
Golza's massive body stiffened visibly for a moment, then it let out an even more ferocious roar. The sonic attack couldn't cause any real damage, but it felt like countless tiny needles piercing its sensory nerves, bringing unbearable irritation and dizziness.
It stopped moving in a straight line and began to shake its head wildly in place, its thick tail impatiently sweeping away a nearby, already crumbling ruin.
"It works! But it won't last long!" Ye Rui calmly assessed. A creature's instincts will quickly adapt to or ignore this persistent, abnormal stimulus. He needed to proceed to the next step.
As the Flying Swallow No. 1 hovered above Golza, Ye Rui seized the opportunity when it slightly turned away due to its agitation and activated the "Special Smoke Grenade Launching Module".
"Bang bang bang!"
Several specially designed projectiles were precisely launched about 300 meters in front of Golza and to the flank area it was currently facing. The projectiles exploded, releasing extremely dense grayish-white smoke mixed with special magnetic particles, which quickly formed two huge smoke bands that not only obscured visibility but also created weak but continuous geomagnetic disturbances in the local area.
For Golza, which lives underground and likely relies on geomagnetism and vibration to sense direction, this is tantamount to throwing interference into its "navigation system".
Immediately afterwards, Ye Rui raised the Flying Swallow No. 1 to a safe altitude, aimed it at the smoke area that Golza was facing, and activated the most critical equipment - the holographic terrain interference projector.
The energy readings plummeted instantly. An invisible wave emanated from the fuselage, covering the smoke-filled area ahead.
In an instant, on Yeri's display screen and in the monster's eyes, the scene behind the smoke distorted and changed—the flat ruins disappeared, replaced by a sudden, steep, jagged virtual rock wall illusion, blocking Golza's path as if it were a natural barrier.
The real smoke obscured the edges and details of the illusion, the slight disturbance of the geomagnetic field interfered with Golza's orientation, and the lingering sonic disturbance in its head prevented it from calmly "thinking".
Golza stopped in its tracks. It growled, facing the suddenly appearing rock wall and unsettling smoke with a puzzled expression. It slammed its tail heavily on the ground, trying to sense the vibrations, but the magnetic particles in the smoke made the echoes garbled. The luminous organ on its head flickered, as if it were trying to analyze this illogical situation.
Ye Rui held his breath, staring intently at the vital signs monitoring and Golza's behavior pattern analysis curve on the screen. Time ticked by: 10 minutes and 21 seconds.
Golza hesitated for a few seconds, seemingly disgusted by the "rock wall" and the smoke. It finally growled, clumsily turned around, and chose to head towards the other side where the smoke was thinner and there were no "obstacles"—at an angle of about 30 degrees from its original route.
It has been successfully "misled"!
"Good!" Ye Rui almost punched the air in celebration, but he immediately suppressed his emotions. This was only the first step. Golza had only temporarily veered off course; once it left the smoke's range, saw through the illusion, or simply took a detour and corrected its direction, the crisis was far from over.
He needs to continue applying pressure to solidify this misdirection and further "guide" Golza towards safer areas away from evacuation routes.
After glancing at the remaining energy and weapon status, Ye Rui's lips tightened into a resolute line.
“Come on, big guy.” He pushed the control stick, and Victory Swallow 1 dove again. “The nightmare is just beginning.”
His fingertip hovered over the start button on the missile launcher.
This time, the goal isn't to inflict damage, but to create a larger, more persistent... roadblock.