Chapter 128: Triple Kill

"Mr. David, may I observe your operation?" the sniper sergeant asked softly as David walked into the long-range sniper cannon control room.

"No problem," David nodded, unbothered by the presence of an observer.

"Brother David, I will stand guard outside," Gerard the armored soldier said in a deep voice, his gaze fixed on the exoskeleton armor David was still wearing.

David had not removed his exoskeleton armor even upon reaching this point. Gerard knew his suspicions were correct—David was severely injured. He needed to get medical personnel ready so that David could receive the best treatment the moment he finished.

David entered the control room, sat in the command chair, and gripped the control interface. The exoskeleton armor did not hinder his operation; in fact, it provided a speed boost to his movements, enhancing his agility. Snipers were accustomed to operating while wearing exoskeleton armor, and David felt even more confident in his marksmanship while shielded by it.

He quickly scanned the operating system and discovered that the control room for Long-range Sniper Cannon No. 35 actually controlled three separate cannons: 35, 36, and 37. He wasn't sure if this was the standard scope of the sniper sergeant’s duties or a special authorization granted to him.

Earlier, while on the road, David had noted the positions where the military soldiers and mercenary soldiers were fighting. He quickly input the coordinates into the control interface. Soon, the display screen showed the live feed of the battle: ten military soldiers engaged against six unmarked mercenaries.

The sniper sergeant beside him watched the soldiers on the screen moving with such speed that they left afterimages. He looked at David with concern. As a sniper, he knew how incredibly difficult it was to target soldiers moving at such high speeds. Only a battle-hardened and highly experienced sniper could successfully hit soldiers actively engaged in combat. It required lightning-fast neural reflexes, an intimate familiarity with the fighting styles of armored soldiers, and immense self-confidence.

David noticed that with the exoskeleton armor, his reaction speed had actually improved—by less than 20 percent, perhaps, but for a sniper, that was a massive advantage. He focused all his attention on the battle in the distance. The range was approximately 4,300 meters; this was certainly not an ideal distance for a standard sniper rifle. A normal sniper using a specialized rifle preferred distances between 500 and 1,000 meters, with highly skilled marksmen perhaps extending that by another 500 meters. At 4,300 meters, a bullet from a standard rifle would take a significant amount of time to reach its target.

However, David was operating long-range sniper cannons. The massive barrel and superior propellant ensured that the projectile maintained high velocity even at a range of 5,000 meters.

David toggled between the three cannons, focusing their targeting reticles on the battlefield. He was waiting for an opportunity—a chance for a one-hit kill—while closely observing the mercenaries' fighting habits. Most military snipers rarely studied such tactics, and even if they did, they lacked the opportunity to practice them. But David’s sniping techniques were inherited from a fanatical mercenary sniper whose primary targets were armored soldiers. Consequently, he possessed a wealth of experience regarding the movement patterns and combat behavior of these soldiers.

David applied this expertise now, analyzing and judging the situation. Ten seconds passed, then fifteen. David’s hands remained perfectly steady, without a tremor.

On the battlefield, the ten military soldiers were struggling to hold their ground, suffering greatly due to the disparity in power. All of them sustained multiple injuries. One soldier had taken a blow to his right leg; although his exoskeleton armor absorbed most of the impact, a deep gash remained. Worse, the armor on his leg was shattered, and he could no longer keep pace with the squad’s formation.

"Number Three, kill him!" the lead mercenary commanded in a deep voice.

Originally, he had not intended to kill the military soldiers, but these soldiers from Peran City were too fanatical. Despite the clear gap in combat power, their crazed tactics had allowed one of them to nearly break free from the engagement. This would be a stain on their mission evaluation, and a portion of their ten-million-credit reward would be docked. If the client were sufficiently dissatisfied, the mission could even be declared a failure. By killing the injured soldier, they could force the others to break their formation to attempt a rescue, allowing the mercenaries to quickly crush them.

The soldier called Number Three hesitated, but he followed orders. He stomped against the ground, accelerating toward the injured, slow-moving soldier, while the other five mercenaries maintained their formation to support him.

"Die!" Number Three shouted when he was five meters away. For a soldier in an exoskeleton, five meters was but a single step. In the next instant, the military soldier would be dead.

The faces of the other nine military soldiers changed drastically. They shouted and turned to provide cover, but their formation fell into chaos the moment they broke ranks. The lead mercenary smiled, his plan succeeding; he waved his hand, preparing to shift his formation to charge the disorganized military squad.

At that moment, 4,300 meters away in the control room for Cannon No. 35, a fierce glint flashed in David’s eyes. The opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

He did not hesitate. Almost instantly, he fired all three cannons. Thanks to the assistance of the exoskeleton armor, he switched between the operating systems and triggered the cannons with zero delay. Three Grade-1 bullets roared from the city walls, accompanied by a thunderous boom. Because of the sound barriers between the walls and the city, no one would have heard the cannons fire unless they were looking directly at them.

In fact, the Grade-1 bullets traveled far faster than the speed of sound. Just as the heavy axe in Number Three’s hand was twenty centimeters from the military soldier’s head, the world seemed to slow down. A massive Grade-1 bullet tore through the air, leaving the sound far behind. Number Three’s intent had been too obvious, and David had seized the moment.

Number Three’s head turned into a mist of blood. Every soldier on the field was stunned. A powerful fighter had lost his head in an instant; the exoskeleton armor had not provided the slightest protection. Of course, all the soldiers present, whether military or mercenary, were experienced combatants. Their distraction lasted only a heartbeat. When a soldier encounters something inexplicable in battle, they will inevitably be momentarily stunned, but the more experienced they are, the faster they recover.

Yet, no one expected that the sniping knowledge David had inherited was primarily designed to counter armored soldiers, and their very reactions were part of David's calculations.

As the two other mercenary soldiers stood frozen in shock, their heads exploded in succession, less than 0.2 seconds apart. The kinetic force of the long-range sniper cannons rendered the protection of the exoskeleton armor irrelevant, to say nothing of the mercenaries' skulls.

"There’s a sniper!" the lead mercenary screamed in terror. He threw himself into a frantic roll, and the final two mercenaries reacted instantly, retreating in erratic, unpredictable patterns.

The three remaining mercenaries no longer cared about the mission. Their only thought was to escape the battlefield; survival was the only option. Engaging in a long-range fight against a hidden sniper was something no soldier would ever do—it was an act of suicide.

"It’s David’s long-range sniper cannon!" the military soldier who had been on the ground, nearly killed by the heavy axe, muttered to himself.

In Peran City, David’s sniper cannons were a legend within the military. His individual kill count surpassed that of entire squadrons. It was this record that had birthed the legend. So, when they saw the three mercenaries simultaneously lose their heads, every military soldier knew exactly who was responsible.