The firing rate of the machine gun was adjusted to its maximum, reaching 60 rounds per second, double the firing rate of the WWII single-barrel king, the MG42 (Hitler's buzzsaw).
In just two seconds of continuous shooting, Ren Zhong fired a total of 120 bullets.
However, his pre-aim sweeping fire did not inflict effective damage on the Blade Mantis, as all shots were blocked by its tough alloy keratin layer on the surface.
The pouncing speed of the Blade Mantis was only slightly hindered, slowing down slightly, as if scratching an itch through a boot.
But Ren Zhong hadn't done it for nothing.
Not only did he weaken the Blade Mantis's impact force, but he also bought Wen Lei precious time to raise his shield.
A tiny difference could result in a major deviation.
Finally, the green shadow reached a meter in front of Wen Lei.
With a sudden flash of blue light, the Blade Mantis's two blade arms swept out two semicircles and chopped down mid-air.
With a clanging sound, a teeth-aching metallic squeak arose.
Wen Lei was sent flying backward, the upper part of the solid alloy giant shield split into three like a chicken leg chopped by a cleaver.
Wen Lei's heavy armor on his chest also bore two gaping wounds where flesh was rolling and blood gushing out.
But he didn't die in the end!
After severely injuring Wen Lei with one strike, the Blade Mantis sprang from the spot, drawing a diagonal line on the ground, heading straight towards Bai Feng.
Boom!
As the Blade Mantis passed over a patch of shrubs, a violent explosion erupted from beneath the shrubbery.
It was the grenade that Ou Youning had pulled the pin on in advance and thrown here from the small slope above.
Upon receiving Ren Zhong's instructions earlier, Ou Youning stopped thinking and threw it without hesitation, forming this seamless connection.
The delay time of the fuse perfectly coincided with the movement patterns of the Blade Mantis.
Perfect detonation!
The distance error between the blast center and the Blade Mantis was only 1.2 meters!
A cloud of black shimmering dust quickly expanded outward!
It was nano-scale neodymium-iron-boron strong magnetic powder!
The dust cloud rapidly expanded, covering an area with an 18-meter radius in an extremely short time.
The coverage radius was much smaller than the 30 meters marked in the grenade's instructions.
The cloud's obscuring effect was also less effective, indicating low dust density.
But Ren Zhong hadn't bought a counterfeit product.
This wasn't a bad thing; there was only one reason for this phenomenon.
Only a portion of the dust had scattered, while most successfully adhered to the Blade Mantis!
It took the Blade Mantis two whole seconds to embarrassingly charge out of the dust cloud.
By this time, its glossy green gleam had dulled considerably.
Its entire body was covered in a thin layer of strong magnetic dust; its previously smooth, shiny shell and wings now had a matte texture.
Numerous joints on its body accumulated large amounts of dust, embedded in the gaps of the joints.
These negative conditions significantly slowed its movements.
Previously, if the Blade Mantis was like a high-speed race car among Third Level Ruined Beasts, now it had become a sedan among Second Level Ruined Beasts.
Zheng Tian, the First Level Gunsmith, who was ambushed from the flank, finally awaited this heaven-sent opportunity.
Under normal circumstances, with Zheng Tian's skills, it was utterly impossible for her to accurately aim at the Blade Mantis's weak point.
But now, she had the geographical advantage and could see the back of the large mantis's head by just looking up.
Moreover, its movements had slowed significantly; she could aim, with at least a 50% hit rate!
Raising the gun, eyes focused, the crosshair in the scope aligned, the gun barrel moved slightly to the left.
Years of shooting training intuition erupted.
Bullet speed calculation, predictions of the Blade Mantis's movement patterns, wind speed, wind direction...
Various battle-related details flashed like lightning through her mind...
Bang!
A flash of fire.
A fluid quick-sniper bullet flew out of the sniper rifle barrel, instantly traversing a distance of over thirty meters, precisely hitting the fist-sized vital point on the back of the Blade Mantis's head, penetrating in, and exiting from the front mouthpiece of its triangular head.
This fluid quick-sniper bullet, characterized by ultra-low aerodynamic drag, ultra-high accuracy, ultra-fast flight speed, low impact force, and strong penetration, was the most suitable type in Zheng Tian's entire arsenal of specialty ammunition for attacking the Blade Mantis's flaw on the back of its head.
With one successful hit, Zheng Tian restrained her elation, instructing through the communicator, "Withdraw for now! It's already heavily damaged. Wait until it's completely dead before approaching, in case it launches a counterattack when dying."
Three minutes later, the Blade Mantis finally stopped struggling, twitching twice on the ground before completely lying still.
"Phew! It worked!" said Zheng Tian, wiping the cold sweat off her forehead from afar, "Scared me to death. I thought we were goners just now."
Wen Lei, still severely wounded, nodded, "Yeah! I heard last year a team with Second Level Professionals was wiped out by a Blade Mantis. Never thought we could take it down with just a few of us."
Ou Youning, responsible for tossing bombs, was delightfully saying, "The main thing is our coordination was too perfect. It felt like this thing just looked ferocious, but actually, it was entirely in our plans, like a turtle trapped in a jar, played right in the palm of our hands."
Chen Hanyu shook her head, "It's not about coordination, it's that the preparation was too thorough, as if it ran into the trap by itself. You guys just had to strictly execute the strategy."
As Chen Hanyu finished speaking, everyone, including herself, involuntarily turned their eyes to the side.
Ren Zhong lay there, tightly gripping the machine gun with both hands, staring at the Blade Mantis's corpse with a 'calm', 'composed', 'all-under-control' gaze.
The group now had the mental space to review the entire process.
Details of every battle step circulated in their minds repeatedly, finally converging into a complete flow.
Hiss!
The group gasped.
Suddenly, a misconception arose in their minds.
It seemed as if the Blade Mantis was not a terrifying monster; this man before them, who seemed to speak and act humanly, was the true monster.
What was truly frightening was not the Blade Mantis, but this man, who outwardly seemed weak but had wisdom bordering on the demonic, infallible strategy, almost divine prowess.
Just how is this Mr. Ren's mind structured?
How did he know there would be a Blade Mantis?
How did he know the monster would come from that direction?
How did he know...
There were so many doubts and questions in their minds, and somehow, they started to feel a trace of inexplicable fear towards Ren Zhong.
This is human nature.
When facing something entirely beyond their understanding, the first response is usually not curiosity, but fear.
Feeling a prickling sensation on his back, Ren Zhong didn't even need to look back. Just glancing with the corner of his eye, he knew who the group was looking at, and what they were thinking.
This was too grand a display of 'Creation of Gods', inevitably arousing suspicion.
However, he had already predicted this scenario before taking action.
He had long prepared the words to cover up his 'Prophet' attribute.
It was time to let these young people who hadn't seen much of the world understand what it meant to have high! caliber!