The fire burned for a long time. The shaft had gone quiet for quite a while. Aiden guessed the explosion had dealt the Nemesis some serious damage.
"Safe now." Aiden let out a slight sigh.
But he also understood, this was only temporary, that guy would be back soon, maybe even stronger.
So they had to contact the rescue helicopter immediately to leave this place.
Maybe it was luck, or maybe the firelight here was too dazzling. Just as Aiden was thinking about it, a rescue helicopter actually appeared.
And it was even a model Jill and the others were most familiar with, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
This Black Hawk helicopter was a rescue model Pave Hawk, equipped with partial support weapons.
Upon seeing this helicopter, Jill and Brad began waving their arms broadly at it, quickly attracting the attention of the pilot.
The helicopter began to descend, slowly flying toward them. Very soon, the helicopter steadily landed in front of the three.
Two fully armed soldiers jumped down from the helicopter; they were there to perform a pre-boarding inspection.
Although the three had some injuries, most were just scrapes and bruises, so after the two soldiers checked them, they waved their hands to indicate they could board.
Aiden didn't move. He still remembered what he had said to Ada earlier. Just as he was about to explain to Jill, he suddenly saw an expression of fear appear on the helicopter pilot's face.
Aiden's heart trembled, and he abruptly turned his head, to see the Nemesis actually climbing up from the elevator shaft.
Because the mechanical equipment used to restrain the parasite on its body was already damaged, it had entered its second form.
Although its size hadn't changed in the second form, it now had many tentacles on its body, especially on its arms, where tentacles were wriggling.
"Holy shit, how can this be." Aiden hadn't expected the Nemesis to enter its second form so quickly. He clearly remembered in the original plot, when the Nemesis was engulfed by a car explosion's flames, even its trench coat didn't burn.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. The Nemesis had already raised its arm, and then, a thick tentacle sprang out from its body, but its target wasn't Aiden and the others, it was the helicopter.
The helicopter pilot, after seeing the Nemesis, originally intended to pull the helicopter up immediately, but hesitated for a moment to wait for the two soldiers to get on.
It was exactly this moment of hesitation that brought irreparable disaster to the helicopter, because he didn't pull away to a safe distance in time.
The bulletproof glass that could withstand direct fire from small-caliber bullets was like paper in front of the tentacle. With a crisp sound, the pilot was pierced straight through.
The pilot's death caused the helicopter to immediately lose control. After swaying in the air a few times, it plunged down.
However, the helicopter's engine power was still roaring, so when the helicopter crashed down, the spinning rotor blades struck the ground and shot out countless fragments.
The three of them held their heads and frantically ran across the rooftop, until they found a truck.
And only after the last piece of rotor fragment sliced through the roof of the truck they were hiding in, did the rooftop finally become completely quiet.
The three peeked out from behind the truck and saw that the helicopter was already emitting black smoke. However, as a rescue model Pave Hawk, its safety was excellent—it hadn't caught fire, and maybe there were still survivors inside.
But they also knew, even if there were survivors, they didn't have time to rescue them. The Nemesis was still on the rooftop.
"Any plans?" Jill looked at the Nemesis slowly walking toward them and asked Aiden in a low voice.
"Yes," Aiden said, his gaze fixed on the crashed helicopter, or rather, the support weapons on the helicopter. "If we can make those two M2s fire, maybe we have a chance to take it down."
As a rescue model, the Pave Hawk didn't have extra space to equip heavy weapons, so of course it couldn't perform ground fire coverage. Thus, it only had two M2 door-mounted machine guns.
But that was already enough. Although the M2 was jokingly called the "Old Godmother," that referred to how long it had been in service. As a heavy machine gun, its 12.7mm caliber was enough to rip through the flesh of any carbon-based lifeform.
As long as they could make those two M2s fire, no, even if just one, if used well, it could seriously wound the Nemesis, or even directly kill it.
"So what's your plan?" Jill asked.
"Very simple. You and Brad distract it. I'll go operate the door-mounted machine gun." Aiden originally planned to have just Brad go distract it, but after thinking it over, felt it was too risky, so he decided it was better for both of them to go.
Jill nodded. Although this plan was indeed simple, at least it was a plan. So she tossed Brad a long gun and charged out with him, firing to draw the Nemesis's attention while running toward the other side of the rooftop.
The Nemesis's target was them to begin with, so it immediately changed direction and chased after them in large strides.
Only after they ran far enough did Aiden come out from behind the truck and sprint toward the helicopter.
The helicopter hadn't crashed far from him, so Aiden quickly reached it.
He immediately checked the condition of the door gun. After all, it had undergone a violent crash, who knew what kind of issues might have happened to the gun? If it exploded during firing later due to a malfunction, that would be a real joke.
After a quick inspection, Aiden determined that this door-mounted machine gun hadn't sustained any damage from the crash. Apparently, it was much luckier than the helicopter.
However, although the gun was fine, the ammo box that supplied it was gone. This thing was originally mounted onto the gun and wasn't very secure, so during the crash, it flew off, along with the belt of bullets inside.
The ammo belt still hanging from the feed port was just a short piece, visually only 7 or 8 rounds, which would probably be used up with just one pull of the trigger.
Of course, just these few rounds were not enough to pose a threat to the Nemesis. So Aiden directly tore the short belt from the feed port, then climbed into the cabin, wondering if he could find a full spare ammo box.
In fact, that wasn't easy. The cabin was already a mess. Blood and corpses everywhere. And because of the crash, some severed limbs and other items were mixed together. Not only did this greatly complicate his search, it also created intense visual shock.
Taking a deep breath, Aiden steadied his mind and began searching inside the cabin.
But just when he finally found a complete ammo box, a hand suddenly grabbed his leg, and at the same time, a weak voice sounded, "Help me."
There really was a survivor.
Following the hand, Aiden saw it was one of the soldiers who had come down earlier to inspect them.
"I'm sorry, I also want to save you, but right now I really don't have the time." Aiden shrugged at him, expressing his helplessness.
But he added, "Hang in there a little longer. Once I deal with that monster, I'll come back to save you. Of course, I hope you make it till then."
After speaking, Aiden directly broke free from his grip, picked up the ammo box, left the cabin, and came to the door-mounted machine gun.
Skilled and quick, he mounted the ammo box onto the gun, forcefully pulled the bolt to chamber a round, then controlled the machine gun, searching for the Nemesis's figure, only to helplessly find that Jill and the others had lured the Nemesis into a blind spot.
The door-mounted machine gun was fixed onto a mount, its firing angle was very limited. Clearly Jill and the others hadn't considered that.
But Aiden also knew he couldn't blame them. As Raccoon City police officers, they probably had little to no experience with helicopter air support firepower.
"Looks like I'll have to take it off," Aiden muttered, and started disassembling the gun.
Holding the dismounted gun, Aiden ran toward Jill while searching for a suitable shooting position, and then sadly discovered, even if he found one, he wouldn't be able to aim accurately.
The M2 was a heavy machine gun. Its recoil during firing was massive and hard to control, unless he had a dedicated tripod.
But that was impossible, this was a door-mounted gun, and helicopters didn't carry a separate tripod just for it.
Of course, he could randomly find something to support the gun. There were cars parked all over the rooftop, plenty of cover.
But doing that would risk hitting Jill and Brad before the Nemesis was taken down. After all, without a tripod, each bullet from this gun could go wildly off course.
Still, this problem didn't trouble him for long. He quickly thought of another method.
He planned to get close to the Nemesis and fire point-blank. That way, even if every shot went off-course, he could make sure the stray bullets still hit the Nemesis.
But to do that, he'd have to carry and fire the heavy machine gun directly.
The M2 didn't have a carrying handle, only a quick-change barrel grip, and that couldn't support the full weight of the gun. So Aiden directly took off his shirt and tied it to the barrel, using it as a makeshift handle.
Just like that, he carried the heavy machine gun and rushed toward Jill.
Though Jill and Brad were being chased all over by the Nemesis, they noticed Aiden's movement. When they saw him running over with a gun weighing over 100 pounds, both of their faces showed shock and terror.
"He's strong like a horny bull," Brad couldn't help but exclaim.
"Brad, can't you use a different metaphor?" Jill was a little annoyed by Brad's choice of words.
"Sorry, I really don't have the time to think of a better one," Brad thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything suitable, so he said, "But he really is inhumanly strong."
And you couldn't blame Brad for thinking that way. The M2 heavy machine gun alone weighed nearly 40 kilograms, and counting the ammo box, it was over 50 kilograms. Yet Aiden could actually carry it while running, this completely broke Brad's understanding.
While the two were talking, Aiden had already approached within 20 meters of the Nemesis while carrying the heavy machine gun.
This was a very dangerous distance, the Nemesis's tentacles could easily reach him. And carrying the machine gun greatly reduced his mobility.
But he kept approaching the Nemesis, even shouting as he walked, "Jill, you guys need to find a safe spot."
Actually, even without Aiden's reminder, Jill and Brad had already done that, turning and running away from the Nemesis.
Seeing them flee, the Nemesis originally wanted to give chase, but Aiden suddenly shouted at it, "Your opponent is me, monster."
Of course, the Nemesis couldn't understand the meaning of the words. But when it saw the heavy machine gun in Aiden's hands, it instinctively sensed a threat. It immediately gave up the chase, raised its arm, and several thick tentacles shot out, whipping toward Aiden.
At that moment, Aiden had already closed in within ten meters of the Nemesis. The tentacles appeared in front of him almost instantly.
But Aiden didn't panic, instead, he decisively pressed the trigger, and the heavy machine gun roared to life.
[T/N: Ahoy~ brothers and sisters, check out my latest novel, "One Piece: The Living Devil", an EVIL MC on the Grand Line with devil fruits, danger, and lust. If you're hooked, don't forget to drop a Powerstone and add it to your Collection—every bit of support keeps the journey alive and the story blazing forward]
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