Under the sweeping laser fire, the area where Qin Ming stood was utterly destroyed.
But before the smoke could even clear, a figure glowing with golden light stepped out from within.
Dusting off his clothes, Qin Ming—who had tanked the attack using his defensive skill—swung his arm forcefully.
"Attack! Slaughter them!"
At his command, the surrounding Hound Unit members instantly dispersed, raising their weapons and opening fire into the sky.
Qin Ming too began charging up energy, launching a spinning orb with immense speed, firing it upward like a cannonball into the heavens.
The firepower on Qin Ming's side was no joke—after all, their gear was top-tier.
But no matter how good their weapons were, they were still considered light arms. Effective against tanks and aircraft maybe—but trying to use them to fight a ten-kilometer-long alien mothership? They could barely scratch its surface!
It was like stabbing an elephant with a nail. Sure, the elephant might flinch—but it certainly wouldn't die.
As Qin Ming's forces exchanged fire with the alien ship above, the nearby rebel troops quickly snapped out of their shock.
In the next moment, some scrambled into fighter jets, others into tanks—without hesitation, all of them launched attacks at the alien mothership overhead.
Just moments ago, both sides had been locked in a deadly war that had lasted over a year… but now, without even a word exchanged, they were fighting side by side.
Because in the end, rebellion was just civil war among humans.
Now that the aliens had suddenly turned against them, how could they possibly keep fighting their own?
Jets soared into the sky. Tanks rumbled forward. Experimental weapons that had been reserved for fighting the Hound Unit and the Federation were now fully deployed.
It turned out the rebels had never fully trusted the aliens. They had only given them standard weapons and gear—not their most cutting-edge prototypes.
Most importantly, they had never shared any intelligence on the Hound Unit—just in case the aliens turned on them.
And now, all that caution was paying off.
As the three factions clashed violently, and the alien mothership unleashed a rain of firepower upon the battlefield, the clouds off to the side suddenly erupted.
From within the cloudbank… emerged an enormous vessel—nearly the size of the mothership itself!
It was none other than the Hound Unit's aerial carrier: Sky Fortress!
The Martians, stunned by the appearance of such unexpected human tech, stood frozen in disbelief. They had no idea humans even had black technology like this.
On the other side, the Sky Fortress opened its twin hangar bays.
In the next instant, dozens of fighter jets roared out into the sky, and waves of paratroopers began descending rapidly.
The Hound Unit's main forces had arrived, precisely following the coordinate signals transmitted from the front line!
Originally, they had planned to bomb the rebel base from the air—but now, they'd redirected to target the Martian mothership instead!
High above, the Sky Fortress and the alien ship exchanged furious bombardments!
Down on the ground, the Hound Unit and rebel soldiers fought side by side, pushing back against the Martian infantry swarming across the mountainside.
Meanwhile, above the battlefield, countless human fighters dogfought against fleets of Martian saucers, turning the entire mountaintop into a chaotic warzone.
Chaos! Carnage! Thunderous explosions!
In the middle of this battlefield, Qin Ming stood tall, controlling dozens of blood spheres—ripping through the enemy ranks, blasting apart one alien saucer after another.
The blood spheres, empowered with Killing Intent Pulse, possessed terrifying penetrative power. No Martian craft could survive a direct hit.
All around him, allied soldiers began converging on Qin Ming, forming a small stronghold with him as the center.
The Hound Unit and rebel soldiers fired their guns wildly, pushing forward alongside Qin Ming.
Don't be fooled into thinking the rebels were completely useless. They had always seemed helpless against the Hound Unit only because of the overwhelming difference in equipment.
You could hit the enemy ten times without effect, while one hit from them would kill you instantly—this kind of dimensional suppression wasn't something anyone could win against.
But in truth, the rebel soldiers were actually an elite force—even more elite than the Hound Unit. Their morale was higher, their gear even more advanced, and their combat discipline was terrifying.
Now that they were fighting aliens, coordinating with the Hound Unit, and even sharing equipment, the combat power they unleashed momentarily surpassed that of the Hound Unit!
The combined strength of these two elite forces completely overwhelmed the Martian invaders!
And in the end, as the Sky Fortress rammed head-on into the alien mothership…
With sparks flying, both colossal vessels crashed to the ground together, embedding deep into the earth and losing all power.
The moment this happened, countless soldiers erupted in cheers. Weapons raised high, they surged toward the Martian vessel, ready to eliminate any remaining enemies inside.
Qin Ming, who had been advancing with the troops, suddenly sensed something and looked up toward the sky.
Thanks to his exceptional eyesight, he saw a swarm of fighter jets screaming through the clouds—each marked with the insignia of the Federal Government.
Upon seeing this, Qin Ming couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"So late again. Never show up during the fight, but when it's time to take credit? Here they come—useless bastards."
As he muttered this, the fighter jets were already overhead. Just then, the voice of the Lamp Genie suddenly sounded in his ear.
"If I were you, I'd run. Now."
"…What?"
"Based on everything I've seen across countless Metal Slug worlds, I don't think they're here to fight the aliens. Quite the opposite—they're probably here to take you out. You'd better run. Oh, and by the way—just a heads-up—the Federation has a piece of high-level black tech called the Energy Shock Bomb. It can one-shot even the most defense-heavy high-rank adventurers. You could also call it a mini-nuke."
Hearing this, Qin Ming froze—then his pupils shrank sharply.
Because in the next instant, with a sharp howling noise, he saw the fighter jets opening their bomb bays and indiscriminately dropping a flood of ordnance.
And directly below those bombs… were the Martian mothership, the Hound Unit, and the rebel forces!
One strike, three kills! They planned to eliminate everyone on the ground!
Energy Shock Bombs! And not just one or two—there were hundreds of them!
"Goddammit—fall back!!"
Reacting in a flash, Qin Ming roared the order.
The Hound Unit soldiers around him instinctively obeyed and began running—but how could two legs outrun falling bombs?
With this kind of indiscriminate, wide-area bombardment, no one present—aside from a few vampiric, enhanced soldiers—was likely to make it out alive!
Realizing how dire the situation was, Qin Ming gritted his teeth and shot into the sky, charging straight at the incoming bombs.
He didn't even know if he could withstand the blast—but even if he couldn't, he had to try.
Because as he'd once said—he might not care about the lives of others, but he absolutely couldn't ignore the lives of his men.
Qin Ming was nothing if not protective of his own.
Just as the bombs closed in, and he began using his blood spheres to try to prematurely detonate them, the Lamp Genie's voice suddenly sighed in his ear.
"Idiot. Blowing those things up mid-air only increases the blast radius. Honestly… Fine, my third wish is that I have no more wishes! Congratulations, you've now fulfilled all of my wishes! Which means… I get to grant you a wish. So, what do you want? Need me to block those bombs for you?"
"Yes!" Qin Ming yelled without hesitation.
"Great! Wish granted!"
BOOM!!!
The moment those words fell, all hundred-plus Energy Shock Bombs exploded in unison above!
A terrifying shockwave rippled outward, shattering the land and tearing open the sky!
The blast radius of each bomb wasn't massive—just a few hundred meters—but the destructive force was utterly monstrous!
In mere seconds, the once-formidable mountain terrain below—once considered a natural fortress—was completely leveled!
The forests were gone! The snow vaporized! Even the rocks had been melted into crystalized glass!
And yet, in the heart of all that devastation, there was a single enormous circular zone—completely untouched.
A semi-transparent, bowl-shaped energy barrier shielded everything beneath it, perfectly blocking all the explosive force.
Everything within—including the Martians—remained completely unharmed.
Wish Fulfilled—The Lamp Genie!
Or perhaps it should be called… Fantasy Space.
(End of Chapter)