Forewords
COIN SHOWER!
That's my summary for Metal Slug Defense Ver 1.37 and 1.38. This update gave us a new Event.
Unlike the previous Events though, the enemy base in these stages are completely immune to damage! Even that Metal Rear in Event Stage 2-4! You'll have to survive until the enemy base - which was replaced with what I call a Treasure Totem -self-destructs.
The craziest stage in this Event is probably Event Stage 4-4. Holy crap! Berserk Sol Dae Rokker makes it so that you are forced to use specific units to be able to win it! Not "specific kind of units"! Specific units! Berserk Sol Dae Rokker plus super-short map equals HARDEST STAGE IN MSD EVER!
Additionally, I was expecting the Sandmarine, which became playable in this update, to be able to change the PVP meta. But nope! She's useless even in Single-Player. Here's why: the size, too big = more damage from Big Shiee and Kessi II; movement speed, your frontlines would already be toast by the time she gets there; attack speed, too slow = not good at crowd controls... The only thing she's useful for is shooting down Kessi II, and even then, she won't live long afterwards anyway...
Fighting Sandmarine in Metal Slug 5: "Holy shit! How do you beat this thing without taking a hit?!"
Sandmarine in MSD's MSD Max Event: "Oh FUUUU! Sandmarine is back!"
Sandmarine in Sleeping Gigantic Weapon Event Stage 5: "Normal stage is still a bit hard. Hard stage is slightly harder. Hell stage... Oh god! Tank rush!"
Sandmarine becomes playable in Ver 1.37: "Meh, this little girl is now useless thanks to Big Shiee, Kessi II, and her being nerfed too much..."
So if you decide to buy Sandmarine from the Event Shop, expect her to only be used as a collector's item like the Battle Cats from Ver 1.34 and 1.35. At least the Cats were useful in Event Stage 4-4 for distracting Berserk Sol Dae Rokker... Better save your Coins for Allen O'Neil (Wrath) and Amadeus's computers...
Oh, looks like Dai-Manji, Regular Army Helicopter and Gen Morden Ver Di-Cokka are back, this time buyable in the Event Shop. If you missed them in the past updates, now's the time to get them back. I plan to do so because of that darned lost one-year worth of progress.
Finally, it looks like the AI is now programmed to be able to deploy Builders to place stationary units such as Mummy Generators and Big John. That was quite surprising to me at first, because the only time I've seen the AI deploying a Builder is in Mission 2, and that one builds a Sandbag.
And... Still no Kraken...
Chapter 10: Desert Navy
Time: 1130 Hour; 31st of December, 2040.
Location: Near United Arab Emirates border; Saudi Arabia.
"Okay, here's the latest updates on the upcoming mission." The Marines briefed the Red Eagles as the transport helicopter hovered above their destination. "Abbul Abbas and his troops were last seen somewhere around here: the border between Saudi Arabia and the UAE."
"And there's no questioning he'll be bringing the Sandmarine and that giant one along..." Jenny pointed out to everyone.
Upon the "giant one" being mentioned, the males of the Mercenaries dropped cold sweat.
"Considering that the original Sandmarine is already difficult to deal with, we sure don't want to know what upgrades might be given to it..." Ash summed up his opinion to everyone present.
...
Mission briefing
Kanegawa Military Industries is angry, alright. But not about your failure to prevent the Orochi from being sunk, but rather the RAP Joint Force having the idea to sink another one of their shipment of Slug vehicle prototypes again.
Back on topic. As you were already told, Abbul Abbas and his revolutionaries are back in action again. This time, the Arabian warlord has set his attention on the UAE, with assistance from not just the Rebel Army but the Amadeus Syndicate and Ptolemaic Army as well. This is the crucial point, as the KMI has an offshore facility located between the maritime borders of the UAE and Qatar. Said facility has a land-based secret entrance located in the UAE, and our intelligence has calculated that the current trajectories of the revolutionaries will take them straight to it. This is most definitely not a coincidence despite the hidden nature of said entrance.
Your objectives is to at least delay Abbul Abbas and his troops from reaching the secret entrance until Regular Army reinforcements arrives. Do thin out the revolutionaries' artilleries so that the reinforcements can take them down without too much trouble.
You may have already noticed the fact that Abbul Abbas was given the Sandmarine and a massive construct. The SPARROWS Intelligence Unit have absolutely no way to identify the latter due to it possibly having wavelength disruptors, so you are on your own if the warlord decides to sic it on you.
That is all. Godspeed...
...
MISSION NINE START!
The Red Eagles and Marines starts off their current mission with another successful HAHO jump. Only this time, a Ptolemaic Flying Tara just so happened to fly by the Mercenaries as they were slowly descending down. Although the small jet-propelled flying wing did not fire upon the Mercenaries, there's no doubt it has alerted the RAP Joint Forces of their arrival.
"Why can't we ever sneak around Solid Snake style...?" Jason lampshaded as he landed on the Arabian desert sand alongside his friends.
"Maybe because its bone dry in the places we end up in?" Ash joked. "Sneaking missions are called 'wet works' after all..." then laughs in a proud manner.
"I know you're trying to make a pun, Ash-kun." Mina cuts in. "Although it isn't a bad one, it is sort of paradoxical when you bring our previous mission to mind."
The chainsaw-totting Mercenary's proud laugh soon turned into an embarrassment-fueled one, as he ruffles his own hair.
...
The Red Eagles and Marines hid behind a sand hill as they watched from behind cover what their targets are currently up to.
"Looks like we landed just in time to catch them during one of their pit stops." Leon pointed out. "Although there is no questioning that they will be preparing for a firefight with us..."
"Normally, I would've just ran straight toward them, guns blazing as I blow shits up." Flynn said to the others. "But not this time, 'cause I'm still worried of that unidentifiable colossal from the photo..."
The Mercenaries then turns their attention back on observing the Arabian Revolutionaries. The SPARROWS' intel was right, the Revolutionaries were supplied with heavy artilleries from both the Amadeus Syndicate and Ptolemaic Army as well, not just the Rebel Army.
Even the Future Rebels seemed to be present, as one of the Ptolemaic Landseeks can be seen carrying a Rebel Bradley that is painted cyan - perhaps a Future Bradley.
"Now that's what I would call 'armed to the teeth'." Jenny comments on the firepower of the RAPs.
All of a sudden, a Ptolemaic Hover Vehicle appeared from behind the Mercenaries and fired its anti-tank machine gun at them.
"Holy...!" Caught by surprise, the Mercenaries barely manages to evade the cheap shots before they fired back at the Hover Vehicle.
The Hover Vehicle wasn't so tough, as it went down after just a few handgun hits taken by its engines.
"I got the feeling that they have more of those waiting for us elsewhere..." Jason points out.
As if on cue, the Arabian Revolutionaries with their RAP-provided firepower started moving again, with a squadron of Flying Tara coming in from the skies and are flying toward the Mercenaries.
"This is the life of a soldier..." Flynn commented before he aims and fires his handgun at the approaching Flying Tara squadron.
...
For some reason, there were an endless stream of both Rebel and Ptolemaic Flying Tara constantly appearing from the skies to drop bombs and missiles on the Mercenaries as the Arabian Revolutionaries and RAPs made their getaway toward their destination.
"We're gonna need some more firepower!" Jason said as he shoots down a Rebel Flying Tara. "At this rate, Abbul Abbas and his men will get there before we can nail them!"
A Ptolemaic Flying Tara gets the jump on the Mercenaries and drops a missile straight above their heads.
"Heads up!" Flynn shouted at the others as he jumped into the air and Berserk Punched the missile so hard it shattered into pieces with no chance to detonate its payload. He then proceeds to shoot down the Ptolemaic Flying Tara.
Immediately afterwards, three MV-280C jeeps entered the scene, brandishing their fixed forward-facing machine guns.
All three jeeps only get to fire a few shots - none of which hits - before being shot up by the Mercenaries.
The Mercenaries then pushes forward amidst the endless bombardment coming from the squadron of Rebel and Ptolemaic Flying Tara. On the way, they encountered, and shot up hordes of RAP Joint Force troops and machineries as they dodges fires from enemy air support at the same time.
"Geez, one has to wonder how they get so much troops to join their clause..." Ash lampshaded as he looked back at the carnage everyone caused.
...
Moments later, the continuous airstrikes finally came to an end as the Flying Tara squadron stopped coming in from the skies.
"I guess they stopped once they realized such a level of airstrike makes friendly fire much more likely." Leon points out.
Two 3-Ton Utility Trucks then arrives on the scene, one in front of the Mercenaries, the other behind them. Both are carrying Arabian Fighters, who proceeds to pour out of the transport vehicles with their swords pointing forward.
"Really, these people are still using swords?" Jason makes an offhand comment as he punches an Arabian Fighter right in the face.
Despite them coming in a nearly endless stream, the Arabian Fighters weren't much troubles to deal with, as charging with their swords were the only form of attack they have. It didn't take too long before the Red Eagles manages to blow up both 3-Ton Utility Trucks with their firepower, while the Marines wiped out the remaining Arabian Fighters.
"These guys ought to learn some better ways to fight." Flynn sulked about the lack of challenges as of now.
The Mercenaries moved on, but soon came across a group of Arabian Soldiers that popped out from behind the sand hills with their swords raised. The Arabian Soldiers begin their ambush with a series of sword-throwing, but as those thrown swords weren't aimed, most of them fell short of the Mercenaries even if they just stood still.
When the Mercenaries retaliated, the Arabian Soldiers didn't even have the chance to replenish their swords as they took multiple handgun bullets to their bodies.
"Swords don't always work when your opponent have guns!" Jenny taunted the dead Arabian Soldiers afterwards.
Another short trek later, the Mercenaries encountered yet another party of Arabian Soldiers and Fighters, which they dispose of with ease.
Immediately after the enemies were disposed of, a Ptolemaic Landseek appears in front of the Mercenaries, carrying Abbul Abbas on its flatbed.
"There he goes!" Ash pointed at the Arabian warlord, before firing his handgun.
The bullets seemed to actively dodge Abbul Abbas as they all curved around him.
"You government apes need to learn when to give up." Abbul Abbas taunts Ash, and the Red Eagles and Marines in general in response to the failed shooting.
"Actually, we're not government soldiers..." Mina corrected, then points at Flynn and Leon. "These two men are."
"Doesn't matter." Abbul Abbas shot back. "You are still working as the enemy of my troops, and therefore my allies will stop you."
"And this is where he may start boasting like any stereotypical video game villain..." Jason butts in with an offhand comment.
Abbul Abbas waved his sword, a sign he uses to call for reinforcements. "Now witness the firepower which my newest allies have bestowed upon me."
As soon as the Arabian Warlord gave his signal, several Ptolemaic Guerilla Paratroopers descended from the skies, peppering the Mercenaries with large amounts of SMG fires.
Although the Guerilla Paratroopers' manic bullet spray makes dodging and shooting back difficult, the Red Eagles and Marines manages to last until they've taken out all the enemies.
"That's worth boasting about?" Flynn shoots his opinion toward Abbul Abbas's direction.
That expression on the Arabian warlord tipped off the Mercenaries that he probably have something else prepared.
"That was just how these Ptolemaic men tells their colleagues to get ready." Abbul Abbas said before he makes a getaway on the Ptolemaic Landseek he's hitching a ride on.
The Red Eagles and Mercenaries could only watch as the wheels of the Ptolemaic Landseek sprayed hot desert sand into their face.
"I have a feeling I know what's coming..." Jason swallowed hard, thinking of the firepower Abbul Abbas boasted about.
Within seconds, the ground below the Mercenaries' feet shook, the sands begin to bulge as something is emerging from it.
"Oh, crap..." Ash cursed, knowing what's coming from below the sands.
BOSS BATTLE: Sandmarine.
The Sandmarine, the same Ptolemaic war machine that the Regular Commandos have loads of trouble dealing with - or rather, its upgraded version - has arrived.
The Sandmarine starts off the battle a torrent of incendiary shells fired into the air which then rains back down upon its surroundings. The most infamous attack of the land-based submarine.
Only this time, it is also firing its homing electric balls at the same time despite none of the Mercenaries being behind it.
"I guess this is why the Regular Commandos made it a point to mention in their report that Sandmarine was the most annoying war machine they've ever fought!" The Red Eagles summed up how difficult it was to avoid getting hit by the barrage.
As soon as all the incendiary shells hit the floor, Flynn jumped in front of the Sandmarine, "Eat this!" and then landed a Berserk Punch on the tip of its stern.
The American Marine's punch that was known to be able to tear apart even the heaviest armor failed to even dent the Sandmarine.
"What?!" Flynn exclaimed in surprise.
In response to the failed Berserk Punch, the Sandmarine fires its frontal cannon in a burst of three shells.
Flynn and the other Mercenaries manages to jump out of the way, only to find that the cannon shells fragmented into flaming shrapnel after they exploded on the sandy ground.
"Well, there isn't anything else in the Sandmarine to be upgraded, so they decided to make it much more aggressive and trigger happy instead..." Jenny took the opportunity to point out as she lobbed her entire reserve of Grenades at the land-based sub.
The biggest problem with this upgraded version of Sandmarine is that it would fire all of its weapons at once whenever there's at least one Mercenary standing in front of it, and that's not mentioning the weapons themselves being upgraded.
The Sandmarine fires off another torrent of incendiary shells right before it dives below the sand.
"I'm going to tear apart whoever designed this hunk of metal monstrosity!" Ash shouted furiously as he tries his best at dodging the incendiary shells and homing electric balls.
In just a few seconds after the rain of incendiary shells stopped, the Sandmarine resurfaces and fires off another torrent.
"Just die already, you bastard!" Jason shouted as he does a series of Vulcan Chops on the land-based sub, with the incendiary shells conveniently missing him.
The hull of the Sandmarine begins to buckle after all the hits it had taken, but that does not hinder its capability in any way as it launches a pair of land-based torpedoes at the Mercenaries.
As the torpedoes have no homing capabilities, the Red Eagles dodged one torpedo by simply jumping over it, while the Marines shot up the other one with their handguns.
What the Marines didn't expect is that the torpedo still exploded with enough force to throw them both across the sandy desert ground.
"I've seen ordnances having more explosive powers than their size would suggest, but this one is more ridiculous than the ones back then!" Flynn said as he gets up on his feet, and then jumping back in time to evade an electric ball that was coming his way.
"We've had too much firepower from this thing! I say we sink it right away!" Jenny, furious about how overpowered the Sandmarine is, said angrily.
With that, the Mercenaries lobbed every Grenade they have at the land-based sub. One of the Grenades went straight into the frontal cannon just as it was about to fire a shell. The resulting explosion blew the frontal cannon and a small portion of its stern hull, exposing the internal components underneath.
"Now's the chance!" Leon called out, and directed everyone to aim and shoot for the exposed internals with their handguns.
The Sandmarine attempts to stop the Mercenaries by firing off another torrent of incendiary shells. However, as soon as it finishes firing the torrent, the bullets must've hit something very highly flammable (perhaps a coolant pipe), causing the whole of the land-based sub to explode from within.
As the Mercenaries navigates around the final torrent, some of the incendiary shells impacted the heavily damaged Sandmarine, crippling it to the poit that it had started to sink uncontrollably below the desert sand where it first popped out from.
Sandmarine defeated.
The Red Eagles and Mercenaries took several steps back as the sinking of the Sandmarine triggered a big sinkhole that threatened to swallow them. Thankfully, the sinkhole stopped expanding in just ten seconds.
The Mercenaries peeked at the bottom of the sinkhole from the edge to check and see if the Sandmarine is out of commission. The land-based sub laid motionless in its sandy grave.
"Where's the crew?" Mina pointed out something. "Wouldn't they be at least attempting to evacuate?"
It was Jenny who replied to the Japanese girl. "According to the Regular Army, the original Sandmarine was found to be fully automated. So I guess its controlled either remotely or by its own AI..."
...
The Red Eagles and Marines moved on after the fight with the Sandmarine. They soon arrive at an abandoned Arabic town which the RAP Joint Force and Arabian Revolutionaries are stopping by for a pit stop, just in time to see something... enormous diving below the ground in a similar manner as the Sandmarine, leaving behind an equally huge sinkhole just outside the abandoned town.
"And that, kids, is the big one I'm worried about..." Flynn reminded the others as he pointed at the spot where the enormous construct had disappeared into.
"After everything they've went through for the past few years, I'm surprised that they still have enough resources to build all these hulking war machines." Jenny lampshaded.
"And I say we blast them with everything we got." Ash suggested to everyone.
...
So the Mercenaries went straight toward the abandoned town, gunning down every enemy that gets in their way.
The first bunch of enemies encountered were a bunch of Camel Riders supported by a squad of Regimental Masknell.
The Red Eagles easily dealt with the Camel Riders while the Mercenaries shot down the Regimental Masknell fairly quickly.
The Mercenaries moved on, and encountered a formation consisting of a M-150A Bradley and a 3-Ton Utility Truck from which an endless stream of Arabian Fighters emerges.
Both the Bradley and the 3-Ton Utility Truck were blown up after letting off just a few attacks, with the remaining Arabian Fighters swiftly beaten to a pulp by Jason and Flynn.
Three more R-Shobu - one of which is a red Elite - immediately arrives to drop bombs around the Mercenaries, which were easily dodged. The two normal variants were shot down just as they were preparing to fire missiles, the Elite R-Shobu which was more resistant to damage managed to fire off four missiles - which were also dodged by the Mercenaries - before being shot down as well.
"Get lost until you guys become more creative with your attacks..." Leon throws in an offhand comment in the wake of the carnage.
...
The Mercenaries moved on toward the next section of the abandoned village. It took just a few seconds before they were ambushed by Amadeus Syndicalists fast-roping down from above.
Most of the Syndicalists were shot dead before reaching the bottom of the rope. The few that does manage to land on the ground didn't get to take more than two steps before being stabbed to death by the Mercenaries. One of them did manage to catch Flynn by surprise and land a backstab on him, only to find his knife hitting what sounded like reinforced steel before the Marine turns around and Berserk Punched him into a literal pulp of mangled flesh.
"Good thing I still have my trusty armor." Flynn said as he wipes the blood off his hands.
The Mercenaries moved on, and soon encountered another bunch of Amadeus Syndicalists fast-roping down, along with some LV Armors jumping down from the roof of a nearby building. As the Amadeus Syndicate does not field their own mechanized units, these LV Armors are basically the same thing as what the Rebels uses.
The Syndicalists were easily dealt with. The LV Armors not so much, as they sprayed suppressive machine gun fire all over the place, making return fires much more difficult.
Although that difficulty was short lived when one of the LV Armor pilots decided to fire a sabot shell at the Mercenaries. They easily dodged it, and that short moment of decrease in suppressive fire allowed them to shoot back and take out all the LV Armors, some disabled by having their pilots killed, some damaged enough that they simply blew up.
"Baka..." Mina uttered in response to the mistakes made by the LV Armor pilots.
The Mercenaries moved on for a brief moment before two M-3 Rocket Launch Support Vans - one from in front and one from behind - suddenly appeared and boxed them in. The two artillery vans then proceed to fire a barrage of parachute bombs that then rains down from above over the Mercenaries.
"Well, good thing they left behind this Ammo Box." Jason sad as he kicks an Ammo Box open, revealing not what he wanted for the current situation. "A Zantetsu Sword? Okay, I take that back..." Frowning, he then proceeds to shoot out the parachute bombs with his handgun alongside his friends.
When the next barrage of parachute bombs came, there was a wide enough gap between the bombs for all six Mercenaries to stand still in without being hit. They took this opportunity to pepper one of the M-3 with handgun bullets, before Flynn moves in and Berserk Punched it into an exploding pile of wreckage that also somehow left behind a Super Grenade in its wake.
"Now this is what I need." Flynn picked up the Super Grenade and proceed to fire at the other M-3. It didn't take too much shot from the weapon before the artillery van blew up as well, this one leaving behind a Shotgun.
Leon immediately moves in and snatched the Shotgun from the wreckage. "My hands are sort of itching to make contact with another Shotgun, so I'll have it."
Mina picked up the Zantetsu Sword anyway. "For good measure..." She said.
...
The Mercenaries moved on, and encountered more enemies. This time, several Arabian Soldiers supported by a pair of Ptolemaic Girida-Os.
This time, things wasn't so easy anymore, as the Ptolemaic Girida-Os with their armors being tougher than their Rebel counterpart were resisting handgun bullets very well.
"Good thing you guys just got better firepower, right?" Ash said, right before Flynn and Leon uses their Super Grenade and Shotgun to blow off the turrets of the mini-tanks and then the Arabian Soldiers. The Marines each took a step back as a sword thrown by one of the Arabian Soldiers landed close to their feet.
The formation was almost immediately replaced by two 3-Ton Utility Trucks and two Ptolemaic Utility Vans boxing in the Mercenaries. The 3-Ton Utility Trucks were easily dealt with by the Marines' firepower. The Utility Vans were much more resistant to damage, each tanking several Super Grenade shells before blowing up. The Ptolemaic Special Force Troopers that emerged from the Utility Vans have the opportunity to row several rolling bombs toward the Mercenaries before being blown up themselves.
As the rolling bombs were somehow immune to damage, the Mercenaries chose to move around them instead. The rolling bombs blew up on their own shortly after the Mercenaries left them behind.
It wasn't very long before the Mercenaries encountered another formation. This one consisted of a Ptolemaic Sniper under a box and a Commander. The latter called in a fleet of Hover Units to launch missiles at the Mercenaries.
Dealing with the Hover Units wasn't a difficult feat. The problem being the Sniper occasionally firing shots with such precision the Mercenaries focused all of their attention on him just to avoid being hit. This allowed the Hover Units to release their missiles and then quickly make a getaway.
"Screw you, long range wannabe!" Flynn curses out loud before firing a Super Grenade shell at the Sniper, blowing both him and the nearby Commander (who was about to escape) into several pieces.
And then there's the missiles released by the Hover Units. Having been kept busy by the Sniper earlier, the Mercenaries have no opportunity to dodge any one of them. So they decided to shoot down as many as possible.
One missile impacted very close to Jason, knocking him off his feet as he face-planted the ground.
"Damn, that's one taste of sand I'll never forget..." The Red Eagle leader said as he gets up...
...Just in time to catch glimpse of a Ptolemaic Bradley and Combat Motorbike (a Special Force Motorbike with a portable missile launcher in its sidecar) arriving. The two Ptolemaic units made no delay in firing their payloads at the Mercenaries.
The Red Eagles fired their handguns at the incoming missiles, shooting out as many as they can, while the Marines used their heavy weapons to blow up the Ptolemaic Bradley and Combat Motorbike.
"Feels just like a video game..." Ash remarked about the events so far. "A mission starts out easy, then gets more difficult as we progress through it..."
A large number of Guerillas proceeds to come and mob the Mercenaries, and proceeds to get utterly destroyed just as fast as they came.
...
It was the last section of the abandoned town, and the Mercenaries quickly found themselves face-to-face with a Future Di-Cokka and several Future Rebel Soldiers.
"And guess this is where things get really tough..." Jason pointed out as he quickly scores a headshot on one of the Future Rebel Soldiers.
Noticing that the Future D-Cokka is taking aim, the Mercenaries quickly took cover behind the nearby buildings, knowing that the Future Rebels are very accurate with their shots.
The Future Rebel Soldiers then slowly approaches where the Mercenaries are hiding, electrified gloves charged and ready. But none of them ever got the chance to land any attacks, as the Mercenaries were better at close quarters combat than they were.
With the Future Rebel Soldiers taken out, the Mercenaries jumped out of their cover, and peppered the Future Di-Cokka with their weapons. The AI-controlled main battle tank was then blown up when Flynn fired a Super Grenade shell that went straight into its cannon muzzle.
"Now we're just lucky that we have better firepower than the last times we fought these guys..." Jenny said.
The Mercenaries moved on, and soon comes across something they've seen at the beginning of the current mission: a Future Bradley.
Not only was the Future Bradley able to start firing without charging up at all, it also fired what seemed to be anti-tank missiles (albeit still lacking propellant like their present day counterparts) in rapid succession.
"Yikes!" Ash exclaims as he and his friends hit the ground just in time to avoid getting hit by the missiles.
The Future Bradley then adjusts its aim, and fires off another stream of missiles within just two seconds of the previous one ending.
"Make that a double yikes!" This time, it was Mina who exclaimed as everyone rolled out of the way to evade the second stream of missiles.
Jason managed to roll himself closer to the Future Bradley, and just as it prepares for a third stream, the Red Eagles leader swiftly lands a series of Vulcan Chops.
The rapid-fire chopping doesn't cripple the Future Bradley, but Flynn's Berserk Punch which came almost immediately afterwards does, blowing a chunk of steel right off its launcher before it exploded.
"We're only glad that these things weren't meant to act alone on the battlefield." Leon told everyone.
The Mercenaries moved on. They quickly encounters a large group of Future Rebel Soldiers and Rebel Walkers, none of which gave the Mercenaries any chance to even utter a word before attacking en masse.
Flynn proceeds to empty the remaining Super Grenade shells into the mob, blowing up all but one Rebel Walker that then retaliates by deploying a mini attack satellite which fired just three shots before self-destructing. All three shots were intercepted by Mina's Zantetsu Sword before the Rebel Walker itself was blown up by concentrated fire from everyone else.
...
"There's Abbul Abbas! And he's getting away!"
The Mercenaries saw Abbul Abbas and a few Arabian Soldiers getting away on the same Ptolemaic Landseek as before the moment they reached the end of the abandoned town. By then, the Mercenaries have wrecked pretty much three fourth of the Arabian Revolutionaries' firepower and troops, so it would make sense Abbul Abbas is on full retreat.
"We must not let him get away!" Jenny said, gunning down some of the Rebel and Ptolemaic Bikers that were about to get away as well. "We're going after him!"
The Red Eagles and Mercenaries took off after the escaping Arabian warlord on three motorbikes each seating two, Jason and Jenny on one, Ash and Mina on another, and the Marines on a third.
...
Catching up with the escaping Abbul Abbas was very easy. In fact, the lack of resistance from the Arabian warlords or his allies made the Mercenaries suspicious about what's about to come. But they shrugged the suspicion off fairly quickly.
"Give up and face justice, you sonuvabitch!" Flynn hams it up with telling Abbul Abbas to surrender.
"Never, you government-loyal pigs!" Abbul Abbas responds with just as much ham.
"Come on, we blew up everything your friends gave to you!" Jason added in. "Why don't you save us all the trouble?"
"You did not destroy everything I have!" Abbul Abbas said, as he waved his sword once more as a signal to summon reinforcements.
The Mercenaries scanned the surrounding desert, and the skylines of the UAE's capital - Abu Dhabi - off the horizon. There were no signs of RAP Joint Force air supports.
But then, a localized tremor of a magnitude higher than the one caused by Big Shiee back in Beijing pretty much summed up for the Mercenaries what Abbul Abbas was going to summon.
"Holy shit..." Flynn swallowed hard when he remembered what could've caused the localized tremor.
"Now say your last prayers to your god as what amounts to the firepower of gods annihilates you!" Abbul Abbas hams up one last bit right before he speeds off on his Ptolemaic Landseek, leaving the bike-riding Mercenaries behind.
Moments after the Arabian warlord makes his getaway, something enormous emerged from below the desert sands close to the Mercenaries, spraying sand all over them and their bikes.
Now the Red Eagles and Marines are able to get a close-up look of the enormous construct. It has the control tower of Big Shiee, but not only is it three times bigger than the land battleship, the arsenal it carries appears to be a Frankenstein's Monster jumble up of weapons ripped straight from other war machines. For starters, its stern has Metal Rear's napalm cannon, Rebel Gigant's missile launchers (a pair of them in fact), what looked like three Bull Chan cannons mashed into a single block, and Crablops' Metal Mole canister. Its portside has three Ptolemaic Bradley missile launchers, four of Keesi III's machine guns and two of Dragon Nosuke's incendiary drone launchers. Its bow has the Sandmarine's incendiary shells launcher, Crablops' Torso's cannon of unidentified munitions, Hozmi's plasma cannon and (strangely enough) the Venusian Brain Robot's electric ball spammer.
Both the Red Eagles and Marines dropped cold sweat upon seeing the massive construct, despite the hot desert air and the exhaust fumes given off by said massive construct.
"Tasukete kami..." [God help us...] Mina uttered with just as much fear as everyone else were experiencing at the moment.
BOSS BATTLE: Huge Shiee.
Huge Shiee, as the massive construct is called, quickly overtakes the Mercenaries and begins the battle by activating the electric ball spammer that is under its bow, spraying electric balls all over the place.
"Whoa man! Things escalated to ridiculous levels within just one minute of the fight starting!" Jason cried out as he tries his best to maneuver his bike around the electric balls.
But with this many of them, the best case scenario is getting grazed by one of them, which is what happened to the Mercenaries' bikes. Good thing the grazing were nowhere near vital components.
Huge Shiee then powers down the electric ball spammer, and fires several shells of unidentifiable function from the unidentified munitions cannon, as well as several plasma balls from the plasma cannon, all with unpredictable trajectory which the Mercenaries once again barely dodges.
Before the Mercenaries can recuperate, the unidentified munitions cannon shifted its aim toward the ground and started releasing what looked like the same bouncing bombs used by the Hairbuster Riberts in large numbers, and then pairs the bouncing bombs with the Sandmarine's infamous incendiary shells torrent at the same time, making the total barrage absolutely monstrous.
The wheel guards of the Mercenaries' motorbikes dislodged after the gang were done with avoiding being hit by the combined barrage. The Mercenaries themselves weren't faring well, having taken in sand and soot all over their bodies in addition to part of their clothes getting burnt off.
"I thought Sandmarine was a monster! But this sonuvabitch is like Godzilla on steroids!" Flynn complains loudly. "I'd rather have my old sorties back!"
After that, Huge Shiee can be seen powering up the electric ball spammer again.
"Ash, get me closer to it!" Mina told the chainsaw-wielding mercenary as she pulls out the Zantetsu Sword she has been keeping for a while.
Ash, remembering what the Zantetsu Sword is capable of, gets what the Japanese girl is planning. "Just hang on tight, dear!" He then pulls the throttle all the way, and the motorbike speeds off, getting closer to Huge Shiee's bow.
Then as the electric ball spammer finishes charging and starts spraying its energy payload, Mina uses the Zantetsu Sword to literally erases the electric balls as they come out of the electric ball spammer, swinging the sword as fast as she can.
The fact that the Zantetsu Sword releases a short-distance razor sharp wind with each swing meant that the electric ball spammer itself is also being sliced like hot knife through butter as Mina intercepted its payload. After several rounds of slicing and having its payload erased by razor winds, the electric ball spammer burst into flames as it fell loose from its socket. By that point, the Zantetsu Sword had snapped in half due to overuse.
Ash was able to maneuver the bike out of the way of the wrecked weapon in time. "Nice one, Mina!"
The chainsaw-wielding mercenary then releases the throttle a bit to further the distance from Huge Shiee just as it fires up the unidentified munitions cannon and plasma cannon.
"Leon, buddy, I want you to shotty blast one of those two as many times as you can!" Flynn said to Leon as he guns the throttle of the bike shared by the Marines.
"Understood, friend." The Chinese-American Marine acknowledges and gets his Shotgun ready for the plan in mind.
The moment Flynn closes the distance, Leon let loose with his Shotgun, emptying as many shells as he could into the plasma cannon and unidentified munitions cannon. The former only got to fire two plasma balls before an explosion occurred from under it that blew it right out of its socket, the latter held for quite a bit but was heavily damaged. By that point, the Shotgun has ran out of ammo, and Leon threw it away to lighten the overall load.
Flynn manages to navigate the bike around the plasma balls and unidentified shells. The two Marines proceeds to use their handguns to finish off the unidentified munitions cannon, which doesn't explode per se but simply came loose and rolled right out of its base.
"Oh, yeah! Another one down!" Flynn cheered loudly, thrusting his left hand up in the air.
Of course, Huge Shiee's bow still has one weapon left: the incendiary shells launcher, which it proceeds to use.
A torrent of incendiary shells immediately rains down from above the skies, but as the Mercenaries have experience from fighting Sandmarine, and the addition of them being on motorbikes right now, they found it much easier to navigate through the torrent this time.
"Screw this!" Jason curses out loud, and proceeds to fire his handgun at the incendiary shells launcher.
The other Mercenaries followed suit, firing their handguns at the launcher while navigating through torrents after torrents of incendiary shells. It took quite a while before the launcher bursts into flame and was rendered inoperable from the damages sustained.
"The bow's gone! Now its time for the portside!" Jenny pointed out, as Huge Shiee seems to be purposely slowing itself down to line up its portside with the Mercenaries.
Huge Shiee was much, much more aggressive with its portside weapons, basically firing all of them at the same time.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is way too much!" Caught by surprise by the barrage of missiles, incendiary drones and machine gun rounds, the Mercenaries frantically tried to increase the distance between themselves and the portside of Huge Shiee. A machine gun round found its way into the bike occupied by the Marines, tearing the left handlebar right off. Jason and Jenny's bike had its headlight blasted right off while Ash and Mina's had its entire exhaust pipe sheared off.
"Well, we're going to have to do something about this!" Ash called out to the others.
Flynn locked his eyes on the missile launcher that was sitting just behind the portside tread of Huge Shiee, and then without warning gunned the throttle and approached it.
The American Marine, after ducking below a fired missile, proceeds to Berserk Punch said missile launcher as it was sitting right on the edge of the portside and was also pretty close to the ground, tearing it into pieces. "Take that!" He quickly guns the throttle again and backs away when the four machine guns fired upon him and Leon.
"You are reckless, friend..." Leon told Flynn.
"I know!" Flynn answers.
Ash's approach was even more extreme. He gunned down the throttle more than Flynn did, and then performed a wheelie at the same time for an enormous burst in speed. And he's driving the bike right toward the portside tread.
"What are you doing?!" Mina, freaked out by the sudden stunt she was unwillingly involved in, cried out.
Ash did not answer, as he jumps the bike over the tread, and proceeds to stab his chainsaw at another missile launcher that was about to fire a missile. The chainsaw cuts through the missile launcher with enough force to shred it to pieces. The bike then lands on top of the tread guard and proceeds to speed down it, using his chainsaw to shred another missile launcher to pieces on the way down. As soon as he lands the bike on the sandy desert ground, he jerked the bike hard right to avoid getting caught under the tread.
"You are not a ninja! Don't ever do that again!" Mina was both scared and angry after experiencing Ash's stunt, and was about to pinch him on his leg until she noticed that a strand of his hair seems to be on fire.
"Ugh... My head may have had a close shave with one of those flaming heli-drones... whatever they are..." The chainsaw-totting mercenary said, as he raises a hand to put out the burning strand of hair.
Now with the missile launchers taken out, firing back at the machine guns should be a bit easier, although by all means still difficult, what's with them firing non-stop at the Mercenaries.
"With four machine guns firing at you at the same time, you'd say that this is too much dakka..." Jason throws in an offhand comment while managing to steer his and Jenny's bike away from incoming machine gun fire and incendiary drones.
The Mercenaries combined their firepower on one of the machine guns, and it fell apart after several hundred rounds of fire. The gun itself dislodged from the wrecked turret base and fell toward the Mercenaries as a Heavy Machine Gun.
Jenny snatched the Heavy Machine Gun before it hit the desert ground, "Thank you!" and then starts firing it at one of the other machine guns.
Two more machine guns were taken out by Jenny's Heavy Machine Gun. These two also have their guns fall off from their turret base, and are snatched from midair by Mina and Leon respectively. They then proceed to shoot up the fourth and last machine gun, but this one exploded with enough force that it launched its gun away from the scene.
The Mercenaries with their new firepower, shoots up both incendiary drone launchers before either can deploy another drone.
"We're done with the portside! Now its time for the stern!" Flynn points out, as Huge Shiee purposefully slowed itself down again, this time the massive land battlecruiser allowed the Mercenaries to completely overtake it before powering up its stern batteries.
Rather than going all out or shooting blindly, Huge Shiee was very strategic with its stern batteries.
For starters, the short-ranged napalm cannon is only fired when the Mercenaries are staying close to Huge Shiee. Then the triple smoothbore cannons for suppressive fire when they move away from it. The Gigant missile launchers would occasionally launch homing missiles everywhere to force them into a tight group, and then Metal Moles were deployed from the canisters on random intervals to at least redirect the Mercenaries' firepower away from the stern.
The Mercenaries, having almost fell for all of those tricks, took a deep breath and almost gagged on the desert sand blown into the air by Huge Shiee.
"Now we're being chased!" Ash called out.
A Metal Mole popped out from the ground all of a sudden and was about to blow up Ash and Mina when Flynn moved in and intercepted it with a Berserk Punch.
"Be careful! I've never faced an enemy that was actually smart enough to use decoys as cannon fodder!" Flynn told the others.
The Mercenaries first focused their firepower on the Metal Mole canister as it was deploying Metal Moles to distract them from the other stern batteries. What they didn't expect is that the Metal Mole canister would be so tough as to be able to tank almost a thousand Heavy Machine Gun rounds before being blown up. By then, all three Heavy Machine Guns were out of ammo.
"Well... Guess we'll have to blow up the rest of the stern with our handguns..." Jenny deadpanned as she throws her Heavy Machine Gun away.
The Gigant missile launchers fired another burst of missiles, with all of them converging onto the Mercenaries while the triple smoothbore cannons fired shots all over the place to utterly throw off the Mercenaries.
"Not falling for that again!" The Mercenaries proceed to quickly shoot down all the Gigant missiles with their handguns, making dodging the smoothbore shells all the easier.
Flynn snatched a piece of rock from the ground without letting go of the throttle of his bike, and with all his might, "Eat this!" the Marine threw it at one of the Gigant missile launchers with enough force to completely dislodge it from its base. He then snatches another rock from the ground, and proceed to do the same to the other Gigant missile launcher, this time the rock hit a missile as it was leaving the launcher, blowing the whole thing up as the result.
Huge Shiee retaliates by firing its napalm cannon and triple smoothbore cannon all over the place at the same time, making the situation hotter (no pun intended) than it already was.
"Get ready to take over the wheel, Jenny." Jason said as he eases the throttle of the bike he's driving. "I'm gonna beat this bitch up!"
Jenny quickly gets what the Red Eagles leader is planning, as the motorbike slowed enough that Huge Shiee appears to be catching up. "Oh no, you don't..."
Before the blue-haired mercenary girl can finish, Jason had already jumped off the bike and attached himself to the stern of Huge Shiee. Jenny quickly climbs into the driver seat and guns the throttle just as a napalm shell is fired at her.
Jason slowly and steadily climbs onto the top of the stern, "Say hello to my little friend!" then whipping out his Machete, he proceeds to Vulcan Chop the triple smoothbore cannon. As Jason was standing in the blind spot of the triple smoothbore cannon, he is able to tear it to shred while the turret could do nothing about it. After taking out the smaller turret, he then slowly makes his way toward the napalm cannon. "You're next!" As there was no platform for him to stand on near the napalm cannon, Jason has to hang on to the turret base with his right hand, while he uses his Machete to slash at the base of the napalm cannon.
It took a while before Jason's slashing must've severed some form of wiring critical to the napalm cannon, as the weapon suddenly begins to release a massive amount of spark.
"Uh, oh..." Jason knew he shouldn't hang near the napalm cannon any longer, as he climbs back down as quickly as he could. He jumped off the stern just as the napalm cannon went off in a huge fireball.
Jenny quickly catches Jason in the sidecar of the motorbike. "You are amazing, you know that?" She said to him.
Jason simply gave a thumbs-up before he righted himself in the sidecar.
With all the weapons on its stern taken out, Huge Shiee seems to slow down even further with no more hostile intent.
"Did we do it?" Ash wondered if the battle is over.
"I'd say: not yet." Flynn was the one who replies. "We may have taken out all of its weapons, but this bitch has yet to fall apart. I got the feeling it still has a surprise waiting to be unleashed..."
Flynn was right, the stern of Huge Shiee suddenly expanded sideways, and a Vulcan cannon of enormous caliber is seen emerging from the opening.
"Uh... shit...?" Ash deadpanned about the situation.
Huge Shiee then fires the Vulcan cannon at the Mercenaries without any further delay. Not only does it fire shots at a rate almost faster than the Vulcans of any Slug vehicles, each individual shot is more like a naval artillery in terms of destructive power, tossing up huge amounts of sand every time they hit the ground.
"Now that's overkill!" Flynn exclaimed.
The Vulcan cannon was firing naval artillery-caliber rounds at such a ridiculously high RPM that the Mercenaries could neither close in to nor distance themselves from the weapon without bringing any further risk to themselves.
"How are we supposed to destroy this thing?!" Jenny exclaimed loudly, struggling to steer the bike around the hail of artillery.
A shell landed right behind the bike Jason and Jenny rode on, blasting them several feet into the air before they landed back on solid ground on the wheels of their bike. The strut connecting the bike itself to the sidecar is almost hanging loose as a result of the damage sustained.
Unable to get closer to or further from Huge Shiee's Vulcan cannon, the Mercenaries tries their best to avoid being hit by the shots of the rotary cannon while they fire their handguns at it. The puny handgun bullets are hardly scratching the surface of the Vulcan cannon.
"Well, it can only fire at one of us at a time, so we should split up!" Leon suggested to the others, noting how there is only one Vulcan cannon.
The Red Eagles nodded as they and the Marines split up and stretched the distance between each other.
Leon was right, as the Vulcan cannon could only fire at one target at a time, Huge Shiee was forced to pick one bike to fire at while the occupants of the other two peppered it with handgun rounds.
When the Vulcan cannon was busy firing at Ash and Mina's bike, Flynn closed in toward the artillery as stealthily as possible so he wouldn't turn its attention onto him. The moment his bike was next to it, he throws a Berserk Punch at the Vulcan cannon.
The tank-busting punch seems to have slightly loosened the Vulcan cannon from its base. However, it is still far from critical damage, as the artillery instantly turns its attention at the Marines.
"Time to go!" Flynn gunned the throttle right before the Vulcan cannon starts rapid-firing naval artillery shells at him and Leon's bike point-blank.
Now with the Vulcan cannon being kept busy by the Marines, it is Jason and Jenny's turn to get up close to the artillery.
"I'll be the brains, and you'll be the brawns!" Jenny said to Jason, as she steers the bike closer to the Vulcan cannon.
As soon as the bike gets close enough, "ATATATATATATA!" Jason unleashed the might of his Vulcan Chop on the Vulcan cannon.
The Vulcan cannon resists the attack once again. Although This time, the damage it took was just enough to cause sparks to fly out from its base, but that still isn't enough to completely shut it down.
"Gun it!" Jason told Jenny when he sees the Vulcan cannon shifting its attention onto them.
Like Flynn and Leon, Jason and Jenny manages to get out of the way just in time to avoid being point-blanked by the rapid-firing naval artillery shells, albeit barely, as the two Red Eagles found a leak was inflicted upon the gas tank of their bike, and its leaking fuel fast. "Let's hope we have enough to last till this bitch sinks..."
As Huge Shiee is fixated on firing the Vulcan cannon at Jason and Jenny's bike, Ash steered his bike as close to the artillery as possible, while Mina prepares some of her anti-tank mines (the same ones she took out Metal Rear with back at San Francisco) to be used against the Vulcan cannon.
"Make it go boom, Mina!" Ash told the Japanese girl.
But this time, Huge Shiee notices the two Red Eagles closing in on it, and turns its Vulcan cannon at them before they can get any closer.
"Okay, bad idea!" Ash exclaims as he quickly guns the throttle, knowing what's to come.
Mina knowing that there's no way to get any closer to the Vulcan cannon, chucked the entire batch of armed anti-tank mines at the artillery. Most of the mines were shot out of the air by the ensuing naval artillery shells barrage, some landed on the ground and then exploded against Huge Shiee's hull doing little damage...
...But one had lodged itself in the seams between the multiple gun barrels of the Vulcan cannon, and it was holding tight despite the artillery firing at such a high RPM its barrels appeared to be a blur.
Then with a deafening boom, the anti-tank mine exploded. The ordnance had completely destroyed the Vulcan cannon. The remaining artillery shells that are still in its massive breach also went off in a series of chain reaction that quickly spreads all over Huge Shiee, before a massive explosion emerging from right under its control tower broke the massive land battlecruiser in half. The two halves of Huge Shiee travelled at momentum speed a bit more before slowing down, and the massive land battlecruiser then starts to sink below the ground, tossing up massive amounts of sand like a localized sandstorm in the process.
Huge Shiee defeated.
A massive sinkhole then spawns where Huge Shiee sank, as the Mercenaries speeds off on their bikes.
"YEAH! We did it!" Jason cheered loudly.
"Now that's what I'd call teamwork!" Flynn joins in on the congratulations. "Even though most of my previous sorties had me going solo..."
"No Repair Buckets for you, bitch!" Ash fires off an insult at the now-sunk Huge Shiee.
...
Location: Outskirts of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
By the time the Mercenaries caught up with Abbul Abbas, they found that the Arabian warlord's Ptolemaic Landseek had crashed right into a sandbar that was just jutting out of the sand. Since Regular Army reinforcements just happened to be gearing up close to his position, Abbul Abbas had pretty much surrendered himself without further resistance.
"You win, government dogs..." Abbul Abbas said as he waved a white flag over his head, knowing that the Mercenaries must've taken out Huge Shiee if they are able to get here.
The Mercenaries got off their bike, and looked at the Arabian warlord.
"Well, sucks to be you." Jenny commented.
Just then, the motorbikes that the Mercenaries rode on a while ago falls apart after all the damages sustained from fighting Huge Shiee.
The Mercenaries simply looked at each other, dusted themselves clean of sand, before they laughed out loud in celebration.
MISSION COMPLETE!
Afterwords
Well, sorry about the massive delay of this chapter. I have two reasons to explain why.
Firstly, I got myself a severe case of fever by the time I finished the Sandmarine boss fight. I was so sick I strain myself just clicking on the Document Manager. Secondly, due to it being an original creation, I tried to make the Huge Shiee boss fight as explosively awesome as I can, and as a result it was longer than the rest of the chapter.
Wow, Huge Shiee sure gave the Mercenaries one heck of a trouble. If Metal Slug: Mercenaries was a video game, I firmly believe that almost every player would be stuck on her for quite a while no matter which character they're playing as.
Upgrades given to the bosses:
Sandmarine: If either one of those weapons makes the fight against this bitch hard, then try fighting her as she uses all of her weapons at the same time!
I won't list the upgrades given to Huge Shiee, because she isn't even canon to Metal Slug to begin with. I modeled her after the Mission Six boss of Metal Slug 5 Elite, which was in turn modeled after Morden's Battleship from Metal Slug 3D. Do note that Huge Shiee is aligned with the Ptolemaic Army, despite being modeled after something that is aligned with the Rebels.
Now on to Metal Slug Defense Ver 1.39...
Seriously, SNK? Another Survival Event? This one's even crazier, as the enemy base - this time a Fridge - would occasionally send out a souped-up Hi-Do that while doesn't pierce, do so much damage that even a Level 40 Slug Gigant won't last a third strike from it! Good thing it is not allowed to hit your base.
Big problem with this Event: apparently the point items and the aforementioned souped-up Hi-Do are mistakenly coded as enemy units, and as such, your units would actually attack them even though they aren't units at all.
Fun thing I learned from a few Taiwanese players: send out a couple of Winter Soldiers or Cat Infantries (both are Rebel Soldiers rolling a huge snowball in front of them, the latter has a White Cat from Battle Cats standing on top), and if they ever reach the Fridge, you may enjoy a bottomless amount of fruit smoothies (the Event's point items are fruits this time). And since the fruits are mistakenly coded as enemy units, a large number of them will eventually hog up the enemy's Troop Deployment Count to the point that it is unable to do anything at all.
The Troop Deployment Count or TDC limits the number of units you can deploy at 50, and once you deploy your 50th unit counting an active Metal Slug Attack, the TDC locks up your unit selection screen and prevents you from sending out any more. The TDC will also deactivate any Spawners such as Morden Buses once the limit is reached.
Here's Ver 1.39 in a nutshell: Metal Slug Advance bosses, plus Eri and Fio in Christmas outfits.
And wow, this is the largest document I've ever whipped up. Over 10K words...
Shout-out index:
"I'd rather fight Godzilla!" - This one's too obvious. Kill yourself if you don't get it.
"ATATATATATATATA!" - "You are already dead!" ~Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star.
"No Repair Buckets for you, bitch!" - I wonder how overpowered Huge Shiee would be if she were to be Kanmusu-fied in Kantai Collection?
That is all. "Dismissed!"
