Arknights: I'm Pretty Strong With Minecraft — Chapter 102

Chapter 102: The Sky’s the Limit

“Alright, let’s get to work.”

Ivan stood in the center of the main control room, stretching his arms high above his head. His joints popped with a series of sharp, satisfying cracks that echoed over the low hum of the ship’s engines.

His gaze swept across the complex instrument panels, finally locking onto the holographic projection floating in the middle of the room. The blue light illuminated a detailed, three-dimensional layout of the Core City’s sprawling defense grid.

Turning to Ch’en, his usual casual demeanor hardened into something sharp and focused.

“I will draw all of their firepower. You need to seize that exact window to command the ship’s cannons. We have to wipe out every hidden firing point in the city’s defense system before they can lock onto the ground teams.”

“Remember the operating procedures I taught you, and wait for my signal.”

“Keep communications open and be ready to respond to any emergencies.”

Ch’en gripped the heavy control stick, her knuckles turning white under her gloves. A rare flicker of genuine concern crossed her sharp features.

“Understood. You just be careful out there. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“I want to go too!”

The Ender Dragon threw her hand into the air, her vivid purple eyes sparkling with dangerous anticipation.

“I can help!”

Ivan reached over and ruffled her dark hair, flattening her enthusiastic posture.

“Go, go, go, wait over there. You stay here as our emergency backup.”

The dragon girl pouted, crossing her arms reluctantly, but gave a slow, obedient nod.

“Okay…”

Ivan turned on his heel and strode toward the open blast doors leading to the exterior deck. The howling wind whipped at his clothes as he approached the ledge. Without a single second of hesitation, he threw himself off the edge into the open sky.

The icy wind screamed past his ears.

Ivan performed a graceful, tight roll in mid-air. With a practiced flick of his wrists, he skillfully equipped the pair of Elytra. The segmented wings locked onto his back, glowing with a faint, ethereal purple light against the gloomy clouds.

Just as the wings fully spread to catch the rushing air, a familiar chime echoed in his mind.

[Achievement Unlocked: The Sky’s the Limit]

[Reward: Firework Rocket x3]

Ivan rolled his eyes at the floating blue text.

‘Do I really have to put them on to trigger the achievement? Can’t I just hold them in my inventory?’A smug smile quickly crept onto his face as he checked his hotbar.’But the reward is firework rockets… Exactly what I needed. Call me Genius Ivan!’

Far below, amidst the advancing Rhodes Island ground troops, an Operator suddenly broke formation, pointing frantically at the clouds.

“Look! Something is falling from the sky!”

Amiya snapped her head in that direction, her rabbit ears twitching as she immediately covered her mouth in shock.

“That’s… Mr. Ivan!”

Just as the surrounding Operators began to shout in alarm, the Core City’s automated defense system detected the incoming threat. Heavy mechanical gears ground together across the city’s surface.

Dozens of scorching red lasers simultaneously erupted from the hidden turrets, shooting straight at the rapidly descending figure. The beams crisscrossed, weaving a lethal, burning net of death across the sky.

In the absolute nick of time, Ivan flared his Elytra. His terrifying descent speed abruptly halted, converting his downward momentum into a sharp horizontal glide.

He maneuvered nimbly through the lethal grid of light. Each scorching beam hissed through the air, narrowly missing his clothes by mere inches.

“Exciting.”

“He’s… flying?”

The Operators on the ground stared dumbfounded at the sky, their weapons lowering as they witnessed a scene that completely defied the physical laws of Terra. A few of them unconsciously rubbed their eyes behind their visors.

Ivan calmly pulled a Firework Rocket from his inventory and struck the fuse.

A sharp crack echoed through the clouds. The Elytra instantly burst with a massive surge of kinetic thrust, rocketing him forward at breakneck speed.

He weaved through the dense barrage of laser fire, his movements as fluid and unpredictable as a fish darting through a stream. He would dive sharply to evade a sweeping beam, then execute a violent hairpin turn. The automated tracking systems simply could not keep up with his erratic velocity.

Then, Ivan suddenly angled his wings downward, dropping his altitude in a steep dive.

He swooped directly toward the Doctor’s command position, whistling past just a few meters above the rocky terrain. The sheer force of his passing kicked up a massive cloud of dust.

“Holy crap! Ivan, are you crazy?!”

The Doctor shrieked, clutching his head and dropping into a terrified crouch. He watched Ivan tear through the air right over him, the violent backdraft nearly ripping the heavy command hood straight off his head.

“That’s incredibly dangerous!”

“Ivan, take me next time!” a bubbly Vanguard Operator shouted from the back of the formation, waving her arms enthusiastically.

After completing the daring low-altitude flyby, Ivan lit another rocket. The explosion propelled him straight up, rapidly gaining altitude until he was a small speck above the battlefield.

Hovering near the cloud line, he calmly tapped his earpiece.

“Ch’en, starboard main gun rotate thirty degrees. Maintain a cruising speed of fifteen knots.”

“Port side secondary guns rotate fifteen degrees. Load high-explosive shells and prepare for saturation bombardment.”

High above, the massive aerial fortress responded. The heavy naval turrets rotated slowly, emitting deep, grinding sounds that vibrated through the air.

Inside the control room, Ch’en stared intently at the radar screen, her fingers flying across the illuminated control panel with practiced precision.

“Target locked.”

At Ivan’s command, deafening cannon fire ripped the sky apart.

Dense artillery shells poured down from the clouds like a torrential rain of steel and fire, precisely blanketing the coordinates of every hidden firing point Ivan had mapped out.

A series of devastating explosions rocked the wasteland. The defensive fortifications on the Core City’s outer shell were completely obliterated in a storm of fire, raising massive, choking clouds of black smoke and shattered concrete.

As the dust gradually cleared, the Core City’s surface, which had just been bristling with lethal laser turrets, was reduced to a landscape of smoking, twisted wreckage.

Ivan circled gracefully through the dissipating smoke, admiring the destruction.

He angled his descent toward the Rhodes Island land vehicle, flaring his wings at the last second to bleed off his speed. His boots hit the metal roof with a heavy thud. He retracted the Elytra into his inventory and flashed a highly mischievous grin at the utterly dumbfounded personnel staring up at him.

“Phase one complete. Next, it’s our turn to storm the city.”

“Hehehehehehe…”

His low laughter echoed across the quiet vehicle. It was a sound mixed with adrenaline, dangerous anticipation, and a heavy hint of barely concealed battlelust.

It made the Doctor standing below shiver involuntarily.

The Doctor adjusted his hood, glaring up at the roof with a look of absolute disgust.

“Ivan, your laugh is completely perverted. You sound exactly like one of those movie villains right before they destroy the world.”

Ivan immediately choked off his laughter. He cleared his throat and pretended to smooth out the wrinkles in his jacket, adopting an expression of deep seriousness.

“Nonsense! This is clearly a smile full of righteous justice!”

Amiya sighed, shaking her head helplessly at the two of them.

“Mr. Ivan, Doctor, can you two please be a bit more serious? We are about to stop a war. This is a very serious matter.”

“Alright, playtime is over.” Ivan tapped his earpiece again. “Ch’en, activate the ship’s autopilot. Get on the transport helicopter and prepare to land and group up with us.”

The Doctor crossed his arms, looking up at the massive silhouette of the warship hiding in the clouds.

“If you have that thing, why don’t you just use your warship to bomb the rest of the Core City into rubble?”

“Not enough power output for a sustained siege. I just built that thing temporarily,” Ivan replied, waving a hand dismissively.

“Temporarily?” The Doctor choked on the word. The surrounding Operators stared at the floating, heavily armed behemoth in the sky, completely and utterly speechless.

“Alright, Doctor,” Ivan said, jumping down from the roof of the vehicle to stand beside them. “Inform all Rhodes Island squads to proceed as planned. We’re going in.”