Chapter 35: A Bit Slow

Although Jun An managed to catch his fist steadily and used a ukemi technique to minimize the damage, his abdomen still throbbed intensely. He hadn't expected a mother and child pair to suddenly appear there.

"Ow, ow, ow! Hurry up and get out of here, already!"

Heeding Jun An's warning, the mother and child immediately fled into the distance.

"Hmph. Indecisive."

Kaldeste sneered contemptuously. "So? Join us, or die?"

"Give it up. I don't want to waste my breath on you. You're not worthy."

He wasn't Kevin, after all. Kevin, at least, implemented the Stigma Project for the sake of humanity's continuation. But the person before him didn't even feel any remorse deep down.

As the saying goes, good advice cannot persuade a damned ghost. Jun An had no intention of wasting further words.

Although Jun An was slightly injured, it was mostly just pain and didn't hinder him much. However, he had roughly figured out one thing: this guy likely hadn't received any formal combat training.

Throughout the fight against the three of them, Jun An noticed they primarily relied on their superior stats, constantly spamming basic attacks (AA - Auto Attacks), at most utilizing their innate MANTIS abilities. Their other techniques were incredibly crude.

Compared to someone like Jun An, who had studied the Sword of Taixu, his opponent's attacks resembled Kiana's when she first joined Schicksal – wildly flailing about, relying on stat advantages, leaving all Honkai energy manipulation to instinct.

Having exchanged a couple of blows earlier, Jun An had already gauged his opponent's strength and directly put away Xuanyuan Sword.

Seeing Jun An sheathe his weapon, Kaldeste was momentarily overjoyed. "Kid, why put away your weapon? Finally willing to help me?"

"You've misunderstood something. The reason it's my weapon is simply because I'm afraid of pain."

Jun An adopted a martial arts stance. "And the reason I put away my sword is just because I've pretty much familiarized myself with its techniques. Time for you to hit Phase Two."

Kalpas possessed the strength to destroy Xuanyuan Sword even before becoming a MANTIS. Jun An did too.

However, Jun An wasn't as insane as Kalpas, so he didn't fight recklessly without regard for consequences every single time, ending up covered in injuries.

But, as a human, since avoiding injury entirely was impossible, it was time to go berserk!

As Jun An finished speaking, his figure shot forward like a rocket. He slammed a fist into his opponent. Even though Kaldeste raised his arm to block, the sheer force behind Jun An's heavy blow sent him flying sideways.

Inch Strength: Heaven Sundering!

Kaldeste even thought he heard the sound of bone cracking in his arm. But before he could react, Jun An followed up with a kick that knocked him off balance, then slammed his head into the ground.

The impact caused nearby buildings to tremble violently, nearly knocking Kaldeste unconscious.

Relying on immense willpower, he had just regained his senses when Jun An's shadow immediately ensnared him again, flinging him over a hundred meters away into the military camp, the tremendous impact instantly creating a large crater.

Having taken three consecutive hits, Kaldeste vomited blood, finding himself with little room to counterattack.

"Kid! Don't get too arrogant!"

Climbing out of the crater, Kaldeste seethed with rage. "I've decided! I'm going to tear you to pieces!"

Before his words faded, his body began to emit cracking sounds, transforming into a draconic Honkai Beast, bearing some resemblance to Benares. As he transformed, he instantly released massive amounts of lightning into the surroundings, incinerating numerous soldiers into ash.

However, just as he looked up, he saw a sharp sword hanging directly above his head!

Jun An grinned. "Kaldeste, I'll acknowledge you indeed possess the qualifications to be a World Serpent executive. So, I'll use about seventy or eighty percent of my strength and end this fight."

Sword of Taixu: Divine Form!

Jun An directly unleashed Divine Form upon him. No matter how thick his hide was, it couldn't block this unavoidable mental attack! Moreover, it was a blow possessing spiritual intensity rivaling that of the Herrscher of Sentience!

As the sword descended, Kaldeste, trapped in his Artificial Honkai Eruption state, couldn't even flee. The homing nature of the attack struck him directly, making his eyes roll back.

Jun An approached to check. The man's soul had been struck so hard by Jun An it nearly shattered, potentially rendering him an idiot. Fortunately, Jun An had held back slightly.

[Mission Complete. Defeat MANTIS x3. Reward: 100 Skill Points.]

– First, put 10 points into my Recovery.

[...Don't come crying to me when you end up imprisoned in a basement as a milk cow someday.]

Jun An remained unconcerned. I'm this strong, who could possibly manage that?

He grabbed Kaldeste by the foot, then glanced at the surrounding soldiers. They were undoubtedly trembling in fear. One officer even dropped his gun and raised his hands in surrender, the others quickly following suit.

After all, these soldiers had long witnessed Kaldeste's power. And now, Jun An had insta-killed Kaldeste in a second phase form they had never even seen before. How strong must he be?

Jun An paid them no mind. After all, he hadn't come here to help Atari win the war, but rather to fight a few MANTISes to get back into shape, shaking off the rust from his year of slacking off on Earth.

Earth, after all, lacked Honkai energy for Jun An to practice Sword of Taixu.

Now, Jun An had assessed himself sufficiently. His movements were a bit sluggish, but he basically remembered all the techniques, and his ultimate moves were fine too.

Lost in thought, Jun An dragged the half-dead Kaldeste back towards the building. He found Helia still entangled with five or six Stigmata Awakeners. She had already defeated several herself but had sustained some injuries.

Jun An went over and simply used his shadows to impale the remaining few, giving them absolutely no chance.

"Captain..."

Helia let out a sigh of relief, her body suddenly going limp. Jun An quickly moved to support her.

"Well done."

Jun An didn't hold back his praise. "As expected of an experienced A-rank Valkyrie."

"Don't tease me, Captain."

Helia sighed wearily. Although she hadn't seen the entirety of Jun An's fight, the sheer destructive power evident made it clear they were battling on completely different levels.

Helia pushed herself upright and walked directly towards Chief Snowdon, who had knelt so quickly at the beginning. Seeing the two return, he immediately dropped to his knees again.

If nothing else, just witnessing Jun An knock out a MANTIS with a single surprise punch – a MANTIS who still hadn't woken up – was enough to keep him thoroughly subdued.

"Benefactors!"

Snowdon said with tears of gratitude, "Thank you so much for dealing with those two devils and saving me and my people! To express my gratitude, please state any request you have, I will definitely fulfill it!"

Why does this sound like the hero collecting their reward?

Jun An吐槽 (tsukkomi'd / retorted internally) but couldn't be bothered dealing with this guy. He remotely controlled the Helios to descend, then used his shadows to toss the two unconscious MANTISes and the half-dead Stigmata Awakeners onto the warship.

Snowdon looked at the two MANTISes, swallowing hard. "Wha- what will happen to them?"

"Sentencing. The death penalty is certainly on the table." Jun An replied nonchalantly. "As for you, initiating a war, hiring MANTISes to carry out indiscriminate attacks on civilians... your crimes are even more severe than theirs..."

Seeing Jun An's icy expression, Snowdon broke out in a cold sweat.

"W-wait! I have evidence proving I wasn't working with them!"

Snowdon quickly fumbled on his person and produced a light blue syringe. "This! I bought this from a black market merchant! It's medicine intended to deal with the Lion Mercenary Group! If inhaled, ingested, or exposed to a large area of skin surface, it can render them unable to use Honkai energy for a period!"

"Th-this should prove my innocence, right?"

Jun An took the vial. Unlike Cecilia's Holy Blood in the Godsbane Spears, this serum was likely a variation of the anti-Honkai serum gas developed by World Serpent. Jun An himself had fallen prey to their methods before.

"But how do you prove you weren't just planning a dog-eat-dog scenario?"

Jun An pocketed the serum. "The innocent prove themselves innocent. Interrogation isn't my job, and you wouldn't want me interrogating you. So, tell your story to the prosecutor. I'm just responsible for apprehension."

Jun An couldn't be bothered wasting time and energy determining his guilt or innocence. He directly tossed Snowdon onto the Helios as well.

On the way back, Jun An noticed a contingent of troops approaching the area.

Intrigued, Jun An zoomed in on the image and discovered it was Atari's army. They seemed to have arrived in armored vehicles, numbering only a few dozen. Interestingly, however, they were directly taking control of the several hundred, possibly thousand, enemy soldiers present.

They shouted that if the enemy didn't surrender, Schicksal's gods would immediately unleash divine punishment. Hearing this, the soldiers who had just witnessed Jun An's power unhesitatingly dropped their weapons and surrendered.

They had accomplished the feat of a few dozen capturing several hundred to a thousand.

Upon Jun An's return to the base camp, Atari immediately looked at the duo in astonishment, then glanced at the unconscious figures inside the Helios. "It's over already? So quickly?"

However, even Himeko looked somewhat shocked. "Captain, how are you back so fast?"

"Ran into a little trouble. Their leader was tougher-skinned than expected. This should actually be considered slow."

Jun An stretched lazily. It had been a while since he'd had a real fight. Because he needed to re-familiarize himself with his skills and control the force needed to not crush skulls, it genuinely took a bit longer.

"As for how it felt... honestly, the feeling of needing to constantly hold back to avoid accidentally crushing someone's skull isn't great."

"It's like holding a foam ball full of shit. You can dent it, but you have to be careful not to squeeze it too hard, lest you splatter yourself."

"That's not what I meant!"

Himeko glanced at the injured Helia, then whispered to Jun An, "How did it feel doing it with a young girl?"

Jun An looked disgusted. "Is your mind only filled with this kind of dirty stuff?"

"What? Don't tell me you didn't get on top? Then why did it take you so long!"

Himeko was even more shocked. "Didn't you have your eyes on her?!"

From Himeko's perspective, if it was just apprehending enemies, he returned late. But if it was about conquering a young girl and wanting to 'do things' with her, then he was definitely back way too early!