Chapter 13 - The Snipe and Clam Both End Up in the Bowl
Disruption warhead hits!
"Clang-thud!"
Arno yanked hard with his left hand, and the remaining half of the side cabin wall was instantly flung away. His right hand, meanwhile, snatched up the heavy machine gun fixed beside him.
"Click-clack!"
With a sharp pull and a flick.
The fearsome, bright yellow ammunition belt was already inserted into the M2's feed port at its leading end.
The machine gun bullets Arno used were a full caliber larger than those for Lu Xing's M4A1, and the internal propellant was the latest experimental product from the Biological Research Institute.
It wasn't just a doubling of power.
Once the new warhead successfully penetrated a Honkai Beast's body and its outer casing was eroded by Honkai energy, a potent "toxin" would spread, flowing throughout the Honkai Beast's body along with its Honkai energy circulation, corroding the target from the inside out.
This toxin took effect extremely quickly but wasn't long-lasting, primarily used for breakthrough and decapitation operations against elite targets.
But the prerequisite... was to first be able to penetrate the opponent's shell.
"Ding!!"
The machine gun muzzle roared with bright yellow flames.
Ejected shell casings rained down from the side like a torrential downpour.
However, relying solely on Arno's firepower output was simply not enough to deal with this Variant Floater-class—a translucent purple wall spread out in a rectangle in front of the Floater-class. The skill, named [Honkai Energy Crystal Wall], very easily blocked all the bullets.
The opponent still leisurely followed behind the damaged Banshee, and as the aircraft's power gradually failed, the distance between the two rapidly closed.
Just then.
"Swoosh!"
A distance of less than 300 meters was crossed in a flash.
A missile shot out from the side of the Banshee, leaving a beautiful trail of flame, and squarely hit the Floater-class's defense—
"BOOM!!"
Support from Ethan:
[Directional Demolition Grenade]
A plug-and-play type long-range missile, capable of constraining all the high temperature and impact generated by the explosion towards the front of the impact point, to unleash the full power of this type of warhead—although the production of this thing wasn't high either, it wasn't, after all, a high-grade item like the [Honkai Energy Disruption Warhead]. Ethan carried some on his person.
As for why Arno had tossed the [Honkai Energy Disruption Warhead] to Ethan...
One could only say the latter had too many "prior convictions," having wasted them excessively in past operations.
————
With the missile's explosion.
The [Honkai Energy Crystal Wall] created by the Floater-class shattered into a sky full of light particles.
Now was not the time to rejoice—the Floater-class's [Honkai Energy Crystal Wall] was not only a defensive measure; after being destroyed, it would also become a terrifying weapon.
The scattered light particles condensed and reformed.
Supported by the Floater-class's Honkai energy, they quickly transformed into countless sharp, diamond-shaped crystal cones!
Like anti-aircraft shells with proximity fuzes, the [Honkai Shard Storm], most threatening to human aircraft, swept towards the Banshee like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, following the movement of the Floater-class's long tentacles!
If an ordinary Floater-class used this move, Arno might still have thoughts of blocking it.
But when he saw the shard storm opposite him, which was more than twice as large in both range and volume—
"Abandon ship!!"
The Banshee, at this point, had become a burden.
If they still insisted on protecting it, they would have to lie in this aerial coffin and bid farewell to the world.
A mere "vertical drop" of less than 200 meters was not difficult for Fusion Soldiers—provided they had parachutes and the altitude was below the minimum deployment height.
Perhaps they would sustain minor injuries like fractures, but they definitely wouldn't die.
Once they successfully landed on the ground, the Floater-class's advantage would be far less significant than in the air.
That's what Arno thought.
But the reality was... just as he and Ethan had prepared to jump, a woman's sharp cry suddenly came from behind.
"Let me!"
Completely different from her seemingly delicate physique.
Xiū, rushing out from behind, sent the rear cabin door flying with a spinning kick.
An even more violent convection current let out a mournful whimper.
And at the tip of Xiū's arm, bent and stretched to its limit, the Soul Steel long spear was held high.
Wild winds surged into it like a hundred birds returning to their nest.
The artificial Honkai Core resonated with the Soul Steel constituting the spear's body, and a bluish-green vortex churned at the sharp spear tip.
"Swoosh!!"
The precious Soul Steel weapon was unhesitatingly thrown by Xiū.
The silver spear body whipped up a gale, blowing away and blasting aside all the incoming shard storm. Its main body, without any hindrance, went straight for the Floater-class!
"BOOM!!!"
————
"Hey!"
Arno dashed forward and quickly supported the falling woman...
No, as the black-rimmed glasses that had been obscuring her face and expression slipped off along with the sweat pouring down her forehead, Xiū's previously hidden, slightly tender face was clearly seen by Arno.
At her age, it was more appropriate to call her a "girl."
"I'm... fine."
Resting her palm on Arno's sturdy forearm, Xiū took two deep breaths and stood straight again—they were on the teetering Banshee. To regain her composure so quickly, the resilience of a Fusion Soldier was evident.
"That thing..."
"Taken care of."
"That last attack was enough to kill even a Chariot-class in one blow, let alone a Floater-class that didn't have its defenses up."
Chariot-class and Floater-class.
Both belonged to the same tier among Honkai Beasts.
The former was just common; not being tricky didn't mean it was weak—even the most basic Chariot-class had a massive body three stories high, with astonishing defense and destructive power. A simple charge could destroy an entire building.
Even the cannons of main battle tanks would find it difficult to penetrate their frontal armor with a single shot; they were definitely the most robust among all Honkai Beasts in that tier.
"Then—"
The word "good" hadn't even left his lips.
The Floater-class that Arno had declared "taken care of" suddenly burst out from the aftermath of the explosion!
The gray-black thick smoke was torn open.
The Floater-class, flying at extreme speed, arrived almost instantly!
Its condition didn't look good.
Its streamlined shell was entirely blown open by the explosion. Its internal, seemingly fibrous "skeleton"—the Floater-class's insides weren't entirely composed of Honkai energy—was cut with large and small indentations by the force of the gale; even the surface of the ruby-like single eye in the center of its jellyfish head had developed fine spiderweb cracks.
Xiū's all-out attack had indeed severely injured the Floater-class.
But it hadn't been killed instantly as imagined—the vitality of a [Variant] was far stronger than that of an ordinary Floater-class, and as the price for it staying alive...
"Swoosh!"
The Banshee, its altitude continuously dropping and already teetering precariously, was rammed by the Floater-class, using its body as a weapon in a desperate, life-risking attack!
"BOOM!!"