Chapter 16 - The Cycle of Life and Death Continues

"Bang!"

It was a bit stronger than the usual [Hyper Dash], but still within the power range of the [Dash] move.

Facing the galloping Honkai Beast.

Ethan calmly raised the blast shield. With a violent crash, the super-alloy shield firmly took the opponent's attack.

A strong impact came from the shield support embedded in his forearm.

Although this force caused a brief paralysis of the arm, it did not affect Ethan's next move—

His body tilted slightly to the right.

The left arm holding the shield was in the same straight line as the inclined plane formed by his shoulders. As Ethan strode towards the opponent, closing the distance of more than 80 centimeters, the Honkai Beast that had used the [Hyper Dash] was forcibly pushed back by him for more than half a step!

His arm retreated slightly.

Then, in the short span of less than one-third of a second that remained, the blast shield, angled at 35 degrees, struck the Hyper Hasty-class!

"Bang!"

The powerful impact instantly unbalanced the opponent's body.

"Buzz!"

The palm-length dagger shot out like a venomous snake striking.

The buzzing sound of cutting seemed to tear the air into pieces.

The strong magnetic field confined the shock wave to the surface of the dagger, and the double-edged blade could easily pierce or cut in two even the shield that he prided himself on.

To deal with a mere Hyper Hasty-class...

"Zheng!"

The moon-white knife light gently passed.

The head of the Hyper Hasty-class was directly cut off by a quarter of its volume—if the opponent hadn't turned its body sideways at the last moment with a completely un-mechanical movement, this strike could have directly carved out its Honkai Core!

It wasn't fortunate to merely avoid the first attack.

The reason he chose the dagger as a weapon was because of its lightness and flexibility—the force and time required to swing a long sword once was enough for the dagger to stab three times.

This advantage wasn't obvious when fighting Honkai Beasts.

But if used for "sweeping" attacks, it was a tactic that was incredibly hard to defend against.

Unless the opponent used a two-handed hammer or axe, or a weapon with extremely strong impact like a grenade, there was no way to stop his shield-and-dagger stabbing tactics.

Not to mention a mere Ranger-class Honkai Beast.

The palm rotated, the grip on the blade reversed—

"Sizzle!"

————

"Didn't cut it open?"

Aiming for the Honkai Core.

Ethan stabbed the dagger straight down from top to bottom.

But... this attack didn't cause much more damage beyond a shower of sparks on the opponent's body as it slid off to the side.

The next second, Ethan already knew the reason.

"This isn't a standard Hyper Hasty-class!"

The appearance and color of a standard Hyper Hasty-class and "the Purple of the Purple-White Twins" are not much different. Except for those who specialize in studying Ranger-class Honkai Beasts—and basically, no one is interested in the weakest Ranger-class—it's difficult for others to distinguish the difference between the two with the naked eye without special instruments.

Ethan distinguished it.

It was based on the miscalculated attack just now.

On his left arm holding the shield, the numbness he thought was caused by the impact force still hadn't disappeared; the strong magnetic field from the dagger's handle, which was supposed to restrain shock waves, had been weakened by more than half due to the influence of another magnetic field.

There was no doubt.

This was an ability related to electricity.

Among all Honkai Beasts, there are usually only two types that possess this ability.

The variants (also known as subspecies) of the Temple-level Honkai Beasts were relatively rare in the early days. However, with the activity of the Second Herrscher, the Herrscher of the Void, they became widely known. These were the creatures that could even suppress a Honkai Emperor-class with the combined strength of several units: [Palace Guard]; and their subordinates of the same level, the slightly weaker but numerous [Fiery Lightning].

The second type is the variant of the Ranger-class Honkai Beasts, weaker in strength but found in quite rare numbers. They are both in one: the Purple of the Purple-White Twins.

"Trouble..."

It was indeed a trap.

But it was somewhat different from the trap Ethan had imagined.

The most important thing is that although the Purple-White Twins are not symbiotic, almost all discovered individuals appear together!

There's a Purple here, which means—

"Swoosh!!"

A purple streamer rushed from a distance!

Wait, no, that was a white streamer!

The rich Honkai energy left a long trail of light behind the opponent. The white figure that continued to enlarge in Ethan's pupils looked like an air-to-air missile gone astray!

Worse things were yet to come.

Just as "the White of the Purple-White Twins" rushed towards him, "Purple," who had failed to have its Honkai Core broken, had already raised its intact "right arm." Its Honkai Energy wing, like a long sword in the hands of a knight, fell straight down towards the dividing line of his shoulder and neck!

The sound of breaking wind rang by his ears.

The air blocking the sword was pushed away fiercely, scratching Ethan's ears.

This is...

The momentum of being pincered from both sides!

————

Extremely exquisite cooperation.

Even if the attack interval between the two sides had been 0.3 seconds longer, he would have had enough margin to raise his shield and block both attacks simultaneously.

But now it seemed... He had to use his body to resist one of them.

Ordinary humans would surely die.

At this time, it was a rare moment for him to be glad that he was a Fusion Soldier.

The Honkai Core fused with Ethan was not that powerful. In fact, even if he were given a powerful Honkai Core, his body couldn't withstand the terrifying erosion.

Not to mention a "Honkai Crystal" formed by the complete materialization of a Honkai Core.

The Honkai Core he fused was the most common Knight-class one—its output wasn't strong, its structure wasn't solid, but its only advantage was its condensation speed.

He didn't bother to consider the side effects of overclocking the Honkai Energy.

Ethan concentrated all the energy he could control onto the right side of his left shoulder. The lavender light that penetrated his body formed a thin layer of crystalline armor on Ethan!

"Bang!!"

Fragments flew!

"Purple's" attack was taken.

Although it wasn't completely blocked—after splitting the armor, "Purple's" wing still penetrated nearly five centimeters into Ethan's body, and the powerful force pressed his body down—at least he survived the sneak attack.

His left arm was affected to a certain extent.

But with the blast shield as a buffer, "White's" [Dash] was far from...

"Swoosh!"

"!?"

The opponent didn't hit the blast shield at all!

At the last moment before impact, the figure of "White" disappeared from Ethan's sight!

By the time he felt the stinging pain from the top of his head, "White" had soared into the sky less than 10 centimeters away from the blast shield, leaving an elegant streamer trail in the air, and then rushed down like a Stuka!

It was too late.

"Bang!!"