Chapter 19 - Crisis at Every Step

Arno had guessed everything correctly.

Everything except the fundamental premise of this attack—the one attacking him was a Honkai Beast with a human-like thought process.

"Click!"

The crisp sound of a pull-ring being disengaged was hidden amidst the dull thud of a stone slab falling to the ground.

From within the pale green toxic gas.

Two grenades were thrown from a distance.

Although the aim was laughably off, the blast radius still enveloped Arno—at this moment, the [Drill Spike] he had just used became a hindrance.

The chemical suit was resistant to corrosion and high temperatures, but it was uniquely vulnerable to impact. Once shrapnel from a grenade tore an opening in it...

"Clack."

"Pew! Pew! Pew!"

Drawing his gun and firing, all in one smooth motion!

From taking the P90 off his back to aiming and firing, the entire action flowed like water, completed in just over half a second.

The physical capabilities of a Fusion Soldier, especially the enhancement from his dynamic visual acuity, allowed Arno to achieve this effortlessly—shooting down the slow-moving incoming projectiles with aimed bursts was as simple for him as drinking water or eating a meal.

Just as Arno was marveling at the opponent's cunning—a series of phenomena indicated that the enemy had definitely come prepared—the "enemy forces," which he guessed were hiding inside the building ruins, already wearing chemical suits, and deliberately making the sound of a body falling, suddenly charged out from behind cover!

Their speed was entirely unlike a human's.

No, that wasn't a human at all!

"A Ranger-class!?"

With Arno's strength, he could naturally identify the figure enveloped in purple Honkai energy.

He even subconsciously raised his P90 and swept it towards the target.

Due to its caliber, this submachine gun primarily excelled in accuracy; its stopping power was far inferior to the M2, let alone compared to the [Steel Arm].

The result of half a magazine of bullets was merely opening a few holes in the opponent's body.

"A Variant..."

Arno instantly made a guess: this was another Variant Honkai Beast!

But in the next second, he overturned this conclusion himself—Variants were extremely rare, and due to their high intelligence, it was difficult to find two or more in the same area, as they might end up fighting each other...

In the absence of a stronger suppressing force.

This obviously abnormal creature was more likely being controlled by the Variant Floater-class.

Higher-ranking (though not necessarily superior in hierarchy) Honkai Beasts possessed a degree of dominance over lower-ranking ones, although most commands were rather "simple" and generally only effective on "their own kind."

But with Variants, anything could happen.

Even if there was no experimental data to prove this, the opponent's jellyfish-like body was enough to make one think of evil creatures from science fiction movies.

Except for the Wo-class, of course.

So, the next course of action was obvious: ignore it!

Yes, Arno wasn't preparing to chase the Ranger-class that was fleeing in disarray—its escape path was at a 90-degree angle away from his intended route.

This had to be a ploy to lure the tiger away from its mountain, designed to buy recovery time for the Floater-class!

The Floater-class's hasty self-exposure also proved just how weak its current state was.

And for him, this was the perfect opportunity!

————

Lu Xing hid more than two hundred meters away.

"This opponent..."

This opponent, compared to the previous one, was on a completely different level.

Lu Xing had initially planned to use a missile to clear the way—he didn't expect such an attack to finish the opponent, just injuring them would be enough—then, while the opponent was in disarray, he would rush in and finish off this ferocious-looking individual in the same way he had dealt with the previous one.

Reality once again taught Lu Xing a lesson.

The opponent not only dodged the missile unscathed but even launched a counter-attack immediately after evading—the gas-type [Drill Spike] indeed lacked power, but this "lack of power" was relative to a Chariot-class Honkai Beast.

Penetrating walls, snapping steel bars.

Then, punching a hole as thick as an adult's arm through Lu Xing's wing, this wasn't very difficult.

In a confrontation lasting less than five seconds, Lu Xing had gone from hunter to prey.

Those two hastily thrown grenades were not actually intended for offense, but to block the opponent's pursuit and buy himself a chance to escape.

Fortunately, Plan B succeeded.

Although the method was somewhat unexpected—the opponent's aim was far better than Lu Xing had imagined—he had indeed perfectly diverted the human's attention.

Next.

It all depended on whether that Floater-class was up to the task.

Lu Xing had prepared two plans for himself:

Plan A was the attack he had just launched; this plan had already been declared bankrupt due to the opponent's formidable strength.

Plan B was relatively more complex: lure the opponent into a desperate fight with the Floater-class.

The reason Lu Xing was unwilling to approach the Floater-class lay in the latter's peculiar behavior: when it fell from the sky, it was twitching on the ground; after being hit by a napalm bomb, it was still twitching on the ground; but when he picked up the spoils and left, it suddenly looked like it was dying, lying motionless on the ground.

"Heh!"

Only a fool would be deceived by such acting.

The Floater-class might be severely injured, but it was definitely not something he could handle.

This kind of situation...

It was best to let the Floater-class and the human, old adversaries as they were, resolve it themselves!

————

"Clang!"

Arno and the Floater-class truly began to fight.

Although neither was in good condition, they still "got their wish" and started a desperate battle.

Adrenaline couldn't heal injuries, and an untuned mechanical prosthesis was merely a stopgap measure. The combat power Arno could exert now was less than fifty percent of his full strength.

If the human side could still maintain half its combat power, the Floater-class's condition was less than even a fifth of its strength.

In fact, if given just 10 more minutes, the Variant Floater-class could have recovered to about one-third of its capacity—the Biological Research Institute's specialized anti-Honkai Beast weapons had effects that lasted longer than imagined.

Whether it was the [Directional Demolition Grenade]'s continuous burning of its body structure, or the high-frequency, low-intensity energy tides triggered by the [Honkai Energy Disruption Warhead] that affected its Honkai energy circulation, both had significantly impacted its strength.

These effects couldn't be rushed; they could only dissipate slowly over time.

Originally, this wasn't a problem.

That Ranger-class Honkai Beast, also a [Variant], although it had keenly sensed something, had kept its distance, never coming within 10 meters of it.

But its actions aligned with its own interests: kill or hinder the humans.

As long as it could buy enough time, it could be temporarily upgraded from "food" to "ally." But who would have thought—

Forget 10 minutes, this creature didn't even last 5 minutes!

Silently calculating the Honkai energy circulation within its body.

The Floater-class, "gleefully" counting down to the start of its hunt.

When it reached the 170th second... the [Drill Spike] had already struck from afar!

"BOOM!!!"