The Legendary Mechanic, page 339
However, the speed of the black current was far from comparable to the maximum speed of the Void Dragon mechanical suit.
At this point, Degulish’s head popped out multiple veins as he bent his legs, stomping and destroying the ground in a hundred-meter radius around him. In an instant, he appeared above Han Xiao’s head, and a swirling vortex gathered around his fist. A piercing light could be seen dazzling from within; that was a Pugilist skill that Han Xiao had suffered from more than once previously.
Han Xiao only had the time to raise his arms, and the glowing fist hit the direct center of his crossed arms.
Bang!
It was as though the sky had exploded into a purple sun!
A forceful shock rushed toward Han Xiao, and being in midair, he had no way to transfer the impact. His vision blurred, and he only saw the BlackLight Stealth rapidly moving away from himself, followed by a heavy impact coming from his back. His entire body was slammed into the ground, and rubble covered him. Only a tiny pinprick of the sky was left in his vision.
This explosive fist had knocked Han Xiao straight from the sky into the ground.
His arms were weak and full of pain, with the interface showing the [Fractured] state on his panel. Han Xiao secretly lamented about how the fist strength of a Calamity Grade Pugilist was indeed extraordinary, even while he urged his energy to increase cell proliferation, swiftly healing his wounds.
The fractured bones were held in place through the contractions of his muscles, and with the increased proliferation of cells, the bones were connected in the blink of an eye.
Cell proliferation could repair damage inflicted to any part of the body. So long as it was repaired consciously, the negative conditions such as fractures or handicaps would also be recovered while recovering HP. This was a side bonus that Han Xiao had discovered when he was being beaten up, or else all his bones would have broken by now.
Dong! Dong!
Before he could even take a breath, the rubble above his head was blasted open as Degulish directly smashed through the ground. With his fists continuously hitting the ground, he resembled a human bulldozer.
Han Xiao did not wish to be buried alive, so he knocked away the falling rubble and flew out. However, Ember’s black current shot forward at this point, blocking him for a moment.
“I’ve got you!”
Degulish rushed up with big steps, grabbing Han Xiao’s waist in a bear hug. He quickly changed his position to move behind Han Xiao, his hands forming a lock as he wanted to use his strength to suppress Han Xiao’s movements.
Comparing by Strength, Han Xiao was definitely not a match for the Calamity Grade Pugilist, and thus did not wish to tango with him at all.
Swoosh!
At that moment, Terry also took the chance. Several metal pieces elongation, piercing toward Han Xiao’s eyes, throat, heart, and other vital areas.
Clank!
The two Oathkeepers shielded Han Xiao from the deluge of metal. Each time he used [Waste Modification], the quality of the machinery would be reduced by a level. Thus, the Oathkeepers did not manage to block off much of the metal projectiles before they were pierced into beehives. However, they managed to buy Han Xiao some precious time.
Han Xiao fully activated his mechanical suit propulsion module, bringing Degulish with him as he rushed toward the sky to avoid the assault from Terry.
Even after struggling twice, Han Xiao was still unable to disengage himself from Degulish’s lock. Thus, he changed his method. The legs of the mechanical suit suddenly split open, and Han Xiao slid out from his suit, easily escaping. At the same time, he utilized the Mechanical Force to disintegrate the Void Dragon Mechanical suit, allowing it to form up around him once again.
Degulish was left hugging the air and immediately fell back to the ground.
The threat of the mothership main cannon gripped his heart, and with every additional second of delay, Han Xiao felt the danger increase another notch. However, with Degulish and Terry eyeing him, any attempt made to fly toward the sky would be blocked.
The BlackLight Stealth could only hover above his head and did not dare get too close to the Calamity Grade Supers because it would be torn apart if it did.
The time taken for the battle had already past five minutes, and the cooldown for his [Void Travel] was over. Han Xiao wanted to use the skill to rush toward his spaceship, but once he entered the void travel state, he would phase through all matter, unable to affect any matter. Even his mechanical suit would be useless, and he would only be able to float using his mechanical force. The duration afforded by [Void Travel] was insufficient for him to fly manually into the spaceship.
Things are not looking so good…
Han Xiao felt a sense of helplessness in his heart and turned to rush toward the tens of thousands of players.
So long as those ‘foot soldiers’ could buy some time by delaying the three Calamity Grade Supers, he would be able to escape the battlefield. The saying was true, ‘one trains soldiers for thousands of days just to use them during an opportune moment’.
Ember snapped his fingers a few times.
Pa pa pa…
The tens of thousands of players saw their HP get reduced to 0, and they turned into white motes as they were sent to revive.
Ember’s ability was just that overpowered. If one did not have the ability to resist true damage, so long as they were weaker than him, they were not qualified to fight against him. Numbers did not mean a thing to him, which was why he was regarded as a killing machine by DarkStar. He could effortlessly slaughter millions in the blink of an eye.
…
The tens of thousands of players simultaneously revived in the square, stunned in place.
“F*ck, I died just like that!”
“Carbon dissociation? True Damage‽ This Boss is broken!”
“I’m out of here. It’s obvious that Black Star’s battlefield is not something that we can affect.”
“That was part of the storyline killing us.”
The storyline killing quickly spread, and the majority of players present believed in it, not going over to join the activities. In the game, they could only die ten times every six days, so the players did not wish to spend their limited death entries on such a pointless storyline action. Thus, they simply chose to crane their necks and watch Han Xiao’s fight.
This was also not the first time that they had watched a storyline plot. The period in Version 1.0 when the Six Nations warred against the Germinal Organization, as well as the resolving of the Mutation Source earlier, had already prepared the players for it… Come to think of it, it seemed like Planet Aquamarine had quite a number of storylines. Wow.
Everyone felt that this time was also a personal storyline of Black Star and was curious as to the development of the plot.
In the eyes of the players, to have Planet Aquamarine meet with such a crisis, it signified the transition that they were about to leave the novice planet, which should be part of the plot.
As the leader of the Guiding Faction, Black Star would be their head for a long period of time. Therefore, many of the players hypothesized that Black Star would likely shine in this event, leaving an even deeper impression. However, they were unable to predict what would truly happen.
…
Seeing the tens of thousands of players brushing their butts and sauntering off, Han Xiao could not stop the corners of his mouth twitching.
Tut, looks like I can’t rely on this group of players. The gap between them and the Calamity Grade Supers is too great.
Degulish and the other two encircled Han Xiao in a triangular formation but did not proceed to close in on him, maintaining some distance.
The three of them did not wish to allow Han Xiao to escape, but they also did not wish to take the cannon blast together with him. The cannon blast was not going to differentiate between friend or foe.
“Risda, is there any way to stop the firing of the mothership cannon?” Han Xiao asked softly into his communicator.
“I have no way to go about it. I infiltrated another mothership and can only help you to check the situation… Oh no, the charging of the main cannon is complete, and the target has already been locked on. You have roughly 8.6 seconds left.”
“Seems like I can’t avoid the blast. Ok, let’s go. I can tank this…”
Han Xiao could only attempt to motivate himself. He threw out a few compressed orbs, which expanded into layers of alloy covers. This was a portable tactical defense fortress that could be used for protection. It had no other effect than that being extremely durable.
This was closely followed by the mechanical soldiers throwing themselves on Han Xiao, on top of the portable defense fortress, using their bodies as shields. They also activated their own shields and faced the sky.
Degulish and the others did not wish to enter the blasting radius of the cannon and would turn a blind eye as long as Black Star did not escape. Thus, they turned around and attacked the mechanical army around them. While only a small portion passed through the three of them to reach the defense fortress, the defense line constantly got thicker.
The remaining shuttles and mechanical hands also flew up into the sky and activated their shields.
Han Xiao had released almost all his machinery for defense, and he did not know how much they could offset. Thus, he recovered his HP back to the maximum and concentrated his energy, readying himself to use Aurora’s Character Summon Card.
At that moment, Degulish, who was blocking the mechanical army, received a notification from the mothership. The three of them stopped their actions immediately, retreating far away.
“The deed is done. Black Star cannot avoid this!”
Degulish revealed a satisfied smile. They had chased after him and blocked Han Xiao from escaping, all in order to allow the main cannon to lock onto and hit Black Star. This was the method with the highest possibility of killing him.
At that moment, within the defensive fortress, Han Xiao raised his alertness to the highest, as well as activating the skill [Repel—Thorns], which he had obtained for the Germinal Organization Leader. The skill would offset thirty percent of the damage received from the next attack.
“It’s coming!”
Chapter 573. Tanking the Main Cannon‽ (2) |
The speed of the main cannon was undoubtedly fast, and now that he had been locked on to, there was no point in him trying to dodge. The entire process from the firing of the cannon to the time it hit was measured in milliseconds. Even Degulish and the other two had to move away before the cannon was fired.
Since he was unable to board the BlackLight Stealth, he could not hope to avoid the impact of the cannon fire with his own speed. His [Void Travel] skill might be able to avoid one shot, but so long as the main cannon remained active, they would just need to fire another shot if they saw him dodge.
Instead, it would be better for him to use the limited amount of time to stack all the defenses he had, then use the [Repel—Thorns] skill as a guarantee and find out the damage of the cannon. With so many measures, his chances of survival should be quite high, and if he survived, it would be able to work as a bluff to scare the enemy.
Having thought of this, a horrific energy was detected. He had just felt it when the entire attack had already arrived.
Han Xiao hunkered down in his fortress. He could not see the outside perspective of the cannon ray being shot down and could only feel through the feedback of his Mechanical Force when the various shields shattered, and his numerous mechanical soldiers were destroyed. A piercing white light filled his vision, and horrible heat covered his entire body.
Boom!
A huge force seemed to press down upon him like a mountain, slapping Han Xiao flat on the ground and wrapping him in the energy column of the main cannon. His field of vision was blank, and the energy ray rushed down continuously like a waterfall, forcing him to remain prone.
His HP levels rapidly dropped, and even with the thirty percent reduced damage from the skill, the first impact reduced his total HP by a third. The subsequent high temperature and energy shock caused continuous damage after that, rapidly sapping away his HP. Han Xiao could not move, and only felt his flesh and blood melt and evaporate as various negative statuses appeared on his interface.
If it was an ordinary person, just the cannon blast would have disintegrated them. Even dregs would not have remained.
Han Xiao gritted his teeth as he activated the skill [Middle Grade Cell Proliferation Control] to replenish his HP as fast as possible. Every tick would allow him to regain twenty-eight percent of his HP. This allowed him to break even with the falling HP level. The gauge continuously jumped up and down, giving him goosebumps, and he prepared to activate Aurora’s Character Summon Card at any time.
To recover more than 10,000 HP every second would be equivalent to using 2,000 to 3,000 Onas of Energy. Luckily, with the cannon dealing damage to him, it provided him with an inexhaustible supply of energy, allowing him to fully display his HP recovery abilities.
The interface was flooded with notifications about receiving damage. While the attack from the main cannon also contained a portion of true damage, it was nullified by Han Xiao’s talent of [Steel Body]. This point was critical, as it helped to reduce a large portion of damage taken by him, thus allowing him to only suffer the regular damage.
…
A few seconds earlier…
Yet another DarkStar spaceship was shot down, and wreathed in flames, Nagakin briefly paused in midair, looking down Han Xiao’s battlefield, the surprise in his eyes evident.
Black Star really managed to withstand the attacks of three Calamity Grades! How has he achieved that‽
Nagakin was extremely surprised, as even he could not achieve that level.
At this point, he realized that there were changes to the battlefield. He only saw that Black Star was constantly imposing defenses on top of himself, whereas the three Calamity Grades had somehow scampered away, as though hiding from something dangerous.
“Why have they stopped fighting? What is Black Star defending himself against?”
Nagakin had a confused expression on. However, before he could think about the reason, the answer was presented to him.
Swoosh!
A huge beam of light shot down from the skies, connecting heaven and earth to strike Han Xiao’s position. The word ‘strike’ might be a little inaccurate, as the beam was a good few hundred meters wide!
From the sky to the ground, the time taken for the beam to traverse the distance was quicker than the blink of an eye. Even with Nagakin’s reaction speed, he did not have time to take any countermeasures and could only squint to resist the strong light.
Bang!
The cannon blasted out a new landmark!
It was akin to a spear of God stabbing straight into the earth. It gave off the illusion that it could penetrate this planet, striking an intense sense of shock in everyone!
The light was piercing, and Nagakin struggled to open his eyes as his expression constantly changed.
Were they nuts‽ To actually use the main cannon just to deal with a single target…
How did Black Star manage to rile them up so much‽
Boom!
The next moment, a violent explosion occurred. The shockwaves spread from the epicenter, and debris and soil was blown outward from the point of impact.
The DarkStar mothership’s main cannon utilized a separate energy furnace that was dedicated to it. Thus, its killing power was many times higher than that of its light weapons. While the light weapons were focused on penetrative power, the main cannon was geared more toward ‘single target’ damage. Of course, if one was so crazy as to use the main cannon to hit an individual, then the effect was no different from an AOE.
The main cannon continued to release energy, the terrifying high temperatures distorting the air as shockwaves constantly blasted outward. The earth roiled, and the area covered by the cannon beam had turned into a ring-shaped depression while still continuously expanding.
Inside the protective shield, the faces of countless players were illuminated by the white light, and their expressions were slack, with only that beam of light in their vision.
Was that… Heaven’s Judgement‽
Xiu!
The main cannon stopped firing, and only a final glare could be seen disappearing from the core of the crater, flickering.
Boom!
The accumulated energy within suddenly imploded, the resulting sound from the explosion louder than before. Flames and smoke spread out at a high speed, as though it was an opening umbrella.
Heated winds swept out, and the mountains trembled!
Even those hiding inside the protective shield felt the violent tremors.
It was only after a long while that the energy within eventually dispersed. Smoke obscured the vision of everyone present, and one could only see that there was a huge crater left in the outer sector of the Sanctuary, as though a meteor had struck there.
“What was that?”
The hearts of countless of players present shook.
Even Bennett felt a little lost for words.
Hila slammed herself on the protective shield, her pupils shrinking into tiny points as she stared.
Nagakin stood on top of the protective shield with a worried expression as he gazed at the position of where Han Xiao was, the center of the crater that was surrounded by smoke.
Degulish, Ember, and Terry stood up, their faces covered in soot. They had attempted running right before the cannon fired and were knocked off their feet by the incoming debris and soil waves, landing in different locations. After standing up, they simultaneously looked at the crater, wanting to know the outcome.
All the DarkStar and Godoran spaceships suddenly ceased firing, floating in the sky as they watched the outcome below.
After the smoke dispersed, one could see that the center of the crater was several meters deep. The slope was steep, and the soil got redder in color the lower it got. There were many areas that had crystallized due to the high temperature, with some rocks having melted into magma, gleaming as it flowed down the slope.
