Afterward, Hua's father looked troubledly at the Death Soldier, which was swaying as it got back to its feet.
"It was like hitting a concrete slab..."
A dense web of cracks had appeared across the Death Soldier's chest from that punch. If it had been a normal human, its collapsed chest would have left it lying on the ground waiting to die. Yet this "zombie" before them seemed completely fine aside from the cracks.
"Damn it, if Reanna or Rita were here, they'd take down one of these Death Soldiers with every swing."
Liu Bai could not help missing the two S-Rank Valkyries he knew. He had never imagined that a Death Soldier, which was not even qualified to be cannon fodder in the game, would be this troublesome.
The three of them could kill this Death Soldier without much difficulty if they worked together, but clearing this without getting hurt...
"...Its attack intent is obvious, and its attacks are simple too. If I were just a little stronger..." Hua muttered softly, though it was unclear who she was speaking to.
"Find an opening later, and let Daddy show you how Cunxin: Sky Splitter works."
Hua's father smiled after hearing her words.
But Liu Bai revealed a thoughtful look after hearing Hua say that.
"Hua, I have a way to make you stronger for a short time, but you can only use it once a day, and it lasts ten seconds... Whether you can kill it will be up to you."
"...All right."
"Great! Watch closely, sweetheart!"
Hua's father rubbed his hands together and stared at the Death Soldier, whose desire to attack had flared up again, like a fierce tiger descending the mountain.
Meanwhile, Liu Bai silently activated the new ability he had gained after raising his Guardian Spirit skill to level five.
—Blessing!
It enhanced strength based on the compatibility between him and the host. The ratio was an absurd 1:1, with virtually no negative effects. The only flaw was that the enhancement could only last ten seconds.
Just a few breaths.
Fu Hua's current compatibility: 75%
Thanks to his father-in-law... Pah, he meant Hua's father, for the assist just now.
Over these past few days, along with that assist just now, the compatibility between him and Fu Hua had reached a rather impressive 75%.
...This was probably the only thing compatibility had ever done that actually lived up to its name.
Otherwise, it might as well have been called Favorability.
Blessing, begin—!
Boom—!
At that instant, an inexplicable power descended from above his crown, surging through his body with overwhelming force.
So this is... Teacher Liu's power?
—Ten seconds.
Hua did not lose herself in the sudden sensation of power. In less than half a second, she snapped back to her senses, stepped forward, and directly passed Hua's father, who was preparing to meet the Death Soldier head-on.
"—!?"
"Roar?"
At that moment, Hua's father and the Death Soldier wore remarkably similar expressions.
Who was that?
Was that his daughter?
His daughter was actually this strong?
One second had passed.
Hua drew her fist back to her waist and assumed the standard opening stance of the Cunxin Fist.
Inch Punch: Chaotic Thunder—!
Bang!
Several powerful punches landed on the Death Soldier's seemingly slender body.
Against Hua's fists, the Death Soldier's rather impressive speed by ordinary standards was utterly useless before the enhanced Hua.
At the same time, its already-broken chest defenses meant it could not withstand Hua's barrage of empowered punches.
In game terms—
It had been staggered.
Two seconds...
At that moment, Hua had already treated the Death Soldier, which was incapable of fighting back, as one of the sandbags and wooden dummies she used for daily training.
Inch Punch: Thunderclap!
Inch Punch: Rock Shatter!
Inch Punch: Mountain Collapse!
Inch Punch: Cloud Mist!
Seizing the opportunity created by its stagger, Hua unleashed an entire set of Cunxin Fist techniques upon it.
"Guh—!"
The Death Soldier finally made a sound other than a roar—unfortunately, it was a futile wail.
—Its spine had been broken.
From punches to throws, from throws to rising strikes, then from rising strikes to crushing drops, Hua brought more than ten years of martial training to its absolute limit under Liu Bai's all-around enhancement. Even if this Death Soldier had a body of bronze and bones of iron, it should have been shattered by now.
But there was still one move from the Cunxin Fist left to use.
—Cunxin: Sky Splitter!
At that moment, all those intricate techniques once more condensed into an utterly ordinary punch.
Watching that punch, Liu Bai suddenly recalled a joking line—
An immortal touches my crown; an inch punch splits the heavens!
Whether by coincidence or not, Hua's final punch came down directly toward the Death Soldier's head.
"Cunxin... Sky Splitter!"
—Crack.
Its head was flattened. Let alone a mere Death Soldier, even a Herrscher probably would not have survived that.
Only after seeing the Death Soldier completely lose all signs of life did Hua finally let out a long breath. The power granted by the Blessing rapidly faded, and she dropped onto the ground, panting heavily.
Hua's father, who had watched the entire process from the side, made an adorably dazed gesture entirely at odds with his mature image—he rubbed his eyes.
Th-That was his daughter?
His daughter was this strong?
The zombie that even he found troublesome had been utterly unable to fight back in his daughter's hands. Especially that final Cunxin: Sky Splitter—she had domineeringly chosen to strike the Death Soldier's hardest part, its head.
And she had really flattened it with one punch?
The first thing Hua's father felt was not the pride of seeing a younger generation surpass him, nor the melancholy of accepting age, but a heart full of worry.
—How was this girl supposed to get married in the future?
Woooo—!
Just as Hua's father was drowning in worry, a shrill police siren suddenly sounded outside.
Soon, an armed vehicle that looked very much like a police car pulled up in front of the martial arts school—well, the martial arts school no longer had a front door.
"This familiar lateness..."
Liu Bai could not help mocking the familiar scene.
The first person to step out of the vehicle was a red-haired woman who looked to be in her early twenties.
...What a coincidence.
Liu Bai smiled when he saw her familiar face.
Meanwhile, she hurried inside in a panic.
"Who called the police and reported a zombie attack? Is anyone hurt?"
"I called the police, Officer... Miss?"
Hua raised her hand, drawing the red-haired woman's attention.
However, the confusion on Hua's face was obvious as she looked at her.
The other woman wore a uniform that looked more like a soldier's than a police officer's.
Did something like a zombie attack already require the military to step in... Well, that actually seemed pretty normal?
Thinking it over carefully, the monster Teacher Liu called a Death Soldier really was not something ordinary people could handle.
"You?" The red-haired woman looked at Hua, who was sitting on the ground and gasping for breath. Just as she was about to say something, her gaze swept aside, and she saw a pale female corpse beside Hua, its head flattened and its chest bearing horrifying injuries.
Even in the dim night, that corpse remained impossible to ignore.
"Y-You took care of the Dea... Cough, the zombie?"
The comforting words that had reached her lips turned into astonishment.
"My father and I took care of it together."
Hua corrected her. Without Hua's father's strike that broke through its defenses, she would not have been able to stagger the Death Soldier so easily.
"You two..."
"Ahem. I am a martial artist, and my daughter and I know a few modest fighting techniques."
Hua's father stepped forward and gave a reluctant explanation.
Her gaze, movements, footwork, the calluses hidden on her hands, and even her tone of voice all told him that this red-haired young woman in her twenties might be even stronger than the monster from before.
"A martial artist..." The red-haired woman's expression turned strange when she heard that answer.
When she entered, the sign above had indeed seemed to say something about a martial arts school.
But damn it... Martial arts that could kill a Death Soldier?
If martial arts were really that useful, what was the point of having elite soldiers like them?
"Would you mind if I examined the body?"
"Of course. Officer, please do as you wish."
After receiving Hua's father's consent, the red-haired woman walked over to Hua and began examining the Death Soldier's injuries.
"They're all blunt-force injuries. The wounds are concentrated around the chest, with clear fist marks... It should have suffered rapid, high-frequency, high-intensity blows in a short period of time. As for the cause of death, that's obvious—the head. The fist mark is very clear there too."
So it really had been beaten to death with fists.
After confirming it several times, the red-haired woman's expression grew even stranger.
"Uh... Right, my name is Himiko—Himeko. I'm the captain of the Fifth Squad of Moth Chasers to Fire. I just happened to be on vacation here. You're lucky... Forget it, it's nothing."
Himiko had been about to say that the girl was lucky to have encountered her.
But then she suddenly remembered that she had not been the one to kill the Death Soldier...
"By the way, you killed this Death Soldier, right? That fist mark on its head... You're so young, but you're incredibly strong."
She had beaten a Death Soldier to death with her bare hands, and judging by her age, she was probably no more than a high school student. What a promising talent!
Himiko immediately developed an appreciation for her talent.
"By the way, how old are you this year?"
"I-I'm fifteen..."
The look in the red-haired woman's eyes reminded Hua of the neighborhood aunties hearing about a supermarket sale.
"Fifteen..."
Himiko calculated silently.
At that age... she was too young.
"Are you in high school yet?"
Before you continue