Shaking the sweat from his head, Xiao Ran looked at the last tiny handful of enemies remaining on the screen. Just as he was about to wipe them out completely and accomplish his objective, an incomparably shrill alarm suddenly rang out in the cockpit. The flashing red warning lights made his heart tighten.
Reacting instinctively, he immediately controlled the Variable Fighter to shoot into the sky. A tremendous boom erupted from the spot it had just occupied. Even Xiao Ran, seated inside the cockpit, could clearly hear the deafening crash, followed by countless fragments of stone spraying through the air.
When Xiao Ran focused his eyes, he saw a massive spiked club standing upright on the ground. The pitch-black weapon was covered in sharp iron spikes gleaming coldly. It had smashed a huge crater into the earth, cracks spreading across the surrounding ground.
The spiked club alone was as tall as an ordinary AS. If Xiao Ran had not controlled the Variable Fighter to evade just now, then being struck by a weapon capable of smashing craters and cracking the ground would have shattered the Variable Fighter, even with PS Armor.
This was no ordinary physical projectile attack. It was a perfect combination of strength, speed, and weight. The issue was no longer whether PS Armor could block it, but whether the Variable Fighter itself could withstand it.
The instant he saw the spiked club, Xiao Ran's relaxed mood vanished and he became serious again. He knew such a weapon could not possibly exist in this world. The only people who would use something like it were Participants.
As the image on the screen changed, Xiao Ran saw the bizarre mecha appearing at the edge of the base. His first impression was that it was ugly: two long horns, a