Following Aoz Ge, Getting Hit with Iron Rods Every Day

Following Aoz Ge, Getting Hit with Iron Rods Every Day

Clang clang clang, bang! "This is murder! They're murdering a beautiful girl—"

Nomi screamed dramatically, but she moved with remarkable agility. She ducked low, evading the rain of bullets, then suddenly bent at the waist and burst forward. Like a bolt of white lightning, she slammed into an armored guard's chest. A vicious elbow struck the ballistic plate over his heart, and a sharp crack of metal fracturing echoed through the underground corridor.

Crack—

The shattered steel plate still could not fully absorb the force. The security officer was held in place by the Exoskeleton Armor's mechanical frame and took the heavy blow head-on. He immediately raised a mechanical arm and reached for the petite Nomi.

But Nomi merely lowered her head and slipped straight through the gap beneath the guard's ribs, even spinning around to kick him in the spine. With practiced ease, she kicked open the Exoskeleton Armor's safety casing, reached in and yanked out the hexagonal battery. She smugly flung it away and pulled a face at him.

"Stupid, aren't you? I'm five foot tall and weigh ninety-five pounds. Think you can catch me?"

Deprived of battery power, the guard's body stiffened before the heavy Exoskeleton Armor crushed him to the ground.

In such a narrow corridor, stray bullets could ricochet and injure allies. The remaining guards quickly reacted, either deploying sidearm pistols or drawing military knives as they closed in on Nomi and opened fire. Their movements were fluid, swift, and utterly without hesitation.

"Come on, then! You think I'm scared of you?!"

Nomi tilted her head aside, dodging a shot aimed at her head. Even as 9mm rounds punched several holes through her chest, she did not slow in the slightest. Bare feet striking the alloy floor, she swung her wrench viciously at her opponent's head. With a dull clang, the carbon-fiber polyester helmet caved in deeply. She flicked her wrist, and the wrench's serrated jaw immediately peeled the entire helmet away.

"Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da! Time to crack open the big lobster—ugh, what the hell is that?!"

The guard's helmet came off, but it did not reveal the Frostplate woman's face Nomi had expected. Her mouth twitched. Before her was a cultivation tank embedded into the guard's cheeks and skull.

Inside the translucent glass container floated a brain still releasing bubbles, pierced by all manner of wires and electrode tubes.

This was not a living person at all.

A chill ran through Nomi's entire body. Recoiling in disgust, she dodged a military knife slashing in from the side and retreated again and again.

"Are you kidding me? I'm going to puke—turning living people into these neither-human-nor-ghost things—just as expected, this is the work of Nethermark's dog doctors!"

You witnessed the Bio-Mechanical Body security guards—smooth, powerful, with reactions far surpassing those of ordinary soldiers. Even Aura-awakened warriors found such beings troublesome to face. Yet every crystallized drop of technology behind this mature technique was a silent indictment written in blood and tears.

"Unremembered" Exploration Progress Increased

Current Progress: 6.5%

"Just like in the Walkthrough, the Wardens attack every enemy without distinction."

Li Aoz nodded.

At this point, Li Aoz no longer intended to stand by and watch. Nomi was stronger than he had expected. Originally, he had planned to have this Plunderer girl with 19 Constitution serve as the front line while he stood in the rear and added damage.

Instead, relying on her outstanding combat instincts and movement patterns, Nomi had blown up two enemies in succession and even prevented their suppressive fire.

That was unexpected. He could make use of her for a little longer.

Judging from the combat panel, these Nethermark Wardens averaged around Level 18, with armor ratings as high as 140. Nomi seemed to possess some hidden skill or technique that allowed her to ignore armor and inflict a certain amount of damage.

This girl was unexpectedly useful. That was good.

His own level had been too low, so he had not hoped to join in the harvest. He had only intended to advance the plot and be done with it.

But now, Nomi's Combat Power appeared fairly considerable. He could use this opportunity to make a killing.

Li Aoz drew a deep breath and stepped out from behind cover. A golden ring of light ignited in his gray eyes, and at the same time, an overlapping, suffocating pressure descended abruptly.

"Kneel!"

Gravity Pressure

Bzz—

Without a sound, the Gravity Field had already captured everyone before him.

Unlike telekinesis, which leaned toward interference on the mental level, the Gravity Aura Li Aoz possessed was a purely physical form of attack.

This Aura had few descriptions: it merely controlled the direction and magnitude of gravity. But in truth, gravity itself fell within the domain of gravitation.

Creatures on the surface were influenced and affected by the planet's gravitational pull at every moment.

Even though his development had only reached the "Perception" stage and he lacked sufficient specialized knowledge to expand its applications, as an Omega-class Aura, its danger far surpassed that of lower-grade Auras.

The strength of gravity was chiefly reflected in four aspects.

First, as one of the four fundamental forces, gravity propagated at the speed of light. Therefore, the speed at which Li Aoz's Gravity Field expanded was also light-speed. At this stage, no one could evade it or ignore being captured by the field.

Absolute Hit.

Of the fourteen people remaining, seven, including Nomi, were crowded into the corridor.

Without exception, all of them were caught within Li Aoz's fifteen-meter-radius Gravity Field.

Creak—

The crushing pressure crashed down. In an instant, Li Aoz's Aura Value fell by sixty percent, but the result was even more shocking than the cost.

Five times gravity! Mechanical armor buckled and warped. All of Nethermark Humanity's Wardens instantly dropped to their knees, unable to rise. Under five times gravity, every person was effectively enduring pressure equal to five times their own body weight.

Second, gravity was one of the rare Auras capable of causing indirect damage.

An ordinary person would already find twice normal gravity agonizing, as though they were carrying another version of themselves over their entire body.

Even fighter pilots, equipped with the best anti-G suits, could only withstand instantaneous overloads of nine to ten Gs. One second more, and they would lose consciousness.

Even exceptional astronauts, wearing spacesuits, would faint and die under prolonged tenfold gravity.

These wardens' armor was far too heavy, yet its material could not compare to high-strength aerospace alloys.

Li Aoz advanced step by step. The wardens tried to raise their guns in retaliation, but before their arms had even lifted ten centimeters off the ground, a labored cracking sound rang out.

Crack!

The heavy armor covering them and the cybernetic implants embedded in their bodies tore free from their flesh under the crushing force of the hypergravity.

They could only watch helplessly as their own mass killed them.

Thanks to Nomi's earlier "aggro pull," the group had been gathered together, allowing Li Aoz to stroll forward at his leisure. The wardens could only greet his arrival like humble subjects receiving their sovereign.

A group of lobsters sprawled across the ground posed no threat at all. With a flick of his finger, Li Aoz fired blades, thumbtacks, and staples, harvesting the wardens.

You have killed a Lv. 15 Nethermark Warden—total damage contribution below 60%, defeating a higher-level enemy, party reward, additional reward, calculating...

A huge amount of experience flowed in. Since Li Aoz had never leveled up before, he was still killing higher-level enemies as a Level 0.

By the time Li Aoz slit the throat of the last Nethermark Warden, he had gained 12,750 experience points.

"Although there's an 80% experience penalty for teaming up with a high-level character, it's still a huge profit overall."

Li Aoz tried to remove a Nethermark Warden's exoskeleton, only to discover that it was fused with the human body—he immediately realized this was not a mechanic's work.

"Implant technology, cerebral wetware, composite blood vessels... a biochemist."

Most biochemist equipment came with genetic-engineering encryption, and there might even be biological virus traps. Li Aoz abandoned the idea.

He did not dare touch the dropped firearms either. Biochemists were even more sinister than mechanics; most of their equipment was exclusively customized. Taking an unauthorized weapon was equivalent to carrying a tracker. They would be able to find you even at the ends of the earth.

Still, the overall haul was good. Li Aoz invested the experience into Mutant. Early-game experience was precious, and raising his Main Class level was the most cost-effective choice.

"In the upcoming storyline, Nomi probably won't be able to act with me. I need some way to protect myself."

While mooching off others could quickly accumulate experience, Li Aoz did not want to lose his life over a few thousand welfare points.

Besides, Frostplate had no shortage of specialties to farm. He would not find professional knowledge anytime soon, so if he wanted to raise his Combat Power, he just had to stack his Main Class.

Main Class [Mutant] has been upgraded to Lv. 7

Based on your specialties, you gain the following benefit: Charisma +3.

Even with a specialty, it was only +3. The Main Class granted an attribute boost every five levels. Without the specialty, he would only have gained 2 Charisma.

What a pity.

Mutant's early-game attribute bonuses were absurdly low. A Martial Artist like Nordly could easily raise two attributes to around 20.

Li Aoz already had an excellent foundation, yet even at the start, he had no ability to build up his other attributes.

Aura was useful, but that could not hide the fact that his attributes were low.

Low attributes meant he could not lift heavy objects, endure cold, heat, poison, or radiation, or pass certain checks.

Worst of all, if he failed to meet the requirements, he could not equip gear.

This was especially true for Constitution and Strength, which determined most defensive equipment he could wear.

"This familiar sense of déjà vu..."

Li Aoz's eye twitched. It felt like being back in prison.

The call of prison seemed to echo by his ear. He could already see himself unable to equip all kinds of armor and weapons, forced to charge into battle barehanded in casual clothes.

Li Aoz's raised hand trembled slightly.

Yes, exactly! This was the blood-and-tears history of his early progression days! "Forget it. Gravity Aura works great. So what if I'm a glass cannon? Don't I have a meat shield?"

Li Aoz hardened his resolve. He decided to stop farming specialties for other attributes altogether, max out Charisma, and race headlong down the glass-cannon path.

"Speaking of which, where's my meat shield?"

"Hey... idiot..."

Nomi lay sprawled on the ground, panting painfully, her face flushed red. The gravity pressing down on her was equivalent to five times her own weight, making her suffer unbearably. It felt as though her internal organs were about to be crushed out of her, and she practically spoke with her tongue hanging out: "You... (damn Frostplate)... take it easy! How... ngh... can you even hit... hah... your own allies?!"