Titan × Zhu Yan √

"What's with this kid?"

A burly man carrying a submachine gun stared wide-eyed. With that one move just now, everyone around the Zhu Yan Mech had been blasted far away, crashing into the ground, their fate unknown.

If he hadn't kept his distance, he would probably have ended up just like his companions.

Everyone had originally gathered beneath the Zhu Yan Mech to use the shield covering it to reduce the damage, planning to rush into the airport in one go later. Instead, they had practically been wiped out in a single stroke, losing more than ten capable fighters right away.

There were only around two hundred of them to begin with, and they had lost over a dozen at once. How were they supposed to fight now?

In their fury, and to raise morale, they focused their fire on Li Ming.

"No matter what you are, die!"

"Kill him!"

"Brothers, get him!"

Li Ming was promptly treated to the concentrated fire of an entire group. Looking across the whole battlefield, it was quite an unbelievable sight.

HK Organization's primary objective was to eliminate Raiden Ryoma, while the Chiyou Organization working with them wanted to launch an attack and abduct more civilians and resources. Besides, by acting alongside HK Organization, they would have someone to take the blame afterward.

"Ah, I was still too outstanding." Li Ming shook his head and used the mech beneath him to block the attack. Still, even with its shield activated, the Titan only had a one-sided shield.

Even so, the submachine guns in those criminals' hands could not break through the Titan's shield.

After firing for only a short while, they were immediately stopped. "Bastards, are you trying to blow up the Zhu Yan Mech too?"

"Hah, Zhu Yan? Isn't that a Titan?"

Titan ×, Zhu Yan √?

But no one paid attention to Li Ming at the moment.

Clearly, not everyone among them was an idiot. Two men who looked like minor leaders stopped those spraying bullets, and Li Ming breathed a slight sigh of relief. He still wasn't at the point where he could tank bullets with his body. Besides, so what if he could withstand bullets? Even a Herrscher could not endure carpet-bombing attacks head-on—endure them, that was; abilities did not count.

Li Ming had continuously released energy and relied on his armor to block the bullets coming from the front, while the bullets from behind had been blocked by the mech's energy shield.

Once they knew Li Ming was being handled by that mech, the members of the organizations led the remaining five Spider King Mech-like machines and one Shaman Mech deeper into the airport.

The battlefield now contained five mechs held by HK Organization and the Chiyou Organization that resembled Spider King Mechs. However, they did not self-destruct quickly, and their heads were pointed. Heavy weapons and energy shields were mounted on those pointed tips. Perhaps they should have been called Squid Mechs instead, but Li Ming still secretly remained wary. After all, he had already seen modified Titans.

There were also three Shaman Mechs. These Shaman Mechs were fairly standard. Aside from apparently lacking the effect of triggering Time Fracture, everything else had been enhanced somewhat. They had gained a fifteen-meter-diameter scorching force field and energy shields. The Chiyou Organization members all called them Vermillion Birds. All Li Ming could say was that it was embarrassingly ridiculous. Good thing they did not dare call them Red Kites, or his old man would descend from the heavens to punish them.

The remaining twelve Titan Mechs were all modified models. Other than adding two gun barrels and spraying them red before renaming them Zhu Yan, Li Ming could not see much of a difference. Still, they retained all the Titan's characteristics, and their skills should have been the same as well. He just did not know how much better they were than the originals.

The Valkyries could only hold back seven of the twelve mechs. Seven Titans, combined with the barrage from the grunts, were indeed highly suppressive. Of the remaining five, four had begun one-on-one battles with the four Titans deployed from the warship. Among those Valkyries, only one was A-rank; the others were not particularly strong even among B-ranks. Being able to carry out missions in the city was already quite good. The truly powerful ones were probably all at headquarters. Having one or two outstanding members at a branch was already generous.

You could see two Titans—oh, no, it should be said that there was one Titan and one Zhu Yan. The Titan threw a Mech Heavy Punch, while the Zhu Yan raised its cannon barrel and fired at the Titan. Although the genuine Titan's abilities were somewhat stronger than the Zhu Yan's, it still had to deal with the surrounding grunts from time to time.

Both mechs had ample energy and thick armor, so the result was a prolonged stalemate.

As for the people summoned by the warship's person in charge, they were currently wearing standard-issue armor. Two wielded large sabers, while the third held a longsword. The three were being ganged up on by two two-meter-tall Shaman Mechs.

The saber-wielding man was nothing special. He was merely somewhat outstanding, probably around D-rank, and only reached C-rank strength with the armor's assistance. However, the one wielding the longsword was quite eye-catching. Even among C-ranks, he was one of the stronger ones.

Still, the two were trapped by those fire-spewing Captain Flameheads—ah, no, Vermillion Bird Mechs. Whenever they tried to leave the scorching force field, the Shaman Mechs would block them back in.

The one wielding the longsword was rather clever. Like Li Ming, he wore Willpower System Armor and could occasionally break through the Vermillion Bird Mechs' energy shields. However, with those people coordinating their barrages, it was difficult for him to expand his advantage. Instead, he ended up covered in injuries.

The two burly men wielding sabers, on the other hand, were infuriating. They held sabers but wore Fire Control System Armor. They slashed twice, then fired two cannon shots, yet the shields barely even budged. Meanwhile, the young man holding the longsword was being affected by them. What, had they been brainwashed by American iaijutsu? Beyond seven steps, a gun was faster; within seven steps, a gun was faster and more accurate?

Big brothers, you were fighting mechs, not Valkyries who could use Honkai Energy against mechs, nor were you exceptionally skilled martial artists. If Li Ming had been fighting alongside them, they probably would have given him a cerebral hemorrhage from rage. They did react later and aimed their cannons at the grunts, but they had to withstand both the bullet barrage and the scorching force field. Was that supposed to be a joke? It was already impressive that they could hold on.

Li Ming had originally wanted to hide his strength and deal with the Shaman Mech first, but after thinking it over, unless the reinforcements called by that person in charge arrived, the Titan could lead that group through the defensive line and into the airport's safe zone.

With no other choice, Li Ming could only go after this final Zhu Yan. Yet after he had just appeared and cleared out a wave of grunts, he had been focused down by another wave of fire. It left Li Ming extremely frustrated.

Li Ming performed a swallow flip and faced off against the mech before him.

"Do you think you're the Immortal Red Kite, capable of facing my Zhu Yan alone? How naïve, kid." A rather harsh male voice came from inside the mech. It was obvious from the moment he spoke that he looked down on Li Ming, even though Li Ming had just kicked him to his knees.

He still believed it had been the warship's fault. Still, that was true enough: Li Ming had borrowed the warship's force when he was launched, using the Cunxin Fist Technique: Azure Dragon Emerging from Water · Skyward Scale. Otherwise, with his normal Skyward Scale, jumping into the air first and then falling with inertia would not have produced such power.

"Behold my Zhu Yan's Fire! Hahaha, burn to death, kid!"

The arrogant laughter rang out, and Li Ming looked completely bewildered. What was that? It sounded so grandiose.

Then he saw flames spray out from the opening on the mech's left arm. Dense flames surged straight toward Li Ming.

"This is Zhu Yan's Fire?" The corner of Li Ming's mouth twitched, but he still honestly dodged aside. Nothing would have happened to him, but it was better to avoid it anyway.

The blazing flames scorched the concrete ground black, even cracking its surface. The tongues of fire swallowed the surrounding grass and trees, reducing them directly to ash.

Li Ming stepped back, but he did not completely avoid the flames' range. Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds flashed beneath his feet, and he shot nearly several meters away in a single burst. "That was close, that was close. This fire is actually fifteen hundred degrees. How absurd."

"Brat, be consumed by my Zhu Yan's Fire!"

That mech was outrageously arrogant, spraying flames everywhere. Wherever Li Ming dodged, the fire drifted after him. It looked as though it wanted to burn Li Ming to death, but in truth, it could not catch him at all.

Still, Li Ming genuinely felt as though his ass was on fire. Of course, that was only an illusion.

Yet while he continuously evaded, Li Ming was actually observing the differences between this Zhu Yan Mech and an ordinary Titan during their back-and-forth.

He soon discovered that although this Zhu Yan Mech had been fitted with cannon barrels and flamethrowers, giving it medium- and long-range offensive capability, it had lost the effects of Sky-Shattering Strike and Mech Heavy Punch compared to a normal Titan. Even if it gathered enemies in, it could no longer use its fists to inflict massive damage, or it would damage the cannon barrels.

All its offensive power had been allocated to clearing grunts. If Tesla found out about this, the person who modified the mech would probably have been cursed to death by Tesla's trash talk.

Still, trading blows with this mech on flat ground was indeed unwise. He had to take the initiative. The cannon barrel on that Zhu Yan Mech's left arm had been heated red-hot, clearly overheating.

The mech's sudden halt made Li Ming prepare to counterattack. He darted toward the mech's left leg, mainly because the overheated left arm was clearly too cumbersome to move. Even if it suddenly exploded, Li Ming believed the armor he wore could defend against it effectively, ensuring that he suffered only minor injuries.

He raised his hand and unleashed a six-strike combo of the Cunxin Fist Technique: White Tiger Listens to the Wind. The entire combo only cracked the armor on the left leg. That result had only been achieved thanks to the Protective Bracers' 8 points of Willpower and the armor's innate 10 points of Willpower.

"But this is a good chance to see whether I can view the battle panel."

Sure enough, when he sank his mind into the system, he saw 980 HP and 290 shield above his head. That 290 shield should have been the armor. After taking so many bullets just now, he had only lost that tiny sliver of health.

The SP below the health bar had only accumulated to 10, not even enough to unleash a single Inch Punch: Thunderbolt. It should have been accumulated from his earlier White Tiger Listens to the Wind combo and the Inch Punch: Skyward Scale he used upon landing.

"My head hurts. Didn't Kiana beat Titans easily back then?"

Li Ming had simply forgotten that when Kiana could casually crush Titans, it was already after Himeko's death, when she could transform into White Knight: Moonlight herself. But could White Comet really transform into Moonlight after reaching SSS-rank? Naturally, that was impossible!

At that time, Kiana might have used White Comet, but that did not mean she could not switch equipment. Her strength was already no weaker than an ordinary S-rank Valkyrie's, and with a little cheating, she could even surpass them. As for Li Ming, he was currently weaker than even the three protagonists.

Yet the Zhu Yan Mech seemed completely unaffected. Its body leaned back slightly, and it raised both arms. Openings appeared across the Titan's body, continuously stirring up fierce winds. Everything within five meters was pulled toward the mech as the center, and even things outside that range were affected.

Li Ming, who had just delivered a close-range combo, naturally had no chance to escape the area in time, even though the Zhu Yan Mech had charged up for nearly thirty seconds.

"Kid, witness the power of the Zhu Yan Mech—Zhu Yan Heavy Punch!"