Let's Start the Second Round

A Zhu Yan Heavy Cannon punch made the Zhu Yan Mech raise both its hands high.

"Mom, look, I actually made a mech raise its hands. Its center is completely open! I'm really something!"

Though he thought this, Li Ming wasn't about to surrender. After observing the trajectory of the mech's movements, the suction force it emitted had gradually weakened. Even though his body hadn't completely broken free from the suction range, Li Ming prepared to shift his strategy.

With the first move, Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds, he thrust his body forward. His armor was already designed to be lightweight and thin, and he could take hits. Did they think he was some master of Body Refining, with a Golden Bell Shield Iron Cloth Shirt?

Defending by attacking was the wisest choice. At worst, he'd trigger a buff at low HP.

The first Imprint, Precept, had already been triggered since the start of the battle. For every second in combat, it increased the Discipline count by 5, up to a maximum of 200. It also increased the character's total damage reduction by 0.3% of the Discipline count. Using a summoned creature would deduct 50% of the current Discipline count.

A minute had already passed since Li Ming fell from the sky and began fighting this Zhu Yan Mech. The buff had long since stacked to 200 points, and a 60% total damage reduction now enveloped him.

Honestly, if he had comprehended Heart of Enlightenment, Empty Heart, or Inch Heart, or even Red Sparrow Chasing the Sun, dealing with this opponent's tough shell would be much easier.

He clenched his fist with Inch Punch, swung his arm, and Li Ming felt he was in peak condition. The Zhu Yan Mech in the air slammed its arms towards the ground. The braking system definitely wouldn't allow it to harm him, so Li Ming moved as quickly as possible towards the Zhu Yan's underside.

Of course, he wouldn't just stand there once he was underneath. He followed up with the Six Powers, still targeting the left leg. Breaking through with a single point, like water dripping on a stone, Li Ming felt he would eventually cripple that leg.

However, the Zhu Yan Mech wasn't without reaction, nor was it foolish enough to abandon its balance. It forcefully changed its move and tried to stomp on Li Ming with its foot. Instead, as its arms were aimed at the ground, its right cannon fired a rocket.

A violent explosion accompanied by tremors. Li Ming, standing beneath the Titan, took the damage at point-blank range. He was blasted back five to six meters. The armor's system reported the extent of damage in his ear.

"Warning, armor damage exceeds 15%. Warning, armor damage exceeds 15%..."

Li Ming shook his head, and the ringing in his ears subsided slightly. He looked at his armor; the left arm guard, left leg guard, and right leg guard had sustained minor damage, likely from the blast.

Although the armor's warnings didn't stop, Li Ming only felt a slight internal shock, some tinnitus, and a dull ache in his waist. Otherwise, he seemed fine. Checking his status panel, he saw: Shield: 245, HP: 890, SP: 25.

He had even triggered a layer of Annihilation. This Zhu Yan was something, but he had to admit, the Valkyrie armor was indeed good. Regardless of its abilities, the shock absorption was excellent.

Still, it probably couldn't take many more hits. One shot had depleted 45 shield points, and that was because the Zhu Yan Mech was weaker in its ground-slam attack, and even though he took the blast almost point-blank, it was mostly the shockwave and shrapnel.

If he had taken a direct hit, Li Ming estimated he would have lost much more. However, Li Ming wasn't worried. After all, no matter how strong this Zhu Yan was, it relied on energy and couldn't have an unlimited supply.

Besides, could this Zhu Yan be tougher than Canned Food?

Even though he had never beaten Canned Food.

But can't I brag a little? Didn't that guy throw a shuriken and claim he fought the First Hokage? Celebrity effect, celebrity effect, you know!

However, Li Ming definitely wouldn't go all out like he did against Canned Food. If he exhausted himself here, he'd likely be swallowed by a barrage of bullets or enveloped by a searing heat field.

After taking a breath, Li Ming clenched his fists. The protective bracers on his hands only had their paint scuffed, clearly indicating their superior quality compared to the damage on his armor.

The Zhu Yan Mech's previous move was clearly an emergency measure. Otherwise, it would have likely sucked him in, burned him with its flamethrower, and then fired a shot while he was off guard.

Firing a cannon point-blank at the ground was indeed too unconventional.

But it seemed effective. That kid's hands looked pretty badly injured too.

"Hahaha, kid, did you enjoy my shot just now! Now, let me show you the Zhu Yan Heavy Cannon!"

Li Ming stared at him with dead fish eyes. Were you playing poker? Do you have to name every move?

Just firing a cannon and giving it a name like Zhu Yan Heavy Cannon, how embarrassing!

Despite his internal complaints, Li Ming became serious when he saw the cannon aiming at him. After all, no one wanted to be shelled.

However, such weapons usually had radar to predict movement. The pilot wasn't completely stupid; he waited for the system to aim for a while before firing, maximizing his accuracy.

But after seeing where the cannon was aiming, Li Ming didn't retreat; he advanced. With Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds, he dodged the cannonball and then used the momentum for a direct strike forward. At this moment, Li Ming's neck, left hand, and right cheek glowed faintly.

This triggered the Imprint, Fleeting: Chaotic Hundred Flowers [Plum]. After an extreme dodge, attack speed and movement speed increased by 40% for eight seconds.

The previous injury had also triggered the Imprint, Annihilation: Sword Edge · Sword Tomb · Sword Scar. The lower the HP, the higher the total damage dealt. For every 100 HP lost, total damage increased by 1.0% (cap of 180%).

Therefore, Li Ming's total damage and speed were currently increased by 41%. With just a slight shift of his footwork, he covered five to six meters instantly, appearing right in front of the Zhu Yan.

Energy gathered in his hand, forming a small, golden energy sphere in his palm. It wasn't Inch Strength Extreme: Thunderbolt, but an ordinary Inch Punch: Thunderbolt. Even so, it consumed 25 SP from Li Ming, leaving him feeling a void within.

But he had to admit, it was somewhat effective. Although it was a weakened version of Thunderbolt, it still dealt damage. Combined with his Imprint's amplification, this Thunderbolt managed to heavily damage the Zhu Yan's chest armor.

The original energy shield was pierced through, leaving a large hole. Although it was slowly healing, the damage was real.

The Zhu Yan Mech seemed to be caught off guard.

Li Ming flipped and kicked off its body, then quickly created distance. The Zhu Yan Mech seemed to have reacted, and its cannon and flamethrower unleashed simultaneously, as if energy was free.

Unfortunately, with the 8-second, 40% movement speed boost from Chaotic Hundred Flowers [Plum], it could only be said that it couldn't even touch Li Ming now, let alone his rear. However, he would still get hit by explosions.

But as Li Ming ran wildly, he felt a sudden enlightenment in his heart, though he didn't know what it was. He wanted to focus on comprehending it, but the bothersome Zhu Yan kept firing at him, occasionally getting hit by explosions. This was incredibly frustrating, leaving him no chance to meditate.

It couldn't be helped. It seemed this enlightenment would have to wait for fate.

But he was still annoyed. After some thought, Li Ming decided to beat up this Zhu Yan first. He created a large distance from the Zhu Yan. Those few shots had been completely off target, likely due to its rage.

But such a mindset was fatal in a formal battle. Li Ming watched as the Zhu Yan, mid-fire, suddenly stopped, as if it had realized something was wrong.

Finally, it silently activated its shield, ceasing offensive actions. It only occasionally fired its cannon at other locations. As for Li Ming, he mainly used the barrage of bullets to harass it.

Seeing that the Zhu Yan Mech wasn't paying attention to him, Li Ming let out a sigh of relief. He ducked into a crater created by an explosion, found some semblance of cover, and took out the Moon God's Protection from his equipment. He hesitated for a while before deciding to equip it.

However, when he equipped the Moon God's Protection, the protective bracer on his hand didn't disappear. Instead, it remained firmly on his arm.

"Why is this? Can a character equip two pieces of equipment? Or is it because the protective bracer isn't mine, so it's not actually stored in my equipment?"

Li Ming pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out. However, thinking alone wouldn't solve anything. In the end, Li Ming decided to focus on defeating the Zhu Yan first.

It had only been a moment since I went out, and that Zhu Yan outside started rampaging, suppressing the combat teams that came to support.

Those people weren't without the ability to fight back, but they didn't have much of a suppressive effect on the Zhu Yan Mech.

Li Ming flipped out from behind, and the Moon God's Protection in his hand directly unleashed a barrage of bullets. Although it was only a medium-short range, the Zhu Yan Mech was only ten meters away from him. Li Ming raised his dual guns.

With the protection of the wrist guard, Moon God's Protection, and the critical hit bonus inherent to the armor, Li Ming's critical hit rate was already close to forty. This allowed Li Ming to clearly see the wound on the Zhu Yan Mech's abdomen and the crack on its left leg armor.

Furthermore, with the assistance of the critical hit armor, eight out of every ten shots Li Ming fired landed precisely, and due to the design of the energy bullets, Li Ming was saved the trouble of reloading.

Then, Li Ming used his armor to forcefully endure the barrage, continuously picking off those enemies who hadn't fully infiltrated the airport. Although he tried his best to dodge, he still took two cannon shells from the Zhu Yan. After this intense bombardment, Li Ming's shield value had dropped to 106 points. He could only take two more cannon shells before his armor would be scrap. His HP had also dropped to 700 points, but Li Ming's SP was already full, a bright yellow bar. Li Ming felt full of energy.

Moreover, seeing someone take the lead in counterattacking, the combat teams' morale surged. They were not weaker than the organization to begin with; it was only the Zhu Yan Mech's defense that had prevented their lines from being properly deployed.

Those combat teams, holding heavy armor shields and carrying cannons, charged with Li Ming. They tried bombarding the Zhu Yan Mech's energy shield, but it only dimmed its outermost layer slightly and had no other effect.

On the contrary, they took a cannon blast from the Zhu Yan. Even with heavy armor, they would be blown to bits. In that case, it was better to have soldiers fight soldiers and generals fight generals. It's just that their own general first dealt with the grunts.

Any problems? No problems.

The two cannon shells Li Ming took were to shield these fearless guards from heavy losses, so he took the hits. The result was that Li Ming and the guards cleared out almost all the enemy personnel outside. Even if some survived under the Zhu Yan Mech's protection, they were now scared witless and posed no threat. As soon as they ran out of the Zhu Yan Mech's protective range, they were quickly eliminated, and in the end, all of them were wiped out.

Those guards also seemed to realize they couldn't be of much help, so their captain led them towards the enemy personnel who were gradually approaching the safe zone.

Outside, it was almost entirely a battle of mechs versus Valkyries, mechs versus mechs, mechs versus Li Ming, and mechs versus trash.

Li Ming rubbed his slightly stiff face, gripping his dual guns. He looked at the Zhu Yan Mech, which was raising its flamethrower again not far away, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Now, let's begin the second round. I'll give you one minute to find your own coffin."