Eat My Leg!

"Cunxin Fist Technique · Azure Dragon Emerging from Water · Soaring Kirin!"

Li Ming descended from the sky, his feet landing heavily on the Vermillion Bird mech next to the swordsman. The thick energy shield shattered with a single kick.

"Inch Punch · Rock Break!"

An aura like that of mountains splitting and peaks breaking erupted. He threw a punch with his left hand, then his right, and finally a diving kick from mid-air sent the mech flying.

His fists struck the Vermillion Bird's body. The crimson, mirror-like surface shattered just like a mirror.

The swordsman stared, dumbfounded. "What, I hacked at it for ages, and you break its defense with two punches?"

"It's my defense that's broken!"

The Vermillion Bird mech was modified from a Shaman Mech. The Shaman Mech only had two skills, and the Vermillion Bird naturally wouldn't have more. Once Li Ming broke the energy shield and wasn't afraid of the heat field, the Vermillion Bird mech became easy prey – a free-for-all.

"No way, you're that fast?"

Li Ming's face darkened. "Do you call what men do 'fast'?"

It wasn't Ma Changqing's fault for speaking out of turn. He himself had been slashing with his sword for nearly half an hour, only managing to leave a few scratches on the Vermillion Bird's surface. Yet Li Ming, with his aerial maneuver, had kicked through it in an instant. It was a huge blow to his pride.

Still, despite his words, Ma Changqing was grateful for Li Ming's support. His own strength was clearly insufficient to handle the mech. Didn't he just see Li Ming destroy one mech? And now he was here to help immediately. He was on the verge of tears.

Li Ming's armor's constant temperature system was actually almost completely damaged. It was doing well just to stay below 100 degrees Celsius. So, enduring the heat field now was purely relying on his physical conditioning. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been in such a hurry to finish one off quickly. Wouldn't it be better to conserve energy?

Li Ming was covered in sweat, a testament to the heat of the field. Ma Changqing, however, clearly noticed Li Ming's difficulty. He looked at the Vermillion Bird mech and offered, "Kid, leave the remaining mech to us three. Your armor's constant temperature system is damaged, and you can't withstand this heat field for long. Don't push yourself."

Seeing Ma Changqing's serious expression, the other two nodded heavily despite their disheveled state. But Li Ming merely flicked his hand, pulled out the Moon God's Protection, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Skill: [Crescent Strike]!

Purple-black bullets impacted the shield's surface. The shield wasn't destroyed; it was more like the purple bullets merged into it, directly hitting the Vermillion Bird mech's core.

The Crescent Strike's effect triggered. The Vermillion Bird mech hovered in the air, enveloped by purple-black energy, suspended as if time had stopped.

"Cunxin Extreme · Thunderbolt!"

With a loud shout, Li Ming gathered an energy sphere in his hand and hurled it at the Vermillion Bird. Without the shield's obstruction, the yellow energy sphere acted like a bulldozer, crushing the Vermillion Bird into pieces.

"Did they just steal my kill?"

"I don't care, but I'm really craving that gun. I didn't expect the branch to have such a good item. Why didn't they bring it out earlier? If they had given it to me sooner, I would have dealt with that mech long ago."

The two exchanged glances, clearly feeling relieved. Liu Yu walked over and quickly thanked him, "Thanks for the help, brother. That marksmanship is pretty cool!"

Looking at the Moon God's Protection, Liu Yu was also very envious. However, from his earlier confrontation with the Vermillion Bird, he could tell that destroying it in seconds wasn't just due to the pair of guns in Li Ming's hands. The power of the energy sphere that crushed the Vermillion Bird was not to be underestimated. Didn't he see the deep trench plowed into the ground?

However, Wang Tianhu was unusually covetous of the Moon God's Protection in Li Ming's hands, even feeling a bit jealous. He walked over, saw Li Ming's armor was tattered, with only the protective bracers on his hands and the Moon God's Protection still intact, and couldn't help but say sourly, "He's just relying on the good stuff from the branch. This kid is so young, where's his real skill?"

Liu Yu and Ma Changqing's expressions faltered. While Liu Yu had thought something similar, his eyes weren't blind. As for Ma Changqing, the fact that he could cut through the Vermillion Bird's shield indicated he had some skill.

Although they were all from the same city, the two had no particular friendship with Wang Tianhu and naturally couldn't be bothered to remind him. Moreover, Wang Tianhu had caused them enough trouble just now. Ma Changqing glanced at Liu Yu beside him, his gaze towards Wang Tianhu filled with even more disdain.

To be honest, Wang Tianhu was instrumental in three people being held back by two Vermillion Bird mechs.

In fact, much could be inferred from the armor and performance of the three. Ma Changqing, like Li Ming, had chosen armor with a "heart" system, while Liu Yu and Wang Tianhu had opted for "fire control" systems.

This clearly showed a lack of confidence in their own combat skills, which was normal. As for their performance, it had already been discussed – no need to repeat it. Honestly, with no foundation at all, just blindly firing cannons and even affecting teammates was infuriating.

Furthermore, regarding the recent incident, compared to Liu Yu, Wang Tianhu showed no self-awareness and was incredibly tactless. One could only say he lacked self-knowledge.

Ma Changqing watched Wang Tianhu coldly. Li Ming was also somewhat surprised. Was this the "face-slapping" trope from novels?

He, the protagonist, had waited so long, and finally, someone recognized his extraordinary abilities and was about to send a dim-witted teammate to facilitate his showboating?

"Hey, kid, give me that gun. Watch how I..."

Wang Tianhu, completely oblivious, reached out towards the Moon God's Protection in Li Ming's hand, clearly intending to take it by force. Li Ming's brow twitched, his heart filled with excitement. Energy flowed through his body, a pale yellow light emanating from him, making it look like his armor was short-circuiting. Ma Changqing's long sword was already in his hand, though no one knew when he'd drawn it.

However, before Li Ming could start his showboating, the supervisor's voice crackled through their communicators. Since the four were external reinforcements, the supervisor didn't know them well and hadn't given much direction, but the armor's communicators weren't turned off.

Seeing a certain idiot about to disrupt morale and mess with his teammates' heads, the supervisor's composure shattered. "What are you doing? Are you the 'God of Internal Wars,' huh? Useless at everything except stabbing your own team in the back!"

He finally couldn't hold back and yelled, "Wang Tianhu, you're a D-class rating and you're still causing trouble here? Li Ming's record is B-class. If you don't want to lose your job, suit yourself. The gun he's holding is registered to him. Can you fight or not? If you can, fight. If you can't, get lost! Ma Changqing and Liu Yu, hurry up and support the combat team. Li Ming, please go support the Valkyrie unit. Reinforcements will be here soon."

"Yes!" Ma Changqing, holding his long sword, ran into the airport with Liu Yu to rendezvous with the combat team. As they left, both looked at Wang Tianhu with utter contempt, especially Liu Yu.

He and Wang Tianhu both ran martial arts schools in Changming City. If Wang Tianhu's registration was revoked, his own school would become the sole dominant force. He had only accepted the conscription from the Changming branch because Wang Tianhu had come, fearing that if Wang Tianhu performed well here, the balance between their two schools would be broken. Now that someone was courting disaster, he couldn't be happier.

"Okay, but my armor is broken. I can support, but I probably can't take much."

"It's fine, as long as you can support. The Valkyrie unit is strong, Captain Liu Jing just needs to manage her team. You just need to apply some pressure."

"You said that, so I'll be slacking off then."

Li Ming chatted with the supervisor. Since the supervisor had spoken, Li Ming's chance for a dramatic display was gone. What, was he supposed to walk up to Wang Tianhu now and flaunt the Moon God's Protection, saying "Here, take it"? That would be too obnoxious, not showboating, but just being a jerk.

Seeing Li Ming leave, Wang Tianhu bit his lip. After being yelled at by the supervisor, his muddled brain finally cleared up. Naturally, he stopped acting foolishly and quietly followed behind Ma Changqing and the others.

They went to clear out the organizations that had infiltrated the airport. Using the Sky Guard · Guardian Type's abilities, the energy consumed by the armor earlier was replenished. Now, utilizing the fire control system's capabilities, he unleashed all his pent-up frustration on the enemy personnel.

Meanwhile, Li Ming found himself unable to use the Moon God's Protection for suppressive fire because the Valkyries were surrounded by Zhu Yan mechs.

After all, bullets have no eyes, and the system hadn't developed the ability to distinguish teammates.

Li Ming could only engage at close range to avoid friendly fire. With the Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds beneath his feet, he blinked several times and appeared before them.

"Since long-range output is difficult, I'll go close-quarters. I can even unleash four waves, so get ready!"

"Inch Punch Extreme · Thunderbolt! *4"

Li Ming closed the distance to the strongest Valkyrie, charging up four blasts in half a minute. Liu Jing wasn't stupid; she'd heard the person in charge, and besides, this man's strength was considerable. In fact, if she didn't have to look after her teammates, she wouldn't have been suppressed to this extent.

"Rise!"

Liu Jing thrust her twin pistols towards the Zhu Yan's abdomen in front of her, injecting energy into the Colt Guardian. She pulled the trigger, and the Zhu Yan's movements seemed to slow down.

This deceleration caused the Zhu Yan to fail to turn in time to block Li Ming's ultimate move. Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, the remaining six Zhu Yan were held back by the other five Valkyries. Four ultimate moves directly blew up the Zhu Yan mechs. Even though the Zhu Yan entered an overload state when the first energy blast hit, three energy blasts striking the same spot simultaneously shattered the red energy shield. However, it didn't immediately become paralyzed.

Liu Jing pulled her twin pistols to her waist. With the boost from the thrusters on her back, she flew into mid-air, then suddenly accelerated. Energy condensed, and a massive crimson energy pillar appeared in the sky. Following Liu Jing's whip kick, the energy pillar slammed down, smashing the Zhu Yan into the ground. The cockpit in its abdomen, along with the pilot, was blasted into smithereens.

"I've had enough of this, take my kick!"