Eat My Kick!

"Cunxin Fist Technique · Azure Dragon Emerging from Water · Skyward Scale!"

Li Ming dropped from high above, his foot slamming down onto the Vermillion Bird beside the burly man wielding a longsword. Its heavy energy shield shattered beneath the kick.

"Inch Punch: Rock Break!"

An aura like mountains splitting and peaks collapsing burst forth. One punch from his left hand, one from his right, and finally, a leaping downward strike sent it flying.

His fists crashed into the Vermillion Bird's body. Its crimson-red chassis, smooth as a mirror, truly shattered like one now, cracks spreading layer upon layer.

The swordsman stood there dumbfounded. Huh? I'd hacked at it so many times, but you broke through its defenses with two punches?

You broke through my defenses, more like!

The Vermillion Bird Mech had been modified from the Shaman Mech. The Shaman Mech only had two skills, so the Vermillion Bird Mech naturally did not have many either. Once Li Ming shattered its energy shield and ignored its scorching force field, the Vermillion Bird Mech became a dish on the table—ready to be stewed however he liked.

"No, you were that fast?"

Li Ming's face darkened. Could a man be called fast?

Ma Changqing could not really be blamed for blurting it out. He had spent nearly half an hour scraping at it with his sword, leaving only a few marks on the Vermillion Bird's surface. Yet Li Ming came down from the sky and kicked its shield apart in one move. Where was that supposed to leave his pride?

Still, despite saying that, Ma Changqing was deeply grateful for Li Ming's support. His own strength really was lacking; he could not handle this thing. Hadn't Li Ming just smashed a mech to pieces and immediately rushed over to help? He was practically moved to tears.

Li Ming's armor's temperature control system was actually almost completely damaged. It would have been impressive if it could keep the temperature below one hundred degrees. Enduring this scorching force field now depended entirely on his physical condition. Otherwise, he would not have been so eager to take one out first. Wouldn't conserving some energy be better?

Li Ming's face was drenched in sweat, showing just how intense the scorching force field was. Ma Changqing clearly noticed his predicament. Looking at the remaining Vermillion Bird Mech, he took the initiative. "Little brother, leave that last mech to the three of us. Your armor's temperature control system is already damaged. You can't withstand this scorching force field for long, so don't force yourself."

Seeing Ma Changqing's serious expression, the other two, though bedraggled, nodded heavily. But Li Ming merely flicked his wrist and pulled out Moon God's Protection. After taking aim, he pulled the trigger.

Skill [Crescent Strike]!

The purple-black bullet struck the shield's surface. The shield was not shattered; instead, it was as though the purple bullet had merged into it, directly hitting the Vermillion Bird Mech itself.

Crescent Strike took effect. The Vermillion Bird Mech floated in the air, wrapped in purple-black currents, suspended as though time itself had stopped.

"Inch Strength Extreme: Thunderbolt!"

With a loud shout, Li Ming gathered an energy sphere in his hand and sent it straight at the Vermillion Bird. With no shield in its way, the yellow energy sphere crushed the mech into scrap like a bulldozer.

"Did someone steal our kill?"

"I don't really mind, but I'm seriously jealous of that gun. I never expected the branch to have something so good and not bring it out earlier. If they'd given it to me sooner, I would've taken that mech down ages ago."

The two exchanged a look, both visibly relieved. Liu Yu hurried over to thank him. "Thanks for helping us out, brother. That shooting was pretty damn cool!"

Looking at Moon God's Protection, Liu Yu was extremely envious. Yet from the earlier fight against the Vermillion Bird, he could tell that destroying it within seconds had definitely not been due to the pair of guns alone. The energy sphere that crushed the Vermillion Bird was nothing to scoff at. Wasn't there still a deep furrow plowed into the ground?

Wang Tianhu, however, was more than a little envious of Moon God's Protection in Li Ming's hands. He was even somewhat jealous. Seeing Li Ming's battered armor, with only the Protective Bracers and Moon God's Protection still mostly intact, he could not help saying sourly, "He's only relying on the good stuff the branch gave him. He's so young—what real skills could he possibly have?"

Liu Yu and Ma Changqing both froze. Liu Yu had thought something similar before, but he was not blind. As for Ma Changqing, the fact that he could cut through the Vermillion Bird's shield showed that he had some genuine ability himself.

Although they all came from the same city, neither of them had much of a relationship with Wang Tianhu, so they could not be bothered to remind him. Besides, Wang Tianhu had caused them plenty of trouble just now. Ma Changqing glanced at Liu Yu beside him, his gaze toward Wang Tianhu becoming even more disdainful.

Honestly, Wang Tianhu deserved much of the credit for three people being held up by two Vermillion Birds.

In fact, much could be seen from the three men's armor and performance. Ma Changqing, like Li Ming, had chosen armor with the Critical system, while Liu Yu and Wang Tianhu had chosen armor with the Fire Control system.

They clearly were not confident in their fighting skills, which was normal. As for their performance, that had already been discussed. To be honest, they had no foundation at all, blindly blasting away with cannons and even catching their teammates in the crossfire. It was infuriating.

And compared to Liu Yu, Wang Tianhu showed not even a hint of self-awareness after what had just happened. He was also remarkably bad at reading the room. All that could be said was that he lacked any sense of his own limits.

Ma Changqing watched Wang Tianhu coldly, while Li Ming was somewhat surprised. Was this one of those face-slapping scenes from novels?

After waiting so long as the protagonist, had someone finally recognized how extraordinary I was and sent a brain-dead teammate over so I could show off?

"Hey, kid, hand me that gun and watch how I—"

With absolutely no self-awareness, Wang Tianhu reached for Moon God's Protection in Li Ming's hand, clearly intending to take it by force. Li Ming raised an eyebrow, excitement surging within him. Energy flowed through his body, pale yellow light coursing over him. Anyone unaware of the truth might have thought his armor was leaking electricity. Meanwhile, at some point, Ma Changqing had already gripped his longsword.

But before Li Ming could start showing off and slapping faces, the supervisor's shout came through their communicators. Since the four of them were outside reinforcements, the supervisor did not know them well and had not directed them much. However, their armor communicators had not been switched off.

Now that he saw some idiot trying to disrupt morale and mess with his teammates' mindset, the supervisor completely lost it. What the hell were you doing? A god of civil wars, huh? Useless at everything except stabbing teammates in the back, huh?

Finally unable to endure it any longer, he cursed, "Wang Tianhu, you're only D-rank and you're still causing trouble here! Li Ming is registered as B-rank. If you don't want to lose your job, do whatever you want. The gun in his hand is registered and belongs to him personally. Can you even do your damn job? If you can, then do it. If you can't, get lost! Ma Changqing and Liu Yu, hurry and support the combat team. Li Ming, sorry for the trouble, but support the Valkyrie unit. The backup forces will arrive soon."

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

Both he and Wang Tianhu ran martial arts schools in Changming City. If Wang Tianhu lost his registration qualifications, Liu Yu's school could dominate the market alone. He had accepted Changming Branch's summons in the first place because Wang Tianhu had come too. He was worried that if Wang Tianhu earned merit here, the balance between their two schools would be broken. Now that someone was digging his own grave, Liu Yu could not have been happier.

"Okay, but my armor's damaged. I can provide support, but I probably can't take much punishment."

"That's fine. Supporting them is enough. The Valkyrie unit is not weak; Captain Liu Jing just has to look after her team members. You only need to suppress the enemy a little."

"You said it. Then I'm going to take it easy."

Li Ming chatted with the supervisor. Since the supervisor had said so, Li Ming's chance to show off was gone. What, was he supposed to walk a lap around Wang Tianhu now, shove Moon God's Protection in front of him, and tell him to take it? That would be too obnoxious. That would not be showing off—it would be acting like an asshole.

After watching Li Ming leave, Wang Tianhu bit his lip. The supervisor's scolding had finally knocked some sense into his muddled head. Naturally, he did not continue acting foolishly and silently followed behind Ma Changqing and the others.

They went to clear out the organization members who had entered the airport. With the capabilities of the Sky Guard · Guardian Type, the energy his armor had consumed earlier was replenished. Using the Fire Control system now, he vented all his frustration on those organization members.

As for Li Ming, the Valkyries had been surrounded by Zhu Yan Mechs, so he could not use Moon God's Protection for fire suppression.

Bullets had no eyes, after all, and the system had not developed the ability to identify allies.

Li Ming could only fire energy blasts at close range to ensure he did not hurt anyone by mistake. With Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds beneath his feet, he flashed several times and arrived before them.

"Since long-range attacks won't work, I'll get up close. I can still fire four blasts. Enjoy your meal!"

"Inch Strength Extreme: Thunderbolt! *4"

Li Ming moved beside the strongest Valkyrie and charged four blasts within half a minute. Liu Jing was not stupid either. She had heard the supervisor's words, and this man was not weak. If she had not needed to look after her team members, she would not have been suppressed to this extent.

"Get up!"

Liu Jing jammed her dual guns into the Zhu Yan in front of her stomach. Energy flowed into the Colt Guardian, and she pulled the triggers. The Zhu Yan Mech's movements seemed to slow down.

That moment of deceleration kept the Zhu Yan from turning around in time to block Li Ming's ultimate attack. With reinforcements here, the remaining six Zhu Yan Mechs were held back by the other five Valkyries. The four ultimate blasts struck the Zhu Yan Mech head-on and blew it apart. Even though it entered an overloaded state the moment the first energy round hit, three energy rounds blasted the same spot simultaneously, shattering its red energy shield. Yet it did not enter paralysis immediately.

Liu Jing holstered her dual guns. Propelled by the thrusters on her back, she flew into the air, then suddenly accelerated. Energy gathered, and a massive crimson energy pillar appeared in the sky. With a whipping kick from Liu Jing, the energy pillar crashed down, hammering the Zhu Yan into the ground and blasting its abdominal cockpit and pilot into pulp.

"I've had enough of this shit! Eat my kick!"