After living two lives—no, he hadn't exactly acted like a human in his previous one.
Being reborn as a human, Gao Gong was experiencing this kind of brutal close-quarters battle for the first time.
Gao Gong's right eye had completely turned red. It was infrared mode. Under this mode, two human-shaped heat sources were moving at high speed.
His blade flashed and slammed hard against his opponent's scythe. He stepped forward with his left foot and deftly twisted his wrist. Amid the sparks from the friction, Red Unicorn viciously cleaved into another Reaper's chest armor, forcing it back three steps.
[You dealt 76 damage to the D-rank Reaper]
His alarm bells went off. A black shadow flashed through the corner of his eye and stabbed in beneath his ribs. Gao Gong twisted violently, narrowly avoiding a vital point. A bloody gash opened along his waist, spraying blood.
[You took 19 damage and entered a bleeding state]
Meanwhile, the high-speed microcomputer knuckle duster on Gao Gong's left hand directly activated chainsaw mode. Four rapidly spinning circular saws viciously slammed into the opponent's faceplate.
The opponent's cheek visibly caved in. Blood, mixed with the thick pulp from its ruptured eyeball, was churned out together.
"Gyaaah!" The opponent let out a shrill, miserable scream. The mouthparts behind its iron armor opened, revealing four sharp teeth above and below.
[You dealt 123 damage to the D-rank Reaper and inflicted blindness]
A foul wind rushed up from behind. Gao Gong had no time to dodge, so he deftly turned his right hand and raised the nearly two-meter-long heavy blade behind his back in the "Su Qin Carrying His Sword" stance.
However, his opponent's downward strike changed as well. Just before the thick biological scythe landed, it suddenly split into nine segments, transforming from a blade into a whip and viciously lashing Gao Gong across the back.
Gao Gong could even feel the metallic clang of his titanium-alloy bones colliding with the opponent's biological blade-whip.
[You took 39 damage and entered a bleeding state]
If he had been a normal person, that whip would have killed him or left him half-crippled. But Gao Gong was half a machine. The intense pain instead made his consciousness exceptionally clear. He even began wondering whether he should replace himself with a set of biological muscles after returning.
Steel sinews and iron bones. Only with both could he unleash even greater power.
Gao Gong advanced instead of retreating. Gritting his teeth against the pain, electronic beams spread from his palm to the tips of his five fingers. His right wrist twisted once more, and the enormous blade turned nimbly around again.
Holding the blade in one hand, he viciously seized the Reaper ahead by the neck with the other. Amid the screech of friction, the serrated blade tip stabbed in through its abdomen and emerged from its back. It seemed to strike something along the way—its spinal column.
He stabbed in with one hand and drew the blade with both. As he pulled it free, he gutted the opponent.
At once, green pus, strange organs, and undigested human flesh gushed out together.
[You dealt 235 damage to the D-rank Reaper] [You killed the developing Reaper. Experience +480]
The Reaper behind him saw the vicious opponent and its comrade nearly cut in half. Its scythe instinctively paused, and for the first time, an emotion called fear surfaced in its mind.
Blade light and scythes collided, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Of all the blueprints Gao Gong had unlocked earlier, if there was one that was most useful, it wasn't the vicious microcomputer knuckle duster or the explosive mechanical blade sheath. It was the most inconspicuous Hand-Feel Neural Flow Accelerator.
This tiny palm-neural modification brought even more variation to Gao Gong's close-combat abilities. To a certain extent, his hand and blade had become one.
That was where cybernetics surpassed weapons. It wasn't a tool, but a part of the human body.
After more than a dozen exchanges, his infrared vision finally locked onto the opponent's energy source. Even at the cost of taking a slash to the arm, Gao Gong charged forward with blade and body together, plunging into the opponent's embrace. The serrated blade tip stabbed into the spot beneath its throat, between its shoulder blades.
That was the Reaper's energy source.
[You dealt "Instant Kill" to the target] [You killed the developing Reaper. Experience +480]
Although he had faced four enemies alone and narrowly avoided disaster, the battle itself had not lasted long—only a dozen or so seconds from start to finish.
The result, however, was one injury and four deaths. Gao Gong had lost one-third of his health, while the four D-rank Reapers had been decapitated.
Such a battle record would have been an impressive achievement even among the strongest mechanical hunters.
However, the battle was not over yet. Gao Gong sheathed his blade, picked up his sniper rifle, and concealed himself in the bushes. Moments later, clouds of white mist rose from various locations.
The remaining Reapers no longer dared to split up. Moving in pairs, they cautiously probed into the mist.
They quickly found what they wanted: a booby trap connected by steel wire, with three grenades strung together.
"Boom!!"
Gao Gong took out six of the thirteen Reapers in one go and wounded two more. The remaining Reapers no longer had enough manpower to pursue him.
This made the leading Reaper even more furious. Compared to the still vaguely humanoid developing Reapers, it had completely surpassed the boundaries of the human form.
It stood nearly three meters tall, its heavy back arched high. The scythes in its hands were not a pair but two pairs. On its back, three pairs of enormous cicada wings vibrated the air. This meant they could fly—or at least glide through the sky for short periods.
Its attributes were more than double those of a mature Reaper.
Name: Reaper Chieftain
Radiation Level: C
Health: 3240/3500
Stamina: 1000/1100
Bioenergy: 11580
Biological Attributes: Strength 55, Agility 46, Endurance 38, Intelligence 8, Perception 27
Skills: Steel Cleave Lv9, Cross Execution Lv9 (Advanced), Electromagnetic Whip Lv8 (Elite), ??, ??
Chieftain Template: Taming Aura, ??
Effect 1: Can command and control mechanical biobeasts of the same species
Effect 2: Suppresses different species; Perception -5, inflicts Fear
This Reaper chieftain was even stronger than the one the original owner had fought. It had a boss template!
And there were two Reapers with chieftain templates!
Putting everything else aside, if even one Reaper chieftain joined the battle, no one from the Cable Tribe would have survived until now.
The reason they were still alive—even with their defensive line growing more stable after Gao Gong drew away some of the firepower—was that mysterious Professor Han.
Whenever the male and female pair was about to attack, they would inexplicably change direction.
The Reaper chieftain also found it strange. The prey was clearly right in front of it, so why did they always suddenly disappear whenever it attacked?
It was that old prey's gaze. Something was wrong with it!
The intelligence of a C-rank monster was already not much worse than that of an ordinary human. When the pheromones of its offspring vanished one after another, it finally flew into a rage.
As it rampaged, countless points of light scattered from beneath its three pairs of cicada wings. Every point of light that fell transformed into a scorching wave of wind. A powerful radiation storm began to brew around it.
"Professor!"
Blood suddenly began flowing from Professor Han's ears, mouth, and nose. The old man's already pale face turned even whiter, and his body swayed unsteadily.
The leather-clad girl's expression changed drastically. If the professor died, every one of them would perish here.
"Stay calm, stay calm." Professor Han's voice still carried an aura that reassured people.
"This may be an opportunity."
"What opportunity?"
"The opponent's unleashed its ultimate move. This is our chance to control it. Nicely done!"
Meanwhile, on a highland, Gao Gong smacked his lips. His right eyelid blinked twice in rapid succession, and it shifted into sniper mode.
Gunshots rang out one after another. To him, the Reaper chieftain that had unleashed its ultimate move was nothing but a target.
[You dealt 23 damage to the Reaper chieftain] [You dealt 15 damage to the Reaper chieftain] [You dealt 35 damage to the Reaper chieftain] [You dealt 27 damage to the Reaper chieftain]
The Cat sniper rifle had an attack power of 78, along with kinetic damage amplification. Yet when its bullets struck the opponent, their damage was reduced to one-half, or even one-third.
Even so, in less than half a minute, Gao Gong had fired more than sixty bullets, stripping away nearly half of the opponent's health.
The Reaper chieftain's ultimate move also produced a powerful effect. Many members of the Cable Tribe, like Huang Yuanli before them, rolled their eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed. Without anyone controlling them, the metal sparrows and several other small mechanical biobeasts also began fleeing in all directions under the chieftain-level suppression.
If only I had something powerful right now.
Gao Gong began to grow anxious as well. If he had his custom beast hunter here, one shot would be enough to finish it.
An RPG would do in a pinch, too.
Gao Gong's gaze fell on the other female beast. Although it was still flying around like a headless fly, its speed was increasing, and it was drawing closer and closer to the Cable Tribe's position.
That meant it had begun breaking free of Professor Han's control.
Professor Han couldn't hold it anymore. He could only run.
Two C-rank Reapers with chieftain templates weren't impossible to fight. He simply couldn't beat them.
Gao Gong was not indecisive. Either he retreated, or he took advantage of the moment to kill one!
He made up his mind almost instantly.
The miniature motors in both his knee joints roared again.
Gao Gong charged into the radiation storm at full speed.
[You were buffeted by radioactive wind. All attributes -20%. Duration: three days] [You entered the "Skin Damage" state] [You entered the "Minor Mutation" state] [You entered the "Stomach Spasms" state]
Gao Gong fiercely swung out his steel cable claw, hooked a tree branch, and climbed up in a few quick moves.
Mutation had its advantages. The thick branches were practically connected into a platform.
Gao Gong gripped the hilt tightly, the veins standing out on his five fingers. Traces of electric current even appeared in his palm, along with a faint smell of scorched protein.
The Hand-Feel Neural Flow Accelerator had also entered an overloaded state.
The Electromagnetic Exciter was even worse. The entire mechanical blade sheath trembled violently. If not for Gao Gong's Strength of 16—equivalent to the grip strength of three adult men—the blade sheath would have shot away before he could even draw the blade.
Finally, by leaping between the trees, Gao Gong reached the back of the Reaper chieftain, nearly three stories above the ground.
His left eye had been blown shut by the wind, while his right eye remained fixed on the mass of radiation floating in midair.
The muscles in Gao Gong's thighs tightened to their limit. As he leaped, he suddenly released the blade sheath. A powerful force burst along the blade, carrying his body three meters across.
The scarlet blade light once again broke through the sound barrier and slashed across the opponent's thigh-thick neck. A red line connected with the blade's arc.
The next moment, a waterfall of blood erupted.
[You dealt 1549 damage to the Reaper chieftain]
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