I Am the Hunter, You Are the Prey (Part One)

After destroying most of the surrounding equipment, Bladestorm finally defeated the humanoid monster in the eye of the storm.

With another shockwave explosion, the senior engineer appeared, his four blades plunging deep into the Demon Mountain's body, taking away more than 500 points of true damage.

The Qianger armor had at least a hundred scratches, many of which were old and had not yet been fully repaired before new ones appeared.

Armor: 1739/5000

The senior engineer only has 300 points of health armor.

However, the part where the blade was inserted suddenly changed, with black liquid flowing out continuously, covering nearly half of the 'blade' in an instant.

Invasion by a powerful colony!?

The senior engineer sensed that another biological will was vying for control over him.

The bio-armor writhed wildly, eventually tearing in half to reveal the Mountain's massive mechanical form and the roar of its violent engines.

The Bio-Armor in its "separated" state can actually invade on its own!

The Mountain even has an endoskeleton, and it even has an internal engine!

This guy is hiding his true strength.

Oh no!

Almost as soon as the senior engineer had a thought, Demon Mountain clenched his arms and slashed down hard, severing both of his limbs!

[You have taken 341 points of damage]

"Aaaaaah!!"

The excruciating pain of the severed limb caused the engineer's eyes to fill with bloodshot veins. All the 3D Maneuver Gear ejected and pulled back sharply. Accompanied by corrosive white smoke, the engineer was finally pulled out of the body and rolled on the ground in a somewhat disheveled state.

The two blades on his shoulder blades were cleaved in two, while the blades below his shoulder blades looked as if they had been splashed with sulfuric acid, emitting white smoke.

He looked like a birdman with broken wings.

The senior engineer's eyes twitched violently from the pain. As the 3D Maneuver Gear exploded, he traversed hundreds of meters and appeared in front of two security regiment soldiers.

Two arms instantly pierced the chests of the two men.

A violent digestive sound rang out, and in just three seconds, the two were drained dry.

Then the senior engineer repeated his trick, and in a short while, ten "dried human flesh" were born.

The Mountain didn't seem to care. He already knew from the battlefield report that the High Engineer had terrifying recovery methods, and he also understood that in this environment, if the opponent wanted to escape, he would have absolutely no chance of stopping him.

But if the other party really escapes, the morale that has just been built up will vanish.

The Mountain was able to become a battlefield commander who held sway over a region; he was not a reckless brute in the true sense of the word.

At this moment, he did not make a move, but hovered in mid-air, with dozens of gears spinning rapidly on his hands and thighs.

As they rotated, the 'Bio-Bio Armor' was gradually spun inside.

On the mechanical body of the Demon Mountain, a huge black tiger appeared on its chest.

Kemp shook his head, acknowledging that the senior engineer had great potential, but realizing that potential would have to wait until the distant future.

As for his superior, Demon Mountain, he had already proven himself in countless counter-insurgency wars.

He is not the Mountain, the strong colonizer.

Instead, it is the Devil Mountain Armored Tiger - Devouring Type V.

As the gears spun wildly, skull patterns lit up on the surface of the mechanical body.

Energy light emanated from three black holes on the skull's face.

A total of 90 energy nozzles started operating.

"That's really insane, so many energy nozzles," the senior engineer sighed. "No wonder they're elites from the mother city."

Generally speaking, the more nozzles an armor has, the higher its performance. Ordinary bio-armor has 16 energy nozzles, while mechs have more, but no more than 30.

As for the reconstructed knights of large corporations, even using the most advanced heavy armor technology, the number of nozzles would not exceed 50.

The reason is simple: the machine's performance is one thing, but whether the user can control it is another.

The Mountain uses a bio-armor to withstand the overload of the mechanical body.

The reason he was able to do this was because he fused the "Bio-Bio Armor" with cells during the carbon-based fusion process at level 30.

The mechanical body became the weapon, while the Guyver Armor was the true form.

"A boss with two health bars, huh? Well, it's not like I haven't seen one before."

The Demon Mountain hovered in mid-air, looking at the senior engineer with a mocking expression, and beckoned with its finger.

"You pig, come up here!"

"Give it a try."

The next moment, a black tide surged, and the 'explosion' of the 3D Maneuver Gear rang out one after another.

The senior engineer once again appeared on the battlefield.

This time, however, the situation was one-sided.

The senior engineer's movements remained unpredictable and elusive. Although he had lost four sword limbs, which reduced his attack power, he hadn't actually lost much in other aspects.

This time, however, the Demon Mountain displayed overwhelming power.

Speed, strength, and perception have all clearly improved to a higher level; punches and kicks produce sonic booms.

The senior engineer could only dodge; he couldn't even launch an occasional counterattack.

To outsiders, the Mountain had become even stronger.

But only the senior engineer understood that it wasn't that he had become stronger, but that he himself had become "weaker".

A level 10 carbon-based + mechanical weapon has attributes equivalent to a level 20 mechanical hunter. With a series of high-quality human modifications by a senior engineer, it is roughly equivalent to a level 20 elite template.

That's right, it's Daisy's level.

The reason he appears so powerful is largely because he controlled the radiation field of five hundred elite monsters, and in a short period of time mastered biological energy far exceeding his level.

His mastery of this energy made him appear almost like a max-level powerhouse from a first-tier civilization.

But this is actually an illusion.

His five attributes didn't increase much.

In terms of attributes alone, the Mountain is at least three times better than him.

If the attribute is within two times, the "Rainy Night Knife Killing Mode" can still pull it up, but if it's three times, it's a bit too much.

After all, the Demon Mountain isn't a large monster, so it can't be repaired.

The 3D Maneuver Gear is designed to deal with large monsters, not humanoid monsters.

The other party saw through how this model worked, which is why they risked destroying their own "weapon".

In this way, you can't launch any attacks or deal any damage, and the bio-energy you control can't be converted into any real effect, so you're basically useless.

As expected of a seasoned veteran from the Mother City, he's honed his skills fighting the resistance. If it were a B-grade radiated beast, he might have already taken ninety-nine hits.

"You pig, weren't you so arrogant just now?"

"Tell me, tell me your plans!"

"What did you just call yourself again, a hunter? Who do you want to hunt?!"

"The outcasts of the radiation zone, the pet dogs kept by the security forces!"

The senior engineer didn't care; he's a seasoned slacker. Besides, if he can't even handle this little bit of insult, how will he ever get by in the future?

The mechanical hunters watching, on the other hand, gritted their teeth and spit fire in their eyes.

Senior engineers are now the hope of mechanical hunters, the new ceiling for this profession. But now this "ceiling" is being brutally beaten, and the feeling of frustration is indescribable.

It's like your goddess being abused by another man.

I'm furious! Utterly furious!

Daisy grabbed Matsushima Keiko, who was about to rush up and chop someone, and forced a sound through her gums.

"Don't cause trouble, you'll only get in the way!"

"Beast! Beast! I'm going to kill him!" Matsushima Keiko was so angry that her face turned red and her chest was about to burst.

Prolonged defense inevitably leads to defeat. The Mountain found an opportunity, crushing a 3D Maneuver Gear and then tearing apart another monomolecular rope.

Then he grabbed the senior engineer's head and slammed it hard onto the corpse of the radioactive beast. As he fell, his knee slammed heavily into the senior engineer's abdomen.

"See? You're no different from them."

"There are still some differences, aren't there?"

Suddenly, the senior engineer reached out, and a terrifying black tide of radiation surged out again. However, the Demon Mountain dodged it with an agility that belied his size, stopping fifty meters away.

"That's all you have left, isn't it?!" the Mountain mocked.

One reason was that this fierce tiger general had a volatile temper, and another reason was that he wanted to provoke the high engineer to fight him to the death.

A person can't function without a head, and a bird can't fly without a head. Solve the problem, and all other problems will be solved.

He knew the other party had terrifying regenerative abilities, but what use are regenerative abilities when a person is in a life-or-death situation?

Use moral pressure to prevent the senior engineer from running away.

He used words to provoke the senior engineer into a life-or-death struggle with him.

Kill him, break the mechanical hunter's spine, and then interrogate his men for the techniques to tame wild beasts.

At the same time, avoid war in the real sense.

A triple win!

The senior engineer glanced at the other man, pulled a cigarette from his empty pocket, hung it on his bloodied face, and lit it with a flick of his finger.

"Sigh, why push people too far?"

"Isn't it better for everyone to get along and make money?"

"I'm not going to fight you for the boss position."

The senior engineer exhaled a smoke ring, and the next moment, the terrifying black tide once again enveloped everything.

This time, however, the black tide was exceptionally dense, and a raging black fire began to burn within the tide, with tiny points of white light at the tips of the flames.

"Are you going to fight to the death?"

Demon Mountain was overjoyed.

The next moment, black flames gathered around the senior engineer's body. As the flames radiated out, the senior engineer groaned as the flesh on his waist tore open, and the tips of a pair of iron-boned blade wings slowly emerged.

Blood loss accelerates.

However, the third pair of blades could not be squeezed out for a long time.

"Wow"

Finally, the senior engineer spat out a mouthful of blood, and the 'prototype of the blade' was retracted.

[You have lost 130 health points]

"As expected, even the Reaper cells have their limits. Have they mutated to their limit?"

Seeing this, Mo Shan became even more certain of his judgment: the opponent's physical strength could not withstand the injection of such a massive amount of bio-energy.

Just like a Class B radioactive beast, if it forcibly tries to control a horde of beasts, it will explode and die.

Therefore, the lowest level of a beast tide is level A.

The senior engineer coughed up blood again, but this time, countless streaks of blood shot out from his body as he coughed up blood.

"The side effects of mutation, like those of those bio-warriors?"

A thoughtful look flashed in Demon Mountain's eyes. So, the failure of the bio-modified warriors wasn't a trap set by the other side?

You may have misunderstood something.

The senior engineer picked up the cigarette butt from the pool of blood, shook it, and put it back in his mouth.

"Do you think I'm trying to force a peace through violence, or using force to bolster my own position?"

"Isn't that how it is?" Demon Mountain sneered and retorted.

"Then you've misunderstood," the senior engineer said, narrowing his eyes. "Actually, I came here this time with the intention of flipping the table."

"What are you going to use to flip the table?"

"Good question," the senior engineer pointed to the opposite side, where a huge radiated beast corpse stood—the seven-colored pterosaur.

"A corpse, or a corpse with only a skeleton?" The Mountain laughed heartily.

The senior engineer didn't seem to care. "You should have heard that I once controlled this behemoth in a short period of time during a previous battle."

"But you probably don't know how I control it—by simply manipulating the nervous system?"

Mo Shan's expression began to change.

He had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Because the seven-colored pterosaur, and the huge corpse behind the senior engineer, both began to emit surging radiation.

Half black, half white.

"I could have leveled up a long time ago, so why have I been holding back my level? It's because I want to go for a carbon-based + mechanical build."

"Why take this route? Because it's a good fighting path."

"Why can it fight? Because it can transform."

"If you don't believe me, then I'll transform myself and show you."

Demon Mountain had no intention of listening to the senior engineer anymore; his intense unease led him to plan to kill him.

However, the next moment, the terrifying "beast tide" was launched again, and the Demon Mountain had to cross his arms to block the energy tide. The violent energy pushed him out of the ruins.

He could only vaguely see that the three intact tail fins of the seven-colored pterosaur began to slowly detach under the influence of the energy tide, and then one by one they inserted into the back of the high engineer.

On another giant beast's corpse, countless black feathers drifted down and stuck to its bare tail.

As a result, four bladed limbs grew out again, and were once again 'attached' by black feathers.

The Iron Bone Blade Wings transformed into 'Fallen Angel Wings'.

Professor Han, who had been watching the battle remotely, suddenly froze.

"The Brain in a Vat's abilities can actually be used like this?"

In his eyes, those 'feathers' did not fall down, but were plucked by countless 'activated nerve bundles' that were invisible to the naked eye.

The "Brain in a Vat" is touted as a must-have for otaku, housing thousands of brains in one device.

Conversely, it can also piece together the corpses of organisms to create a new organism!

Of course, this requires an absolute balance between carbon-based and mechanical properties.

Otherwise, they'll end up like those bio-modified warriors, who, after only a few uses, go berserk due to biological rejection.

Moreover, this transformation will only be more dangerous, with both biological and mechanical rejection reaching terrifying levels.

The senior engineer raised his right arm, and countless red threads pierced into the giant beast's corpse.

This Class B mechanical beast is called Ironback Wyvern, and its hardest part is its bio-alloy spine.

The next moment, the giant spinal spear tore the body apart!

The Demon Mountain suddenly realized something.

He believed that the other party's physical body could not withstand such terrifying bio-energy.

Without a powerful physical body, even the greatest energy cannot be transformed into a weapon.

But in fact, they did exist; these two enormous beast carcasses were the best containers for them.

And the other side's previous preparations were all for this moment!

At some point, the baby thundercloud electric eels flew into the sky, and the terrifying radiation field made them feel as if they were back home.

Soon, dark clouds filled the sky, and lightning bolts danced wildly.

Beneath the dark clouds, amidst the terrifying black tide, a figure slowly rose into the air, wielding a giant mechanical gun, its six black wings flapping incessantly.

The scene before them reflected fear in everyone's eyes.

That day

Humanity finally remembered

The fear of being dominated by those monsters

White flames ignited atop the black wings.

This is the power of a Class A radioactive beast.

The senior engineer tilted his head.

"You just asked me what I call myself?"

"I'm telling you, I'm a hunter."

"And you are the prey."