Encounter

Amos carried a large cup of coffee and two fast-food meals he had just bought from a shop on the corner. Using the trees for cover, he carefully made his way back to his car, parked not far from David's home.

The coffee was to help him stay up late. The two meals were for his dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. Of course, he wouldn't go without sleep entirely. After one in the morning, he could sleep in the car until the alarm woke him at five.

For an Armored Warrior like him, four hours of sleep was enough to recover.

As he approached David's home, he found the front gate wide open. His heart skipped a beat. Had David gone out again?

But he quickly realized that if David had gone out, the gate wouldn't have been left open like this.

"Something's wrong!" He spotted the obvious cut in the gate, as well as two figures standing in the shadows before it, and his heart tightened.

Not wanting to alert David or the many surveillance devices along the street, Amos had kept himself hidden.

Amos was no ordinary man. Although he rarely went out to fight after becoming the Security Supervisor at the Steer Hotel, his combat instincts remained.

He lightened his steps. His orders had been to keep an eye on David, but he knew David's identity. He had to act.

"Someone's there!" Commander Froman sensed that he was being watched. He looked toward the source of the feeling and warned Edna.

At the same time, he gripped a short sword that gleamed with a faint light. He pushed off the ground, leaving a dent beneath his foot, and the tremendous rebound sent him streaking toward Amos like lightning.

Amos had just reached his car when he was stunned by the sudden attack. He hadn't even moved, yet the other man had already spotted him. That meant he was no ordinary opponent.

"Dora, activate automatic attack!" he hurriedly ordered the car's AI assistant.

His car wasn't ordinary. Though it looked unremarkable on the outside, it was equipped with plenty of combat gear.

He had spent years fighting outside the city. Though he no longer went out now, being unarmed always left him feeling extremely unsafe, so his car was his guarantee of safety.

"Tat-tat-tat-tat..." A rapid-fire machine gun popped out from the car's roof and unleashed a stream of bullets.

Commander Froman was charging forward when the sudden attack came, but he didn't panic. He swept his short sword in front of him, forming a Light Screen, while twisting in midair to dodge.

The Light Screen didn't mean Commander Froman had reached some exceptionally high level of swordsmanship. It was a special feature of the short sword.

The short sword was a Special Combat Sword. Its energy source could activate a defensive Light Screen to protect its wielder in emergencies.

Of course, this defensive Light Screen was useless against Zerg above Level 1 or Level 1 Weapons, but it could hold off the bullets from a rapid-fire machine gun for a short time.

Commander Froman also knew that he had Edna's help. Amos was his only opponent, so he didn't need to worry about the automatic combat system.

The instant the machine gun popped out, Edna's slender fingers began working rapidly again. Without Exoskeleton Armor, she wasn't particularly capable in combat, but her strength lay in Electronic Warfare.

Hacking the car's AI assistant was even easier than breaking into the Security System at David's home. The rapid-fire machine gun fired for only ten seconds before jamming.

Give Edna another half a minute, and she could take control of Amos's car and turn the machine gun on him.

That was what made an Electronic Warfare Specialist so formidable. Even without joining the fight, Edna could make an enormous difference.

"How can there be an Electronic Warfare Specialist here?" Amos shouted angrily.

Seeing the machine gun jam and Commander Froman affected by it for only a few seconds, Amos knew he was in trouble.

Electronic Warfare Specialists were rare talents, and very few of them actually took part in combat.

By then, Amos had reached the car, but Edna had taken control of its systems. He kicked the side of the vehicle.

He knew his car inside and out, so he knew where its weak points and weapons were.

His kick tore open a gap in the car's side, and he pulled out a War Hammer a meter and a half long. Its surface glimmered with the distinctive sheen of Level 1 metal.

With his own weapon in hand, he felt much safer.

His weapon was different from Commander Froman's. Froman and the others had come on an infiltration mission with little risk or difficulty, so they had brought only small weapons.

Amos, by contrast, carried his usual Level 1 Weapon. He couldn't unleash its full power without Exoskeleton Armor, but it still filled him with confidence.

"Ha!" He roared, tightening every muscle in his body. With a strength of 1,200 kilograms, the Level 1 War Hammer felt light and easy to wield.

"Move faster. We've got a little trouble!" Commander Froman said with a frown, speaking into his Identity Bracelet.

With the threat of the machine gun gone, he wasn't concerned about Amos. But the gunfire had been far too loud in the quiet night, and Amos's shout hadn't helped. The police would likely arrive soon.

Seeing how completely Commander Froman ignored him, Amos grew furious. He might have been reduced to watching a child, but that was because the big boss valued him. He still held a high position at the Steer Hotel.

And with his superior weapon, he had every reason to feel confident.

He met Commander Froman's gaze, and they charged at each other almost simultaneously.

"Boom!" Their weapons clashed. Amos staggered back, retreating five steps before he managed to steady himself.

Commander Froman, wielding the short sword, merely swayed slightly. Still, he looked at his blade with regret. When this technological close-combat weapon collided with a Level 1 Weapon, it sustained severe damage. It would probably break after one more clash.

Amos's eye twitched. He didn't hesitate; he turned and ran.

The clash had robbed him of the courage to fight. His opponent wasn't an ordinary Armored Warrior like himself, but a veteran Armored Warrior with formidable combat strength.

There was no shame in running from an opponent he couldn't defeat.

"Trying to run? Too late!" Commander Froman said with a mocking smile. He pushed off again, closing in on Amos faster than Amos could flee.

At the same time, Edna took control of the car's rapid-fire machine gun, and it began firing automatically at Amos.

Hearing the machine gun start up, Amos knew that trying to escape now would mean certain death. He changed direction and charged toward Edna, hurling the Level 1 War Hammer at Commander Froman, who was pursuing him.

Amos was a desperate man by nature. Life in the city had changed him, but in a life-or-death moment, his true nature came through.

Every Armored Warrior who survived decades of fighting in the wilderness was no ordinary person. They were cunning, reckless, and passionate. When their lives were on the line, they made the most rational choices.

As he flung the Level 1 War Hammer away, the force of the throw, combined with the potential unleashed in the face of death, made Amos's unarmed body lighter. He moved twice as fast as before.

"Edna, watch out!" Commander Froman shouted as he reached out and caught the flying Level 1 War Hammer.

Edna had been bent over her electronic intrusion device. Hearing the warning, she hurriedly looked up—and saw Amos's murderous eyes just five meters away.

If she had been armed, she could have held Amos off. But she had always thought of herself as an Electronic Warfare Specialist; being an Armored Warrior was merely a way to stay alive in battle.

On ordinary missions, she always chose the safest spot, conducting Electronic Warfare from a distance.

If this hadn't been a simple, supposedly harmless mission, she never would have gotten so close to the fighting, let alone gone without her Exoskeleton Armor.

Edna tried to lean back and evade Amos's attack, but she underestimated how far an Armored Warrior would go when fighting for his life.

The only way to stop the rapid-fire machine gun was to kill her, so if Amos wanted to survive, he had to kill her.