First Stage

First Stage

—Not enough. It wasn't time yet.

A Yautja roar came from behind him. Having been wounded three times, it even sounded faintly weak.

But its senses remained sharp, and its movements swift. Even amid the blazing explosion, its shoulder cannon still locked onto the trace Si Ming had deliberately exposed!

Boom—!

The corner of the wall shattered. Blasted rubble sprayed in every direction. Yet Si Ming had already dodged in time and precisely calculated where that plasma bolt would strike!

It was a little off.

That meant the previous battle had damaged the mounting structure of Wolf's armor—there were still grenades left, and the last flashbang was already in Si Ming's hand. Without hesitation, he tossed it behind him.

A thunderous blast, a violent tremor. Even with protection prepared in advance, the concussive shock in the enclosed space still rattled Si Ming's senses slightly. He had bought himself a little more time and opened up much more distance. The novice Reincarnator raced from the corridor toward the stairwell and then sprinted for the higher floors. Yet the instant he entered the upper level, he made a move far beyond anyone's expectations!

Craash— A tremendous crash.

The floor between the upper and lower levels was smashed through by Wolf with a combination of its Plasma Caster and brute force. It had done the same thing once before when escaping the sewers, and anyone who had seen the movie would probably remember that scene!

American building floors really were far too flimsy.

And before Wolf, bursting through the floor, even landed, it hurled its two unfolded Smart Discs down the corridor ahead!

It was a hunter. It had long since scanned and memorized the hospital's structure with its computer. It knew that both sides of this upper corridor were lined with sturdy alloy doors, and that the agile alien warrior would struggle to break through them with brute force. Naturally, he would find it difficult to evade the pincer attack of the discs.

It was a tactic—the Plasma Caster on its armor had already begun an emergency warm-up, ready at any moment to follow up the blockade with the deadliest possible pinpoint blast. Yet just as the motion blur of high-speed movement faded and its targeting system began operating at full capacity, Wolf failed to immediately find its prey!

Nothing. There was nothing. The Smart Discs sliced through the air, yet they neither locked onto nor struck any target.

The black-haired, black-eyed alien warrior was not here at all. But he had clearly gone upstairs!

Wolf's eyes beneath its mask abruptly narrowed. The partition window in the stairwell was specially highlighted in its vision.

He jumped out!

He had pretended to move to the upper level, only to leap through that window into the curtain of rain. Gale-force winds and torrential rain had become his cover, and Wolf had lost his trail!

Where had he gone?

Up? Down? Or was he on this floor, simply moving along the hospital's outer wall to some place at Wolf's side?

Its thoughts spun rapidly. It had only one chance to react and evade. The black-haired, black-eyed man's earlier patterns of movement rapidly replayed in Wolf's memory. And it noticed that what its opponent feared most had always been the Plasma Caster mounted on its armor!

Up! Either above or at mid-level!

The unfolded Combi-Stick swept through its hand, while the hastily charged shoulder cannon fired rapidly at the ceiling directly above.

The air tore apart, and masonry exploded. Yet whether above or in the middle, there was no sensation of a hit.

It had guessed wrong.

Si Ming emerged from the lower-level corridor that Wolf had smashed through. The last flashbang had been expended, but the final fragmentation grenade, with its fuse shortened, could be thrown upward through the breach.

The angle was right. The timing was perfect.

The grenade detonated at the exact moment it slammed upward into the inside of Wolf's thigh.

Boom—!!!

That had to hurt.

The instant Si Ming threw the grenade, he rapidly retreated along his preselected escape route. Because in the very next moment, the area where he had been standing was bombarded continuously by the Plasma Caster. And Wolf, covered in blood, leaped down from the upper floor in a near-stumbling fall.

Its cannon barrel glowed red, and its armor was battered. A large chunk of flesh had been torn from its right thigh, while its left leg bore a long, narrow wound deep enough to expose cracked bone.

Green blood continued to spurt out. Even if it used its medical kit immediately, its mobility had been reduced to at least one-third of what it had been. Strength always rose from footing, and this fragmentation grenade had weakened at least half of its overall combat power, perhaps even more.

And Si Ming would not give it the chance to find the time to use its medical kit!

Bang—!

Glass exploded as Si Ming fired from the corridor opposite the medical department. In terms of raw power alone, this special high-explosive ammunition surpassed even an ordinary Anti-Material Sniper Rifle. Even after piercing through two layers of glass, it still tore huge sprays of blood from Wolf's damaged armor!

What incredible muscular strength. But even so, it did not dare remain still and take two direct hits in a row—Wolf's shoulder-mounted Plasma Caster swung around swiftly, and the instant the blue plasma fired, it stepped forward down the corridor, no longer as fast as before, but still moving at high speed.

Run.

Run while firing.

Plasma spheres and No. 12 High-Explosive Shotgun Shells exploded continuously throughout the medical departments between the two corridors. Gunfire and explosions crisscrossed beneath the parallel sprint of hunter against hunter. Si Ming dodged at times, Wolf leaped at others, and both repositioned with all their strength while their weapons fired with fierce speed.

Without hesitation. Without delay.

The unlucky people hiding among the medical departments, inadvertently caught in the battle, clutched their heads and screamed in terror and despair. Yet neither Si Ming nor Wolf gave them even the slightest bit of attention!

Boom—

Boom, boom, boom—

From one side of the floor to the other, from downstairs to upstairs. The two clung to each other, constantly pulling and probing, each waiting for the other to make the first wrong decision. The space ahead suddenly opened up, and both raised their weapons again.

Si Ming did not pull the trigger.

Wolf's shoulder cannon did not fire.

Their failure to lock onto one another was certainly one reason, but another was that the open area held many babies crying fearfully in their cribs. Warriors always observed certain formalities before worthy opponents, and in that exchange of gazes, both sensed a trace of mutual recognition.

Another wall.

Both their lines of sight were cut off for an instant.

Wolf's hand suddenly snapped up, its shoulder cannon calculating the trajectory in advance. The folding Yautja spear that had hung from its waist rapidly unfolded. Then, in the next instant, plasma and the thrown spear erupted fiercely toward the figure that had appeared beyond the wall!

One feint, one real attack. For the sake of this tactic, it had pretended all the way here that both hands were injured. The more worthy and respected the opponent, the more it had to give its all. This time, it was certain Si Ming would be unable to evade at least one side.

It had become familiar with Si Ming's fighting style and analyzed Si Ming's plan of action. Yet Si Ming had done exactly the same!

The huge mouth beneath the mask opened slightly. Wolf clearly saw that the opponent who had always used a shotgun for suppression had drawn a second gun this time—a small pistol with a distinctive design. Yet this small-caliber firearm gave Wolf a sensation that made every hair stand on end.

That should not have been possible.

A creature with synchronized eyes could only aim in one direction at a time. That meant the other side had once again calculated its move, knowing it would make a double attack with no room to dodge, and that the gun in his hand had likewise accounted for the lead.

Bang—

The gun fired, the cannon discharged, and the thrown spear howled through the air.

The spear tore a bloody gash along Si Ming's left arm. Both the plasma and the shotgun blast missed because they had anticipated each other's movements. Yet the Samurai Edge loaded with Anti-Biological Bullets, the weapon that had given Wolf such a sense of danger, also failed to wound Wolf!

Had it missed?

No. It had not. The heavily loaded bullet had struck exactly where it needed to: the connecting rod of Wolf's shoulder cannon.

A crisp crack.

The linkage bracket, already shaken loose earlier, snapped apart.

The deadliest plasma weapon disconnected and fell away. The distance between them was now only a little more than ten meters.

—It was time.

At this moment, Si Ming committed all his strength.

The Night Battle Qi that had mainly been used to create a Battle Qi Veil and conceal him from Yautja sensors was completely drawn back.

And at this moment, all of it was poured into enhancing his physical parameters.

He threw down the firearm and gripped the long blade.

Si Ming's greatest skill was actually with greatswords, but that did not prevent him from using this captured katana to display the combat techniques he had honed amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Ten meters vanished in an instant.

The misinformation regarding his close-combat ability ultimately left Wolf's movements momentarily confused. The tactical movements it had been using to avoid the shotgun's continuous fire became riddled with openings. Then, in the next instant, the long blade rushing toward it slashed down fiercely!

Slash—

The first strike severed the arm it had raised to block.

Their bodies crossed at high speed. Wolf hissed and roared as it deployed the Wrist Blade on its other hand.

It was injured. It was grievously wounded. Without hesitation, it drove its sharp wrist blade down toward Si Ming's chest with all its strength.

Life for life, wound for wound. That was indeed the only solution at the moment. Yet Si Ming did not hesitate or retreat. With a turn of his blade, he likewise stabbed viciously and decisively toward Wolf's heart!

When two meet on a narrow path, the braver prevails.

And if both were brave, then it came down to whose movements were more precise, and whose weapon was longer!

Squelch— Flesh split. Wolf's wrist blade stopped against Si Ming's ribs. But the long blade Si Ming thrust forward, the instant it pierced Wolf's heart, exploded through an excessive infusion of Battle Qi.

Fragments burst apart. The injury was maximized in that instant.

The Wrist Blade lost the strength driving it forward, and the final outcome became death for one, a light wound for the other.

Wolf collapsed to the ground.

Its mask fell from its face, and it seemed to be smiling.

"Warrior, you fought well." Si Ming pulled the Wrist Blade that had failed to cut through his ribs from his chest. He bent down and placed the blade that had fallen from Wolf's arm onto its chest.

He had won.

The light in Wolf's eyes gradually lost its vitality.

Then, in the next moment, a voice echoed beside Si Ming's ear.

—[Defeated elite Yautja 'Wolf.' Received 4,000 reward points and 2 C-rank side quests.]

There was a little over a minute left.

That minute was enough for him to reach the rooftop where the helicopter was parked.

And complete the current main mission.

He nodded to the dead Wolf and walked forward. The wound in his chest silently stopped bleeding. His muscles, closing together as if by instinct, had already sealed the wound.

He stopped.

His deep, luminous eyes turned blank in an instant. And an aura as frenzied and restless as a beast surged violently around him.

The battle was over.

At its end, he unlocked the First Stage of the Gene Lock.