Scared Paralyzed

Colonel Silver's jaw dropped as he stared at the man before him in disbelief.

The pain radiating from his knuckles made him feel as though he had punched a wall of solid steel.

How could this be?

He was a powerhouse capable of taking on ten men at once and shattering sandbags with a single blow!

With just that one punch, Colonel Silver felt a sense of unprecedented frustration; his once-unshakable confidence was already showing signs of collapse.

"An Android! This guy must be just like the ones Dr. Gero created, forged entirely from Mimic Alloy!"

Colonel Silver instantly found an excuse for himself—it wasn't that he was weak, but that his opponent wasn't even human!

Thinking this, Colonel Silver felt much better.

"So what if you're an Android? You're just a bit tougher. Based on my combat skills, I've personally defeated three Androids during data testing!"

Colonel Silver said coldly, "Bring me my blade!"

Hearing this, a soldier hurriedly and respectfully handed over a sharp longsword.

"My blade is also forged from alloy. Let's see if your body is harder, or if my blade is sharper!"

With that, Colonel Silver leaped into the air and slashed fiercely at Li Shu's head.

Got it!

Li Shu had finally decided on a strategy. With 20 seconds remaining out of the 30-second limit, he popped a [Super Painkiller] just before the blade struck him.

Then, the blade descended, cleaving his upper body in two.

"Big Brother!" Wukong screamed in terror, a surge of intense rage rushing to his head as he prepared to charge forward and pummel Silver.

Just then, Li Shu's voice emanated from the mouth on his severed head.

"Don't panic, Wukong. I just wanted to open his eyes to the fact that flesh and blood can rival steel."

Such a bizarre scene terrified everyone present.

Colonel Silver's jaw hit the floor, his eyes bulging as he struggled to believe the reality before him.

The internal organs were clearly visible, still pulsing even though they had been split in two, yet, eerily, not a single drop of blood flowed out.

The bisected Li Shu wore a smile that looked incredibly sinister, and with a casual swipe of his hand, he sent the stunned Colonel Silver flying.

He then pulled the longsword stuck in his torso out, flicked his wrist, and sent it pinning into Colonel Silver's crotch, nearly scaring the man into wetting himself; his face turned a sickly shade of green.

Meanwhile, under the effect of [Undying Body], Li Shu's severed upper body restored itself to normal, showing no signs of injury.

"Taking on ten at once?" Li Shu looked at Silver with utter contempt. As he raised his hand, a full moon slowly rose in his palm. "You pathetic worm, have you ever seen power like this?"

"Sorcery?" Colonel Silver stood frozen like a statue, his fragile psyche suffering another blow. The fear of the unknown made his body tremble!

"Fire! Open fire!" At Colonel Silver's shout, the terrified soldiers snapped out of their trance and pulled their triggers.

A dense hail of bullets rained down upon Li Shu and Wukong like a violent storm.

However, the scene that followed filled them with even more terror and despair.

The image they had imagined—of their enemies being riddled with holes—never materialized. Instead, two rapidly expanding bodies loomed larger and larger in their pupils.

The bullets struck the fur-covered bodies with a rhythmic ping-ping-pong, failing to cause the slightest bit of damage.

They didn't even knock off a single hair.

"ROAR!"

"ROAR!"

Two massive Great Apes instantly tore through the roof, radiating a wild, ferocious aura like world-ending demons standing between heaven and earth. Their giant pupils looked down indifferently at the crowd of ants below.

Gazing at the two behemoths, the soldiers, their courage shattered, fired a few rounds from their rocket launchers. Seeing that the attacks had no effect, they immediately scattered and fled in total chaos.

Colonel Silver stared upward with hollow eyes. He was broken. When he first saw an Android, his worldview had been shattered, and he felt the world was truly absurd.

Now, having finally rebuilt his worldview and accepted this new reality, he was forced to witness this.

A body of flesh and blood was not only impervious to blades and bullets, but even after being split in half, it was still alive and kicking, instantly restoring itself. Was this something a human could do?

And now, they had transformed into towering Great Apes. The mere aura of ferocity they emitted was enough to break his psychological defenses, leaving him with no will to resist—only a desire to flee this terrifying place.

Thinking of his previous arrogance and conceit, he felt an overwhelming sense of misery and shame.

His record of taking on ten men at once was enough to make him proud within the Red Ribbon Army, yet in front of true powerhouses, he was so small and fragile.

The opponent didn't even need to lift a finger; a mere wisp of their aura was enough to crush his confidence and shatter his spirit!

Colonel Silver wanted to run, but under the suppression of that ferocious aura, he was paralyzed by terror.

"Taking on ten at once?" The Great Ape spoke, letting out a disdainful scoff before roaring, "Let me show you what it means to be a one-man army! I alone am enough to wipe out your entire Red Ribbon Army!"

With that roar, Li Shu unleashed the power of the [Lion's Roar].

After transforming into a Great Ape, his rough, tyrannical voice, amplified by the [Lion's Roar], sounded like a world-ending incantation. It pierced through everyone's defenses, deafening and soul-shaking.

"AH!"

"AAHH!!"

"Aaaah!!!"

The soldiers fleeing in all directions clutched their ears in agony, collapsing to the ground as blood poured from their seven orifices, writhing and struggling like maggots.

Colonel Silver, being closest to the Great Ape, bore the brunt of the assault, his suffering manifold that of the other soldiers.

Not only was blood streaming from his seven orifices, but his pores were also oozing blood; the excessive blood loss had turned his complexion as pale as paper.

His pupils held nothing but terror.

Li Shu did not deliver a lethal blow; he stopped after roaring for only a second and activated the [Inversion Domain].

An invisible ripple spread outward, and the bodies of Li Shu and Wukong instantly reverted from their transformed states back to their original forms.

"Big Brother?" Wukong looked at Li Shu in surprise. The Great Ape transformation had just been undone like that?

"I'll explain later." A flicker of disappointment crossed Li Shu's eyes. As he suspected, he was included in the scope of the effect as well, unable to maintain the transformation; even he, the caster, could not avoid it.

All of this seemed long, but in reality, only about 20 seconds had passed.

"This still didn't break his conviction?" Li Shu frowned slightly and walked toward the listless Colonel Silver.

"Don't come any closer!" Colonel Silver looked at him in terror, but he had already lost the courage to even flee, able only to let out a silent scream filled with pleading.

With only 5 seconds left until the mission time limit, Li Shu looked down at Colonel Silver, his expression growing increasingly grim.

After doing all this, was it all in vain after all?