Sand Eagle's New Skill

The Desert Eagle's sudden shout startled Xu Jiang, and he quickly asked, "Little Deagle, what's wrong with you? All this fuss over nothing?"

"Sorry, General, I really was too unstable. I just figured something out and got a little excited."

"Oh? What did you figure out?"

"I realized the best way to eliminate frost is to melt it with fire."

Xu Jiang: ...

He didn't mind the Desert Eagle becoming a philosopher.

But at least think about something profound! Fire melting ice? Isn't that common sense even for elementary school kids?

"I said, Little Deagle, could you please think about something at a middle school level next time? This whole fire-melts-ice thing is way too childish..."

[Congratulations, Major Sand Eagle, after deep contemplation, has understood the trick of melting ice with fire. Skill acquired: Explosive Shot Lv1]

[Explosive Shot Lv1: Adds fire attribute to bullets, creating a fiery explosion upon hitting the target.]

"..."

"I spoke too loudly just now, Little Deagle, don't take it to heart. You're the best."

This really was like rain after a long drought, and a heavy hammer for a deep well!

Learning [Explosive Shot] at a critical moment—wasn't this just telling him to go roast the whole cow?

Bursting with confidence, Xu Jiang decided to act. No matter what, he had to get the Spirit Seed fragments.

He quietly began to circle around, looking for a good position to enter the battlefield.

He tried his best to avoid provoking those eerie masked figures. His target was only the Frost Giant Bull.

On the other side, Pang Shi had already fallen into a desperate situation.

His strength was by no means weak. Holding a short sword and moving with agile footwork, he was locked in combat with the Faceless Ones' leader, even holding a slight upper hand.

But even so, defeat was only a matter of time.

Before him was a group of reckless madmen; behind him was a completely out-of-control Wild Beast. Worse still, there was a traitor in his team—who could guarantee there wouldn't be a second one?

The once united squad now dared not trust their backs to their teammates. Fighting separately was nothing more than a death throes.

The Faceless Ones' leader blocked Pang Shi's attack again, leaping back easily to disengage.

The expression behind the mask was invisible, but the voice was dripping with sarcasm: "Young Master Pang, I advise you to surrender obediently. Swallow this poison pill, or you might end up missing an arm or a leg. That wouldn't be good."

"Don't you dare think about it! Even if I die, I won't be blackmailed by you!" Having grown up surrounded by such things, Pang Shi naturally knew the terror of the Faceless Ones.

Just as he prepared to fight to the death and drag the enemy down with him, the Faceless Ones' leader across from him suddenly showed shock in his eyes.

"This... how is this possible!"

Pang Shi snorted coldly and said, "What? Starting your tricks now? Trying to make me turn around and get distracted? I won't fall for it..."

"So strong! Is this person a high-level Gunner?"

"Impossible, no one above level 5 is allowed here. How did he do it?"

Murmurs of discussion came from behind him. Could a true expert really have come to help?

Pang Shi felt a glimmer of hope for survival. He quickly sidestepped and leaped away, keeping one eye on the Faceless Ones' attack while casting a sidelong glance at the battlefield behind him.

That one glance showed him a scene he would never forget.

Wearing the most outdated Exoskeleton Mech, holding a standard-issue Desert Eagle Pistol for beginners, a seemingly ordinary Mech Warrior stood right in front of the Frost Giant Bull, raising his gun to fire.

The bullets looked ordinary, but when they struck the ice shield, they produced a violent explosion. A fierce blaze spread, instantly blasting a huge hole in the ice shield.

"Is that using incendiary rounds?"

"No, incendiary rounds don't have that much power. This must be an Ammunition Expert's Explosive Shot."

"But this guy is wearing a mech! He should be a Mech Warrior. Could it be an innate skill?"

Xu Jiang's appearance shocked everyone.

Explosive Shot was not a level 5 beginner skill. At this stage, even an Ammunition Expert couldn't learn it, let alone a Mech Warrior.

The only explanation was that it was an innate [Explosive Shot] skill obtained after completing the class change.

Everyone envied Xu Jiang's talent, but who knew that this [Explosive Shot] was just the result of his Little Deagle having recently graduated elementary school and learning that fire melts ice?

No need to swap for special bullets—still the same 12.7mm standard ammunition—but the effect it fired carried formidable flame damage.

With an explosion radius of about 3 meters, it came with intense burning damage.

The impact force even halted the Frost Giant Bull's frenzied charge, making it no longer dare to recklessly slash. Instead, it raised its shield and warily guarded against Xu Jiang.

But was guarding useful?

Those two shots just now were only Xu Jiang testing the effect. The power was indeed impressive, comparable to a small explosive incendiary grenade.

He swept his gaze around. The terrified newcomers had all retreated far away. He had originally worried that stealing the kill would earn him hatred, but looking at them now, they should be grateful to him, right?

Good. Next up was going all out to take down this big guy.

"Hey, Stupid Ox, can you block this shot?" Xu Jiang suddenly shifted his aim and fired at an empty spot.

Everyone was stunned. Was he firing a warning shot into the air?

Wasting bullets for no reason—what was he trying to do?

"No! The bullet curved!"

A cry of surprise rang out as the just-fired bullet, trailing a tail of flame, arced through the air in a curved trajectory.

With a booming explosion, the Explosive Shot landed squarely on the Frost Giant Bull's body.

With the support of [Telekinetic Bullet], as long as the distance was sufficient, how could there be any chance of a miss?

Xu Jiang had deliberately pulled the bullet into a wide arc, forcibly bypassing the shield's defense to hit the enemy.

Old Ox was dumbfounded. Knocked off balance by the powerful impact, he glanced at his shield and scratched his head with the edge of his axe in confusion.

Had that guy just shot at him? Or had he not? Where had that bullet come from, and why couldn't the shield block it?

Not only was Old Ox confused, everyone present was stunned, including the Faceless Ones, all staring at Xu Jiang in shock.

"What kind of technique is that? Why can the bullet curve?"

"Gun Kata! It's the top-tier A-Rank Talent, Gun Kata!"

"Where did this guy come from? Why haven't we heard of a rising star like him?"

Clearly, the onlookers had completely misunderstood Xu Jiang's talent.

Among A-Rank Talents, [Gun Kata] could indeed make bullets curve, but that was a shooting technique—completely different from the [Telekinetic Bullet] that Little Deagle had comprehended.

Simply put, each had its own pros and cons.

[Gun Kata] had higher lethality; after a slight change in direction, the bullet's damage wasn't reduced at all.

[Telekinetic Bullet], on the other hand, allowed for more extreme angles of curvature, at the cost of reduced damage.

But this drawback was perfectly resolved after acquiring [Explosive Shot].

No matter how weak the bullet itself was, it didn't affect the explosion upon hitting the target. Even if Xu Jiang fired with his toes, the power of [Explosive Shot] was still solid.

So Xu Jiang started showing off his flick-shots.

A shot to the left, a shot to the right—no aiming at all—yet bullets kept curving in arcs, precisely hitting enemies. It looked incredibly cool and stylish, leaving the crowd utterly bewildered.