Electrified Grenade and Explosive Shot

The stylish gun-flip attack left countless people marveling at Xu Jiang's sharpness, but of course, it also thoroughly enraged the Frost Giant Bull.

Such a scrawny human could actually fire bullets that hurt this much—with its brain, it simply couldn't comprehend things like ballistic curves.

It had clearly hidden behind its ice shield, so why was it still getting hit?

Burning with fury, the old bull decided to launch an active assault. It hoisted its shield in front of its body, raised its great axe in its right hand, let out a sky-shaking roar, and charged straight at Xu Jiang.

"Watch out! Don't let him hit you!"

"His charge can't be tanked—dodge now!"

The onlookers' hearts were in their throats. Xu Jiang was the only one who could handle the Frost Giant Bull; if he died here, they'd all be doomed.

Xu Jiang, on the other hand, was brimming with confidence.

Hadn't he just taken down a little calf yesterday? This kind of single-minded monster was easy to deal with.

He stayed rooted in place, calmly reloading his magazine as he watched the big bull's charge.

Ten meters... five meters... three meters...

It was over!

The spectators' hearts clenched. They watched the great axe descend, cleaving man and mech in two, blood... huh? Where was the blood?

"Truly stupid. Knee Strike!"

Xu Jiang used his decoy tactic again, fooling the bull's charge with an afterimage.

As the bull's momentum gave out, he struck from behind with a knee to the flank, sending the beast crashing to the ground. Its massive body crushed two nearby trees.

Was this maneuver difficult?

Not really. Think of those bullfighters—mere mortals who could toy with bulls using nothing but skill. It was about the same.

But the problem was...

"How is he doing that! That's the [Shadowstep] skill—how can he possibly learn it?!" a Shadow Dancer couldn't help but shout.

The mech, Gun Kata, Explosive Shot, Knee Strike—she could accept all that, chalking it up to good luck with his class skills.

But [Shadowstep] was a Shadow Dancer's game-changing level 25 ability! How could a gunner learn it?

Xu Jiang had no time to answer questions. He was busy making beef stew.

That last Knee Strike had worked better than expected. The bull, carried by its own inertia, had tripped over a tree root and face-planted into the dirt. That was his opening.

Xu Jiang decided to finish the monster off.

He pulled a small iron rod from his waist, raised an eyebrow, and flashed a smug grin. With a flick of his finger, he tossed the rod toward the bull.

"Try the little fairy's power," Xu Jiang said. His trump card was, of course, the newly arrived Mech Diva, Sparkles.

At first, he'd just seen her as a mascot.

But Little Deagle had woken him up—if she'd been promoted to Major General, Sparkles' potential had to be enormous.

So now, Xu Jiang was rating her a hundred times higher. That should be about right for her abilities.

"Ehehe? What's going on? Why am I flying?" Sparkles hadn't processed it yet, only feeling herself floating through the air.

She tumbled several times before landing right next to the old bull, which was trying to get up.

Its furious bull eyes, bloodshot and menacing, glared at Sparkles. That earned it a piercing scream: "Ahh!! What an ugly monster! Ehehe~ There's a pervert staring at me!"

The moment she said that, Sparkles erupted.

As a General, Xu Jiang was immune to his subordinates' skills, but even he was stunned by this [Dazzling Debut].

It really lived up to the name "Sparkles."

A flash ten times more powerful than a standard flashbang exploded in an instant, blinding everyone present.

And this burst was just the beginning.

As the giant bull clutched its eyes, roaring in pain, a second skill triggered.

Since it was a Stun Baton, its anti-harassment electric shock was nothing to sneeze at. [Charming Electric Eyes] followed close behind, turning the current into purple plasma that swept across a dozen-meter radius.

The bull at the center took the full brunt. This wasn't the cute, tingly feeling described in the skill's flavor text.

It was a direct shock that left the monster unable to function. Its body slammed back to the ground, limbs twitching wildly, fur scorched and standing on end. It looked utterly miserable.

To let this poor bull die quickly and be reborn, Xu Jiang joined in.

He pushed in a fresh magazine, and his Desert Eagle flared with [Explosive Shot] again. Aiming the barrel at the Frost Giant Bull's forehead, Xu Jiang said with an air of mystery, "Little Deagle, do you know what happens when you combine an Electrified Grenade with Explosive Shot?"

"Reporting, General. I do not." Little Deagle was honest—he hadn't learned anything beyond elementary school yet.

"Then I'll tell you. The reaction between fire and electricity is overload!"

As he explained, Xu Jiang activated his [Mech Overload] talent. With a ten-second double damage boost, he unloaded a full magazine in an instant.

The crowd, still recovering their vision, only sensed a storm of electric light and flame, explosions ringing without end.

When everything fell silent and the breeze cleared the smoke, they focused their eyes. What remained was Xu Jiang's cool gun-holstering pose and a Frost Giant Bull with its head blown wide open.

"That monster... just died like that?"

"What terrifying power—he took down that monster all by himself."

"Just what level is this guy? How does he have so many skills?"

Exclamations rang out endlessly. Xu Jiang smugly twirled his pistol twice before reholstering it at his waist. Now wasn't the time to slack off.

He asked in a low voice, "Qianji, where is it?"

"Reporting, General. The Spirit Seed Fragment is inside the Frost Giant Bull's body. Please place your hand on its corpse, and I will extract it from within."

Every Spirit Domain had hidden guardian monsters and hidden super treasures, waiting for explorers to discover. Once obtained, the treasure would never respawn—first come, first served.

As for the Spirit Seed Fragment before him, it had fully merged into the Frost Giant Bull's flesh and blood. An ordinary person could never detect it; only Qianji, being special, could sense the Spirit Seed's presence.

He placed his hand on the bull's corpse. Strand after strand of flesh-and-blood power slowly gathered toward his palm. Before long, a prompt sounded.

[Congratulations, you have obtained one Spirit Seed Fragment.]

[Spirit Seed Fragment: Possesses the potential for infinite evolution.]

A single Spirit Seed Fragment—this was worth a fortune! Xu Jiang quickly stowed it away, making sure no one else saw.

He turned to look. In the distance, the great battle was still not over.

Fortunately, after the Frost Giant Bull was slain, Pang Shi and the others had stabilized their footing. Victory was only a matter of time—nothing for him to worry about.

Xu Jiang now had a more troublesome matter to handle: appeasing the wronged Sparkles.

"Wah wah wah—you actually left me all alone to face such a terrifying big monster! I'm mad. The kind that's really, really hard to soothe."

After her outburst, Sparkles hopped back into Xu Jiang's arms, looking unharmed.

But she kept muttering under her breath, twisting her body back and forth as if throwing a tantrum, blaming Xu Jiang for abandoning her and making a little fairy face a monster alone.

To express his apology, Xu Jiang took Sparkles in hand and gently comforted her: "There, there, don't be mad. Pat, pat. Sparkles is the best."

"Wah wah wah—it tickles so much! Don't touch me like that~~"

Sparkles suddenly squirmed shyly at the touch, but Xu Jiang paid no mind. He gripped the rod and rubbed it up and down.

"There, there. With Sparkles on the job, the enemy was taken down in one go. See that monster? Didn't one electric glare from you fry it stiff on the ground? Keep up the good work."

"Wah wah wah—I... ah~~ Don't do that to me! I, I'm not mad anymore! Ah!!"

Xu Jiang's rapid-fire maneuvers forcibly dispelled Sparkles' resentment, and the watching Little Deagle was utterly awestruck.

"The General truly is formidable. Sparkles looks very happy."

"Hmph! Of course." Xu Jiang replied smugly. "This is the fruit of over twenty years of romantic experience."

"Really? Then the General must be very good at soothing his lover too."

"No. I don't have a girlfriend."