May 9, Year X023, 15:46. Somewhere in the Campus's Dense Forest.
In that ancient, secluded woodland, darkness flowed like thick ink through every inch of space. Fog drifted slowly between the trees like ghostly veils, obscuring many creatures' vision and filling the woods with unknown horrors.
Mountain Man could no longer be described as wearing ordinary exoskeleton equipment. "Exoskeleton armor" was a more fitting term. Had Lin Yi not seen it himself, he would have struggled to imagine that this entire set of equipment had been assembled from parts taken out of the few backpacks Mountain Man carried.
He seemed to have added other components. Only now did Mountain Man look like a fully equipped "complete form." There was dirt on him, and one hand still held a hardened limb from a sculpture, which he had clearly torn off a Humanoid Sculpture.
Lin Yi could not help sucking in a breath. "Mountain Man... did that guy fight his way in through the Humanoid Sculptures' patrol perimeter?"
Those Humanoid Sculptures were clearly no match for him. Even the Fanatics charging him now were being suppressed by Mountain Man in his "armor combined" state.
These Fanatics seemed to possess an ability like the Green Apron Chef's, letting them move rapidly through shadows. Lin Yi could not effectively track their movements by sight alone, but his perception could still pick them up.
Yet Mountain Man held his own against multiple opponents. He even seemed to grow fiercer as the battle went on, leaving Lin Yi dumbfounded.
"This exoskeleton armor is actually that powerful?" Lin Yi was secretly astonished.
Seeing that they could not take Mountain Man down, the Fanatics stopped holding back. Their bodies swelled, their muscles bulged, and their skin took on a sickly bluish-gray hue, covered in twisted veins like the