Beep, beep, beep-
The sensor's urgent alarm seemed to mirror Todd's state of mind.
"I'm dead?" He hadn't caught up yet and was a little dazed.
But Lancelot had already landed and turned to charge at Hannah and Og.
The two still hadn't realized Todd had been killed. Too little time had passed, and he had died too suddenly. Lancelot's almost miraculous shot had been completely unexpected.
Once Todd had been declared dead, he couldn't call out a warning. If he did, Elisa's squad would be ruled to have lost the match outright.
Todd could only fret helplessly and pray that his two teammates would notice something was wrong.
What Lancelot did next, however, left Todd feeling helpless.
The guy actually fired in a steady rhythm as he sprinted, giving Og and Hannah the impression that he and Todd were still locked in a fierce battle.
"You sneaky bastard!!" Todd was furious.
Meanwhile, Lancelot moved with astonishing speed. In about two seconds, he was within thirty meters of Hannah and Og.
This time, he dropped to one knee to shoot.
Rapid fire!
Bang, bang, bang!!
The bullets flew from the barrel, every one of them hitting Og.
Og had an energy manipulation ability and wasn't physically strong. Although he wore a combat suit, Lancelot had closed to within thirty meters, where his bullets had high muzzle velocity and considerable power.
On top of that, Og was a novice ability user whose ability wasn't highly developed and whose energy reserves were thin. He also had to deal with Rui's harassment, leaving him unable to form a sufficiently strong energy shield.
After more than a dozen bullets hit him, Og was also declared dead.
Hannah could only retreat again and again, weak and helpless. As she watched Lancelot approach, tears even welled up in her beautiful eyes, making her look pitiful.
Bang!
A headshot!
Lancelot quickly ended the fight, ignoring Hannah as she stamped her feet in anger. Women would only slow down his draw.
Besides, did Hannah really think those little tricks of hers could fool Lancelot?
Playing pitiful? A self-injury ploy?
I played those tricks to death in my last life!
Three members of Elisa's squad had fallen, leaving only Elisa.
When Lancelot and Rui moved in to surround her, the little girl, who had been jumping up to pummel Burke, froze. Only then did she realize all her teammates were gone.
"Are you going to surrender, or do you want us to beat you senseless?" Burke grinned wickedly, his fists cracking as he clenched them and gave Elisa a malicious look.
"Hmph! I'd rather die in battle than surrender!" Elisa tilted her head up slightly, but the moment she saw Lancelot raise his gun and take aim, she immediately squatted down and clasped her hands over her head. "I surrender. The Alliance army treats its prisoners well!" she said without hesitation.
When the dejected Elisa squad and the triumphant Cole squad walked out of the training ground at the same time, the other squads all turned to look, most of their attention fixed on Lancelot.
His spectacular performance had undoubtedly earned the respect of every member. Even Windsor, the strongest genius in the special training camp, glanced at him repeatedly.
"Good, not bad!"
Instructor Tarn offered a rare word of praise. Though he didn't name anyone, everyone knew whom he meant.
"Squads three and nine, enter the field!"
"Brother Lan, from now on, you're my real brother. Come on, give me a hug and let some of that gun god aura rub off on me."
After leaving the training ground, Burke shoved his big, rough face up to Lancelot and spread his arms, ready to give him a hug full of masculine hormones.
Lancelot hurriedly ducked behind Cole and gave him a gentle push, sending the fat man into Burke's arms.
"I underestimated you, Lancelot," Rui said seriously.
"Haha, I just got lucky. I didn't expect a shot fired by instinct to hit Todd right in the head." Lancelot waved a hand, looking very modest.
"Instinct is the most important thing when it comes to becoming a sharpshooter!"
Instructor Bette walked over and sized Lancelot up with great satisfaction. "Come find me tonight. I'll teach you a few special tricks!"
With that, Bette turned and left.
Cole said with a sigh, "So this is the extraordinary world!"
The first round of the team competition soon ended.
Six squads emerged victorious.
After an hour's rest, the second round began.
Cole's squad won again, with Lancelot's marksmanship making another major contribution.
After the second round, only three winning squads remained.
Instructor Tarn produced three plastic lots, and each squad sent a representative to draw for the bye.
Cole wanted to draw again, but Burke and Rui stopped him and tactfully informed him that if he dared draw, they would break his dog legs.
In the end, Lancelot went up to draw.
He actually drew the bye.
All four squad members were overjoyed. At the very least, second place was secure.
A bottle of vitality secret medicine for each of them. Wonderful.
The other two squads were Windsor's squad, which had a member with A-grade potential, and Li Ge's squad, which had a member with B-grade potential.
In the end, Windsor's squad won.
"That woman's ability is ridiculously overpowered, and it's highly developed too. Any casual energy blast she throws out does as much damage as a burst from a machine gun.
"And with those two huge slabs of meat tanking at the front, how are we supposed to fight them?" Cole sat glumly on a bench with his hands behind his head and sighed up at the sky.
"She's been overpowered for a while now. What's there to be upset about? The worst that can happen is we lose. I'm satisfied with second place anyway." Burke picked his nose and flicked a finger, speaking with complete indifference.
Lancelot and Rui quietly edged away from him, afraid something might land on them.
"That's true, but we still need goals and ideals. Otherwise, how are we any different from salted fish?" Cole gave Burke a disdainful look, then called his teammates over to discuss their battle strategy.
Before long, the hour-long break was over.
Cole's squad and Windsor's squad entered the field.
As the countdown ended, the battle erupted.
On Windsor's side, two hulking musclemen advanced like mobile armored vehicles, muzzle flashes spitting from their rifles as they pushed straight forward.
Windsor followed close behind. Pale purple energy formed a set of form-fitting feminine armor over her body. Her tall figure was like a jungle banshee's, supple and alluring, with a distinctive grace to every rise and fall.
"Let's go!"
With a low shout from Cole, he, Burke, and Rui charged out together.
Lancelot, meanwhile, lay concealed in the jungle, firing his rifle to provide long-range support.
His teammates had given him both rifles and all three pistols, along with eight rifle magazines and twelve pistol magazines.
Under his precise suppressive fire, the two tanks on Windsor's squad lost some of their swagger and could only barely evade by relying on their abilities and cover.
Seizing the opportunity, Rui's gaze sharpened, and a psychic shockwave shot from between his brows.
Hum!!
The two hulking men's eyes rolled back, and their rapidly moving bodies lost some of their balance, staggering from side to side.
Taking advantage of the opening, Burke and Cole darted past them on opposite sides and charged straight at Windsor.
Lancelot also fired quick, controlled bursts from his rifle.
That was Cole's squad's tactic: to capture the bandits, first capture their leader. As long as they could take Windsor down in an instant, they could slowly wear the two remaining lumbering tanks to death.
"Heh!"
Windsor's red lips parted in a purely beautiful smile. She paid no attention to the incoming bullets, utterly confident in her energy armor's defenses.
She raised a hand, and diamond-shaped energy crystals rapidly formed over her palm.
"Amethyst Storm!"
Dozens of purple crystals suddenly exploded into countless energy fragments, engulfing Cole and Burke in a fan-shaped spread.
This energy had tremendous penetrating power and could also be shaped with great ease. It was a type of crystalline energy, highly versatile and suited to both offense and defense.
Faced with Windsor's relentless bombardment, Cole and Burke could only defend themselves, their headlong charge coming to an abrupt halt.
On the other side, the rifle bullets striking her energy armor actually rang out with crisp pings, as though they had hit steel.
Although the armor was covered in fine cracks, it was still far from breaking.
Just then, the two tanks on Windsor's squad recovered. They shook their dizzy heads but didn't turn back to help, evidently placing great trust in their captain's combat strength.
The two tanks didn't charge Lancelot either; he was too far away. Instead, they pushed straight through Rui's psychic assaults, attacked him from both sides, and ultimately eliminated him with their rifles.
Only after Rui was declared dead did the two tanks turn around. They charged Lancelot while laying down suppressive fire, intending to deal with the annoying gunman first.
The corners of Lancelot's mouth curled up slightly as he retreated, firing precise bursts.
The two tanks returned fire with their rifles, but their command of firearms was inferior to Lancelot's.
After the standoff continued for a while, both men ran out of bullets, while Lancelot still had more than a hundred rounds left.
Moreover, Lancelot had hardly been hit. Although Body of Steel was a cumbersome ability, he was remarkably agile, leaping back and forth through the jungle as bullets only grazed his clothes.
They were practically masters of shooting outlines.
The two lumbering tanks had extremely high physical defenses, and one even had skin as hard as steel, but speed was their fatal weakness, and they lacked agility.
Against Lancelot's almost uncanny movement, the two were led around in circles, taking a bullet every now and then.
One bullet couldn't do much damage.
What about ten?
Twenty?
What was more, Lancelot aimed every shot at their chests or between their brows, and he hardly ever missed.
Just like that, the two were like wild boars trapped in a bog, losing their ability to fight bit by bit amid helpless roars.
Beep, beep, beep-
The piercing alert signaled a death ruling. Under Lancelot's bleeding-out tactic, one of them was the first to succumb and was declared dead.
Only one of the two tanks remained.
Faced with the elusive Lancelot, bullets flying from who knew where, and an empty magazine, the man gave a bitter laugh. He knew his chances were slim.
Sure enough, less than ten seconds later, a bullet struck him precisely between the brows. The alert sounded again, declaring him dead.
Having dealt with the two tanks, Lancelot was just about to turn back and help Cole and Burke when he saw Windsor, surrounded by a halo of purple energy, charging straight at him.
His two teammates, Cole and Burke, had both been eliminated.
With a helpless smile, Lancelot understood that he had lost this time.
If he unleashed his full strength and used an explosive secret art, he could naturally defeat Windsor, but what would be the point?
It was only a match. There was no reason to pay the price of serious injury for it.
Still, he had to fight when it was time to fight. At the very least, he had to show the right attitude.
With that thought, Lancelot glanced at his Black Harrier rifle, which had only twenty-odd rounds left, and fired as he retreated.
"Still haven't given up?" Windsor raised a delicate brow, appreciative of Lancelot's refusal to concede, but she showed him no mercy in the fight.
Three minutes later, Lancelot was defeated by Windsor.
But the combat instincts he displayed during the fight, as well as the superb fighting skills and tenacious will he showed at the very end, impressed both the instructors and the other members.
"You're very good!" Windsor held out a hand and pulled Lancelot up from the ground.
"Interested in joining my squad?" Windsor offered.
Lancelot raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What about your two teammates?"
"They can just find another squad to join." Windsor didn't seem to care. To her, these people with C-grade potential were only passing through; all that mattered was that they were useful.
As for what her teammates thought, that wasn't something she considered.
"No thanks. I get along pretty well with Cole and the others, so I won't switch teams. I appreciate the offer!" Lancelot declined.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with Windsor's way of thinking. Everyone had their own ambitions, and it wasn't some heinous act. Besides, the extraordinary world was that blunt to begin with: talent and strength reigned supreme.
"Oh?"
Windsor was somewhat surprised. Because of her A-grade talent, she held a special position in the training camp. Not only the trainees but even the instructors treated her with relative courtesy, and plenty of people wanted to cling to her thigh. She hadn't expected Lancelot to remain unmoved when she took the initiative to extend an olive branch.
Windsor wasn't the petty sort, though. She was simply more rational.
"All right. My offer stands for the next three months. If you change your mind, just come find me." With those parting words, Windsor walked away, her graceful figure swaying.
By then, the many members watching from outside the field had begun discussing the match.
"They lost after all. Windsor's ability is just impossible to counter. She can dish it out and take it. She's practically invincible."
"Yeah, it's only natural that Windsor's strong. Lancelot was the surprise for me. That guy's combat instincts are unbelievably sharp, and his marksmanship is good too."
"Cole's squad found themselves a treasure..."
Once the two squads had left the training ground, Instructor Tarn announced, "The team competition is over. First place goes to Windsor's squad, and second place goes to Cole's squad!!"