Chapter 48: 283 Grams
That's right, it was a set of false teeth. Although unremarkable in appearance, they quickly made biting motions during flight, clacking loudly.
Surrounded by numerous attacks, Su Xiao did not activate his Counter Shield. Instead, he leaned forward.
Boom!
Various attacks landed, mud splattered, flames surged, and unique fluctuations from elements, curses, and other types spread.
"He should... be dead by now."
A melee contractor looked at the large crater with lingering fear.
"Behind you..."
The melee contractor just heard a shout from behind when, the next moment, he suddenly felt a numbness in his neck, then his vision rapidly lowered, and finally, darkness enveloped his eyes.
Su Xiao lightly flicked the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand, blood splattering a semicircle on the ground. He was currently unscathed.
Not only that, but Su Xiao was now amidst the crowd of contractors. The surrounding contractors immediately retreated, but it was already too late.
The reason he appeared here, unharmed, was that he had used his Dragon Shadow Flash ability to move forward 6 meters, then used his instantaneous burst speed to charge into the contractors.
"Fall back quickly!"
"This guy has a space-type ability!"
"Surround him."
"If you want to die, go die yourself."
The contractors around Su Xiao shouted in succession as they retreated, exchanging information. This showed that these people were likely a small adventure group or a team.
Clang.
Su Xiao slashed out a light blue blade aura. As soon as the blade aura was released, he charged forward following it.
The blade aura flew toward a medium-sized mecha. This mecha had been happily blasting at Su Xiao earlier, so it had caught his attention.
With a tearing sound, sparks sprayed from the mecha's chest. Su Xiao rushed to the front of the mecha, and several slash marks appeared on various parts of it.
Ding, ding, ding...
The entire mecha was cut into eight pieces. Before the wreckage could hit the ground, a loud bang came from inside the mecha, and a metal pod shot out from the remains—an emergency escape pod.
Su Xiao slashed five times into the air above, sending five blade auras flying toward the escape pod.
He ignored the escape pod and instead raised his left arm to block in front of him.
Rat-tat-tat...
A heavy machine gun fired wildly at Su Xiao. He rapidly slashed his long blade in front of him, deflecting the dense hail of bullets.
Ding.
While deflecting several bullets, one slipped through and shot toward his face. His left hand blocked in front of him.
A few drops of blood sprayed out as the bullet embedded itself in Su Xiao's palm.
A dozen meters away, a youth carrying a heavy machine gun stopped firing—he had run out of ammo.
Su Xiao clenched his hand, and the bullet in his palm was squeezed out by his muscles.
Tink.
The bloodstained bullet fell to the ground. Su Xiao's gaze fixed on the youth.
"Mon... monster."
The youth stepped back several paces. The gun in his hand was a +8 dark purple heavy machine gun. He had used it for a long time, and its firepower was still strong—at least, strong in the youth's eyes.
Dozens of dense blade auras flew toward the youth. He slapped his waist, and a square energy shield appeared. The dense blade auras struck the shield. After enduring the tenth strike, the shield shattered, and the youth was cut into a shower of minced flesh.
These contractors were already far inferior to Su Xiao in strength. After that soft-spoken female healer had stacked a bunch of buffs on Su Xiao, the gap widened even further, especially since she was ready to heal his injuries at any moment.
Su Xiao weaved quickly through the crowd. Usually, a despairing scream was followed by a contractor falling to the ground or being decapitated.
Pfft.
Su Xiao slashed off the head of a fire mage. He pressed his hand against his shoulder, extinguishing the flames burning there. This was the fourteenth contractor he had killed.
The surrounding contractors weren't all focusing on Su Xiao; they were also fighting each other, as everyone's target was the Ant King's heart.
Su Xiao looked at the Ant King's corpse. Several contractors were already lying around it, either severely injured or dead.
Just then, Su Xiao noticed something strange about the Ant King's corpse—wisps of green smoke were rising from it.
"Old Smoke."
Su Xiao immediately thought of something and quickly rushed toward the Ant King's corpse. But after taking two steps forward, the Ant King's corpse suddenly disappeared.
When Su Xiao reached the spot, he found that the corpse hadn't vanished into thin air—it had fallen into a hole in the ground. Someone had dug a tunnel beneath the corpse and taken it away.
From the earlier smoke, Su Xiao guessed this was Old Smoke's doing. He scanned his surroundings, finally fixing his gaze on Old Smoke, who was 300 meters away.
"Seems... he noticed."
Old Smoke caught Su Xiao's gaze. Given Su Xiao's melee combat skills displayed earlier, Old Smoke had no desire to engage him in close quarters.
"Hurry!"
Mizusaki also wanted to avoid melee combat with Su Xiao. To some extent, fighting Su Xiao up close was no less dangerous than fighting the Ant King.
The Ant King only had a powerful body. Su Xiao, while not as physically strong as the Ant King, excelled in numerous killing techniques.
With a thud, dirt splattered beside Old Smoke as a cloud of smoke surged up, carrying the Ant King's corpse within it.
Su Xiao ignored the other contractors and quickly charged toward Old Smoke. The surrounding contractors weren't targeting Su Xiao, so no one blocked him.
When Su Xiao had covered 100 meters, the Ant King's corpse was already being lifted by the smoke to Old Smoke's front. If Old Smoke extracted the heart, he would gain ownership of it and could store it in his inventory—that would be troublesome.
Su Xiao covered 200 meters. Old Smoke's hand, shaped like a blade and wrapped in a wisp of green smoke, was about to plunge into the chest.
Just as Old Smoke's hand was about to descend, he inexplicably froze. He looked up and saw Su Xiao 80 meters away, holding the Duke of Annihilation.
The Duke of Annihilation had only one bullet left, so Su Xiao wouldn't fire it casually. This was his last long-range super-firepower option.
Old Smoke dared not move. If he continued trying to extract the heart, his head would be blown off. He was certain of this—the Duke of Annihilation had punched holes through the Ant King with each shot, let alone him.
After a moment of hesitation, Old Smoke manipulated the smoke to toss the Ant King's corpse to Mizusaki.
Mizusaki instinctively caught the corpse, and the dark muzzle of the gun aimed at her.
"You're really loyal, handing over the heart's ownership to me."
Mizusaki grabbed the Ant King's arm. Naturally, she didn't dare extract the heart either, given the gun's power.
With a boom, an arm made of ice burst from the ground, piercing straight through the Ant King's corpse and swiftly pulling out the heart.
Bang!
A bullet flew past Mizusaki's armpit, shredding the fabric on her waist and arm.
The ice arm was shattered by the bullet—this was Dust's doing.
Half of the ice arm flew high into the air, its hand still clutching the Ant King's heart.
Everyone's attention focused on the Ant King's heart. Smoke surged around Old Smoke, and a wisp of smoke coiled toward the heart. An ice giant had already positioned itself between Old Smoke and Mizusaki.
Grappling hooks, chains, energy threads—all kinds of ropes shot toward the Ant King's heart. Everyone knew that killing people was useless now; seizing the heart was the key.
Cracks spread across the ground beneath Su Xiao's feet. With a boom, he shot out like a cannonball, charging toward the heart in midair.
Zzzz...
A laser sliced toward the heart, clearly intending to cut it apart to increase the chances of grabbing it.
In midair, Su Xiao's right arm muscles bulged slightly. Confirming the distance, he threw the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand.
Whoosh.
The Dragon-Slaying Flash parted a wave of air, stabbed in front of the heart, and pierced through it without resistance.
With a tearing sound, the laser cut past the side of the heart, slicing off about a third.
Su Xiao pulled his arm back. Before throwing the Dragon-Slaying Flash, he had wrapped the Realm Severing Thread around its hilt.
The Dragon-Slaying Flash in midair flew back toward Su Xiao. As it was rapidly retracted, the piece of the heart, about two-thirds of its original size, detached from the blade and fell downward.
Although the heart had separated from the blade, Su Xiao was only 4 meters away from it. Three minutes had passed since his last use of Dragon Shadow Flash, so he directly pierced through space, crossing that 4-meter distance.
Su Xiao appeared in front of the heart. His left hand reached out and grabbed it.
As he grabbed the heart, a Counter Shield with 600 points of strength enveloped him.
Boom, boom, boom...
Various attacks struck the Counter Shield. Su Xiao was sent flying diagonally dozens of meters before landing.
The Counter Shield shattered with a crack. Su Xiao landed.
[Prompt: The Hunter has obtained the Ant King's Heart (283 grams).]
[Main Quest Required Maximum Weight: 50 grams, Minimum Weight: 10 grams.]
[Main Quest Required Maximum Weight: 170 grams (Adventure Group), Minimum Weight: 30 grams (Adventure Group).]