Chapter 31: Are You a Devil
The White Bull slowly turned his head, squinting at Baha who had landed on his shoulder. His exoskeleton rapidly grew, covering his exposed face.
Crack!
Baha's claws gripped the exoskeleton on the White Bull's face. A tremendous force pushed back, and Baha had to continuously phase through space to steady himself.
"Hey!"
The White Bull shouted loudly. This was to notify the few people on the main street behind him that something was wrong on his end. As for why he didn't shout anything else, Su Xiao didn't give him the time.
On the main street, the Killer Bee heard the shout. While aiming at the Immortal, she raised her middle finger, sneering at the White Bull's behavior. He had the easiest job, yet he was yelling like a pig being slaughtered.
Inside the gate of the high wall, a burst of air spread out from behind the White Bull. With a bang, he was kicked out of the gate and flew outside Doom Town.
The spatial fluctuations subsided. Su Xiao rushed out of the gate in a few steps. He needed to finish this quickly, to avoid alerting others in the town.
The White Bull rolled several times on the ground, sending dirt flying. He dug his hands into the soil, barely stabilizing himself. He was a dual main attribute build of Strength and Stamina. Strangely, even though his Strength attribute was higher, he had been kicked flying.
"A close combat brawler technique type. The blade is just a disguise, huh."
The White Bull stood up from the ground, shaking the dirt off his hands.
A sound of wind breaking rushed toward him. The White Bull appeared unable to react, but beneath his exoskeleton, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.
"Brave Charge."
The White Bull's eyes widened. A brownish-yellow light converged toward Su Xiao. This was some kind of control ability.
Bang!
Su Xiao delivered a straight kick to the White Bull's lower abdomen. The White Bull didn't feel much pain, but his body went numb. He hadn't controlled the enemy; instead, he had been controlled by the enemy.
With a crackling sound, a bone bead embedded in the White Bull's waist exploded. This was one of his core abilities, capable of reducing control effects.
But then the White Bull realized his body was still numb. The control removal had failed. The attack that broke his defense wasn't a control ability at all. The numbness in his body was caused by "force collision." Part of the White Bull's own strength, combined with Su Xiao's kick, had concentrated all the force on a single point. That point then spread, affecting most of the White Bull's body.
A control ability was like a net thrown over someone. If you used a "blade" to cut it, you wouldn't be caught. That was control removal. But the attack that broke his defense had already taken effect on the White Bull's body. Unless he could push his body beyond its limits in a short time, he couldn't get rid of the numbness.
Dragon-Slaying Flash cut through the air. With a swish, it slashed across the White Bull's neck. The resistance from the blade was quite strong. The White Bull had concentrated all his exoskeleton's defense on his neck.
Blood splattered in midair. The White Bull stepped back a few paces, one hand clutching his spurting throat. His eyes were filled with disbelief as he saw a flood of combat logs.
[Warning: You are being invaded by an unknown energy.]
[Warning: 597 Mana Points have been burned.]
[Warning: You are being eroded by an unknown energy. You have taken 1165 True Damage + 81 True Damage (Demon Mark) + 826 Vital Strike Damage (Ultimate Ability reduced by 31%) + 457 Blade Damage (Ultimate Ability reduced by 31%) + 240 Ignore Physical Defense (Living Creature Severing) + 312 Ignore Physical Defense Damage (Soul Hunting Scythe) + ...]
[Your defense is reduced by 8% for 30 minutes. This effect can stack.]
...
After seeing this flood of warnings and damage judgments, the White Bull was dumbfounded. Even with all his equipment bonuses, he only had 2560 Mana Points. That single slash had burned a quarter of his Mana Points.
Compared to the Mana burning, he wanted to know more about that pile of True Damage + Ignore Defense damage, and that absurdly high "normal attack" damage. What the hell were all those things? How many passive abilities did this guy stack to get so many attack judgments? Anyone who stacked passives like this was definitely a pervert. No, a devil.
Most importantly, what was up with that 1165 True Damage? How could anyone have True Damage higher than their normal attack damage? Wasn't True Damage usually just tacked on at the end?
The White Bull clutched his throat with one hand, blood seeping through his fingers. He felt that it no longer mattered what rank the opponent was. What mattered was that fighting this guy was like being disciplined by a parent. He was his natural enemy.
What was a tank's greatest strength? The answer was powerful defense and physique, plus various control abilities.
As for defense and a strong physique, the True Damage of Azure Steel Shadow completely countered him. As for control abilities, let's not even mention them. It was too hard on the White Bull. Over 80% of contractors who specialized in control abilities couldn't even control Su Xiao. The White Bull wasn't a team tank. He didn't have field-type abilities. Those kinds of control abilities were so expensive they made you question life.
"I just wanted to form a team. Do you have to draw a blade the moment we meet?"
The White Bull roared with all his might. It was both to stall Su Xiao and to call for help from the others inside the high wall. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have been in such a sorry state.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
Clang.
A blue blade aura slashed through. One of the White Bull's horns and a small piece of his skull were sliced off.
Thud!
The White Bull punched the ground. Gravel and dirt flew everywhere, like scattered flowers. The gravel hit Su Xiao's face, stinging slightly. The enemy's strength was far greater than his, but his speed was weaker. He would have to rely on this to fight.
Su Xiao feigned a charge, intending to rush past the White Bull and circle behind him. Seeing this, the White Bull lunged forward, his arms sweeping. He knew that if he could grab hold of the enemy, he would have a chance.
Bang, bang.
Two dull thuds. Su Xiao planted one foot on the White Bull's chest and the other on his face, leaping into the air.
Midair, Su Xiao sheathed his long blade. The moment the blade was drawn again, over a dozen slashing arcs flew toward the White Bull.
Puff, puff, puff...
Broken exoskeleton and blood splattered everywhere. When the slashing stopped, the White Bull had his arms crossed in front of his face. Blood dripped from his fingertips. He panted heavily, his eyes darting around, searching for Su Xiao's position.
With a boom, Su Xiao appeared in front of the White Bull. The two locked eyes. Pale blue electric arcs surged along Dragon-Slaying Flash.
'It's over.'
That was the White Bull's final thought. He slapped his chest with one hand, activating the explosives inside his exoskeleton. Among the contractors of Apocalypse Paradise, there were men with backbone.
Crack.
The long blade pierced through the White Bull's chest. He looked down at his chest, confused as to why the thing hadn't exploded.
'BNTT-815 type explosive. It detects your vital signs and can explode in various environments. Apocalypse tank, bringing this thing is a bit outdated on our end. As long as you pierce the internal core-changing device and input a specific frequency of energy, it will delay the explosion. Its creator called himself Scythe-Tail Snake.'
Baha's voice faded in the White Bull's ears. He suddenly remembered that this enemy was from Reincarnation Paradise. The manufacturing technology for that explosive was said to have come from there.
As for why the White Bull didn't use other explosives, the reason was simple. This kind of explosive, specifically designed for mutual destruction, was basically undeveloped in Apocalypse Paradise. This explosive detected the user's heartbeat, blood oxygen content, organ integrity, and even the activity of internal energy. There was absolutely no chance of accidental detonation.
With a thud, the White Bull fell to the ground. He didn't beg for mercy even in death.
Su Xiao pulled out Dragon-Slashing Flash, raising his hand to wipe the blood from his face. The enemy's strength was far greater than his. The flying stones had even cut his face. As for speed, the White Bull's Agility attribute was only around 130 points, and he didn't have the abilities to support it.
Su Xiao grabbed the White Bull's horn. His muscles bulged slightly. After aiming, he hurled the White Bull's corpse toward Doom Town.
Inside Doom Town, on the main street in front of the main gate, Captain and Esi were fighting the Immortal. The Killer Bee was providing long-range support from several dozen meters away.
With a rumble, a corpse fully encased in exoskeleton crashed down. The corpse rolled a few times, landing face up. Inside the broken exoskeleton on its chest, explosives were faintly visible. Already activated explosives.
Seeing this, Captain and Esi, who were over thirty meters away, were both horrified. They immediately dove into a nearby building, layering various protective abilities on themselves.
Boom!
Flames shot into the sky. The White Bull had successfully blown up his teammates.