Chapter 12: Is This Really an Eighth-Rank Contractor?
After leaving the white town and passing through a desolate area, the Lost Dead Forest appeared ahead. From a distance, Su Xiao could see the rune stones within the withered woods.
Su Xiao had chosen to seek out the contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise first precisely because of this. With the markers he had set, passing through the Lost Dead Forest wouldn't be difficult as long as one was cautious.
Having the white town discovered by outsiders would be a serious problem. Su Xiao had already planned to use this place as a base to carry out his subsequent series of plans.
Facing contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise in the Dark Star World, Su Xiao had no concerns. Even if he encountered Battle Angels or contractors he had dealt with before, like Yueshitu or Dragon Remnant, he didn't care. He had clashed with Yueshitu before; the fight was very short, and he only swung his blade once before Yueshitu fled.
Their interaction had mostly been through temporary summons. With the disguise authority, Yueshitu would at most be wary. Moreover, the chance of running into Yueshitu at this stage was extremely slim. That summoner would hole up as soon as they entered the world and only come out at the end to reap the rewards.
Molei was different. Even though Su Xiao now had the disguise authority, with his aura, appearance, etc., all disguised, his combat style wouldn't change.
Not only had Molei been taught a lesson by Su Xiao, but she had also cooperated with him and witnessed the entire battle between Su Xiao and the Blood God. If he fought Molei, killing her wouldn't be difficult, but during the fight, Molei would guess his identity based on his combat style and then "report" him.
For now, ignoring Molei was the best course. After competing for the Space-Time Power, Molei could "report" him all she wanted; she could scream her throat out, and at most, Su Xiao would be expelled from this world.
Walking through the Lost Dead Forest, Su Xiao took a metal mask from his storage space. The mask was entirely white, had no special attributes, and boasted a durability of 200/200 points. It was a bonus item given by Tuanzhang during their last transaction at the Starry Sky Seat. It wasn't some rare treasure, just sturdy.
Su Xiao put on the metal mask and produced a medium-short staff about 1.2 meters long. It looked like bone but was actually made of another material, a type of metal ore. This staff was called [Sinfall Celestial Relic]. Su Xiao had kept it without selling it and was now ready to test it.
[Sinfall Celestial Relic] had two properties. The first was sturdiness, and the second was stealing physical attributes. During combat, each time this weapon hit an enemy, it would reduce the enemy's True Strength and True Agility by 2 points while increasing the user's True Strength and True Agility by 2 points. This effect could stack up to 5 times, and once stacked, it lasted for 6 minutes.
Initially, Su Xiao had planned to use it as a buff. Before fighting a powerful enemy, he would tap Bubu Wang's dog head a few times to boost his own attributes.
When he first experimented, Su Xiao tapped Bubu's dog head a few times with [Sinfall Celestial Relic]. It had no effect. Bubu Wang gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, as if to say, "Master, hit hard! This Wang can take it!"
After a series of experiments, which left Bubu Wang with a head full of bumps, Su Xiao concluded that [Sinfall Celestial Relic] only worked when striking an enemy in combat. Tapping Bubu's dog head was useless.
Now, [Sinfall Celestial Relic] came in handy. Out of caution, Su Xiao decided to change his combat style. He would use the [Sinfall Celestial Relic] as his main weapon, complementing his Melee Grandmaster skill, and then rely on the crystal layer defense from Proud Song.
Although not using his blade would reduce Su Xiao's combat power, the passive abilities he had developed over time were not for nothing.
Exiting the Lost Dead Forest, Su Xiao felt something lightly bump his leg. Bubu Wang, who had been blending into the environment, appeared.
As soon as Bubu Wang appeared, he took a few steps back. Seeing the [Sinfall Celestial Relic] weapon, his head ached faintly.
With Bubu Wang leading the way, Su Xiao headed towards a patch of rocky terrain on the west side.
Meanwhile, 1240 meters underground, a space of over a thousand square meters had been excavated. The surrounding area wasn't rock or soil but was covered in a stone-blue substance.
This was [Liquid Flow]. In a sealed state, [Liquid Flow] was a liquid. Upon contact with air, soil, or rock, it would solidify into a hard layer within seconds. It was resistant to high pressure and high temperature, moderately resistant to corrosion, and cost 25,000 Paradise Points per large bottle. It was one of the most commonly used consumables in the Apocalypse Paradise.
Inside this underground space, an air filtration device was running. Several small machines floated in mid-air, monitoring changes in air pressure, air quality, gravity, etc., ready to sound an alarm at any moment.
A man in combat armor was lying on several alloy boxes, snoring loudly. As the "bodyguard" hired by four miners, Red Gold's work was very "hard" every day. He had been sleeping so much lately that he was getting confused.
This method of gaining strength through resource acquisition, even at the Eighth Rank, would leave one lacking in practical combat ability.
A contractor like Red Gold, under normal circumstances, Su Xiao would never meet. The other party wouldn't go to fully open Primordial Worlds. As for World Battle, forget it. The ones the Apocalypse Paradise could field couldn't take a hit, let alone someone like this.
To put it simply, a contractor who got stronger like Red Gold would be a complete nightmare when facing a practical fighter like Su Xiao.
"Red Gold, stop sleeping. You charge us 200 Soul Coins every day. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
A handsome young man with blonde hair, leaning against a mineral vein, spoke. His code name was interesting: Prince. It wasn't something he called himself; his teammates got used to it over time.
"I'm not taking your business next time. Too boring."
Red Gold raised his armored hand and waved it. He was bored out of his mind right now.
"You bastard, since you've taken the money, you should at least go out and patrol a few times."
Prince shook his head with a smile. A bottle of water was tossed over. He caught it and took a few big gulps. The one who tossed the water was a girl. She wore a miner's hat and looked a bit shy. Girls like this were already extinct in the Reincarnation Paradise.
"Keep mining your ore. If an enemy comes, I'll kill them one by one. Mining is your specialty, killing is mine."
With the sound of the kinetic armor operating, Red Gold sat up and winked at the shy girl in the distance.
"Red Gold, don't flirt with my teammate."
Prince spoke. Although he knew Red Gold had a bad track record, the price for hiring him was cheap. Plus, it was hard to find someone to protect them in the Dark Star World. This world was strange; it often subjected people to random Willpower checks.
"We signed a contract. Why are you worrying?"
Red Gold was a bit disappointed. He was about to lie down and continue sleeping when a row of red lights suddenly lit up on the terminal on his forearm.
"Prince, Belle, Old Fish, Masked Man, find cover and hide. There's a biological energy reaction directly above us."
"What's the intensity?"
"I can handle it. Set up your energy shield layers so you don't get caught in my crossfire."
Red Gold jumped down from the stacked alloy boxes. His kinetic armor activated, continuously releasing interference pulses to prevent the enemy from locking onto him with perception.
Prince and the other three hid in the innermost part of the underground space. A layer of energy barrier emitting a blue glow appeared in front of them.
Red Gold raised his right arm, aiming at the entrance to the underground space. The metal helmet quickly assembled, protecting his head. In his field of vision, everything was annotated with small blue text, showing the item's strength, weight, etc. It was very much like a game interface.
As Red Gold stood ready, a figure walked in from the entrance. The person wore a metal mask, was bare-chested, and wasn't particularly muscular. He held a 1.2-meter-long staff that looked like bone. The person's aura was completely concealed; he probably had equipment that blocked perception.
After looking him up and down, Red Gold confirmed one thing: the intruder's strength was average. There wasn't even a trace of Immortal Rank equipment fluctuation on him.
"Anyone can come and rob a mine now?"
Red Gold's right arm armor extended, and beams of energy shot out, heading straight for Su Xiao.
Boom!
Dark gold energy flames surged. Red Gold had pre-set a "focal point explosion" to avoid blowing up the underground space and the mine.
Crack, crack~
A crisp sound came from within the energy flames. Hearing this, Red Gold clasped his hands together. Blue-white electric arcs stretched between his hands, forming a ball of lightning. The terrifying high pressure pierced the air, and branches of lightning spread outwards.
This lightning ball had strong tracking capabilities. Just as Red Gold was about to release it, his electromagnetic field perception warned him that the enemy had suddenly appeared behind him.
Without much thought, Red Gold activated all three of his force fields. Everything around him was decomposed into particles. He raised his right foot and stomped down with full force, intending to blast the enemy away with a pressure-impact magnetic storm.
Boom!
The magnetic storm spread, shaking the entire underground space. The area doubled in size. The rock walls were covered in cracks. The four miners huddled in a corner, trembling. They suspected Red Gold was trying to kill them.
"Hoo~"
Red Gold let out a long breath. As soon as the 'pressure-impact magnetic storm' ended, his 'sensing magnetic field' quickly recovered.
Red Gold's 'sensing magnetic field' was restored in an instant. His body trembled. How could the enemy still be behind him?! With this survivability, was he a tank?
Red Gold realized that not only had the enemy withstood his attack, but he was also kicking straight at his lower back.
Red Gold released all the energy from his armor. It was just an ordinary straight kick, even if it was aimed at his lower back. He could withstand it with his armor.
Bang!
The sound of air bursting spread. Red Gold, clad in his kinetic armor, arched forward. His entire body was bent into a reverse C-shape. Pieces of broken armor from his lower back flew everywhere. Even the drive fluid was kicked out. The inner frame of the armor twisted and creaked, as if wailing.
Red Gold broke through the air waves and flew out. Inside the kinetic armor, Red Gold's eyes were wide open. He felt like his spine was about to snap. That kick just now… how could a human deliver such a kick?
With a loud crash, Red Gold embedded himself into the rock layer. After a moment of silence, a jet sound came out. It was Red Gold, flying out of the large hole in the rock. Along with him came dozens of tracking energy missiles.
'Star Breaker!'
Red Gold, mid-air, spread his legs and performed a wide split-style single-leg axe kick.
The white medium-short staff swung down. Compared to Red Gold's flashy attacks, Su Xiao's strike was too ordinary.
Bang!
A deafening sound spread. Red Gold was smacked to the ground by the staff. Tiny energy missiles flew towards Su Xiao.
Boom, boom, boom!
Explosions rang out one after another, lasting for over ten seconds before stopping. The surrounding rock layer showed signs of melting, turning into magma that flowed down.
When the explosions ceased, Su Xiao was still standing there. The crystal layer covering his body gradually cracked and fell apart.
Red Gold, embedded in the ground, saw this scene. He knew it was over. He was going to die here today. He chose to self-destruct. This so-called self-destruction was actually detonating his energy core.
The white staff in Su Xiao's hand flipped, and he thrust it down. The armor on Red Gold's chest shattered.
Su Xiao reached out and grabbed. He was just a contractor who relied on technology to barely reach the Eighth Rank. Even without his blade, Su Xiao could still deal with him.
The energy core was in Su Xiao's hand. He could sense that it had been detonated.
Boom!!
A loud noise spread from Su Xiao's hand. Layers of air waves expanded. In Su Xiao's hand, a crystal layer wrapped around his hand. Several simplified versions of the Devouring Core had been formed and assembled into an energy 'devouring net', suppressing the explosion. Crushing an energy core with his bare hands? As an Eighth Rank, Su Xiao could certainly do that.
The crystal layer on Su Xiao's hand shattered. He opened his hand, and a wisp of energy dissipated. He glanced at [Sinfall Celestial Relic]. That thrust just now was a habit from using his blade.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao raised the [Sinfall Celestial Relic] in his hand and smashed it down on the prone Red Gold. The attack method was simple and brutal.
"A tank… how can it have this kind of attack power…"
Red Gold began to doubt his life. His vision went dark, and he knew nothing more.
Bang, bang, bang…
After more than ten consecutive strikes, a notification appeared, which surprised Su Xiao. He was using an Epic Rank weapon. Besides being sturdy, its attack power shouldn't be strong. Why was the enemy so fragile? This battle left Su Xiao very confused. The enemy was too weak. Was this really an Eighth-Rank Contractor?
The scene of Su Xiao smashing down more than ten times was witnessed by the four miners a hundred meters away. At first, they were just startled, but in the end, it turned into fear. Red Gold was almost smashed to pieces, but the enemy was still hitting him with the staff, like a bloodthirsty beast, fierce and brutal.
In reality, it wasn't like that. A staff weapon couldn't decapitate. Before receiving the kill notification, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't stop. He had to ensure the enemy was completely dead.
Blood and shredded flesh flowed down the white staff. Su Xiao's mask was also splattered with blood. His gaze fell on the four miners in the distance. The four miners' breath caught.
"Big brother, no need to fight anymore. Just say what you want."
Prince immediately dispelled the barrier. He suspected that this thing couldn't even withstand a few of the enemy's normal attacks.
[Notification: The Hunter has killed Contractor No. 19***66.]
[Brand Assimilation in progress…]
[Assimilation complete. Temporary Brand perfecting…]
[You have obtained Apocalypse Paradise Temporary Brand: 120012. This is a temporary brand that will be removed after the Hunter leaves this world.]
[Temporary Brand Authority synchronized. Transaction Authority, Contract Authority, Temporary Storage Space, and other functions activated.]
[This World Contact Platform activating…]
[12%, 57%… 100%. Contact Platform opened. The Hunter can speak freely on this Contact Platform (before speaking, a temporary code name, name, etc., must be formulated).]
[Note: All members on this Contact Platform are contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise. The Hunter must be cautious when speaking. Do not reveal the Hunter's identity.]