Chapter 10: Very Very Naughty
“This damned girl, where did she provoke such a monster? Save her quickly.”
The female contractor’s face was full of anxiety.
“I can’t do anything about it. The distance is too far, and there are too many people on the battlefield. Void Walk Bullets form one every five minutes. Should we head over immediately?”
The male contractor holding a sniper rifle was burning with impatience. He had long harbored feelings for the silver-haired girl but never dared to confess. First, because the Apocalypse Paradise was dangerous, not a place for romance. Second, he feared that if he spoke up and she didn’t feel the same, things would become awkward.
“Don’t worry, I’m here.”
The male contractor with a magic array tattooed on his palm spoke in a steady tone. He clasped his hands together, and the earth-element energy between them was so dense it was visible to the naked eye.
...
On the battlefield, Su Xiao kicked and snapped a dwarf’s neck, his long blade slashing continuously as several orcs fell, clutching their spurting throats.
The silver-haired girl was about thirty meters away from Su Xiao. Under normal pursuit conditions, Su Xiao could catch up to her in seconds.
Unfortunately, they were in the middle of a battlefield, surrounded by orcs and dwarves. Moreover, after the silver-haired girl had shrunk in size, she used her small frame to weave through the crowd. As a soft and delicate girl, she didn’t care about any indignities and was exceptionally slippery.
If it were just that, Su Xiao could still catch her. But to make matters worse, an earth-element enemy was harassing him from a distance. The ground beneath him would suddenly bulge into a mound, turn into a swamp, or even open up into a chasm.
Back and forth, Su Xiao was astonished to find that not only had he failed to catch up to the silver-haired girl, but he was actually getting farther away. No, now she should be called the silver-haired loli.
What was even more infuriating was that after this silver-haired loli realized there was no danger, she would occasionally turn back to taunt Su Xiao while running. Sometimes she’d pat her little butt, sometimes she’d wiggle her shoulders, pushing her flirtatious, shameless, and cheap behavior to the extreme. She was practically a shrimp possessed by a mantis shrimp.
Su Xiao punched and shattered the skull of an orc beside him, then sheathed his Dragon-Slaying Flash.
Ring Break.
Clang!
A pale blue circular blade aura expanded outward, clearing the surrounding orcs and dwarves.
Su Xiao immediately put away his Dragon-Slaying Flash and pulled out the Spider Empress. He crouched down, pulled the bolt, aimed, and fired—his movements were fluid and seamless.
The silver-haired loli glanced back while running and happened to see the dark, hollow gun barrel.
“You... you can still use a sniper rifle?! I was wrong! I shouldn’t have taunted you! Stop chasing me! I’m this small now—even if you catch me, you can’t do anything to me!”
The silver-haired loli stopped in her tracks, reached up to pull off the crystal pendant around her neck, and her face was full of pain.
This wasn’t equipment; it was a one-time-use item. If converted using the Reincarnation Paradise’s quality system, it was a Gold-quality one-time item.
One-time items were always more powerful than equipment of the same rank—that was beyond doubt, since equipment could be reused.
The silver-haired loli’s small face scrunched up, bitter.
“Damn it. When I get back this time, my sister will definitely skin me alive. How infuriating! This pervert, lolicon, lonely bachelor.”
After unleashing a triple barrage of insults, the silver-haired loli crushed the crystal pendant in her hand.
“Shatter, Sea King.”
With a crack, the crystal pendant burst open. A layer of golden light enveloped the silver-haired loli as she faced Su Xiao directly.
A 17.36mm caliber bullet flew over, piercing through the bodies of orcs one after another. The bodies of those hit by the bullet exploded into chunks of flesh.
The silver-haired loli pushed her small hand forward. As she struck, the golden light on her body faded.
Boom!
A violent golden wave spread from the silver-haired loli’s palm and surged forward at high speed. The golden wave was ten meters wide and five meters tall, like a towering tsunami.
The moment the 17.36mm caliber bullet touched the golden wave, it instantly shattered into a cloud of metal shavings.
Su Xiao naturally noticed this golden wave. It was extremely fast and terrifyingly powerful. Any orc or dwarf that touched it instantly exploded into a mist of blood, and even the ground was plowed flat by a layer.
A 500-point-strength energy shield appeared in front of Su Xiao, along with an eggshell-shaped golden barrier that enveloped him.
Bang!
Su Xiao was sent flying. The 500-point-strength energy shield shattered instantly!
While airborne, the golden barrier disappeared. Blood gushed from Su Xiao’s mouth. Enduring the stifling sensation in his chest, he raised his gun mid-air, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The bullet left the barrel.
Bang.
After the gunshot, Su Xiao landed. As soon as he hit the ground, he spat out another mouthful of blood. The power of a Gold-quality one-time item was terrifying. If not for the distance, the 500-point-strength energy shield’s buffer, his 70-point Stamina attribute, and the secondary invincibility shield, Su Xiao might have been killed in one hit. That was the power of a Gold-quality one-time item.
The golden wave dissipated after advancing several hundred meters, leaving nothing but barren ground in its wake.
Su Xiao looked toward where the silver-haired loli had been. There was a pile of shredded flesh. The shot he had fired mid-air had hit the target, but others had arrived and rescued the silver-haired loli.
If he hadn’t mastered Gun Proficiency: LV.30, that shot would never have hit.
...
One kilometer away, at the edge of the tribal army’s rear battlefield, there was no fighting. The only sight was a constant stream of orcs and dwarves surging toward the battlefield. The Empire’s army hadn’t reached this point yet.
Three contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise formed a triangle formation, blocking the charging orcs nearby and creating a small open space.
The silver-haired loli was lying in the open space, blood spreading beneath her.
“Cough, cough, cough~”
The silver-haired loli let out a series of dry coughs, and with each cough, a few drops of blood were expelled.
“I survived?”
The silver-haired loli woke up and instinctively tried to stand. The moment she moved, intense pain nearly made her pass out again.
“Liuli, don’t move.”
A female contractor with long flowing hair, around twenty years old, spoke up.
“My legs are broken?”
The silver-haired loli, Liuli, sighed. She had lost badly this time. If not for her escape-oriented abilities, the chaotic battlefield, her teammates’ help, and the Gold-quality one-time item, she would never have gotten away.
“Yeah, your legs are broken...”
The male sniper in Liuli’s team turned his head away. The hand gripping his gun was covered in bulging veins, and his teeth ground together with a grinding sound.
If it were just her two legs being shattered, the male sniper wouldn’t have that expression.
Liuli’s body was completely destroyed from the navel down. Only her upper body remained.
“Go find Sister Xi. She’ll definitely have a way.”
The most composed middle-aged earth-element contractor in the team spoke up.
“Right, Sister Xi will definitely save Liuli.”
“Go find my sister?”
Liuli swallowed hard. Her already pale little face turned even whiter.
“How about... I just tough it out for now? Use recovery items to hold on? I feel like my current state isn’t too bad—aside from the pain, I don’t feel anything else. Oh, and is my... you know... area shattered? That pervert.”
“Less nonsense. You’re this messed up and still running your mouth.”
The female contractor carefully lifted Liuli and headed toward another war zone. Xi wasn’t in the Black Earth War Zone.
...
On the battlefield.
Su Xiao swung his Dragon-Slashing Flash somewhat mechanically, cutting down enemies. Since the silver-haired girl had escaped, he hadn’t encountered any other contractors from the Apocalypse Paradise.
Taking advantage of a brief moment when the nearby enemies were all felled, Su Xiao checked the time. The war had been going on for eight hours. He had no idea when it would end.
Although enemies surrounded him on all sides, Su Xiao’s Health Points and Mana Points had fully recovered, and the stifling sensation in his chest had disappeared. This was the power of his Soul Devourer talent—the more he killed, the better his condition became.