Chapter 5: Ineffectiveness and Counter
To the naked eye, Juanqi Zui'ai indeed seemed unchanged, but upon closer inspection, one would notice she was standing on thin air, about ten centimeters above the ground.
She wasn't floating out of nowhere; rather, a ten-centimeter-thick layer of nitrogen enveloped her, forming an invisible suit of armor.
"I'm going in,"
Juanqi Zui'ai crouched her body. Her own strength and agility weren't high, but once the nitrogen armor wrapped around her, she displayed formidable destructive power. She wasn't driving the armor through her body but using her superpower to control the nitrogen armor.
In other words, when Juanqi Zui'ai used her superpower, her attack power and speed were unrelated to her physical attributes. They depended entirely on the intensity of her superpower. Essentially, the nitrogen armor was dragging Juanqi Zui'ai into battle, with attack commands issued not through physical control but by her brain directing the nitrogen armor's actions.
When Su Xiao noticed Juanqi Zui'ai standing on thin air, he immediately sensed something was off. He waited for a while, but there was no signal, making him grow impatient. Besides, the enemy wouldn't give him time to wait.
Instead of waiting for the enemy to strike, Su Xiao chose to take the initiative.
Boom!
Asphalt debris flew from under Su Xiao's feet as he vanished from his spot, heading straight for Maiye Shenli. Juanqi Zui'ai had clearly used some kind of ultimate ability, so engaging her head-on now would be unwise. Moreover, compared to Juanqi Zui'ai, Maiye Shenli's attack power was stronger and more threatening.
The moment Su Xiao disappeared, green barriers appeared around Maiye Shenli, protecting her within.
That previous slash had left a deep impression on Maiye Shenli, but when the enemy was about to strike her, he had abandoned the attack. This indicated he didn't want his weapon to touch her atomic collapse.
The enemy's strength, speed, and even aura were terrifying. Maiye Shenli had never encountered a similar superpower user. More importantly, the enemy was elusive.
Just as Maiye Shenli was contemplating a countermeasure, a whistling sound of breaking air approached.
"Here it comes!"
Several green orbs immediately appeared beside Maiye Shenli.
The whistling sound drew closer as a longsword wrapped in over a dozen hexagonal energy shields slashed in.
Crackle~
The longsword, encased in over a dozen energy shields, cut into the green barrier. As the green barrier emitted high temperatures, the energy shields were rapidly decomposed. These green barriers differed from beam cannons; they possessed stronger corrosive and decomposing abilities. Even a bullet would be instantly melted into molten iron and decomposed upon contact.
The over a dozen energy shields were completely split apart by the green barrier, but fortunately, the Dragon-Slaying Flash had successfully penetrated it. However, Su Xiao, wielding the longsword for the slash, felt significant resistance—more accurately, a pulling force. This green barrier wasn't as fragile as it seemed; it contained an electronic force field.
Su Xiao wasn't surprised that Maiye Shenli could control an electronic force field. Like the third-ranked electromagnetic cannon user, she belonged to the electronic control system, just a different branch.
Under the powerful electronic force field, the Dragon-Slaying Flash became heavy, and a downward pulling force appeared. If Su Xiao's strength weren't sufficient, the Dragon-Slaying Flash would have been wrenched from his hand.
The muscles in Su Xiao's right arm bulged slightly as he resisted the strong pulling force and slashed upward.
Pfft.
Blood splattered as half an arm flew off, blood spraying onto Maiye Shenli's pale cheek.
Maiye Shenli's expression twisted as she felt an unknown energy invade her body. It was like an electric current but lacked the characteristics of one.
A faint stabbing pain came from within, and that "electric current" dissipated without causing much damage.
"Get this damn thing out of my body, dammit!"
The pain enraged Maiye Shenli, and Juanqi Zui'ai, rushing over, twitched at the corner of her mouth, feeling something was off about that statement.
The energy invading Maiye Shenli's body was Cyan Steel Shadow energy. Under normal circumstances, Maiye Shenli should have suffered significant true damage.
However, for Cyan Steel Shadow to inflict true damage, it first needed to devour the energy within the enemy's body.
Surprisingly, Maiye Shenli's body contained almost no energy at all. Even her mana value was negligible. Her body had undergone multiple superpower developments, and while her intelligence attribute was high, it didn't generate corresponding mana. In other words, all superpower users had very little mana and no other energy within their bodies.
Superpower users employed their abilities by distorting their worldview through thought, using brain calculation plus a minimal amount of physical stamina, without any need for mana.
Or rather, the mana growth of all superpower users was suppressed by some technology—one developed by Yalesita Keloli.
After severing half of Maiye Shenli's arm, Su Xiao immediately sidestepped.
Whoosh~
A beam cannon shot past Su Xiao's ear, and he could even feel its scorching heat.
"Die!"
Maiye Shenli roared as over a dozen beam cannons fired at Su Xiao. With a wave of his arm, all his counter shields appeared before him.
He was puzzled. Why was the feedback from the Cyan Steel Shadow energy so weak after invading her body? It felt like the Cyan Steel Shadow couldn't find its "prey."
Boom!
The beam cannons struck the counter shields, and Su Xiao used the repulsion to check Maiye Shenli's attributes with the Apostle's Eye.
[Comparing both parties' intelligence attributes... Comparison complete. Our intelligence is 0.98 times the enemy's. Due to the enemy's special intelligence attribute, 100% of the enemy's data is obtained.]
Data as follows:
Name: Maiye Shenli
Category: Human (Superpower developed 875 times)
Health: 86%
Mana: 0/50
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Stamina: 5
Mutated Intelligence: 80
Charm: 48
Skill 1: Atomic Collapse (Passive/Active/Superpower LV.40): Electrons and light exhibit the properties of both "particles" and "waves." Maiye Shenli can forcibly manipulate the "ambiguous state electrons" between the two, causing atomic collapse. Balance is extremely difficult to master (what is emitted is neither radio waves nor particles, but electrons themselves).
Skill 2: Mutated Intelligence (Passive LV.36): Through repeated superpower development, the intelligence attribute of superpower users mutates, no longer generating mana but instead generating a proportional amount of bonus health and powerful computational ability. Most high-level superpower users are equivalent to walking computers.
Skill 3: Death Electron Cannon (Active LV.32): Can fire a "Death Electron Cannon" using the atomic collapse ability. The Death Electron Cannon has extremely strong penetrative power and high temperature. Penetration: 32, additional 350 points of high-risk damage. Speed: 29.
Skill 4: Electronic Force Field Control (Active LV.20): Can control electronic force fields to interfere with other forces, distort electricity, or attract most metals.
Skill 5: High Brain Resistance (Passive LV.25): After multiple superpower modifications, immune to mental control skills released by attributes below 80 points. Duration of other control effects reduced by 30%.
Skill 6: Death Electron Cannon Spread (Passive LV.32): Can spread the Death Electron Cannon, requiring consumption of "Spread Support Semiconductor."
Skill 7: High-Intensity Neural Reflex (Passive LV.18): Due to multiple superpower developments, the brain has undergone beneficial evolution. Neural reflex speed +17%.
Skill 8: Death Queen (Active LV.6): By consuming body crystals to cause superpower rampage, continuously emits Death Electron Cannons in all directions at 360 degrees, with no blind spots on any part of the body, until stamina is depleted. Effect lasts 20 seconds. After use, completely exhausted and unconscious. Each use reduces maximum health by 2%.
...
Upon seeing Maiye Shenli's attributes, Su Xiao roughly understood how superpower users worked. Their intelligence attribute had mutated due to superpower modifications, and using superpowers required consuming stamina plus brain calculation.
The 0/50 mana value indicated that Cyan Steel Shadow had taken effect, but the enemy's mana was too low. This was a weakness of Cyan Steel Shadow: when the enemy had no energy within their body, it had no killing power. True damage wouldn't appear out of nowhere; it was caused by the devouring reaction when consuming the enemy's energy, creating unblockable destruction within their body.
Although Cyan Steel Shadow was nearly ineffective, another of Su Xiao's abilities was very effective against superpower users: Aura Release. When Aura Release's passive ability took effect on an enemy, their stamina consumption increased by 27%. Superpower users consumed stamina precisely when using their abilities.
Looking at Maiye Shenli, who was panting heavily, Su Xiao knew Aura Release had taken effect.
Although Maiye Shenli's combat power was strong, her strength, agility, and stamina attributes were too poor. Once her stamina was exhausted, heh heh.