For Desert Tiger, the very nature of human beings was not dissimilar to the constantly-changing universe, chaotic and unpredictable. Compelled by their survival instinct, desire to mate, and endless greed, they would only bring destruction and corruption. Only by destroying and redesigning them would order reign.
The attitude of Desert Tiger toward humans was that of a housewife with a cleanliness obsession dealing with a stain on the stove. Once he came across a human being, he would stop at nothing to wipe it clean…
HONG!
Desert Tiger’s punch landed on the ground, churning the rolling sand. The impact forced both Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul back, and they stumbled for a distance. Even though they were not directly hit by the punch, the shock of the tremor cost them eight percent of their Life Points, and they were inflicted with the Slow effect for several seconds.
There was another cheer from the audience. It seemed like the audience liked the way that Desert Tiger greeted the two participants.
“This is thunder strike…” Feng Bujue held his chin and commented softly as he watched the live feed on screen. “Their enemy is a Transformer… Then Xiao Tan’s skill, Bee’s Sting, is useless. It inflicts the effect of bleeding. I don’t think using it on a robot will cause it to bleed oil or electricity.
“Laughing Soul’s main weapons of choice are firearms. Even though they are more useful than blades, facing this kind of enemy, they won’t do much…”
By then, on the big screen, Desert Tiger had launched his next attack. As a robot, seeing that the human beings had already used guns, if he did not retaliate with some firepower, how shameful it would have been for him. Thus, two rectangular firing ports appeared on his shoulders. Following the sound of wind being cut… two torpedoes were fired at Xiao Tan and Laughing Soul, who were retreating.
HONG! HONG!
Two relatively contained explosions created two craters in the sand, causing the sky to be covered by sand. Thankfully, neither Xiao Tan nor Laughing Soul were directly hit by the torpedo. They had evaded the attack, so they merely received the damage caused by the impact wave.
For something like a torpedo, be it a large one or a small one, it would have been best to target a large heat source. To attack a living human, it was impossible to set up accurate triangulation; using a rifle would have worked better.
“Hey, Mr. Yoo!” Feng Bujue nudged away the microphone that was before him and whispered at Mr. Yoo, who stood not far away from him. “Can I ask… how is the executioner in the coliseum assigned? What kind of data is used? Is it completely random, or is it based on the participant’s race, numbers, or scores obtained in the quiz?”
Mr. Yoo glanced at him and smiled. Without using the microphone, the host whispered back, “The answer is summarizing what you’ve listed. Hue hue… It is the overall power level of the participants.”
“In other words… if Participant Wang entered the coliseum alone, he would not be facing this executioner?” Feng Bujue asked in the manner of a test.
“Hue hue… Of course, the power levels of one participant and two participants are ultimately different, right?” Mr. Yoo gave him an affirmative answer.
“I get it now…” Feng Bujue murmured. No wonder that fatty used a description like ’Who or what will be given this bloody responsibility? Who will have the luxury of facing down two of our participants today?’ earlier… Looks like it isn’t an advantage to have more people enter the coliseum. Entering it alone, even for Passing Rain, she wouldn’t receive any extra advantage because a strong player will face a strong executioner.
Hmm… Considering the exhaustion of Life Points and Stamina Points, it looks like we should try to get the lowest points in turn. This way, we can more effectively share the pressure of combat.
“Look, Participant No. 4 looks like she’s going to counter!” Mr. Yoo’s yell into the microphone yanked Feng Bujue’s attention back to the screen. On the screen, Laughing Soul’s small body charged toward the metallic giant, and she was merely holding a small pistol.
Xiao Tan had no idea what Laughing Soul was up to, but he still gathered his courage and charged forward. He fired continuously at Desert Tiger to provide cover for his teammate.
Seeing his enemies charging at him, Desert Tiger did not hold back. He waved his giant arm at Laughing Soul. Laughing Soul agilely rolled on the sand to avoid the hit. Then, she climbed up in one fell swoop into a position where she was kneeling on one of her knees. She raised her arms and aimed at the Desert Tiger’s chest.
Laughing Soul would not miss with such a big target at such a close distance. She took this risk to ensure a one hundred percent accuracy at the enemy’s core, because this shot… couldn’t miss.
An eye-catching glow gathered around the barrel, and then…
The expected blast did not come. Instead, the long whistle of a hawk when it was hunting echoed through the air. The bullet that was fired from the gun blossomed in a silvery glow, and it morphed into a giant hawk with silver wings in midair as it swooped toward Desert Tiger.
The next second, Desert Tiger’s chest exploded like it was hit by an RPG. This robot, which was six meters tall and weighed several tons, was knocked off the ground by this force and toppled backward.
———
Name: Eagle’s Claw
Skill Card Property: Active Skill, exhaust after one use
Skill Type: Marksmanship
Effect: Pool sorcery energy into the fired bullet to cause large explosive damage on the target. (One has to be equipped with a pistol when using this skill, and there has to be at least one bullet remaining in the magazine.)
Consumption: Five hundred Stamina Points and fifty percent of Maximum Mana Points.
Learning Requirement: Marksmanship E, Sorcery E, Level \u003e 10
Remark: A simple and reliable skill. Its theory can be understood with a basic understanding of sorcery. The greater the exhaustion of Mana Points, the more powerful it’ll be. If attempted by a gunner with a less than healthy physique, there might be a temporary aftereffect of paralysis. The weapon that uses this skill will be temporarily unusable for the next fifteen minutes due to overheating.
———
This was Laughing Soul’s skill. She had drawn this Skill Card a few scenarios ago. She had kept it equipped but found no opportunity to use it. Clearly, this was a risky move, but with this enemy, Laughing Soul thought that it was worth the risk.
Her assessment of the situation was fast and accurate. She also quickly moved into action. Instead of keeping this skill and being forced to use it when she was cornered, she felt like it was more reasonable to use this skill to decide the outcome of the battle as early as possible. If she was unable to kill the enemy, she would still have some Life Points left to turn the battle around.
After firing that shot, Laughing Soul collapsed onto the ground and was unable to get up. She opened the menu to confirm and muttered, “Tsk… I should have known I’d be affected by paralysis.”
Desert Tiger did not pause for even a second. He was a robot. Unlike humans, he did not need to pause to take a breather. After taking the shot, the area around his chest was charred, and the exterior armor had cracks running through it. However, the circuit in his brain used several seconds to calculate the amount of damage and concluded, “Still operational.”
Thus, he instantly stood up from the ground.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Xiao Tan saw how unfavorable the situation had become. He quickly reloaded and fired as he ran forward, but he was still too slow.
Desert Tiger’s immense punches rained from the sky, heading toward Laughing Soul. If this attack landed, the situation could be described as: human, meat paste, white light.
Laughing Soul knelt on the ground. As she saw the shadow pool around her, she gritted her teeth to welcome the end. She could not do anything beyond that. Her body refused to listen to her control, and she could barely roll out of the way.
But then, a miracle happened.
Desert Tiger’s action suddenly slowed like the camera was moving into slow motion. His punches moved forward at a glacial speed. It felt like even if one was hit, there would not be any injury.
Gasps travelled through the audience.
Mr. Yoo knew what was up. “Oh! Look! It appears like someone has used Slowing Sands!”
“No, this is low-quality time dust mixed with other elements. The real Slowing Sand would not have caused an effect as small as this.” The camera panned over, and the audience realized in surprise that it was Hephaestus who had spoken. Apparently, he could give serious comments if he wanted to.
Xiao Tan held the Winchester in one hand, and his other palm was bleeding. This was an unavoidable outcome. To use the Slowing Sand, he had to break the vial. They were surrounded by cushy sand, and in his desperation, he could only use his hand to shatter the vial.
Desert Tiger’s punches continued to close in, but the slowing effect meant that Xiao Tan was able to get to Laughing Soul’s location before the attack connected. Without saying a word, he picked up his teammate and started to run.
“You idiot! Why are you running? Now is the time to fight back!” Realizing that Xiao Tan was going to carry her and run as far away as he could, without even stopping to catch his breath, she quickly shouted to remind him.
“Oh, you have a point!” The truth dawned on Xiao Tan. He released his grip and dropped Laughing Soul to the ground. He turned around to run back to the Desert Tiger.
Several seconds after he left, Laughing Soul regained her mobility. She climbed up from the ground with a dark face. Wiping the sand from her face, she took a deep breath. “This giant idiot… In the future, I’ll beat you until you run back to your mother in Killing Game…”
Even though she was angered, she understood their situation, and it was not the time to have an inside argument.
Laughing Soul took out the sniper rifle from her inventory and readied herself in several seconds. Since Desert Tiger was practically slowed to immobility, she chose to attack using the weapon with the greatest damage.
Meanwhile, Xiao Tan ran back to the robot. With great agility, he climbed up the arm that had not retracted. He leaped and jumped onto the robot’s shoulder.
The second before Slowing Sand lost its effect, Xiao Tan aimed the Winchester right next to Desert Tiger’s head. As he pulled the trigger, the sniper rifle of Laughing Soul rang out as well.