Xiao Han turned and ran, frequently glancing back to snipe at Luo Qing with Heim Rounds, kiting her as he went.
Luo Qing charged forward, her hands raised and pushing out as she summoned a stable force field barrier in front of her to block each bullet. Every impact sent out rippling white flashes.
Force field-type abilities inherently countered gunslingers, but the poison gas from the Heim Rounds was steadily chipping away at Luo Qing's health. Moreover, a tiny fraction of the force from each impact was transferred to her—barely single-digit damage after being reduced by over ninety-five per cent, but damage nonetheless.
Luo Qing's fury surged higher with each hit. Her killing intent was so thick it almost liquefied. If killing intent could actually liquefy, she would probably look like a fountain right now.
After Xiao Han fired his thirteenth round, Luo Qing closed the distance. This round of kiting had taken roughly a hundred of her HP.
Superpower users of the psychic type were generally fragile unless they specialised in defence. Luo Qing's force field was a decent balance of offence and defence, but if she tried to go head-to-head with Xiao Han, who was protected by his magnetic control armour, she would be bruised and battered in no time.
Luo Qing discovered this the moment they clashed.
Xiao Han suddenly drew his folding combat blade. Long sword in his right hand, power arm on his left. He charged at her fearlessly. Luo Qing immediately condensed her force field and slammed it onto Xiao Han's head, only to find a layer of thin metal armour appearing over his body and instantly forming a helmet visor. Xiao Han's head barely tilted back as he absorbed the impact. His right blade and left fist tore into Luo Qing's force field. The two fought fiercely, each clash sending out white ripples of force field displacement.
Even Pan Kuang, who was nearly level forty, had been thwarted in close combat. Luo Qing was even less capable of dealing significant damage to Xiao Han. However, the force field ability was tricky—it attacked from any angle without warning, repeatedly interrupting Xiao Han's strikes.
"Force Field: Slam!"
Xiao Han felt an invisible force strike his knee.
Luo Qing took the chance to retreat and create distance. Her chest heaved, her lungs burning. The high-intensity fight had drained her stamina. Psychic-type abilities consumed a lot of Qi, and she had already pushed herself multiple times to replenish it. She stared at Xiao Han in shock and disbelief.
This sniper was way too capable in a brawl—even harder to handle than a martial artist!
"Rat-tat-tat—" The remaining Rose Arms mercenaries finally closed in, opening fire on Xiao Han. He dodged with a sliding burst of shots and activated Overload, unleashing a volley from his Twin Eagles. The mercenaries collapsed, blood spraying.
Only Su Li evaded. She moved with agile grace, suggesting a martial artist's finesse. She wore a pair of specialised black gloves covered in circuit-board-like patterns that glowed with bright blue light. Xiao Han sensed a hint of danger.
"A tech-brawler."
Su Li closed in quickly and reached out with a hand that seemed almost weightless. Xiao Han's pupils contracted sharply—he recognised those gloves. Su Li's threat level skyrocketed in his mind. He twisted aside, unwilling to take the hit head-on. He tried to focus fire on Su Li with his Twin Eagles, but Luo Qing moved in and blocked the shots with her force field.
The three of them fought in the desert. Su Li's gloves put Xiao Han on the back foot. The two women quickly noticed this and capitalised on it, gaining the upper hand. The situation was turning unfavourable for Xiao Han.
"If I don't pay a price, I won't be able to take these two out."
Xiao Han's eyes hardened. He suddenly lunged towards Su Li. He had been wary of her gloves throughout the fight, but this abrupt rush caught Su Li off guard for a split second. On instinct, she pressed her gloves against the magnetic control armour on Xiao Han's chest. Electricity and intense heat erupted in an instant.
Durability plummeted—nearly a hundred points in a single blow. This was the first time the magnetic control armour had taken that much damage at once.
Xiao Han felt a burning pain in his chest. The temperature had exceeded the armour's heat resistance and injured his body. He had no time to check his interface. Seizing the brief moment at close range, he drove his Windreaver blade into Su Li's chest, trading damage for damage.
Meeting Su Li's horrified gaze, Xiao Han pressed his Twin Eagles against her forehead and fired wildly. A mechanic without armour was fragile. The entire magazine of the Twin Eagles emptied.
"Bang bang bang!"
Lift your skull!
One down!
Luo Qing roared in fury and took the chance to strike Xiao Han hard in the back.
A searing pain shot through his spine, as if it were about to snap. Gritting his teeth, Xiao Han slid forward, spun around, and emptied the remaining bullets from his Twin Eagles at Luo Qing. He focused on her legs. After the fierce battle, Luo Qing's Qi was running on fumes. At the end of her strength, she could not keep up with the energy drain. A bullet broke through her force field and tore through her knee.
Luo Qing's face went pale. She knew all too well how lethal a mobility impairment was against a sniper. In a desperate attempt to finish the fight in one blow, she gathered all her remaining force field energy and aimed to cripple Xiao Han's legs as well.
But Xiao Han had already distanced himself the moment his shot landed. The force field detonated where he had been standing, blasting a massive crater in the sand.
Luo Qing's heart sank. With her leg injured, she was now nothing more than a sitting duck. Xiao Han sniped from afar, and she could only passively block. Her Qi would eventually run dry. Despair welled up inside her.
"This is the end!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" From a distance, Xiao Han's sniper rifle fired in steady, deliberate shots. Round after round wore down what remained of Luo Qing's Qi. In her eyes of unwillingness and fury, a final shot blew her head clean off.
[You have killed Luo Qing (Lv30). You have earned 12,000 experience.]
Xiao Han let out a long breath. His taut nerves finally relaxed. Ignoring the burning pain from his wounds, he immediately went over to Su Li's body and removed the pair of black gloves.
[You have obtained [Electrothermal Cutting Gloves] x2.]
The principles behind these gloves involved [Basic Thermodynamics], which he had not yet learned. They contained a built-in micro electrothermal converter, powered by high-energy batteries. The energy consumption was high, but the power was formidable, with bonus damage against metal targets.
Xiao Han gladly pocketed his spoils. This was the first mechanic-type enemy he had encountered, and she had dropped her own equipment.
Tech-brawlers centred their combat style around one or several close-range mechanical weapons, developing specialised skills around them. Su Li's fighting style was a relatively low-level version, relying solely on the power of her equipment.
Some mechanic-specific gear even came with built-in skills that could be activated when certain conditions were met. Among Old Man Lyu's four blueprints, one was such a piece of equipment.
With the mission complete, all that remained was to turn it in and claim the reward.
Xiao Han remembered the Phironia site. He planned to go back and check it out. He switched off the EMP jammer, inspected the Thorn's burnt-out precision components, and calculated that it would take about fifteen minutes to repair the vehicle. So he got to work right away.
"A group of wanderers were near Phironia just now. I wonder what happened to them."
Xiao Han thought to himself.
---
Thirty minutes earlier.
The entrance to Phironia was a rocky fault line. The pilgrims climbed down the rock face to the bottom. Before them was pitch darkness, though they could vaguely sense they were in a corridor-like space, with narrow walls on either side and passages stretching forward.
A young pilgrim switched on a torch, illuminating the surroundings. Each person's mouth slowly fell open, their faces a mix of awe and disbelief.
"This... this is..."