Su Chen exhaled heavily, his damaged suit revealing a mangled half of his body, blood trickling down his wounds. The rocket thrusters behind him lay in ruins. In this moment, the specter of death loomed ominously close.
The initial collision had been manageable. After all, the opponent's size provided some advantage. With swift adjustments, Su Chen could evade the worst of it. His enhanced physique allowed for quick responses. However, the subsequent two punches proved fatal.
During the first blow, he channeled the suit's energy to absorb the impact, but dozens of energy units were instantly depleted. The second punch struck with immense force, straining the suit's structure. To Su Chen's surprise, the armor didn't collapse outright. Instead, it disintegrated into minuscule diamond-shaped fragments, held together by countless energy threads connected to the main body. Given sufficient energy, he could reassemble and repair it. The second punch had nearly shattered his arms and breached the front breastplate. His hands were now smeared with blood. While the enhancements and cushioning mitigated the damage, the sight was still unsettling. If the third punch landed, without armor and energy buffering, he would face severe injuries.
Nevertheless, Su Chen clung to Miao Dao, refusing to yield. He knew that as long as he had a chance, the weapon in his hand held the potential to turn the tide.
Thankfully, Lin Mo intervened, buying Su Chen a momentary respite. Without hesitation, he seized the opportunity and drew out a knife to retaliate. Sacrificing five energy units, he transformed them into a grenade, its power rivaling that of an RPG. The upper half of the colossal giant was blasted away in a spectacular display.
One advantage of the colossal giant's appearance was that even under the control of an unknown entity, the surrounding black-scaled monsters and elongated ghosts instinctively distanced themselves, as if they were also afraid. This created an empty space, with only a few unfortunate beings crushed under collapsed buildings, desperately struggling to escape.
Three energy units still remained within Su Chen's body. Despite his battered and bloodied armor, it hadn't been depleted entirely. These black-scaled monsters and the immobile colossal giant presented themselves as ready sources of replenishment. However, Su Chen didn't rush to take advantage of it. Instead, he immediately shifted his gaze in search of Lin Mo.
Lin Mo's figure had been hurled into the street to the left of the tube tower, opposite to the military's advancing direction. It lay over 20 meters away from Su Chen, who stood near the tube tower.
As Su Chen's eyes fell upon Lin Mo, the sight stirred a sense of trepidation within him.
The first thing that caught Su Chen's attention was a pair of wild, blood-red eyes.
The half of Lin Mo's body that remained had undergone a grotesque transformation, consumed by an unfathomable darkness.
Shocked to his core, Su Chen instinctively took a step closer. He attempted to utter something, but all that escaped his lips was a bestial growl. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if Lin Mo was on the verge of attacking them, and Su Chen couldn't shake off the illusion that death loomed imminently.
Yet, despite his inner turmoil, Lin Mo managed to restrain himself. His gaze bore into Su Chen with a fading flicker of rationality. With great effort, he turned his head and, without a backward glance, unleashed the massive wings sprouting from his back. With a resolute determination, he soared toward the far end of the street.
In the distance, a mournful howl pierced through the encompassing darkness, resonating with an eerie intensity.
"Lin Mo!" Su Chen's instinct drove him to give chase, but his damaged thruster and battered armor prevented him from doing so. His ability to fly had been compromised, leaving him utterly helpless.
Anxiety and frustration welled up within him, and he silently cursed Lin Mo as a fool. They were all together in this dire situation, and even if one lost control, there had to be a way out. With Professor Chen present, what could Lin Mo possibly hope to achieve alone?
Yet, Su Chen never had the opportunity to voice these thoughts. All he could do was watch as Lin Mo, driven by the last vestiges of reason, flew farther and farther away, gradually fading from his sight.
And at that very moment, a voice reached him from the opposite side.
"Be careful!"
It was a warning shouted by Su Wenhao, who had nearly driven across the same street and now leaped out of his vehicle.
Unbeknownst to Su Chen, he and Lin Mo had managed to stagger and inflict severe wounds upon the giant. Su Chen himself had withstood the monster's frontal assault and miraculously survived—an astonishing sight that left Su Wenhao and the other soldiers dumbfounded.
Shaking the colossal giant, Mr. Su had defied death after enduring two blows from the monstrous creature. Su Wenhao had witnessed it pummel a light infantry chariot into oblivion with just two fists.
Were these two individuals truly human?
Not only had they dispatched the black-scaled monsters with ease, but now they engaged the giant without faltering, holding their ground.
Though the battle had transpired in a matter of seconds, for the fighters and survivors, those fleeting moments had forever altered their perception of these creatures that inhabited the post-apocalyptic world.
Humans could confront monsters head-on! Gifted individuals possessed such unimaginable power!
Professor Chen, utterly perplexed, fixated on the enigmatic weapon Su Chen had wielded. Furrowing his brow, he struggled to find a logical explanation. "What did he just use? It resembled our standard grenade, but how could it possess such immense power? While the giant may seem vulnerable in defense, its flesh is incredibly dense. Even if the explosion occurred within its body, it shouldn't have..."
Su Chen's communicator had long since been rendered useless, and his headgear lay shattered, rendering him incapable of receiving any signals. Su Wenhao had rushed down to warn him.
Deep down, Su Chen was well aware of the colossal giant's tenacity. He had witnessed it from a distance before. However, he never anticipated surviving a head-on explosion that had obliterated half his chest.
Thankfully, Su Wenhao's timely reminder caught his attention. When Su Chen turned his head, he witnessed the slow, almost sluggish movement of the giant's arm on the crumbling side. Perhaps due to its injuries, its actions resembled a scene from slow-motion footage—an ancient immortal entity.
A wave of concern washed over Su Chen's face as he glanced at Su Wenhao, who was retreating towards a military off-road vehicle, beckoning him to join. Deputy Battalion Commander Su shouted, "Come here! This thing is peculiar. We must dismember it completely. Only by destroying its body or its cellular activity can we truly kill it!"
In an instant, Su Chen's mind raced through several strategies. Dismembering the creature was a viable option, but he lacked the necessary strength and time at that moment. His priority was to break free from the siege. Su Chen wasn't ready to risk his life fighting a colossal giant.
Compared to that, he desired to bring Lin Mo back. However, with Lin Mo's loss of control and his determination to distance himself from them, capturing the colossal giant alive was an impossible feat for now. It would have to wait.
Yet, Su Chen couldn't simply abandon the situation. With only three energy units remaining in his body, it might not be enough to restore the suit's form. Retreat was an option, but it had to be a strategic withdrawal that conserved energy units.
Su Chen's eyes turned cold as he surveyed the black-scaled monsters attempting to emerge from the ruins. With a swift and precise stroke of his sword, he dispatched them.
Thus, in the midst of Su Wenhao's horrified gaze, witnessing the colossal giant resurrect itself, Su Chen didn't retreat. Instead, he wielded the flowing fire knife and struck at it once more!
Without even coming into close proximity to the target, Su Chen's determination to eliminate the threat overwhelmed him. Su Wenhao, observing Su Chen's relentless assault, assumed he had gone mad. If Su Chen intended to kill the colossal giant, he was doing so with unwavering determination. The one being threatened and awed was Su Wenhao himself, and a trace of admiration stirred within him.
This person was merciless!
Covered in blood, grounded due to his inability to fly, yet still driven to eradicate the threat...
There were few individuals left in the army who possessed such ruthless resolve!
However, alongside his admiration, a chill ran down Su Wenhao's spine, and a tinge of regret seeped into his consciousness. He swiftly urged the soldiers around him to chase after Su Chen. Leaning out of the vehicle, he shouted through the car speaker, "It's extremely challenging to kill. Return and wait for reinforcements. It would be disastrous if the monster catches up. Do not engage, I repeat, do not engage!"
As he uttered those words, Su Wenhao found himself momentarily speechless.
Since when had he dissuaded others from killing those monsters?
Who was truly in the weaker position here?