Two Monsters
Lu Yuan wove through a dense storm of energy shots, his body blurring into an afterimage as he darted sideways.
There were simply too many to avoid entirely. A portion found him regardless. Every detonation — whether against his body or the ground — sent thunderous shockwaves rolling outward in all directions. **BOOM BOOM BOOM!!** The blasts became howling gales that swept through the surrounding streets. Out on the road beyond the plaza's edge, Amy, Lin Xixi, and the others had their hair lashed back by the wind.
His defense held. As long as too many shots didn't land at once, he could shrug off whatever reached him.
*Just as well I kept my Spirit Power full.*
He'd quietly absorbed two Spirit Crystals during the fight. Staying at capacity was the whole point.
Inside the plaza, Lu Yuan was a streak of light. Every Elite Mechanical Guardian in his path was launched through the air. Each one that hit the ground sparked with residual current and went still — destroyed on impact.
With all the Mechanical Guardians swarming toward Lu Yuan, Amy's violet eyes gleamed with dancing light.
Spirit Power surged through her entire body. Tendrils of Tianrao Purple Vine erupted from the ground and spread across the plaza in every direction. Nearly a hundred Elite Mechanical Guardians were already ensnared in the coils. The Emerald Scythe's venom couldn't affect mechanical bodies directly — but the crushing force of the vines needed no venom. The trapped Guardians crumpled one by one. Amy had even coiled a Boss Grade Mechanical Guardian in the tendrils, the vines tightening steadily with a grinding creak of stressed metal. The Boss Grade's chassis was far more durable than the elites — it wasn't going to be crushed outright anytime soon — but it wasn't going anywhere either.
Meanwhile, Lin Xixi raised her longbow. A shaft of white light condensed on the string. As the blue energy glow of a destroyed Guardian faded, she loosed the arrow — it detonated squarely into another Elite Guardian's chassis, and the machine went down.
The other girls launched their own attacks in kind.
Lin Xixi swept a glance across the surrounding buildings. Gene Warriors lined the rooftops on every side, gathered in clusters, watching and murmuring to one another. All of them had sensed the battle and come running. Her expression stayed composed.
As vice-captain, she called out: "All personnel — ready! Close-combat fighters, hold your positions and protect the ranged fighters. Elemental Types and archers, attack from distance!"
**BOOM!!**
Lu Yuan crashed through another wave of Elite Guardians and stopped in front of a Boss Grade Mechanical Guardian.
This one held a black spirit cannon in its arms — each shot packing enough force to severely wound a high-tier First-rank Boss Grade feral beast. As Lu Yuan closed in, the cannon discharged point-blank, the beam hammering into his chest and erupting in a burst of white light.
He drove straight through it.
Black Steel Force erupted at full output. His heavy sword swept horizontally — the cannon cracked apart under the blow, and the Boss Grade was hurled backward, both arms torquing at grotesque angles, electric sparks arcing along the shattered joints. The massive frame crashed down.
Shockwaves rolled outward as a howling gust. On the street outside, everyone's hair billowed in the blast.
The Boss Grade clawed at the ground, fighting to rise. Lu Yuan was already standing over it. He brought his right foot down.
**CRACK.**
The mechanical skull met concrete. A shallow crater formed. Fracture lines spread across the metal, electric sparks dancing in the cracks.
It stopped moving.
"Second one," Lu Yuan murmured.
Thousands of energy shots trailing in his wake rolled across the fallen machine.
Time passed. The numbers dwindled.
Lu Yuan broke through the next cluster of Elite Guardians and stopped before another Boss Grade. This one summoned lightning across its entire frame, gathering the current into its battle axe before cleaving straight down at him with a Thunder Slash.
His expression was flat. Black Steel Force detonated at full output — he slashed directly into the descending axe.
**BOOM!!**
The Boss Grade was flung violently backward. The axe was wrenched from its grip. Both arms twisted at irregular angles, electric sparks cascading along the joint damage. Its enormous body crashed down hard.
It struggled. Lu Yuan stepped forward and brought his foot down.
**CRACK.**
Head into concrete. A shallow crater. Fracture lines. Sparks.
Done.
On the surrounding rooftops, more and more Gene Warriors had gathered — all of them drawn by the battle's shockwaves, all watching with expressions that had long since passed shock and settled into something closer to disbelief.
The first to arrive had been four Cat-kin warriors.
The moment they looked down at that dense barrage sweeping the plaza, something cold shot through them. Their eyes went wide.
Then they noticed what was already on the ground.
"Who did this?! How?!"
They had their answer in seconds. Even as they asked, Lu Yuan was already running down a badly damaged Boss Grade Mechanical Guardian, heavy sword swinging to separate its head from its chassis in a single arc.
The four Cat-kin stared at each other.
A slender Cat-kin in leather armor drew a sharp breath. "How is any of this even possible?!"
A tall Cat-kin in plate armor watched Lu Yuan standing amid the barrage, taking direct hits without a scratch, and scratched his head with open admiration. "If that were me, I'd be blasted to scrap in one second. That human is something else."
A Cat-kin girl watched Lu Yuan send another Elite Guardian crashing away and couldn't stay quiet. "That human is a monster! Look at those Elite Mechanical Guardians — every one he touches gets instantly trashed! Their iron bodies are supposed to be comparable to Guardian Type warriors of the same rank. They can't even take a single hit?!"
"What 'hit'?" another Cat-kin said flatly. "He's not attacking them. He's just ramming through them. He's killing them with his body."
The four of them fell silent.
Their combined strength couldn't hold a candle to either of those two down there. Any one of them could probably take on the whole group without breaking a sweat.
More and more Gene Warriors arrived on the rooftops by the minute. All of them had come running the moment they sensed the battle. They watched the fighting below with expressions of stunned dismay.
Especially Lu Yuan and Amy. Those two left the crowd rattled.
"Hey hey hey — are you all seeing that human girl?! Am I imagining things?! She's controlling over a hundred Elite Mechanical Guardians on her own — and she's got a Boss Grade one wrapped up too?!"
Amy's display hadn't gone unnoticed. The Cat-kin group had watched every second of it, and what they saw shook them.
"This is absolutely insane. I think she might actually be stronger than the human boy."
"With these two monsters in play, that Chief Grade Mechanical Guardian at the gate is as good as finished."
Nearby, a stout human male grinned wide at the spectacle. Several other humans, along with a few Kaman and Baro observers, nodded in ready agreement.
Not everyone on the rooftops was content to simply watch.
Some Gene Warriors kept glancing at the floating loot — especially the green and cyan orbs drifting above the fallen Boss Grade wreckage. Their eyes shone with barely-concealed greed.
A Gnoll warrior's gaze gleamed with sharp, calculating intelligence. A cold smirk spread across his face.
"That monster woman is recovering Spirit Power — and more than half of her group is too. Now's a perfect opening. How about we go down and grab some of the loot?"
Nearby Gene Warriors shifted. Interest flickered across several faces.
"The human boy still hasn't rested. We'd be no match for him."
The Gnoll's smirk didn't waver. "Think it through. That human boy tanked hits for this whole fight — there's no way maintaining his combat techniques didn't cost him Spirit Power. He might look fine on the surface, but he's definitely been bled dry inside. And if we all split up and rush in separately, how many of us can he actually stop?"
Hearing that, temptation spread even more visibly across nearby faces.
Not everyone agreed.
One faction of Gene Warriors watched the would-be looters with open contempt.
Beiman — the young Elf, his handsome face arranged into an expression of pointed disdain — said flatly: "A bunch of trash. All they're good for is skulking around and stealing."
"Exactly. We want nothing to do with people like that."
The stout human male grinned across at the Elf group: "Elf friends, you're absolutely right — those mangy mongrels only know how to sneak around doing dirty work. Me and my companions will stand with you and block them!"
Several other humans, along with nearby Kaman and Baro observers, nodded along enthusiastically.
An Elf man nearby showed a flicker of interest on his face — then he glanced over at Lu Yuan, who had found a fallen Mechanical Guardian's carcass and was sitting on it like a chair, watching the plaza in silence, and hesitated.
"Brother Beiman, should we go down and help block them?"
What was currently giving Beiman a far worse headache, however, had nothing to do with the would-be looters.
A young Elf male in his group — Kaiman — was wearing a mischievous smirk. He turned toward one of the girls beside him. "Meli — come on. Don't tell me you've actually fallen for that human?"
Meli's pretty face went red. She spun around and glared at him.
"Kaiman! Say that one more time!"
"Out of the question!" another Elf boy cut in immediately. "This stays in the family — I'm not approving this match!"
"Neither am I!" a third declared. "Even if this human boy is admittedly good-looking and genuinely powerful, I still refuse!"
An Elf girl nearby covered her mouth and broke into a delighted grin.
Another Elf girl said with breezy candor: "I actually understand Meli completely. He's better-looking than most elves, and his power is something else entirely — honestly, even I'm a little moved."
Meli and the Elf girl beside her went scarlet and buried their faces in their hands. The Elf boys looked profoundly uncomfortable.
A different Elf boy fixed the girls with a pained look: "Hey hey hey — can you please not say these things with me standing right here?! We're all Elves! You can't seriously be developing feelings for a human from another race. That's completely over the line!"
Beiman pressed a hand to his temple. His headache was becoming severe.
He gave a pointed cough. "You lot!" he ground out. "Keep it together! Do you have any idea how many people are watching us right now?!"
The Elves jolted back to awareness and looked around. Quite a few people on the surrounding rooftops were staring at them with deeply strange expressions.
Meli and another Elf girl went even redder and covered their faces. The Elf boys looked away in collective awkwardness.
*This is absolutely mortifying.* Beiman's suffering intensified.
Down in the plaza, the battle was winding to a close.
As the last Boss Grade Mechanical Guardian fell to Lu Yuan's blade, the plaza became a graveyard of shattered mechanical bodies. Broken components flickered with dying sparks. Over two hundred Elite Mechanical Guardians lay strewn across the ground, most of their frames twisted and mangled as though wrung apart by tremendous force. The majority were Amy's work; Lin Xixi's group had accounted for the rest.
At the gate, the Chief Grade Mechanical Guardian and its four mechanical hounds had not moved. Not once, through all of it. These five were made for one purpose alone.
The shockwave winds gradually faded.
Amy and Lin Xixi's group stepped into the plaza.
"I'm exhausted," Amy announced, dropping to the ground where she stood with a cheerful thud. "How are there even this many Mechanical Guardians?"
She was sweating lightly — but her Spirit Power was still well above half. Lin Xixi's group, by contrast, had gone noticeably pale, their Spirit Power fluctuations significantly weakened. Combat Techniques spent Spirit Power with every use, and they'd used a great many.
Lu Yuan glanced at Amy. *That woman's Spirit Power pool is enormous. She hasn't even burned through half.*
As for himself: he'd quietly absorbed two Spirit Crystals during the fight. His reserves were full — and that had been the whole point.
Lin Xixi scanned the surrounding rooftops. Gene Warriors lined the buildings on every side, watching them and murmuring to one another. She frowned slightly. "Mr. Lei... what do we do about all these people?"
Lu Yuan smiled. "Let them watch. You all rest up — I'll keep watch."
He turned his gaze to the rooftops.
Every Gene Warrior his eyes landed on quickly looked away. Not one dared hold his gaze.
"If you say so, Mr. Lei, then we'll rest."
Lin Xixi nodded. Over a dozen girls settled down right where they were and began absorbing Spirit Crystals.
Amy dropped down beside them with a laugh. "I'll rest too."
*Typical. She never wants to pick up the loot herself.*
"The rest of you — go collect the dropped items," Lu Yuan told the others.
"Yes, Mr. Lei," a clear-voiced girl replied.
Several of them spread out across the plaza to gather the loot. Close to a thousand Mechanical Guardians had gone down — even killing them one by one would have been exhausting work, and just collecting everything they'd dropped was going to take a while. But all of it was worthwhile material.
Of course, the seven close-combat girls had been guarding the others throughout the entire battle. Their Spirit Power hadn't been heavily taxed — they had no need to rest. As for the rest of Amy's group: even the human girls were impressively capable. Three Boss Grade warriors among them, the remainder at Elite peak combat capability. The team ran deeper than it looked.
Up on the rooftops, while Amy's group rested, the watching Gene Warriors saw all of it clearly.
Those green and cyan orbs above the Boss Grade wreckage kept drawing long, hungry glances.
The Elf man who'd hesitated before looked again at Lu Yuan — still sitting on the wrecked Guardian carcass, watching the plaza without rest — and stayed where he was.
The Gnoll's cold smirk hadn't budged. He continued making his case in low, unhurried tones to anyone willing to listen.
Lu Yuan exhaled quietly and turned his gaze toward the gate.
The Chief Grade Mechanical Guardian and the four mechanical hounds sat completely still at the entrance. Every patrol Guardian in the plaza was dead — and those five hadn't so much as flinched. They were built for one purpose, and that purpose was the gate.
He kept his eyes on them.