From the Abyss of Stars

88. Encirclement

 

Plop...

 

Blood and flesh splattered all over him, the still squirming remnants reeking of gunpowder.

 

Qiu Ran stared blankly ahead, too terrified to feel fear, standing still as the bald girl who walked out of the bio-pod turned her gaze towards her.

 

Li Aozi's pupils contracted sharply, golden circles lighting up in his eyes.

 

Gravity Pressure!

 

The latter instantly collapsed to the ground, her cervical vertebra fractured, her head dangling like a ball on her chest. Her gaze then turned towards Li Aozi.

 

【Warning! You have been locked on by Omega energy [Directed Explosion]!】

 

Buzz—

 

Li Aozi's cells seemed to be shoved into a microwave, his body pressure slightly swelling.

 

【Judging... your main attribute [Charisma] overwhelmingly suppresses the target.】

 

【You have evaded the attack.】

 

Swish!

 

Li Aozi instantly dashed forward, sweeping his chain to smash the bald girl to the ground, her sickly face immediately splattering blood.

 

【Based on your attributes, you have gained the following information】

 

【Third Generation Calamity Armament— Serial Number ES-3-022】

 

Li Aozi didn't bother to look at the rest of the information.

 

Bang!

 

He stomped on her chest, ribs instantly piercing her lungs and collapsing inward.

 

She lay on the ground, her body rigidly raising her head, seemingly unaware of the pain, still tilting her head to aim at Li Aozi.

 

Pop!

 

Li Aozi's chain instantly shot out, piercing through her eye socket. He rushed forward, grabbed the chain, and kneed her face hard.

 

His arms suddenly deformed, and two black-red neural tendrils burst from his palms, piercing the girl's body.

 

The special ability pods on Li Aozi's forearms opened, cleverly concealed by his trench coat.

 

【Ability Pod Activated】

 

【Omega energy extracted from the target】: [Directed Explosion]

 

【Rating】: Delta (Δ, the fourth Greek letter)

 

【Active Effect】: (Adapted to your body) Causes an explosion inside any object your organs touch, dealing damage based on 120% of your 【Charisma】 attribute.

 

Note: If the target's main attribute is lower than yours, explosion damage increases by 300%. Ineffective against targets whose main attribute is more than twice your 【Charisma】.

 

【Current Development Level】: Sensory, with Omega energy consumption rate at— 110%

 

【Omega energy contained in the pods won't burden your genes but will only enjoy active activation effects, and development difficulty will be higher.】

 

【You can promote its evolution by repeatedly containing the same Omega energy. You can also choose to crush the Omega energy gene sequence to feed other Omega energies.】

 

With 480 experience points credited, the girl's body fell heavily, her red-black eyes dimming like a scrapped machine.

 

Li Aozi didn't relax his vigilance. His heart raced, adrenaline surging, making it hard to calm his mind.

 

If it weren't for the buffs Snow had applied earlier, which allowed him to respond to these Calamity Armaments...

 

If it weren't for Nomi acting as the scout ahead...

 

If his attributes weren't high enough...

 

Never before had Li Aozi felt his breathing so heavy.

 

"Nomi... Nomi..."

 

Qiu Ran's legs gave out, kneeling on the ground. As an ordinary rural woman, she had never witnessed such a shocking scene.

 

Just now, Nomi was bickering and comforting her, that Rose Army soldier who didn't even flinch when hit by a burst of bullets...

 

Nomi's head lay on the ground, less than half a meter away from her.

 

Her remaining half brain and disfigured face were unrecognizable.

 

"Nomi... dead?"

 

"Not yet." Li Aozi glanced at the team list.

 

Nomi's health was at the bottom, but she was still alive.

 

Bang bang bang!

 

The doors of three bio-pods burst open simultaneously. Li Aozi's combat instincts kicked in, dodging an ionic shock. The high-energy plasma pulse grazed his temple, instantly vaporizing a few strands of hair.

 

"Save Nomi's head!"

 

Li Aozi only said this, then pulled out the chain, straightened it into a spear, and threw it.

 

The chain, propelled by thirty times gravity acceleration, struck like divine retribution, instantly pinning the plasma-firing Calamity Armament boy to the wall.

 

Li Aozi followed closely, placing his hand on the boy's face, his palm ejecting neural tendrils:

 

【Ability Pod Activated】

 

【Omega energy extracted from the target】: [Ionic Shock]

 

This was a common Beta-class Omega energy, with no potential for development. Li Aozi retracted the neural tendrils. The Calamity Armament boy, drained of Omega energy, lowered his head, the red-black in his eyes fading further.

 

"Kill... me..."

 

The boy murmured, tears streaming from his eyes.

 

Li Aozi, expressionless, applied Omega energy to his head.

 

【Directed Explosion】

 

Pop!

 

The plasma exploded, staining half the wall with filth.

 

Swish—

 

A boy, half a head taller than Li Aozi, with pitch-black skin and a skinny, bamboo-like frame, silently appeared nearby at a high spot. He lowered his head, staring at Li Aozi with his deformed inverted triangular head.

 

Taking advantage of Li Aozi dealing with the plasma Omega user, his figure flickered, instantly moving behind Li Aozi. Space rippled, and he raised a person-high slender arm, deformed and sprouting countless abnormal bone spikes, aiming at Li Aozi's head.

 

Thud!

 

The sound of breaking air exposed the teleporter's whereabouts. Li Aozi stepped back, stomping on the boy's foot, using the momentum to leap into the air, flipping over the boy's back. His left arm scythed around the boy's neck, his right hand aimed at the deformed brain, his palm crackling with fierce blue plasma.

 

【Ionic Shock】

 

Bang!

 

The plasma shot into the void as the tall boy teleported away, barely landing before Li Aozi charged at him again.

 

Li Aozi fired three plasma shots with his right hand, forcing the boy to teleport short distances. Each teleportation caused air vibrations that added severe strain to his lanky body.

 

After four consecutive teleports, the tall boy's skin had split into numerous cracks. The high temperature and pressure differences from the air vibrations quickly dehydrated him.

 

This was a common problem with teleportation abilities— after some training, the paths could be predicted, and the ability's strain was too great.

 

Li Aozi grabbed a handful of air with his left hand, activated 【Directed Explosion】, and used the explosive impact to accelerate and change direction mid-air, dodging the boy's bone spike attack.

 

At the same time, Li Aozi's gaze focused, and he used gravity deflection to slam the boy into the wall, breaking his bones.

 

To prevent the boy from teleporting away, neural tendrils shot out from Li Aozi's palms, piercing the boy's eye sockets.

 

【Sever Life】

 

Ability Pod Activated!

 

Life and Omega energy were extracted together. Li Aozi's eyes turned red-black with ferocity. The Calamity Armament boy, stripped of pain, stiffened, opening his mouth as if to scream.

 

His muscles visibly shrank, his skin peeling like old wall paint. His already deformed inverted triangular head became a skeletal, wooden-skinned mummy, drained of life, Omega energy, and soul.

 

【You extracted a target's life. You can choose to refine its abilities and personality.】

 

【Refinement complete】

 

【You obtained [Human Amber] (small)— can be used to craft equipment of "Exquisite Masterpiece" quality or higher.】

 

【You obtained [Hollow Soul] (small)— can be used to heal soul damage, craft "Exquisite Masterpiece" quality equipment, or serve as a casting material for bizarre spells.】

 

【Ability Pod Activated】

 

【Omega energy extracted from the target】: [Iterative Movement]

 

【Rating】: Theta (θ, the eighth Greek letter)

 

【Active Effect】: (Adapted to your body) Disintegrates your entire body at the molecular level, allowing for progressive short-distance movement.

 

The process is: continuous uninterrupted movement to a target location within 20 yards, at a maximum speed of one-third the speed of light (i.e., 100,000 kilometers per second).

 

During teleportation, you can be obstructed by obstacles and attacks, taking an additional 30% damage.

 

During molecular disintegration and reformation, significant air vibrations occur in non-vacuum environments.

 

【Current Development Level】: Sensory, with Omega energy consumption rate at— 110%

 

"Li Aozi!"

 

Qiu Ran, wrapping Nomi's half head in her coat, screamed in horror at the remaining 8 bio-pods:

 

"There are still—"

 

Bang!

 

Another bio-pod burst open, and out walked a figure completely different from the other Calamity Armaments.

 

He was a medium-built sixteen-year-old boy, 1.78 meters tall, with well-defined muscles, looking lean and strong. His face was completely ruined, wearing a full-coverage breathing mask, only his left red-black eye visible.

 

Unlike the other Calamity Armaments, the boy's left arm muscle was removed, replaced with a sheathed long blade, growing like a tree branch towards his shoulder.

 

He raised his head and immediately looked at Li Aozi.

 

Unconsciously, Li Aozi was also attracted by his single eye. For a moment, he felt a tremor in his heart. Both stood in a standoff position, and when he noticed the boy's right hand on the sword hilt, he instantly understood where that feeling came from.

 

【Soul Carved Sword Saint】

 

Zing—

 

The fierce blade whipped up layers of sonic booms. The boy with the sword, like a seasoned warrior forged in a thousand battles, instantly charged at Li Aozi, the cold light of the blade flashing, cutting cleanly and sharply past Li Aozi's sleeve.

 

Almost hurting him.

 

"He actually has the same Omega energy as me."

 

Li Aozi slightly dodged, activated 【Iterative Movement】, his body disintegrating at the molecular level, pulling away, arriving beside the previous plasma Omega user's corpse, pulling out the chain, and swinging it at the boy.

 

Whoosh-pop!

 

The chain missed for the first time, the boy's body like a phantom, completely seeing through Li Aozi's whip.

 

The boy sheathed his sword, lowered his body, dodged the chain's strike, and suddenly jumped against the wall, dodging the plasma shots like he had the help of ghosts and gods.

 

In the air, he held the long blade, using the left arm sheath to deflect Li Aozi's chain, his airborne body eerily retreating, 'coincidentally' dodging Li Aozi's neural tendrils and the attached 【Sever Life】.

 

Then, the blade was unsheathed!

 

Clang—

 

In the next moment, an invisible soul pressure burst out, the Calamity Armament boy like a battlefield ghost, the long blade stabbing down at Li Aozi's neck from a vicious angle.

 

Intercepting Slash!

 

"Kneel."

 

Li Aozi said coldly:

 

"I was just testing Omega energy, didn't use gravity, really gave you face!"

 

Pop!

 

The boy's body was instantly thrown to the ground, his spine breaking into four sections, his neck fractured, the single eye popped out, rolling to Li Aozi's feet, crushed under his foot.

 

No matter how superb your skills and techniques, as long as you're a planetary being, they're useless in front of gravity.