Chapter 173: The Ultimate Style Dances
The confused students quickly switched their monitor screens to Meng Chao’s shoulder camera and helmet camera, which allowed them to see his first person view.
When the signals were strong and stable, all fighters could share the same fields of vision.
On one hand, it could allow them to discover their comrades’ troubles in time and form more complicated strategies suited for small squads.
On the other hand, they could observe the dazzling performances of powerful fighters when they killed monsters. It served as the most effective method for them to increase their fighting strength.
Stored in the Supernatural Tower’s official website and the video archive of the livestreaming channel were the first-person-views of the matchless fighters killing h.e.l.l Beasts and even Apocalyptic Beasts. They were available for download for all Dragon Citizens so that they could become stronger.
Moments earlier, quite a number of people had switched to Wu Wu’s first person view.
But she moved like a phantom and was as quick as lightning. Every second, she performed 360 degrees maneuvers or moved around in extremely small s.p.a.ces.
When watching her first person view, the students felt like they were sitting in a roller coaster driven at three times the original speed. The world spun around them and they saw stars. They could not make heads or tails of it, and they had no clue how she attacked.
Some people only watched her for a few seconds before they puked because of the high-speed spins.
But Meng Chao showed a completely different sight.
If Wu Wu’s fights were incomprehensible, then Meng Chao’s first person view was abnormally straightforward.
He did not use any astonishing moves, unfathomable attacks, or exciting moves.
He used the most normal moves: the three great basic force execution methods, the One Hundred Saber Techniques, the Army Fist, Thunder Rapier, side slides, and Rocket Charges. They were all basic martial arts that Dragon City elite youths learned when they were in high school or middle school.
He executed his moves one by one, and he could not even be considered to be fast. His attack trajectory was not difficult to deal with it either. The students could see it clearly, and they were pretty sure that a normal soldier who had a few days’ experience on the battlefield would be able to execute such an attack.
And yet, while the other students found the Wolf Crocodiles, Ghost-arrow Pigs, and Hundred-eyed Toads to be incredibly cunning, brutal, and strong, these monsters seemed to be attracted by the light on Meng Chao’s saber. They eagerly jumped up and rammed themselves against his blade, which let him cut their throats with minimum effort.
Meng Chao landed in quagmires, faced weeds, and met Water Monkeys, just like all the other students.
Many of the monsters also snuck up behind him.
There were no Long-legged Spiders helping him monitor the enemies around him, and the reconnaissance drone efficiency when identifying the creatures had also been limited greatly.
Even so, he seemed to be able to see every detail on the battlefield. He perfectly avoided the traps and narrowly dodged the ambushes from the monsters behind him.
In just a short moment, dozens of monster carca.s.ses were left behind on the sides of the path he took.
Compared to the torn carca.s.ses left by the other students, the monsters Meng Chao killed had wounds that were no longer than the length of a person’s pinky, and the amount of blood they lost was very small. It was going to be very easy for harvesters to harvest them when they cleaned up the battlefield later.
This meant that Meng Chao had perfect control over everything. When he killed monsters, he held back and even thought about how he should kill them.
When the students saw the monsters “coincidentally” jumping onto the blades all the time, some people even had the misconception that Meng Chao was actually dancing with the monsters.
“Meng Chao?”
While the students could not figure out what was going on, Duan Lian was the first to be unable to hold back his curiosity. “Did you intentionally not choose the strengthened exoskeletons while we were picking out equipment because of the weaknesses Ms. Li mentioned?”
“That’s right.” Meng Chao took half a step to the right and tilted his upper body by forty-five degrees, so the venom-laced needle from a Ghost-arrow Pig would pa.s.s 3 mm from his chest.
In his hand, Meng Chao held Surging Lightning, the saber specially designed for the future One Hundred Saber Techniques. Lightning seemed to gush out of the saber, and he stabbed the blade into the wrinkles unprotected by the needles. This area was under the Ghost-arrow Pig’s neck, and it was the only part unprotected by needles.
Meng Chao did not drive the saber too deeply into the pig. He only cut through its neck and artery. Then, he pulled the saber back and stabbed the head of a Hundred-eyed Toad, which had wanted to sneak up on him.
Before the Hundred-eyed Toad could feel any pain and release all of its acid, Meng Chao kicked the creature to a congregation of Wolf Crocodiles some distance away.
The acid the Hundred-eyed Toad spat out fell into the Wolf Crocodiles’ eyes. Not a single drop was wasted.
Even though the Wolf Crocodiles did not have great vision, when their eyeb.a.l.l.s were attacked, they were in so much pain that they started thrashing around and shaking their heads violently while snapping their jaws.
Unfortunately, they did not manage to catch any prey, so they could only vent their rage at the weeds and Water Monkeys around them.
Meng Chao seized this chance. He went forward and delivered three slashes. He used the crystals embedded in the saber, and with the runic symbols carved into it, he formed a spirit energy magnetic field that could heat up the blade. He waited until it was more than one thousand degrees Celsius, and as if he was using a hot knife to cut b.u.t.ter, he cut off the three Wolf Crocodiles’ heads.
It took him only ten seconds to do all this.
Every single one of his movements was very clear, and he did not use any unexplainable skills.
But the students watched this entire thing with slack jaws, and as they examined themselves, they knew that they could not use seemingly normal skills and link them together to produce miracles.
At this moment, Meng Chao spoke up. “Just now, Ms. Li mentioned the weaknesses of the strengthened exoskeletons specifically designed for urban warfare. That’s one of the reasons why I didn’t choose one, but even if a strengthened exoskeleton specifically designed for swamps was produced, I don’t think I would use it.”
“Why?” Duan Lian had lost all of his desire to compete against Meng Chao. He now treated him as a monster on the same level as Wu Wu, which was good for him. He could ask for advice with a humble att.i.tude if he did not understand something. “Don’t these strengthened exoskeletons increase our fighting strength?”
“That’s right, but if you use added power, you will have to pay an additional price.” Meng Chao recalled the experiences from the fights in his previous life. “The strengthened exoskeletons will never be able to break free from the limits of machines. They may claim that their joints can make 360 degrees turns, but in the end, there’s still going to be dead angles. Their turning speed can’t compare to human bodies when we execute force, especially when compared to the speed of powerful fighters.
“And once you’re used to the illusion of power brought to you by the strength amplification system, it’ll be very easy for you to depend on it and form your muscle memory around it. Then, your entire fighting model and force execution system will be made to accommodate the strengthened exoskeletons without your knowledge. If your strengthened exoskeleton breaks during battle, won’t your fighting strength plummet?
“Besides, we’re one-star superhumans who have just awakened to supernatural abilities, so we still have a long way ahead of us. No one knows what sort of miracles we can create, but if we use ma.s.s-produced strengthened exoskeletons, they can easily turn into our shackles, because there’s a limit to their speed, mobility, and force execution. It can shackle us down, and we won’t be able to escape.
“Normal soldiers don’t have any hope in awakening to supernatural abilities. Their speed and strength are weak, so it’s only natural that they should use strengthened exoskeletons to increase their fighting power.
“Matchless fighters have armor smiths, who are creators of super powerful weapons. They use the bones of Apocalyptic Beasts, the essence of the spirit meridian ley lines underground, and the metals from s.p.a.ce that fell into the Other World’s lakes many years ago to create unique strengthened exoskeletons that are specifically designed for them, but that’s a different matter.
“If I imagine myself fighting in a terrible environment with no hope for backup or supplies, I don’t like the idea of relying on machines, monsters, or unmanned fighting vehicles.”
The students looked at each other at a loss.
They were not just surprised by Meng Chao’s words. They were shocked by the fact that he did not stop swinging his saber while he talked. Through his first person view, they saw him kill four monsters while he spoke to them!
“You...” Duan Lian was stunned for a long time. “How did you manage to kill dozens of monsters in an instant and surpa.s.s Wu Wu’s killing efficiency? I saw that her speed is much faster than yours. Did you poison the monsters?”
The students nodded.
They were all impressed by Meng Chao’s diabolical methods of poisoning, lying in ambush, setting up traps, and launching surprise attacks.
“I didn’t kill dozens of monsters in a go, and I didn’t poison them either. The monsters we’re fighting today all have a certain degree of poison or corrosive properties, so they’re born with poison resistance. Even if I put a bit of poison on the saber, it wouldn’t be enough to kill them.”
Meng Chao stopped talking for a moment before he continued. “It might be because the wounds I leave are rather small, so many of the monsters remain ignorant even after they receive fatal wounds. They jump around happily before they die of internal bleeding or their heart exploding. The reconnaissance drones levitate high in the air so they can’t see clearly, which is why my kill count data is updated a bit slower.”
“That’s...” Duan Lian found it unbelievable. “I wanted to ask you. The wounds you left on the monsters are really small. How are you certain that your attacks will definitely hit the monsters’ vitals?”
“It’s just a normal skill, you can do it too,” Meng Chao said seriously. “As long as you’re like me and become a part-time harvester and dissect hundreds of Wolf Crocodiles, Ghost-arrow Pigs, and Hundred-eyed Toads, you’ll also be able to get a full grasp of the distribution of their muscles, blood vessels, and organs. Then, you can also kill them like a butcher cutting up a cow. You can easily strike their vitals.”
The communication channel was silent for a few seconds.
“Why do you look like you have eyes on your back... No, it’s not just your back. You look like you have eyes growing on your feet as well. It feels like you can see through everything and avoid the monsters trying to ambush you from the back. You even notice the man-eating swamps pretending to be solid land.” Xie Feng took Duan Lian’s place to continue asking questions.
“That’s all thanks to the Ultimate Style. After cultivating 1,024 branch meridians, I pushed my senses to the limits of Spirit Tattoo Realm. I can sense the fine differences between swampy land and firm ground through my combat boots, and I can also smell the b.l.o.o.d.y scent from Water Monkeys mixing with the scent of mud. I can even hear the monsters’ breathing and heartbeat,” Meng Chao said.
“Such sensitive senses are not very useful when applied in a noisy, heavily polluted city with reinforced concrete everywhere, but in the wild, there aren’t many people around. If my surroundings are quiet, they can greatly increase my chances of survival on the battlefield.
“I once showed you the amazing aspects of the Ultimate Style by moving the coin from the spirit meridians on the back of my left foot through my entire body to the back of my right foot. Then, I used the fine control I had over my muscle fibers and the turbulence from spirit gas to make the hairs on my leg tie a knot. At that time, many of you thought that I’m crazy, because you thought that there’s no use for tying a knot using my leg hair, right?
“Now, you should understand it. Since I can tie knots with my leg hair at will, it’s only natural that I can sense faint murderous intent and fine changes in the weeds and the land. My senses are like a radar that can help me escape danger half a second ahead of time!”