The Highest Bounty

Eight Hunters led by Noami and King Kong, who were both Rank 12, surrounded Gu Ding in a circle.

Elsa, who was standing at the side, started to get worried. She could sense Gu Ding had become stronger, but she had no idea how much stronger his combat effectiveness had improved. All she knew was based on Gu Ding"s previous combat strength, that he had equivalent strength to a Rank 11 at its peak, but still had some way to go before achieving Rank 12.

She was most worried about what Liliath had mentioned before getting off the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Hunters cultivated a method of combat strength enhancement that was similar to Gu Ding. At the height of it, they were able to enhance their battle strength by four times.

Tagore, on the other hand, was casually swis.h.i.+ng his tail about, not worried about the result of this battle. Although, this guy had never expressed concern about anything besides his meals and fighting since boarding the s.h.i.+p.

Gu Ding chose to remain motionless under the circ.u.mstances, planning to react only when provoked. His choice of strategy baffled Noami, who wondered if he was being confident or has not much battle experience. This was because an opponent would normally strike sporadically once outnumbered. The wisest choice would be to take out the weakest link in the opponent"s group. An experienced martial art pract.i.tioner would not make the mistake Gu Ding made.

In actuality, it was not because Gu Ding was inexperienced. It was because Gu Ding wanted to find out the difference between the Ultimate Arts the Hunters practiced and the Ultimate Arts he was using. He was aware if he had chosen to act first, the few Hunters who were Rank 11 Gene Bodies would not be able to take his punches.

Eight thousand points of basic attack in addition to the one hundred and sixty times enhancement from his Ultimate Arts Level 11, four times enhancement of Rage Attack, combined with five times enhancement of Rage Armor, a simple attack by Gu Ding would go up to two hundred and fifty-six million combat strength. A newly enhanced Rank 12 martial arts pract.i.tioner had only one hundred million points. Besides, Gu Ding had a terribly strong defense. His Iron Block alone had twenty times defense enhancement, bringing the total to ten billion points, which made it impossible to penetrate Gu Ding"s defense.

Even though being beaten up by a circle of people at the same time would still be insufficient to break his defense, their attacks would still make him feel pain. That was why Gu Ding chose to evade them.

The attacks from all eight Hunters were continuous, not allowing Gu Ding any chance of a breather. However, Gu Ding"s Silent Step was much more skillful than all eight of them.

As the eight Hunters" Steel Fist, Phantom Kick, Lightning Elbow, Flaming Knee, and Terminating Finger failed to land on Gu Ding, who easily avoided their attacks, it made him realize that this was a much easier fight than he had previously.

“Your Ultimate Arts and theirs are from the same source, which is the reason why you can see the flaws in their moves. That is why even though attacks using the Ultimate Arts are stronger than other martial art forms, it is easy for you to hold your own against them,” Neptune"s explanation informed Gu Ding that the ease in this fight was not due to him becoming stronger, rather, it was because his opponents had trained in Ultimate Arts as well.

Noami noticed something unusual as she watched Gu Ding skillfully move between everyone. She realized his steps were similar to the Silent Step she had cultivated, but he was using it better than everyone else.

Liliath and the others on the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p were paying close attention to the fight. Liliath had almost rushed toward him when she saw Gu Ding stood out alone to face all eight opponents, but Biggie held her back. As she watched Gu Ding move around seamlessly between his enemies, as if taking a stroll in a garden during a raging storm, Liliath knew that Gu Ding had become stronger. It was not a minor enhancement, but a huge increase in power.

After four or five waves of attacks, Gu Ding was almost done observing this incomplete version of Ultimate Arts. He felt there was no point in wasting any more time. Most of his abilities were limited by time and he had to end this before his limitations kicked in.

Gu Ding quickly locked in on his first target, which was a golden-haired young man. He moved with Silent Step and appeared in front of the young man in a flash. He attacked with perfect form using Steel Fist, and the punch landed on the young man"s chest.

An exploding boom could be heard and a sound similar to a cannon shot burst out the moment his punch collided with the enemy"s chest. The golden-haired young man"s figure could be seen flying off with that burst. No one knew how bad he was wounded, but Gu Ding knew. He could clearly feel the crack heard on the young man"s sternum, although the young man was not completely incapacitated. The young man had activated Righteous Force just in time to neutralize part of the attack. However, Gu Ding also knew that the young man had lost his combat strength after that punch because his internal organs had been displaced during the impact of Gu Ding"s attack. It would be a huge problem for that young man to even stand up with all that pain, much less continue fighting.

Gu Ding turned his attention to his second target after he began his attack on the first opponent.

It was a skinny fellow who had been using Phantom Kick to attack him. Gu Ding placed his hands in his pockets and appeared in front of the skinny man without a warning. His figure appeared high in the sky as he jumped, delivering a vicious kick with his right leg, which landed perfectly on the enemy"s left neck.

There was a very subtle cracking sound and Gu Ding knew he had achieved what he had set out to do. The left cervical vertebra of the skinny man had fractured. It would have been lethal for a normal person to endure that kick, but for a Rank 11 Gene Body, it was just a matter of losing momentary movement.

Gu Ding"s onslaught of attacks did not stop. Very soon, he had taken out the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth person…

Gu Ding had been on the attack for less than a minute when the team of eight were now left with two of their squad leaders.

Liliath was dumbstruck by what had just happened. Even Elsa, who was watching from the sidelines, looked on with a shocked expression on her face. She still remembered what she had said about Gu Ding not being strong enough just less than a month ago. Yet now, Gu Ding was displaying combat strength that surpa.s.sed her own.

Noami had finally realized that this Gu Ding was not the one she had a.n.a.lyzed in a video previously. The current Gu Ding was much more powerful.

King Kong was never one to act pa.s.sively, which was why he decided to attack.

As a Rank 12 Gene Body, his basic combat strength was eight hundred million. In addition to that, he had four times enhancement through Ultimate Arts Level 7, which was able to increase his combat strength significantly to three billion and two hundred million. His figure suddenly flashed to the front of Gu Ding as he clenched his fist tight and delivered the Steel Fist.

King Kong noticed something unusual the moment he threw his punch. His attack speed and strength seemed to have decreased. Just as the realization hit him, something shocked him…

Gu Ding had no intention of avoiding this punch because someone like King Kong would back off only if he was beaten by his enemy face-to-face. That was why Gu Ding reached out with his left hand to block King Kong"s confident and ferocious punch.

Noami was dumbstruck at the scene of Gu Ding meeting the punch head-on. She knew how powerful King Kong"s punch was. Even she was not confident in taking such a direct attack from him, it would be a losing battle for her. However, Gu Ding did it, and he had done so with incredible ease.

King Kong"s attack was like hitting a hammer against a very large bell. The sound made was not a cannon shot-like explosion, but much like the vibrating sound of clanging metal, which sounded quite mesmerizing.

However, Gu Ding was not only depending on defense, but he had attacked with Terminating Finger in three quick successions, landing them where King Kong"s heart was located while blocking King Kong"s attack with his left hand. The three continuous attacks were not only based on the martial arts field, but Gu Ding had also activated his Damage Stacking ability.

Five hundred and twelve million! One billion and twenty-four million! Two billion and forty-eight million! Three powerful attacks shot out continuously with firm finger strength, hitting King Kong"s chest without stopping. In a split second, the pain King Kong felt was equivalent to someone using a heavy hammer to crush his chest. His Righteous Force activated immediately as it neutralized part of the attack strength, but King Kong still ended up kneeling on the ground with heavy breathing. He tried to regulate the rhythm of his heartbeat. However, King Kong did not completely lose his combat effectiveness, which somewhat surprised Gu Ding.

Noami did not make an immediate attack. “You always become stronger with each appearance. This time, your combat strength has indeed exceeded our expectations, but you can"t win against me.”

“Didn"t you comment on how my hairstyle isn"t pretty? Let me tell you the reason for my hairstyle right now,” Noami said as she pressed her hand against her forehead. She slowly pushed her fringe upward as she revealed her forehead.

There was a unique tattoo-like mark on her forehead, which reminded Gu Ding of its possible connection to an ancient civilization.

Neptune explained, “This is a mark known as the Spiritual Tattoo Inheritance. Converting an ability into a Spiritual Tattoo that can be transferred onto someone else is a form of heritage from the ancient civilization known as the Spiritual Tattoo Inheritance. That is the reason why powerful abilities are usually inherited this way as using Spiritual Tattoos for the transfer can be a complex process so there is no point in using this form of ability inheritance for normal abilities.

“This ability that I have inherited is very unique. It"s called Mirror Avatar…” Noami took out a mirror from her inventory as she said. She pointed the mirror toward her face and reached out with her finger to press on the mirror"s surface.

Crack!

The sound of the mirror breaking could be heard.

The entire mirror was cracked into twelve pieces.

At that moment, Gu Ding witnessed an incredible scene. Another Noami appeared out of thin air behind Noami. However, that was not the end. A second and third Noami continued to appear behind the real Noami.

All the Noamis had on the same clothes. There was a total of thirteen of them, including the original Noami. Under such circ.u.mstances, Gu Ding had no idea which was the real Noami and which was the fake.

“This ability of mine enables me to create another copy of me, which is completely identical, to take part in the fight. My clones" combat effectiveness is the same as the original,” all thirteen Noamis smiled. Their expressions and mannerisms were exactly the same.

Neptune laughed. “The easiest way to expunge this ability is to find the original. As long as you take down the original, the clones will be destroyed. If someone else was facing this ability of hers, that person would be in trouble because it would be difficult to pinpoint the original. However, it"s me this little wench is facing…