The hotel they were staying at was on the edge of the city, and it was only because it was cheap. Now, however, Zero was glad that Monnie hadn"t stayed in one of the more expensive hotels downtown, or else she would have been surrounded by buildings and the straight streets wouldn"t have provided him with more cover. The current location was basically the slums of the city. There were simple one-story houses and tunnels connected to each other like spider webs.
The moment he saw Levin, Zero quickly made an undefeatable judgement. Although he did not know Levin"s ability and rank, nor did he know who this silver-haired man was, his intuition told him to run!
Faithful to his intuition, Zero moved to the left and directly into the house through the window of one of the houses.
Because of this, his movements were very clean. Only after staring blankly for a second did Lai Lai shake his head and laugh involuntarily before catching up to him. It was just a simple stride, but it was only 10 meters away from Layin. However, when he arrived outside the window that Zero had entered through, he saw a sudden flash of fire in the dark room.
The one-handed sword "Arthur" on his back fell into Laine"s hands at some point, standing upright in front of him.
Dang —
A loud and clear sound rang out. Laine"s whole body shook, and he was forcefully pushed back by the impact of the bullet. On Arthur"s sword, a sniper bullet stopped spinning due to the exhaustion of its kinetic energy, and finally fell to the ground. If Levin had not blocked it in time, then a bullet hole would have appeared on the ninth Knight"s forehead.
At this moment, the sound of a sniper rifle rang out from within the room.
Laine finally stopped smiling and said softly, "He really is a dangerous fellow."
Finis.h.i.+ng his words, Levin swept his sword across. A faint cyan light flowed down from the tip of the sword. It looked weak and weak, but it contained a destructive wild energy. This wisp of azure light was like a breeze, lightly sweeping towards the hut and entering the wall. In the next moment, this simple, reinforced concrete bungalow was cut open by the green light, and collapsed forward with a groan. From the cut surface of the bungalow, it could be seen that whether it was the walls or the steel bars inside, they were all smooth and neat.
After cutting down the houses, the green light did not stop and disappeared into a small shop on the opposite street. It was only after they had crossed three blocks that the energy wave finally dissipated. At least three or four of the buildings had suffered. Amidst the rumbling sounds of the buildings collapsing, miserable screams could be heard.
Wind Blade Slash was a special ability extended by Levin"s Hurricane Swordsman. After compressing the wind element"s energy, he guided it through a slas.h.i.+ng method, allowing it to create slicing waves that could attack the opponent in the air. With a one-handed sword in hand, Laine gracefully walked through the destroyed bungalow and arrived at another street.
The streets were filled with smoke from the collapse of the buildings, and the parliamentary soldiers who had been chasing the zeros had been ordered to retreat by Raz. The ten thousand square meters of slums nearby became a private battleground for Zero and Laine.
Although he could not see his opponent, the living energy exuding from Zero"s body was as obvious as a lighthouse in the dark night. Laine smiled. Apparently Zero had not received any special training, so he did not know how to rein in his biological energy. During the turbulent times, while everything was evolving crazily, a huge amount of energy must be contained within the body.
With special equipment or training, high-level users can easily capture and lock onto each other"s biological energy. What extends from this is a variety of skills that converge biological energy, or pa.s.s it on to others to confuse the opponent"s pursuit. Ever since he woke up from the hibernation pod, all his abilities and techniques had been developed through battles and his own groping. He had never been trained like Levin, who was a high-ranked Blood Cavalry. He didn"t even have this concept, much less confine his biological energy.
After catching the zero in his senses, Levin sent out another Wind Blade Slash in the direction of zero.
A faint green light flowed out from the empty s.p.a.ce where the tip of the sword had slashed, but this time it flashed through the air at an abnormally fast speed.
The street was filled with the screeching of bees. As the wind blades streaked across the street, a white wind wave exploded. This was a special phenomenon that only occurred when the wind blades reached a speed that broke through the sound barrier. Wind Blade"s attack speed has two different choices, normal and supersonic. Under Levin"s control, the wind blades with different speeds will cause the opponent to make a wrong judgement.
Just like this moment, Levin"s wind blade had already hit zero. However, to the Blood Cavalry, the life energy of zero had just dimmed, but it had yet to disappear. This surprised the ninth knight. In front of him, more than ten single-story houses on both sides of the street were destroyed by the wind blades. They were currently groaning as they fell to the ground, creating thick smoke.
Levin snapped his fingers and a strong wind blew on the street, instantly blowing away the dust that was suffusing the air. Laine saw him sitting on the ground with his back against the lamppost, about a hundred meters in front of the street. A modified sniper rifle with an extended barrel was placed horizontally in front of Zero"s chest. A white mark appeared on the gun. It was this spear that had blocked the fatal wind blade, but a gash still appeared on Zero"s shoulder and lower right side of his lower abdomen. Blood was flowing out, causing his face to appear pale.
"What a good gun." Although the Wind Blade is limited in terms of energy compression, it is unable to cut any material in the world. However, it was more than enough to shatter the metal sh.e.l.l of an ordinary firearm, especially when the wind blade was at supersonic speeds. Its power was one to two times faster than normal. However, Zero blocked the attack with a sniper rifle. Laine could not help but be interested in this spear, wanting to know what kind of material it was made of.
Zero"s entire body was numb, and Colt"s toughness was beyond his expectations. But the sniper rifle that Ben had given him was unable to stop the wind blades from causing damage to other parts of his body. Moreover, the sniper rifle could only block the wind blade, but could not eliminate the impact caused by the cutting wave. Zero felt as if his chest was about to shatter, but in reality, cracks had already appeared on his sternum.
Although these cracks are healing at a slow rate, it is certain that they will never heal in a short period of time.
With a bitter smile, Zero pressed a sniper bullet into the barrel of the gun and then just barely stood up against the lamppost behind him. He wasn"t going to lose his ability to move. He could also temporarily control the amount of blood that flowed out from the wounds on his shoulder and abdomen by contracting his muscles. He was trying so hard to make himself look like he was bleeding profusely, but it seemed like he was doing it on purpose. There was nothing he could do about it. Laine"s tyranny almost made Zero lose all hope. Now, he only hoped that his deliberate weakness would let Laine relax his guard. Then, he might have a glimmer of hope.
### Chapter 184 - Struggle
Number of Words: 2276 Update Time: 2012-10-23 13: 12: 00
Levin"s strength had already been seen in the first zero, when the distance between them had not been more than twenty meters. However, at a speed of nearly a kilometer per second, Levin was still able to block the bullet with his one-handed sword. At that time, Zero could hardly believe his eyes. Right now, he only hoped that Levin could get closer. Perhaps Zero could give this powerful Blood Cavalry a surprise.
There were only two sniper grenades left, so the chances of zero were not high. When the sniper bullets ran out, there was only a handful of teeth left that could threaten Levin. However, looking at how Laine was wielding a sword in one hand, Zero knew that his superficial fighting techniques could not threaten the Blood Cavalry of Swordsmen.
"I only have two chances to make a move. How troublesome." Zero spat out a mouthful of blood and muttered to himself.
In his eyes, Levin was walking in his direction. That silver hair danced in the wind, making Levin look so dazzling. He took a deep breath and pushed all the thoughts out of his mind. His mind was extremely focused. Zero"s brain was like the most sophisticated computer, collecting and a.n.a.lyzing the data of Levin"s every action, in order to find the best opportunity to strike.
Ninety meters, eighty meters … The distance between the two was slowly decreasing. Zero only hoped that Levin could get closer. However, at about fifty meters, Laine stopped. He knew that he could only create his own opportunity.
In his golden right eye, the silver lines at the edge of the eye suddenly concentrated towards the center. With a blink of an eye, all the silver lines had gathered in the center of his pupils, forming a vertical silver pupil that resembled that of a wild beast.
Zero opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of hot air.
In Levin"s perception, zero"s biological energy suddenly increased. It was as if a light had suddenly turned into a spotlight. The level of the energy continued to rise, and Levin felt that it was getting a little dangerous.
Of course, it was only slightly.
After activating [Rampage], he left behind a series of afterimages as he charged towards Levin. However, he had only moved about ten meters before he stopped and moved to the left. He then fiercely charged forward. In an instant, a green ray of light slashed vertically, brus.h.i.+ng past Zero.
"Huh?" Laine made a sound of surprise, unable to believe that Zero managed to evade one of his Wind Blade slashes at such a close distance.
Levin did not know that Zero had also activated the bullet time in his Sensory Perception Domain. The bullet"s time sped up the calculation ability of the brain region, so that he could predict the movement of Levin"s shoulder and arm before he could miraculously dodge a wind blade.
After another ten meters, when the two were only about thirty meters apart, Levin shot out another Wind Blade.
At that moment, the first Wind Blades cut through a building not far away from the street and headed toward the back of the street!
Blood trickled out of Zero"s eyes and nose. The time limit for the first shot had already reached, but Zero had not yet retreated from the deceleration of the Wanxiang speed. The overloading had already made his brain feel as if it had been pierced by a thousand needles, making him want to cry out in pain. However, Zero also clearly knew that once he exited the bullet"s time state, he would not be able to predict Levin"s actions while he was in berserk mode.
Just as the second Wind Blade was about to strike, Zero suddenly dropped to the ground, causing the beautiful yet deadly green light to flash past its back. After dodging the second Wind Blade, Zero could no longer hold on to its bullets. It retreated, but it was still in a berserk state. Hence, with a push on the ground with his palm, he rose into the air, arriving on top of Laine"s head.
The distance between the two of them was less than ten meters.
Blood was flowing out of all seven orifices, but he did not care about it at all. Colt aimed the gun at Laine"s head and roared the trigger down.
At the same time, a green whirlwind suddenly exploded around Levin"s body. Zero only felt that his eyes were filled with green wind and he was uncontrollably sent flying by the rotating wind. He crashed into the window of a bungalow on the side of the street, still in the process of losing his momentum. After knocking over tables and chairs, he was finally thrown against the wall and announced the end of his journey.
He fell to the ground, then forced himself up and sat down against the wall, gasping for breath. Zero didn"t know what the result of the shot would be, but judging from the howling wind outside, Levin was probably still alive.
The next second, a green light shone from the other side of the room, sweeping lightly over Zero"s head. Then, with a series of loud cracking sounds, the house split open flat and fell backwards as he held his head in his hands.
A few seconds later, the tremor stopped. When he sat up again, he was covered in a thick layer of lime. Outside the house, Laine was still holding onto his sword. However, there was a faint trace of blood on his face.
"Now I somewhat understand why a wild mercenary like you was able to kill a low-level Blood Cavalry like us." Levin took a step forward. The obstacles in front of him, whether it was the walls or the sundries, were all turned into dust by the wind generated by his feet. Laine walked unimpeded into the wreckage of the house and came up to Zero.
"Your ability is not as simple as" Agility of the Fifth Order ". The speed of breaking through the speed of sound is not something Agility of the Fifth Order can provide, and just now, your bioenergy level broke through the normal peak. In other words, you have the ability to increase your combat ability for a short period of time." And then there"s the amazing prediction and rich combat experience. People like you, if given the chance to do professional training, would most likely become high-level espers. "It"s a pity …" Levin raised his one-handed sword and sighed, "Everything ends here!"
Zero smiled wryly. He still had a bullet. However, he did not even have the strength to lift a finger after he had used the bullet time and [Rampage]. Even if he wanted to save the last bullet for himself, he probably wouldn"t be able to do so now.
It was said that when a person was about to die, they would think of their past experiences. But Zero"s mind was empty, not even Leah"s. Zero was not afraid of the impending death. Instead, he felt a sense of relief. He had lost some of his past memories and awakened in the hibernation pod, suddenly leaping with the knowledge of the old century into a turbulent age in which nothing could be predicted. To Zero, he was like an outsider. Even after two years had pa.s.sed, Zero was still unable to fully integrate into this world.
So he would value Leah and sympathize with Monnie. In this new era, where he was the center of attention, he was completely out of place. All of this happened because he had crossed several decades of time and had yet to experience any major changes, even though he possessed many abilities. Strictly speaking, however, Zero was still an old era person.
It was this kind of different world outlook that made him feel as if he was living in a foreign country in this turbulent era. Once Leah had awakened some familiar feelings, and when Leah died, Zero had fought to revive her. There were other reasons besides the fact that he loved Leah. For example, when he was with Leah, Zero would feel like he was back in the old days.
And now, like an insurmountable mountain, Laine lay across the path of zero, as if telling Zero that his end had come. Perhaps being able to die like this was a type of happiness.
In his eyes, Laine"s one-handed sword slashed down on his head with a cold glint. Zero did not dodge. He could even see the smile on Zero"s face!