Chapter 11: Crunch Time
Translator: MJ_ Editor: Millman97
All that Han Xiao had in his arsenal was the enhanced 73-WASP handgun, an N9 Colt Assault Rifle, 15 magazines of ammo, and the Lightweight Mecha Arm whose durability had been reduced to 130. He was essentially outmatched in terms of equipment.
Bang!
The sniper rifle was fired again. The bullet pierced through the tree he was hiding behind, narrowly missing him. Han Xiao groaned. While the enemy had night-vision, he could only attempt to make out their position from the muzzle flashes.
The sniper rifle was too powerful. With his current health, it would probably take only 3 shots to kill him. Han Xiao decided to put the 18 unassigned stat points at his disposal to use. He added 14 points into END for additional health and 4 into STR to bolster his STR advantage. Engaging in a shootout would only be disadvantageous, so even though close combat was risky, he had to take the chance. It was virtually impossible to run away since the enemy had night vision. The only way to make it out now was to kill them all!
With the +10 bonus from the Mechanical Arm on top of his 29 STR, Han Xiao had enough STR to ensure that his blows would proc ‘overwhelming blows’. With 36 points in END, he now had a max HP of 460. He had instantly gained 140 HP from adding END, which was crucial as Han Xiao was already low on health. His current HP was now close to 400, which was much more optimistic than before.
The agents were fanning out to surround him, and Han Xiao noticed that they were not very closely coordinated.
He estimated that it would take around 5 to 8 seconds for them to reach each other to help.
In other words, Han Xiao had to be sure to finish off his target in this short amount of time.
Having killed over 30 guards in the Valkyrie base, Han Xiao was now sitting on 116,000 experience points.
He dumped all of it into his combat skills.
_____________________
[Grappling] has been raised to Lv. 5
+7% Counter, +10% Damage (bare-handed)
[Basic Combat] has been raised to Lv. 8
+8% Damage (bare-handed)
As [Basic Combat] has reached Lv. 8 and [Submission] has reached Lv. 3, you may learn one of these three advanced skills:
[Special Ops Combat]
[Jiu-jitsu]
[Iron Fist]
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Special Ops focused on explosiveness, assassination, and usage of tools; Jiu-jitsu focused on grappling and submission; Iron Fist focused on strengthening the limbs and improving one’s tolerance to taking damage. They were three very different styles of skills. What Han Xiao needed now was explosiveness, so he chose [Special Ops Combat].
_____________________
You have learnt the advanced skill [Special Ops Combat]
+6% Crit Rate (melee), +4% Damage (bare-handed)
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Han Xiao’s melee damage was now increased by 15%, and his overall combat ability was also boosted considerably. Not only did he feel much stronger than before, he had a mysterious feeling that he had somehow acquired mastery over several fighting styles.
It’s a pity that I still don’t have any active energy-based combat skills, thought Han Xiao. As Mechanics had very few active skills in their earlier levels, they couldn’t make much use of their Energy.
Han Xiao put on the Lightweight Mecha Arm and crouched down. He took a few moments to regulate his breathing and optimize his oxygen flow before suddenly springing forward and charging towards the agent closest to him on the flank. As soon as Han Xiao showed himself, the 6 agents opened fire.
With the mecha arm as his shield, Han Xiao weaved through the trees to evade the rain of metal while returning fire with the SMG in his other hand. The smell of gunpowder was overbearing.
In 3 seconds, Han Xiao came within range of his target. He threw the SMG at the agent’s gun hand as a distraction before swinging the mighty mecha arm at him. The agent raised his arms in reflex to block the blow and endured the pain to draw his handgun. He aimed at Han Xiao’s head and fired, but Han Xiao’s DEX was not just for show. With seemingly inhuman reflexes, Han Xiao clipped his arm over the agent’s gun hand and tugged down to make him lose balance and buckle forward before proceeding to ruthlessly smash his knee up into his groin.
_____________________
You have dealt a fatal blow! 2x Critical Hit! Your target is stunned for 2 seconds!
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Although the agent’s expression was covered by his goggles, his painful scream was telling of the blow’s effectiveness. Han Xiao took advantage of his temporary immobility to knee him again and again.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
-78! -81! -84!
Sorry brother, I know it must hurt a lot, but I’m not the one who decided not to include groin protection in your armour!
The agent’s HP plummeted and Han Xiao finished him off by ripping into his throat with the Mechanical Arm. Before Han Xiao could celebrate his first kill, he felt a sharp pain in his back. He hurriedly dropped to the ground and dragged the agent’s body over him as a shield while he crawled towards a tree for cover.
_____________________
You have been shot by an SWP Sniper Rifle! 68 Damage taken!
You have been shot by a high caliber bullet! You are now bleeding (medium)! You will lose 3 HP every second for 15 seconds.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
The pain caused Han Xiao’s face to pale. Just a single shot had taken out one whole chunk of his health bar. Unfortunately, he could not afford the time to bandage the wound.
“Damn it!” The remaining five Night Owl agents were enraged that Han Xiao had killed their comrade. They rapidly closed in as they fired, cornering Han Xiao.
Han Xiao quickly searched through the agent’s body and put on his Kevlar Vest. It would do well to block one or two shots. More importantly, however, he found three G-fragment grenades, one of which he immediately tossed out.
Kaboom!
The agents had to stop shooting as they frantically ducked for cover.
“Shoot more, assholes!” yelled Han Xiao furiously as he threw out a second grenade, causing the five agents to scramble back to the ground just as they were about to get up.
After the blast, a third black object was flung out in the air, and the five agents subconsciously crouched down once more. However, when there was no explosion after two seconds had passed, they looked up to see that it was just a piece of rock.
Meanwhile, Han Xiao was already charging towards the next agent while firing his assault rifle wildly. Although Han Xiao managed to kill the agent who was seeking cover in the grass, he was now out of ammo.
Han Xiao tossed the rifle away and threw the third grenade, buying himself some time to get in range. As he rammed into the third agent, knocking him down, a shot from Silver Blade’s assault rifle clipped him in the calf.
Han Xiao grimaced. The calf injury affected his movement speed, so Han Xiao decided to jump into the agent he had knocked down, causing them to tumble together out of the other agents’ line of sight where he made short work of him behind a tree. The agents simply stood no chance against him at close combat.
But there were still three agents left! Although the odds were against him and he had lost half of his HP, Han Xiao remained calm and spent some time to plan his next move.
“The enemy will probably...”
Meanwhile, Silver Blade was in complete disbelief. He had vastly underestimated the test subject, resulting in their number being halved.
“Bomb him!” he ordered.
They threw grenades
Kaboom!
“Is he dead?”
“Stay cautious,” replied Silver Blade as he and the other two agents slowly approached.
When they reached the tree, they noticed that there was a burnt corpse on the ground. From what remained of its uniform, it appeared to have been Han Xiao.
“Finally.” The two agents lowered their guns and relaxed.
“No!” shouted Silver Blade all of a sudden. “Get down!”