Chapter 341: Lingering Hatred · Wildfire
"Ah!"
Blood sprayed out. [Wildfire] let out a miserable cry. As his body tilted backward, he abruptly performed a very awkward roll, opening up a distance of four or five meters in an instant.
Kaito Shirogane looked at his hand. Under the effects of [Transparent World] and [Pre-Initiative], he was certain the opponent didn't possess any advanced 'force dispersion' techniques.
But his strike, which should have thrust the scope directly into the opponent's brain, only pierced the right eye before the force hit empty air.
That awkward rolling motion was clearly not a technique, but a rather special ability, likely an unavoidable dodge effect with certain priority, similar to 'Dodge the current attack.'
Like the 'invincibility frames' setting in some games.
In the Infinite Dimensional Space, there were indeed quite a number of similar mechanism-type abilities, such as [Parry], [Block], [Dodge], etc. The upper limit of these abilities was average, but the lower limit was quite high, making them 'divine skills' in a sense.
"Hoh, not bad."
Kaito praised the other party, his hands hanging naturally at his sides. He actually hadn't detected this Reincarnator's presence at first. He only noticed a dead person among the living when he instinctively marked everyone using the effect of [Omen of the Evil God · Gaze of Pride].
Under the effect of Gaze of Pride, living creatures would be marked. But an unmarked creature was walking forward. This sign was too obvious, allowing him to detect it instantly.
Subsequently, through the screening of [Mantra] (Heart Net), he realized this controlled dead person was probably used for a suicide attack. Given that the person had been following the Blizzard Group but hadn't attacked on the way here, the purpose was clear.
The opponent wanted to kill [Hellish Blizzard] in front of him, then attract [Tornado of Terror] to kill him.
This was a simple and crude but effective tactic. As one of the ceiling-level entities in this world, although Tatsumaki's strength certainly wasn't as powerful as Saitama's, for a Reincarnator of Kaito's level, there was no difference.
Being smashed by Saitama's punch was death; being twisted into a pretzel by Tatsumaki and then turned into dust was also death.
Moreover, importantly, Tatsumaki wasn't a reasonable hero. She possessed a perverse desire to protect her sister Fubuki. Once Fubuki was killed, perhaps this world would trigger a new round of Cataclysm.
An Esper who could casually pull a city out from 1500 meters underground, easily summon meteorites, and effortlessly reflect all cannonballs from a giant alien warship capable of destroying an entire city with one strike... once darkened, the trauma caused to the world would probably exceed even Mob's.
Kaito reacted instantly to block the explosion attack for Fubuki. Furthermore, because he was preparing to attack, [Mantra] immediately detected the shooter's location.
In [Wildfire]'s earpiece, his teammates realized his mission had failed and began calm reporting.
"Wildfire encountered combat. No energy reaction above [Fierce] tier detected. Now judging Wildfire's mission failed. Proceeding with Plan B."
Step, step.
Kaito stepped forward. Standing on the side of the sun, his shadow stretched long, completely covering Wildfire's figure.
"Ha, abandoned so quickly? Truly a group of cold-blooded teammates."
While speaking provocative words, purple Satsui no Hado flowed continuously between Kaito's hands. Wildfire kept trying to retreat. Regardless of Mercenary Tao's expression, that chilling killing intent was like piercing cold wind.
Light shone on his hands, and two sniper rifles appeared simultaneously.
He didn't aim at all, firing almost the instant the two guns appeared.
Bang!
Kaito's body shook, sliding back several meters. He looked down at his chest, which was dripping with blood. His [Tekkai] was instantly shattered by the powerful anti-tank sniper rifles. Fragments of bullets followed through, shattering the [Scales of the Flame Dragon] and entering his body.
Whoosh!
Flames ignited all over Wildfire. He cried out in pain again and rolled backward. As the flames extinguished, his outer coat fell off, revealing inner clothes glowing with magical light.
At the same time, Wildfire spoke calmly.
"Record. Mercenary Tao possesses body surface defense that ignores general firearms. Simultaneously possesses some damage reflection ability; attacking Mercenary Tao will cause one to suffer burning from flames called Brilliant Flame."
His mental power wasn't as high as Mercenary Tao's, so the information obtained wasn't perfect, but he still reported the intelligence while retreating.
Wildfire didn't reload. He let go directly, storing the two anti-tank sniper rifles into his backpack. Then, two heavy machine guns appeared in his hands.
He still didn't aim. As soon as the guns appeared, he pulled the triggers directly.
This time, Kaito clearly saw the ballistic trajectories whistling out from the two heavy machine guns. Two tongues of fire followed curved trajectories, continuously hitting his chest and abdomen.
Pfft pfft pfft...
Kaito was knocked back two steps initially, but soon, he merely raised his left hand to block his chest and abdomen. The torrent of steel ammunition all struck his palm, turning into flattened metal pellets falling to the ground.
Seeing this scene, Wildfire put away the heavy machine guns. While continuing to retreat, he summarized and reported.
"Mercenary Tao's left hand possesses abnormal defense. After suffering high-frequency attacks, red flames ignite on Mercenary Tao's body, and his aura increases. Suspected to possess the characteristic of increasing strength upon receiving damage."
"Mercenary Tao possesses high combat intelligence..."
Step.
Light footsteps landed in front of him. Wildfire looked at Mercenary Tao, who appeared as if out of thin air. That extreme speed beyond visual capture made him completely abandon any thought of luck.
"Mercenary Tao possesses physical speed exceeding the limit of ordinary human vision capture."
"That's all the intelligence I can gather. Friends, good luck to you."
Then Wildfire crushed his earpiece, stood up calmly, and stood before Kaito.
Kaito clapped his hands, applauding the other party's series of decisions.
"What is that attack ability capable of locking ballistic trajectories? Magic, or Superpower?"
Kaito asked. When the opponent fired without aiming for the second time and hit the same location consistently, he realized the opponent probably used some ability allowing him to lock onto his chest and abdomen for attacks. For a Shooting Specialization Reincarnator, it was a pretty good ability type.
"It's Nen."
"A Nen ability I developed. I call it [Lingering Hatred]. How is it? Not bad, right?"
Wildfire looked at Mercenary Tao calmly. The rumors in the Space were correct. The other party was indeed a Reincarnator with rule-breaking strength. Speed, strength, defense—all were terrifying. Actual combat power probably lay above the middle stage of the [Strong] tier.
"Lingering Hatred... Interesting ability." Kaito rarely praised an enemy again.
After detecting his appearance, he immediately chose to state his name to try avoiding combat. Upon finding it ineffective, he gave up decisively, not getting killed without displaying his abilities due to futile begging for mercy.
While rolling to dodge attacks, he attached Nen to himself, then retreated constantly, gathering intelligence through attacks to hand over to teammates.
He had only seen such a posture in that woman from [The Fifth Element] and the female swordswoman from the [Critical Sniper] team encountered in the Pirate World.
Kaito arrived in front of him, pointing his index finger and pressing it on the opponent's forehead.
"Finally, interested in telling me your leader's name?"
Kaito made no secret of his killing intent. Wildfire's face twitched slightly. Just Mercenary Tao's finger pointing at his forehead made the killing intent almost make him tremble all over.
But he gritted his teeth, suppressing the depression, despair, and oppression surging from the bottom of his heart.
He had killed many people—Reincarnators, plot characters, and ordinary people. He was once a mercenary wandering through multiple countries. He took lives and was prepared to have his taken.
Hearing Mercenary Tao's question, he thought for a moment, finally revealing a smile and saying:
"You violated the [Iron Rules] of the Title Level Reincarnators. It's not one person who wants to kill you. It's those Title Level Reincarnators... they all want to kill you."
Kaito lowered his eyelids, not feeling afraid.
Hum~
Intense Qi condensed abruptly. In the next moment, with a pfft, it pierced through Wildfire's forehead. Warm brain matter and blood flowed from the back of his skull, and he collapsed dejectedly.
[You killed a Reincarnator in a Team Survival Mode world. No Crimson Drop Card generated for this kill.]
[Based on the effect of Omen of the Evil God · Cocoon of Greed, obtained Karma Point x1 for this kill. Forced generation of Crimson Drop Card. Reward increased by 50%.]
Crimson luster appeared from Kaito's right hand. Then, a Drop Card appeared spinning in front of Kaito.
Whoosh!
Only now did Fubuki, her whole body flashing with blue light, fly over from low altitude. She was far from capable of arbitrary high-speed flight like Tatsumaki. Just a distance of three kilometers left Fubuki showing some fatigue upon landing.
"You killed him?"
"Why not torture him for intelligence? Who exactly are these people? Why did they attack us?"
Fubuki still had lingering fears. She just asked Eyelashes and Mountain Ape. That new member had been normal before; both mental state and personality were quite likeable. No one expected such a scene to occur.
"Us?"
Kaito sneered, which angered Fubuki further. The woman's chest heaved violently.
Kaito casually crushed the Crimson Drop Card invisible to her, then said:
"He knew he couldn't kill me. The only one he wanted to kill was you."
Although Fubuki sensed the man's terrifying physique and speed the moment of the explosion, hearing him express 'I am stronger than you' so directly still made her dissatisfied.
Fubuki landed on the ground. Kaito lowered his head, naturally looking down at her. Their eyes met. Fubuki suddenly felt cold all over. The other party's eyes held none of the ardor other men had when looking at her, only a coldness as if skinning and boning her to see through her completely.
"Their goal was to kill you, then let your sister eliminate me..."
Kaito bent down while speaking word by word, his face getting closer to Fubuki. The strong aggressiveness made Fubuki's face turn pale. She stumbled back two steps, her arrogant aura completely gone.
Fubuki looked somewhat panicked. She sensed malice from this 'Hero' in front of her, but it was fleeting. She was unsure if she felt wrong.
Coincidentally, Eyelashes, Mountain Ape, and the others caught up at this time. While moving closer to her group members, she said:
"I will investigate the mastermind behind the scenes. If you have news about those guys, you can also notify me."
A business card glowing with blue light fell in front of Kaito under the woman's telekinetic control. Fubuki then left almost hurriedly with the others.
Kaito rubbed the business card, watching Fubuki walk away. Ultimately, he didn't activate [Omen of the Evil God]. He could have tried to control Fubuki via [Heart of Slaanesh]. Even if he encountered resistance due to her strong mental power, he could have broken the woman's psychological defense through unconventional means.
But he wasn't sure if the mental control of [Heart of Slaanesh] would be detected by Tatsumaki. The purpose of controlling Fubuki was to use her to obtain Tatsumaki's combat power. But if this control were detected, he would be killed instantly.
In the end, he didn't choose this crude method. Since that group had already attacked Fubuki once, the initiative was now in his hands. When the opportunity was right, he could naturally make Tatsumaki act...
[You opened a Crimson Drop Card]
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