BOOM—!
A massive explosion tore through the wilderness, blooming into a small mushroom cloud of fire and debris. The thermobaric round released thousands of degrees of intense heat and a terrifying overpressure wave, instantly incinerating the first dozen Paladins and their mounts.
The silver "Holy Armor" they took so much pride in—armor supposedly capable of warding off magical fireballs—was as fragile as wet paper before the might of modern high-tech weaponry.
"Ahhh... my eyes!"
"God... is this the hellfire of the Abyss?"
The surviving knights fell into an unprecedented state of panic. Warhorses shrieked and scattered in terror; the once-impenetrable charging formation collapsed in a heartbeat.
Su Zhe leaned against the mud, suppressing the sharp pain in his chest caused by the shockwave. He stared coldly through the optical scope of the XM-25 at the chaotic battlefield.
[Ding! 3 Second-Class Knights and 12 Third-Class Knights neutralized.]
[Civilization Points Obtained: 1,200 Points.]
[Large quantity of high-level corpses detected. Execute wide-range 『Soul Harvest』?]
"Harvest!" Su Zhe growled in his mind.
A ripple of emerald light, invisible to the naked eye, surged outward with Su Zhe as the epicenter. From the corpses lying in pools of blood, translucent streams of light were forcibly ripped out, converging into a torrent that poured into Su Zhe's body.
[Extraction Successful! Skill Obtained: 『Heavy Sword Parry』 (Expert).]
[Extraction Successful! Skill Obtained: 『Basic Warhorse Affinity』.]
[Extraction Successful! Talent Obtained: 『Steel Will』 (Passive) — Increases mental resistance against interference.]
[Extraction Successful! Memory Obtained: Location of the Holy Church's Border Inquisition.]
A flood of combat instincts and muscle memory surged into him. Su Zhe's ragged breathing, weakened by his injuries, began to stabilize. Under the system's forced modification, his body was evolving into a "Killing Machine" at an inhuman speed.
"It's not over yet."
Su Zhe looked into the distance. A garrison priest in gold-trimmed robes was trembling, raising his staff in a desperate attempt to manifest a defensive barrier.
"Heretic... this is not magic! You have summoned a Great Demon!" the priest shrieked, the white light at the tip of his staff just beginning to take shape.
"Magic? No, this is called Aerodynamics."
Su Zhe calmly set aside the grenade launcher and tapped the mall interface.
[Exchange Item: 『M82A1 Barrett Anti-Material Sniper Rifle (Includes Silencer & Infrared Tracking)』]
[Points Consumed: 800 Points.]
Hum!
A heavy, pitch-black beast—over a meter long—appeared in Su Zhe's arms. He expertly deployed the bipod, adjusted his breathing, and locked the crosshairs onto the priest's forehead.
A distance of eight hundred meters was a range only high-level mages could reach in this world. For the Barrett, it was just a warm-up.
THUD!
A low, muffled crack was swallowed by the sound of the storm.
The priest's head exploded like a shattered watermelon. The light on his staff extinguished instantly. The remaining knights finally broke; they couldn't even see where the enemy was—they only saw their comrades falling one by one.
"Run! He is Death! He is the Demon King!"
Watching the retreating, broken remnants of the Church's elite, Su Zhe stowed the sniper rifle and walked slowly toward the scorched pile of corpses.
A dangerous arc curled at the corner of his mouth.
"Extract skills, buy weapons, get stronger, then harvest again..."
"This world... is my literal paradise."
As he walked, Su Zhe selected a 『Nano-Repair Needle』 worth 150 points from the mall and jammed it into his thigh. A cooling liquid flowed through him, and the savage sword wound vanished in seconds, leaving only a faint red line.
He needed a base now—a place to "digest" these new skills and upgrade his next wave of technological armaments.
And the memory he just extracted told him that deep within the nearby forest lay a forgotten, ancient ruin...