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[WARNING!] [WARNING!]
[E Rank Bio-entity detected!]
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"…!" Leon was stunned. 'An E Rank Neon Beast?!'
'F*ck!' Leon's eyes narrowed as he stared ahead with desperation evident in his eyes. 'C'mon! No, no, no, f*ck!'
The Neon Beast emerged.
It was an Ostrich.
It looked beautiful, just like those fairies in fairytales. Its feathers were pure white, and its body radiated such an intense white glow that seemed like it was purifying the world.
Unlike the Vulture that had motor wings and with most of its body covered in armored plating, this Neon Beast looked entirely biological.
If not for the current situation, Leon would have almost believed that it was a perfectly harmless Ostrich.
But looking into those calm blue eyes, Leon wasn't fooled. He didn't think that this was a perfectly harmless Ostrich at all. Looking into those eyes, he felt the suppression of a superior lifeform as all his hair stood on end.
Leon's back were instantly filled with sweat. 'I-is this what it means to be E Rank? F*ck! Why now?!'
For almost 30 seconds, the Ostrich didn't move, looking at them calmly as they fought against the other Neon Beasts, almost like it was disinterested, and then it suddenly took a step.
After that step, all that was left in the Ostrich's wake were white afterimages.
WHOOSH!
"BRICK!" Leon screamed instinctively.
The Synth didn't need his scream to know though. The moment that the Ostrich moved, Brick noticed it as he felt his whole life flash in front of his eyes.
The Ostrich moved at a speed exceeding 100km/hour!
Only Ghostwire was fast enough to react. Having aimed his Rifle at the Ostrich since, as soon as it moved, he adjusted his aim and instinctively pulled the trigger.
BAM!
The bullet arrived in front of the white Ostrich almost instantly, but then a pure white energy field erupted around this Neon Beast as white flames burned in front of it. The white flames acted as both a barrier and an attacking force.
The flames froze the bullet in space, burning it.
Then, the Ostrich pecked with its beak, and the bullet disintegrated!
In that brief moment though, Ghostwire already switched the slot of his Rifle from the first slot with the hammer image to the second slot where there was an image of a human brain.
Then, he pulled the trigger again.
This time, what came out was not a bullet, neither was it a bunch of code, instead what came out felt like a ghost, a ghost bullet.
An illusory wisp of dark green energy was what came out of the Rifle's muzzle, vaguely shaped as a bullet.
Staring at this illusory bullet, despite the tense situation, Leon had a thought. 'If this was a horror story, it'll have a skull shape'.
BAM!
The bullet met its target.
The Ostrich's white flame barrier was still active, but the illusory bullet directly pierced through, penetrating and hitting its target before disappearing inside the body of the Ostrich.
As soon as the illusory bullet disappeared inside it, the Ostrich abruptly stopped, its blue eyes becoming unfocused as dark red blood flowed out of its nose.
Thud… thud… thud…
In that tiny moment when the Ostrich lost focus and abruptly stopped, Daren erupted in a sprint.
In that moment, Daren showed the true speed of an F Rank Cyber Gladiator as he quickly accelerated up to speeds reaching 70km/hour!
An orange flare surrounded him as he sprinted, quickly closing the distance to the Ostrich. And without hesitation, Daren swung his right fist and punched with his VX-09 Emberfist, aiming straight at the Ostrich's underbelly.
Unlike the Rhinoceros and even the Vulture, despite being E Rank, the Ostrich clearly didn't have high defense and he hoped to take advantage of it.
But just before his gauntlet could meet its target, the Ostrich's eyes regained focus. Its massive eye balls trembled before regaining clarity and moved, rolling down, focusing on the human.
Daren's gauntlet was mere inches away from hitting its target, but in that moment, stared at by the Ostrich, he felt his heart skip a beat.
BOOM!
All Daren heard was the sound of the sound barrier being broken.
He didn't know how it happened. He didn't see it, he couldn't even trace it, but all he knew was that his life preservation deathbag triggered, a gadget like a car's airbag that would automatically trigger when its wearer's life was threatened.
It was Daren's trump card and life preservation gadget. Daren didn't see it, but the others who were far away did.
In that moment just before Daren's gauntlet could hit the Ostrich's underbelly, the Ostrich's left leg suddenly kicked and in that moment, Leon was pretty sure that the Neon Beast's leg exceeded 300km/hour!
300 freaking kilometers per hour!
There was no reacting to that.
The deathbag was the only reason why Daren was still alive as he was flung away high into the air even as he coughed blood.
Daren was dizzy and disoriented; he couldn't follow what happened next.
Immediately after kicking the Cyber Gladiator away, the Ostrich took another step, leaving a white blur in its wake as it rapidly closed the distance towards the one Ascended who managed to injure it, Ghostwire.
And for the first time, Leon saw Ghostwire show emotion as the NetRunner became visibly flustered.
Within a few seconds, the Ostrich was already in front of him.
But someone else intervened. Without thinking, Brick threw himself in front of the NetRunner just as the Ostrich kicked again.
CRACK!
The kick was so powerful that it broke through Brick's impenetrable defense!
It hit him by the ribs, tearing through his defense, exposing the internal musculature and components of his body as Leon saw sparks and interconnected wires inside the body of this Synth, including a beating heart that was half mechanic and half organic.
But Leon also noticed something else; he noticed the bits of organic flesh and the violet glow violently churning inside.
Brick's Gene Augur powers were active!
"Cell Repair," he muttered even as he spat out black engine oil.
His broken body started repairing itself on the spot even as his mechanical face turned even paler.
The Ostrich was not idle while this happened.
It kicked again.
This time, Brick was prepared as he hardened all his muscles to the limit as he crossed his arms and took the hit, but the feedback was not what he expected.
Despite being prepared, despite using his Gene Augur powers to harden all his muscles and turn himself into a rock, the impact was still cataclysmic!
BAM!
Brick felt his brain go numb as he lost all feelings in his hands.
The reinforced musculature of his mechanical hands were cracked despite his efforts, peeling apart even as his hands bent in unnatural angles. His healing was struggling to keep up with the damage.
Brick was vulnerable!
But just before the Ostrich could attack again, something flashed towards it… the Flux Crystal Spear!
Seeing Brick, Daren, and Ghostwire putting their lives on the line, in that moment Leon no longer saw strange humanoids that he just met today, instead, he saw comrades who were ready to die for their friends.
At this moment, he could tell that they were all ready to die for Talia, and such a deep bond was infectious.
His calculations said they had less than 2% chances of surviving this encounter, but he was a human, and sometimes humans don't always follow logic.
In fact, most times, humans make stupid decisions, just like right now.
Seeing that Brick was about to die, Leon lost all sense of reason and threw his only weapon at the E Rank Neon Beast, his Flux Crystal Spear, leaving him unarmed while surrounded by a sea of Neon Beasts.
The familiar white flame appeared in front of the Ostrich, about to burn the spear, but then something triggered inside of it.
'Energy Detonation'.
BOOM!
One of the portable energy cells inside the spear violently detonated!
The explosion violently tore through the white flame barrier, burning the face of the Ostrich, once again reinforcing the fact that it was not impervious to damage and that defense was its weak point.
The expression on the Ostrich's serene face finally contorted, its previously serene blue eyes twisting into one filled with madness and corruption.
Its long neck vibrated as it let out a mind-numbing screech, setting its sights on Leon, but just before it could move, someone descended from the sky.
Daren descended.
When the Ostrich threw him into the sky, he was dizzy and disoriented. But due to how high he was thrown, as an Ascended, he naturally reacted fast, regaining his bearings in mid-air.
As he freefell, he saw as everything happened and in a moment of epiphany and quick thinking, he grabbed the metal pole that Leon erected some time ago to deal with the Rhinoceros before redirecting his fall back to the Ostrich.
As soon as he got close enough, he growled in a deep voice. "Overheat Drive".
~----~
[VX-09 Emberfist Weapon Skill:]
>Overheat Drive (Active): Temporarily doubles STR for 10 secs when activated but locks cooling vents. Risk: thermal overload. Thermal overload = self-damage (-5% HP per 5 secs).
~----~
The Ostrich didn't see him coming at all.
Daren didn't try to throw a punch. Nah, that was too risky. He was not Thor Odinson, he would go for the head. He would go for the kill.
Instead of throwing a punch, he interlocked his fingers with both hands- gauntlets, raising both gauntlets to gather the power of both fists, before pounding down against the head of the Ostrich.
Purple ADE flared violently around him as both gauntlets pounded on the head of the Ostrich.
BAM!
Daren didn't stop at that.
"Ember Burst," he mumbled.
~----~
[VX-09 Emberfist Weapon Skill:]
>Ember Burst (Active): This converts 60% charge into a directional flame-shock punch with a 2.5m cone range. [Cooldown: 20 secs]
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BZZZ!
A torrent of flame blazed at the point of impact between both gauntlets and the Ostrich's head- a flame so concentrated that the white Ostrich became the black and scorched Ostrich.
The Ostrich let out a weak, horrified, and desperate shriek.
And then, the Ostrich became a broken doll, literally as its long neck hung lifelessly by the side of its body, broken and mangled by Daren's double attack.
Thud!
It collapsed.
In that moment, Leon received two notifications from his system.
DING!
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[Your weapon have been destroyed, Flux Crystal Spear]
…
[You have unlocked hidden stat: Ascended Counter]
[Ascended Counter: 541/1000]
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