Chapter 65: The Attack (3)

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

The 57mm rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns, firearms, and rocket launchers weren’t particularly powerful individually, but their concentrated firepower created a qualitative change. Though still incapable of dealing substantial damage to Gu Qingshui, the barrage forced him into constant evasion, causing flaws to appear in his elegant movement techniques.

An Sheng had been waiting for this exact moment. Mutants possessed exceptional combat timing awareness, and An Sheng seized upon Gu Qingshui’s momentary lapse. He lunged forward, firmly restraining Gu Qingshui’s body from behind. The physical strength of Mutants was overwhelmingly powerful – in close combat, Purifiers stood no chance against them.

“Nie Chong!” An Sheng roared while activating all his defensive skills simultaneously.

Nie Chong had also been awaiting this opportunity. Without hesitation, he fired both Particle Cannons instantly. Blue-white incandescent beams, crackling with electric currents, struck the two figures in mid-air with devastating force. The massive energy beams propelled both bodies rapidly higher into the sky until they exploded midway, forming a large mushroom cloud of flames in the air.

When the explosion subsided, An Sheng descended to the ground, his body slightly charred. He had managed to escape the blast radius at the last moment before detonation, but having endured the energy beam at close range, surface burns were unavoidable. These were minor injuries however – combined with his defensive capabilities and innate Talent Ability of Cellular Activation, An Sheng’s burned skin restored itself completely within seconds.

Everyone watched tensely as the dissipating flames in the sky faded, uncertain whether the Purifier had been eliminated. When the fire and smoke cleared, the sky was completely empty! Had the Purifier who could control hurricanes been vaporized by the Particle Cannon? That seemed unlikely – even An Sheng could withstand the cannon’s power, so how could those terrifying Purifiers be killed so easily?

No one could believe Gu Qingshui had been destroyed, yet he had truly vanished as if he never existed. Just as An Sheng and the others were searching their surroundings in confusion, suddenly! An immense gravitational force pressed down on the four combatants present. Particularly for Nie Chong as an ordinary human – had it not been for his anti-gravity armor’s excellent hydraulic system, he would have been crushed to the ground by the tremendous force.

The others didn’t fare much better, their bodies feeling as if dozens of their own weight were pressing down on them, making adaptation difficult. What was happening? Why had the gravity suddenly changed? Could there be other enemies?!?

“Gu Qingshui, you owe me a huge favor this time,” a woman’s voice reached An Sheng’s ears.

Looking up, they saw a beautiful blue-haired woman in tight leather clothing supporting a somewhat disheveled Gu Qingshui on the mountainside nearby. Nie Chong immediately recognized this woman – she was one of the Purifiers who had attacked their special forces convoy, the Purifier with lightning abilities!That wasn’t all – a bald brute also appeared in everyone’s field of vision. This brute stood as tall as the mutated An Sheng, with a bald head and bulging muscles all over his body. Despite it being deep winter, he wore ancient metal armor and carried a two-handed long-handled warhammer. His body was emitting an earthy yellow glow, suggesting that the gravity suppression they were currently enduring likely originated from this bald brute.

Gu Qingshui’s expression still showed lingering shock and uncertainty – he had nearly met his end here just moments ago. Each Purifier’s superpower had its own strengths and were incredibly powerful, but they weren’t invincible. For instance, Purifiers focused on attack generally had weaker defenses, and most Purifiers used their Deification Factor to enhance their superpowers, leaving their physical resilience somewhat lacking. Only when reaching the Advanced Purifier state could they achieve Physical Energization, granting them some capability to defend against powerful weapons or skills.

However, Energy Transformation wasn’t omnipotent. Even Advanced Mutants could energize their bodies, but maintaining that state required consuming massive amounts of Deification Factor. After all, every Purifier’s Deification Factor was limited, making it impossible to sustain the energized state for extended periods. So if An Sheng and the others truly understood Purifiers, they wouldn’t find these fellows so terrifying.

Just at the moment of explosion, the woman with lightning ability had arrived in time and rescued Gu Qingshui, allowing him to escape death. His body didn’t possess An Sheng’s monstrous defense and self-recovery capabilities, and he had been restrained by An Sheng earlier, unable to dodge or activate defensive abilities. If that blast had truly struck him directly, he would have been dead beyond doubt.

“I shall never forget Young Miss Fang’s life-saving grace. After completing this mission and returning, I will give half of my obtained Energy Quota to Young Miss Fang.” Gu Qingshui clasped his hands and bowed, making this promise to repay the female Purifier before him.

The leather-clad Young Miss Fang chuckled softly, helped Gu Qingshui up, and didn’t forget to flirtatiously wink at the handsome man before her.

“At least you have a conscience. But compared to that Energy Quota, I prefer you more. Hahahaha…”

Watching the two flirt halfway up the mountainside, the bald brute below grew displeased and shouted at them: “Fang Yi, if you want to seduce this pretty boy, do it after we return! Can’t we handle business first now?”

Having her flirtation with the handsome man interrupted, Fang Yi instantly lost half her good mood and retorted irritably: “You big oaf, what’s there to fear from these few pieces of trash? Can’t you handle them yourself?”

“Then who gets the credit? You two flirt while I work myself to death down here, and still have to share the Energy Quota with you? Do I look like I have nothing better to do!”

An Sheng and the others watched these Purifiers arguing as if nobody else was present, their words already treating them as dead men, which was truly infuriating. But anger aside, they absolutely had the confidence to do so – after all, just Gu Qingshui alone had required the entire fortress to mobilize, and An Sheng had nearly sacrificed himself injured just to almost eliminate him. Now two more had arrived – it seemed today would be their final day.However, An Sheng and the others knew that since they couldn’t avoid it, they might as well fight with all their might. After all, their opponents would never let them go. And as for escaping? That was even more out of the question. Perhaps it would be possible for just the few of them to flee, but what about their families back in the fortress? They would never abandon their loved ones and run away alone. At worst, they would all set out on the final journey together—the road to the Yellow Springs wouldn’t be lonely!

“It’s time to go all out, brother!” An Sheng turned to look at Nie Chong beside him. After exchanging a glance, they both understood what the other was thinking.

Seeing Nie Chong nod, An Sheng shifted his gaze to Xun Lili. The girl had initially been somewhat flustered, but when she met An Sheng’s resolute eyes, she instantly regained her composure. A look of fearless determination appeared on her face as well. An Sheng smiled with relief. Unconsciously, they had all become family who weathered storms together—not only sharing joys but also facing life and death as one!

“Then let’s do it! Let’s have a good, fierce battle with these Purifiers!”

An Sheng shouted these words in his heart, then drew in the black flames enveloping his body. Even the dark fire hovering in the void above his twin horns vanished. But a strange transformation occurred on his body: his originally purple skin, which had only been adorned with silver metallic patterns, now began to develop black flame-like markings around those metallic lines.

This was a state beyond his limits that An Sheng had recently unlocked—drawing the black flames into his body and burning his own pheromones to gain immense power. This Move was self-created by An Sheng, inspired by Luffy’s Gear Second ability in One Piece, achieved through burning his blood. Though it inflicted severe damage on himself and could only be maintained for a maximum of five minutes, during this brief period, An Sheng could boost all his abilities by more than fivefold!

What did a fivefold An Sheng mean? In terms of speed alone, he could achieve a terrifying velocity of four times the speed of sound while running, and his flight speed could exceed six times the speed of sound! That was just speed—his strength was even more terrifying. When An Sheng first tested this Move, he punched a several-tons-heavy bluestone into fine dust. Moreover, after absorbing the black flames, his attacks carried a scorching effect. An Sheng gave this Move a resounding name: Hell Transformation!

But what would happen after those five extreme minutes? An Sheng hadn’t dared to test it. The longest he had maintained this state was three minutes, and even after that brief period, his internal organs, muscles, and blood vessels had suffered varying degrees of damage. With his current Talent Ability recovery rate, it had taken over half an hour just to barely heal the injuries. Although, based on his stored pheromones, the theoretical limit for burning them was five minutes, if he truly exhausted all his pheromones, would he be unable to suppress the flames and turn to ashes?An Sheng didn’t know, nor did he need to know right now. Because if he didn’t eliminate these Purifiers before him, even if he didn’t die from the backlash of his own Hell Transformation, he’d likely be mercilessly killed by these Purifiers anyway. Since death loomed over his head regardless, he might as well drag them down with him before he died!

“Hell Transformation!” With An Sheng’s furious roar, his entire figure instantly vanished from where he stood. The next moment, the Demon’s silhouette appeared beside the Bald Brute. Before the brute could react, An Sheng delivered an uppercut to his chin, the tremendous force sending the two-meter-tall giant flying into the air.

Thinking it was over? Of course not! An Sheng’s body sprang up rapidly, blasting a crater two meters in diameter and half a meter deep into the ground. His form shot forth like a supersonic artillery shell, instantly catching up with the airborne Baldy. Simultaneously executing a knee strike and elbow strike, metal bone spikes over ten centimeters long pierced deep into the brute’s neck and abdomen. The colossal force sent the brute’s body crashing into the mountainside of Yushan like a meteor tearing through the sky.