Chapter 608.3: Get Up.

As if on cue, a smoking aircraft skidded onto the deck, gear snapped, rolling over.

Half a wing was gone.

A cluster of mutants clawed at the cockpit, gnawing through it. Gunfire cracked from inside.

Saving lives came first. They would forget the boss for now.

Ample Time nocked an explosive arrow, loosed it at the nearest mutant.

The blast tore through its spine, fragments peppering others, wings shredded and bloody.

Shrieking, they staggered back.

Tracer fire then cut them down, skulls bursting one after another.

Old White charged, axe cleaving a fanged skull on the cockpit.

Inside, Falling Feather gasped. His chest and shoulders shredded bloody and he was barely alive.

Well, at least he was still breathing.

Scarlet tendrils sprouted from his wounds, knitting flesh at a visible pace.

“Tha...”

His thanks died as Old White’s axe slammed into the front of his plane.

Sparks showered and the half-dead Falling Feather jolted wide-awake.

“What the hell?! What are you doing?!”

“Borrowing this!” Old White ripped the 20mm autocannon from under the nose.

Falling Feather’s eyes bulged. “Are you kidding?! It’s out of ammo...”

Before he finished, Ample Time came sprinting over with a supply crate. “Catch!”

He hurled it.

“Thanks, brother!” Old White snatched it, smashed the lock and fed the belt into the feeder.

Gripping the gun like a tank turret, he leveled it at the boss with a twisted grin.

“Die!”

He squeezed the trigger.

Flames roared and tracer rounds raked across Gaen.

In his exoframe, Old White was like a walking tank, muzzle flash reflecting off his breastplate.

The boss staggered under the barrage. His flesh ripped and he roared in pain.

However, he didn’t fall. He tanked it, body healing even as it shredded!

Quit Smoking gasped in shock. “Cheating bastard?!”

Old White too was stunned.

What the hell is this thing?!

Gale was the only one who remained calm. “Rationally, half a ton body weight and able to fly at speeds of 100 km/h. His muscle fibers are probably stronger than steel.”

“They are self-healing too...” Ample Time muttered, glancing at Falling Feather’s nearly closed wounds, then at the winged monster.

Mutant Slime Mold was their DNA vault. A Na Fruit had been spliced from it.

If the Torch Church made that creature too, similar gene fragments might be inside... If conditions allowed.

As their boss took fire, the winged creatures around him went berserk, diving at Old White.

Cursing, Old White shifted fire, shredding them instead.

But Gaen howled, charging him.

Two steps in, sudden dread stabbed his chest. He shifted instinctively.

Agony speared through his torso as a round burst from his back.

He roared, staggered, and whirled around. The next thing he saw was an azure exoframe at the lift, holding a fork-barreled rifle.

Gaen’s pupils shrank.

Azure!

No mistake!

“You! The New Alliance’s leader! Hahaha!!”

Pain twisted into joy, laughter booming as he launched skyward, wings whipping gales that sent men sprawling.

Amid the storm, aiming was impossible.

Chu Guang stood unmoved. Calmly stowing his Gauss rifle, he drew his Nitrogen-Powered Hammer.

Simple penetration wouldn’t kill the creature.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Through his visor, he saw the wound knitting shut.

Stranger still, he had aimed for the left chest and hit the right. Maybe it had sense like the perception types.

“What a twisted thing.”

“Does seeing me excite you that much?”

Chu Guang’s calm voice rang through the air.

Gaen, thrilled at recognition, shook with frenzy.

Not just him, but the spectators too.

On his research craft, Yang Kai gasped, spilling coffee on his pants unnoticed. “Are you insane?!”

Dr. Conclusions had never calculated that possibility.

100 kilometers away, Arzu too was stunned, then a look of ecstasy appeared on his face.

Through Gaen’s Biotic Armor, he sensed Chu Guang.

“Kill him! Do it now!”

The administrator was truly there!

It was the jackpot. If that man died, every problem would vanish.

No voice was needed to remind Gaen what to do.

Though Gaen felt a faint threat, he dismissed it.

He heard of Chu Guang and his exoframe.

It was an exoframe made by the pre-war Carlos Industrial Security. P-10A type Order exoframe. Even though its defensive capabilities were no joke, it was poor in both speed and offense.

So what if it was tough?

He would just grab the exoframe and toss it off the deck. It would be like an eagle smashing a turtle.

“Oh... I’m trembling! What a prize tonight’s hunt brings...” Gaen licked cracked lips, muscles taut. “They say you’re the New Alliance’s strongest. I hope your blood is different from the sheep. Bring me joy for a while.”

“I’ll savor it slowly.”

He was a beast poised to strike.

With his eyes scanning around, he hunted for flaws.

Chu Guang too watched him, hammer thrumming, compressing air to invisible walls.

He hadn’t fought in some time, but his body was ever-honed.

In his dreams, he had died again and again...

Battle was instinct, written in his DNA, awakened each time he leveled up.

“Little Seven.”

Its reliable voice chimed in his ears. “Got it, Master!”

There was no need for more. They synced perfectly.

Chu Guang’s lips curved faintly.

At the same instant, Gaen saw an opening and rushed over like a vulture diving after its prey. “Die!”

Four meters of muscle and wings plummeted like a shell, aimed at Chu Guang.

No doubt, the impact alone would crush him flat.

But... The unthinkable happened.

Chu Guang didn’t move an inch. An unstoppable force yanked Gaen to the side, forcing him off course.

The harder he fought, the firmer the grip of the strange force. His skull was forced down.

“AAAHHH!” He screamed, then slammed into the deck a step before Chu Guang.

One had to admit, his skull was hard. His skull dented the steel on the deck, and his arms sank deep into the structure.

Gaen felt as though some creature was trashing in his mind, making him dizzy. He didn’t know if he managed to destroy the azure exoframe.

It was then...

Footsteps that came from before him caused his heart to sink. Terror flooded him.

Struggling to get to his feet, he realized it was too late.

A mighty voice boomed in his mind. “Who said you could kneel?”

Looking down on the writhing beast, Chu Guang raised the hammer with both hands.

“Get up.”