The perspective shifts back to the aircraft cabin.
Knowing there are tigers on the mountain, yet having to go to that tiger-infested mountain.
This was the "tragedy" of being a Fusion Soldier—Ethan, whose main job was to guard the premises and who excelled at "robbery and extortion," saw Fusion Soldiers in this light.
After all, the reason he became a Fusion Soldier.
Was merely to protect his O-ss from the big shots at Dragon Field.
"You get down there first."
Arno didn't ponder for too long before agreeing to Ethan's request.
"Scout the situation near the landing point."
"Don't even think about taking the opportunity to slip away—this city has long been enveloped by Honkai energy. Even a Fusion Soldier can only last two days at most."
After all, their interests were aligned.
Arno still looked out for Ethan a bit, assigning him a relatively safe job.
After saying this "remark intended for who knows whom," Arno's gaze shifted to the only female team member—only after she gave an almost imperceptible nod did the proposal truly pass.
Black, shoulder-length hair, a pretty face with a serious expression.
Her gray-black uniform couldn't conceal her well-proportioned curves—a strikingly contrasting green inner "lab coat" indicated her direct affiliation with the upper echelons of the "Biological Research Institute."
She didn't look like a Fusion Soldier.
If...
She hadn't been leaning on that long spear made of Soul Steel—entirely silver, with a built-in Honkai energy conversion device, powered by an artificial Honkai Core.
A woman named "Xiū."
The "Overseer" and "Researcher" dispatched by the Biological Research Institute, the true person in charge of this operation.
"Two minutes until arrival at the site."
The squad was ready, and just as the voice came from the cockpit, an even more piercing shriek of air tearing through space instantly overwhelmed the hum of the rotors.
In the next instant—
"BOOM!!"
————
A purple, crystal-pillar-like long spear tore across the sky.
As it pierced the Banshee's fuselage from the tail, the weapon, constructed from Honkai energy, instantly shattered, transforming into countless sharp fragments that scattered and flew apart.
Left rear, right front.
Two rotors were simultaneously wrecked.
This was merely the damage inflicted on the machinery—the shrapnel formed after the spear shattered caused even more terrifying injuries to human bodies. The two ordinary humans in the cockpit, unprotected, were riddled with holes in an instant. Even the last squad member in the cabin, a fellow Fusion Soldier whose name hadn't even been announced yet, was killed instantly, cashing in his chips.
Arno reacted the fastest. He immediately pulled Xiū behind him—if she died, they would all likely have to accompany her in death—and propped up one arm diagonally in front of him. An energy shield made of Honkai energy firmly blocked the attack.
Ethan's movements were equally swift.
Don't let his unseemly image fool you; self-preservation was his greatest talent—the diamond-shaped riot shield on his back was deployed instantly, and his right hand casually drew the dagger strapped to his calf.
A large shield paired with a short dagger.
This rather peculiar combination was Ethan's complacent means of survival.
"Damn it!"
From the ambush until now.
Less than two seconds had passed, yet they had lost half their members. Moreover, with the Banshee damaged, returning would become exceptionally difficult.
More critically.
They hadn't even detected the enemy that had been tailing them.
"Clack!"
The crystal fragment embedded in the cabin wall was crushed to powder by Arno's grip.
A raw Honkai energy weapon—humans wouldn't use such a thing. That was a combination move called [Honkai Lance Projection] and [Honkai Crystal Wall Shrapnel].
Either one of these appearing alone.
Was proof of encountering a "Floater-class Honkai Beast."
And when a move that could simultaneously integrate both "techniques" appeared, what they encountered was likely a special individual among the Floater-class:
[Variant Floater-class Honkai Beast]
————
Floater-class Honkai Beast.
Its appearance resembled a jellyfish with four flat tentacles.
It excelled at using Honkai energy to create pseudo-physical weapons, a master of both ranged and close combat.
This type of Honkai Beast mostly lived in the deep sea. Occasional individuals were encountered near coastlines; its appearance here was highly abnormal.
Information about the Floater-class instantly surfaced in Arno's mind.
He was no stranger to this type of Honkai Beast, having fought them more times than he had fingers on one hand. Moreover, Arno's weapon, the "Steel Arms," was loaded with a Floater-class Honkai Core.
But speaking of [Variant]... this was his first encounter.
"I'm fine."
A female voice came from behind Arno.
Although she had frozen for a moment when the attack came—Xiū, though stronger than Arno as a Fusion Soldier, had no actual combat experience—she was, after all, specially trained personnel and quickly recovered from the shock of the assault.
After confirming this "young lady" was unharmed, Arno immediately initiated countermeasures.
"Ethan!"
"Understood!"
An eighteen-centimeter diameter cylindrical warhead.
Taken from Arno's waist, it was tossed to Ethan, who was hiding behind the riot shield.
This fellow was greedy for life and terrified of death.
So, when death was possible, the combat will he could erupt with was also quite astonishing—the Banshee had lost control but not all power. If it could be repaired after a "safe landing," there was still a way out.
The premise was.
They couldn't take another hit of that magnitude.
"Click-clack!"
Received, loaded, aimed at the target.
RPG-9D model single-soldier anti-materiel missile launcher.
Capable of blasting through the explosive reactive armor of a main battle tank, it was now mainly used against Chariot-class Honkai Beasts—repelling one with a single shot was unrealistic, but as long as the hit location wasn't too far off, five consecutive shots could definitely temporarily paralyze a Chariot-class.
However, the "warhead" Ethan loaded wasn't intended to repel the Floater-class, but to force its body out into the open!
The abilities of [Variants] differed; the one tracking them now was clearly an individual with specialized hiding and camouflage capabilities—the Banshee's Honkai energy radar showed no reaction, and visual observation couldn't capture its tracks at all.
Therefore...
"Swoosh!"
Orange-red tail flames blasted fiercely against the cabin wall.
The swirling vortex caused the Banshee's internal temperature to spike by more than 10 degrees.
Ethan visually locked onto the direction from which the "lance" had come—to reiterate, his perception was considerably sharp and sent the primed warhead back the way it came.
"BOOM!!"
This wasn't some old-fashioned method like "dust revealing."
The warhead Ethan launched was called a [Honkai Energy Disruption Warhead]—this experimental warhead could affect the operation of all Honkai energy within a 20-meter radius.
The Floater-class's invisibility.
Was nothing more than a special application of Honkai energy.
Accompanied by a brilliant halo of refracted light, frequency waves like those from an old CRT television turning on flickered in the air.
Two seconds later—
A jellyfish, exuding a faint reddish glow, black and white on its inner and outer surfaces, with a single eye in its center, revealed its original form in mid-air.
Author's note:
PS: In this book, Honkai Beasts that "possess independent thought and creative ability" are described as "异种 (Yìzhǒng - Variant)," to distinguish them from ordinary Honkai Beast populations (and incidentally, to distinguish from the original meaning of "异种" which can mean "different species" or "alien species").