The sneak attack was successful.
The Floater-class didn't even have time to react, not even managing to deploy its [Honkai Energy Crystal Wall], before the [Drill Spike] directly pierced the soft, limp body lying on the ground...
"Bang!"
It missed!
The Floater-class didn't possess illusionary abilities. The body on the ground, which looked identical to the Floater-class, was actually a byproduct condensed from an excessive amount of Honkai energy—an operation similar to how a Ballista-class creates its [Ballista].
The attack hit nothing.
Arno, with the tables turned and the offensive-defensive momentum reversed, was now about to face the Floater-class hurtling through the air!
The opponent didn't use long-range attacks—such moves consumed too much Honkai energy, making them too inefficient for the current Floater-class. Close combat was more convenient. Instead, it used its soaring tentacles as weapons, delivering a horizontal slash straight at Arno's throat!
"Swish!"
The wind pressure stirred by the cold edge, even before it arrived, made Arno's neck ache.
The tentacles, their surfaces coated with almost solidified Honkai energy, were no weaker in strength than the alloy composing Arno's prosthetic limbs.
Blocking head-on would only result in being sent flying.
The best approach was naturally to duck and evade... but the Floater-class had a full four tentacles!
"Swoosh!"
A sudden burst of strength!
After becoming a Fusion Soldier, Arno could control his entire body's muscles with greater ease—the rapid contraction of his abdominal cavity quickly lowered his center of gravity, achieving an effect similar to a 'Thousand-Catty Drop'.
The nearly 40-centimeter difference in height allowed him to dodge the Floater-class's sweep.
But at the same instant, a second tentacle, oozing a dark red color, had already shot out like a venomous snake from its lair, aiming straight for Arno's heart!
"Crrrackle!"
Fine red sparks exploded on the metal surface.
Arno strained to twist his body away, trying to dodge the Floater-class's stab, while his [Steel Arm] blocked in front of him at a standard 45-degree angle, perfectly deflecting the attack.
The powerful force caused the surface of the [Steel Arm] to completely carbonize due to the extreme heat generated by friction. Internally, a fifteen-centimeter-long, two-centimeter-deep dent was gouged out.
Fortunately, he dodged.
The impact force was deflected to one side.
Furthermore, using this force, Arno, while evading the attack, suddenly exerted strength from his waist muscles, delivering a roundhouse kick straight at the Floater-class's gem-like single eye!
Thick white steam spewed from his heel.
The alloy prosthesis provided additional power for this kick, and from the front edge of his sole, a punch—only three centimeters long but made entirely of Soul Steel—shot out!
"POW!!"
————
Crystal fragments flew.
At a hair's breadth, there was no room for error.
Even so, in the less than 0.3 seconds before the roundhouse kick hit, the Floater-class managed to deploy its [Honkai Energy Crystal Wall].
Its strength already compromised, coupled with the hasty construction.
This crystal wall wasn't as sturdy as one might imagine.
Arno's combat boot, with a single kick, caved its surface in deeply. The Honkai energy constituting the crystal wall crazily dispersed outwards.
Failing to succeed in one blow, Arno immediately pressed his attack.
Shoulders swinging, arm bent like a bow.
The creaking [Steel Arm] clenched its front end into a fist the size of a casserole pot.
Step, punch!
The last [Drill Spike], along with the iron fist that shattered the crystal wall, shot out towards the Floater-class with a roar!
"BOOM!!"
The [Drill Spike] pierced clean through!
"Pfft!"
Vibrant purple stained the surroundings.
Overflowing Honkai energy gushed out from the Floater-class's body like a fountain.
A hole the size of a human head appeared on the Floater-class's front. The point-blank strike had inflicted unprecedented, massive damage.
However, Arno had no chance to celebrate victory.
This blow had severely injured the opponent, but it failed to shatter its Honkai Core as he had hoped.
The two tentacles that the Floater-class had kept unused shot out straight, crossing in front of its body like a cruciform shield, blocking... no, it should be said "deflecting" what should have been a fatal blow—just as Arno had done earlier.
Any living enemy is a threat.
Arno failed to finish off the Floater-class, so a counter-attack naturally followed.
The shattered fragments of the crystal wall scattered in the air; they were the Floater-class's best weapons.
"Swoosh—"
"Pfft!!"
Flesh, along with blood vessels and sinews.
All parts of him that were still flesh and blood were sent flying in all directions by this [Honkai Shard Storm].
In a mere instant.
Arno's body was "flayed by a thousand cuts," leaving behind a gruesome sight of only a dark silver metal torso and half a head.
He was able to preserve his life.
Only because the Honkai energy within the Floater-class had been too depleted.
————
Both were alive, so both wished the other dead.
Arno raised his arm; the Floater-class raised its tentacle.
The [Drill Spikes] were exhausted, and the [Honkai Lance Projection] lacked sufficient energy. Both sides simply brandished their weapons, yet it was the most primal form of slaughter—Arno wanted to smash the Honkai Beast's half-exposed Honkai Core, while the Floater-class wanted to crush this human's heart with a single thrust.
Their limbs crossed, missing each other by less than two centimeters.
At that moment—
"BOOM!!"
A finger-length, cone-shaped object tore through the air.
In the final instant before the tentacle could drench the earth with blood, the late "reinforcement" shot straight into the Floater-class's head.
[Vacuum Implosion Fracturing Warhead]
Describing it is a bit troublesome; just think of it as a "highly lethal anti-personnel weapon for biological targets" with power comparable to a personal pocket nuke, but with a blast radius confined to a directional 3 meters.
"KEEAAAA!!"
An ear-piercing shriek resounded through the air.
This was the Floater-class's death cry... of course, it might not be dead. Accompanied by the heavy "thud" of something hitting the ground, the Floater-class, with less than a third of its body remaining, was still "full of vitality," rolling all over the ground.
The girl took a leap, vaulting over a nearby obstruction.
The [Vacuum Implosion Fracturing Warhead] was still in its experimental phase.
To improve accuracy and prevent friendly fire, its blast radius had been compressed to the extreme.
When facing larger Honkai Beasts, if it didn't hit the core, it was difficult to kill the opponent directly—this wasn't a problem for experienced Fusion Soldiers, but for Xiū, a battlefield novice, especially while injured, guaranteeing results was difficult.
Fortunately.
For the equally heavily injured Floater-class, such an injury was practically no different from death. Just a couple more shots would be enough to...
"Watch out!"
Just as Xiū was approaching Arno—saving people was more important to the girl than killing the enemy—Arno, suddenly remembering something he had overlooked, shouted loudly at Xiū!
And at the exact moment he spoke.
A purple-white sharp arrow shot through the air, covering a hundred meters in an instant!
Aiming for the spot where Xiū's second step was about to land—
"Swoosh!!"