The Legendary Mechanic

"Yo—you're not human!" The Head of Research was terrified. His legs were soft, but his head was grabbed by Han Xiao, so he could not even collapse.

Han Xiao's Void Form only lasted a moment before disappearing. The Head of Research, who was staring at him, was the only one who saw his changes. Han Xiao's sudden change in appearance shocked the man.

Void creatures were not murderous, but their mysterious origin and strong powers could strike fear into the hearts of most intelligent species.

Han Xiao let go and allowed the guy to collapse onto the ground. He then looked around; the other researchers were all cowering in the corner and shivering. Those Sunils were just ordinary people, so the pressure that they felt from Han Xiao was because of his far superior level of life.

On the side, the military officers did not stop him and chose to ignore his actions.

"There's no need to hurt him. Let's go, Black Star." Herlous was quite touched. He did not want to bother about it initially, but he did not expect Han Xiao to speak for him or empathize with his words.

It was true. If not for the sake of his race, he could totally not care about them. As a Grade B Super, he could have a very comfortable life in the galaxy. Why would he need to take on the tough life of a mercenary? Those Sunil Supers who left were doing exactly that.

After following Han Xiao through so many adventures, Herlous had already come to view Han Xiao as a close comrade and reliable friend. Han Xiao was someone whom he could trust to have his back. Now that he was contributing to the Black Star Mercenary Group, it was not solely because of Han Xiao's promise. Images of them fighting alongside each other flashed through his mind, and Herlous felt a warmth in his heart.

The sun was setting. They left the restricted military ground and left the city, returning to the spaceship.

This time, Herlous grabbed Han Xiao and laughed wholeheartedly. "Haha, I don't actually care about what others say. When I was opening a bar, I heard these things too many times… but I appreciate it nonetheless."

"It was just frightening someone, small matter. People like you should be more respected." Han Xiao shrugged.

In order to have the officers contribute willingly, building a spiritual bond was crucial. He also had to keep up his image. If he wanted to build an image as a reliable leader, protecting his friends was the most fundamental thing that he had to do. These main characters all had minds of their own. If his actions opposed their creed, they would have conflicts among themselves.

Han Xiao's position was always neutral; everything that he did depended on the benefits and his mood, be it obeying the laws or stirring up chaos. Obviously, in such a situation where he could gain favorability just by expressing his attitude, he would definitely not miss the opportunity.

With a smile, Herlous raised the armor box in his hands and said, "Speaking of which, you have not experienced my combat capability in my final form, have you? Let's have a go at it!"

"Now? Are you sure?" Han Xiao's eyebrows raised. "Do you want to end this beautiful day with an overwhelming defeat?"

"Well, aren't you confident?" Herlous was very certain. "Shattered Light is the Commander Class armor that my brother tailor-made for me. It can increase my strength by more than fifty percent."

He sparred with Han Xiao frequently. Most of the time, he was crushed and could only be a training target. He had been frustrated about it for a very long time and had been waiting for the day that he could erase this shame and regain his pride.

He felt that today was the day.

He felt that it would be very difficult for Han Xiao to beat him after he got back his armor.

"Then I shall be gentler. After all, I'm the one that will repair your armor if I break it."

Han Xiao smiled. He could use this opportunity to reverse engineer the Commander Class armor's blueprint.

In a field under the sunset, the two of them stood two hundred meters away from each other. To them, this distance could be reached with just one dash.

Herlous wore Shattered Light. His face was covered by the helmet, and his armor was silver blue and intricate like a magnificent ancient knight's armor. Two soft, pure white metal plates that looked like cloths extended from each of his shoulders, hanging behind his back like a cape.

Hum!

An enormous, powerful white flame shot into the sky, and rings of shock waves spread out from the center, stirring up dust. It looked incredible. The ten-meter-long Battleship Slicing Blade was entangled in sharp, silver wind. The Shattered Light armor enhanced his Pugilist Energy.

The troops in the camp far away felt this shocking energy wave. Guards rushed to the edge of the camp and looked over with shock.

"Much stronger indeed." Han Xiao's eyes sparkled. From what he saw with his eyes, the energy wave emitted by Herlous while wearing Shattered Light was more than thirty percent stronger.

Boom!

Herlous slashed down with his blade, and a thirty-meter-tall silver energy arc slit open the ground, charging toward Han Xiao like a tsunami. Han Xiao's vision was instantly filled with silver light.

The compressed orbs expanded, and Void Dragon quickly attached itself to his body. Han Xiao stacked his hands together and aimed forward. With a surging gray light, the Void Jet Spray shattered the energy arc just inches away.

Swoosh!

The next moment, a sharp blade dashed past the remnants of the energy arc and slashed down. Herlous had followed behind the energy arc like an arrow shot from a bow. His attacks were precise and quick, closing the distance in no time and not giving Han Xiao any chance to deploy his machinery.

"A tactic I guessed correctly without even thinking." Han Xiao moved aside and dodged with ease. The blade slashed into the ground; the impact spread out under the surface and turned the ground within a ten-meter radius into cracked rocks.

Han Xiao swung his hand, and a black electromagnetic scythe unfolded and appeared.

"I got this close, and you still have the energy to talk?" Herlous snorted. He twisted the blade handle. The Battleship Slicing Blade retracted to about one meter long, suitable for close range combat.

Clank!

In the blink of an eye, the scythe and the blade clashed with each other more than a dozen times.

The two of them moved around swiftly, and the impacts from their clash turned the ground within a mile into a mess. The impact waves from a battle between Grade B Supers could destroy an entire city. The Sunil soldiers spectating from far away continuously exclaimed with shock.

Such terrifying individual destructive powers had these young soldiers astonished and admiring.

Herlous' powerful Energy was like a tsunami, striking one wave after another. When Pugilist reached this grade, their every move could cause huge destruction. Their body was their strongest weapon, especially for someone like Herlous who fought so aggressively.

Melee combat was the strength of the Pugilist class, but Han Xiao was not afraid at all. His various bonuses were not decorations. [One Against the World] alone gave him an eleven percent bonus in all attributes, and [Battlefield Wisdom] had started to stack up once the battle started.

Although I'm not afraid of melee combat, my strength is suppressed in this situation. Normal methods can't restrain Pugilists with such strong destructive powers. Han Xiao blocked the blade with his scythe and simultaneously activated [Repel—Thorns], reflecting a part of the damage.

Herlous' entire body suddenly shook as he was pushed away. His legs split open two fissures in the ground.

Swoosh!

Another compressed orb was activated, and two mechanical wings expanded behind Han Xiao. The wings released a hot wind, and Han Xiao levitated in the air. Although he could build anti-gravity devices, they were too large to become independent parts of the mechanical suit. He had yet to combine the blueprint for mini anti-gravity devices.

His ability to fly still came from the wings. Their power output was already enhanced, so reaching Supersonic speed was a breeze.

Clank!

Han Xiao opened his arms in midair, and almost a hundred compressed orbs shot out from the pipes. They landed on the ground and quickly expanded, turning into artilleries and many mechanical beasts.

The rain of bullets focused on Herlous; his armor was covered in countless fire sparkles.

Even though Han Xiao had yet to update and enhance his machinery and was still using gunpowder and electromagnetic artillery, his Machinery Affinity received higher bonuses after his Promotion, so their damage was increased too. At least it did not deal the minimum '1' damage due to not being able to penetrate Herlous' defenses.

Countless '-5' and '-6' damage numbers popped up continuously on Herlous' body, mixed with the odd '20' to '30' dealt by electromagnetic artilleries.

The damage dealt on one single instance was not high, but the horrifying attack frequency caused damage numbers to pop up from Herlous' body like a waterfall.

This time, Herlous growled, "This tactic… is not useful against me anymore!"