The sensation of taking a shock grenade head-on is not pleasant. To deal with the Demon, shock grenades in this age are all of the ’large serving’ variety.
Even the Demon would be affected by shock grenades, let alone humans.
Although Yan Luo’s physical capabilities had been enhanced, they were not yet at the level where he could endure a shock grenade.
The explosion of the shock grenade gave him a splitting headache, with countless voices echoing in his mind, and he lost his vision for several seconds.
Fortunately, the moment Yan Luo sensed the incoming shock grenade, he activated the cloaking cloak, making himself disappear from radar and sonar detection.
Upon discovering Yan Luo’s figure disappearing from the radar, Brandon immediately deployed drones from his backpack.
Brandon’s backpack contained six drones; he only activated half of them, as he wasn’t sure if Yan Luo still had an EMP grenade in his hand.
Under Brandon’s control, the drones formed a vortex motion centered on him, expanding outward, scanning everything around, creating a map in Brandon’s goggles.
Thickets appeared one after another on the map, and none of the surrounding movements escaped the drones’ pursuit.
Soon, Yan Luo’s figure also entered the drone surveillance screen.
"Found you!" Brandon gritted his teeth.
Upon discovering Yan Luo’s location, Brandon activated his Engraving, moved nimbly, and dashed toward Yan Luo.
He didn’t run in a straight line; doing so would certainly be faster, but it might also subject him to Yan Luo’s counterattack. Brandon used the large trees in the forest as cover, darting back and forth among them, continuously closing in on Yan Luo.
At this moment, Shinkai Katsuyuki recovered from the effects of the shock grenade, breathing heavily as he laboriously retrieved his grappling gun from the backpack.
[Connect] Engraving activated, Shinkai Katsuyuki controlled the grappling gun with his will rather than mechanical structure, shooting the hook to the treetop.
The existence of this Engraving allowed Shinkai Katsuyuki to connect to all mechanical creations, but with his ability, he could only manipulate personal items. He required the [Magnetic], [Guidance], or [Extension] Engravings to control more machinery.
Shinkai Katsuyuki ascended to the branches, sharing the drone view and map with Brandon.
Now with both legs broken, he found it challenging to move. The best approach was to get onto the branches and provide cover for Brandon with a rifle.
As Brandon was about to reach Yan Luo’s side, Yan Luo raised a gun and shot down the drone.
Brandon had already delegated drone control authority to Shinkai Katsuyuki. At that moment, Shinkai Katsuyuki hurriedly deployed the remaining two drones, also releasing his own drone to provide them with vision.
Having lost sight of Yan Luo, Brandon halted his steps, refraining from moving closer to Yan Luo.
The death of Qiao Lingzhi made Brandon and Shinkai Katsuyuki extremely wary of Yan Luo; this newcomer to Hunter was far more dangerous than they had imagined.
To this point, Qiao Lingzhi was dead, Shinkai Katsuyuki was severely injured, even losing his ability to move freely, yet Yan Luo hadn’t suffered any injury.
Six drones flitted through the air, converging toward the spot where Yan Luo had previously appeared.
But then, an EMP wave swept through the forest, drones bursting with arcs and smoke, plummeting from the sky.
Because of Yan Luo detonating the EMP grenade at close range, his cloaking cloak was also compromised, his form appearing directly within the perception modules of Shinkai Katsuyuki and Brandon.
Conversely, the positions of Shinkai Katsuyuki and Brandon were also captured by Yan Luo’s exoskeleton perception module.
Shinkai Katsuyuki let out a panicked scream.
Yan Luo was using the grappling gun; as the winch retracted, he kicked against the trunk with his legs to accelerate his ascent.
Hearing the commotion, Brandon raised his shotgun and dashed out from cover, rushing toward Yan Luo.
The perception module suddenly sounded an alarm, alerting Brandon to landmines detected ahead.
Brandon’s eyes widened as he quickly halted his steps.
The landmine was detonated by Yan Luo, and the resultant shockwave slammed into Brandon, pushing his body several steps back.
Meanwhile, the steel cable of the grappling gun had fully retracted, and Yan Luo reached up to hook the tree branch above, flipping himself up.
Immediately after, he fired the grappling hook toward a nearby branch.
Noticing the hook firing, Shinkai Katsuyuki hastily swung his gun, but the next second he heard the rustling of branches. A sidelong glance revealed Yan Luo leaping high from the other side of the branch, heading toward another tree.
In mid-air, Yan Luo raised his shotgun, his sight aligning along the front sight, colliding with Shinkai Katsuyuki’s chest.
The trigger was pulled, the bullet shot out, hitting Shinkai Katsuyuki’s chest, skewing his body.
If Shinkai Katsuyuki’s body were whole, he could quickly realign himself, but now his legs were gone.
Shinkai Katsuyuki fell from the branch, and as he plummeted to the ground, his backpack airbags deployed, cushioning the impact.
Even so, Shinkai Katsuyuki was still knocked silly.
With a couple of harsh coughs, Shinkai Katsuyuki opened his eyes, looking dazedly to see Yan Luo rapidly sliding down the tree trunk.
Four meters above the ground, Yan Luo let go and jumped to the ground.
Shinkai Katsuyuki lifted his rifle, while Yan Luo raised his shotgun.
Their gazes clashed in mid-air as they both pulled their triggers simultaneously.
The hammers and firing pins struck the primers, igniting the gunpowder within the shell; the intense, explosive flames burst forth within the narrow casing, propelling the bullets out of the barrel like a fountain.
The scorching bullet spiraled through the air, trailing barely visible steam, speeding straight ahead.
Just then, Yan Luo suddenly dove to his left.
Shinkai Katsuyuki’s eyes widened sharply, "What the—!"
His body struggled, attempting to roll away, but the deployed backpack airbags held him in place, plus he had lost both legs and had no strength to roll.
The syllable barely escaped his lips when Shinkai Katsuyuki’s head was penetrated by that lone bullet.
Shinkai Katsuyuki’s body convulsed violently, his finger clenched tightly on the rifle’s trigger as its recoil moved his weak arm, firing bullets haphazardly.
Brandon, having just peeked out, was startled back behind the tree by the erratically flying bullets.
Leaned against the thick trunk, Brandon panted heavily, drenched in sweat.
"Shinkai, Shinkai, if you’re alive, say something..."
Brandon called softly for Shinkai Katsuyuki on the team channel, but the channel remained eerily silent.
Thus, Brandon’s heart sank into despair.
Qiao Lingzhi was dead, and Shinkai Katsuyuki was dead too...
Brandon’s eyes were fixed intensely on the figure detected by the perception module. As soon as the sound of rifle fire ceased, he turned and charged forward.
Before Yan Luo could circle around the tree, Brandon fired at the giant tree Yan Luo was hiding behind.
After unloading the bullets, Brandon pulled out a grenade, tossing it directly.
One grenade wasn’t enough, so he threw a second, then a third!
The grenades exploded one after another, yet the figure in the perception module remained active.
"Why won’t you die? Why won’t you die!!!"
Brandon yelled maniacally, picking up Shinkai Katsuyuki’s rifle, loading a new magazine, and maintaining a continuous barrage of fire toward Yan Luo’s direction.
Unbeknownst to him, the trees Yan Luo used as cover were Strong Trees, with trunks 1.5 meters in diameter, utterly impervious to bullets.
With bloodshot eyes and consumed with rage, Brandon charged toward Yan Luo’s location.
And then he stepped on a landmine.
Brandon, like a ragdoll, was flung high into the air, landing heavily.
His backpack’s airbags deployed upon landing, but he still coughed up a mouthful of blood from the shockwave of the landmine explosion, shaking his insides.
His eyes staring blankly at the shadowy treetops, through the gaps between leaves and branches, strands of crimson moonlight streamed down, falling onto the bloodstained grass.
Yan Luo approached with his gun raised, the lush weeds brushing against his ankles with a slight whisper.
Brandon’s eyes shifted with the sound, struggling to turn his head, and he saw Yan Luo, entirely unscathed, approaching.
A dry chuckle escaped his throat as Brandon’s lips parted slightly, as if to speak, but Yan Luo had already raised his gun.
A blossom of blood bloomed inside the helmet.