novelraw Chapter 3 : Talo Star
Chapter 3 : Talo Star
Flames erupted on the energy body's head.
The lizard head reared back with an annoyed cry, turning to see that iron lump had returned, its vertical pupils finally showing signs of anger.
The energy body turned and lunged toward Chen Sui, swinging its palm down like a five-finger mountain, which Chen Sui nimbly dodged.
She had activated the mecha's propulsion device to maximum, her figure moving as fast as a meteor.
Howling wind vortices surrounded her, sand and dust from the ground billowed everywhere, boulders were swept up and hurled in Chen Sui's direction.
The energy body made low growling sounds.
The air flow began to change.
The alternating fast and slow currents hindered Chen Sui's evasion.
Her high-agility movement was entangled by slow winds, immediately reducing her speed.
Debris carried by the tornadoes brushed past her; if Chen Sui hadn't dodged in time, she likely would have been struck and thrown away.
The sticky wind, like a swamp, wrapped around her with increasing precision.
Her speed grew progressively slower, to the point where she could no longer quickly change position.
Chen Sui became somewhat irritated.
She drew her light sword and, as the approaching wind vortex enveloped her, deliberately crashed into it, immediately intensifying the propulsion device, quickly cutting through the wind mass to escape from the entangling wind swamp.
Breaking free, Chen Sui spun the light sword, like a meteor of artillery fire, plummeting toward the lizard head's position.
Her wrist gripped the light sword tightly, and as she fell, she forcefully plunged it into the energy body's spine.
"Roar------"
The light sword sank in completely. The energy body, feeling this, howled in pain while frantically thrashing about, trying to throw her off.
Chen Sui held onto the light sword, veins bulging on the back of her hand.
She pulled it out forcefully, rapidly moving backward.
The light sword swiftly carved along the energy body's back.
The blade edge scraped against scales, sparking flashes of light, the sword's energy spilling into the wound, leaving a trail of sparks like fireworks in the wake of tremendous force.
The vertical wound ran the entire length of the energy body's spine, more than a meter deep, quickly provoking the energy body into frenzied roars.
The regeneration ability activated, the wound visibly healing, split scales gradually closing. Chen Sui jumped down from the energy body's tail.
Having been toyed with by an ant, the energy body seemed enraged, roaring continuously.
Accompanying its roars were increasingly tall tornado formations swirling up from the ground.
Suddenly, a wind blade shot up from beneath her feet. The mecha's propulsion device immediately thrust her up from the ground, avoiding the spinning wind blade.
The surrounding wind formations gradually merged and gathered, growing taller.
Rocks and vegetation were swept up together.
Many wind blades condensed between the wind formations, gathering intermittently, constantly moving, flying out in all directions.
Striking targets indiscriminately.
Chen Sui attempted to scan the energy body's information with her artificial eye.
Her prosthetic eye lens had detection programs installed, which might locate the most concentrated energy crystal position through energy fluctuations in the healing wounds.
In a place she hadn't noticed.
The ends of her short hair began extending slightly forward, the color becoming increasingly intense, even faintly emitting green light, the tips curling up. What emerged was not new hair strands, but something resembling plant tendrils like emerald buds.
A small green sprout grew from the top of her head, its leaves still extending.
The tiny, tender leaves, not even as large as a fingernail, trembled with her dodging movements, unable to maintain even a virtual shape.
Wind blades pursued Chen Sui's position, coming one after another, frantically stabbing toward her. After she nimbly jumped away, they instantly dissipated in the air, only to form new wind blades and continue the attack.
The mecha moved rapidly as huge tornado formations roamed on all sides.
The sharp-edged wind blades effortlessly shattered huge rocks, with debris following the wind vortices upward, spinning at high speed, a layer of dust enveloping everything from ground to mid-air.
Mr. Pyson tried to locate Chen Sui's position amid the commotion.
But his line of sight was blocked by dust clouds everywhere; he could only see the blue light source of the mecha moving rapidly through the air, tracing lines of fluorescent streaks.
As Chen Sui moved nimbly, a strange power suddenly welled up from deep within her body.
Like a gentle stream flowing slowly through her entire body.
The cool temperature quickly dispelled the restlessness in her heart.
Her mind became increasingly clear, the previously rapidly flashing scenes now playing frame by frame in slow motion.
At the same time, through her left eye's green pupil, the originally pitch-black, thick scales gradually became transparent, nearly void-like.
The energy body's hard skin became like thin paper.
With one glance penetrating through, she saw various blood vessels climbing on the skeletal framework below, bright red fluid flowing throughout the body, light red fluid gathering from all limbs to a single location.
This scene only remained briefly for a second or two.
She blinked, and before her were once again the black scales and the fiercely roaring energy body.
Chen Sui absorbed information from her vision. At that moment, the tornadoes surrounding her suddenly converged toward the center, encircling the momentarily stationary mecha.
"Clang!"
The surrounding wind vortices collided and merged.
Chen Sui was wounded by the edge of wind blades, the intense pain jolting her awake.
Her gaze locked onto a specific location on the energy body.
The wind vortex pulled her into the center, beginning to rotate violently as the tornadoes merged and moved.
When two wind formations merged, their wind blades intersected like shattered glass fragments cutting skin.
Countless wind blades sliced through the mecha.
The basic mecha, like paper, was pierced with numerous cuts.
Wind pressure flipped her over and over.
Her brain, in the high-speed rotation, became dizzy, almost unable to think.
Chen Sui was carried by the tornado, spinning at high speed, still able to hear the energy body's low roars, seemingly expressing its pleasure at having dealt with the annoying iron lump.
She endured the discomfort of being spun by the whirlwind, and just as she saw the energy body raise its head, apparently about to control the wind vortex, Chen Sui suddenly opened her eyes with a whoosh.
A flash of cold light passed through her mechanical eye.
The exoskeleton now pushed to maximum, the energy cannon removed and held in her hand.
Just as the propulsion device fully activated.
Chen Sui's body, in an extremely tricky posture, using the enormous centripetal force from the tornado's rotation, suddenly plunged through the eye of the tornado.
The immense wind pressure passing through the mechanical skeleton's surface deformed her cheeks, eye pressure soaring at this moment, red blood vessels climbing in her eye sockets, enveloping her turquoise-like pupils.
Every muscle in her body exploded with strength, the tremendous pulling force and the powerful thrust of the exoskeleton resisting the centripetal force.
Then, along the tangent direction, she was flung out.
The enormous force converted into extremely high initial velocity, propelling Chen Sui like a falling meteorite, rapidly approaching the energy body.
Just as the energy body raised its head, Chen Sui instantly moved to the position in front of it, the energy cannon gripped in her hand, at the moment of contact with the energy body's surface.
She raised the energy cannon high, activating the energy source.
"Boom------"
The scorching heat and powerful recoil made Chen Sui's arm tremble continuously.
The mecha stood before the lizard head, appearing extraordinarily small compared to the mountain-like lizard head.
The energy cannon in her raised hands fired incandescent, high-temperature shells, cutting through the hard black scales.
The scent of blood and scorched gunpowder mixed.
Fire and fresh blood splattered.
This scene was unexpectedly heart-stopping.
Mr. Pyson had clenched his fist tightly when Chen Sui was swept into the tornado, deeply anxious for her.
He almost, almost believed this bold repair technician would die in there.
The compression of high wind pressure and the encirclement of wind blades could tear a person's body apart in just seconds, then turn even the sturdy mecha into fragments, especially this lowest-grade basic mecha.
But at the moment Chen Sui tore through the wind vortex and flashed out, Mr. Pyson truly felt astonished.
------She had emerged.
Escaped from a wind-attribute energy storm.
Relying solely on a basic mecha.
"My God......"
Mr. Pyson's eyes reflected the scene before him, pupils contracted, hands braced on the ground trembling, the robust man so shocked he almost lost his voice.
The energy cannon's flame impact broke through the scales, entering the lizard head's flesh.
Sparks overflowing from the cannon mouth spread along the energy body's contour, like a fan instantly opening.
Fierce fire burned from the cannon barrel all the way to the wound, opening a small hole like a volcano crater on the energy body, erupting with intense sparks.
Like a volcanic eruption.
The figure piloting the exoskeleton stood calmly at the volcano's mouth.
The energy body howled in pain, stretching its neck to try to distance itself from Chen Sui.
The energy cannon was thrown off by the energy body's struggles, with fluid mixed with flames flowing from the blasted wound.
As the cannon barrel moved away, exposing the wound, an extremely rich power surged from deep within the flesh.
Chen Sui seized the opportunity. As the energy body continued howling and struggling, she quickly switched weapons, drawing her light sword.
The light sword was several meters long. Chen Sui gripped it and forcefully inserted it into the wound, the end of the light sword disappearing inside.
"Slash------"
"Boom!"
The energy body suddenly seemed to enter a berserk state, beginning to thrash wildly.
Its tail crashed against the ground, the sounds of bang! bang! continuously ringing out.
Mr. Pyson watched this scene with widened eyes, while also avoiding the debris sent flying by the giant tail's ground strikes.
The surging blood in his heart had not yet subsided.
Before him, the mecha soldier gripped the light sword, hanging in mid-air as the energy body rolled and struggled, being thrown back and forth.
The surrounding wind approached her, condensing into wind blades, wind spikes, various weapons, even compressing the air she breathed.
But her hand did not loosen at all, and with each movement of the energy body, she used the force to push the light sword deeper.
"You monster," Chen Sui gritted her teeth, breathing in as much air as possible, competing with the surrounding wind formations for oxygen, while looking at the frantic and ferocious energy body, gripping the light sword and forcefully pushing it deeper, her gaze calm, tone contemptuous: "I've killed more than your entire family tree!"
Mere energy body.
"Annoying thing."
You destroyed my repair shop and still want to live?
Don't even think about it!
As she spoke, she raised her eyes with extreme ferocity, continuing to penetrate its skin with the light sword, stabbing deeper.
"Roar roar------"
The energy body roared in anger, the wound below its neck making it feel its energy crystal was exposed, its life in danger.
At this moment, it no longer dared to underestimate the iron lump before it. All the flowing and still winds around gathered toward Chen Sui's position.
Behind her gradually formed a huge white wind cone, its blunt pointed end frantically crashing and churning, trying to knock her off the light sword.
Wind blades cut her skin; Chen Sui could feel countless wounds opening across her body, subtle pain in every part of her limbs.
The pain made her nerves even more alert. Using the tremendous impact force generated by the wind cone, she drove the light sword even deeper.
The energy body belatedly realized it had outsmarted itself, more angrily driving its neck toward the surrounding rock mountains.
This move, however, made things even more convenient for Chen Sui.
Just as the energy body was about to approach the rock mountain, she rotated her body in advance, her toes heavily stepping on the rock wall, then with both hands gripping the light sword, her elbows burst forth with tremendous power at that moment.
Chen Sui's left eye emitted a soft green light.
The surrounding wind suddenly halted at that moment.
Debris splashed by the energy body hung suspended in mid-air.
Mr. Pyson's eyes widened, his excited hand forming a fist placed against his chest, the tense expression frozen on his face.
------Time in the energy field completely stopped at this moment.
In an unnoticed corner.
Weeds sprouted tender buds from the black soil, then grew wildly. Tree branches extended continuously, strange-shaped flowers bloomed from the black mud.
An unusual fragrance spread rapidly.
Chen Sui hadn't noticed any of this. During these few moments of stillness, she stood on the mountain rock wall, stomping hard on it.
Using the force, she drove the light sword completely in. The simulated blade of the light sword penetrated the thick skin and flesh, producing a dull friction and sawing sound against the bone.
Then------
"Crack......"
A crisp penetration sound rang out.
The light sword's blade quickly formed a claw-shaped capture device, locking onto an extremely small crystal.
If anyone could see, a white, indistinct mark had been scratched across the center of the crystal by the sword edge.
But a verdant force, following the sword edge, penetrated through the crystal's hard surface, shattering the grayish-brown energy mass inside.
Cracks spread throughout.