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Louis felt his blood boil from the intense scene, yet his mind stayed perfectly calm.
He stood back-to-back with Qingyi, facing the swarm of Ethereals closing in around them.
These creatures had no minds of their own.
They existed only to tear apart anything that was not one of them, so they charged forward in a mindless rush with no strategy at all.
Louis raised his shield to block the snapping jaws of a beast-like Ethereal and gripped his one-handed sword tightly.
He brought it down in a powerful slash.
The blade, forged from special material designed specifically to fight Ethereals, proved its worth instantly.
One clean strike split the beast-like Ethereal’s head in two, and its body slowly crumpled to the ground.
The head truly was the weakness of any Ethereal.
That fact was beyond dispute.
“Hoo…”
Louis took a deep breath and quickly steadied himself after his first kill.
Truth be told, if he had not had the Kamen Rider belt as a backup, he would never have stayed this composed.
It was exactly because he had a way out that he could face the horde of Ethereals with such steady nerves.
Any ordinary soldier seeing this on their very first battlefield would have had their legs turn to jelly.
“Good.”
Qingyi noticed the strength and calm mindset Louis had just displayed and gave him a smile of genuine praise.
She felt that the Special Task Force had truly struck gold this time.
Raw power was important, but this kind of mental fortitude was the most valuable quality of all.
A short while later, more than a dozen Ethereals lay defeated at Louis’s feet, but countless more kept surging forward.
He glanced instinctively toward Zhu Yuan.
She was also under heavy siege by the creatures.
Without her solid combat skills, the Dullahan would have already cut her clean in two.
Louis knew this could not go on.
The biggest difference between humans and Ethereals was that the latter were monsters with seemingly endless stamina.
If the fight dragged out, the humans would be the ones who fell.
Ignoring Qingyi’s attempts to hold him back, Louis broke into a run toward Zhu Yuan.
It was time to throw himself fully into the fray.
Zhu Yuan was struggling as well.
She could reload her shotgun fast enough to keep up with the demand, but her other weapons took far longer.
Relying only on shotgun shells made it difficult to finish off the Dullahan while she was also forced to fend off the endless swarm of smaller Ethereals.
She was in a very dangerous position.
Just as Zhu Yuan kicked one Ethereal away and seized the moment to reload, the Dullahan’s black-hole-like head suddenly appeared right in front of her.
Adrenaline surged through her.
Even if her combat suit could absorb the hit, it would still lead to a slow defeat.
The Dullahan swung its right-hand cleaver down, aiming to slice Zhu Yuan in half.
At that life-or-death instant, a shoulder slammed into her from the side, knocking her clear.
A shield rose immediately to block the descending cleaver.
“Louis?”
Zhu Yuan stared in shock at the person who had just saved her.
She had clearly told him not to come over.
Why was this guy ignoring orders?
“Captain Zhu Yuan, this is all I can do for you right now.”
Louis’s voice rang out.
The very next moment, the Dullahan raised its foot and delivered a brutal kick straight into his shield.
The creature was no mindless puppet.
It would never simply stand still while they talked.
Its movements were lightning fast.
Almost the instant its cleaver was stopped, it followed up with the kick.
Louis could not withstand the force.
His body flew backward and smashed hard into a nearby building.
His condition was unknown.
“You…!”
Zhu Yuan felt a sharp pang of sorrow and guilt.
She knew Louis had only been hurt because he had rushed in to save her.
All she could do now was hope he was durable enough to survive a blow like that.
“Louis?
Lou?”
Qingyi rushed into the ruins to check on him and found Louis lying amid the broken remains of an office desk in a surprisingly relaxed position.
“I’ve got no family to support.
Just make sure my pension goes straight to my card.”
Louis weakly raised his hand and gave Qingyi a thumbs-up.
Then his head lolled to the side and he passed out.
Qingyi froze for a second before quickly checking him.
When she confirmed he was only unconscious, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This guy really was incredibly tough.
Qingyi pulled a piece of black cloth from the tool pouch at her waist and draped it over Louis.
It was not to bury him.
It was to hide his presence and aura so the Ethereals would not sense that he was still alive.
While it was not perfect, with her outside drawing their attention, the chance of him being discovered was very low.
At that exact moment, Louis quietly opened his eyes beneath the cloth.
He felt a mix of amusement and helplessness at being covered up, but the time had come to move.
His partner had already arrived on the battlefield.
The Bangboo crawled over to his side.
As a Bangboo, its presence barely attracted any attention from the Ethereals, allowing it to reach him completely undetected.
Once the Bangboo slipped under the black cloth, Louis triggered the switch. Find the original chapter at g.com.
The Bangboo’s body rapidly elongated and its face transformed into a perfect human appearance.
In just one second, it had become an exact copy of Louis, serving as his substitute.
After taking on his appearance, the Bangboo’s second ability activated.
Ether energy mosaics spread across the body it was mimicking.
At that moment, Louis looked like a mosaic warrior.
While it was obvious he was a human male, every detail of his clothing and features was completely obscured.
This was the safest way to hide his identity.
After all, he could not guarantee he would never be seen.
Using ether energy like this was the perfect solution.
Louis got up and quietly slipped out through the building’s window.
He sprinted toward Zhu Yuan while no one was looking.
By now, Zhu Yuan had gradually gained the upper hand.
As an elite among elites, she could maintain her combat rhythm well enough that a single Dullahan stood no real chance against her.
However, the overwhelming numbers still gave her a headache.
If the Ethereals truly were endless, she would eventually have no choice but to pull back.
Just as Zhu Yuan prepared to make another attempt to finish off the Dullahan, the creatures surrounding her suddenly froze in place.
She noticed something approaching at high speed.
It was a red afterimage radiating a metallic luster under the sunlight.
As it passed one Ethereal, sparks flew from the impact.
The small figure knocked the creature aside with a single blow, performed an arrogant mid-air drift, and flew straight toward the roof of a residential building beside Zhu Yuan.
The red afterimage landed neatly in someone’s hand.
Zhu Yuan stared in astonishment at the figure who had suddenly appeared on the roof.
It looked human, but its features and clothing were completely obscured by a mosaic effect.
Only the metallic belt at its waist stood out clearly.
“Now, I have grasped the future in my hand.”
The figure holding the Kabuto Zecter spoke.
“Henshin!”
Before Zhu Yuan could even ask who he was, he inserted the Kabuto Zecter into the slot on his belt.
Henshin.
A specially processed voice rang out.
Zhu Yuan watched as hexagonal data blocks enveloped the person’s entire body.
Once the light faded, what stood before her was a man clad in a heavy red and white armor.
Bonus chapters
200 – Stones
400 – Stones
600 – Stones
And so on, do you best!