Koers decisively pulled the trigger. At such close range, the shot was perfectly accurate, piercing straight through the heart of a guard.
The guard’s eyes rolled back, and he immediately collapsed, unconscious.
Koers didn’t dare delay. In an instant, he drew his pistol from his waist. However, before he could raise it to fire, a guard standing just a few meters away beat him to it and pulled the trigger.
But Koers didn’t dodge at all, nor did he show the slightest hesitation. He once again resolutely pulled his own trigger.
Two bullets screamed through the air, one after the other. One struck Koers’ gun-raising arm viciously, blood instantly gushing from the wound; the other, like a sharp blade, pierced straight through the neck of the guard in front of him.
“Urgh…”
The feeling of dizziness washed over him once more, and the intense pain was like countless steel needles madly tearing through his brain. Koers’ consciousness began to fade; he could no longer think clearly, but only one determined thought remained in his mind.
That was to charge to the rear of the factory building and try to reload!
What Koers never expected was that a sniper in the distance had already locked onto him. The moment his figure was exposed, that sniper slowly pulled the trigger.
At the same time, the guard behind him, whose neck had been pierced, was still not dead. He forced his swaying, about-to-fall body to stay upright, tremblingly raised his gun, and aimed it at Koers, who was struggling forward with his injured body.
A distance of twenty meters now seemed infinitely long.
Finally, the adjutant breathed a long sigh of relief. The rifleman on the flank had finally been dealt with. That guy was incredibly tenacious, managing to injure so many people all by himself.
However, just as the adjutant was relaxing slightly, two clear gunshots suddenly rang out from the side again, and the guard who was about to raise his gun in front of him fell to the ground with the sound.
“What now!”
The adjutant was furious, scratching at his hair violently. One thing after another kept happening; they were already exhausted, having lost many key fighters. If another accident occurred, this place would surely be completely lost!
“Did you guys… just completely overlook me?”
The gang member who had previously handed Koers the gun limped out from the shadows, clutching tightly the weapon he had taken from one of the guards Koers had killed earlier.
He expertly popped open the magazine, but was disappointed to find it completely empty.
“Good gun, what a shame it’s out of bullets. Wasted.”
The gang member cursed, casually tossing the pistol into a nearby bush. Then, he suddenly lunged towards the guard he had just shot but who was still unsteadily standing.
At that moment, the distant sniper rifle rang out again. The bullet, like lightning, accurately hit the chest of Koers, who was fiercely lunging forward.
Koers’ body gave a violent shudder and he fell straight to the ground. This time, he couldn’t get up again.
Excessive blood loss made his consciousness even fuzzier, and the piercing pain turned his mind into a tangled mess.
Meanwhile, the gang member quickly grabbed the weapon from another fallen guard, expertly opened it, but again, there wasn’t a single bullet inside.
“Damn it!”
He cursed under his breath. Not only had he failed to get a loaded weapon, but he also hadn’t managed to draw the sniper’s attention away.
This was bad. Koers was down, and without a doubt, his own chances were slim.
Seizing the moment while the sniper was reloading, he used all his strength to hurl himself towards where Koers lay. He quickly grabbed the Winchester from the ground, then dragged Koers, who still seemed to be faintly breathing, with difficulty to the rear of the factory building.
This time, he didn’t bother opening the magazine; he just reloaded directly. Since opening it would just show it was empty, reloading directly was more practical.
“You’re really something, brother… No wonder the Second-in-Command had his eye on you. You drew half their fire all by yourself and even took out two.”
He looked at the unconscious Koers, his heart filled with emotion. If Koers’ shooting had been a bit more accurate, maybe he wouldn’t be lying here like a dead dog right now.
Although he had now reloaded, he understood that the sniper opposite was surely keeping a close watch on the area behind the factory.
If he dared to show his head, the sniper would definitely not hesitate to fire, turning him into a sieve.
“Dammit, why hasn’t the main front pushed forward yet…”
The gang member’s brow was furrowed as he quickly replayed the scene he had just witnessed in his mind.
The three submachine gunners in the front line seemed unharmed, and their fire suppression on the main battle line was still strong. It made sense that the main front was having difficulty advancing.
But there was one thing Koers might not have understood that he knew very well.
The submachine guns had been firing continuously for so long; the barrel temperature must be terrifyingly high by now. When their barrels overheated, that would be his perfect chance to shine!
Renith was still sitting steadily on that small earthen mound, intently watching every tiny change in the battle situation.
Honestly, she had already considered intervening. Looking at the current situation, the odds of victory for this gang team were despairingly low.
At such a critical juncture, who cared about rules like “soldiers fight soldiers, generals fight generals”? Preserving the strength of one’s allies was the top priority.
Right now, she was completely surrounded by a dense crowd of people. Each of them held various types of firearms, their eyes filled with vigilance, staring fixedly at Renith on the mound, afraid she might make any sudden move.
From those two volleys earlier, they hadn’t even touched a thread of Renith’ clothing. They couldn’t figure out what kind of method this person in front of them was using.
Although the guard side had long heard that there were formidable transmigrators in the gang, they never expected them to be this powerful.
Clearly, this group had mistaken Renith for one of those legendary transmigrators.
“Ahem… sorry about this, the transfer order arrived a bit late. Is it still okay if we join in?”
A sudden voice rang out quietly from behind the guard team. Everyone turned their heads to look back, but they only heard the muffled sound of something heavy hitting the ground behind them, and didn’t see a single figure.
Renith’ gaze fell upon this group of guys draped in black trench coats. From them, she keenly detected a rich concentration of “Qi.”
These were all experts who had achieved some success in cultivation. The strongest among them had already reached the level of a Viscount, and the weakest was at the level of a Baron.
However, they most likely wouldn’t be able to obtain noble rank or rewards.
As soon as they appeared, they flashed into the encirclement like phantoms, their movements astonishingly fast. Along the way, with swift strikes, they also lopped off the heads of several officers.
“Who exactly are you people?”
Renith was filled with doubt; she had never heard of such reinforcements arriving.
“We can only tell you that we report directly to the Big Boss.”
One of them said in a deep voice.
Renith suddenly understood. So these men were subordinates carefully cultivated by the gang leader, who must be some kind of noble. For a noble to be able to cultivate an expert of the Viscount level, that noble’s own strength and influence must be quite considerable.
The conversation between Renith and this group clearly reached the ears of the guard and police chiefs. They immediately ordered their men to draw their weapons, quickly turning around, ready to raise their guns and fire.
Seeing this, the three suicide fighters didn’t hesitate and also drew their guns.
This scene made Renith feel a mix of amusement and exasperation. She thought to herself: Aren’t you fighters? Why are you playing with guns too?
As if sensing Renith’ confusion, the three suicide fighters took a deep breath, and the power within their bodies surged towards their hands, finally stabilizing as it attached itself firmly to their guns.
This feeling seemed familiar to Renith.
The image of Hethis popped vividly into her mind again, bouncing around and refusing to go away.
“Oh, oh, oh, so ‘Qi’ is such a wondrous thing! Why haven’t I noticed it before? So, internal ‘Qi’ can actually be channeled through a medium, thereby transforming into a more powerful attack.”
Hethis muttered to himself, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Moreover, it’s precisely because this ‘Qi’ attaches itself to different mediums that it allows fighters to possess abilities similar to mages manipulating certain materials. How should I put it… It’s as if one can move objects from a distance without touching them – it’s utterly marvelous!”
“Wait a minute… Isn’t this just an enhanced version of Ripple Walking!”
The more Hethis thought about it, the more excited he became, his voice unconsciously rising a few notches.
Anrud and Alegia watched quietly as Hethis talked to himself. After the last battle, it was as if Hethis had suddenly comprehended something profound. He kept injecting his “Qi” into a tree in front of him. Under the infusion of “Qi,” this originally lifeless tree unexpectedly sprouted tender green leaves, as if it had been reborn.
Then, Hethis found some small stones and slowly infused his “Qi” into them. Those previously ordinary stones, under the infusion of “Qi,” faintly emanated a sharp, fierce aura, clearly becoming more lethal.
“If we could attach ‘Qi’ to guns or artillery shells… the power… I simply can’t imagine it!”
“What is a gun?”
Anrud asked curiously.
“Well, it’s uh… a kind of iron tool made by craftsmen. You fill it with something similar to natural fire elemental magic, which then propels a metal piece inside outwards, making it a weapon that causes harm.”
Hethis tried his best to explain in terms Anrud and the others could understand.
Anrud nodded as if he half-understood, then promptly disappeared into the tent and started tinkering.
Seeing the two of them being so “off-task,” Alegia became furious and yelled loudly:
“Hey, hey, hey, you bunch of slackers! Can you guys focus on defeating the Demon King first before thinking about all this random stuff? Our primary mission is to defeat the Demon King!”
Hethis scratched his head, smiling a bit sheepishly; Anrud also stopped his work, looking quite embarrassed.
Indeed, defeating the Demon King was their team’s current priority, allowing no room for distraction.
Of course, in the end, Anrud did manage to create something resembling a gun, but it was on the magic side. However, because he found it too energy-consuming, he shelved it immediately and never used it again.
In this era, since guns were already being manufactured, according to Hethis’s line of thinking, attaching “Qi” to bullets was completely feasible.
Just like the Viscount they encountered earlier, with the boost from his “Qi,” the bullets he fired were terrifyingly powerful, easily piercing even a human skull without losing force, and could even penetrate the bodies of two people standing behind.
To deal with a weapon of this power, Renith would have to use Holy Light Magic, or dual-cast Earth Magic, or… well, simple magic simply couldn’t stop a bullet fired by a Viscount.
