209: Chapter 208 Ground Advance! Little Light Mech's combat power is off the charts; no matter how many Void Beasts come, they will all die.
Lin Feng leaped down from the mall's rooftop, the Wind Wings expanding to their maximum behind his back.
The azure wings of light traced an arc against the gray sky, skimming at low altitude toward the multi-colored rift.
But before he had flown even a few hundred meters, he sensed something was wrong.
The closer he got to the rift, the lower the concentration of Void Realm energy in the air became, but this wasn't a good thing—after the Void Realm energy was evacuated, it was replaced by an extremely chaotic energy turbulence.
It wasn't the corrosive dark purple of Void Realm energy, nor the gentle multi-colored specks of spiritual energy, but a pure, attribute-less primordial energy.
It felt like countless invisible hands pushing from all directions; the Wind Wings shook violently in the turbulence, the azure light wings flickering as they were torn, and his flight altitude plummeted from dozens of meters to less than ten.
Finally, he had no choice but to retract the Wind Wings and land back on the ground.
As his feet touched the rubble of the ruins, he realized this area wasn't just a no-fly zone; all energy flow was being disrupted by that rift.
Xiao Jin raised its antennae from his right shoulder, the purple light patterns flashing much more urgently than usual in the turbulence, letting out a low squeak from its throat—not a warning, but confusion.
It could sense weak, scattered treasure auras everywhere, but every single aura was being churned into fragments by the energy turbulence, making them difficult to lock onto.
"I can't fly anymore. Now that the Void Realm energy has been cleared out, this primordial energy in the air is even harder to control than Void Realm energy. The energy turbulence is too strong; is your treasure-hunting Talent still working?"
Lin Feng drew the dragon slaying sword and held it in his hand, testing the flow of mana within his body—fortunately, his mana was unaffected, though external skills might have their accuracy disrupted by the turbulence.
Xiao Jin lay on his shoulder, eyes closed as it sensed for a moment, then raised its second antenna on the right and shook it toward the front-left—the general direction was still usable, but the precision was much worse than before.
Lin Feng nodded, letting it coordinate navigation between vague directions and terrain judgment, then proceeded on foot along the ruined streets.
After walking for a while, he suddenly remembered something—Xiao Guang had a Gundam.
Since they couldn't fly, it would be better to let the mecha clear the way ahead.
This Gold-grade Puppet mecha was a high-mobility melee type, equipped with energy shields and a Short-Range Spatial Warp Module; it wouldn't be tossed around by the energy turbulence like the Wind Wings.
"Xiao Guang, pilot the mecha and take the lead."
Xiao Guang jumped down from his shoulder, pulled the palm-sized mecha capsule from the Storage Ring, and pressed it.
The capsule expanded in mid-air, and the three-meter-tall black mecha landed steadily on the rocky ground, its V-shaped eyepiece lighting up with a dark red arc of light in the dimness.
The sound of it entering the cockpit carried irrepressible excitement: "You should have let me out sooner! I wanted to say it when we couldn't fly—this terrain is perfect for a mecha advance. Your Wind Wings can't stay stable at all in this energy turbulence—watch me!"
The pulsation frequency of the dark red core in the mecha's chest synchronized instantly, and the Dark Energy Thrusters at its feet spat out a ring of pale blue flame as the mecha charged forward like a shell from a cannon.
Its advance was extremely fast, nimbly weaving around blocked walls and the wreckage of overturned trucks.
Lin Feng followed behind the mecha, dragon slaying sword in hand and the taixu sword box on his back.
Xiao Jin crouched on his right shoulder, antennae held high, responsible for guarding the flanks.
Just as the two people and one insect turned a street corner, over a dozen Void Unicorn Hounds suddenly swarmed out from the collapsed buildings on both sides of the ruins.
This pack of Single-Horned Dogs was different from those he had seen before—they were larger, and the faint void pulse light on their forehead horns became extremely unstable in the energy turbulence; a few were tossed about as soon as they rushed out.
But they quickly readjusted their direction, flanking the mecha from three sides.
Xiao Guang's voice in the cockpit cracked with excitement: "The first kill is mine!"
The mecha's right arm rose, five fingers clenching into a fist, and it smashed a punch into the head of the foremost Single-Horned Dog.
Bang! That Single-Horned Dog was sent flying, crashing into a broken wall; the horn on its forehead shattered into several grayish-white fragments, and its body turned into an empty shell before it even hit the ground.
The mecha's movements didn't pause for a second; as it retracted its right fist, its left leg delivered a side kick that sent the second Single-Horned Dog pouncing from the left flying, then used the momentum of the turn to smash its right elbow into the spine of a third Single-Horned Dog.
Crack! The crisp sound of the spine snapping and the sound of its grayish-white shell shattering rang out almost simultaneously.
"Satisfying!"
Xiao Guang let out a high-pitched shout from the cockpit.
During the final battle at the Zhou Family, it had mainly relied on Formation support. Although it had eventually used the Six Harmonies Heaven-Sealing Array to lock down the blood-boiling Zhou Tiannan, the feeling of "standing aside and helping others fight" was completely different from the current feeling of personally controlling a giant steel fist to blast away enemies.
It maneuvered the mecha to lunge and strike, one punch per kill; in less than a few minutes, the foremost Single-Horned Dogs were all smashed into grayish-white fragments.
But the number of Single-Horned Dogs was far more than just these few.
More Void Unicorn Hounds swarmed from the depths of the ruins on both sides of the street, their numbers increasing to at least forty, a larger scale than any previous encounter.
They split into two groups—one continued to charge the mecha from the front, while the other circled to the flanks, attempting to attack the mecha from behind.
A few even tried to climb onto the mecha's back to use their forehead horn pulses for point-blank strikes on the mecha's head.
"Xiao Guang."
Lin Feng shouted from behind.
"I know!"
Xiao Guang maneuvered the mecha to spin suddenly, the folding wings on its back snapping open, the dark purple mist membrane glowing faintly in the energy turbulence.
The air currents sliced by the edges of the wings swept the several Single-Horned Dogs clinging to the mecha's back away in unison, crashing into the building wreckage on both sides and turning into grayish-white debris.
Immediately after, the mecha clenched both fists, thrusters at full throttle, and the entire unit crashed into the frontal pack of Single-Horned Dogs like a black meteorite.
Boom! The seven or eight Single-Horned Dogs in the front row were directly sent flying. The mecha body plowed a several-meter-wide scorch mark right through the dense pack; the Single-Horned Dogs on either side were either knocked away or sent tumbling by the debris kicked up by the wings.
Lin Feng followed behind the mecha, dealing with the stragglers.
He swung the dragon slaying sword casually with his right hand, each strike precisely cleaving the Single-Horned Dogs' necks or waists—these areas had the thinnest shells, and Light-attribute damage had a restraint bonus, allowing him to kill one with every strike without needing Fusion skills.
His left hand occasionally condensed a light bullet to blast back Stone Scorpions trying to crawl out from gaps in the walls.
Xiao Jin crouched on his right shoulder and didn't intervene, only occasionally letting out low squeaks at the restless dark shadows deep underground; it was monitoring the movement trajectories of those Void Stone Scorpions to prevent them from launching a sneak attack from below amidst the chaos.
A few minutes later, the forty-plus Void Unicorn Hounds were cleared out.
The ground was littered with grayish-white shell fragments and several scorch marks burned by the mecha's thrusters; the air was thick with the gray mist aura of dead Void Creatures, which was quickly dispersed by the energy turbulence.
Lin Feng walked up to the mecha and patted its alloy leg plating: "Keep moving. You handle the ground advance, I'll handle the stragglers. Xiao Jin is on warning duty."
"No problem!"
Xiao Guang's mecha raised its right arm and gave a thumbs-up, its movements so fluid it didn't look at all like a new pilot who had started less than a day ago.
The thrusters at its feet spat out pale blue flames again, and the mecha continued advancing along the ruined street like a bolt of black lightning.
Lin Feng followed behind, clearing out stray Void Creatures while paying attention to the direction guided by Xiao Jin's antennae.
Along the way, they encountered several more waves of Void Creatures.
A wave of Void Stone Scorpions crawled out from the ground attempting to ambush the mecha, but Xiao Jin provided a warning seconds in advance.
Xiao Guang directly activated the Short-Range Spatial Warp Module, and the mecha instantly transferred behind the scorpion pack; the Dark Energy Cannon popped out from its right arm and blasted the densest area of scorpions, the explosion radius covering almost the entire open space.
The arm-thick dark energy beam exploded within the scorpion swarm, sending grayish-white shell fragments flying everywhere in the shockwave.
When the smoke cleared, the dozen or so Stone Scorpions were reduced to a ground of grayish-white debris and a few twitching remains with severed tails.
Lin Feng only had to finish off a few with light bullets.
Another wave of Void Shadow Leopards pounced from the shadows of collapsed high-rises; they were extremely fast, with Dual Cultivation in dark and wind attributes, and their claw attacks carried a tearing effect.
Xiao Guang maneuvered the mecha to engage the Shadow Leopards head-on—the Shadow Leopards' speed advantage was almost completely negated by the short-range spatial warp. The mecha kept blinking behind the Shadow Leopards to throw punches, each strike hitting their weakest point at the waist, sending these dark-attribute creatures that usually dominated the Void Corridor scurrying all over the street.
Lin Feng crouched behind the mecha, occasionally supplementing with an Entangling Vine to bind the hind legs of Shadow Leopards trying to escape, then letting Xiao Jin go up to spray Soul-Confusing Incense—Xiao Jin had waited the whole way for a chance to act and was so excited it jumped straight from the mecha's knee, its six golden legs springing like coils onto the face of the trapped Shadow Leopard, opening its mouth to spray a cloud of pale golden mist.
The Shadow Leopard's eyes rolled twice before it went limp on the spot, its neck being crushed by a back-kick from Xiao Guang's mecha.
"Xiao Jin, your Soul-Confusing Incense is even more useful than my Dark Energy Cannon! From now on, you're in charge of crowd control and I'm in charge of harvesting; our combo is invincible!"
Xiao Guang's mecha turned around and gave Xiao Jin a thumbs-up, a smug arc of light flashing across its V-shaped eyepiece in the dim light.
Xiao Jin straightened its upper body, two front legs on its hips, letting out several short squeaks—meaning, "It's a deal, don't steal my kills."
Lin Feng leaned against a nearby broken wall, watching these two little guys play off each other, the corner of his mouth curling up imperceptibly.
He sheathed the dragon slaying sword and looked up at the distant multi-colored rift—the light was brighter than before, and the seven colors were churning faster around the edges of the rift.
As they drew closer to the rift, the number of intercepting Void Creatures noticeably increased.
"These Void Beasts are a bit off."
Lin Feng walked over to the remains of a Stone Scorpion that hadn't completely crumbled into powder and crouched down, using his sword tip to pry open the shell at its abdomen—the shell joints had been re-permeated with new Void Realm energy in a short time, and its density was much higher than the Stone Scorpions on the periphery.
The Void Creatures along the way were being forcibly injected with more Void Realm energy to boost their combat power—not to eliminate the intruders, but more like they were trying to delay them from approaching that rift.