"Ms. Shizuka, take care of Miyamoto Rei, don't let her fall... Saffi, you drive!"
"Huh?"
Saffi hadn't expected Luo Jie to call on her. She was about to protest that she couldn't drive when she saw him already vacating the driver's seat. Swallowing her words, she stowed her shotgun and scrambled into position, gripping the wheel with white knuckles.
As Saffi took over, Luo Jie grabbed the roll bar and vaulted into the rear crew compartment. He signaled to Ross and shouted over the engine roar, "Use your [Acid Missile]! Aim for the Tank's head and chest!"
Ross couldn't fathom what his seemingly weak [Acid Missile] – which couldn't even melt regular zombies – could possibly do to the thick-skinned Tank. Yet, trusting Luo Jie implicitly, he acted without hesitation. Wielding his distinctly girly pink wand, he unleashed over a dozen deep green globules of acid before collapsing back, pale and utterly drained, like a wrung-out rag.
The acid globes flew slowly, almost lazily. An alert human could easily dodge them. But the enraged Tank charging behind them paid no heed to these harmless-looking "splash balls." Like a Russian who'd downed a whole bottle of vodka, it didn't even flinch or raise a hand to shield its face, letting every single globule splatter across its head and massive torso.
Sizzle—!
Acid sprayed, white smoke erupting where it contacted the Tank's sickly green hide. The corrosive burns were like pinpricks on its colossal frame, insignificant in scale. Yet the searing agony was undeniable. A deafening, earth-shaking roar tore from the beast's throat, raw pain and fury mingled.
Now!
Seizing the moment the Tank was blinded, Luo Jie exploded into motion. Launching himself like a raptor from the rear deck of the ATV, he soared through the air, his gleaming long sword already sweeping forward to meet the charging behemoth.
The Tank's eyes burned crimson. It bellowed, a sound that hammered the eardrums, and swung a hand the size of a car door, intent on crushing the insolent insect daring to challenge it mid-air.
Luo Jie shifted his grip to two hands. The [Engraved Blade: Pufferfish Poison] hummed, a violent whirlwind erupting from its narrow blade. He brought it down in a single, blinding arc of light aimed straight at the giant.
Secret Art: Steel-Cutting Flash!
The wind howled like wolves; the blade cut like a crescent moon.
As Luo Jie landed lightly on his feet, a hair-thin crimson line appeared on the Tank's towering form. It traced a path from shoulder, diagonally down the massive chest, and cleaved straight through the groin to the ground between its legs.
The Tank, still oblivious to its demise, twisted its upper body violently, trying to grab the annoying pest that had slipped beneath it. Mid-turn, its remaining eye caught sight of the other half of its own body, still standing where it had been.
Boom—! Boom—!
Over a ton of sundered flesh crashed to the asphalt in two thunderous impacts. Blood, under immense pressure, geysered meters into the air, drenching the surroundings in a sudden, horrific crimson rain.
Cleanly bisected.
Screeeech—!
The eight-wheeled ATV slammed to a halt, tires smoking, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
Ross and Saffi stared, eyes wide as saucers, fixed on the two massive chunks of Tank carcass. Cold sweat beaded on their temples. An audible gulp echoed in the sudden silence.
"Holy shit, that's insane!" Ross breathed, voicing the thought for both of them. "That... that was a Tank! Shotgun rounds just bounce off it! And you... you just carved it up like a side of beef? How much freaking attack power was in that one slash?!"
"Seems... I might have overdone it a bit," Luo Jie muttered, wiping a smear of blood from his cheek. He was genuinely surprised by the outcome.
Tanks were infamous for their insane defense. That's precisely why he had Ross soften it up with [Acid Missile] first – he'd feared his blade might get stuck mid-chop, a supremely awkward and deadly scenario.
He had sorely underestimated the sheer cutting edge of the [Engraved Blade: Pufferfish Poison] at max level. Its base power of 500, doubled to 1000 against biological targets by its "Seven-Body Cut" skill, made it monstrous even for a normal strike.
Add to that the colossal damage output of the E-Purple skill [Secret Art: Steel-Cutting Flash], plus the 20% extra damage against Umbrella bio-weapons from his [Umbrella Public Enemy] title... While he couldn't calculate the exact figure, his gut told him that slash had easily exceeded 2500 points of damage.
Naturally, the Tank itself had contributed to its own spectacular demise.
Attack calculations within the illusionary realm treated moving and stationary targets very differently. That theoretical 2500 points was the standard output. If the target moved with the blow's direction – "rolling with the punch" – the actual damage inflicted would be less.
Conversely, if the target was relatively stationary at the moment of impact, it ate the full force.
The concept of evasion simply didn't exist in the Tank's primitive mind. Faced with Luo Jie's killing strike, it chose brute force confrontation. This meant the attack calculation included not just the blade's power, but also the kinetic energy of the Tank's own massive charge – adding at least another 500 points to the final tally.
The terrifying one-shot kill was the result of this perfect, brutal confluence of factors.
Ross, seemingly unable to believe his eyes, scrambled off the ATV and cautiously approached the Tank's remains. He prodded the massive, dinner-plate-sized head with his pink wand a few times before finally accepting the monstrous creature was truly dead.
"Look... I know I probably shouldn't ask," Ross scratched his head restlessly, curiosity burning through his shock, "but I gotta know. Luo Jie... what tier is that weapon of yours? It's gotta be E-Purple, right?"
Weapon tiers were often discernible by their effects, unless deliberately hidden. Ross's guess was close, only skewed because Gold-tier weapons were so vanishingly rare he hadn't even considered the possibility.
Luo Jie offered a noncommittal smile. "Think what you like."
Ross took it as confirmation. His initial shock rapidly morphed into naked envy. In his experience, wielding an F-Purple weapon in the first tier marked you as a top player. An E-Purple? That was something even many second-tier veterans might not possess.
"Alright, enough gawking. It's just a weapon. You'll get yours someday," Luo Jie gave Ross a light shove towards the vehicle. "The horde will catch up soon. We need to move."
As he turned, he noticed Ju Chuan Jingxiang – the famously busty medic – crouched beside the Tank's remains. She was biting her fingertip lightly, a thoughtful frown creasing her brow as she studied the carnage.