85: Chapter 85 Lieutenant Colonel Chu, come and get your buff!

(After finishing the previous two chapters, I realized I was still over 200 words short of 6000, so this chapter was born...)

Shen Qingci moved.

Da Huang kicked the ground with its four hooves, both its gold and fire heads exhaling scorching waves of air simultaneously, launching her into mid-air with a single leap.

Her slender, 1.78-meter figure twisted and flipped in the air. The supercritical metal plasma on the cold edge blade burned wildly, and a crimson arc flashed and vanished.

The target—the neck of the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros. It was the exact same spot Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng had previously cut with his Blood Ice Wheel.

"Sshhh!"

This time, there were no sparks flying.

The sound of the blade sinking into flesh was so crisp that it didn't sound like it was cutting a Pseudo-Tier 5 Source Beast.

The terrifying cutting power of the Red Lotus Severing Boundary expanded the shallow cut that Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng had labored so hard to create by more than three times in a single stroke!

When the tip of the blade touched the cervical vertebrae, Shen Qingci felt significant resistance, but under the high-frequency vibration of the Geng Metal Secret Marrow, that layer of bone was still sliced open, leaving a crack deep enough to see the bone.

Blood gushed out.

Watching this from mid-air, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's hands almost fell apart while forming his seals.

That [Mutation · Blood Ice Wheel] of his was his trump card.

Its destructive power was comparable to the military's specialized armor-piercing rounds.

He had ground away for so long only to cut through a bit of skin and flesh, yet this girl had reached the bone in one strike?

That was absolutely absurd!

Where am I supposed to put my Tier 5 face?

However, the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros reacted faster than anyone had anticipated.

"ROAR!!!"

The intense pain didn't weaken it; instead, it stirred up its deeper ferocity.

It roared at the sky.

A visible, dark red ripple spread outward from the center of its body.

The surrounding air seemed to have been injected with mercury, instantly becoming viscous and heavy!

A Tier 5 domain skill—[Gravity Swamp]!

Hanging on the rhinoceros's neck and preparing to slide down to maximize the damage, Shen Qingci felt an irresistible force squeezing her from all directions.

Her forward momentum suddenly slowed, the Red Lotus plasma surrounding her flickered under the pressure, and even breathing became difficult.

Below, Da Huang, which had just leaped up to provide support, let out a whimper. Its massive body was pressed down by gravity, its four legs giving way, and it collapsed directly onto the ground, unable to even stand up.

A gravity domain was the absolute bane for units relying on speed and agility!

The Iron-Spine Rhinoceros's crimson eyes locked onto Shen Qingci, who was inches away. It violently whipped its massive head, and that single horn, capable of piercing mountains, smashed toward her with the momentum to crush everything!

Just at this critical moment.

"Hey, look at me!"

An extremely ill-timed greeting came from the side.

The next second, an arm smelling of blood wrapped around her waist, and an unreasonably brutal force yanked her straight off the rhinoceros's neck.

[Inertial Drift] activated.

The ten tons of True Mass were not crushed in the Gravity Swamp; instead, it seemed to find a better fulcrum for force.

Su Ming was like a bolt of black lightning unbound by the laws of physics, carving a bizarre arc through the viscous, swamp-like air. He arrived after the fact but reached her first, grabbing Shen Qingci's waist and shifting her to the side at the limit.

The Iron-Spine Rhinoceros's charge missed, its horn driving deep into the ground and sending rocks flying everywhere.

"You..."

Shen Qingci was enveloped in a scorching masculine aura, her nose filled with the smell of sweat and blood on Su Ming.

She leaned against a chest that was so solid it didn't seem human. Her mind went blank for a moment, and her cheeks burned.

"Senior, your hair is tickling my neck."

Su Ming whispered in her ear, his warm breath sweeping over her earlobe, "But I like it."

Su Ming landed and let go.

Shen Qingci touched the ground with her feet, turned her face away, her earlobes bright red.

"You... you focus!"

"The battle... isn't over yet..."

She gripped her blade handle tightly, staring fixedly at the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros in the distance, refusing to make eye contact with Su Ming.

There was no time to think.

At this moment, Shen Qingci's eyes turned completely into a pure dark gold.

Since she had already ascended to Tier 3, there was no need to hold back anymore!

[Pagoda Bone Brake]!

Hum—!

A grand phantom tower image, woven from illusory white bones and golden light, bloomed behind her with a boom!

Having absorbed the essence blood of over thirty Tier 2 Wind Blade Wolves, the structure of this bone tower was much more solid than before!

The domain range had also expanded from five meters to ten meters, and the golden runes flowing on the tower were becoming increasingly clear.

[Suppress Evil]!

A visible golden ripple swept out from the bone tower, forcibly stripping the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros's Pseudo-Tier 5 pressure out of the domain!

[Divine Radiance]!

Another gentle golden light was injected into Su Ming and Shen Qingci within the domain. Su Ming's neural reaction speed instantly skyrocketed, and his thinking became much clearer.

"Holy crap..."

Not far away, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's eyes nearly popped out.

He stared fixedly at the phantom bone tower: "A domain sequence with inherent law suppression?! How the hell is this something a freshman can awaken?!"

The mercenaries behind the ice shield also felt the change.

The terrifying pressure that had just forced them to their knees suddenly dissipated by more than half, and each of them felt relieved, collapsing onto the ground and gasping for air.

Station Chief Zhou Ke looked up at the figure surrounded by golden light in mid-air, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Valkyrie!

These three words popped into his mind.

"Da Huang, come here and regroup!"

Su Ming shouted toward the flank.

Da Huang shook both its heads like a rattle, and with its flesh just barely recovered, it scrambled into the range of the bone tower image.

Subsequently, Su Ming turned his head and waved at the slightly disheveled Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng not far away.

"Big brother, don't hold out on your own out there, come over and get a buff!"

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng: "..."

As a dignified Tier 5 Lieutenant Colonel, he was being beckoned and ordered around by a student like his own pet dog.

If this got out, how could he still show his face in the military district?

But the viscous Gravity Swamp under his feet was truly disgusting.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng gritted his teeth, his old face flushing red. With a slide of his feet, he "slid" into the bone tower domain with extreme smoothness.

The moment he stepped into the domain, the gravity pressure vanished instantly. Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng felt his whole body lighten, and he felt so comfortable he wanted to hum.

...

"This thing is wicked."

Su Ming stared at the Iron-Spine Rhinoceros, its body flowing with dark red light patterns.

"As long as that dark red beast soul brand on its forehead isn't shattered, it can't die."

"But that brand is connected to the base of its horn. That horn can pierce even superalloys; there's no chance to touch its head with a frontal assault."

As his voice fell, Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng and Shen Qingci's expressions turned extremely grave.

But the next second, Su Ming tilted his head slightly, the corners of his mouth curling into a cheeky grin.

He crossed his arms, assuming a profound posture like the reincarnation of Zhuge Kongming, and spoke leisurely: "However, though I am untalented, I do have a speedrun plan in mind... I wonder if I should share it?"

After saying this, his mouth had already stretched to his ears.

With that impatient attitude, he might as well have carved "Ask me! Beg me!" on his forehead.

Shen Qingci was expressionless: "Speak."

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng's mouth twitched: "Spit it out!"

Even Da Huang in the distance cooperated by shaking its two dog heads, letting out "wooo" sounds of urging.

Receiving the treatment of the center of attention, Su Ming satisfactorily stretched his neck. His Chuunibyou soul instantly maxed out, and he smoothly blurted out that classic, cringe-inducing line:

"Since you have asked with such sincerity, I shall answer you with great mercy!"

"My invincible tactic is—fight it head-on to the end, and smash its entire head off!"

"..."

A cold wind blew, and the battlefield fell into a deathly silence.

Lieutenant Colonel Chu Feng had been preparing to listen attentively to a breakthrough strategy that no military strategist would dare imagine, and Shen Qingci had already prepared to coordinate with a precise tactic.

The result... was this?

You spent all that time building it up, and it all boils down to two words: brute force?!

Looking at the shirtless youth in front of them who claimed to be innocent but was actually outrageously brutal.

Two people and one dog, all had black lines on their foreheads!