“What should we do?”
The remaining seven martial artists were sweating profusely.
At this moment, one of them said, “This is a direct order from the King himself, and we all know the consequences if we fail. There’s no point in hiding anything. Do you have any ideas?”
Everyone nodded.
Another martial artist with quick wits suggested, “If we can’t defeat him, let’s wear him down!”
“How do we wear him down?”
“Just hang back from him, don’t get too close. If he turns back, we run, and if he decides to run, we chase…”
“What if he catches up to us?”
“He excels at long-range ambushes, and he’s fast, but if he chases us, he loses his speed advantage. So, even if he catches up, we shouldn’t be afraid!”
“Yes, if he catches up and attacks us, we’ll gather together and take him down.”
“How long do we have to wear him down?”
“The King didn’t give us a deadline, so anytime works.”
“Better than impulsively losing our lives!”
“Good idea!”
“Let’s do it this way!”
This proposal received unanimous agreement from everyone.
So when Su Hao turned around and came back, he found that his seven enemies had fled.
“They’re running?”
Su Hao pursued for a while but realized that catching up wouldn’t be easy. Both sides were running in the same direction, negating his speed advantage. Without that advantage, close combat and instantly beheading the opponent seemed unrealistic.
“Let’s just leave and shake them off,” Su Hao thought for a moment, stopped chasing, and turned to leave.
However, after running a short distance, he discovered that the others were catching up again.
“They dare to chase? Are they actively seeking death?” Su Hao frowned, activated his runic effects, and turned to confront them. But to his surprise, they started running again.
“!!!” Su Hao’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but curse under his breath. What were those seven idiots trying to do? If they wanted to fight, they should just fight, instead of this back-and-forth.
So Su Hao kept running, and they kept chasing, even though the distance between them grew.
Su Hao ran with determination. When the distance between him and the seven martial artists exceeded 2,500 meters, he lost precise awareness of them. After running a bit more, he changed direction and continued his sprint.
Not knowing how long he had run, Su Hao slowed down, panting heavily. He murmured to himself, “We’ve run this far, based on the speed comparison, I should have distanced myself by at least 5,000 meters. Hopefully, I’ve shaken them off.”
Su Hao wasn’t entirely sure if he had managed to escape.
He stopped running at full speed and chose a direction to jog leisurely.
After some time, the blood reactions of the seven Grandmasters gradually entered his perception range.
“Damn it!” Su Hao couldn’t hold back his frustration anymore.
So he decided to wait in place. He wanted to see what these seven idiots were up to.
However, they didn’t do anything. Once they noticed Su Hao waiting, they slowed down, muttered among themselves for a while, and then approached slowly. When they were a few hundred meters away, they stopped.
Su Hao shouted from a distance, “Why are you following me?”
One of them replied, “The King has ordered us to bring you to him.”
“No need to see him. I don’t want to. You can go back.”
The seven people exchanged glances and remained silent.
Su Hao said, “Then I’ll leave. No need to see him!”
Su Hao turned to leave, but a few of them started following him.
Su Hao couldn’t take it anymore. He took a deep breath, activated his blood energy, and opened all his runic effects. He sped toward them.
But to his surprise, when he approached, they began to run away.
“!!!” Su Hao’s eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn’t understand what these seven people were doing. If they wanted to fight, they should fight. Why follow him like this?
So Su Hao continued to run, and they continued to chase. Although the distance between them increased, they were still chasing him.
Su Hao ran with determination until he was over 5,000 meters away from them. Then, he lost precise awareness of the seven martial artists. He changed direction once again and ran at a moderate pace.
After some time, the seven Grandmasters gradually entered his perception range again.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Su Hao muttered to himself.
He realized that he had some shortcomings in his abilities. He lacked high mobility, long-range effective attacks, and strong explosive power.
Looking at the seven people in front of him, Su Hao felt a bit helpless. What should he do? How were they tracking him?
The human heritage, accumulated over many years, was not to be underestimated.
Su Hao stood there, quietly thinking about how to improve his abilities in these three aspects: mobility, long-range sniping, and explosive power.
No, he didn’t need to improve all three aspects. If he could make a breakthrough in just one of them, it might solve his current problems.
“What can be achieved using existing runes?”
The first thing Su Hao thought of was if he had a sniper cannon, he could easily approach and take out one opponent with a single shot. However, this was impractical due to industrial conditions, and while runes might make it possible, it would take time to design and create.
He also thought of using a high-explosive bomb to solve the problem. The key was that even though he had the instructions, he lacked the materials, and crafting a nuclear bomb was currently a far-fetched idea.
Creating a bomb using runes? Feasible, but it required time to design the array and continuous experimentation, with no guarantee of success.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought of this a year ago; he had been too focused on studying the underlying rules of runes. If he had a bomb for self-defense, he wouldn’t be in this awkward situation now.
As for improving his mobility, it might be possible with the current conditions. He briefly considered Iron Man, but shook his head; he lacked the data for that. Aircraft might work, though.
What if he used wood to create a pair of wings? He could experiment with whether he could fly. Combining multiple ‘Burst’ and ‘Impact’ runes to provide propulsion, reinforcing the wings with ‘Sturdy’ runes, and reducing air resistance with ‘Skybreaker’ runes…
“As long as I can fly, my speed will greatly increase, and then I’ll be the one who decides whether to stay or go.”
Su Hao immediately focused on the Pinball Space, with Little Light’s assistance. He accessed various data about the aircraft, along with his full-body armor, and constructed a 3D model of the wings, simulating changes in airflow and flight conditions.
After continuous fine-tuning and adjustments, he finally settled on a plan.
Meanwhile, the seven people on the other side continued to stand at a distance, watching in confusion. They seemed to be brainstorming and strategizing, trying to come up with a plan to counter Su Hao.
Su Hao took a quick glance to confirm that they didn’t dare to charge at him, then ignored them. He looked around for a source of wood.
Soon, Su Hao spotted a large tree standing in the distance and sprinted toward it. Thinking Su Hao was running away, the seven people followed suit.
Su Hao reached the base of the large tree, which had a trunk about one meter thick—more than enough. He jumped up, swung his blade, and carefully observed the cut, then stabbed the blade into the cut a few times to confirm that the wood was solid and suitable. Without hesitation, he raised his long blade, imbuing it with ‘Sturdy,’ ‘Penetration,’ and ‘Sharp’ effects, and with a surge of blood energy, he chopped.
“Crack!”
A crisp sound rang out as the large tree slowly fell.
“Boom! Clatter…”
As the tree toppled, the homes of small animals that had been living there for a long time collapsed, and the lucky survivors screamed and fled from the inexplicable disaster.
Following Little Light’s guidance, Su Hao chopped off a section of the log and began to carve and shape it. At first, he used his long blade to chop and shape the wood, sending wood chips flying. Then, he switched to a short blade, and wood shavings scattered in the air.
The seven people watched Su Hao’s inexplicable actions, utterly puzzled. What was this “passerby” doing? They had no idea how he suddenly turned into a carpenter.
“What is this ‘Passerby’ doing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s venting his frustration. Our plan was successful; it disrupted his mind.”
“It’s very likely. Victory is within reach.”
However, some expressed dissent, concerned and said, “Maybe he’s creating some kind of rune trap we don’t know about. After all, he’s a Silver Armored Rune Master. We should be cautious.”
“That makes sense. Should we go up there and stop him?”
Another six people immediately looked at the one who suggested it and said in unison, “Why don’t you go stop him, then?”
The person fell silent.
Then, everyone looked at each other, hoping that someone would step forward and stop the “passerby’s” actions because it was clear that any enemy’s actions should be stopped. If left unchecked, who knew what might happen?
They couldn’t underestimate this “passerby.” Even though they initially thought it would be a sure thing with ten Grandmasters on their side, a brief encounter had dispelled their arrogance. They suddenly realized that sending ten Grandmasters on this mission was not only unstable but also very dangerous.
They felt uneasy.
“What if we all charge up together to stop him?”
Someone suggested.
After a moment of silence, someone asked, “That’s possible. But who will take the lead?”
The proposal was left unresolved.
The two Grandmasters who liked to take the lead had already met a gruesome end.
These two Grandmasters had great reputations and were part of the first team of Grandmasters. They were well known.
However, even such formidable experts met their end in a single round, and the others didn’t want to follow suit.
Little did they know that nighttime had quietly descended, and silent slaughter was about to begin.
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