Surprise Attack

“Damn it!”

Johnson forced herself upright.

Sandstone gathered and grew over the pale arm, forming a massive stone hand once more.

She planted her feet.

Beneath the heavy frame, it was hard to tell how much stamina she had left.

But cracks covered her entire body.

Fragments of rock kept falling away, and even the newly regrown arm trembled faintly.

She had thought this was the opponent’s last gasp.

She hadn’t expected power like that to still be there.

Johnson couldn’t help but grit her teeth.

“Weaker?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You don’t seem very good at using lava to support your body.”

Ma Guohao stared at her steadily.

“The flowing magma makes you more agile, sure.”

“But your strength is lower than when you’re pure stone.”

And lava shattered more easily.

Ma Guohao’s gaze sharpened.

If that shell broke, he could drag out whoever was piloting it and beat them senseless, couldn’t he?

“I see.”

“Then I don’t need this suit anymore.”

What Johnson did next caught everyone off guard.

She swung her arm and smashed her own chest.

In an instant, the stone giant collapsed into dust.

A cloud of smoke billowed outward.

From within it stepped a woman holding a long spear.

She was tall and athletic.

Dressed in a sports bra and athletic shorts, her physique carried a healthy, trained beauty.

It was obvious she had worked hard on her body.

There were burns across her skin.

Yet her eyes still carried an unyielding sharpness.

Her pale hands gripped a rock spear that was gradually cooling.

“Then let’s continue.”

Johnson swung the spear at Ma Guohao.

Straight for his throat.

Ma Guohao dodged, his movements light, almost featherlike.

He couldn’t help blurting out,

“Why are you still a girl?!”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“You looking down on me?”

Before the words even finished, the spear shaft reversed and swept at him.

Ma Guohao blocked with his left arm.

At the same time, he kicked off the ground, lunging forward.

The turbines on his right arm spun violently, whipping up a gale as he tried to land a punch.

But Johnson slipped aside with ease.

She hooked his leg.

Ma Guohao lost balance and fell.

The spear spun back around, aimed at him again as he hit the ground.

Fortunately, agility was one of Ma Guohao’s strengths.

Just before landing fully, he slammed both hands into the ground and sprang up in a street-dance–like motion.

His legs split wide and spun in place.

His kick swept straight into Johnson.

“Bang!”

Johnson staggered back several steps, her face struck.

At the same time, Ma Guohao was hit in the ribs by the spear and rolled away.

Johnson recovered first and charged, spear in hand.

Ma Guohao’s situation was far from good.

After several exchanges, his stamina was nearly gone.

Earlier, he had been the one constantly attacking, defending, and pressing the offense.

Johnson, meanwhile, had only needed to reinforce her stone armor and turtle up, throwing in the occasional heavy blow.

Now that he was exhausted, she stepped out to harvest the weakened opponent.

Still lying on the ground and gasping for breath, Ma Guohao watched Johnson rush toward him.

In that moment, he saw again the woman of fire from the dream he’d had the day he became a monster.

His body was becoming less and less human.

His very first real fight after becoming a monster, and he was already in this state.

What about the future?

He thought he had grown stronger.

That becoming a monster meant power.

Losing to White could be brushed off as “of course, she’s a magical girl.”

But now, against another monster, he had been pushed into the same corner.

What was this supposed to mean?

As those thoughts surfaced, the mechanical patterns on his cheek and left arm began to fade.

Returning to how he had been at the start.

At the same time, his right arm rapidly transformed into an energy cannon.

He aimed it at Johnson.

Firelight gathered at the muzzle.

From his shoulder down to his forearm and elbow, the mechanical parts began to peel away, revealing human skin beneath.

Not good.

Seeing the glow concentrate at the cannon’s mouth, Johnson immediately redirected her spear.

Instead of stabbing his chest, she thrust at the energy cannon.

Spear tip and cannon muzzle collided.

In the end, she still failed to stop the shot.

Light erupted between them.

The explosion swallowed them both.

Ma Guohao was blasted more than ten meters away while unconscious, finally crashing down.

His injuries were surprisingly not fatal.

As the black smoke dispersed, Johnson remained standing—

Battered from head to toe.

The rock spear in her hand had shattered.

She took a single step.

Then collapsed.

“So… I still lost in the end?”

Using the last of her strength, Johnson lay on her back and stared up at the summer night sky.

Above the mountains, the stars looked especially bright.

Sometimes, she wished she didn’t have to do this kind of work.

That she could take the time to admire nature with some handsome muscle-bound guy instead.

Rather than fighting monsters every few days.

“Maybe I should quit…”

“This job…”

Her faint smile froze when someone entered her view.

“What kind of expression is that?”

Red’s face appeared above her.

Johnson accepted defeat.

She had not accepted Red.

“Oh?”

“So you still want to fight?”

“N-no.”

Johnson shook her head honestly.

“I don’t think you’d attack a monster who’s lost the will to fight.”

“No matter what, right now I’m just meat on the chopping block.”

“And you’re the knife.”

Red’s eyes flickered.

She crouched down, resting her cheek in her hand.

“That’s assuming you answer my questions properly.”

“Why did you target our young lady in the first place?”

“Speaking of which, Red,”

He Zunyi poked Ma Guohao’s face from the side.

“Aren’t you going to deal with him?”

“He looks pretty badly hurt.”

Only then did she notice that only half of Ma Guohao’s arm was mechanical.

The sight sparked her curiosity.

“Forgot about him.”

Red waved her hand lightly.

Two red streaks flashed across the cliff.

They spiraled down around Ma Guohao.

Two crimson feathers hovered there, glowing softly.

Under their healing light, the exhaustion in his body gradually faded.

“So that’s Xia Yuhe?”

“She’s not like the rumors at all.”

“Don’t dodge my question.”

“What are you people planning?”

“That mechanical guy yesterday—he was with you, wasn’t he?”

Red pulled out the mechanical arm she had torn off Kada the day before.

“That wasn’t my assignment.”

“My task was just to lure you away.”

“Just?”

So there were others involved.

Red was about to press further—

When a smoke bomb came flying from somewhere on the cliff.

This time, Red reacted faster.

She knocked it away instantly and expanded her perception outward.

But the enemy moved just as fast.

The smoke exploding midair covered a wide stretch of the cliffside.

Using that cover, a black-clad middle-aged man closed in on He Zunyi.

He Zunyi reacted quickly and started running toward Red.

But the distance between them was already dangerously short.

At the same time, another gun barrel was aimed at the injured Johnson on the ground.

What kind of bullet it was—no one knew.

Red made her decision instantly.

The moment the gun fired, she shoved Johnson aside.

The bullet struck the ground where Johnson had been lying, releasing a cloud of green gas.

Its function was unknown.

At the same instant, Red vanished.

She reappeared in front of the man attacking He Zunyi through the smoke.

“Thud.”

A dull, heavy sound burst from his body.

Red’s fist sank straight into him.