Chapter 81: Burst Runes
No matter what plans these six people had, the moment of hunting and killing belonged to Su Hao. He needed to eliminate them all before he could leave in peace and find a place to get some rest.
Su Hao circled in the high altitude, prepared for his next move. He descended once again, locking onto his fourth target.
He dived at a 60-degree angle from high in the sky. As his speed reached a certain point, he skimmed just three meters above the ground, passing above a Grandmaster-level martial artist, causing that person’s head to fly away.
Then, he rapidly ascended, returning to the safety of the cloud layer.
“Old Crane is dead too…”
“What should we do?”
“Should we just split up now? Head into the wilderness for a chance at survival.”
“Are you suggesting we betray our clan?”
“No, I just don’t want to die senselessly here. I hope to meet my end in a battle against savage beasts.”
“I feel the same way. Even if we roam the wilderness and hunt some savage beasts, it’s better than dying here forcibly. And… I think ‘Passerby’ didn’t do anything wrong. I’ve read ‘The Path of Martial Artists’ and ‘Rune Encyclopedia.’ I fully support his actions.”
“Then let’s go! In the wilderness, we may meet again if fate allows it.”
So the five of them scattered in different directions, using all their strength to run.
Target number 5!
Su Hao descended again, and while the target remained unaware, he claimed another head.
As for why he kept collecting heads, Su Hao explained that it was because everyone was wearing armor that covered them entirely. Apart from their necks, which were somewhat exposed, there was no other vulnerable spot.
Target number 6!
Su Hao frowned, immediately changed direction, and flew towards the sixth target. However, when he caught up to the sixth target, numbers 7, 8, and 9 were about to leave his radar range.
After noting the directions of the last three targets, Su Hao swiftly beheaded number 6 and then turned toward the seventh target.
“Are they really running?” Su Hao doubted whether they were thoroughly scared, but he didn’t dare to relax. If they went back with something that could locate him, there might be more than ten people next time.
Su Hao stopped concealing his presence, exited ‘Stealth Flight Mode,’ and maintained only the light-absorption effect while flying at full speed.
“Boom!”
As Su Hao passed through, a shockwave spread far and wide, like thunder rolling.
Number 7 also couldn’t escape Su Hao’s pursuit.
Next was number 8. Su Hao flew through the sky, searching for a while before locating the target. Number 8 had started changing directions after running out of a three-kilometer range. It was a clever move, but he had the misfortune of encountering Su Hao.
Finally, the last target, number 9, had run quite far. However, through relentless searching, Su Hao found him and ultimately took his head.
With this, Su Hao’s side had achieved a complete victory, annihilating all of the enemy.
Su Hao landed steadily on both feet, took a deep breath, and finally put an end to it all.
These ten Grandmaster-level martial artists had nearly pushed him to the point where he couldn’t fight back.
But for Su Hao, recognizing his combat flaws was a valuable lesson.
“I should find a place to rest and carefully analyze my combat system. I can’t afford to have such a chaotic situation happen again in the future.”
With this thought in mind, Su Hao started running quickly, leaped into the air with a loud bang beneath his feet, and rapidly ascended into the sky, choosing a direction to fly away.
…
Half a month later.
Inside a cave in the wilderness.
Su Hao looked at the two full-alloy wings in front of him, put down his grinding tools, and nodded in satisfaction.
Then he moved the wings in front of a brand-new set of armor. He picked up one of the wings and placed its root into the slot on the back of the armor. It fit perfectly, and he secured it with screws.
After confirming it wouldn’t loosen, he folded the wing inward.
“Click!”
The wing was folded inward, appearing like an extended cloak diagonally slanted backward.
After making sure everything was in order, he attached the other wing and folded it as well.
Now, when looking at the armor, it had sharp double wings on its shoulders, resembling a small fighter jet. It exuded a high-tech vibe, shimmering in silvery radiance, incredibly sharp.
Su Hao gazed at the armor he had personally designed, his eyes filled with the gleaming silver light, a sight he loved.
As night fell, Su Hao couldn’t wait to put on the armor. He reached out and picked up the helmet with its conical top, put it on, and fastened it, looking like a pilot.
He tried moving around and found that the two wings on his back didn’t hinder his usual ground combat movements.
Su Hao manipulated a small mechanism, then reached out and grabbed both wings. He pulled them out forcefully.
“Click, click.”
The two wings extended, and after securing them with the mechanism, Su Hao rushed out of the cave. He pushed off the ground, leaping high into the air.
“Boom!”
With both his feet and the ‘Explosion’ runes on the wings activating simultaneously, Su Hao shot upward, quickly disappearing into the clouds.
The high-speed flight created sonic booms that resonated through the air.
Su Hao activated the ‘Hard,’ ‘Sharp,’ and ‘Explosion’ runes on the wings and added a ‘Coordination’ rune to himself. In the high sky, he began to perform dazzling aerial maneuvers—sideways flight, spinning flight, rolling flight, wave-like flight, high-degree curved flight, supersonic flight, stealth flight…
As time passed, Su Hao’s control became increasingly adept.
He could push the limits further, but considering that this was just a test flight with the aim of collecting as much data as possible, he decided to refrain from pushing his limits.
After flying for a while, Su Hao descended back to the ground, landing steadily and folding the wings inward.
Entering his pinball space, he reviewed the flight data from earlier and examined the wings’ load-bearing capacity data.
Overall, it was quite good, surpassing Su Hao’s expectations.
Su Hao’s flight experiment was a success up to this point.
He named his first flight armor ‘Wing Armor.’
Now, the next issue to consider was long-range attacks and high-explosive capabilities.
First, regarding long-range attack weapons, the first thought that came to mind was a sniper cannon. However, the material strength was insufficient, and even with the ‘Hard’ rune reinforcement and ‘Explosion’ runes replacing high-explosive gunpowder, the firearm manufacturing technology in this world couldn’t achieve the necessary accuracy. The bullets would veer off target as soon as they left the barrel, making long-range accuracy impossible.
Runes couldn’t solve this problem for the time being.
Helplessly, Su Hao could only set aside the matter of long-range attacks for now and revisit it when he had more time.
As for the issue of high explosives…
The energy of an explosion was directly proportional to its power, but inversely proportional to the duration of the explosion. To achieve high-intensity explosions, Su Hao needed to focus on releasing as much energy as possible in the shortest time.
“Based on the data I’ve collected so far, the ‘Explosion’ rune, when powered by the blood’s energy, produces the most powerful explosion. Therefore, I can use the ‘Explosion’ rune as the foundation, equivalent to the effect of gunpowder.”
Su Hao began to conceptualize the idea of a high-explosive bomb.
However, relying on a single ‘Explosion’ rune wouldn’t create effective damage; it couldn’t even shatter armor. He muttered to himself, “If one rune isn’t enough, can I achieve a qualitative change by increasing the number of runes?”
Su Hao’s calculation was straightforward. If one ‘Explosion’ rune, designed by a gold-wire worm, had a maximum explosive force of ‘1,’ then by increasing the quantity to 10,000 runes, the explosive force could potentially reach ‘10,000.’
However, the problem that followed was how to detonate so many runes simultaneously. Suppose the 100 runes within a single bomb were activated sequentially with a time delay. In that case, the first ‘Explosion’ rune’s powerful blast would destroy the other 99 runes, rendering the effect negligible. The ultimate explosive power achieved would still be that of a single rune.
This was a structural challenge.
Su Hao believed there must be a solution.
“What should I do?”
Thinking, Su Hao’s eyes lit up, and he had a feasible idea.
…
Meanwhile, in the main city, An City, within the royal palace, in a side hall of the Eternal Harmony Palace:
The king squinted his eyes as he leaned on a massive chair. Suddenly, someone bowed and whispered, “Elder Patriarch, the pursuit of the ‘Passerby’ has failed. All ten Grandmasters we dispatched were killed.”
The king abruptly opened his eyes, releasing a powerful aura that swept through the hall and beyond, leaving everyone present feeling a palpable fear.
The wrinkles on the king’s exposed skin shone with golden light.
