Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 172 - 141. Shrink the Circle

Chapter 172: 141. Shrink the Circle

Qiu Ran’s Arcane Energy "Spontaneous Combustion" was not merely about controlling flames; it involved a certain degree of molecular thermal motion. Due to insufficient reserve knowledge, Li Aozi was unable to expand its application.

But destruction only required a basic understanding of physics.

The Sovereign’s claws lifted, rapidly creating a high-temperature domain between his palms. Large amounts of air, accelerated by the heat, instantly combined with the Overseer Form’s secreted fluids and the airborne dust, forming a suspended aerosol.

Due to the disturbance caused by Yawen, the ground forces could not assemble in time. Standing in such an open space, even a fool would know that staying put was tantamount to waiting for death. The female agents fired wildly without regard for accuracy, then turned and scurried toward cover and carriages.

Li Aozi’s maneuver was extremely ingenious. He suddenly seized the near-critical state mixture and smeared it onto the Mobile Armor’s main monitor. As a design extension of the Tank, Mobile Armor had the same vulnerability—the armor was thinnest at the top position.

"Spontaneous Combustion Mode One"

"Purify Filth"

Arcane Energy quickly depleted, and continuous heating ignited the aerosol in an instant. The oxidation reaction concentrated on the smeared area, softening the metal through sustained high temperature. Li Aozi lightly drew a circle, and the next moment, he punched the center of the circle!

Bang thud!

The mechanic Yin Xifeng screamed as the scorching hot metal plate struck her, instantly igniting her uniform. The tank commander next to her, seeing this, pulled out a rifle and fired at Li Aozi. Li Aozi did not linger, for without Gravitational Arcane Energy, he could not withstand many bullets.

However, as he looked up to leave, he sprinkled down a handful of dust.

Boom!

The sudden increase in temperature and pressure triggered an explosion, killing the entire crew instantly.

Nimotin was thrown by the blast, shocked to her core:

"What kind of joke is that—that was Mobile Armor! And it was so easily destroyed by a single person?"

Destroying a piece of Mobile Armor typically required three to four dedicated anti-vehicle units. Even using a Javelin missile, a top-attack anti-tank missile, one would cost nearly 800,000 Derby, almost as much as a factory-original Mobile Armor.

A Mobile Armor that could overturn and occupy a town with just a crew... and now it’s simply destroyed?

Nimotin, or rather Frost Plated’s military industrialists, had not yet realized the future trends in Mobile Armor development.

As for Li Aozi—he had dismantled Star Warrior-level Mobile Armor, if not a thousand, then at least eight hundred. The fundamental weakness of these iron turtles was the driver.

Without a Mechanic or Martial Artist operating the Mobile Armor, the driver could never keep up with the machine’s performance, let alone something like the Wolf Badger model, a throwback to the era of tanks.

Riding the explosive force, Li Aozi took to the air. Facing the female agents shooting at him from the ground, he was like a ghost, using the switch of left and right hands to heat and spout fire, achieving rapid turns in the air. Then, as a female agent fired nervously with her gun, the Sovereign’s horrifying monstrous face suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Eek—"

Before the female agent’s pupils could shrink, the flaming claws suddenly pressed against her face. Li Aozi turned her around to block in front of him, using her bulletproof vest and inserts to block the sweep of gunfire. The smell of scorched, grilled meat mixed with the stench of blood was extremely sour. As their magazines emptied, Li Aozi’s pupils suddenly spread with a flame-like halo. He threw the woman, riddled with bullets, forward to block their sight, and then suddenly crouched down and punched the ground.

"Spontaneous Combustion Mode Two"

"Cleansing Mortals"

The fiery blaze poured into the earth, and the heat quickly transferred, turning the snow on the ground into steam. The scorching steam clouded the agents’ thermal imaging aiming devices, and as they switched to the holographic sights on the sides of their guns, the air in the field in front of them became highly oxidized and rapidly diffused due to the heat.

In physics, this situation is simply called an explosion.

Boom—

The Fourth Rule agents were instantly thrown by the rushing steam. Then they fell to the ground, clutching their throats, removing their filter masks, tearing at their own windpipes. The surrounding oxygen had been burned out. Even though they were exposed in the open snow, they exhibited signs of suffocation. No matter how deeply they inhaled, they could only bring scorching steam into their windpipes, scalding them, and ultimately collapsing in despair and suffocating to death.

"Fire—fire at him! He’s not human!"

The tragic deaths of their teammates made the Fourth Rule agents feel profound fear and horror. They threw bombs and grenades at Li Aozi’s form, suppressing him with firepower, but because Li Aozi had destroyed the Mobile Armor, which was supposed to provide them with covering fire, all that was left were ordinary grenades and hand grenades.

Frost Plated was calm and collected, drifting lightly across the battlefield. With scant cover available, these Fourth Rule Agents who lacked heavy firepower were simply serving up a meal to him. A few casts of "Purify Filth" turned the battleground into a terrain of surging lava, the scorching of air forced the agents out of their hideaways.

They could either burn to death or suffocate from lack of oxygen.

The Outer World was already dim and lightless, and having begun to adapt to the darkened vision in the monotone snowscape, the sudden bright flames left them confused, their vision obscured. Amidst the vast expanse of snow, they could only discern a vague figure engulfed in flames.

But if Li Aozi crouched down and remained still, they couldn’t see anything at all.

The hot air distorted the thermal imaging, and the darkness and snow of the Outer World didn’t make Li Aozi an easy target. Instead, through the flames, he became the reaper harvesting these techno-dwarves.

He continued to shift positions, devouring shrapnel, debris, glass, and wooden planks. His Mutation Option "Iron Stomach" could fully absorb these objects, converting them into Arcane Energy, and then unleash a vicious Flame Area.

"Where is he! Exactly where?!"

The agents of Fourth Rule were in a panic. They had faced fierce Assassins and Transcendents before, but never someone who used Arcane Energy to such an extent.

The dim visibility, the burning flames, and the continuously exploding air began to fill with a terrifying, chilling presence.

As the female agents of Fourth Rule began to realize their companions were dwindling, they also horrifyingly discovered that not only was their cover disappearing, the paths for their escape were vanishing. Lava was taking over the ground, flames rose with the wind, and the air’s oxygen levels were dropping perilously.

The land beneath their feet grew scarcer, and the snow couldn’t extinguish the flames. Just by standing amidst the fire, Li Aozi, ablaze from head to toe, could turn invisible to them.

In the end, they realized that in the face of fire, men and women were alike; just chunks of charcoal screaming in agony.

The last Fourth Rule Agent, driven into a corner with flames and lava shrinking into a small circle around her, like an isle in the ocean that continued to diminish, couldn’t bear the burning and the lonely wait for death. She drew her gun, placed the barrel in her mouth, and pulled the trigger. The bullet exited the back of her skull, bringing an abrupt end to her life.

"Good fortune, it seems I’m the sole Defender tonight."

Li Aozi deactivated his Overseer Form, reverted to his normal appearance, turned his head, and smiled at Nimotin, who stood there in a daze:

"Not so impressive now, are you?"

Clang!

The ammo on the Mobile Armor undergoing sympathetic detonation fell to the ground, scaring Nimotin nearly out of his wits.

What happened?

In three minutes and thirty-two seconds, all 64 Fourth Rule Agents, along with the "Wolf Badger" Mobile Armor, were annihilated.

Nimotin had not participated in the battle, not because of anything else... but because charging into the indiscriminate spewing of flames and creation of lava would have been suicidal for an Assassin who excelled in close combat.

She had just wanted to observe, after all, relying on the rifle’s shooting distance, normal combat radius should be maintained at one to two hundred meters, right?

Yet, in just 3 minutes and 32 seconds, everyone was reduced to ashes.

Even pigs... couldn’t be slaughtered this fast, let alone a group of professionally trained agents equipped with advanced gear and a war machine.

Compared to the swift and fierce ravaging by the Infant Eater, the agony of being burnt alive by the flames was a shockingly intense image, even for a spectator.

"I surrender!"

Immediately, Nimotin raised her hands high, while gesturing for Agent Yawen, who had long been hiding in cover, to stop hiding and come out to surrender as well.

At the same time, a question arose in her mind: hadn’t Li Aozi been using Gravitational Arcane Energy before? How had he suddenly switched to flames?

At this thought, Nimotin’s heart skipped a beat.

This must be some secret, coupled with that non-human stance just now—could it be that Li Aozi was planning to silence them?