Death Notice

“Boom!” With the violent collision between the two, a shockwave erupted at the center of the arena, forcing everyone to turn their heads away to avoid the direct impact.

After the dust and mist in the center of the arena cleared, everyone saw Grant and Captain Hans standing at opposite ends—one on the ground, and the other on the ceiling of the training ground. This training ground was located inside a mountain, with a ceiling made of hard rock.

However, both the floor and the ceiling were blasted with two nearly identical large craters, each almost over ten meters in diameter and more than two meters deep at their lowest points, looking like two large pots embedded in the ground and ceiling.

At this moment, both Grant and Captain Hans looked somewhat disheveled. The military jackets of both were torn to shreds, revealing chests as hard as granite. Captain Hans’s right arm was clearly dislocated, hanging limply at his side, while Grant’s right arm was covered in blood, with muscles and skin seemingly exploded from the inside, exposing pale white bone.

However, Grant’s injured arm showed a strange transformation; the broken muscle fibers wriggled like little snakes with life, slowly connecting and healing together, visibly recovering at a rapid pace.

Even though their destructive power seemed almost equal, the spectators knew that Captain Hans had lost this round. The Captain had lunged downward from above, having a natural terrain advantage.

Captain Hans certainly knew this too. A gleam flashed in his eyes as he slightly crouched his legs, gathering momentum to attack again. But at that moment, applause came from the edge of the arena.

“Alright, you two, that’s enough!” Major Montana smiled and stopped the duel, ordering the nearby guards to bring each of them a new set of military uniforms.

“How do you feel?” Qin Lun asked with a smile in the Team Channel as Grant walked over.

Grant had already removed his mask, and his sweat-drenched face still showed uncontrollable excitement.

Hearing Qin Lun’s question, the Joker did not answer immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes, calmed his emotions, and after a moment of thought, said, “His combat power is very strong. Classified by Apostle ranks, he probably belongs to the Second Order, and a relatively mature one at that. If the fight dragged on, once Joker’s Gift’s duration ended, I wouldn’t be able to withstand him.”

“Hmm… have you met the conditions to use Big Bang Impact?” Recalling Grant’s golden-glowing fists earlier, Qin Lun asked with a smile. Uvogin’s Big Bang Impact was an A- grade skill, requiring high Life Force, Stamina Points, and Constitution.

“Yes, I unlocked about 30% of its power!” Grant shook his head helplessly. “This skill places too high a demand on the body. My base attributes aren’t sufficient, and this level of power is already my limit.”

Qin Lun nodded noncommittally. When Grant was gathering momentum to throw that punch, he observed that the Joker’s movement speed noticeably slowed down. It was likely that Agility was converted into Constitution and other attributes to use this A- grade skill.

Qin Lun’s eyes flashed. If Captain Hans, a high-end combatant of the Millennium Bug, was only Second Order, then he could roughly gauge the power level of this Quest World. Legendary Powerhouses capable of instantly killing or completely suppressing him would probably be very few, or perhaps none at all.

Of course, this didn’t mean they could complete their mission easily. After cooperating with the Millennium Bug Organization, the following events would be in war mode. Personal combat power would only play a partial role; the key still lay in the victory of their faction.

“Qin Lun, without using recovery items, and based on the combat power Captain Hans has shown so far, are you confident you can defeat him?” Grant looked meaningfully at the young man.

“That’s a good question!” Qin Lun rubbed his chin and smiled. Seeing Grant’s rather serious expression, he finally said helplessly, “Without using Demon Transformation, the outcome between him and me depends on distance. Given Captain Hans’s strength and agility, his chances of winning are higher at close range, while mine are greater at mid-to-long range.”

“What about if you use Demon Transformation?” Grant asked, somewhat dissatisfied.

“What do you think?” Qin Lun looked at him and gave a gentle smile.

Grant pursed his lips and didn’t press further. In truth, neither he nor Qin Lun could be completely open with each other. In his fight with Captain Hans, he held back some strength. As for how much of what Qin Lun said could be believed, probably only the young man himself knew.

“Major Gerthard, Miss Lace, after watching such an exciting fight, don’t you feel your blood boiling? The two Lieutenants are still looking forward to sparring with you!” After confirming that Captain Hans was unharmed, Major Montana turned and asked with a smile.

Qin Lun chuckled lightly and gracefully gestured to his companion. “Lace, you choose first?”

“Well… I’m not feeling too well today, so I won’t be participating. Major, please go ahead!” Lace furrowed her delicate brows, looking at Qin Lun with an expression of discomfort.

Seeing the young girl’s adorable look of distress, everyone couldn’t help but smile, each shifting their gaze to Qin Lun, clearly not intending to press her further.

Qin Lun smiled as he glanced at Lace. He knew why she declined the fight. It wasn’t because she was afraid. Before carrying out their mission, sparring with the Millennium Bug’s Superhuman soldiers was a rare opportunity to personally experience this world’s Superhuman combat power.

However, this training ground really wasn’t suitable for Lace. The power of her Beastmaster Hunting Bow was sufficient, but the young girl was only First Order and lacked explosive skills like Grant. Her Stamina Points weren’t enough to support rapid suppression with arrows.

An archer’s combat style could only shine in terrain like dense forests or cities where she could employ hit-and-run tactics. In this indefensible training ground, she would be defeated by the two Lieutenants after just a few shots—better not to participate at all.

Qin Lun turned to look at the two eager female Lieutenants. Lieutenant Solin, who had a somewhat rugged appearance, had tattoos covering the right half of her body and held a long-handled scythe, clearly a close-combat specialist. On the other hand, Lieutenant Lieber, with her long hair reaching her knees and an elegant demeanor, held a strange-looking long gun.

The barrel of this gun was longer than any rifle, seemingly over two meters, almost akin to the bird guns from the early days of the flintlock era.

“Is that a flintlock muzzle-loader?” Qin Lun, very familiar with firearms, raised an eyebrow. Lace might have given up too soon; the firing rate of this gun was probably even slower than a bow.

Seeing Qin Lun look at her, Lieutenant Lieber shyly pushed up her glasses, stepped forward from beside Major Montana, and saluted the young man. “Major Gerthard, I heard you were one of the best snipers in the mountain ranger troops. Could you please instruct me in marksmanship?”

“Lieber, that won’t do. The Major hasn’t made his choice yet! I heard that after his promotion, the Major gained a strong close-combat bloodline. Shouldn’t he familiarize himself with his new abilities?” Lieutenant Solin glared at her colleague discontentedly, also stepping forward to stand beside Lieber.

“Heh heh!” Qin Lun chuckled, touched his nose, unbuttoned his military collar, walked to the center of the arena, and stood firm. With a flip of his hands, Burial of Light and Darkness fell into his palms. “You two… come at me together!”

“Oh?!” Major Montana’s eyes lit up, and he waved his hand magnanimously. “Since Major Gerthard is in the mood, Solin, Lieber, both of you go together and let the Major give you some guidance.”

The two Lieutenants looked at each other, then immediately smiled and walked into the arena side by side. However, once inside, Lieber stood at the edge without moving, raising her muzzle-loading long gun to aim at Qin Lun, while Solin charged straight at him with her large scythe.

“Hmm?” Qin Lun was slightly puzzled by their actions. The two didn’t even split up to flank him. This way, Solin charging straight forward seemed likely to inadvertently block Lieber’s line of fire.

“Could it be some kind of curved shooting technique?” Qin Lun blinked.

It wasn’t unusual to shoot curved trajectories with long guns; he had fired curved bullets with a sniper rifle back in the World War II World. But the longer the barrel, the harder curved shooting became. Lieber’s muzzle-loader didn’t seem suitable for that!

“Bang!” Just as Qin Lun was pondering, Lieutenant Lieber finally fired.

And at the moment she fired, Solin, who was charging straight forward, suddenly paused her steps, shifted the large scythe to her left hand, crouched, and slapped her right palm onto the ground. The magical runes covering the right half of her body, like little tadpoles, scurried from her arm into the ground.

“Missed!” As a master marksman, the moment Lieber fired, Qin Lun frowned.

The mountain training ground was less than two hundred meters across. His Staring Aura monitored a radius of one hundred meters, almost covering the entire training ground. In Qin Lun’s Perception, no matter how he looked at it, that trajectory wasn’t curved.

From the path, the bullet would pass over Lieutenant Solin’s shoulder, missing his right ear by an inch, causing no harm.

“Maybe it’s to control my dodging direction, meaning Solin will attack from the left!” Qin Lun’s mind stirred, and he shifted his gaze to his left.

“Wrong?!” Qin Lun suddenly raised an eyebrow and jerked his head aside as a blazing trail of fire barely grazed his cheek.

“When did the trajectory change? Huh, it’s not over? Interesting!” In Qin Lun’s perceptive field, that missed bullet, having flown twenty or thirty meters behind him, completely defied the laws of physics, made a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, and shot toward his shoulder.

“A magic bullet with homing ability!” Qin Lun revealed a gentle smile.

The distance between him and Lieber was less than a hundred meters; the bullet’s flight time was less than a tenth of a second. In such a short reaction time, it was impossible for Lieber to observe him and change the trajectory accordingly. This could only mean she imbued the bullet with an automatic target-tracking ability the moment she fired.

Lieutenant Lieber didn’t aim for his heart or brain, clearly confident she could hit him. Indeed, at twenty or thirty meters, given his speed, it was truly impossible to dodge the bullet.

At the same time, Solin stared at Qin Lun, and the pupil of his right eye rippled like water into which a stone had been thrown.

“It’s over!” The Lieutenant’s face showed a ferocious smile.