Chapter 549: Chapter 549 Liesel Vs Dalton
Liesel had almost been caught off guard by a man descending from the top level of the hole in the station.
It was the kind of ambush she would usually notice well in advance, but she had been too focused on the opponents in front of her.
After fighting them for several minutes, she had felt that she was close to beating the two of them, and that had caused her to not keep as close of a watch on her surroundings as normal.
Nevertheless, she managed to avoid the attack at the last moment, though the impact of the man’s hammer did send large chucks of debris flying at her.
This had mostly just been an inconvenience that launched her back. The only injuries she had received were a few shallow scraps and superficial bruises.
It was a testament to how durable her body was now. Still, that did not mean that she wanted to start face tanking attacks. That would get her killed quickly no matter how tough she was.
’This guy’s pretty old, but he has the air of a veteran about him. Similar to my grandfather. Except, nowhere near the same level of intensity.’ Liesel though, sizing her latest adversary up.
For a moment they locked eyes with each other, before Liesel watched the man’s face contort into an expression of absolute hatred.
She did not know where this sudden explosion of emotions had come from. At least not until the guy started yelling her last name.
"KIAZER!"
The roar from the man was loud enough to hurt Liesel’s ear. Had she not been in the midst of battle, she likely would have slammed her hands over her ears.
Of course, she was not going to let something like a shout distract her, especially when a new and obviously dangerous opponent was barreling towards her.
Had it not been for all of her recent training under Olivia, she likely would have flinched back and tried to keep her distance.
Her latest adversary was wielding a giant hammer, and his four cybernetic limbs were easily identifiable as high-quality combat models. There was no doubt that he was a deadly combatant.
Yet, as part of her training, Olivia had incorporated drills where Ezra would charge at her, and she was not allowed to avoid him.
Those experiences had been brutal, but they had prepared Liesel for a situation like this one. And while she would not say that the enraged man was not intimidating, he paled in comparison to Ezra so far as Liesel was concerned.
When her opponent arrived, Liesel was ready for him.
There was a hostile intensity around him, and it was evident that he saw her as more than just an invader that needed to be stopped.
He swung his hammer with strength that strained his mechanical arms judging by the noise that they emitted.
It was a blow meant to kill Liesel in one shot. Aimed from her right side directly in the center of her mass.
Had she taken such a hit, she would have had several of her ribs shattered and at least some of her organs turned into mush.
No matter how tough she had become thanks to her physical augmentations, the human body just could not absorb the level of force being generated by the man’s massive hammer.
Thankfully, her training was coming in handy, and she gracefully moved to the side just enough and angled her buckler to deflect the blow.
Sparks flew as the ultra-dense metal hammer connected against the hardlight shield.
Despite her efforts to reduce the impact, Liesel still felt her entire body shaken up and her left arm went numb for a moment.
Still, that did not stop her from counterattacking just as she planned.
The wide swing had left the man open now that his attack had been turned away, and Liesel capitalized on the opportunity with a blindingly fast slash from her sickle.
She knew going for a kill shot would leave her vulnerable if she failed, so she instead aimed to cripple her adversary first.
His right arm was the closest part of his body to her, and she knew that if she was able to cut the cybernetic limb off, it would significantly reduce the man’s offensive capabilities.
Except, as she closed in for her strike, her eyes noticed a compartment starting to open on her opponent’s right knee.
Trusting her instincts, she gave up on her attack and jumped to the side.
Just in time too. As an instant later a burst of flames shot out of the opening in the knee in a wide burst.
’He has a flamethrower in his leg!’ Liesel thought, her eyes going wide as she watched the spot she had just been standing be engulfed in a raging fire.
It was not a common weapon, and Liesel certainly had never seen one integrated into a prosthetic limb.
However, there were some use cases where having an immediate source of intense flames could be useful, and as Liesel considered the man’s fighting style, she saw why he would have such a thing equipped.
His hammer was an unwieldy weapon, and any committed attack that missed would see him thrown off balance. If he was fighting someone at close range, he needed a way to punish any reprisal that came from the opening this created.
’I bet that his other limbs have their own integrated weapons in them as well. This is going to be tricky.’
Liesel also did not only have the hammer swing man to worry about.
The other two people she had been fighting before his ambush had regrouped and were positioning themselves to fire at difficult angles for Liesel to deal with while fighting their boss.
Her personal shield generator had already run out of capacity, so she was unable to ignore any blasts aimed at her.
So far, she had deflected any lasers coming her way with her shield or sickle, but that was going to be much more difficult while directly engaged with someone strong and troublesome to fight.
Knowing she was in a bit of trouble, Liesel spun her sickle around three times in quick succession.
This was a signal that she had predetermined with Casey to indicate that she needed help.
Now all Liesel could do was continue fighting and hope that her partner was watching.
After that she did not receive a single moment of reprieve.
The hammer swing maniac, as Liesel was starting to refer to him, came at her with a relentless fury.
With his two subordinates backing him up with laser fire, Liesel was almost entirely on the defensive, and any opportunity to attack was halted by varied weapons hidden in her adversary’s cybernetic limbs.
Beyond the flamethrower, she had also encountered a net launcher that had nearly entangled her and gotten her killed, and a small laser turret that popped out of his left shoulder.
Each one was more annoying than the next, and the man was using them more often as his aggressiveness continued to grow each second the fight persisted.
’He should only have so much ammunition for the flamethrower and net launcher. And that laser turret has to be eating into his internal energy supply for the limb. I just have to outlast him and I’ll win.’ Liesel thought as she parried another blow.
She was also having to keep an eye on the other two that were constantly firing lasers at her.
It was a difficult fight that was pushing her to her limits, and eventually she took a hit.
One of the blasts she had been trying to dodge grazed against her side.
The combat armor she was wearing blocked most of the damage, but she still felt a bit of searing heat against her skin.
Her gear was all high-end, but her opponents were using powerful weapons as well.
Taking too many hits, and her armor would get worn down and she would have almost no protection.
However, the worst of failing to fully avoid the blast came a moment later.
Liesel had frozen up for just an instant, and that was enough for her main adversary to bring his hammer down on top of her.
She managed to step to the side and hold up her shield at an angle to avoid being crushed into the ground, but the strike still broke some bones in her arm.
When the hammer slammed down next to her, the spray of debris that followed slammed into Liesel’s body and sent her tumbling several meters away.
Though she was in some pain and just wanted to stay laying on the ground to recover, she had no time to do so.
A volley of lasers was already falling on the instant she stopped moving, and she forced her broken arm in front of her block the attacks with her buckler.
She did her best, but a few still managed to graze her while she was regaining her bearing.
It was not a pleasant experience, and she could tell that she was being worn down.
Just when she was considering committing to some more risky moves, one of the two individuals wearing power armor suddenly swung around and swung at something.
They missed completely though, and Casey appeared not far away, her active camouflage coming undone for a moment as she tossed something at her target.
The device clamped onto the person’s armored arm and then released a powerful electrical current into them.
This temporarily overwhelmed their suit and seized their body from the immense shock.
Liesel watched her friend give her a thumbs up and then start shooting at the other one.
The message she was sending was clear. Casey would deal with the other two, while Liesel fought the hammer wielding maniac.
