The Highest Bounty

Chapter 43: An Inevitable Battle

The giant beast was like a gorilla as it walked upright on its two hind legs, six horrifying blood-red eyes beaded across its forehead. There was thick fur all over its body, and its back and abdomen were covered with a layer of black scales. Just by looking at it, you could tell that it had terrifyingly strong defense.

The giant beast had an acute sense of smell, and it had quickly followed the scent toward the big tree where the two people were hiding.

Gu Ding tightened his fists while Liliath closed her eyes and tried to control the rhythm of her breathing to slow down her heart rate.

One step, two steps, three steps…

The giant beast’s footsteps were getting closer. It stopped near the big tree where they were hiding and looked around. It then let out a loud roar, seemingly unable to find their hiding spot.

Just as the two quietly let out a sigh of relief. The giant beast suddenly went mad and started attacking the surrounding trees. Even though it did not know where exactly they were hiding, it could tell from their scent that the ones that had just killed its food were still in the jungle, so it wanted to use the dumbest technique to force them out of hiding, which was to destroy all the surrounding trees.

“This is bad!” In a few seconds, the surrounding trees collapsed. The giant beast’s fists fell upon the largest tree. With one blow, the entire trunk shook as the two were almost thrown off.

Upon seeing a tree that, despite its attack, remained standing perfectly fine, the giant beast started raging and began attacking the tree fervently.

“Run!” Gu Ding said quietly. He grabbed Liliath’s wrist, jumped off the tree, and ran toward the depths of the jungle.

When the giant beast saw them, it stopped attacking the tree and turned to chase after them. It ran with great strides, such that even though Gu Ding was running with all his might, the creature gradually drew closer.

At that moment, Liliath broke away from Gu Ding’s grip. Under her direction, the Firearm Combat Armor turned into a big, shiny black barrel. She quickly retrieved a fist-sized cartridge from the storage space and shoved it into the chamber. Then, she turned around abruptly, aimed the barrel at the giant beast, and pulled the trigger.

“Boom!” A loud explosion shook the entire jungle. The powerful projectile hit the eyes in the beast’s forehead, while her petite frame remained firmly planted to the ground, her icy gaze calm.

After the hit, she did not retreat. Instead, she retrieved a second bullet and shoved it into the chamber. She held the black two-meter long barrel firmly against her shoulder and fixed her gaze on the giant beast’s silhouette, which was the only thing visible behind the cloud of dust.

“I told you, she’s an excellent gunner. You got lucky this time!” Neptune said when he saw what had happened.

Gu Ding smiled but did not respond to Neptune’s comment. He also stopped in his tracks and adjusted his body’s condition with all his might. A Rank 3 Gene Body would not be destroyed so easily. Even if Liliath used a nuclear-powered sniper rifle, it would only cause flesh wounds to a Rank 3 Gene Body. It would be difficult deal a fatal blow, so he still had to handle the upcoming battle, whilst Liliath could only assist.

There were two mainstream factions of gunners: One was the violent crushing faction, and the other was the team support faction.

The violent crushing faction was comprised of those that used sophisticated firearms, with dense artillery fire and bullets that restrained the opponent’s ability to fight back whilst completely crushing them. Most of the users in this faction were wealthy as the firearms were not cheap and consumed all types of bullets. Thus, their list of expenses was naturally very long.

The team support faction, on the other hand, started as a poor faction and was normally used by people who could not afford good firearms or limitless bullets. Due to their lack of resources, they had to make the best of every single one of their bullets and use them only on the most important parts. Therefore, their task in a team was not to kill but to restrict and provide support. They used their bullets to stop the opponent’s movements so that the opponent would not be able to use their abilities to the fullest and to assist the other members in taking down the opponent. Of course, the demand placed on these gunners was huge. They were required to have amazing prediction and calculation skills to be able to calculate the trajectory and time of the opponent’s attack whilst predicting the opponent’s movements.

Gu Ding knew that Liliath was an excellent gunner, but until now, she had only shown tactics used by the violent crushing faction. Whether she could use the team support faction’s tactics to restrain the opponent would be the key to victory in this battle.

Under the shroud of dust, the giant figure staggered to its feet and roared furiously. The ear-piercing shriek made Gu Ding frown whilst also causing the surrounding monsters to flee wildly.

With a sudden burst of strength, the giant beast charged through the shroud of dust and rushed toward the two. It seemed that three of the eyes on its forehead were already destroyed.

Liliath’s expression was calm. With a slight jump, another shot was fired. Her body moved backward from the recoil from the blast, and she retreated quickly. She knew she was the giant beast’s target.

“Boom!” The projectile was blocked by the giant beast’s palm, and the beast sneered at Liliath. After a quick moment, it immediately leaped at Liliath again. On the other hand, Gu Ding had been completely ignored by the beast.

“This giant beast seems to retain a certain degree of intelligence,” Neptune said after evaluating the beast’s reaction.

At that moment, Gu Ding also adjusted his body to a state that used tier 2 Ultimate Arts. It took a toll on a Rank 1 Gene Body to use tier 2 Ultimate Arts. However, Gu Ding had no other choice; if he wanted to kill off his opponent, he needed to pay a hefty price. From what he could see of the giant beast’s current condition, he was afraid that even tier 2 Ultimate Arts would not be able to cause damage to it.

Gu Ding took a Silent Step and appeared quietly on the top of the giant beast’s head. With tremendous strength, he brought a Phantom Kick down on the eyes of the beast.

However, he was quickly noticed by the beast. It was enraged by Gu Ding’s attack, and it waved its arms, trying desperately to grab Gu Ding. Gu Ding pulled back and evaded the beast’s attack with another Silent Step.

He finally caught the giant beast’s attention. At the same time, Liliath seemed to have realized something. The Firearm Combat Armor in her grasp transformed again, and it turned into a long and thick sniper rifle—longer and thicker than the first one Gu Ding had seen. She quickly reloaded, then braced the buttstock against her shoulder, and aimed at the giant beast’s eyes once again. However, she did not fire immediately.

As she watched the giant beast pursue Gu Ding, she finally spotted an opening and pulled the trigger.

The giant beast wailed when it was hit, as it had lost yet another eye. This made it extremely furious, and it started attacking Gu Ding even more wildly.

Even though Gu Ding was using Silent Step, he could only try his best to dodge the beast in its berserker state. In just two or three minutes, Gu Ding had already suffered several blows. The tier 2 Ultimate Arts’ Righteous Body support was becoming unstable as every blow he took felt as if his whole body had been struck by lightning.

“The tier 2 Ultimate Arts cannot withstand this any longer. I need to use tier 3!” Even though Gu Ding knew that the use of the tier 3 Ultimate Arts would have serious consequences on his body, it was still better than if he were to be killed off by this monster.

At this very moment, Liliath once again found an opening and attacked another one of the beast’s eyes. Now, the six-eyed giant beast only had one eye left.