Chapter 1290: A Slap of Death!
Translator: Sean88888 Editor: Elkassar1
As soon as the two finished speaking, the square-ish test subject monster roared like thunder, then moved towards Old Charlie with his two abnormally long arms hanging down. Every time he put his foot down on the ground, the ground would shake, so strong were his steps.
Old Charlie did not even spare him a glance. After he picked the sack up , he turned around with a cough and slowly walked towards Sheyan’s box, totally ignoring the terrifying monster.
The body of the monster called Test Subject No. 1 was still covered in blood and human tissues from his massacre! It was a truly gruesome sight! And yet, Old Charlie dared to turn his back on the monster!
The crowd were secretly admiring the fearless attitude shown by Old Charlie. Little did they know that Old Charlie had seen all kinds of terrible storms and waves since he became Sheyan’s follower. A mere test subject was really not worth mentioning at all.
The test subject soon caught up to Old Charlie. The massive muscles on his massive arms creaked as he fiercely hammered his fists down on Old Charlie!!
But at that instant, a weird green spot suddenly appeared on the wooden floor under Old Charlie’s foot. It seemed to produce a very strong lifting effect, so the step Old Charlie took this time was surprisingly big. It instantly propelled him out of the reach of the test subject.
Therefore, the test subject’s fists ended up hitting nothing but the wooden floor!
There was a reason the floor of the auction house was made of wood. In this era of interstellar voyage, the commonly used construction material for buildings was actually a kind of standardised cement that had been specially developed. It could rapidly solidify and could be transported with ease. The travels in this era were measured in units of light years, so transportation cost had always been a significant problem. Therefore, wood was actually a luxury construction material.
But Alps Base 7 enjoyed a unique natural advantage in this respect.
Just less than 30 million kilometers away, there was a planet on which nitrogen and argon contents in the atmosphere were very high. This bred a very special kind of plant which resembled the moss on Earth, but its size was comparable to a banyan tree! The plant which was simply named “giant moss” densely covered the surface of the planet. Therefore, on Alps Base 7, using these giant moss trees as building materials was actually more cost-effective.
When the test subject slammed down on the floor built from giant moss wood, the wooden floor immediately burst due to its special texture. The giant moss wood shattered very thoroughly in the face of the irresistible force like a shattered car windshield, becoming countless sharp spikes which splashed out in every direction.
The spot beneath Old Charlie’s foot suddenly flashed green again, and his forward march immediately shifted to a backward stride. Then, with the foot which stepped backwards as pivot, he turned around 180 degrees and, before the test subject had time to retrieve his huge arms, gave the test subject a slap on the face!
Test Subject No. 1 extended his two horrifying arms around Old Charlie, intending to squeeze Old Charlie’s waist until his spine broke, but he suddenly stiffened in place. Approximately five seconds later, the muscular square monster fell to the ground face-first, his entire body spasming violently!!
The the whole auction house became deathly silent.
Sheyan was the only one who knew what had happened in that instant. He had summoned Ramtas. Ramtas was proficient in level 1 and level 2 nature magic, which explained the sudden increase in Old Charlie’s speed. It was just a simple level 1 nature spell: ‘Longstrider’.
[ Level 1 nature spell: ‘Longstrider’ — Use the power of nature to trigger the potential in the target, increasing the target’s movement speed by 0.8 m/s. The spell lasts for 60 seconds. When there is a forest, grassland, or a large number of plants nearby, the duration of the spell will be extended accordingly. ]
(TL: Longstrider spell in D&D: https://dnd5e.fandom.com/wiki/Longstrider )
The reason Old Charlie ‘s following slap was so lethal was because when his palm travelled through the air, he had caught a 10 centimeter long wooden spike and held it between his fingers.
The spike was just a very ordinary wooden spike. When the giant moss wood shattered due to its unique constitution, thousands of such wooden spikes were formed, flying across the air. The key lay in a second-order nature spell Ramtas had performed on the wooden spike:
[ Level 2 nature spell: ‘Animate Wood’ — Imbue a small wooden object with mobility and a semblance of life. ]
( TL: http://dnd.arkalseif.info/spells/complete-arcane–55/animate-wood–535/index.html )
Old Charlie slapped the wooden spike into Test Subject No. 1’s right eye. The wooden spike then penetrated deep into the monster’s brain and was animated into a hedgehog…. The first thing the frightened hedgehog did in the warm and sticky brain environment was naturally to erect all the quills on its body!
The thick skin of Test Subject No. 1 could repel even bullets, but this did not mean his brain could still function normally after such a blow! Otherwise, why would its skull be built with alloy steel?
And that was why a light slap from Old Charlie could knock the fierce monster down.
The people around Old Charlie were now staring at him in fear. To tell the truth, because of his former status as a noble of the Empire, his family was more susceptible to bullying and humiliation after his fall. Which one of those present had not mocked and looked down on him? They had treated him like a pile of sh*t, hurling abuse at him after stepping on him.
But this man, who was forced to sell himself into servitude as a Cyborg, had now bobbed back up like a cork. The powerful biochemical test subject wearing the most advanced military combat armour was ended by this fragile-looking old man with one slap! What the hell was that?!?!
But more importantly….if this old man wished to exact revenge on them, wouldn’t he only need one finger?
The death of Test Subject No. 1 signified that the two sides were now irreconcilable enemies. Old Charlie knew what to do without needing any advice from Sheyan. Back then, he had lost everything due to a moment of indecisiveness, causing his whole family to fall to the very bottom of society. Now that he had strength, he would not fear anyone!
So Old Charlie immediately hunched down and sprinted straight towards the box where the monster came from. Old Charlie’s Agility was now twice the Agility of a healthy adult male from Old Earth running at full speed. In other words, it was 3.5 to 4 times the Agility of the humans from this era. Right now, he was even buffed by the powerful ‘Longstrider’ spell.
Therefore, Old Charlie took no time at all to reach Grant. He gripped Grant’s throat and pushed him further into the box, using him as a shield.
Old Charlie hunched his body and hid behind Grant while he charged forward. The people in the box decisively opened fire. Smoke and wooden fragments filled the box, but the number of people inside was also revealed.
There were four people in the box.
One of them was a young man in his twenties. He had a pale face and drifting eyes, and his gaze was sinister and ruthless. The coat he wore was rather strange, somewhat similar to a swallow-tailed coat, but it had a large, curly collar that stood up. It was luxurious in a twisted way.
The coat also had quite a unique texture. The fabric would ripple like the surface of water following the actions of the wearer, giving it a magnificent look.
However, this young man was sitting down.
The other three men were standing, but even so, the differences in their status could be clearly perceived.
The man nearest to the young man was a muscular guy, but instead of being bulky and slow like Test Subject No. 1, his body was fit and well defined like Sheyan. The man wore sunglasses and stood there with his arms folded in front of his chest, seemingly indifferent to everything that was happening.
He was obviously the last line of defence for the young man.
In front of him was an old man which should be something like a butler or a secretary who was responsible for arranging all the trifling matters for his master. Of course, he must also occasionally help his master come up with some wicked ideas. To put it simply, if Sheyan was an evil man, Old Charlie and Jinkuang would be playing the same role as the old man.
Standing on the outermost position was a man wielding a gun in each of his hands — oh, no, he was a monster whose hands had been transformed into weapons. He was currently firing crazily. The hapless Grant had already been torn into several pieces by his bullets, but his bullets still could not touch Old Charlie. He only managed to force Old Charlie to take cover behind a pillar. Blocks of concrete fell off the pillar due to the man’s unceasing shots.
The crowd took the chance to run away in this chaotic mess. Fortunately, because the auction was held in a hurry, only less than twenty customers had attended. Of course, all of them had brought followers along, but even including the followers, there were still less than 40 people in total. Therefore, they dispersed pretty quickly.
But a grey shadow shot out like a flash of lightning from the midst of the chaos and pierced through the chest of the man whose hands had been modified into weapons! Electric sparks dazzled the eye, and a series of explosions sounded. Black smoke burst out in billows.
The grey shadow was a bristle of Ramtas. It appeared that the bristle had not hit a vital spot because even though electricity was creeping across the man’s chest and his chest was smoking, he could still turn towards the direction where the bristle came from and was prepared to shoot. His left hand had rapidly transformed into an energy weapon.