Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 878: A Bounty with Coordinates

The fireball detonated first, followed immediately by the eight concussive booms of the rockets, the overlapping explosions shaking the sand beneath their feet and throwing up a towering wall of smoke and debris.

Ethan did not slow down.

These were cyborgs. If they had enough confidence to fire their own ordnance at point-blank range, then they almost certainly had countermeasures built in. If that was the extent of their firepower, then they were no different from ordinary soldiers with better toys.

He covered the final hundred meters in the blink of an eye, plunging straight into the roiling smoke.

Two white-hot beams suddenly lanced out from within the chaos.

’Lasers?’

The thought barely had time to form.

The beams were already upon him. Light-speed attacks offered no warning, no buildup. Ethan had no time to dodge, not even enough to activate a defensive skill.

Twin lines of condensed energy struck his chest head-on.

And then... nothing happened.

There was no pain, no impact, not even force. Just a faint warmth, like sunlight through glass.

Ethan realized he was still moving, charging straight through the laser fire and deeper into the cloud. He blinked in disbelief and glanced down mid-stride. His shirt had been neatly burned through in two smoking holes, but his skin beneath was untouched, marked only by two tiny white spots that were already fading.

Understanding hit him, followed by a surge of exhilaration.

’Right. The Heavenly Tribulation. I survived that lightning. My body isn’t what it used to be anymore.’

Confidence surged through him as he closed the remaining distance. His fist slammed forward.

BAM!

The first cyborg’s armored chest imploded under the blow, metal caving inward as if struck by a meteor. Ethan pivoted smoothly, momentum flowing through his body, and unleashed a spinning kick that connected squarely with another cyborg’s helmet.

Two violent detonations followed. One chestplate shattered into jagged fragments, the cyborg collapsing inward. The other had its head pulverized entirely, the body dropping lifelessly to the sand.

The cyborg with the destroyed chestplate writhed on the ground, struggling uselessly. The headless one lay still.

Ethan stepped forward and brought his foot down.

CRUNCH.

Compressed air burst outward as the helmet and internal components shattered beneath his heel. The alloy armor that had just endured Blackie’s Windfire Annihilation and eight rockets crumpled like brittle paper under his strike.

"Captain!" one of the remaining cyborgs shouted, the voice distorted and tinny through the helmet speaker.

Ethan did not need to see their faces to guess that the one he had just crushed was their leader.

"Threat level exceeds parameters. Retreat!" another voice barked sharply.

One cyborg’s leg boosters flared to life as he launched himself backward in a desperate attempt to escape.

Swoosh!

Before he could gain distance, a transparent blade of compressed air sliced cleanly through the space between them. It passed effortlessly through the cyborg’s neck.

Thump.

The body hit the ground, severed cleanly. Blackie’s handiwork, an ultra-condensed wind blade sharp enough to cut sound itself.

"Don’t... don’t attack!" one of the remaining five shouted as they instinctively stepped back, all trace of confidence gone. "We have no ill intent!" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

They knew they were hopelessly outmatched. The target was not merely strong. He had a partner wielding dual-element abilities. Their armor specifications were drilled into them. It was rated to withstand at least a Level 12 Mutant’s attacks. And yet it had failed catastrophically.

Ethan did not immediately attack again.

"No ill intent?" he said coldly. "You opened with rotary cannons, then fired rockets at me. Now you want to talk about intentions? Do you think I’m stupid?"

Silence answered him.

"Nothing to say?" Ethan’s eyes hardened. "Good. Time to go."

The moment the words left his mouth, he moved.

He lunged at the nearest cyborg. The machine raised an arm in a precise, practiced block. These things were clearly designed for close-quarters combat as well.

It did not matter.

CRACK!

The alloy arm bent grotesquely, folding like cheap pipe. Ethan followed through instantly, his punch landing with a bone-shaking BANG that obliterated the helmet and everything inside it.

"No!" the remaining four cried out, scrambling backward in blind panic.

Ethan gave them no mercy. In Panther Form, his burst speed was overwhelming. He tore through them in seconds, strikes landing faster than thought.

When it was over, only one cyborg remained, having managed to put a small but precious distance between them.

A thrill coursed through Ethan’s veins. This kind of power, raw and absolute, was intoxicating.

He recalled the Twilight War Spear to its full form. Lifting it overhead, he drew his body tight like a drawn bow, sighted down the shaft, and hurled it with everything he had.

SHIIIIIING!

The spear screamed through the air, seeming to tear the sky apart. The fleeing cyborg, nearly a hundred meters away, never stood a chance. The spear punched through his back and burst from his chest, the force of the impact slamming him into the sand and pinning him there.

Ethan reached him a second later.

"Don’t kill me!" the cyborg gasped as he saw Ethan’s foot rise. "I have information!"

Ethan’s boot came down hard on the helmet.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

The reinforced visor spiderwebbed with fractures. Just as despair fully took hold, the pressure vanished.

"What information?" Ethan crouched and tore the shattered visor free, revealing the pale, terrified face beneath. "Talk, and you live."

He smiled as he said it. There was nothing friendly in that smile.

Blackie strolled over and stopped beside him.

"You’re on the dark web’s bounty list," the man blurted out, words tumbling over each other as hope flared. "We’re just one team. There are more coming. A lot more."

"Dark web bounty?" Ethan frowned. "What’s that?"

Blackie answered before the man could. "A place where people buy hits. Apex Predators talk about it sometimes. Someone posts a job, someone takes it, then receives payment." He grinned broadly. "You’re famous, Boss."

Ethan shot him a flat look. Famous for having a price on my head. Fantastic.

He turned back to the captive. "How many? How strong? And how did you find this place?"

"Lots," the man said quickly. "Everyone from heavy hitters to desperate amateurs. The reward is energy crystals. That pulls in every greedy bastard alive. The file had your basic profile. Everyone thought you were just some college kid on an expedition. But clearly..." His voice shook as he looked at Ethan.

"As for finding you, the file had exact coordinates. Said you were at the polar apex. It even warned not to fly, only to climb, or you’d miss the hidden realm entrance. So not everyone’s here just for you. Some are here for that hidden realm too."

He stopped, having emptied everything he knew.

The phrase hidden realm caught Ethan’s attention. He suspected it was bait, something added to the bounty to lure more hunters. This was the Forbidden Vale the beast clans spoke of, and with its distorted reality, hidden realm was not an inaccurate description.

Ethan stood and ripped the Twilight Spear free from the pinned body. "Get lost."

He turned, about to signal Blackie.

But Blackie’s hand flicked out.

Slish.