13 Battling the Giant Beetle

"Damn it! I'll hold it back! You and Lucia, run!" Nicole knew that she had nothing that could kill the giant beetle. All she could do was buy Lucia and Qin Hao time. Being their escort, that was the only right thing to do at the moment.

"Nicole…" Lucia hesitated and did not know what to do. She was not as tough as Nicole.

Nicole kept firing. The beetle was impenetrable, but at least the electromagnetic rifle could slow the bug down and give Lucia, as well as Qin Hao, the time to flee.

"Let me help you!" Qin Hao joined the battle. As a veteran soldier, he had analyzed the situation a bit; if he brought Lucia along and fled now, they certainly had a chance to escape the battleground.

However, ever since they landed on Isis Beach, he had seen too many deaths. All his comrades had died around him. From the landing battle to the arrival of the 2nd Company, it had been his comrades who perished, leaving him behind, alone.

So today, he was not going to leave his comrade behind no matter what. Even if he knew the enemy was far stronger, he was determined to fight to the last drop of his blood.

"Take care of yourself." Qin Hao smiled at Lucia, who was lying behind the mound. He then took her pistol and jumped out at once.

The pistol's firepower was relatively weak, but at least it was enough to attract the giant beetle's attention. Even if he had an electromagnetic rifle, it would make no difference.

The giant beetle lunged forward and arrived before Nicole before she knew it.

It struck its front leg sideways, aiming for Nicole's waistline.

Nicole flipped over and dodged the attack before she quickly resumed a firing position to pull the trigger.

The bullets hit the giant beetle but did no damage. The giant beetle got extremely aggressive as it attacked Nicole non-stop. Despite how agile Nicole was, she still could not match the giant beetle's speed.

As skilled as she was, she could not evade the attacks every single time. At last, the giant beetle landed a hit on her with its front leg. Luckily, her armor protected her.

The giant beetle's leg did not manage to cut Nicole's body in half, but the impact still sent her flying backward and crashing into a tree.

"Are you okay, Nicole?" Qin Hao ran up to her.

"I'm fine. You two, go now! We can't fight it!" Nicole wanted to push Qin Hao away but realized that she could not move her arm. The crash must have dislocated her shoulder.

"Leave it to me!" Qin Hao took a deep breath. He had a feeling that some mysterious power was guiding him. There was a voice telling him that he could defeat the bug.

Qin Hao pulled out the alloy sword behind Nicole with one hand and held her by the waist with the other. Then, he brought her down to Lucia behind the mound.

"Take a look at her injury. I'll take care of the bug." Qin Hao smiled. He did not even know where he had gotten his confidence.

He dragged the alloy sword over the pebbles on the ground, causing sparks to fly all over the place.

As the giant beetle shrieked, Qian Hao's eyes glinted with a cold blue light. Fortunately, Nicole and Lucia were behind him and did not notice it. Otherwise, his appearance would have scared the daylights out of them.

The giant beetle saw the blue light and was startled for a moment. Taking the opportunity, Qin Hao lunged at the bug.

He leaned forward and swung the alloy sword down. He had never learned combat techniques before, but there was a time when his grandfather was still alive, and his grandfather taught him some traditional Chinese martial arts. To Qian Hao, those techniques were not as practical as the hand-to-hand combat techniques of modern times. He found them to be more reminiscent of gymnastics than martial arts, only good for show.

Although he was not fond of martial arts, he still put in a lot of effort because his grandfather pressured him from a young age. After his grandfather passed away, Qin Hao stopped practicing it.

Today, however, when he performed one of the sword techniques, he realized that the martial arts his grandfather had taught him was not as useless as he had thought. He found it impractical because he had not been up to snuff last time. His strength and reaction time had only been as good as an ordinary person's, hence he could not maximize the potential of the techniques.

Now, on the other hand, with the insectoid's power in his body, his abilities had surpassed that of a human. He could feel it with that first strike of the sword. His coordination was superb, and his moves were better than any hand-to-hand combat technique he had ever known.

While his sword technique was swift and powerful, the giant beetle was no slouch. After it was startled for a second, the giant beetle's eyes suddenly turned bloodshot, and it started to attack Qin Hao violently. Apparently, the giant commander beetle had found out that Qin Hao was the culprit who killed their little prince.

Sparks flew around as Qin Hao's sword and the giant beetle's front legs clashed non-stop. Nicole, as well as Lucia, looked on, and their jaws dropped to the ground.

After a quick fight with the giant beetle, Nicole had realized how terrifying it was. She knew she could not hold a candle to the giant beetle even with her armor on. Yet, Qin Hao held his own before the giant beetle with just physical strength and an alloy sword. She was literally struck dumb; how could a mess cook be so badass?

Qin Hao fought head-to-head with the giant beetle for one last round and promptly leaped up into the air by borrowing some rebound momentum. Then, he did a flip in the air, which resulted in his head facing down and legs facing the sky. It was a technique that his grandfather had taught him. Back then, he thought the technique left his feet exposed and made them a vulnerable spot that opponents could exploit.

This time, things were different. After he obtained a tremendous upgrade in strength and body coordination, Qin Hao found that it was a fluid technique. He could also make use of the downward momentum to increase its lethality.

As if the giant beetle had sensed the danger, it raised its front legs to block the sword. Little did it realize that Qin Hao was only feigning his current attack.

He bounced back up again by borrowing the rebound momentum and slashed the sword sideways, aiming straight for the bronze horn on the giant beetle's head.