Chapter 12.5 - Root of Evil

High level combat training area region A was a wide region covering close to a thousand square meters. At the center of it were all types of movable constructs and obstacles. More than ten staff members were currently moving over dummies one after another and placing them in the designated areas. These dummies were made mostly of composite materials, and they had simple sensors installed within them. Covering their surface was outstanding rubber similar to the type covering the dummy he trained his fist strength on. The three A grade dummies were made of an excellent alloy, and the surface of their bodies even had pieces of armor covering their crucial areas!

The captain took off his outer clothes and only wore a pair of military shorts. He kicked off his military boots and stood barefoot in the training area. “The art of battle is actually extremely simple. It is using the simplest and most direct movements to bombard an enemy’s vital areas! Speed, power, angle, time, and hitting the enemy, these are all the factors you need to consider. Don’t try to think about those useless fancy moves. Once you grasp these, you then need to consider the environment, terrain, backup, and a bunch of other things. Of course, this all shouldn’t be that big of a problem for the brains of freaks like you. As for how you should strike the enemy, every person is different. Only by creating your own style can you be considered to have grasped a bit of life-saving skills. Fuck, this blasted world! Why is everyone thinking about how to blast the other person’s brains open!”

After cursing outwards, Curtis took a deep breath. All of his body’s muscles wriggled about, tightened, and then that thick and broad body became a size smaller! The captain began to take wide strides, and then in a somewhat clumsy manner, he sped towards the closest dummy. Without slowing down his speed in the slightest, his elbow suddenly struck out horizontally, hitting the dummy in the throat!

A light ka la sounded. The dummy was still standing in its original spot in a perfectly straight manner, but its head was already resting crooked to the side. If it was a real person, their cervical spine would have long snapped.

The captain’s movements couldn’t be considered very fast. At the very least, the naked eye could clearly see his actions without any special abilities. The power and direction in which he struck out wasn’t anything unexpected either. However, Su’s face immediately paled!

The B grade dummy’s entire body was made of composite materials that possessed extremely great flexibility, and the layer of rubber covering its surface even more so added to this characteristic. If one wanted to strike the B grade dummy until it was crooked, it wasn’t difficult, and soon after, they would bounce back. However, if one wanted to deliver an elbow strike like the captain’s where only the head leaned to the side, but its body only slightly trembled, just how crazy of an explosive strength was this?!

Curtis crossed over the obstacles, passing through eleven dummies, striking at them with his elbows, knees, and even directly using his head to directly flatten a dummy’s head! The dummies that experienced a strike from the captain would only shake slightly. However, when Su saw those areas that had been completely damaged, he only felt as if his throat was incomparably dry and rough!

In the blink of an eye, twenty-one B grade puppets were already completely destroyed under Curtis’ hands. His black and shiny body was covered in a thin layer of sweat as well, just like an oily waterproof barrier. From time to time, small areas of his muscles would jump about. Right now, there were only three grade A puppets remaining.

Curtis lifted a six barreled gatling machine gun from the firearms rack on the side. He inserted the chain of armor penetrating bullets that had long been prepared beforehand into the machine gun, and then after taking half a step back, he suddenly pulled on the trigger!

Bang bang bang!

The rapidly spinning machine cannon spat out long tongues of flame, sending the armor penetrating bullets raining down upon these A grade dummies’ bodies one after another. There were immediately some bullets that ricocheted off of them into various directions. There were even a few bullets that bounced back onto the captain’s body, but they fell like dust, unable to do anything to the shining black flesh. After the hundred rounds were emptied, the A grade dummy that suffered from ferocious firepower still stood there without falling. Apart from the uneven bumps on the surface of its body, there weren’t any other noticeable damages.

This was something that Su had long predicted. An A grade dummy’s alloy composition was created from the same stuff as the armor of main battle tanks. Even though it wasn’t as thick as that of a tank’s, it wasn’t something that normal machine gun fire could blast through.

The captain’s mouth cracked open into a grin, his snow white teeth appearing especially brilliant in Su’s eyes. He suddenly ran towards the A grade dummy, and then with a leap, while carrying a powerful wind, his enormous body fiercely smashed down on the dummy’s chest!

A crisp crack sounded. The feet of this A grade dummy that had sixteen thick bolts latching it to the ground didn’t budge, but its upper body suddenly leaned towards the side! The captain borrowed the momentum of this blow to change directions in midair. When he landed, he took a step, and then smashed his right fist at the dummy. This single fist made this dummy’s chest directly cave in!

Then, Curtis took large steps outwards, passing by the third dummy. His left arm extended outward, hooking around that dummy’s neck and then jerked forward! A light vibrating sounded rang through the entire training region A. The last A grade puppet actually bent at the waist, its entire body bending backwards ninety degrees!

Su’s pupils immediately narrowed. He obviously noticed that the last A grade dummy wasn’t even fastened to the ground!

On the first dummy, the captain displayed the maximizing of the damage one could deliver with a charge. Then, with absolute power, he destroyed the second dummy. As for the third...

Su didn't understand how Curtis destroyed the third dummy at all! That looked like a simple wrap and hook, but it contained incomparable power. This crazy power and precise control, even if it was a new era main battle tank, it would still be forcibly flattened under Curtis’ arms!

“You get it, youngster?” The captain had pulled out a towel from who knows where and began to wipe at the sweat covering his body. He pressed the call button along the way to summon the training area’s attendants. After sweeping his eyes over the bill the attendant brought over, Curtis pointed at Su and said, “Do you see him? That fella is paying the bill!”

Su stood there quietly, as if he didn’t hear anything. Later on, he might as well have closed his eyes. He already remembered every single movement Curtis made, and right now, they were replaying within his mind. Each time they replayed, the shock it brought him would be similarly intense!

This was true power!

Under a strike of this type of power, Malim, Sarton, even Martham all seemed extremely weak, weak to the extent where they were like flower vases that would shatter upon a single touch! Regardless of what type of method they used to block it, the captain could still blast everything apart, and then smash the remnants of that protection into their bodies!

Only now did Su remember what the captain said seemingly accidentally during the training camp. “Guns can only be used to defeat those numerous but useless fellows. What you have to rely in a true battle is still your individual strength! Of course, there are some special custom-made guns that are an exception to this. However! Those guns are not things useless trash like you all can purchase!”

For some reason, Su suddenly thought of Helen’s special biological and machine specialized bullets. Even though the word ‘prototype’ was written on them, regardless of whether it was their power or crucial uses in a battle, they all matched the ‘custom-made’ the captain spoke about. In addition, the timing of the special bullets Helen sent over was also at critical moments.

Su frowned, his train of thought already deviating from his replaying and analysis of the captain’s display of power, movement, and other things. Power wasn’t everything. Regardless of whether it was Persephone’s quick-witted changes, Madeline’s simple roughness, or even the spreader of darkness Dyke Avidar whose abilities he knew nothing about, none of them should be weaker than Curtis, let alone the Spider Empress who had never exposed themselves. These experts’ fighting styles were all completely different, but they were similarly powerful.

When he thought up to this point, Su finally understood Curtis’ true meaning. Power is absolute, but there was more than one path to creating power. No matter what ability domain was developed, when one reached an extreme, there would always be terrifying abilities produced. It was to the extent where when two abilities were paired together, even if it was a strength produced from merging many sixth level abilities, it would still often be greater than even that of a ninth level ability.

After understanding this point, Su unconsciously formed a bit of silent gratitude to Curtis. The black steel-like captain displayed all of his strength in front of Su without holding anything back, and only then did Su understand the rules of increasing power in the ability domains. Even though Su and Persephone’s relationship was not ordinary, the amount of time they could spend together was pitifully low. In addition, when they did meet, Su’s abilities were still not great enough to the point where he could learn anything from her.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that a dragonrider’s abilities were one of their greatest secrets. The captain did all of this just to satisfy a request Su made, even though he didn’t give the captain anything in return. This demonstration would undoubtedly save Su the time of walking down many wrong paths. Perhaps this wasn’t Su’s only path. He had a vague feeling that consulting Helen in the path of developing abilities would be similarly effective, maybe even more effective. However, for some reason, Su always felt a strange feeling of rejection towards Helen, an instinctive urge to avoid this woman.

“Lieutenant Commander Su, please take a look at this bill. If there is no problem, please press here.” The attendant brought over a thin optical touch screen.

“Oh, okay… huh?!” Su was originally absent-mindedly, but when he saw the number on the screen, he was immediately shocked! Forget about everything else, just the 10,000 yuan compensation fee of each dummy already left him thoroughly speechless. After releasing a bitter laugh, Su touched the screen for consent. The 500,000 yuan total price of training was still somewhat worth it.

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