Chapter 1140: One on One
Translator: Sean88888 Editor: Elkassar1
Veron’s short speech showed his domineering attitude! It also perfectly highlighted the arrogance and loftiness of the Predators!
Sheyan looked straight at Veron and said, “If that’s the case, do you dare give us a fair duel?”
Veron was stunned momentarily before he suddenly broke into wild laughter. He looked around at his companions and asked, “Brave warriors, do you hear what he said? Do we dare? Hahahaha! Tell me, what kind of fairness do you want?
Sheyan answered seriously, “The fairness of individual duels! None of us will survive if five of you come up at once and fire your shoulder cannons together. There’s no chance at all for us to fight back. If you want to fight like that, you might as well just shoot us with the cannons on your ship. Stop it with all that bullsh*t about glory and honour!”
After hearing what Sheyan had to say, Elite Predator Veron spoke coldly, “You’ve insulted the honour of the Predators, human! You’ll die a painful death!”
Sheyan showed no hesitation at all as he replied. “Honour is embodied in actions, not words.”
Veron laughed and shouted, “Fine! You may choose any one of us as your opponent. I swear upon my honour as a Predator that no one shall intervene in this fair fight, or it will be a smirch on the dignity of the Predators! But for that, you will pay a hefty price! After you lose, your veins will be slit and you will be left to wail in pain for half an hour before your skin is peeled off!”
That’s what Sheyan was waiting to hear. He immediately stepped forward and pointed at Elite Predator Veron.
“Very well. I choose you as my opponent!”
Veron burst into hysterical laughter.
“You actually picked ME. That’s truly unfortunate!”
A sarcastic smile appeared on Sheyan’s face.
“An old man should be easier to deal with than the young men! By the way, I hope you remember what you just said. Don’t shout for help when you’re beaten half to death later.”
A trace of bloodlust flashed across Veron’s eyes. Of course the Predators wouldn’t know when they’re being goaded. He instantly shouted at his subordinates, “All of you, listen up! No one is allowed to interfere in the fight between us. Otherwise, you will be desecrating my dignity!”
After Veron said this, he strode off the ship and tore off the cloak behind him. Several deep scars were visible on the Elite Predator’s body. Some of the scars even passed through his vital parts. His muscles were bulging and seemed to contain an explosive power.
A Predator is only eligible for promotion to an Elite after having more than ten skulls in their collection. As someone who could have his own name among the Elites, he had most probably made great contributions to his clan, so he was appreciated and given a name by his superiors.
The title of Elite Predator Veron itself represented extraordinary identity and status!
Sheyan inspected Veron carefully. His body did not look as big as the other Predators, but more flexible and more agile. Besides the standard Predator equipment on him, the cannon on his shoulder was unusually large, and he was wearing a tiger tooth knife which looked particularly ferocious at his waist.
Usually, in a fair fight, the bigger one would be considered stronger because it was simply impossible to dodge and parry every punch like in the movies. Otherwise, why were there different weight categories in boxing and the likes? Just throw them all into the same pot.
However, Sheyan’s perception told him that although Veron was considered small among the Predators, he was a lot more dangerous. When Sheyan looked at the other Predators, he felt as if he was looking at rampaging buffalos and horses, but when he looked at Veron, he felt like he was looking at a poisonous snake. The poison was ready in his teeth, and his eyes were locked onto Sheyan’s neck. It gave him the creeps.
To be honest, the other contestants were shocked when Sheyan suddenly suggested one-on-one fights. Aldaris and Ronnie, who supported Sheyan, were cool about it. Aldaris’ personality and experience meant that he had always been a dueling maniac, so of course he would not be afraid of a 1v1 fight to the death with a Predator. As for Ronnie, an assassin like him was simply a nightmare to deal with in small-scale combats.
On the contrary, Paul, Dardanian and Pokan were all mage types, so they normally needed someone to tank in front of them so that they could safely cast spells from behind. Sheyan’s preferential treatment was evident in this decision.
However, Sheyan immediately shut their mouths by picking the most powerful Elite Predator.
There was no nepotism in Predator societies. The higher a Predator’s position, the greater the strength. Elite Predator Veron was not only an Elite, he also possessed his own name, so his strength was two tiers higher than the normal Predators. By selecting the toughest nut to crack, Sheyan had already fulfilled his responsibility as an MT. What else could the others complain about?
At this moment, Pokan and Dardanian were secretly regretting their decision a little. They realised that although Paul’s words had some truth in them, the MT was still the leader of a team after all, especially a powerful and domineering MT like Sheyan. As long as the team still existed, they could not ignore his existence!
But that did not mean there were no traces arrogance and resentment in the hearts of Pokan and Dardanian. As either the leader or a core member in their original parties, they had never suffered this kind of treatment before. Of course they would hold some grudges. More cracks slowly started appearing within the team.
Sheyan did not have the time to think about other people’s feelings, because at this moment, Veron had lifted his head to look straight at him with red, bloodthirsty eyes. At the same time, Sheyan noticed three red dots in a triangular arrangement appearing on the ground. They moved rapidly towards his chest.
That was the signature aiming mechanism of the Predators! Once the red dots stayed at a certain position for 0.5 seconds, the Predator’s weapon would have locked-on to the target and could no longer be avoided!
Sheyan naturally would not make that kind of beginner mistakes. As soon as he saw the three red dots moving towards him, he instantly planted the tip of his foot into the soft ground and kicked hard.
A rush of soil surged towards Veron and also intercepted the laser rangefinder – only for a fraction of a second, but that bought Sheyan enough time to roll and stand back up.
The shoulder cannon of the Predators had a unique characteristic – after the aiming function was activated, it had to be fired within five seconds. Although the soil raised by Sheyan only disturbed the sight and aim of Veron for a split second, Sheyan had already seized the opportunity to roll and jump behind a rock.
The plasma pulse crushed the rock when the five-second time limit was up, before erupting in a violent explosion! Veron then turned on the rapid shooting function! Powerful plasma shots poured out at an average rate of 1 shot per second, blanketing an entire area. Smoke billowed, rocks and sand went flying!
Veron, being an experienced veteran fighter, had realised that Sheyan was as slippery as a loach, but he did not lack experience in dealing with this kind of enemy. His method was to carpet bomb! Usually, those who were fast would be a little lacking on the defensive end, so even if the plasma shots could not land a direct hit, the indirect damages from a large number of shots would still accumulate to a decent amount.
However, this was the tactic Sheyan was the least afraid of!
Not only was his HP so high that it would cause others’ jaws to drop, he also had the formidable ‘Stronghold’ innate ability! The lower each individual damage was, the more ‘Stronghold’ was able to weaken it. For example, between an attack that dealt 100 damage and two attacks that each dealt 50 damage, the latter was obviously more effectively restrained by ‘Stronghold’.
Although the shoulder cannon of the Predator was powerful, the theory behind plasma shots was to focus highly concentrated energy on a single point. It was absolutely not manufactured for the purpose of AoE damage like a hand grenade. Therefore, although Sheyan was mercilessly bombarded and seemed like he was battered, he was in fact not affected much.
The reason Sheyan managed to confuse Veron into thinking that he was fast was thanks to his Perceptive Sense. He was able to dodge the laser not because he was faster than the laser which moved at 300,000 kilometers per second, but because he could sense where the muzzle of the shoulder cannon was going to aim! Reacting faster than Veron’s shoulder cannon was still within Sheyan’s capability.
A Predator had enough energy reserves to shoot thousands of high-energy plasma pulses in rapid succession, but the muzzle of the shoulder cannon had to face the problem of overheating, even after specific modifications had been made. The shoulder cannon had to enter the cooling cycle after continuously launching seven high-energy plasma pulses.
At this time, Veron was expecting to see a charred corpse on the ground half covered by soil after the smoke had gone away, but he was doomed to be disappointed. Before the smoke had even dispersed, a seemingly battered figure leaped out of the smoke and fled quickly towards the distant forest! The figure’s movement did not look too steady, but he was not slow at all!
Veron roared furiously, the emotion in his roar so strong that one could imagine the fangs being bared beneath his mask! He had gone all-out but the attack turned out to be in vain, and in front of so many of his subordinates to boot! His pride was undoubtedly bruised! He immediately chased after Sheyan in anger!