"Yes!", Charlie replied again in an ear-piercing burst of static, "I predicted it. They're people from Zone E. They injected themselves with mutated beast blood and ended up like this. They're very powerful. Be careful."
Right then, the guy with the football-shaped head suddenly opened his mouth wide at Ethan.
Then... his head flipped back like an opening helmet.
A brilliant light began gathering inside his mouth, and the next moment, a beam shot out loudly.
Whoosh!
"Holy shit!"
Ethan was stunned on the spot.
'What the hell is this?'
'A humanoid cannon!'
"Level 3 Space Gate!"
At that moment, Ethan didn't dare take it lightly. He immediately opened a Space Gate in the beam's path.
He wanted to use the same trick he'd used to absorb lightning and swallow this energy beam as well.
BOOM!
But whether the humanoid cannon was simply too powerful, or Ethan's Level 3 Space Gate was too small, the beam actually passed through the Space Gate. Although a huge chunk in the middle had been swallowed, making it look like a ring-shaped solar eclipse, the remaining beam still shot straight toward Ethan.
"Lord's Domain!"
Although Ethan was wearing the Triumph Armor, he wasn't about to take the attack head-on before knowing how strong his opponent really was.
So he immediately activated his Lord's Domain and avoided the beam.
BOOM!
The remaining beam slammed into where Ethan had been standing.
It erased nearly a hundred square meters of the mine in a single blast.
The power was astonishing.
"This... how the hell is this something a man can do? Even Ultraman isn't this ridiculous!"
Ethan was completely shocked.
Luckily, he'd wisely chosen to dodge instead of trying to show off.
But since they'd made the first move, it would be rude not to return the favor.
"Strange Sword Style!"
Ethan stabbed from behind with a single strike.
This was his swordsmanship.
If he could ambush someone, he'd never fight them head-on.
If he could poison them, ambush them, or fight dirty, he'd do that instead of acting cool.
Killing the enemy was what mattered.
Everything else... was secondary.
Pfft!
However, when Ethan thrust his sword, it felt like stabbing into cotton.
There wasn't the slightest sensation of piercing flesh.
That left him puzzled.
[Poisonous Flying Insects Invading!]
[Poisonous Flying Insects Invading!]
Just then, Ethan suddenly noticed that the Space Gate created by Strange Sword Style had several extra exclamation marks.
Each one warned that poisonous flying insects were invading.
Seeing this, Ethan quickly withdrew the Godslayer Sword.
Only then did he realize that although he'd aimed for the football-headed monster, at some point, the mushroom-headed one's arm had transformed into a huge patch of mushrooms, blocking the football-headed one from behind.
So... what Ethan had stabbed wasn't the football-headed monster at all.
It was the mushrooms.
No wonder it had felt so soft.
"Heh!"
As Ethan stared at the mushroom-headed monster, it stared right back at him.
It even revealed a strange smile, as if it had already anticipated what Ethan would do. The smile carried a knowing look.
[Poison Dispelled: EXP +5]
[Poison Dispelled: EXP +3]
[Poison Dispelled...]
Ethan looked down.
Only then did he notice several tiny flying insects, each no bigger than a grain of sand, biting his skin.
No wonder the system had kept warning him about poisonous insects invading.
'So it is these little things?'
He hadn't expected these inhuman creatures to be this troublesome.
Even the Space Gate hadn't killed them. They'd actually counterattacked, invading through his own Space Gate and sending all these poisonous insects after him.
But before Ethan could even swat them, he saw, one after another, the little insects flipped onto their backs, their tiny legs sticking straight up, then dropped off his arm.
[Poisonous Midge Mosquito Corpse detected. Collect?]
'Ha!'
The poisonous mosquitoes came to suck blood... and ended up poisoning themselves to death instead.
That was hilarious.
These tiny things weren't useful to him anyway, so Ethan ignored the poisonous insects on the ground.
Instead, he took out the cannon he'd just picked up from the thundercloud, loaded it with a hundred spirit stones, and figured it should be more than enough to blow up one fish and two freaks.
———
Not far away...
"Thanks for blocking that sword for me," said the football-headed monster riding on the hammerhead shark's back, "Want me to fire another explosive shot?"
"No need."
The mushroom-headed monster sneered, "The moment he attacked, I'd already sent some poisonous insects to invade through his Space Gate."
"A mere Level 3 Space Mage dares challenge me? He really has a death wish."
The football-headed monster bluntly replied, "But he's not dead."
"Impossible!"
The mushroom-headed monster narrowed its eyes.
"As long as those poisonous midge mosquitoes bite someone, forget a mere Level 3 Space Mage, even an Archmage is certain to die. Unless they're a Shaman."
"But Shamans and Mages are different classes. One person can't take both classes at the same time, can they?"
"So..."
"He's as good as dead!"