"Yo."
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow.
"Did Odin start a harem?"
"His taste."
"Is much better than that damn Fatty's."
Beside him, Yao Qian curled her lip.
"Yu-ge."
"Did you take a liking to their long legs?"
"Nonsense."
Qin Yu shook his head with a serious expression.
"Am I that kind of person?"
"I'm appreciating the enemy's... equipment."
Before his words faded.
The fleet opposite them moved.
No hails.
No warnings.
Dozens of speedboats.
Like a white blade.
Cut directly through the waves.
Full speed.
Charge.
This suicidal charge.
Made even Qin Yu pause for a moment.
"So aggressive?"
"Not even a greeting?"
"Are these Odin's die-hard fans?"
Qi Chun, watching from the side, gulped nervously.
"Yu-ge."
"These women are a bit fierce."
"Is that exoskeleton on them?"
"I see it clearly now! That's S-Class [Valkyrie] Assault Armor!"
"What a waste if it gets damaged..."
Qin Yu ignored Fatty's muttering.
He looked at the woman standing on the foremost boat.
Blonde hair.
Blue eyes.
Blood still on her face.
Holding a longsword in her hand.
That gaze.
Looked like it wanted to devour someone.
"Li Ruobing."
Qin Yu spoke calmly.
"Here."
"Don't use the main guns."
"These people."
"Have some backbone."
"Use the secondary guns. Target the engines."
"I want to... talk with them."
"Understood."
Li Ruobing's fingers danced across the controls.
The armor plates on both sides of the "President" flipped open.
Revealing two rows of CIWS (Close-In Weapon Systems).
"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!"
Tongues of flame spat out.
A dense curtain of fire, like a net.
Enveloped the white fleet.
However.
What happened next surprised Qin Yu.
Faced with such a dense barrage.
Those speedboats didn't slow down.
Instead, they accelerated even more frantically.
The female warriors on the decks.
In unison, raised the heavy pulse shields in their hands.
"Hummm—"
Layers of pale blue energy shields linked together.
They actually, stubbornly, pushed forward against the rain of bullets.
Though boats were constantly being hit and catching fire.
Though some were struck by stray bullets and fell into the water.
Not a single boat turned around.
Not a single person retreated.
"For Odin!!"
The blonde woman raised her sword high.
Her voice was hoarse yet filled with penetrating force.
"Kill!!"
This momentum.
Even overpowered the roar of the cannons.
Qin Yu wiped the mockery from his face.
He crushed the cigarette butt in his hand.
"Interesting."
"In this dog-eat-dog world."
"To still see such fools."
"Truly... rare creatures."
Watching as the enemy had already closed within five hundred meters.
Seeing some even activate the jetpacks on their exoskeletons.
Preparing to board.
"Fatty."
Qin Yu called out.
"What?"
Qi Chun was shrinking back, watching the spectacle.
"Stop watching."
"Prepare to receive guests."
"These people are here to fight to the death."
"That fat of yours is perfect for a punching bag."
"I won't do it!"
Qi Chun shook his head like a rattle-drum.
"Those are Valkyries! That sword is S-Class! It'd cut through me like tofu!"
"Enough nonsense."
Qin Yu's eyes turned cold.
"Don't move."
"I'll throw you to the fish right now."
Hearing this, Qi Chun immediately backed down.
With a pitiful expression, he reached into his crotch...
No, he pulled out a massive wrench from his chest.
That was his signature weapon.
[S-Class · Furious Repairman].
"Come on, come on!"
"I, Fatty, don't hit women!"
"But I can repair exoskeletons!"
"Let's see who dares touch my Brother Yu!"
...
"Boom!"
The first white speedboat.
Slammed hard into the side of the President.
Without any deceleration.
Just a direct collision.
The immense impact shattered the speedboat instantly.
But at the moment of disintegration.
A golden figure.
Like a falcon.
Using the momentum.
Soared into the air.
Elena.
She adjusted her posture mid-air.
The jetpack on her back spewed blue flames.
Allowing her to trace a graceful arc through the sky.
Evading the close-in weapon system's fire net.
She dove straight for the bow.
Her target was clear.
Qin Yu.
"Die!!"
Elena gripped her sword with both hands.
Using her downward momentum.
She slashed down fiercely.
This strike.
Carried all her rage.
All her resentment.
Even burning her life force.
The S-Class Beam Saber.
Cut through the air, leaving a three-meter-long energy blade.
The air itself was torn apart.
Emitting a sharp shriek.
Facing this lethal strike.
Qin Yu stood in place.
Unmoving.
He didn't even take out that sniper rifle.
He merely raised one hand.
That hand.
Suddenly became coated in a layer of pitch-black liquid metal.
Instantly hardening.
Transforming into a ferocious claw.
"Clang!!"
A deafening crash.
Sparks flew everywhere.
It was the collision of energy and metal.
Elena felt as if she had struck a mountain.
Her palms split open instantly.
The tremendous recoil sent her flying backward.
But mid-air.
She twisted her waist.
Somehow managing to halt her momentum.
This was the quality of a top-tier warrior.
Landing.
Rolling.
Dissipating the force.
Then springing up again.
Without any pause.
"Kill!"
She charged forward once more.
This time.
No longer with wide, sweeping slashes.
But with precise thrusts.
Sword light fell like rain.
Covering all of Qin Yu's vital points.
"Not bad."
Qin Yu retreated while blocking with that claw.
His movements even seemed somewhat careless.
"Your fundamentals are solid."
"This swordsmanship."
"Did Odin teach you?"
"Shut up!!"
Elena was enraged by this dismissive attitude.
"You don't deserve to speak his name!!"
She abruptly pressed a red button on the sword hilt.
[Overload Mode].
The Beam Saber's glow instantly intensified.
Turning into a dazzling crimson.
Its temperature.
Could even melt steel.
"Die!!"
She thrust the sword toward Qin Yu's heart with reckless abandon.
Even as Qin Yu's claw clamped onto her shoulder.
Even if after this strike.
Her shoulder would be crushed.
She would drag this demon down with her.
This was her resolve.
This was her loyalty.
But.
Just as the sword tip was a mere centimeter from Qin Yu's chest.
It stopped.
Not because she didn't want to thrust.
But because she couldn't pierce through.
Silver tentacles.
Had emerged from the deck unnoticed.
Tightly wrapping around her wrists.
Around her waist.
Around her legs.
Like a massive metal cocoon.
Pinning her in place.
Immobile.
"You..."
Elena struggled desperately.
The exoskeleton emitted a creaking, overloaded sound.
But those tentacles remained completely immobile.
"Loyalty."
Qin Yu looked at the sword tip mere inches away.
Feeling the scorching heat radiating from it.
"It's a good thing."
"A pity."
"Given to the wrong person."
Qin Yu released that sharp claw.
The liquid metal on his hand receded.
Returning to its original skin tone.
He reached out.
Gently.
Took that still humming Beam Saber.
From Elena's hand.
Then.
Casually tossed it into the sea.
"Sizzle—"
A plume of white steam rose from the seawater.
Elena despaired.
Her weapon was gone.
She was trapped.
She had lost.
Completely and utterly lost.
"Kill me."
Elena raised her head.
In those sapphire-blue eyes.
There was no fear.
Only ashes.
"Give me a quick death."
"I will never surrender."
Qin Yu looked at this stubborn face.
The bloodstains on it were not yet dry.
Paired with that disheveled blonde hair.
It held a kind of shattered beauty.
"Kill you?"
Qin Yu shook his head.
He turned and walked toward the cockpit.
"Wanting to die is easy."
"Jump down yourself."
"Water temperature, two hundred degrees."
"Guaranteed cooked."
"You..."
Elena was stunned.
Was this humiliation?
"However."
Qin Yu stopped walking.
Without turning around.
"I see your subordinates."
"Seem to still be fighting desperately."
At this moment.
Although Elena was captured.
The remaining female warriors.
Were still frantically attacking the President.
Even though their weapons couldn't breach Qin Yu's defense at all.
Even though they were already beaten black and blue.
"If you die."
"They will die too."
"And they'll die very ugly deaths."
"Perhaps they'll be captured by my brother Fatty."
"Taken back to repair exoskeletons."
Qi Chun not far away: ???
"Qin Yu! You bastard!"
Elena gritted her teeth.
Tears finally streamed down her face.
"What do you want?!"
"Simple."
Qin Yu turned around.
A trademark smile appeared on his face, the kind that made people want to punch him.
"Odin is dead."
"And I'm short a doorkeeper."
"Since you all love being bodyguards so much."
"How about."
"Trying a new boss?"
"After all."
Qin Yu pointed at the patch of blue sky gradually appearing overhead.
"Following me."
"You won't have to live in ice caves."
"And you can even get some sun."
"This treatment."
"Isn't it better than being buried with that dead man?"
Elena fell silent.
She looked at her sisters still struggling to hold on.
At those figures writhing in pools of blood.
Then looked again at the man before her.
Powerful.
Overbearing.
Yet carrying a kind of inexplicable... ease.
"What if I refuse?"
Elena bit her lip.
Almost drawing blood.
"Refuse?"
Qin Yu shrugged.
"Ruo Bing."
"Switch the secondary cannons to main cannons."
"Sink them all."
"Leave none alive."
"Don't!"
Elena screamed.
"Don't fire!"
"I... I agree!"
At this moment.
All her pride.
All her resolve.
Shattered into pieces before the lives of those several dozen sisters.
"Good."
Qin Yu snapped his fingers.
The tentacles entwined around Elena.
Instantly loosened.
"Welcome aboard."
"Now."
"Call off your subordinates."
"And then."
"Lead the way."
Qin Yu walked back and sat down in the armchair.
Lit another cigarette.
"Where to?"
Elena rubbed her bruised wrist.
Her gaze complex.
"Of course, to claim Odin's inheritance."
Qin Yu blew out a smoke ring.
"Since we've changed bosses,"
"I should give you all some severance pay, shouldn't I?"
"Let's go."
"Whether it's gold,"
"or that so-called secret of the Tower of Gods,"
"I want it all."