Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary - Chapter 383

Chapter 383: Chapter 383 Urs Vs Rook (2)
As Urs launched balls of plasma Rook’s way, the giant bahnen used his club’s shockwave generator to blow them away and send a powerful counterattack towards Urs.

Naturally, Urs had been expecting this response, but what he was aiming for was not to get a hit to connect, but to force Rook to blow away the laser dispersing smoke that had filled the area.

And at first his plan was working well, but before the smoke had dissipated enough, Rook threw down another container that released the substance.

Not long after, Urs’ plasma launcher ran out of ammunition.

The capsules loaded into the weapon could only hold so much, and with his liberal shooting, he had run out quickly.

Immediately he ejected the empty container and moved to reload.

However, Rook had other ideas. He was tired of their current back and forth, and this opening was just what he had been waiting for.

“You’ve been darting around for long enough now. I won’t let you keep that up. Either die or start fighting me seriously.” Rook said, slamming his club down and releasing another shockwave.

Urs was forced to jump out of the way, but this delayed him placing the new capsule into his plasma launcher.

With his opponent off balance and the threat of the plasma launcher no longer in play, Rook charged forward with unbelievable speed. Each step he took leaving cracks in the ground beneath him.

‘Can’t let him get close.’

Knowing that getting dragged into Rook’s rhythm would be disadvantageous for him, Urs pulled out another grenade and flung it forward.

This time it was a pure explosive rather than an electromagnetic pulse grenade or laser grenade like he used already.

These were not particularly popular in the current time since laser grenades were a lot more powerful and had farther reaching blasts, and in terms of explosive devices, it was typically better just to use rockets or missiles. But in scenarios like the one Urs found himself in, a typical grenade was still useful.

Or at least he had been hoping it would be.

Rook responded to his attack not by slowing down and dodging out of the way, but by swinging his club and sending the device flying back towards Urs before it exploded.

Hastily he pulled out his hard light shield to defend himself and leapt backwards to put as much distance between him and the explosion as possible.

“Boom!”

Just three seconds after Urs had thrown down the grenade, it went off.

The blast reached him just an instant later, and the force flung him back until he slammed up against a wall.

Thankfully, the impact was the only thing that caused him any damage.

His hard light shield had protected him from the worst of the explosion, and his personal shield generator had absorbed the rest. Though its capacity was now teetering at the edge. It would likely only be able to block one or two more shots from a laser rifle before going out.

Nevertheless, this was the least of Urs’ worries, as Rook was barreling towards him at immense speed.

He attempted to pull himself up and dash away to keep the distance between them, but he was not able to build up enough speed quickly enough to avoid Rook’s charge.

At the last moment he paused and turned around, carefully watching for his opponent’s attack.

It was a wide swing that would not be easy to avoid.

Still, Urs predicted the trajectory and contorted his body so that he could duck under the club as it swung by.

Before he could put some distance between them or counterattack, Rook’s follow-up strike came flying towards him.

With a hefty front kick, Rook slammed his foot into Urs’ hard light shield.

This sent him soaring through the air until gravity brought him back down and he bounced on the ground like a skipping stone on water before finally rolling to a stop.

Even shaken up as he was by what had just happened, Urs did not take a single moment to rest.

Using the augmented strength of his body, he forced himself up and did a swift somersault backwards. Just barely getting away from Rook’s next attack as the giant of a man slammed his club into the ground were Urs had been just a second before.

Chucks of concrete came flying towards him as a result of Rook’s vicious swing.

A couple of pieces hit him in his legs and shoulders where he was not able to protect himself with his shield in time, and one small bit slipped by and sliced into his face. Leaving a gash on his left cheek that had blood pouring out of it.

“Why don’t you just give up on running away. Or is that weapon at your side just for show?” Rook said, his eyes glancing down towards the still unused hard slight weapon attached to Urs’ belt.

However, this provocation was not going to work on Urs.

His mind was still racing to formulate the best plan of action, and he still did not think that it was to fight Rook in a melee like the man wanted.

He was strong and fairly confident in his skills at close range battles but fighting primarily with his strength was not his style. He was the type to use his head and methodically come up with sure win strategies. That was how he had beaten both Avery and Ezra during their last training bout together.

Yet, Rook’s next move forced his hand.

“Well, if this is as interesting as this fight is going to get, perhaps I need to pull in a couple more variables to spice things up.”

Rook smiled maliciously and turned his head over towards the adjacent tunnel where Robert and Serena were hiding.

During all of the fighting and running around, Urs’ and Rook’s positions had changed.

Now the enemy leader was the one closer to where Avery’s parents were, and if he rushed towards them, Urs would not have a lot of options to stop Rook right now.

“Fine. You win. We’ll do things your way.” Urs responded, grabbing his hard light weapon that had remained unused until now.

With the press of a button, it sprung to life. Revealing that it was a sword with a blade that was nearly two meters long and half a meter thick.

For a hard light weapon, it was incurably large. Looking like something meant to slay giant monsters rather than fight people with.

“Now that’s a surprise. From your personality, I was expecting something with a bit more finesse, like rapier. But I think that this will be more fun.”

Rook looked truly ecstatic now that Urs had pulled out his hard light weapon and was ready to face him head on. The man even licked his lips like a delectable meal had just presented itself to him, rather than his opponent wielding a deadly weapon.

A few seconds went by with the two of them just eyeing each other, before Urs made the first move.

If he was being forced into a close-up fight, then he was going to be the one to dictate how it started.

Urs start with a quick jab aimed directly at Rook’s chest. His sword looking almost like a streak of light as he thrust it forward.

Yet this blow that would have killed most fighters without them being able to properly respond was casually deflected by Rook.

He merely twisted his club to the side and knocked the sword off of its trajectory.

Of course, a normal physical weapon would have been pieced through by a hard light sword, but Rook’s club had been specifically made with a compressed and ultra dense metal that could withstand the sharp edges of hard light weapons.

Personally, he did not particularly like hard light weapons.

In the past he had tried them out, but while they could slice through almost anything, they lacked the feeling of impact that Rook loved.

His greatest weapon was his brute strength, so that was what he wanted to fight with. Which was why he had had the club he still used to this day crafted by the best bahnen engineers under his command back when he had still been a warlord on his home planet.

“Yes, this is more like it!” Rook roared as he delivered a palm strike towards Urs while he was trying to regain his footing.

The difference in reach between them forced Urs back on the defensive.

He knew he would not be able to swing his weapon back around in time and braced himself with his shield.

With a noise like a clap of thunder, Rook’s palm slammed into Urs’ hard light shield and pushed him back.

Fortunately, he had braced himself and his strength from being a half bahnen and having undergone bionic augmentations allowed him to not be blown away like most would have been.

‘I guess I really am a bit rusty at this. But I’ll use this chance to shake that rust off. Running or losing aren’t options. So, I’ll bring him down no matter what it takes.’