Chapter 203 The Eighth Skill
The Extremis Virus has some resistance to high temperatures, but it's not immune. Finney mentally used the 'Golden Grand Evolution Technique' to restrict the bald man's movements, then began chanting:
"Blacker than black, the darkest of blacks,"
"Merge with my crimson!"
"The moment of awakening has arrived."
"Fall into the realm of infallibility,"
"Form the formless distortion."
"Explosion!"
The magic enveloped the entire courtyard. The bald man, already slowed by the 'Golden Grand Evolution Technique,' had no chance to dodge.
Under the scorching crimson flames, even the Extremis Virus couldn't recover. With a scream, the bald man's entire body vanished, engulfed in flames.
Finney checked the system and was surprised to find that the experience points the bald man had given were quite considerable. Perhaps four or five more would be enough for the eighth draw.
And this was just a small fry; the Extremis Virus injected by Killian must have been much more potent than theirs, otherwise he wouldn't have become the big boss.
Back with Tony and Rhodes, Finney asked curiously, "You said you found their base?"
"The Roxxon, it's currently off the coast of western Florida. If this guy isn't lying, that's probably their hideout!"
Tony replied, glancing at Trevor.
"No, no, I really heard them mention it!"
Trevor, noticing Finney's gaze, immediately explained nervously.
"You mean we should go there now?"
Finney asked, looking at Tony.
"While I prefer to be passive in some situations, in battle, I prefer to be proactive!"
Hearing Tony's words, Finney first gave him a disdainful look before agreeing, then turned to Rhodes and said, "Then let's go to that coast now. You take this guy back first. If things aren't resolved by then, come back for backup!"
"Be careful!"
Rhodes nodded, saying nothing more, grabbed Trevor, and with Trevor's terrified scream, flew towards the White House in Washington.
Seeing Rhodes leave, Finney and Tony didn't linger either, immediately heading towards the Roxxon.
This place is also in Florida, so it's not too far from Miami. It only took Finney and his companion about ten minutes to get there.
It was completely dark by now, but the area around the coast was brightly lit, with armed soldiers patrolling vigilantly.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is indeed that guy's base!"
From the shadows, Tony, who was also invisible alongside Finney, whispered into his earpiece, looking at the base before him.
"Hmm!"
Finney nodded, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the patrolling soldiers. If these were all Extremis Virus warriors, their experience would be immense!
"Any action plans?"
Tony continued to ask.
"How about we just attack?"
Finney didn't have a good battle plan. This was the main base; even if Killian wasn't there temporarily, he would definitely return upon receiving news of the attack.
"I like this plan, J.a.r.v.i.s, the party's starting!"
Tony wasn't one for planning; he preferred improvisation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have disliked Captain America's tendency to have detailed plans for everything.
Under Jarvis's control, over thirty Iron Man suits flew over, their palm cannons aimed at the guards who had spotted them. Jarvis announced,
"You're surrounded! Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately!"
Hearing Tony's attempt to persuade them to surrender, Finney turned to look at him speechlessly, then without a word, deactivated his invisibility, flew to the nearest guard, and unleashed a 'burst spell.'
Unfortunately, the guard hadn't been injected with the Extremis virus.
Seeing Finney's actions, and then looking at those he had tried to persuade to surrender but who had all raised their guns to fire, Finney shrugged helplessly and muttered to himself, "Fine, I heard your answer!"
He then ordered Jarvis to fire his palm cannon and begin the battle.
The chaos quickly triggered alarms, and Killian, who was continuing his research on improving the Extremis virus at the base, also noticed the anomaly.
"What happened?"
Leaving the lab, Killian grabbed a guard running nearby, pulled him close, and asked with a frown.
"Intruders! Iron Man and Divine Punishment Knight!"
The guard looked at Killian with some fear, but still answered immediately.
Upon hearing the answer, Killian's face instantly turned grim, a red glow flowing beneath his skin, and his palms involuntarily began to heat up, causing the guard he had grabbed to scream in pain.
The screams startled Killian, who casually tossed the guard aside and started walking outside.
Meanwhile, after searching for a long time, Finney finally encountered two Extremis virus warriors, two burly men wearing vests that revealed their massive muscles.
The two men didn't even greet Finney upon seeing him; they immediately tried to give him a bear hug with their reddened arms.
"Sorry, I don't like hugging men!"
Following Tony's lead, Finney unconsciously learned to mutter during battle. While saying this, he activated his 'breathing technique,' circled around, and slammed the two men's heads together.
As they collapsed to the ground, dazed, he unleashed two 'explosive spells' on their heads, instantly ending the fight.
With so many targets around, Finney didn't need to choose the same fighting style as before. Although he might gain less experience, he could compensate with quantity.
More and more Extremis soldiers emerged, and Finney realized that Tony had equipped his armor with a thermal scanner, making it easy to identify who had been injected with the Extremis virus and who hadn't.
With Tony's filtering, finding targets became much easier for Finney. In no time, he had taken down six more Extremis soldiers, finally accumulating enough experience from his eighth extraction in the battle.
But just then, Finney suddenly heard Tony say seriously in his earpiece, "He's here!"
Finney was startled and looked up in Tony's direction, immediately spotting a shirtless man with tattoos. He quickly gathered his strength in his legs, nimbly leaped a few times, grabbed a flying suit of armor, and slammed it into another suit.
In just a few dozen seconds, he single-handedly destroyed two suits of armor.
This skill and strength far surpassed that of other Extremis Virus warriors; besides Killian, the creator of this experiment, there couldn't be anyone else.
Finney moved closer to Tony, looking down at Killian.
Tony also had Jarvis gather all the armors around him. In such a short time, half of the thirty-odd suits were already destroyed, which pained Finney greatly; he'd rather they were turned into experience points for Killian.
Seeing their actions, Killian temporarily halted everyone's attack. Looking up at Tony, who was flying in mid-air, his gaze held a deep complexity. He smiled and said,
"Tony, I never expected our reunion would be like this. You've truly surprised me!"
"To be honest, I didn't expect it either."
Tony looked at Killian, who had been influenced by him back then and become the person he was now, and felt a vague sense of guilt.
If he hadn't lied to him, or kept his promise and cooperated with him, would he still be like this?
Finney didn't share Tony's complicated feelings, but while they were talking, he was also struggling with one thing: whether or not to perform his eighth draw now.
Because the system couldn't store experience, meaning that if he didn't perform the eighth draw, he wouldn't gain any more experience in the following battles.
He had always anticipated and prepared for previous draws; never before had he accumulated enough experience before the battle was even over.
On one hand, he was reluctant to give up the experience he gained from Killian; on the other hand, he worried that if he suddenly drew the item now, he wouldn't be able to maximize his luck with the 'Golden Grand Evolution Technique'.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Finney made his decision and prepared to draw the item now. After all, the experience of Killian and his Extremis Virus warriors was more important.
More importantly, he felt he should trust the 'Golden Grand Evolution Technique', since he had made progress after training on Vormir for so long.
After letting out a light breath, Finney ignored the excited chatter of the two people beside him and activated the luck boost with the 'Golden Grand Evolution Technique' before drawing the item!
The system's draw was only for a brief moment, without any noise or special effects. Apart from Finney himself, no one knew that he had gained a new ability.
"Zadkiel: Fourth Bullet"
"From: Date A Live"
"Description: Angel of Time!"
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(End of Chapter)