Arknights: I'm Pretty Strong With Minecraft — Chapter 75

Chapter 75: No, Are You Guys Crazy?

Hearing that name, the aggressive Blackcloak Shadow Guards visibly froze. The oppressive killing intent in the air stalled. Their leader raised a gloved hand, signaling a swift tactical retreat. The notoriety of a certain unpredictable, game-breaking anomaly had clearly preceded him.

But before the shadows could melt back into the darkness, a hand clapped down onto the squad leader’s shoulder.

“Hey, where are you going, baby?” a mischievous voice whispered right into his ear.

Ivan had bypassed their entire defensive perimeter, appearing directly in the center of their formation as if he had simply glitched through reality.

The squad leader’s muscles coiled tight. Without even turning his head, he launched a brutal, cannonball-like elbow strike straight backward.

Ivan saw it coming a mile away. He casually lifted his leg, delivering a lightning-fast, unadorned kick aimed right at the man’s knee joint. The Blackcloak reacted with terrifying speed, twisting his torso to intercept the strike with his reinforced forearm. The impact echoed across the concrete. The immense kinetic force sent the elite guard grunting, staggering three steps back before he could anchor his boots. Beneath his dark mask, shock widened his eyes. The sheer physical strength behind that casual kick was monstrous.

“Wei Yenwu’s little Shadows? The Blackcloaks?” Ivan rolled his ankle, shaking out the tension as he recognized their signature tactical gear. He clicked his tongue, muttering under his breath. “So troublesome. Next time I’m in the neighborhood, I really need to find an excuse to plant some TNT under Old Wei’s office desk.”

With a flick of his wrist, Ivan summoned his massive God of War Blade, resting the heavy, intimidating weapon casually over his shoulder. He tilted his head, flashing the encircling assassins a highly punchable, utterly relaxed smile.

“Come on now. Are you guys planning to come at me one by one? Or…” He paused, letting the silence stretch. “Or all at once? So I can just sweep you up in one go?”

The squad leader’s voice rasped through his vocal modifier, cold and mechanical. “All at once.”

The moment the words left his mouth, the air tore open.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

From the deep shadows of the rooftop, from behind the humming ventilation units, and dropping down from the rusted water tanks, dozens more Blackcloak Shadow Guards materialized. Their identical dark coats snapped in the wind, their synchronized killing intent locking onto Ivan like a physical weight. The rooftop was suddenly swarming with elite assassins.

Ivan stared at the sea of black coats, the smug smile sliding off his face. His mouth twitched.

“No way, man. Are you telling me you pulled the entire Lungmen server inventory for this? Old Wei really went all out!”

He swallowed hard, his boots slowly and discreetly shuffling backward. He retreated until his spine bumped against a warm, rigid back. Officer Ch’en was already in a low stance, her hand resting on her hilt.

“Officer Ch’en,” Ivan whispered rapidly, dropping the jokes. “The situation is a bit tricky. On the count of three, two, one, we charge together and tear a hole in their line.”

Ch’en tightened her grip on Chi Xiao. The blade was already half an inch out of its scabbard, humming with latent energy. “Understood.”

Ivan gripped the hilt of his God of War Blade with both hands. Chi Xiao slid free, its crimson edge glowing fiercely in the gloom.

“Charge!” Ivan roared.

He exploded forward, swinging his massive sword in a devastating horizontal arc. The sheer weight of the blow clashed against two Blackcloaks trying to intercept him. Sparks rained down as their weapons were nearly shattered out of their hands, sending them reeling to the sides. The elite guards were inwardly horrified by the raw, crushing power of the boy’s strike.

At the same moment, Ch’en intercepted the flankers. Her blade danced, clashing fiercely against the assassins’ steel in a rapid-fire exchange of sparks and ringing metal.

Ivan used his bizarre, physics-defying agility to weave through the deadly net of flashing blades. He slipped past combined strikes that should have skewered him, his movements erratic and impossible to predict. But as more black figures poured into the fray, even Ivan felt a cold sweat prickle his scalp.

“Ch’en! Get closer! Back to back! Cover my blind spots!” he shouted over the din of battle.

Ch’en did not hesitate. She forced her current opponent back with a vicious thrust and swiftly closed the distance to Ivan. They pressed their backs together, forming a tight defensive perimeter amidst the encroaching shadows.

Ivan hooked a finger at the menacing wall of assassins, projecting absolute confidence. “Come on! Let me show you…”

Before he could even finish his taunt, he abruptly spun around. Before Ch’en could process the sudden loss of back cover, Ivan scooped her up by the waist and unceremoniously hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Eh?! Eh!! Lin… Ivan, what are you doing?! Put me down!” Ch’en thrashed in pure, unadulterated panic. Her usually stern face burned a brilliant, furious red.

“What am I doing? Running away!” Ivan yelled back, entirely unapologetic. “What’s the point of fighting this mob?! We can’t clear this many!”

He pushed off the concrete with explosive force, sprinting directly toward the unguarded edge of the rooftop.

“Make way!” he screamed a completely meaningless battle cry.

Under the dumbfounded stares of Lungmen’s most elite covert operatives, Ivan leaped off the edge of the towering skyscraper with the struggling police officer slung over his shoulder.

“Chase them!” the squad leader finally snapped out of his stupor, roaring in absolute exasperation.

Dozens of dark figures swarmed over the ledge like a flock of ravenous crows. They plummeted after their targets, their boots finding purchase on the sheer glass curtain walls and concrete facades, running down the side of the building as if gravity were merely a suggestion.

Ivan tore through the neon-drenched, complex steel jungle of Lungmen’s lower levels. He risked a glance over his shoulder, only to see a dense, terrifying mass of black coats relentlessly tracking his every turn, clinging to his trail like parasites.

“No… what is actually going on?!” Ivan panted, utterly bewildered. “Are these guys broken?! Don’t they have other questlines to complete? Why are they aggroing on me like mad dogs?! Who did I even offend?!”

Still carrying the indignant Ch’en, Ivan ducked into a narrow, suffocatingly dark alleyway. He scanned the gloom, desperate for a place to break line of sight. Just as he spotted a potential alcove, a sudden, sharp force yanked his ankle.

“What the—” Ivan yelped.

A string of harsh Lungmen profanity erupted from Ch’en. The two of them pitched forward, crashing to the filthy ground in a tangled, disheveled heap of limbs.

“Ivan! You… how can you possibly trip over your own feet while running for our lives?!” Ch’en scrambled off him, her voice caught between extreme embarrassment and boiling annoyance. She hastily smoothed down her rumpled uniform and brushed the dirt from her hair, glaring daggers at him.

Ivan rubbed the back of his head, grimacing as he pushed himself up. He looked around, completely baffled. “No way! I didn’t trip. I swear someone just pulled me!”

His gamer instincts flared. Ivan instantly snapped into a combat stance, summoning his Fox Moon Blade in a flash of light. His sharp eyes pierced the dim, dusty interior of the abandoned room they had tumbled into. “Don’t tell me… another ambush?!”

A slightly cold, yet strangely reassuring female voice drifted from the deepest shadows of the room. “Don’t be nervous. I mean no harm. You can hide here for now.”

Following the soft sound of footsteps, a slender figure stepped out from behind a stack of discarded crates. In the faint, flickering neon light bleeding through the door crack, the delicate features of a Zalak girl with beautiful pink hair came into view.