The Highest Bounty

Mirror Avatar was truly a terrifying ability.

Noami was able to create as many avatars as can be seen in the mirror. The scariest part about this was that the avatars had the same special ability and combat effectiveness as the original person.

This ability was the main reason Noami had been able to get into the Hunter Squad from the very beginning, and was also the reason how she had been able to get promoted to the leader of her Hunter Squad.

However, her ability was limited by level restrictions. The most avatars she was able to conjure was twelve, although for many others, this was already considered an ability that defied the norms. It was a huge advantage when facing an opponent who was similarly powerful as she was. This was thirteen against one.

Besides that, there was no way of differentiating between the Mirror Avatars and the original, and this proved challenging for those who had to fight someone with such an ability.

For Neptune however, it was not difficult at all to identify the original because it could easily detect the opponent’s biological magnetic field as long the enemy was within its scanning range by analyzing their physical condition. The avatars that were created with the ability were not life forms and had no biological magnetic field, which was why the original Noami was like a bright lamp in the dark for Neptune. All it took was one look for it to spot her.

Noami immediately attacked once her avatars had formed.

All Neptune did was whisper into Gu Ding’s ear. “The third one on the left.”

Gu Ding lunged directly towards the original Noami.

Noami had a basic combat effectiveness of close to one billion. After using Ultimate Arts to enhance it by four times, her combat effectiveness was now close to four billion. However, with the help of Advanced Iron Block’s twenty times enhancement of defense and the martial arts field attack which decreases an enemy’s attack by 50%, this form of basic attack was ineffective by default, which made it useless against Gu Ding’s defense.

Gu Ding used Silent Step in a speedy craze to take down the original Noami.

Noami exchanged places with her other avatars several times in an attempt to evade Gu Ding’s attack, but Gu Ding had completely ignored the attack of all the avatars.

After numerous attempts at evading Gu Ding, Noami finally realized he knew which was her original self from the very start. He had no plans of fighting with any of her avatars, choosing to block their attacks instead. His target was the original Noami. At the thought of this, Noami knew that she had no choice but to fight, because there was a time limit for her avatars. There was no benefit in continuing this.

When Gu Ding saw Noami continuously escaping, he pushed his Ultimate Arts to his maximum at level 12, enhancing his battle effectiveness further. This was done to quickly end this fight. Gu Ding’s battle effectiveness had increased to five hundred and twelve million and his speediness had been doubled.

Noami chose to take the initiative to attack this time. She, along with her twelve avatars, landed their attack on Gu Ding from thirteen different angles.

With her basic combat effectiveness that was close to one billion, enhanced by four times with Ultimate Arts and combined with a silver-colored Righteous Force, she did not hold back as she attacked Gu Ding at thirteen vital points like a raging storm raining upon him.

Gu Ding stood where he was, motionless. He activated his martial arts field and when Noami’s attack came within ten meters of where Gu Ding was, her power was decreased by half and her attack speed suffered the same fate. Gu Ding’s gaze remained locked onto the original Noami.

They were both using Ultimate Arts in the battle but Noami’s incomplete version of Ultimate Arts was seriously flawed in the eyes of Gu Ding. His fingers clenched into a fist as he spotted a subtle flaw on Noami’s waist. A vicious attack of Steel Fist flashed like a bolt of golden lightning.

Boom! Gu Ding’s punch landed at a vulnerable spot on Noami’s left waist in an explosion.

His Damage Stacking activated at that moment, enhancing by twice its normal damage with the help of the martial arts field.

One billion and twenty-four million! Two billion and forty-eight million! Four billion and ninety-six million!

Three continuous punches landed on Noami’s waist without hesitation.

Even though Noami had activated Righteous Force and had close to four billion points of defense, Gu Ding had still ended up breaking it down with his three punches. A few rib bones near her waist were broken.

The pain forced her to retreat in a burst.

Gu Ding wanted to give chase but King Kong had also noticed what was happening with Noami in the battle. He forced himself to appear in front of Gu Ding in a flash, blocking Gu Ding’s way.

 He threw a feeble punch at Gu Ding in an attempt to attack him.

Gu Ding’s figure moved and found he found King Kong’s flaw in the attack. He gave three continuous punches of Steel Fist, which landed on King Kong’s chest.

This time, King Kong totally collapsed. With Ultimate Arts Level 12, Gu Ding’s combat effectiveness had doubled up from the last time he had fought King Kong, giving Gu Ding the absolute upper hand in this fight.

Noami watched as King Kong fell to the ground. She broke quite a few ribs and her internal organs were slightly displaced. She knew that she had completely lost this battle. It was the first time she had suffered such a terrible loss since joining the Hunters.

Even though Noami’s avatars did not retreat, Gu Ding sensed that there was no longer any fight in her.

“Get someone here to treat them quickly. The wound on your bones should not be delayed for too long or there will be permanent side effects,” Gu Ding walked toward Elsa and Tagore after saying this.

“Our battle is not over yet!” Noami stood up a stubbornly. There were tears in her eyes, but they did not flow from her eyes.

“I’ve said before that all I want is a bout,” Gu Ding did not plan to continue the fight.

“You may feel that way, but to me, this is a real battle. If you want this to end, one of us has to lose! And I’m not admitting defeat!” Noami gave Gu Ding a look of challenge.

Gu Ding stared at her silently for a while before nodding. “As you wish.”

He used his Silent Step right after saying this and appeared in a flash right before Noami.

Noami did not choose to run this time. Instead, she gave a punch with Steel Fist, hitting Gu Ding on the chest again and again with an exploding attack. Gu Ding did not stop her.

Gu Ding raised his left hand and chose not to use the strong and powerful Steel Fist. Instead, he used the swift and fierce Terminating Finger. He gave three consecutive shots from his powerful fingers. Three bright and sharp forces shot out and landed right between Noami’s eyes.

Noami suffered the three continuous attacks and finally collapsed to the ground.

Gu Ding had attacked her at a spot described by the Ultimate Arts as ‘the weakest point to cause another unconsciousness’. Only the Terminating Finger was able to give an attack that had this effect.

Gu Ding looked at these people lying all over the ground. Some of them were still conscious but could not really move about freely.

He shook his head helplessly and called the emergency center via his communicator.

“Hello, there are right people wounded at the harbor. Please send someone over quickly.”

Gu Ding hung up and waved at Elsa while Tagore leaped onto Gu Ding’s shoulder. They walked towards Golden Eagle, which was nearby.

Golden Eagle quickly left Jerr and headed for the next destination.

On Jerr, things continue to move on as they should.

The emergency center had quickly brought Noami and the others to the hospital for treatment. They were not really wounded too badly. Most of them were only suffering from fractures and physical wounds. The most serious among them had just a slight displacement of their internal organs. These people had a solid and strong physique to begin with, and they healed quickly after consuming cell repair agents.

Noami had woken up to see her bed surrounded by people.

“Lady boss, are you okay?” King Kong had come to see her in a wheelchair. His wounds were the worst among them, but he had regained consciousness quite early.

“I’m fine. How long have I been out?” Noami cared more about this.

“You’ve been unconscious for three and a half hours,” Four-eyes and Monkey had also returned from their mission.

“I was out that long? Four-eyes, have you completed your mission? Have you sent the video of the location scenes to the chief commander?” Noami suddenly remembered this.

“We’ve sent them out for quite a while. The Army backup has arrived as well. The two locations have been barricaded. Otherwise, we would never have dared to leave and come to the hospital,” Four-eyes nodded and replied.

“What did the chief commander say?” Noami continued asking.

“He said he would forward the videos to the marshal and His Highness The Lord. It will be up to His Highness The Lord to decide how to settle this situation. Before that happens, all our team needs to do is to continue standing guard. He will contact us if the need arises. However, the chief commander hasn’t sent us any news. I guess it’s because they have not made a decision yet,” Four-eyes explained.

“Did you find anything at the scene?” Noami pushed herself up with her hands and sat upright. Her wound was not as serious. It was just a normal fracture. As for Gu Ding’s attack with Terminating Finger, all it did was knock her unconscious. It did not even cause any concussion to her brain.

“It’s near Oedipus Tower, but there was no evidence of any battle.”

Oedipus Tower was the building Gu Ding had stayed on to watch the battle.

“However, the battle at Leoben Prison basically destroyed everything. Leoben Prison has completely caved in. No one was left alive, including the prison warden, Thorso,” Four-eyes said as he projected the video he had filmed.

Everyone watched the projected screen intently, afraid of missing out on any details.

The projected video showed Leoben Prison in complete rubble. The buildings nearby had also fully collapsed. The ground was cracked, looking much like a spiderweb. The trees and flowers around the area had been pulverized into fine powder…

“This cannot be done by the power of a mere human being. Even a demigod at the peak of power would not have been able to cause such a manner of destruction! The only reason for a battle of this magnitude is two deities clashing,” Noami confirmed.

As some were discussing this situation on Jerr, a similar scene was happening at a virtual meeting on Skynet.

There were two women and three men attending the meeting.

One of the men was the chief commander of the Hunters named Caputin. He was sharing the video he had received with everyone present.

The five of them at the meeting table finished watching both videos in silence and an elderly man with a head of white hair spoke.

“According to Caputin’s description, one of the parties involved in that battle was a deity’s will projection. This scene resulted from a battle that could only be done by a deity. However, we are still missing quite a lot of information. For example, what was the objective of the deity’s will projection? Why did the deity openly fight a human being? What was the identity of the person the deity fought? Why did they choose Jerr as the battleground and why was it near Leoben Prison?”

A tall, slender woman in a black dress suddenly spoke up, “I’ve met the Leoben Prison’s warden, Thorso, before. He owns a fragmented piece of god item. I personally think that the possibility of the deity coming for the god item is quite high. However, we would still need to investigate the scene of the battle before making the final decision of what exactly had transpired.”

“Miss Midea, when would you like to leave? Allow me to arrange a spaceship for you,” a middle-aged man with white hair and beard seated next to her volunteered.

“I’ll leave immediately after this meeting!” The tall, slender woman replied resolutely.

“I’ll leave with you…” A woman in a purple dress next to her suddenly said.