It was perfectly clear to everyone that the underground passage was supposed to be devoid of any detonation devices, and the area that had just exploded was obviously rigged with new ones. Therefore, rushing past this collapse swiftly meant that even if someone ahead was ready to detonate, they wouldn't be prepared yet. Conversely, retreating now would give the enemy ample time to make their preparations.
After launching that spear, Loki’s face was a ghastly shade of blue, but now he was committed; like an arrow already loosed from the bowstring, he stood rooted, the joints of his very bones creaking like rusted machinery. Blood began to stream from his eyes and ear canals as he violently hurled Gungnir once more!!!
As Loki threw this Gungnir, he was thrown backward onto the ground, facing the ceiling. It took him a long while to struggle back up, gasping raggedly in utter misery. That bizarre deep blue ichor was now creeping along his blood vessels, invading his limbs; Loki looked almost like a miniature Na’vi.
As the path through the collapse was pierced again, several hundred meters beyond the tunnel carved by Gungnir, they indeed spotted another person squatting ahead, intently assembling what looked like a detonator and wires.
Seeing this figure, everyone’s eyes turned bloodshot.
Loki had expended every ounce of his strength. If this person managed to set off the explosives now, there was absolutely no chance of firing a third Gungnir within the short term, which meant mission failure. If they could just kill this person, the path ahead would undoubtedly be clear sailing!
At this moment, everyone exerted their utmost, sprinting forward. After about fifty meters, the entire team became separated, breaking into the vanguard, the middle section, and the rearguard.
The vanguard was naturally composed of the most agile individuals. Steel-File seemed to possess a temporary acceleration ability as well, so he charged at the very front alongside an auxiliary member. The middle section was held by a Druid who had mastered Shapeshifting. Falling behind, not moving forward, were naturally Loki and Carlos, who stayed behind to care for him.
Witnessing the once-disciplined formation severely split, by the time Steel-File and the agile auxiliary reached within ten meters of the person setting up the explosives a hundred meters ahead, they were separated from Loki and Carlos by a gulf of at least a hundred meters, one at the head and one at the tail.
It was then that the middle section of the tunnel suddenly erupted with another massive explosion. Vast amounts of mud and rock cascaded down. This blast was particularly violent and resounding, causing a collapse spanning fifty to sixty meters. If this underground passage hadn't been constructed to withstand the force of a magnitude ten earthquake, it might have caved in entirely.
Even so, the immense volume of collapsed earth and concrete piled up like a mountain, completely choking the tunnel and violently severing the team into two isolated groups, one at the head and one at the tail.
Immediately following this, rocks lining the side tunnel walls violently shattered, and a hulking figure lunged out from the dust cloud! A malevolent, savage silver light flared around his right hand, and with a brutal strike, he tore away flesh and skin along with Carlos’s clothing, eliciting a piercing shriek of agony from him.
Caught completely off guard, Carlos realized he had walked straight into an enemy trap. Ignoring the profuse bleeding, he gritted his teeth and flicked the coin he held toward his assailant.
Carlos had always favored adopting Robert’s aesthetic, and the coin in his hand was an essential accessory. However, nobody knew that this seemingly innocuous object was his last hidden trump card!
As the coin was flicked out, a sharp whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sound echoed around it, as if something incredibly sharp was slicing through the air at high velocity! On closer inspection, one could see transparent, razor-thin blades protruding from the coin’s circumference, resembling a circular saw blade, spinning furiously!
Furthermore, Carlos drew a terrifyingly long saber, its hilt nearly a meter long—somewhat reminiscent of Guan Yu’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade—but the end of the hilt was a skeletal head adorned with five horns, incredibly gruesome. He aimed this blade at the suddenly flustered enemy lunging toward him and brought it down in a savage arc.
The flash of the blade was mournful and clean; after it swept past, only that cold, cruel line of light remained visible in the vision, yet the blade’s edge had already sliced through the enemy’s skin and into warm flesh! The speed of this strike even surpassed the reaction time of sight itself.
These two simultaneous attacks were Carlos’s ultimate life-saving maneuvers, deployed without hesitation to protect Loki. This combined assault was devastatingly sharp; Carlos had even used these two moves in combination to instantly kill Stalkers and even Awakened beings.
But the saw-like coin began to carve dazzling dark-gold light across the air!
A grating sound echoed, like a power saw grinding against steel, followed by a deafening clang as Carlos’s saber connected, loud enough to deafen one’s ears. Every single attack was completely blocked by a shield.
The first attacker to appear was Reef.
The special effect of his weapon, the Iron Claws, allowed him to deal damage comparable to an Assassin. Thus, Carlos had employed his supreme defensive capabilities in an attempt to instantly eliminate him. Unfortunately, Carlos unleashed his ultimate move against a well-prepared Main Tank, meaning there was no chance of an instant kill. As his internal energy violently churned, he couldn’t help but stagger back several steps.
Just then, Carlos felt an excruciating sting in his eyes, as if a sun had suddenly flared before him. Then he saw a pair of black eyes mixed with gold staring directly at him; those eyes possessed vertical pupils!
The adjacent wall beside Carlos silently dissolved into ash.
A figure slowly emerged from the dust cloud.
His face was completely obscured, one could only sense darkness and some powerful, unknown force interwoven and tamely enveloping him, possessing the mystery of a black hole. His figure appeared exceptionally tall, and his gait suggested he was walking on the balls of his feet, light and graceful, like a dancer balancing on a beam.
Only the two slender, gold and silver rapiers held in his left and right hands were strikingly conspicuous.
Who else could this be but Zi?
The two rapiers suddenly crossed, and dazzling light flared before Carlos’s eyes again, causing intense pain. He knew instantly this was bad and tried to retract his body into a defensive posture. However, Zi abruptly thrust his left hand forward—a thrust aimed with such cunning precision that Carlos’s attempt to defend made it seem as if he were deliberately exposing a vital point on his head.
But Carlos managed a timely reaction, twisting his body sideways, utilizing every inch of his physical ability. He narrowly avoided this strike again. But the moment Zi realized his thrust had missed, before the momentum of the sword-swing had fully dissipated, he casually swept the returning blade across!
Instantly, the sword light trailed a bloody, ‘Z’-shaped streak across the air. Carlos cried out in agony as a horrific wound appeared across his right chest, flesh peeling back to reveal a torrent of red blood.
Light flashed again; Zi moved with extreme viciousness and speed. Though his movements appeared deceptively harmless, Zi moved with lightning speed, the glint of his blades striking like a viper’s bite against Carlos’s four limbs, piercing his left hand, right hand, right foot, and left foot.
Carlos felt a strange tingling numbness around the wounds; they didn’t hurt much, nor did they immediately cease function. That’s why he shouted hoarsely: “Boss, you go first, I can hold them!”
He didn't know why the pierced wounds didn't ache: it was because a ring of bizarre black electrical energy surrounded each one, completely paralyzing the nerves.
When Zi brought his twin blades together, a blinding light erupted from the metal. The black light exuded an aura of death, and as this blinding black radiance rapidly intensified, sharp claws and monstrous faces began to materialize—it was the incarnation of the Sith Demon! It cackled madly, extending a massive, elongated, clawed hand, while shrieking wildly, to grasp tightly at Carlos before him!
Once the Sith Demon materialized, several streams of black electrical energy immediately shot out from the puncture wounds on Carlos’s limbs, writhing like claws and fangs! This assault completely paralyzed his nerves! These streams of electricity merged with the illusion of the Sith Demon, instantly amplifying its power, transforming into a chain-like black serpent that fiercely coiled around Carlos, tightening around his neck until his eyes rolled back white!
At that moment, Fang Senyan materialized from the wall! Several cracks suddenly appeared on the solid stone surface, then with a faint creak, he shot forward like a shadow! Although Carlos saw this shadow first, his reaction time was completely insufficient to formulate any countermeasure!
Fang Senyan gave Carlos absolutely no chance to fight back, delivering a punch laced with electric speed!
As the saying goes, you don’t punch someone in the face, but Fang Senyan shamelessly slammed a direct punch into Carlos’s face!
Upon striking Carlos’s face, the Skyforce power activated first, shattering an enhancement effect on Carlos’s body into glittering specks of light. Immediately following this, the punch directly exploded Carlos’s eye, while his nasal bone pulverized in an instant. The entire body was hurled backward, and only after a long pause came a dull thud as he hit the ground, sounding like a tattered sack being dropped!
The final impact force was exceptionally terrifying for a Contractor!
As Carlos landed, the environment within several hundred square meters began to undergo a bizarre transformation. The hard concrete floor beneath their feet instantly softened, sinking and turning into a repulsive, foul, nauseating mire.
Gray mist began to drift in the air.
Reeds and duckweed quickly sprouted within the swamp!
This was the special effect triggered by Zi’s set equipment: the Corrosive Mire.