As Ronnie's figure once again vanished into thin air, a brief, tense silence settled between the two parties, only to be broken by a sound like glass marbles dropping onto the ground—a series of pitter-patters followed by the rapid rolling noise.

At this moment, it became clearly visible: Kapot was protected within a circle, and small, thumb-sized steel bearings, shimmering with an eerie red light, were quickly rolling out between his fingers.

Upon landing, these bearings rapidly deformed, expanded, and transformed into mechanical spiders the size of an open palm. Moving with incredible speed on their eight steely legs, they scurried towards any available crevice or open space to climb.

This was Kapot's other formidable reconnaissance ability: deploying Mechanical Spiders!

Previously, Kapot had acquired an artifact from the world of the Transformers—a fragment of a leaden box. Due to prolonged contact with the AllSpark, it had absorbed a tiny fraction of its related powers. When this fragment was fitted with an amplification gem, its true function allowed it to temporarily generate metallic lifeforms upon the infusion of mental energy.

However, the power of these metallic lifeforms was not great; they were more than sufficient for reconnaissance, though. Kapot’s steel-bearing-turned-metallic-lifeforms appeared ceaselessly, compressing Ronnie’s space of movement like a rapidly spreading carpet, successfully forcing him back a distance of thirty meters.

This maneuver rendered Ronnie, who specialized in close-quarters combat, almost useless. Furthermore, the opposing team no longer felt that prickling sensation of being watched from behind.

But then, a hundred meters away, the powerful Contractor suspected to be MT reappeared before everyone's eyes. Without hesitation, Pacino, who was already standing ready, unleashed a shot.

This time, Old A wisely refrained from wasting mana on a massive Fireball. Instead, he watched as the target was sent flying, quickly regained balance, and rolled back into the nearby metal trench.

Pacino held his sniper rifle with one arm, sneering, "Is this bastard trying to challenge my marksmanship? Naive!"

Watching Fang Senyan take the shot, tumble clumsily, leaving behind a splatter of vivid crimson blood and wisps of pale blue smoke gradually dissipating, the team leader, Ganni, frowned deeply.

Yes! The opponent's performance had completely exceeded their expectations up to this point! This abnormal fellow before them had already demonstrated terrifying offensive power and survival capability. He certainly didn't seem like an idiot who would run out just to get hit, yet he had done exactly that. Was there some specific reason behind it?

Soon after, Aldariz, manifesting as a massive orb of white light, appeared on a nearby structure. Raising its hands high, it unleashed a localized Psychic Storm in their direction! Violent and scorching electrical energy swept across the area instantaneously, indiscriminately engulfing everything within the energy tempest. Not only were the clustered Contractors assaulted, but the fragile metallic lifeforms newly hatched from the steel bearings suffered devastating blows.

Amidst angry shouts, Old A and others possessing ranged capabilities immediately struck, focusing all their might on Aldariz. But strangely, Aldariz’s health dropped agonizingly slowly. This was, of course, due to the protection afforded by Fang Senyan’s survival awakening skill: Survival Mark.

The bulk of the enemy's attack power was first subjected to the 40% rule between Contractors, leaving only 60% of the damage. Of that 60%, Aldariz only diverted 25% of the actual damage taken. Subtracting defensive reduction, he remained virtually untouched.

And Fang Senyan, that freak, only suffered the remaining 75% of the diverted damage. His current damage reduction capabilities were even over 55%, meaning he effectively took only about 35% of the original attack power. Moreover, this figure was further reduced by the mandatory 50 to 200 points reduction enforced by Reaper's Sigh!

Consequently, the damage he sustained remained within his tolerance level. Unless an attack possessed defenses-ignoring, true damage, or divine damage capabilities that could exceed three digits, the damage numbers, though dense, all hovered in the double digits.

At this moment, everyone understood why Fang Senyan had leaped out to deliberately draw Pacino’s shot!

Because at long range, only Pacino’s sniping ability possessed the power to knock an enemy back, thereby forcibly interrupting Aldariz’s sustained Psychic Storm.

However, now that Pacino had fired, he was relegated to waiting for a long time. Not only would the entire team have to endure the bulk of the Psychic Storm’s sustained, full damage, but more terrifyingly, the massive swarm of mechanical spiders Kapot had painstakingly deployed were completely annihilated!!!!

"Damn it! Damn it!" Fire seemed ready to erupt from Pacino’s eyes. With such a lapse in concentration, Ganni, who had maintained a remarkably calm demeanor, suddenly clenched his fists and charged toward Pacino, roaring, "Watch out!"

It was only then that Pacino realized a faint, chilling sting against his neck—precisely on his Adam's apple.

A sharp, slightly reddened blade edge was pressed tightly against his throat. Immediately following, an irresistible force pressed from behind, causing him to instinctively lurch forward. This movement was almost equivalent to deliberately dragging his own throat across that terrifying blade!

Blood immediately erupted from his throat in a fan-shaped torrent like a waterfall. Pacino instinctively tried to cover it with his hand, but blood continued to shoot out between his fingers, showing no sign of stopping. His eyes were wide open, the muscles in his face twitching uncontrollably, emitting only meaningless syllables from his throat.

Although a throat-slit wouldn't be instantly fatal to a digitized Contractor, the psychological impact of the strike was immense.

The throat-slit attack had delivered an undisputed quadruple damage critical hit. Furthermore, after enduring the brutal Trial of the Dark Templar, Ronnie not only gained the combat ability of permanent invisibility when not attacking, but his post-attack Bleed damage effect had been greatly amplified! Thus, the resulting bleeding damage was horrific.

Having struck successfully, Ronnie did not linger in combat. He immediately retreated rapidly, his dark cloak billowing and wrapping around him, swallowing the light as his form slowly faded. Although he became visible while attacking, he would re-enter permanent invisibility within two seconds of stopping.

Ganni, as the team leader, also displayed his formidable power. Despite being a full ten meters away from Ronnie, he suddenly crouched low and, moving almost like an ice skater, zipped in front of Ronnie in the blink of an eye. Both of his fists were adorned with what looked like boxing gloves, glowing faintly with an icy blue light.

Though Ronnie retreated swiftly, Ganni followed like a shadow! He launched a punch as fast as lightning. The sound of those boxing gloves striking flesh at high velocity was deeply unsettling. Ronnie, hit by this blow, momentarily froze, and the terrifying part began.

The burly man Ganni seemed to adopt a willow-in-the-wind posture, clinging tightly to Ronnie. His fists moved so fast that afterimages appeared, as if seven or eight arms had sprouted from his body. The continuous, fleshy crack-crack-crack of relentless blows landed one after another.

It was even possible to see that the surrounding debris was beginning to drift toward Ganni, suggesting his flurry of punches possessed a terrifying, black-hole-like suction that prevented the enemy from escaping, forcing him to endure a storm of terrifying combos!

With a shrrraak, another flurry of afterimages shot out! Ronnie was forced to use his ultimate technique, the Clone Skill, again. However, the opponent seemed prepared; all the afterimages were instantly annihilated. A man of unremarkable features, wearing a headscarf like an Indian, suddenly inhaled deeply and pointed in one direction!

"There!"

Ganni immediately dropped low, gliding as if on skates, and chased in that direction. This was his special ability, Glide Step. Although it consumed mental energy, it was incredibly effective for pursuit. He trusted his teammate, Bakambu, whose sense of smell was unmatched.

Ronnie must have sustained some injury from his Rainfall Fist; it was impossible for him to escape unscathed. Once Bakambu caught the scent of his blood, no amount of invisibility could hide him from Bakambu’s tracking!

Ronnie specialized in reconnaissance; escaping was practically second nature to him, slippery as an eel. In an instant, he distanced himself thirty to forty meters away. However, Ganni was also utilizing his ability to chase, rapidly closing the gap between them.

Just then, four high-speed Vulture APCs suddenly roared out from the distance, bearing down on them. Earlier, Fang Senyan had used the APCs' momentum to launch a fierce assault, shockingly killing one person amidst the encirclement—a feat akin to slaying an enemy general in the heart of a massive army. This had already placed significant psychological pressure on the opposing team. Consequently, most of the remaining firepower was now poured onto the Vulture APCs.

Amidst thick smoke, three Vulture APCs were instantly destroyed, dissolving into clouds of dense smoke and fiery rain, their shattered components clattering across the ground.

Suddenly, Old A turned and shouted, "Boss! Don't pursue a cornered foe, be careful!"

A cruel smile flickered across Ganni’s face, yet he showed no intention of stopping. He had calculated precisely: once he caught up, due to the angle of the buildings, his teammates would have a three-second support blind spot. But within those same three seconds, he would be able to unleash that move.

The Platinum Great God’s scribe visited Chengdu today to help him settle into an apartment near the Red Tile Temple, situated amidst the holy trinity of Jiuyanqiao Bar, Sichuan University, and the Sichuan Conservatory of Music (you know what I mean, hehe). So updates are a bit late, my apologies to everyone! Tomorrow, I will treat him well with facing-the-sky chilies, bird's eye chilies, and green Sichuan peppercorns, hahaha.