This mysterious, terrifying suction made the Gluttonous Stomach hanging from Elias’s waist instantly go taut like a fully drawn bow.
It was almost breaking free from its physical constraints, threatening to snap off entirely.
Elias gritted his teeth, his hands death-gripping the wrinkled opening of the stomach.
But.
The unknown containment object inside had no intention of giving up.
It thrashed and struggled wildly inside the stomach.
Like a xenomorph trapped in a sealed membrane, it was desperate to escape this space.
Since it couldn't break through the opening.
It immediately changed direction and began pushing hard against the inner walls, trying to burst the Gluttonous Stomach from the inside.
A massive pulling force traveled through his arms and into his entire body.
Elias felt his feet lighten.
The immense suction was about to drag him, along with the stomach in his hands, right into the air.
He hurriedly strapped the cane and the sharp knife to his waist.
He grabbed the Gluttonous Stomach with both hands.
As the stomach tried to fly into the sky, it also managed to escape from Elias’s Moonlight Veil.
What appeared was a stomach writhing frantically in mid-air.
It was incredibly eerie.
Right at that moment.
Within Elias’s still-blurred dream demon hallucinations.
In the distance, the Spark Festival revelry seemed to have reached its finale, and the countdown began.
“Bang! Bang!”
Fireworks blossomed one after another in the night sky.
But in Elias’s vision, the fireworks didn't show their original beautiful colors.
They flickered with a strange, piercing, and eerie light.
It was as if a blinding, overexposed filter had been forced upon the entire world.
The time happened to reach the predicted moment.
However, the situation on the ground had long since exceeded his expectations.
The distant city lights, and even the dim gas lamps around the cemetery that had been emitting a faint yellow glow.
All went out at the exact same time.
Light was stripped away in an instant.
Leaving only the bright moon in the sky.
Elias had no time to worry about any of that; he could only cling to the Gluttonous Stomach that threatened to fly away at any moment.
He shifted his weight low.
His tactical boots plowed two clear furrows into the soft, slippery mud, dragging toward the depths of the cemetery.
Then.
Luke, not far away, seemed to have finally reacted to the sudden change.
“Quick!”
Luke whipped his head around and shouted into the darkness.
“I can't see him.”
“But prioritize seizing that bag in the air!”
He issued a death order to the figure hidden beneath the black robe.
Upon receiving the command.
The man in black didn't hesitate, turning like a precision machine.
He held Finn’s silver greatsword in one hand.
With a casual flick of his wrist.
A cold flash of blade light swept through, effortlessly decapitating a living corpse that had just risen nearby.
He walked straight toward Elias.
His steps were steady.
However.
He hadn't even taken two steps.
When the Seventh Agency investigators hiding behind cover began their suppression fire.
Brilliant flashes of various spells instantly tore through the darkness.
【Acid Splash】.
【Chaos Bolt】.
These lethal spells were mixed with specialized ammunition fired from firearms.
Along with several sparking alchemy bombs.
All that deadly metal and magic formed an impenetrable web of fire, whistling toward the man in black.
Facing this concentrated fire that could have blasted an elephant into mincemeat.
The man in black dodged repeatedly like a ghost.
And parried with the silver greatsword in his hand.
“Clang, clang, clang—”
Bullets and incoming alchemical weapons were all precisely parried away by that sword.
For a moment.
Errant bombs flew everywhere in the cemetery, and explosions rang out continuously.
Mud and severed limbs were blown into the air.
“Is this guy even human?!”
Elias gritted his teeth as he struggled to pull back the Gluttonous Stomach writhing in the air.
While watching the battle ahead, he couldn't help but exclaim in genuine shock.
Because the speed at which this man in black swung his sword was far beyond the reach of any normal human.
Human muscle and bone simply couldn't withstand that level of high-intensity friction.
The hem of his black robe snapped loudly in the wind he generated.
Such a dense barrage of bullets couldn't even get within half a step of him.
And at the same time.
The concentrated fire eventually had some effect.
Although most of the highly concentrated magical acid from the 【Acid Splash】 was blocked by the sword.
Some of the splashing liquid still landed on the man in black.
“Sizzle, sizzle—”
The sound of corrosion rang out.
The oversized black robe covering him, including the hood, was instantly corroded, leaving several holes with charred edges.
Wisps of pungent white smoke rose from him.
Aided by the moonlight.
Elias noticed, through the holes burned into the black robe.
Within his 【Darkvision】, which was overlaid with hallucinatory filters.
What he saw was something with a cold, metallic texture.
“It’s an alchemy puppet.”
Old Ed was the first to warn him in his mind.
Clearly, the old man was afraid Elias’s vision would be compromised by the hallucinations.
“It really isn't human.”
There was a hint of realization in Old Ed’s voice.
“No wonder! No wonder I didn't feel any powerful spiritual overflow coming from your colleague.”
An alchemy puppet’s core is hidden deep within its body, making it impossible to detect supernatural fluctuations from the outside.
Hearing this, Elias nearly spat blood.
“Colleague my ass!”
He retorted loudly in his mind.
“Aren't the people from Wayland your colleagues?”
Old Ed asked back righteously.
“...”
Elias was left speechless.
The old man’s timing for a joke was absolutely terrible.
In the center of the battlefield.
The man in black seemed to feel that the tattered robe was hindering his movements and grabbed the collar.
With a forceful tear.
He ripped off the robe, revealing a brass-textured metal shell.
Its surface was covered in complex alchemical arrays.
Its eye sockets flickered with a cold, arcane light.
Seeing that their projectiles were having little effect.
The Seventh Agency investigators behind cover gritted their teeth and launched another wave of concentrated fire.
Amidst the chaos of gunfire and explosions.
Elias heard the voice of the investigator from before.
“Friend!”
The voice pierced through the roar of the explosions.
“The communicator!”
Elias cursed under his breath.
He planted his legs firmly, put his back into it, and forcibly yanked the Gluttonous Stomach toward his chest.
Taking advantage of this brief opening.
He finally managed to free one hand.
He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the battered Origin Web communicator.
He wound up his arm and threw it hard toward the defensive cover.
The communicator traced an arc through the air.
“Yours is probably broken!”
He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Then.
He reached out again and took out the Imprinting Orb Ms. Cecil had given him.
He took aim and threw it with all his might.
“This is an Imprinting Orb your superior gave me.”
Elias took a deep breath.
Amidst the rain of fire and the pungent smoke, he shouted the line he’d been holding back for a long time.
“That’s right! I am your important ally!”
“Contact her and tell her!”
“If she doesn't get here soon, we’re all going to kick the bucket in this godforsaken place!”
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