A Bunch of Sneaky Bastards

“Three stacks.”

Elias calculated silently in his mind.

This was the current limit of “Soul Screams” that his brain and soul could withstand.

There was no helping it. The side effects from the ten resonance stacks he had used against the mountain of flesh hadn't completely faded yet.

Fortunately, for the overwhelming army of seafood in front of him, three stacks were just enough.

So what if their shells were hard?

Could their insides be harder than my thunderous resonance? At the end of the day, they were just soft flesh that couldn't handle the vibration.

This was what one would call delivering them to the afterlife from the inside out.

However, while the killing was satisfying, the aftermath was a disaster.

As the group fought desperately, pushing toward the pier while outputting massive damage, their appearance had reached a pathetic state.

Splash—!

Another fish monster leaping from the shadows was blasted apart. Pungent, foul-smelling fluids drenched the group from head to toe.

Elias wiped the slime off his face expressionlessly.

He felt like an unlucky bastard who had just climbed out of a septic tank after a long swim. His clothes were sticky and clung to his body. With every step, he could hear a bizarre squelching sound.

He turned to look at his three teammates. Everyone looked like scavengers who had just been fished out of a sewer.

The distance was a mere two kilometers, but under the endless siege, they had somehow turned it into a tragic, epic struggle.

Heavy breathing echoed through the team.

But within this group that looked like refugees, Xia’an’s performance was like a breath of fresh air. In fact, it was more like a one-sided suppression.

This girl from a legendary family perfectly demonstrated to everyone the true meaning of “financial might.”

The lantern she held seemed to contain a raging fire dragon. Its roar hadn't stopped once along the way.

White, scorching, and dazzling Dawn Fire erupted like a waterfall, emphasizing high temperature, blinding light, and explosive power.

What Elias found most ridiculous was that he couldn't see any side effects from the containment objects Xia’an was using!

Generally, the more powerful a containment object, the more terrifying the backlash on the user. But Xia’an carried that violent lantern, spraying fire all the way, and her complexion remained rosy, her breathing steady.

It was as if she weren't holding a dangerous containment object, but a small hand-held fan she had bought on a whim.

Beyond that, the girl was essentially a mobile armory.

Look at that—she just casually crushed a Dawn Holy Emblem radiating pure light. A circular shockwave with no blind spots pulverized a dozen fish monsters trying to approach her into meat paste.

In his mind, Old Ed had completely lost it, his screams echoing one after another.

“A Dawn Holy Emblem! She just crushed it like that?!”

“Holy crap! Is that a 【Flame Orb】 spell scroll?!”

“What a waste! Such a total waste!”

The old man’s shrieks swirled around Elias’s mind in full surround sound.

“So noisy...” Elias complained in his head.

But on the surface, his gaze toward Xia’an was also filled with shock. Anyone with eyes could see that this girl had a very deep relationship with the Dawn Church.

If Elias, in his moonlight home turf, had a spirituality recovery rate comparable to having “infinite fire,” then the wealth Xia’an was displaying was purely like being a member of a famous cheat-code sect from his previous life.

Infinite ammo. Infinite mana. Infinite inventory.

Xia’an clearly wasn't carrying a large backpack, but those expensive scrolls, holy emblems, and potions were all pulled directly out of thin air with a wave of her hand.

“That’s a Secret Chest,” Old Ed explained.

“A space spell used by high-Scale mystics. They use magic to hide a chest in a layer of the spirit world. The coordinates in the spirit world move in sync with the binder’s coordinates in the material world. They can retrieve items across realms anytime, anywhere. Very convenient.”

Elias raised an eyebrow and asked in his mind, “That sounds amazing. Any downsides?”

“Yes,” Old Ed replied bluntly.

“The only flaw is that, unlike the Gluttonous Stomach, it can't block items with high-level marks. If someone puts a tracking mark on an item and it’s placed in the Secret Chest, the coordinates can still be tracked.”

Elias understood. To put it simply, it was like a bound cloud storage. Large capacity, easy access.

...

Compared to Xia’an’s calm and elegant bombardment, Dabu’s style was quite wild and frustrating.

The heavy brass firearm in the big man’s hands was indeed powerful. Against Scale One fodder, it was basically one shot per kill.

But once he faced a Scale Two carapace husk, the situation changed. One shot would at most shatter a layer of the shell; he needed a second or even a third shot to be lethal.

Not to mention those thick-skinned Scale Three elite monsters.

What drove Dabu most crazy was that the reloading method for this gun was quite anti-human. After every shot, he had to reload manually.

In this tide of monsters where every second counted and they were surrounded on all sides, every reload was like dancing on the edge of a reaper’s blade.

Several fish monsters covered in pustules took advantage of Dabu’s reload to pounce on him with a roar.

“Dammit!” Dabu cursed under his breath. Holding the gun in one hand, he raised the other.

He chanted a quick incantation.

Six blue glowing missiles shot out in succession, hitting almost one monster each. The ones that weren't instantly killed were finished off by the now-reloaded shotgun.

Elias’s eyes lit up as he watched from the side.

Well, well. This honest-looking big guy was actually a Scale Three mystic!

According to Old Ed’s explanation, this guy had mastered 【Metamagic】. That move just now was 【Double Cast】, which allowed him to release double the spells in an instant.

Not only that, the technique had other uses, such as 【Distant Spell】 to increase range, and 【Extended Spell】 to increase duration.

So, even though the reload of that containment shotgun was enough to make anyone’s blood pressure spike, Dabu spent the whole journey either reloading or using Metamagic to resist during the reload.

With this masterful spell output, he single-handedly carried most of the team’s fire suppression duties.

As for the silent Bloodsong, Elias only realized halfway through that the weapon in his hand was no ordinary item either.

It was a uniquely designed repeating crossbow. Every time he fired, he wasn't shooting ordinary metal bolts, but blinding spheres of light condensed into solid form!

【Tracer Rounds】! They were incredibly effective against these monsters influenced by the power of the Divine Scion.

“This is just ridiculous,” Elias muttered to himself as he used his cane to shatter a nearby carapace husk.

A Dvorin using light-based tracer rounds? That was completely backwards! It was like Guss using a 【Divine Smite】.

These three temporary teammates... one had infinite cheats, one was a violent mage, and one was an anomaly. Each possessed extraordinary skills.

However, what Elias didn't know was that in the eyes of the other three, his performance was the most heart-stopping of all!

Xia’an stole a glance at Elias. This well-traveled young lady was already experiencing a storm in her heart.

What was she seeing? This guy had a revolver in his left hand and a cane in his right. There were no complex casting gestures, nor any earth-shattering spiritual fluctuations.

He simply strolled through the monster tide. With a casual tap of his cane, the monsters would explode from the inside into a brilliant firework of flesh and blood.

One touch, one explosion! It was like he was the Mother Goddess’s roll call—whoever he pointed at died!

And the protection around him was even more insane. He was practically armed to the teeth!

“Is this guy... really a Moon Lord believer?” Xia’an wondered frantically in her mind.

A Moon Lord believer who was so personally powerful, so brutal in his methods, and yet as cautious as a turtle—honestly, Xia’an had rarely seen such a person.

Under the push of the four, the long breakthrough finally saw the dawn. The pier’s lighthouse faintly emerged in the night.

“We’re almost there.”

Elias was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he noticed a thick sea fog rising silently around them.

Almost instantly, the 【Malice Perception】 in Elias’s mind screamed in alarm!

Intense malice surged from all directions. Elias’s expression changed instantly, and a cold, ghostly silver light flared in his eyes.

Under the penetration of 【Moon Vision】, Elias clearly saw that within the mist surrounding them, people had already gathered in dense numbers!

They were silent, like sharks lurking in the deep sea, completely blocking all paths to the pier.

“Everyone, watch out. We have trouble.”

Elias scanned the surroundings warily, and a 【Mental Message】 immediately linked everyone’s consciousness.

Although they were hidden well, the stench belonging to the Mist Veil Society could still be detected with careful perception.

“The Mist Veil Society is all around us.”

“A bunch of sneaky bastards.”