Elias hurriedly retreated at high speed.
In front of him, the mountain of flesh that had been blasted into a bloody mess by the gravitational field had completely finished its mutation.
Accompanied by the tooth-aching sound of bones snapping, the claw that had burrowed out was not the end, but merely the beginning.
A brand-new siren crawled out from the bloated flesh.
Of course, this time it had completely lost its siren appearance, instead becoming a monster covered in coral-like carapace while retaining that thick fish tail.
Tentacles were distributed across every corner of its body, and six even sharper claws were spread across its sides.
Its head now looked more like some kind of giant.
The only good news was that its size remained roughly the same as before.
The mutated siren let out a roar that was even sharper than before, possessing a metallic, grinding texture.
It attempted to find the enemy it hated most on the scene, but was blocked by the Seventh Agency investigators.
It suddenly swung its new massive claw, moving so fast it left an afterimage in the air.
Two nearby investigators were caught off guard and could only roll clumsily to the sides.
The wind from the claw, powerful enough to cut through steel plates, plowed three bottomless furrows into the ground, sending stone fragments flying like bullets.
"Damn it, it seems even more resistant to damage!"
"If I'd known it would be like this, I should have run!"
"It's too late for regrets now."
Elias donned his veil once more, squinting from behind a stone pillar; although the elemental revolver in his hand remained pointed in that direction, he hesitated to pull the trigger.
He was waiting, waiting for the most cost-effective moment to strike.
"Everyone, switch to pure silver armor-piercing rounds! Focus fire on its head! Shut down its vision and central nervous system!"
The tall man fighting the siren with a silver sword in the distance suddenly let out a thunderous shout.
This command instantly integrated the Seventh Agency's previously scattered firepower.
Special holy silver bullets drew neat trajectories through the air, followed closely by crossbow bolts engraved with explosive runes; all attacks poured toward the siren's ugly, deformed head.
After all, the head containing the eyes and brain was the weakness of most creatures.
"Hiss—!!!"
Accompanied by a shrill scream, the siren's vision was completely blocked by dense explosions and flashes.
Blood flowed down its face, and it clutched its head in agony, its massive body losing balance.
Having lost its sight, its attacks instantly became disorganized.
Whoosh—
That thick tail covered in barnacles swept blindly with the sound of wind, splattering filth from the ground everywhere.
Its six claws also flailed wildly in the air, attempting to tear any nearby creature to shreds.
"Now!"
Elias's eyes lit up.
Taking advantage of the gap while the siren was flailing madly, he raised his hand and fired two shots.
Elemental bullets accurately struck inside the siren's wide mouth that stretched to its ears, blasting tentacles everywhere.
Occasionally, a radiance bullet or two would appear, producing even better effects on the siren.
For a moment, the combined assault of the Seventh Agency and Elias actually managed to suppress this terrifying deep-sea monster in place.
Seeing the siren's aura grow weaker and weaker, everyone subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that as long as they maintained this rhythm, it was only a matter of time before they wore down the trapped beast.
Of course, Elias was the exception; he knew very well the dangers of celebrating too early.
The firepower in his hands continued to pour out.
The siren's posture suddenly slumped downward.
Immediately after, the dense, barnacle-like structures on its tail began to contract violently.
Puff—
A cloud of black smoke, as thick as a physical substance, suddenly erupted from those holes!
That was no ordinary mist.
In just a few seconds, this black smoke filled the entire underground space; unaffected by gravity, it rapidly filled every corner.
The few gas lamps hanging on the walls for meager lighting instantly lost their glow the moment they touched the black smoke.
The entire underground space plunged into an absolute darkness where one couldn't even see their own hand.
"Is it an octopus or something?"
"It's the 【Darkness Spell】."
Old Ed's grave voice rang out in his mind.
"It can obscure vision to a great extent and block the transmission of light."
Elias was startled upon hearing this and hurriedly mobilized his spirituality; a faint blue halo instantly covered his eyes as he activated Spirit Vision.
However, what made his spine tingle was that this layer of darkness seemed to have some kind of spiritual shielding effect.
Within his Spirit Vision, he could only see a chaotic mass of dark gray mist.
"Damn it, even Spirit Vision is being suppressed!"
Elias made a split-second decision and immediately switched visual modes.
"【Darkvision】!"
This time, the world before him finally gained a hint of an outline.
But this vision had a limit.
Sixty feet, which was a range of twenty meters.
In his perception, this catchment space, which was like an underground palace, was quite massive, with a diameter of at least fifty meters.
This meant that even with twenty meters of vision, more than half of the area remained in unknown darkness.
In such an environment, facing a massive mutated siren familiar with the dark, even a one-meter blind spot could be fatal.
Within the smoke-filled space, only the incessant sounds of battle, the roar of firearms, cries of fear, the monster's hair-raising shrieks, and the friction of it moving quickly in the dark remained.
"Can't stay in one place!"
Elias knew very well that staying still made him a sitting duck.
Maintaining the 【Moonlight Veil】, he began to move quickly along the base of the wall.
In this pitch-black darkness, he could only rely on his limited Darkvision and hearing to judge his position.
He began to prowl the edge of the battlefield like a ghost.
As long as his weak vision caught part of the siren's body—even just a claw or half a tail—he would immediately fire a shot without hesitation and then quickly relocate.
Bang!
The siren roared and turned its head, its claw crushing a stone but only catching air.
In this way, Elias conducted a cowardly guerrilla war while slowly feeling his way toward the center of the battlefield.
He wanted to see if the Seventh Agency people were dead; if they were all gone, he would have to grab Aaron and flee immediately.
The concentrated, creamy version of Nick Fury in the lead was truly somewhat useless; after being whipped away by the tail, there hadn't been any movement from him until now.
He was probably dead!
Eventually, he circled a massive support pillar and felt his way to the rear of several Seventh Agency investigators.
The sight before him startled him.
Within this dark ocean that swallowed everything, an island actually stood.
It was a translucent white shield about five meters in diameter, like an inverted bowl, shielding the remaining four investigators inside.
This shield emitted a soft yet firm glow, forcibly dispelling the surrounding black smoke to a certain extent.
The vision inside the shield and for a few meters around it became crystal clear.
Even more noteworthy was that directly in front of the shield, a beam of moonlight had descended from nowhere, shining straight onto the ground.
That was clearly some kind of high-level spell.
Whenever the siren attempted to break through the darkness to attack the shield, its body would immediately ignite with pale holy fire as soon as it touched the moonlight.
"Now that's professional."
Elias hid in the shadows, looking at that rock-solid turtle shell and couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.
"Official agencies really do have some depth after all."
"【Moonlight Splendor】, a Scale Three spell; you can have it too once you advance,"
Old Ed reminded him.
"This beam of moonlight, coming directly from the Origin Web, allows an ascetic's 【Moonlight Blessing】 to take effect."
"It can also burn enemies like it just did."
Elias spoke irritably.
"And where is my Scale Two potion, Old Ed?"
"..."
At this moment, the siren's offensive outside grew increasingly fierce, with dull thuds of impact constantly echoing in the darkness.
Elias felt that wandering outside alone was too dangerous; what if he was killed by friendly fire?
If he could get inside...
Through observation, Elias found that the shield didn't seem to have any reflective damage effect.
So, how could he enter someone else's shield?
He asked Old Ed this question in his mind as well.
"You're dreaming."
"If you could enter someone else's shield, why would it be called a shield?"
Good point!
Wrapped in the 【Moonlight Veil】, Elias slowly approached the shield.
Even if he couldn't get in, being close to it as cover would work!
He intended to rest his back against the shield for a moment.
Unexpectedly, he stumbled, and his whole body went tumbling right into the interior of the shield.
"?"
In that instant, his sense of security was maxed out.
"How did you get in?!"
Right then, Old Ed's incredibly surprised voice suddenly rang in his mind.
"How should I know?"
Why?
Was it because of the 【Moonlight Veil】 on him?
Or was it because of the bone flute?
Elias also felt a bit suspicious in his heart.
Is this light shield my relative or something?
Because Elias had been maintaining the 【Moonlight Veil】, the four investigators, who were fully focused on maintaining the array and shooting, didn't notice a living person had sneaked into the shield at first.
Until the tall man holding the silver sword stepped back to adjust his position.
Thud.
His back bumped into a solid human body.
He subconsciously turned his head.
"Who?!"
The man's hair stood on end; the shock in that moment was almost stronger than facing the siren.
He spun around violently, his longsword instinctively swinging backward.
This collision also broke Elias's invisibility, and combined with the close proximity, his figure was instantly revealed.
"How did you get in!"
This exclamation instantly ignited the atmosphere inside the shield.
Except for the one investigator who was still maintaining the spell and couldn't move, the reactions of the other three were terrifyingly fast.
Clang—
The muzzles and staves that were originally aimed outside swung around in unison in that single instant.
Dark muzzles, sword tips glinting with cold light, and the radiance of spells ready to fire were all shoved into Elias's face from a distance of less than a meter.
This was a true point-blank confrontation.
Looking into those eyes filled with vigilance and killing intent, Elias felt his scalp go numb.
If a gun went off, he wouldn't survive even if he had ten lives.
"Don't shoot!"
Elias reacted with lightning speed, immediately raising his hands high in a standard French military salute.
Plastering that harmless smile on his face, he shouted loudly:
"I'm a good citizen!"
"I just walked in!"
The tall man stared fixedly at this stranger who had suddenly appeared inside the defensive perimeter, his eyes filled with doubt about his entire worldview.
The other investigators heard this explanation, looked at each other, and then shouted in unison with disbelief:
"You just walked in?!"
Rate on N.U.
