chsdbacks Chapter 647 The Spoiler
Chapter 647 The Spoiler
"What are you all standing there for?" Harding's voice boomed through the wind and rain. "Make your move!"
The capture team reacted immediately.
They all intensified their manipulation of the magic array's power, thus raising the sealing array's strength to a new level.
Hardin, along with the entire capture team, unleashed their full firepower with the assistance of the sealing array and lighting equipment.
The shadow thieves began to be suppressed.
Its shadow membrane contracted continuously under the impact of the storm, retreating from the walls, from the machines, and from the ground, gradually being compressed back into that small area in the center of the factory.
The continuous stream of lightning formed a sealed "wall" around it, preventing it from spreading further.
"Prepare to close the sealing array!" Dirk shouted.
The capture team members quickly adjusted the positions of the runes, and the light from the magic circle began to shrink inward, further compressing the Shadow Thief's space. Everything was moving in a positive direction.
If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to suppress and seal it soon.
If nothing unexpected happens...
The east side of the factory is the edge of an abandoned industrial area, and beyond that is a dirt road leading to the old town.
Suddenly, glimmers of light appeared on the dirt road.
The capture team leader, who was on guard, squinted, trying to see where the lights were coming from.
His night vision was much better than that of ordinary people, but the light was shrouded in thick fog, and he could only see blurry outlines.
As they drew closer, the outlines became clearer.
are people.
A lot of people.
They wore long black robes, the hoods of which covered their heads and faces, leaving only their chins and mouths exposed.
Each person carried a kerosene lamp, the flame inside flickering slightly in the night wind, its dim yellow light spreading into blurry halos in the thick fog.
They walked in a line, slowly and silently, toward the abandoned factory.
Gunshots rang out on the road on the east side of the abandoned industrial area.
The capture team's sentry, guns at the ready, stood behind the roadblock, their eyes pressed against the scopes, catching sight of a line of dim, yellowish lights in the thick fog. "Halt! This is a restricted area. Halt immediately!"
The shouts echoed through the night sky.
No one answered.
The line of men in black robes did not stop.
The figures carrying kerosene lamps continued to walk towards them at a leisurely pace. Their faces were hidden in the shadows under their hoods, with only their chins and mouths showing. Their lips were tightly pressed together, and they had no expression.
The head of the security team was a man in his early thirties. Seeing the other party's reaction, he did not issue a second warning.
"Fire!"
Five rifles spat fire simultaneously.
The bullets pierced through the thick fog, tore through the air, and accurately struck the few black-robed figures at the very front of the line.
The members of the vigilance team are all field personnel of the association. Although they are not elite-level psychics, shooting training is a basic skill for them.
At this distance and under these lighting conditions, the hit rate will be no less than 90%.
But the result was not satisfactory.
The five men in black robes in the center of the line didn't even try to dodge.
When the bullets reached about half a meter in front of them, it was as if they had hit an invisible wall.
A tiny ripple spread through the air, and the bullet was deflected, landing with a clattering sound on the stone pavement.
The other men in black robes quickly dispersed.
Their movements were incredibly fast, faster than most people could move.
Some people rolled to the side and took cover behind abandoned vehicles on the roadside; others darted into the shadows of buildings; some even took the bullets with their bodies, the bullets striking their black robes with dull thuds before falling limply to the ground. Their reaction speed far exceeded that of ordinary people.
They were injected with gene-enhancing drugs, and not the lowest grade kind.
And those five in the middle who couldn't even get close to bullets... are psychics!
The leader of the alert team immediately made a judgment about the enemy based on his experience, and his pupils contracted slightly.
Without hesitation, he immediately pressed the button on the communicator: "Enemy attack on the east flank! At least five psychics and more than ten armed personnel! Requesting backup!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a dark figure shot out from the center of the black-robed men's formation.
It was a swirling, dark, thick fog, shaped like some kind of twisted creature without a fixed form.
It surged from the palm of a man in black robes, expanded in the air, and pounced towards the guard team.
The guard team leader instinctively pulled the trigger, but the bullet pierced through the black mist and had no effect.
The black mist continued to approach, its "body" now open like a gigantic mouth, ready to swallow everyone on the road. Then, the black mist shattered.
A beam of silvery-white light shot in from the side, precisely cutting into the core of the black mist.
The moment the light touched the fog, the black fog seemed to be torn apart from within by some force, emitting a shriek that was not a sound, before quickly dissipating and disappearing. Two figures glowing with fluorescent light emerged from the roadside shelter.
The uniform was dark blue with silver trim on the collar and cuffs, and a star embroidered on the left breast.
They were members of other elite groups Harding had seen before, a man and a woman, both in their early thirties, with stern faces and steady steps. The man walked ahead, his right hand still in a waving pose, a trace of silver light lingering at his fingertips.
His expression was calm, as if he were handling a routine task.
The woman followed behind him, her gaze sweeping over the scattered men in black robes, a cold smile playing on her lips.
"Judging by your attire, you must be some kind of cult." Her voice wasn't loud, but every word carried an undisguised contempt. "How dare you trespass on our territory? You're courting death."
When the head of the security team saw the two appear, his tense shoulders relaxed slightly.
He raised his hand and made a gesture: retreat.
The members of the guard team quickly holstered their weapons and retreated in alternating cover, finding new firing positions behind them, their guns still aimed at the man in black.
With elite teams on board, their mission changed from "interception" to "support".
The five men in black robes in the center did not answer the woman's question.
They didn't even use any extra body language; they attacked the two men the moment they saw them.
The five people simultaneously unleashed their bizarre power, and the distorted energy immediately invaded the surrounding space.
At the same time, the black-robed figures on the periphery also made a move.
They peeked out from behind their respective bunkers and fired.
These cultists were armed with short-barreled submachine guns, which had a high rate of fire and intense firepower, unleashing a hail of bullets.
Their shooting accuracy was not as good as the association's guard group, but they had the advantage of large numbers and dense firepower.
The psychic association retaliated without hesitation.
The two elite warriors met the five black-robed spirit mediums.
The man swung his right hand out again, and a silvery-white light exploded in the air, cutting the surging black mist into fragments.
The woman then unleashed her eeriness.
A pale blue light membrane appeared around her body, with tiny electric arcs jumping on its surface.
The dark tentacles lashed against the light membrane, and the electrical shock instantly traveled back along the tentacles, causing them to shatter into pieces.
The two worked together very well.
The man was responsible for the frontal assault; the silvery-white light was like a sharp scalpel, precisely cutting through every attack.
The woman was in charge of defense and counterattack; a pale blue light enveloped her and the man, and any approaching attacks were met with arcs of electricity. Although the five black-robed psychics outnumbered them, their strength and teamwork were clearly inferior to the association's elite.
Their attacks were independent and lacked effective coordination, allowing the two to defeat them one by one and suppress them individually.
Behind them, the guard team and armed men in black robes were exchanging fire.
The battle inside the abandoned factory continues, but the conflict on the eastern road has reached a delicate stalemate. The Association is putting pressure on the black-robed figures, but their numerical advantage prevents them from ending the fight quickly.
At the same time, intense battle fluctuations were also heard from the south and north sides of the abandoned factory.
Explosions, gunshots, and eerie shrieks indicated the intensity of the battle.
The men in black robes didn't just come from the east. They launched an attack from three directions simultaneously.
Not far from the abandoned factory, on a half-collapsed loading tower, a figure stood.
Although he was not far from the battlefield, no one noticed him.
Sometimes, members of the Psychic Association's capture team would even walk right past this figure.
His gaze swept across the direction he was in, but he ignored it as if it were air.
His existence was "erased" from his surroundings by some force, as if he had been directly integrated into the world.
This person was none other than Jemin. Relying on the Void Step, he could move around the battlefield at will without anyone noticing his presence. Jemin's hands hung naturally at his sides, his gaze calmly fixed on the battlefield before him.
A strange power emanated from his body.
That power was extracted from the strange fragments and recoded by him as a "strange aura".
This aura severed his "connection" with the eerie darkness... or rather, made the eerie darkness recognize him as one of its own. Because of this disguise, Jemin could stand in the darkness without light.
The darkness flowed past him eerily, like water flowing over a stone, without producing any reaction.
This is one of the results of his research during this period.
It's not very mature, and the principle behind it is quite crude.
It involves covering the body with fragments of power extracted from the strange fragments, creating the illusion that "I am a strange entity."
Although the Night's eeriness is of a very high level and its power is also very strong, it does not have much intelligence and its "cognition" is very simple.
In its eyes, Jemin was no different from those dangerous, bizarre fragments.
Jemin shifted his gaze from the battle on the eastern road, sweeping it across the entire battlefield.
To be honest, the Psychic Association's combat strength is unexpectedly strong.
Just like the two elites on the east side of the road, the strange creatures they sealed away, one male and one female, were both of a dangerous level.
Judging from their fighting style, the two strange entities had become deeply integrated with them, almost becoming part of their physical instincts. The silvery-white light released by the man was likely a strange ability leaning towards "slashing"; the woman's pale blue light membrane and electric arcs were more inclined towards "defense" and "counterattack."
The two of them, working together, completely overwhelmed the five black-robed spirit mediums on the other side.
Judging from the energy fluctuations and release patterns, the five individuals' strange abilities were all at the peak of the danger level, bordering on the hazardous level. However, their coordination was clearly lacking, and there was even interference between their individual strange abilities.
The black mist released by one black-robed figure collided with the tentacles released by another black-robed figure. The black mist corroded the surface of the tentacles, greatly reducing their attack power.
Therefore, even if the man in black robes unleashed his full power, he still couldn't defeat the two opponents.
"A mob." Jemin mentally gave his assessment.
Let's look at the capture team behind us.
Their fighting strength is also considerable.
Although most of them are just ordinary field workers, a few of them are psychics who have sealed away dangerous and bizarre abilities.
Their shooting accuracy, tactical coordination, and use of uncanny abilities during the exchange of fire far surpassed those of the black-robed armed men, and more importantly, the disparity in equipment between the two sides was significant.
The association's combat equipment is quite comprehensive. The firearms are standard, highly accurate, and have a low failure rate; the body armor can stop most pistol and rifle bullets.
The design of the uniforms themselves is exquisite; each association uniform emits a faint glow in the dark.
This design is ingenious.
It ensures that association members will remain in a state of light even if they accidentally fall into darkness—for example, if lighting equipment is broken, or if they are dragged out of the coverage of the lighting system.
Although the light is not strong, as long as there is even a little bit of light, the eerie darkness will not attack.
Unlike those men in black robes.
Several men in black robes had their kerosene lamps shattered during the exchange of fire.
The moment the lamp shattered, the darkness around them immediately thickened.
Fear crossed their faces, and they instinctively reached for their watches.
It was a small backup light source, with fluorescent lights embedded in the dial, providing dim illumination in the dark.
The dim light barely dispelled the darkness within a meter or so around it.
The men's expressions relaxed slightly, but they became noticeably more cautious and dared not lean out to shoot as boldly as before.
Jemin’s gaze swept over the broken kerosene lamps scattered along the edge of the battlefield.
The black-robed man's lighting methods were too primitive, relying too heavily on a single light source.
With their kerosene lamps broken, they were left with only the small watches on their wrists.
The watch's light was so faint that it could only illuminate a distance of less than one meter around it, and the brightness was decreasing over time.
Several of the men in black robes had their watches shattered by stray bullets during the battle.
Jemin saw their figures freeze for a moment in the darkness, and then... disappear.
The night eerily took them away, leaving no trace.
Overall, the Psychic Association truly lives up to its reputation as an official organization.
Even when capturing a dangerous anomaly, they dispatched ample combat power to ensure that no one would interfere.
With an elite squad positioned on the east side and intense fighting on the south and north sides, it was clear that two other elite squads were also engaged in a three-pronged attack on the black-robed men, leaving no blind spots.
And without a doubt, with such a big commotion, the support from the Psychic Association will arrive very soon.
However... the other party seems to know the association's arrangements very well.
If that's the case, then there certainly won't be just this little bit of preparation.
Jemin shifted his gaze from the battlefield to the direction of the sea.
It was on the west side of the abandoned industrial area, with no land access, only a not-so-steep embankment and a hazy sea.
Thick fog rolled across the sea, obscuring everything in the distance.
Jemin's gaze deepened.