Chapter 604: A Few Experts in Slaughter Have Arrived

The rescue team members, originally waiting in their vehicles and ready to charge out at a moment’s notice, were now momentarily at a loss for what to do. The only reason they hadn’t stepped out was because of Captain Jacobs’s strict orders.

“Captain Jacobs and the others only went in with six people. How are they going to handle this?” someone voiced their concern.

“What are you afraid of? It’s not our time to take the stage yet,” Caleb Carter said to the group. “There’s no need to rush. She knows what she’s doing. Besides, if all of you go down there, this little play will be ruined.”

He reasoned that since the enemy was acting so fearless, they most likely had other trump cards up their sleeves. In times like this, maintaining composure was the safest bet.

Leo Langley had never seen a Superpower like this before, either. However, he had only caught a glimpse from a distance. The sand shield looked so thin and transparent that he didn’t take it to heart.

“You can’t even save yourselves, yet you’re still worrying about your soldiers?” Leo mocked. “You base people always fashion yourselves as saviors who can’t bear to see the slightest bit of suffering. In reality, you’re just a bunch of useless trash desperate for praise and adoration.

“You’re obviously terrified, yet you insist on playing the hero. Don’t tell me you came in here planning to punish the wicked and save the innocent?”

Leo wasn’t stupid. He could tell these people were perfectly composed, but he believed they were just putting on a brave face. Even if they weren’t, the villagers here were no ordinary folk.

He let out a derisive sneer. Yet, when he turned his head, he realized that Nina’s group was casually sightseeing around their village, completely ignoring him.

“…Although it’s a bit dirty everywhere, enduring some hardship while traveling is inevitable. If it gets too late today, why don’t we just make do and rest here?” Shirley Lucas suggested.

“Yeah, settling down here temporarily shouldn’t be a big problem,” Holden Shaw agreed, looking around as if he couldn’t see the malicious glares shooting at them from the villagers.

“It’s fine to kill people here, right?” Holly Morgan asked. Her Blood Vine hadn’t been nourished with fresh blood for a long time.

Nina Jacobs’s gaze locked onto a building that was still emitting cooking smoke. “It’s fine,” she answered.

“Aren’t you guys thinking a little too highly of yourselves?” Jasmine sneered. She had already changed out of the ragged clothes she used to masquerade as a refugee.

“Hand over your supplies if you know what’s good for you! We might just let you die an easy death,” a man shouted.

At the mere mention of supplies, the villagers’ faces lit up with greed and excitement.

Nina retracted her gaze and asked directly, “The traps in the Twin City Corridor—you set those up, right? And the Mutated Animals… the moles?”

“Oh? You’ve uncovered quite a few of our secrets. Pretty impressive for a little girl.” A short man chuckled, looking the calm Nina up and down.

Seeing Holden prepare to make a move, Nina raised a hand to stop him.

“What are you using to feed those Mutated Animals?” she asked, recalling the glossy, well-fed coats of the mutated moles.

Leo hadn’t expected her to ask such a question. He let out a dark chuckle. “As expected of the great saints from the base. You should know what Mutated Animals eat. There’s nothing to hide.

“We use the least scarce resource available right now.”

In the apocalypse, the least scarce resource was human lives.

Hearing this, Shirley and the others immediately turned solemn.

“Don’t be scared. As long as you hand over all your supplies, we’ll let you go. How about it?” Leo sized up Nina’s group with a smirk. “The only reason you’re acting so arrogant is because you have people waiting outside, right? But our Peldon isn’t a place you can just stroll in and out of as you please!

“Joan Sutton, seal the village!”

The moment Leo finished speaking, dense vines sprouted from the top of the surrounding walls. The vines stretched high into the air, blooming with white flowers before merging together in the sky above. Within minutes, the airspace over Peldon was tightly interwoven with those white-flowered vines. From the outside, the entire village appeared completely sealed off.

Meanwhile, Joan, standing behind Leo, was already struggling to stay on her feet. Her face was deathly pale—a clear sign that her Superpower was completely drained.

“Master Lawrence said we’re in need of a gatekeeper, and you’re the perfect fit,” the short man from earlier taunted. “Why don’t you just surrender? The people outside can’t come to back you up anyway.”

“Back us up?” Nina’s eyes were now brimming with murderous intent. “You’ve completely misunderstood. In fact, I should be thanking you for leading us right to this place.”

“It’s a little too early to be thanking us.” Leo’s face tightened as freezing air erupted from his body, coalescing into several sharp ice spikes.

The others around him immediately summoned their Superpowers.

“We have twelve Intermediate Superpower Users on our side. Let’s see how you few plan to fight us!”

The short man, Leo Keller, was also a Wood Element Ability User. Thrashing vines erupted from beneath the frozen soil at his command. Jasmine flashed her blinding Thunder Element Superpower.

The surrounding villagers began to scream in excitement.

“Yeah! Make them hand over their supplies!”

“Kill them!”

“You stupid bitch, you should be—”

Before the man could even finish his sentence, a fine mist of blood sprayed from his neck. In an instant, he was decapitated.

Staring at the severed head tumbling to the ground, the surrounding villagers were struck with absolute terror.

Holden spat on the ground and, in the next second, reappeared by Nina’s side.

“Intermediate Speed System! No wonder you’re so cocky!” one of the villagers yelled.

Volleys of ice spikes lunged toward the group. At the same time, a spinning Ice Thorn shot toward Holden from another direction. As soon as Leo Langley made his move, Leo Keller and the others launched their combined assaults.

“They’re dead meat now!”

“Master Lawrence definitely won’t spare them!”

The villagers, previously terrified by Holden, now felt victory was assured.

However, a nearly transparent sand shield materialized out of thin air, blocking every single attack in a split second.

Leo Langley hadn’t expected this flimsy wall to possess such immense defensive power. It had actually withstood the combined strike of over a dozen Intermediate Superpower Users!

But Nina clearly had no intention of giving them time to recover. The very second the sand shield dissolved, a Wind and Fire Tornado formed instantly. Countless Wind and Fire Blades shot indiscriminately toward the front and all directions.

The razor-sharp Wind Blades tore through multiple bodies, while the trailing flames instantly incinerated their skin and bones. Those who were hit didn’t even have time to scream before their bodies were sliced apart and engulfed in fire.

Nina’s gaze was frigid; she unleashed her Superpower without a shred of mercy.

“Damn you! Go to hell!” Jasmine hurled a Thunder Ball at Nina, only for it to be smashed apart by a whipping vine.

Immediately after, a blood-red vine coiled tightly around her waist.

“What is this thing?!” Jasmine tried to struggle, but a second later, the vine transformed into a jagged thorn that pierced straight through her heart.

Looking at the vivid red blood drawn out by the vicious barbs, Holly smiled in satisfaction.

Just then, the ground was suddenly coated in an Ice Element Superpower. One Ice Cone after another erupted from the frozen earth at a staggering speed.

“How rare. To think the base managed to produce a few people who excel at slaughter,” Leo Langley remarked. He maintained Control over the Ice Cones, believing he had successfully trapped the group on the icy terrain.

Yet, Nina simply let out a disdainful scoff.

“We don’t excel at slaughter. We’re just cleaning up the trash.”

As she spoke, Nina casually pinched a bright flame between her fingertips. The moment the tiny spark hit the ground, the thick layer of ice and the sprawling Ice Cones vanished into thin air. They melted away so fast that not even a wisp of steam had the chance to rise.