Chapter 275: Terrorist Attack

A string of muffled pops, almost like a series of suppressed farts, suddenly tore through the torrential black rain.

Trails of flame went off one by one, like an endless idiom-chain game, defying gravity as they punched through the curtain of rain and soared into the sky. Accompanied by the downpour, they came plunging back down.

Just like that, they effortlessly bypassed the maze riddled with traps and layers of illusory mist, and slammed head-on into the observation center that had only recently been repaired.

Fierce fireballs erupted, each explosion following hard on the heels of the last. Terrifying shockwaves shook the earth, causing cracks to appear throughout the enormous workshop. Dust fell from above, settling over the dumbfounded face staring at the water-mirror projection. Helmut remained frozen in place, eyes wide as he leaned closer in disbelief.

What the hell? What just happened? What the fuck are you even doing?! Are you even a craftsman?! You actually pulled out an embarrassingly crude combustible weapon like a rocket launcher?

It was like two young masters from prestigious schools arranging a duel atop the Forbidden City. You stood at the highest point in the world, drew your sword, and prepared to show everyone a sword strike from the west like an immortal descending from beyond the heavens, only to discover that your opponent was piloting an airship straight at you with every intention of ramming you head-on.

Fine, forget fighting fair. Resort to cheap shots and ambushes if you want. But could you at least show a little dignity as a craftsman?!

Every craftsman had relied on guns to some extent during their apprenticeship, but aside from the small number who also studied engineering or related fields, most craftsmen eventually stopped pursuing conventional firearms any further.

Part of that came from their disdain for mass-produced assembly-line weapons. More importantly, however, conventional weapons propelled by combustible explosions were extremely inefficient. They required little technical skill and were extremely easy to defend against and counter. Even an ordinary Chosen One of the Ruins Path could take small-caliber bullets and grenades straight to the face without using a blessing after entering the Metamorphosis Realm.

So what chance did weapons like these have against a heavily fortified workshop? It was just a mere combustible explosion. If you were so capable, then go ahead and blow the entire observation station and workshop sky-high. Otherwise, stop embarrassing yourself. A combustible weapon with this kind of yield was good for little more than making some noise.

Helmut snorted derisively, feeling disappointed by the candidate who was supposed to be ranked number one. It was like putting on an elaborate performance outside a boss room, bracing yourself for the fight of your life, only to open the door and find a slime already on its last sliver of health.

What a complete waste of effort.

And so, he simply watched coldly as streak after streak of blazing light descended from the sky, sending shockwaves as flames spread in every direction. Structures collapsed, and even cracks appeared across the workshop at the heart of the facility.

Helmut merely waved a hand dismissively. In an instant, the workshop walls seemed to come alive, sealing their cracks, while the fallen structures and debris were pulled back into their original positions by gravity. Aside from the vast swathes of scorched earth, the place was completely unscathed.

Unscathed...?

His disdainful expression froze. Not long after, his face began twitching uncontrollably.

“You fucking bastard!”

Within the water-mirror projection before him, the flames gradually died away. What emerged in their wake were crimson and black streaks, accompanied by the blaring of alarms from all around the workshop’s perimeter. Aberration contamination had been detected!

As the rockets rained down and waves of heat and flame tore across the ground, strange gray-black traces spread over the scorched earth, expanding rapidly. As if alive, they seeped into every possible opening, corroding and spreading without restraint.

No, they weren’t merely imitating being alive. They were alive!

As the rockets exploded, their cluster-bomb-like payloads burst and scattered in every direction, smashing into the ground and breaking open. Some of the thumb-sized tubular alloy canisters were filled with thick, pitch-black tainted blood. Others contained fragments of evil creatures’ internal organs, while the rest were packed with vast quantities of spores too tiny to distinguish with the naked eye.

Every last one of them had come from the mushroom cultivation center Ji Jue had painstakingly built. Nurtured on the blood of evil creatures and heavily contaminated aberrant spirit matter, the mushrooms had been selectively cultivated over generations until Ji Jue finally produced an entirely new strain.

Carried by the scorching wind, the spores scattered far and wide. Wherever they landed, they took root, absorbing the abundant spirit matter surrounding the workshop and parasitizing the tainted blood and scraps of viscera from the evil creatures. They grew so fast it was visible to the naked eye.

Within mere moments, bizarre mushrooms of every imaginable color burst from the soil like shoots after spring rain, proliferating wildly. Countless strands of mycelium, almost impossible to see with the naked eye, rode the wind into every crack and crevice, with some even infiltrating the workshop itself.

They didn’t cause any immediate destruction or corrosion, but Helmut could clearly sense the spirit circuits in the workshop’s outer layers slowing and falling into disarray as the mycelium tangled around and invaded them!

Shit! There’s shit everywhere!

The instant Helmut realized what was happening, he nearly clutched his head and screamed. His skin prickled with horror. What kind of lunatic stood outside someone’s fence and kept lobbing bags of shit over instead of coming through the front door? And as if that wasn’t bad enough, he had even strapped a couple of giant firecrackers to each one just to make sure they went off with a bang!

And yet, after the first barrage, the intruder still hadn’t had enough. He rummaged through the crate behind him, pulled out another batch of rockets, and fired again.

After three volleys like this, the observation center had been reduced to utter chaos. Scars of aberration contamination spread everywhere as multicolored mushrooms continued their wild proliferation. Even the outermost defensive barrier had darkened. It flickered unsteadily, struggling to hold together beneath the relentless entanglement and infiltration of the strands of mycelium.

It was as if a biological weapon and an EMP had gotten drunk at a bar, made a terrible mistake after a night of passion, and somehow produced this mutant monstrosity.

Under that utterly inhumane barrage, the entire outer perimeter of the workshop had been drenched three or four times over in evil creature flesh, blood, and aberration contamination until it was practically marinated through!

If outside interference had not been cut off during the duel, every evil creature on Leafway Island would probably have come charging over after catching the scent.

The emergency purification sequence and cleanup modules had been overwhelmed before they even had a chance to start running.

Still unsatisfied, Assault Horsey reached back for more, only to grab at empty air. It had already used up every last round of ammunition.

Helmut had long since broken out in a cold sweat. Now, with trembling hands, he wiped his forehead and silently thanked the heavens.

Seizing the opportunity, he immediately adjusted the temperature of the outer layer. Disregarding the cost entirely, he plunged the area surrounding the workshop into bitter cold in an instant, forcibly freezing the spread of mycelium.

Inside the workshop, vague figures emerged from the shifting mist and began frantically clearing away the mycelia that had wormed their way in through the cracks. The mycelium crawled across the stonework like insects, as though it had already taken root completely. Flames scorched the exposed strands and withered them instantly, but the portions embedded within the masonry only burrowed deeper.

When the figures tried to scrape them off with tools, the mycelia let out shrill cries. They thrashed violently and even attempted to turn around and infest Helmut’s shadow servants.

Unfortunately for them, those human-shaped figures were nothing more than puppets replicated from fixed templates using spirit matter. They did not even possess flesh and blood, leaving the mycelium with nothing to parasitize.

In all twenty-six years of his life, Helmut had never been this furious. He looked as miserable as someone watching a toilet suddenly erupt into a fountain right in front of him. His normally deathly pale face had turned crimson. His eyes were bloodshot, and the veins within them seemed to throb with rage.

Ji Jue, you fucking bastard! You deserve to die! You deserve to fucking die!!! You evil, shit-flinging freak! I’m going to tear you apart with my own hands—no, I’ll wear gloves. I need the workshop’s defenses and purification systems at maximum output! I’ll activate the outer traps, defenses, illusions, and everything else. Activate! Activate! Activate! Activate!!! I’m going to make sure you die the most miserable, horrific, absolutely goddamn wretched death imaginable today. AAAAAAAH!!!

As the workshop roared into full operation, malice surged like a tide across several kilometers. Within the mist that writhed as if alive, numerous savage silhouettes emerged, each one seeming ready to tear apart and devour anyone who came near.

But through the water-mirror projection, Helmut saw the strange suit of armor toss aside its empty launcher. Then it took a long step backward, then another. Finally, it raised both hands toward the workshop, as though it were surrendering.

Helmut’s fury gave way to confusion. He froze, leaned closer, and stared at the image in bewilderment.

Then he saw it. In the magnified view, the mechanical hands deftly twisted around and shifted position, each raising a middle finger at him. Both fingers had even been specially painted blood-red.

The greeting blasted from the speakers at maximum volume, deafeningly loud. “What the fuck are you staring at, loser?”

Helmut froze on the spot. His face flushed red, facial muscles spasming as rage took over his features. Amid his furious roars and bellows, searing flames burst from the back of the enormous armor. A moment later, accompanied by the thunderous roar of its engines, it shot straight into the sky.

BOOM!!!

Driven by a powerful momentum, the heavy armor lifted off like a bird. Mercury flowed around it, forming an enormous pair of wings that stabilized the armor and adjusted its direction. It soared unsteadily into the sky, broke through the black rain, gained altitude, and headed straight toward the clouds. High above the heavens, it looked down upon everything below. Then, even as the wings of mercury evaporated and fractured, they rapidly changed shape.

The massive armored person turned toward the distant workshop, whose defenses and layout had been thoroughly probed by the three rounds of bombardment. Then, the enormous engines changed direction and fired in reverse. Every last bit of spirit matter stored in the auxiliary tank was poured into them, driving the armor’s speed to the absolute limit in an instant, allowing it to blaze across the sky like a brilliant star.

From the enormous container mounted on the armor’s back, tons of mercury flowed like a torrent, enveloping the entire suit layer by layer. As it tore through the air, its surface glowed scarlet from the friction, resembling a blazing crimson star wreathed in flame. In the water mirror, its silhouette grew larger and larger until every tiny detail became starkly clear.

Helmut swallowed hard, finally realizing what was happening. “Holy fuck—”

Assault Horsey was descending from the heavens!