The air inside the shipyard is stagnant and dull, mixed with the smell of rust and wood, making it even more depressing than outside. Edgar was the first to step in. His steps were as light as a cat, and his eyes were as sharp as a hawk, quickly sweeping across the empty factory area. Huge shipyards, towering scaffolding, mountains of timber and cables formed a complex steel jungle full of dead ends.
Anles and Lina followed closely, and the finished glyphs spread out, covering each other's progress.
"Something is wrong." Anles lowered his voice. His intuition, honed from dealing with criminals and heretics for many years, was sounding a piercing alarm. "It's so quiet here, there's not even the sound of a mouse running around."
Lina didn't speak, just put his hand on the spell-casting medium at his waist, and his other hand quietly held a silver medal engraved with defensive runes.
Philip, who was the last to step through the door, was about to turn around and hide the door ajar, leaving an escape route for the team, when a sudden change occurred.
"Bangdang——"
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind them, and the deafening sound echoed endlessly in the empty shipyard, as if it was a sentence that they were completely cut off from the outside world.
"Trap." Edgar's voice was cold and calm, without any panic. He didn't even look back at the closed door, because he knew it was meaningless.
Before he finished speaking, in all directions, those originally silent shadows seemed to come alive. From behind the tall hull frame, from the top of the stacked cargo containers, and from the depths of the dark workshop, countless figures in gray and white robes emerged like a tide. They held various weapons in their hands - rusty daggers, crude axes, and even just sharpened sticks. Their movements were stiff but swift, quietly surrounding the four Investigation Bureau members.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of believers had blocked all possible escape routes. There was no fear or hesitation on their faces, only a chilling, almost numbing enthusiasm. The distorted faces came together to form a suffocating sense of oppression.
"Damn..." Anles cursed in a low voice. He drew out the standard short knife, and the blade flashed a cold light in the dim light from the ceiling of the factory. "It seems that we have stabbed a large rat's nest."
Philip's face instantly turned pale. He clenched the staff in his hand, his palms full of cold sweat. The scene in front of him was far beyond any scene he could have imagined during training.
"Back to back, defensive formation!" Edgar's command was brief but powerful, instantly pulling Philip out of shock.
The four people quickly moved closer and formed a small circular formation. Edgar and Anles, the two most experienced combatants, protected the front and flanks that were most susceptible to impact. Lina provided support in the center, while Philip was protected in the relatively safe rear and was responsible for guarding the rear.
In the encirclement, the crowd slowly parted to both sides, and a tall figure walked out. That was the Highland Race man "Ballista Rock" who was severely injured by Li Wen not long ago. The wound on his neck had healed, leaving only a ferocious scar, but his aura was thicker and more violent than before, and his pure white eyes were filled with bloodthirsty fighting intent.
"Kingdom lackeys, welcome to your cemetery." Ballista Rock's voice was as low as a rolling stone. Next to him, another voluptuous and beautiful red-haired woman covered her mouth and smiled softly. Her eyes, with some kind of teasing and cynicism, passed over the members of Investigation Squad one by one.
"Our noble 'Cult Leader' has already 'foreseen' your arrival." The red-haired woman said with a chuckle. Her voice was sweet, but it smelled of blood. "He said that tonight will be a feast to witness the glory of our Lord, and you are the first sacrifice to the Blessed One."
Edgar looked beyond them and into the deeper darkness. He knew that the real threat had not yet appeared.
"Investigation Bureau received a report about the illegal activities of your sect and came here to investigate." His voice did not waver at all, like a rock, "You can choose to surrender or fight to the end."
"Resist?" The red-haired woman looked around, and the corners of her mouth could not help but start to raise, "I think it is you who should resist! Come on, compatriots, for eternal life! For the Blessed One!"
Her sharp voice turned into a horn of attack, and hundreds of believers around her let out a burst of fanatical roars. Like driven beasts, they rushed towards the small circular formation in the center without fear of death.
The battle broke out instantly.
Anles was the first to bear the brunt. He roared angrily, and the short knife in his hand moved like lightning, instantly knocking the three believers who were rushing to the ground to the ground. Blood splattered, but the expected screams did not sound.
The believers who were hit by his knife did not let out any painful groans. The moment their bodies were cut apart by the blade, they actually turned into little fragments of light and dissipated in the air.
"These damn players again!" Anles's eyes turned cold as he recognized this unique death effect.
What shocked him and Philip even more was that a few seconds later, those "dead" figures appeared on the outside of the encirclement again. They picked up the weapons on the ground, with the same fanatical expression on their faces, as if the death just now was just an insignificant illusion, and then joined the charge again.
"Don't be fooled by their illusion of 'immortality'!" Edgar warned in a deep voice. The blunderbuss in his hand made a muffled sound and accurately hit the knee of a believer who was trying to sneak attack from the flank. The believer fell to the ground. Although he did not turn into light flakes, he also lost the ability to move in a short period of time. "Attack their limbs to make them lose their fighting ability!"
However, there are too many believers. They are like waves of never-ending the Tide, frantically attacking the reef composed of four people. The sounds of swords clashing, weapons breaking through the air, and the fanatical shouts of believers mixed together to form a chaotic and bloody symphony in the empty shipyard.
Lina formed a seal with both hands, and a light blue light shield instantly formed around the four people, blocking several cold arrows shot from the dark. She looked focused and recited incantations quickly, and the magic that weakened or slowed her down was accurately applied to the fastest believers, which relieved a lot of pressure on Edgar and Anles.
Philip After the initial panic, he gradually calmed down. He gripped the staff tightly and began to recite a lengthy and difficult-to-speak incantation. The fear in his eyes had been replaced by perseverance.
At this moment, Ballista Rock moved.
He let out a deafening roar, and his huge body was like an out-of-control siege vehicle, rushing directly towards the direction of Anles. He knocked away everything he passed on the road, and the huge battle ax swung an arc of death in the air, directly taking Anles's head.
"Well done!" Anles advanced instead of retreating. The fighting spirit in his eyes was high. He exerted force with his feet. His figure was not as violent as Ballista Rock, but more agile. He raised his short knife and accurately blocked the powerful and heavy blow.
"Dang!"
The loud noise made people's eardrums hurt. Anles felt a huge force coming from the blade. His whole body was numb from the shock, and he took two steps back uncontrollably. But Ballista Rock was unmoved and waved the giant ax again with an expressionless face.
At the same time, the red-haired woman also moved, and the target she chose was the team's commander Edgar. Her body was twisted in an inhuman posture, and her nails instantly became scarlet and sharp, like a red phantom, bypassing the frontal impact and attacking Edgar from an extremely tricky angle.
Edgar reacted extremely quickly. While dodging sideways, the short gun fired again. However, the bullet hit the red-haired woman's body, but only left a small blood hole in her body. The wound squirmed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and was intact in an instant.
"Small toys like this are useless to me. How about you get something bigger and more powerful?" The red-haired woman's teasing and ambiguous voice sounded in Edgar's ears.
A dark shadow emerged from the shadow at Philip's feet without any warning, and a green dagger stabbed his back silently.
"Be careful!" Lina exclaimed and pushed Philip away.
The dagger grazed Philip's ribs, leaving a trail of blood. As soon as the shadow missed the target, it immediately merged into the shadow again and disappeared, leaving only a disturbing chuckle.
In front of you are the invulnerable and powerful madman Warrior; on the side are flesh-and-blood assassins with high-speed regeneration and strange attacks; in the dark are the elusive shadow killers; and on the outside are hundreds of fanatic believers who are not afraid of death and can even be "resurrected".
The situation deteriorated to the extreme in just one minute.
Edgar's face turned serious. It seemed that it was impossible to complete the task without causing any disturbance.
So he no longer hesitated and ordered loudly, "Philip! Do it!"