In the spacious hall, clothes were scattered all over the floor.
Their owners were nowhere to be seen.
Only a group of white, fleshy, wormlike creatures remained on the floor, tangled together like a nest of snakes, caressing one another.
Surrounded by the writhing mass, a woman who looked like a noblewoman wore a wine-red evening gown and elegantly lifted a cup of tea to her lips.
Though only half the cup remained, the noblewoman still elegantly bit off a piece, then chewed with her mouth closed, making a crackling sound.
She seemed completely unaware of the bloody holes poked through both her cheeks.
I've done a lifetime's worth of evil, and now I have to see this!
Fu Qian sighed silently and turned to look at the four others.
Judging by their expressions, they were just as shaken.
"Move!"
The Captain was worthy of his title. He was almost the first of the four to recover.
After glancing at the noblewoman's hugely swollen belly, he immediately ordered them to attack.
There was no helping it. Her appearance practically screamed, "I'm the boss."
In a scene like this, no one would believe she was an innocent bystander.
The four-person team clearly worked well together. At the Captain's command, Buzz Cut Man lunged forward almost at once.
Though the Old Man still looked a little reluctant, he followed close behind.
Buzz Cut Man had put on a pair of oddly shaped gauntlets. His punch came with a faint rumble of wind and thunder.
The Old Man had no weapon, but a casual gesture from him sent a burst of flames exploding outward.
Under their swift attacks, the noblewoman had no chance to dodge. Her figure was instantly swallowed up.
The Captain, who seemed the strongest of them all, didn't charge in with the others. Instead, he stayed where he was, pulled something from inside his clothes, and aimed it at the noblewoman from afar.
White Porcelain Woman Su Gao drew her blade and stayed by his side, keeping the disturbed mass of snakes from attacking him.
So he was going to unleash a big move. They really were decisive.
Fu Qian knew what the Captain intended to do.
He had already jumped aside, and now he finally got a clear look at the Captain's Great Killer Weapon.
In truth, it was hard to even call the thing a weapon. It was about the length of a forearm, with a fist-sized sphere at the top and a long, slender handle beneath it.
Its bizarre shape, combined with the countless arcs of electricity crackling around it, made it look as if someone had snapped it off a Tesla coil.
This was what had killed him earlier—the Captain's Great Killer Weapon.
The Captain was clearly channeling its power to unleash some sort of big move. In just a few seconds, the force it had built up had far surpassed the attack that had struck Fu Qian. Its blazing white bolts were almost too bright to look at.
Compared with its terrifying power now, the attack that had hit him before had been little more than a tiny spark.
But just then, something went wrong with Buzz Cut Man and the Old Man.
A shrill wail rang out. Even from far away, Fu Qian felt his head jolt, as if his nose were about to start bleeding.
A spray of blood arced through the air, and Buzz Cut Man was sent flying. He crashed heavily into the wall beside him.
Before he could recover, a blood-soaked figure was already in front of him. A sharp Bone Blade pierced him through the wall like meat on a skewer.
Damn!
The noblewoman, who had been so elegant before, was still elegant now.
One leg had been stripped of all its flesh, yet she still stood there, tall and poised, completely unbothered.
Four long, differently shaped bone claws had torn through the back of her dress. One of them had pinned Buzz Cut Man to the wall.
The instant he saw her, Fu Qian felt as if he'd been struck hard on the head. His consciousness blurred.
[Sanity Value -5]
Huh?
Fu Qian was startled.
Just looking at her had cost him five points of Sanity Value.
That was the equivalent of five lives!
This mission was way too dangerous!
After killing him in one blow, the noblewoman didn't pause. She pulled out her Bone Blade and darted to the side, slicing the Old Man—and the floor beneath him—in half as he got up.
Her movements were so swift they happened in the blink of an eye. She seemed to float, as if she weighed nothing.
A roar came from nearby. The Captain had finally finished channeling. A straight pillar of lightning, made up of countless bolts, instantly engulfed the noblewoman and the Old Man's corpse.
Lightning Railgun?
Watching the endless stream of lightning, Fu Qian finally understood the true power of the Captain's Great Killer Weapon.
Yet before the world-shattering attack could reach her, countless thin black lines rapidly wove themselves into a cocoon in front of the noblewoman, blocking the lightning for just a split second.
That brief delay was enough for her ghostly figure to escape the lightning's reach.
In a flash, she appeared right in front of the Captain.
Her wail rang out again, sharper than before. The Captain's entire body shuddered. Blood flowed from both his nose and mouth, and he froze in place.
The Lightning Railgun had vaporized one of her four Bone Blades.
But the remaining three still pierced straight through the Captain and lifted him into the air.
The Captain's Great Killer Weapon was powerful, but his opponent's evasion was maxed out.
The baby's wailing grew louder.
Fu Qian looked at the noblewoman, who was no longer even vaguely human, and fired Air Bullets in quick succession.
The transformed noblewoman didn't even dodge. After a series of sharp, bone-on-bone clacks, not a mark remained on her.
As expected, none of his attacks could even penetrate her defenses.
[The Evil God's Progeny has descended. Containment failed.]
A notification sounded in his ear, and the scene before him quickly blurred.
The last thing Fu Qian saw was Su Gao leaping high and sending a flurry of blade light toward the noblewoman.
Whoosh!
Back in the storeroom, Fu Qian let out a long breath. His head still seemed to ache faintly.
He hadn't expected them to fail even with that plan.
Strictly speaking, there hadn't been anything wrong with the team's strategy.
They'd acted decisively and without wasting words. Once they'd identified the target, some of them had held her off to buy time for the strongest weapon to charge up.
It all seemed perfectly reasonable.
They just hadn't expected Buzz Cut Man and the Old Man's attacks to startle the Evil God's Progeny—and its mother had turned out to be far too powerful.
After transforming, the woman was unbelievably fast. And with that strange shield, the Captain's Great Killer Weapon hadn't even hit its target head-on.
Their decisiveness had backfired!
[Spend 1 Sanity Value to attempt containment again?]
Having finished his analysis, Fu Qian immediately pressed his hand against the Mist Door that had appeared.
"Yes."
He had a new plan.
He was back in the eye-opening hall once more.
"Prepare to move!"
"Wait!"
This time, just as the Captain was about to give orders, Fu Qian stopped him.
"If you want that thing in your arms to be of any use, you'd better not disturb her."
"Those two should stay here, too."
"What gives you the right to order us around?!"
Buzz Cut Man and the Old Man immediately flared up.
How did he know?!
The Captain was startled that Fu Qian had revealed their biggest secret. He held a hand out to stop his subordinates.
Never mind how the other man had found out. Fu Qian's actions along the way had convinced him that the young man wouldn't say something without good reason.
Seeing how cooperative the other man was, Fu Qian nodded at him with satisfaction.
Carefully avoiding the wormlike creatures and unidentified fluids scattered across the floor, he walked over and sat down across from the noblewoman.
"Hello, beautiful."
Before you continue