Outside the town.
At the military camp, Colonel Yuri walked up to the perimeter.
As a veteran who had fought in many overseas wars, Colonel Yuri was highly experienced and had seen much.
He had fought in street battles and guerrilla warfare, and faced many ruthless opponents.
But now, watching the more than two thousand townspeople surge out in a black mass, men, women, old, and young alike charging forward like madmen—
The immense pressure nearly left the colonel unable to breathe.
He picked up the microphone and began to broadcast. "I am Colonel Yuri of The Boys. Residents of Silver Tree Town, I order you to stop."
"The military will help you."
"Please stop."
Yet the frenzied residents showed no intention of stopping.
Their dark skin was no different from that of Black people, but their eyes glowed red. Bald and browless, they charged forward with savage fury.
Colonel Yuri could only say, "Fire tear gas."
At once, the soldiers at the front launched tear gas canisters into the town, quickly filling it with smoke.
Colonel Yuri hoped to disperse the crowd this way, but the residents ignored the tear gas entirely, charging out of the smoke one after another.
Hissing and roaring like crazed beasts.
Colonel Yuri shouted, "Fire! Non-lethal mode!"
A row of soldiers immediately disengaged their rifle safeties, lowered their muzzles, and fired at the residents' legs.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunfire rang out continuously. The mutated residents running at the front were struck in the legs, and the impacts sent them sprawling in waves.
But the people behind them had no intention of stopping. They trampled over their companions' bodies and kept charging forward without the slightest hesitation.
The gunfire became a continuous roar. Over a distance of less than five hundred meters, large numbers of townspeople fell to the ground.
It seemed the situation could be brought under control, and Colonel Yuri could not help letting out a breath.
But then he saw that the residents who had been brought down and trampled in the distance were actually getting back up.
The muscles in their legs squirmed, squeezing the bullets out of their wounds. The bullets fell to the ground, and the wounds closed immediately afterward.
In the blink of an eye, the residents were once again roaring and charging as if nothing had happened.
"How is this possible?" Colonel Yuri looked utterly bewildered.
Every soldier behind the perimeter had gone pale. At last, someone's fear overwhelmed his reason, and disregarding orders, he raised his gun and fired at a resident's chest.
Blood spurted from a mutated resident's chest, but he merely swayed before continuing his mad dash.
Colonel Yuri's eyes widened. He had not expected shots to the chest to be less effective than shots to the legs.
What kind of monsters were these?
"We're going in."
Seeing that the military could not stop the mutated residents at all, Princess Frost formed an ice path beneath her feet and immediately slid toward the perimeter.
Her short skirt fluttered as Princess Frost raised both hands and shoved them forward.
A freezing wind howled forth.
Frost rapidly spread from the toes of the residents charging at the front.
The frost climbed only as far as their thighs, but once their legs froze, their movements were immediately halted.
One after another, they were either frozen in place or knocked to the ground by their own kind behind them.
But soon, the residents with frozen legs began hammering at them madly, smashing both the frost and their legs to pieces!
The legless residents turned around and stubbornly crawled across the ground toward the perimeter, scarcely any slower than before.
At the sight, Princess Frost's scalp went numb. Then she raised her hands, and the moisture in the air rapidly froze.
An ice wall swiftly appeared ahead, rising rapidly to block the residents' path.
Princess Frost made the white wall rise until it reached a height of ten meters before stopping.
As though they did not know the ice wall stood in their way, the mutated residents charged at it without slowing, slamming into it one after another.
Their heads split open, flesh tore, and bones broke.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Listening to the repeated impacts from behind the ice wall, fear flickered not only in the soldiers' eyes, but even in the eyes of Supers like Starlight.
They had never seen such insane behavior.
But soon, the townspeople stopped their nearly suicidal actions.
They came to a halt, but piled together, forming a small mountain.
Black figures surged atop one another, rapidly raising the "small mountain." Before long, townspeople could already be seen over the top of the ice wall.
"Oh, God."
Princess Frost let out a groan. She could no longer create a taller ice wall. If this still could not stop the residents, there was nothing more she could do.
Colonel Yuri took a deep breath and made the sign of the cross over his chest. "Lord, forgive me."
Then he shouted, "Fire! Use Lethal mode!"
He had finally decided to stop trying to intercept them and kill them instead.
Otherwise, if these two thousand black demons spread throughout the country, Colonel Yuri did not dare imagine the consequences.
At that moment, Colonel Yuri was grateful that Homelander and The Seven had arrived. The situation had already surpassed all previous expectations. Without the Supers' assistance, the military alone could never stop them.
Thinking this, the colonel looked at Starlight and the others. "Everyone, please assist the military."
Starlight and the others nodded.
Element Man looked toward the nearby stream. The next second, her eyes turned silver-white.
The water in the distant stream suddenly trembled, changed course, and came roaring toward the town.
In mere moments, the stream flooded into the town, crashing between the houses and surging toward the mutated residents. It swept them continuously into the water, making it difficult for them to move.
Seeing this, Livewire released a powerful current from his body. He flickered, and when he reappeared, he was standing atop a utility pole in the town.
He gave a shout and pressed both hands down, releasing streaks of blue electricity from his fingers.
The powerful current plunged into the water, instantly electrifying a large area and making the residents within it tremble uncontrollably.
Princess Frost pressed both hands forward. A bitterly cold wind immediately swept out, and the water in town froze rapidly, trapping many mutated residents beneath the ice.
But even with the Supers involved, there were simply too many residents in Silver Tree Town. Most of them broke through the Supers' blockade, climbed over the ice wall, and surged toward the military like a black flood.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
At Colonel Yuri's command, the soldiers behind the perimeter raised their guns and opened fire. Amid the rain of bullets, row after row of residents fell, yet row after row charged forward again.
The black flood churned as it rapidly closed in on the perimeter. Just as the crest of that black tide was about to crash into the line—
"Close your eyes!"
A voice rang out.
The soldiers suddenly saw a flash behind them, followed by a burst of brilliant light ahead. The intense radiance swallowed everything.
The soldiers shut their eyes one after another, hearing only screams ringing in their ears.
Colonel Yuri hurriedly put on his sunglasses. When the light faded, he removed them and looked ahead.
Large numbers of mutated residents seemed to have been struck by some force, flying backward in waves and crashing to the ground.
The colonel shifted his gaze and saw a blonde girl.
Starlight!
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