"Machinery Hivemind" Strikes

Xio spoke of other things she had seen and heard at the gathering. When she mentioned that the culprit in the Serial Murder Case was a Beyonder creature, Fors was quite surprised. "A Beyonder creature?"

"I was just as surprised as you when I heard the news." Xio smiled.

Fors smiled awkwardly. She had actually heard some information about the culprit of the Serial Murder Case at the Tarot Club and knew it was a Beyonder of the Devil Pathway, but she had not known it was a Beyonder creature.

"Oh, right, I also obtained some very high-level intelligence." Xio said as if presenting a treasure. "It cost me more than twenty pounds..."

When she learned that this high-level intelligence was the concept of Beyonder Characteristics, Fors said somewhat perfunctorily, "Wow, that's amazing."

"Ahem." She cleared her throat and added, "Now that you mention it, I also got some high-level intelligence at a gathering..."

Inside, she was screaming: Stop wasting money like this! Just explaining a few theories about Beyonder Characteristics costs 500 pounds, while the Acting Method only costs 200 pounds at the Tarot Club!

West Borough, North Green Park Street.

The nobleman named Blair lived here. Ikanser Bernard, deacon of the Machinery Hivemind and Backlund's chief captain, personally led the team to visit the wealthy man under the guise of police officers.

Three carriages entered the courtyard of the luxurious villa. Everything appeared normal: gardeners tended the grounds, while bodyguards patrolled everywhere with their dogs.

When they arrived before the villa, Ikanser and the others met its owner. He looked somewhat gaunt, as though he had not been sleeping well.

The moment Ikanser stepped down from the carriage, Blair came forward to shake his hand. But the chief captain suddenly shouted, "Fire!"

The door of the second carriage abruptly opened, revealing a cannon barrel as thick as a thigh, covered in dense, bizarre patterns.

The carriage had clearly been modified. This strange little cannon was fixed inside it, and the carriage compartment opened in four directions, giving it nearly a 180-degree firing angle.

Two Machinery Hivemind members operated the little cannon, having long since prepared it to fire.

At Ikanser's command, the barrel rapidly lit up, causing the bizarre patterns to change color.

A golden fireball flew from the barrel and struck a window.

Boom!

After the violent explosion, shrieks and wails rose from inside the room.

A Beyonder battle erupted in an instant!

While the Beyonder cannon bombarded the villa, Ikanser drew an antique-looking flintlock pistol.

Bang!

He fired at Blair before him, shooting a blazing white bullet.

Blair's face suddenly twisted ferociously. More than a dozen slender arrows like ice crystals appeared before him, yet the bullet passed through them. Just as it was about to strike Blair, he suddenly seemed to lose consciousness and collapsed to the ground.

Ikanser suddenly waved his hand, and the bullet abruptly changed direction, flying toward a piece of glass nearby.

The Wraith that had just left Blair's body was hiding there.

The Wraith used Mirror Jump again, dodging the high-level purification bullet that countered him.

Ikanser put away his gun and donned a pair of gloves. Staring fixedly at the Wraith, he threw a punch. Though he was far from his enemy, the blow landed squarely on the Wraith's chin, knocking him out of the mirror and into the real world!

Blood trickled from the Wraith's mouth from that punch. While continuing to evade the bullets, he let out a Shriek at Ikanser. However, an illusory radiance resembling starlight seemed to surround the chief captain, blocking the enemy's Beyonder attack.

Elsewhere, after the explosion, the servants, gardeners, and bodyguards in both the courtyard and villa—even the vicious dogs—bared their teeth and rushed toward the Machinery Hivemind carriages.

They were all Zombies, long devoid of life.

Max, captain of the Machinery Hivemind squad, leaped from the carriage. He held a long, heavy, peculiar firearm in both hands, with a dark golden ammunition belt fed into it.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

As Max pulled the trigger and infused it with spirituality, the Beyonder Weapon was instantly activated. A burst of purification bullets swept out, and all the Zombies fell to the ground.

He glanced toward Ikanser. Under the deacon's own abilities and the attacks of several Sealed Artifacts, the Wraith had already been injured. Killing him was only a matter of time.

The other members could offer little help in a Sequence 5 battle, so under Max's lead, his squad carried the Beyonder cannon from the carriage and charged the villa from the front, while another squad circled around to the back door.

The moment they entered the villa, they saw several injured enemies fleeing. The Beyonder cannon and Beyonder machine gun fired again, and a single volley brought them all down.

By then, the other squad that had circled to the backyard had also engaged the enemy.

Max did not go to support the backyard. Instead, he led his team in searching the first floor.

They first reached the room struck by the initial purification shell. There were two Werewolves and one Zombie inside.

One Werewolf was dead, while the other was severely injured. Both lay on the ground.

Even a Zombie could not withstand that kind of purification shell. This one had been severely injured, and the purification effect had greatly weakened him. He was stuffing intestines into his stomach while looking for a chance to escape when he ran straight into Max and the others, who had come to finish him off.

Without wasting words, Max pulled the trigger again.

A trace of fear appeared in the Zombie's eyes. He dodged aside as quickly as possible, while under his command, the dead Werewolf suddenly rose to its feet and stood in front of him, blocking the fatal gunfire.

As the Werewolf, not yet fully turned into a Zombie, was blasted into two pieces, the Zombie—now hit by two more bullets—smashed through the wall and fled toward the back door.

Max immediately led his team in pursuit. But when they reached the hall, every Machinery Hivemind member instantly sensed danger approaching through their spirituality.

Before they could respond, the enormous luxurious carpet in the hall suddenly rose upright, blocking Max and the others' view.

Then every member felt their collars tighten, as if the clothes they wore were about to strangle them. At the same time, they discovered that their sleeves had tightened as well, and even when they tried to reach up and pull open their collars, they could not succeed.

Fear of the unknown immediately swept through everyone's hearts. Even these well-trained members showed faint signs of panic.

Max remained calm. He knew that whoever was controlling everything was nearby, so he used the fingers he could still move to pull the trigger. But he found it immovable, as though it had been welded shut!

He immediately understood that a powerful enemy had arrived—one capable of controlling inanimate objects.