Eldritch Horror Theatre

Clothes lay scattered across the floor of the spacious hall.

Their owners were nowhere to be seen.

Only a mass of pale, strip-like creatures writhed on the ground, twisting and caressing one another like a tangled nest of snakes.

In the center of this serpent-like swarm stood a woman who looked like a noblewoman. Dressed in a long burgundy gown, she gracefully raised a teacup to her lips.

Though only half the cup remained, the lady elegantly bit off another piece. She chewed with the polite restraint of keeping her lips closed, producing a series of sharp crunching sounds.

She seemed completely oblivious to the bloody holes punctured through both of her cheeks.

I must have committed countless sins in my life to be forced to witness a scene like this!

Fu Qian let out a silent sigh and turned to look at the other four.

Judging by their expressions, they had taken quite a mental blow as well.

The team leader lived up to his title. He was the first of the four to snap out of it.

Taking one look at the lady's heavily bulging abdomen, he immediately issued the order to attack.

He couldn't be blamed—her current appearance practically had the word "boss" written all over her face.

In a situation like this, nobody would believe she was just an innocent bystander.

The four-man team clearly had excellent coordination. The moment the leader gave the order, the buzz-cut man lunged forward.

The old man followed closely behind, though he still looked somewhat reluctant.

The buzz-cut man now wore a pair of bizarre-looking gauntlets. As he threw a punch, the faint rumble of wind and thunder echoed through the air.

The old man wielded no weapons, but with a casual wave of his hand, a burst of flames erupted.

Under their swift assault, the lady had no chance to dodge. Her figure was instantly swallowed by the attacks.

However, the leader—who appeared to be the strongest among them—didn't charge in. Instead, he stayed rooted to the spot, pulling an object from his jacket and locking onto the lady from a distance.

White Porcelain Girl Su Gao drew her sharp blade and stood guard by his side, making sure the startled nest of snakes didn't reach him.

He's charging up his ultimate move, Fu Qian thought. I suppose that's what you call being decisive and ruthless.

Fu Qian knew exactly what the leader was trying to do.

Having long since jumped out of the way, he finally got a clear look at the leader's ultimate weapon.

In truth, it hardly looked like a weapon at all. It was about the length of a forearm, featuring a fist-sized sphere at the top and a long, slender handle at the bottom.

With its bizarre design and the countless arcs of electricity currently swirling around it, it almost looked like a part snapped straight off a Tesla coil.

This was the very thing that had killed him earlier—the leader's ultimate weapon.

The leader was clearly channeling its power for a devastating strike. In just a few short seconds, the energy gathering around it far surpassed the blast that had killed him. The blazing white lightning was so bright it was almost impossible to look at directly.

Compared to this terrifying display of power, the shot that hit him earlier was barely a spark.

But right at that moment, things went wrong for the buzz-cut man and the old man.

A piercing wail echoed through the room. Even from a distance, Fu Qian felt his brain jolt, as if his nose was about to bleed.

Along with a spray of blood, the buzz-cut man was sent flying backward, slamming heavily into the nearby wall.

Before he could recover, a blood-soaked figure dashed right up to him. A sharp Bone Blade skewered him to the wall, pinning him like a piece of meat on a spit.

Shit!

The originally elegant lady was somehow still elegant.

One of her legs had been entirely stripped of its flesh, yet it didn't hinder her from standing gracefully in place.

Four long, misshapen bone claws had pierced through the clothes on her back. The one pinning the buzz-cut man was just one of them.

The moment this image entered his sight, Fu Qian felt as if his head had been struck by a heavy hammer. His consciousness blurred for a moment.

[SAN Value decreased by 5]

Fuck!

Fu Qian was genuinely alarmed now.

Just taking one look at this thing had instantly drained 5 points of his SAN Value.

That was the equivalent of five lives!

The risk level of this mission was way too high!

After killing him in a single strike, the lady didn't pause. She yanked out the Bone Blade and instantly blurred to the side, slicing the old man—who had just pushed himself off the ground—in half, right along with the floor beneath him.

In that lightning-fast motion, her figure drifted so weightlessly she hardly seemed tethered to the physical world.

A furious roar rang out nearby. The leader had finally finished channeling his attack. A straight pillar constructed of countless arcs of electricity instantly engulfed the lady and the old man's corpse.

Lightning Railgun?

Staring at the endless stream of blinding lightning, Fu Qian finally understood the true destructive power of the leader's weapon.

Yet, even in the face of this apocalyptic strike, countless fine black threads rapidly wove into a Cocoon in front of the lady, blocking the lightning beam for just a fraction of a second.

Relying on that momentary delay, the lady's ghost-like figure slipped out of the blast radius.

With a flicker, she closed the distance and appeared directly in front of the leader.

A wail far more piercing than before erupted once more. The leader shuddered violently, blood leaking from his nose and mouth as his body froze in place.

Under the bombardment of the Lightning Railgun, one of her four Bone Blades had been entirely vaporized.

But the remaining three pierced straight through the leader's body, lifting him into the air.

The leader's ultimate weapon possessed incredible power, but unfortunately, their opponent had maxed out her evasion.

The infant's wails grew even louder.

Looking at the lady who no longer resembled a human, Fu Qian fired off a volley of Air Bullets.

The transformed lady didn't even try to dodge. After a crisp rattle of impacts against bone, the strikes didn't leave a single mark on her.

Just as I thought, Fu Qian mused. My attacks can barely scratch her defenses.

[The evil god progeny has undergone Descent. Containment Failure.]

The system's notification chimed in his ear as his vision rapidly blurred.

The last thing Fu Qian saw was Su Gao leaping high into the air, unleashing a sweeping wave of blade light at the lady.

Phew!

Back in the warehouse, Fu Qian let out a long breath. He could still feel a faint throbbing in his head.

He hadn't expected them to fail even under those circumstances.

Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with the team's tactical execution.

They were clean, efficient, and didn't waste any time. Once the target was locked, part of the team distracted her to buy time for the most powerful heavy hitter.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a perfectly sound strategy.

The only miscalculation was that the pinning attacks from the buzz-cut man and the old man served to strike the grass to startle the snake, agitating the evil god progeny. And on top of that, its mother was simply too powerful.

The woman's speed after transforming was incredibly fast. Combined with that strange shield, the leader's ultimate weapon never managed to land a direct hit.

Their decisiveness actually worked against them!

[Consume 1 point of SAN Value to attempt Containment again?]

Having drawn his conclusions, Fu Qian decisively pressed his hand against the Mist Door that appeared.

"Yes."

He already had a new plan.

...

He returned once more to the eye-opening hall.

"Get ready to move!"

"Hold on!"

This time, just as the leader was about to issue orders, Fu Qian directly stopped him.

"If you want that thing in your jacket to actually be of use, it's best not to startle her."

"Those two need to wait here as well."

Since when do you give the orders?!

The buzz-cut man and the old man instantly flared up in anger.

How did he know?!

His biggest secret suddenly exposed, the leader was inwardly shocked. He quickly raised a hand to hold his subordinates back.

Setting aside how the other party knew, Fu Qian's performance throughout the journey told him that this young man wouldn't make baseless claims.

Seeing the leader cooperate so readily, Fu Qian gave him a satisfied nod.

Carefully avoiding the strip-like creatures and unidentified fluids scattered across the floor, he walked over and sat down directly across from the noble lady.

"Hello there, beautiful."

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