Chapter 237: The Trap
The air inside the shipyard was stagnant and heavy, mixed with the smell of rust and wood, feeling more oppressive than outside. Edgar stepped in first, his footsteps as light as a cat’s, his gaze sharp as a falcon’s, and he quickly swept over the empty factory area. Huge docks, towering scaffolding, and mountains of wood and ropes formed a complex steel jungle full of blind spots.
Annes and Lina followed closely, spreading out in a triangular formation, covering each other as they advanced.
“Something’s wrong,” Annes said in a low voice. His intuition, honed by years of dealing with criminals and heretics, was sounding a shrill alarm. “It’s too quiet here, not even the sound of rats scurrying.”
Lina didn’t speak, but placed her hand on the spellcasting medium at her waist and quietly grasped a silver plate engraved with a defensive rune in her other hand.
Philip, the last to enter the gate, was about to turn and leave the door ajar, leaving a retreat route for the team, when the situation suddenly changed.
“Clang—”
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind them with a deafening bang that echoed through the empty shipyard, as if declaring their complete disconnection from the outside world.
“A trap,” Edgar’s voice was cold and calm, without any sign of panic. He didn’t even turn to look at the closed door, because he knew it would be meaningless.
Before he finished speaking, from all directions, the previously silent shadows seemed to come alive. From behind the tall ship skeletons, from atop piles of cargo boxes, from the depths of dark workshops, countless figures in gray and white robes emerged like a tide. They held various weapons in their hands—rusty daggers, crude axes, even just sharpened wooden sticks—their movements stiff yet swift, silently surrounding the four members of the Disciplinary Bureau.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of believers had blocked all possible escape routes. Their faces showed no fear, no hesitation, only a chilling, almost numb fanaticism. The contorted expressions on their faces converged, creating a suffocating sense of pressure.
“Damn it…” Annes cursed in a low voice. He drew his standard dagger, its blade flashing a cold glint in the dim light filtering through the factory ceiling. “It seems we’ve stumbled into a rat’s nest with a large population.”
Philip’s face turned ashen instantly. He gripped his staff tightly, his palms slick with cold sweat. The scene before him far exceeded any scenario he could have imagined in training.
“Back to back, defensive formation!” Edgar’s command was concise and powerful, instantly pulling Philip back from his shock.
The four quickly closed ranks, forming a small circle. Edgar and Annes, the two most experienced combatants, guarded the most vulnerable front and flanks, while Lina provided support from the center, and Philip was protected in the relatively safe rear, responsible for vigilance behind them.
Within the encirclement, the crowd slowly parted to the sides, and a tall figure emerged from the center. It was “Nueyan,” the High Mountain Race member who had been severely injured by Li Wen not long ago. The wound on his neck had healed, leaving only a gruesome scar, but his aura was even more potent and violent than before. His pure white eyes churned with bloodthirsty fighting spirit.
“Lapdogs of the Kingdom, welcome to your graves,” Nueyan’s voice was as low as rolling stones. Beside him, another seductive and beautiful red-haired woman chuckled, covering her mouth. Her gaze held a hint of mockery and flippancy as she scanned the members of the disciplinary team one by one.
“Our esteemed ‘Cult Leader’ had already ‘foreseen’ your arrival,” the red-haired woman said with a light laugh. Her voice was sweet but carried a bloody undertone. “He said tonight will be a feast to witness the glory of Your Lord, and you are the first sacrifices offered to the Blessed One.”
Edgar’s gaze passed over them, heading deeper into the darkness. He knew the real threat had yet to appear.
“The Disciplinary Bureau received reports of your cult’s illegal activities and came to investigate,” his voice was unwavering, like bedrock. “You can choose to surrender or resist to the end.”
“Resist?” The red-haired woman looked around, and a smile inevitably began to form on her lips. “I think it’s you who should resist! Go, countrymen, for eternal life! For the Blessed One!”
Her sharp voice became the horn of attack, and the surrounding hundreds of believers let out a roar of fanaticism. Like driven beasts, they charged towards the small circle in the center without fear of death.
The battle instantly erupted.
Annes bore the brunt of the assault. He roared, and the dagger in his hand moved like lightning, instantly cutting down the three believers at the forefront. Blood splattered, but the expected screams did not ring out.
The believers he struck did not utter any cries of pain. The moment their bodies were split by the blade, they transformed into wisps of dissipating light particles and vanished in the air.
“These damned players again!” Annes’s eyes grew cold, recognizing this unique death effect.
What shocked him and Philip even more was that a few seconds later, those “dead” figures reappeared on the outer edge of the encirclement. They picked up their weapons from the ground, their faces still wearing that fanatical expression, as if the death just experienced was nothing more than an insignificant illusion, and then they rejoined the charge.
“Don’t be fooled by their ‘immortal’ illusion!” Edgar warned in a deep voice. The pistol in his hand let out a muffled shot, accurately hitting the knee of a believer attempting a flanking sneak attack. The believer fell to the ground, and although he didn’t turn into light particles, he was incapacitated for the time being. “Attack their limbs to incapacitate them!”
However, the number of believers was overwhelming. They were like waves crashing relentlessly against the reef formed by the four, charging madly. The clash of swords, the whistling of weapons through the air, and the fanatical shouts of the believers mixed together, forming a chaotic and bloody symphony in the empty shipyard.
Lina formed hand seals, and a faint blue light shield instantly formed around the four, blocking several cold arrows shot from the darkness. She concentrated, rapidly chanting incantations, and various weakening or slowing spells were accurately cast on the fastest-charging believers, easing the pressure on Edgar and Annes considerably.
Philip, after his initial panic, gradually regained his composure. He tightened his grip on his staff and began chanting long and convoluted incantations, the fear in his eyes replaced by determination.
At this moment, Nueyan moved.
He let out a deafening roar, his massive body like an out-of-control siege engine, charging directly towards Annes. He knocked aside everything in his path, and his giant battle axe swung a deadly arc through the air, aiming directly for Annes’s head.
“Good!” Annes advanced instead of retreating, his fighting spirit soaring. He exerted force with his feet, his movements not as violent as Nueyan’s, but more agile. He flicked his dagger upward, accurately parrying the powerful blow.
“Clang!”
The loud noise made people’s eardrums ache. Annes felt a surge of immense power transmitted through the blade, his whole body numb from the shock, and he was forced back two steps uncontrollably. Nueyan, however, remained unfazed, swinging his great axe again with a blank expression.
At the same time, the red-haired woman also moved. Her target was the team’s commander, Edgar. Her body twisted in an unnatural way, her fingernails instantly becoming scarlet and sharp. Like a red phantom, she bypassed the frontal assault and attacked Edgar from an extremely tricky angle.
Edgar reacted extremely quickly. While dodging to the side, his pistol fired again. However, the bullets hit the red-haired woman’s body, only leaving a small bloody hole. The wound writhed and healed at a visible speed, becoming perfectly intact in an instant.
“These little toys are useless against me, how about you try something bigger and more powerful?” the red-haired woman’s teasing and ambiguous voice sounded in Edgar’s ear.
A dark shadow shot out of the shadow under Philip’s feet without warning. A dagger, glowing a eerie green, silently stabbed towards his back.
“Watch out!” Lina cried out in alarm and shoved Philip away forcefully.
The dagger scraped across Philip’s rib, drawing a bloody gash. The shadow, having missed its target, immediately melted back into the shadows and disappeared, leaving only an unsettling low laugh.
In front, an invincible and immensely strong berserker; on the flank, a fast-regenerating and strangely attacking flesh assassin; in the darkness, a stealthy shadow killer lurking; and on the periphery, hundreds of fanatical believers who were fearless of death and could even “resurrect.”
The situation had deteriorated to the extreme within just one minute.
Edgar’s expression grew serious. It seemed that completing the mission without causing any disturbance was no longer possible.
So he no longer hesitated and ordered loudly, “Philip! Do it!”
