51: Chapter 51 Iron Cross Street Attack and Defense

A full moon hung in the night sky over Iron Cross Street, spilling its clear radiance and casting the crisscrossing bluestone roads in a stark, pale light; a chill permeated the entire street.

Deep within the dark, damp corridor of the drainage pipe, mycelium from mold had already woven three complete concentric circular patterns.

Layers upon layers of mycelium writhed and spread; on the innermost stone wall, a blurry face composed of fine mycelium stared silently at the end of the pipe, soundless and still, exuding a hair-raising dead silence.

At the entrance of the Pumping Station, Daly knelt on the ground, her slender palm hovering over the sensing circuit of the spirituality monitor.

Wisps of pale blue spirit medium tentacles followed the intricate spiritual patterns, quietly seeping deep underground to precisely touch the core node where the mold gathered.

She quickly withdrew her palm, her brow furrowed, and in a very low, urgent, yet steady voice, she said:

"The mycelium concentric circles have completely closed. The positioning array has locked onto all marked spiritual characteristics; the spiritual body aura of the four of us—Leonard, Lu Li, Ince, and myself—has all been captured by the center of the circle. Megose's blood sacrifice pulse has never ceased, and the source of the spirituality is fixed at the mouth of the Hoi River downstream. It is too far away for my spirit medium tentacles to reach and trace back."

Dunn stood behind her, his palm tightly gripping an antique bronze compass. The compass needle trembled incessantly before finally steadying, pointing firmly toward the downstream direction of the Hoi River, the spiritual fluctuations unusually agitated.

"Can we interfere with the positioning circle's identification mechanism?"

"We can try." Daly responded immediately, quickly explaining the principle, "This positioning circle relies on spiritual frequency matching to lock onto targets. I can use my spirit medium tentacles to cover the surface of everyone's spiritual body with a layer of chaotic spiritual noise, masking the original characteristic frequency so the center of the circle cannot accurately identify it."

She changed the subject, stating the key limitation: "But the interference must be maintained throughout, and there is distance attenuation. Everyone must maintain a straight-line distance of more than five hundred meters from the center of the circle. The closer you are, the weaker the noise masking effect, and it will be very easy to be locked onto again."

"How long will the interference last?"

"Masking two to three people individually can be maintained for half an hour. Covering all four simultaneously will spread out my spiritual output, with a limit of twenty minutes at most."

Dunn immediately finalized the plan, his tone resolute: "Prioritize masking you and Leonard. Leonard will enter the branch pipe immediately for close-range reconnaissance, as he has the highest risk of exposure. We will add the masking for Lu Li and Klein afterward."

He turned his head to look at Leonard beside him and issued precise instructions: "After entering the branch pipe, strictly avoid getting close to the center of the circle; always maintain a safe distance of more than twenty meters. Use the short staff to seal the runes, and carve three blocking runes on the outer circle of the concentric circles, with the three runes evenly spaced at three-meter intervals. There is no need to deliberately destroy the mycelium array; just disrupting the spiritual flow trajectory of the positioning circle will suffice."

"Received."

Leonard backhanded the short staff from his lower back; the staff body was antique and heavy, and the sealing runes engraved on its surface rippled with fine silver radiance under the cold moonlight.

Daly raised her hand and placed it on his back; wisps of pale blue, translucent spirit medium tentacles seeped into the surface of his spiritual body, instantly shrouding him in a thin barrier of spiritual noise.

The moment the barrier formed, Leonard's originally clear spiritual characteristics became completely blurred, turning into a patch of flickering, chaotic static white mist in the spiritual vision, completely concealing his aura.

Prepared, Leonard lowered his body and ducked into the narrow, pitch-black drainage pipe.

Damp mud submerged the soles of his boots, making a sticky, dull squelching sound when stepped on, which was exceptionally clear in the dead-silent pipe. The mycelium on both sides of the stone wall had grown nearly twice as dense compared to the evening; the originally tender white tips had all transformed into a dull, dark green, floating with a faint, eerie cold light in the boundless Darkness.

The mycelium on the outermost circle of the concentric circles was like countless slender living things, slowly crawling and writhing along the gaps in the stone bricks, expanding silently.

Leonard restrained all his aura and pressed the tip of the short staff against the stone bricks of the outer concentric circle, steadily making the first stroke.

The faint friction sound of the staff tip sliding across the stone was instantly extinguished in the wind, and smooth, condensed dark silver rune lines lit up one after another, outlining neat sealing patterns in the Darkness.

Almost the instant the rune lit up, the blurry face composed of mycelium at the center of the circle suddenly turned toward his direction.

On this eerie face without eyes or brows, there was only a mouth formed by concentrated mycelium, slowly opening and closing, repeatedly opening and closing, silently spitting out unknown, bizarre syllables, exuding an extreme, sinister, and grotesque atmosphere.

Leonard did not look aside, his mind stable, completely undisturbed by the surrounding phenomena. He quickly completed the first rune, precisely retreated three meters, and immediately set about carving the second one.

His strokes seemed casual and relaxed, but in reality, the curvature of every arc, the force of every turn, and the position of every landing point were precisely stuck on the weak nodes of the stone brick gaps, rigorous in method and without the slightest error.

Pallez Zoroast, hidden deep within his spiritual body, quietly let out a very faint cold snort, seemingly acknowledging the foundation of his rune magic skills, as he had finally not wasted his daily practice.

Just at this moment, Daly at the entrance of the Pumping Station suddenly frowned, her expression becoming suddenly grave.

Her spirit medium tentacles extended outside keenly captured a brand-new spiritual fluctuation, sweeping over rapidly from the direction of the Hoi River.

This aura did not belong to Megose; the pressure was vast, the level extremely high, far exceeding all known Beyonders within Tingen City, carrying an overwhelming, superior-level aura.

"A powerful individual is approaching!" Daly warned in a low voice, her speaking speed suddenly increasing, "Unknown spiritual characteristics, no records on file, Sequence at least five or higher! The movement speed is extremely fast, and the target is clear—heading straight for Iron Cross Street!"

Dunn instantly drew the revolver from his waist, the muzzle pointing down toward the ground, his thumb decisively pressing down the hammer, his entire aura suddenly tensing up. His gaze quickly swept over everyone present, his tone steady and resonant, every word clear and forceful:

"Old Neil will remain at the Chanis Gate, defending the seal node to the death. Daly will continue to maintain the interference barrier, locking onto the movements of the high-level target throughout. Klein, Lu Li, follow me into the branch pipe for support!"

"Leonard is exploring inside alone; if the opponent is coming for the mycelium concentric circles, he will bear the brunt of it." He turned his head to look at Klein and quickly asked, "How are your personal item reserves?"

Klein responded calmly, reporting his equipment clearly, his tone steady and without waves: "Four spare paper figurines, plus two others pre-placed at the branch pipe entrance and the Pumping Station power distribution room door, responsible for early warning and vigilance. I am carrying four copper bottles of holy water, three bags of purification powder, and two spirit body interference charms."

While speaking, his fingertips had already pinched two paper figurines, and his posture shifted quietly, standing steadily at an excellent position behind the side of the monitor.

This location was backed by the brick wall of the Pumping Station, with no worries about the rear, and an open field of view, allowing him to overlook the branch pipe entrance, the Pumping Station front door, and the path along the Hoi River simultaneously, perfectly covering all incoming directions.

Lu Li simultaneously prepared for battle, put on anti-pollution protective gloves, and quickly verified the equipment at his waist: four copper bottles of holy water, and the sealing rune gloves specially made by Old Neil were worn properly; the fragment of the worm of time in his palm lay quietly dormant, continuously emitting a gentle, faint warmth.

He nodded slightly to Dunn, lowered his body, and was the first to duck into the pitch-black, damp drainage branch pipe.

The humidity inside the pipe was thick and bone-chilling; the smell of moldy decay mixed with a bizarre, sweet, fishy stench rushed toward them, so thick it was suffocating. The snow-white beam of the flashlight tore through the heavy Darkness, precisely illuminating the dark green mycelium constantly writhing and spreading crazily on the stone wall.

Inside the outer circle of the concentric circles, Leonard was squatting down to complete the final procedure. The short staff rose and fell, and the final dark silver blocking rune instantly formed and lit up with a faint light.

He straightened up, retreated half a step, raised his hand to lightly tap the center of the line connecting the three runes with the tip of the staff, and reported in a low voice: "All three blocking runes are formed, the positions are evenly symmetrical, and the spiritual flow network of the positioning circle has been completely disrupted. That mycelium monster face at the center of the circle was locking onto me just now, but now it has turned away, losing its locked target."

Before the voice had faded, a low, distant, and heavy bell toll suddenly exploded from deep underground.

This bell toll was not the ringing of the bell tower of the Saint Selena Cathedral, but originated from the core seal node on the periphery of the underground Chanis Gate!

The deep, resonant bell toll echoed repeatedly and layered in the intricate drainage pipes; every tremor caused the dense mycelium on the stone wall to shake violently and sway crazily, and the entire array trembled slightly along with it.

In the Chanis Gate seal maintenance room, Old Neil stood in the center of the array, and the crystal stone at the top of the staff in his hand lit up with a rich, pale blue warning light.

The needle of the bronze monitor in front of him swung crazily and trembled violently; the spiritual fluctuation value of the seventh sensing node on the outer ring had already soared to more than twice the normal value, completely breaking through the safety threshold.

"Megose is using the power of the full moon tide, with the river water as the carrier and the tide as the wave, to continuously transport the massive amount of blood sacrifice energy from the river mouth to Iron Cross Street." Old Neil analyzed the situation in a low voice, while simultaneously slamming his staff heavily onto the ground.

As the dull impact sound landed, a circle of pale blue spiritual ripples spread out from the bottom of the staff, seeping along the stone brick gaps into the spiritual path of the Chanis Gate seal.

Wherever it passed, the silent sealing patterns all lit up with faint light, and layers of defensive spirituality suddenly erupted, colliding head-on with the violent blood sacrifice energy coming along the waterway.

Two completely different, vast spiritualities clashed fiercely and crushed each other in the sealing circuit; the monitor's needle instantly sprang to the edge of the red danger zone, and the situation was precarious.

At the Pumping Station entrance, Daly closed her eyes, all her spirit medium tentacles locking onto that high-level spiritual aura approaching at high speed.

In the transparent spiritual vision, that dark red spiritual fireball was racing along the path beside the Hoi River; the movement speed defied common sense, violent and domineering, heading straight toward the Pumping Station.

"The enemy target is a single person, confirmed to be an Aurora Order Oracle!" Daly judged accurately, her tone grave, "The spiritual residue is rich, carrying a large amount of blood sacrifice power; it is definitely not Megose herself, but her direct high-level subordinate! Only twenty seconds remain until contact!"

Dunn stood steadily in the center of the Pumping Station front door, the revolver muzzle always pointing down, his posture tall and straight like a pine, guarding the only retreat passage of the entire battlefield, firmly locking down the retreat route of the whole team.

"Daly, interfere with the opponent's spiritual perception. Isolate the aura inside the branch pipe; you must not let him lock onto the positions of Leonard, Klein, and Lu Li. Can you do it?"

"I can restrain him briefly." Daly responded quickly, precisely weighing the pros and cons, "The opponent's Sequence is far higher than mine; a direct mental impact would lead to backlash, which is absolutely not feasible. I can interfere with his spiritual vision the moment he arrives at the Pumping Station, creating a few seconds of image delay to briefly confuse his judgment."

As she finished speaking, her hands hovered in the air, her ten fingers stretched out, and countless slender, pale blue spirit medium tentacles extended rapidly, weaving into a dense, invisible spiritual interference network on the open ground in front of the Pumping Station, waiting quietly for the prey to enter the trap.

On the path along the river, a figure draped in a dark red robe rushed over at high speed. A wide hood covered most of the face, revealing only a withered, pale jaw and cracked, white lips. The right hand tightly gripped a ritual dagger, the blade engraved with the signature bizarre blood sacrifice runes of the Aurora Order, faintly exuding a bloodthirsty, dark aura.

When only ten meters remained from the Pumping Station front door, the Oracle suddenly paused.

Daly's spiritual interference took effect precisely; the real scene in front of him instantly twisted and blurred, the clear Pumping Station entrance turned into a hazy, flickering halo, and his vision was completely distorted.

In an instant, Dunn decisively raised his gun, aimed steadily, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The crisp gunshot tore through the night; the bullet precisely exploded against the stone slab half a meter in front of the opponent's feet, gravel splattered, all hitting the hem of the Oracle's robe and pant legs.

The Oracle suddenly looked up, wanting to react, but the next instant, a second layer of spiritual interference shrouded him again.

His spiritual vision suffered a fatal misalignment—in his eyes, the trigger had not yet been pulled, but the deafening gunshot had already exploded, and the impact of the bullet was close at hand.

The short few seconds of visual and perceptual deviation completely disrupted his dodging rhythm. Too late to judge the bullet's landing point or make evasive maneuvers, he could only instinctively step back, hurriedly pulling away to a safe distance, his aura instantly restrained.

Dunn did not pursue, always holding the front door defensive line, steadily raising his hand to reset the hammer, the revolver muzzle once again steadily locking onto the Oracle's chest vital point, his offensive and defensive posture as steady as a rock.

Facing the pitch-black, deep drainage branch pipe, he issued an order in a low voice, his voice penetrating the pipe and clearly reaching the ears of the three:

"Leonard, Lu Li, Klein, you only have five minutes of operation time left! Five minutes later, Old Neil and I will simultaneously activate the seal reverse resonance, forcibly cutting off all spiritual links. Regardless of whether the mycelium concentric circles have disintegrated, the blockade will take effect on time; evacuate and prepare for battle immediately!"