92: Chapter 30 Ambush

Backlund, East Borough, the abandoned textile Old Industrial District.

Thick night soaked into the dilapidated factory buildings. Corroded steel frames and mottled brick walls dissolved into the ink-black Darkness, and even the evening breeze carried the stench of textile cotton and damp rust, heavy and deathly silent.

Behind the broken window ledge on the second floor of the boiler room, Lu Li crouched, his figure completely hidden in the shadows of the window frame.

At the edge of the monocular telescope's lens, the last pale cyan space perception rune slowly lit up, emitting a faint, shimmering spiritual light. Relying on the sensory enhancement of the Apprentice Pathway, every hidden spiritual fluctuation within the main factory building opposite was clearly reflected in his eyes.

A circular sacrificial array was neatly spread out. Six low-Sequence Beyonders of the Aurora Order worked in coordination, leaning over to calibrate the runes carved into the ground. Dark purple spirituality flowed from their fingertips as they constantly corrected deviations in the ritual's patterns.

A half-person-tall Crow-Masked Messenger crouched on the north side of the array's eye, its withered fingers twisting grayish-brown wraith tide dust, connecting metal conduits to adjust the spiritual circuit supplying the altar. Malcolm, the Notary, stood directly above the array's eye, his black robe hanging down to cover his shoes. His left hand tightly gripped a ritual dagger engraved with order patterns, while his right hand remained pressed against the cover of the thick leather codex at his waist, his aura heavy and solemn.

In the center of the stone altar, the bound young sacrifice had long since stopped struggling. The ropes around his neck and wrists had left deep red bloodstains. His chest rose and fell so weakly it was barely perceptible; his life spirituality was being slowly devoured by the ritual array, and his breath was on the verge of fading away.

Lu Li steadily rotated the lens barrel, shifting his gaze to the east side of the factory area.

At the stone entrance of the underground drainage maintenance tunnel, Sherlock Moriarty crouched in hiding, his pitch-black trench coat blending into the night.

The extreme physical control granted by the Clown Pathway allowed him to control every single finger with precision. His fingertips held a pure white Holy Water sealing rune, which he steadily embedded into the pre-carved slot in the stone brick. It fit perfectly, leaving no trace.

The last rune was placed, and its pale golden holy light instantly receded, completely hidden.

Sherlock retreated to the shadowed corner of the tunnel. His right cuff moved slightly, and a palm-sized thin paper figurine floated silently into his palm.

Gray mist swirled on the back of the paper figurine, revealing a message in distorted, minimalist Cthulhu text: "The runes are in place. Malcolm, Notary Sequence 6, Order Domain effective radius of five meters. Within this range, low-level Beyonder abilities are weakened by 30%, and the rule suppression is unsolvable. Engage in close-quarters combat, disrupt the domain's range, and restrict his ability to stand and cast spells."

With a twist of spiritual energy from his fingertips, the paper figurine spontaneously ignited into fine gray ash, and the message reached Lu Li's consciousness through the gray mist's spirituality.

Receiving the signal, Lu Li put away the telescope and tucked it into his waist pouch. He lightly tapped his fingertips against the iron ladder railing, using the gaps in the rusted steps for leverage, and landed silently and smoothly like a weightless civet cat.

At the start of his infiltration, he had already activated the core Swindler ability [ Mislead ]: a layer of thin, cicada-wing-like, nearly transparent fake spirituality covered his body, perfectly simulating the non-spiritual traits of the factory's weeds and scrap iron, causing the low-level guards on the perimeter of the Aurora Order to automatically bypass him with their spiritual perception and ignore his existence entirely.

In just three minutes, Lu Li circled the perimeter of the circular sacrificial array. Relying on the Prometheus Pathway's ability to control spiritual flames, he compressed pure spiritual flames into silver-white specks the size of rice grains and precisely embedded them into the gaps of the array's runes and the weak points of the spiritual flow.

These flame traps eschewed high-temperature burning; their sole purpose was to explode into extreme, intense light when triggered, briefly depriving the enemy of vision and interrupting the ritual's spiritual flow, specifically designed to counter ritual spellcasters.

With the setup complete, Lu Li retreated to the shadow of a pillar in the eastern factory building. He gripped the copper bottle of holy water engraved with church patterns in his left hand and pressed his right hand against his inner pocket, his fingertips rubbing against the cold, fine fragment of the worm of time, preparing a contingency plan.

Immediately after, he deliberately released a thread of exposed, undisguised Sequence 7: Marauder spiritual pulse, precisely directing it toward the array's eye.

Above the array's eye, Malcolm's movement of waving the ritual dagger suddenly froze.

He slowly raised his eyes, his gray pupils piercing through the heavy Darkness, precisely locking onto Lu Li behind the pillar, the corners of his lips curling into a cold, indifferent arc.

The thick codex at his waist moved without wind, its pages flipping rapidly with a rustling sound, finally settling on a page recording the rules of order.

With his body as the center, an invisible, heavy, and legally binding wave suddenly expanded.

The Notary Pathway Sequence 6 exclusive ability — [ Order Domain ] — was fully deployed, its range covering the entire main factory building directly.

All spiritual flow, Beyonder abilities, and physical movements within the area were shackled, constrained, and weakened by the rules of order.

Sherlock, at the corner of the tunnel, felt the suppression immediately.

It was as if a cold, heavy, invisible hand was pressing against his chest; his spiritual operation became sluggish and heavy, and even breathing required double the effort.

Fortunately, his positioning was just outside the five-meter effective weakening radius, so he only endured the basic domain suppression. The extreme balance and physical coordination innate to the Clown Pathway allowed him to maintain stable movement without being dragged down by the rules.

Sherlock flicked his fingertips, and a second paper figurine rose into the air, transmitting information about the domain's boundaries and ability suppression to Lu Li.

Malcolm stepped forward, the hem of his black robe sweeping over the runes on the ground.

Inside the area, all the spiritual flame traps Lu Li had pre-planted were instantly eroded and suppressed by the rules of order. The silver-white specks trembled violently, their spirituality extremely unstable, and they were on the verge of dissipating on their own at any moment.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Li gathered his strength, raised his hand, and threw the copper bottle of holy water with all his might toward the core of the array. The brass bottle cut through the night wind, smashed heavily against the edge of the stone altar, and shattered. The clear holy water splashed out, drenching the dark red sacrificial rune at the core of the array.

Water and fire spiritualities clashed, and the dark red sacrificial fire fueling the ritual suddenly trembled violently and dimmed. The two low-Sequence Beyonders who were calibrating the runes nearby were instinctively repelled by the holy spirituality and subconsciously took half a step back, revealing a fleeting opening.

That was the half-step gap!

Lu Li suddenly splayed the fingers of his right hand, and with a thought, all the pre-planted Prometheus flame traps detonated simultaneously!

Several clusters of blinding silver-white light exploded along the lines of the array, instantly illuminating the entire factory building.

The two low-level guards were caught completely off guard; their pupils were scorched by the intense light, and they subconsciously closed their eyes and raised their hands to shield themselves. The Crow-Masked Messenger nearby reacted extremely quickly, immediately holding its dagger horizontally to protect its face, but the moment the intense light blinded their vision, Lu Li's true body had already vanished from its original spot.

The moment the explosion started, Lu Li once again activated the Swindler [ Mislead ], stripping away a wisp of his own spirituality to shape it into a Sequence 7 phantom with identical appearance and spiritual pressure, leaving it in place to bear the domain's suppression and attract attention. Using the blind spot created by the intense light, his true body stepped lightly, relying on the Apprentice's space perception to predict his path, and silently circled to the flank of the array's eye, landing beside the Crow-Masked Messenger.

Malcolm reacted extremely quickly, slashing his order dagger horizontally and precisely shattering the spiritual phantom. The moment the blade missed and the spirituality dissipated, Lu Li was already close to the messenger's side.

The Deceiver tongue bone powder potion he had pre-ingested activated, amplifying the stability and precision of his fingertip spiritual control. Lu Li's fingertips were extremely agile, precisely touching the spiritual knot of the rune pouch at the messenger's waist.

Without needing to break the physical knot, the Apprentice Pathway [ Lock Picking ] ability took effect directly. His spiritual tentacles precisely severed the most fragile spiritual circuit of the knot, the pouch split open, and several spare ritual rune fragments scattered to the ground.

The messenger's pupils contracted sharply, and it hurriedly lowered its head to pick up the fragments.

Lu Li kneed out with his right leg, accurately striking the messenger's wrist holding the dagger, scattering the fragments. At the same time, he pushed with his right hand, shoving the messenger straight into the radiation zone of the intense light remaining from the flame traps.

The silver-white light erupted at close range. The messenger let out a shrill, muffled groan, its eyes stinging and blinded, and it stumbled backward out of control, completely losing its combat capability.

Malcolm had not been distracted by looking after his subordinates from beginning to end.

His expression was cold and dark, the speed of his codex flipping accelerated sharply, and the widely spread Order Domain suddenly contracted, abandoning full-area suppression and switching to single-point directional locking!

Target locked — Lu Li.

The heavy power of legal principles instantly pinned Lu Li's feet to the ground, his spiritual circuits were tightly bound by invisible shackles, and his abilities from the Marauder, Apprentice, and Prometheus Pathways were simultaneously suppressed to 70% of their normal state, their operation becoming sluggish and stuttering.

The next instant, Malcolm held the order dagger and thrust it straight at Lu Li's heart.

The blade carried the rules of order that solidified the air; the surrounding airflow became thick and stagnant, sealing off all angles of evasion. This strike was unavoidable and unblockable.

A moment of life and death!

A paper figurine wreathed in gray mist shot out from the direction of the tunnel, precisely adhering to the blade of the dagger.

The moment the paper figurine touched the order blade, it suddenly ignited with an inextinguishable gray-black spiritual flame. The supreme spirituality originating from Sefirah Castle directly countered the legal principles of order attached to the blade.

The two high-level forces collided violently, and a humming sound rang out. Malcolm's seemingly certain thrust was forced three inches off course.

Sherlock seized the opportunity to rush out from the corner of the tunnel.

With the last spare paper figurine between his left fingertips and a pitch-black short staff gripped tightly in his right hand, his Clown movement techniques erupted to their limit. Even under the domain's suppression, his steps shifted in a bizarre and unpredictable manner, his figure like a slippery fish, instantly breaking into the five-meter core domain near Malcolm.

The tip of the short staff condensed a weak amount of spiritual energy, precisely tapping the wrist joint of Malcolm's right hand, which was holding the codex.

His wrist bone went numb and sore, his spirituality stalled, and Malcolm's movements of flipping the codex and reinforcing the domain suddenly slowed.

Lu Li seized the fleeting opportunity and activated his extreme space perception. With his naked eye, he captured the rule node within the stone bricks beneath his feet where the Order Domain had formed — that was the point where the domain's energy was most concentrated and also the most fragile.

He exerted force with the tip of his toe, precisely crushing this imperceptible spiritual node!

Hum —

The order shackles shrouding him cracked, creating a thin, long fissure, and the suppressive force loosened instantly.

The opportunity was fleeting, and Lu Li immediately activated the high-level Swindler ability [ Deceive ]. His spiritual tentacles quickly wove a disguise for his surface spiritual pressure, deliberately raising his external spiritual level to briefly fake the traits of a Sequence 6 high-level Beyonder from his Sequence 7: Marauder spiritual pressure.

This was only a surface spiritual pressure disguise, without any support of substantive power; if directly touched by the spirituality of a high-level entity, it would be seen through immediately.

But he bet that Malcolm would not dare to gamble.

The Notary Pathway's order suppression and legal judgment all relied on accurate spiritual level determination to take effect. When the target's spiritual pressure suddenly jumped from Sequence 7 to Sequence 6, the domain's underlying judgment logic was instantly thrown into chaos, and the directional suppression failed directly.

The shackles dissipated, and the constraints were gone.

Lu Li lowered his center of gravity, rammed his shoulder violently into Malcolm's chest, used the force to close the distance, and with his right fist coiled and raised, delivered a crisp and clean uppercut that smashed heavily into Malcolm's jaw.

This punch carried no Beyonder ability enhancement; it was purely a close-quarters combat move honed from roughhousing in his college dormitory in his past life.

The Notary, who held the laws of order and was feared by others for years, had never been severely injured at close range by a mortal's fist. Malcolm felt intense pain in his jaw, his brain briefly oscillated and lost balance, and his body uncontrollably tilted his head back and stumbled back two steps.

Sherlock seamlessly followed up with an advance, his Clown movement techniques entangling the opponent. His short staff was as fast as an afterimage, consecutively tapping Malcolm's right wrist, left shoulder, and knee joint, with each strike precisely hitting a weak point in the nerves.

After a few muffled sounds, Malcolm could not hold onto the codex at his waist, and the thick book fell to the ground. Losing the codex's enhancement, the [ Order Domain ] completely collapsed and dissipated, and the stagnant air in the factory building flowed again.

Lu Li stepped forward, his foot firmly pressing down on the cover of the codex, sealing the possibility of the pages flipping. He tilted the copper bottle of holy water in his left hand, and the clear holy water splashed onto the ground, spreading over the spot where Malcolm was standing.

The holy spirituality corroded the residual legal principles of order, the spiritual ground became slippery, Malcolm lost his balance, and he fell backward directly onto the edge of the array's stone altar.

Sherlock put his short staff back to his waist and activated the last paper figurine with his fingertips. The paper figurine stretched in mid-air, turning into a thick, chain-like gray mist that coiled around and bound Malcolm's arms, firmly locking his spellcasting hands.

The three remaining lightly injured, low-level Aurora Order members in the factory area, seeing their commander captured, the ritual completely invalidated, and their core messenger blinded and incapacitated, had no more will to fight. Supporting each other, they fled in a panic from the back door of the factory area, quickly dissolving into the night wilderness.

The battlefield returned to calm, with only a faint, dark red smell of smoke and fire remaining on the altar.

Lu Li pressed one knee against the codex cover, flipped the pages shut with the tip of his toe, and looked up at the black-robed man who had fallen and was now restrained. His tone was calm and firm: "Malcolm, the Aurora Order's front-line commander in Backlund."

"Your sacrificial ritual has been interrupted, the array's sacrificial fire is extinguished, the spare runes are all destroyed, and the codex that enhances your order abilities is in my hands. The sacrifices abducted from the Dock District are now under our control."

He leaned over to pull Malcolm up and hoisted him up. Sherlock went ahead, clearing the scattered broken bricks from the entrance of the maintenance tunnel to clear a path.

The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, controlled the captured Notary and walked steadily through the damp, dark drainage tunnel toward the Mandated Punishers outpost in the East Borough.