As the words left his mouth, three more thunderous crashes rang out.
Three gigantic, grotesque Infected burst from different structures, one after another, their bloodshot eyes gleaming with feral hunger as they locked onto the Obsidian group.
Finnegan felt his heart slam into his throat.
“Where the hell did all these monsters co from?!”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
The rock armor on Vernon’s body shattered completely, chunks falling away to reveal newly ford skin beneath. His borrowed face lted away, replaced by sothing entirely different.
A delicate, eerily beautiful woman erged.
Her skin was porcelain-pale, flawless and unnatural, like a handcrafted doll. Torn clothing clung to her in shreds, exposing wide swaths of luminous skin. Barefoot, she stepped onto the dirt road without a shred of concern for gri or blood.
Her ghostly beauty radiated a disturbing, seductive aura.
And her eyes—those eyes were fixed solely on Axel, burning with fascination.
Dale was already locked in savage combat with one of the Infected. The remaining three ignored the ghostly woman entirely, their killing intent aid squarely at Obsidian.
She strolled forward unhurriedly.
Millers’ voice trembled. “Why… why aren’t the Infected attacking her?”
Kaia swallowed hard, her fingers shaking.
Since joining Obsidian, they had never faced a situation this hopeless.
“She’s targeting Axel,” Rosaline said quietly. Her expression stayed cold, but the Blood Refining Stones in her hands were disintegrating into dust at an alarming speed.
Vince stared at the approaching woman, then made his decision.
“Millers. Axel. Phoenix. Kaia. You four—move. Now.”
Everyone froze.
“No, Captain! If we’re leaving, we leave together!”
“That’s right! I can still fight!”
Their protests echoed violently through the ntal link.
Vince’s voice hardened. “You disobey now? Move!”
Then a calm voice cut in.
“Phoenix… you still have strength. Take them all away.”
Everyone turned.
A faint look of relief crossed Charles’s aged face.
“This old man won’t let you brats steal the spotlight,” he said quietly.
With every step Charles took forward, his aura swelled violently. Force surged around him in roaring waves—and far more terrifying than that, his ntal power skyrocketed.
A ntal tempest expanded outward.
Even the ghostly woman paused, her leisurely steps faltering for the first ti. She tilted her head, blinking slowly, red lips curling into a smile.
“Old man… there’s no need for this. I only want one of them.”
Her finger lifted.
It pointed directly at Axel.
“Why throw your lives away for nothing?”
Charles didn’t answer.
He took another step forward. The ntal storm burst outward in a twenty-ter radius.
“Phoenix—take them. Now! Don’t hold back. I can still fight!”
Phoenix, who had been bracing himself for a suicidal last stand, froze when the command detonated in his mind. Then his eyes lit up.
“Mr. Charles… you’re serious?”
“When have I ever lied to you?” Charles replied. “But this technique will cripple both and the enemy. They’ll only be in the way. They won’t listen to anyway.”
He looked straight at Phoenix.
“You’re the most obedient one. You take them.”
Phoenix scratched his head, nodding vigorously.
“Okay. I’ll take them.”
Vince and Rosaline stared at him in disbelief.
Had Charles just given that order to Phoenix alone?
Realization struck Rosaline like lightning.
“Phoenix—don’t you dare—!”
“TAKE THEM AWAY!”
Charles roared.
In that instant, the years seed to peel off his body. His stooped posture straightened. Deep wrinkles faded from his face. His presence surged like a reborn war god.
A wisp of terrifying ntal pressure dropped from the sky.
Everyone except Phoenix went completely limp.
Their strength vanished in an instant.
As they collapsed, Phoenix darted forward at frightening speed, snatching them up one by one—like helpless chicks caught under his arm.
“Mr. Charles… I’ll be waiting for your triumphant return.”
Phoenix’s body swelled to more than twice its original size. One massive arm wrapped around Vince, Rosaline, and Kaia; the other pinned Millers and Axel against her side. Without a single backward glance, she charged into the distance like a fleeing titan.
Watching her disappear, a faint, tired smile touched Charles’s lips.
“Good boy…”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The three Infected that had been chasing Phoenix went berserk, slamming their colossal bodies into the ground again and again, as if trying to tear the earth itself apart.
Charles’s ntal power nearly took physical form, spiraling into a violent tornado around him. Grass, sand, shattered debris, and blood were dragged into the vortex and shredded into a crimson storm.
The ghostly woman continued walking toward him.
Seeing Charles had no intention of retreating, a thin thread of killing intent finally surfaced in her eyes.
But every step she took forward grew heavier. Only twenty ters remained between them now. Blood began to trickle from her nostrils with each strained movent.
“You’re burning your own mind to attack …” she said softly, awe and hunger mingling in her voice. “You’re really suicidal.”
Half of Charles’s remaining ntal power was condensed into pure destructive force, relentlessly crushing the brains of the three rampaging Infected. The other half was locked in a brutal stalemate against the woman advancing toward him.
As she moved, her form suddenly shifted—transforming into a middle-aged woman in her forties. A pale violet psychic shield blood in front of her, colliding again and again with Charles’s invisible attacks.
“How many people have you killed?” Charles’s eyes burned with naked fury.
He clasped his hands together.
The houses on both sides of the road imploded, compressing into dense, spinning tal-like discs that slamd toward her like executioner blades.
She transford back into Vernon in an instant, brute-forcing her way through the crushing pressure.
They drew closer.
At the sa ti, Charles’s face began to age at a terrifying speed.
Boom! Boom!
With two thunderous explosions, the heads of the two mutated beasts ford from the Level Four Infected detonated mid-roar. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the ground as their gigantic bodies collapsed in twitching heaps.
Charles’s once gray-black hair rapidly turned pure white, thinning until even his eyebrows were bleached and withered.
Blood stread from the ghostly woman’s ears and lips. Her steps staggered, but her gaze never once left the direction Axel had fled.
“So close… so damn close…” she murmured.
She reached out and gently patted Charles’s shoulder.
There was no blinding impact, no violent burst of Force—only silence. Yet before she could fully withdraw her hand, her beautiful face was already drenched in blood.
Her ntal defenses shattered.
With a dull crash, she collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
At that sa instant, the final Infected’s head exploded.
Charles staggered backward, his silver-white hair falling ssily over his face. Though barely in his fifties, he now looked like a man on the brink of a hundred.
He touched the spot on his shoulder where she had tapped him.
A pinprick-sized wound was visible.
“What… is this…?”
Charles collapsed into a widening pool of blood. A violent, alien force surged inside his body. His right hand trembled as he raised it weakly—fine black scales were already creeping across his skin.
“So… this is what infection feels like…”
His clouded eyes stared at the sunlit horizon.
“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt much… You didn’t suffer too badly back then, did you?”
A familiar smiling face seed to appear before him.
“Molly… I’m coming to see you.”
He struggled to lift himself halfway up.
Because he could sense that soone was returning.
“Phoenix, you idiot… you absolute idiot!”
Rosaline was sobbing as she sprinted ahead. The others chased after her desperately.
Phoenix kept her head lowered, guilt crushing her expression. She didn’t dare say a word. Only when Charles had released all his remaining power did she finally understand the truth.
He had lied.
His ‘thod’ had been nothing but self-sacrifice.
By the ti they returned, it was already over.
“Mr. Charles!”
Kaia rushed to his side, tears pouring down her face as she pressed his cold hand to her cheek.
“Mr. Charles, you—”
Her ntal energy swept across him.
She froze.
As if struck by lightning.
She could no longer sense any life force.
“You… you burned everything…?” Kaia’s body shook violently. “You burned all your ntal energy?!”
Her voice broke, and she collapsed into sobs.
The entire Obsidian squad gathered around him.
A gentle, familiar smile appeared on Charles’s face.
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