The soldiers guarding the sewer entrance were brimming with confidence. With their current firepower, they could sweep through a small military base.
But their expressions quickly changed as black rats surged out of the sewers like a black torrent.
"Fire! Fire now!" the captains of the squads bellowed out orders.
Dense gunfire erupted, and bullets poured out like a tempestuous storm, striking the front of the black rat tide.
The officer in charge of commanding from above breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing all this.
Although the black rats were larger than common rats and more fierce and bloodthirsty, they were still flesh and blood. Bullets could still pierce their bodies and kill them.
The air was thick with the stench of blood as large swaths of black rat carcasses scattered at the sewer entrance, staining the ground a dark crimson.
Xu Yi watched the soldiers below gunning down the black rats and felt an itching to join them.
Lisa stood beside him, holding Black Carp, trying to prevent it from being startled by the dense gunfire below.
But she clearly underestimated Black Carp; it showed no sign of fear and stared intently at the black rats below, its pupils flashing with a light of hatred.
The officer's attention fell on the exorcists, his face clouded with gloom.
They had already counted the numbers, missing twelve people, all exorcists, with no soldiers wounded or dead.
This situation was very bad. If only soldiers had died or if there had been casualties among both soldiers and exorcists, that would have been quite normal.
But now, only the exorcists had died, which indicated the soldiers had fled from battle, and the retreat command had been issued by him.
Under these circumstances, he would at the very least be stripped of his command, and at worst, face a military tribunal.
But he couldn't bring himself to be hard-hearted. His soldiers had followed him for so long, he had grown attached to them.
The lives of the exorcists mattered, but so did the lives of his soldiers.
In that situation, had he ordered a counterattack, it would have been a senseless death, burying all his soldiers there.
"I am Conn from Black Thorn Exorcism Studio. Pleased to et you!"
Soone approached Xu Yi for a handshake, introducing himself.
Xu Yi was sowhat surprised. He had thought these exorcists would resent him because they were put in danger on his account.
But their reaction was quite the opposite, their eyes even showed gratitude.
"Finally, soone can tear open the gateway to the Different Space. The source of the curse should be appearing soon—I must hurry back and prepare!" Conn clarified his confusion.
Xu Yi watched the exorcists depart and gained a deeper understanding of them.
Most exorcists had decent characters. Even if they exorcised for money, it was still a matter of saving lives. Over ti, they developed a sense of mission.
Of course, those with poor character, lacking self-control, their bodies hollowed out by debauchery, had mostly died in the sewers.
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"Lisa, go back to the studio first and have the studio people be careful of the black rats," Xu Yi turned and looked at Lisa beside him.
As Lisa left and the other exorcists followed suit, only Xu Yi remained, watching the battle below with interest.
Although the black rats were nurous, they were up against modern weapons after all.
Common flesh and blood could not break through the blockade of bullets.
Initially, the soldiers were sowhat clumsy, but under the orderly command of the commander, they quickly stabilized.
They switched to more effective weapons with larger kill zones; shotguns, hand grenades, and incendiary bombs were thrown as if they cost nothing, and the newly arrived flathrowers were even more devastating.
"I've reported your rits already. The reward will be issued soon."
The officer walked up behind Xu Yi, speaking in a grave tone, thinking Xu Yi stayed behind for fear of losing credit for his deeds.
Xu Yi rely nodded, with no sign of excitent on his face. He wasn't here for that.
"Can I help deal with these black rats?" Xu Yi asked softly.
His eyes shone as he looked towards the outskirts of the battlefield.
Armored vehicles were parked in large quantities on the outskirts, their compartnts open, revealing mountains of ammunition boxes.
With such nurous black rats, ammunition had to keep flowing in, and even now, bullets were continuously being delivered.
Xu Yi recalled the marksmanship entries.
The amount of bullets at the Shooting Range was so minimal that Xu Yi didn't know if he would ever max out his Marksmanship Entries.
If he wanted a chance to shoot a lot, he would have to go to a battlefield, but that was far too dangerous.
The opportunity before him was perfect, with plenty of ammunition and not too much danger, and the teeming black rats made for excellent targets.
"I'm Entos," said the officer, eyeing Xu Yi with surprise. He didn't expect the other to make such a request, and gave his own na in response.
The soldiers nearby glanced at Entos, curious. They knew their commanding officer's personality well, and when he voluntarily gave his na, it signified a gesture of goodwill.
Towards soone as enthusiastic as Xu Yi, Entos naturally showed a much better attitude.
He was assigned as the commander for this operation due to his extensive experience; this was not his first ti dealing with these kinds of supernatural creatures.
So he understood the importance of exorcists very well.
He rembered a mission where the lack of an exorcist led to soldiers being affected by illusions, shooting at each other, which resulted in heavy casualties.
He intended to keep a few exorcists on hand to prevent any anomalies from occurring.
But after those exorcists erged from the sewers, they all hurried off, and thinking of the incidents inside, he didn't have the heart to ask them to stay.
He was ready to request more exorcists from higher up, but he didn't expect Xu Yi to volunteer to stay, which sowhat relieved him.
"Of course, you can, and thank you very much for your help!" Entos nodded, gratefully accepting the offer.
With his offer affird, Xu Yi imdiately joined the fray with gusto.
Entos froze for a mont. He had assud Xu Yi's help would only involve standing by to observe, in case of ergency.
But Xu Yi had taken a gun and stood with the soldiers—what was this about?
He hesitated for a mont, then refrained from stopping Xu Yi, rely instructing him to do his job well.
At first, the soldiers didn't pay much attention, treating it as an exorcist's chance to enjoy shooting, as long as they didn't hit their own.
But they soon had nothing but respect. Xu Yi's shooting skills were decent, but his dedication was unparalleled.
They took turns shooting, resting periodically to avoid fatigue.
But their new "comrade" was far too engaged; while they rested, he was shooting, and when they were shooting, he still kept firing—a machine that didn't know how to stop.
This made them feel slightly embarrassed to slack off.
Of course, Xu Yi wouldn't rest; he wasn't going to miss out on this chance to accumulate experience for his Entries.
Watching his Marksmanship Entries steadily increase, he felt as if he were on a adrenaline rush, not knowing the aning of fatigue.
Three hours passed quietly, and suddenly a soldier exclaid, "The black rats are retreating!"
Xu Yi looked at the receding tide of black rats and sighed in disappointnt. Why give up so suddenly? Weren't they supposed to fight for three hundred more rounds?
But he quickly cheered up.
[Marksmanship 2, Current Progress: 72/100]
He hadn't expected to achieve more than seventy percent in just three hours!
He shook his sore arms. The quick progress in his Marksmanship Entries was certainly due to his efforts, but other factors played a role as well and could not be ignored.
First was his Entries as a painter and sculptor, which gave him very steady hands. Coupled with the Eyes of Obscurity's Ability, especially the Supra-dynamic Vision, the enhancent to his marksmanship was without parallel.
With only seventy percent progress in Marksmanship, the factor of Supra-dynamic Vision was boosting his capability to perform at 120 percent effectiveness.
Eventually, the soldiers stared at him in awe, proclaiming him a Sharpshooter.
"Xu Yi, what are you going to do?"
A soldier called out Xu Yi's na. After three hours of side-by-side combat and occasional exchanges, they had grown familiar with each other.
"I'm going to see if I can trace the source of the curse through these rat corpses," Xu Yi lied smoothly.
The soldiers looked on with respect. Below them lay a thick layer of rat carcasses, many of which had been shot to a pulp, but so were not imdiately dead and still struggled.
The feeling of stepping on them was probably like stepping into a pile of squirming maggots.
Not to ntion the stench emanating from below; even at a distance, they almost vomited their last al.
What motivation could possibly drive soone to step into that ss without changing faces?
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