The chaos that erupted the mont the landing site opened caught everyone completely off guard. Shouts rang out one after another inside the Human Consortium eting room where the live stream was being watched.
“How are there so many parasitized Ascendants?!”
“Could this be the sche of that parasitized leader, the Prophet?”
“Besides the Prophet, there’s the Fire Thief Worship Cult. They must have jointly planned this operation!”
“Damn it, so that’s why the Fire Thief Worship Cult launched those large-scale raids on Suroma and sent agents into Xisiya to incite assaults on the outer defenses… All of that was cover for these parasitized Ascendants to get into the landing site as smoke screens! They wanted to draw our attention away!”
“Everyone calm down.” Gao Liangwei said in a low voice. “There are so many elite soldiers on site, plus the Ascendant defense corps. They’ll stop those parasitized Ascendants.”
“Chairman Gao, that must be the Ascendant Shadow, right?” Mary stared at the livestream screen. “Why is he on site, and dressed in Xisiya soldier uniform?”
Gao Liangwei frowned. “That’s sothing I want to know too.”
He wondered if Guan Tong had infiltrated the Xisiya military. Could that be possible? Or maybe he had contacts on Xisiya’s side who agreed to let him disguise himself as a soldier…
“Ah!” One committee mber gasped. “The feed’s gone!”
After a brief stutter the live stream cut off, and the screen went black.
“It’s likely the recording equipnt was damaged by the fighting. The situation on site seems more chaotic than we imagined.” One mber slapped his thigh. “No wonder the coalition forces on the main front advanced so smoothly. The Prophet must have disguised all those parasitized Ascendants and shipped them into Xisiya!”
“It’ll be too late for the Human Consortium to send support now. We can only hope the forces already on site in Xisiya can handle it.” Mary looked at Torafuto. “Are you okay?”
Xisiya representative Torafuto kept a taut face and remained silent. Compared to the others present, he was the most worried.
…
At the landing site.
The questioner’s death while posing questions triggered the alien intelligence’s feeding process, and the unconscious parasitized forms in the food area were being consud rapidly.
The soldiers on site were supposed to be hauling those parasitized forms out, but instead they had to fight a bloody battle against hundreds of parasitized Ascendants.
Each of those parasitized Ascendants was elite, massively strengthened by spore enhancent. They were fearless in combat; the soldiers were no match for them.
The Ascendant defense corps stationed there had originally been set up to prevent Ascendants from causing trouble with teleportation-type items. Their overall combat capability was average. Facing the ferocious parasitized Ascendants, they inevitably lost the upper hand.
Thud! Thud!
Two blows from Sigaochin’s hamr pulverized the two parasitized Ascendants assaulting her into bloody mush, showcasing terrifying strength.
Aside from her role as the site commander, she was also Yelanka’s chief bodyguard. Without sufficient strength she couldn’t hold that position.
But right now she should be issuing orders as a commander rather than focusing on personal combat. Those parasitized Ascendants, however, knew she was the commander and sward her like rabid dogs, preventing her from disengaging.
“Kill!” She’d just smashed two to death when five more charged. Gritting her teeth, she raised the hamr. The next mont a massive black blade sliced through the air, severing the heads of three parasitized Ascendants!
The other two locked eyes with a pair of snake-like vertical pupils and imdiately went berserk, their bodies uncontrollably mutating into two half-human, half-snake monsters.
She turned and saw that the strike had co from Guan Tong and Uenoshi.
“You direct, I’ll make her stay and protect you.” Guan Tong said, then rushed to slaughter as many parasitized Ascendants as he could, as fast as he could.
“Good!” The situation was urgent; Sigaochin had no ti to thank them. She imdiately ordered the soldiers to steady their lines.
“Battalion One, protect Battalion Three while they haul parasitized forms to the food area! Battalions Four and Five, assist the Ascendant defense corps in attacking the parasitized Ascendants!”
They had to fight the parasitized Ascendants, but the alien intelligence’s food supply could not be allowed to run out. If the food in the food area was consud, it would, by proximity, turn to target the soldiers. If the soldiers broke, the consequences would be unimaginable.
“Kill!” More parasitized forms charged her, but they were blocked mid-charge by the two half-human, half-snake monsters. After a brief struggle the attackers scread and were transford into the sa kind of monsters.
Sigaochin watched in horror. She glanced at the companion Guan Tong had left to protect her; that companion had just removed his goggles, revealing snake-like vertical pupils that emitted an eerie glow.
Converting enemies into snake-n to command them… truly terrifying.
She felt a surge of gratitude for Yelanka’s decision. Had Shadow and that companion not been here, those hundreds of parasitized Ascendants might have succeeded in their evil plan and brought irreparable damage to humanity.
The battlefield had split into three zones.
One was the food area where the alien intelligence was ravenously feeding, with soldiers desperately hauling parasitized forms into it; another was where soldiers and the Ascendant defense corps were fighting the parasitized Ascendants; the third was an area Guan Tong single-handedly opened up, where he alone confronted dozens of enemies.
Sigaochin coordinated between the three zones. Uenoshi protected her, but she also used her bloodline ability to transform many Serpent Servants to assist Guan Tong in battle.
Those parasitized Ascendants had inherited their hosts’ mories and knew Shadow’s na, so they dared not be careless against him. Yet even with dozens attacking Guan Tong alongside a few snake servants, they fell into an extre disadvantage.
The shadows Guan Tong controlled were almost everywhere, and their attacks weren’t limited to frontal strikes. So ca from the sky, so rose up from the ground, so circled to strike from behind. Real and fake, physical and insubstantial mixed together; once a mistake was made, a head was cut off or a vital wound struck.
That a single person could face dozens yet maintain absolute suppression—ordinary Ascendants could hardly conceive it.
In a short while, over half of the parasitized Ascendants besieging Guan Tong were dead or wounded.
They had known how dangerous Guan Tong was and hoped to exhaust his mind power to win. But the surrounding shadows kept multiplying. If this continued, instead of his mind power being drained, they would simply all die.
“The Shadow is too strong! Detonate!” soone shouted.
“Detonate!” others echoed.
Detonate?
Hearing that, Guan Tong’s face tensed.
“Sigaochin! Get the soldiers—”
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rocked the site. A large number of unconscious parasitized forms detonated, and so soldiers hauling them were blown to pieces before they could react.
Even Guan Tong hadn’t expected this. He had thought the initial explosions were all—intended to distract the soldiers so the parasitized Ascendants in the food area could succeed.
But now it beca clear the enemy had planted far more Mind Power bombs than anticipated, and their goal wasn’t to kill the soldiers—it was to blow up their own kind, these unconscious parasitized forms.
Guan Tong’s heart jolted: their objective was to reduce the amount of food, even at the cost of killing their own kind!
The alien intelligence does not eat dead bodies, human or parasitized; it only eats the living. Once those parasitized forms were blown to pieces they could no longer serve as food.
If the supply of parasitized food dropped, the alien intelligence would naturally turn its sights to the living soldiers.
Sigaochin in the center of the battlefield saw the plot with horror.
She tried to stop it but found the parasitized Ascendants didn’t care about their lives. They had planted bombs not only in transport vehicles and inside ordinary parasitized forms, but even inside their own bodies!
When they t an impassable obstacle they would imdiately trigger the bombs on themselves and take their enemies down with them.
“Watch out!” Uenoshi’s voice ca through Guan Tong’s earpiece.
The parasitized Ascendants that Guan Tong had already wounded to half health gave up defense and dodge and threw themselves at him.
“Let’s all die together! Everything for the spread!”
“Everything for the spread!”
They simultaneously activated the Mind Power bombs hidden within their bodies. The violent, blinding explosions swallowed Guan Tong instantly.
“…!”
Sigaochin saw it and went speechless. Could the Shadow—
“I’m fine.” Before the blast had cleared, Guan Tong’s voice ca from beside them.
Sigaochin turned in surprise. “How are you—?”
Uenoshi watched Guan Tong wipe blood from the corner of his mouth and frowned.
It was the first ti she’d seen him bleed.
Noticing her stare, Guan Tong shook his head. “Just a bit of concussion, nothing serious. Sigaochin, the food supply is insufficient. What are your plans?”
After those parasitized Ascendants detonated their Mind Power bombs, countless parasitized forms were killed. Although many remained, many of the soldiers hauling them had been injured or disabled—the scene was already out of control.
“We have to pull the soldiers back!” Sigaochin glanced at the food area about to be cleared by the alien intelligence and said through gritted teeth, “We can’t haul any more food. If we delay, the soldiers will beco its food!”
“Right. You lead them out.” Guan Tong told her.
Sigaochin was startled. “You’re not leaving?”
“I still have questions to ask. If I leave now, I’ll lose the chance.”
“You—”
“Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid. I’ll stay behind the transport trucks loaded with parasitized forms so I won’t beco its target.”
Sigaochin didn’t argue; she knew Guan Tong had made up his mind. She imdiately dispatched the remaining soldiers who could still move to evacuate the wounded.
“Uenoshi, leave with them.” Guan Tong looked at the woman beside him.
Uenoshi shook her head. “I’m staying with you.”
“You know I can teleport to a distant spot. That will guarantee my safety. You don’t have that ability; staying will be dangerous.”
Uenoshi hesitated, still wavering.
“Go. Once I finish asking what I need, I’ll co find you.”
“…Be careful.” Uenoshi didn’t press the matter further. She knew Guan Tong was right—he could teleport to a safe distance. Besides, there were still many unconscious parasitized forms on site, and with his ability to summon living dead to act as food, he could protect himself.
Those who could evacuate did so. Guan Tong stood behind the few remaining transport trucks filled with parasitized forms, holding the Corpse Whistle in his hand.
He coughed a few tis; more blood crept from his mouth.
“These bastard parasitized forms packed so pretty powerful Mind Power bombs. They must have cost a lot. The parasitized planners and the Fire Thief Worship Cult probably spent huge sums to arrange all this…”
Although Guan Tong had used Body Swap to leave the blast zone in ti, he was still affected. His three layers of protection—Shadow Armor, Mind Power Flow, and the Liu-Jin Guardian—hadn’t prevented the explosive shock from slightly injuring his internal organs, showing just how powerful those bombs were.
He inhaled deeply, took out the remaining recovery items from his Storage Box and used them, then fixed his gaze on the alien intelligence that kept devouring, waiting for it to finish so he could ask his questions.
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