"The forest isn't detecting anyone else. Could it be that Shadow rescued the person and left, not staying with Yamata no Orochi?"
Inside the Special Investigation Team room, the investigators stared at the detector readings on the large screen, which showed a total of seventeen detected targets.
The fourteen members of the Action Team plus the three from the Chosen Team made exactly seventeen. If Shadow was also hiding somewhere, it should have been eighteen.
"We can only focus on capturing Yamata no Orochi first."
"Switch to the Action Team's live streaming feed."
Every member of the Action Team was equipped with a camera device, capable of live-streaming the combat situation on the scene.
This wasn't just for record-keeping; some ministers and even the Divine Child wanted to witness the battle firsthand.
After switching the perspective, the screen instantly went black.
"What's going on?"
"Blocked? Switch to another."
The operator switched to another team member's perspective, only to find it was also a black screen.
Disbelieving, he switched continuously, finally discovering that all the Action Team's live feeds were black.
The Special Investigation Team Leader's heart sank: "Something's wrong!"
Even if one or two devices malfunctioned, it was impossible for everyone's devices to have problems at once.
Could it be that Yamata no Orochi had signal jamming equipment?
Just then, a call came in. The Team Leader answered; it was from the administrative building, asking what was happening, as they had also lost contact with the scene.
"Reporting to the Minister, we've also lost the feed here. We may need to apply to borrow satellite perspectives from other countries."
"Satellite perspective... by the time that's arranged, it will probably all be over."
The voice on the other end of the phone said coldly before hanging up immediately.
Meanwhile, in the forest.
After the smoke dispersed, all members of the Action Team put on infrared goggles, allowing them to see Uenoshi's position within the mist.
However, they then discovered that their vision had suddenly become completely pitch black.
"What's happening?!"
"Can anyone see?"
"Everyone, group together!"
Not just them, even Uenoshi couldn't see anything at this moment.
Was it Shadow's ability?
Guan Tong was currently standing on a high tree branch, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at the people below.
The moment this Action Team was about to launch their attack on Uenoshi, he activated his Shadow Domain in its conventional form.
After cutting off all external light, the inside of the Shadow Domain was, of course, pitch black. Apart from him, the controller, who could still maintain his vision, the others were completely unable to see.
However, this Action Team was, after all, well-trained. They immediately stood back-to-back in a group, and took out defensive items to use. Some also took out lighting tools, but Guan Tong's attack had already begun.
He channeled his Mind Power, condensing it into dozens of Shadow Spears that shot down from above, while simultaneously generating shadow spikes beneath the feet of the Action Team members, attacking from both above and below simultaneously.
Several defensive items were breached in an instant. Four people were immediately pierced by the shadows, dying on the spot.
At that moment, someone used a lighting item. The moment the light illuminated the scene and they saw the state of their fallen comrades, they realized who the enemy was.
"It's Shadow!!"
"He's over there!"
With the help of the light, they saw a humanoid shadow figure standing with crossed arms in a high position.
"Dammit, what are those intelligence support guys doing? Why didn't they detect Shadow's presence and tell us!"
"This is Shadow's 'Shadow World'! Everyone, attack Shadow's main body!"
At the Commander's order, everyone, using the light from the lighting items, launched attacks towards the humanoid shadow mass in the tree.
Shadow World?
Guan Tong didn't know when someone had given his Shadow Domain such a name.
After a moment's thought, he figured it was probably Lucifer who named it and spread it, as he was the only one who had entered the Shadow Domain and not died.
The moment the Faceless One saw Shadow, she activated her own disguise ability.
The ability succeeded, but only partially.
Half of her body turned into shadow, while the other half remained in Physical Form. What shocked her even more was that before she even tried to manipulate the shadow, the imitation effect ended, not even lasting three seconds.
"It's no use! My ability is completely ineffective... his Mind Power Upper Limit must be far too high, creating an absolute Superior Position suppression against me!"
Her teammate, Moon Fate, also used their [Moon Wheel] item. A giant wheel appeared above Shadow's head, trapping Shadow inside.
But before the wheel could even begin to spin, it shattered with a crack.
Moon Fate's face turned pale, sharing the same despair as the Faceless One.
Just how high was Shadow's Mind Power Upper Limit? Why did it render her exclusive item completely ineffective?
At the same time, various attack items struck that shadow mass, almost all of them having little to no effect.
"Just as I suspected... the difference between their Mind Power Upper Limits and mine is too great. Their items and abilities can't even suppress my shadow anymore."
Guan Tong's main body was currently elsewhere. The one that was discovered and being attacked was merely his shadow.
He wasn't very surprised by this situation. Even Ascendants cultivated by official organizations in various countries, who achieved first place in the Eighth Rule, would have their Mind Power Upper Limits stagnate between six to seven hundred for a long period afterward due to the long-term suppression of the Mind Lock.
His own Upper Limit was currently about to break through a thousand points. A difference of several hundred points almost created a complete Superior Position to Inferior Position suppression. The effectiveness of their abilities and items against him would be greatly reduced, or even completely nullified.
This situation plunged the Action Team members into near despair. At that moment, two more people started screaming and running, frantically slapping their own bodies as they ran.
"Snakes! So many snakes!"
This was an illusion created by Uenoshi. Guan Tong immediately manipulated shadow spikes to pierce through the bodies of those two, cooperating to complete the kill.
"Hurry! Suzuki!" The Commander, in his desperation, grabbed the shoulder of the girl beside him and shook her violently. "You can do Profiling, right? Quickly profile Shadow's weakness!"
"I..."
Suzuki looked bewildered. Half the Action Team had been killed immediately. One of the people killed by a Shadow Spear had splattered blood all over her, scaring her senseless.
She subconsciously activated her ability, but her brain immediately felt a sharp pain. She screamed, clutching her head and squatting on the ground.
This was completely different from profiling Shadow from surveillance footage. Her Mind Power Upper Limit was too low; even with spore enhancement, she couldn't perform on-site profiling of Guan Tong.
Profiling?
Guan Tong glanced at the one squatting down, named Suzuki. This ability sounded somewhat useful. He could leave her for last.
The other members of the Action Team now had no idea what to do. They had used up all the offensive items in their Storage Boxes, but it was still useless.
Before actually encountering Guan Tong, none of them could have imagined the gap would be this large. They only thought that although Shadow was powerful, surely a dozen or so Ascendants, key personnel cultivated by the Sakura Prayer Country's government, couldn't be a match for him?
Ordinary powerhouses and top-tier powerhouses were simply not on the same level. The suppression of the Superior Position over the Inferior Position was too despair-inducing, and by the time they realized this, it was already too late.
"Time's about up. No more wasting time with you." After confirming the few people he wanted to keep, Guan Tong invested a large amount of Mind Power at once. Hundreds of sharp shadow spikes shot out from all directions!
Five minutes later, the reinforcements sent by Sakura Prayer Country arrived.
Seeing the gruesome scene, they could hardly bear to look.
But they soon discovered the body count didn't match.
Including Moon Fate and the Faceless One, the Action Team had a total of sixteen people. But only twelve corpses were left at the scene.
The missing four were the Action Team Commander, Suzuki, Moon Fate, and the Faceless One. Since there were no bodies, it meant they had been taken away by Shadow and Uenoshi.
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