Chapter 247: Edward: I'm Really Out of Money

The Spirituality consumed by the artwork 【Thor】 is far higher than Yun Mu had anticipated.

Merely summoning it consumed nearly twenty percent of her Spirituality in one go.

Fortunately, the Spirituality consumed during subsequent combat maintenance was not as high as at the start; even while maintaining a state of full firepower, she could hold out for about twelve minutes or so.

Of course, the actual situation would certainly differ from her expectations, but generally speaking, it should fall within the range of fifteen to thirty minutes.

【Energy reaction detected!】

A prompt suddenly sounded inside the Thor cockpit; from within the smoke and dust shrouded by artillery fire, several scarlet energy clusters suddenly shot out.

Yun Mu reacted in time and maneuvered the mecha to dodge, yet Thor's agility was ultimately somewhat inferior, and it was eventually struck on its left mecha arm by an energy cluster.

As for Brenna's Princess, it cannot move while firing its 188mm cannon, which is the reason she equipped the mecha with a Metal Shield.

"Bang!"

The moment the energy cluster exploded, it splashed a large amount of red-black corrosive liquid; Yun Mu glanced at Thor's self-diagnostic system, and the damage to the struck arm area was approximately eight percent.

As for Brenna's Princess... Yun Mu glanced over and discovered that the surface of that mechanical shield had already been corroded with small, visible pits.

This was enough to demonstrate the power of those corrosive liquids.

【Medical Transport support!】

Without much thought, Yun Mu decisively called for the Medical Transport Plane.

"Transporting now!"

The gray-white Medical Transport Plane flew above her head, and under the control of the gravity beam, the Thunder God Mecha was instantly sucked to the bottom of the Medical Transport Plane.

This is the Flying Thunder God Technique! The Medical Transport Plane quickly dismantled the modular armor on the Thunder God Mecha and replaced it with a sturdier, yet also thicker, armored shell.

It also replaced the Thor's Hammer particle accelerator with a 330mm cannon.

At the same time, as the smoke and dust dissipated, a monster that had completely lost its human characteristics appeared before everyone.

After Bishop Land devoured all the remaining Scarlet Parasites in the city, his body size had more than tripled! Flowing flesh like liquid entwined around the buildings on both sides of the street, and a huge, golden, single eye grew on his abdomen.

And above the golden single eye, twelve pairs, totaling twenty-four eyes, were arranged very neatly, and the pupils of every eye presented a scarlet color.

Yun Mu stared at those pupils and suddenly felt a sharp pain in her brain; just as she wanted to look away, a dark mental force seized the opportunity to burrow into her mind.

She had been attacked! However, the Legendary Necklace on her chest emitted a pale blue light; Yun Mu chuckled softly and decisively reflected the opponent's attack back!

"Hmph!"

The head of Bishop Land, hiding inside the body, let out a muffled groan, and crimson blood flowed from his nostrils.

The next second, mortar shells trailing ghostly green Ghost Fire fell; now that all the Scarlet Parasites had been devoured, Bishop Land took the attack of all the shells head-on!

And Yun Mu also reacted abruptly at this moment.

Since Bishop Land's vitality was vigorous and he could not be killed no matter how she fought, why didn't she try a mental attack?

【Mental Shock!】

【Evil Mark!】

Having just used the reflection ability of the Legendary Necklace, Yun Mu had already locked onto the location of Bishop Land's true body.

Thus, she decisively manipulated her mental force to strike the opponent, while simultaneously using the ability of the Evil Mark to amplify the negative emotions in the opponent's heart all at once.

And just as Bishop Land's mind was under attack, the long-scheming Parasite saw an opportunity and decisively began to vie for control of the body.

As a Parasite, how could it be willing to live under others for long? The day of its rise is today! "You fool, can't you see the situation before you!?"

First his own attack was reflected back, then he took a Mental Shock from Yun Mu; now, facing the resistance of the Parasite, Bishop Land was completely no match.

The anger in his heart burned fiercely; he was extremely furious at this Parasite that always caused trouble for him at critical moments.

Yet how could the Parasite not see the current situation? It was just that it had waited for this moment for far, far too long.

Having finally had an opportunity appear, if it gave it up, perhaps it would never wait for a second one! Besides, who said it hadn't seen the situation clearly?

An ancient scarlet mark flashed through the Parasite's mind, and Bishop Land felt something, his eyes suddenly widening.

"The Scarlet mark... you have become His Scarlet Kin, since when!?"

"Of course, from the moment of birth, you old thing." The Parasite had already completely grasped control of the body; it controlled Bishop Land's vocal cords and emitted a hoarse voice.

"Farewell, Land, farewell, my master, my... Creator."

As soon as the words fell, a scarlet tentacle wrapped around Bishop Land's head.

Under the latter's desperate expression, the tentacle exerted force suddenly, instantly churning him into a puddle of minced meat.

Having dissolved the so-called symbiotic relationship, the Parasite devoured Bishop Land's Fourth Order Master body, plus the energy of those Scarlet Parasites from before.

Its aura climbed step by step, soon exceeding the limit of a Fourth Order Master; although it had not yet advanced to Champion, it possessed power rivaling one.

"This feeling, never so wonderful!"

No longer needing to maintain life for Bishop Land, the shackles and restraints on the Parasite were all cleared away, added to the mark bestowed by the status of Scarlet Kin.

"Hahahahaha!"

It laughed wantonly, stretching its body to its heart's content.

"What is this situation?"

Yun Mu had already sensed the abnormality of Bishop Land, discovering that the opponent's mental state had suddenly vanished, yet who was controlling the body at this moment? There was no time to think about this question, because the fact before her was that her mental attack seemed not to have worked, but instead made the opponent's aura become even more powerful.

Are you some kind of Leader BOSS? How can you enter a third-stage transformation when you're at low health?

The ground suddenly trembled; before Yun Mu could react, a sharp scarlet tentacle drilled out from the ground beneath her feet, instantly wrapping around Thor's ankle.

The next second, together with the Medical Transport Plane, the Thunder God Mecha controlled by Yun Mu was fiercely slammed into the ground by the opponent! "Miss Yun!?"

Brenna was startled; just as she wanted to do something, a scarlet tentacle swept over like a long whip, and with a muffled "bang," it swatted her Princess away.

The huge force even caused the mechanical shield of the Princess to cave in and bend, and the metal supports propping up the bottom of the mecha were also severely deformed, clearly unable to be used any longer.

"What terrifying power..." Brenna controlled the Princess to stand up, feeling dizzy.

And on Yun Mu's side, the moment Thor was pulled to the ground, she reacted in time and immediately controlled Thor's Hammer, the 330mm cannon firing in time to sever the tentacle wrapped around the mecha's leg.

However, the attack clearly did not end there; Yun Mu had only just controlled Thor to stand up when two scarlet energy balls flew toward her.

She couldn't dodge even when using the default armor before, let alone now that the armor had been replaced.

However, it was fortunate that the new armor's defensive power was much stronger; even when hit head-on, the damage level did not exceed five percent.

Yet, the situation on Brenna's side was not nearly as good; the armor thickness of the Princess was clearly inferior to the Thunder God Mecha, and its mobility was also slightly worse. With its mechanical shield severely damaged, she simply couldn't hold out for long.

If she stayed here any longer, it would likely be a recipe for the machine to be destroyed and for her to die.

Brenna was, of course, aware of this herself, but given the current circumstances, it wasn't as if she could just leave whenever she wanted.

Like last time, should she use the escape device built into the mecha to break away?

No, it wouldn't work; it was impossible. The enemy's attack range was vast, and its speed was also very high.

If she were intercepted in mid-air by its tentacles while ejecting from the cockpit, let alone escaping, the situation would only become even worse than it currently was.

But to say there was absolutely no way out wasn't true; it just depended on whether Yun Mu could realize it: "Let the Medical Transport Plane take Brenna away."

Yun Mu looked at Brenna, who was struggling to hold on under the King Worm's offensive, and made a judgment in her heart.

And her judgment happened to be exactly what Brenna was thinking at that moment.

The Medical Transport Plane, having taken off again, whistled as it arrived above the Princess, and with the activation of the gravity beam, it successfully latched onto the underside of the Princess.

The King Worm still wanted to repeat its old trick and pull both the Princess and the Medical Transport Plane down.

But as the saying goes, a Saint Seiya is not defeated by the same move twice; having long been on guard, Yun Mu immediately had the Medical Transport Plane climb to a height where the tentacles could not reach at all.

"Heka!"

The enraged King Worm let out a roar, and the flower-like tumors on both sides of its body began to wriggle, firing two scarlet energy balls that flew toward the Medical Transport Plane high in the sky.

But at such a great distance, the Medical Transport Plane only needed to wriggle slightly to dodge the attacks, and it would not encounter any danger at all.

"Boom!"

The Mortar strike from the Sunset fell once again, and as the large amount of dust and ghostly green Ghost Fire dissipated, the King Worm discovered with a blank expression:

Whether it was Brenna, who had been taken away by the Medical Transport Plane, or Yun Mu, who was piloting the Thunder God Mecha, or even Edward, all had disappeared from its range of Perception.

"Heka!!"

"Boom—"

Hearing the commotion coming from behind them, the three of them—Yun Mu and the others—all looked at each other.

"What should we do next?" Yun Mu asked, looking at the two of them.

"." Brenna was silent for a moment: "My Princess is practically no different from being scrapped. Without a machine in my hands, I don't have any combat capability."

She certainly had other mechanical devices, but how to put it—those pieces of equipment clearly couldn't have any impact on that monster currently wreaking havoc.

"We must stop it." Edward looked toward the direction where the King Worm was rampaging with a very serious expression.

"Once it finishes its tantrum, it will most likely head toward the Painter Association."

He briefly explained the situation regarding the Survivors: "They are all very exhausted; even if we force them, there is no way to speed up, and by then, they will still be caught by the opponent."

"If we find a way to take it out now, it will save a lot of trouble."

"Take it out..." Yun Mu said, feeling somewhat helpless: "The firepower isn't enough, and my Spirituality is running low."

"I can do it alone," Edward said at this moment.

Yun Mu looked at him with some surprise.

"That guy must have a fatal weakness." Edward met her gaze and began to analyze: "Every life has weaknesses; as long as it lives in this world, it must inevitably follow such rules."

"The massive life force within its body must have a place where it is stored. If it were spread throughout its entire body, wouldn't it lose a huge amount every time it lost a piece of flesh?"

"Even if that isn't its weakness, it must be a very important part."

"Of course, there is also the brain. The fact that it gets enraged means it is a creature with emotions, and that means it has a head used for thinking." As Edward said this, he poked his own temple with his index finger.

"Then how are we supposed to find the location of the weakness?" Yun Mu asked at this time.

Edward's analysis was indeed very logical, but even if the opponent had a weakness, with such a massive body, it would probably be very difficult to find it.

"It's very simple." Edward looked at Yun Mu: "I need you to pilot that mecha and continuously perform test strikes on that monster. During this time, I will use the Sunset's artillery fire to deepen the testing."

"I can feel that the aura that originally belonged to Bishop Land has dissipated; the one piloting that body now is a different consciousness."

"That guy's combat experience isn't very good; I could tell from the reaction when you and the Princess were grappling with it just now."

"I don't think it will be difficult to find its weak point, but there is one problem..."

"What problem?" Yun Mu asked him.

Unknowingly, her rhythm had already been swayed by Edward.

"That machine that took the Princess and flew up—can you fire from the air?"

"Hiss."

Yun Mu instantly understood what Edward meant, but she hadn't tried it, and the Game Panel didn't say it could be done either.

But she just had a feeling that, perhaps, maybe, it might be feasible?

"I'll try?" she said.

"Very good. If it doesn't work, retreat immediately; we can think of other ways."

"The Princess can rest here for now." Edward said, looking at Brenna.

"Mm."

Brenna also knew that there was nothing she could do right now, so she nodded in agreement.

"Phew, then let's begin."

Yun Mu took a deep breath, summoned the Thunder God Mecha once again, and then had the Medical Transport Plane carry her high into the sky.

The 250mm Punisher Cannon on her back clearly couldn't be used, but she could use the Gafulin Launcher!

Besides that, the standard version of Thor's Hammer used particle beams fired by a particle accelerator, which had almost no recoil at all!

Yun Mu fired two shots tentatively, immediately attracting the King Worm's attention.

However, the height she had specifically climbed to meant the opponent couldn't do anything about her, and it could only rage impotently below.

On the other side, seeing that Yun Mu had no issues firing the cannon in mid-air, Edward immediately felt relieved.

Following that, he felt a pang of heartache.

He was truly about to run out of money! (End of chapter)