Chapter 48: Crossfire

Directly beneath the sacrificial chamber.

"Ah—~!"

"Pa—! Pa—!"

Screams of agony and gunfire drifted in faintly.

"Dong!"

The passage back to the sacrificial chamber lowered a massive stone door, cutting off Chris and the others' retreat.

Before the group could catch their breath, the Pyramid's mechanism activated again, a hidden doorway leading downward slowly opened, and a dim stair tunnel unfolded before their eyes.

"What's going on?! What's happening up there!"

"Redfield! We want an explanation!"

The sudden turn of events made the D-class security personnel, who were originally guards, restless, and a D-class guard rushed forward, trying to yank Chris's collar for questioning.

But Chris, bolstered by a Mechanical exoskeleton, didn't oblige; a light left-hand shove nearly caused that D-class guard to stagger and fall.

Immediately after.

Chris, also looking troubled, shouted loudly, "You ask me, then who should I ask? I'm just following orders! Right now we're comrades on the same boat! So if we want to survive, we have to cooperate!"

"Ha!" Seeing Chris say that, the D-class guard who had almost been shoved retorted, "Looks like Captain Redfield is also a disposable asset of the company."

"Alright, if you want to get out, keep moving forward."

Chris ignored the provocation, then grabbed a large backpack loaded with three shoulder cannons, slung it on, and marched straight into the tunnel leading into the Pyramid's interior.

Seeing Chris gradually vanish from view, the remaining twelve D-class members exchanged glances and ultimately chose to act together.

To be honest, Chris, who was at the front, was also a bit puzzled.

Why does Sui Bian firmly believe he can complete the mission?

Fortunately, after months of getting to know each other, Chris believes Sui Bian wouldn't deliberately harm him... right.

He shook his head, brushed away the stray thoughts, and began contemplating how to fulfill the task Sui Bian gave him.

Soon after everyone entered the tunnel, three Ironblood Youth who had deactivated their Optical Camouflage stared blankly at their now empty weapons, a bit stunned.

The shoulder cannons were actually taken by humans?!

The first hunt became imperfect because of humans!

"Roar!!" At the thought of those two points, Captain Kelt let out an angry roar, gesturing left and right for his two teammates to hunt the humans.

Mao Mian and Dao Ba both nodded, and promptly deactivated their Optical Camouflage, disappearing inside the room.

"Dong!" Still angry, Captain Kelt pounded the wall with a clenched fist, then deactivated his Optical Camouflage to catch up with his teammates.

Next.

The three Ironblood Youth, taking advantage of their possession of a Pyramid map, surged ahead of Chris and the others and set up an ambush above a narrow hall.

Both sides of the hall were still lined with massive Ironblood Warrior statues, the very spot where the protagonists in the film exchanged fire with the Ironbloods.

With Sui Bian's warning, Chris, relying on his instincts, sensed something off about the hall and immediately heightened his vigilance, scanning the surroundings.

"Swoo—!" Suddenly, the sound of a spear in invisible mode slicing through the air completely shattered the atmosphere.

"Ah…! Ah!" A D-class guard was impaled by the spear, howling in excruciating pain.

Seeing this, Chris and all the D-class guards immediately raised their guns to observe, while the D-class researchers tried to help the impaled guard.

"Enemy! Three o'clock! On the statue!"

"There's also one behind!... pfft! Uh..."

"Fire! Fire!"

"Pa—pa—! Pa—!"

The scene became chaotic, with shouts, gunfire, and the sounds of human flesh being pierced intertwining within the hall.

The Ironblood Youth held the terrain advantage and, thanks to their Optical Camouflage invisibility, the human side suffered extremely heavy losses.

Especially the D-class personnel beside Chris.

Just as the human side was reduced to five, the Pyramid's mechanism activated again, and stone walls, bricks, and statues began shifting.

The Ironblood Youth's line of sight was obstructed and space limited, allowing the human side to escape a disaster, while Chris and four others cramped into a secret room at the far end of the hall.

Restless yet forced to be patient, after about ten minutes the mechanism started moving again.

The secret room opened a hidden doorway; the five passed through it, traversed the tunnel, and finally reached an area filled with many stone pillars and statues, yet relatively spacious.

But before they could explore, a D-class guard ahead of Chris was suddenly covered by a massive hunting net.

The net's powerful impact dragged the guard away, then fixed both guard and net to the stone wall.

"Dong! Dong!"

Simultaneously, the invisible Captain Kelt launched an assault toward the crowd, targeting Chris.

?

!!

Chris, seeing a humanoid silhouette rush toward him, quickly flashed left to dodge the attack.

"Ah!" The D-class researcher hiding behind Chris was terribly unlucky, getting kicked flying by Captain Kelt.

The researcher, kicked forcefully by Captain Kelt, slammed his back hard into a stone pillar, the sharp cracking of his spine echoing loudly.

He couldn't survive.

As for the D-class guard fixed to the stone wall by the net, his body had been shredded by the mesh.

The corpse fell in chunks from the cold-weather suit, blood spraying outward like an explosion.

The hunting net is one of the Ironblood clan's weapons, made of an unknown metal; originally the human male lead tried to cut the net with a dagger to rescue a Black mercenary, only to have the dagger itself sliced in two by the net.

In just a few seconds, the human side lost another two.

Having just escaped a disaster, Chris felt a chill down his spine; without a moment to think, he spun, raised his MA5B, and slammed the trigger at the seemingly empty space ahead.

Bang bang bang! The MA5B's distinctive gunfire roared.

Clang~! Pa! The 7.62×51mm AP-FMJ bullet struck the armor with a ringing clang.

Puff! A spray of fluorescent green blood burst out.

Finally, the human side dealt damage to the Iron Blood trio.

"Roar—!" Mao Mian, hit in the left abdomen by the bullet, let out an uncontainable roar, then evaded Chris's attack with swifter steps, while also extending a single‑edged wrist blade from his left arm.

The moment he closed in on Chris, Mao Mian mustered all his strength and swung the wrist blade at him.

!!!

Chris, using the vague outline, once again relied on instinct to dodge the slash, but he failed to evade Mao Mian's right-side kick.

"Pong!" a muffled thud, Mao Mian's leg struck Chris's left thigh Mechanical exoskeleton.

The powerful force caused the Mechanical exoskeleton to bend and deform noticeably, and Chris was also knocked airborne by Mao Mian's side kick.

His back also slammed against a stone pillar.

The difference is that Chris's back was protected by a Mechanical exoskeleton, so no fatal injury occurred.

"Cough! Cough cough…" But Mao Mian's recent assault left Chris with a tight chest, shortness of breath, and total weakness; fortunately his left leg was only sore, not broken.

Chris needs to take a moment to recover.

But before he could regain his composure, Mao Mian, having voluntarily deactivated its invisibility, was already standing before Chris.

Given that Chris had damaged it, Mao Mian prepared to extract Chris's spine and skull as trophies to show respect.

However…

A 'black shadow' lurking above the stone pillar, however, interrupted Mao Mian's trophy‑collecting.

(End of chapter)