Chapter 636: Monster and Escape

Gao Jie Ming had already determined that the person behind the scenes knew the Association very well.

Then the other party should also be very clear that if they dragged it out for too long, once the Association's support arrived, the matter would be settled.

Therefore, the other side's backup plan should be appearing soon.

As if hearing Gao Jie Ming's thoughts, the originally calm sea surface exploded abruptly.

A huge force erupted from underwater, carrying ten thousand tons of seawater to spray violently toward the water surface.

A grayish-white water wall soared into the sky in the thick fog, the splashing water droplets refracting short light arcs in the light of the lighting lamps, and then smashed heavily onto the embankment, emitting a dull roar.

A huge figure rushed out from the water curtain.

Its trajectory was a parabola, from the sea surface to the wall of the abandoned factory, almost without landing.

The five- or six-meter-high body drew a thick arc in the night sky, and then smashed into the south wall of the factory ruins like a cannonball. Boom!!!

Bricks shattered, steel bars twisted, and that wall, already riddled with holes, collapsed directly.

Dust and water mist mixed together, spreading in all directions.

That figure rushed straight through the collapsed wall, rushed into the factory interior, and suddenly broke into the battlefield of Harding, Dean, and the Shadow-Stealer. The entire abandoned industrial zone went quiet in an instant.

Everyone's attention was attracted by that thing.

Whether it was the people from the Occultist Association or the black-robed people, they all subconsciously looked in that direction.

Then they saw the appearance of that thing, and their pupils contracted at the same time.

It was a monster.

A five- or six-meter-high body, roughly looking like a giant shark with a human torso.

But looking closely, one would find that it was an existence that had twisted humans and sharks together, forcibly fused together.

Its torso was human-shaped, with shoulders, a chest, and thick limbs, but the proportions were completely wrong.

The shoulders were exaggeratedly wide, the chest was as thick as a wall, and the length of the arms was more than twice that of a normal human, hanging down almost to the ground. In the center of the head was a huge shark head, grayish-white skin, and the crescent-shaped mouth was filled with inward-hooking teeth.

The eyes were pure black, without whites, like two glass beads pressed into the eye sockets.

And on the right side of the shark head, right next to the cheek, there was another face.

A human, twisted face, like a wax figure that had been burned and melted.

The facial features were blurry, but one could feel that face staring at the world with a kind of madness.

Its skin was grayish-blue, covered with fine scales, and viscous liquid flashing with faint fluorescent light constantly seeped from the gaps in the scales. There were fins on its back, but not one like a normal shark, but more than a dozen fins arranged randomly, as if they had been inserted by someone at will.

It is no exaggeration to say that just seeing this thing was enough to make one feel uncomfortable.

"What the hell is this thing..." Dean's voice came from inside the factory, carrying an undisguised shock.

He had seen many anomalies, but he had never seen one like this.

Although occultists also claim to be fused with anomalies, in fact, most of them rely on sealing magic arrays, and the relationship between them and the anomaly is not to say it is distinct, but it is definitely not too deeply fused.

Because those who are overly fused basically end up being assimilated by the anomaly and dying!

The Occultist Association had too many such cases; anyone who overused anomalous power, leading to deep fusion, would eventually become a monster with no reason, no self, and only attacking everything around it by instinct.

But this thing in front of him was different.

After rushing into the factory, it didn't attack randomly like those out-of-control fusions.

Its shark head turned, its pure black eyes swept across the entire factory, and it quickly judged the basic situation of the battlefield.

Although its momentum carried madness, its actions still maintained a certain degree of reason and intelligence!

After observing the situation in front of it, this monster rushed directly toward the sealing magic array node in the southeast corner of the factory.

Its speed was fast; although it looked like a shark, its movement on land was exaggeratedly fast.

Huge power trampled the ground, bringing a terrifying thrust, and the sound of its feet crushing the bricks on the ground echoed in the factory.

"Stop it!"

Harding's voice sounded, and the storm also chased toward the enemy.

But it was too late.

The monster used terrifying power to smash the capture team member who tried to block it, and that arm, as thick as a utility pole and covered with grayish-blue scales, swung out fiercely, smashing into the rune stone slab in the southeast corner.

The stone slab shattered, the light of the runes flickered a few times, and then went out.

A gap appeared in the sealing magic array's light ring, and the Shadow-Stealer, originally compressed in the center, immediately felt the change, and its shadow membrane began to squirm toward that gap.

Harding had to concentrate his power to suppress it back.

Dean didn't have time to think, raised his hand and shot a black thread toward the monster.

The power of the Shadow Snake surged from his palm, the thread split into several strands in the air, winding toward the monster's limbs and torso respectively.

The monster's shark head turned toward Dean, its pure black eyes staring at him.

Then its left arm raised, its palm opened, and a layer of dark red light emerged from its palm.

The light condensed into a sphere, then exploded, turning into a dark red shockwave, directly shattering Dean's Shadow Snake thread into fragments. Seeing this scene, Harding and Dean's eyelids jumped, because the Shadow Snake thread was actually "shattered."

The Shadow Snake's thread was not a physical entity, but an energy-state binding object, which ordinary physical attacks could not touch at all.

But the dark red light in the monster's palm could act directly on the energy level, disintegrating the thread's structure.

But they had no time to think about these things at the moment.

Harding subconsciously withdrew more power, guarding by his side.

The Shadow-Stealer on the other side took the opportunity to gather power, trying to break through Harding's storm blockade and escape from the gap in the sealing magic array.

Gao Jie Ming stood on the loading tower, looking down at the battle in the factory.

Without a doubt, that shark monster was protecting the Shadow-Stealer.

The first thing it did when it came in was to destroy the sealing magic array node, opening an escape channel for the Shadow-Stealer.

And the Shadow-Stealer, after sensing a certain aura on the monster, did not attack it, but took the initiative to shrink its shadow membrane, including the monster within its "safe range."

"Oh?" Gao Jie Ming was a bit surprised.

His gaze fell on the monster, and the Eye of Myriad Uses lit up slightly deep in his pupils.

His gaze passed through the monster's skin, muscles, and bones, reaching its core... the source of the power that forcibly fused humans and anomalies together. Then, Gao Jie Ming's eyes lit up.

"Interesting..."

During this period, he had been researching the Occultist Association's sealing technology.

From the complete anomaly he bought at the auction, from the various sealing materials bought from the black-market intermediary, from the intelligence about the Association's sealing magic array collected from spiritual sense scanning during the day...

These things allowed him to gradually master the core technology of this plane.

And the technology displayed on this monster in front of him contained parts that did not belong to this plane.

Gao Jie Ming could clearly distinguish it.

The "texture" of that dark red light, the way of energy-level oscillation, and even the arrangement logic of the core structure inside the monster, all carried a trace he was very familiar with.

Wizarding technology.

Definitely not the Occultist technology of this world, but the biological modification technology of the Wizarding World.

Clearly, the creator of that monster, or rather its modifier, possessed knowledge of the Wizarding World.

Gao Jie Ming's gaze became deeper.

It seems that the person behind this monster... or rather the force, had a connection with a certain wizard.

Regardless of the situation, it meant that the current situation was much more complex than he had initially thought.

The battle inside the factory was still continuing.

One node of the sealing magic array was destroyed, but the other three nodes were still operating.

Harding quickly made a judgment; if the Shadow-Stealer were allowed to escape from this gap, it would be difficult to catch it again.

He couldn't let it go.

But without a doubt, the shark monster that had just finished destroying the sealing magic array node and had turned its attention to them would not let him achieve his goal so easily.

"Dean, how long can you hold on?" Harding's voice was still clear in the noisy battlefield.

"Thirty seconds," Dean answered through gritted teeth.

While speaking, Dean had already begun to release his anomaly.

His face began to turn pale, the veins on his forehead bulged, and the power of the Shadow Snake surged in his body, like a poisonous snake wanting to break free from its cage. His control over the anomaly was not complete; even if he only released a part of the power, he was already struggling to hold on.

"Then hold this monster back as much as possible, I'll see if I can seal the Shadow-Stealer during this time," Harding said.

He took a deep breath and loosened his second suppression on the Storm Eye.

Before, he had only released part of the Storm Eye's power, ensuring it was enough to suppress the Shadow-Stealer but not causing too much damage to the surrounding environment. But now, that powerful monster had broken in, the sealing magic array had a gap, and the Shadow-Stealer was trying to escape; he had no choice.

The power of the Storm Eye poured out at this moment.

The storm inside the factory upgraded instantly.

Compared to the previous storm, the previous one could only be considered a breeze.

The dark clouds were no longer "condensing inside the factory," but "the factory was filled with dark clouds."

Thick black clouds surged from Harding's body, filling every corner of the space in the blink of an eye.

The thunder became continuous, and the uninterrupted roar sounded like ten thousand drums beating in his ears at the same time.

The raindrops were also converted into hail.

Fist-sized hail poured down from the dark clouds, smashing into the ground, machines, and walls, emitting a deafening, dense sound. The shark monster that had just rushed over and was preparing to attack saw this and didn't hesitate to take a defensive posture.

Its arms crossed in front of it, and dark red light formed a shield on its body surface, resisting the impact of the hail and the storm.

Taking advantage of the time Harding bought, Dean finally released his anomaly.

He knew he couldn't hold on for too long, so this strike had to use all his strength.

The power of the Shadow Snake boiled in his body, then surged from the palms of both his hands at the same time, turning into two arm-thick, pitch-black snake-shaped energy bodies. The two black snakes advanced in a cross in the air, opened their mouths, and bit toward the shark monster.

"Eh?"

Gao Jie Ming felt the power fluctuation of this strike on the tower and raised his eyebrows slightly.

The power fluctuation of this strike had already broken through the upper limit of Hazard Tier.

Without a doubt, the intensity of the anomaly sealed in Dean's body had already surpassed Hazard Tier.

He didn't expect that Dean, who looked young and didn't have much experience, actually had an anomaly of this level sealed in his body.

Disaster Tier.

It had already surpassed the intensity of the graffiti anomaly; so far, except for the Night Anomaly, Gao Jie Ming had never actually seen an anomaly exceeding Hazard Tier. It seemed that because the sealing was not completely released, Dean's Shadow Snake did not show any special power.

But even if it was just pure power intensity, it was overwhelming on the current battlefield.

The biting force, penetrating power, and energy-level destructive power of those two black snakes far exceeded the upper limit of Hazard Tier.

"Pity, this power is too strong; this little guy can't control it at the current stage," Gao Jie Ming couldn't help but shake his head.

Dean's control over this power was indeed incomplete.

Gao Jie Ming could clearly see that the trajectories of those two black snakes were unstable during flight, and the energy was constantly leaking.

This meant that even without interference from the enemy, Dean himself could not maintain their form for long.

If he could fully control the power of the Shadow Snake, the power of this strike could be increased by at least another thirty percent.

But even so, it was enough.

The two black snakes bit the shark monster at the same time.

One bit its right arm, and the other bit its left rib.

The dark red shield appeared with cracks under the piercing of the snake teeth, and then shattered.

The black snake's venomous teeth were deeply embedded in the monster's scales and muscles, and dark energy was poured into the monster's body from the wound.

The shark monster's body stiffened suddenly.

Its shark head opened its mouth, emitting a roar filled with pain and anger.

That twisted human face also opened its mouth at the same time, emitting a completely different, thin, shrill sound like a baby crying. The two sounds mixed together, forming a sound wave that made one's scalp tingle.

People in the factory ruins felt a pain in their heads after hearing this sound, as if they had been hit by a sledgehammer.

And Dean, as the main target of the attack, was affected the most deeply.

He persisted without falling, but the anomalous power he controlled had already begun to go out of control.

The shark monster's right arm swung fiercely, throwing the black snake biting on its arm away.

The black snake rolled a few times in the air, hit the wall, and dissipated into energy fragments.

The other black snake was still biting its rib; it grabbed the snake body directly with its left claw and squeezed its five fingers, crushing the black snake. Dean's body swayed fiercely, his face changing from pale to grayish-white.

A trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, his legs went soft, and he almost knelt to the ground.

He had already suffered severe mental damage from hearing that scream, and now the power he manipulated was crushed, and the power of the Shadow Snake was frantically backlashing in his body. His blood vessels bulged under his skin, like black earthworms squirming under his skin.

"Take it back!" Harding's voice carried an unquestionable command.

At the same time, he had to withdraw the power aimed at the Shadow-Stealer, erecting a storm barrier in front of himself and Dean, blocking the counterattacking shark monster. Dean gritted his teeth, desperately pressing the power of the Shadow Snake back into his body.

Those black lines bulging from his blood vessels slowly faded, his face changed from grayish-white to pale, but at least it didn't continue to worsen. He slumped on the ground, breathing heavily, sweat mixed with rain dripping from his face.

But the monster's mission had been completed.

The gap in the magic array was large enough, and just now Harding was distracted, allowing the Shadow-Stealer to seize the opportunity and break free from his blockade. The shadow membrane flowed out from the gap, spreading rapidly on the concrete ground like a pool of ink, and disappeared into the darkness outside the factory in the blink of an eye. The shark monster didn't linger either.

It turned and ran without hesitation, even taking Harding's storm strike head-on.

Harding's hail and storm smashed into its body, leaving countless fine cracks on its scales, and dark red liquid seeped from the cracks, dripping onto the ground, emitting a sizzling corrosive sound.

But it turned around and used its left arm, which was still intact, to support the ground.

Like a real beast, it rushed toward the wall it had smashed through on all fours.

It ran very fast.

The five- or six-meter-high body gave a strong sense of oppression when running, the ground vibrated under its footsteps, and rubble was splashed everywhere. The capture team couldn't stop it at all.

It rushed out of the hole in the wall, rushed into the night, and rushed toward the direction of the sea.

Harding's footsteps moved, wanting to chase, but subconsciously looked back.

Dean slumped on the ground, his body trembling slightly, the backlash of the Shadow Snake had not completely subsided, and faint black patterns could still be seen swimming under his skin.

He needed someone to help him stabilize his power, otherwise those patterns could bulge again at any time, tearing his body from the inside.

Harding's footsteps stopped.

He looked at Dean, then at the direction where the monster disappeared into the night, then at the direction where the Shadow-Stealer escaped. Then he turned around without hesitation, squatted in front of Dean, and placed his palm on Dean's chest.

The power of the Storm Eye was converted into a stable energy flow, slowly injected into Dean's body, helping him suppress the backlash of the Shadow Snake.

"Don't speak," Harding's voice was very low, "Stabilize your core, I'll help you collect your power."

Dean closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and felt Harding's power wandering in his body.

That power combed the energy of the Shadow Snake's rampage one by one, and pressed it back into the sealing core one by one.

This process took time.

And during this time, the Shadow-Stealer had already escaped far away.

That shark monster had also disappeared into the thick fog on the sea surface.

There was no expression on Harding's face, but deep in his eyes, there was something heavy.

It was not anger or frustration, but a more complex emotion mixed with unwillingness and vigilance.

They had prepared for so long, arranged so much, and in the end, they still let the anomaly be rescued.

Someone was manipulating all this behind the scenes.

Someone was waiting at sea to pick up that monster.

Someone knew the Association's mode of operation, knew they would choose this place as the battlefield, knew the locations of their sealing magic array nodes, and knew they hadn't arranged protection in the direction of the ocean.

(Something came up today, so just this chapter.) ===== CHAPTER 637 =====