Chapter 290

"Sniper!"

"Sergeant! Protect the sergeant!"

"They're picking off our command!"

When the position of the third officer was swallowed by a vast expanse of purple lightning, the guards outside the boarding tower guessed what the men inside intended to do—shield-bearing soldiers immediately rushed toward the sergeant.

Though they couldn't fathom how the men inside had launched brittle lightning ore over three hundred meters, in this moment, deploying pneumatic shields was the most reliable defense.

These tactical shields, requiring continuous airflow from the base to reduce weight for single-person mobility, featured three layers of 50-millimeter-thick composite plating, each side offering protection comparable to powered armor shells.

Though less effective when carried handheld, when lined up side by side, they became rigid enough to briefly withstand medium-caliber bombardment—sufficient to serve as temporary field positions; so as long as the shields were set up to block the flight path of the lightning ore…

"Boom!" "Hiss~"

Once the shields were set, the targets became even more obvious.

…

After firing another nail as a marker, electrocuting the sergeant and five or six nearby soldiers, Leon nearly laughed aloud as he watched the hastily erected temporary positions below—even though he was still trapped inside, unable to escape.

Previously, he'd had to spend time locating targets, aiming carefully before firing, and even had to relocate after every two shots to prevent his sniper rifle from being destroyed by counterfire—inefficient, to say the least.

But now, with the enemy marking their own positions, he no longer needed to search or even aim—just fire near the general location, letting Little Ha locate it in the Mirror World, then drop the lightning ore straight into the center of the formation.

"No! Don't cluster!"

"Spread out! Quickly!"

"These shields won't hold—we need to break out!"

As the frequency of purple electric arcs suddenly increased, several sharp-witted sergeants realized the truth and ordered their men to disperse—but it was too late; Leon had already memorized the approximate locations of over a dozen sergeants.

"Boom!" "Hiss~"

"Boom!" "Hiss~"

The muffled reports of the sniper rifle and the sharp, piercing crackles of arcing electricity alternated in perfect, steady rhythm—the soldiers who rushed into the tower held out for two full minutes, but the officers outside didn't last thirty seconds, one after another collapsing to electric shocks.

Without a command system, the soldiers quickly descended into chaos; their once-tight encirclement began to loosen…

Time to move out!

Seeing the encirclement now visibly fractured, Leon, having descended to the ground floor, took a deep breath, fired several final nails toward the ambush teams and firepoints to distract the most troublesome suppression, then retracted his sniper rifle and burst out the front door, sprinting toward the thinnest concentration of soul flames!

"He's out! Someone's out!"

"Not one of ours! Fire! Cover fire!"

"Shoot! What are the ambush teams doing?!"

Facing the sudden emergence of the enemy, some seasoned soldiers opened fire immediately—but due to the collapse of command and Little Ha's intermittent interference, several firepoints descended into disarray, failing to form effective suppression.

With the mental shield of the 【Sacred Spirit Pendant】, Leon endured roughly eighty to ninety rounds before he'd already crossed the most dangerous open zone and dove into the temporary position formed by the pneumatic shields.

Safe!

Feeling the gunfire thin out the moment he entered the position, Leon exhaled slightly in relief.

Unlike the "civilian" weapons of the Police Department, military firearms had far greater caliber and power—after just six or seven seconds of concentrated volleys, his stamina had already dropped by eighty percent.

It was right not to charge out recklessly relying on his immortality—his combat level of five tainted points meant his Sacred Spirit Pendant's shield would shatter after roughly 130 to 140 rounds.

If that happened, even if he didn't die, he'd be riddled with nails, immobile until his body repaired itself—just an immortal sitting duck.

But now, having successfully breached their position and avoided further concentrated fire, he had a chance to advance using the infinite endurance granted by 【War Diagonal】, shield still up.

Time to accelerate!

Taking a deep breath of the gray, sulfurous smoke, Leon's lungs burned with searing pain—but his nearly depleted stamina instantly returned to full.

After reorienting himself, Leon, his body restored to peak condition, pushed forward through the thinning gunfire, shield held high, and smashed straight through the temporary position, bursting out of the initial encirclement formed by over four hundred guards.

"God… he got out?!"

"He didn't die? What kind of new armor is he wearing?!"

"Don't chase yet! There might be others inside the tower!"

Faced with Leon's breakout, the soldiers, now leaderless, failed to organize immediate pursuit—after firing a few aimless volleys behind him, they obeyed the last orders of their unconscious sergeants and resumed surrounding the boarding tower, preventing more from emerging.

Yet before Leon could celebrate his escape, his spine chilled—he felt as if a predator of extreme danger had locked onto him.

…

"Sss~"

A low, sinister hiss echoed.

Accompanied by this strange, gurgling sound—as if air rushed through a throat—a colossal serpent silhouette, its body pitch-black with countless tiny white spots, appeared out of nowhere in Leon's vision and lunged straight at his shield.

Simultaneously, a tiny snake, a thousand times smaller than the giant serpent, silently materialized against Leon's chest, coiling around the Sacred Spirit Pendant, grinning at the terrified toad within, its mouth widening…

"Pop!"

A sound like a bursting bubble echoed in Leon's mind.

Leon felt a brief dizziness—the mental shield that had protected his entire body dissolved instantly, leaving him utterly exposed; the Sacred Spirit Pendant on his chest, now wrapped by the black snake, dimmed completely.

"Damn! Serpent Spirit of the Scale Gold Sect?!"

Amid Black Goat's shriek, Leon, fighting dizziness, reached out to tear off the tiny black serpent gnawing at the pendant.

But his hand passed through nothing—there was no physical form to grasp—yet the black serpent slithered up his arm, its fangs like twin obsidian nails, sinking deep into the artery of his wrist.