Chapter 377: Cunning Scoundrels, Let

On White House Avenue, Wu Chang’s true body was directing the Arcane Knights and the police officers from the Police Department to clear the chaotic, debris-strewn street.

White House Avenue is the heart of Stilan’s politics, where the headquarters of most domestic government agencies are located; it is no exaggeration to call it the face of Stilan.

If people were to see White House Avenue in this state at daybreak, with the World Industrial Expo about to be held, the consequences would be dire.

Cleaning up the street, counting the dead, and handling the subsequent aftermath were tasks primarily left to the plane’s natives.

The players, meanwhile, were faithfully carrying out the instructions left by the true self before he departed, protecting Sir Xiao En.

In particular, God’s Tongue and Killing Intent Fluctuation had practically become Wu Chang’s personal bodyguards, not daring to slack off for a single moment.

Acting Prime Minister Glad was dead, and the conservative Chief Justice had just been hanged from a lamppost by their own hands; having reached this point, they had all but locked in victory for the side-quest confrontation.

One must know that winning a side-quest confrontation represents a 40% bonus to the instance completion rate.

This is a 40% bonus completion rate for an S-rank instance, which is more valuable than an A-rank clearance of an ordinary A-rank instance; no one could refuse such a massive reward.

If the leader of a faction were to meet with an accident at a time like this, leading to the disintegration of the faction, it would be more painful than being killed themselves.

Although everyone knew that with such a massive commotion tonight, the Steam Council’s goal could never have been merely to attack White House Avenue.

Just like the Great Stench some time ago, the Great Stench that attracted everyone’s attention was merely a facade; the Steam Council’s true purpose was to attack the Royal Light Weapons Factory and seize the core of the Anti-Magic Steam Stamping Press.

But knowing was one thing, and everyone tacitly chose not to speak of it.

Even Lei Wendun only showed worry on his face and did not bring up the topic.

Surrounded by the thick fog, his extraordinary powers were completely suppressed; compared to ordinary police officers, he had no real advantage other than a superior physique modified by extraordinary power.

Acting rashly under these circumstances would lead to a fate no better than the extraordinary beings who died on White House Avenue.

Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the heavy sound of hooves came from the thick fog, and a moment later, Randy charged into White House Avenue with the wind.

Randy dismounted, looking at the tragic scene around him while striding toward Wu Chang.

"The situation here is even worse than I imagined."

Randy’s massive build and lion-like beastly aura were highly recognizable; God’s Tongue and Killing Intent Fluctuation recognized Randy at a glance and did not block his approach.

Wu Chang said with a hint of helplessness:

"The opponent chose their timing well, attacking White House Avenue while we were out on business; by the time we returned, it had already become like this."

Randy sensed something and tactfully did not ask what Wu Chang had been doing with his men, saying instead:

"Stilan Palace was also attacked by the Steam Council, but fortunately, Her Majesty Olivia evacuated in time and entered St. George’s Cathedral through a secret passage."

"Zhu Li and I dealt with those attackers. In the final stage of the battle, we encountered an outside extraordinary being named Phantom, who said White House Avenue had also been attacked, so I came to take a look."

Wu Chang was not surprised that Phantom had headed to St. George’s Cathedral; he already knew from Connor that Phantom was actually a mole in Olivia’s camp.

Now that White House Avenue had fallen and the leader of the Liberal Party he was infiltrating had died in the attack, he no longer needed to maintain his disguise.

Wu Chang briefly questioned Randy about the battle at St. George’s Cathedral and immediately sensed an anomaly, asking:

"Among the crowd attacking St. George’s Cathedral, was there a guy holding a cane with a special mark?"

Randy fell into thought; he had been killing too quickly before and had not noticed anything different about those steam councilors.

"The guys attacking St. George’s Cathedral all had mediocre strength, nowhere near the ability level of an Executioner; there shouldn't have been the person you are looking for."

Wu Chang frowned and whispered, "That’s not right."

At this time, the battle on the Executioner’s side had already ended, and his true self had learned from Leng Shan and Jian Xing that Xavier, whom he had seen in the resentment, was not only a model employee of the Steam Council but also its leader, the Number One Councilor.

The Executioner’s memories within the Doom Space also reflected Xavier’s status.

With the Steam Council making such a big move, Xavier’s absence was definitely problematic.

Just as they were speaking, an abrupt night wind blew over Grimland.

"The wind is picking up."

God’s Tongue felt the wind direction and looked up at the sky.

The already thick smog overhead began to rotate clockwise under the influence of the strong wind, forming a vortex of condensed smog in the sky.

The smog gathering toward the center of the vortex was not just simple fog; it represented the steam rules of the plane.

A massive amount of steam rules gathered together and began to undergo a metamorphosis.

Listening carefully, one could hear faint sounds of thunder coming from the vortex, as if something terrifying was gestating within it.

Under the gaze of the people, the vortex slowly descended, and at a height of several hundred meters from the ground, they saw the existence at the center of the vortex.

It was a mysterious person wearing the same robe as the steam councilors; he hovered in the air, yet still held his cane in front of him as if standing on the ground.

Seeing the cane, Randy knew that the black-robed figure appearing in the sky was the Xavier that Wu Chang was looking for.

Once Xavier appeared, he did not need to perform any excessive actions; everyone who saw him felt a strange sensation rise in their hearts.

It was as if the entire world was revolving around him, just like the vortex of fog gathering around him.

At this moment, Xavier seemed to have become the center of the plane.

Even though Wu Chang had never seen a Son of the Plane, looking at Xavier now, he understood what a Son of the Plane was.

Xavier looked down at the crowd, like a god looking down upon mortals.

A large amount of fog carrying steam rules surged into his black robe, causing it to billow and swell.

*Rip~*

Accompanied by the sound of tearing fabric, a pair of massive black wings burst through the robe and appeared behind Xavier.

Xavier’s wings were different from Ailin’s angel wings; his were made entirely of steel, with a rough exterior and sharp, distinct edges.

On the pitch-black steel wings were dense holes that would make anyone with trypophobia explode at a glance; every single hole was a gun barrel.

Xavier flapped his wings, and thick steam erupted from the gun barrels; in an instant, the dense steam rules engulfed White House Avenue.

God’s Tongue discovered with horror that in the steam spewed by Xavier, let alone skills, even his Source Power was tightly suppressed within his body, unable to be released as a skill.

It was not just God’s Tongue; even Randy, the pinnacle of the native combatants, was similarly restricted.

Of everyone present, only the few who possessed mechanical-type abilities remained unaffected.

Wu Chang sniffed, sensing the fog permeating the air.

Xavier’s steam rules were so overbearing that they could even seal the players’ Source Power; there was only one reason for this: divinity had already evolved within Xavier’s rule power.

Sensing the divinity in the fog, Wu Chang felt that Grimland’s disgusting air had suddenly become sweet.

He loved divinity far too much.

Xavier, located above the crowd, did not notice the change in Wu Chang’s true body’s expression; he was enjoying the panic on the faces of the extraordinary beings below.

White House Avenue was better after all; it was full of ordinary extraordinary beings like ants, unlike the Grey Chapel slums, which hid some weird existence.

The existence within possessed power that even he found incredible, as if it had separated the space of the slums from the world, independent and self-contained.

Even when he drove his steam rules to the limit, he could not penetrate it in the slightest.

Facing the existence within the slums, he had no confidence in victory; the white flames the other party used made him feel fear even when he condensed his divinity.

If he rashly entered the slums and was cut off from his connection to the plane, he might die.

But as long as he did not enter the slums, as a Son of the Plane supported by nearly endless rule power, he was not necessarily afraid of the other party.

However, having said that, he was unwilling to provoke such a terrifying existence unless necessary.

If he couldn't beat the monster in the slums, couldn't he beat ordinary extraordinary beings?

Xavier’s thoughts shifted, and he immediately turned his gaze from the slums back to White House Avenue, looking at Xiao En and Randy, as well as the Queen and Zhu Li not far away.

Rather than risking his life against the guy in the slums, it was better to kill these big shots first, seize Stilan, and then slowly play with the other party later.

Thinking of this, he arrived directly above White House Avenue, ready to act.

Be afraid, tremble; this was the ability that belonged to him, and it was also his mission.

The steel wings behind him flapped slowly, and he opened his mouth, saying in a cold, mechanical voice:

"The future of the world belongs to industry, to technology; you extraordinary beings of the old era can exit the stage now."

"Not just you, the decaying institutions on this street should also be destroyed along with it; I will build a true Stilan Empire upon their ruins, one that the world will look up to." As he spoke, dangerous light began to flicker within the countless holes in his steel wings.

As the one with the strongest Source Power on the scene, capable of barely resisting Xavier’s divinity, Randy could feel how terrifying the power Xavier was accumulating was.

He grabbed the panicked Lei Wendun, grabbed Wu Chang’s wrist with his other hand, and sprinted toward the Police Department, not forgetting to shout:

"Find cover!"

The next moment, countless rays of light erupted from Xavier’s wings and shot toward the crowd below.

Xavier’s move was far more troublesome than the barrage of bullets used by the Executioner; every attack he fired turned into a crossbow bolt formed of light, carrying the scent of steam explosives.

When the light arrows touched buildings, they triggered massive explosions; under the dense light arrows, White House Avenue looked as if it had been bombarded by artillery shells.

The Parliament Building, the Prime Minister’s residence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and even the Police Department where Wu Chang and the others were located, all turned into ruins amidst the violent bombardment.

Fortunately, it was late at night, so there were no casualties; if it were daytime, Stilan’s upper and lower houses, along with the entire government system, could be directly rebuilt.

The light arrows Xavier fired were simulated anti-magic crossbow bolts using steam rules and extraordinary energy; besides the explosion of steam explosives, they also carried the property of anti-magic bullets attacking the origin, as well as the characteristic that divinity attacks could not be resisted.

Several light arrows shattered doors and windows and shot toward the crowd; Randy wanted to rely on the Arcane Knight’s tough physique to intercept them, swinging his sword at the light arrows.

But the moment the greatsword in his hand made contact with a light arrow, the sword was shattered by the power within the arrow; not only that, the anti-magic power within the light arrow carried divinity, and before Randy could let go of the sword, it traveled along the blade and drilled into his body.

The fusion of anti-magic power and divinity was terrifyingly destructive to the human body; Randy, whose body was so robust it didn't seem human and who possessed the Arcane Knight heritage, only had time to let out a muffled groan before collapsing to the ground, losing control of his body.

Seeing two more light arrows following closely behind, breaking through the glass and flying toward them, the faces of the Arcane Knight members turned ashen.

Earlier, when they were cleaning up the corpses, they had wondered if the extraordinary beings on White House Avenue had died so easily because they were too weak; they hadn't expected that ten minutes later, they would experience the despair those extraordinary beings felt before death.

Especially White Horse and Veronica, who were targeted by the light arrows; under the immense threat, they couldn't even summon the desire to dodge, and a flashback of their lives was already flickering before their eyes.

Looking at the dazzling light, White Horse recalled the sunlight of his childhood midsummer...

Before he could see the childhood sunlight clearly, he discovered a dark cloud—no, a figure—blocking in front of him.

He came to his senses and discovered that the person appearing before him was none other than Sir Xiao En, who was supposed to be protected by the players.

Wu Chang was holding the Holy Sword of the Lake at this time, and the holy sword in his hand emitted a light of more than half a meter.

The light looked faint, yet it was incomparably firm.

Wu Chang slashed his sword at the light arrow shot by Xavier, and like snuffing out a candle, he easily extinguished the light.

He then turned the sword body, backhanding to intercept the light arrows shooting toward Veronica.

He glanced at the sword body and discovered that after slashing through two rays of light, the sword remained bright, and the blade hadn't even chipped a tiny bit.

It truly lived up to the name Sword of Perfection.

"Item Skill: Sword of Perfection."

"Skill Description: A holy sword blessed by the Lady of the Lake who guards Steven; as long as the origin within the holy sword is not damaged, the blade of the holy sword will not be destroyed."

He turned his head and shouted to the Arcane Knights:

"Pull yourselves together! There are only knights who die in battle, not knights who fear and wait for death!"

The Sword of Perfection, combined with his Blasphemer, was temporarily enough to intercept all the sporadic incoming attacks.

But interception alone was not enough; he had to find a way to take down Xavier.

The good news was that Xavier possessed divinity; as long as he could get close to Xavier, killing him would not be difficult.

The bad news was that Xavier kept floating in the sky, and Wu Chang could not fly.

With his spatial power sealed by the Steam Rules, Wu Chang had lost his mobility and displacement skills, leaving him without a way to approach Xavier for the moment.

Just as he was pondering how to get close to the opponent while slashing through an incoming light arrow, he suddenly saw Tongue of God dart out from the side, finding the fragment at the arrowhead before the light arrow he had shattered could dissipate, and swallowed it in one gulp.

The swallowed light arrow head exploded inside Tongue of God's mouth, nearly blowing his head apart.

Wu Chang was startled by Tongue of God's action and scolded, "Are you crazy?"

Tongue of God wore a bitter smile, spat out a puff of black smoke, and said, "I thought it was a normal origin power attack; I didn't expect it to pack such a punch."

When he opened his mouth to speak, one could see his gums and oral cavity were blown to shreds, constantly gushing blood, but his tongue remained pink and tender, with even the taste buds on it undamaged.

The name Tongue of God was truly well-earned.

He took out twenty-some bottles and jars at top speed, and while mixing a potion, he said:

"There were some accidents in the process, but there was a harvest in the end."

As he spoke, he had already prepared a potion of a peculiar color and lifted Randy up to pour it down his throat.

Randy drank the potion prepared by Tongue of God, and he began to recover his strength, regaining control of his body.

The origin power and divine power that had invaded Randy's body were actually neutralized by the potion Tongue of God had concocted.

Wait, was that something that could be neutralized by a potion?

Wu Chang really wanted to complain, but he held back; looking at Randy, who had regained his vitality, an idea surfaced in his mind.

He pointed at Xavier floating in the sky and said, "Can you throw me over there?"

Randy briefly estimated the distance and nodded, saying, "It shouldn't be a problem, but are you planning to go over just like that?"

Xavier in the sky was like a turret with infinite ammunition, constantly releasing light arrows filled with explosive power into the surroundings.

To get close to Xavier, he would likely have to take a dozen attacks in the air first.

Even if Wu Chang could block them, he would likely be knocked back to the ground by the attacks and would be unable to get close at all.

Wu Chang said, "As long as you can throw me over, I have my own ways for the rest."

Randy took a deep breath and said, "I need ten seconds of preparation time."

Wu Chang nodded and said, "That works, I need to prepare as well."

He turned his back to the others, took out Favor of the Goddess of Luck, activated the Weighted Dice skill, and rolled three 1s to activate the Strong Luck effect.

Afterward, he took out a white belt and tied it inside his clothes.

This belt was called White Ghost, and he had looted it from the Bloody Last Words of the boss, Old K, during the Bad Luck dungeon.

After tying the belt, he activated the belt's namesake skill.

"Item Skill: White Ghost"

"Skill Description: Activate the skill to briefly enter the White Ghost state. While White Ghost is active, you cannot be locked onto or targeted by any technology-based weapons. When hit by a technology-based area-of-effect attack, you have a 30% chance to be immune to the damage received."

Ten seconds later, the prepared Randy returned to the group from the next room.

According to him, he had been using his transcendent ability to suppress his physical body to make it look as much like a normal person as possible; if he were to throw Wu Chang to Xavier, he would need to lift this suppression.

Having released his physical suppression, Randy reached a staggering height of three and a half meters, his body covered in thick hair; this appearance had already transcended humanity.

Wu Chang suspected that Randy hadn't just released some physical restraint, but had directly used some kind of transformation skill.

Randy asked, "Are you ready?"

Wu Chang nodded and said, "Do it."

Wu Chang gave Randy a look, and the two rushed out from the doorway simultaneously. At the moment of the charge, Randy reached out and grabbed Wu Chang's left hand, spun his body twice on the spot, and like throwing a hammer, hurled Wu Chang toward Xavier in the sky.

Xavier noticed their movement, immediately shifted his firepower, locked onto Wu Chang, and fired a dense barrage of light arrows.

But under the blessing of the Goddess of Luck's Strong Luck, Wu Chang's 30% damage immunity was temporarily maxed out to 100%.

The duration of Strong Luck was very short, but it was enough for Wu Chang to get close to Xavier.

If he were using his True Self right now, he would definitely shout "Man!" heartily and deliver a fierce elbow strike to Xavier's face.

But he couldn't shout that now.

Sir Xiao En had suddenly used an elbow; even if the other players were idiots, it would be very easy for them to notice something was wrong.

However, he had prepared other entertainment for Xavier. He gripped the Lake Light Holy Sword in one hand, took out a knight's plate gauntlet with the other, and smashed it fiercely toward Xavier, saying:

"Cunning villain, let's have a fair duel!"

(End of chapter)