Chapter 623: "Sacrifice"

The entire "parking lot" was instantly engulfed in explosions and howling sounds. Smoke billowed, flames rose, and the acrid stench of particle weapons scorching the air mixed with burning flesh and blood, mingling with the fine snow and mist that kept seeping in.

The battle had been intense from the very start, and neither side had any reason to hold back.

The two Inquisition soldiers struck by the Blood Needles were quickly gunned down by their comrades who had reacted in time. This squad, personally led by the priest, was clearly an elite unit of the Inquisition. Though startled by the horrifying situation, they almost instantly realized the possible cause of their comrades' sudden "loss of control," and while frantically taking cover, they began pouring bullets and particle beams at Yu Sheng.

At the same time, another white-robed priest hiding behind the soldiers suddenly raised his hand toward the center of the battlefield, pointing at the Blood Grenade that was constantly emitting red mist. He first summoned a gust of wind, only to find that even the gale could not disperse the seemingly thin blood mist. Immediately after, he conjured a large barrier to block the blood mist from advancing beyond the line.

The blood mist continuously corroded the shield, producing a hissing sound like strong acid eating through steel.

And the next second, two fox tails spewing long propulsion flames suddenly tore through the air and slammed violently into that energy barrier—the explosion from the Fox Radish Missile shook the entire underground parking lot. Foxfire shot skyward, causing the barrier to sway precariously, and it shattered completely when the next missile arrived.

The white-robed priest let out a startled cry. He had probably never imagined in his life that his shield would be blown to pieces by a fox's tail. Amid the intense dizziness and pain from the psychic backlash, he widened his eyes as he frantically tried to summon a new shield—he saw a towering Bronze Knight split in half in midair. The sturdy powered armor was cut apart like paper by something, and the corner of his eye barely caught a blur.

In the next instant, the blur came to a sudden halt in the middle of the battlefield, as if deliberately stopping to let the Inquisition priests opposite see her clearly. Luna slowly raised a hand in the smoke. The sharp blade-tips of her fingers glowed with the blue reflection of the foxfire.

Blazing foxfire spread and rose behind her, like a cloak of fury and flamboyance. The thin red mist of blood swirled around her, the extremely dangerous "living blood" for her enemies continuously strengthening and repairing her body.

"…It's a rogue heretic unit!" one of the Inquisition soldiers seemed to finally recognize something, pointing at Luna and shouting. "The one mentioned in the report!"

But before he even finished, he saw a short figure suddenly pierce through the smoke and fog on the battlefield. It was fast and small, and with foxfire spreading all over the ground, he couldn't immediately tell what it was. He just felt a blur in the corner of his eye—two Bronze Knights at the front line fell, and then the short figure charged forward and executed a jump strike—

It was a really shabby-looking dwarf doll, holding a pitch-black, round object with a handle.

"What the hell is thi—"

The church soldier only had time to let out a short cry over the comms before he felt a sharp pain in his knee. The energy shield and armor layer of his power armor were smashed to pieces on the spot. His entire body was sent flying sideways, and he was already unconscious before he even hit the ground.

His comrade beside him saw it clearly: it was a frying pan.

"Quick, quick, stop that thing!"

A barrage of particle beams instantly rained down on Erinn. But the little doll's body executed a series of sharp dodging angles during the charge. Golden threads guided her as she scurried among the group of church soldiers. Several times she even used the frying pan to block the unavoidable barrages. Then she rolled past a Bronze Knight charging at her, targeted the nearest soldier, jumped up, and smacked him right on the knee with the pan.

Thus the little doll rampaged across the battlefield, using the cover of smoke (and her 66.6-centimeter height) to dash into the enemy lines. Like a crazy cat, she scurried around under the feet of a bunch of Bronze Knights and church soldiers, launching jump strikes when no one was paying attention—last time she had a skirmish with the Bronze Knights, she wasn't very skilled yet, but now she could jump up and hit knees of various heights with considerable proficiency.

Any Bronze Knight hit by her frying pan would fall down instantly, as if their soul had been "exorcised," ceasing operation immediately. As for the human church soldiers, though they wouldn't die outright, they would be severely injured on the spot—the joints of power armor were fragile structures, and that pan dealt critical hits with true damage every time. Smashing knees was crisp and clean!

In just a short while, wherever the little doll went, chaos reigned. The wreckage of Bronze Knights blocked the church soldiers' retreat. Soldiers with broken legs wailed and cried, or simply passed out. And Erinn didn't pursue—she only focused on smashing knees or hitting toes with the pan. Her tactic was simple: hit and run. Even a rabbit would call her its grandchild.

"Hahahaha! Come get me! You bunch of stupid bastards can't even touch my skirt!"

The little doll crawled through crotches and rolled to dodge a series of furious gunfire, even managing to shout arrogantly in between. But at that moment, a sense of foreboding suddenly exploded in her heart.

Erinn felt a chill run through her body, and the air around her filled with surging, restless energy. Instinctively, she turned and ran toward Yu Sheng. But as soon as she reached the middle of the battlefield, she felt as if something had bound her limbs, making it hard to move. Even her hair stood on end—her originally smooth golden hair puffed up like a golden feather duster.

"Wh…"

She turned in shock to look in a certain direction, and saw the Inquisition priest in the white robe with gold patterns reaching out a hand toward her—the priest was full of rage, his white robe flapping in the surging energy. His body visibly elongated, muscles bulging, skin glowing with a faint golden light reminiscent of sanctity. Even his face gradually took on the appearance of a classical marble statue symbolizing gods and heroes, while a circle of thorny vines shimmering with golden lightning floated above his head, like a holy crown.

"Hark, the Omen of the Sanctum!"

The priest roared.

Erinn only had time to let out a cry before her vision was engulfed in blinding lightning. Instinctively, she raised her frying pan to block above her head, only to feel herself blasted into the air, then scattered into many parts that fell piece by piece across the parking lot.

A ball of lightning erupted from the center of the underground parking lot. The lightning turned into layers of charging storms that pushed outward, sweeping through the entire space with a near-devastating force. Yu Sheng saw Erinn fly apart in pieces, and then the several fox tails Hu Li had just launched were also detonated in midair by the lightning storm.

Luna rushed in front of him, using her blade-tipped fingers to tear open a bolt of lightning heading their way, but the second and third layers of thunder blasted her away as well.

Yu Sheng was also blasted away—against a lightning storm sweeping the entire space, he had nowhere to hide.

The taste of blood filled the air. He crashed into a pillar, not knowing how many wounds had appeared on his body. He felt his heart stop once, but then forgot about death due to a momentary lapse, and his heart started pounding again. After a few beats, the heart seemed to realize something was wrong and stopped again.

Yu Sheng let his blood flow freely, leaning against the pillar, grinning and grimacing.

A golden thing rolled over from the side and came to a stop beside his hand.

It was Erinn's little head—the little doll looked up, her golden hair frazzled, her face blackened, but her eyes still clear. She opened her mouth, revealing a row of small white teeth that gleamed against her dark face: "Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable…"

Heavy footsteps came from afar again. Yu Sheng struggled to lift his head, only to see another batch of Bronze Knights passing through the rift at the end of the parking lot, arriving on the battlefield.

Inquisition soldiers were carrying the corpses of the fallen and the severely injured soldiers whose legs Erinn had broken toward the rift. Meanwhile, the priest with the thorny halo floating above his head was calming the psychic surge while ordering the remaining soldiers to deal with the giant nine-tailed fox on the other side of the parking lot—

At the moment the lightning storm erupted, Hu Li had transformed into her nine-tailed form, relying on her powerful yokai physique to withstand the thunder directly. Now, electricity still crackled over her body, and she had summoned another batch of Fox Cannon Drones, using foxfire barrages to barely suppress the Inquisition believers opposite.

"Quick, summon the mass-produced dolls," Yu Sheng turned his head, looking at the doll head beside him. "While that leader is still on cooldown."

At that moment, he was almost relieved that Erinn hadn't summoned the mass-produced dolls to the battlefield earlier, because that chain lightning storm would have shattered a large number of fragile mass-produced units—they were all mass-produced, after all. A sudden mass destruction would likely have a significant impact on Erinn.

But Erinn didn't respond.

The little doll's head was still lying on the ground, her expression dazed for some reason.

The blood flowing from Yu Sheng dyed her hair red and stained her blackened face. Half of Erinn's face slowly submerged in the blood. She heard Yu Sheng's words, but it seemed her thoughts were too sluggish to comprehend their meaning. She just slowly lifted her eyelids, opened her mouth several times, and let out faint murmurs:

"…S…"

Yu Sheng was inhaling sharply from the pain at that moment, and upon hearing this, he almost choked: "I'm almost dead, you don't need to remind me. My heart's been stopped for several minutes…"

But the little doll's mouth kept opening and closing: "Sac…"

Yu Sheng: "…Huh?"

He watched as the little doll's head slowly sank into the pool of blood, as if melting into it.

When it was more than halfway submerged, a faint smile gradually appeared on Erinn's face. That smile was almost saintly.

"Sacrifice."