Chapter 209: Chanting of Sinful Intent
Chapter 209: Chanting of Sinful Intent
After departing from Oni no Miko's vantage point, Adam and the others also arrived on the hill that Dead Wood's team had occupied.
"Don't do anything before someone else makes a move!" Adam instructed. "Let's wait and observe for now. The zone is still closing in, so let's see who blinks first!"
This was a mindset that was shared by everyone, and as a result, it was eerily peaceful, much like the calm before the storm.
However, the game had been designed by the director to ensure that these periods of inactivity would be very fleeting and short-lived. The spectators were going to have some time to freshen up and take toilet breaks, but nothing more than that.
The sky gradually turned completely dark, and a sinister murmur began to ring out across the barren plain. Adam turned to find that the green barrier was getting closer and closer.
He grabbed Hook's telescope and looked beyond the green barrier, upon which he discovered countless zombie-like creatures outside. There were also some particularly imposing figures among the hordes of zombies, and Adam was able to identify those hulking figures as artificial anomalies.
"What the hell is this? Why are there zombies?"
"Is this a new element introduced into the game?"
The spectators in the real world had already noticed the zombies long ago, and they were very excited by this new game feature, eagerly awaiting a battle between the adapters and the zombies.
Where did these zombies come from? Were they invoked by the director? Is he an invocator? hewoitqhewtqoiehtoiewtqewhoewqthwqeht
Adam was very perplexed, and he had no intention of finding out how powerful these things were.
At the moment, the zombies were trapped behind the green barrier, but as the zone continued to close in, the zombies were getting closer and closer. The cyberhex cast by the director meant that one would sustain constant damage if they were to end up outside the zone, and that, in addition to all those zombies and artificial anomalies outside, was a combination that no one wanted to face.
"The barrier's almost here! Why is no one doing anything?"
Hook was looking around in an agitated manner like a cat on a hot tin roof.
"Hurry up! If no one makes a move, then everyone has to die!"
……
Of course, he wasn't the only one who was feeling agitated. Everyone else was just as tense and anxious as he was, but they were all forcibly suppressing their nerves.
As the green barrier drew closer and closer, the chewing sounds from the zombies could already be heard, and finally, someone cracked under the pressure.
A burly figure emerged from his hiding spot as he yelled, "We have to take action now, everyone! I know there are many people here, and I know that we all want to wait for others to attack before us, but the zone is about to close in on all of us, so it's time to take action! Who's with me?"
After a brief silence, someone responded to his call.
"What do you suggest? That we all charge together?"
"That's right! We charge as one, and we pick off anyone who dares to hide at the back!"
"That sounds like a plan!"
More and more voices were ringing out, and Adam and the others were also in approval of this course of action.
"If we all storm the hill at once, there's no way Dead Wood's team can stop us!"
"Exactly! There are dozens of us here, even Eyeless wouldn't stand a chance against all of us!"
"I agree!" Hook hurriedly said, making his opinion heard.
More and more approving voices rang out across the wilderness, and after around 40 people had been gathered, everyone began to slowly advance toward the hill in the distance, cloaked in the darkness of the night.
"Here they come!" On the summit of the hill, the architect was fiddling nervously with his turret as he turned to Dead Wood. "How do we do this?"
"For now, just attack as normal. If we don't retaliate at all, it may tip them off to the fact that they're walking into a trap."
"Alright, show me what you can do."
The architect didn't know anything about Dead Wood's friends, and he didn't know much about Dead Wood himself, either. He was a fugitive who had fled to Shadow City to escape retribution for his crimes, and he had only joined this team by chance.
Dead Wood had promised to wipe his criminal record if they won the battle royale, and even if they couldn't win, he had been promised a hefty sum as compensation.
Dead Wood had a very keen eye, and he had chosen an ally that was perfectly suited to situations like this.
They were the first ones to have taken over this hill, and at the moment, several dozen turrets had already been psychically manifested on the hill.
After receiving permission from Dead Wood, the architect activated the sniper cannons and laser cannon turrets first.
These two types of cannons had the longest range, and the people climbing up the hill from down below had just entered that range.
"Fire!"
Under the architect's psychic control, the turrets aimed at their targets before firing.
Around a dozen powerful laser beams instantly shot forth into the distance, incinerating all of the plants in their path, and even melting the rocks on the ground into molten lava.
As for the sniper turrets, their projectiles possessed devastating power that allowed them to punch through everything standing before them.
Thankfully, all of the participants who had managed to survive to this point were quite capable in battle, and they either concealed themselves, unleashed defensive abilities to protect themselves, or took evasive measures to dodge the attacks.
As they drew closer and closer, they began to enter the range of the other turrets, and more and more turrets were activated.
There were plasma cannons, high-explosive cannons, and even flamethrower cannons.
All of the cannons were firing down from their vantage point at the top of the hill, and finally, some of the adapters down below were beginning to sustain injuries.
However, the effect was still largely negligible. It was impossible for a single adapter to keep dozens of powerful adapters at bay. Even Oni no Miko couldn't accomplish such a feat.
"This is impossible!"
The architect was quickly becoming disheartened. It was very difficult for him to strike even adapters of Nie Yiyi's caliber, let alone the likes of Adam and Ikkaku.
The ones he did manage to strike all possessed potent defenses, such as the four mecha brothers, so landing a hit or two on them didn't have much of an effect at all.
"Don't be so quick to give up, young man."
Dead Wood finally rose to his feet after hearing the architect's despairing cries. He made his way over to the edge of the hill and looked down in an expressionless manner, then called out to the other two monks, "It's about time, disciple brothers!"
The other two monks approached Dead Wood upon hearing this, and the three of them began to chant a mantra in a strange language.
The architect couldn't understand the language, but he could sense boundless sinful intent in the mantra that was being chanted. The sinful intent gave rise to sinful thoughts that continued to accumulate incessantly in his mind until he was unable to take it anymore, and those thoughts completely boiled over to rob him of his sense of reason.
The sinful intent cascaded down the hill like a flood, and it had no substance, but it was imbued with extremely contaminative psychic energy.
All of the people scaling the hill, including Adam, were struck by this sinister wave, but no one seemed to have been harmed at all.
Right when everyone was perplexed by what had just happened, sinful thoughts suddenly began to rise up in their minds.
Why am I always the one putting in all the hard work, while you get to enjoy the fruits of my labors?
Adam turned to Nie Yiyi, and in that instant, she suddenly appeared utterly deplorable to him.
Why are you so weak? Can't you do anything useful? What right do you have to share the final reward when you've put in so little work?
Adam's greed was making him furious, his hatred was making him discontent, and his ignorance was robbing him of his sense of reason.
In a fit of rage, he threw a punch at Nie Yiyi.