Leaving in the direction the lounge faced, Ren Amamiya once again walked through that dark and narrow corridor, returning from the crevice between spirit and matter to the true real world.
"I don't know if Hare is still in this base. In any case, let's destroy this base that's recklessly conducting human modification experiments first."
Ren Amamiya slowly walked out from the deepest part of the World Serpent base. He still maintained Jizo Mitama's corrosive ability, preventing the surveillance equipment deployed throughout the base from capturing his figure.
Having successfully infiltrated the Velvet Room once using stealth and significantly upgraded himself.
Ren Amamiya no longer worried about the possibility of the Velvet Room's entrance being sealed or destroyed by members of the Serpent's cult. He prepared to once again utilize his phantom thief's stealth expertise to completely destroy and paralyze this evil organization's base that worshipped an evil god.
Instead of destroying the Velvet Room's seal, which the evil god valued most, he would destroy the evil organization's base in the real world that worshipped the evil god. Presumably, the evil god, who still wanted to play the Trickster game with Ren Amamiya, wouldn't mind too much.
As long as the evil god had no objections, the Serpent's cult members in this base couldn't stop Ren Amamiya's path of destruction.
The primary target in this Serpent's cult base was naturally the laboratory Ren Amamiya had discovered while sneaking to the Velvet Room.
Transforming humans into Shadows, or fusing humans with Shadows... No matter what kind of experiments the Serpent's cult was conducting, such cruel and terrifying human experiments deserved to be brought to an end.
Following the virtual map route projected again by Higokumaru, Ren Amamiya moved swiftly and nimbly through the World Serpent base, rapidly approaching the World Serpent's laboratory area.
And just as Ren Amamiya was about to reach the laboratory area, a figure dressed in black and holding a black umbrella appeared on the path Ren Amamiya needed to take to enter the laboratory.
It would be very easy to avoid this Gray Serpent and leave without a trace.
However, if Ren Amamiya wanted to enter that laboratory, he couldn't avoid this Gray Serpent cyborg who happened to be passing by.
And very coincidentally, Ren Amamiya had no intention of avoiding this Gray Serpent, nor did he have any intention of patiently waiting for it to leave before entering the laboratory.
Ren Amamiya planned to switch to a different kind of stealth, not the phantom thief's kind, but a special kind of stealth belonging to an assassin.
Commonly known as, as long as you kill all the witnesses, it's a flawless stealth operation!
Ren Amamiya, clad in his pitch-black phantom thief attire, crouched at the corner of the hallway, moving nimbly between the various obstacles in the corridor like a gust of black wind.
Ren Amamiya's feet stepped back and forth on the ground without making the slightest sound. He used the obstacles piled up in the corridor to conceal his figure, silently approaching the Gray Serpent cyborg from behind, who remained completely unaware.
Ren Amamiya already knew that Gray Serpents were cyborg soldiers mass-produced by the Serpent's cult. Therefore, while hiding his tracks, he also commanded Higokumaru to use Jizo Mitama's power to interfere with the reconnaissance systems equipped on the Gray Serpent.
"Now!"
The Gray Serpent detected the intrusion of an external virus into its system earlier than Ren Amamiya had anticipated. It stopped in surprise, wanting to perform a quick virus self-check on its own body.
However, before the Gray Serpent could begin its system virus check, Ren Amamiya, who had already closed in behind it, suddenly leaped up, landing his feet on the shoulders of the Gray Serpent, whose body had abruptly frozen.
As Ren Amamiya, squatting on the Gray Serpent's shoulders, leaped a second time, he performed a magnificent turn in mid-air like a gymnast, landing lightly on the ground.
The pale, single-eyed mask that had been tightly attached to the Gray Serpent's face was also abruptly ripped off by Ren Amamiya's red-gloved hand!
"This is... the power of Jizo Mitama?! Ren Amamiya... did you follow Hare and sneak into the base?!"
After seeing the black figure that leaped out from behind him, stepping on his shoulders, and reached out to peel off the mask on his face.
Even without seeing the attacker's face, the Gray Serpent immediately recognized the true identity of this uninvited guest through the iconic black, wing-like trench coat, and also realized the true nature of the mysterious virus that had invisibly tampered with its system feedback data.
Ren Amamiya, wielder of the Key of Erosion, was terrifyingly like a fish in water in this World Serpent main base, which brought together the technological heritage of the Previous Era. He could easily trigger a massive crisis leading to the complete destruction of the base.
When this Gray Serpent was welcoming Hare, who was entering the World Serpent base to accept a mission, it, being well aware of Hare and Ren Amamiya's relationship, had worried about this matter and secretly raised the World Serpent base's alert level to the maximum.
However, even though this Gray Serpent had raised the base's alert level to the highest, it still failed to detect any trace of Ren Amamiya infiltrating the base and had even begun to think that the other Gray Serpents were being overly paranoid.
Yet, just as this Gray Serpent slightly relaxed its guard, Ren Amamiya had truly snuck over without a sound, and with extremely smooth and natural movements, tore off its mask from behind!!
Just like the Gray Serpent in the Nagazora City temporary base, this Gray Serpent instantly made the exact same move.
First, it instantly disconnected from the network linking it to other Gray Serpents, preventing the corrosive virus from spreading to other Gray Serpent bodies.
Then, the Gray Serpent immediately injected itself internally with the special drug developed by Jackal, the one that could cause the human body to break down and transform into a Honkai beast.
"Reveal your true form, Shadow!"
Ren Amamiya casually tossed the white single-eyed mask in his hand aside. He slowly turned around, the black eyes behind his white spirit bird mask as sharp as a falcon's, firmly locked onto the Gray Serpent, which was regarded as prey.
After Ren Amamiya forcibly tore off the white single-eyed mask from its face, the Gray Serpent's face, a mixture of flesh and machinery, was revealed to Ren Amamiya. And due to Jackal's drug, the flesh-and-blood parts belonging to a human were rapidly undergoing Honkai beastification.
The non-mechanical human parts of the Gray Serpent instantly turned a pitch-black color. Its body, tightly wrapped in black clothes, suddenly swelled up like a balloon. Its pair of crimson eyes also quietly transformed into the shape of beastly pupils, devoid of reason, filled only with violent and destructive impulses.
In but a moment, the Gray Serpent, whose white mask had been forcibly peeled off by Ren Amamiya, transformed from a normal human figure into a Shadow behemoth as enormous and heavy as a tank, its pitch-black body flashing with deep blue patterns, its entire being exuding an extreme frosty aura, and possessing four sharp white tusks like a giant elephant.
As the Gray Serpent cyborg before him transformed into an out-of-control Shadow behemoth, piercingly sharp alarm sirens instantly blared throughout the entire Serpent's cult base. Intense, deep red warning lights flickered continuously in every corner of the base.
Tactical mechs and soldiers patrolling the World Serpent base received the signal at the first moment and rushed towards Ren Amamiya's location in unison.
Violent tremors echoed continuously from various areas of the base. Heavy alloy isolation doors sealed off different sections of the World Serpent base, attempting to block the intruder's escape routes.
"Persona!----Come forth, Sakura!!"
Ren Amamiya tightly gripped the Jizo Mitama tachi in his hand. An azure flame suddenly erupted from the void.
Accompanying the emergence of that azure spectral flame, a slender figure wearing a red and white shrine maiden outfit, with a pair of cherry-pink fox ears atop her cherry-blossom colored long hair, and holding a cherry-red spirit blade in her fair, slender hand, suddenly responded to the call of Ren Amamiya, the Persona user, and materialized in the real world!
"Big Sis!! Go, Big Sis, beat this wild boar to a pulp!!"
Seeing Ren Amamiya summon Yae Sakura, Higokumaru instantly perked up. Her eyes shining, she waved her hands and cheered loudly for Yae Sakura.
Persona Yae Sakura, holding the spirit blade Sakurafubuki, executed a slashing motion towards the Gray Serpent, which had lost rational control and completely transformed into the Emperor-class Honkai beast, Párvati.
A splendid and beautiful sword light, like cherry blossoms, suddenly bloomed in the air. Crisscrossing sword slashes continuously struck towards the enormous beastly body of the Emperor-class Honkai beast, Párvati.
The swordsmanship of Yae Shrine was most suitable for subjugating large, non-human demonic beasts.
As Yae Sakura danced with the cherry-red spirit blade in her hand, creating shower after shower of falling cherry blossom petals materialized from Honkai energy in mid-air with her slashing movements.
That Emperor-class Honkai beast, Párvati, transformed from the Gray Serpent, immediately let out an indescribable, miserable cry. Its thick and solid armor was easily cut open with deep sword marks by Yae Sakura.
An astonishing chill emanated from the wounds on Párvati, causing the surrounding air to instantly cool down, covering the ground and walls with a thick layer of frost.
Even when Párvati opened its blood-mouthed maw and spewed a breath of deep blue frosty cold current towards Yae Sakura in a counterattack, Yae Sakura was able to nimbly dodge, causing all of Párvati's counterattacks to hit empty air, failing to inflict any effective damage on her.
"Sakura, lure it over here. Let this Shadow open the door to this laboratory itself!"
While Yae Sakura was moving with agile and bewitching speed, continuously brandishing Sakurafubuki in her hand to inflict conspicuous wounds on the Emperor-class Honkai beast, causing it to become increasingly enraged due to pain.
Ren Amamiya had already taken advantage of this opportunity to position himself in front of the tightly shut, heavy alloy door of the laboratory, and loudly schemed with Persona Yae Sakura, who had completely gained the upper hand in the battle with Párvati.
Although Ren Amamiya himself wasn't incapable of opening the alloy door of this laboratory, which had clearly had its defenses thickened due to the alarm.
However, whether it was using Jizo Mitama to corrode it and make the door obediently open automatically, or Ren Amamiya forcefully slashing open this thick alloy wall with his tachi.
Neither of these methods would have an impact on the researchers inside the laboratory as direct and profound as having that frost-breathing Shadow behemoth charge in like an out-of-control truck. It would be far more shocking and despairing for those researchers who had a deep understanding of Shadows.
To be attacked and eliminated by the Shadows they used as experimental products—this was a more fitting end for those crazy researchers who recklessly toyed with human lives and forcibly transformed humans into Shadows.
Ren Amamiya decided to let the researchers conducting human experiments in the laboratory savor this cold humor. Presumably, they, who were always studying Shadows, were the ones who knew best about the dangers of Shadows.
"Understood, Master Joker, please leave there quickly!"
Yae Sakura nodded lightly to Ren Amamiya. She began to deliberately slow down her evasive movements, intentionally luring the Emperor-class Honkai beast Párvati towards the laboratory.
After transforming from a Gray Serpent cyborg into this ice-attribute Shadow named Párvati, the Gray Serpent's rationality completely evaporated, unable to understand human language or logic.
Therefore, even if Ren Amamiya and Yae Sakura loudly schemed in front of it, Párvati completely fell for it as Ren Amamiya had expected, being lured by Yae Sakura to charge recklessly towards the laboratory door.
And it wasn't just a simple reckless charge. After a running start, Párvati, like a Pokémon that had curled into a ball and started rolling, abruptly began to advance at high speed by rolling, like a black boulder tumbling down from a mountaintop, crushing everything in its path with unstoppable momentum.
Ren Amamiya and Yae Sakura promptly withdrew from the front of the laboratory's main entrance, avoiding Párvati, whose charging power was becoming increasingly strong and fierce like a mountain avalanche. They allowed the enormous black and blue Shadow to crash violently into the laboratory's thick alloy door.
The full-force charge of the Emperor-class Honkai beast Párvati tore through the heavy steel door made of alloy as easily as tearing a thin piece of paper. Amidst the rising and falling screams within the laboratory, it rampaged majestically into the spacious interior of the laboratory, equally destroying everything in its path.
"Damn intruder, your target is actually my laboratory?! Who on earth are you?!"
In the World Serpent base's laboratory, watching the researchers and various advanced equipment—especially those precise, cutting-edge devices—being destroyed by the Emperor-class Honkai beast Párvati, Jackal, the World Serpent cadre responsible for research and experiments, saw his face darken to the extreme.
"Wait a minute, the person next to that masked intruder... seems to be one of the Flame-Chasers recorded in the archives. Is that the Flame-Chaser named SAKURA?!"
"Why is a Flame-Chaser with an intruder, and why are they letting these synthetic beasts attack us?!"
"Clearly, we are the Flame-Chasers' believers! We are the ones on the Flame-Chasers' side!!"
"Lady SAKURA, please save us! Defeat this out-of-control synthetic beast and the intruder!!"
As Ren Amamiya and Persona Yae Sakura stepped over the wreckage of the laboratory door destroyed by Párvati and entered, the researchers inside the laboratory, who clearly saw their appearances, immediately reacted in various, differing ways.
And compared to Ren Amamiya, who was clearly in the dominant position.
This group of laboratory researchers was instead more concerned about Yae Sakura, who stood quietly beside Ren Amamiya, and they all sought help from her.