Chapter 49: New Ability! Curse Mark Two!
High in the sky, a Goblin Glider streaked across the horizon, a figure atop it observing the ground below.
He was Dio Brooke, the psychic of the Devil Team.
The deaths of Arno and Zhi Wei had forced him to change his approach.
The feeling of having everything under control, like in other horror movies, was gone.
He had to find his captain, or he would be in danger himself.
Suddenly!
He felt that something was wrong!
Looking down, he saw a rocket speeding toward him!
His psychic powers scanned and quickly locked onto the target on the ground!
Behind a large tree, he saw a burly figure. It was Da Qiang, holding an RPG!
"Like flying?! Then die!" Da Qiang roared, "This is a tracking rocket launcher! You're just a target up there!"
However, Dio Brooke's expression only shifted slightly.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, the speeding missile had actually slowed down, turned around, and fired back toward Da Qiang's position!
Da Qiang's eyes widened. He had considered the possibility that the RPG wouldn't be able to kill a member of the Devil Team, but he never imagined his opponent could turn the rocket around and fire it back at him.
It could only be said that the abilities exchangeable from the Main God were too many and too varied to be judged with conventional thinking.
He instinctively tried to dodge, but the rocket's speed was too great, and his body didn't have time to react.
BOOM—
After a massive explosion, Da Qiang was blown to bits, leaving a scene of devastation in the forest!
The shockwave from the explosion uprooted the surrounding trees, and flames and thick smoke spread through the woods.
Dio Brooke hovered in the air, the glow of his Goblin Glider appearing exceptionally bright against the light of the explosion.
His expression was calm, as if this was all within his calculations.
The danger had never come from this muscle-headed man with brute force enhancements.
It came from the captain of Team China, who had yet to show his face!
Dio Brooke fully unleashed his psychic power while simultaneously notifying Fufu through their Mind Link, "I'm under attack!"
Just as he finished speaking—
Suddenly, he felt a great gust of wind behind him, making his heart jump!
This sound was all too familiar—it was the sound of a Goblin Glider in flight!
A flicker of confusion crossed his mind. His psychic scan should have been able to detect any approaching object. How did the other party get close to him so silently?
If it weren't for his sharp hearing, he would have never reacted in time to a sneak attack.
"Psychic shielding?!" his heart sank as he realized he might have fallen into the enemy's trap.
Team China has a psychic!
When the Devil Team first appeared, the other side must have deliberately leaked information to make them lower their guard.
Without a shred of hesitation, Dio Brooke quickly pulled out a transparent blue shield.
He turned his head in a hurry and raised it.
The front of the shield instantly generated an enlarged, transparent projection of itself.
Just then, a woman standing on a Goblin Glider appeared in Dio Brooke's line of sight.
Meng Rui's hands had already transformed into fleshy tendrils, tipped with two sharp blades!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Her blades struck the projection of the light-energy shield, creating a piercing, scraping sound!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The rain-like barrage of strikes made Dio Brooke's brow twitch.
He could clearly see the cracks on the shield growing larger and larger.
This was a Light Energy Defense Shield that cost seven thousand reward points and a C-rank side story!
And it was already cracking so quickly under the opponent's assault?!
An even more terrifying thought rose in his mind.
Could this woman have already reached the third stage of the genetic lock, on top of having a B-rank or higher Parasite Beast enhancement?
And she had also mastered psychic shielding, making her a psychic herself?
How is this possible?!
He hurriedly sent the scene before him to Fufu through his Mind Link skill.
But the shared screen was fleeting. Dio Brooke had to focus all his attention on using his most expensive reward-point skill to save his life!
With a sharp crackle of shattering glass, Dio Brooke's Light Energy Defense Shield finally gave way under Meng Rui's torrential assault. The cracks spread rapidly, and the entire shield exploded like broken glass.
In that instant, Dio Brooke seemed stunned. His expression froze, and a hint of terror flashed in his eyes.
However, just at that moment, Meng Rui's attacks also suddenly stopped.
A trace of confusion appeared in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a colder, more decisive look.
She turned her head and actually piloted the Goblin Glider toward Da Qiang on the ground, who was watching the show. Da Qiang's pupils contracted violently.
Da Qiang instantly understood what this Devil Team member's ability was!
Mental control!
The mentally controlled Meng Rui had become an emotionless killing machine!
But knowing the opponent's ability and being able to deal with it were two different things.
Da Qiang didn't have half a second to think. His body reacted instinctively, and he bolted toward the underground river where the Covenant was hidden.
[Team member Tian Ye has died. Crew members -1. Entire team is deducted 100 reward points!]
[Team member Nan Ze has died. Crew members -1. Entire team is deducted 100 reward points!]
[Team member Wright...]
[Team member Fang Fei...]
Several notifications awakened Ren Arakawa.
He realized that these four team members were the same "companions" who had accompanied him for one or more movies in the tavern.
It seemed things had already progressed to the point where Meng Rui no longer cared about a few C-rank side stories.
He forced his eyes open and immediately heard a scream next to his ear.
"Ah!"
Dan Nusi sat on the ground, trembling, and pointed at Ren Arakawa. "You, your eyes!"
Beside them, Zhang Jie looked at Ren Arakawa's Sharingan with two tomoe and quickly explained, "This... this is just... a mutation! It's nothing, just a little red, that's all!"
"He... he's really not... not a demon?" Dan Nusi said, staring at the lump of flesh growing on Ren Arakawa's back. In truth, she had wanted to ask this question for a while.
On Ren Arakawa's back, a deformed mass of flesh bulged abruptly, its existence completely defying the natural form of the human body.
This mass of flesh exuded a nauseating stench of decay, as if a piece of rotting meat had been abandoned in a damp, dark corner, absorbing filth and putrescence over the years.
The flesh was a disturbing deep maroon, its surface covered in a layer of oily, viscous fluid that made it look exceptionally slick and disgusting in the dim light.
Scattered across the surface of the flesh were numerous coarse green hairs growing in disarray, like weeds forced out of decaying soil, giving a sense of wildness and filth.
Even more unsettling, the flesh was covered in wrinkles of all sizes, layered one on top of another, like the marks left on old leather after being crumpled carelessly.
Between these folds, tiny pores were faintly visible, from which a pale yellow pus would occasionally seep, as if some source of corruption was hidden within the mass.
As Ren Arakawa moved, the lump of flesh seemed to have a life of its own; it pulsed slightly, as if breathing.
But Ren Arakawa felt no discomfort from the thing growing on his back.
On the contrary, he was shouting joyfully in his mind:
"Ability Synchronization!"
(end of chapter)