Chapter 14: Siege Hammer (Part 2/2)
Luo Nan felt a sense of familiarity towards the series of events that happened in the room.
The dreadful howl was a near reconstruction of Luo Nan’s experience on the overpass. And something of an even rawer nature was revealed on the soul plane. It was clear that the others were ignorant of the “Spores” and the like from their facial expressions.
As for the fallen Fierce Soldier who was met with misfortune, Luo Nan was quite empathetic towards him. This was because Luo Nan had experienced the same shock of incorporeal doom when he had been torn out of his body through the pierced opening, forcefully having his soul be expelled out.
Right now it seemed like this attack was a siege hammer that applied directly on the soul plane. The corporeal body of the material plane would be unable to withstand the force from the falling hammer which strikes the soul directly…… It was filled with the aura of the mystic arts.
The Fierce Soldier clearly didn’t have the ability to have an out-of-body experience. The situation turned terrible all of a sudden.
Luo Nan stirred telepathically. He had no contention nor animosity with the military combat personnel. This death was caused by the mysterious and unfathomable Darksider life form; he didn’t wish for this to happen. He sent his first command to the post-combat burning wraith after a moment’s hesitation.
The burning wraith was a bit sluggish within the room. At this moment, the desolate flames that drove the burning wraith had already burned all the binding forces away completely, allowing the wraith to have a complete return of freedom and a sharp increase in strength. But Luo Nan’s command was channeled through the chains directly down to the burning wraith’s core level; it would be hard for the wraith to have the strength to refuse Luo Nan.
The burning wraith emitted a bloody ray that curled up the smoke, which had scattered from the Fierce Soldier’s internal body, and forcefully stuffed the smoke back in. It orbited in a circle in the air. The continuously exploding flaming clouds appeared to do nothing to it. The dark glowing red flames swept across and fled the room.
And from a distance of over ten meters away, Luo Nan’s soul body caught up to the burning wraith without a sound at this very moment.
According to Liu Tao’s words, the military used “Shadow Mist” in order to probe the Darksider life form. They observed the data of each frequency band to see whether or not a changing deviation of disturbance towards the plane of reality had occurred. Luo Nan didn’t understand what sort of computational methods they used, but he did know that his current state would be like being a duck driven to a porch; the burning wraith had pushed him to a state outside his normal ability. The reason why Luo Nan was able to maintain this state for such a long time was likely due to his self-formatting.
He was a soul out of a body. Naturally he carried the deviation towards disturbing reality. Or perhaps he was mixed with the darkness and would no longer be classified as a human. What would happen then? If things were this way, then there would be a high probability that he would naturally be considered a signal source within the Shadow Mist. He would act in a self defeating way like the burning wraith. He didn’t know who would capture him at the very end.
It would be impossible for him to create a diversion. He could only succeed by using underhanded means.
He guided the chains and maintained a distance that was neither too near nor too far. He stayed behind the burning wraith the whole way, adjusting his route cautiously at the same time.
Although the burning wraith of the present fell on a plane in which the visions of ordinary people could not reach, its powerful and frequent disturbances on the material plane caused it to look like a burning luminous flame within the detection system of the military. Its vicious aura was bottomless.
The well-trained soldiers outside only lagged behind by approximately half a second. They then changed the directions of their gun barrels and used the special flaming cloud to seal off the area of the corridor.
But the burning wraith unleashed that terrifying roar again, absorbing the frightened emotions of the soldiers for its own use via some bizarre method. Its strength increased sharply, causing Luo Nan to have to exert some effort to control it. It would be further needless to say what would happen to the soldiers that could only rely on their special equipment to face the attack.
Even though the flaming cloud pervaded half the corridor, the burning wraith just moved wherever it wanted to move. Once in awhile it would shoot a burst of Siege Hammers. Being under Luo Nan’s continual control, no injuries on the level of the first attack occurred this time. However, those who were hit fell to the ground and passed out; it would be hard for them to regain consciousness.
A bizarre situation was formed due to facing an incorporeal enemy and due to the inexplicable reason for why people were collapsing. It put the emotions of the soldiers to the ultimate test of true will.
Although these soldiers had underwent harsh training, they were unable to follow their drills and maintain a continuous volley of firepower. Frantic thoughts of fear spurred in their hearts. This was inevitable after all.
Confronting the burning wraith was like trying to undo a deathly complicated knot. The quantity of the bizarre spores in the corridor increased rapidly once again. It was unknown whether it came from the bodies of the collapsed rich kids or from the bodies of the soldiers engaged in combat, but a large quantity of spores floated up, infected, and interchanged.
A terrifying overturning demonic force pushed down upon everyone present like an avalanche. Elite soldiers had formed a combat formation, firing off one after another in rhythm. And an emerged disorder could already be seen in the formation.
“1, 2, 3…… 7, 8!”
Including the soldier who had collapsed within the room, there were nine well-trained elite soldiers suited in advanced exoskeleton armors. They formed a combat squad that was sufficient to contend with powerful and formidable mutants in the wilderness.
But under the fierce might of the burning wraith, they actually lacked all ability to retaliate back.
Luo Nan’s mood was a bit complex as he observed this scene.
He had just been a criminal suspect detained forcefully by the police this morning; he could only act as an obedient grandchild when faced with the organization’s might. But in a short few hours he already came to possess the dominating force and ability to smash the military’s elite squad of soldiers in front of him. This force was both powerful and terrifying, unfathomable yet concrete.
But he could extrapolate at least a speck of how hard-pressed the Planetary Government was when confronting the wilderness, when confronting the mutants, when confronting Darksider life forms from the scene before his eyes.
Luo Nan was not an good patriotic kid who was concerned with the fate of his nation. Yet he was able to remember a saying:
Everyone was only three-hundred kilometers away from the wilderness.
Each and every person faced the threat of mutants on this planet. And from what he saw today, this threat was far greater than what the government and media normally made public!
In the end, Luo Nan did not have a gloomy temperament; he quickly recovered his spirits from melancholy. He slightly restrained the ferocity of the burning wraith and simultaneously revised his route; he was about to continue passing through walls in order to return to his body.
But an agitated response came from the burning wraith in the next moment. Luo Nan also felt an indescribable sensation just slightly later. His attention shifted and he actually heard the muffled rippling of footsteps.
The beautiful and clear color of azure seawater was at the end of the long corridor. It turned the corner and approached closer step by step.
It was the same sort of exoskeleton armor. Except the head portion was a bit more planar with several sharp angles and corners on the external helmet. It was once considered the “most manliest” of exoskeleton designs.
But in the eyes of Luo Nan, it was like a praying mantis that had leapt in for the kill. The reflections off of every plane, edge, and corner possessed the penetrating force of a knife’s edge.
This completely sealed helmet tilted back and a low hissing sounded forth. At the same time, the neck and shoulder, chest and stomach, ribs, and limb positions of the exoskeleton armour morphed slightly. The entire armor seemed to have expanded by a factor in an instant.
Then bizarre symbols began to appear on the painted surface of the armor. Smooth lines, circular arcs, hyperbolas, and other various shapes appeared.
Intricate electric arcs seemed to leap and circulate upon the exterior of the armor. Yet after careful examination, how could it be electricity? It was clearly a layer of intricate interweaving flames stuck dead-fastened to the external layer of the armor. That armor was deep blue like the ocean’s water.
There was only the slight flickering of the dazzling glowing flames.
Deep Blue Walker…… A form of the Archetype Format!
Several additional thoughts leapt continuously within Luo Nan’s mind. Finally there was one relevant to the situation:
“Format of Fire!”
Before this thought could vanish, the Deep Blue Walker approached forward with large strides. Translucent flames sprayed from its body. The flames were crystal clear, and they pushed and filled the corridor like a silent wave of water. The flames interweaved with the space-filling flaming clouds, which had been released by the military, to become one. An astonishing reaction was generated in a flash.