The group watched as the crimson sword light soared past them, flying forward with a power that seemed capable of severing anything in its path, as if nothing in existence could obstruct it.
Having exerted her full strength to swing Chi Xiao, Ch'en had fallen into a state of extreme weakness. To be honest, even she hadn't expected the attack's power to reach such a degree—it had even cleaved through Jeanne's iron thorns. She remembered clearly how sturdy those things were; she hadn't been able to cut them without using Chi Xiao. Now, they had been mown down like wheat.
"Truly worthy of being called the Dragon-Slaying Sword by those in the know. Even in the hands of someone who hasn't fully mastered it, it can unleash such power?"
Gin remarked as he used his Originium Arts to enhance his crossbow bolts for shooting. He stole a glance at Ch'en, who was still holding Chi Xiao. Although he had heard rumors of this weapon—stories of how the Ruler of Lungmen once used a crimson sword qi to crush the private army of Duke Kashchey—it was a familiar tale among men of his standing. However, that Ruler hadn't drawn his blade in many years. This was Gin's first time witnessing such a slash.
But... a governor of Yan, a person who, like the Royal Family, belongs to the race of Dragons, holding a weapon famed for slaying dragons... if you think about it carefully, there's a certain irony in that.
"Thanks, that was a huge help!"
Seeing Ch'en's "full-screen" attack knock down every enemy within sight, Lemuen released the trigger of her revolving gun, switching to a smaller caliber firearm to pick off the remaining stragglers with precision shots.
One had to understand that using a Sankta firearm was not as simple as using a standard gun, where you just aim and pull the trigger. The firearms in their hands were actually staves shaped like guns; every shot meant activating an Originium Art. The mental exhaustion involved was no small matter. Lemuen's continuous fire with the revolving gun had already left her feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Taking advantage of the lull in the situation, she dialed back her firepower to recover her mental energy.
After this bout of combat, everyone's physical and mental stamina was significantly depleted. Even Gin, who had been shooting from the rear, was showing signs of overexertion from his Originium Arts.
No—strictly speaking, there was still one person who remained full of vitality. That was Jeanne, who was still waving her flag at the front. Ch'en even felt that Jeanne's energy was better now than it had been a moment ago.
As for Jeanne's situation, she had accumulated a massive amount of mana through breathing, yet she continued to fight while minimizing her mana consumption as much as possible. Even when summoning the iron thorns, she didn't imbue them with enough mana; the mana she did expend only allowed them to maintain their sturdy properties for a short duration.
"Not enough... it's still not enough!"
She calculated the amount of mana in her body, breathing in the surrounding Originium particles as quickly as possible. If she was to use her Noble Phantasm to wipe out all the walking dead, the mana she currently had was far from sufficient.
The range she needed to cover this time was quite large, and this place was filled with resentful souls. If this were a world where ghosts existed, this wretched place would turn into a spectral realm within three days. To release her Noble Phantasm in such a place, Jeanne had to have enough mana to maintain control. Otherwise, she was truly worried that her fire might burn down Lungmen, earning her the title of an arsonist.
While pondering these things, Jeanne delivered a flying kick that sent a walking dead flying over five meters away. It tumbled like a bowling ball, knocking down several others along the path.
Despite Ch'en's Chi Xiao cutting down many, more of these creatures continued to shuffle toward them. Perhaps it was because this was the only area with emergency lighting? Although it was unclear if these things still possessed eyesight, they indeed seemed able to perceive the presence of light.
The walking dead emerging now no longer even looked human. If Jeanne hadn't seen the faint traces of limbs, she would have thought the culprit had moved on to experimenting on animals.
Suddenly, a creature resembling a four-legged spider lunged at Jeanne with incredible speed. Its four limbs moved so fast they created afterimages. Its reaction speed was also staggering; it could shift its body rapidly to dodge Lemuen's bullets and Gin's arrows, as if it could sense where the weapons were aimed.
However, no matter how fast it ran, it couldn't outpace Jeanne's reaction speed. Just as it closed in, Jeanne swung her pole and swatted it into the air. Immediately after, an iron thorn erupted from the ground, impaling the strange creature and leaving it hanging in mid-air.
Even so, the thing continued to frantically flail its arms in the air, seemingly feeling nothing from being impaled, or perhaps not even realizing its current predicament.
At this moment, everyone saw the true face of this strange creature. Its true form was a Feline Infected, but its head... had been pushed down to its chest by mutated Originium. It was in a posture a human could never achieve; the head was forced against the chest by a horn-like protrusion of Originium from the neck, meaning its eyes could only ever see the floor.
As for its four limbs, Originium had been implanted into strictly calculated positions, forcing it to abandon a bipedal stance. Instead, the Originium had restructured the nerves of its limbs, converting it into a quadrupedal crawler.
Jeanne had lived on Terra for years and had read several books on Oripathy. She considered herself to have a basic understanding of the relationship between Originium and the human body. Originium could indeed replace human nerves to connect limbs, but the prerequisite was that the nerves must still be active when the Originium makes the connection.
This meant that the Originium on this Infected's limbs had been hammered in while he was still alive—cutting through flesh and bone without anesthesia and driving steel nails in one by one!
"Zheng Hui?"
Ch'en whispered, staring at the face of this grotesque aberration. She looked at the walking dead with eyes full of shock, disbelief, and an uncontrollable rage, mixed with a hint of deep, hidden sorrow.
"An acquaintance? Do you want to take a closer look?"
Though Ch'en had lowered her voice, whose hearing among those present wasn't superior to an average person's? They naturally heard her self-muttering. Seeing Ch'en's expression, they guessed this might be a long-lost acquaintance or a former classmate.
"I need to see if it's him. I must confirm this!"
Ch'en forced her body to stand and walked over, staring intently at the familiar face, her heart desperately hoping this wasn't the Zheng Hui she knew.
But hope was eventually shattered. That face told Ch'en: This is your former subordinate—the officer who had to move to the slums after contracting Oripathy during a mission.
He was one of the countless "eyes" she had stationed in the slums. Even though Lungmen had erased all his contributions because of his infection, and even though life in the slums was incredibly difficult because he used to be a cop, he was still willing to help.
"Ch'en-sir, I've noticed Infected with a strange illness appearing around us lately. I feel like something fishy is going on!"
"Ch'en-sir, those Infected with the strange illness were taken away by an Infected relief center. Its name is a bunch of letters I don't recognize. I'll send it to you to check out!"
"Ch'en-sir, it's been so long and not a single one of those Infected has come back! There's definitely a problem. I'll find a way to sneak in and check it out. I'll find a way to contact you if I get news..."
His last contact with her was in the summer half a year ago. At that time, he had discovered many Infected in the slums were disappearing after being taken by a relief organization, and he decided to risk his life to investigate.
She had checked that relief center immediately; it was a mobile relief organization with a parent company in Columbia, frequently traveling to various places to help Infected. At the time, they indeed took in many Infected with strange symptoms, and she had relayed this to him.
But this officer, with his vast investigative experience, immediately sensed something was wrong. After she confirmed he had gone missing, no matter how hard she searched, she could never find him again.
"Operator Zheng Hui, Police ID 5477906, confirmed KIA today."
Ch'en struggled to keep her composure as she spoke in front of her colleague, who could no longer hear her words. Then, she drew her knife and slashed into the walking dead.