Lotus! Lotus! Lotus! Thud! Thud! Thud! The deep breaths and sharp impacts alternated, then overlapped, instantly tightening the spirits of Kline and his companions to the point of hearing an evil whisper. Seizing the brief moment when El, Dunne, and Lorrata's attention was momentarily diverted, the dapper clown suddenly drew out a long strip of paper from his pocket. With a swift motion, he flung the paper into the air—crisp and sharp—and it transformed into a long whip blazing with black flames, which he then whipped toward the area beside his ankle. A faint, piercing cry echoed through the air, and the dapper clown broke free from the invisible chains, executing a backward somersault. Then, *thump!* *thump!* *thump!* Dunne, El, and Lorrata's bullets missed their targets and plunged into the wooden cargo crates. The dapper clown did not pause. With his right hand pressed firmly to his wound, he dashed off in a swift retreat, away from the warehouse. He moved with such speed that in an instant, he was only a silhouette behind. As he vanished, his right hand, pressed against his abdomen, suddenly swept across his own left arm, and the wound on his belly vanished, restored perfectly as it had been at first. The area of his left arm where the hand swept now lay bloodied and torn, with silver bullets faintly visible. Duan and the others did not pursue, for the breathing sound inside the innermost warehouse had grown so loud it made their brows tense and their hearts uneasy. Crack! The door of the innermost warehouse suddenly shattered, splintering outward in all directions. Immediately afterward, a thing wrapped in torn cloth shot out and landed not far from Cline. Cline focused and realized it was an arm—its blood-colored muscles were scattered and torn, while the white, bone structure was irregularly broken and projecting outward. Plip! Plip! Plip! One after another, things shot out: first, streams of blood, then the eyeballs with dilated pupils, followed by the earlobes torn right off, and finally, a half-heart still pulsing, and then the intestines full of yellow-brown matter. Had Klein seen a more repulsive "giant view" at Riel Biber's home, he would have been sick all over again at this moment. His emotions were nearly snapping under the strain, and only with great effort did he restrain himself from firing into the dark archway, instead withdrawing the partially empty cartridge cases and loading fresh hunt-mage bullets. Plink! Dunning returned to join him, steady and methodically firing a shot into the warehouse interior. Yet his bullets seemed to vanish into the sea, making no ripple or echo. Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! The deep, labored breathing grew more urgent, the gray-white hue gradually filling the "open" doorway. Plink, plink—Arl Hassen and Borghia's bullets pierced through the gray-white, yet could not halt the outward surge of the color nor inflict any wound, only causing a steady flow of liquid to spill out. Klein held his breath, refraining from firing blindly, and watched as the gray-white began to take on a clear, defined shape. This is a humanoid creature over two meters tall, with all its joints unnaturally reversed and twisted, as if forcibly snapped. One by one, slender, white bone fragments protrude from its skin, giving the overall grayish-white surface a textured, grooved appearance—like a human brain that has been stripped of its outer shell. The creature's body oozes a gray, viscous, decaying fluid, while its head remains relatively intact, bearing deep furrows and pale skin. As it opens and closes its mouth, one can see a porcelain tooth nearly dislodged, several strands of blood-colored saliva stretched into filaments, and muscle and bone fragments crumbling into dust. Rael. Biber… Is this even human? Kline silently drew a breath, his heart pounding erratically. Thwack! Leonard's archer's bullet struck Rael. Biber squarely on the forehead, piercing through and leaving a deep, circular hole. The gray-white liquid remained and pooled on the ground, bubbling and writhing, transforming into long, creamy, plump worm-like creatures. Yet the monster was unaffected, moving neither swiftly nor slowly, and charged directly toward the closest Borghese. Its true objective, however, seemed to be the dark iron box—the seal, "2-049." "The extraordinary power is losing control," Dunning said quietly, "Lorota, it appears to be a necromantic entity. Find its vulnerability as quickly as possible." "Understood," Lorota replied without further comment, raising her hand and pressing it gently to her eyes. Her pupils turned gray-white, then colorless, as if entering a spiritual realm and viewing the enemy from a higher plane, searching for that crucial 'node.' Seeing that conventional gunfire had no effect, Caine decided not to waste his own ammunition, raised his hand, and lightly tapped his brow, activating his spiritual vision to assist Lady Lorota, the "Mortician." In his vision, Ber's luminous aura had reduced to a single hue—pure, frantic gray. Beyond that, Caine saw nothing. At that moment, both El. Hassen and Leonard Mitchell began to chant: "Ah, the peril of fear, the hope of crimson." "At least one truth remains: this life swiftly passes." "One truth is true, the rest are false." "After one bloom, it shall fade and depart." ... A soothing force of calm spread out, and the distorted, gray-white monster slowed down, as though unable to resist the allure of poetry. Then, it opened its mouth and emitted a cry inaudible to ordinary ears: "Ah!" ... With a sharp thud, Caine felt a sudden pain in his head and automatically stepped out of his spiritual vision. He felt a warm liquid flow instantly from his nostrils, instinctively reached out to wipe it, only to find his palm now streaked with fresh red. Ael and Leonard both collapsed backward simultaneously, their mouths, noses, and eyes streaked with blood. Borghia, Dunn, and Loretta each stepped back one to two paces, their faces turning pale. The monster merely let out a single, piercing shriek—and already, the six extraordinary beings seemed to falter, growing fragile. Thwip! It drew close to Borghia, and with a sudden snap of its twisted joints, it swung. Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Borghia and Dunn each fired two shots, yet neither inflicted a single wound upon the monster, Biber. Thump! Borghia was sent flying, his long-barreled revolver landing with a thud. He struggled to rise, but failed to stand within a short time. Mucus oozed from Biber's mouth, and it surged forward toward the iron-black box. Thud! At the crucial moment, Ael Hassen fired a shot into the box, sending it flying several meters, allowing Biber to miss it and continuing its advance for a full ten meters. The iron-black box showed cracks, growing more pronounced as the heavy thuds inside grew stronger and more frequent. "Found it!" the dark-haired lady Lorota finally spoke, "I need you to hold it steady for at least three seconds." "Got it." Duan didn't waste time. He reached up, pressed his fingers to his brow, and closed his eyes. He seemed to drift off to sleep, waves of an invisible ripple spreading out in concentric circles. In an instant, the monster Biber paused, its madness retreating swiftly, and the thin, translucent eyelids that remained began to droop steadily. Duan's body trembled, and beneath his garments, something rose in clumps, pulsing and wriggling as though coiled within it were a series of smooth, scaleless venomous snakes. Lorota rushed out, rolled over, and landed on top of the monster Biber. With one hand pressed to the ground and her fist raised, she drove it forward like a cannon shot into Biber's pelvic region. Puff! Despite the searing pain, she pressed harder against the ground, lifting her entire body another inch, driving her fists deeper. Snick! Loretta's forearm extended, pulling out a section of intestine stained yellow-brown and bloodied. Within that intestine, a weathered, ancient notebook was faintly visible. "Ah!" The monster Biber emitted a loud, piercing cry, its body suddenly glowing, as if melting. "Get down!" As soon as El Hassan's urgent words fell, Caine saw the monster Biber swell dramatically. Boom! The shockwave hurled Caine from afar, throwing him hard and sending him crashing to the ground. Dizzy and nauseous, he struggled to rise, watching as the monster Biber broke into chunks of foul, decaying flesh. He saw Dune and Loretta lying fifteen meters away, appearing unconscious. El Hassan, Borghia, and Leonard Mitchell also lay on the ground, either groaning in pain or struggling to rise, but failing. Klein just wanted to relax when he suddenly noticed a familiar object a few meters away. The dark iron box had stopped rolling and was now facing the sky with its cracked surface. A slender, brownish arm extended from that surface. The seal... "Unit 2-049"... Hey! Klein's heart tightened immediately, and he rushed backward toward several meters away, trying to escape the influence of the seal "Unit 2-049." The explosion earlier had actually thrown the dark iron box right near him! At that moment, Klein's head suddenly buzzed, and his thoughts slowed down.