The fanatical speech of the purple-robed member, filled with apocalyptic prophecies, echoed endlessly through the massive underground workshop.
Lin Jie immediately made the only reasonable decision under the circumstances: "We must leave here immediately and report everything we've seen and heard to headquarters as quickly as possible. The scale of their membership is far beyond what our small team can handle independently."
William and Julian immediately agreed. With extreme caution, they began their strategic retreat along their original path, each step taken as carefully as walking on thin ice.
However, fate seemed unwilling to let them leave so easily.
Just as they were about to reach the main passage, a series of crisp, metallic "clack, clack" sounds accompanied by several flickering lights approached from the very path they had come from!
A squad of Eternal Serpent members was returning to their base at this exact moment!
There was no escape route.
Behind them stretched a long, straight corridor with only a few bone pile protrusions and no additional branching paths.
"Damn it!" Sergeant William cursed under his breath, immediately positioning himself in front of Lin Jie and Julian. The barrel of his Winchester rifle was already aimed at the corridor's bend!
These weren't ordinary boots hitting the ground; the sounds were heavier and more rhythmic, like machinery in operation.
"It's the cult's 'Purifier' squad!" Julian instantly identified the approaching forces just by the sounds. "They're the Eternal Serpent's internal security forces. Their equipment... is completely different from the ordinary members inside!"
As Julian finished speaking, four figures clad in heavy black armor with bird-beak shaped metal masks appeared around the corridor's bend.
Their weapons weren't the steam guns they'd seen before, but rather bizarre-looking "alchemical repeating crossbows" that combined steampunk and gothic aesthetics!
The crossbow bodies were made of unknown black wood, but their core firing and loading mechanisms consisted of intricate machinery composed of miniature gears, springs, and high-pressure steam pipes.
After each shot, the complex clockwork mechanism would automatically load another bolt into the firing chamber.
This was essentially a nineteenth-century version of an automatic rifle!
"Get down!" William roared with all his strength!
The moment his shout echoed, the four Purifiers simultaneously raised their alchemical repeating crossbows and pulled the triggers, aiming at their confined area!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!"
A barrage of sharp, air-rending projectiles dense as raindrops!
Several alchemical bolts coated with deadly poison traced green trajectories of death through the corridor, thoroughly covering the area where the three had been standing moments before.
The hard rock walls proved exceptionally fragile against those seemingly slender bolts. Each bolt that struck the walls burst into green toxic clouds with sizzling corrosive sounds.
Lin Jie had no doubt that if any single bolt so much as grazed his skin, he would dissolve into pus within seconds.
"Suppressive fire! Their firepower is overwhelming!" William crouched behind a massive bone pile. His reliable Winchester was completely outmatched by this intensive covering fire; he only managed to fire one shot before being suppressed by the storm of incoming bolts.
Julian was even more helpless. His various bottles and containers appeared utterly useless against such direct violence.
Lin Jie could hear the Purifiers' synchronized footsteps steadily approaching. They had at most ten seconds before being surrounded and turned into porcupines by those poisoned bolts!
His brain, stimulated by adrenaline, shifted into high gear. Thinking about the cult members' precision clockwork mechanisms that made crisp "clacking" sounds, an idea exploded in his mind.
Clockwork... gears... precision machinery...
He immediately raised his left arm, where the Cursebreaker Vambrace forged from Chaos Brass rested quietly against his arm, awaiting activation!
"Sergeant William! Mr. Julian!" Lin Jie called out. "Trust me! After I make my move, no matter what happens, charge toward them at your fastest speed!"
Before the two could process what he intended to do, Lin Jie had already channeled all his mental energy into the vambrace on his left arm like a bursting dam!
"Bzzzzzt—bzz—bzz!"
The Chaos Brass disc serving as the core in his palm now emitted overload warnings, unable to withstand such massive mental energy infusion.
The curse runes on its surface no longer flowed slowly but flickered at high frequencies visible to the naked eye!
A powerful "curse storm" containing chaotic and destructive information erupted from Lin Jie's left hand, violently expanding through the narrow corridor ahead!
"CRACK—!!"
A sound similar to a precision clock's mainspring snapping echoed simultaneously from the four Purifiers' alchemical repeating crossbows.
The "automatic loading" mechanisms of the four terrifying weapons, driven by precision clockwork and interlocking gears during their rapid firing, suddenly behaved as if handfuls of sand had been jammed into them upon contacting the high-concentration chaotic field!
Tiny gears derailed from their proper tracks, taut springs underwent catastrophic reversals, and precision steam valves became jammed by chaotic energy!
The four killing machines representing the pinnacle of the Eternal Serpent cult's alchemical craftsmanship collectively paralyzed in a ridiculous manner just before completing their next volley!
The suffocating arrow rain on the battlefield abruptly ceased.
The entire corridor fell into an eerie silence.
The four Purifiers were also stunned by this sudden "collective misfire," looking down in confusion at their beloved weapons that had turned into piles of scrap metal.
And William, this veteran skilled at seizing opportunities, would never miss this precious opening created by Lin Jie!
His body surged out from behind cover. After firing several blind shots, he didn't choose to reload but instead wielded his Winchester rifle like a heavy, brutal war hammer.
In the span of a single breath, he crossed those few meters. Before the four Purifiers could recover from the shock of their weapon malfunctions, the steel rifle butt carrying his fury smashed violently into the bird-beak mask of the foremost Purifier!
"CLANG!"
The sound of metal striking metal rang out. The seemingly sturdy alchemical mask crumpled like paper against William's unreasonable strength, instantly denting and deforming!
The Purifier collapsed stiffly backward like a marionette with cut strings without even managing to scream!