Lucia missed the chance to escape, and Furan said:
“We have to destroy that device, or the enemy’s forces will keep coming endlessly.”
Not far away, the black pyramid had landed back on the ground, surrounded and guarded by numerous shadow soldiers.
“Even if you say that, there’s nothing I can do!”
No matter what Furan said, Lucia, an ordinary person, was powerless.
Destroying the device was the obvious solution. Even if Furan didn’t say it, the heroes’ first instinct would be the same—but how easy was it to actually pull off?
The Hero, Kongo, was trying to cover the energy jet nozzle atop the pyramid. The palm of his hand had been burned through. Now, wielding his broad-bladed greatsword with one hand, he sliced the approaching monsters in two while also trying to protect the ordinary people nearby.
“Tch, what exactly are these things?”
The shadow soldiers weren’t very strong and had simple attack methods, but the problem was they were practically immortal. Even when cut in half, they could piece themselves back together.
Though they looked like weaklings, these were far beyond ordinary monsters.
Kongo alone couldn’t protect everyone. Fortunately, other heroes rushing to the rescue were nearby, and ordinary people—including Lucia—who hadn’t escaped in time were gathered together.
The heroes tried to escort them out, but the number of monsters falling from the sky kept increasing. It wasn’t just difficult to break through; even the heroes themselves struggled to survive.
“Damn it, hasn’t the Hero Association sent reinforcements yet?”
Someone shouted, and another replied, “It’s because the ‘Hero Network’ policy hasn’t been approved! They only send heroes after notifying the Hero Company…”
The heroes attending the exhibition ranged from strong to weak, but even the strongest were only at the level of high-rank heroes. As for those individuals renting small booths just to attract attention, they struggled against even one shadow soldier and some had already retreated to the Abyss.
Lucia couldn’t help but grumble:
“Uh, those people are heroes too? Their capes look just like the sheets from my hometown.”
“Who decides who’s a hero isn’t about strength,” Furan said. “As long as you have the courage to stand up in the face of danger, you’re a hero.”
“Yeah, well, you should worry about saving me first.”
Lucia had no idea how Senior Clara was doing. The Sigma Hero’s booth was at the other end of the exhibition hall, presumably safer than here…
Suddenly, a shadow soldier leapt past the heroes’ defense line, landing right in front of Lucia.
Its body was pitch black but clearly defined, shaped like a woman, yet it showed no sign of reason. Its fingertips and feet were sharp, like a ballet dancer on tiptoes, but its toes didn’t pierce the ground—elegant yet deadly…
The shadow soldier raised its claws, and Lucia’s mind started racing.
She had just arrived in the central city, hadn’t even seen her brother, and was she going to die this soon?
At this desperate moment, a steel cable wrapped around the soldier’s neck from above and suddenly tightened, decapitating it…
It was Pure White Storm.
“Ugh…”
Though an enemy, witnessing the beheading still shocked Lucia deeply.
As expected, there was no massive bleeding. The shadow soldier collapsed, but its severed head rolled back to its body, reintegrating before growing a new head.
However, the heroes, now fully alert, pushed the shadow soldiers back outside the circle again.
The shadow soldiers’ weakness was their lack of ranged attacks, so they couldn’t reach Pure White Storm flying above. Taking advantage of his aerial superiority, he suppressed the immortal monsters single-handedly.
But Pure White Storm wasn’t some walking arsenal.
After all, his strength lay in mobility, and his onboard weapons were limited. To conserve energy, he had to fight up close.
When he lowered his flight altitude, some shadow soldiers suddenly stretched out their claws, trying to drag him down. Luckily, his agility saved him from capture.
The media’s drones, however, weren’t so lucky. Any flying slightly lower got swatted down by the monsters’ claws.
“Even Pure White Storm finds these things troublesome? What exactly are they…”
“I’m afraid they’re connected to the ‘Dark Domain.’ That wormhole leads there… Miss Lucia, please focus on scanning one monster.”
Since she wasn’t on-site, Furan was much calmer than the pessimistic Lucia.
Using the glasses Lucia wore to collect data, Furan analyzed the situation remotely and drew useful conclusions.
“These creatures have solid crystals inside them—probably their cores. The evidence is that the shadow soldier Kongo crushed with his foot didn’t revive.”
“So I should tell the heroes about this weakness?”
“But we have to figure out a way for everyone to see where the core is…”
Though Furan said this, Lucia had no time to worry about that.
Hero numbers were dwindling, the safe zone shrinking.
More and more heroes were being turned into pixelated dust, their souls sent to the Abyss.
If things continued like this, even knowing the weakness wouldn’t help. It’d be better to reveal it early and let the heroes figure things out…
“Everyone, listen! These monsters have cores inside them! Destroy the core and they won’t revive!” Lucia shouted at the top of her lungs.
Pure White Storm folded his wings and landed in front of her, but Lucia didn’t recognize him as Sista.
“What core?” Pure White Storm asked.
“The monsters’ bodies are like putty, with no organs inside, only a crystalline core… breaking that is the only way to truly kill them.”
Another hero asked, “How do we locate that crystal?”
Just as Furan predicted, even knowing the weakness, most heroes were at a loss…
Fortunately, tech-based heroes like Pure White Storm and Kongo had advanced sensors built into their gear, allowing them to scan and pinpoint the cores.
“Let me try…”
Pure White Storm’s arms extended into blade fists. He stepped forward and punched a shadow soldier trying to break in—right into its core.
The core shattered, the body dissolved, and the shadow soldier vanished as if it had never existed.
By comparison, Kongo’s sensors could also detect cores, but dealing with them was more complicated.
His massive size was a burden, preventing such precise strikes. His movements looked less agile than the shadow soldiers…
But if he couldn’t hit the core, he wouldn’t try.
He wielded his broad-bladed greatsword like a fly swatter, playing a whack-a-mole game on the battlefield.
Every shadow soldier smashed to bits disappeared instantly.
Besides them, several other heroes also had ways to detect cores and used their weapons to break them.
Finally, the immortal monsters could be killed, giving everyone holding on a glimmer of hope. Naturally, the heroes split into two groups.
One stayed to protect the civilians; the other began reducing the number of shadow soldiers.
“Nice, well done!”
Furan, watching through Lucia’s glasses, couldn’t help but applaud.
“Next, we just have to find a way to destroy that device, right?”
But then, something crashed down from the ceiling, landing heavily in front of the heroes, stirring up a cloud of dust.
“Hey, what now?”
“Miss Furan, looks like there’s a big one coming again…”
When the dust cleared, Kongo’s cockpit had been pierced by a black spike.
That nameless boy looked…
like he’d already checked back into the Abyss.