"Watch out, the enemy is attacking again!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

A new wave of explosions erupted all around them. This simple yet devastating bombardment instantly cost the group seven or eight pricey defensive items.

"Charge in for close combat!"

The captain led the charge, and the group rushed the scanned position. But after only a few steps, a black wall rose up to block their path.

"What is this?!"

"I’ll break the wall!" Old Iron roared, swinging his giant hammer at the black wall. Then, something strange happened.

The "black wall" appeared to be soft. The spot struck by the giant hammer caved in, only to immediately snap back into place.

Before Old Iron and his team could even react, similar black walls shot up in front, behind, to their sides, and even above them. The light was instantly snuffed out, plunging them into absolute darkness where they could see nothing.

"What in the world...?!"

"Quick, use—"

Before they could finish, countless spikes erupted from the black walls, impaling all four of them. The walls then fell away. The entire team had been eliminated.

’What a rare luxury...’

After the four were eliminated, Guan Tong’s figure emerged from the mist nearby.

Constantly shifting his Shadows between ethereal and corporeal forms, on top of the cost of large-scale materialization, drained several dozen points of Psychic Power per second on average. Without the "Infinite Psychic Power" buff, he could never have afforded to be so extravagant with his Shadows.

’In just over a minute, several teams have already come and gone... These are just the ones nearby; more are on their way. And some of them are bound to be stronger than this last squad.’

Guan Tong thought as he glanced at his Wordless Book. He had already made an addition to the first page.

Before the original entry, "Corporeal Shapeshifting," he had added two words: "Five Senses." The entry now read "Five Senses Corporeal Shapeshifting."

Indeed. The reason Guan Tong could hide in the smoke and still accurately command his Shadows to attack the team storming the church was that he had added those words, imbuing his Shadows with the five senses.

Sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

With this ability, his materialized Shadows could now partially or fully exercise their sensory faculties at his command.

Guan Tong had just activated his Shadows’ sense of sight, sharing their vision with his own, which allowed him to see everyone else despite being in the mist.

Combined with the No. 4 Smoke Bomb from his Silver Hunter, this meant he held the initiative in most combat scenarios—unless his enemies had an ability or item to see through the mist, or a way to disperse it.

Besides "Five Senses," he had also tried writing more powerful words like "Indestructible," "Teleportation," and "Invisible," but none of them worked.

Guan Tong figured this was likely due to his own Psychic Power capacity being too low. Even though Infinite Psychic Power allowed him to write the words, his base capacity was too limited to make them a reality.

So he went back to pursuing practical enhancements that could take effect immediately.

Just then, another commotion erupted outside. More teams were arriving. Guan Tong had already sent a Shadow to the church entrance, where it morphed into the shape of an eye and attached itself to the brickwork to monitor the situation.

Sharing its vision, he saw that the teammate from the previous squad—the one who had been luring away the horde of zombies—had fled. She must have seen her team roster get wiped out and gotten spooked.

Not long after she fled, several more teams—dozens of people—arrived outside. But instead of attacking the church, they started fighting among themselves for the "privilege" of being the one to enter!

Guan Tong found it almost laughable. Still, them killing each other was for the best. It would allow him to focus on getting stronger. If they all attacked him at once, he might be able to handle it, but the distraction would slow his strengthening process.

For instance, converting and storing Psychic Power using the third page of the Wordless Book required a fair amount of concentration.

’I’ve held the Holy Grail for three minutes, which means I have twenty-seven minutes left. If I use all that time to convert and store Psychic Power... with my cap of 132 points, a 10:1 conversion ratio, and a three-second conversion time, I’d get 13 points every three seconds. Uninterrupted, twenty-seven minutes would be enough to store 7,020 Psychic Power!’

The number was absurd, but Guan Tong knew it was unrealistic. First of all, twenty-seven uninterrupted minutes was impossible. Forget twenty-seven; with more and more teams on the way, he’d be lucky to get even ten minutes of peace in total!

’Besides, simply stockpiling Psychic Power isn’t as important as making more enhancements with the Wordless Book. Now that my "Shadows" have gained the five senses, my "Silver Hunter" is next in line for an upgrade.’

"BOOM!!!"

Just as Guan Tong was contemplating his next upgrade, a deafening CRASH! echoed from the church roof. Someone was attacking from above!

A shower of shattered bricks and stone rained down, followed by a large figure that dropped from the sky, landing in the center of the church with a thunderous CRASH.

Guan Tong got a good look and was stunned.

The one that had smashed through the roof wasn’t a person, but a three-meter-tall, pale-white humanoid Mecha!

’They even have items like this? Is the pilot some kind of die-hard mecha fan?’

"ZZZZT—!"

There was clearly a human pilot inside. With a crackle of electricity, a weapon resembling a Light Saber materialized in the Mecha’s right hand. A mechanical voice emanated from it.

"Listen up, person hiding in the mist! Hand over the Holy Grail and I’ll let you go!"

"..."

Guan Tong stared at the Mecha. Without bothering to respond, he raised his Silver Hunter and unloaded several dozen No. 3 rounds at it.

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!"

"It seems negotiations have failed. Then don’t blame me for taking it by force! Super Shield, activate!"

VMMM—

A pale purple shield enveloped the Mecha, nullifying all the No. 3 High-Explosive Bombs that struck it.

Guan Tong was surprised, but not panicked. He knew that a Mecha this powerful must have an enormous per-second Psychic Power drain. The pilot didn’t have his Infinite Psychic Power buff; they wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long.

"Power Sword Continuous Slash!"

The Mecha’s pilot shouted as the machine moved with surprising speed, swinging its Light Saber in a slash toward Guan Tong!

’This Mecha can lock onto my position in the smoke?’

Even with his Shadow Armor for protection, Guan Tong fired a Hooked Claw into a wall and zipped out of the way, dodging the attack.

The Mecha turned to give chase, but in the next instant, swarms of Shadows "crawled" all over it. They couldn’t breach its hull, but they clung on tight, hampering its movements.

"What are these black things? So gross! Get them off me!!!"

Hearing the repulsed voice coming from the Mecha, Guan Tong guessed the pilot was probably a young woman.

He immediately targeted her weakness. He made his Shadows transform, and in an instant, all sorts of disgusting shapes—piles of crap, writhing tentacles—plastered themselves all over the Mecha.

The tactic actually worked. With a scream of "Get off me, AHHHHH!", the pilot wildly swung the Light Saber, slicing through the restraining Shadows before charging straight out of the church, apparently having forgotten all about her mission to capture the Holy Grail.

Guan Tong was left speechless. "...What a weirdo."