Chapter 16: A Grand Escape into the Sunlight
Hiltina followed Rast out of the side door.
The side door of the main residence connected to a small stable, and the chaos of the battle at dawn and the current turmoil outside had not affected the horses inside, who were still leisurely eating their feed.
“Are you planning to gather all the Iron Cross infectees in Deep Blue Harbor and destroy them together?” Hiltina asked.
Rast nodded: “That’s right. Even if the Evil God can descend through the Iron Cross tainted with its essence, there is still a certain requirement for the quantity of Iron Crosses.”
“A few scattered Iron Crosses can’t possibly bear the weight of a Divine Descent.”
Rast’s steps stopped in front of the tallest horse, which had a bright red mane: “So, if we can eliminate the vast majority of Iron Crosses in this city, we can destroy the prerequisite for the Divine Descent.”
This was clearly a fierce horse; the moment Rast reached out to stroke it, it reared up, but Rast seemed to know its movements in advance, sidestepping while mounting the horse.
The red horse jumped angrily, but Rast remained steady on its back, as firm as a mountain.
Hiltina looked at Rast, who was skillfully taming the fierce horse: “Eliminating all the Iron Crosses in the city? How exactly do we do that?”
“I should have mentioned it before; Deep Blue Harbor serves a military purpose, which is why a Royal Navy is stationed here.”
Rast gently stroked the chestnut coat, and the proud horse visibly calmed down in a few breaths: “The cargo ship that crashed directly into the dock was actually a disguised military transport ship, loaded with over four thousand tons of explosives, shells, and nitroglycerin.”
“At this moment, these explosives are scattered in the harbor due to the ship’s mishap, mixed in with Deep Blue Harbor’s original munitions warehouses and steam boiler factories. As long as we place bombs in suitable locations and detonate them in the right order, the chain explosion of thousands of tons of gunpowder and steam boilers will be enough to destroy all life in the port area.”
“Does the explosion center only cover the port area? What about the Iron Crosses in other districts?” Hiltina asked.
In the previous close encounter, she had deeply realized the terrifying vitality of the Iron Crosses; even if their hearts were blown apart, they wouldn’t d*e immediately. If they were only affected by the blast wave, it wouldn’t be enough to k*ll these hideous creatures.
“That’s our next task: draw aggro, gather the monsters, lead all the Iron Crosses in the city to the port area, manually set timed bombs, and then blow them to the sky.”
Rast held the reins in one hand and took out a lead box containing the Evil God’s pollutant from his bosom. He opened the box to reveal a bound humanoid metal sculpture inside.
With a tight grip of his right foot, the big red horse understood and stepped out of the corral, coming to Hiltina’s side, at the stable’s entrance.
“The Evil God sculpture has a certain allure for these Iron Crosses, but it’s still not enough to make them abandon the fresh living prey in front of them, so we need to add more to it.”
“Can you lend me your sword?”
Hiltina glanced at Rast and threw over the Shimmering Morning Star.
Rast had already rolled up his sleeves, and as he suddenly pushed the door open, he cut open his own vein with the edge of the silver rapier.
bl**d sprays shattered in the wind, splattering onto the bound humanoid black iron sculpture.
Sizzle—
As the bl**d dripped, wisps of white smoke billowed up, and bl**d-colored patterns emerged on the surface of the sculpture.
At almost the same moment, the chaotic noise and maniacal laughter outside faded to silence, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
In that d*ath-like silence, the Iron Crosses ignored the prey being chased or tortured before them, turned their bodies, and focused their gaze toward the main entrance of the estate, or more precisely, at Rast on the red horse.
The horse slowly walked out of the estate, and the Iron Crosses uniformly turned their heads, as if they were sunflowers following the sun, but those sunflowers had faces that were grey and broken, mouths curled into a grotesque arc, with bl**d-red flames burning in their pupils.
“Rast, they seem to think you’re delicious…” As countless eyes devoid of humanity, filled only with pure brutality and thirst, scrutinized her, even with Hiltina’s experience, a sense of dread rose within her.
This feeling reminded her of being lost in the wilderness at night as a child, when pairs of glowing green wolf eyes lit up in the darkness. If she hadn’t been rescued by adults to drive the wolves away, she might have already been devoured by the hungry wolves.
“Hmm, the Iron Crosses regard my bl**d as a delicacy, but I’m not sure why. Based on my attempts, the bl**d of other humans doesn’t have a similar effect.” Rast bit through the bandage and tightened the wound on his wrist: “But now isn’t the time to discuss this. Get on.”
“What?”
“Get on the horse, before they go completely insane with the stimuli.” Rast reached out a hand toward Hiltina while holding the reins with the other.
“I know your speed is faster than the finest racehorse, but to gather all the Iron Crosses in the city, our route needs to fully traverse all five districts of Deep Blue Harbor, so it’s necessary to conserve energy as much as possible.”
Hiltina grasped Rast’s hand; it wasn’t strong but had distinctly defined knuckles. She leaped up using his strength and elegantly landed on the horse’s back behind Rast.
“To those Iron Cross infectees, we now look no different from someone riding through the city with five wanted stars…”
“So your ‘Night Blade’ that can cut bullets needs to be activated the entire time; don’t hold back… bullets can come at us from any direction in this city, and in my previous loop, over half died at this point.”
“Hold on tight.”
After saying this, feeling her grip tighten on his shoulder, Rast kicked the horse hard.
The big red horse neighed loudly. It was clear that Rast’s choice to select it as his mount was not a coincidence. Facing the terrifying scene of being watched by countless Iron Crosses, it showed no fear.
It jumped suddenly, leaping over the low fence and charging down the distant street, towards the midday sun.
Behind them, the Iron Crosses, as if awakened from a dream, trampled over one another in reckless pursuit, akin to dark waves chasing the dying light of sunset.
(End of Chapter)
