Realizing that the black fog outside was being rapidly compressed, Anna's fingers grazed the three remaining grenades at her waist. She gnashed her teeth and got ready to go all out.
The black fog was slowly being dispersed. Instead of retreating beneath the cover of the black fog, Anna charged forward and rushed toward the enemies by herself.
An afterimage flitted past Anna, sending her back into the black fog. The attacker was an old man with a crystal pendant around his neck. His fleshly body was as hard as a stone, and he was astonishingly fast as well.
Anna's figure vibrated at high frequency as she lunged into the old man's fleshly body. When she poked her head out from inside the old man, a meaningful smile appeared on her solemn face.
She saw it—the old man's pancreas was wrapped in a black, fibrous matter. She finally figured out the identities of these newcomers. There was no mistaking it; they were humans who had fused with relics—they were the IMF's test subjects.
The IMF had to have obtained the fusion ritual from the Shattered God, and it seemed that they had long begun conducting preliminary experiments.
It was no wonder their teamwork was bad. Anna's deduction would explain everything. It hadn't been that long since she "died," so there was no way these test subjects could have mastered their special abilities in the meantime.
Upon deducing the background of these people, everything had become much easier for Anna to handle. It was just one piece of information, but it allowed Anna to see a thread of hope to survive this predicament.
"What's with that smile?! Wait! Your face—" the old man exclaimed. He could see Anna in the black fog, but his face suddenly stiffened. Clutching his chest, he fell to the ground and never moved again.
When Anna had melted into the old man, she took the liberty of stuffing something inside the old man's heart.
With the old man dead, Anna tossed the remaining smoke bombs to the ground and rushed forward by herself. The peculiar sensation that made her feel as if both her mind and body were rusted cogs in a machine reappeared, but when Anna reached the enemies' side, the peculiar feeling vanished in a flash.
The black fog was compressed once again, including everyone inside it. To avoid harming her teammates, the young girl had no choice but to stop the compression.
Anna's deduction was correct. These guys had just recently obtained their special abilities and had yet to master them.
Having fused with an Anomaly herself, Anna was very clear about the disadvantages and advantages of fusing with an Anomaly. She was an expert, and these guys were mere rookies.
These people could be compared to an infant getting their hands on a loaded gun with the safety off. If one wanted to make good use of one's special ability, then one had to undergo training.
Otherwise, they could easily hurt themselves and those around them.
This was the reason Charles had created his own training ground in the basement of his mansion on Hope Island.
Swoosh!
A dazzling beam of dazzling light was shone on Anna, but she stuck close to her enemies, ensuring that any attacks aimed at her would inevitably harm the others.
The woman's voice earlier had allowed Anna to sense their weakness, and it was their so-called "kindness" toward their teammates. If Anna were in their shoes, she would take down both her enemy and her teammates.
Unfortunately, these people weren't soldiers, nor were they veteran sailors from the Subterranean Sea. They were mere test subjects, and they lacked the decisiveness necessary for success in any combat.
While the enemies were hesitating, Anna moved deftly and quickly. In the proverbial blink of an eye, the black fog churned as a bloodbath unfolded within it.
Under the cover of the black fog, Anna could finally use her corrosive flames. Agonized screams echoed from within the fog, and gray ashes soon fluttered about.
Just then, the sound of flapping wings echoed as a large group of bats rushed out of the stairwell and charged into churning black fog.
The vampires had been hiding in the shadows all this while, and when they saw the tables turning in their favor, they rushed out to leverage the small advantage into a larger one.
Things became more chaotic, and Anna took advantage of that chaos to retreat by melting into the floor.
Upon landing, Anna turned and saw both Gao Zhiming and Jackal dragging the round mirror back to the stairwell. With Anna's help from within the ground, the mirror rapidly moved upward.
Under the cover of the chaos, Anna and the others finally escaped the building.
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The air was no longer thick with the stench of blood, and everyone immediately felt refreshed and delighted upon getting hit by a wave of fresh air.
Meanwhile, the huge golden-framed mirror rolled past the chaos and landed outside.
Everyone was left exhausted and gasping for breath, but they were still alive.
"Gao Zhiming, are you okay?" Anna asked with concern.
"Mmhm, I can… manage!" the boy leaning on the brass mirror replied with difficulty.
Jackal standing next to Gao Zhiming wanted to say something, but a dazzling beam of light rushed out of the distant building and engulfed them.
Those people had actually caught up to them!
Everything within the beam of light melted rapidly, including Anna, whose figure was still vibrating underground.
"Die, you worms!" a man roared from far away.
Before all three of them could melt like candles, Anna shoved the mirror from beneath the ground. The mirror was turned upright, and it was then rotated, becoming like a massive shield protecting them.
The brass mirror was struggling beneath the light beam, but the light beam was successfully reflected, blasting a hole in the distant building.
Just then, a peculiar but familiar sensation engulfed them once more.
The test subjects in the distance stared at Anna with eyes full of hatred. They were still in the building, so they could only stare at Anna's group through the windows.
Unfortunately for Anna, she no longer had anything that she could use to defend herself, while the test subjects were free to unleash their special abilities to their limits.
With great difficulty, Anna glanced at the enemies below the building, and then she sized up the towering hundred-meter-tall building.
Anna froze just then—she just had an idea, and she had to execute it now. With that in mind, she pushed the mirror from beneath the ground, making the light beam hit the corner of the skyscraper before her.
Anna managed to bore a few holes before the enemies realized what the former was trying to do. The beam of light—from god knew where—was soon extinguished, but by then, it was too late.
The ground trembled, and the building towering a hundred meters tall tilted.
Everyone frantically ran outside, but the building collapsed on them with a thunderous boom.
When the building crumbled, a giant wave of dust buffeted Gao Zhiming and the others while the trembling ground tested their balance, rocking them back and forth.
The fate of those test subjects was unknown to Anna, but the peculiar sensation had disappeared, and Anna no longer felt sluggish.
With no more enemies to handle, Anna's group easily left the battlefield. In less than an hour, Anna had more or less achieved her goals, and the army stationed within the city had yet to respond to the abrupt chaos.
The majority of civilians had already fled the city due to the chaos that made it seem like there was an upcoming war.
The desolate streets helped Anna and her group retreat from the chaos. Without a third party's gaze to consider, they hastily loaded the brass mirror into an abandoned delivery truck by the roadside and rushed out of the city.
The IMF has already started fusing Anomalies into humans? This is a bit troublesome, Anna thought while gripping the steering wheel. The IMF had the most Anomalies out of every anomalous organization on the surface world.
The fact that they had so many Anomalies at their disposal meant that their strength would surely make a qualitative leap. Moreover, they could just stuff those dangerous, uncontrollable Anomalies into human beings, and they no longer had to spend so much money containing them.
Anna's train of thought was interrupted by an injured vampire on the ground.
The injured vampire on the ground had suffered injuries so severe that Anna could see his shattered organs through one of the holes all over him. Despite such heavy injuries, the man was still alive.
Anna was impressed; the Blood Clan's regenerative ability was truly extraordinary.
Just then, an idea came to Anna's mind, and she stomped on the brakes. She couldn't let the IMF grow unchecked. She had to add some obstacles for them to deal with. After all, once every Blood Clan member was annihilated, it would then be her turn.
Having made up her mind, Anna quickly wrote down the fusion ritual that would allow a human being to fuse with an Anomaly on a piece of paper. She stuffed the piece of paper into the man's hand and grabbed Jackal's hand.
Slicing open Jackal's arm, fresh blood cascaded down the vampire's throat. Upon confirming that the vampire had swallowed Jackal's blood, Anna returned to the truck and drove away.