Chapter 48: A Humanoid Meat Shield with Devastating Damage Output

Chapter 48: Human Flesh Tank and Brute-Force DPS

"I can't hold on much longer!"

Facing the endless horde of tentacle monsters, Chubby was gradually losing his ability to resist. Although his fat could transform into various weapons and biological limbs, the prerequisite was that they had to remain connected to his body. Once detached, they would turn back into ordinary fat, indirectly weakening his strength.

While the tentacle monsters were not overwhelmingly powerful, they were extremely troublesome. Several of them had viciously bitten off his fat-formed weapons and hands right before they died, causing his body mass to dwindle until only about half was left. If he lost any more, he could officially declare himself dead.

The other three by his side were in no better shape.

The dark robe used by Robe to conceal his body had already been discarded, revealing a skeletal frame glowing with a ghostly blue fire beneath. The flames in his eye sockets, representing his life force, had shrunk considerably due to the excessive use of his abilities.

Then there was Kid. The frequency and speed with which those two dark hands slapped at the tentacle monsters had also dropped significantly.

As for Shades, whose ability was charm and control, she had been under the protection of the other three the entire time. The twelve tentacle monsters she had originally controlled had been torn apart and devoured by the rest of the horde, and now, even with all her might, she could barely manage to control six.

"It seems we're going to die together," Kid said, swatting away a tentacle monster in front of him, shaking his head, and spreading his hands.

Chubby chimed in with a depressed tone, "We really took a huge loss this time. Had I known that old bastard was so sinister, I should have killed him first!"

Robe remained silent, focusing entirely on incinerating the tentacle monsters. Fueled by the immense life energy supplied by the city, the physical strength of each tentacle monster far exceeded that of ordinary people. To burn them to death, he had to concentrate his flames into a tight area, targeting no more than ten at a time. However, the tentacle monsters killed by his fire were the hardest to regenerate. After all, compared to a normal blown-up head or severed neck, burning them down to mere skeletons dealt far more severe damage.

Unfortunately, against the massive and endlessly surging horde from all around, the dozens he had managed to kill were merely a drop in the bucket.

Shades bit her lower lip slightly, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry... if I hadn't asked you to come and save Jiang..."

"It's not your fault!"

Chubby interrupted her. While slashing at the tentacle monsters, he said panting, "Although I've never liked the Demon's arrogant attitude, since his stance on dangerous species is the same as mine, he is my friend. So even if you hadn't called me, I would have come anyway. If we've ended up in this state, blame it entirely on my lack of strength."

Kid shook his head, a hint of regret in his voice, "Too bad. If the Demon were here, we definitely could have carved out a bloody path and beaten that old bastard outside into meat paste! Feed him to the dogs!"

Robe still said nothing. But the two ghostly blue flames in his eye sockets flickered erratically, clearly showing his state of mind was far from calm.

In truth, they all knew that although Cleaners had acquired bizarre abilities far surpassing ordinary people due to various encounters, their bodies were ultimately still too fragile when faced with humanity's most destructive weapon—the nuclear bomb.

The Demon was probably already dead.

Only Shades was naive enough to believe the Demon was still alive.

At that moment, Robe looked past the gaps between the tentacle monsters toward the arrogant-looking Bridges in the distance, and the ghostly blue flame in his eye sockets flashed.

What a pity he hadn't been able to burn that old bastard to ashes!

"Jiang..." Shades whispered.

She was not unaware of the terrifying power of a nuclear bomb, nor was she ignorant of the fact that if Jiang were still alive, he would never stand idly by upon seeing this blood-sacrifice ritual. Since he still hadn't shown up after all this time, it could only mean he would never be able to come.

Yet, she still believed Jiang was not dead.

If she had to explain why, it was probably just intuition!

*Splatter!*

A controlled tentacle monster was torn to pieces.

A stream of bloody tears flowed from Shades' eyes once again. In just over a dozen minutes, her face—so exquisitely and ambiguously gender-neutral—was already stained with blood. Watching her three old friends lose the composure they had at the very beginning, she knew that death would soon claim all four of them.

"Jiang, I really hope I can see you before I die..."

Shades instinctively turned her head, ignoring her blood-blurred vision, and stared blankly in the direction of the inner city.

In a trance, she saw a tall, blood-red figure sprinting wildly through the ruined city toward them.

"How wonderful, I get to see you again..."

A happy smile bloomed on Shades' face. Even though she knew this was merely a hallucination, being able to see Jiang one last time before dying was enough to satisfy her.

"The Demon? I knew this kid wasn't dead!"

Hearing the commotion echoing from the city, Chubby turned his head, took a look, and burst into hearty laughter.

"Demon, run faster! Can't you see an old man like me is about to collapse?" Kid shouted in his childish voice, seizing the moment.

The robed man remained wordless, but the flames of life flickering in his eye sockets grew noticeably brighter, his mood visibly improving.

Hearing his teammates' voices, Shades' mind was filled with doubt. Could they be hallucinating too?

She blinked rapidly, peering intently into the city. The blood-red figure was still there, drawing closer by the second. Overjoyed, she cried out, "Jiang, did you come because you heard my call?"

Jiang Nian did not reply to anyone.

After letting out a roar of defiance toward the tentacle monsters, he violently kicked off the ground.

*Boom!*

The ground within a radius of several meters instantly sank by half a meter. Leveraging this immense force, Jiang Nian launched himself a dozen meters into the air, his massive body plunging like a cannonball straight into the thick of the tentacle monsters.

In an instant, several tentacle monsters had their bodies burst apart by the impact.

With the addition of Jiang Nian—a human-shaped flesh tank equipped with brute-force DPS—the pressure on Chubby, Robe, Kid, and Shades was instantly lifted.

Just as the five of them thought about mustering one final push to break out of the city, which had now turned into a sacrificial altar, they noticed even more tentacle monsters swarming from all directions. They were piled on top of each other, leaving almost no gaps as they charged forward.

"He survived even a nuclear blast?"

Seeing from afar that Jiang Nian was still alive, Bridges froze for a moment, then chuckled indifferently. "If it were before the God's Awakening ritual began, I might have found you a bit troublesome. But now, you and those four monsters can just fulfill your duties as sacrifices."

The city had already transformed into a giant sacrificial altar; both the living and the dead were offerings.

Within this massive altar, the biggest difference between Jiang Nian's group of five and ordinary people was that ordinary people had no resistance against the ritual's power, instantly having their minds and bodies hijacked to become mindless monsters, whereas the five of them could resist the force of the ritual and remain unaffected.

However, facing the endless stream of monsters within the altar, no matter how powerful Jiang Nian's group of five might be, they could now only wait resentfully for death to arrive.

"Are you the president of the Heavenly God Society?"

Suddenly, a young voice rang out right behind Bridges.

Bridges' pupils violently constricted, and without a shred of hesitation, he thrust his hands forward to grab the antique iron box ahead of him.

But just for a split second, he felt all control over his body slip away, his hands unable to advance even a millimeter further.

Bridges slowly lowered his head, only to see a massive, blood-red hand protruding straight out from his chest, clutching a still-beating heart.

Judging from the blood dripping from it, that heart must have been very fresh.