Chapter 336: Chapter 336: Escape
“Lamp Man”
A fleshy form threaded with various cables, capable of unlimited regeneration as long as there’s a single spotlight.
Within the Regulatory Office region, it’s practically an undying existence.
The fact that Abe could take one down alone was already quite impressive.
Following Han Dong’s warning, Abe immediately suppressed his beastly rage and fled in the opposite direction of the ‘Lamp Man’… but there was still some distance to the underground staircase where Mr. Aha was located.
Every time they came to a corridor, due to the effect of the old woman on Han Dong’s back, all the spotlights would fail due to the ‘Strange Tales’ effect, instantly losing their illumination.
This made Mia look at this old woman with a weird gaze, seemingly noticing some important detail.
Just when the team thought no illumination meant the Lamp Man couldn’t catch up.
Crack!
Out of nowhere, numerous cracks appeared on the concrete walls of all the corridor passages.
The old lady reached out to try to close the wall.
Sizzle! She was forcefully repelled by arcs of electricity jumping between the walls.
Crack, crack…
All of the concrete walls disintegrated.
Thousands of spare spotlights rolled out from inside… It could even be said that the very essence of the Regulatory Office was formed by these spotlights, covered merely by a layer of cement on the outside.
The number of spotlights was horrifying.
So much so, that under the effect of the old woman’s ‘Strange Tales’, there wasn’t enough time to render all those spotlights ineffective. Several still remained active, their light falling on the bodies of the team.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…
An interference wave of electromagnetic radiation echoed in the corridor.
The ‘Lamp Man’ immediately used one of the spotlights to reconstruct his body.
With the old woman on his back, Han Dong naturally couldn’t do anything.
However, the moment the Lamp Man took form, a flash of red hair brushed past Han Dong’s cheek… Surprisingly, the first one to charge out was Winry.
After confirming that her sealed iron helmet significantly reduced the impact of the electromagnetic interference, Winry wanted to contribute something to the team.
Sizzle!
The interference only affected her 20%, greatly reducing the amount of time she was incapacitated.
While Winry was still paralyzed, the huge axe the Lamp Man held had barely been lifted… In the time it took to swing down, Winry had plenty of time to respond.
She didn’t dodge.
She simply picked up her hammer and struck at the large axe.
A show of brute force.
Boom! Rings of electrical pulses radiated from the point of impact.
Winry was knocked back a distance, her wrist filled with surges of chaotic electrical currents… but for someone with Winry’s unique physique, the impact was minimal.
In contrast.
After taking a hit from Winry’s heavy hammer, the ‘Lamp Man’…
The powerful impact completely shattered the Lamp Man’s arm.
The broken arm exposed frantically spasming electric wires… Just as the Lamp Man was trying to reconnect the wires to heal the arm.
Mia sprang into action.
With one strike, she severed the spotlight in its hand,
With another, she sliced off its horned helmeted head,
An execution.
The moment the Lamp Man fell… Sizzle! Electromagnetic disturbance caused everyone to falter. The corpse dissolved into a puddle of Black Water.
Another spotlight began to sprout flesh.
Every operational spotlight signified a new ‘Lamp Man’. If trapped, the only outcome is death.
“Run!”
Although the Lamp Man’s movement speed was exceedingly slow.
Every time a light touched a member of the team, electromagnetic interference fluttered by… The ‘Lamp Man’, supposed to be sluggishly trailing after them, would teleport to the nearest spotlight and form a new body.
Where there’s a spotlight, there’s a Lamp Man.
The team members unleashed their firepower to the max.
They tried their best to kill the obstructing Lamp Man as quickly as possible…
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
Every crackle of electricity brought a flutter of unease in everyone’s hearts.
Each regenerated Lamp Man was no less powerful or intimidating than before.
However, the team’s energy was rapidly depleting during this.
The corridor was so densely populated with spotlights that they could trigger at any moment… By rough estimation, with less than five seconds between each execution, a new Lamp Man would appear.
Clang!
Taking advantage of the gap between electromagnetic interferences, combined with fatigue and distraction, Winry failed to dodge in time.
An axe heavily fell onto Winry’s shoulder.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! Sparks flew everywhere.
A powerful force made Winry kneel with one knee… Even though the axe completely cleaved open the armor on Winry’s shoulder, it failed to harm her flesh.
Behind her, Mia immediately took action, brandishing the Demon Sword and cut the Lamp Man in half at the waist.
“Thank goodness it was Winry… If it were anyone else, they would have been split in two. The entrance to the stairs is just around the corner. Hurry!”
Taking advantage of the Lamp Man’s regeneration period.
Everyone entered the stairwell just before the axe fell.
At the top of the stairs stood the Lamp Man, dragging his axe, showing no intention of following them down the stairs.
Firstly, because there were no lights for them to observe and regenerate from.
Secondly, it seemed to fear Mr. Aha, who was imprisoned at the deepest part of the stairwell.
“Winry, let me take a look!”
The formidable defense of Winry’s body withstood the heavy axe blow, but she was still injured and a few streaks of blood trickled his shoulder… what was more, Han Dong observed a horrifying detail.
From the wounds, some unidentified wires stretched through them.
Winry didn’t feel anything.
These wires, like living creatures, frantically split inside the wound, attempting to burrow into Winry’s flesh.
“This is…”
Just as Han Dong was trying to pull out these wires.
The old woman on his back stretched out her hand, and the writhing wires immediately lost their vitality, falling from the skin… Sizzle! After falling to the ground, they transformed into sparks of electricity and disappeared.
“Thank you…”
Winry looked at the empty-handed old woman, still feeling a little scared.
The puppet in the old woman’s hand laughed kindly: “Haha, you truly are a kind-hearted girl…”
As they descended the stairs, Han Dong attempted to complete an extra mission – [Adjusting the marriage relationship].
“Grandma, Mr. Aha sent us to rescue you.”
“I know.” The old woman’s reply was rather indifferent.
“Then… are you willing to see him with us, Grandma?”
“That old ghost is indeed annoying… but seeing as you are all kind-hearted youngsters, I won’t hold grudges over these things… After all, you need to leave this Regulatory Office as soon as possible.
The longer you stay down here, the more dangerous it becomes.
[The Lamp] is not that easy to deal with…”
“Thank you, Grandma.”
The unexpected understanding eased things quite a bit.
As for matters concerning Grandma, Han Dong planned to inquire further once they had completely escaped the Regulatory Office and lighthouse.
They progressed through the corridor, filled with ominous Qi.
The biomatter door was wide open.
Mr. Aha had already prepared to welcome his wife.
A washboard was placed flat at the doorway, he was knelt on it in a very practiced manner.
“Wife, you’re back!”