Chapter 2596: The Halo of Justice
The bloodline paused in the air for a moment before returning to Xu Huo's hand, while the player who had tried to force their way in behind them stood frozen in place with vacant eyes. The ghost-face hood that lunged next easily covered his head, but only for an instant—the hood flew off again, taking with it a neatly severed head.
The contract staff member was startled, then looked at Xu Huo, who hadn't even turned around, and silently swallowed his words.
The three quickly arrived at the spot where they had discovered the invisible barrier wall during the day. Xu Huo reached out and touched it, finding it unchanged from daytime, its state unaffected by the arrival of night.
Taking a step back, he raised his knife and stabbed it in. Unexpectedly, the black blade passed through easily. Pressing down on the knife, a long, thin slit appeared on the barrier wall. Though it was rapidly healing, the spaces on either side were no longer completely sealed off.
Xu Huo glanced sideways at the painting woman.
She understood without hesitation, reaching out and thrusting her hand through without a moment's delay. Her palm rotated on the other side, then she pushed her arm through as well.
After confirming there was no danger, Xu Huo said, "Let's go take a look."
He added two more cuts, and after the painting woman crossed the barrier, he followed.
The space on either side of the barrier seemed no different, but the few hoods that had been following them didn't come through. Upon hitting the wall, they vanished one after another.
Seeing the ghost-face hoods disappear, the contract staff member tensed up immediately. But before he could speak, a demon hood materialized without a trace right above his head—literally right above, nearly brushing his hair as it descended. He had no time to react before the demon hood covered his eyes!
At the same time, a cold wind brushed past his ear, and then light returned to his vision. He saw Xu Huo standing in front of him, black knife in hand. Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, several more demon hoods came crashing down!
These hoods were clearly different from the previous ones. The earlier hoods hadn't grown roots inside before covering someone, but these demon hoods had several clusters of roots dangling like waterweed beneath them, the red liquid clinging to them layered fresh over old, emitting a heavy stench.
"Go back!" the contract staff member hurriedly turned to feel for the barrier wall, but the slit had already healed completely—there was no way back!
Xu Huo's instruments started moving again, but these demon hoods were clearly a higher grade than the ghost-face ones. Not only were they harder to break, but they even used their roots to entangle the flying instruments. When the instruments dragged the hoods around, they inevitably collided with other instruments. In just a few breaths, three instruments were destroyed along with the hoods in the collisions.
A few hoods had taken out three A-grade instruments—no wonder the rescue team that entered had been silent for so long.
Xu Huo gripped the black knife tightly, his figure darting through the street like a black lightning bolt. When he stopped, five newly appeared demon hoods were all split in two, drifting lazily to the ground.
But this didn't help much, because in the next second, seven more demon hoods sprouted up like mushrooms.
Killing hoods only yielded more hoods.
Xu Huo raised his hand and pressed all these hoods to the ground, then quickly returned to the barrier wall, cutting a hole with the black knife, and said to the contract staff member, "You go out on your own."
This caught the eager-to-leave contract staff member off guard. "You're not leaving? This place is too dangerous—the night parade might be right here!"
Xu Huo looked at him without speaking, jerking his chin toward the outside to urge him on.
The contract staff member hesitated. Honestly, if he were alone, facing the ghost-face hoods would be just as dangerous. Besides, they had walked so far without encountering the rescue team, which meant the team members were likely deep in the restricted zone's core. The players in the ghost-face hood activity area probably weren't too strong, and finding a team to group with didn't guarantee safety either.
After hesitating for only a second, he said, "I'll go with you!"
"I'll put on a defense mask—it should be fine. If I'm unlucky enough to die, please help me get these people out."
He took out the container item.
Xu Huo pulled out the "Staff Dormitory." "My container item only lasts two hours. You can hide inside if you want."
The contract staff member was immensely grateful. Without that knife strike earlier, he would have been dead. Compared to the side effects of entering a container item, he feared dying right now more.
Xu Huo put the person into the item, nodded to the painting woman beside him, and then the two quickly moved through the city streets.
Their goal was to find people, so they had to search every place this way. As they moved, more and more demon hoods tracked them, hovering like a dark cloud above their heads, dropping down randomly from time to time. Unlike the ghost-face hoods, these demon hoods didn't avoid the painting woman—they went for any head they could.
In a moment of distraction, Xu Huo saw the painting woman lifted into the air by her head, dangling. He leaped up, borrowing momentum, and slashed the hood in two. When the hood and the painting woman fell together, he noticed uniform circular dents on her mechanical suit.
The attack power of the roots inside the hoods had also upgraded.
A-grade instruments, A-grade mechanical suits—the demon hoods could damage them. Even if the damage was slightly weaker, the sheer numbers were terrifying enough, especially since the demon hoods weren't even the most powerful part of the night parade.
Ordinary defense instruments and items were mostly ineffective now. Xu Huo thought for a moment, then opened "Rain from the Sky" while activating "Halo of Justice."
"Rain from the Sky" was an umbrella item. Opening it caused rain to fall in the space, each raindrop possessing the lethal power of a space ray blade. The rain could be light or heavy, covering up to an entire city at maximum, while "Halo of Justice" doubled its attack power.
He was in luck—opening the umbrella brought a heavy downpour covering a large area. The already deadly raindrops, enhanced by the "Halo of Justice," fell like bullets, instantly pockmarking everything in sight. The pattering sound of rain was replaced by crackling explosions, echoing endlessly through the city.
The demon hoods hovering around were instantly knocked to the ground. Though the hoods weren't afraid of water, once riddled with holes, they quickly lost their mobility.
Hoods kept crashing onto the umbrella or trying to appear from beneath it, but within the limited controllable range, dodging attacks wasn't too difficult.
The painting woman's sword and knife transformed into a baseball bat. Any hood that suddenly popped up was mercilessly smacked away.
So, with the occasional hood flying out from under the umbrella, the two managed to move several thousand meters without too much trouble.
But as they reached this point, Xu Huo felt a faint force sweep over him. The next second, they reappeared not far from the barrier wall.
He was so frustrated he almost laughed. Layered spaces weren't enough—the core of the restricted zone also had invisible space teleportation gates!