Shrouded Seascape

The night was dark, and the moon in the sky appeared particularly hazy behind the clouds. It was the perfect weather for an ambush.

Anna led the brand-new Fhtagnists toward their destination deep inside a forest just next to a national highway. The Shattered God itself was a massive factory. As long as one was aware of its general location, it was easy to track it down using the traces that a factory would inevitably leave behind.

Moreover, the Shattered God had no need to hide at all, as it had already made a deal with the IMF. With that deal, it no longer had any enemies except for the late 315.

With the help of the clown and Olivia, the guards clad in camouflage were quickly taken out. The grass and the trees nearby slowly took on a yellow, withered color. In addition, the faint smell of machine oil permeated the air.

Clank, clank, claaank!

Thunderous clanking noises echoed from the distance. A few minutes later, Anna and her group found themselves staring at a large factory.

The lights from behind the windows and the dense smoke belching out from the smokestacks were extremely conspicuous in the pitch-black forest.

The surrounding vegetation had died out due to the pollution, while armed soldiers surrounded the facility. Anna also spotted a few anti-aircraft weapons within the factory.

The commander in charge, Jackal, ordered everyone to stop. The Shattered God's highly advanced equipment meant that they would instantly be detected if they were to move any closer.

Everyone's eyes turned to their leader, Anna. They quietly waited for her next command. Anna was twirling a lock of her hair with one hand while gazing at the distant factory, pondering what exactly they were doing.

What is that thing even doing here?

It didn't make sense for it to come here to avoid the IMF. After all, it had sold itself out to become a VIP in the IMF. It could totally walk openly under the sun.

It could be said that the Shattered God had become a completely different existence compared to the other anomalous beings out there. It was probably the only anomaly that wasn't under any surveillance.

The wind blew through the surrounding leaves, forcing them to sway left and right. Anna's eyes narrowed slightly. Although she didn't know what that thing was up to, her desire for revenge still burned brightly.

Recalling the Shattered God's ugly face, Anna's teeth trembled with hatred. Anna raised her right hand slightly, and everyone's gaze locked onto her delicate fingernail.

"Go in, and kill them all. Catch the Shattered God, and we'll interrogate it later."

Under the clown, Olivia, Roy, and Jackal's lead, three hundred Fhtagnists dispersed and silently approached the factory. Not all of the Fhtanists held any weapons in their hands. In fact, some of them had nothing on them.

Of course, weapons were unnecessary for them, as they had already fused with an Anomaly. To become even stronger, Anna had used up all her funds.

Gao Zhiming gripped his gun, wanting to go along with them.

"This is none of your business." Anna stopped him. "Just watch."

Gao Zhiming's lips twitched slightly as he engaged his gun's safety.

Tobba busy licking a lollipop remarked, "That pile of scrap metal is no match for us at all. Plus, we have the element of surprise on our side. My special ability also makes me feel that we're going to win." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Bang!

A gunshot rang out from somewhere, and the forest was instantly plunged into chaos.

The Shattered God's array of artillery weapons came to life. The clown danced his way into the enemy lines, and moments later, the roaring of those was silenced.

Gunshots, explosions, and screams echoed nonstop; both sides were full of fearless cultists, so their clashes were extremely brutal. Blood splattered into the air, soaking the soil underneath.

However, Anna's side had the advantage. Olivia, capable of attacking the minds of her targets, and Li Lu, capable of manifesting the abilities of that withered three-fingered claw, were unstoppable on the battlefield.

After a while, the gunshots slowly died down. The Fhtagnists stormed the bizarre factory before them, and the battle shifted from outdoors to indoors.

Those people are killing others for the first time, but they've already achieved such results. How impressive. Once they've adapted to combat, they will be no worse than the IMF's mobile task forces.

Anna stepped over the corpses into the factory along with Gao Zhiming and Tobba.

A rain of bullets whizzed past their heads as soon as they entered the factory. The battle inside was far more intense and chaotic than outside.

The Shattered God's believers relied on their familiarity with the factory to engage in guerrilla warfare centered around the machines within the factory.

Anna looked around and saw that some of them had rivets and gears all over their bodies and heads—a clear mark that they had changed some of their organs for mechanical ones.

They seemed unafraid and mostly unfazed by ordinary bullets. Despite getting shot several times, they could still stand up and counterattack.

Anna had never seen anything like them before. They seemed to be new products created by the Shattered God.

The stalemate didn't last long. The Fhtagnists hurled grenades, blasting the machines into smithereens.

Roy streaking across the air flew up and ripped off the factory's roof, exposing the factory to the outside world and allowing the flames below to absorb more oxygen in order for them to burn even brighter.

The flames burned ferociously, creating a chain reaction that allowed them to spread throughout the factory in the proverbial blink of an eye. The scene was proof that—in case of a factory fire—one had to extinguish it quickly.

Just as Anna thought that the entire factory would transform into a sea of flames, some burning debris came tumbling out from the raging inferno.

They struck the people nearby, emitting crackling and sizzling noises upon making contact with their flesh.

Soon, a low, strange chanting echoed from behind the flames.

The chanting came from the Shattered God's believers.

"We do not fear the Lord, for It is shattered and incomplete like us. To repair the body of God is to repair ourselves."

"Blessed is the one who frees the Lord from Its shackles. To free the Lord from Its shackles is to free ourselves from our shackles. To follow God is to do good. We glorify the Lord, we worship the Lord, and the Lord will glorify us. To serve the Lord is to do good, and we shall serve and protect the Lord."

"We, in ignorance, kneel and repair the Lord. The Lord shall rise from Its shattered fragments, and the heretics shall tremble at the feet of the Lord."

Amidst their chanting, a huge hydraulic claw emerged from the flames and propped itself on the ground.

Moments later, a second, and then a third claw followed suit.

Finally, a bunch of exposed bronze steam machinery appeared. The densely packed gears, pistons, and steam pipes were more reminiscent of the style of the Albion Isles in the Subterranean Sea rather than of the modern world.

A burning flame hovered in the middle of the machinery, and it gleamed fiercely like the sun.

It was huge. It was almost as tall as the entire factory, and its enormous figure swayed like a bloated hill made out of steel.