America: The Cremator

Sulong strode along the maintenance walkway, the heavy fuel tanks behind him swaying slightly with his movements.

Every few dozen meters, a broken glow stick emitting a ghostly green light would appear on the wall; these were markers left by Elena's team, guiding them in the direction they were heading.

The deeper you go, the stronger the stench in the air becomes, and the water becomes more turbulent. You can even see some floating, unidentifiable pieces of tissue in the murky black liquid.

Soon, a burst of gunfire came from deep within the pipe ahead, the echoes crashing and colliding repeatedly in the narrow space, making it exceptionally noisy.

Su Long did not stop; instead, he quickened his pace.

He rounded a corner covered in sticky moss, and suddenly his view opened up to a wider main drainage pipe, wide enough to accommodate two cars side by side.

In the distance, in the darkness, the beams of three tactical spotlights flickered violently, cutting through the darkness and illuminating the chilling scene ahead of the pipe.

Dozens of orange-yellow slimes of varying sizes were gathering into a viscous tide, tumbling and wriggling as they surged from the end of the pipe, pinning Elena's team to the spot.

Two special forces members formed a crossfire by kneeling, the muzzle flashes of their rifles almost never ceasing, each bullet soaked in holy water exploding a small cavity in the swarm of slimes.

Hannah stood behind them, her FN57 pistol firing in bursts, each shot precisely hitting those trying to jump over the defenses from above, the bullets coated in holy blood blasting them into a pool of shattered slime in mid-air.

Elena stood at the front of the group, holding her lantern high. The dazzling light formed an invisible barrier, and all the slimes that tried to approach within five meters of her had their gelatinous surface quickly charred and hardened under the light, making them move slowly.

However, all of this is just a drop in the ocean.

The annihilated slimes were nothing to the massive swarm; the individuals behind them carelessly crushed the remains of their comrades, continuing to push forward, and the defensive line was being pushed back little by little.

Sulong immediately rushed forward, his shouts sounding muffled through his gas mask: "Elena!"

"Clear a ten-meter square area for me; I'm going to build a wall of fire!"

Upon hearing this, Elena's gaze quickly swept over Sulong and the huge fuel tank behind him, a resolute glint flashing in her gray-green eyes.

She hung the lantern back on her waist and drew the huge silver sword from behind her, swinging it horizontally.

The dazzling sword light swept across like a crescent moon, instantly slicing the three slimes at the front in half. Thick smoke billowed from the smooth cut surface, emitting the pungent smell of burning protein.

Elena gave a low shout.

At the same time, the two task force members concentrated their firepower instantly, and dozens of silver bullets rained down like dense raindrops, completely tearing apart the slimes behind the fan-shaped area that Elena had cleared.

A vacuum zone, about ten meters wide, was forcibly carved out.

Seizing this fleeting opportunity, Su Long strode to the front of the group, crouched down, aimed the flamethrower nozzle at the ground, and turned the pressure valve on the fuel line to its maximum.

"Buzz—"

A powerful recoil came from the gun handle, almost causing him to stagger backward.

High-concentration, specially made cremation oil gushed violently from the nozzles like a burst dam, spreading a thick film of oil across the ground and completely soaking the swarming slimes.

After doing all this, Sulong adjusted his newly upgraded Primal Flame back into the form of a normal flame.

A barely visible golden spark condensed at his fingertips, and then he gently flicked the spark towards the front of the fuel nozzle.

boom--

The bright orange flames burst into flames in an instant, forming a three-meter-high wall of blazing fire that illuminated the entire sewer as bright as day.

Dozens of slimes that rushed to the front didn't even have time to make a sound before they were instantly vaporized in the terrifying heat. Their companions behind them were completely engulfed by the wall of fire, rolling and struggling in the flames, making a "sizzling" burning sound.

On Su Long's retina, lines of pale blue characters were rapidly updating.

[Burning the remains of a D-rank eerie slime grants 0.4 experience points.]

[Burning the remains of a D-rank eerie slime grants 0.5 experience points.]

……

Ultimately, all the tips came together in a single line of summary text.

[Burning 37 D-rank Weird Slimes grants 14 experience points!]

Looking at the number, Su Long suppressed his joy and turned to look at Elena behind him.

"This offensive should be able to be stopped for the time being."

Elena nodded, looking at the blazing wall of fire with a hint of approval in her eyes.

"How long will this fire burn?"

"Three to five minutes," Surong gave a conservative estimate.

"All personnel, take your positions and rest!" Elena immediately ordered, "Check equipment and replenish ammunition!"

Su Long also retreated to the corner, sat down with his back against the cold, damp brick wall, and quickly brought up his system panel.

He focused his mind on the list of entries and unhesitatingly invested the experience points he had just gained into it.

After consuming ten experience points, the star icon for 【Fear Shock☆】 began to flash.

【Fear and Intimidation☆☆】

Category: Blessing.

Description: The host can emit a mental shockwave through their gaze. Creatures hit by this shockwave will suffer a 5-second fear effect, during which their movement speed will be reduced, their precise actions will be hindered, and their thinking will be sluggish. Creatures with strong mental power have a stronger resistance to this attack.

Comment: His eyes widened, exuding an aura of dominance!

An active control skill.

Su Long's lips curled up slightly, and then he put the remaining 7 experience points back into the attribute panel, allocating 3 points to Spirit, and 2 points each to Constitution and Agility.

A warm current instantly spread throughout my body, sweeping away all mental fatigue and making my mind clearer and sharper than ever before.

A brand new panel unfolds before your eyes.

Name: Su Long

Age: 28

Occupation: Cremator

Five-dimensional attributes:

Physique: 2 (Nothing special!)

Agility: 2 (Nothing special!)

Vision: 10 (Spiritual perception!)

Charisma: 3 (He's a person!)

Spirit: 10 (Resilient!)

Entry: [Prometheus☆☆] [Fear and Awe☆☆] [Gift of Blood Rain (Broken)] [Plagued by Illness★] [Hatred of Water Rain★★]

The moment the Spirit attribute reached 10 points, a new message appeared at the bottom of the panel.

[The host's mental state has reached a new stage: increased mental resistance, making it harder to fall into negative mental states, reduced perception of negative emotions such as fear and despair, and partial immunity to mental control and hallucinations.]

Surong closed the panel with satisfaction. The biggest threat to this mission was probably not physical, after all, there were three firearms and Elena, the super soldier, in front of them.

What is most worrying is the unknown and bizarre mental attack. It is unknown whether Elena's lantern has any defensive effect against mental attacks. This breakthrough in mental attributes has come at just the right time.

Just then, an incredibly powerful gust of wind suddenly blew from the end of the pipe, the force of which even caused the burning wall of fire to swirl backward.

Without warning, the Geiger counter on Elena's chest suddenly emitted a piercing, high-pitched buzzing sound, so shrill it could tear everyone's eardrums apart.

Elena's expression turned extremely serious in an instant. She looked up sharply, gazing into the dark depths illuminated by the firelight.

"That thing... is almost fully hatched!"

She glanced at the dying flames on the ground and abruptly stood up.

"We're so close!"

"Move forward immediately!"