Long-term salvation

I must continue to be strong, I must remain immortal, I must become... the only one that exists.

The monster Flamel felt the thought of the human who created this body, and it felt a little offended by it, and was deeply fascinated by this goal.

"I'm leaving here," Flamel looked at Rhodes and walked slowly forward, "You know how to leave here."

"..."

Rhodes reached out and put the black cat Pickman on his shoulder. The latter turned into a hooded cloak again. The cat's emerald eyes swam on the cloth, staring at the twisted monster in front of it.

In an instant, everyone was taking steps - the mortals squeezed out the last bit of strength from their bodies to maintain their shaky sanity and move towards their goals - Rhodes continued to move forward, quickly crossing the rugged stone corridor, passing over the broken reliefs, leaving the darkness and curse behind, but the heavy footsteps did not stop for a moment, following closely.

Sweat accumulates in the stealth suit and is evaporated a little by the heat from strenuous body activity, making people feel extremely uncomfortable.

In just a few breaths, Rhodes caught up with Laura and Lupo who were also running from behind. He suddenly grabbed their waists, squeezed out all the strength in his body, and rushed towards the fault line in front.

There is an abyss ahead, and the unknown turns into solid clouds and mists slowly drifting by. No one knows what is below.

Rhodes didn't know either, but he had some confidence in it - if he fought with the thing behind him here until the inner world collapsed, it would be better to jump down directly. Maybe he could just shoot himself and then read the resurrection bar in other areas?

This is a really good idea, but I guess Laura and Lupo will object.

Rhodes was once again amused by his own shitty idea. He exhaled slowly and coordinated every muscle in his body to ensure that he could continue running while carrying two people.

Just as the footsteps behind him were getting closer, Rhodes, along with the two of them, leaped forward into the abyss.

Amid the sound of the descending wind, Rhode glimpsed a dense darkness. Pinpoints of light, tiny as needles, rose from below, resembling stars twinkling in the night sky. The scene was truly indescribable, even difficult to grasp with the naked eye. The darkness gradually narrowed, even giving off an odd feeling of distinct boundaries. Countless gazes hid behind the veil of darkness, looming like ghosts.

[Floating up]

[You are in the shallow level of the confused dungeon]

A voice resembling Gregorian chant could be heard from afar, except that it was filled with curses and blasphemies against the living. As Rhodes and his companions fell, the voice grew increasingly piercing, until even the sacred tone vanished, transforming into a rebuke and spitting after a betrayal of faith.

In this world, there is no heaven, only hell!

There is no God, only the devil!

[Floating up]

You are in Limbo

Just like the previous ascent, the system's prompt came at the perfect time. Amidst the clear sound, Rhodes saw that the original light spot had grown extremely large, as big as a full moon, no, more like a blurry moon shadow reflected on the ground.

[Floating up]

You are in the real world

Rod fell to the ground and found himself lying on the edge of a glass rooftop, next to Laura and Lupo who also fell to the ground. However, they were slightly lifted up by Pickman's force before falling to the solid ground. Now they only had some concussions... maybe some broken bones, but it was better than losing their lives completely.

Rhodes climbed up with difficulty, took a breath, and then heard Pickman's shrill cat cry!

He looked up and followed the sound, and saw the overlapping layers of steel structures above his head, full of the beauty of human creation.

This is the top part of the Eiffel Tower.

Now, in the inspection passage at the top of the tower, a monster was slowly emerging, and darkness was pouring down.

"Ah... the world..."

[Side Quest: Twelve Trials: Catacombs (Completed)]

【Task rewards begin to be distributed】

[Pollution points in the other world have been collected]

[Character exchange voucher not collected (world artifact outflow in high threat level)]

[System updating... Updating...]

Rhodes stood up and looked up at the monster.

Chapter 203 The Eiffel Tower is burning! (4K)

"Take them both down below, Pickman."

Rhodes touched the cat, which was obviously a little tired, and watched as the cat's body suddenly grew larger. It swallowed Laura and Lupo, who were lying on the ground and trying to get up, and then jumped out of the tower.

[Emergency Mission: Execution]

[Mission Description: Eliminate highly threatening creatures from the otherworld to prevent the further expansion of the disaster in the otherworld]

"If you don't escape from me within five minutes," Rhodes reached into his pocket, took out a cigarette, and put it between his lips. He lit it and inhaled the familiar smoke of Red Apple cigarettes, "you will die here, lying on the ground whimpering like a dog."

"What arrogant words—how could you, as a son of a man, commit the sin of arrogance?"

The monster Flamel landed on the ground, creating an uneven dent in the solid steel floor. It looked towards the distant city, seeing countless lights burning like fireflies in the cold rainy night, faintly wishing someone would extinguish them.

After leaving the supernatural womb, the newborn monster felt regret for the first time - it no longer possessed an endless supply of power, only the emotional power that leaked out from the cracks and escaped from the countless souls in the city. It was not enough, totally not enough - a weak spiritual connection was carefully touching its own mind, which was an attempt from the creators of this body to regain control of this body.

Wrong, the monster thought, it would control them.

"Although this may seem like a way to delay things, I still want to say, let me finish this cigarette."

The drizzle drifted into the iron tower, leaving a layer of wet water marks on the ground. The rain and fog stretched between the two inhuman creatures, blurring their sight of each other's figures.

Rhodes smoked quietly, then flicked the cigarette butt at the monster that suddenly broke through the rain and fog. The cigarette butt hit the shadowy black robe and bounced away. The faint flame flashed in the dim tower, fell to the ground, and was extinguished by the accumulated water.

The next second, the cigarette butt was crushed by Rhodes. He dodged sideways and fired the revolver in his hand continuously, with a roar like thunder!

"You're nothing but a false savior!"

"But this steel is real, rubbish! Eat my M1A1 tank!!!"

The main battle tank that suddenly appeared savagely squeezed the monster's body away, and the 1500-horsepower gas turbine engine made an arrogant roar. The 120mm smoothbore gun could not effectively aim at the monster but still fired. The shells instantly penetrated the outer glass and steel structure of the iron tower, blasting a dent in the ground below, which soon accumulated into muddy water.

The explosion from the tank's firing stunned the monster for half a second, but it soon discovered that the steel behemoth before it had vanished without a trace. Rhodes appeared in the distance, with four AT4 anti-tank rocket launchers in front of him and one on his shoulder.

Rhode pressed the trigger on the barrel of his jacket, and the rockets whizzed off, colliding directly with the sturdy body. Round after round! Continuous explosions ripped through the hollow steel frame, spreading orange flames and dust in all directions. Tiny metal fragments sliced ​​through the air, cut Rhode's cheek, and embedded themselves in his stealth suit.

A giant slowly rose to its feet, its body clearly broken even through the smoke. The next second, it suddenly leaped upwards, lying in the crack of the otherworld beneath the tower, sucking in the power from the supernatural dimension.

In just a breath of time, the monster completely absorbed the energy of the other world that permeated the crack. As the crack closed, it leaped away, allowing the rocket to fly through its arms and hit the top of the tower, causing the steel to collapse and rain of fire to fall.

Phosphorous fire ignited, licking the steel bones, causing the tower that symbolized France to creak in pain.

"...Tsk," Rhodes gritted his teeth and watched the monster's body fall to the ground like cement, and then solidify into shape again, as if it could manipulate every inch of bone and every piece of flesh in its body at will.

"I forgot. That previous tracker also independently mutated and changed its form without a large-scale feeding regimen... Umbrella Corporation, do you know what you've created? No—it shouldn't just be Umbrella technology, but other companies in the Organization must also be involved..."

The sound of the rotor blades flapping in the air came from far away, and the raindrops were thrown out in a line, like a woman's gauze.

Rhode stretched his body. After all the fighting and running around, he was exhausted. The fatigue was seeping from his bones, filling every corner of his body. Even though his body had been strengthened, he still needed rest, even if it was just two or three hours of sleep at a time.

But the thing in front of him obviously wouldn't give him this opportunity.

The well-fed monster twisted its body, opened its arms, and suddenly stretched out its arms to grab the steel beams on both sides, using them as weapons, or shields - the whistling of rockets sounded here again, but was immediately blown away, exploding into a bright ball of fire in the distant city.

Rhode dropped the sleeve and leaned slightly to avoid the hurled steel beam. That was the true roar of wind and thunder, followed by the sudden sound of heavy footsteps that reached his ears! The air swirled, dragging shadows along with the distorted body, and the remaining steel beam attacked like a club wielded by a primitive man, growing larger and larger in Rhode's eyes.

The sound of metal colliding suddenly rang out. The impact slightly dispersed the surrounding rain and fog, and also caused a barely perceptible vibration on the ground.

Rhodes narrowly avoided the attack, but was kicked away the next second and hit the steel beam at the edge!

He leaned against the already dented steel beam, exhaled slowly, and glanced sideways at his feet... Almost 270 meters from the ground. Is this the fourth floor? It seems like it would cost a lot of money to get up here... Rhode laughed bitterly and threw these messed-up thoughts out of his mind.

"Ahem...alright, I'll sit at the same table with those two Bristlebacks, Leon and Chris."

Rhodes coughed a few times and spat out some blood. He struggled to stand up and ran over the time he had just calculated in his mind - there were about two minutes left. With Pickman's speed and the girls' perception of the energy of the inner world, they would be able to arrive soon without being discovered by outsiders.

Now we have to buy some time, and buy some more time... Killing is not the goal, but to prevent this monster from rushing into the city and killing people - this is the responsibility of the savior, it must be dragged here!

What if you have died before that? The moment you return to the other world after death and read the bar, all the pollution points in the other world will be cleared!

Rhodes coughed a few times, feeling the blood surging in his chest and his body slowly repairing itself. He checked his current backworld pollution points and chose to use 10000 points to unlock the Soviet battle group. The system then brought up the card icon for the Soviet 79th Guards Tank Division—it wasn't available right now, but it contained an exchange for a Sovremenny-class guided missile destroyer and a 3K60 "Ballroom" coastal defense missile system... both quite expensive.

As for the remaining points, Rhode planned to exchange them all for explosives, which would definitely be enough to take himself and the thing in front of him away directly. It was only at this moment that he missed the tactical nuclear bomb in "Broken Arrow".

Why hasn't this system opened up the exchange for modern weapons yet? Thinking of this, Rhode stood up straight and began to reload his revolver, while the monster tore off a new steel beam, flattened it, and sharpened one end with its sharp nails.

The monster came slowly and said with a mocking tone:

"Since you are that man's son, I will send you to hell using the death of a son of man."

"Really? Then you better be careful," Rhodes sneered in response, taking out his satellite phone and quickly typing a text message. "You'll see me again in three days—maybe we'll meet in hell."

"I won't get too close to you. I know you can come up with a lot of interesting little toys, but dying at the hands of a toy would be like dying at the hands of a foolish creature like humans. Just like Nicolas Flamel, he was lucky enough to discover a primitive creation and then crafted it into his own 'power'. Now that 'power' is in your hands... That stone is the source of unrest, and you're only human after all, venturing into a deadly place to obtain it."

The monster laughed, and the smile imitating a human only looked hideous at this moment. Rhodes only held the satellite phone in his left hand and the gun in his right.

He pressed the send button.

The beeping sound of the message being sent was heard at the same time as the steel beam pierced the stealth suit, the chest, and the heart.

Blood splattered everywhere!

Only those icy blue eyes remained as always, revealing a cold murderous intent.

Feeling the rare pain since his first resurrection, Rhode scoffed and prepared to exchange it for a fully fueled and fully ammunitioned fighter jet, along with the mountain of ammunition, explosives, and flammable supplies, as he had before. So, what would he strike before his death? Open his arms and show the scum before him the ten grenade rings between his fingers?

This is great, but it's a pity that I can't pull out so many grenades in such a short time...

【System update completed】

【Temporary permission opening】

[Emergency Loading of Power - Deduction of Pollution Points in the Other World Begins]

【Concept Attachment】

Iron and Fire

Suddenly, Rhodes felt the chill of death rapidly fading from his fingertips, and time around him froze. He could see the monster in front of him retreating out of the tower, its black robe and the real or fake flesh underneath forming ugly wings. The four wings wrapped around the monster's body, leaving only a trace of hatred and mockery in its eyes leaking out from the gap.

The raindrops stopped in mid-air, reflecting the lights of human cities, shining like stars in this dim area.

Rod turned his head and saw a French Army SA330 Cougar helicopter flying towards the Eiffel Tower outside the broken glass curtain wall. Now it was also frozen in mid-air, and the raindrops thrown out by the rotors connected into lines with beautiful flashes.

He felt a familiar breath in the helicopter:

Director Plessy, Bourne, and my favorite girls—they arrived faster than I expected. What else was there on the ground? Oh… French Army AMX-30 main battle tanks, AMX-10 RC armored vehicles, and other weapons and equipment. The soldiers on them were about to jump into the rainy night, but were frozen by the mighty power of some existence.

Do they really know what they're dealing with? It's going to be very difficult to deal with this later, Director Plessy.

Turning his head, Rhode placed his hand on the metal beam on his chest. It had now transformed into a metal spear. The moment it touched him, the steel melted and reshaped in his palm, transforming into a long sword.

The long sword first turned stone white, then bronze, and finally turned into iron gray. The sword surface was engraved with patterns so complex that existing human civilization could not decipher it, making it glow with a faint, beautiful color like moonlight. The next second, flames ignited from the sword.

Flames flowed out from the wound in Rhodes' chest, burned on his arm holding the sword, and fell to the ground, igniting everything around it.

"100 World Pollution Points are deducted every second, why don't you go grab them?"

Rhode was startled by the sting in his arm, then he gripped his sword tightly with both hands and took a step forward. He had only less than 30 seconds left! The moment he started moving, time began to flow.

The blazing flames immediately engulfed everything around it, enveloping the entire Eiffel Tower in heavenly fire!

The heat wave rolled in, causing the monster to scream in surprise. It spread its fleshy wings, trying to blow out the flames, but to no avail. The scream then turned into an angry roar, as deep as a beast and as sharp as a hawk - the monster's instincts were frantically warning it to flee immediately - but the monster refused, not believing it could lose, to lose to an equally inhuman being.

"Are you kidding me?! I won't stay in this world for just a moment!"

The monster's ignited flesh wings faded like mud, and the flames on them merged with the flames that covered the entire tower. It stretched its body, feeling the relaxation and pulsation of its tendons, and the next moment, it rushed towards Rhode like an arrow!

As it ran, the monster's body rapidly twisted and mutated. Every cell, filled with the energy of the otherworld, changed under the guidance of its consciousness, becoming more adaptable to the heat and vacuum, becoming harder and sharper. In the dancing flames, its entire body glowed with a metallic sheen.

But it was meaningless. The long sword wrapped in flames easily cut through the body. The body that had once withstood a rocket was now cut like butter. The dirty blood spilled into the air and evaporated into foul mist, mixing with the surrounding poisonous smoke.

The monster stumbled, forcing its legs to continue running forward—it was afraid, it began to fear death. Just seconds after making its bold statement—this fire could really kill it! The flames annihilated every cell, purifying the already mutating virus within them, leaving only the scorched smell of scorched protein.

But the next second, the flaming sword pierced its chest from behind, leaving a bloody wound similar to Rhode's. Flames flowed from the wound. In just a sigh and a stammering curse, the flames completely engulfed the blasphemous body, reducing it to a pile of foul-smelling ash.

Ashes scattered, and the sword in Rhodes' hand also disappeared.

He touched his chest. The damage to his heart had been repaired. At least he could run up and jump without any problem. So, Rhode ran forward and jumped on the edge of the steel structure that was about to twist and collapse.

Jumping into the open door of the helicopter, into the arms of the girls.

on the ground.

The French soldiers stared upwards in amazement. After a long silence, one of them stammered, "What's that?"

“…The Eiffel Tower is burning!”

+ + + + + +

【sorry. 】

Marian lowered the satellite phone in her hand. She stood in front of the window of Hill Villa, and a red light flashed in her eyes.