Long-term salvation

Several similar replies reached Rhodes' ears. His joy flashed across his face, and then he tensed up again and let the AS mecha run in the city.

Marian and Little Red Riding Hood, riding off-road motorcycles, cleared the way on the left and right, and bullets from machine guns and sniper rifles poured down, firing back at the plague militias that emerged from the buildings on both sides - the closer they got to Aidid's residence, the smarter the enemy became!

The boundary between life and death has become blurred, but how can we be called "alive" when our bodies are filled with viruses and plagues?

Rhodes couldn't tell, didn't want to tell, and was too lazy to tell. He pressed the launch button on the joystick and used the powerful firepower of the M9 experimental mecha to completely submerge these filthy creatures!

The 30mm machine gun shells formed a nearly solidified metallic torrent, pouring madly from the muzzle. Simultaneously, the ejected white phosphorus bombs rose into the air with an ominous muffled thud, exploding above the street ahead—a blinding white light instantly engulfing the remaining shadows, and countless burning white phosphorus fragments poured down like a hellish rain!

Amidst the raging flames, a rusted T-55 tank slowly approached the corner. But before it could, pulled by supernatural forces and twist its turret to fire at the towering mecha, it was torn apart by the crimson wolf head! The next second, a golden thread woven by the hail of machine gun bullets crisscrossed the entire block, connecting Nikki's gun muzzle to the tank's wreckage.

"Commander, there's something ahead... The enemy has organized a defense!"

Hearing the sound, Rhodes looked forward and saw that behind the layers of defense, among the plague militia, the tyrant who had long been controlled stood like a tombstone.

However, this is not the end, but the beginning:

Two armored arms suddenly stretched out from the tyrant's chest, followed by a helmet with a sharp front mouth like a mosquito's mouthparts... A Plague Knight, wearing a cloak made of the tyrant's flesh and skin, wandered in the cloud of viruses.

This is a monstrous and abominable being sent here by the king of one of the seven-headed serpents and shaped by the [Plague]. Its mere existence means that humanity has finally taken a step towards the end of destruction.

Now, it asked:

"Lord of Mankind, where is your champion?"

Rhodes did not reply, but calmly pressed the button to open a communication channel.

Then, the champion of the Lord of Mankind rushed from the sea, tore through the barriers of the twisted city, and descended here with unmatched power.

"Responding to your call!!!"

The 406mm main gun blasted away all obstacles in its way, and Tomahawk cruise missiles shot out, destroying the nests of those abominations. The warship moved forward in a straight line, leaving only a deep ravine and scattered buildings on both sides. When Rhodes took his thirteenth breath, New Jersey appeared from the other end of the street, her long hair mixed with gravel and dust, and her face was full of cold anger.

The Plague Knight said nothing more, but clenched the Plague Spear in his hand.

The AS mecha took a step forward and passed by the Plague Knight and the large battleship. Rhodes had complete trust in the battle capabilities of the ship girl, and he was also sure that the opponent could not directly face the 406mm naval gun firepower and 21 horsepower physical output.

Infection? The other party doesn't have the ability to infect a blessed "champion" with the power of the [System]... Not even Beelzebub himself can do that!

As the mechs began tormenting the plague militia, the warship bent slightly, tensed the muscles in her right leg, and exerted force! The ground beneath her feet cracked, and a dust storm swirled around her like a soft veil—the veil was torn apart in the next second, leaving only a swirling vortex.

The wind howls!

"!!!"

It was almost there, just almost there, and the Plague Knight's head would have been smashed into pieces by that heavy punch!

The knight reacted incredibly quickly, dodging to the other side. He slammed his spear into the ground, forcibly changing his direction and dodging the passing battleship's main gun shells. The shells, seemingly enveloped in a golden halo, landed in the nearby city, exploding in a fiery ball of fire.

Waves of smoke from the flames and explosions rose behind the Plague Knight, causing its flesh-and-blood cloak to sway.

"...You are not human, not even a living being," the Plague Knight said. His voice was cold and unique, carrying the faint despair of a seriously ill person. "Champion of the Lord of Mankind, what exactly are you?"

"Black Dragon."

The Iowa-class battleship named New Jersey responded with a sneer. She did not launch another rash attack, but carefully looked at the opponent in front of her, and at the same time used the ship's close-in defense guns to fire at the surrounding plague militia and mutant monsters.

"Then what are you... meaningless? You mean nothing to me, not even worth my exploring your true nature." The ship girl didn't try to think. She only needed to be loyal to her commander. The commander summoned her, and she would respond. And so, the great battleship stepped forward. "You dodged my attack, which means your body is not strong enough to ignore the firepower of the ship's guns."

"Well, little bug, fly quickly, don't let me slap you to death."

"...As expected of the champion of the Lord of Humanity, who even has Satan under his wing, you possess the same arrogance."

The Plague Knight gripped the spear tightly in his hand. He could feel the long-rotted heart in his chest screaming.

However, the Knights are not without means.

Just as New Jersey was preparing to launch another attack, the "Tyrant's Cloak" on Plague Knight suddenly accelerated its mutation. After being infused with energy from the other world and mutated by the T virus, this layer of flesh and blood was given even more terrifying power - the Tyrant's body suddenly expanded, wrapping up Plague Knight and turning him into a tough flesh and blood armor - humans use metal to protect themselves, while plague uses flesh and blood to spread pollution.

The twisted flesh giant stepped forward, confronting the ship girl head-on. The two kept closing in until the former swung a powerful punch. The Plague Knight wrapped his own plague spear in his fist, then strengthened it with unholy energy, just for a moment...

New Jersey retreated, leaping back, aiming the main guns on both sides of her body at the flesh giant.

Then, fire!

In the face of the purest physical destructive force that human civilization could forge, the seemingly tough, disgusting scarlet flesh was as fragile as a wax figure thrown into a furnace - the body of the flesh and blood giant suddenly collapsed inward, and a filthy flower mixed with dark red flesh and pale bone fragments instantly bloomed on the ground behind it, and the twisted flesh in the twisted armor at the pistil was still twitching slightly.

"How dare you take on nine 406mm guns head-on?"

The ship girl laughed at the enemy's naivety. She raised her foot and walked forward, pushing aside the two thin pieces of the body that had begun to fester and melt with her hands like wooden stakes, and passed through the door of flesh and blood.

"It's okay if the target is small, but after the mutation, the target is so big, are you afraid that I can't hit it?" The ship girl stepped on the blood and came forward, without a trace of filthy liquid splashing on her body. "Is hell full of idiots like you? How pathetic."

New Jersey raised his foot and stepped hard on the Plague Knight's head, whose elongated mouthparts had been broken!

"That's disgusting."

Chapter 513: Sodom Must Be Destroyed! (7/7)

The tide of the other world is rising.

Lot arrived in Zoar after the sun had risen. Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. He destroyed those cities, all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, as well as everything that grew on the ground. Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. - Genesis 19:23-26

When Rhodes arrived at Aidid's residence, darkness had already fallen.

Standing in the devastation, he could see a giant tower of corpses vaguely emerging in the vortex of dark clouds ahead - it was a giant tower made up of living, twisted human bodies, extending upward - it stood abruptly, composed entirely of dying, struggling, distorted human bodies, piercing straight into the depths of the suffocating lead-gray sky!

Now, Rod knew where so many of the missing Somalis were.

"This thing looks like a stable portal, Rod," Abigail said, her face finally showing a hint of solemnity. "It may not be so easy to close this thing... Where are you going?"

"The mech is out of ammunition, and there's no point in staying here any longer. Keep an eye on this thing for me, and send it back when necessary."

"……Um."

Hearing this response that seemed to indicate realization, Rhodes smiled slightly and touched the girl's head before opening the cockpit.

Leaving the cockpit, Rhodes jumped off the shoulder of the M9 experimental AS mecha and jumped into the dirty flesh and blood residue. Just a few minutes ago, these "things" were still trying to stop the attack of him and Nikki.

At this moment, the air was filled with a disgusting smell of decay, as if countless pieces of rotten frozen meat were stuffed into the nasal cavity and went straight to the back of the throat, making every difficult breath a torture to the will.

But when you actually start breathing, it feels like swallowing hot ashes.

"How are you?" Rhodes looked at Marian and Little Red Riding Hood. The two of them had followed him here, and the other girls would arrive soon. "Are you feeling any discomfort? Including mentally."

"If you consider it nauseating," Marian shook her head as she calmly changed the ammunition belt for her machine gun, "but it's still within the tolerable range."

"Same as Marian... Commander, those plague militia are surrounding us again."

Little Red Riding Hood said this, carrying her weapon on her shoulders. After stretching, she slowly asked:

"Commander, what are you going to do?"

"Go in and kill Aidid, it's that simple, and we'll deal with the rest later," Rhodes shrugged. He reached out and patted the revolver at his waist - although he would definitely use the flaming sword soon, it was also a good thing to save some pollution points in the inner world.

However, when Rhodes and the two Nikkis walked inside, there were no powerful and terrifying enemies in the building that had become the base of a giant tower of corpses. There was only a continuous grumbling sound like a drowning person suffocating.

The interior of the building was covered in a "wallpaper" of rotting human skin. Every corridor, every corner, and every stairway was paved with human bones, revealing a cruel and bloody atmosphere. Some corpses were simply embedded in the walls, and when Rhode looked, the All-Seeing Eye Patch revealed their identities:

Member of the Ibris organization.

If the system hadn't prompted him, Rhodes would have thought he was walking deep in the inner world, and this place was the result of the Ibris organization members performing a sacrifice but accidentally messing up!

On the second floor...at least, Rhode thought it was the second floor. In the lobby of this floor, he saw "Aidid," who had swelled up to take up nearly a third of the hall. Only his head remained, clinging to his skin like the stem of some fruit, but more like a tick sucking blood from the skin.

"Chaos?" Rhode raised an eyebrow. He saw a glint of wisdom in those eyes, a glint that clearly couldn't be possessed by a foolish warlord or a monster contaminated by the otherworld. "I never thought you could project your consciousness over such a distance."

"Maybe I'm in Mogadishu now."

"Is there any point in you lying to me?" Rhodes asked back.

"...Hehe." Aidid's head twisted a few times, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth. It felt like countless worms were writhing frantically beneath his skin. "However, I must admit that the situation here has exceeded my expectations. After your arrival, the entire plan began to spiral out of control. We originally intended to use the power of a single torn page from the Necronomicon to throw you further and deeper into the other world."

"Really? Remember to try harder next time."

Hearing this, Rhode did not get angry. He just calmly observed the surrounding environment:

The hall had no ceiling, but instead supported the base of a giant tower of corpses. When Rhodes looked up, he saw countless heads, originally fiddling around with expressions frozen at the moment of death, slowly turning downwards with a teeth-grinding stiffness and sluggishness. Thousands of pairs of empty eye sockets that no longer blinked were casting silent gazes at the savior of mankind.

This place looks like a carefully arranged ceremony venue.

"Your strength is beyond our imagination. Because of this, we must observe you carefully before attempting anything," the head nailed to the swollen skin said, its words calm and elegant. "Just like now... We will try to exile you, or even kill you. Of course, this attempt will fail."

The leader of the Ibris organization spoke in a light tone.

The turbid air in the Flesh and Blood Hall seemed to freeze on the spot until Rhodes spoke:

"Honestly, what's the point of you repeatedly trying to kill someone who will resurrect?"

As Rhode spoke, he silently estimated the number of points of contamination in the Otherworld needed to completely purify and eliminate the massive tower of corpses. At the same time, he was sensing the surrounding Otherworld energy. Could the Otherworld crack be underground, or in the sky? The overly complex energy was colliding with time and space, making it impossible for him to determine its location, or even its existence.

"We are learning more about you, and after many attempts, we will naturally find a way - you escaped death and exile in Chernobyl, will you succeed in Mogadishu? And what about the next time? And the next time? We will win in the end."

Aidid's head trembled, as if he had persisted until now just to say these words:

"You are a prophet from the old era. That's why you won't send troops to attack Iraq and Afghanistan directly because you know that will inevitably fail—a tactical failure, a strategic failure, a failure in people's hearts, right? Like us, you are also waiting for an opportunity—then let time bear witness to all this, prophet of the old era, let us decide the outcome in the not too distant future."

"We will be waiting for you, the savior who seeks to rule over mankind."

"I'm not interested," Rhodes said, and a flaming sword emerged from his hand. He stabbed the blade into the flesh and blood wallpaper, causing it to twitch in severe pain. The pain seemed to spread into "Aidid's" body, causing pain to appear on his face as well, but his words remained as calm and steady as usual.

"Saving human civilization is tiring enough. Don't even think about putting me on the golden toilet."

"Hehe... the ambition to rule over humanity is always disguised as the desire to save humanity."

"I have no interest, and you lack the ability. This is the biggest difference between us - before you comment on others, think more about who you are."

Before Rhodes finished his mocking words, he swung his flaming sword at "Aidid" - the golden flame penetrated the expanded skin and moved along the soul thread, drilling into the caster's body like a lit fuse, causing it to scream from thousands of miles away.

[Side Quest: Black Hawk Down (Completed)]

But here, Aidid's skin exploded, and there was no blood inside. It was full of blood-colored worms. However, they did not attack Rhodes and others, but went straight up to avoid the attack of the golden flames.

The worms snaked their way up the massive tower of corpses, crawling among the scattered and stacked bodies, causing their eyeballs to rot at an accelerated rate. The swirling cloud enveloping the massive tower of corpses then descended again, threatening to completely envelop Mogadishu!

At the very top of the giant tower of corpses, the sound of billions of flies flapping their wings suddenly filled the air! Rhodes vaguely sensed a terrifying presence peering down from there, as if peering through a tiny hole into the world on the other side.

That was the demon king who controlled the plague. The moment it arrived in the real world, it would be given the name "Beelzebub," and then it would be strengthened by the power of "Apocalypse Plague"... Rhodes was afraid that by then he would really have to think about how to lead the humans who had not died of the disease into space.

We must not let it come here, no matter what means are used!

"Isn't the main quest a bit too difficult?" Rhode muttered. "Why does it feel even more difficult than Cthulhu?"

It was at this moment that Rhodes realized one thing:

There is no otherworldly crack here at all, but as Abigail said, it is simply a [portal].

This is perfectly normal, perfectly normal. If human civilization can develop a portal within the Black Mesa base, then why can't the cruel, intelligent beings of another dimension? Unlike directly opening a portal here, the otherworldly connection to the real world still requires crossing the veil. Rather than simply waiting for the rift to open on its own, a better solution is to "create" a two-way portal in the real world!

"The rising tide allowed the arrival of [Apocalypse Plague], which in turn strengthened the Ibris Organization's intended ritual. The out-of-control ritual directly attracted a dimension within the otherworld that was strongly connected to human civilization. The [Plague] demon within, with the same characteristics, once again fed back the power of [Apocalypse Plague]... Damn."

Rhode covered his face helplessly. He rubbed it vigorously, and then heard Little Red Riding Hood add softly beside him:

"Commander, don't forget about Umbrella... They probably haven't recovered the T-Virus infused with the energy of the Otherworld, have they?"

Rhodes: “…”

Watching Aidid's head rolling on the ground, Rhode angrily kicked it back to its original position and walked out with the two Nikkis. He ignored the empty gazes cast by the corpses and the hateful gazes cast from the depths of the dark vortex and the top of the corpse tower.

Outside Aidid's residence, the girls have gathered, as well as some mass-produced Nikkis who have just come down from the battlefield. They are building a circular defense formation centered on the AS mecha, constantly eliminating more and more demons and mutant monsters.

"Everyone, you are now ready to teleport away with Abigail."

Rhode looked up at the swirling clouds—there were no more swirling clouds. Everyone was now inside the clouds. The fluttering of flies, amplified by the tidal energy of the other world, was growing louder and louder, almost tangible. Rhode retracted his gaze and scanned every stunned face.

"This is an order, you must follow it."

The girls realized something and did not hesitate any longer. They looked at each other and immediately abandoned the vehicles and clung to the half-kneeling AS mecha.

Seeing them like this, Rhode felt relieved and began to speak. This was a message for them, and also for Ains and the others:

"I will maximize my power with nuclear bombs and then completely eliminate the pollution in Mogadishu. Yes, I'm not sure, but I can try. If I fail, you must be prepared to build a wall around Mogadishu and then make a second attempt using a vacuum implosion bomb. The authority to unlock the weapon is in Helen's hands. Rod, over."

"Oh and I'll be back in three days. Remember to find me soon. I don't want to sleep in the stable anymore."

"...Sensei, you talk too much." / "Commander, don't commit suicide in the other world." / "Come back quickly, we all need you." / "Bring back a mushroom from the other world, I want to try it... Why are you hitting me? My master will definitely return safely!"

The girls spoke in a relaxed tone, but they couldn't stop the tears from sliding down from the edges of their eyes.

"Only three days."

Seeing their appearance, Rod shook his head in amusement. He waved his hand, signaling Abigail that she could start.

When the mecha and the girls disappeared, Rhode sighed and looked at Marian standing next to him, saying helplessly: