Chapter 1078 Hesperides' Second Personality

Accompanied by the sound of bats flapping their wings, a large group of small bats quickly coalesced around Hao Ren. Vivian emerged from the bat swarm, running anxiously to Hao Ren's side, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Hao Ren grinned, baring his teeth, as he raised his right hand. The light on the silver-white giant pistol was slowly dimming, then vanished into thin air like a phantom. "Just need a moment to recover…"

"What was that just now?" Lily, wielding her two large claws, ran over, licking the bloodstains on her sleeve as she asked.

Hao Ren shrugged. "Inspector's sidearm, something I just unlocked recently. I figured I needed some firepower that could be used within the atmosphere, and this thing popped up in the weapon list. But it seems I'm a bit early in using it."

In fact, Hao Ren had realized two or three months ago that he needed to improve his combat ability. He was hanging out with a bunch of abnormals, and he had a crazy female boss who might issue bizarre missions at any time. He couldn't be sure when he might end up fighting someone, so he urgently needed to strengthen his operational capabilities in the face of crises. Under the guidance of the data terminal, he had been working hard to enhance his control over his transformed body, learning shield tuning and combat techniques. However, he also knew that these crude combat methods alone were not enough. As a tank who could never hold aggro, he needed more diverse skills to compensate for the fact that his face wasn't taunting enough. So, he once again consulted the inspector's handbook on personal armaments and successfully unlocked the permission to carry and use the inspector's sidearm last month.

After applying for the sidearm, the weapon was delivered directly to his personal space through the hyperspace supply system. Unfortunately, he only got to use it for the first time today.

"... Although I don't quite understand, it seems like a good thing," Hesperides said in amazement. "When did humans get this kind of thing? Why didn't you use it earlier?"

Hao Ren smiled wryly and raised his right hand. "Because of this."

Although he had already stored the inspector's sidearm back in his personal space, his right hand still radiated a faint blue light. The blood vessels beneath his skin seemed to be filled with fluorescent dye, standing out prominently. Moreover, the skin near his wrist was covered with a layer of fine, scale-like crystalline material, as if his arm was about to turn into crystal like those Shadowfiends. Seeing this, everyone around him was immediately startled. Nangong Wuyue quickly went over to help treat him, but Hao Ren withdrew his hand. "Don't bother, this is psionic contamination. You can't deal with it no matter how great your abilities are. But I can break this down. It'll dissipate on its own after a while."

Psionic weapons are incredibly powerful, capable of ignoring shields and armor of any kind and strength created by mortals. Therefore, some mortal civilizations reverently call the energy used by these weapons "the will of the gods." However, psionic weapons are not suitable for mortals to use; they cause some damage to the user and produce a sequela called "Psionic Crystallization Syndrome." Depending on the user's physical sensitivity, the onset time and intensity of this crystallization syndrome vary.

Hao Ren was unfortunately one of the more sensitive ones.

However, the inspector's sidearm is a specially designed weapon. It has been adjusted specifically for mortal users and can slowly self-modify according to the user's physiological characteristics. At the same time, the inspector's own unique physique will slowly adapt to this energy after repeated exposure to psionic energy. Therefore, after a period of mutual adaptation, this sidearm will become the inspector's most comfortable weapon.

Hao Ren just used it too early – in fact, he still needed more than a month to achieve perfect synchronization with this gun.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lily looked anxiously at the strange symptoms on Hao Ren's arm, her tail wagging wildly unconsciously. "This looks pretty scary."

"I'm fine. Let's go quickly. We've wasted a lot of time here."

The sound of explosions and fighting from the direction of the Shadowfiend Castle had diminished slightly, but it was still quite intense. It seemed that the first batch of berserker troops Hesperides had sent had entered a stalemate with the castle's defenders. Several Shadowfiend units that had taken the initiative to attack had once rushed out from the south side of the castle, but under the unconventional onslaught of those insane vampires wielding RPGs and aerial bombs, these Shadowfiend units didn't get far before being called back to consolidate the castle's defenses. The battle there could now be described as a complete mess. The Shadowfiends were desperately defending in confusion, while Hesperides' vampires were attacking in a chaotic manner – no one could keep up with anyone else's rhythm. You could resurrect Rommel and drag him to the scene of this battle mixed with high technology, magic, brain farts, and insane ideas, and he wouldn't have a clue. Hesperides herself hadn't verified the tactics of the berserker assault team (nor did she have the conditions; who would she practice with while holed up in a sanctuary?), so the front line could only be a blind melee.

The fighting throughout the city had already become fierce. After the abnormals desperately fought back and consolidated their defenses, at least eleven spatial rifts remained scattered throughout the city. New Demon Hunters continued to pour into the battlefield from the rifts. No one knew how many Demon Hunters had entered, but everyone knew that the number was wrong – since the end of the Mythological Era, Demon Hunters had rarely formed legions to launch operations of this scale. The number of Demon Hunters that would gather in a city was limited, but these ones who had broken in today… they had clearly been preparing for this battle for a long time.

Fires raged everywhere in the city's streets, and the city that the abnormals had cultivated for thousands of years was being rapidly destroyed. Although the entire race of abnormals were powerful monsters to humans, they also had civilians – these civilians were not good at fighting at all. Even if they were stronger than humans, they were by no means a match for the Demon Hunters. The Demon Hunters in long black trench coats swept through the entire city like grim reapers. Each time they flickered in space, they would take an abnormal's life. The more powerful Demon Hunters had forcibly established positions near the spatial rifts. They were guiding even more powerful and destructive magic:

The city's firmament had begun to teeter, and chaotic light and shadows fell from above each spatial rift. In these light and shadows, one could vaguely see the shadow of the real Athens. The Demon Hunters were casting spells to dismantle the shadow structure of the city. When the real world came into contact with this space, the entire city might be annihilated.

But the Old Ones had taken action. They sealed the passages they guarded and returned to the city from the real world and the shadow plane to deal with the Demon Hunter leaders who maintained the spatial rifts. These powerful Old Ones slightly salvaged the situation. The city-destroying magic guided by the Demon Hunters was repeatedly interrupted. In the violent energy impacts, the city's dome made terrifying creaking sounds as if it were about to collapse, but it ultimately did not collapse.

Not yet.

The light of explosions and the light of the city burning rose from all directions, but not a single Demon Hunter could be seen near the Shadowfiend Castle. This area seemed to have been deliberately ignored. The only ones fighting here were the Shadowfiends and Hesperides' vampires.

"The Demon Hunters deliberately bypassed this area," Hesperides gritted her teeth, forcefully wiping the bloodstains from her face. They had just repelled another wave of Shadowfiend attacks. The dark castle was close at hand, and everyone could even see the tattered emblem still flying on the city gate. "But they're trying to throw the entire city into the real world… What conspiracy agreement did they reach with that old bastard Bessemus?"

"It's already unbelievable enough that Demon Hunters would collude with abnormals," Vivian said, looking back at the city with some worry. "Can this hold up? It looks like the Demon Hunters have completely gained the upper hand."

"We have to hold on even if we can't," Hesperides said, gritting her teeth. "The Shadowfiend Castle has been trying to break through. They undoubtedly want to rush to the city center to support the Demon Hunters. We must take down the Shadowfiend Castle here, otherwise the city's defenders will be attacked from both sides!"

Then she looked back at the city. "I also want to help deal with the Demon Hunters, but at this time… let's trust the guards' strength. The threat of that old fox Bessemus is greater now."

Hao Ren was about to say something when he suddenly saw a sunset-like glow appear out of thin air not far away. He immediately made a tense stance, ready to fight, but saw that Hesperides was the one who walked out of the glow.

The Old One known as the "Goddess of Dusk" had obviously just gone through a fierce battle. Her clothes were soaked in blood, and the faintly shimmering bloodstains clearly came from Demon Hunters. The weapon she was carrying in her hand was jaw-dropping:

It was a wolf's tooth club almost as tall as her, made of refined steel and studded with hundreds of nails. Honest and reliable, a must-have for murder and robbery.

Hesperides looked at everyone with red eyes, waving the wolf's tooth club in her hand, her voice shrill, "Where are they?! Where are they?! Where's that one-eyed dragon?!"

Vivian covered her eyes. "The second personality has come out."