Gate of Apocalypse

I'm sorry, I forgot to do the auto-publishing this morning].

"Strong isn't strong, though. These animals are infected, but they aren't much strengthened except for their size." Xia Xiaolei lightly cut a giant bear in half with a longsword extended from his parasite armor, shaking his head, strangely to the tire.

The location of several people was the entrance to Griffith Park. The surrounding ground was littered with mutilated human corpses, as well as destroyed vehicles. The gate was in shambles, and half of the fence around it had collapsed.

Dozens of mutant corpses had been lying on the road where the meteorite squad had come from.

And the city of Los Angeles was now an inferno.

According to Xia Xiaolei's detection, the mutated creatures around the zoo only accounted for about two-thirds of the total. The remaining third, however, had scattered and were slaughtering and destroying everywhere in the city.

Although the strength of these mutated creatures wasn't too strong for the Awakened and the players, to the ordinary citizens, it was an irresistible bunch of slaughterers.

"That's because you have become stronger, and your horizons have grown correspondingly." Nicole swept a glance at Xia Xiaolei and shook her head, "For ordinary level players and Awakened, these guys aren't to the point where they can't be dealt with, but they aren't objects that can be completely ignored either."

"Nicole's right." Tire nodded.

Along the way, though, the mutated beasts posed little threat to them. They hadn't evolved any other special abilities other than the fact that they had become larger and their original species characteristics had become more pronounced.

But this was more because the Meteorite Squad had now, long ago, grown into a team with almost no shortcomings. Be it melee, long-range, magic, technology, reconnaissance, or defense, they can all combine and have excellent coordination.

As long as they are not facing an opponent like the Thorn Flower Crew or the once resident team of City Zero, the Meteorite Warriors have no opponent to fear anymore.

"What I care more about now is whether these so-called alien genes are contagious or not." Tire pointed at the corpse of the giant bear on the ground, "Go, do another test."

Xia Xiaolei nodded obediently, crouched down, and stabbed the index finger of his right hand into the giant bear's body, and when he pulled it out again, several barbs had evolved on the fingertip, hooking out a few threads of flesh.

"Make sure it's not." Xia Xiaolei closed his eyes, and after a moment, affirmed, "There is a portion of the foreign implant fragment in the DNA, but it doesn't have the code to actively replicate and spread."

"Good." Tire nodded reassuringly.

For every wave of mutated beasts he encountered along the way, he had Xia Xiaolei examine the DNA on the corpses using the Parasite Armor, just to be 100% sure that these mutated creatures would not spread their genes out.

Although the copy description stated that the alien genes would not infect the player or the Awakened, Tire was equally concerned that the general population of Los Angeles would also mutate.

If that were to happen, it would be a headache with such huge numbers.

"Come on, you've had this kid checked out a dozen times along the way, and you're still not worried?" Tian Lie impatiently waved his hand, "Let's go. That guy, Adric, should be in this park. Boy, is that right?"

"My detection results here show that there is a large gathering of life forms in the park." Xia Xiaolei nodded, "And the density is an order of magnitude higher than outside. Considering that even if there were tourists in the park, they should have been killed off by now, then it could only be these mutated creatures."

"An order of magnitude?" Tire pondered, "It means more than ten times, right?"

"Even if it's two orders of magnitude, it doesn't matter." Tian Lie grinned widely, "Other than Adric himself, these guys just don't mean half a dime if there are more of them."

"That's true." Tire frowned in thought and nodded, "Let's go, keep moving forward, but ...... still needs to stay vigilant and not take it lightly. Don't forget how that captain of the Thorn Flower Crew died. Xia Xiaolei, keep your detection ability on at all times, and never let us be attacked once."

"Understood." Xia Xiaolei immediately nodded solemnly.

Nicole had already explained Adric's skills to them. In this type of attack that could directly harm the soul, neither Heavenly Lie's metallic datastream body nor his flesh recovery ability that had been strengthened by the Parasite Armor was immune.

Ultimately, there is no such thing as invincible ability in this world. Even the strongest skills must have their weaknesses.

Although Tian Lie didn't take these mutated creatures into consideration, he was still afraid of Adric's soul attack. Although his mouth was still arrogant, he was not too proud, nodded his head, and walked towards the park's gate.

The mutated creatures in the park were indeed a step higher than the ones that had rushed towards the rest of the city, both in quantity and quality, and more of them were gathering together and launching an attack on the meteorite team at the same time.

These mutated creatures, while still seemingly uncommanded from Adric, contained a significant number of swarming insects. Giant ants and bees, for example, had their own organization. With the added caution of always being on the lookout for Adric's sneaking raids, the group didn't move very fast.

Griffith Park is the largest urban park in the United States and, in addition to the Los Angeles Zoo, includes such facilities as an observatory, golf course, theater, and museum, covering more than 4,300 acres. The meteorite team entered the park through the southwest entrance, and according to the parasite armor's sensor organs, the most dense concentration of mutants was at the zoo in the northeast corner of the park.

"That's it." Xia Xiaolei pointed ahead.

The crowd had just climbed over a hill and stood on top of it, looking down at the nearest gentle slope to a golf course, and a little past that, a tall amusement park facility.

Now, the amusement park's roller coasters and other amusement park equipment have long been destroyed to the point of dilapidation. Farther away, the zoo's various pavilions. The paths between the pavilions have been crowded with monsters. All sorts of mutated creatures were wandering around in them.

"There are quite a few, but it's not a big problem." Nicole simply estimated in her mind the contrast in power between the two sides, "Compared to these monsters, how to deal with Adric is more crucial."

"Yes." Tire nodded, "We need to plan our battle plan. Whether they haven't found us yet, or can't part against us yet, but at least Adric hasn't shown up yet. Nicole, you were once a member of the Angel Legion, tell us everything you know about him."

In the past six months Chen Xiaolian had left the team and brought his team members to life, and the tire had been very much a head of the group.

And this time, it was the strongest opponent the Meteorite team would face.

Other than Tian Lie, they had not fought a second S-class opponent yet.

And even last time, it was only after all sorts of coincidences, terrain, and the sacrifice of Nicole that they managed to kill Tian Lie.

Even so, the meteorite squad was almost wiped out.

And this time, the side that had occupied an advantageous position had become the opposite side.

Even though everyone in the team had now grown to a point far beyond what they were at the beginning, facing an S-class opponent again, especially with a copy advantage, if they didn't plan well, perhaps this time it would really be the end of the team.

"His Excellency Adric ...... is an assassin." Nicole thought about it, slowly.

"Nonsense." Tian Lie rolled his eyes, "Everyone here has seen how he outwitted Gaza and then immediately left the battlefield! He's not an assassin, so can he be a berserker?"

"Shut your mouth and listen to me!" Nicole glared at Tian Lie with no affection, "I'm not talking about his direction of enhancement, but his style of doing things!"

"All right, go on." Tian Lie stroked his chin and stopped interrupting.

"His Excellency Adric is a very cautious person. This should be best known to your meteorite team." Nicole looked at the tires, "After the resurrection, I have been back to Zero City a few times and heard about Chen Xiaolian fighting the Blood Tailor instead of Blade Mountain and Fire Sea."

"Hmm." Tire nodded, "I know about that, he took out a Rodelia Corps man and a Dark Knight on behalf of Blue Sea."

"Actually, there were originally three Blood Cuts." Nicole looked at the zoo at the foot of the mountain in the distance, "But in the second, after Jacob was killed by Chen Xiaolian, His Excellency Adric immediately gave up on continuing to send his team out to fight, acknowledging the victory of the Knife Mountain. Although he had been planning for that day for a long time."

"A long time?" JoJo stared at Nicole, "How long?"

"How long has the Heaven's Blade been gone?" Nicole asked with a smirk, "How can a team that has lost its S-class masters continue to enjoy all the power of the resident team in Zero City?

Although it was never publicly announced, after the gossip of the disappearance of the Heaven's Blade began to circulate in City Zero, all the teams began to move, intending to partake of the fallen team. Of course, this had nothing to do with us, because among the City Zero, only the legions of angels remained pure and independent forever. But the most active of them all is the Dark Knights.

But even so, after seeing Chen Xiaolian's thunderbolt and judging that he had advanced to S-class, His Excellency Adric immediately made the decision to abandon all previous efforts and acknowledge the defeat of the Blood Cut."

"A baron." Tire nodded slowly.

"Yes." Nicole smiled faintly, "As did the strike that just killed Gaza. Whether it was the way he fought in battle, or the way he planned for the entire team, he always had this style - never afraid to waste too much time, quietly holding back, hunkering down, waiting until the moment when a blow would be struck. And once he found out that something couldn't be done, he never hesitated, and would immediately give up everything he had already given, never dragging his feet."

"Hmm." Tire nodded, "So, what are his weaknesses?"

"The greatest secret among the Awakened is their own skills. I'm not a member of the Dark Knights, I wouldn't know that much about it." Nicole shook her head, "Although it's always impossible for an S-ranked expert to completely avoid all kinds of rumors, I'm not sure about much else besides his skills being able to directly attack the opponent's soul. But in general, he will be more melee oriented. And it's unlikely that a strong man of this rank would have any of the usual weaknesses of thinking, such as an assassin's defense being worse, or a warrior's long-range attack ability being too weak. And-"

Nicole glanced at Tian Lie out of the corner of her eye: "The so-called S-rank only means that you have defeated at least three A+ level opponents in one-on-one battles, but it does not mean that all Awakened Masters with the title of S-rank are of the same level. Not only are there strong and weak S-classes, but even under certain conditions, an S-class master may be defeated by a greater number of lesser opponents."

"Are you insinuating that I am?" Tian Lie looked at Nicole and tsked twice.

"Not insinuating, I'm just plain talking about you." Nicole simply held out her hand and pointed at Tian Lie: "I've fought with this guy many times since he was resurrected, and I know his abilities very well. His greatest strength is his ability to recover from a near-invulnerable fight, but when it comes to the ability to kill with a single blow, he's still not quite as good."

"You don't think I'm capable of killing you?" Tian Lie squeezed his fist and smiled sardonicly at Nicole.

"Cut the crap. You know what I'm talking about compared to other S-classes." Nicole wasn't intimidated by Tian Lie's threat at all: "Torturing vegetables isn't a great skill."

"So, what do you suggest?" Tire's expression was serious.

"Talk about not advice, just a warning." Nicole shook her head, "It's been twenty-one years since His Excellency Adric led the rise of the Dark Knights to become the resident team of Zero City. I'll say it bluntly - his overall combat power can only be above Sky Blaze, not below him. And his style is never easy to strike, but when he does, it's a one-shot deal. It is unlikely that we will be able to use a drag-and-run tactic like last time. And - it's better to be prepared for half of the people to die first."