Kaylo wasn’t idle either. He followed Capier’s lead, charging straight into the Ravagers—left punch, right punch—frenziedly hammering the thick-skinned monsters.
Jin Xuanwen had shed his usual lazy demeanor, now trailing Bailian with a solemn expression.
“Corruption Artifact—Shadow Glyph Wheel!”
A semi-circular wheel flickered into existence in his hand, its form phasing in and out of visibility, arcane glyphs etched across its surface.
Any Ravager blocking Bailian’s path was met with Jin Xuanwen lunging ahead, swinging the wheel down. Strangely, it passed cleanly through the monster’s body as if intangible.
Struck by the wheel, the Ravagers took only a few staggering steps before collapsing stiffly—life utterly drained.
——
——
*This* was Loki Squad’s combat prowess!
A wave of profound shock surged through Ming Yi.
Ravagers outnumbering them several times over, ranks matching their own—yet slaughtered one-sidedly, like a tiger among sheep!
Such seamless coordination. Such visually stunning combat. An indelible mark seared into Ming Yi’s mind.
The battle raged on.
Bailian reached the wounded S-rank Devourer. Moving at impossible speed, he dodged its furious, heavy swipe. Afterimages trailed behind him as he sprinted up the beast’s broad spine, leaped high, and drove the Spear of Deaththorn downward with unstoppable force—*impaling* the monster’s skull.
*Squelch!* The spearhead vanished deep into the skull. The pained Ravager roared, shaking its head violently. Bailian clung tightly to the shaft, fighting to keep balance.
Somehow, Meryl had already positioned herself before the beast, cradling her “Silver-Piercing Bullet.” The meter-long sniper rifle felt weightless in her arms. Seizing the Devourer’s headshake, she aimed at its jaw and fired. The rifle roared with near-zero recoil, blasting a fresh, gaping wound beneath its chin.
Jerked upward by the impact, the Ravager exposed its neck. Bailian roared, dragging the spearhead along its skull—carving a deep, bleeding gash that stretched all the way to its spine.
"ROAR!!!" Agony sent the beast into a frenzy. A deafening bellow echoed through the basin, threatening to shatter eardrums.
“It’s in death-throes frenzy! Bailian, fall back!” Meryl shouted from afar.
Bailian yanked the spear free, leaped clear, and sprinted toward the squad. Meryl kept firing, methodically draining the bloodied S-rank Devourer’s vitality.
After an indeterminate time, the mountainous beast bled its last drop. It collapsed slowly, kicking up thick clouds of dust from the ruins.
With two S Class Corruptors joining the fray, the remaining dozen Class A Ravagers were annihilated in moments.
Soon, the pit lay littered with twisted corpses. The coppery stench of blood rose thickly—Ming Yi, watching from above, felt a wave of nausea.
“Phew… that took some effort,” Meryl sighed, wiping blood from her cheek. She turned to Kaylo and the others. “Scour the battlefield. Collect the Blood Essence.”
Her gaze then shifted toward where the S-rank Devourer had fallen.
*Showtime.*
After all this effort… don’t let it be for nothing.
She exchanged a glance with Bailian and strode toward the ruins.
As they neared the central rubble, Meryl’s heart gave a sudden throb. An instant later, her blood surged hot—as if fighting to escape her body.
No panic crossed her face. Only radiant joy.
*Just like the records described!*
White Bloodsource!
Bailian sensed it too and quickened his pace. Meryl hurried after him.
They pushed through shattered walls and found it inside a room reduced to two and a half crumbling sides.
An irregular stone, slightly smaller than ordinary Blood Essence, ash-gray in hue, glowing with a soft milky halo. Sunlight filtering through broken windows draped it in untouchable sanctity.
So pure. So sacred. Utterly alien to this broken world—out of place even in the Shattered Realm.
“So this is… the White Bloodsource?” Bailian murmured.
“So beautiful…” Meryl stared, entranced. “I’ve never seen anything this lovely in this world.”
The rest of the squad gathered behind them after finishing cleanup.
“*This* tiny stone? Only found naturally or inside an SS-Class Ravager?” Kaylo whistled in disbelief.
Jin Xuanwen’s eyes widened. “This is what’s inside an SS-Class Ravager? Really that miraculous?”
Kevin and Capier exchanged silent glances.
SS-Class Shatterborn were exceedingly rare—each a towering figure of power. SS-Class Ravagers? Even rarer. Only rumors. Never witnessed.
Whispers said they differed *fundamentally* from Class S—but specifics remained unknown.
One thing was certain: this was treasure.
Meryl stepped forward with a smile, ready to claim her prize—
“If I were you, Meryl Caris, I’d think twice before touching it.”
A stranger’s voice cut through the air.
The squad spun around. A man, a woman, and a youth approached calmly—Sean and his team.
And before Mia stood another figure, hands clasped behind his back. Mia pressed a sharp dagger against Akiko’s throat.
*Akiko!*
“Sean! You!” Meryl’s eyes narrowed sharply.
Kaylo roared, “What do you want? Let Akiko go!”
“Easy now,” Sean said, shrugging. “I mean no harm. I trust Miss Meryl understands my purpose.”
Meryl narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Bold move, Saint Paul Kingdom. Interfering with Liberation Syndicate business *and* stretching your dog paws into East Asia?”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll make sure you never leave?” Meryl snarled.
“Skip the childish threats. Frankly, *I’m* the victim here,” Sean shrugged. “If some idiot in your Kingdom hadn’t leaked the intel, we’d be sipping coffee on a Pacific ferry right now—White Bloodsource in hand.”
“Enough talk. We’re here to confirm one thing.”
He smiled brightly.
“Your comrade…
or the mission—
which matters more?”
