The Divine Armor of the Old Century（Book 1）

Chapter 63

The enclosed train carriage was filled with sticky, fleshy tendrils, stretching into a web-like structure reminiscent of a giant spider's lair. Brolau's body was trapped in a corner, curled up like an infant, ensnared by layers of blood webs. Thin tendrils of flesh even extended into his mouth and nose.

He was lost in an endless dream, but suddenly, a beam of light pierced the darkness of the carriage. A figure wielding a folding knife began cutting through the layers of the blood web. Looking at the sleeping Brolau, the person chuckled softly, seemingly amused by his childlike innocence. She took out a syringe and jabbed it harshly into his neck. After a few minutes, the drug took effect, and Brolau slowly awoke from his dream.

"Had a good sleep?" Blue Jade said, her helmet light glaring in the pitch-black carriage. The brightness was too much for Brolau to bear, and he couldn't look at her directly.

"What happened?" he asked, bewildered.

"According to the Purification Agency's anomaly protocol, we can preliminarily conclude that we've just experienced a large-scale psychic anomaly," Blue Jade replied, recalling the specialized terminology of the agency. As an organization that relied on technology to combat demons, the Purification Agency aimed to demystify the mysterious and then use this knowledge to their advantage. Unlike the demon-hunting cults that linked everything to religious deities, the agency's rationality was frightening.

"You mean it was a dream?" Brolau shuddered at the almost tangible memory of it. Without Blue Jade, he might never have woken up.

"Yes, you know, my willpower is exceptional according to assessments, so I woke up first. To wake you up quickly, I injected you with Florend's serum. It temporarily increases your resistance to psychic erosion," she explained calmly, tossing him a gun while scanning the area with her light. Everywhere was covered with that cursed flesh.

"We must be in Ender Town now," she said.

"Ender Town?" Brolau found it hard to believe. According to the map, the train had just reached the outskirts.

"This place is different from what we understood a town to be. Calling it a psychic anomaly zone is more accurate. These are likely demon spawn. For all we know, opening the door might reveal hundreds of them," Blue Jade joked, though Brolau didn't find it amusing at all.

He picked up the communicator, which emitted only static. All channels were silent, as if cut off from the world.

"Terrible start," he muttered, listening for a few minutes before giving up and slumping against the wall with a bitter smile.

Without even glimpsing the so-called Sacred Coffin, their advance team had been heavily hit. After a brief pause, Brolau steeled himself and looked at the weapon rack in the carriage, beginning to arm himself.

"Are we going to die now?" Blue Jade asked, watching Brolau gear up as if preparing for a one-man battle against an army.

"More or less, but you can stay here," Brolau replied, loading bullets into his weapons. These special rounds from the Mechanical Institute were expensive but highly effective against demons. Under normal circumstances, each person would only get a limited amount, but in this large-scale psychic anomaly, Brolau was the only one who could use them.

"Blue Jade, you don't have to die with me. Stay here and try to wake up the others. If you gather enough strength, you might be able to save me," he said calmly, as if he had already made peace with his fate.

"Are you trying to act noble?" Blue Jade saw through him, not moved by his words, but rather like a wise older sister.

"Not really. One, someone needs to stay here to wake the others. Two, you have dreams of your own. You've always wanted a good life, right?" Brolau said, looking at the blinding light from her helmet.

"This is your chance. If you survive this mission, Arthur might approve your resignation. You could find some unlucky guy and live a prosperous life."

"Is this your last will?" Blue Jade's question made the moment even more somber, like a funeral for a man about to enter his grave, making his final farewells.

"Pretty much. I don't want to die either, but as the commander, someone has to do it. So let it be me."

"Sigh, if you had said you were dying for me, I might have been touched," Blue Jade smirked, though Brolau couldn't see it due to the harsh light.

"Huh?" Brolau blushed, the heroic atmosphere he had painstakingly created evaporating in an instant.

"Don't mind me, just joking. Let's see if we can get out of here first," Blue Jade said, looking at the other side of the carriage where the light illuminated the door.

"Rather than dying, it seems we don't even have a chance to escape," she said, trying to pry open the door with her folding knife, but it wouldn't budge, sealed shut by the pervasive flesh.

"What now?" Brolau's attempt at heroism was thwarted by the sealed door.

"It's this damn flesh," Blue Jade said, slicing into it with her knife. It barely made a dent, and the flesh began healing immediately, though slowly.

"That's why we use weapons plated with holy silver against demons," she noted. "How about a thermite rifle?"

Brolau pulled out a thermite rifle from the rack, igniting a flame in the darkness.

"Are you trying to weld the door shut?" Blue Jade questioned his sanity. While the rifle could melt the door, it would also weld it shut as it cooled, and the burning would consume too much oxygen.

"Damn it! So I can't even die heroically?" Brolau cursed, banging on the door and prying it open slightly with his knife, but the gap revealed more flesh behind it.

The reinforced carriage was designed to withstand demon attacks, now turning into their tomb. "We need to find a way out. Our time is running out," Blue Jade said, adjusting her breathing as the oxygen in the sealed carriage dwindled.

"Looks like there's only one option left," Brolau said, eyeing the dark end of the carriage. This train car from Berhans Armory had layers of defenses, not to protect the occupants, but to secure the other end, containing a weapon from the industrial district, their mission's trump card.

As the commander, Brolau knew what it was and the cost of using it. "Let's go, Blue Jade. We have no other choice," he said, clearing the debris to reveal a heavily locked small door, as if imprisoning a demon.