On the other side, as the veterans dealt with the charging Daemonettes, Zhang Ge took the opportunity to swap out the magazine on his boltgun.
Once his boltgun resumed firing in short bursts, Zhang Ge and Dominica began to alternate their shots, creating a barrage of overlapping fire to intercept the incoming Daemonettes.
This time, their aim was not to drive them away but to shoot at their legs, buying as much time as possible.
In the brief respite that followed, Amilia had already returned from the other side, freshly engaged in combat.
Her armor was covered in blood that was slowly burning away to ash. To the average person, her movement appeared almost like flickering light; even Zhang Ge could barely keep up with her speed.
Her sword flashed as she deftly cut off the heads of the Daemonettes that were hindered in their movements. The wounds on the daemonettes showed no signs of healing; instead, white cold flames spontaneously ignited where her blade made contact, entwining with the pink flames.
Although they had already lost four men in a single encounter and were now down to just three survivors, Zhang Ge and the veterans maintained their front line against the advancing Daemonettes, preventing the daemons from getting a chance to attack the backs of the three remaining team members.
Before long, the remaining enemy forces were eliminated.
On the ground, dozens of daemon corpses burned fiercely. Due to the high density of Warp Corruption in this area, the bodies would take a long time to be banished completely.
For a mortal unit, even though Daemonettes were considered lower-tier among the various kinds of demons, and despite Zhang Ge's assault team being formidable with nearly two hundred members, facing dozens of Daemonettes in such confined ship terrain would inevitably result in heavy casualties.
However, with Amilia and the others intervening, their losses were reduced to single digits... This was why Zhang Ge had not wanted them to accompany him; without heavy weapons being effective, the impact of a single powerful combatant on the battle was immense.
In facing such circumstances, Zhang Ge felt he had no better options. Ever since obtaining Ascalon, the heightened expectations made it challenging to scale back.
He was currently heading toward the worst-case scenario—surviving this entire chaos incursion.
He could only wait for the Inquisition to arrive and take the sword away; that way, Amilia would no longer have a reason to stay by his side, and someone could execute him, liberating him from all suffering.
As Zhang Ge mentally oscillated between visions of the Inquisition ranging from celestial beings to mere fish, he administered injections and performed quick field dressings on two severely injured veterans.
This time, with Amilia right there, he didn't have to worry about an Warp infection like back in the tower. The two were only severely wounded; after the injections, they would be able to hold out until the follow-up team arrived.
Together with the others, they carried the two injured men to cover. After confirming that they had no exposed wounds, Zhang Ge offered no words of comfort or encouragement but instead issued orders:
"Your new mission is to defend this position, ensuring that those Daemonette corpses don't rise again to attack our backs, and direct the follow-up team on our progress."
After they bumped fists in agreement, Zhang Ge returned to the center of the team, who had mostly reassembled.
In terms of the environment and equipment readings, although the Warp demons were being expelled, the surrounding density of Warp Corruption showed no signs of diminishing. It was evident that they were not the primary cause of the current situation.
However, there was some good news. As these "disruption sources" gradually faded, the more distant areas of higher concentration were revealed by their equipment.
Indeed at the front of the ship, the enemy had placed something under the protection of the Adamantium Ram. There were two suspicious points in total, both appearing to be of significant size, but they hadn't moved, likely indicating they weren't living entities... at least not by the definitions of living beings in the material universe.
After reallocating their positions, the group pressed onward.
As the concentration of Warp energy increased, more and more surroundings became eroded.
That was until Zhang Ge felt a heat rising in his chest; something began to emit golden light.
This is bad.
Looking toward his companions, aside from Amilia, who were watching him with curious eyes, Zhang Ge cursed inwardly.
The golden light seemed to take notice of his inaction, expanding on its own, as if it intended to envelop him entirely and turn him into a source of luminescence.
In an attempt to prevent further misunderstandings, he hurriedly pulled out the pendant from around his neck.
The golden glow burned away the turbulent Warp energy around him, rapidly counteracting the nauseating chaos, restoring a sense of stability anchored in the material universe back to the ground beneath their feet.
Dominica was the first to look surprised, soon morphing into a knowing smile.
High Canoness Heloise glanced at the cross, then at Zhang Ge, and finally directed her gaze to Amilia, hesitating to speak.
Oddly, the veterans and Isis appeared to take it in stride.
Given Zhang Ge's prior reputation as a Sanctified One or something akin to it, they had no concrete notions regarding what constituted a miracle; they simply believed such events would invariably recur. With it happening now, there was no reason to be surprised. "Just start praying," they likely thought.
With the cross hovering among the team, the disturbances by the weaker demons and the manifestations of corrosion diminished significantly, allowing for quicker advancement. Occasional warp cultists emerging from various directions caused little trouble.
The team first checked out the nearest Blood Pool, the former enjoyment site of the Daemonettes, as the Warp fluctuations were particularly pronounced here.
Upon stepping through the door and witnessing the mayhem before him, Zhang Ge furrowed his brows, deciding not to delve deeper. He was somewhat worried that witnessing too many of these scenes might affect his humanity.
In this regard, for both himself and future humanity, it was best to maintain as much stability as possible.
Turning to Amilia, he asked, "Do you have any of that stuff left over from the fire you set in the nest?"
While Zhang Ge hadn't seen Amilia throw a Phosphor Grenade, the immense flames that erupted afterward could not have been ignited by the aberration itself; it was easy to surmise that Amilia had utilized some special equipment.
Nodding slightly, she replied, "There are some left, but it's unnecessary. There are plenty of flammable materials here; regular incendiary grenades will do just fine."
Indeed, there were many—the ground was littered with corpses, leaving little room to stand.
However, Zhang Ge shook his head, saying, "Use the Phosphor Grenades. There are still 'living' things in here, and there's no need to prolong their suffering. Doing so will only yield greater strength to those demons."
Amilia said nothing more, nodding in agreement before tossing a Phosphor Grenade. The green mist ignited, igniting a raging inferno.
As everyone turned to leave, the extreme heat transformed the air into a boiling tempest.
With the blood pool eliminated, the only location remaining awaited them. As they approached, an instinctive sensation prickled their skin, signaling the imminent confrontation with the horrific being ahead.
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