The shipgirls behind Mainz had already activated their battle gear, with the Iron Blood dragon's cannons aimed at the seemingly frail man in sunglasses.
Z23 and Z46 also deployed their gear, targeting the man with their main and secondary guns.
"It seems you already know everything. The Liuzhou scum have also been released by you,"
Zhang Wei, surrounded by numerous gun barrels, showed no fear. He stopped at the factory entrance and said:
"Truly... unpleasant."
Lin Lan watched as Zhang Wei slowly raised his hand and removed his sunglasses, revealing his entire face.
But what was uncovered was not eyes, but—
A pair of condensed black mist!
"These Liuzhou scum should all be turned into sacrifices to nourish the resurrected Demon Lord!"
The thick black mist surged forward with a deadly aura.
"Zzzz!!!"
Mainz instantly activated her counterattack shield, and the black mist clashed with her energy shield, making a corrosive melting sound!
"Boom!"
The moment Mainz activated her skill, her main gun fired, and Z23 and Z46's main guns also aimed and fired simultaneously at Zhang Wei.
The intense explosions shook the entire factory, and the factory, already in poor condition, collapsed under the force of the blast!
Debris and rubble fell from above, but at that moment, a gigantic, scythe-shaped black-red steel dragon appeared above Lin Lan and the others.
Ulrich's battleship gear, resembling a real evil dragon descending, blocked and sent flying all the falling debris.
However, the area around Lin Lan was now enveloped in swirling dense black mist, obscuring the view of the outside.
The eerie, evil aura emanating from the mist completely isolated the space, making Lin Lan feel as if he were trapped in a deathly place.
Even his soul seemed to shiver with the swirling mist.
"What magnificent battleship gear, what powerful shipgirls! It's unprecedented, unimaginable!"
Zhang Wei's voice came from all directions, but now it had turned into a harsh, inhumanly sharp sound, extremely grating.
"Everyone, protect the commander!"
Z23 shouted, staying close to Lin Lan and scanning the surroundings, but finding no clear target.
The three of them huddled close to Lin Lan, focusing intently on the surrounding black mist.
Zhang Wei, after speaking, attempted to attack with the black mist twice more, but was blocked by the Iron Blood shipgirls each time.
Unable to breach the flawless defense, he seemed to be stymied and merely used the black mist to trap Lin Lan and his team, delaying further attacks.
Just as Lin Lan felt trapped in the black mist, unsure of what to do, Ulrich made her move.
"Boom!!!"
The massive battleship gear fired a powerful main gun shot towards a direction within the black mist.
"Ah!!!!"
The next second, accompanied by Zhang Wei's eerie, ghostly scream, the black mist seemed to explode and dissipate, revealing the normal scene around them.
The storm outside had stopped, though the sky remained overcast with clouds.
"Well done, Ulrich. Where did you fire the shot to hit that monster's vital point?"
Lin Lan hadn't yet recovered from the terrifying black mist.
Taking a deep breath, he felt a sense of distance from the outside world as he saw people from the outer district drawn to the scene by the commotion.
He looked at Ulrich, the black-haired battleship, and asked.
The massive scythe-shaped battleship gear slowly disappeared, and Ulrich casually replied:
"The location where Weser's carrier aircraft were destroyed, the tallest building in the city."
With Ulrich's answer, Lin Lan took a deep breath and realized the key point.
He looked at Ulrich with immense admiration. The crucial detail that everyone else had overlooked was carefully noted by Ulrich.
You can always trust Ulrich!
Just as everyone was relaxing their guard, including Ulrich, no one noticed a black shadow merging with the ground, rapidly approaching Lin Lan.
"We should go to the inner district. The chaos caused by the destruction of a building could be significant. We need to stabilize the situation in the county first."
Lin Lan said, preparing to deal with Zhang Wei's strange power and his mention of the "Demon Lord."
This guy was definitely not human, but there had never been any record of such monsters in the Orlan United Nations.
Moreover, the resurrection of the so-called Demon Lord requiring Liuzhou people as sacrifices was certainly some new cult.
But speaking of the Demon Lord, Lin Lan remembered that there was indeed a concept of a Demon Lord in this alternate world.
That was from more than half a year ago, when he had just crossed into this world and was at the Maple Leaf Naval Academy, researching relevant materials about this world online.
At the time, he thought it was just a legend.
In the Liuzhou Nine Islands, which faced the Orlan United Nations' eastern continent across the sea, a Demon Lord had appeared a thousand years ago, leading a demonic army to ravage ancient Liuzhou.
Back then, the powerful figures of ancient Liuzhou summoned a hero from another world to completely defeat the Demon Lord.
Even though he was also a traveler,
He had laughed at this material when he first saw it, thinking it was like a plot from a heavy cherry blossom-themed light novel.
While Liuzhou Nine Islands differed from the technologically advanced Orlan United Nations, especially in their use of elements and magic, they had once defeated Orlan's invasion.
But even so, it seemed unlikely that they were actually enacting a hero vs. Demon Lord scenario.
However, after witnessing such a bizarre scene just now, Lin Lan felt that he might have been too naive.
After all, this was an alternate world, and for him as a traveler, anything could emerge.
Moreover, it was strange that the Demon Lord's army, which should be in Liuzhou, was appearing in Orlan across the Siren-blockaded sea.
"This might be a Siren experiment?"
Considering how Sirens in games love conducting various experiments to seek variables, Lin Lan felt that this incident was likely related to the Sirens.
Compared to facing Siren fleets, the various experiments conducted by Siren experimental mechanisms were what he needed to be most wary of.
It seemed he needed to be more cautious in the future and not let his guard down.
Lin Lan silently resolved, turned, and prepared to leave with his Iron Blood shipgirls.
Just then, an overwhelming sense of danger struck him.
"Commander!"
Z23, who was closest to Lin Lan, had already noticed the unusual black shadow rapidly approaching the ground beside them.
Without hesitation, Teacher Nimi directed her shark battleship gear to aim at the shadow while shouting to push Lin Lan away.
Lin Lan, alerted by Z23, also saw the black shadow approaching him on the ground.
"What is this thing? Is it still not dead?!"
Overwhelmed by the sense of danger, Lin Lan instinctively lunged forward, trying to avoid the shadow while closing the distance with Z23.
But to his surprise, the shadow suddenly accelerated, grabbing his foot and slowly merging into his body.
"Commander! Damn it!"
Ulrich and Mainz quickly rushed to his side. Mainz even drew her naval sword, slashing at the shadow that hadn't fully penetrated Lin Lan's body.
But the sword cut through nothing, as if slicing through air.
In that brief moment, the shadow completely entered Lin Lan's body, as if it had never appeared.
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