Suo’en and Xin exchanged a glance, then nodded simultaneously, preparing for the assassination.
Noah turned back to look at Naya and asked in a worried tone,
“How is it? Can you hold on?”
Naya gripped his staff tightly, gritting his teeth as he replied,
“Hurry… I don’t know how much longer I can last…”
Relying on the Ghost Disguise ability, Suo’en and Xin slowly approached Hudson.
They positioned their weapons, ready to deliver a fatal blow.
Suo’en placed his long blade under Hudson’s throat, exchanged a look with Xin, then tightened his grip on the handle and slashed sharply to the side.
But the expected spray of blood never came.
Suo’en’s full-force strike only managed to scratch Hudson’s skin.
The defensive power of Earth Divine Power exceeded everyone’s expectations, and even Suo’en himself froze in place.
Realizing he had been ambushed, Hudson quickly rolled to the ground, dodging the greatsword Xin smashed down at him.
He touched his throat in shock, not understanding what had happened.
Although the previous strike hadn’t cut through, his throat was already dripping with blood.
Just then, Naya’s weak cough echoed, and the sight in front of him startled Hudson once more: two figures suddenly materialized where he had been standing—a cat girl and a young man.
Hudson immediately grabbed the grenade launcher off his back and shouted to the other operators in the control room,
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Sound the alarm!”
But to his despair, the other operators all drew their weapons and aimed them at him.
Only now did Hudson realize that the shift change earlier wasn’t an organizational reassignment—the control room had been completely infiltrated by the Primordial Organization!
Naya weakly leaned against the wall by the door, cold sweat dripping down his forehead.
“Cough… sorry, darling… I really can’t hold on anymore…”
“It’s fine… you’ve done enough.”
Opening the Script twice in a row was still too much.
Noah patted Naya on the back, then stepped into the control room.
She knew that if this assassination failed, there would be no second chance.
So she casually shuffled the cards in her hand and gave orders to Suo’en and Xin.
“Both of you, don’t hold back. Kill him!”
Hudson knew he was done for.
Judging by the opposition’s posture, they had come prepared.
Suo’en raised his long blade and charged forward, cooperating with the other teammates to wrest the grenade launcher from Hudson’s hands.
Hudson stumbled and rolled, but still took several slashes from Suo’en.
However, with the protection of Earth Divine Power, these minor wounds were nothing to him.
Seizing an opportunity, Hudson returned to his console and slammed the door-closing switch.
The sound of mechanical bearings echoed around them as the control room door sealed shut again.
Hudson pounded the ground with both hands, gathering Earth Divine Power to encase himself in Rock Armor.
Though his movements became slower, Suo’en and the other members’ attacks were now completely useless.
Hudson laughed loudly as he swung his fists back at Suo’en.
Xin raised her greatsword and said to Suo’en,
“Kid, step back. Let me have a go at him!”
With that, Xin swung her greatsword and joined the battle.
But she still underestimated the defense of that Rock Armor.
Even using all her strength, she only managed to scrape off a few rough edges.
Hudson raised his arm to block Xin’s downward slash, then sneak-attacked from a blind spot toward her abdomen.
Xin immediately withdrew her sword mid-swing to dodge the attack, then changed angles and struck back at Hudson’s head.
The two exchanged three or four rounds, neither gaining the upper hand.
Just then, Noah finally prepared her trump card.
She spread out the Tarot Deck and drew a card from the pile.
Before everyone appeared a chariot draped in a blue canopy.
Noah raised her hand and shouted,
“Number 7, The Chariot!”
Invincible in attack, unbreakable in defense.
Noah tossed the Chariot card to Xin.
Xin stepped back, caught it, and Stellar Divine Power enveloped the greatsword, making even the bladeless blade shimmer with a strange light.
Sensing that her weapon had become vastly different, Xin raised the sword and charged at Hudson again.
Though he didn’t know what had happened, Hudson still raised his arm to block as before.
But to his surprise, the greatsword that had previously failed to break through his defense now directly severed his arm.
Hudson let out a painful howl as blood spurted from the stump.
Xin didn’t give him a chance to react.
She raised the sword again and sliced off Hudson’s other arm.
The once impenetrable Rock Armor was now as fragile as a biscuit.
Xin placed the greatsword in front of her and charged forward, thrusting it straight through Hudson’s chest.
She released the hilt, flexed her wrist, and felt exhausted from the effort.
But before she could rest, the dead Hudson suddenly began to swell.
A huge tumor-like mass burst from his chest, on the verge of exploding.
But Noah had already prepared the Temperance card.
The moment the tumor appeared, she slapped the Temperance card onto Hudson’s face.
The red light inside the tumor flickered a few times, then vanished without a trace.
Noah let out a long sigh of relief.
Only now did she feel that her plan had finally succeeded.
However, Naya glanced at the sealed door and helplessly approached Noah.
“Darling, how are we supposed to get out? Or was the door being locked part of your calculations too?”
“Don’t worry. Since I was confident enough to storm the control room, I won’t be trapped here.”
As she spoke, Noah walked over to the control console and tapped the door-opening option.
A mechanical voice came from the central control:
“The control room door will now open. Please verify with a fingerprint lock.”
“I see.”
Naya nodded in understanding. He looked at Hudson’s severed arm and instructed the members,
“Smash the Rock Armor on his arm and use his fingerprint to open the door.”
It took a lot of effort, but they finally pried Hudson’s severed arm out of the rock.
The members carried the arm and pressed his palm against the screen.
But the door didn’t open.
They tried several more times, and the central control sounded again:
“Fingerprint password error. Insufficient manager privileges.”
“Impossible?!”
Xin frowned and tried again with the arm, but every attempt returned “insufficient privileges.” Helpless, she tossed the arm aside and turned to look at Noah, who was deep in thought.
“Lady, you must have foreseen this, right? Don’t keep us in suspense. Save us already!”
In truth, Noah hadn’t anticipated this.
Her original plan had been to use Hudson’s severed arm to unlock the door.
Noah pondered silently.
She recalled that when she had first left her room, there had also been a door blocking her way.
She remembered opening the corridor door with her own fingerprint.
If that was the case…
Noah looked at her palm and thought quietly,
‘It wouldn’t hurt to try. What if it works…’