Just as the group was preparing to leave the plaza, the towering spire began to shake. Then, before their eyes, it came crashing down with a tremendous roar, the ground trembling several times.
"So that's what the 'seal' meant?" Koleda said.
"The shift in the center of gravity probably caused the already damaged structure to collapse," Grace analyzed casually. Koleda thought it made sense. But at that moment, Grace's tablet suddenly blared a warning. It was her homemade Ethereal detector. When working in a Hollow, you always had to have a backup plan.
"The Ether reading is terrifyingly high." Grace's expression shifted from serious to fierce. She hadn't been this surprised when she saw the X-Rex, because the T-Rex had no Ether reading. This was different.
"How high?" Koleda asked.
"If a Dullahan is a 1, this thing is a 10."
"Are you kidding me?!" Even with simple math, Koleda knew something big was coming, and it was ten times stronger than a Dullahan. She didn't know who had stepped in dog poop today, but they kept running into one bizarre thing after another.
Mo Xuan had already noticed something was wrong. Something was vibrating where the spire had collapsed. It was most likely an Ethereal. While the others were distracted, he swapped places with a hidden cloth dummy and moved to a secluded shadow.
The Gotchard Driver and the Gotcha Igniter appeared on his waist. He inserted the Hopper and Steamliner cards into the slots, then attached the Igniter to the front of the driver. By now, two other cards had already flown back from a distance. Playtime was over. When Mo Xuan needed his Chemies, they were very obedient.
[Grateful Ancient!]
Mo Xuan inserted the X-Rex card into the upper slot of the driver, and the sound effect played. He then pulled the two levers on the side of the driver.
"Henshin!"
[Gotchanko! X! X-Rex! Super!]
Mo Xuan became the blue Alchemis-dummy. The most powerful parts of the T-Rex, its hind legs, merged with his own. The dragon's mouth, with its immense biting force and destructive power, opened on his chest, like a giant maw embedded between his chest and abdomen. A thick tail fell behind him, eliminating any blind spots and allowing him to attack enemies from behind with a tail swipe.
By the time Mo Xuan had finished his transformation, a humanoid creature had crawled out of the wreckage of the spire. The moment it appeared, it gave the four members of the Belobog Heavy Industries team a huge shock. It didn't have the appearance of an Ethereal, but of a human.
Distinguishing between Ethereals and humans was usually simple. Ethereals' bodies were mostly made of crystals, with many irregular crystal formations. Even humans who transformed into Ethereals would have this characteristic. But this black and white Ethereal, while it had crystals, they grew on the surface of its body. It looked like it was wearing a tight-fitting suit. As it moved, its fingers and toes stretched, and the muscle lines on its body were clearly visible. This muscle structure, so similar to a human's, made it look like a hybrid of an Ethereal and a human.
The mysterious Ethereal's head was covered by a yellow monitor, which looked like a helmet with a vertical viewing slit in the middle, seemingly for searching for enemies. And right now, its head was locked onto the Belobog Heavy Industries team.
"What is that now?" Koleda had been through a T-Rex and an alien vehicle, so her mental fortitude had grown considerably. She just couldn't figure out what the thing in front of her was.
While Koleda was stunned, the mysterious Ethereal had already dropped to all fours and was charging towards them. It was much faster than a car, and in the blink of an eye, it was in front of Koleda, ready to twist her head off.
In the nick of time, a right foot encased in red armor suddenly appeared, kicking the mysterious Ethereal in the head and creating a blast of air. The Ethereal's entire body was sent flying, crashing into a building.
Koleda gasped, not out of fear, but because an equally mysterious person had appeared beside her. He looked like a humanoid T-Rex, with various parts of his body looking like they had been taken from a T-Rex. The red and blue color scheme gave him an unusual charm.
After landing, Mo Xuan didn't hesitate. He pushed off the ground and charged into the building where the mysterious Ethereal had crashed. The mysterious Ethereal had already gotten up. Mo Xuan grabbed its shoulder and punched it in the head monitor.
"Aah!" The mysterious Ethereal seemed terrified of its monitor being damaged. It let out a strange cry, rolled on the ground to dodge Mo Xuan's stomp, and then ran madly towards Koleda.
Mo Xuan chased after it. The X-Rex's leg strength was not to be underestimated. Just as he was about to catch the mysterious Ethereal, it leaped high into the air and pounced on Koleda.
Koleda was no pushover. The thruster at the back of her hammer sparked, and after accelerating its rotation, she smashed it into the mysterious Ethereal's chest, sending it flying.
Mo Xuan jumped up and got close to the Ethereal in mid-air. The T-Rex's upper and lower jaws on his chest and abdomen suddenly clamped down, biting into the mysterious Ethereal's body. When Mo Xuan landed, the mysterious Ethereal was lying between his chest and abdomen, held tightly by the teeth, a very strange sight.
Mo Xuan raised his right hand and grabbed the monitor on the mysterious Ethereal's head, preparing to take it off and see what was inside. This thing was too human-like. If there was a human face behind the mask, he would have to mentally prepare himself before he could act.
"Aaaah!" The mysterious Ethereal screamed loudly. Its body instantly stretched like a rubber band to its limit. The parts below its head seemed to become countless black threads, allowing it to escape the bite of the T-Rex's mouth. The black threads that extended from its body then pierced the three construction machines not far away.
The screens on the chassis of the three construction machines instantly went dark. Without their expressions, they looked like they had crashed. The next second, all the black threads on the mysterious Ethereal tightened, forcefully pulling all three construction machines towards it.
Mo Xuan took a few steps back to avoid them. The sound of scraping and grinding parts filled the air. When the sound stopped, a mechanical monster stood before Mo Xuan. It had eight legs on its chassis, a drill for a left arm, a roadheader for a right arm, and a long grappling tail.
The mysterious Ethereal was now at the center of this machine. Its arms were stretched out to the sides, in a pose as if it were trapped on a cross. Its lower body was completely connected to the mechanical chassis. It had clearly merged with most of the three construction machines, with only a part of its original body remaining outside.
"My construction machines!" Koleda cried out in distress. More than the mysterious Ethereal's terrifying abilities, she cared about the expensive construction machines she had built. They were the lifeblood of Belobog Heavy Industries.
Mo Xuan was also surprised, looking at the giant mechanical Ethereal in front of him. A flash of insight went through his mind. When he had first entered this Hollow, he had also found Ethereals that had merged with construction machines. That had been a bit of a heads-up.
Mo Xuan looked down at his driver. A Rider Kick could certainly take out both the Ethereal and the construction machines in one go. The power of the X-Rex was terrifyingly strong when it hit its mark. But the question was, if he delivered that kick, Koleda would probably cry for a long time, right?
....
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