America: The Cremator

Chapter 201: Four-star entry, five stars in one go! [Seeking monthly votes, daddies!]

The captain threw his half-smoked cigarette on the ground and crushed it out. He glanced up at the churning dark red clouds in the distance, then turned to Su Long and said, "Fellow exorcists, I know this is a rare sight, but—let's get on the plane first."

"There's nothing more for us to do at the front lines. My mission is to escort you to the hospital in the city center. If you want to see the destructive effects of the dirty bombs, the view from the plane is much better."

Upon hearing this, Su Long nodded. Although the officer spoke politely, it didn't mean they could make things difficult for him at will.

Moreover, the intense battle in the inner world had almost completely drained his physical and spiritual energy.

He is now feeling extremely tired and definitely needs a safe place to rest.

Suron turned around and first assisted the medical staff in helping Byron onto the plane. The medical staff on the plane immediately connected him to hyperbaric oxygen and an emergency IV drip.

After settling Byron in, Suron helped the unsteady Elena and followed the captain into the Chinook transport helicopter cabin.

The cabin was spacious, and the air was filled with a mixture of smells from aviation kerosene and medical disinfectant.

Byron and Elena leaned back in their metal folding chairs, their weary bodies finally getting a chance to catch their breath.

Su Long sat down opposite Elena and reached for his four-point seatbelt to fasten it around his neck.

"Hold on tight!" the crew member in the front row shouted.

The tandem rotors overhead began to spin faster, producing a tremendous roar, and the airflow pushed away all the surrounding weeds and dust.

The Chinook's massive fuselage suddenly sank, then steadily lifted off the ground, leaving behind the devastated lakeside wilderness.

As the helicopter climbed, the vibrations inside the cabin gradually decreased.

Su Long unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, and leaned towards the round porthole, looking down.

As his observation altitude increased, his field of vision became wider, and the entire battlefield around Rattlesnake Lake was fully revealed before his eyes.

Previously, my view was obstructed from the ground, but now I can truly see the extent of the damage caused by that dirty bomb codenamed "Shroud".

In mid-air, the massive white cloud remnants from the thermobaric bomb explosion were merging with the dark red radioactive cloud released by the dirty bomb, and were sinking downwards over a large area.

Potassium iodide-131 powder was evenly sprinkled on the huge half-body remains below, and even everything scattered within several kilometers was completely covered by this dark red dust.

Suron stared at the monster that had once turned the American lines upside down.

Under the complete coverage of radiation, the once bright red and vibrant muscles on that massive, mountain-like remains exhibited an extremely violent rejection reaction within seconds of contact with the radioactive powder.

The monster's skin began to darken rapidly, changing from a piercing scarlet to a dry, dark brown.

The dark red tissue fluid stopped secreting and flowing, and the dark green blood vessels wrapped around the main stem shriveled up quickly, like withered vines drained of blood.

The transformation continues, and at an ever-accelerating pace.

The dark brown skin only lasted a short while before deteriorating further.

Large areas of the flesh began to turn a deathly deep blue, and then completely black.

This is a corruption in which the spiritual structure has completely collapsed and spirituality has been completely obliterated.

At this moment, under the ravages of radiation, the monster's originally tough flesh membrane and strong keratin layer began to melt violently, directly losing all support.

Large chunks of blackened, rotting flesh were peeled off the monster's main stem, and those stinking chunks of flesh, weighing several tons, crashed one after another onto the scorched earth below, turning into puddles of bubbling black water.

Those three sheep-shaped rhizomes could no longer support the weight of the structure above.

The rough, gray stratum corneum cracked and peeled off in large areas, and the internal skeleton was completely corroded and penetrated.

With a dull thud, the massive, dozens-of-meters-tall mangled body collapsed.

This enormous thing has been reduced to a pile of fragile mud.

Under the continuous erosion of the dark red mist, the fleshy pulp emitted a cold, grayish-white light and was evaporated into wisps of foul-smelling smoke.

Su Long leaned against the porthole, looking down at the vast land that had been completely dyed dark red.

Within a radius of several kilometers, the corpses of ghouls, the remains of skinners, and the giant monster were all wiped out in this intense radiation cleansing.

Surong sat back in his metal chair, glanced at the lieutenant standing by the opposite porthole, and exclaimed, "What exaggerated destructive power!"

"With this large amount of highly concentrated radioactive powder being scattered, this land will be barren for many years to come."

The lieutenant standing by the porthole shook his head.

"Don't worry, the consequences aren't as serious as you think. This land won't be ruined for many years."

The core radioactive isotope inside the "shroud" was iodine-131, which, although it releases extremely lethal beta and gamma rays for a short period, has a very short half-life.

He paused for a moment, then gave the exact figures.

"Only eight days."

Su Long immediately understood what the captain meant.

"So, as long as we survive the first few half-lives, the radiation concentration here will drop dramatically?"

"Yes, theoretically speaking, the radiation levels in this area should be basically zero after three months."

The lieutenant looked out the porthole at the night sky gradually being obscured by clouds, his voice low and deep: "When the time comes, the Federation's disaster response forces will send in chemical defense engineering vehicles to strip away and clean up the surface contaminated soil, and this area will be able to return to normal."

"This is why the Bureau of Odds and Ends chose this particular type of dirty bomb. It can completely annihilate the high-level flesh and blood contamination with terrifying regenerative abilities, without worrying about leaving behind hundreds of years of nuclear wasteland in the present world."

Su Long nodded. Using an extremely potent, short-acting drug to deal with a monster with unlimited regenerative abilities was indeed an unreasonable barrage of firepower.

He gazed at the lingering clouds on the distant horizon, then asked again, "If this dirty bomb is so effective against the supernatural, how powerful must a nuclear bomb be? Even against an S-class supernatural being, it should be able to put up a fight, right?"

The captain suddenly turned to look at Su Long: "If an S-class anomaly appears in the deep sea or desert, we can indeed deal with it. However, you should know where they always appear."

"The last time the Gun Demon landed in Seattle, it was right in the city center—"

The captain's eyes suddenly met those of Surong: "If you were in power, could you approve dropping a nuclear bomb on the center of a major metropolis?"

Upon hearing this, Su Long pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "These S-class demons only stay for a few dozen seconds before disappearing, being dragged back to the inner world."

"Which resulted in more deaths and injuries: letting the demons of guns run rampant for half a minute, or the nuclear explosion in the city center?"

This is a difficult situation to calculate.

The helicopter continued to climb, and the dark red clouds and scorched battlefield below were gradually obscured by thick cumulonimbus clouds.

Seeing the captain walk to the vicinity of the cockpit and report the situation to his superior via the airmail, Su Long stopped asking questions, looked away, and checked "Raphael" and "Sirius" which was in its holster.

This trip to the Otherworld was incredibly dangerous; I almost lost my life, but the rewards were equally great.

One hundred experience points and four soul crystals are enough to give his strength a leap forward.

More importantly, the "Dance in Fire" curse was finally lifted, and Suron no longer had to endure the burning pain brought by the world-destroying fire.

Just as he was planning the next enhancement plan, a sharp whooshing sound suddenly came from outside the cabin above his head.

The sound even drowned out the roar of the two turboshaft engines of the Chinook.

Su Long turned his head to look.

A triangular formation of three F-15 fighter jets, fully loaded with air-to-ground incendiary munitions, sped past the Chinook at high altitude.

The fighter jet spewed out a dark blue, high-temperature exhaust flame, flying straight towards the central area of ​​Rattlesnake Lake, which was shrouded in clouds and mist, with overwhelming force.

That was the subsequent air strike formation that took over the area; the federal forces' cleanup work in this region was far from over.

The enormous roar echoed outside the cabin for a long time.

With a dull hum of rotors, the Chinook transport helicopter flew over the edge of Seattle and landed on the helipad at Harborview Medical Center.

As the cabin door descended, the medical staff who had been waiting outside rushed in.

As soon as Elena stepped off the plane, she was immediately taken over by a medical team and sent directly to the VIP ward on the top floor of the main building.

At the same time, a heavy ambulance bearing the dark silver crest of the Wick family drove directly to the edge of the tarmac.

The car door opened, and several family members quickly stepped forward to negotiate with the military doctor on site before pushing Byron into the car.

As a family of exorcists with a history spanning hundreds of years, the Wick family has its own private medical team.

For Byron's case, where he had severely overdrawn his spirituality and suffered the consequences, ancient esoteric healing methods were far more effective than modern medicine.

Both individuals were properly accommodated.

As for Sulong, the situation is a little delicate.

Although he suffered a series of fierce battles in the Otherworld, losing his hands and feet, he also went through the explosive core of the plasma sphere.

However, thanks to the powerful recovery ability of his [God of War] state and the healing effect of Raphael's wine, there were no visible fatal wounds on his body. Only his energy and spiritual reserves were completely drained, resulting in extreme fatigue.

Su Long had planned to find a private room and sleep peacefully in bed for a day and a night, but as soon as he walked into the lobby corridor of the medical area, a figure blocked his way.

Stella.

Thus, Sulong naturally fell into Stella's hands and was taken directly to the top of the hospital, to Stella's private research laboratory.

The laboratory was lit by cold white shadowless lamps, and the air was filled with chemical reagents and a very faint smell of blood.

There was a genuine leather recliner in the corner.

Su Longzheng was half-lying on it, with an indwelling needle inserted into the back of his left hand. A bag of light blue high-grade nutrient solution was dripping into his vein through a transparent IV tube.

Not far away, Stella, with her back to him, wearing goggles and latex gloves, was operating a high-speed centrifuge.

Watching her busy figure, Su Long asked, "Professor Stella, are you not even going to give me a decent hospital room now? I'm a seriously injured person who just fought my way back from the Otherworld."

Stella stared at the test tubes in her hand, and without turning her head, asked, "Is my environment here really that bad?"

Su Long turned his gaze and looked around again.

Aside from the somewhat jarring glass specimen jars containing bizarre organs in the distance, his current treatment is actually quite good.

The recliner beneath him was just the right amount of softness, perfectly supporting his aching lumbar spine.

On the right-hand medical shelf is a heated coaster with a steaming cup of sweetened black tea on it.

That was brewed by Stella herself just now.

Su Long picked up his mug and took a sip. The warm, sweet black tea slid into his stomach, turning into a warm sensation that filled the emptiness in his body.

He put down his cup and leaned back in his chair. "Well, it's not so bad."

Stella placed the extracted contaminated sample into the incubator, set the parameters, took off her gloves, and turned to look at Suron.

"Then I'll trouble you to get some sleep first. I'm currently busy analyzing the data from the batch of flesh and blood samples sent back from the front lines."

Her tone carried a hint of teasing: "If Mr. Su needs a beautiful doctor to accompany him personally, he might have to wait another half hour?"

Su Long raised an eyebrow and continued, "Close-fitting is good, close-fitting is good—I'm not in a hurry, you take your time with your work."

Stella glanced at him, but didn't reply. She turned back to continue operating the microscope.

Su Long adjusted the angle of the recliner, sinking into the backrest in the most relaxed position, and then closed his eyes.

The only sound around us was the faint hum of the instruments running; let's just call it white noise.

He lowered his consciousness, and the system panel quickly spread across his retina.

It's time to take stock of this loot.

Su Long sank into the leather recliner, letting the cool nutrient solution flow into his body through his veins, then closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink.

The light blue system panel quickly unfolded.

Rows of data refresh on the retina.

Experience points: 100

[Mithril Coins: 1]

[Soul Crystals: 7]

Looking at the three lines of numbers, Su Long smiled.

This is truly a windfall.

I now have a full 100 experience points, plus seven high-level soul crystals.

This was definitely the most financially comfortable he had ever been since he transmigrated to this world.

Baphomet is indeed dangerous. Just now in the Otherworld, Surong was forced to use all his trump cards and almost died in that hellish place.

But high risk often comes with high reward, and the profits from this demon are more than worth its deadly threat.

Now is the time to translate these gains into actual combat effectiveness.

Su Long's brain raced as he began calculating how to distribute the huge sum of money.

According to the system's rules, upgrading a three-star attribute to four stars requires 50 experience points and one Soul Crystal.

However, the upgrade mechanism for high-level sacred objects is completely different. Upgrading a sacred object does not require experience points; it only requires investing one soul crystal to complete the transformation. This enhancement method is very cost-effective.

This means that Su Long can now use up three Soul Crystals to upgrade all three of his remaining main artifacts to the four-star level, aiming to match "Lucas".

After that, he will have four soul crystals and one hundred experience points left, just enough to create two four-star attributes!

This will bring a qualitative leap to his strength. Without further hesitation, Su Long focused his mind and locked his gaze on the artifact section of the panel.

"Sirius", "Raphael", and "Uriel".

These three pieces of equipment are irreplaceable.

Sirius is his current core burst weapon, Raphael provides crucial healing effects, and Uriel, needless to say, just now saved his life when facing the plasma sphere explosion.

Although Uriel can repair itself, the thought of potentially facing even higher levels of danger makes a four-star level of defense more reassuring.

"upgrade."

Driven by willpower, the three soul crystals emitting a faint glow shattered on the system panel.

[Consumes 3 Soul Crystals.]

The sacred relic "Silis" has been upgraded to ☆☆☆☆!

The sacred relic "Raphael" has been upgraded to ☆☆☆☆!

The sacred relic "Uriel" has been upgraded to ☆☆☆☆!

Accompanied by three crisp system notification sounds, the revolver and wine flask hanging on Su Long's waist, as well as the tattered soft armor he wore close to his body, all emitted a strong spiritual glow.

Sirius's gun became heavier, and a layer of dark gold intricate patterns appeared on the barrel. A faint rumbling sound emanated from the rotating cylinder.

The patterns engraved on the surface of the Raphael flask have become deeper, and the wine stored inside exudes a more mellow and spiritual aura.

The most significant change was in Uriel; the broken armor plates reassembled in the light, exhibiting a restrained black-gold hue, and their texture became more resilient and substantial.

After completing the enhancement of the relic, Sulong focused all his attention on his skill attributes, and currently has four three-star attributes that can be upgraded.

【Flame Fist and Flame Bullet☆☆☆】

【Intelligence Master☆☆☆】

【The Realm of Stagnation☆☆☆】

【The Ruler☆☆☆】

There are four options, but with only 100 experience points, you can only choose two.

Su Long's gaze swept quickly over the four options, and he made his judgment.

The first person he ruled out was the "Intelligence Master".

This entry grants him a very powerful intelligence-gathering ability, helping him see through strange weaknesses on several occasions.

However, at this stage, a proactive refresh frequency of once every three days is perfectly adequate.

Even if you upgrade it to four stars and shorten the cooldown time to once a day or once every half day, the direct improvement to actual combat power will be very limited.

When the enemy's strength exceeds that of your own by several times, knowing the enemy's weaknesses is meaningless. Good steel must be used on the blade. Such auxiliary attributes can be put aside for later.

Then, Sulong skipped over [Flame Fist and Flame Bullet].

As his most basic and frequently used attack methods, the fire fist and fire bullet are undoubtedly deadly.

However, upon closer analysis, the essence of this entry is simply to increase the upper limit of physical destructive power of punches and gunshots, as well as the attachment efficiency of the World-Destroying Flame.

As Surong encounters increasingly stronger and higher-level enemies, simply overwhelming them with numerical superiority becomes less effective.

Just like Baphomet, if it misses or is neutralized by the opponent's high-level rules, even the most powerful Flame Fist is just a punch that misses the target.

This skill will only unleash its true explosive effect after it is combined with more combat skill-related skills in the later stages.

Upgrading it now wouldn't be cost-effective.

Having ruled out those two, the remaining answer is obvious.

Sulong stared at the [Realm of Stagnation] and [Ruler] on the panel.

These two are the true trump cards that can determine the outcome of high-level games.

The slowing effect of [Land of Delay] is almost a game-changer when facing low-level monsters.

When facing high-level supernatural beings, although the opponent's immense spiritual pressure may force a partial break in the restraints, greatly reducing the effectiveness, even gaining a fraction of a second of pause is enough to change the course of the battle.

In a life-or-death struggle, forcing the enemy to take a full-force attack from you, that fraction of a second of control is the boundary between life and death.

The actual combat effect of the [Ruler] is even more brutal.

With its extremely strong mental impact, sonic interruption, control, and physical knockback effects, combined with the raging world-destroying flames, it can unleash an extremely perfect suppressive combo.

Furthermore, the combination of sonic pillars and world-destroying flames has become one of Suron's trusted offensive methods.

Just now, in the mist of the inner world, the ruler's mental bombardment caused Baphomet to freeze briefly, interrupting his spellcasting rhythm.

If it weren't for that, Su Long would never have had the chance to deliver that skull-crushing punch.

As enemy levels continue to rise, pure physical damage is no longer sufficient; it must be combined with strong control and interruption abilities to form an effective kill chain.

The upgrade priority for these two terms is far higher than that for the other two.

"You're the ones."

Su Long made a decision, focusing his mind directly on these two keywords and allocating resources accordingly.

[Consumes 100 experience points and 2 soul crystals.]

On the system panel, the 100 experience points that had just been heated were instantly cleared to zero, and the two high-level soul crystals transformed into pure streams of light, which were injected into the entry boxes for [Domain of Delay] and [Ruler], respectively.

Golden star markers flashed rapidly at the end of the entries.

hum!

[The "Realm of Stagnation☆☆☆" has been upgraded to ☆☆☆☆!]

[The "Ruler☆☆☆" has been upgraded to ☆☆☆☆!]

Two extremely powerful spiritual forces burst forth from nothingness and poured directly into Su Long's mind and limbs.

This is a transformative change.

Su Long leaned back in the leather recliner, watching the pale blue high-grade nutrient solution drip down one drop at a time. He noticed that as he watched, the trajectory of the dripping solution slowed down.

This is not an illusion. Su Long's perception of time has become extremely sensitive, and the flow of time is no longer an abstract concept to him.

Rather, it becomes a quantifiable, concrete perception, just like light and shadow, sound volume, and smell intensity.

Immediately afterwards, a throbbing pain came from between his eyebrows.

A spiraling force was gathering there. Su Long could sense that this force was a combination of high-pressure airflow and pure spiritual power, and it was extremely destructive.

He knew very well that if he allowed this power to erupt now, the spiraling impact would immediately pierce through the constant temperature chamber in front of him and turn Stella's underground laboratory into ruins.

Thinking of this, Su Long immediately focused his mind and suppressed the restless power deep between his brows.

Then, Su Long lowered his consciousness to check the specific information of these five newly promoted four-star entries.

【The Realm of Stagnation☆☆☆☆】

Category: Blessing.

Description: It can consume mental energy to create a stagnation field centered on the user, within a space with a radius of 10 meters and a height of 20 meters. This reduces the flow of time within the area by 80%, while the user's movement speed remains unchanged.

Duration: 30 seconds; can be used three times per hour.

Review: Zawarudo!

【The Ruler☆☆☆☆】

Category: Blessing Entries

Introduction: The host will gain a powerful aura and pressure, and can actively release mental shockwaves and sonic shockwaves in various parts of the body.

Enhanced mental shock effect and sonic impact! A spiral shockwave combining mental and sonic effects can be emitted from between the eyebrows, possessing both physical damage and mental control!

Comment: Is he going to develop a third eye?

【Raphael's Contract☆☆☆☆】

Type: Relic. Description: Raphael transforms wine to replenish energy, heal injuries, and stabilize the mind. After drinking the wine, the host gains the [God of War] effect.

At the same time, the alcohol storage capacity is increased to 5 liter, and the alcohol can automatically appear in the host's mouth or adhere to the weapon.

When weapons are contaminated with alcohol, they can be ignited by the Apocalyptic Flame, triggering additional burning damage.

Review: This liquor has power!

【The Contract of Sirius☆☆☆☆】

Type: Relic Entry Description: Sirius can directly use the fire of destruction as bullets.

Sirius gains a new skill—Decisive Strike—which allows the weapon to combine six bullets into one, creating a highly powerful incendiary bullet with lock-on, tracking, penetration, and explosive effects.

After Sirius's bullet hits the target, the host gains the [God of War] effect.

Comment: Forgetting to turn it off is the same as leaving it on?

【Uriel's Contract☆☆☆☆】

Category: Relic entry.

Description: The armor can quickly repair damaged areas. Attacks that cannot penetrate it will be completely absorbed, and the first attack to break through the armor will also be completely absorbed!

Gain active skill: Golden Bell Shield! Briefly consumes all the spiritual energy of the armor to cover the body with a spherical shield with a diameter of 2 meters, which lasts for half a minute!

Evaluation: Impregnable!

After reviewing the five entries, Su Long was very satisfied; the improvement brought about by this advancement was a qualitative leap.

In terms of skills, the "Land of Delay" has a slowing effect of up to 80%, an expanded range, and can be used three times per hour, which is a huge improvement over the previous version, making it much more forgiving of mistakes.

The "Dominator" entry adds a hybrid attack skill, directly combining mind control and physical destruction.

If a spiral shockwave is emitted from between the eyebrows, and is further enhanced with world-destroying fire, what's the difference between that and a laser shot from between the eyebrows?

Regarding the relics, the power of "Sirius's" [Deadly Rhythm] has begun to show signs of decline as the enemy's level increases.

When facing an A-level demon like Baphomet, conventional shooting is unlikely to inflict fatal damage, and even a six-round burst is ineffective. The newly added "One-Hit Kill" perfectly compensates for the lack of single-shot firepower.

By compressing the kinetic energy of six bullets into a single point, combined with locking and penetration capabilities, this becomes a portable sniper rifle.

"Uriel's" active skill, "Golden Bell Shield," eliminates fatal defensive blind spots.

Previously, the soft armor could only protect the torso. Just now, when he withstood the explosion of the plasma ball in the inner world, his limbs were directly vaporized by the high temperature. Although his heart was not damaged and he recovered quickly, what if the enemy was still alive at that time?

In the "human stick" state, he's just a freeloader.

Now, with this two-meter-diameter spherical shield, the defense range completely covers the entire body, truly achieving 360 degrees without blind spots.

The increased capacity of "Raphael" to five liters ensured longer battery life, but what truly surprised him was the "God of War" effect that was given as a bonus when drinking alcohol.

"Sirius" hits and stacks the God of War effect, "Lucas" punches and stacks the God of War effect, and now even drinking a sip of wine can stack the God of War effect. As long as he operates properly, he can stack the God of War effect for a terrifying duration.

With a thought, a mouthful of wine appeared out of thin air in Su Long's mouth.

After all, Raphael was the only entry whose ability could be verified immediately.

The taste of wine has completely changed now.

The Raphael wine used to have a strong spiciness, but now it has become extremely sweet, with a sweetness comparable to syrup.

Su Long immediately understood the reason.

This sweet taste is due to the sugar and nutrients produced by the functions of "replenishing energy" and "healing injuries".

This is no longer just alcohol; it can be considered a kind of recovery potion.

The wine slid into my stomach, turning into a warm current that swept through my limbs and bones.

[Host gains the God of War effect!]

The system notification popped up as expected.

The deep fatigue left from the battle in the inner world quickly subsided under the nourishment of this energy, my muscles became fuller, and my mind was completely clear again.

Su Long leaned back in the leather recliner, feeling the surging power within him. He tilted his head back, an irrepressible smile on his face.

Not far away, Stella was still intently fiddling with the microscope at the lab bench, completely unaware that the man behind her had experienced an astonishing leap in skill.