80: Five senses reversed

“Hmph!”

The Tier 7 Psionic Guard's shield shattered, and he let out a short, muffled grunt, twisting his body with all his might to narrowly avoid the subsequent sword light.

“Oh! He actually avoided it!”

Hearing the sound, the Three-Eyed Race Captain looked up to see several figures in plain white combat attire, holding standard longswords, slowly appearing. Their gazes were cold, and their auras were calm.

The one who spoke was standing at the front of the group, scrutinizing him.

“You… who are you?!”

“You don’t need to know,” the leading Spirit Pivot Sword Envoy glanced at the sky. “We need to hurry.”

Another Spirit Pivot Sword Envoy beside him, hearing this, flickered like a flash, and in the next instant, appeared beside a Three-Eyed Race soldier attempting to raise his weapon.

The Three-Eyed Race soldier had just aimed his bow and arrow forward when his vision blurred, and a streak of extremely fast sword light flashed past like a meteor.

“Pfft.”

All his movements froze, the light in his vertical pupil on his forehead rapidly dimmed, and a thin line of blood appeared from his glabella. He couldn't even see how the enemy had struck before he fell straight backward.

The other Spirit Pivot Sword Envoys also acted simultaneously.

Their movements were concise and deadly, without any superfluous moves. Each sword strike precisely cut through the vital points of the Three-Eyed Race soldiers.

The Soul Cry Slash's crescent-shaped sword qi silently cut through the air, easily piercing through the seemingly sturdy energy shields and combat suits.

The battle was nearing its end before the Three-Eyed Race Captain could even react.

In just a few breaths, except for himself, all other members of the “Ghost Eye” squad had fallen in pools of blood, unable to even emit a proper warning.

The Three-Eyed Race Captain felt a chill run through him, and an indescribable despair rose from the bottom of his heart.

He looked at his companions who had once fought alongside him, now scattered on the ground like discarded dolls, the vertical pupil on his forehead appearing exceptionally sinister due to congestion.

“You… what exactly do you want to do?” His voice trembled uncontrollably, and fear almost consumed his sanity.

The leading Spirit Pivot Sword Envoy walked slowly, the tip of his longsword dragging on the ground, making a faint “clatter” sound that was exceptionally clear in the deathly silent environment.

He stopped not far in front of the Three-Eyed Race Captain, his direct gaze still calm.

“Mind Unleashed,” two soft words escaped his lips, like a breeze across water.

In an instant, the world before the Three-Eyed Race Captain's eyes suddenly changed.

He heard hurried footsteps behind him. Turning his head, he saw his companions, who had just been “killed,” standing up unharmed, each looking at him with a confused and angry expression.

“Captain! What are you doing? The enemy is clearly in front of you!” A familiar voice rang in his ear; it was his most trusted adjutant.

The Three-Eyed Race Captain turned his head sharply, only to find that the white-clad swordsman who had been standing there had vanished, replaced by an empty wasteland.

“What’s going on?” The vertical pupil on his forehead flickered rapidly, trying to distinguish between reality and illusion.

“Careful, Captain! He’s on your left!” Another voice came.

He subconsciously swung the psionic short blade in his hand to the left, but hit nothing.

Immediately after, a whooshing sound came from his right. He hastily blocked, the sensation of weapons clashing was incredibly clear, he could even feel the coldness from the opponent's weapon.

“No… this isn’t right!”

He smelled a strong scent of blood, as if he were standing in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and the ground beneath his feet became sticky and slippery, making him almost unable to stand steady.

His five senses were completely confused.

What he saw, what he heard, what he touched, what he smelled, all became unreliable.

He felt as if he was in a labyrinth made of countless mirrors, where every direction could be a trap, and every sensory signal was deceiving him.

“Ah!” He let out a roar like a trapped beast, wildly swinging his weapon around, trying to dispel the omnipresent strangeness.

Just as he completely exposed his back due to a false attack signal, a real, cold sword edge silently pierced him from a blind spot he couldn't perceive.

“Ugh…” The Three-Eyed Race Captain's body stiffened abruptly. He lowered his head, staring in disbelief at the half-blade of a sword protruding from his chest.

Not a single drop of blood was stained on it.

The light in the vertical pupil on his forehead rapidly dimmed, and all illusions quickly dissipated.

The last thing he saw was the leading white-clad swordsman, still standing there silently, as if he had never moved, lightly twirling his longsword and sheathing it.

“Dispose of it.”

The leading Spirit Pivot Sword Envoy commanded indifferently.

The other Spirit Pivot Sword Envoys quickly stepped forward, skillfully clearing the battlefield and erasing all possible traces.

Soon, the desolate plain returned to silence, as if that elite Three-Eyed Race squad had never appeared.

The same scene was constantly playing out in the outer regions of the Mind Nexus.

Whether it was small groups of scouts, reinforced patrol teams, or even occasionally a clean-up squad led by a Tier 7 Psionic Commander, once they ventured too far from the protection of the city's energy shield, they would vanish without a trace, like mud oxen entering the sea.

No distress signals, no signs of battle, and even bodies were hard to find.

...

Mind Nexus, Lords Manor.

Marco stood before the command console, the vertical pupil on his forehead contracting violently from anger, emitting a dangerous purple light.

Below him, several Three-Eyed Race officers were silent, not daring to breathe.

“Useless! A bunch of useless people!” Marco’s voice was somewhat sharp from extreme anger. “Another squad! A full fifteen warriors, and a Tier 7 Commander! Just gone? Without even figuring out who the enemy is?!”

He violently waved his hand, and a psionic whip-shadow struck the hard alloy floor, emitting a piercing bang.

“Lord, please calm your anger!” An officer bravely spoke up. “We have already dispatched the largest search teams, but the opponent's actions are too bizarre, leaving almost no traces. Their method of operation… doesn't seem like a regular army, but more like… top-tier assassins.”

“Assassins?” The eerie light in Marco’s vertical pupil flickered. “Assassinating my soldiers? What is their purpose? Do they want to delay my clean-up plan? Or something else?”

He paced back and forth restlessly.

During this time, he felt like a giant with his eyes covered, possessing immense strength but unable to hit the fly that kept harassing him in the dark.

“Are there any clues? Any at all!” Marco practically roared.

A Three-Eyed Race officer responsible for intelligence analysis hesitated, then stepped forward: “Lord, based on multiple analyses of energy residue at the disappearance sites, we found a… very faint and unique energy fluctuation. This fluctuation is extremely subtle and dissipates very quickly. If we hadn't specifically targeted its capture, it would be almost undetectable.”

“Energy fluctuation?” Marco frowned deeply.

“Yes,”

The officer continued, “And, all areas where the missing squads were last seen have had this extremely similar soul fluctuation. We suspect this may be related to some special ability of the attackers. This ability… seems to be able to directly annihilate souls, which is why no traces were left.”

The light in Marco’s vertical pupil on his forehead flickered even more intensely. He closed his eyes, and with the aid of the amplification equipment in his territory, a vast mental power surged out like a tide, attempting to capture the special fluctuation the officer mentioned in the void.

A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of surprise flashing in his vertical pupil.

“Indeed… a very strange soul power, pure, condensed, with a… sharp cutting sensation,” he murmured. This feeling reminded him of certain specialized professionals focused on soul attacks.

“To be able to do this, to silently eliminate a Tier 7 Commander and his squad… the attackers’ strength must be at least top-tier among their peers, or even…” Marco’s expression grew even gloomier.

He had initially thought it was just some ignorant scouts from the Blue Star Alliance or the Dark Star Empire causing trouble, but now it seemed the situation was far more troublesome than he had imagined.

The opponent was clearly well-prepared and had a clear target: his dispatched clean-up forces.

“This won’t do,” Marco made a decision in his heart. “My army is no longer capable of dealing with such enemies. I must find a way to get Ka Mountain to act.”

Although he was the Lord of the Mind Nexus, Ka Mountain the “Thought Weaver” and his squad were “professionals” who had descended with him, holding a transcendent status and not directly obeying him.

Their relationship was a cooperative one; Ka Mountain and his team were responsible for handling high-end combat threats that the army found difficult to resolve, while he provided resources and intelligence support.