Chapter 103: Dividing Forces into Two Paths

Abbas carefully scouted through the city. Since it had been assimilated by the Divine Breath, the city was incredibly dangerous. Even as an envoy of the Holy Sect, he knew the Divine Breath was not a deity and certainly held no affection for its believers; otherwise, they could simply have prayed for their goals.

Because the followers of the Holy Sect possessed a measure of divine power, the Divine Breath did not treat them as immediate enemies. However, the Divine Breath lacked reason. The four envoys could not communicate with it, so to harness its power, they needed to seal it into an object, transforming it into a new holy relic for the sect.

This knowledge had been imparted by Otus. One of the reasons the four had split up was to claim the role of the relic's master. Once they controlled the relic, they would not only become the leader of the Holy Sect—just like the Chosen One before them—but also gain immense power, rendering the armies of humanity unable to stop them.

Thinking of the power the relic would soon bestow upon him, Abbas grew excited. This excitement led to carelessness; he accidentally crashed into a building. Given his formidable constitution, it wasn't until he had brought down several load-bearing columns that he snapped out of his euphoria.

Upon realizing he had nearly leveled the structure, Abbas felt little anxiety. After being hunted across the human world for so long, he was already dissatisfied with having to act with restraint, especially now that he had finally entered a place that felt so comfortable.

Since the building was already ruined, he decided to simply enjoy himself. Abandoning his cautious demeanor, Abbas stopped hiding. He knew that no army would dare enter the Washington Exclusion Zone, so he began to move in a straight line toward his destination.

Meanwhile, Tony and his team arrived at the Washington Exclusion Zone. To maintain his combat readiness, Tony activated his armor only after crossing the perimeter. Fortunately, he remained unaffected this time, and Iron Man once again soared into the sky.

This brought a sense of relief to Steve and the others. With Dr. Banner not transformed and Thor absent, the Iron Man armors of Tony and Rhodey were their greatest source of firepower.

From high above, before landing, Tony spotted a series of buildings collapsing in the distance. He immediately touched down to report his observations to Steve. Because Washington was flat and had strict building height limits, Tony had an easy vantage point.

"Although Washington is currently filled with fires and smoke, the systematic collapse of those buildings suggests that a powerful monster is tearing the city apart. It is highly likely to be one of the four cult high-ranking officials," Tony explained. When the Exclusion Zone was first forming, Tony had attempted to save the mutating citizens, but unfortunately, he had found no solution.

What left the deepest impression on him was the Source of Corruption summoned by the cultists, which had destroyed Washington and arguably the entire United States. He suspected that these high-ranking cultists were searching for that very source. If they found it and brought it to other regions, the consequences would be catastrophic.

After the zone had fully formed, the corrupted residents stopped destroying the city—or rather, they had never intended to; their sudden comas had simply caused various accidents. As for what the mutated residents would do next, the signal interference made it impossible to know.

"You're right. It's very likely the cult's upper echelon," Steve noted, his judgment in combat as sharp as ever. However, looking at the quiet, empty city before him, he furrowed his brow. "The situation in Washington remains unclear. Where have all the corrupted residents gone? Why haven't we encountered a single citizen or monster until now?"

Natasha walked to the entrance of a building by the road, examining the traces left on the ground. There was a black, smeary drag mark. She crouched down to inspect it; although she could not touch it directly, the discovery provided valuable intelligence.

"Captain, everyone, the residents are likely hiding in the sewers," Natasha said, signaling them to look at the marks. "These stains were likely left behind when they returned from the sewers."

After a moment of silence, Steve turned to Tony. "Since we've found where the residents are hiding, let's split into two teams. Tony, you lead one group to intercept those cultists, and I will lead the other into the sewers to destroy the Source of Corruption. We cannot let the cult's conspiracy succeed."

Steve's decision to split up was a necessity. On the way to Washington, Tony had shared the intelligence he gathered, naturally mentioning the ominous Source of Corruption. Having experienced these battles, Steve connected the cult's objective to the source. To prevent them from securing it, they needed a two-pronged approach.

Tony nodded, taking War Machine and Falcon—the heroes with the highest mobility—to track the cultist. The rest of the team followed Steve toward the nearby sewer entrance.

Due to their high mobility, Tony and his team quickly tracked the marks and spotted Abbas moving along the ground. Having identified the target, Tony did not hold back. Every one of these damned cultists had the blood of countless people on their hands; for such vicious thugs, a few missiles were the perfect end.

Abbas, currently moving forward, suddenly felt a chill down his spine—a sense of impending doom. Sensing danger, he instantly wrapped himself in a shroud of black matter.

War Machine immediately opened fire. In an instant, the entire street was engulfed by a barrage of missiles. As for their new comrade, Falcon, his equipment had not yet been updated by Tony, so he carried no missile launchers.

However, possessing combat instincts second only to Steve's, Falcon was the first to notice that the target had not only survived but was launching a counterattack. He quickly relayed this information to Tony and the others.

Tony and War Machine dodged the attack from below. Amidst the roaring flames, several black spikes shot toward the sky. Thanks to Falcon’s warning, both managed to avoid injury.

Abbas had invoked his power the moment he was attacked, shielding himself and immediately retaliating toward the source of the missiles, though he wondered how anyone could still be using such weaponry here.