Chapter 105: The Mist of Rilai

After spotting Iron Man and his team flying high in the sky, Ortus naturally avoided heading openly toward his destination. However, for a Dark Mage, there were many ways to achieve his goals.

After a moment of brief contemplation, Ortus plucked a suitable spell from his memory: the R'lyehian Mist. Also known as the Creation of R'lyeh's Fog, the Cloud of Dread, the Breath of the Dark Ocean, or the Damp Mist of Lost Sailors, this spell allowed the caster to summon a thick fog in a target area that obscured all vision. Under its cover, no positioning or communication equipment could function until the mist was dispersed or dissipated on its own.

Ortus did not summon the mist immediately. Instead, he first cast a zombie-creation spell on a corpse found within the house, using his own blood to accelerate the ritual, successfully reanimating the body after a ten-minute chant.

A zombie could carry out the caster's will, but it would only execute simple, mundane tasks such as "protect me," "kill him," or "go there!" Furthermore, zombies created this way continued to decay after reanimation, preventing them from providing sustained combat capability.

Ortus had no intention of letting the zombie fight for him. He removed his black robe, draped it over the creature, and ordered it to wander the streets. The zombie, obeying his command, marched straight toward the main road, crashing through several walls along the way.

Watching these actions, Sharon understood what he was planning: he intended to use the zombie to draw Iron Man’s attention and then trap them within the dense fog.

As expected, with the zombie wandering mindlessly, Iron Man and his team easily spotted the "high-ranking cultist" in the black robe. Though they found it strange that these cultists enjoyed crashing through the streets, they were not about to let the target slip away.

When Tony and his team rushed toward the "high-ranking cultist," the figure seemed to notice them and began to flee rapidly toward the west, only to be overtaken quickly. Just as Tony prepared to repeat his previous tactic and eliminate the target with laser beams, a thick fog blanketed the area, and the cultist vanished from sight.

"What's going on? Jarvis?" Tony immediately activated his suit's scanning equipment, but Jarvis’s report made his heart sink. "Sir, there is an unknown magnetic interference; scanning is impossible."

"Damn it, we’ve been played." Tony naturally linked this to the movements of the robed man. Having received introductory training from Qu Yizhi, Tony had gained some understanding of magic and knew that many spells required time to prepare. Of course, one could not rule out powerful individuals who could cast spells instantly, but if the opponent had such power, why run away instead of casting directly? All clues pointed to the fact that they had fallen into an enemy trap.

"Stay alert; the enemy is likely nearby." Tony attempted to fire laser beams in the direction the robed man had fled, but in the dense fog, the power of the lasers was significantly dampened.

"This is unscientific—well, it's magic." War Machine, clearly less knowledgeable than Tony, also quickly realized this was no ordinary fog.

Watching the three Starks obscured by his mist, Ortus, hiding in a residential building, wore a charming smile. This was why he had always looked down upon those "Combat Emissaries."

Sharon followed Ortus obediently. After they left, Sari’s blood bead also attempted to follow, but it was locked down by the mist. Indeed, Sari’s blood had been tracking Ortus, but it too had become trapped, unable to even relay information back to the main body. Thus, Sari felt his connection to the tracking blood severed; unaware of what had happened, he assumed he had been discovered by Ortus.

"Heh, certainly not easy to deal with." Sari had reached the sewers. The city's sewage system was vast and complex, so Sari had scattered many blood beads to search for the hidden residents. In his estimation, given the city's population, even if many had died in accidents, most should have been infected by the Divine Breath and turned into monsters. Yet, the sewers were strangely empty.

Finding the situation increasingly peculiar and recalling the death of Abbas, Sari grew more vigilant. However, he remained unconcerned about being killed by the Avengers; his abilities were too formidable unless the Avengers could destroy every single one of his clones.

Sari's vigilance was directed more toward the unknown state of the city. The news of the Divine Breath had come solely from Ortus, and as a suspicious person, Sari was certain Ortus had withheld information. But since his clone had been destroyed, he could only hope to obtain the divine artifact as soon as possible.

Steve and his team were encountering the same problem. Given the population density and the scale of the sewer system, it was impossible that they hadn't found a single mutant monster after so long. It left the group baffled and feeling that the situation was even stranger than anticipated. When their communicator received word from Tony that he had eliminated a "Divine Emissary," contact with him was lost, leaving Steve with a premonition of disaster.

But Natasha was right: rather than wallow in speculation, it was better to solve the problem at hand and then head to the surface to assist Tony. The restricted area was filled with interference, so losing contact was expected. Steve and his team suppressed their anxiety and continued to search for traces in the sewers.

Fortunately, Natasha soon discovered signs of large creature movement—clear scrape marks on a wall at a corner. The group finally breathed a sigh of relief, as did Sari, who had been wandering aimlessly nearby. Upon realizing he had lost the trail, Sari received the "good news" passed down from the Avengers and decided to sneakily follow them, planning to appear suddenly once the target was found.

However, just as Sari intended to attach his clone directly onto Steve’s clothing, a shard of ice froze the pool of blood. Sari hurriedly canceled the power of his clone and reformed it at a distance.

"Did something happen, Miss Qu?" Seeing Qu Yizhi strike suddenly, Steve raised his shield in alert, and the others looked toward the ceiling—but where Qu Yizhi had struck, there were only some frozen droplets of water.