Noid's body blurred into an afterimage as he sprinted down the hallway, yet he made no sound. He mentally calculated that three minutes had passed; he had two more minutes to act in silence.
The paralyzed gun's bullets only made a faint whistling sound in the air, making them very difficult to detect. He took full advantage of this to clean out the first floor in four minutes.
The building had a total of three floors. The rooftop had the tightest security to guard against police helicopter attacks from above. The second floor had the largest armed force. The first floor was just a bunch of low-level soldiers on lookout duty.
As for the third floor, it was most likely where the cult's leaders were located, and it was his target. The best possible outcome would be to get information about the "high-ranking member" from the mouth of the stronghold leader.
Noid didn't know what the leaders of the Doom cult were planning, and he wasn't good at guessing. The best way was to directly capture the mastermind behind the scenes.
Noid quietly moved up to the second floor. The layout of the second floor was the same as the first, so the distribution of cultists was similar. However, the number of cultists per group had increased from three to five. It would be very difficult to take down five people at once in a short amount of time.
Any noise would attract the guards in the other rooms. Noid calculated the time; the five-minute mark was almost up. It didn't matter if he was exposed anymore.
"Is everything okay over there?"
A voice came from the hallway, and though the door wasn't closed, no one peeked inside to check. It could be said that the cultists here were quite cautious, only using their voices to probe.
After waiting ten seconds with no reply, the guards outside knew something was wrong. Five people immediately rushed into the room, only to find five people collapsed on the floor.
"Be careful, the intruder hasn't left the room yet."
The room wasn't very big, but there were still many supplies and tools inside that provided hiding places.
Their direction was right, but their guess was wrong. Noid was on his flying carpet near the ceiling, taking aim with his paralyzed gun and hitting the cultist in the back.
Seeing the movement behind them, the remaining four turned around. Filling their vision was a figure cloaked in black, with only a pair of cold, green eyes emitting light.
"Careful, it's—"
A vertical strike from his baton hit one cultist's nose, knocking it to the side. Noid had unconsciously developed a habit of hitting the nose during fights, as it temporarily stunned the opponent.
They swung their guns and fired, but Noid was too fast. He crouched low, using his momentum to dodge the bullets. He wasn't faster than the bullets, but he only needed to be faster than the movement of the gun barrels.
Sasha had taught him all this; he could dodge bullets just by focusing on the direction of the gun barrels.
"Damn it!"
A cultist swore loudly, but before he could fire a second shot, he took a full-force punch from Noid to the stomach. The pain made his eyes roll back, and saliva dripped from his mouth. A paralyzing shot sent this guy into a deep sleep.
With one more shot and a baton strike, the two remaining unfortunates joined the pile of defeated men.
It takes a long time to describe, but it all happened quickly. It took him less than five seconds from when he jumped down to attack to when he completely knocked out the five guys. A commotion came from outside. Noid wasn't afraid at all and calmly walked out.
To prevent the police from using snipers to pick off cultists, they didn't use any lights, only the faint light filtering in from outside. This was a major headache for the police because it made it difficult for them to determine the enemy's situation and location. But this became a fatal weakness for the cultists when they faced Noid.
Taking advantage of the darkness and his dark attire, he was like a ghost flitting among the cultists. Thanks to the weak light filtering in from the window cracks, they could only see tiny flickering electric sparks and two moving green dots forming a silhouette in the dark.
"Honorable Lord Doom!"
"Honorable Lord Doom!"
"Honorable Lord Doom!"
As if to reduce their fear upon witnessing each person fall before their eyes, the cultists shouted loudly, brandishing melee weapons and rushing forward. After the initial surprise attack, the cultists regained their combat instincts.
Noid didn't charge in with them but retreated, switching to guerrilla warfare. Even with the "Lord Doom" morale buff and reformed formation, the cultists were still being picked apart by him one by one.
Meanwhile, on the third floor of the building, several cultists were discussing among themselves. These men were surrounded by a protective ring of other cultists because they were the leaders of this stronghold.
"I can't get in touch with the people downstairs! What on earth is happening?! Is it the police?!"
"It's not the police. The guys on the roof reported no unusual activity from the police side."
"Damn it! Who is it? Could the opponent be an elite military squad?"
They were getting restless. One of them suddenly said, "What if... it's the man in black?"
"The man in black... are you kidding me?"
Another replied with an angry tone, but the suspicion was growing. The title "man in black" had long been a common name within their cult. He had repeatedly destroyed many small strongholds, and all by himself. Though they were called small strongholds, each had at least a dozen cultists gathered there.
His most horrific feat was killing a Doom. According to the information they had, the man in black was just an ordinary person, while even an immature Doom possessed far greater strength than a human. Yet, the result was the man in black's victory, with the Doom's head smashed into a pulp of blood and flesh.
"If... if it's him, what do we do now?"
"Damn it! We shouldn't have listened to Garfeild's orders from the beginning! Otherwise, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"Shut up, have you said enough? Garfeild is a trusted confidant of the head priest. He is not someone you can insult!"
They argued loudly. One guy spoke up, quieting the argument.
"What if we release that thing?"
The cultists fell silent, neither supporting nor opposing the idea. The guy who suggested it continued, "Think about it. If we don't release that thing, we will definitely be caught. There are over 50 people downstairs who have all been taken down by the man in black. Do you think our dozen-plus bodyguards can hold him off?"
The group remained silent. Only a faint voice of dissent was heard.
"But there's a chance... that thing will kill everyone here..."
"But there's also a chance it won't, right? Our danger isn't just the man in black; the police are still outside. Let that thing kill the man in black, and when the police take the opportunity to rush in, let that thing deal with them too. Let it kill some of the police and then get killed itself. Then we can escape through the breach in the encirclement."
"After being suppressed for so long, it's time to let the police know the power of our cult. Honorable Lord Doom!"
The one who made the suggestion gave a crazed smile, and the rest no longer had any objections.
"Honorable Lord Doom."
"Honorable Lord Doom."
"Honorable Lord Doom."
At the same time as the stronghold leaders' discussion, the police surrounding the area also noticed the abnormality.
"Captain, is it possible they're fighting among themselves?"
A young man lowered his binoculars and asked a middle-aged man.
"Unlikely. I think they're being raided."
No need for the captain to say it, everyone had already guessed that the person who could bypass their police surveillance and raid the Doom cult was likely the man in black.
Not only in the Doom cult, but the name "man in black" was also very widespread among the police. Unlike ordinary citizens who only knew the basic news, they knew a little more in-depth.
"But didn't the man in black only operate in District 20?"
"Your news is slow. The Doom cult strongholds in District 20 have been completely wiped out."
"No more talking. Prepare the troops to go in. This is our chance."
Looking at the more than 40 cultists on the ground, Noid was slightly out of breath. Although his protective armor kept him from getting hurt, taking down so many people still required a certain amount of energy.
There were at least 20 people on the first floor, and over 40 on the second. A total of about 60 cultists had been taken down. This left his paralyzing gun with only a third of its battery, and his paralyzing baton had also used up half its charge.
Fortunately, this raid had given him too many advantages for him to take down a medium-sized stronghold with such low cost.
Noid was about to head upstairs when he heard many footsteps running up from below. His heart was on high alert. Hadn't the cultists on the floors below been taken down?