[Quantum Black Hole: Darkest Hour]
Centered on his Stand, a corner of darkness began to unravel.
"Thud!"
Carlson suddenly collapsed, clearly having suffered some kind of mental attack.
A golden figure flashed out from behind Johnson Joffrey. Carlson's and Meg's movements were perfectly reflected in the red vertical pupils of Reversed Hierophant—
"Can you see clearly, Johnson?" Risotto whispered.
Reversed Hierophant could vaguely perceive energy fluctuations; this was an ability everyone knew about.
Johnson Joffrey couldn't help but widen his eyes, clearly seeing Carlson's movements. Through the eyes of the Reversed Hierophant, he saw something drill into the back of Carlson's neck.
A small, humanoid figure, wreathed in black smoke, tightly embraced the back of Carlson's head. As Carlson fell, it began to burrow into his brain.
"Indeed," Johnson Joffrey said, "it's a mental attack. The knife slash was just a diversion. His ability doesn't require physical contact to be effective."
"Then let's keep our distance," Risotto said. "Mental attacks are hard to counter. However, judging from Babyface's situation, ordinary people hit by this Stand attack first lose consciousness, and only then do they start to experience mental derangement."
Babyface's initial state was similar; it experienced a period of 'black screen' before changing its identity and complaining about Melone.
Although Babyface was sacrificed at the start, without its presence, Johnson and the others wouldn't have been able to analyze the enemy's ability. In a way, Babyface fulfilled its mission.
"Ah, what the hell?! Let's just go up first!" Ghiaccio cursed under his breath. The mature facade he had maintained finally broke, but this was truly him.
Ghiaccio leaped from the fishing boat, no longer thinking about how to become cooler.
Stand Name — [White Album: Gently Weeps]
He lowered everything he could see to the lowest temperature. At the same time, Ghiaccio had already frozen several normal blocks of air on the fishing boat, which he then gave to his teammates.
If the battle dragged on, the melting air blocks could be used to replenish everyone's oxygen. He also had a large number of oxygen blocks within his White Album.
Melone couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth. Ghiaccio had grown stronger.
The moment his teammates stepped onto land, he glanced at the swampy ground, slowly crouched down, and placed one hand on the ground.
In an instant—
He transformed the world into a frozen wasteland. The congealed air seemed to bring everything to a standstill. For a moment, it felt like time itself had stopped. The hundred-meter radius of toxic swamp was rendered useless, completely neutralized by Ghiaccio alone.
Johnson Joffrey looked down at the enemies in front of him.
There were two of them, neither of whom had appeared in the original story. For him, it wasn't the unknown that caused fear, but rather how challenging their abilities truly were.
Meg possessed a very powerful mental attack Stand, and such a Stand was truly difficult to deal with.
The so-called toxic swamp was frozen, allowing the Assassination Team to walk as if on solid ground.
"It's energy. I can assist the captain," Johnson said. "When he uses his ability to release that black energy mass, I can..."
Johnson stopped mid-sentence, pulling out the familiar object from his embrace. Almost everyone present had been pierced by it to gain Stand power.
What exactly was the arrow's ability? It couldn't help but make people ask such a question. Where did it come from? What kind of power did it contain?
Before Johnson Joffrey could finish speaking, Meg's Stand struck first, releasing a massive amount of energy—
His Stand was pitch-black, lean, and robust. Meg executed the traitor too quickly; his Stand flashed out a black smoke, completely finishing off Carlson. Carlson seemed to hear a profound babbling; the pilgrim devotees began to awaken, and the dead began to sing. It was a mental attack.
Carlson's entire world began to darken, as if an ancient god was gazing upon the world.
His primary personality began to slumber, constantly reliving the darkest, most painful, and most desperate memories in a nightmare, becoming trapped within his mind. At the same time, [Magnitude Black Hole: Darkest Hour] began to create a new personality for him from his dark side.
"This is my resolve," Meg said after executing Carlson, without the slightest hesitation. He was in his early thirties, still quite young. "You are indeed very strong, but the Boss has countless subordinates. Countless people loyal to the Boss, just like me, will restore peace to Italy."
"For me, if I were to leave now, my conscience would trouble me for the rest of my life. In comparison, dying now would be a good investment."
His tone was calm, carrying the resolute determination of a death seeker.
"Pesci," Risotto suddenly spoke. "Test him."
Pesci was a little surprised that Captain Risotto had personally given him an order, and he quickly reeled his Beach Boy in and out.
As soon as Beach Boy's hook touched within three meters of the enemy, it was as if something like a drumbeat reverberated in Pesci's head.
"Indeed," a glint flashed in Johnson Joffrey's eyes, and the corner of his mouth curved into an almost imperceptible smile. "It is indeed a powerful mental attack, but it's completely useless in front of me."
Reversed Hierophant suddenly flashed out. As Pesci was undergoing the mental attack, Beach Boy's fishing line rapidly punched out—
"Muda Muda Muda Muda—"
The Reversed Hierophant line, which had climbed along the fishing line into Pesci's body, was immediately pulled out. Under everyone's surprised gaze, Reversed Hierophant skillfully pulled out the Reversed Hierophant line from the arrow and connected it to the thing that was about to climb into Pesci's body—
The power of that dark [Quantum Black Hole] was instantly pulled out, disappearing in a flash as if devoured by a demon.
"Make your move!" Risotto suddenly said. This assassin, who was skilled at silence, disappeared along with Johnson Joffrey into the frozen port.
Johnson Joffrey's pupils widened slightly. He raised his hands and found that he had already merged with the surrounding scenery.
He looked forward, and Risotto was completely gone. He couldn't help but feel surprised. So Risotto could also use his ability on his companions. His Stand, Metallica, had a range of up to ten meters.
As expected of Risotto, in a sense, he was the only person in the entire Assassination Team truly suited for assassination.
However, after Johnson Joffrey's precise measurement, Reversed Hierophant's range seemed to be that of a Stand that would cry if its user went even a little too far, so it was only 0.94 meters. What was said before, that it was only half a meter, was actually an exaggeration. It's almost a meter, alright?
Reversed Hierophant raised its hand, connected to the Reversed Hierophant line on Risotto's body.
Risotto lowered his gaze and crouched down. "Indeed, this is the enemy's range."
"Within a three-meter radius, one will be subjected to a mental attack."
Risotto spoke calmly, his voice even. He was truly a calm person, completely different from Johnson's inherent system charm and his italian-less silence. It always reminded Johnson of the time he watched golden wind and Risotto fought Torbio before he transmigrated.
Calmly observing, calmly analyzing, this man seemed to have lost in the end due to overconfidence, or perhaps due to the pleasure of avenging his companions in the end.
Suddenly, his tone relaxed. He whispered to Johnson Joffrey behind him, "Johnson, I once told you to use your ability to protect yourself, do you remember? Now I was wrong. Use your ability to get revenge. You are much more formidable than you imagine."
Johnson Joffrey was silent for a moment, then said, "I understand."
An unpleasant feeling lingered in his heart. Johnson Joffrey remembered that he seemed to have lied to him before. In the four months since his transmigration, he had told countless lies. When did he become so good at lying?