The mini-Blood Moon, forcibly condensed by the Red Marker, possessed not only immense power due to its massive size, but its most formidable aspect was its pervasive mental attack.
As an invisible psychic pulse swept through all nearby areas, the thousand-plus villagers, who had been frantically attacking the Blood Moon, immediately ceased their actions, their expressions becoming vacant. Countless illusions appeared before these people, horrors beyond the limits of human endurance.
"Ah!" Screams rose and fell, and villagers constantly revealed chilling smiles, then raised their weapons and repeatedly smashed their own heads. The remaining villagers, driven by fear and the madness brought on by the Mycelium, attacked the terrifying illusions before them. But in reality, they were merely slaughtering each other.
Scarlet blood flowed everywhere, and the blood of over a thousand people merged into the ocean of Mycelium. Soon, these villagers, already driven mad by the illusions, all perished. Several tentacles descended from the Blood Moon above, piercing the ground and rapidly absorbing the flesh and blood, quickly devouring it all.
Marcus, standing on the Blood Moon's head, could clearly feel its volume increase slightly. Both its power and the intensity of its mental attacks had subtly improved. Shaking his head, Marcus redirected his gaze to the mountain below.
At this point, the entire mountain had been leveled by the Blood Moon, perhaps triggering the Mycelium's self-preservation mechanism, or perhaps it was due to Miranda's desperate control. More and more black Mycelium surged from underground. The Mycelium had existed for countless years, and the quantity and range of its spread were immeasurable.
Vast amounts of black Mycelium, like a tide, continuously climbed along the Blood Moon's tentacles, but were unable to inflict any real damage upon it. The Blood Moon merely lightly shook its tentacles, and the Mycelium, like rootless duckweed, fell from the air, barely able to impede the Blood Moon's movements.
Soon, the Blood Moon's tentacles had dug dozens of meters deep. As the excavation depth increased, a gigantic three-dimensional, net-like structure composed of Mycelium appeared before Marcus. At the very center of this Mycelium network was the Mycelium itself, shaped like a baby and entirely red. "This is the most mystical existence in the Resident Evil world," Marcus murmured, looking at the Mycelium below. At this moment, Miranda was frantically severing the Mycelium's connection to the broader Mycelium network, attempting to transfer it, but all her efforts were in vain.
The next second, an invisible psychic pulse instantly radiated out, directly targeting Miranda. "Boom!" Her body instantly exploded. But what erupted was not flesh and blood, but clumps of Mycelium. Miranda, deeply bound to the Mycelium, had long lost her flesh-and-blood body. Now, she was less a human infected with Mycelium and more Mycelium with human memories. Under the influence of the psychic pulse, the surging Mycelium ocean below instantly became calm, temporarily losing all control.
Marcus did not waste this opportunity; several of the Blood Moon's tentacles swung down in unison, instantly severing the Mycelium's connection to the Mycelium network. At the same time, they lifted the enormous Mycelium and slowly brought it to the Blood Moon's head. Marcus reached out and touched the Mycelium's soft body. The mission progress on the system panel also updated to 5/7.
Since the mission objective had been completed, Marcus had no reason to stay there any longer. At his command, the Blood Moon began to slowly ascend, moving away from the ground, carrying with it a dozen large rocks.
"Why!" On the ground below, Miranda re-emerged from the Mycelium, letting out a powerless roar. She then spread the six wings on her back and soared into the air, attempting to approach the steadily receding Blood Moon, or rather, the Mycelium enveloped by its tentacles. But as the altitude continued to increase, the air temperature plummeted, and the Mycelium's activity rapidly declined. Soon, Miranda, her face contorted with unwillingness and resentment, developed frost on her body and fell from the sky, defeated.
Moments later, the Blood Moon approached the atmosphere. To protect the delicate Mycelium, its tentacles completely enveloped it, safeguarding it from the impending vacuum hazard.
"Attack." Actually, Marcus didn't need to speak to command the Blood Moon. But for him, occasionally speaking a few words was necessary. Otherwise, being silent all day, confined with Tyranid Warbeasts and the Blood Moon, wouldn't be conducive to his mental well-being. As his voice fell, the Blood Moon flung the huge rocks it carried, which plummeted towards the surface at an incredibly high speed. From such a high altitude, the destructive power of these giant rocks would be earth-shattering.
On the ground, the surviving nobles and Miranda looked up. A dozen meteors were hurtling straight towards their location. Everyone within a few hundred kilometers could see them. But those at the center of the impact zone were not in the mood to appreciate this spectacular sight.
Under Miranda's control, the Mycelium on the ground rapidly retreated deeper underground. The Eight-Foot Lady and Karl also hid in a nearby underground tunnel. A few minutes later, the dozen glowing and heated meteorites from the Blood Moon crashed down with a thunderous roar.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" A dozen meteors successively struck the center of the village and various surrounding areas. Huge mushroom clouds instantly rose into the sky, their power comparable to tactical nuclear bombs. Buildings at the center of the impact were instantly leveled. The subsequent shockwave then swept away everything within a dozen kilometers. All the grass and trees were uprooted and blown away.
After several hours, when all the smoke and dust had dissipated, the originally not-small village had vanished without a trace; everything had been annihilated. The land at the center of the impact formed a huge crater, still emitting rolling heat waves.
The ancient ruins in the surrounding area were also completely destroyed by the powerful shockwave. This attack, capable of changing the very landscape, was merely caused by some stones casually dropped by the Blood Moon from atmospheric height. For the Resident Evil world, which had not developed space technology, the Blood Moon could be so recklessly destructive.
All of this was transmitted in real-time by orbiting satellites to the eyes of leaders in various countries. In just a few minutes, the Blood Moon wiped out the lives of thousands of people and dramatically altered the topography of an entire region.
And all of this seemed so effortless. Although nuclear bombs could achieve similar results, everyone knew there was no comparison. As long as the Blood Moon remained outside the atmosphere, it could continuously capture small celestial bodies and launch undetectable orbital strikes downwards. After all, meteors in outer space are inexhaustible, while human anti-aircraft missiles will eventually run out.
The small portion of people who had just learned the dark "truth" of the universe in the meeting were even more terrified. After all, according to Marcus's statement, this Blood Moon was merely a temporary, crude avatar of a single individual within the Tyranid civilization. How powerful, then, would the true Tyranid civilization be? They dared not think further.
It was this battle that solidified the idea among the leaders of the five major powers to immediately establish a unified Earth government. They understood they must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, use every possible method, and rapidly enhance the strength of human civilization. Otherwise, when truly malicious extraterrestrial civilizations invaded, Earth would simply be a lamb for the slaughter.