The number of surviving Hawk Priests in the arena was dwindling, and they could barely utter a complete sentence. Barry strictly executed Su Ming's tactics, immediately going over to push any priest attempting to speak, interrupting their actions.
However, the surviving priests realized there was a problem: annihilation was inevitable. But they had one spell that required neither incantations nor movements.
Without slogans or signs, their bodies suddenly exploded, and thick black sludge splattered everywhere. The intense gusts caused the entire cavern to shake.
Barry felt he had dodged, yet several strands of black energy clung to him like maggots on a bone, and in an instant, as if transcending speed and space concepts, deep cuts were carved into his leg. His leg went weak, and he rolled over, crashing into the wall.
Su Ming and the others were relatively far away. As the strong winds approached, Su Ming tackled Briss, his Promethium Armor offering decent protection and quite effective against magic.
The strong wind pressed against his back, making him feel as if a giant beast had stomped on him. The black energy was blocked; he suffered some air current impact but only sustained minor injuries. However, more memories surged into his mind, causing his expression to turn grim.
Briss's black bat suit looked gray and dusty, like a real bat. Su Ming pressed his head, trying to sort out these memories as best he could.
"Barry, how are you?" He slowly stood up, dusting himself off. The cavern's shaking gradually ceased, with no more falling debris, indicating a temporary halt against collapsing.
"Cough, cough... I'm fine, just minor injuries." Barry rolled over, lying on his back on the ground; his interrupted run had sent him flying quite a distance, crashing against the wall. "I thought they would shout something before committing suicide, but they didn't follow the rules."
"Heh, maybe they chanted silently in their hearts." Su Ming approached, inspecting the wounds on his leg. The situation wasn't too serious; the black energy had not wrapped around the injuries.
Briss also came over, crouching beside Barry to examine his wounds. "Should we use some Lazarus' Spring?"
Barry quickly shook his head. He knew Batman had once resisted the side effects with willpower, but he was merely a scientist, not a resolute warrior.
"No, it would cause a drastic change in personality, turning one into a bloodthirsty maniac unable to calm down without deathblow. My abilities are too dangerous. Once I lose my sanity, it would be trouble."
"Barry's right, bandage him up. Speedsters recover much faster than normal people anyway. Meanwhile, we can clean up here." Su Ming took the bandage Briss handed over and started wrapping his leg using battlefield first aid techniques. "The spring water wasn't taken in vain; later, you can bind Barbara and use it on her. It can heal her spine."
As for battlefield first aid, it means not having much time on the battlefield, where the procedure is simply to press on the blood vessels and wrap wildly with bandages. After bandaging, Su Ming helped Barry to lean against the wall, then joined Briss in checking the cave's condition.
Apart from those self-exploding priests, there were corpses everywhere. Briss remained expressionless, initially thinking they were humans, but realizing now they were monsters. If she had known earlier, she would have acted herself.
Indeed, the Bat's no-kill rule only applied to Earthlings, not to aliens and monsters. Batman from the Main World had once gone on a killing spree on Apocalypse Star.
Su Ming searched through these monsters' corpses, finding nothing of value; they didn't even have personal belongings. He simply tossed their corpses into that black well. The black liquid below kept churning like boiling asphalt, consuming the mummy-like corpses one by one.
"What do you think is below?" Briss asked him as she stood aside, not interfering with Su Ming's actions.
"Some manifestation of dark energy, perhaps. These corpses melted inside, its principle unknown." Su Ming threw down the last corpse, clapped his hands, and removed four grenades from his chest, dropping them into the well.
A muffled explosion sounded, like popcorn popping. The black well instantly collapsed, buried deep underground, with rubble and yellow soil completely covering it, and no black matter splattered out.
"Frankly, I didn't think much of this reckless plan before." Briss said expressionlessly.
"We're always taking risks; there's no such thing as a 100% successful plan. Fortunately, luck was on our side, and you found Bat Gold. If we hadn't discovered it, we would have been in big trouble. The longer we dragged this out with these ghostly things, the more variables there were. If they found out about the human pyramid trick, Barry's control ability would be nullified."
Su Ming sniffed the faint scent of gunpowder in the air, slightly relaxing. Before coming here, he was only half confident. Thus, he informed Cindy of what he knew, hoping she might find a way to escape if the three of them ran into trouble.
Thankfully, his arrangement for Briss to find critical items paid off. Indeed, the beloved daughter of DC.
Next, he decided to search for any stragglers. Although the commotion earlier was quite significant, the priests' fanaticism towards their faith might prompt them to join the fight, but it's best to search again just in case.
"I'll go up and turn off the tourist site's alarm, you guys be careful." With a pull of her cloak, she swiftly disappeared into the darkness.
.............
Merely waiting wasn't an option, so Su Ming searched through each underground passage. Apart from the living quarters of these priests, the underground space wasn't very large, not even comparable to the Indian Mountain's underground lab.
All the enemies were wiped out, and in a large room in the back, some ordinary members of the Owl Court committed suicide. The time of death was recent, their blood was still fresh. He simply used a lighter to set these guys and the remaining books and documents on fire, and the underground was suddenly filled with smoke and dust.
From where they fell, heading in the opposite direction led to a hidden exit, located within a dry underground riverbed outside the Valley of the Kings. By the time the three of them returned to the surface, it was already dark.
The temperature in the desert dropped rapidly, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the stars seemed almost within reach.
In open spaces, the sky always feels vast.
"Hawk's home base has been raided, now only the Gotham City branch remains. The Hawk Priest is equivalent to a tribal shaman, and generally doesn't roam the world," Su Ming said, supporting Barry as they walked toward the Nile River.
"There might still be a few in Gotham City," Briss said, cautiously scanning their surroundings.
"Cairo and Gotham, one is their brain, the other their sharp claw," Su Ming nodded, affirming her statement and heading toward the river with Barry on his back. "Members of the Owl Court are spread across the world, but without their Priesthood, their methods of contacting Barbatos have been severed by us. To cultivate Hawks again would take at least three to five years, and by then we surely will have resolved the issue in the Main World."
"Your tone doesn't sound so certain when you say 'surely.' Do you really think I don't understand what gods at a Multiverse Level mean? I just hope things don't get too bad," Briss shook her head, always firmly opposing blind optimism.
Su Ming glanced at her, then at Barry: "That's a problem for the Main World. Barry has already agreed to hire me to solve it, right?"
"Uh..." Barry scratched his head, giving an embarrassed smile, "Seems... so? Not sure if Bruce would shell out the money though..."
"You're a member of the Justice League, everything you do now represents them. Bruce doesn't care about money, there's a 90% chance he'd be willing to spend. If he doesn't pay, I'll go to Lex Luthor, who considers himself humanity's savior. He wouldn't reject paying for the world. Then, I'll hold a press conference, saying the Justice League and Superman have brought disaster. I have lots of evidence, all the world's scumbags will support me..." Su Ming set him down, and the three found a sheltered cliff recess, lighting a fire as they waited for Barry's leg to recover.
Barry looked conflicted, unsure if Su Ming would actually do such a thing for money, but he still felt it would be better for Bruce to pitch in some money.
However, Su Ming was only joking; some things are better kept from ordinary people, cover what you can.
"Luthor Group... so, I'd like to hear your next move," Briss interrupted his banter with Barry, thoughtfully watching Su Ming.
Su Ming poked at the fire with a dry branch, wood carried downstream during the Nile's flood season, finding firewood in other deserts wasn't this easy: "Having dealt with the traitors, the next step is to address the world's major conflict, which is the military standoff between Paradise Island and Atlantis."
"That's what I think too, but it requires a meticulous plan," Briss nodded, the firelight reddening her face.
Su Ming shook his head, not sure if in disagreement or helplessness: "Plans don't necessarily need to be meticulous; human nature and the brain are fascinating things. Sometimes, the enemy's superficial understanding can help us, filling in gaps that were originally vulnerabilities, and that's truly flawless."
"Because people only believe what they want to believe..." Briss seemed to grasp something and stopped speaking.
Barry looked at Su Ming, whose helmet was splattered with black blood, showing no discernible expression. He then looked at Briss, who always seemed to have a poker face, impossible to read her thoughts from her expression.
He could only raise his hand to indicate he wanted to speak: "But they've been at war for hundreds of years, this isn't a war sparked by lack of understanding, but a fight for world domination."