Above The Sky
Chapter 262 - 262 250 Ape Beasts and Moths 33

262: Chapter 250: Ape Beasts and Moths (3/3) 262: Chapter 250: Ape Beasts and Moths (3/3) It turned out that when Patrick appeared and Ian led Yisen Gard in a strategic retreat into the sea, the pirates had ceased fire with the exploration ship.

The former knew their target was the two fleeing youths, while the latter was more than happy to become invisible in the sea territory, for who knew that this voyage entailed not only roughing it out in a great storm but also being the focus of an entire Pirate Fleet and a Second Tier Powerhouse—indeed, it was overstimulating.

Of course, the more important reason was the storm itself—without the skipper and the protection of Master Gossay and Ian, the Pirate Fleet was barely holding on, and the exploration ship, with only a Wave Singer left, was just managing to prevent the ship from capsizing in the giant waves.

But no matter how desperately the Wave Singer on the exploration ship tried, it was all in vain when faced with the Gate of the Ruins that suddenly opened afterward.

Both the exploration ship and the Pirate Fleet were swallowed up by the Ruins together and, because their targets were so large, the automatically adjusting currents divided them into an equally sized entryway.

After a surge of tumultuous waves, they somehow slid through an incredibly flooded cave and fell into the Ice Abyss.

“At first, we and the pirates were still in a standoff…

But then, from an opening above the glacier, suddenly poured out many disgusting parasitic monsters and giant insects!”

“To survive, we and the pirates had no choice but to use our ships as cover and fight against those parasitic monsters.”

“Only the cannonballs were limited, we had to find a way out, or else we would just be worn down by the monsters where we stood—fortunately, we detected unusual vibrations coming from the direction where you, the Guide, were, so we dispatched two of us to survey the situation…

Others have gone to check in different directions.”

Blue Sail and Iron Hand took turns speaking, quickly summarizing the situation.

At first, Blue Sail found it strange as to why Iron Hand, who was also considered an elite warrior, showed such respect for the young man before him.

But soon, he understood the reason.

“I see.

Iron Hand, Yisen and Master Gossay are right behind us, go ahead and lead the way for them.”

After listening, Ian nodded.

He instructed Yisen’s guard, then inquired about the whereabouts of the ship’s fleet, and immediately leaped into the air.

In just an instant, his figure vanished from sight, leaving Blue Sail with widened eyes, unable to track his location for a moment.

“Is this the First Energy Level?!”

Several seconds passed before he saw, through the wind and snow of the Ice Abyss, the figure that had already leaped two to three hundred meters away, and he couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of ice fragments: “This speed…”

“Stop looking, you won’t understand.”

Having fought side by side, Iron Hand and Blue Sail had also become familiar with each other.

He was overjoyed to hear that the young master and Master Gossay were still around, but after carefully considering Ian’s tone, he sensed a strand of unease.

—If Master Gossay were in normal condition… would they really need a Guide to take the lead?

The tall Protector Knight turned his head to look in the direction of the fire from the cannons and involuntarily shook his head: “If Master Gossay has had an accident, even with the Guide’s abilities…

It is unlikely they could turn the tide.”

After all, they had profoundly experienced the strength of those weird aberrant creatures and insects—acting almost like a Cluster Demon Beast, their combat wisdom was simply like some sort of artificially created biological weapon.

That is definitely not a disadvantage that one person, one longsword, could change!

Meanwhile.

Ruins of Ice Abyss, a land of extreme cold.

The howling winds and snowstorm swept across the entire abyss, the pale and dim radiance shining upon the wreckage of numerous ships, casting a faint white glow on them.

And under such illumination, Seaborn Swordsman Green Tide stood guard on the periphery of the front line.

Relying on the remnants of the ships and ice walls as their position, a group of pirates and crew members were nervously operating Alchemical Cannons they had transported, confronting the waiting aberrant beasts and the swarm of insects not far away.

With both arms and legs, they walked upright, draped in white fluff that even obscured their eyes—these Ape Beasts, shaped like humans, would never be mistaken for people, their bodies were riddled with rugged calcified tissues and tough meat nodules.

Their skins, leaking out proliferated fur, could resist the severe cold of the Ice Abyss.

And behind these Aberrant Beasts were clusters of large white Moths.

Ape Beasts and Moths, seemingly unrelated, yet Ian understood all too well that they were inherently one and the same.

“It’s happening again!

The cluster of Aberrant Beasts has started hatching again!”

From behind, the desperate voice of a pirate lookout came through, and the voice of the explorers’ lookout was nearly identical with terror: “After eating some of the flesh and blood of their own kind…

they are hatching again!”

The monsters hid in the corners of ice mounds and indentations of ice pits where the Alchemical Cannons could not directly reach—only the lookouts perched at the height of the masts could observe their movements.

And indeed, it was just as they said.

As the white-furred Ape Beasts continuously devoured corpses of their own kind that had died in the last attack on the positions, as well as the bodies of fallen warriors from the explorers and pirate fleets, their bodies began to harden and wither, then cracks erupted across their forms.

Within those cracks, one could barely discern pale white tapeworms squirming under the skin and within the flesh and blood.

These slender worms drew nourishment within the Ape Beasts, then quickly began to metamorphose upon contact with the cold air, hardening into icy white bony chrysalises.

Their skin splitting, the chrysalis-hatching Ape Beasts remained oblivious, still greedily devouring flesh and blood, their appearance wildly frenetic—they would soon fully become immobilized cocooned bundles of flesh and blood, from which the larvae of the giant white Moths would crawl out.

However, not all Ape Beasts completed the hatch.

Most of the failures split open amidst extraordinarily painful howling, and numerous worms spilled out from their malformed, rotting flesh and blood, dissolving into white mush and turning into icebound corpses under the chill wind.

Then they would serve as the next batch of food for the monsters that continued to emerge from the distant cave entrance.

“Pah.”

Ian was well aware that this was a harbinger of the next attack.

His spit froze quickly in the ice-cold wind, but that could not icebound the fury and will to fight of this Whale Song Cliff warrior: “No harder to deal with than Sea Demon Worms…

they are just bullying us for our numbers!”

Since his accidental arrival in the depths of this icebound Labyrinth, the crew of the exploratory ship had no time to clash with the pirates who had arrived at the same location, before encountering this seemingly endless swarm of Aberrant Ape-Beasts and Giant Insects, whose origin was unknown.

They seemed to have another objective initially, advancing across the ice plains, but upon sighting everyone, they fell into a violent frenzy and launched an assault, forcing both parties to join forces using the wreckage of the ships and the Alchemical Cannons to counterattack.

Indeed, every cannon shot took away Aberrant Beasts and odd Moths alike, but the cannonballs were finite, while the number of monsters…

seemed to be still on the rise.

The Aberrant Ape-Beasts were manageable; they were just ordinary humans with strength, some even slightly inferior.

If a few Sublimators were to block the gaps in the shipwrecks and ice walls, the defense would be airtight.

But those giant white fluff-covered Moths could join forces to flap their wings, controlling the wind, snow, and Ice Cones to inflict harm—it was extremely difficult to handle.

Soon, the monsters’ onslaught began.

With the Moths’ flapping, the ice and snow became animated, and even the ice and snow in the wind transformed into fist-sized hailstones that pummeled the ground and headed towards everyone in the position—and on the ground, hordes of Ape Beasts let out hoarse, piercing roars as they charged towards the position in a disorganized yet frenzied manner.

Boom boom boom!

The cannons fired, cannonballs cutting through the air, which even seemed briefly scorching hot, and upon high-explosive shells landing within the Ape Beast crowds, they were promptly blown to shreds, their flesh and blood indistinct, killing instantly all—the Ape Beasts and tapeworms lurking within their flesh.

But the defensive cannons were no longer as densely fired as at the beginning; the cannons had suffered damage and lost control due to the severe cold and targeted attacks by the Moths, rendering them inoperable.

The Ape Beasts that slipped through were now charging in front of the position, emitting a stench and scent of blood that was hard to detect in the frigid environment.

Ian shook his head as he raised his sword.

It was time to fight.