Above The Sky
Chapter 296 - 296 281 Meeting the Swarm 13

296: Chapter 281: Meeting the Swarm (1/3) 296: Chapter 281: Meeting the Swarm (1/3) At the same time.

-Relic’s bottom layer interaction zone-

“Are you sure this is the right path?”

Leading the team at the front, the captain suddenly stopped and stared at the long corridor ahead, expressing his doubts, “It’s too smooth; something isn’t right.

All this way, we haven’t encountered any Magical Beasts, Parasitic Beasts, or strange heterogeneous species.”

The footsteps of the Fiery Flame Land team echoed in the spacious corridor, resonating with their pace forward, creating a layered, boisterous sound.

Yet, the only sounds in the entire corridor were their footsteps, which were gradually swallowed by the dark depths ahead.

In the Giant Golden Mushroom Cave, the Fiery Flame Land special operation team, upon seeing a large gathering of Magical Beasts and Parasitic Beasts, realized they might have committed a blunder.

Therefore, they decisively paid a certain price, used their trump card, and retreated—The gathering Magical Beasts and Parasitic Beasts, seeing the ‘competitors’ leave, didn’t care too much and continued with their centuries-old habit of killing each other.

After all, the team of Humans was much more united than the different species of Magical Beasts, and even the Parasitic Beasts didn’t want to waste their strength hunting these new enemies who seemed to have little flesh but were very tough.

Afterward, they had been searching for a path leading to the center of the relic.

“Rest assured, this is the path.”

Faced with the captain’s question, the Nun from the Sleepless Eye now held a palm-sized crystal screen in her hand.

She slid her finger across the screen, then nodded and said, “Our Spiritual Tool Church is proficient in relicology.

We have some insights when it comes to exploring unknown relics.”

“The path we are taking now is indeed the closest to ‘directly reaching the center’ among all the paths.”

“On what basis?”

The captain furrowed his brow, clearly unsettled as he constantly surveyed his surroundings.

He was a Bloodline Inheritor of the Fengyu Winged Serpent, with an astounding perception, which is why he was able to win on the dense forest battlefield years ago.

Along the way, the team had slain many Magical Beasts that dwelt in caves and around corridor corners.

At that time, he didn’t sense danger and felt pleased to take the lead in dealing with the enemies.

But now, out of the quiet, he sensed a chill of crisis.

To him, this silence was the calm before the storm.

Seeing that the other party was indeed very skeptical, the Nun straightforwardly crouched down, her metallic fingers deforming into tweezers and extracting a transparent substance from the ground, “Look, this path is quite meticulous.”

“Pre-Era Civilizations would use a nearly weightless transparent film on special paths to ensure the things they wanted to preserve remained undamaged and uncorrupted—Look at this place, its winding nature ensures that one can’t see the end from the beginning, and there are also some out-of-control barrier doors in the middle, all of which prove that the destination behind this path is a secret place for the Pre-Era Civilization.”

“It may not be meant for people to walk on,” the captain still argued, but his tone had weakened significantly.

“At least it’s a critical area,” said the Nun and continued to explore ahead.

Soon after, the entire team suddenly stopped.

As the Nun described, there was indeed an important facility of the Pre-Era Civilization ahead—and a Legacy.

“What is this?!”

The scout leading the way at the front suddenly exclaimed, and even the Spiritual Machine Knight scouting alongside also emitted a sharp noise, “Hiss…

Significant discovery!”

They were all rigorously trained and wouldn’t make a sound unless they absolutely couldn’t help it, especially the Spiritual Machine Knights who had shed most of their Flesh and Blood instincts and were hardly shaken by anything.

Everyone looked up, turned toward the direction of the sound, with the captain and the Nun quickly advancing first, then they were stunned in their tracks.

Around the corner of the corridor ahead, the darkness was gradually dispersed by the lights of the special operation team, and amidst the damp mist, a steel creation sitting in the shadows started to appear.

The captain’s red eyes widened in disbelief at what he was seeing, while the Spiritual Tool Nun beside him suddenly sounded joyful and excited, “It’s an Armor Suit!”

“It’s a Pre-Era Civilization Armor Suit!”

As the light grew brighter, a five-meter tall iron giant emerged from the darkness, revealing itself to everyone.

The design philosophy of the tall metal Armor Suit was completely different from today’s Terra Armor and Aether Armament.

It appeared heavier, with armor not composed of individual plates but rather shaped from smooth, flowing metal.

The silver outer shell had faint white fluorescence flickering on it, indicating a special coating that could deflect some of the offensive Spirit Energy.

The armored clothing was already destroyed, lying on the ground with its back against the wall, the firearms in its hands had decayed, and both its cockpit and power source were thoroughly ruined, with no remnants of bones inside.

But the mere presence of it was a great discovery for the special forces and the Spiritual Tool Church.

“Why would there be armor here?

And in a damaged state?!”

The captain looked at the armor, feeling an increasingly dangerous premonition stimulating his nerves, but at this point, there was no possibility of turning back.

Because this indeed proved that there was an extremely important ‘target’ ahead.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be war machinery destroyed in this place!

“It could be a civil war…

or it could be the heterogenous ecosystem…”

Upon encountering their objective, it was actually the Spiritual Tool Church that became cautious.

The nun and knight exchanged glances, communicating through the infrared light blinking in their eyes.

While not efficient, it was sufficient for everyday communication.

After a moment of silence, the spiritual machine nun cautiously said, “Ahead lies an enemy powerful enough to destroy pre-era armor.

Although it should be long dead, we must continue our exploration.”

“What, continue scouting?”

The captain hadn’t realized this point, but he also believed that the greater the danger, the more necessary it was to proceed…

If they could obtain a complete model of pre-era civilization armor, it would help Fiery Flame Land continue to refine their armor suits and the Constructed Knight Order, thus ensuring their leverage over the Setar Empire.

Of course, that’s a bold statement, but even for an individual, this would be enough to earn the enduring honor of nobility!

Even for his men, it was enough to further their aspirations, even becoming a Sublimator wasn’t impossible.

“No.”

But the Spiritual Tool Church, usually more anxious than the special forces, denied this proposal.

She said, “We’ll set up traps and bait here, then make some noise to lure out whatever might be behind us.”

This was clearly based on the Spiritual Tool Church’s past experience in exploring ruins and was indeed convincing.

Setting up the traps didn’t take much effort.

The special forces came heavily armed, confident that even a second-level magical beast couldn’t handle several alchemic cannonball-level explosive traps.

After all, not every second-level magical beast was a totem master of the Redwood Natives.

Next, the Spiritual Tool Church released two kinds of bait—one was a toxic aggregator of pure origin, emitting a strangely sweet scent that attracted any magical beast.

The other was an accessory with a rich spirit energy fluctuation, ready to detonate at any moment, creating a wide-spread psychic blast with devastating impact.

After completing these preparations, they waited.

“Buzzing…”

Shortly after, something stirred in the distance of the corridor, invigorating the waiting members of Fiery Flame Land, ready to face a formidable enemy.

But as the buzzing grew louder, it eventually sounded like thousands of horses galloping, or like a tempestuous storm, shocking and inexplicable, leaving one in awe, clueless of what was approaching.

Soon after, ear-piercing shrieks rang out, carrying aggressive spirit energy stimulation, causing everyone other than the members of the Spiritual Tool Church to feel a stabbing pain in their brains.

“Boom!”

Before the group could react, a rolling black fog surged from afar.

A miasma from the depths of the ruins filled the entire corridor in an instant, engulfing the light, rendering them unable to see their own hands.

“Damn it!

Swarm attack!

Everyone activate internal oxygen supply!”

The captain’s face showed horror; he didn’t need to use his eyes to see, so he was the first to react in the presence of the miasma: “These are spirit energy swarms, in great numbers, with even stronger presences behind them!”

“Activate the traps, then open fire!”