Above The Sky
Chapter 331 - 331 308 Remnants of Fiery Flame Land 13

331: Chapter 308: Remnants of Fiery Flame Land (1/3) 331: Chapter 308: Remnants of Fiery Flame Land (1/3) In the S-14 underwater passage of the Redwood Base, one could often see the remnants of Magical Beasts and the indecipherable, extremely ancient remains of metal artifacts whose shapes and past functions were unrecognizable.

This place used to be one of the high-speed underwater transit passages of the base, using the flow of water to steady the transportation of various supplies, but a millennium later, it had almost become a sewer-like locale.

The surrounding Magical Beasts dumped their leftover bone fragments and tough bones here, making it increasingly congested.

At this moment, the light was dim.

Even though the Spirit Energy Field stirred, causing the surrounding mist to emit flashes of light akin to lightning, this light was still very weak, merely allowing one to vaguely discern the skeletal remains in the vicinity and who they belonged to.

At an exit in the middle of the underwater passage, the survivors of the Redwood special combat team and two Mech Church Nuns had just concluded a near-escape intense forced march.

They were now slumped at the entrance, leaning against what seemed to be the rib bone of a giant-armored crocodile, slowly recuperating.

“This mission is completely failed,” said the captain with a wretched smile, as he looked down at the Galewind Longsword in his hand, which bore the emblem of ivy wound around the sun—that was the generic military insignia of the Abassalom Bloodline.

The sword itself was of ordinary value, just an Ordinary inscribed Longsword, but the military insignia was a symbol of his honor.

It was proof of the king’s reward for his outstanding performance in the Shadow Magic Beast Campaign.

And this veteran, who had always taken pride in his identity, was contemplating whether to end his life with this sword, once and for all.

But in the end, he gave up this tempting choice—even if almost the entire special combat team had been wiped out, counting the two from the Mech Church, there were only five survivors left.

Yet, he still needed to cling to life, to report everything that happened in the South Sea Relic Cluster back to headquarters, and to inform the king.

“In the end, it’s not my fault.”

This was the innermost genuine thought of the captain.

They were the first team to arrive at the Southern Sea Ruins Cluster fully armed and in formal regalia, and the first team to find the Brain-Eating Worm Nest!

If it weren’t for that White Folks Appraiser inexplicably messing things up, they would have captured the young child of the Ellen Family and an Alchemy Master by now!

If it weren’t for these three people causing trouble, they might have been able to defeat the Relic Giant, the Giant Golden Centipede, and could possibly have profited in the aftermath of the fight between the Crystal Dragon and the Worm Nest Queen!

O King above, those were an odd Relic Heterogenous creature and a Worm Nest Queen!

Not to mention bringing a live specimen back—if they could even bring back a Dragon Egg or a piece of the queen’s living tissue, this mission would be considered a great success!

You see, The King of the Desolate Sea from Abassalom was interested in the South Ridge Redwood Natives’ unique Inheritance, “Symbiotic Worm,” and the various primitive plagues they held, which was why he dispatched this special combat team to the area.

Their mission included helping the Natives improve upon various plagues and even contagions, to use biological attacks on the Southern Frontier of the Empire.

Plague, venom, parasitic worms, provoking frenzied creatures, inciting attacks on towns by herds of Magical Beasts…

As subjects of The King of the Desolate Sea, they were well-versed and proficient in these tactics.

They would have become calamities for the Imperial People, tying up the Southern Ridge Legion locally with the least number of forces, unable to support the Western Plains.

The Crystal Dragon wasn’t too much of an issue.

No matter how amazing, it was just a Crystal Dragon after all, not of great value.

But those parasites that could devour human brains, rapidly turning people into monsters, especially those with a Spirit Energy Network of the Worm Nest—its value was absolutely comparable to a machine from the previous civilization, an Aether Armament.

Even an Apocalypse Armament.

But all of this had been thoroughly disrupted by those Imperial People who couldn’t understand the value of these creatures.

They killed the queen, destroyed the Worm Nest, and even…

activated some unknown function of the ruins, flushing both the queen’s corpse and the entire Worm Nest into the endless, fiery Hongliu.

Including most of their own team.

The captain had witnessed with his own eyes, several brothers who couldn’t retreat in time, expressionlessly falling with the Giant Golden Centipede into the inscrutable and dim abyss, followed swiftly by the sealing off and disappearance behind silver metallic pipes.

What followed was an extreme heat eruption from the pipes, incinerating everything to ashes.

They had failed, utterly failed—whether it was the special combat team, the ruins exploration; whether it was the task of stirring up trouble in South Ridge, or cooperating with the Mech Church in their search for the Spark…

it was all a complete failure.

But they had not completely failed yet.

“The Southern Sea Relic Cluster indeed has modules related to the ‘Heterogenous Ecosystem’ – the Worm Nest is one of them!

Among them, there may still be information and backup Bloodline reserves!”

Opening his eyes, the squad leader had firmed his resolve, “With this intelligence, even if we have some results.”

“And…”

Lifting his left hand.

The squad leader gazed at his palm.

There, blue patterns were spreading, yet were blocked by the Origin Quality.

——Not all the Brain-Eating Parasites had been destroyed…

Before the retreat, he had intentionally allowed himself to be infected, using his own Flesh and Blood to feed this strange parasitic lifeform, but not to the extent of allowing himself to be completely overtaken.

Of course, this was painful…

but compared to a complete failure, where all his subordinates and brothers had died without gaining the slightest result, this pain was like a spring drizzle, a gentle breeze caressing the face.

Clasping his hand tightly, the squad leader closed his eyes and then sighed slowly.

No matter what, they had not yet been defeated.

“It’s over.”

However, on the other side, the Mech Church Nun who had lost an arm uttered a voice that was unclear whether it was calm or regretful, “We’re all going to die.”

“You fool!”

Instantly, the squad leader was enraged by the nun’s words.

——A defeatist advisor, huh?!

He gripped the Longsword in his hand, then stood up, glaring at her, “If it weren’t for your radical demands, we would have retreated to the coast a long time ago, and then coordinated with the fleet that arrived in time to suppress the Viscount of Port Harrison!”

“We could even temporarily replace the dead Redwood Great Elder, take command of the local South Ridge Natives, and attack Harrison Port—with our trained artillery units, Harrison Port would be in for a shock, required to expend a great deal of effort to defend itself!”

“In doing so, as long as we kept the Viscount and the Southern Ridge Fleet suppressed at the coast, we would have plenty of opportunities to slowly explore this newly born Ruins Labyrinth Cluster…

There wouldn’t be nearly as many problems as we face now!”

Although the squad leader of the Fiery Flame Land special combat team had an obstinate prejudice and hostility towards Imperial People, if there was someone he despised the most right now, it was undoubtedly this group of Mech Church fanatics.

If it weren’t for their single-minded obsession with confirming some Sacred Object in the ruins and insistence on being the first to explore the Labyrinth, they might now have already begun bringing the most professional teams along with the protection of Second Level Sublimators, to explore this extremely dangerous prehistoric Ruins!

But to the squad leader’s fury, the Nun remained indifferent.

She simply turned her head to look at the other side of the corridor and sighed softly, “We’re going to die.”

“Haven’t you sensed it yet?

That presence that caused our originally great advantage to plummet straight down, directly leading us to this desperate situation.”

“The aberrant young man has arrived.”

“What?”

The squad leader suddenly looked up, turned to the other end of the corridor.

At this moment, he indeed heard it – steady, even footsteps were slowly approaching them from the other end of the passageway.

The young White Folks’ face emerged from the obfuscating shadows, his calm visage appearing before everyone’s eyes.