Year 3529, Day 286
It's been about a hundred years since my sword aura reached its absolute peak. No matter what I do, I can't progress any further. At the same time, there's still no news of the Ascension Peach or any other similar item.
But I feel like my sword aura is close to transformation.
I hadn't thought of this initially, but there might be another way to become a higher existence.
For that, I must form my Sword Spirit.
Easy to say, but aside from the name, I have no idea how to do that without a master or anyone to guide me.
But there is one last solution for me.
I will head to the Demonic Battlefield, and when I have accumulated enough contributions, I will exchange them for the method to form my Sword Spirit.
After all, this is the Thousand Swords Sect. As a marginal disciple, they'll let me learn it.
…
The two men emerged from the conduit at full speed, and one of the mages quickly cast a powerful tremor spell into the conduit.
The junction between the conduit and the hallway, already heavily weakened, couldn't withstand such strain and collapsed, sending a cloud of dust toward the surface.
…
"The exit conduit has collapsed," said one of the black-armored monkeys over the radio.
Upon closer inspection, you could see that he was larger and more massive than the other marauders. His rail-machine gun was bigger and more powerful, his sword heavier and sharper.
His massive black armor also bore several blue paint marks.
"Understood, sergeant. Bring the enemy bodies to the research center and stand by."
…
On the surface, the ninety surviving members of Alpha team were moving rapidly northward, heading toward the main camp.
At the same time, Max kept the radio open, periodically trying to contact headquarters, but all he got was static.
"Damn it, we're in a jamming zone. We need to get out of here!" he thought.
It had been about three minutes since they exited the underground base, and they were barely three or four kilometers away.
But he was sure they were being followed.
There was no point in trying to hide anymore; now that they had been exposed, he was almost certain they could see through their concealment spell.
However, they managed to cover another ten kilometers without any disturbances.
But just as they thought they were finally out of trouble, they heard a loud noise coming from the sky.
Max turned around and saw five strange metal aircraft flying in a V-formation toward them.
"BARRIER!" Max shouted.
The six mages in the team, supported by forty acolytes, quickly wove spells in their minds and combined them into a single barrier.
At the same time, several trails of smoke shot out from the aircraft, speeding toward them.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
A dozen explosions struck the magic shield, shaking the entire barrier violently.
Some of the acolytes spat blood and collapsed, unconscious, as their mana was nearly drained.
"We need to move out of here!" Max roared.
Several cultivators rushed to pick up the unconscious members as they resumed their frantic run.
Max looked up and, to his horror, he saw the five planes make a wide turn and come back at them at full speed.
"They're coming back."
This time, Nate and several cultivators threw talismans into the air. Mysterious lines appeared between the talismans, linking them under their control, and a new energy barrier appeared.
But the strange aircraft seemed to have learned from the previous encounter and launched three times as many missiles at them.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
As strong as it was, the barrier couldn't hold up under such a barrage.
Crack
Fissures appeared one after another, and then, finally, the entire barrier shattered.
The few remaining missiles that hadn't yet exploded struck the team, shaking the ground.
One mage wasn't so lucky and was hit directly by a missile. His personal barrier was instantly broken, and he was carried away by the explosion, along with several people around him.
The same happened all around them.
As long as they weren't hit directly, the ranks 3 could survive with, at worst, a severe injury, but the rank 2s couldn't withstand such damage.
Max and a few other adjutants roared and erected a barrier around the prisoners, prioritizing the mission and protecting them from certain death.
As the dust settled, Max saw the ground marked by several large craters, about thirty meters wide, while the surrounding landscape was completely destroyed.
At a glance, there were only about fifty survivors left, and ten of them were severely injured.
Fortunately, they had only lost one mage, and the hostages were still alive.
But it wasn't over yet.
He heard the thunderous sound of the supersonic engines of the fighter jets again and lifted his head with difficulty, only to see the squadron of jets returning.
…
James held Alice in his arms as they kissed.
His beige skin and powerful muscles were exposed, as his scales had retracted across his entire chest.
His head, though still fierce, resembled that of a human as long as one ignored his slit red eyes, sharp teeth, strange ears, and elongated skull.
But Alice didn't seem to mind as she clung to him, eyes closed.
As they both enjoyed one of the rare moments of intimacy they'd had since the expedition began, James' wrist guard started beeping, forcing them to part.
"Commander Constantine, you must head south immediately."
"Give me a briefing on the situation," James growled, pulling away from his beloved as his scales quickly returned to the upper part of his body, his fierce expression reappearing.
"We sent an exploration team to the central zone before the bombing. We've been in radio silence since, but they've just requested extraction. We'll guide you along the way, but you'll need to stay hidden!"
"Understood!" James growled again but didn't argue.
After all, he was one of the best to hiding and concealing his presence.
Besides, he wasn't afraid. As long as he didn't have to face a rank 5 being or one of those massive explosions, he was confident he could at least retreat.
He grabbed his trusty lance in his right hand and flew off at full speed toward the center of the plane, guided by the command center.
…
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The jets flew over them once again, sweeping the area with missiles.
Only five adjutants and Max remained, while only three mortal hostages and the monkey warrior were still alive.
The longer time passed, the more they saw their chances of survival diminish.
But for once, the jets didn't make a large loop to turn around; instead, they flew ahead of them, slowing down.
When they reached five or six hundred meters in front of them, they were almost level with the ground, and at that moment, they saw what they thought was impossible.
The planes' double wings folded back along the fuselage, revealing two massive rotary cannons.
The engine shut off and retracted forward as two heavy robotic legs emerged from underneath the fuselage.
The enormous bipedal robots, at least seven or eight meters tall and headless, landed on the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
Moments later, they straightened up and stepped out of the shadows as the rotary barrels began spinning faster and faster.
Each robot stood two hundred meters apart, cutting off all their escape routes.
Max, Nate, and a few survivors exchanged glances, seeing the sorrow in each other's eyes but no trace of regret.
They had long since resigned themselves to die.
"My friends, it's been an honor fighting by your side," Max said emotionally.
They nodded in silence, thinking of their families and the friends they had left behind in Alandal.
Further away, the rotary barrels spun faster and faster, and then finally, the first sparks flew, quickly followed by the second, third... The bullets fired so rapidly it seemed like the barrel had turned into a bonfire.
Max refused to close his eyes in the face of death and watched the robot continue firing.
A second passed, then two...
"What?" he thought.
"Well, it looks like I arrived just in time!" a cheerful voice came from above them.
They looked up with difficulty, observing the young, massive naga who had just arrived.
Not that far away, the robots kept firing without pause, but the thousands of bullets were stopping as if by magic, blocked by an invisible barrier a few meters from them before falling to the ground.
James raised his lance and made four successive motions toward the four robots on the right.
Energy shot from the lance at breakneck speed, rushing forward, destroying everything in its path, and leaving a long trail of overturned earth.
In just a few tenths of a second, the energy reached the four machines and reduced them to rubble, while James flew toward the last one, unleashing his full aura.
Inside, the monkey great warrior trembled violently as James approached.
When he finally arrived above him, the great warrior was bleeding profusely from all seven orifices and had lost consciousness.
James wasted no time and grabbed the one-hundred-ton robot with one hand before flying back to the survivors of Alpha team, who stared at him in awe.
"You've done a great job. Now it's time to head home."
…
At the same time, inside the underground base.
"So, you're telling me that a group of a hundred barbarians managed to slip past all our radars, enter one of the auxiliary exit conduits, and then penetrate the outer area of the base without being detected?"
The monkey captain's voice was calm and deep, but all the monkeys in the room knew he was seething with anger, like a volcano waiting to erupt.
Seeing that none of his subordinates were answering, he slammed his fist on the table and roared.
"HOW?!"
He naturally turned to the intelligence lieutenant, glaring at him with murderous intent.
The man swallowed nervously and instinctively hunched his shoulders.
However, he knew his captain well enough to understand that remaining silent would only make things worse for him.
"The mutant detectors we have can only pick up level C and B mutants. As for levels F, E, and D, their signature is too weak to register within the detector's range, and lowering the detection threshold would lead to all sorts of interference with the environment and the ecosystem," he said uncertainly.
Seeing the captain's furious expression, his tone firmed as he continued.
"At that moment, the drone swarm hadn't been deployed yet, and according to surveillance footage, they have methods to hide from cameras. As for the discovery of the conduit, we can only chalk it up to bad luck, as it's well-camouflaged and normally undetectable."
The captain buried his face in his hands and sighed.
It seemed they had indeed been unlucky today.
"What are our losses?" he asked another lieutenant.
"Reporting, captain. We've lost twenty-two regular soldiers, one sergeant was captured, as well as the five inferiors from the research team. Additionally, the thirty-six one-star marauders who intervened were annihilated."
The captain's frown returned faster than it had disappeared.
He didn't care much about the regular soldiers. They were just rejects who had refused the compound V.
But the marauders were different, even the weakest among them. Each was an elite fighter with years of training and could even handle rank E mutants one-on-one.
(rank 1 : F, rank 2 : E, rank 3 : D, rank 4 : C, rank 5 : D, rank 6 : A, rank 7 : S)
"Warning, a rank C mutant has appeared 35 kilometers from the base. Please take immediate action."
As he was lost in thought, an alarm blared, and everyone turned their eyes to the large screen in the room.
"Warning, a rank C mutant has appeared 35 kilometers from the base. Please take immediate action."
"Warning..."
The intelligence officer panicked and quickly brought up the drone images of the area.
They saw a massive naga holding a long lance, hovering above a small group of battered survivors and a few hostages.
Before they could do anything, the naga waved his lance, and four robots exploded.
Under their shocked and dumbfounded eyes, he calmly grabbed the last robot and returned to the survivors, then flew off with them at high speed.
Moments later, he looked up straight to the camera and made a gesture with his finger, and the screen went black.
Shortly after, the alarm shut off, and everything returned to calm.
But as some were still struggling to process the events, a head suddenly flew into the air, spraying blood over the conference table.
"Now you'd better give me a damn good reason why these primitive barbarian bastards are disappearing from the damn radar."