The rain kept pouring down, showing no signs of letting up.
Carnelian, along with the other operators, was reinforcing the sandy foundation.
Saria was using calcification to make the sandcastle more stable.
This reminded Garde of the engineers.
Before every battle, engineers had to dig trenches, build roads, set up bridges, create crossing points, and remove obstacles... but in Terra, all it took was one skilled Originium Arts practitioner to get everything done.
It's said that in the distant east, there is an ancient nation.
In that country, there seems to be a special kind of Originium Arts practitioner called a "Geomaster."
Instead of teaching Carnelian Columbian, it might be better to teach her Yanese and send her to Yan to become a Geomaster.
Just look at her technique and skill in manipulating sand and gravel.
It would be a waste if she didn't become a Geomaster.
Unaware of Garde's thoughts, Carnelian worked even harder when she noticed Garde's gaze, feeling that her efforts were finally being rewarded.
The damn croc was finally paying attention to her!
Rhine Lab's operators set up weapons on the fortified sandcastle.
They still had a long way to go to reach the land trampled by the Nightzmoran Army.
Traveling in the pitch-black night under heavy rain wasn't a wise choice, especially since the low temperatures had a greater impact on the sandy terrain vehicles.
The hail falling from the sky could easily damage the car roofs.
This posed a significant threat to the operators' safety.
For a while, Garde found himself with nothing to do.
Sitting by a lantern, he opened his beloved diary.
The first page had become somewhat blurred due to the dampness.
"Terra Calendar, 1087, January."
The diary began its entries from that time.
"...Terra Calendar, 1087, January. Mom's Oripathy worsened. In Acahualla, Oripathy isn't called Oripathy, it's called Stone Disease."
Garde recalled when he was only fourteen, the first time he decided to leave Acahualla.
"There is no medicine to treat Oripathy in the rainforest. People here treat Oripathy as a common disease. To find medicine, you have to go outside."
"Although I always lived in the rainforest, I knew that my Wilderness Will Tribe in Acahualla was just a small settlement. Acahualla was just a region in Sargon, and Sargon was just a country on the Terra continent."
"Outside the rainforest, there were many things that Adakrys living in the rainforest had never seen in their entire lives. There were cell phones, computers, beautiful clothes, vehicles with two or four wheels, and unimaginably large cities."
"Mobile cities!"
When Garde first wrote the diary, he wasn't in Acahualla but in a hotel in Blackrock Town.
He had no Sargon coins on him and had sold a bracelet he found along the way, sitting in the hotel contemplating life.
He had thought of many ways, whether to find a doctor in a mobile city and simply buy some medicine to treat Oripathy, or to run to Kazdel and see if he could find a tactical commander who always wore a coat and helmet and liked to eat instant noodles with hot water at four in the morning.
If he just took a tube of the commander's blood, he shouldn't be hunted down, right?
The only problem was the distance.
Sargon and Kazdel were at least half a continent apart.
Although he had good endurance, he wasn't very fast. What if he got lost along the way?
Ordinary doctors couldn't cure his mom's Oripathy, and he couldn't tell if common medicine was real or fake.
By the time he returned with the tactical commander's blood, it would be too late.
So, he began studying his own power, attempting to master the power of ascension or gain some kind of insight from it.
In fact, he succeeded.
Although he ultimately couldn't master the power of ascension, the power of ascension guided him to the Hotland.
"...Terra Calendar, 1087, March. I arrived at the land known as the Forbidden Land in Terra. A thousand years ago, an invincible army had entered. The downfall of this army marked the beginning of Terra's new era."
"The appearance of the Originium Engine signified the rise of mobile cities. People no longer needed to rely on their own legs to escape natural disasters. Buildings were constructed on large vehicles."
"However, mobile cities couldn't enter the land before my eyes."
Not knowing what to write in his diary today, Garde closed the notebook.
It seemed pointless to record all the unlucky things happening.
He walked to a window in the sandcastle and looked outside.
The sandcastle was built on higher ground, so the water outside wasn't too deep, but other areas were completely covered by rainwater.
A group of Rhine Lab operators didn't dare to turn on their lights too brightly.
The dense, dark clouds made even Terra's strong night vision useless.
They took out emergency infrared thermal imagers, but the display showed no signs of any living creatures.
The disaster beasts living in the Hotlands had long adapted to the extreme weather, relying mostly on external heat sources to regulate their body temperature.
Thus, the thermal imagers were useless.
Apart from the sound of hail mixed with rain hitting the water, the Rhine Lab operators heard nothing.
"G-Garde, sir, how did you manage to survive here before?" a timid voice asked beside him.
Finally, someone spoke up, and all the Rhine Lab operators turned to Garde, seeking some sense of security.
Garde noticed the speaker was a young Cautus girl.
He remembered her partly because she was proficient in Sargonian and served as the team's translator.
The other reason was the team didn't have many female operators; apart from a rather carefree Vulpo woman, there was only this gray-haired girl who was also a medical operator.
She had rabbit ears and long, slender legs.
Garde recalled her name was Chris.
"Actually, I'm not as brave as you think. I was pretty scared at first too," Garde said, scratching his head while observing the outside. "If you ask why I managed to make it out of here, it's probably because I had important people waiting for me at home."
"Important people?" Chris's eyes lit up. "Is it your fiancée?"
"Something like that."
It wasn't entirely wrong; his parents had initially picked up Gavial with the idea of raising her as his wife.
While Gavial would make the final decision, he wouldn't force her if she didn't like him, though it would make him sad.
Garde's words reminded many operators of their families.
No matter the difficulties ahead, they were determined to overcome them.
Hmm, I'll finish this job and go home to get married!
As soon as this thought crossed Garde's mind, he quickly dismissed it.
Raising such a flag was dangerous!
At another window, Saria watched Garde talk, calming the operators' nerves.
Her clenched fist slowly relaxed.
The harsh environment of the Hotlands put immense pressure on her.
She had brought nineteen operators here, and she was determined to leave with all nineteen.
But in the next moment, there was a loud "thud" from below the sandcastle.
"Carnelian, raise the ground!"
"Saria, reinforce the ground!"
"Everyone, watch your footing!"
Garde's roar reached Saria's ears.
Without hesitation, she activated her Originium Arts.
But it was too late.
The ground split open, and black disaster beasts with horns resembling a mix of bulls and scorpions poured out like ants from a destroyed nest.
Each was about the size of an electric scooter.
The nearest operator couldn't react in time and was about to be overwhelmed by the beasts.
Bang!
A heavy figure landed in the midst of the beasts, grabbing the operator and throwing them to safety.
"Garde?"
"Saria, take everyone and leave!"
Facing the hole, Garde grinned, showing a fierce smile.
"The big one is coming!"
The ground rumbled, echoing with the heavy rain outside.
Everyone saw a massive bull, ten times larger than the surrounding beasts, burst from the underground cave and slam into Garde.
But Garde, with his axe and shield, blocked the blow and stood firm.
"Have you finished your attack?" the crocodile man sneered.
"Now it's my turn!"
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