Chapter 1163: Ghost Under the Lava (1)
Boom!
The constantly-rolling lava erupted. Blazing, scarlet torrents of extreme heat surged and splashed all around at a rapid pace. Rhode flitted across in a flash, concealing himself entirely in the shadows of one of the towers. He narrowed his eyes to scan the surroundings, turned around, and extended his arm, where a black card flickered in his hand and transformed into a pitch-black sword the very next second. He stooped over, held his breath, and quietly listened to the activities around him.
Based on his investigation earlier, the five steel towers basically served as military towers. As long as he could take them down, the others could pa.s.s through the area and enter the door safely. The mission that Rhode gave the others was to take down the functions of the steel towers. If it weren’t for the existence of that mysterious, shadowy creature at the bottom of the lava lake, Rhode wouldn’t mind crus.h.i.+ng his way through. But now… In order to not alert the enemy, he could only deploy another strategy.
Fortunately, based on the situation he observed before, there were groups of five heavily-armored human soldiers. Security was tight in this area. But luckily, Rhode had his way around them.
Stomp… Stomp… Stomp…
Rasps of clas.h.i.+ng, heavy steel armor resounded. Rhode squinted at the scene and clutched the sword hilt. He was completely hidden in the shadow, waiting silently for the opportune timing to strike. Shortly after, a patrol team marched past him. The soldiers inspected the area, failing to notice the enemy lurking in the shadows beside them. After scanning the area for a few moments, they turned around and headed into another tunnel.
It was at that moment Rhode struck.
The instant the soldiers turned around, Rhode pounced. The sword in his hand metamorphosed into a dark radiance as he darted ahead. In a dazzling flash, the soldier at the rear was slashed into half like tofu. Rhode’s sword trembled abruptly as black flames erupted inside-out from the blade. He turned around, withdrew his sword, and dashed forward again.
The next soldier ahead turned around subconsciously after hearing some strange movements. But he had only turned halfway before the razor-sharp blade penetrated his neck. Then, black flames exploded to devour that unfortunate soldier. Rhode continued his attack, positioning his sword in a slanted stance and slas.h.i.+ng it downward in a straight line. This series of movements was so quick that it only lasted less than five seconds—from when he launched his attack to puncturing the third soldier’s chest.
At that moment, the two soldiers at the front seemed to realize that something was wrong. One of them lifted his gun and pointed to the rear. But as soon as he turned around, he witnessed a flash of dark radiance and felt a chilly sensation on his neck. Then, he stopped breathing.
“…!”
Meanwhile, the soldier at the front turned around. After witnessing Rhode’s presence, he widened his eyes and was about to scream, when suddenly, Rhode swung his right arm forward.
Kacha.
The razor-sharp blade grew in length, metamorphosing into a long whip that wrapped around the soldier’s neck and stifled the scream that almost escaped him. Then, the black blade spun abruptly, severing the unfortunate soldier’s head and sending it skyward before landing on the ground.
“Phew…”
At that moment, Rhode heaved a sigh of relief. He swept a glance to the surroundings keenly before lifting Succubus in his right hand and slas.h.i.+ng it downward. Savage black flames erupted from the blade in this move, shrouding the lifeless corpses on the floor instantly. In just a dozen seconds, the scattered corpses and filthy blood were swallowed, leaving nothing behind. Rhode returned to the shadows and continued to sneak his way in.
After taking down three teams continuously, Rhode finally eliminated all patrols safeguarding the first tower. But he didn’t let his guard down just yet as he didn’t know how exactly the patrols communicated and rotated s.h.i.+fts. If he had annihilated the patrols that were taking over the current s.h.i.+ft, perhaps the patrols might feel suspicious after some time. The most important thing now was to seize the timing. After taking down the three patrol forces and ensuring that no one discovered his presence, Rhode went up to the entrance of the first tower and peeked into it.
What made him heave a sigh of relief was that the entrance wasn’t locked. However, the situation inside was nowhere better as heavily-armored soldiers and surveillance cameras were everywhere. Even though Rhode didn’t know how they managed to set up such a comprehensive base, it seemed like the emergency siren would be sounded immediately if he were to barge inside.
When that happens, things might get out of hand.
At this thought, Rhode s.h.i.+fted his gaze away and dashed into the shadows of the tall, dark tower like a ghost, vanis.h.i.+ng out of sight.
Meanwhile, the two Canarys stood at the side quietly, sensing the presence of that mysterious creature lurking deep below the lava lake. No wonder Rhode was anxious about it. That creature was almost 100 meters in length, and a dozen meters wide, which was rarely seen even in the Dragon Soul Continent. At that moment, their group was just above it. If they weren’t careful, they might be thoroughly out of luck. It was due to this reason that Rhode was acting so cautiously. The two Canarys put up solemn expressions because they discovered earlier that the creature that was as stationary as a rock twitched as though it were awake. Although the frequency of its movements was low, the lava was like an extension of their bodies. The creature was like a fish held up by their hands, where they were able to sharply feel its movements.
“Should we tell Rhode about it?”
Canary knitted her brows and gazed at her projection who stood beside her. In fact, she admired the personality of her projection. Even though her projection was created based on Rhode’s impression of her, if Canary were able to be exactly the same as her projection, perhaps she wouldn’t have that much burden on her shoulders.
“…”
Facing Canary’s question, Canary No. 2 pondered in silence before nodding gently.
“Okay, I’ll inform Rhode. You tell Bubble about this and ask them to pick up the pace. I have a bad feeling about this situation.”
“Got it.”
Upon hearing Canary No. 2’s response, Canary nodded slightly, turned around, and left quickly. Canary No. 2 gazed at Canary, let out a sigh, and s.h.i.+fted her gaze to the sea of lava before her. Then, she witnessed several streaks of red brilliance.
“There are movements?”
After hearing Canary No. 2’s report, Rhode’s heart sank. Earlier on, he felt like something was amiss. When he killed the soldiers, he sensed the presence of Chaos aura escaping their bodies and attempting to gather in a certain place. For safety’s sake, Rhode activated the black flames of Succubus and devoured the Chaos aura. Now, it seemed like that apparently wasn’t a bad move. Perhaps all the power of Chaos in this place came from that huge, mysterious creature skulking underneath the lava. Perhaps the strange activities reported by Canary earlier were precisely its instinctive reactions upon feeling its power depleting at a fast pace. Maybe the amount of power lost was just a drop in the ocean, but Rhode’s group might attract its attention if they continued to slaughter the soldiers!
But now, he didn’t have any other ways to pa.s.s this information to the others. After all, Erin and Lydia weren’t card spirits he could communicate spiritually with. Right now, he could only take one step at a time, wipe out the defense as quickly as possible, and proceed on to the next.
Rhode pondered, but the speed of his swinging sword didn’t slow down at all. Even though the entire steel tower seemed well-structured and heavily-guarded, it wasn’t prepared for air raids. Rhode could easily conquer a tower that was tens of meters tall. He flitted up the tower like a shadow and emerged at the top. At that moment, two gun-wielding soldiers who were patrolling on the highest floor had their backs facing him and didn’t detect his presence. In an instant, Rhode slaughtered them mercilessly and lit them on fire to remove all traces. Then, he opened the door and sneaked inside the tower silently via the stairwell.
The inside of the steel tower was dimly-lit. Perhaps due to the lack of electricity, not all the lamps were lit up; some of them emanated a fuzzy radiance along the walls at intervals. But this was to Rhode’s advantage. He concealed himself in the shadows and killed his way through without being discovered. Along the way, he realized that the layout of this place was basically the same as buildings on Earth. However, some places felt out of place to him, just like previously, when he and Lydia entered the moon base eroded by Chaos.
Seems like I’m about to find out the true ident.i.ty of that thing soon.
At this thought, Rhode picked up his pace. If that creature was like the one that had eroded the moon bases, he would need to go all-out with his group. But if that happened, he might also destroy this place and they would be buried alive, not to mention opening the door to escape.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
As soon as Rhode wiped out the soldiers ahead and was about to advance, he suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps. He turned around, leaned to the side quickly, and fused into the wall, disappearing from sight. Almost simultaneously, a team of heavily-armed soldiers arrived at the scene. Their captain was a young man donned in a black uniform. He swept a glance at the surroundings with an ice-cold expression and let out a snort.
“What exactly is going on? Where are the guards? Why are they missing?”
“Maybe they went to patrol the place. After all, it’s time for the next s.h.i.+ft…”
“That bunch of useless trash makes my head hurt! Why are they running around all over the place at such a time?!”
Upon hearing his subordinate’s response, the captain grunted. Then, he turned around, gazed at his subordinate, and commanded with a long face: “Get ready. We’re going to start the fusion soon. Bring all experimental subjects to Experimental Lab One and give them an injection… By the way, how is Experimental Subject Three doing?”
Upon hearing his question, a man who wore a white coat, like a researcher’s, replied immediately.
“Reporting, Sir. The condition of Experimental Subject Three remains the same. We’ve increased the dosage, but there are still no effects after injecting it into her body. Frankly, if it weren’t for the apparatus indicating that everything is normal with her body, we would have believed that she is dead.”
“Check her conditions right away. We need to turn her into a Chaos being before the Saint awakens! Remember, if we can’t do it, the Saint’s wrath will burn us all into ashes! Hurry up! Don’t waste anymore time! Understand, you fools?!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Everyone nodded at his command before turning around to leave. But at the same time, a barrier of black flames erupted, trapping them inside, like a cage. It happened so quickly that some of them didn’t detect its presence immediately and were instantly swallowed by the black flames and vanished into nothingness before letting out a shriek. The sudden emergence of the flames stunned the rest. They gripped their weapons and stepped back instinctively. At the same time, a dozen tentacles drilled out of the ground suddenly and bound them firmly. The whistling blade airflows extinguished the weak, dancing flames of the lamps. In an instant, there was nothing else apart from darkness.
After a few moments, the darkness dissipated.
Rhode emerged from the shadows. Around his feet were corpses, while the black flames gradually expanded to the surroundings, devouring and shredding the remains into bits. The young captain earlier was the only one who survived and escaped the tragedy. But now, his back was against the wall as he stared palely at the razor-sharp blade Rhode was pressing against his throat. A slightest movement and his head would be severed right off.
“W-Who are you?”
Widening his eyes, the man gazed at Rhode in terror. He couldn’t imagine how someone was able to sneak into this heavily-guarded tower. Not only that, but he also annihilated the guards effortlessly.
Are any humans capable of doing that? What kind of sick joke is this? Isn’t it just a bunch of primitive men on this land? Why is there someone so powerful here? Who exactly is he?
“I seem to have heard something interesting.”
Facing his question, Rhode didn’t answer. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the man instead. The corners of his lips perked up into a strange smile.
“Would you mind telling me more about the situation of this place?”
Under the threat of death, the young captain gave in immediately and confessed everything to Rhode.
It was just as Rhode had expected. These people were the descendants of Chaos who arrived from Earth. However, they didn’t seem to be fully aware of the power inside their bodies, as well as their ident.i.ties. They hailed from an organization named ‘Heaven’s Law’. All members of that organization were like him; ‘abnormal ones’ who possessed the power of Chaos. They believed that they were chosen by the G.o.ds of this world to contribute to the evolution of humans. For that, they uncovered and awakened the power of Chaos in every corner of the world. The Akas.h.i.+c Slates in the moon bases were their main targets because according to the records of ‘Heaven’s Law’, those slates bestowed on them miraculous powers. As a matter of fact, many of the higher-ups in Heaven’s Law were the ones who unearthed the Akas.h.i.+c Slates. They claimed that they were enlightened by the slates during the excavation and also received special abilities. It was due to this reason that they were looking forward to taking away the Akas.h.i.+c Slates, bringing them to where they belonged.
However, after they failed to s.n.a.t.c.h the Akas.h.i.+c Slates, Heaven’s Law changed their goal. They began working toward a ‘brand new world’, summoned subordinates to this new continent through the plane channels, and proceeded to expand the continent. This young man was one of them. He was just a small leader of Heaven’s Law who was responsible for capturing the natives of this continent and injecting their so-called ‘sacred powers’ (in other words, the power of Chaos) into their bodies, turning them into their subjects and puppets. And now, they were in one of the bases of Heaven’s Law. However, this base was only recently built and still in development.
Rhode also learned from that young man that after a period of time, they would send out selected candidates to the channel connected to the Seven Fantasy Boundaries. These people weren’t aware of what was on the other end of the channel. But according to them, the selected candidates had accepted the will of the Saint and obtained the right to enter the channel.
I see.
After hearing the young man’s narration, Rhode finally understood their background. It seemed like even though Marybelle dealt with most of the Chaos creatures back then, the Akas.h.i.+c Slates still left a relatively huge impact on Earth… Perhaps these guys were influenced by the Akas.h.i.+c Slates, which was why they turned to this.
“Good.”
Rhode nodded with a smile and flipped the blade around.
“Next, I have a request.”
He said, gazing at the pale young man.
“Could you tell me what that so-called experiment you mentioned earlier is?”