Chapter 250: Steel Enters the Rift
There was no sunrise underground, only the cold, ticking numbers of the timer, slowly gnawing away at the final moments of their wait. Everyone inside the shelter pod had already entered a pre-combat state. Ammunition was distributed to everyone who could still hold a weapon steadily, medical kits were unpacked and placed within arm's reach, and the wounded were settled in the innermost part of the cabin, accompanied and watched over by the little boy.
Leaning against the rock wall to regulate his breath, Lin Yan could not shake the stagnant pain in his meridians. After three consecutive infiltration ambushes, he had relied entirely on his Sea of Consciousness to act as an early-warning radar. The mental toll was massive, and the hidden spore injuries at the bottom of his Sea of Consciousness throbbed faintly. He had tried to drive his ancient martial arts internal breath to wash over them, but the hidden injuries were deeply rooted and intertwined; forcing an impact would only worsen the damage. He knew clearly that he was separated from the threshold of Level Two by only a thin sheet of paper, but now was absolutely not the time to break through. Forcing an advancement would cause him to collapse instantly.
The scout's old calf wound was repeatedly seeping blood, making it impossible for him to engage in high-intensity sprints. He could only stay behind in the cabin, responsible for guarding the inner side of the hatch cover. The miner's contusion, inflicted by the scaled beast's tail whip on his waist, throbbed painfully with every movement. Yet, he still insisted on keeping the tunnel sketch, the alien intelligence booklet, and the communication terminal together, checking every so often to ensure the pulse signal remained stable.
"Forty minutes remaining," Su Heng said, staring at the timer and announcing in a low voice.
The cabin instantly fell silent, leaving only the heavy breathing of the group and the soft, steady blinking of the terminal's red light.
Everyone's Sea of Consciousness unconsciously expanded outward, attempting to capture the movements from the direction of the main rift. What arrived first was not the hissing of scaled beasts, but a low, heavy rumble that vibrated endlessly even through the rock layers. It was the vibration of heavy vehicle engines, the muffled sound of steel treads crushing gravel, growing closer and closer, transmitting through the rock layers of the entire rift.
They had arrived.
The military police officer pressed his ear against the hatch cover, his face gradually tensing. "The sound is coming from the main passage of the main rift. The formation has entered the rift entrance."
The female support soldier's psychic perception was highly sensitive. She frowned slightly. "The psychic barrier of the ancient beings is fluctuating violently. The spore network across the entire rift is being activated. Their defense line has been initiated."
The roaring grew clearer, mixed with dull, explosive blasts. The obstacle-breaching cannons carried by the assault formation fired first, bombarding the barriers constructed of fungal moss and rocks blocking the main passage. The sound of collapsing rubble came in continuous waves. Immediately after, the furious roars of scaled beasts surged like a tide. Countless low, bizarre howls intertwined, echoing deep underground.
The frontal battle in the main rift had officially begun.
Su Heng walked to the gap in the hatch cover and carefully lifted it slightly, using weak perception to eavesdrop on the battle situation outside. "The reinforcement route is still a fork away from us. Their main forces are entirely pinned down on the main passage to block the assault troops; they currently have no excess strength to divert and sneak attack us. We cannot go out right now. Rashly merging into the main battlefield will only cause chaos. Our mission remains to hold this position and stabilize the coordinate pulse."
Everyone understood the reasoning, but hearing the earth-shattering fighting and artillery fire outside, many people felt their palms burning, unable to suppress the urge to rush out and fight side by side. The miner gripped his rock hammer tightly, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I wonder if the front lines can withstand the high-tier combat power of the ancient beings. They have fourth-tier and fifth-tier scaled beasts, as well as a large-scale psychic resonance network formed by priests."
"The assault formation is equipped with Sea of Consciousness suppression vehicles," Su Heng said in a deep voice. "The war zone had a contingency plan specifically designed to counter the psychic linkage of priest clusters. But the coverage range of the suppression vehicles is limited. Once high-tier scaled beasts get close and destroy them, the frontline troops will have to face the overwhelming psychic impacts directly."
Lin Yan closed his eyes, stretching his Sea of Consciousness as far as it could reach, passing through layers of forks and rock walls to capture the chaotic psychic signals on the main passage. Countless fragmented consciousnesses belonging to ordinary scaled beasts rose and fell, interspersed with powerful, chilling psychic nodes—those were the priest clusters. There were also a few heavy, mountain-like auras; those were the high-tier individuals of the ancient beings.
He could see the outline of the battlefield: Human assault armor was lined up in a formation, continuously pouring artillery fire, blasting apart waves of low-tier scaled beasts rushing forward. Yet, the scaled beasts were endless, surging out continuously from the rock caves on both sides. High-tier scaled beasts used the shadows of the fungal moss to maneuver, bypassing the frontal artillery fire and diving straight for the Sea of Consciousness suppression vehicles. The priests hid in the rock caverns at the rear, layering psychic ripples to form massive waves that washed over the Sea of Consciousness barriers of the frontline soldiers in continuous surges.
A soldier could not withstand the psychic impact. Letting out a scream, his Sea of Consciousness shattered. Dropping his weapon, he went mad and charged into the darkness, only to be instantly swallowed by the swarming scaled beasts. Such tragedies were unfolding everywhere across the battlefield.
"The suppression vehicle on the left is being attacked from both sides by two fourth-tier scaled beasts. The escort squad is suffering heavy casualties," Lin Yan said in a low voice, relaying the scene his perception had captured. "The priest cluster is in a massive cavern three hundred meters to the rear. At least seven secondary priests are coordinating in resonance, overseen by a primary priest. That primary priest is stronger than any we've encountered before."
Su Heng's heart sank. "The formation's command vehicle likely hasn't detected that priest nest. The main attack direction is still focused on the frontal beast tide, and they haven't diverted forces to destroy the psychic source. If the psychic resonance continues, the frontline soldiers' attrition rate will only accelerate."
Lin Yan fell silent for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. "We are here, not far from the fork leading to that cavern. We are familiar with this branch path. The small road is too narrow for large vehicles, but a small squad can sneak through. If we can quietly creep over there and kill the primary priest, the entire resonance network will collapse, and the pressure on the front lines will be significantly alleviated in an instant."
The cabin fell completely silent.
This proposal was extremely risky. Outside, scattered scaled beast scouts and roaming patrol squads were everywhere. More than half of their squad was injured, and their combat power was incomplete. Once exposed within the primary priest's defense perimeter, it would be practically a nine-out-of-ten death sentence. But if they succeeded, the value would be immeasurable.
"The risk is too high," the military police officer immediately objected. "We lack manpower, we have too many wounded, and Lin Yan, you haven't recovered yourself."
"But if the front lines can't hold, the reinforcements will still be blocked to death in the main rift, and in the end, we won't escape either." Lin Yan slowly braced himself against the rock wall and stood up, his short blade gripped in his hand. "The pulse coordinates have been delivered, and the reinforcements are here, but that doesn't mean we are safe. If the main forces of the ancient beings completely annihilate the assault formation, the shelter pod will still be their next target. This is our only chance."
Su Heng paced back and forth, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces before finally landing on Lin Yan. "Who do you plan to take?"
"Me, the miner, the female support soldier, and the military police officer. The scout's leg injury is too severe; he will stay behind with the remaining squad members to guard the shelter pod and watch over the terminal. The pulse signal must absolutely not be interrupted," Lin Yan assigned rapidly. "The four of us will take the branch path to sneak in. We have only one objective: assassinate the primary priest. Once successful, we will immediately retreat along the original route and will not engage in prolonged combat with high-tier scaled beasts."
Gritting his teeth, the scout knew his current leg injury truly prevented him from long-distance stealth combat. He could only nod. "Be careful. Leave this side to me. The hatch cover will be locked, and the traps will be rechecked. As long as we are alive, the pulse will not break."
Su Heng did not go with them; he had to stay behind to coordinate the shelter pod's defense and stabilize the rear.
The four of them quickly organized their equipment, replenished their clean water and hemostatic drugs, and handed the intelligence booklet to Su Heng for safekeeping. The hatch cover was lifted to create a narrow gap, and they slipped out one by one, stepping into the tunnel that was trembling from the ravages of war. The air outside was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder, beast blood, and spores mixed together. The artillery fire from the main passage in the distance roared continuously, and fine sand and gravel occasionally fell from the rock layers.
Lin Yan walked at the very front, his Sea of Consciousness fully expanded to act as a perception radar, avoiding the scattered scaled beast patrols along the way. The four of them lowered their bodies, pressing against the shadows of the rock walls, and maneuvered along the narrow side fork from their memories toward the massive cavern where the primary priest was hiding.
The closer they got to the target cavern, the greater the psychic pressure became. Invisible resonance waves swept across their Sea of Consciousness in continuous waves, feeling like a blunt knife repeatedly grinding against it. The female support soldier's face turned pale, cold sweat constantly beading on her forehead; she could only bite her tongue fiercely to maintain her clarity. The miner's head grew heavy in waves, forcing him to slow his breathing rhythm. The military police officer kept his nerves taut, scanning left and right to guard against ambushes.
Lin Yan bore the heaviest pressure. His Sea of Consciousness already carried hidden injuries, and every time the resonance waves struck, the hidden injuries throbbed sharply, causing the edges of his vision to continuously blacken. Gritting his teeth to endure it, he constantly adjusted their route, bypassing several squads of scaled beasts that had been awakened by the resonance.
After walking for about twenty minutes, the outline of a massive cavern appeared at the end of the fork ahead, illuminated by the faint light of the glow stones.
In the center of the cavern stood a tall platform woven from fungal mycelium. Atop the platform sat a lizard-like ancient being, its body far larger than that of ordinary secondary priests, in quiet meditation. Countless thick psychic tentacles stretched upward, connecting to the dense network of spore threads on the cavern ceiling. A circle of secondary priests was lined up around the platform, their eyes closed as they synchronized their psychic frequencies, continuously supplying power to the primary priest. Countless scaled beasts roamed the perimeter of the cavern on patrol, layered upon layered, surrounding it completely.
This was the core of the entire psychic resonance network.
The primary priest seemed to have sensed something. Its originally closed vertical pupils slowly opened, its chilling gaze projecting directly toward the fork where Lin Yan and the other three were hiding. It did not immediately howl to raise an alarm; instead, its tentacles moved slightly, signaling the outer scaled beasts to silently converge.
They had been discovered.
Lin Yan's heart sank. He whispered to the three beside him, "We've been seen. There's no chance for a sneak attack; we can only charge hard. Priority target: the primary priest on the platform."
From all directions, countless pairs of crimson eyes began to light up one after another in the shadows of the cavern.
End of Chapter.
Leaning against the rock wall to regulate his breath, Lin Yan could not shake the stagnant pain in his meridians. After three consecutive infiltration ambushes, he had relied entirely on his Sea of Consciousness to act as an early-warning radar. The mental toll was massive, and the hidden spore injuries at the bottom of his Sea of Consciousness throbbed faintly. He had tried to drive his ancient martial arts internal breath to wash over them, but the hidden injuries were deeply rooted and intertwined; forcing an impact would only worsen the damage. He knew clearly that he was separated from the threshold of Level Two by only a thin sheet of paper, but now was absolutely not the time to break through. Forcing an advancement would cause him to collapse instantly.
The scout's old calf wound was repeatedly seeping blood, making it impossible for him to engage in high-intensity sprints. He could only stay behind in the cabin, responsible for guarding the inner side of the hatch cover. The miner's contusion, inflicted by the scaled beast's tail whip on his waist, throbbed painfully with every movement. Yet, he still insisted on keeping the tunnel sketch, the alien intelligence booklet, and the communication terminal together, checking every so often to ensure the pulse signal remained stable.
"Forty minutes remaining," Su Heng said, staring at the timer and announcing in a low voice.
The cabin instantly fell silent, leaving only the heavy breathing of the group and the soft, steady blinking of the terminal's red light.
Everyone's Sea of Consciousness unconsciously expanded outward, attempting to capture the movements from the direction of the main rift. What arrived first was not the hissing of scaled beasts, but a low, heavy rumble that vibrated endlessly even through the rock layers. It was the vibration of heavy vehicle engines, the muffled sound of steel treads crushing gravel, growing closer and closer, transmitting through the rock layers of the entire rift.
They had arrived.
The military police officer pressed his ear against the hatch cover, his face gradually tensing. "The sound is coming from the main passage of the main rift. The formation has entered the rift entrance."
The female support soldier's psychic perception was highly sensitive. She frowned slightly. "The psychic barrier of the ancient beings is fluctuating violently. The spore network across the entire rift is being activated. Their defense line has been initiated."
The roaring grew clearer, mixed with dull, explosive blasts. The obstacle-breaching cannons carried by the assault formation fired first, bombarding the barriers constructed of fungal moss and rocks blocking the main passage. The sound of collapsing rubble came in continuous waves. Immediately after, the furious roars of scaled beasts surged like a tide. Countless low, bizarre howls intertwined, echoing deep underground.
The frontal battle in the main rift had officially begun.
Su Heng walked to the gap in the hatch cover and carefully lifted it slightly, using weak perception to eavesdrop on the battle situation outside. "The reinforcement route is still a fork away from us. Their main forces are entirely pinned down on the main passage to block the assault troops; they currently have no excess strength to divert and sneak attack us. We cannot go out right now. Rashly merging into the main battlefield will only cause chaos. Our mission remains to hold this position and stabilize the coordinate pulse."
Everyone understood the reasoning, but hearing the earth-shattering fighting and artillery fire outside, many people felt their palms burning, unable to suppress the urge to rush out and fight side by side. The miner gripped his rock hammer tightly, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I wonder if the front lines can withstand the high-tier combat power of the ancient beings. They have fourth-tier and fifth-tier scaled beasts, as well as a large-scale psychic resonance network formed by priests."
"The assault formation is equipped with Sea of Consciousness suppression vehicles," Su Heng said in a deep voice. "The war zone had a contingency plan specifically designed to counter the psychic linkage of priest clusters. But the coverage range of the suppression vehicles is limited. Once high-tier scaled beasts get close and destroy them, the frontline troops will have to face the overwhelming psychic impacts directly."
Lin Yan closed his eyes, stretching his Sea of Consciousness as far as it could reach, passing through layers of forks and rock walls to capture the chaotic psychic signals on the main passage. Countless fragmented consciousnesses belonging to ordinary scaled beasts rose and fell, interspersed with powerful, chilling psychic nodes—those were the priest clusters. There were also a few heavy, mountain-like auras; those were the high-tier individuals of the ancient beings.
He could see the outline of the battlefield: Human assault armor was lined up in a formation, continuously pouring artillery fire, blasting apart waves of low-tier scaled beasts rushing forward. Yet, the scaled beasts were endless, surging out continuously from the rock caves on both sides. High-tier scaled beasts used the shadows of the fungal moss to maneuver, bypassing the frontal artillery fire and diving straight for the Sea of Consciousness suppression vehicles. The priests hid in the rock caverns at the rear, layering psychic ripples to form massive waves that washed over the Sea of Consciousness barriers of the frontline soldiers in continuous surges.
A soldier could not withstand the psychic impact. Letting out a scream, his Sea of Consciousness shattered. Dropping his weapon, he went mad and charged into the darkness, only to be instantly swallowed by the swarming scaled beasts. Such tragedies were unfolding everywhere across the battlefield.
"The suppression vehicle on the left is being attacked from both sides by two fourth-tier scaled beasts. The escort squad is suffering heavy casualties," Lin Yan said in a low voice, relaying the scene his perception had captured. "The priest cluster is in a massive cavern three hundred meters to the rear. At least seven secondary priests are coordinating in resonance, overseen by a primary priest. That primary priest is stronger than any we've encountered before."
Su Heng's heart sank. "The formation's command vehicle likely hasn't detected that priest nest. The main attack direction is still focused on the frontal beast tide, and they haven't diverted forces to destroy the psychic source. If the psychic resonance continues, the frontline soldiers' attrition rate will only accelerate."
Lin Yan fell silent for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. "We are here, not far from the fork leading to that cavern. We are familiar with this branch path. The small road is too narrow for large vehicles, but a small squad can sneak through. If we can quietly creep over there and kill the primary priest, the entire resonance network will collapse, and the pressure on the front lines will be significantly alleviated in an instant."
The cabin fell completely silent.
This proposal was extremely risky. Outside, scattered scaled beast scouts and roaming patrol squads were everywhere. More than half of their squad was injured, and their combat power was incomplete. Once exposed within the primary priest's defense perimeter, it would be practically a nine-out-of-ten death sentence. But if they succeeded, the value would be immeasurable.
"The risk is too high," the military police officer immediately objected. "We lack manpower, we have too many wounded, and Lin Yan, you haven't recovered yourself."
"But if the front lines can't hold, the reinforcements will still be blocked to death in the main rift, and in the end, we won't escape either." Lin Yan slowly braced himself against the rock wall and stood up, his short blade gripped in his hand. "The pulse coordinates have been delivered, and the reinforcements are here, but that doesn't mean we are safe. If the main forces of the ancient beings completely annihilate the assault formation, the shelter pod will still be their next target. This is our only chance."
Su Heng paced back and forth, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces before finally landing on Lin Yan. "Who do you plan to take?"
"Me, the miner, the female support soldier, and the military police officer. The scout's leg injury is too severe; he will stay behind with the remaining squad members to guard the shelter pod and watch over the terminal. The pulse signal must absolutely not be interrupted," Lin Yan assigned rapidly. "The four of us will take the branch path to sneak in. We have only one objective: assassinate the primary priest. Once successful, we will immediately retreat along the original route and will not engage in prolonged combat with high-tier scaled beasts."
Gritting his teeth, the scout knew his current leg injury truly prevented him from long-distance stealth combat. He could only nod. "Be careful. Leave this side to me. The hatch cover will be locked, and the traps will be rechecked. As long as we are alive, the pulse will not break."
Su Heng did not go with them; he had to stay behind to coordinate the shelter pod's defense and stabilize the rear.
The four of them quickly organized their equipment, replenished their clean water and hemostatic drugs, and handed the intelligence booklet to Su Heng for safekeeping. The hatch cover was lifted to create a narrow gap, and they slipped out one by one, stepping into the tunnel that was trembling from the ravages of war. The air outside was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder, beast blood, and spores mixed together. The artillery fire from the main passage in the distance roared continuously, and fine sand and gravel occasionally fell from the rock layers.
Lin Yan walked at the very front, his Sea of Consciousness fully expanded to act as a perception radar, avoiding the scattered scaled beast patrols along the way. The four of them lowered their bodies, pressing against the shadows of the rock walls, and maneuvered along the narrow side fork from their memories toward the massive cavern where the primary priest was hiding.
The closer they got to the target cavern, the greater the psychic pressure became. Invisible resonance waves swept across their Sea of Consciousness in continuous waves, feeling like a blunt knife repeatedly grinding against it. The female support soldier's face turned pale, cold sweat constantly beading on her forehead; she could only bite her tongue fiercely to maintain her clarity. The miner's head grew heavy in waves, forcing him to slow his breathing rhythm. The military police officer kept his nerves taut, scanning left and right to guard against ambushes.
Lin Yan bore the heaviest pressure. His Sea of Consciousness already carried hidden injuries, and every time the resonance waves struck, the hidden injuries throbbed sharply, causing the edges of his vision to continuously blacken. Gritting his teeth to endure it, he constantly adjusted their route, bypassing several squads of scaled beasts that had been awakened by the resonance.
After walking for about twenty minutes, the outline of a massive cavern appeared at the end of the fork ahead, illuminated by the faint light of the glow stones.
In the center of the cavern stood a tall platform woven from fungal mycelium. Atop the platform sat a lizard-like ancient being, its body far larger than that of ordinary secondary priests, in quiet meditation. Countless thick psychic tentacles stretched upward, connecting to the dense network of spore threads on the cavern ceiling. A circle of secondary priests was lined up around the platform, their eyes closed as they synchronized their psychic frequencies, continuously supplying power to the primary priest. Countless scaled beasts roamed the perimeter of the cavern on patrol, layered upon layered, surrounding it completely.
This was the core of the entire psychic resonance network.
The primary priest seemed to have sensed something. Its originally closed vertical pupils slowly opened, its chilling gaze projecting directly toward the fork where Lin Yan and the other three were hiding. It did not immediately howl to raise an alarm; instead, its tentacles moved slightly, signaling the outer scaled beasts to silently converge.
They had been discovered.
Lin Yan's heart sank. He whispered to the three beside him, "We've been seen. There's no chance for a sneak attack; we can only charge hard. Priority target: the primary priest on the platform."
From all directions, countless pairs of crimson eyes began to light up one after another in the shadows of the cavern.
End of Chapter.