Chapter 429: Signal
Chapter 429: Chapter 429: Signal
At that moment, Hopka landed, piloting the Hell-Shatterer.
The group walked over to the fallen Seot and began to inspect the corpse.
It was just a pile of rotten bones. There was nothing of value.
"Hmph. A pile of trash. Wasted so much of my time."
Hopka couldn’t help but spit at it.
"Forget it. The mission comes first. Which way now?"
Woperi turned his head to ask Long Ming.
"This way!"
Long Ming immediately led Hopka and the others forward, following the trail.
...
「Three hours later.」
Long Ming’s group had encountered a few scattered Death Filth Spirits, but they killed them all.
"Captain, what do you think these Death Filth Spirits are?"
Woperi asked, clearly confused.
"I don’t know. We’d better hope these things are just some special kind of monster. If they’re a brand new species, we’re in trouble."
Hopka replied, his expression grave.
"Their abilities are very unusual. They’re not your average nuisance."
Long Ming responded in a low voice.
It might look like the five of them were killing with ease, but three of them were piloting fourth-generation Mechanical Gods. His own bio-armor’s power was on par with a fourth-gen Mechanical God, and the only one who was relatively weaker, Antilo, was piloting a special, high-spec Third Generation Mechanical God—the Wind-Chaser.
If an ordinary unit had run into the Death Filth Spirits, they would have been wiped out in minutes.
"Hmph, they’re nothing special. We only struggled at first because we didn’t understand them and were caught off guard."
Chen Hong said with a cold snort.
"Confidence is a good thing. Overconfidence is just stupidity."
Long Ming reminded him in a low voice.
"I don’t need you to remind me!"
Chen Hong retorted stiffly.
Woperi looked at the three hotheads, his head already starting to ache. ’The reinforcements the General found for us are certainly powerful,’ he thought, ’but each one is more difficult to get along with than the last.’
Just then, Hopka, who was in the lead, suddenly stopped.
Long Ming raised his head and gazed into the distance.
In the center of the vast expanse ahead lay a mouth-shaped chasm. Sharp, black stone spires jutted out from its edge and interior, making it look like a gaping maw from the abyss.
"Captain, don’t tell me that chasm is the entrance to the Death Filth Spirits’ nest?"
Woperi took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and asked.
"Looks like it."
Hopka replied grimly.
Long Ming carefully observed the tracks left on the ground, then said to Hopka after a moment of thought.
"This doesn’t look good. The tracks on the ground lead to that chasm."
"What, are you scared?"
Hopka retorted with a cold snort.
"Not scared. Just think it’s going to be a hassle."
Long Ming replied in a raspy voice.
"Hmph, good enough!"
Hopka led Long Ming and the others toward the chasm.
They soon arrived at the massive chasm. The inside was extremely dark, with no end in sight.
Hopka didn’t recklessly lead the team by flying straight down. Instead, he chose to jump down, using the stone spires as footholds.
As they made their way down, they would occasionally see a Death Filth Spirit or two.
But these Death Filth Spirits didn’t charge forward to attack them. Instead, they just stared from a distance.
Woperi and the others felt their skin crawl under the constant gaze.
"Captain, those Death Filth Spirits are staring at us but not attacking. What are they up to?"
Woperi asked, his nerves on edge.
"Hmph, what else could they be doing? These bastards are watching us, they’re definitely up to no good. If I’m not mistaken, they’ve probably laid a trap for us up ahead."
Hopka could tell at a glance that the enemy was watching them.
"Should I go up and take them out then?"
Woperi immediately suggested.
"No need. It would be useless to kill them!"
Hopka cautiously led the team deeper.
「Time passed bit by bit.」
Soon, they reached the bottom.
Suddenly, on the flat floor below, they saw humanoid figures appear.
"Stop!"
Hopka immediately raised his hand, signaling Long Ming and the others to halt.
Long Ming and the others stopped on the stone pillars, warily watching the figures ahead.
"Aren’t those our men?"
Woperi had a shocked expression on his face and was about to move forward as he spoke.
"Don’t go over there!"
Hopka immediately stopped Woperi.
At that moment, the figures slowly turned around.
Long Ming and the others instantly got a clear look at them. They were all soldiers wearing exoskeleton mechanical armor. But now, their entire bodies were emitting black particles, their flesh and armor fused together, making them look like malevolent ghosts.
"This situation seems a bit grim."
Long Ming said, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Damn it! Their bodies have been taken over by the Death Filth Spirits."
A trace of fury appeared in Hopka’s eyes. These were all soldiers from their Second Legion. To think that after they died, their corpses were enslaved by these things.
"So what do we do now? Don’t tell me Major Dillum and Dr. Anus are both dead too!"
Woperi asked worriedly.
"Even if they’re dead, we still have to retrieve the confidential container. And if we can, we’ll give them their final rest!"
Hopka raised the Giant Hammer in his hand and said with unshakeable resolve.
’This guy might be a pain to deal with, but he’s pretty reliable,’ Long Ming thought, unable to help but take another look at Hopka.
CLANG~
Just then, swarms of the possessed soldiers emerged from a cave up ahead.
"Captain, the number of enemies is increasing."
Woperi said, his face grim.
"So what? We’ll slaughter them all!"
Hopka swung his Giant Hammer, which arced with lightning, and led the charge toward the soldiers.
Long Ming and the others followed close behind.
The possessed soldiers opened their mouths and let out bloodcurdling roars. They charged wildly at Long Ming’s group, swinging the Metal Blades in their hands in a frenzy.
Long Ming retracted his Light Saber and manifested a blade to block, testing his opponent’s Power.
CRACK~
The two collided.
Sparks flew everywhere.
Although the Death Filth Spirit soldiers’ Power had increased now that they had bodies, Long Ming actually found them easier to fight. After all, the strength of the vessels they possessed was limited.
On the other side, Chen Hong and Woperi were also piloting their Mechanical Gods, turning their Shoulder Cannons to sweep across the surrounding Death Filth Spirit soldiers.
BOOM! RUMBLE!
Swarms of Death Filth Spirit soldiers were blasted to pieces.
Antilo moved quickly, swinging the sharp blade in his hand to cleave one Death Filth Spirit soldier after another.
Colonel Hopka, piloting the Hell-Shatterer, furiously swung his thunder hammer in a great whirlwind, wiping out all the nearby Death Filth Spirits.
The five of them were like wolves in a flock of sheep, madly slaughtering and reaping the Death Filth Spirit soldiers.
「One hour later.」
Long Ming and his team had decisively eliminated all the Death Filth Spirit soldiers.
"Captain, they’re all taken care of. What’s next? Should we enter that cave?"
Woperi let out a long breath and asked Captain Hopka.
"That cave looks very dangerous."
Long Ming had a bad feeling about it and gave a raspy warning.
Just then, Hopka suddenly said in a heavy tone.
"My Mechanical God is detecting a faint distress signal!"
"A distress signal? Where is it coming from?"
Long Ming and the others were also startled.
"It should be coming from inside the cave. If I’m not mistaken, it’s probably from Dr. Anus."
"Can you contact Dr. Anus?"
"No, the signal is too weak, and it’s intermittent!"
Hopka replied, shaking his head.
"That’s trouble. It looks like our only option is to enter the cave and search."
Long Ming also felt this was getting tricky.
"We’ve come this far. No matter how dangerous it is inside, we have to push through. Let’s go!"
Hopka took the lead and headed toward the pitch-black cave.
Long Ming and the others immediately followed.