Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1345: Chapter 1344: Fighting Takes Brains

On the northern battlefront where the Living Forest clashes fiercely with the dark root network, the entire battlefield has transformed into a form beyond ordinary common sense, even exceeding any historical records. Massive mutated life forms attack and slaughter deep within the underground, covered by heavy rocks and soil, while above is the heated battlefield between the mechanized armies of the Mortal Empire and the biochemical forces of the Dark Cult. Between these two battlefields are the numerous biomass factories and pipeline systems established by the Cecil Empire, as well as the Treant Priests and crawling vine clusters of the Dark Cult. These war machines, far surpassing those of the past, fight to the death like monsters, creating a pressure of war that not only quickly strengthens the armies of the Mortal Empire but also greatly promotes the perfection and evolution of those dark creatures cultivated by the Oblivion Association.

The resilient vines tear through the dense rock layers, seemingly soft mimetic roots support the rocks and soil, and the liquids flowing in the plant vascular system emit a dim glow, illuminating the passage leading deep underground. Bertrum’s roots crawl quickly amidst the slippery stones and vines, and this vast root network incessantly transmits environmental data collected from the surroundings directly into his consciousness, allowing him to clearly understand the "situation" ahead.

The encirclement is gradually taking shape. The "Immune Barrier" of the root network has gained a clear advantage. Now, his "claws" have successfully intercepted part of the enemy root system spreading from the Living Forest into an underground cave and severed numerous biomass transport pipelines around the target. At the deepest part of this gradually tightening encirclement, the massive cognitive pulses are as obvious as lights in the night.

In this war between "plants" and "plants," the root network rarely takes such a dominant position. One of the main reasons is that the terrifying Living Forest has a higher operational efficiency and adaptive intelligence than the root network. For a long time, Bertrum and his subordinates have been trying to crack its secrets, and after considerable effort and sacrifice, they have finally made some progress.

They learned that Beltira, far in the Plains of the Holy Spirits, can easily command the massive Living Forest on the southern slopes of the Dark Mountain Range, even maintaining its extremely high operational efficiency as the forest continues to expand due to an "auxiliary thinking organ." This thinking organ expands and proliferates with the forest, equivalent to Beltira’s "auxiliary soul," allowing them to function collectively to tackle macro problems and autonomously operate and fight with high intelligence in local areas.

After understanding these matters, one of Bertrum’s primary goals is to capture such an "auxiliary thinking organ" to seek a method to completely defeat Beltira.

This is not easy—the auxiliary thinking organ’s significance to the Living Forest is obvious, and Beltira would not allow such an important body part to be exposed to danger. Typically, these thinking organs are surrounded by a large root system and biological combat groups for protection, sometimes even hidden inside those steel fortresses of the Cecil Clan. Bertrum tried several times but returned empty-handed.

However, nothing is absolute. Those "thinking organs" are not always in a completely secure state. As the Living Forest needs to continuously spread deeper into the wasteland, its size also increases daily, requiring Beltira to constantly create new thinking organs and deploy them to the frontline. These organs and their "guardians" cannot instantly grow and deploy—like all biological units, they need time to mature.

Under normal circumstances, Beltira calculates this maturity time accurately, not giving others any chance. But she is ultimately just a mortal. As long as the battlefield is vast enough, with sufficiently complex neural nodes to handle simultaneously and the pressure brought by the dark root network’s counterstrike is great enough, she will inevitably make a mistake. Throughout these days, Bertrum has been waiting for this opportunity.

He believes that if he can successfully capture an "organ," with his expertise in Druid spells, he can uncover the flaws of these organs. Even if it cannot be decrypted, submitting a thinking organ to the Archbishop can be considered a great achievement.

The sound of dripping water suddenly comes from afar, and a gathered trickle appears in the originally damp underground passage at an unknown time. Bertrum awakens abruptly from his reverie about the future while maintaining his connection with the nearby root network, speaking to his followers in the depths of his mind, "Stay alert, ahead is a natural underground space—the crazy woman arrived before us."

Not long after his words fell, the team he led passed through a cave tunnel forcibly held open by the root network, and an underground dark river submerged in darkness emerged in the perception of the dark priests.

In the ancient natural cavern, the sound of water echoes, and the cold water seeps from nearby stone cracks, gathering into a trickle in the ravines and flowing toward the depths of the wide underground space. The river water emits an abnormal pale blue glow, exceptionally beautiful, yet beautiful to a bizarre degree. Occasionally, strange creatures appear and disappear in the water, resembling fish or some kind of amphibious creature, but in the next moment, they vanish as if never appeared, leaving not a ripple.

Until the river flows far, these strange creatures suddenly appear again, their forms slightly altered, as if they had fallen into another dimension while swimming, undergoing an unknown "reformation" in that dimension.

Bertrum was not surprised by the strange phenomena in the dark river. He merely glanced at the water and muttered as he moved his gaze away: "The power of the wasteland is everywhere."

He led the team further into the darkness. Not long after, remnants of recently deceased organisms began to appear before him and the dark priests.

There were withered, dead vines and roots, as well as some oddly-shaped remnants of creatures with menacing combat organs. The air around them was filled with a mixed stench of foul and sweet odors. This scent made the dark priests feel a hint of danger. Without waiting for Bertrum’s reminder, everyone instinctively activated their magic barriers to filter the air.

"We’ve already entered the ’battlefield’," Bertrum said softly. "Just a dozen minutes ago, our underground defense forces had a fierce fight with the invading forces of the Living Forest here. Look at these remnants... there are many immature individuals."

The rustling of roots and the low murmurs echoed around. The dark priests and the aberrant followers searched for biological responses that did not belong to their units. Bertrum himself focused his mind, perceiving the omnipresent and increasingly complex cognitive pulse signals in this vast underground cavern system.

And just then, a shiver suddenly spread from the depths of his perception. A tangible chill accompanied it. Bertrum felt a sharp pain in his "mind," and a distant, low voice filled with cold malice drilled into his thoughts: "Bertrum... it’s been a long time. I’m surprised you dare to appear before me again..."

"Beltira..." Bertrum resisted the fear lodged deep in his soul from previous mental trauma. As his willpower gathered, the fear steadily subsided, "I know you are bluffing! I’ve found your weakness here! Admit reality; we exchange roles here—at this moment, I’m the hunter, and you are the prey!"

"Just because you managed to surround a part of my structure... you think you’ve grasped the lifeline of victory..." The distant and cold voice stirred in Bertrum’s mind, maintaining that contemptuous and arrogant tone that he found extremely loathsome and infuriating, "Then let’s wait and see who truly becomes the other’s sustenance in this dark underground..."

The stinging sensation in the mental world abruptly vanished, followed by a brief void and confusion enveloping Bertrum. He sensed Beltira’s will withdrawing, but it didn’t bring him any sense of relief.

Instead, he felt as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Attention, the enemy’s counterattack is coming!"

The dark hierarch suddenly raised his voice to alert his followers, and almost as soon as his words ended, a series of deep rumbles and dense clattering sounds suddenly shattered the stillness of the underground space, rushing in from all directions!

In the corner of his eye, Bertrum saw countless gigantic vines emerging from nearby cracks in the rocks. Many battle creatures previously judged as remnants suddenly came "alive," while further in the cave, a massive swarm of pitch-black, battle-ready aberrant creatures rushed in like a swarm of insects. The dark chitinous shells and battle claws glimmered like cold light in the blue glow from the dark river!

These were the "guardians" that had been lurking in various parts of the cave. They bypassed the root network’s perception through pheromone or neural interference and had been lurking until now!

Behind the dark priests, the aberrations who had followed from the surface let out a series of frenzied growls and murmurs, rushing unhesitatingly towards the enemies that appeared in their senses. Chaos and terrifying battle erupted in this underground space, yet at the heart of this fierce battle, Bertrum, as the commander, couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle.

There was indeed a trap here, Beltira had indeed laid an ambush, yet these traps and ambushes precisely proved his previous judgment—

Nothing more.

Moreover, the activation of these ambushers simultaneously generated a massive and extremely obvious "command signal", which helped him finally confirm the specific location of that "command source"!

"Release all servant units; they can all be used as expendables!" he suddenly shouted loudly and simultaneously activated all surrounding root networks, "I found the real location of that organ—brethren, follow me!"

Deep in the thick soil and rock, a series of thunderous booms exploded violently. The dark root network, which had been operating in an orderly manner, suddenly became frenzied, launching a wild attack against the nearby Living Forest roots, irrespective of losses. The aberration followers who had come here with the dark priests also went into a ferocious state simultaneously, assaulting the "biological weaponry cluster" belonging to the Sorin Giant Tree emerging from the underground caverns in an exceedingly fierce manner. Roars, cracking sounds, explosions, and the splashing of liquids instantly filled the entire underground space, and amidst such a terrifying battle, Bertrum and his followers directly abandoned the "soldiers" assigned to them by Archdruid Balken, slipping swiftly and quietly into the depths of another cavern nearby.

Just as Bertrum had said—those "servants" were expendable, as long as he could grasp Beltira’s weakness, everything he expended here would be exchanged for a great merit!

They traversed through the depths of darkness, leaving the sounds of slaughter behind, bypassing or quickly breaking through wave upon wave of defense, constantly approaching the deepest layer of this natural cavern. Traveling like this for who knows how long, Bertrum abruptly sensed a gleam appear in front of his eyes.

The space before him opened up clearly.

Who would have thought that such a place existed in the dark depths of the earth: a lush layer of green vegetation covered the entire cavern, glowing vines hanging from the cave ceiling illuminated everything around, a large number of dark brown aerial roots supported the cave floor and the dome, with flowers and vines entwining the top, adorned with green leaves, forming a spectacle much like an underground forest.

Is this... one of the "command nodes" Beltira set up on the front line?

Bertrum stared in amazement at everything before him.

He couldn’t recall how many years it had been since he saw such a sight.

However, in the next second, the hint of "emotion" transformed into greater hatred and anger, guiding him to notice the focal point of all cognitive pulse signals within the cavern:

A massive cluster of flowering vines crowded at the deepest part of this "garden", and upon those vines was a brain-shaped... no, it was a brain, a brain lying unguarded in the center of those flower vines.

It is alive, with its surface constantly emanating a flowing microglow, gently undulating like a heart.

It looks extremely bizarre, and... completely unguarded.

At this moment, Bertrum finally genuinely laughed—even though his ugly face struggled to show a real smile, he knew his current mood was very pleasant.

A cognitive organ—Beltira’s appreciation and creativity are just like that—it lies quietly in front of me.

No matter how significant its function or how many powerful guardians it has, it is merely a cognitive organ in the end... After breaking through the nearby defense system, its body is so fragile, so vulnerable.

"Will you feel fear too... you slippery lump of flesh..."

Bertrum said in a low voice, in his perception, the biometrics of the aberration followers and forcibly agitated root networks left behind were rapidly dissipating—yet this did not impact his pleasant mood at all.

"Sever its connection with surrounding biological tissues, extract it intact."

Bertrum casually commanded.

A most trusted dark priest immediately stepped forth to approach that seemingly fragile and completely unguarded brain.

One step, two steps, three steps... Bang!!

Bertrum watched as a subordinate with decent strength was instantly struck by something, a heavy thud erupted, pulverizing the subordinate’s woodenized body into countless splintering shards in mid-air.

In the next second, he saw the brain drift off its "pedestal", extending over a dozen muscular, thick tendrils from below. The ends of those tendrils wielded heavy mechanical warhammers, electrifying giant bats, primed burners, and mage main cannons that should have been mounted on a heavy tank!

Bertrum: "?"