READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 363
In a boundary of abstraction where time and space hold no meaning, a group of puppies dashed through the air.
With shining eyes and flapping ears, the puppies reveled in their boundless freedom.
“Wooow! It’s so vast! I’m so excited!”
But just as they began to savor the joy of an infinite walk for the first time, the glimmer in the puppies’ eyes started to fade.
This endless space, devoid of horizons and limits, seemed unbearably empty; only desolation filled it.
“Where is everyone? Where can they be?”
“There’s nobody! Not even a single snack!”
The puppies’ tails drooped as their steps grew heavy. A walk without a master to run with, share treats, or gently pet them felt utterly meaningless.
Now, stripped of purpose, they merely trudged along.
Suddenly, one puppy perked up, sniffing the air and barking at something.
“I found it! It’s a person! They’re sleeping over there!”
“Where? Where?”
“Look there! They could be our new master!”
At the edge of consciousness, a girl lay sleeping peacefully.
The puppies’ eyes sparkled, and their little paws dashed toward her all at once.
Up close, she embodied both the innocence of a girl and the maturity of a woman.
Though questions bubbled up, the yellow furballs, who loved the warmth of human presence, instinctively sprinted toward her.
“Pant pant!”
“Play with me! Hug me!”
Overwhelmed by the affectionate assault of the eager puppies, the girl finally opened her eyes.
Struggling against deep fatigue and pressure, Violet beheld the sight of the puppies licking her and rubbing their noses against her.
“…What day is it? Damn it. Where is this…?”
“Bark!”
“Play with me! Hold me!”
Witch Violet responded with irritation.
“…What has that fake brought in again? Get out, now!”
In an instant, the puppies were pushed away by an unseen force.
“Yip!”
Violet gritted her teeth against the onslaught of the network’s pressure.
Before she had time to ponder how this mess had grown so overwhelming, she sank back into a deep sleep.
All that remained were the wounded puppies. Coldly dismissed, the little beasts turned away with sad eyes.
“Such a meanie…”
“That’s so unfair!”
Nowarak-32F. One of the dungeons originating from a realm not Trist.
Looking up, ancient ferns spread out thickly over head, and bizarre creatures twisted by magical power roamed about.
Among them, the most peculiar was…
“Kyaawk!”
No, let’s correct that. It wasn’t just peculiar; it was a perfect dinosaur.
Though there were plenty of dino-like beasts like Kranos, these were actual dinosaurs.
“Whoa! It’s a raptor!”
Roaming through this jungle, encountering dino-like… no, just plain dinosaurs was quite common.
They stood a bit larger than humans but held a higher danger level for a reason.
It was their intelligence.
If I had encountered them during my rookie hunter days, I might have been bitten to death already.
But Violet, who aspired to enlightenment through slaughter, was one step ahead of the beasts.
High intelligence equals high combat power. We could exploit that through slaughter.
“Come at me!”
“Craaaack!”
With a great swing, I unleashed Polaris Swordsmanship. My weapon, a two-handed sword, drew a long curve.
-Swish!
Though they were foes to humans, their high intelligence seemed to give them a solid grasp of the terror of death.
The beasts fled, their tails tucked between their legs, while I ensured a heavenly ticket to their distant relatives.
“Next time, be born as a human!”
A hideout of enemies lay concealed behind this monster swarm.
Without access terminals and deep within the dungeon, communication with the outside world was impossible. Its scale was small.
Our journey to this place was simple.
“They’re conducting their secret weapon project here!”
While plundering their airships and examining navigation devices and records, we stumbled upon many minor outposts rather than the mobile aerial base we initially sought.
One of them was this place. Though small, it was recorded as quite significant.
We didn’t know what lay inside, but smashing it up was our first step.
-Bang bang bang!
As we passed through the beasts’ dwelling, sharp beams of light flew in from the underbrush. The foundation’s defensive turrets gleamed like cold metal.
“Everyone, take cover!”
“Deploy shields! Enhance magical power!”
The Violet Squad, initially advancing in a line, scattered in an instant. We quickly approached using the terrain for cover as mortar shells rained down like hail. The sound of shards hitting my shield echoed around us. Thanks to the magically enhanced shields, we avoided lethal damage, but our advance slowed drastically.
“Of course! A predictable setup!”
With tremors shaking the ground, a massive shadow loomed before us. It was the foundation’s armored battle machines.
The metallic legs, producing a characteristic hydraulic noise, blocked our path.
“Heavy Weapons Division! Are you ready?”
“Target acquisition complete!”
Instant responses returned through our communications. A crimson flash sliced through the air.
We had temporarily modified the laser cannon of the multi-angle tank we obliterated in the previous raid. Our new weapon roared at the enemy.
-Swooosh! BOOM!
A searing beam pierced through the armored battle machines.
In an instant, their armor melted away, leading to a chain explosion of enemy machines. Mechanical wreckage scattered everywhere.
“Battery pack replacement! Sustained fire!”
The heavy weapons division skillfully changed the battery pack of the chemical laser and resumed firing.
We advanced, covered by that fire support.
However, soon a steadfast blue shield obstructed our way.
If we could break through here, it was the enemy base.
“Contact rear! Now’s our chance!”
Just as we scattered quickly…
-KABOOM!
A massive mushroom cloud erupted from the enemy base. It was Enrique’s support fire. With a powerful magical strike, the shield shattered like glass.
“Charge! Let’s break through!”
As we plunged into the crumbled shield, enemy proxies poured out like a tide.
In the blink of an eye, the gates revealed themselves in the place we had just cleared, and more enemy forces appeared without end.
“Is this a choke point! Seems like they had routes we didn’t know about!”
But the enemy’s resistance stopped there. As the 3rd Company cleverly stalled for time, three support units from the rear charged in from the side.
-KABOOM!
Just as expected. The enemies, entangled in close combat with us, were annihilated, exposing their flanks to the Violet reinforcements.
Like crushed tomatoes, those foundation bastards were smashed apart.
“The victory is ours!”
As the remaining enemies fled back through the gate they came from, we leisurely captured the base.
“There’s no one left! Did they withdraw? Was that battle a stall tactic?”
While searching the facility, one Violet shouted from below.
“Look here! Something unusual!”
What we found in the underground hangar was a strange-shaped object.
At first glance, it resembled a moth. The body traced soft curves like a living organism.
And the material was something that earth technology could never produce.
The wings spread out were too thin to be called wings.
“What is that?”
The object resting deep in the hangar was half disassembled, surrounded by various research equipment.
Strange patterns were engraved on its surface, dizzyingly bizarre as I stared at them.
“Is it a relic?”
“It looks like an aircraft. I think a person could fit in the middle.”
With curious eyes, we examined it.
The strange markings on its surface grew more mysterious the more we looked. It felt as if it moved alive.
Just then, a sharp sound sliced through the air as a shuriken flew in.
-Swoosh!
“Enemy!”
Before we could even deploy our shields, a second attack followed. We had no idea where the attacks originated.
“All units, detect magical energy! Identify enemy positions!”
Facing Violet were the assassins.
Stealth assassins activated their complete cloaking devices and infiltrated the hangar. Their concealment cloaks perfectly distorted traces of magic, hiding their presence.
Silently traversing the pipes tangled like spider webs on the ceiling, they closed in on their target.
-Destroy the foundation’s relic. It must not fall into enemy hands.
The assassins’ movements were smooth as flowing water.
Years of training had honed their agility to be lighter than shadows. After the first attack failed, they immediately switched positions to strike from a new angle.
Cold eyes filled with malice glinted in the darkness. Taking advantage of the confusion among the Violets, the real siege was about to begin.
-KABAM!
“Kiyaaah!”
A second shuriken hurtled in from an unseen place.
Violet exclaimed in shock.
“Yikes! It’s a ninja!”
“Commencing first test.”
In the control room of Laplacian, the chief researcher spoke into the mic.
The control device and vessel holding brain tissue slowly illuminated within a special solution.
“Initiating magic response. Detecting residual ether wavelengths from the Ariel Group…”
Complicated data streamed across the monitors. The brain tissues harvested from the subjects began to react faintly.
It was observed that they trembled as if searching for something.
“There’s a reaction…! We’ve detected a definite signal.”
Joy flickered across the researchers’ faces. They had finally succeeded.
The possibility of tracking the Ariel Group’s magical network was opening up.
Though still in the research phase, it showed potential.
“The board’s approval has been granted. Once we finish the first test in orbit, we’ll prepare for large-scale deployment.”
The foundation soon requested cooperation. While they held the technological edge, it was time to seek support from allies skilled in surveillance and information.
Thus, the single-shot suborbital vessel from Arshite soared through the sky, carrying a small satellite within.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the first prototype, destined to become a new eye monitoring Trist, ventured beyond the atmosphere, silently observing.