To the Abyss

The remaining handful of soldiers and officers stood before the structure.

A continuous drizzle fell from the sky. Looking up through the mist, one could see droplets of rain descending from the heavens.

The group began researching how to activate the device. Humans had a fairly deep understanding of magical arrays.

Although the demon script on the device was unintelligible, the operation itself was not complex.

“Injecting mental energy should do it, but we also need a sacrifice. Does anyone here know magic?”

The legion commander turned to ask the soldiers behind him. After a moment, one of them stepped forward. “I do.”

“It’s up to you, then.”

As for the sacrifice, they used their firearms to hunt two fierce beasts in the vicinity and tossed them directly onto the platform.

Then, mental energy was injected. The disc of the teleportation array soon began to rotate, and the strange script glowed with a blood-red light.

Sizzle...

After a surge of strange fluctuations, a pitch-black rift appeared.

Almost instantly, a passage with a faint suction force emerged before them.

The passage was shrouded in mystery. Looking into the entrance, one could see the deep tunnel leading toward an unknown destination.

“It’s connected.”

It had actually opened. Amidst the excitement and trepidation, there was mostly surprise.

“Let’s go. We can’t stay here. It’ll be trouble if demons show up,” the legion commander immediately shouted to the warriors.

“Yes, sir!”

The group turned to leave at once.

But just then, a young girl suddenly appeared in their line of sight.

Xia Jin’s black-haired projection stood about twenty meters away, watching them from a distance.

Hum...

The soldiers immediately raised their weapons.

“Who are you? The Zerg?”

“It must be. The front lines warned us that there are beautiful girls among the Zerg with incredible abilities, but they are true devils beneath their human skin,” a soldier said, trembling.

...

“Devils? That’s not a very nice name.”

The girl approached step by step.

She had already sensed the aura behind the mysterious passage, though it was very faint.

Since it was already open, there wasn’t much point in closing it. It was better to go to the other side and take a look.

If it was dangerous, she could just destroy it. After all, the demons hadn’t come through for a long time, which suggested that opening this passage was no easy feat. Even if they did come, it wouldn’t be hard for the Zerg to defeat them with their current strength.

At their current rate of development, flying into the stars was only a matter of time.

Instead of waiting for the demons to come and attack her, perhaps sending the Swarm to strike first was the smarter choice.

The enemy had been eyeing this world for a long time, so why wait passively?

“I’m going to the other side to see. You lot are coming with me,” Xia Jin said as she stood directly in front of the portal.

“What? You’re going to the demons’ side?” The legion commander was stunned.

“What are you afraid of? You’re a Tier 9 powerhouse, aren’t you? Though it looks like you reached it through artificial means, your strength seems decent enough.”

The legion commander’s heart skipped a beat.

Seeing through his Tier 9 rank was one thing, but the pressure wordlessly radiating from her was undoubtedly far greater than his own.

“Tier 10?”

That would be a Saint Tier powerhouse.

In the Empire, a Tier 10 martial level was the minimum requirement to hold a high-ranking position directly under the military command.

Of course, in this era, Tier 10 powerhouses weren’t exactly everywhere, but there were many. He could name over a dozen himself.

However, his general had once mentioned that several Tier 10 powerhouses had fallen while fighting the Zerg.

He understood then that Tier 10 was not invincible.

Before the current era’s advancements, that rank was the Saint Tier, rumored to be the pinnacle of humanity.

Even if it was now possible to kill a Tier 10 powerhouse with ordinary weapons, he had never heard of anyone actually succeeding.

If the girl before him was a true Tier 10, he clearly wouldn’t have the strength to fight back.

“Let’s go.”

“Otherwise, you’ll all die here.”

Swarms of bugs emerged from the surroundings.

Seeing this, everyone realized they had no choice.

“Right, one of you needs to be the leader. You’ll do.”

She walked up to a warrior and kicked him in the rear, sending the man flying into the portal with a scream.

Whoosh! The man vanished before their eyes.

Thirty seconds later, the fellow reappeared.

“It’s a two-way channel. I saw the other side.”

“Oh?” Seeing that it was safe, Xia Jin was somewhat surprised. “How is it?”

“It’s quite dark. I saw some terrifying creatures in the distance. I think they’re at least Tier 7 or 8. The appearance of a few of them matches the records of demon sentinels.”