Counting the seconds precisely, Song Zhiyi didn't wait and directly connected to the aerospace craft's communication channel.
“This is Blade squad, requesting naval gun support, targeting the core area barrier.”
“Received. Main cannon charging for three minutes.”
The communication cut off, and Song Zhiyi turned to face everyone.
“The bombardment will arrive in three minutes. Once the barrier is breached, we'll immediately push through. Old Zhou, take two men to cover the left flank. Xiao Chen, the right flank is yours. And… Student Qiu, you're with me.”
He paused, his gaze falling on Luo Yang.
“Luo Yang, you—”
“I'll act independently.” Luo Yang smiled. “Don't worry, I won't cause any trouble.”
Song Zhiyi stared at him for a second, then nodded.
Three minutes passed in a flash.
Three searing white beams of light pierced down from above the clouds, like spears of judgment cast by deities.
The heavy air in the Rift was ionized, emitting a sharp shriek, and everyone's vision was engulfed by the blinding white light.
This was followed by a wave of sound.
It was no longer 'sound'; it was like a wall crashing into them.
Everyone poured out blood energy to protect themselves, and even Luo Yang felt his internal organs resonating.
His eardrums throbbed with pain, and he barely managed to stabilize himself by channeling blood energy.
As the light dissipated, a massive molten hole appeared in the barrier before them.
Its edges continued to melt and drip, dark purple energy surging like blood from the wound, attempting to repair the damage.
But the power of the three main cannons clearly exceeded its endurance limit.
At the same time, the weapon systems mounted on the three aerospace crafts gradually activated, countless attacks tearing through the sky. Although they couldn't directly shatter the entire barrier, they could stabilize it within a range where it couldn't be fully repaired.
“Charge!”
Song Zhiyi was the first to rush in.
Combat erupted beyond the barrier.
Five Level 3 mutant beasts, and over a dozen Level 2 mutant beasts.
There were no lowest-ranked Level 1 mutant beasts.
According to the ironclad rules of mutant beast populations, those were standard cannon fodder, unworthy of being in the core area.
Although the enemy numbers weren't large, the entire squad didn't find it easy.
From the first second of combat, Song Zhiyi sensed something was wrong.
These mutant beasts actually had some form of coordination.
Two of the Level 3 mutant beasts, resembling a hybrid of giant mantises and some kind of arthropod, were engaging Song Zhiyi and Zhou Yan head-on.
The other three roamed the flanks, ready to cut into the rear at any moment.
As for the Level 2 mutant beasts, they swarmed like a tide, not aiming for kills, but constantly compressing the Blade squad's formation.
A war of attrition.
These creatures seemed to be deliberately draining their blood energy and stamina.
“We need to find a way to break this stalemate,” Qiu Shubai murmured to herself.
She stepped forward, Bloodfall in her hand blazing with light.
This time, she didn't deliberately hold back; the Bloodfall sword erupted with dazzling white light.
With one swing, two Level 2 mutant beasts were directly shredded by the sword light. She stepped forward again, swept her sword upward in a reverse grip, the tip piercing another Level 2 mutant beast's jaw, and blood energy detonated within its skull.
She withdrew her sword, slashed horizontally, and two more mutant beasts were cut in half.
Her movements were fluid, each sword strike precise to the millimeter. But Luo Yang could tell she was controlling her rhythm.
It wasn't that she couldn't be faster; she didn't dare to be faster.
Bloodfall's hunger seemed to be awakening, and the light on the sword became unstable, threads of crimson beginning to appear within the white.
Qiu Shubai took a deep breath, suppressing the restless crimson once more, and her sword momentum eased.
A Level 3 mutant beast seized this opening.
It lunged from the rear flank, its four scythe-like forelimbs slashing down simultaneously.
Qiu Shubai parried with her sword, and amidst the clang of metal, she was forced back several steps, the webbing between her thumb and forefinger numb from gripping the hilt.
The mutant beast clearly wouldn't give her a chance to breathe, lunging fiercely again.
However, a hand had, at some unknown moment, pressed against its forehead.
Luo Yang appeared before it like a ghost.
He didn't draw his blade; he simply pressed his left hand against the mutant beast's head, his five fingers digging into the seams of its carapace.
With blood energy infused, his grip strength instantly exceeded the Level 3 mutant beast's limit of endurance.
Crunch.
The carapace shattered, and green bodily fluid spurted from between his fingers.
The mutant beast let out a desperate shriek, its four scythes wildly slashing at Luo Yang, but the blades, half a foot from his body, struck an invisible wall and could not advance another inch.
That was a barrier constructed of mental power.
Luo Yang drew Night Owl-Slash with his right hand, the ethereal blue blade carving an arc in the air, diagonally cleaving the Level 3 mutant beast from its left shoulder to its right flank, almost cutting it in half.
Song Zhiyi, who had been carefully observing, was startled.
The Night Owl series certainly had excellent performance, but this kid in front of him almost cleaved a Level 3 mutant beast in half with one strike?!
How powerful!
But the mutant beast's vitality was incredibly tenacious; it was still struggling.
Three Grantee Longswords appeared silently behind Luo Yang.
Sword light flashed.
The first pierced the wound, the second penetrated the cranial cavity, and the third was driven into its eye socket.
The mutant beast's struggles ceased abruptly.
The three longswords turned to ash the moment their mission was complete, scattering with the wind.
Luo Yang sheathed his blade, flicked off the viscous green blood, his face devoid of expression.
Zhou Yan, on the other side, watched with twitching eyelids.
This kid just crushed a Level 3 mutant beast's skull with his bare hands?
The battle concluded ten minutes later.
All five Level 3 mutant beasts were slain, and the Level 2 mutant beasts were also cleared out.
No one in the Blade squad was seriously injured; only two members sustained minor wounds and could continue fighting after simple bandaging.
Song Zhiyi ordered a brief rest, and in ten minutes, they would continue deeper into the core area.
Qiu Shubai sat down against a large rock. She had five to six tenths of her blood energy left, and Bloodfall's restlessness had been suppressed once more.
Although the previous battle was fierce, it was still within her control.
Luo Yang walked over and sat not far from her.
The quality of a fourth-tier weapon was indeed excellent; that previous strike had severed the Level 3 mutant beast's carapace and muscle tissue without leaving a single scratch on the blade.
“Those three swords just now,” Qiu Shubai suddenly spoke, her voice soft. “You used them in less than two seconds.”
“Mhm.” Luo Yang didn't look up. “With three strikes, that mutant beast had no chance of survival, so I released my control over them early to conserve some mental power.”
Qiu Shubai said nothing more.
What she had originally wanted to say was that the angles and timing of those three swords were so precise it sent chills down one's spine.
The first sword entered precisely where Luo Yang had just cleaved the wound, the second avoided the thickest part of the carapace to strike directly at the cranial cavity, and the third directly destroyed the mutant beast's core.
This wasn't combat; it was dissection.
Surgical dissection.
It was almost as if he was showing off to her: “Look, you can fight a Level 2 mutant beast like this, but I can fight a Level 3 one the same way.”
She knew Luo Yang probably didn't mean it that way, but her hand at her side still clenched slightly.
She was very competitive.
The rest ended, and the team continued to advance.
But what happened next was beyond everyone's expectations.
There were no mutant beasts, not a single one.
The rock walls on both sides of the road were covered in ancient patterns; these weren't mutant beast claw marks, but rather regular, designed carvings.
The style of the patterns didn't belong to any known civilization, yet they carried a strange sense of solemnity.
The air grew heavier and heavier, not an energy-level oppression, but a psychological one.
Song Zhiyi, walking at the front of the team, slowed his pace.
This place was too eerie.
The core area of a Rift usually housed a complete mutant beast population, including the pack leader, combat individuals, young, and embryos.
Logically, this should have been the most crowded place in the entire Rift.
But they had walked for ten minutes and hadn't seen a single mutant beast.
At the end of the road stood a magnificent building, with a massive door before them.
It was a true door; its pitch-black material couldn't be detected by any equipment carried by the Blade squad, and dark red energy patterns flowed across its surface, like congealed bloodlines.
And what was even stranger was that.
The door had no lock.
Song Zhiyi hesitated for a moment, then chose to push the door open.
This was a grand hall.
The dome ceiling soared dozens of meters high, supported by twelve massive stone pillars. Each pillar was covered in ancient patterns, through which faint light flowed.
At the far end of the hall was a throne.
Embedded in the tall black backrest was a fist-sized dark red crystal. The crystal had lost its luster, its surface covered in cracks, clearly having exhausted its energy long ago.
Beneath the crystal, a person sat enthroned.
It was a petite young girl.
She appeared to be only thirteen or fourteen, with long black hair cascading over her shoulders and skin of a sickly pallor.
She wore an almost entirely black Lolita-style dress, accentuating her eerie aura to the extreme.
Her eyes were closed, long lashes casting faint shadows on her face.
Her hands were folded on her lap, like a sleeping princess from a fairy tale.
The entire hall was silent.
Luo Yang's pupils constricted slightly.
His mental power swept over the girl, and then—he perceived nothing.
Not dead.
Not alive either.
It was a state he had never encountered, something between the two.
There was no life aura on the girl, but also no death aura.
She was like an exquisite doll abandoned here, quietly waiting for an awakening that would never come.
Song Zhiyi raised his hand, signaling everyone to remain vigilant.
Then, the girl's eyelashes twitched.
Rate on N.U.
