Chapter 1335: Chapter 1334: Frontline Research Vessel

Amidst the raging flames sweeping through the mountains and forests, the tainted, deformed flesh returns to dust in the fire, and the polluting aura spreading along with these aberrations is finally curbed on this ancient land.

In the past few days, intense firepower from ground and air has efficiently cleared the blindly wandering aberrations that lost their command. As these monsters are extensively removed, the wasteland process in the western region of Ruby City starts to recede. On the third day of Dawn of the mortal world’s entry into the battlefield, the flames in the Ruby Forest Sea gradually extinguish — and the clearing and recapture of the battlefield commence.

In the eastern Ruby Forest, above Wolf Spine Mountain, a massive "Gorgon" air fortress hovers in the cold wind. It is an "Outpost Research Ship" belonging to the Empire’s Magical Energy Technology Department. On its alloy-built wide chassis, there stands a composite structure with a spired tower and an astronomical platform, which looks entirely distinct from conventional military facilities. At this moment, the main modules of this structure are in full-power operation — the extending structures on either wing of the main building have opened energy emission grids, with faint blue light particles drifting in the dawn sky, flowing mysteriously along the magical paths between the building and its wings, lighting up several sensing devices at the top of the structure.

In the still dim pre-dawn light, this airborne outpost research ship surprisingly adds a sense of stunning beauty due to those mysterious and profound flowing lights, floating like an artificial Goddess with spread wings over the scarred Wolf Spine Mountain. The lights scatter from its wings down to the ground and up into the sky, and clearly, these beautiful radiances are not merely decorative.

This "research ship" is collecting crucial data, monitoring the changes in the magic-pervasive environment of the entire land after the retreat of the aberrations. Those dreamy light streams result from its main detector interacting with the chaotic magic in the environment, and this data will play an extremely important role in the alliance’s future counterattack against the wasteland.

At the control center of the outpost research ship, the technical staff are analyzing data coming from various sources, while Marin Leslie, the highest technical officer of this sky fortress, stands before the main console, keeping an eye on the operational status of this "ship" designed and supervised by himself.

A voice from an assistant researcher came from the side, interrupting Marin Leslie’s thoughts: "智库长, here are the recently summarized pollution retreat monitoring data, please take a look."

Marin snapped out of his contemplation, looked up, and took the data booklet handed over by his assistant — this material, supported by analysis and summarization from the Main Brain and directly printed, appeared more intuitive, understandable, and aesthetically pleasing than handmade records. As his gaze swiftly moved across the data, Marin’s slightly furrowed brows gradually eased.

"It seems the wasteland pollution brought by the aberrations is receding throughout the region... the retreat curve roughly matches our previous calculations, and at this pace, in less than a week, the area west of Wolf Spine Mountain will allow personnel with minimal protection to enter and operate."

"Yes, the pollution retreat is rapid — it seems as long as those aberrations don’t gather, wasteland pollution cannot be sustained in the natural environment for too long," the assistant researcher said cheerfully, "They haven’t entrenched on this land for too long, not enough to poison the soil and the deep groundwater, and the high-temperature flames have effectively countered the negative impacts those aberrations brought."

"...If only the pollution in the Gondor wasteland could naturally recede this easily," Marin’s eyes lingered on the table in his hand, but he couldn’t help but sigh, "In the wasteland, it’s not easy for our frontline warriors to have a sip of clean water..."

He shook his head, put down the table in his hand, and returned his attention to the console in front of him — the fortress’ Main Brain was monitoring the situation on the ground at this moment, and the images captured by external monitors were projected holographically above the console. In those images, Marin could clearly see the devastation of Wolf Spine Mountain after the wars; the most striking were the abrupt depressions and cross-sections on the mountain.

Those were large-scale "erosion" marks, as if a part of the mountain had been directly cut and erased by some invisible force. The terrifying energy explosion destroyed the original rock formations there, leaving only crystallized, congealed layers flowing down from the edges of the recessed hollows, and around those "erosion" marks, heavily-protected ground exploration personnel could be seen moving like ants, collecting firsthand data unattainable by aerial remote sensing.

These exploration personnel are also part of the "Outpost Research Ship’s" shipborne troops. Besides them, there are low-flying single-person reconnaissance aircraft and "Eye of the Mage" directly controlled by the mothership in the skies above the nearby mountains and forests. Together, they form an extensive, three-dimensional detection system, which is one of Marin Leslie’s prides and a critical reliance in his operation here.

Incidentally, his other significant reliance is the ten main cannons and twenty-six secondary cannons carried on this "research ship" — under Princess Rebecca’s leadership, the Empire’s researchers have always been full of Martial Virtue and love all forms of big bangs, attributing combat power in the auxiliary forces just next to medical personnel.

"...Even upon witnessing it firsthand, those marks are still astonishing," Marin Leslie stared at the shocking erosion marks on Dragon Spine Mountain, unable to help but softly exclaim, "The destructive power of the Supercritical Accelerator surpasses any conventional weapon from before, and in my view, even exceeds the Purgatory Incendiary... truthfully, when I first followed Princess Rebecca, I was merely in awe of her wisdom and inspiration, but I never thought her wisdom could be transformed into such... terrifying power."

"It’s said some shallow believers in the army began to lose faith after witnessing the power of the Supercritical Accelerator," the assistant researcher commented with some amazement, "This could be considered an ’unexpected effect’ of the Supercritical Accelerator."

"...When the limits of mythological imagination cannot compare to the wonders created by human intellect, mythology naturally loses its luster over time," Marin Leslie shook his head and said softly, "However, this only works for shallow believers. Devout followers always have a hundred reasons to attribute everything to the mighty power of their God — whether their God is willing or not. Let’s not discuss this anymore. How long has the ground exploration team been down there?"

"They’ve been down for twelve hours already, but not reached their operational limit yet," the assistant researcher promptly reported, "With ground pollution receding, the action plan group is discussing whether to extend each round of ground exploration time..."

Marin Leslie pondered for a moment, shaking his head slightly, "I don’t recommend doing that. We’ve already established a foothold here, no need to increase personnel risk for the sake of efficiency gains. Stick to the rotation plan — once this wave of ground teams returns, we’ll proceed to the next monitoring point."

"Yes, Chief of Intel."

Marin nodded, then glanced at a nearby metal platform protruding from the ground. The metal platform was roughly a raised triangular shape, at its center fixed a transparent crystal container, with a massive brain floating at its center, leisurely poking at the bubbles in the biomass solution with tentacles, appearing under low load.

"Main Brain, maintain vigilance over the surrounding area, pre-charge the defensive cannons, and we’ll move to the eastern pollution zone in an hour."

A synthesized young female voice immediately resounded throughout the control center: "Yes, Marin, enhancing Danger Detection, fortress firepower status is good, ready to activate anytime, engine power is plentiful..."

Upon hearing the Main Brain’s voice, the young assistant researcher couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the Chief of Intel next to him — to be honest, requesting the Main Brain to set the voice to a female pitch is indeed a bit peculiar, and even more peculiar was that the Chief of Intel seemed to have made considerable effort to adjust the Main Brain’s language mode. It’s said that he even secretly chats with "the ship" when he’s alone, which seems to be unique within the entire Sky Fortress battle group, as most people aboard this "ship" suspect it has something to do with the Chief of Intel’s "personal aesthetics," but no one dares to say it outright...

The young assistant researcher couldn’t help but occasionally entertain slightly offensive thoughts in his mind: One shouldn’t, or at least shouldn’t...

"Why are you staring at me?" Perhaps he had been sneaking glances for too long, and his gaze was finally noticed. The balding Marin Leslie couldn’t help but turn his head to look at his assistant, "If you have any questions, just ask."

The young assistant researcher immediately tensed up, quickly pushing those thoughts that might double his workload out of his mind, and after a bit of frantic thinking, came up with a less abrupt topic to divert his supervisor’s attention: "Well... Chief, I just suddenly thought... isn’t it a bit odd for our research facility to be equipped with dozens of magic cannons and Rainbow Light Generators of various sizes?"

Before he could finish, he felt a steady, powerful hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Marin Leslie’s deep gaze and heard his wise words:

"Young man, don’t limit your vision to the desk. Sometimes we researchers need to ’venture out’. Look, we’ve moved out of the research institute and come to the front lines of the wasteland. Look around at these dangerous mountains and the dark wilderness. Although it seems like the monsters here have been eradicated, who knows if there’s still danger lurking in the shadows? What if a runaway aberration suddenly appears from below? That would be quite dangerous..."

Marin Leslie looked at the young assistant researcher’s somewhat puzzled face—this was clearly a very naive young man, with thick hair and yet to develop a sufficient love for big explosions. Such a young man clearly needed guidance, and this was the responsibility that a mature Empire researcher like him must take on.

"... So, it’s entirely reasonable for Empire scholars like us to carry thirty-two fortress cannons when conducting field research..."

Assistant Researcher: "...?"

...

The ground operation team leader looked up at the sky, seeing the majestic "Sky Research Institute" quietly floating between the clouds. The morning light slanted in from the horizon, casting a golden-red glow that shimmered at the edge of the airborne fortress, harmonizing beautifully with the magic power flows in the air.

Although the ’Gorgon’ flying platforms seemed inconspicuous when acting with the Dawn of the mortal world, individually, they were magnificent aerial wonders.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze from the sky and refocused on the work before him.

The heavy personal protective suit shielded him from the cold north wind on Wolf Spine Mountain. The double-layer barrier projected by the defense system filtered and blocked the potential pollution in the air. Yet, even with such thick and reliable protective equipment, the surrounding desolate pollution and scars of war still made the group leader feel deeply oppressed.

The surfaces of soil and rock were covered with nauseating purple-black "substances". Corruptive forces had left numerous crisscrossed ravines on the mountain surface. Animals were extinct, while bones were visible in the gaps between rocks, and plants had been reduced to twisted, mutated remnants. Filthy and suspicious biological tissue fragments, resembling mud, coated certain remnants. Destroyed beastmen defensive works scattered amid the scorched earth, broken banners, and weapons looked as if they had undergone millennia of weathering, rotting beyond recognition.

This is what happens when those abhorrent monsters occupy a piece of land—although their stay was brief, they had already caused such shocking pollution. If the Dawn of the Mortal World hadn’t arrived in time at the western line, this terrifying and tragic scene would undoubtedly have swept across all of Augari, or even across the entire West Continent.

A voice from a team member came from the side: "Leader, the sun has risen, and the magic readings in the environment are starting to fluctuate. We should probably only have time to measure the last set of data."

The operation team leader looked up at the distant horizon, seeing the corona of the giant sun illuminating the mountains—this indicated that part of the operation team’s measuring work was about to conclude.

"I’ve just received a message from the airborne command center that we will return to the research ship in an hour," the operation team leader nodded, his voice slightly muffled from beneath his heavy faceplate, "After collecting the data, check the surroundings to see if there are any missed clues."

The team member nodded, directing his gaze to a nearby area—in front of him was a massive "eroded" zone. A large chunk had been "excavated" from the mountainside as if by sheer force, leaving a nearly circular black depression, with residual heat still rising from the pit bottom. The edges of the depression were lined with a black crystalline substance that had cooled and solidified, both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

"This is the seventh impact site," the operation team leader said gravely, "According to the battle report, it was only after the Supercritical Accelerator hit here that the aberration Legion suddenly lost control... Commander Jinna and the military advisors suspect that this must have been the command node for those monsters."

"... It’s a shame nothing is left," the team member said regretfully, "It would have been nice if a few crippled dark priests had remained, we could use a few more research samples."

"There will be some, eventually, anyway..."

The operation team leader’s words were abruptly cut off by a shout from not far away.

"Leader! It looks like we’ve found something useful!! Come over quickly to see what this is!"

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