49 Apocalypse Rules

RUMBLE...

The convoy of armored vehicles and tanks rumbled onward, their heavy, clamorous movement creating a continuous, low wave of sound that rolled through the Mist.

The Dragon Soul Squad and Chen Na sat inside an armored vehicle, fatigue etched on their faces. They had set out yesterday afternoon and had been on the move for nearly twenty hours, constantly fending off Nightmare Beast attacks that made it difficult to get any real rest.

To their credit, the reinforced armored battalion was well-equipped. Every Nightmare Beast that launched an attack was obliterated by heavy firepower, and the contingent of several hundred people had yet to suffer a single casualty.

But as for how long they would have to keep pushing forward like this, no one knew.

"Captain, is this kid leading the way really reliable?" Black Shark couldn’t help but ask. "What if he takes us down the wrong path?"

Dragon Soul replied, "He should be fine. After all, he possesses the ’Coordinate’ ability."

The person responsible for navigation was someone the officials had specifically found in the ability/item database. He possessed an ability called "Coordinate."

When activated, he just had to silently think of his desired destination, and by consuming Psychic Power, he would receive route guidance to the target location.

After the officials found him, they assigned him to this team. By having him silently repeat "source of the Mist’s spread," he could use his Coordinate ability to get the corresponding route guidance.

Right now, this person was in the Commander’s command vehicle, providing the route while the Commander directed the troops based on his information.

"I still don’t think it’s reliable," Black Shark grumbled. "We don’t even know if this Mist has a source. It might be just like that blizzard incident—the Fire Thief pulled all that snow out of thin air. There was no source to be found."

"If we don’t rely on him, should we rely on you?" Silver Fox teased. "If you’re so capable, why don’t you show everyone the way?"

"Hmph, I may not have any of those weird abilities, but in a fight, I could take on ten of him!"

"Without his ’weird ability,’ we’d just be running around like headless chickens on this mission. After all, we can’t use navigation equipment in this fog. Right, Night Owl?"

Flying Eagle looked at the young man with glasses sitting in the corner, who nodded and said, "It’s not just that electronic navigation is unusable."

As he spoke, he pulled an old-fashioned compass from his pocket. The needle was just spinning in circles.

"This fog is interfering with the magnetic field."

"Fucking hell, this is bizarre!" Black Shark cursed. "Who knows what planet this crap came from and ended up on Celestial Water Star."

"Try to be more optimistic," Flying Eagle said, clapping Black Shark on the shoulder. "Didn’t the experts say this is the first time we’ve confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial life? It’s highly likely the Fire Thief is some kind of intelligent alien life form, not a ’god’ like so many people drone on about. Knowing that is something to celebrate."

"Celebrate my ass. I think..."

Suddenly, the Commander’s stern command crackled over the radio: "Giant Nightmare Beast detected nearby! All vehicles, halt immediately!"

As soon as the order was given, the numerous vehicles in the convoy came to an immediate stop.

Everyone fell silent, the quiet so profound they could almost hear their own heartbeats.

This wasn’t the first time the troops had encountered a Giant Nightmare Beast. They had run into one before—an arthropod-like creature. A single one of its segments was over twenty meters long, making its total body length impossible to estimate.

When that Nightmare Beast had slithered past the convoy, no one had wanted to open fire on it. Perhaps the armored battalion’s firepower could have killed such a Giant Beast, but it would have most likely come at a cost.

The Commander was well aware that their core mission was "exploration," not clearing out every Nightmare Beast they met in the Mist. So he ordered everyone to maintain silence upon encountering a Giant Nightmare Beast. It was best to let it pass, and only open fire if a confrontation was unavoidable.

Several hundred people, each with ten [Biological Signal Detectors], with each detector lasting about five minutes. By using them in rotation while on the move, they had enough to continuously monitor the tracks of any Giant Nightmare Beast for a long time.

With all the vehicles now stopped, Chen Na closed her eyes and silently activated her [Perception Realm] ability.

Once her Domain expanded, she clearly perceived a massive Nightmare Beast moving slowly about 170 meters away. But to her surprise, the creature wasn’t walking on the ground; it was suspended in the air.

She said in surprise, "It’s flying!"

Hearing this, Dragon Soul looked at Chen Na. "Did you use your ability? Is it a flying-type Nightmare Beast?"

Chen Na nodded with her eyes still closed. Then she suddenly froze, perceiving several other living beings hundreds of meters away. ’Are those... humans?’

...

Guan Tong walked through the Mist, sensing that something was strange.

Not a single Nightmare Beast had attacked him for a full hour.

This was definitely not normal. Based on his previous experience, while the Nightmare Beasts in the fog weren’t exactly swarming, there were still a good number of them. On average, he would be attacked every seven or eight minutes.

For things to be quiet for an entire hour, there had to be a reason.

Especially since the fog in his current location was even thicker than before.

It was now 12:30 PM, the brightest time of day, but visibility was just over half a meter. The fog had grown so dense that he was forced to summon a few Living Dead to walk ahead of him in a perimeter.

This way, if a Nightmare Beast launched a surprise attack, the Living Dead could act as a shield and create a buffer for him.

’But for there to be no Nightmare Beasts in a place with such thick fog... that’s impossible. Could there be some special circumstances?’

"BOOM!"

Suddenly, a deafening explosion echoed from nearby. Startled, Guan Tong instinctively looked toward the sound, but his vision was blocked by the dense fog.

’That’s artillery fire!’

He was certain he hadn’t misheard; it was the sound of human artillery.

’Is there an armed force near me?’

That first shot was like an overture, immediately followed by the continuous roar of dense cannon fire.

’That’s right, it’s an armed force! And a large-scale one at that!’

’Did they run into a particularly tough Nightmare Beast? Why else would they be making such a huge commotion?’

Guan Tong immediately maneuvered several Shadow Lines toward the source of the noise and, just as he suspected, discovered the convoy of armored vehicles and tanks. This instantly confirmed for him that these were official troops.

The weapons mounted on these vehicles were all firing at the sky, suggesting the enemy was airborne.

Guan Tong directed his shadows to look up, but due to the thick fog, he could only see a short distance. Even in that limited view, he saw a large number of bat-like Nightmare Beasts diving from the sky, crashing violently against the armored vehicles.

Compared to the defensive capabilities of the armored vehicles and tanks, these Nightmare Beasts were on a suicide mission and shouldn’t have been a threat. But in the next moment, a gigantic wing descended from the sky, piercing through an armored vehicle with a deafening CRUNCH!

’A Giant Nightmare Beast!’

Guan Tong knew that only a Giant Nightmare Beast could possess such immense power. The official troops must have realized this as well, which was why they were firing so intensely at the sky.

’Get away!’

That was his first thought. Both the Giant Nightmare Beast and the official armored unit’s artillery were extremely dangerous to him.

If he got too close and happened to get hit by a large-caliber shell, it would be no laughing matter!

Guan Tong immediately had his shadow transform into Shadow Armor to cover his entire body, then sprinted forward to get away from the battlefield.

As he ran, however, he suddenly noticed that the fog ahead was thinning.

’Am I getting close to the source of the Mist?’

Guan Tong picked up his pace. No Nightmare Beasts appeared to stop him, which made him gradually realize something. ’Maybe the closer I get to the edge, the fewer Nightmare Beasts there are. Or perhaps this is the territory of the beast fighting the official convoy, and all the other Nightmare Beasts have been scared away?’

Nightmare Beasts didn’t seem to have the concept of eating, so Guan Tong had no idea if a "food chain" even existed among them.

He only knew that the fog in front of him was getting thinner and thinner. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

About twenty-something meters ahead, a tall Fog Gate hung suspended in the air, roughly 30 centimeters off the ground.

"That gate... is it one of the sources of the Mist?"

Guan Tong stared at the suspended Fog Gate and walked toward it, step by step.

’The Puzzle Fragment mentioned in the hidden Apocalypse Rules—will it be here?’

His heart raced. Just as the Fog Gate was getting closer, several figures suddenly rushed out from the other side, taking a confrontational stance opposite him.

Guan Tong stopped and looked at the five people. They were all wearing identical bright yellow protective suits, clearly a squad.

The five of them glanced at the suspended Fog Gate, then at each other. The tall man in the lead spoke to Guan Tong. "You must be a non-affiliated powerhouse. We’re an official team of Ascenders. It seems that gate is the source of the Mist."

Guan Tong’s heart stirred. ’The armored unit must be responsible for holding back the Nightmare Beast,’ he thought, ’creating an opportunity for this squad to complete the exploration.’

"Yes," Guan Tong said.

"We need to explore it first. Please wait here for the time being. If you need it, we can give you an escort back when we’re done."

"Why do you get to explore it first?"

Dragon Soul paused at his words. Black Shark, next to him, cut in, "Listen, kid. Our soldier brothers are fighting to the death against that giant bird Nightmare Beast to create this chance to approach the gate. Of course we get to explore it first!"

Guan Tong didn’t agree. "That’s not a valid reason. Even without you, I would have found a way to lure the Nightmare Beast away and explore it myself."

As he spoke, he began maneuvering his Shadow Lines toward the Fog Gate. However, the Shadow Lines, which were nearly invisible to the naked eye under normal conditions, were spotted by Night Owl, the one with glasses.

Night Owl said, "He’s using a Psychic Power ability to approach the Fog Gate!"

"You little brat, playing dirty!" Black Shark roared, drawing the rifle from his back, but he was stopped by their captain, Dragon Soul.

"Black Shark, don’t be rash."

"Captain, let me handle this."

With that, Silver Fox’s figure blurred and vanished without a trace.

’Instant Teleportation? No, it’s just speed so fast the naked eye can’t follow...’

Guan Tong saw Silver Fox’s movement leave behind an afterimage. Immediately after, he felt a powerful gust of wind from behind as—BAM!—Silver Fox’s high kick slammed into his Shadow Armor.

The thick Shadow Armor absorbed the force of the kick, leaving Guan Tong unharmed. He immediately directed his Shadow Lines to wrap around Silver Fox while firing a Hooked Claw from the Silver Hunter in his hand toward the ground far in the direction of the Fog Gate.

"This is... a shadow?"

Silver Fox’s expression was one of shock as she saw the black substance wrapping toward her. She retreated explosively to dodge.

"You’re Shadow?!"

The other four members of the squad had previously seen Guan Tong’s black armor and assumed it was just his special protective suit; they hadn’t made the connection to Shadow. But now, seeing Shadow’s signature way of manipulating shadows, they abruptly realized who he was.

Guan Tong paid them no mind. His target was the Puzzle Fragment. After the Hooked Claw latched onto the ground in an arc, it immediately yanked his body forward at high speed.

Seeing this, the five members of the Dragon Soul Squad concluded that there must be some secret at the Fog Gate. Otherwise, Shadow wouldn’t be so desperate!

"Go!"

At Dragon Soul’s command, all five of them charged forward.

The fastest two, Silver Fox and Flying Eagle, caught up to Guan Tong almost instantly, only to be immediately blocked by a Shadow Wall that erupted from the ground.

’It really is Shadow!’

If the five of them weren’t completely certain before, the appearance of this Shadow Wall was 100% proof that this person was Shadow. During the battle on Holy Grail Island, the thing everyone discussed most was the black wall that Shadow created. It had blocked the escape route for countless people, leaving an extremely deep impression.

"I’ll do it."

Black Shark swung his right fist. A red light burst from it, and a single punch shattered the Shadow Wall blocking their path.

By this time, Guan Tong had reached the edge of the Fog Gate. He could see with his own eyes that the mist was spilling out from within the gate.

However, he didn’t see anything that looked like a fragment. Moreover, the Fog Gate wasn’t solid; the Shadow Lines he had sent out earlier had passed right through it the moment they made contact.

’Eliminate the impossible, and the only remaining possibility is that the fragment isn’t outside the Fog Gate, but inside it.’

Guan Tong stepped through, and his body was instantly swallowed by the mist.

The five members of the Dragon Soul Team who were chasing him stopped in front of the Fog Gate. They didn’t follow him in immediately, their faces showing hesitation.