High Above

In fact, Ian and Trace's group did not arrive in Azure City safely.

Along the way, they encountered many phantoms and several beasts similar to the sharp-clawed tiger that Ian killed in the Ryan Territory.

But the fungus that lives on these beasts has undergone an abnormal evolution, whether for good or bad.

They greatly improved the strength and regeneration of the beasts in a short period of time, but they damaged the combat intelligence of these beasts. From being able to ambush and fight with various techniques, they became muscular monsters that could only punch and charge.

Although it is said that increasing the power is not a bad thing, no matter how much you strengthen it, some beasts are just like that. They do not have the wisdom to attack, and in the end they can only become research materials for Ian and others.

Rumble——

The sound of gunfire was heard in the distance.

Around another city, 'Dengyu City', a multi-party offensive and defensive battle has begun.

As the situation developed, not only the Inspector Knights and other imperial forces intervened in the Awak area, but according to the intelligence received by Tres, the Flying Flames side dispatched a special force due to the silence of the special forces headquarters on the Western Territory. The elite troops "King's Guards" entered, and Archduke Thorin even dispatched his own knights.

In addition, there are also private troops similar to the Dragon Worship Cult and a certain city lord from the Seven Cities Alliance infiltrating. They each have their own purposes, and the territory of Viscount Avak has been completely transformed into a dead zone, and there is no way for ordinary people to survive. became their battlefield.

Not to mention the various powerful monsters and phantoms that were originally here.

Ian looked out the window into the distance. In the light of the explosion, he vaguely saw three figures in the air, pouring firepower on a giant turtle like a hill, causing a huge roar that was no less than the roar of artillery.

What followed was more and more artillery fire.

That tortoise was the third-level mountain-carrying giant tortoise. Continuous alchemical artillery fire fell on it, and even the illusory heart light body on the surface of its body did not ripple.

Feeling a little bored, the giant turtle just raised its head, opened its mouth, and let out a huge roar - in an instant, a linear shock wave visible to the naked eye, along with layers of waves of smoke and dust, blew away and shattered everything in front of the giant turtle. , a cylindrical ditch appeared on the ground, crossing a distance of several thousand meters.

Mud and sand debris fell like raindrops all over the sky, creating a rain of stones.

The Ascendants who had attacked it before retreated the moment it opened its mouth, but the alchemy artillery position behind them was not so lucky. It was directly blown away by the cannons and men, turning into a giant crater with a diameter of more than 400 meters.

If this kind of attack were used to attack a city, such as Azure City, a small city with only a few hundred thousand people, part of it would be wiped out in an instant.

This is the third energy level... In the lost era, it was called the 'hero' and 'cornerstone' level one power.

The battle continues, and with explosions and roars, the ground is shaking.

"Thank you so much to the other teams..."

Ian sighed with emotion. Compared to others, he could guess that the reason why the Inspector Knights sent several teams to attract the attention of the mountain-carrying giant turtle was precisely because they were going to the Azure City.

Although Mikael can't come here on the surface, he can still remotely control the actions of some of the patrol knights.

"Yeah, we have to be careful too."

Tres didn't have as many ideas as Ian. After knowing that His Highness Mikael was in his team, he had completely given up thinking and just treated him as a pure tool. Ian said what he did: "There is a person in the Azure City. A team of patrol knights has disappeared, there must be some secret here."

There must be a secret. Ian nodded slightly. The second prince said that there were local living sublimates still operating in Azure City. The missing patrol knight team probably encountered these 'locals' and was raided by them.

Although the patrol knight team is very powerful, there may even be a fourth level in this incident. No matter how elite the team is, they may suffer losses in the face of such a crisis.

The crawler transport truck slowly drove into the city.

"The missing team's last signal return point is located in the northwest of the city. We won't get close yet to collect some intelligence."

Ian looked at the city map and directed the team's actions: "Go along this road, turn right after passing two streets, and then stop. There is the square area. The drone shows that it is very empty. We are conducting operations there. Get ready.”

"I feel that the spiritual energy fluctuations here are very...intense!"

Both Hua An and Mo Feng showed some uncomfortable expressions: "What's going on? The overlap depth of the virtual realm in this place has reached 12%..."

Mo Feng, who had studied this face more deeply, shook her head. She looked around with some confusion: "As long as it exceeds 5%, it is the danger line. If it exceeds 10%, a phantom will appear spontaneously... Moreover, I actually came from this city, Smell the smell of 'compatriots'?"

"Are there actually fairies in this city?"

Frost Butterfly frowned slightly, her wings stopped rotating, and she sat on Ian's shoulder with some wilting: "I feel... a little dizzy..."

Goblins are creatures that are very sensitive to changes in the virtual world. To them, this is equivalent to a sunny day when the temperature suddenly rises by more than ten degrees. Although it does not affect activities, there is no portable air conditioner here.

"have a good rest."

Ian touched the Frost Butterfly's head to comfort the little goblin.

But his attention soon turned to the outer streets.

The members of Tres' team are all very capable. After all, they are serious patrol knight apprentices and retinues who can perform various tasks. They are well-informed and have encountered many kinds of monsters and enemies. Avak Although the mission of the Viscounty was dangerous, it did not scare them.

But even so, after entering Azure City, these well-informed elite sublimators still felt a little numb.

"Report No. 5, there was a black shadow flashing through the window of the building to the left of Car No. 1 just now."

"Reported on the 12th, auditory hallucination symptoms occurred. I heard a breathing sound like a beast, ringing in my ears."

"Report No. 6, I also had symptoms of auditory hallucinations. I heard women whispering and children crying. Now there is also hysterical laughter. I can't hear the specific content of the words, but it will arouse the fear of ordinary people."

These symptoms of auditory hallucinations do not make sublimated people feel uncomfortable. After all, there are many monsters that can create hallucinations, and they have even killed a dozen of real ghosts and ghosts.

As we all know, no one will be afraid of zombies and ghosts as long as they have rockets and knives that can cut ghosts in their hands. And this group of patrol knights even has more than one alchemical cannon, so how can they be afraid of these boring atmosphere groups?

What really made them feel numb was the mist filling the streets.

"Report No. 19, Captain, these fogs have been sampled. After identification, it has been confirmed that this is the 'Crazy Fog', a special malicious phenomenon that only appears in the virtual realm, and is similar to the virtual realm abnormality codenamed 'Lake God' Similarly, it will gradually drive people into madness and apply for 'resistance medicine'."

When Tres received the report, he nodded and said: "Everyone takes the resistance medicine. They will take it without interruption until they arrive at the destination."

The resistance potion is not a mental protective potion. It essentially isolates the influence of external spiritual energy on the user. It uses its own medicinal essence to resist all external sources. It is a potion that is famous for its comprehensiveness rather than specialization.

It is suitable for this area where virtual reality and reality overlap.

Bodies littered both sides of the street. Some of the corpses had faces of pain and wounds all over their bodies, while some were as empty as if they were out of their bodies, lying straight on the ground.

And some people have crazy looks on their faces. Their mouths are full of flesh and blood, and their bodies have grown thick layers of fungi. They are obviously eroded by the corrupting fungi in the Flying Flame Land, and they have fallen into a selfless and violent desire to attack.

But without exception, they all died. At the entrance of the shop that originally sold fruits, vegetables and grains, the shopkeeper and the customers fell into pools of dried blood before they put down the grains in their hands. The woman who was run over by a carriage at the street entrance clearly looked miserable, but she In her hand, she held tightly a hand that seemed to have been torn off the body of the passenger in the car.

There was no one in the carriage, and the entire city was more like a huge slaughterhouse than a dead zone.

The Avak Territory is finished.

"This is a crisis... Even a small crisis that Huaiguang Church will not come forward, and it is not even in the 'Prophecy Book', will lead to hundreds of thousands of people, or even nearly a million people, just like this quietly... Just like this A meaningless death.”

Whispering to himself, it was only now that Ian finally understood what 'conflict' between major forces was and what 'consumption' was.

The cold numbers on the report gradually turned into the same cold corpses in front of him.

But the young man's expression did not change much. He was still scanning the entire city with a calm expression, and the silver-blue halo in his eyes flickered.

- Anger and sadness can't change anything.

As a scholar, what he needs to do is to calm down and find the key to the problem.

Ian is trying to find what Mikael calls the so-called 'living sublime', that is, the person directly connected to the tragedy behind this city... or at least the location of the person indirectly connected.

Only by finding them can we complete Mikael's mission and let them answer the questions in Ian's heart.

But suddenly.

The crawler transport vehicle stalled after making a low buzzing sound.