Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 77: "Dragons" and Dungeons

"The hole is still open."

Armin suddenly spoke, his gaze fixed squarely on the place they had come from.

Soshyan suddenly realized that the other was referring to the high probability of those monsters squeezing through the passage into this space. Consequently, he ordered a warrior to blow up the opening with a grenade—at least for a short time, they wouldn't have to worry about pursuers.

"Here—"

Sol, who had just spoken earlier, took a few steps forward and suddenly looked up. Directly above his head was another steep hole.

"Someone has used this hole."

He raised his hand and pointed into the air. Soshyan and the others looked over to find a rope ladder dangling from that opening. Affected by the airflow they had just caused, the rope ladder was still swaying gently.

Although there was some distance, Soshyan could tell that this rope ladder wasn't an ancient artifact, because most woven items like this didn't boast a long shelf life.

"It definitely wouldn't be the miners. They know the dangers here better than anyone else."

Soshyan arrived at the obvious conclusion only a beat slower than Sol."Exactly."

Seeing Sol give a slight nod, the ominous premonition in Soshyan's heart grew stronger.

"This mine tunnel has ample space, along with an adequate water supply, and even food. For the most part, the moss isn't toxic. Furthermore, it is hidden well enough here."

"Therefore, it is highly likely that a portion of the rebelling peasants are hiding in this place."

This conclusion provoked a series of even more unsettling questions.

From the very beginning, they hadn't seen any trace of human activity. The rebels they encountered earlier clearly had no idea there was another group of their kind here. This indicated that whoever entered this place was completely isolated and secretive, or they had vanished before they could even send word to the outside world.

Soshyan took a deep breath.

Regardless, he would have to come back to worry about this later. Right now, his mission was clear.

He pointed at those glowing "trees."

"We need to go take a look."

That place wasn't very far from them. Only after getting truly close did Soshyan and the others discover that these were indeed a type of plant.

A rare plant that also exhibited the characteristics of some kind of mineral.

However, the distribution pattern of these plants was exactly as Sol had mentioned: there were rules to it, and there were even some small paths interspersed among them.

After a brief deliberation, they decided to follow the paths deeper inside to investigate.

As they trudged swiftly through the glowing forest and the parasitic plants clinging to their surfaces, Soshyan felt the moss beneath his feet was still quite springy, but much thinner than it had been at the cave.

Looking around, aside from the dark green moss, one could sporadically catch glimpses of bare stone.

As the squad passed a plant that was somewhat shorter than most of the others, Soshyan slowed down slightly to take in as many details as possible.

Regardless of what its structure was, its skin was as smooth as marble. Deep within, it glowed faintly, and its surface seemed to bear faint patterns.

Soshyan hesitated, considering whether to stop and study it, but a sudden commotion ahead made him quicken his pace again.

"Those plants have been eaten."

As he walked, Armin raised his gun, scanning the bushes between the glowing trees with heightened vigilance compared to before.

Generally speaking, if there are herbivores, chances are there are carnivores as well.

The ecosystem here looked extraordinarily bizarre, even imparting a feeling that it shouldn't belong on this planet. Occasionally, patches of vivid color would stand out amidst the dense surrounding moss.

Suddenly, the bushes to the right of the squad trembled violently, followed by a sharp screech that then abruptly went dead silent.

Everyone cautiously pointed their guns at their surroundings, yet they only felt an eerie, deathly silence.

"Don't stop."

Sol's voice rang out over the comm channel, so everyone continued to advance in a covering formation.

The path ahead seemed slightly easier to traverse, and Soshyan quickly discovered the reason—they had inadvertently entered a wide avenue between the trees, which was significantly more spacious than the small path they had been on.

But this also implied something else—roads usually lead people somewhere.

And Soshyan couldn't help but wonder if this road would lead them straight to trouble, or straight to their target.

Perhaps those refugees had very likely taken this road as well, only to discover or encounter something at its end.

"There seem to be buildings ahead."

Suddenly, just as Soshyan was immersed in thought, Sol, who was taking point, issued a warning. Soshyan immediately cut off his wild speculations and re-checked his Bolt Pistol—it was fully loaded.

Advancing several dozen meters, the surrounding light grew brighter, and the substance coating the outside of the thickets seemed to become even more bizarre and smooth.

At the same time, they began extending out to the left and right, resembling well-manicured flowerbeds surrounding a plaza.

Soshyan thought to himself that Sol was probably right; everything here was likely artificially constructed.

Moreover, the trees in this place were several times taller than the previous ones, featuring distinct openings on both sides that looked very much like doors and windows. The largest ones even had something akin to doorposts above them.

A kind of "resident" existed here that they knew nothing about.

At this thought, Soshyan immediately spoke through the comm channel: "Find cover."

With that, he was the first to leap off the road and dive into a nearby bush.

If he were in charge of deploying defenses for this area, he would undoubtedly assign Snipers to watch this most obvious entrance.

And according to past experience, swaggering straight into an ambusher's line of fire almost certainly resulted in nothing good.

"Sir? What happened?"

Struggling forward alongside Soshyan, Armin asked quietly.

Once the squad had taken cover in the bushes, the surroundings suddenly rustled with movement.

"I'm not sure yet."

Just as he finished speaking, Soshyan saw something burst out of cover and break into a mad sprint. It looked like a relatively small quadrupedal lizard scrambling quickly through the underbrush.

Its back was covered in thick scale armor, and its tail was simply a spiked club that any barbarian would dream of having.

"Here, we can slip through this way."

Soshyan found a gap in the bushes and led the squad through the hedge wall.

But the moment they emerged, they found themselves surrounded by glowing walls shaped like massive coral reefs.

"This is..."

Soshyan gave it a light touch, surprised to find the texture was very much like jelly.

At that same moment, the instant the Space Marine's gauntlet touched the smooth surface, the original soft glow suddenly flared with light.

The intense glare made it hard to look directly at it, causing Soshyan to almost miss the faint movement within the hedge wall behind them.

Only almost.

"Enemy attack!"

Accompanied by an ear-piercing roar, a bipedal lizard-like creature fully twice his height lunged out from the bushes. With its maw wide open and sharp claws extended forward, it aimed straight for the closest target, Sol, ready to slice open the prey right in front of it.

Soshyan fired immediately. The bolt left a scorched mark on the hide of its muscular shoulder, but the creature barely slowed down a fraction.

However, he had bought Sol enough time.