novelraw Chapter 122 : Song of Sand and Mirage
Chapter 122 : Song of Sand and Mirage
Behind Zhou Chen, gales howled fiercely. The yellow sand floating on the divine platform was swept up by the hurricane, following the wind swirls and the voice of the black-gold mech, rushing toward the crowd.
The Titan Long-Necked Beast's footsteps were like mallets, pounding on the ground one after another. The dull thudding sounds, accompanied by the shaking of the divine platform, made the ground that had already been blasted open by the cannons even more fractured under this vibration, with the cracks becoming more obvious.
And at this moment, from the giant tree statue being worshipped in the center of the divine platform, a jade-green light seemed to emit.
That light orb only flashed for an extremely brief moment, then extended into an extremely long green line, sweeping across the ground bit by bit.
The cracked square ground began to spread, new soil grew under the huge pit, stone pillars closed up, as if the entire temple was being protected by this energy, beginning to heal.
"This statue—"
Chen Sui narrowed her eyes, looking up, but Zhou Chen's heart-wrenching plea for help sounded from behind: "Ahhhh, is no one speaking for me?? Why did this thing suddenly go berserk!!"
The Titan beast's roars and the White Sand Ants' wing-flapping sounds intersected. The roaring made the fierce wind even more tumultuous, as if carrying rolling waves, rushing directly at the Zhu Jing Fu team.
"Run that way!"
Chen Sui's eyes focused, directly pointing to the side rear, at the giant lion statue.
Zhou Chen immediately turned, his mech quickly propelling forward, rushing toward the giant lion.
"Puluo, open the umbrella!"
Chen Sui's voice rang out. The soldier switched from his cannon to his long staff, a golden light covering the shield umbrella. The umbrella face rotated, directly rushing toward the black-gold mech.
Seeing Chen Sui setting up her cannon toward the giant lion, Gu Qinxue's eyes flashed, seemingly understanding her intention: "I'll enhance it."
The energy-gathering cannon gathered a ball of fiery red energy, preparing to fire toward the direction where Chen Sui's cannon was gathering energy.
Zhou Chen led the extremely fast White Sand Ants behind him toward the statue surrounded by the giant lions.
This action didn't even need the attraction of energy liquid. Seeing this unfamiliar intruder rush toward the sacrificial platform, the voices of the Titan beasts and White Sand Ants simultaneously carried some anger. The gathering energy storm became increasingly intense, with fierce winds accompanied by yellow sand.
Chen Sui noticed that in this mixture of earth and wind energy, a fierce fire was fanned by the gale, roaring out from the Titan beasts.
—Among them, there were even some fire attribute energy bodies.
The black-gold mech arrived around the giant lion. In the team channel, a hoarse female voice sounded. Zhou Chen immediately shuddered.
"Zhou Chen, run faster."
He pushed his propulsion to the maximum. Hawk's propulsion device even emitted a roar.
The black figure of the black-gold mech was like a meteor sweeping past rapidly, directly leaving a shadow in mid-air.
The White Sand Ants swarmed toward the giant lion. Just as they stopped in front of the giant tree statue, Chen Sui's gaze vaguely looked at the White Sand Ants, her eyes focusing on the giant tree behind the White Sand Ants. She set up her cannon.
Gu Qinxue had already seen her target. As Chen Sui nodded, two cannon shots carrying huge energy flashed toward the giant tree.
The fierce fire was like a dragon, rushing directly at the giant tree statue.
Zhou Chen's figure bent in front of the giant tree, rushing straight up into the sky. By the time the White Sand Ants reacted, a sea of fierce fire had already arrived behind them.
The energy bodies could have escaped based on their high speed, but behind them was the statue of the 'god.' A will trapped the White Sand Ants in place, unable to move an inch.
The White Sand Ants flapped their long wings, with wind attribute energy surrounding them.
The Fierce Fire Cannon, outside the energy barrier, emitted an explosive sound. The fierce fire and the gale were deadlocked in the air for just a moment.
Following closely, Gu Qinxue's mech stood in mid-air, firing a shot that drove the surrounding fire attribute energy, rushing directly at the giant tree statue. The wind wall was broken by the fierce fire, with layer after layer of fire dragons piercing through the wind walls, carving a red line of fierce fire within the almost transparent wind walls.
Flames broke through layer after layer, rushing directly at the giant tree statue!
"Boom—"
The Fierce Fire Cannon and the energy-gathering cannon collided with a huge explosion. However, just as the fire was burning the air and spreading on the sacrificial high platform, a green light seemed to burst from the high platform, directly blocking the trend of the fierce fire.
"Zhou Chen, split with the Four-sided Mace," Chen Sui, holding her long spear, flew forward, looking at Zhou Chen.
The agile attacker who had already leaped to the sky drew his weapon upon hearing this. As the Four-sided Mace swung, lightning flashed, a layer of electricity directly covering the sky. As he held the weapon and chopped downward, the lightning was like a curtain being pulled, with the center protruding downward. The Four-sided Mace spread outward, with an extremely thick steel needle extending from inside, and the lightning gathering at the tip of the steel needle.
A green light burst outside the giant tree statue. A layer of green similarly spread on Chen Sui's long spear. The black-gold mech rushed into the flames. The remaining members of Zhu Jing Fu gathered together, with Puluo's shield umbrella spinning around them. Gu Qinxue was somewhat nervous, her hand gripping tightly.
Chen Sui had probably wanted to blast this statue from the very beginning.
This statue was too similar to Wood-Born Flower's giant tree form. Once it appeared simultaneously with Wood-Born Flower, it could quickly be associated.
Gu Qinxue instinctively thought of that question Chen Sui had asked her before. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, and at this moment, she understood the meaning behind Chen Sui's words.
Several people's gazes seriously looked toward the divine platform. The Titan beasts and White Sand Ants around seemed to sense that around the 'god' was filled with threats. A group of energy bodies all rushed toward the statue's position.
Energy bodies that subsequently entered the temple also rushed madly toward the divine platform position.
The Zhu Jing Fu team didn't notice this scene. At present, Chen Sui's mech had been completely swallowed by flames. The long spear, carrying a green energy, like an arrow, thrust directly at the Wood-Born Flower giant tree.
The instant the two green energies collided, Chen Sui's mental domain energy violently churned. She controlled the powerful energy storm, firmly trapping the core crystal, not allowing the crystal to rotate even a bit.
In a place she couldn't see, the connection between the body and the mental domain became more precise.
The shared feeling between the master and Wood-Born Flower also became higher.
"Bang—"
A slight cracking sound rang out. Around the black-gold mech, a powerful green light burst out. The green light circle swept outward, with the surrounding gales and earth spikes shattered by the green light. The White Sand Ants seemed to be thrown out by a fierce wind, directly falling outward.
Even as huge as the Titan beasts were, they were directly flipped by the green light circle.
[Ah?? Wow, this energy intensity is over the limit! Way over the limit!]
[I don't recommend using energy like this, because I can't]
[Emperor Sui, I beg you, can you do something I can learn??]
[Wait, who taught her all this energy enrichment? Can I flip an SSS-level energy body group with this??]
[Since I started learning energy control from Emperor Sui, my teacher has told me not to go out, afraid I'd be slapped to death by energy bodies, hehe]
[Seeing everyone in this mental state, I feel relieved]
The scene of energy bodies flying out brought too strong an impact, but what the bullet comments didn't expect was that after the green light barrier around the giant tree burst open, Zhou Chen directly rushed down from above.
Lightning directly burst in mid-air, with purple electricity instantly illuminating the square, and huge lightning bolts striking down.
"Boom—"
The steel needle of the Four-sided Mace directly pierced the top of the Wood-Born Flower giant tree statue.
"Run faster."
Chen Sui's voice sounded a beat late.
Zhou Chen hadn't yet reacted, instinctively concentrating all the lightning attribute energy gathered around onto his Four-sided Mace.
The lightning was like a rope, blasting sparks around the statue, instantly exploding.
"Crack..."
The sound of stone blocks cracking was particularly obvious amid the lightning bombardment.
Just as cracks appeared in the giant tree, a green light spilled from the crevices. The lightning seemed to dim somewhat, with the surrounding energy dissipating at a visible speed.
Zhou Chen raised an eyebrow. Even someone as insensitive as he felt some familiarity from this scene. The burning flames obscured the scene of the giant tree statue devouring the lightning attribute energy.
Chen Sui withdrew her spear, her figure flashing back: "Puluo, give me the shield."
As soon as her voice came out, Puluo, who had been prepared for a long time, immediately spun open the shield umbrella.
Xie Chunshi had anticipated this. When the shield umbrella spun out, his palm pressed forward, and an ice wall rose from the ground, directly building an energy wall surrounding the three on all sides.
Zhou Chen's lightning was completely devoured, the light of the Four-sided Mace completely dimmed. Just as he was surprised, cracks in the giant tree statue burst outward.
"Bang!!"
Lightning spat out from the cracks, bursting outward. Electricity snaked through mid-air, with the upper part of the temple filled with lightning shadows.
The black-gold mech was surrounded by lightning.
Zhou Chen had already felt the extremely explosive lightning energy and instinctively gasped. Chen Sui's voice rang out: "Are you still not running, waiting to be electrocuted to a crisp?"
"Holy shit!"
Zhou Chen suddenly felt like he understood what was behind him, immediately flashing backward. Hawk's propulsion intensified again as he retreated. The metal shield umbrella spun in the air, gripped by Chen Sui as she quickly leaped, meeting with Zhou Chen's mech that had withdrawn in mid-air.
"Clang!"
A metal collision sound rang out. Chen Sui propped up the other end of the long staff, with the shield umbrella gathering into a complete form, a huge sphere layering outward, completely enveloping the two mechs.
Zhou Chen's Four-sided Mace spread out, directly inserted at the top.
The giant tree statue spat out the devoured lightning, with electricity blasting outward.
The crackling electrical sounds hit the outside of the metal shield. The electric light kicked the black-gold mech back and forth in the sphere, but the Four-sided Mace was whipped by the lightning. As the lightning subsided, the spike at the top of the metal shield face similarly burst with lightning, like a long whip, lashing toward the position where the lightning was dispersing, namely the giant tree statue.
That lash directly split the giant tree statue, completely shattering the originally crack-covered statue.
Stone fragments scattered, with energy bursting layer by layer.
As the giant tree statue shattered, the temple violently shook.
The metal shield fell from mid-air, rolling several times on the ground, then completely closing. The black-gold mech immediately flipped up. Chen Sui put away the shield umbrella, spinning it back toward Puluo's position.
"What is this?"
The giant tree statue's branches were completely shattered, stone blocks flying far away, green light continuously emitting, with only a section of the tree trunk statue still on the divine platform.
In the center of the tree trunk was embedded a yellow-earth amber-like orb.
"Such strong energy fluctuation."
As Zhou Chen's voice rang out, Chen Sui's energy perception returned. She looked over with some surprise.
"What is this?"
Both inside and outside the competition venue, the control room and Zhu Jing Fu simultaneously uttered puzzled voices.
"Song of Sand and Mirage hasn't existed for long. Many of its energy management departments don't have data records. This orb also wasn't found in the records."
Mo Qiu'an said.
She had already compiled all the major energy fields. Seeing her somewhat apologetically nod, the other reviewers were very understanding. Lu Cuining replaced her position, sitting down in the central three seats in the control room.
The information Xie Chunshi found also didn't contain any records about the orb in the mirage. The Commander's brow hadn't furrowed, but Zhou Chen only heard the analyst's sigh.
"The energy fluctuation is strong?"
He looked at the orb, with energy bodies that had been flipped away by the giant tree statue's energy already climbing back up behind Zhu Jing Fu. A fierce battle was imminent.
But in Zhou Chen's mind, he was still recalling Chen Sui's words: "Could it be some high-level material?"
He instinctively associated it with this.
The orb indeed looked like a kind of crystal ore. Although its exterior was oval, it also had some edges, with varying depths of yellow-earth color forming concentric patterns.
"Whatever, take it away and figure it out later?"
Zhou Chen tentatively said, tilting his head to look at his teammates.
Chen Sui nodded. There was something unusual about the orb. She looked at Gu Qinxue: "Ah Xue, probe it."
The Thorny Fire Whip swung in the air, lashing toward the orb on the divine platform.
With fire attribute energy wrapped around it, just as the Thorny Fire Whip lashed out, a yellow-earth light burst from the orb, directly repelling the long whip.
"?"
Chen Sui raised an eyebrow. As the fire whip was repelled, she flashed forward, rushing directly at the orb.
A layer of energy light screen rippled around the orb, beginning to shake continuously the instant the mech rushed over.
The temple violently shook, the entire square beginning to tilt in all four directions. Stone pillars retracted into the ground, the pillars supporting the temple departing. The temple structure disintegrated, losing its support point. The upper beams collapsed downward. The divine platform and square were built at the outermost and highest part of the temple. The instant collapse came, the square crashed downward.
The black-gold mech propelled in mid-air, directly rising from the ground.
Chen Sui had already approached the shattered statue, her hand right in front of the orb.
At this moment, the orb suddenly burst with a strong light. That light seemed so dazzling that it would illuminate the surroundings like daylight.
The strong light burst in front, instantly filling Chen Sui's vision with white.
By the time she captured a hint of yellow-earth mixed in, an energy storm rose from the ground, directly sweeping outward—
"Whoosh—"
The wind swept through. There was no obstruction around the collapsing temple. The mech was flipped away. Chen Sui felt a sensation of weightlessness.
In the distance, at the instant Gu Qinxue was carried out by the energy, she swung her long whip, encircling Chen Sui who was flying backward, directly being pulled by the momentum of her backward flight, her mech also being carried away.
"Bang!"
Several crashes rang out. Chen Sui's vision gradually adapted to the strong light. Before her appeared a waning sun, red light filling the sky, yellow sand everywhere, with sand dunes undulating in the distance.
The temple rose from the ground, already on the surface. The energy storm had swept out all the mechs and energy bodies inside.
Chen Sui rolled once, standing up from the yellow sand, her hand gripping the long spear as she looked forward.
Looking out, before her was the yellow sand environment of Song of Sand and Mirage. The divine building was a series of extremely high cliffs eroded by the wind. Behind the cliffs, yellow earth piled up layer upon layer of stone walls, surrounding something. The stone walls and cliffs in front extended outward, like a huge city in the desert.
"This is—"
Chen Sui instinctively looked around, her energy perception spreading out.
After the temple's mirage emerged from the ground, the huge sound of collapse gradually subsided. Just as she looked over, the temple suddenly, like smoke, was scattered by the slight breeze sweeping over the yellow sand.
"Wow, what's going on?"
Zhou Chen looked curiously. "Wasn't it said that after a mirage emerges, it would retract after accepting people? Why did the one we stayed in disappear?"
He immediately felt somewhat uneasy: "This shouldn't be our problem, right?"
Zhu Jing Fu was somewhat like bandits, somewhat like geese pluckers, but not to the extent, really not to the extent, of collapsing the mirage.
While Zhou Chen was still puzzled, Chen Sui suddenly raised her hand.
She opened her palm. An orb was completely enveloped by the mech's hand. Now opening it revealed the yellow-earth mirage orb held within.
"Ah, this—"
Zhou Chen felt even more uneasy. His first reaction was to look around, his body blocking Chen Sui's palm.
[Don't block it, I've already seen it]
[Has Zhu Jing Fu become so bandit-like that, when they go to a mirage, they have to eradicate it?]
"It's probably not gone," Chen Sui sensed the energy within the mirage orb. "This orb is the energy source of the mirage."
"Huh?"
Zhou Chen still hadn't understood.
Behind them, Gu Qinxue and Xie Chunshi had already fixed their gazes on the mirage orb in Chen Sui's palm.
—This match's collection target locked.
"You mean, this orb was taken away by us, so the mirage is gone?"
Puluo looked at Zhou Chen, reaching out to pat him. "I understand now."
Zhou Chen realized, "Then what use is there in taking this thing away?"
"Broaden your perspective," Chen Sui snapped her fingers at him. "Maybe this mirage orb can open the mirage again."
"What?!" Zhou Chen was shocked. He stared at this orb with wide eyes. "This this this, then doesn't that mean we don't need to find mirages anymore, we can create a mirage anytime?"
"Then what are we looking for? We're firmly in first place for points?"
Mirages sink deep underground, able to attract numerous energy bodies. With Zhu Jing Fu holding the mirage orb, they just needed to sit in the mirage and wait for energy bodies.
"It's not that simple," Xie Chunshi thought of the scene just now and understood. "Is the mirage formed by the mirage orb still the same as before? Where is the new location to place the mirage orb?"
"And the burst energy storm also needs to be considered. This thing's function inside the mirage is controlling energy bodies. The newly produced mirage will lock onto our aura and fluctuations, making us the first targets of energy body attacks."
Chen Sui speculated.
In the temple, energy bodies converged toward the divine platform due to the energy signal left by the mirage orb. If this energy signal exists, the energy that made the mirage orb leave the mirage—namely the Zhu Jing Fu team—would become the primary objects repelled by this energy signal.
"I understand, consumable."
Zhou Chen had been influenced by Chen Sui for a long time and had his own understanding of this discourse.
At the words "consumable," Chen Sui was also slightly silent for a moment, then laughed: "Put that way, it's not wrong."
Energy bodies that had touched the ground, some already boldly rushing toward Zhu Jing Fu's position, while the timid ones burrowed into the sand, moving toward the mirage underground.
After the two outputs finished their conversation, they quickly plunged into battle with the energy bodies.
The SSS-level energy body groups from the temple had been thrown somewhere unknown. Many of the current energy bodies should be those that entered the temple later and hadn't yet been blasted into the big pit by Zhu Jing Fu's cannons.
Zhou Chen and Gu Qinxue's energy swirled. Chen Sui and Xie Chunshi controlled at any time, firing cannons, always resulting in an energy body covered in blood, even shattering energy crystals when energy fluctuations were intense.
Energy bodies still wanting to attack, after the continuous deaths and warnings of their companions, directly turned around, burrowing into the ground.
After killing for a while, Zhou Chen came to his senses, with only a stretch of yellow sand remaining.
He exclaimed, sighing: "They ran away again? Come on, are all the energy bodies in this energy field so timid? Running away in the middle of a fight!"
Chen Sui shook her head: "Energy fluctuation and high temperature, haven't you noticed the temperature rising?"
With her reminder, Zhou Chen immediately wiped his forehead, finding he had started to sweat, and quickly turned on the temperature regulation device: "No way, why is this energy field even more like a furnace than Sultry Red Forest?"
While speaking, Zhou Chen was already looking around for a spot that could provide shade.
The stone wall cast a shadow behind it, and the mech moved to stand there.
Chen Sui turned back, looking up at the extremely high building in front of her: "Good news, Lucky King, we really have arrived outside the base station."
Chen Sui looked at the mech radar monitoring: "Only 12 kilometers to the direction of the secondary base station."
12 kilometers, not even the size of a city.
"Huh? You still said I was daydreaming," Zhou Chen, hearing this, immediately recalled Chen Sui's evaluation.
Chen Sui spread her hands: "This was unexpected to me too."
[Wow, this is the Lucky King]
[Emperor Sui this time hahaha, goodness, knew the Lucky King was powerful, but didn't know the Lucky King was this powerful]
Zhou Chen really couldn't stand this high temperature, looking at the radar display on his mech: "Wow, it's really close, seems like we have to go through here."
"This wouldn't be—a mirage, would it?"
The yellow earth wall in front clearly formed the perimeter of a city, looking extremely large. In the yellow sand, it appeared particularly unusual, making Zhou Chen instinctively think of the temple that appeared in the mountain pass.
"The area is very large, doesn't really look like a mirage," Xie Chunshi said. "It should be a sand city maze."
The sand city maze was another anomalous terrain in Song of Sand and Mirage. The maze was generally full of energy convergence, formed by a type of confusion attribute energy body living in Song of Sand and Mirage.
"To reach the base station, we must pass through the maze. Once inside, be careful of energy influence."
The Commander's reminder came a step later. Zhou Chen looked into the cliff with surprise.
Looking out, there were dense yellow earth stone walls.
Not able to see the end at a glance.
The further in, the higher the stone walls became, with shadows covering, dim and unclear.
"Maze?"
Chen Sui tilted her head, then silently reached out, holding Gu Qinxue's hand on the other side. "How do we get out?"
She said sincerely.
For someone who doesn't recognize roads well, walking in a stretch of yellow sand was already somewhat difficult, and now a maze appeared halfway through.
Chen Sui couldn't help but laugh, a laugh that made Zhou Chen sense some eeriness. He instinctively shuddered, turning back to look at Chen Sui, seeing the analyst standing obediently, politely asking: "If we can kill that confusing energy body, will this maze disappear?"
Good question, Zhou Chen thought, this is very Chen Sui.