Chapter 559: The Terrors of Darkniss
After travelling in the Red Wasteland for some time, the trio finally reached the entrance to Darkniss. When Ye Chong saw the entrance, he was stunned.
In the middle of the endless stretch of wasteland was a flat, black colored circle. It was 15 meters across, and suspended about 20 centimeters above the ground. It was like a gateway to another world.
Ye Chong was familiar with the black circle. He had seen it more than once. There was one in the underground tunnel, one on Yi Ju, and one in the Research Consortium's base on Spectre. The size of the black circles varied, but they were all black, perfectly circular, and suspended in the air. The similarities were there.
Xuan Ning and Sha Ya noticed Ye Chong's muted surprise. They had never seen that expression on him.
Xuan Ning was curious. He asked, "What is it? Have you been here before?"
Ye Chong quickly recovered himself and shook his head. "No."
"Let's go inside," Sha Ya interrupted them. "I always felt unsafe at the entrance. Let's go inside now."
"Alright." Ye Chong nodded. He moved the Spider closer to the black circle, ready to step through it. People with strong parapsychic sense had better instincts than normal people.
Xuan Ning smiled. "I once had that feeling too, but now I sense something new. The entrance feels unstable, but it's actually quite the opposite. A Level 8 shooter can sense its instability, but once you reach Level 9, you can sense that there is a very stable structure underneath the instability."
Xuan Ning had just finished speaking when a ripple appeared on the black circle.
"What was that?" Sha Ya gasped. She had never seen the entrance ripple like that.
Ye Chong looked at Xuan Ning. Was this really stable?
Xuan Ning look perturbed. "Something's not right. It became unstable suddenly, like it was stimulated by something." He closed his eyes and reached out with his parapsychic sense to the entrance. He had the strongest parapsychic sense of the three, and could detect the most minute details.
"Huh?" Xuan Ning opened his eyes wide and turned to Ye Chong with a weird expression. He said, "We should step back."
The Spider retreated about 10 meters away. The effect was immediately apparent. Once the Spider began retreating, the ripples at the entrance reduced until it eventually became flat again.
Ye Chong and Sha Ya could not understand what was happening.
Xuan Ning turned his attention to the ring on Ye Chong's finger. He hesitated before speaking again, "Your ring is a little odd. It was the cause of the instability at the entrance."
Ring? Sha Ya looked at the inconspicuous ring on Ye Chong's finger. It did not look particularly interesting to her.
"Celest's dimension keystone?" Ye Chong thought to himself in surprise. How was the ring responsible for this?
Ye Chong suddenly remembered the time when he was in the Research Consortium's laboratory on Spectre. The spatial window in the corner of the lab had transformed abruptly and sent him to Dual Forest. Could that be related to his ring too?
Xuan Ning saw the confusion on Ye Chong's and Sha Ya's faces. He explained, "I don't know what happened either, but I can sense that the ring was causing the entrance to become unstable. The structure of the entrance seems to be affected by it. Once we back off, the entrance returned to normal. It looks like distance is key here. Hmm, the entrance feels normal now. The structure of the entrance is stable."
Ye Chong lifted his right hand pointed at the ring on it with his left hand. "This one?"
Xuan Ning nodded. "That's the one." He saw the inquiring look on Ye Chong and shrugged. "Don't ask me why because I don't know either." Ye Chong's ring looked ordinary. He could not understand what was happening as well.
Sha Ya watched Xuan Ning admiringly. This was the difference between Level 8 and Level 9. Xuan Ning could sense the structure of the entrance with his parapsychic sense, and even feel it transforming. What a powerful skill! Sha Ya never imagined that parapsychic sense could do this. Level 9 was almost a legend. People could only imagine what a Level 9 shooter was capable of. She just witnessed the true strength of a Level 9 shooter, and it was much more powerful than anyone could have imagined!
Ye Chong considered their situation for a moment and pointed at the entrance. He asked, "What is its structure like?" He was also curious about Xuan Ning's ability to sense the structure of the spatial window. His parapsychic sense was strong!
Xuan Ning shook his head in chagrin. "I can't say for sure. It's strange and mysterious! I don't know how to express it."
Ye Chong tried again with a more straightforward question. "How can we safely pass through the entrance?" He did not want to spend too much time on this problem. The fact that Celest's dimension keystone could disrupt the spatial window was already a very important piece of information for him.
Xuan Ning looked at Ye Chong. He could see that the man would not leave the ring behind. He considered the problem for awhile. "If we could approach the entrance fast, it should not be a problem."
"I see," Ye Chong nodded. His fingers tapped on the control console, and the Spider lunged towards the entrance without warning.
Xuan Ning was thrown backwards. He hit the back of his head on his seat and screamed like a madman. Xuan Ning roared, "Can't you at least warn us?"
Sha Ya threw a pitiful look at Xuan Ning, the admiration she felt for him fading fast. She marveled at how a Level 9 shooter was helpless against the unpredictable man, Ye Chong.
Once the Spider was close to the entrance, ripples began to form on the flat surface again. Ye Chong ignored the ripples and focused on piloting the Spider. The Spider charged head on towards the black circle and went right through it.
The surroundings turned dark. The image on the holographic screen was completely different now.
It was very, very dark. Only a faint light allowed them to see their surroundings. The sky was dark. There were stars and moons in the sky. Nevertheless, darkness was not the only thing that defined this place. There was also a bright, hot red in sight - lava.
Hot lava flowed like rough waters, splashing violently as they went along deep trenches. The fiery waves could reach up to 8 meters tall. Despite being in the Spider, they could still feel the heat emanating from the lava.
There was a main branch of lava river that was about 30 meters wide. It branched out into thinner flows going downstream, like roots of a tree.
Ye Chong had never seen anything so magnificent. He was distracted for a moment.
"Leave the entrance now!" Xuan Ning shouted panickedly. "Quick! It's becoming unstable!"
Ye Chong quickly focused himself and pulled the Spider away from the black entrance.
The ripples on the entrance subsided once more and became flat again. Ye Chong watched the spatial window, suspended in midair, and felt fascinated by it. This place was completely different from the Red Wasteland outside, but just by stepping through the "door", they had arrived in a whole new world. The whole process was even more mysterious than warp jumps.
Unfortunately, Ye Chong knew very little about spatial science. He did not understand the working principles behind them.
Xuan Ning was still not over his shock. "Good thing we left quickly, or we would be in deep trouble."
Of the three of them, Xuan Ning was probably the only one who truly understood the severity of their situation just now.
Sha Ya said to Ye Chong, "We are now in Darkniss. We call that huge river the Lava River. Usually, we will travel along the Lava River. The River will sometimes change its course, but the general direction is the same. This way, we will not lose our way."
Darkniss - this was Darkniss!
Once they were in Darkniss, both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya turned serious. Their hands never left the firearms control lever. This made Ye Chong even more wary.
The Spider walked along the Lava River. Everything they saw was tinged red due to the light coming from the lava.
It was just a short while before Ye Chong found a few pieces of high quality metal ores along the way. Darkniss was truly the place to find gravestones. The bright red lava would also have familiar circular patterns that were actually metals in liquid form.
Soon, Ye Chong understood why Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were nervous. They encountered a pack of 80 black striped gray dragons. It was rare to see such a huge pack. These dragons usually move in packs of 20 to 30.
Ye Chong saw his first black striped gray dragon.
The animals were beaked and had sharp claws. Their bodies were gray with black stripes, and reached up to three meters long. Their wingspan, however, was close to 10 meters long. They flew fast and were aggressive in nature.
The Spider was large and hard to miss. The black striped gray dragons thought that this unfamiliar creature would taste delightful.
Xuan Ning reacted first. He was nervous since they first stepped into Darkniss.
A thick laser beam shot right through a black striped gray dragon, leaving a 30 centimeter wide circular hole in its wake. The dragon stopped breathing immediately. Its wings froze and it fell straight down from the sky.
Lasers began to fire. Xuan Ning's attack marked the beginning of their battle. Sha Ya reacted quickly as well. The black striped gray dragons fell one by one like loose kites, kicking up dirt as they crashed into the ground.
The sudden attacks surprised the dragons, but they were soon angered by them. The dragons screamed sharply and flapped their wings, making their way towards the Spider.
Ye Chong did not expect how fast these creatures could fly. Without a mech, he would have trouble dealing with these dragons. Since they were diving from a high altitude, the attacks from these black striped gray dragons must be very powerful. Even thin alloy boards would give way to their attack.
Fortunately, shooters were the best combatants at medium range. This battle was perfect for them. Ye Chong did not have to worry about his safety, since he had a Level 8 shooter and a Level 9 shooter with him. The black striped gray dragons were strong, but not enough to threaten these two excellent shooters.
Ye Chong even had time to enjoy watching the marksmanship of these two shooters.
They were both very good at what they do. Almost none of the shots missed. Besides, they were not using normal laser guns, but super powerful laser guns at 1.2 million Lux. Every shot was powerful enough to penetrate the bodies of the black striped gray dragons, which were relatively weaker beings in Darkniss. Even if the shot missed any vulnerabilities, it would still affect their flight speed.
Soon, both shooters gained the upper hand. The powerful firepower aimed at the dragons suppressed their movements. Their flying formation was wrecked. Dragons continued to fall from the sky. However, this pack of dragons was stubborn. They were quick and agile in the air. Since Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were still not used to the Spider's two main laser guns, they were shooting down the dragons fast enough.
There were still at least 40 dragons in the air still, but Ye Chong was not worried. He could see that Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were already getting better at using the laser guns. This was obvious from their increasing firing frequency.
The battle was in the favor of Xuan Ning and Sha Ya. As time passed, their advantage increased further.
Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were both concentrating. Their eyes were closed one-sided so that they would not be distracted by anything visual. On the contrary, Ye Chong was just an observer, enjoying the intense but uninteresting battle.
Suddenly, he caught a movement at the corner of the screen. He quickly turned his attention that particular corner on the screen.
There were only dark rocks and nothing else there. However, Ye Chong was certain that he saw something earlier.
Ye Chong maneuvered the holographic scanning system to perform a detailed search on that area. The screen was showing the opposite side of the Lava River.
"Huh, what's that?"
There was some hair jutting from behind a rock. Something was wrong! Ye Chong focused on the situation. Those hair must be from some animal! The hair was black and shiny, standing up straight like needles.
Ye Chong took a peek at the black striped gray dragons in the air and dismissed the idea of using the Hummingbirds. Of the four Hummingbirds he prepared, one was lost in the sandstorm, leaving only three with him. This was not the time to use the Hummingbirds.
Nevertheless, Ye Chong had no intention to sit just sit back and do nothing. He had many options to choose from. His hands quickly tapped on the control console. Suddenly, the Spider's tail armor slid open to the sides. A cannon array rose up slowly from inside. Animals that knew to hide from its enemy were much more dangerous - this was something Ye Chong knew very well.
Compared to the 49-barrel cannon array that Ye Chong sold to Sun Sieha, this cannon array had 81 cannon barrels, each thicker than that of the original model by a third. These 91 cannon barrels formed a nine-by-nine cannon array. The long, smooth cannon barrel were tightly arranged together.
When the cannon array was activated, both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were momentarily distracted by the danger that emanated from the weapon.
"What is he trying to do?"
That was the thought that came to Xuan Ning and Sha Ya. The black striped gray dragons were already under their control. They could not attack, but they could not run either. Winning was only a matter of time. If that was the case, why would Ye Chong suddenly activate the cannon array?
They also did not know beforehand that the Spider was armed with this weapon.
Ye Chong aimed at the black hair that protruded from the rock on the screen, and pressed down hard on the firing button.
Each cannon barrel in the cannon array could fire 10 shots of spheric photon grenades per second. These grenades were highly explosive.
Boom! The cannon array roared!
810 spheric photon grenades were shot towards the target that Ye Chong had chosen.
The grenades all landed within 15 meters off the target. The resulting explosion was massive!
The loud explosion was enough to send a whole person shaking. Close to a thousand grenades exploded at the same time. Ye Chong's target area now had a big mushroom cloud over it. The explosion had destroyed all the rocks around as well. A shockwave blasted out visibly from the center of the explosion.
Aooh! Two low howls came from a distance.
When the dust settled, Ye Chong saw in front of him two black colored leopards with an inch-wide stripe of white on their backs. There was also a small patch of white fur on their foreheads that contrasted beautifully against the black sleek fur on their bodies. The animals had an elegant build, with four muscular limbs; nevertheless, they were now in a tight corner.
There were small, charred holes on their black fur. The animals were injured all over. Some of the wounds were still bleeding. Despite their injuries, the animals moved with grace. They stared at Ye Chong coldly.
Beside the two leopards was a third one, lying on the ground. It suffered far worse injuries than its companions. Its body was a bloody mess. This was the animal that Ye Chong saw earlier, and the one who was hit the most from the blast. With close to a thousand photon grenades exploding within 15 meters from the target, no animal could survive the attack. Its two companions were also injured from the explosion.
"Snowshade leopards!" Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were following Ye Chong's actions closely. They saw the two wild animals now and gasped in surprise. Ye Chong could hear the fear in their voices.
These animals must be avoided at all cost! Ye Chong made the decision immediately. His hands moved across the control console, and the Spider began to run.
To think that he would encounter three snowshade leopards! He only saw one just now. As expected, non-combat holographic scanning was unreliable! Ye Chong did not know what was so scary about these snowshade leopards, but he trusted the judgement of Xuan Ning and Sha Ya.
The two snowshade leopards watched their now dead and unrecognizable companion, and then looked their beautiful fur, now marked with hundreds of charred holes. They howled again!
Aoooh!
The black striped gray dragons heard the howls and quickly made their escape.
Before the echoes of the howls disappeared, the two snowshade leopards ran.
The Spider ran as quick as it could. Both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya had already directed their laser guns at the snowshade leopards.
"I say, what'd you do to get in trouble with the snowshade leopards? My God, there are three of them!" Xuan Ning almost went crazy with the thought.
Sha Ya bit her lips down tightly, and kept very quiet. She was obviously nervous as hell.
Ye Chong did not expect a Level 9 shooter to feel so alarmed by the snowshade leopards. It seemed that they were in big trouble.
Ye Chong soon experienced the terror of the snowshade leopards first hand.
On the screen, he saw the two snowshade leopards raced towards them like bolts of lightning. They were fast! Ye Chong found it hard to describe exactly how fast they were! They were running on the ground as fast as a mech could fly in the air. It was that fast!
The two snowshade leopards could run as fast as a mech. This was a strong visual impression. Their every step on the ground resulted in cracks in the earth. They were so powerful that it was paralyzing to just think about it. Their streamlined bodies ran like the force of nature. They charged like a heavyweight mech. The ground shook and rumbled at their every step.
It was impossible to lock on to them because of their speed.
The two snowshade leopards seemed to be wary of the Spider's cannon array. They darted left and right as they made their pursuit.
High speed veering, Non-orderly wavy evasions, Sidestep Bursts, Z-steps …
Ye Chong stared blankly at them. What was this? The animals were practically demonstrating how a professional close range mech pilot would long avoid long range attacks.
No wonder Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were so afraid of them.
"To think that we'd see these monsters right after we enter Darkniss. Our luck sucks." Xuan Ning shrugged casually. "Oh, by the way, you should know that energy weapons are ineffective against snowshade leopard. Their fur is a tough protective material. Oh, I don't know if these 1.2 million Lux graded laser guns are good against them."
Ye Chong did not know if the two main laser guns could harm the snowshade leopards, but he did know that a concentrated attack of spheric photon grenades could pose a threat towards them.
The Spider was still running for its life. The cannon array that rose from its tail swiveled round easily.
The snowshade leopards were too fast for their non-combat holographic scanning system to lock on to. Even if Ye Chong decided to deploy Celest now, it would be useless. The only weapon could harm the snowshade leopards was the cannon array - that was what Ye Chong thought.
Boom boom boom! The cannon array fired. To Ye Chong's surprise, the two snowshade leopards were able to avoid the intense grenade attack aimed at them.
"Once snowshade leopards start running, their sixth sense would be greatly enhanced. Even I can't lock on to them. The photon grenades are slow compared to laser beams, so they can avoid them without difficulty. This is the interesting bit about snowshade leopards. Once they start running, they seem to be hypersensitive to energy. It's impossible to hit them with laser beams. They are the nemesis of all shooters." Sha Ya explained to Ye Chong while firing a few shots at the snowshade leopards. The animals avoided her attacks easily. Sha Ya was looking a little pale. She had never encountered these deadly creatures before, despite having heard of them for a long time.
Sha Ya had just finished speaking when the snowshade leopards closed the distance between them even more. They were now only three kilometers away. The distance was getting smaller at an alarming rate. The only thing that comforted Ye Chong was the fact that the leopards were separated from them by the Lava River. If the snowshade leopards wanted to attack them, the must first cross the Lava River. However, the thinnest part of the River was 20 meters across. It formed a natural barrier between them.
The two snowshade leopards ran quickly, leaving a clear trail of footprints behind them. Each footprint was surrounded by cracks in the earth.
The animals got closer and closer to the Lava River, but they showed no signs of stopping.
They reached the edge of the River and leaped into the air!
Ye Chong's eyes widened. At the moment the animals made the leap, he could already tell that they would be able to make it to the other side. Ye Chong pressed down on the firing button without delay.
At that moment, two laser beams shot out from the Spider towards the snowshade leopards, still in midair. This was the perfect opportunity shoot! Xuan Ning and Sha Ya took their shots together instinctively.
The two snowshade leopards suddenly twisted their bodies in seemingly impossible ways, and both laser beams missed their mark.
Another two laser beams followed. Both Sha Ya and Xuan Ning were the best of the best in their field. Despite knowing how strong the snowshade leopards were, they would not give up without a fight!
The snowshade leopards showed exactly how superior they were by twisting their bodies again in the air, despite having no foothold to support their movements. Both laser beams missed once again. The creatures had terrifyingly powerful and agile bodies.
Nevertheless, Xuan Ning and Sha Ya were both set on killing the two snowshade leopards before they landed. Another two laser beams were fired!
The outcome this time was different. Xuan Ning's laser beam hit at center of the forehead of his target, right on the white patch of hair. Bang! The snowshade leopard's head exploded while the body crashed heavily onto the rocks on the other side of the Lava River.
Sha Ya's laser beam missed by just a fraction. It graced the ear of the other snowshade leopard as it made its landing.
With only half an ear left from the laser beam attack, the snowshade leopard's cold eyes turned red. It sprinted from the pain, running even faster than before, leaving only an afterimage in its wake!
Xuan Ning and Sha Ya looked horrified. That was their best chance at killing the showshade leopards. Now that they had missed the opportunity, they were all done for.
However, Xuan Ning quickly recovered himself. He saw Sha Ya with her bloody lips, feeling guilty about having missed, and said to her with a consoling smile, "It's not your fault. You did your best. Truth is, I wasn't sure if I could hit my mark just now. They're too fast. If I hadn't reach Level 9, I would have died if I ever encountered them before this. We killed one snowshade leopard, and that's quite amazing already. Haha, this laser gun is quite awesome, it can kill even a snowshade leopard."
Sha Ya kept quiet, but she looked soothed. Xuan Ning was right. She did her best. The snowshade leopards were terrible monsters that lived in the inner parts of Darkniss. It must be fate that they encountered these animals so near the entrance of Darkniss.
If Xuan Ning and Sha Ya could miss, Ye Chong's amateur shooting would not harm the snowshade leopard at all. Nevertheless, Ye Chong was not about to give up now!
An auxiliary grenade silently flew out of the weapons chamber. It was directed not at the snowshade leopard, but above the Spider.
The snowshade leopard moved like a bolt of black lightning. It was too fast to aim at! When the auxiliary grenade reached 10 meters above the ground, the animal was already two kilometers away. Xuan Ning and Sha Ya had missed the opening, but still they did not give up. They continued firing at the last snowshade leopard.
Their attacks were in vain, however. The snowshade leopard stared angrily at the Spider with its blood-red eyes. It avoided all the laser beams with ease.
When the auxiliary grenade reached 50 meters high, the snowshade leopard was one kilometer away from the Spider.
At 50 meters above the Spider, the grenade exploded, but with no sound or light effects.
By then, the snowshade leopard was 300 meters way from the Spider.
On the screen, they could see the ferocity in the blood-red eyes of the snowshade leopard!
Suddenly, the Spider activated the huge laser saw in its leg. It seemed that Ye Chong opted for a close range battle as his last resort.
The snowshade leopard's whiskers quivered as though it was laughing at his effort. The animal did not slow down. Instead, it twisted its body and landed heavily on the ground on all fours.
Boom! Even from inside the Spider, Ye Chong and the two shooters could hear the animal made its landing.
Where the snowshade leopard landed, the ground fragmented. The animal borrowed momentum from its landing and darted towards the bottom of the Spider.
Only Ye Chong saw what happened. Both Xuan Ning and Sha Ya only saw a blur, and lost sight of the snowshade leopard.
Crack! The snowshade leopard had bitten off the Spider's leg that held the laser saw. Both the dismembered limb and the laser saw fell onto the ground. The fast rotating edge of the laser saw buried itself into the ground.
Boom!
There was a deafening sound.
The three of them felt a strong blow coming from below them. Suddenly, the world was sent spinning. The image on the screen turned and turned. Sha Ya and Xuan Ning were both thrown out of their seats towards the pilot cabin's inner wall.
Ye Chong reacted the fastest. He gripped tightly onto his seat, counting the seconds.
Now!
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