Chapter 22 Black Warriors <TOC> Chapter 24 Mushroom King
Translator: SumTLMan
A circle of shockwaves surged outward in all directions, triggered by the explosion.
The giant in the forest barely lifted its head before the arriving Copper Bull artillery pounded its face, forcefully pressing it back onto the ground.
Zhou Yi was also witnessing the intensity of heavy fire suppression up close for the first time.
At that moment, a shadow darted out from the Mushroom Forest.
The Black Warrior intercepted it.
The other party hurriedly stopped and spat out something.
“Master, Master, don’t attack! It’s me! It’s your loyal Night Claw!”
Zhou Yi signaled his units to halt.
This mushroom guardian bore several scarred wounds, with purplish-brown bloodstains clinging to its fur, making it appear somewhat disheveled.
It panted, saying: “Master, fortunately you are here. I thought I was doomed. The Enhancers’ team blocked the outside of the Mushroom Forest. They shot at me with crossbow bolts. I dared not come out or expose the mushrooms inside. I wanted to distract them, but ultimately had to retreat inside…”
“Just now, a large monster awakened from underground inside. I tried to break through and realized that you have already taken over here. That’s great, Master!”
“By the way, the mushrooms are still here. I brought them out.”
At this moment, Zhou Yi noticed that Night Claw had spat out several Mud-Ball Mushrooms, which were essentially intact.
“Well done, you’ve worked hard.”
Zhou Yi offered a reassuring word.
“It’s no trouble, it’s what needs to be done. With you here, this place is safe!” Night Claw said with a relieved expression, giving a bit of flattery.
Zhou Yi turned his gaze to Iron Horse beside him: “What’s the situation with Copper Bull?”
Iron Horse said: “It told me that there’s something extremely dangerous in the Mushroom Forest, with very high structural strength. Copper Bull instructed us to evacuate this area first; it will try to hold that creature’s advance.”
Zhou Yi was momentarily stunned.
It seemed that these two rocket projectiles hadn’t caused substantial damage to the giant.
He immediately ordered the Warrior Crabs to gather the Enhancers’ remaining tools and equipment, and to retreat swiftly.
At this moment, the giant slowly rose again from the dust.
In the distance, the tractor fired again; two rocket projectiles with crimson tails streaked like nocturnal meteors, sniping at the enemy.
However, this time, they were frozen in mid-air before the giant, as if captured by some strange force, transforming into two hovering light masses.
In the flying dust, thin strip-like appendages sprouted from the giant’s body.
They wove into a long and slender bone arm, with the ends unfolding into a cage-like cube that enclosed the two rocket light masses.
The two light masses, resembling melting, slowly flowed into the giant’s body through the bone arm.
A voice from Red Falcon reached Zhou Yi’s mind: “It has transformed and absorbed the power of the artillery, converting it into pure energy that it requires.”
“This skill’s intensity and precision have exceeded the C-class category, at least reaching B-class level. Considering it has been dormant for years and has only just been reactivated in a suboptimal state, its structural strength could also be B-class… It’s extremely dangerous. We need to evacuate immediately.”
Zhou Yi’s expression, however, grew strange.
Through Red Falcon’s aerial lens, he saw the giant in full.
The giant was a light gray color throughout, its body covered in stains, with vast amounts of sand and debris continuously shaking off its form.
Its entire body was riddled with holes, truly pockmarked in the physical sense. It also lacked a head; its torso was uniformly thick and broad, being straight and rectangular prism-shaped both above and below.
The upper half of the giant’s torso was the most damaged, with a large slanting gap at the top, making it appear as if its head had been gnawed off by something.
From any angle, it looked very strange.
But combined together, it was something Zhou Yi was all too familiar with.
The so-called “standing giant” was, in fact, a high-rise building.
Its bizarre limb arms were entirely constructed from entwined steel rebar.
Can a steel-reinforced concrete building also evolve life characteristics in the Dead Sea?
Zhou Yi, full of confusion, inquired of Red Falcon.
“Mechanical lifeform can be born, so of course, architectural lifeform exists as well, only their numbers are very few.”
The drone replied: “Their morphological structures are varied, and individual differences are significant. They are also known as Dead Sea Abominations.”
“Unlike mechanical lifeforms, which has clear regulatory principles, architectural lifeforms have been submerged in the Dead Sea environment for years, not only being subjected to Dead Light radiation but also influenced by nearby various forms of life.”
“One widely accepted hypothesis is that architectural lifeforms are the evolutionary result of a group of numerous lifeforms in a certain area. This includes mechanical lifeforms in contact with them, Light Absorber species, Bone Fish, and so on.”
“Various lifeforms may leave or die within the building structures, but their former behavioral trajectories and emitted signals are retained within the architectural membranes of Dead Light. As life consciousness information continuously accumulates, over time, under the high-pressure fields induced by Dead Light, Dead Light explosions, and catalytic flows, there is a certain probability of architectural lifeform being born.”
“It can be understood as a form of collective memory transformed into life.”
“Unfortunately, it’s entirely impossible to communicate with them; they cannot communicate with each other internally either. Coupled with their bizarre behaviors, individualism, inherently high structural strength, and various strange skills, they are a kind of walking natural disaster.”
……
The damaged high-rise giant stood motionless in the Mushroom Forest, bathed in sunlight, its body surface displaying a faint shimmer, as if covered with a layer of oil film.
Zhou Yi was all too familiar with this scene.
This bulky figure was absorbing Dead Light.
It had only just awakened, in desperate need of energy replenishment.
At present, the high-rise giant showed no inclination to attack, but once it finished charging, that might not be the case.
Considering it could directly absorb the heavy firepower of thermal weapons, if it went berserk, its destructive power would be terrifying.
The camera on Iron Horse’s front flickered red: “First, there was the strange weather, and now this class of monster… Until it leaves, we simply can’t continue farming. Even if it just passes by, it would destroy the entire farmland in an instant.”
“Let’s pause the farm operations for now. Safety first.”
Zhou Yi said.
Copper Bull remained silent. It was dragging a container of fertilizer, its front-mounted four rocket projectiles already expended, while the two top-mounted artillery pieces were still aimed at the giant, remaining vigilant.
“My brother said that guy’s structural strength is too high, the gap between him and the opponent is too large, making it impossible to stop. He thinks we need to find a way to lure that monster away, otherwise that guy is a super timed bomb, capable of going berserk at any time.”
Iron Horse relayed his socially anxious brother’s opinion.
“I think so too.”
Zhou Yi looked at Iron Horse: “I have a point of curiosity. Why are you equipped with fake weapons, while Copper Bull is armed with such powerful firepower?”
“Well, since you and I have a certain life bond, there’s nothing wrong with me telling you.”
Iron Horse’s vehicle lights flickered: “I was originally a traditional farm machine, and after awakening, I continued doing my job. Copper Bull is different; it was previously a multifunctional war vehicle with many years of battlefield experience. However, it later didn’t want to engage in more killing, so after switching careers, it underwent structural modifications.”
“After all, it was a seasoned warrior, and the weapons it’s equipped with are from its previous stock. It simply uses them for deterrence, and they can be put to use in critical moments.”
“I didn’t expect that before, they were completely useless, but this time we encountered a guy we absolutely can’t defeat.”
Zhou Yi thought to himself: “I see.”
Based on Red Falcon’s Bird’s-Eye View readings, the giant was activated as the Enhancer Luan Zhu’s last-ditch counterattack. However, for some unknown reason, the giant did not unleash a killing spree directly; it was quietly charging.
“Master, I know a little about the situation.”
“Master, I know a little about the situation,” Night Claw suddenly interjected from beside him.
“Earlier, when I was hiding in the Mushroom Forest, I saw a large number of figures drilling into that giant’s body; they were all Black Hand Mushrooms. I suspect those guys are controlling the giant. That’s why the giant can make rapid responses, blocking our attacks.”
Black Hand Mushrooms?
Zhou Yi immediately instructed Red Falcon to perform further scans on the high-rise giant.
On the remote control’s screen, indeed, he saw hurried figures inside those window openings. They were busy inside, seemingly tinkering with something.
Through those gaps, he could see a large amount of mushrooms and mud being carried by figures from the bottom to each upper floor.
The damaged high-rise building had clearly transformed into a Mushroom Kingdom.
Zhou Yi was astonished.
No.
Did these Black Hand Mushrooms really treat the Dead Sea Abomination as a Gundam?