Chapter 296: Blood Cocoon

Chapter 296: Chapter 296: Blood Cocoon

"We have no other choice. For the sake of the Blood Breath race, I must sacrifice myself!"

After Xi’om finished speaking, it extended hundreds of tentacles and plunged them into Hilic’s body.

"ROAR!"

Xi’om let out a pained roar, then injected all of its energy into Hilic’s body.

In an instant, Xi’om’s body shriveled up.

"This is bad! Attack, now!"

Having just caught up, Qian Xing shouted as soon as he saw the scene.

However, it was too late.

Just then, Hilic’s red, tumorous body began to shake violently. Countless red, fleshy tentacles extended from all over its body, plunging into every corner of the royal palace to form a massive cage of flesh and blood.

The cage’s blood-red tentacles rapidly split and fused together, instantly becoming a giant blood cocoon. Then, sharp red spikes sprouted from its surface.

The soldiers stared at the enormous blood cocoon, shocked. They instinctively backed away.

"That monarch-level beast sacrificed itself. It’s probably trying to forcibly incubate that monster."

Qian Xing’s expression darkened.

"Then break it open! Attack!"

Qian Yun raised the Giant Hammer in his hand and ordered all the soldiers.

BANG! BANG!

Everyone raised their firearms and fired furiously.

The dense rain of bullets struck the blood cocoon, creating a shower of sparks. The slugs then fell to the ground, having had no effect.

Qian Xing and Qian Yun decisively charged forward, swinging their weapons and striking heavily against the blood cocoon’s surface.

CRACK!

The blood cocoon was dented and slashed open, but it returned to its original state the very next second.

Qian Xing and Qian Yun refused to give up, relentlessly attacking the massive blood cocoon.

But it had no effect at all. They couldn’t break through.

"This isn’t working."

Qian Xing said to Qian Yun, panting.

"Then what do we do? We don’t have any heavy weapons like Nuclear Bombs or tanks right now."

"Pile up all the grenades and bombs. Gather any ammunition that was dropped earlier. See if we can blast it open!"

Qian Xing’s expression shifted as he gave the order.

"Yes, sir!"

The soldiers all responded.

...

「Meanwhile.」

Luoxue sped along with Long Ming, and soon they saw the massive ruins of the royal city.

Long Ming was rather amazed.

’This enormous royal city has been bombed into rubble. The fighting here must have been brutal.’

Luoxue twisted the throttle, accelerating toward it.

Just then, Long Ming saw vehicles from Sinful City and Star Tower City.

They weren’t heading for the royal palace in the center right away. Instead, they had spread out.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Long Ming’s face.

「A short while later.」

Luoxue rode the motorcycle into the inner city area.

The enormous blood cocoon came into view.

At that moment, Qian Xing and the others were directing soldiers to collect artillery shells and other munitions to pile up next to the blood cocoon.

Seeing that her father and the others were safe, Luoxue breathed a sigh of relief.

She immediately stopped the motorcycle. The two of them got off and walked toward Qian Xing.

"Father, we’re here."

Luoxue walked over with Long Ming.

"Mm."

Qian Xing turned to Luoxue and nodded.

"Where are Qiansha and the others?"

Qian Yun asked as he saw Luoxue arrive.

"Transportation is limited, so they’re a little behind. They’ll be here soon!"

Luoxue reported respectfully to Qian Yun.

"That’s good."

Qian Yun also breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

"Father, what’s the situation?"

Luoxue asked, gazing at the enormous blood cocoon.

"That unidentified Blood Breath Beast suddenly formed a cocoon, sealing off the entire royal palace. It’s trying to stall for time to incubate. We need to blast the cocoon open, get inside, and eliminate it to prevent future trouble. Go help collect ammunition."

Qian Xing said to Luoxue.

"Yes!"

Luoxue immediately left with Long Ming.

After they had walked a short distance, Luoxue said to Long Ming.

"Long Ming, let’s split up to search."

"Okay!"

Long Ming nodded in agreement.

Luoxue then headed off to the right.

Long Ming stood in place, watching Luoxue’s retreating figure, then turned and left in another direction.

He raised his wristband, opened a map of the royal city’s ruins, and quickly searched for the entrance to the Dark Crow Laboratory, a high-level secret lab of the Aniska Empire.

’The main entrance to this lab is in the royal palace, but that’s already been enveloped by the cocoon. However, there are two other secret entrances in different locations within the inner city.’

Long Ming quickly headed for the nearest entrance.

「Before long.」

Long Ming arrived at the nearest entrance, but his heart sank.

Countless building fragments had buried the entrance. Worse, it looked like the internal passageway might have collapsed as well.

Long Ming decisively left and headed for the second entrance.

「Twenty-some minutes later.」

Long Ming reached the second entrance, but before he could even get close, he saw Brubo and his men surrounding it.

He immediately hid and observed them secretly.

He discovered that this entrance was also buried in rubble.

Brubo was having his subordinates try to dig it out, but they didn’t seem to be making much progress.

"Lord Brubo, it’s no use! It’s buried too deep, and the passage below has probably been destroyed too."

Modick said to Brubo in frustration.

"Dammit, are there any other entrances?"

Brubo asked, infuriated.

"No more. We’ve checked all the external entrances to the Dark Crow Laboratory. They’re basically all useless!"

"So you’re saying the only one left is the entrance in the royal palace?"

"Right!"

Modick nodded in reply.

"Let’s go!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Brubo immediately led his troops toward the royal palace entrance.

Once Brubo and his men were a safe distance away, Long Ming emerged from the rubble and walked to the buried entrance.

He observed it carefully, his brow furrowed.

This entrance was clearly blocked as well.

Long Ming raised his wristband to check the map again, trying to find another way in.

But after staring for a long time, he couldn’t find a third entrance. His brows knitted together in frustration.

Long Ming then opened the underground layer of the entire royal city ruins map and studied it carefully.

Suddenly, he saw an underground sewage channel on the map. This channel happened to cross horizontally over the entrance tunnel right in front of him. And the layer between them was the thinnest.

’If I can pinpoint the exact location, I should be able to break in with brute force.’

Without further hesitation, Long Ming immediately headed for the entrance to that sewage channel.

「A moment later.」

Long Ming appeared on an empty street, squatting down and digging through the gravel.

A deformed metal manhole cover came into view.

Long Ming forcefully pried the manhole cover open, then slid it back into place after deftly climbing down.

The sewage channel was very spacious, easily allowing an adult to walk through.

Long Ming walked along the channel, constantly checking the map on his wristband.

He soon reached the intersection point.

Long Ming raised Dark Blade, dug away the dried sludge on the surface to expose the concrete layer, and then, gathering his strength, swung his blade down on it.

KRA-CHUNK!

Sparks flew instantly, and Dark Blade carved deep gashes into the hard concrete floor.