Chapter 290: The Evil God's Trap!

On the bridge of the Hope Vessel.

Only seeing Sui Bian, also using holographic imaging, "standing" beside the central console, he admonishes John in front of him: "We must not easily trust the friendliness shown by humanoid aberrations."

Being proficient in Spiritual Energy guarantees they will not be as clueless about Spiritual Energy as Sangheli.

If the other side truly intends to ally, depending on their attitude, we must never let our guard down, and also must investigate the true nature of the evil god Parlas."

John, who has always faithfully followed the teachings, after his father finished speaking, solemnly replied: "Rest assured, Father."

"I trust you, of course; from now on it's up to you, John."

"Understood."

The father and son end their conversation.

Sui Bian disperses the holographic image, and John also looks toward the two adjutants standing opposite the central console, ordering:

"Jerome, Tis, you will go in my stead to Puerdon to assist the local forces."

"Yes, sir." The two adjutants respond together.

Tis, of normal human height and wearing a Sparta Corps colonel uniform, is the Tis Byron who once fought the colonists' Beast Entities; since 2022 she has been a captain in the Sparta Corps auxiliary army, now a colonel.

The Honor Guard, clad in Terminator power armor and whose helmet is still undeployed, is the top‑tier in martial arts and experience, also the champion of the entire corps, Jerome.

Having received the orders, the two promptly leave the bridge, leading their troops, preparing to rush to Puerdon forty light‑years away.

John, meanwhile, focuses on the star map displayed on the central console.

Although the entire sector's military forces are methodically purging the remnants of the Ghost‑faced Beast, John also reviewed the report uploaded by Leon and speculates that the Ghost‑faced Beast is being used by some behind‑the‑scenes force as bait to attract their attention.

It can now be confirmed that the evil god Parlas is luring the Ghost‑faced Beast to cause trouble.

Thus John does not hurry to go to Puerdon himself, but remains stationed on Harvest Star at the sector's center to respond to any emergency.

———————

…

Several hours later.

At dawn on Puerdon.

A star that appears larger than the sun gradually rises, casting harsh light over Budapeni and the 503rd Division base surrounded by rainforest.

Not long after.

Numerous transport aircraft, cargo ships and assault boats take off, carrying nearly ten thousand fully armed soldiers toward the rainforest.

Transport aircraft equipped with magnetic suction devices, such as the Cormorant, still attach many unconventional armored units beneath their tails.

They resemble large power armor, with shoulder and arm plates bearing various heavy weapons.

Including small missile launch tubes, rotary pulse cannons, 50 mm caliber gauss guns, or the rainforest‑common flame throwers, and so on.

In fact, these armored units are formally called "Helundin Project Mark VII (Ⅶ), bipedal exoskeleton armor."

The prototype of this armor was one of the derivative products of the technology attached to the Hope Vessel when Sui Bian exchanged for the Fire Spirit Vessel.

Because the official name is cumbersome, UNSC soldiers affectionately refer to it as the One‑Eyed Giant.

After all, this armor, powered by a large cold‑fusion reactor, can provide heavy fire support in the rainforest while also generating a one‑sided energy shield to cover UNSC soldiers.

Absorbing Covenant Empire technology has made human use of energy shields more adept.

Although the One‑Eyed Giant, or the latest TPS, CMC, Ceramic Steel Armor and UNSC individual shield generators, are far weaker than the Thunder God Hammer and Terminator, they are still better than nothing.

At this stage, individual shield adoption has reached 18%; frontier fortresses, the "frontline" sectors, were the first to be upgraded, and the retired equipment is resold to local lawmen.

In the flight formation.

In a assault boat at the left edge sits Leon, wearing holographic glasses, simple armor and a Mechanical exoskeleton, together with ten fully armed emergency squad members.

He still stretches his legs out of the cabin, watching the trees flashing beneath his eyes and the various animals that occasionally dart through the forest.

About ten minutes after leaving the base.

The formation begins to disperse, heading in different directions.

Soon, Leon sees that around his assault boat only two Cormorants remain, along with the two One‑Eyed Giants they carry.

At this moment, Leon also hears, through the headset on his left ear, Buleiya's reminder: "We are ten kilometers from the target; prepare, Leon."

Leon replies, "Understood."

He then pulls a pistol from its holster, checks that the safety is off, and after confirming everything, returns it to the holster.

Not long ago.

Buleiya and others, deep in the rainforest north of the 503rd Division, detected traces of intense firefights; when the biological reconnaissance drone arrived, it only found scattered Ghost‑faced Beast corpses.

The corpses were mostly burned by high heat or had necks brutally twisted, leading to the inference that they were the work of those elves.

Moreover, this firefight caused Buleiya and her team to lock onto the area where many Ghost‑faced Beast activities were present, prompting the 503rd Division to deploy its main force.

They prepared to exterminate the remaining Ghost‑faced Beasts and also to search for those elves.

Leon and the emergency squad, moving with the troops, were tasked with gathering intelligence on the front line and attempting contact with the elves, while Buleiya remained at the base providing remote support.

And while they finalized the operation plan, the entire military force of Puerdon also began a large‑scale eradication campaign.

The fleet stationed in low Earth orbit also started bombing suspected Ghost‑faced Beast zones, dispatching paratroopers to cooperate with ground forces for clearance.

Half an hour ago, Jerome and Byron led a Zeus‑class ship, two Marathon‑class ships and four Resolute‑class ships of the Second Legion to enter Puerdon's gravity range.

Thus the whole sector, under John's coordination, simultaneously carried out a comprehensive clearance operation, preparing to completely eradicate the cholera source.

At this moment.

Through the real‑time data provided by his holographic glasses, Leon sees they are getting closer to the designated landing zone; then the assault boat lowers altitude and hovers over a clearing in the rainforest.

Leon and the emergency squad leap down directly, landing on the wet, muddy, root‑filled ground.

The two Cormorants also open their rear bays, unloading two infantry platoons.

Finally, the two several‑ton‑weight One‑Eyed Giants, when they hit the ground in free fall, produce a dull "thud, thud" sound.

Transport mission completed.

The assault boat and the Cormorant immediately increased altitude, turned around, and headed back toward the base.

Wait for the transport formation to depart.

Without the engine's roar, Leon could clearly hear the buzzing of flying insects all around and the low hum of unidentified bugs.

Immediately thereafter.

The lieutenant in charge of the two infantry platoons ordered via communications that squads keep a spacing of thirty to forty meters from each other, coordinating the entire division to gradually encircle toward the east and north.

The two Cyclops were positioned at the forefront.

Leon and the ten‑member emergency team were also organized as a squad, but positioned behind the line, since their primary mission was reconnaissance, not combat.

Within the lieutenant's infantry platoon, there was a special combat squad whose personnel consisted of four elites equipped with UNSC alternative‑issue individual gear.

They are elites who, after the Human‑Covenant War ended, were led by their parents to settle in the border star sector, received human socialization and education, and voluntarily enlisted.

Besides their differing physiology and continued martial spirit, in thought and values they are already members of humanity.

Upon receiving the lieutenant's order, the elite squad and the other squads quickly spread out, advancing slowly forward, with Leon and the emergency team following closely.

They advanced for a moment.

"Tap… tap…" a faint, rapid gunfire came from afar, indicating fierce fighting.

Immediately after.

"Target spotted at 11 o'clock! Commence fire suppression!"

The lieutenant's shout rang through the comms, and Leon, via his holographic visor, saw the marked area ahead to the left.

"Tap tap tap!"

In an instant, the rainforest between the line and the target glittered with blue‑glowing plasma, Gauss, and laser projectiles, interspersed with the crisp crack of pulse weapons.

The trees and foliage along the way were also tragically caught up.

"Whoosh— boom—!"

Finally, a Cyclops spewed a true fire‑snake flame that completely engulfed the target area, bringing the brief skirmish to an end.

The visor's friendly marker showed two squads alternating their approach toward the suppressed zone.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Suddenly, pink crystal spikes and plasma cannon clusters blocked the squads' advance.

Accompanied by the ghost‑faced beasts' shouts—"We are immortal!", "Come on! Come on!"—the two sides plunged back into fierce combat.

And if one relied solely on sight, one could only see colored projectiles and hear shouts and the whine of various warheads, never directly witnessing the enemy.

It was like the rainforest itself were speaking.

But this is not the 1960s or 70s.

Relying on real‑time data, shared vision, coordinated squads, and the firepower from the two Cyclops, the battle lasted only about a minute, silencing the "undying" ghost‑faced beasts.

The gunfire ceased once more.

Yet the crackle of burning branches and the thud of falling trees replaced the harsh gunshots, and the once‑dense canopy, previously obscuring vision, opened up from the crossfire.

They waited patiently for over ten seconds.

This time the elite squad moved in to inspect, and an elite reported over the comms: "Awo… all targets have lost mobility, two of the creatures are still breathing, threat neutralized."

"Copy," the lieutenant replied over the comms, ordering: "All squads form a temporary defensive line centered on the firefight, within a sixty‑meter radius."

After giving the order, the lieutenant said to Leon, "The rest is up to you, Kennedy."

"Understood."

Leon responded, leading the emergency team to a wrecked area and to the two barely‑alive ghost‑faced beasts marked by the elite squad.

Their bodies were severely burned, riddled with holes, limbs torn apart, bones exposed, and blood continuously gushed from the wounds.

Even so, the two beasts remained wildly agitated, staring intently at Leon and his group, mouths open as if saying something;

"We are unkillable…"

"Don't get too cocky…"

It seems these ghost‑faced beasts are indeed a bit… erratic.

Seeing this, Leon, half‑crouched, took a sealed canister from his waist, opened it, tilted it, and poured some Moon‑Water onto one beast's face.

"Zzz—! Zzz!"

The moment Moon‑Water touched the beast, a violent corrosive reaction erupted.

"Ha ha… roar…"

Yet the beast, enduring excruciating corrosion, still laughed loudly, thrashing with its ruined body; only after the Moon‑Water finished purifying it did it finally become motionless.

Leon repeated the same procedure on the other beast, obtaining the same result, seeming to truly believe they cannot be killed.

"It has been completely corroded…"

Leon, his expression solemn, whispered to himself, then stood, stowed the container, opened communications to Buleiya in a low voice: "A Ya, the evidence is solid; the ghost‑faced beasts are linked to an alternate dimension. Notify all departments to act cautiously."

Also inform superiors that the demon named Parasu appears to be attempting, by some means, to step into the real universe; through it, such a number of ghost‑faced beasts can be influenced, so it is provisionally classified as a mid‑tier demon.

"I will continue to follow the 503rd Division's tightening encirclement, attempting to capture that group of spirits."

"Copy," Buleiya replied immediately.

Later.

Leon uploaded the footage captured by his holographic visor and advanced again with the two infantry platoons led by the lieutenant.

However, just as the unit left the firefight zone,

a "Boom——!" rang out, drawing Leon and the others' attention.

They peered through gaps in the dense foliage toward the source and saw a bright blue pillar of light shooting straight into the sky.

"Ah——!"

Accompanying the pillar were the hoarse, exhausted screams of a woman.

?!

Witnessing this sudden change, Leon immediately shouted loudly: "Lieutenant, have your men follow us there!"

"Understood! Everyone, move! Spread out! Spread out! Quickly approach that light pillar!" the lieutenant also loudly commanded over the comms.

From above, looking down, Leon and the others moved in a fan shape through the rainforest.

After advancing no more than three hundred meters, they arrived at an artificially cleared open area.

All the trees and undergrowth seemed to have been instantly burned to ash by extremely high-temperature flames, and even the damp, muddy ground became dry and cracked.

They also discovered the source of the "light pillar"…

It was that elder elf who, not long ago, had shown Leon a tendency to ally with humanity.

But now, that elder elf spread out his hands and feet, hovering in the center of the "light pillar", his eyes filled with blue light, his expression dazed, having fallen into a kind of faint.

Beside the elder elf lay three charred elf corpses, and an elf who seemed to have promptly deployed a Spiritual Energy shield, thereby also protecting his fellow elf named Ina who stood beside him.

They noticed Leon and the others approaching.

Ina quickly warned: "It's a trap! Everything is a trap set by the evil god Pallas! Quickly have your troops cease fire!"

(End of chapter)