Chapter 231: Molten Depths

Successfully infiltrating the interior of the Fortress of Despair brought not relief, but a deeper chill.

The Fortress of Hope's assault ship is currently stuck inside a colossal "conduit" woven from writhing flesh membranes and cold metal.

Viscous crimson fluid smears the hull as it slowly flows, exuding a nauseating mix of bloody sweetness and rot.

The "eye" energy nodes on the conduit walls seem to have detected the intruders, all turning in unison toward the warship, flickering with ominous red light.

"We… we are inside a living creature?" Huang Rong endures the discomfort, observing the external environment.

Her perception is heavily suppressed here; she can only vaguely sense a vast, chaotic life force filling all directions, yet this breath differs from pure vitality, brimming with distortion, pain, and brutality.

"More like a semi-biological, semi-mechanical synthetic entity." Yanxin Runesmith's face turns pale as he quickly analyzes the detection data, "These tissues… contain highly activated annihilation energy signatures; they are constantly proliferating, remodeling… this fortress is likely a war beast cultivated by the False Emperor using some biological matrix combined with technology, specifically to erode and destroy the seal of the Exile Land."

The crystal ball in the Xingyuzhe Elder's hand dims, the nebula inside nearly stagnant; he gasps, "The laws here are severely twisted, spatial structure extremely bizarre, my prophetic and detection abilities suffer great interference.

The energy signal of the beacon source…… lies deeper, along the main trunk direction of this 'artery,' but its exact position cannot be precisely located."

"We cannot linger; we must move quickly!" Xingren warily watches the conduit walls, his long sword trembling slightly, as if sensing potential threat, "These organisms have strong rejection and defense mechanisms."

As if to prove his words, the flesh membrane on the conduit walls suddenly writhes violently; dozens of tentacle-like things composed of viscous fluid and energy shoot out from the membrane, lashing toward the Fortress of Hope!

The tentacles flicker with corrosive crimson energy; once entangled, even shields may not hold long!

"Fire! Clear them!" Li Qingxuan orders decisively.

The warship's side-mounted close-defense energy cannons instantly fire, scorching beams precisely severing the incoming tentacles.

The severed tentacles fall into the conduit fluid, quickly dissolving, emitting a "hiss" sound.

Yet more tentacles surge from all directions!

Simultaneously, a deep, drum-like rumble comes from deep within the conduit, as if something huge is being stirred and moving toward them!

"Activate emergency power, charge forward along the conduit! Find a branch or weak point to break out!" Li Qingxuan knows they cannot be trapped dead in this main passage.

The Fortress of Hope's engine roars again, enduring relentless tentacle attacks and increasing fluid resistance, forcibly pushing deeper into the conduit.

The energy cannons keep firing, carving a temporary passage through the sticky crimson fluid and writhing flesh walls.

The scenery along the way is scalp-tingling.

They see various biological remains embedded in the flesh walls, still twitching slightly—star beasts, humanoid creatures, their flesh being assimilated and absorbed by the conduit; they see massive ganglion-like nodes formed from tangled nerve bundles and energy conduits, pulsing, regulating energy flow in this area; even through some semi-translucent flesh membranes, they vaguely see Realm Breaker Legion soldiers being "assembled" in adjacent conduits—soaked in nutrient fluid and annihilation energy, metal parts forcibly implanted into twisted flesh……

This is a huge, efficient, and cruel arsenal and hatchery!

"Front-left! There's a relatively weak energy fluctuation zone! Possibly a secondary conduit or a chamber!" Yan Xin suddenly shouts.

"Ram into it!"

The Fortress of Hope adjusts its bow, gathering the last of its shield energy, and slams into the flesh wall Yan Xin pointed at like a siege hammer!

"Pfft——!"

Accompanied by a grating tearing sound, the warship successfully breaches a relatively weak flesh membrane, rushing into a relatively open space.

This resembles a giant chamber formed from biological tissue, with metallic debris and biological skeletons not yet fully absorbed piled on the ground, the air thick with stronger stench.

The chamber walls are covered with thick, pulsing vessel-like structures transporting energy in all directions; most importantly, there is no corrosive fluid or dense tentacles everywhere as in the main conduit.

"Temporarily safe…… but we must quickly find the beacon source, then leave this damned place." Li Qingxuan exhales, yet his expression remains grave.

The warship's shield energy has been consumed by more than half, its external armor also suffered some corrosion.

He steps down from the bridge, setting foot on the soft, elastic ground that feels like stepping on the entrails of some giant beast.

Huang Rong, Xingren, Yan Xin, and the Xingyuzhe Elder, along with a squad of elite Star Dust Guard, follow closely behind.

"The beacon signal is somewhat clearer than outside." Yan Xin holds a custom-made energy sensor, pointing toward a direction in the chamber, "Over there, we need to find a path to deeper layers."

The group cautiously walks through the chamber littered with remains.

The Star Dust Guard warily watches the pulsing vessels and occasional twitching flesh walls, fearing sudden violent retaliation.

Just as they approach a ring-shaped structure resembling a "doorway" made of muscle fiber bundles at the chamber's far end, Li Qingxuan's chest "Life Imprint" crystal suddenly throbs violently again!

This time, it does not point in a direction but emits a strong, warning-laden fluctuation!

Simultaneously, the muscle-fiber-made "door" contracts inward violently, revealing the passage behind!

However, what appears inside the passage is not a deeper route, but…… a suffocating sight!

Beyond the passage lies an even more enormous, heart-like pulsating core chamber!

At the chamber's center floats a giant prism-like crystal wrapped in countless dark-gold rune chains, its surface already riddled with cracks——that is precisely the "beacon" continuously diffusing coordinate information outward!

But at this moment, the beacon is not their focus.

The focus is beneath the beacon!

There, a terrifying existence beyond words coils!

It roughly resembles a humanoid, over five meters tall, its body covered in obsidian-like carapace and pallid, exposed-bone-like structures.

Its head lacks facial features, only a giant mouth that constantly opens and closes, filled with spiral-shaped sharp teeth, and above the mouth dense, constantly blinking eyes filled with madness and malice.

Its lower half is not legs, but countless shadowy tendrils like octopus tentacles, covered in suckers and barbs, constantly writhing.

Even more heart-stopping, one of its claws is deeply embedded into a control panel beneath the beacon, as if drawing energy from it, while also seemingly manipulating it.

Its other claw drags a freshly torn-apart Realm Breaker Legion soldier's corpse, still twitching slightly, dark-red blood and energy fluid dripping from the broken parts.

Sensing intruders, the monster abruptly lifts its head, its myriad eyes instantly locking onto Li Qingxuan's group!

A terror far surpassing previous Destroyers, mixing materialized annihilation energy with ancient madness, sweeps over them like a tsunami!

"It…… it is an 'Ancient God Descendant'!" the Xingyuzhe Elder's voice trembles, filled with despair, "A high-level existence deeply corrupted by Ancient God Whisper and mutated beneficially (for them)! It…… it is using the beacon! It possesses a certain intelligence!"

The Ancient God Descendant opens its maw bristling with sharp teeth, emitting a soul-directing shriek filled with hunger and ferocity, not transmitted through air!

"Roar——!!!"

The sound wave mixed with spiritual shock causes all team members except Li Qingxuan and a few others to painfully cover their ears, faces instantly paling!

Guarding the beacon is not cold machinery or ordinary legion soldiers, but a wise, immensely powerful Ancient God Descendant that brings despair!

The task of shutting down the beacon instantly rises in difficulty by several levels!

Li Qingxuan gripped tightly the Changqiang in his hand, the Life Imprint on his chest burst forth with an unprecedented emerald green radiance, forming a stark contrast with the darkness and madness emanating from that ancient god descendant.

The first checkpoint of the final battle turned out to be such a terrifying opponent!

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