286 Chapter 286: Black Underworld Swamp (1/2)

For fear of damaging the site, the hovercraft ended up landing in an exposed field several hundred meters away. Not too far away, but not too close where its engines would damage the fragile walls of the crumbling tomb. Principal Porter was pretty explicit about this.

Along the way, we were attacked by flying monsters that inhabited the swarms. Uh, Ghoul Wyrms and Shadow Drakes, nefarious creatures that roosted among the twisted, gnarled trees that populated the gray bogs of the Black Underworld Swamp and took off to attack aircraft. Fortunately, with several of the Silver Wolves mercenaries onboard the craft, we drove them off with precise, powerful spells. I also summoned Aquila to help eliminate a couple of flying monsters that drew too close to the thickly armored hovercraft, and we managed to complete the rest of the journey in safety. It was unfortunate that the hovercraft was moving too fast to stay within a hundred meter range for me to summon Vermillion Phoenix. Ugh. In fact, I almost couldn't summon Aquila either, and was only able to do so when the hovercraft was forced to halt and hover in midair for the Silver Wolves mercenaries to scramble out to fling spells at the annoying swarm of Shadow Drakes that buzzed around us. That short pause of two minutes was enough for me to summon the gigantic red eagle, but it was less than half of the required time (five minutes) to summon Vermillion Phoenix, so too bad.

With Aquila escorting the hovercraft, the frequency of attacks lessened and now here we were, landing near the tomb.

”Be careful,” Brent warned as he strode toward the ramp in three gigantic strides. He held up a hand to stop the archaeological team. ”You guys stay on the hovercraft until my team has ensured that the landing zone is secured.”

”Understood,” Principal Porter agreed, and he nodded for his colleagues and students to hang back.

Brent and the Silver Wolves then proceeded to disembark the moment the ramp dropped down, moving into positions and taking up firing stances. About three out of the ten mercenary officers were wielding rifles, two of them long hunting rifles with powerful scopes. The third was an automatic carbine that spewed out mana bullets at an incredible rate. The lower-ranked mercenaries mostly wielded rifles.

Unlike the gun-toting lower ranks, most of the officers had the standard fantasy type weapons, but even swords, axes and spears were capable of unleashing long-ranged spells at foes far away, while doubling as peerless weapons in melee. Their versatility ensured that they would never be obsolete.

”Go, go, go!”

Using hand signals and urging in hushed tones, Brent directed us to make use of fire and movement. That was, half of the group provided covering fire while the other half rushed forward to take up new positions to offer support fire while the first half then made their way forward. Typical military stuff.

There were a few monsters awaiting in the Black Underworld Swamp as we advanced toward the tomb, but they didn't pose much of a problem. At least not to the seasoned veterans of the Silver Wolves. A Blood Boar recklessly tried to charge us and was mercilessly blasted apart by a hunting rifle, the magical projectile embedding itself deeply within the poor monster's core before detonating violently. A Bog Monkey swinging amidst the branches tried to ambush us from behind, but was knocked down by a hail of fire from the carbine before the red-haired mercenary, Redfield, finished the fallen creature off with a fire spell.

Covering the first few fifty meters, Brent then turned back and called for the archeological team to disembark and follow us.

”Stay close to us,” he ordered. ”Don't stray too far or you'll get devoured by the monsters in the swamp.”

That was more than enough of a warning for them to obey. I was pretty sure that the archaeological team comprised of mages who could defend themselves with spells in a pinch, but they had focused on studying more than combat, and thus wouldn't be all that useful in a fight against all but the weakest of monsters.

Worse, the danger of the monsters in the Black Underworld Swamp wasn't that they were particularly strong, but that there existed many highly toxic monster living in the marshes, bearing deadly venoms – where one drop could kill a normal man in seconds.

Fortunately, I had immunity to poison because of the Holy Spring about a hundred and fifty chapters ago (what, you didn't think I would forget about that ability, did you?), so I wasn't afraid of poisonous creatures. Even so, I still had to be careful.

Glancing around, I grimaced at the purple mist that had permanently settled over the Black Underworld Swamp. The Silver Wolves cautiously marched through it, their eyes narrowed as they glanced around for any hidden dangers, but for the moment, other than the low-ranked monsters, we were safe.

For now.

My vigilance was rewarded when the motion tracker in the lenses of my glasses picked up movement.

”Be careful!”

I drew Hei Yue and Bai Ri and struck the moment something lunged at us from the trees, decapitating it. I blinked and vaguely registered my victim. It was a huge, black serpent with purplish venom leaking from its fangs. Blood splashed across the gray grass as the headless body and the disembodied head landed clumsily, the former writhing about desperately.

It wasn't the only one. Three more black serpents darted out of the trees, hissing ferociously as they lashed out at the group.

Working in tandem with me, Anastasia was the next to react. She rushed forward, her daggers sliding into her hands and slashing at them. Like the first, one of the snakes was decapitated instantly. The other two withdrew, hissing furiously as blood trickled down from cuts on their necks.

Several seconds later, they convulsed violently and fell over, frothing at their jaws. Quite clearly, they had been poisoned to death.

Seeing Anastasia's smirk, I was reminded that she was a former Veneneum Sect Assassin who specialized in the use of poisons. The Black Underworld Swamp must feel like home to her, in a manner of speaking (obviously she wouldn't want to live in here permanently).

”Black Underworld Snakes!” Brent shouted out a warning as he raised his massive staff and jabbed it at another monstrous serpent. ”Everybody, be careful!”

With a single swing, he obliterated the Black Underworld Snake, turning it into little more than bloody paste.

Holy f…! He could reduce something of that size (they were about twelve meters long and their heads were almost the size of an adult man) to nothing with just a single swing of his staff?!

The other Silver Wolves mercenaries were now engaging the swarm in combat. The guys with the guns weren't able to get shots off at the serpentine shapes of the coiling creatures, but what bullets they fired did reduce their heads to bloody messes and dropped them. The rest of the mercenaries sliced and diced them with their swords and spears, while the lower-ranked soldiers fired a barrage of shots from their carbines, taking care not to get bitten by the Black Underworld Snakes. Their potent venom could incapacitate even a fairly powerful mage pretty quickly, despite them only being ranked E or D.

This was why ranks were deceptive. There was no bullshit like ”rank D monsters will never be able to defeat rank C monsters and above or their equivalents of human mages.” The venom of a rank D Black Underworld Snake was enough to kill a rank C or even rank B monster. It could even incapacitate a rank A monster if the latter was weakened or not careful.

There were no absolutes in reality, however much xianxia and cultivation stories would have you believe with their nonsensical realms and ranks. Like in the real world, a cobra could still kill an elephant several times its mass and size with a single bite.

”Stand strong!” Brent bellowed. ”Keep them off the archaeological team!”

”Captain!” Redfield shouted when he incinerated a swathe of serpents with his fire spells. A few mercenaries provided covering fire for him with their guns. ”There's another fifty or so of them advancing toward our position! It's like we've stumbled into a viper's nest!”

”Fuck!” Brent swore. ”Hold your ground, Silver Wolves! Do not yield!”