Chapter 211: "Everyone, pick up the pace! Watch your distance from danger!"

The scale of the palace complex was enormous, almost occupying the entire lower end of the impact crater.

Even just by visual estimation, its diameter was no less than 50 kilometers.

However, Breya, using her helmet's screen for assistance, measured the distance to be "around 54 kilometers," confirming her guess was accurate.

The platform on which the hunters were positioned lay two kilometers above the base level of the complex, allowing them to overlook the entire structure.

What caught their attention the most was the small "sun" floating above the palace complex.

It seemed that this "sun" provided energy to the area, indirectly creating the conditions they encountered when traversing the rift, such as stalactite caverns where humidity and temperature were both above zero.

However, the red and purple light emanating from it stirred a deep sense of unease, filling them with an overwhelming impulse to abandon their mission, to forget fighting "for humanity," and to give in to wild indulgence.

But when they remembered they were working for their boss, their emotions gradually stabilized, and the reckless thoughts dissipated.

This left Breya, under her helmet, with a grim expression.

She realized that it was the sun, or perhaps some supernatural force in the area, that was attempting to "corrupt" and "warp" them.

It seemed that the Snake Bull God of this primary universe was even more dangerous than those of other universes.

After a moment of silence.

Breya, crouching on the edge of the platform, raised her left hand and gestured to both sides, issuing a command through internal communication: "Second squad, set up observation equipment. First and third squads, stand guard. If the enemy detects our presence, retreat immediately."

No one responded verbally via communication, but the hunters' silent actions conveyed their understanding.

Soon, the second squad set up more advanced equipment than their standard gear at their location, covering the devices with expensive cloaking materials to minimize their exposure.

Linking the equipment to their visual feeds, Breya's helmet screen finally allowed her to examine the intricate details of the complex below.

First, she noticed numerous statues in the style of ancient Greek gods. Even though her history knowledge wasn't great, she could still identify some of the deities represented by the statues.

For example, Poseidon wielding a trident, Aphrodite posing seductively, Artemis with a drawn bow, and Apollo, appearing to play a lyre with his eyes closed.

These so-called gods must have fallen, becoming a threat to humanity and possibly the entire solar system.

The largest statue, towering over the others with an aura of absolute authority, held thunderbolts in its hands—it was the king of the gods, Zeus.

Zeus's statue stood directly beneath the "sun," surrounded by lavishly designed palaces and gardens.

Logically, it was highly likely that the company's primary target resided in that central palace.

Their secondary objective was to locate and free the imprisoned Greek gods.

Breya scanned the area and first noticed an obscene display of indulgence—"a feast of debauchery."

Countless humanoid abnormal creatures were indulging without restraint.

Their actions were more grotesque than even the most extreme films.

Of course, Breya had never watched such disturbing content. Busy with work, she had no interest in regular adult films, let alone something this bizarre.

These humanoid creatures were tall, with slender and perfectly proportioned bodies, and their appearances could even be described as handsome or beautiful, but their acts of debauchery shattered any illusion of beauty.

Additionally, in a coliseum-like structure, a red-skinned figure with two horns protruding from its helmet was engaged in a brutal fight with numerous serpentine humanoid creatures.

After emerging victorious, the red-skinned figure was quickly overwhelmed by even more monstrous beings, torn apart until it was thoroughly dead.

Breya's combat instincts told her that this "man" wasn't an uncorrupted Greek god, but a fellow fallen one.

Ignoring the fallen gods and the grotesque creatures, she continued her surveillance.

Beep.

At this moment, one of the hunters marked something on the left side of the screen.

Turning to look, Breya saw that the southernmost part of the complex was heavily guarded by soldiers in ancient Greek-style heavy armor.

These soldiers' skin had fused completely with their armor, making it impossible to distinguish where one ended and the other began. Their weapons were also merged with their hands.

Though their helmets concealed their faces, it wasn't hard to imagine that they were likely disfigured beyond recognition.

Unlike the others, these soldiers weren't engaging in any depraved indulgence but were patrolling the streets as if guarding something or someone.

Breya narrowed her eyes, contemplating for a moment, then uploaded this information to the Haystack assault craft, which was serving as their temporary communication base. She had the pilot relay the information to the fleet.

With that done, Breya and the hunters refocused on gathering as much intel as possible for the fleet, aiming to ensure they were fully prepared for the upcoming saturation bombing.

However, just over ten minutes after their arrival, the "sun" began to pulsate violently, radiating an even more intense red-purple glow.

At the same time, the armored soldiers received some kind of command and began rapidly converging on the eastern side of the complex.

?!

Realizing that their position had likely been compromised, or at the very least, the enemy was aware of an intruder, Breya immediately issued the order:

"Retreat."

Breya stood up quickly, gripping her commander-class BFG plasma rifle and keeping a close eye on the complex's movements.

Without needing further detailed orders, the hunters heightened their vigilance, swiftly dismantling their equipment and retreating into the rift. Several demolitionists prepared to plant sensor-triggered metallic hydrogen bombs at the rift's entrance.

But before they could finish setting up—

Whoosh!

The "sun" focused its light on the rift's entrance.

"Ahh!! Ugh—"

The demolitionists caught in the red-purple light screamed in agony over the comms, collapsing to the ground, their fate uncertain.

Simultaneously, tens of thousands of purple "man-snake" creatures with twisted bat-like wings flew out from the palace complex, heading straight for the rift where the hunters had intended to retreat.

"Damn it!"

Watching as her teammates' health statuses turned from green to red, then extinguished entirely, Breya cursed, blaming herself for being too greedy in seeking more intel.

She quickly sent an urgent request to the fleet: "Commence immediate bombing," and shouted through the comms:

"Everyone, pick up the pace! Watch your distance from danger!"

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