Chapter 3: Landing
Su Xiao had a general understanding of the situation in the Ten Thousand Beast Continent. He could be certain that the early stages of the World War would have nothing to do with the native forces.
The numbers of beastmen, humans, and sub-beastmen were already low. Compared to the aberrations, humanity in this world was very weak. Their civilization had been nearly severed, with knowledge of steam, electricity, and other fields mostly lost during prolonged periods of flight.
In reality, the heavy losses and population decline were not the real problems. What was truly fatal was the severance of civilization.
The aberrations were a sapient race. They had been slumbering deep within the earth. When the human and beastman populations and their technology reached a certain level, the aberrations would awaken from their slumber, emerge to the surface, and cull the numbers of beastmen and humans. However, they would not completely exterminate humans and beastmen, because the aberrations needed life energy.
Many epochs ago, this continent was still the territory of the beast race, which was why it was called the Ten Thousand Beast Continent. But later, the beast race was exterminated because their supernatural abilities could threaten the aberrations.
After almost all life on the surface was gone, the aberrations realized that this couldn't continue, so they chose to slumber, waiting for the next civilization to revive.
This felt clearly like the aberrations were allowing humans and beastmen to develop, only to wipe out over 90% of them once they reached a certain level. Then they would begin to curb the development of humans and beastmen, ensuring their rule was not threatened while also guaranteeing a source of prey.
The current situation was that the aberrations had somewhat lost control. The emergence of sub-beastmen, to a certain extent, was enough to threaten the aberrations. The aberrations were not a monolithic bloc. Under the instigation of the first sub-beastman, a civil war broke out among the aberrations.
It could be said that the situation on the Ten Thousand Beast Continent had devolved into a chaotic mess. The aberrations attacked the territories of humans, beastmen, and sub-beastmen, while also fighting civil wars among themselves.
Inside the main cabin of the spaceship, Su Xiao tried to contact Bubu Wang through the team channel. The distance was too great; the contact failed. By now, Bubu Wang and the others should have already arrived on the Ten Thousand Beast Continent.
"It's about to begin."
The toad tapped in the air in front of it. With its manipulation, an ejection pod descended from above. The pod's underside spewed orange-red flames, landing steadily on the ground.
Clack, clack…
The ejection pod opened. Xia and Luo Luo were both a bit curious, not knowing what this thing was used for.
"Bai Ye, ejection in 1 minute and 23 seconds. Get ready."
The toad finished adjusting the ejection pod. Su Xiao stepped forward and entered the three-meter-wide pod.
"This… seems to be outside the atmosphere. Just eject like this?"
Xia was clearly startled. She was very curious as to why Su Xiao would choose to land via ejection.
"Mm, just eject like this. Barring any accidents, he'll land near a spatial coordinate. It's either an Apocalypse Paradise coordinate or a Holy Light Paradise one. Conservative estimate, there are over fifty enemy contractors near that coordinate."
As the toad spoke, Su Xiao, now inside the ejection pod, had already secured the buffer frame. Landing depended entirely on this thing.
"So Bai Ye is going to fight 1 against 50?"
"Mm, that's right. But compared to the opponents he'll face later, these are just appetizers. The other four paradises all have trump cards."
The toad's frog claw slapped the outside of the ejection pod, and the pod's steam vents closed.
"Get ready. 3, 2, 1. See you on the ground."
Boom!
Layers of airwaves spread through the main cabin. Xia's hair was blown back. She and Luo Luo both had their mouths slightly open, frozen in place.
The ejection pod shot out from beneath the spaceship, like a cylindrical cannonball, trailing a line of fire as it flew straight toward the Ten Thousand Beast Continent.
"Landing in 5 minutes and 37 seconds. Ladies, hold tight."
The toad hopped toward the captain's cabin. Soon after, the spaceship began its descent toward the Ten Thousand Beast Continent. This spaceship was the Reincarnation Paradise faction's base camp.
High above the Ten Thousand Beast Continent, a "meteor" trailed a line of fire as it fell from the sky. If one looked closely, they would see that it was not a meteor, but an ejection pod.
On the ground, several dozen contractors had already gathered. They were contractors from Apocalypse Paradise, 53 in total, preparing to assemble at the rendezvous point. For them, this was important. They had all just arrived in this world and knew nothing about its situation.
"What do we do this time? Nameless Saint is strong, sure, but will he treat us as cannon fodder?"
A white-haired girl spoke, looking somewhat worried.
"Probably not. If we die, he won't survive either. This is a five-way free-for-all. Don't forget the prompt just now. Our base camp's neighbor… is the Reincarnation Paradise faction."
"Bad luck."
"We're already in a good spot. The worst off is Holy Light Paradise. Their right side is Reincarnation Paradise's base camp, and their left side is Death Paradise."
"Hahaha~, that's even worse luck."
"Stop laughing. Our left side is Reincarnation Paradise's base camp, and our right side is Sanctuary Paradise. This time, Sanctuary Paradise won't be easy to deal with."
Clearly, Holy Light Paradise's landing point was not good. But there was no helping it. The five paradises' base camps surrounded the fall zone of the space-time force concretion.
At the top was Reincarnation Paradise's base camp. To its left was Apocalypse Paradise, and to its right was Holy Light Paradise. Below Apocalypse Paradise and Holy Light Paradise were Sanctuary Paradise and Death Paradise, respectively. The five base camps formed a circle, with a large open area in the center. This was the fall zone of the space-time force concretion.
Surrounding the fall zone would minimize the chances of native forces in this world snatching the space-time force concretion.
Just as the Apocalypse Paradise contractors were teasing Holy Light Paradise's unfortunate base camp terrain, a howling sound of tearing air came from above.
"Is that… a meteor?"
"No, there's a biological fluctuation inside. Intensity is over 8000!"
The white-haired girl hesitated, wondering whether to run now.
"8000? Be more specific."
A main tank carrying a huge round shield spoke. The shield was metallic, over 1.5 meters in diameter, giving off an indestructible feel.
The white-haired girl didn't speak. The last time she encountered the final boss of a sixth-rank world, that boss's biological intensity was over 6400. Moreover, the biological fluctuation perception limit of her detection-type equipment was 8000. So, it was off the charts.
The reason the white-haired girl didn't speak was that she felt her own speed wasn't that fast. If she revealed this information, her teammates would scatter in all directions. With her short legs, she would definitely be among the first to die.
'First, stabilize these teammates. Then find a chance to escape. Perfect.'
Having figured this out, the white-haired girl spoke urgently but calmly: "No need to panic. A sixth-rank boss's biological intensity is around 7500. If we were just a few people, we'd be dead. But there are 53 of us. With good coordination, we can easily take it down."
The white-haired girl's expression was calm. She glanced at the other two perception-type contractors. Their expressions were also very calm, and one of them even echoed her. However, if one looked closely, they would notice that the hands of these two perception-types were trembling under their sleeves. They both knew that something terrifying was coming, something on an entirely different level of power. Their only chance was to first sacrifice their teammates and then flee.
It could be said that this was very Apocalypse Paradise. No, it should be said that this was very much in line with the style of most Apocalypse Paradise contractors: ensure one's own survival first.
Boom!!
Dirt flew everywhere. The ejection pod crashed into the ground. With a dull thud, the pod's hatch was kicked off.
Steam rose. Su Xiao, his entire body wreathed in "blue flames," stepped out of the ejection pod. On both sides of his cheeks, dark blue-black patterns extended from below his ears down to his neck.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy was ignited. He had entered the Shadow Flame state.
Bang!
Soil and debris scattered. Su Xiao vanished. When he reappeared, he was already in front of the main tank holding the round shield.
Zheng~
The long blade sang softly, slashing at the shield in the main tank's hands with incredible speed.
The main tank behind the shield leaned his body forward slightly. Based on his experience, the impact of the slash was about to come. Fortunately, he had been facing the enemy all along; otherwise, with the enemy's speed, he wouldn't even have had a chance to raise his shield.
With a tearing sound, the main tank behind the shield did not feel the impact of the blade striking the shield. Instead, his hands felt lighter. His epic-rank +11 shield, embedded with two gems, was directly cut in two.
"Huh?"
The main tank was full of confusion. A long blade wreathed in blue flames slashed toward his face.
Just an epic-rank shield. Against the sharpness of Dragon-Slaying Flash, one slash was enough to break the shield.
PS: (Regarding the update times over the past couple of days… This waste mosquito has already crouched down, ready to be kicked. The only request: just don't kick the crotch.)