Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 462 The Mysterious Island

Three Fernando-class battleships rolled over the remaining wreckage on the sea surface and continued forward.

The island is now within sight.

The entire island was enveloped in a semi-transparent golden cocoon of light.

The light wasn't dazzling, but it carried a sense of oppression that made people subconsciously hold their breath.

Runes flowed slowly across the surface of the light barrier; this was a protection bestowed by the gods themselves, or at least, in the eyes of ordinary people, it should be so.

Inside the bridge, Alvin issued a probing order: "Test fire a high-explosive shell."

The turret angle was adjusted, and loading was completed.

"boom--!"

The shell exploded the instant it hit the light barrier.

The flames spread along the surface of the barrier, and the shockwave was completely absorbed, only creating a ripple on the golden light layer, like a pebble falling into the center of a lake.

The light curtain was not damaged; instead, it became even brighter after absorbing energy.

Louis stood by the side window and picked up the high-powered binoculars.

His gaze passed through the light screen, and he saw the island's true coastline.

Tens of thousands of white-robed believers knelt densely on the shore, layer upon layer, from the rocks to the tide line.

Their lower bodies had become one with the land, their bodies below the knees transforming into golden veins like tree roots, deeply embedded in the sand.

With hands raised high, head tilted back, and lips moving silently.

With each recitation of the prayer, a faint golden light would flash briefly on the blood vessels on the skin.

The life force was drawn away, flowing along the roots into the earth, and then, drawn by some force, was finally injected into the light curtain in the air.

They were emaciated and hollow, yet the Golden Feather Flower kept them in an abnormally excited state, like burning firewood that would not go out until it was exhausted.

Standing beside Louis, Sakho instinctively gripped his gauntlets, his voice filled with obvious anger: "What do they take people for? They're not even animals."

Alwin said in a low voice, "This is a faith shield. As long as these believers are alive, the barrier will not fail. If we launch a strong attack, we will need to use up most of our ammunition reserves and bombard them for at least three days."

Louis put down his binoculars and shook his head slightly: "Don't be fooled. They're not believers, nor are they soldiers. They're disposable fuel."

Someone on the bridge swallowed unconsciously.

Louis turned around: "Load Deep Blue IV, airburst."

The order was quickly relayed, and the broadside gun groups adjusted their elevation angles.

"Puff—puff—puff—"

The shells traced arcs and exploded one after another in the high sky outside the light curtain, but there was no flame.

The deep blue mist spread out in the air and slowly sank down with the sea breeze.

It carried no kinetic energy; it simply flowed with the air and silently seeped into the golden light curtain.

A chilling atmosphere quickly enveloped the entire coastline.

A believer on the shore, who was praying loudly, inhaled the first breath of blue mist.

His body paused slightly, his pupils dilated, and then quickly lost focus.

The mental resonance that sustained the frenzy was forcibly severed, and the nerve signals suddenly cooled down.

His raised hands fell to his sides, his prayers turned into broken murmurs, and then he slumped forward.

Then came the second, the third...

The large groups of people began to lose their support.

Looking from the bridge, the crowd that had been stuck to the beach like nails suddenly moved down in an orderly fashion as the blue mist swept across.

Like a ripe wheat field, swept across the horizon by an invisible sickle.

Tens of thousands of people simultaneously fall into a deep sleep within seconds.

The golden light from the blood vessels quickly dimmed, receded along the root system, and eventually went out completely.

The curtain of light in the sky began to flicker.

"Ping—" A crisp, short cracking sound rang out.

The golden shield that had once withstood a barrage of naval gunfire crumbled like a shattered eggshell, turning into countless specks of light that slowly dissipated in the wind.

The island was completely exposed to the steel fleet.

Louis lowered his binoculars: "Prepare for landing."

…………

The steam landing craft surged onto the beach, its hull making a dull thud in the shallow water.

The heavy iron plank hit the beach with a hollow, crisp sound when it was lowered.

The Red Tide knights, carrying magic marrow rifles with bayonets, stepped onto the beach one by one, quickly spreading out and occupying a fan-shaped formation.

The cold mist left by the Frost Leaf Gas Bomb had not yet dissipated, and the air was mixed with a dry, dusty smell, like the ashes rummaged through an old warehouse for many years.

Captain Renault Vanguard Knight was the first to disembark. He had only taken two steps when his foot slipped, and he leaned forward violently, nearly falling.

What tripped him up wasn't a stone, but a human figure.

The white-robed believer remained kneeling, lying sideways on the sand.

Below the knee, nothing remained, only a thick tuft of roots extending from the broken leg and digging deep into the ground.

The frost spray put him into a deep coma. Greenish saliva spilled from the corner of his mouth, and his chest rose and fell slightly, proving that he was still alive, but he didn't have long to live.

Renault walked around him and continued forward.

The entire beach as far as the eye could see was covered with these half-human, half-tree creatures.

They were all in different poses, yet excessively quiet, like a strange crop that had been uprooted by a storm.

He stepped onto the white sand, and the sensation under his feet made him stop.

Instead of a soft, sinking feeling, a series of crisp sounds came clearly from under the boots.

Reno frowned, the hairs on the back of his neck slowly standing on end, and called out, "Ike, come here."

The alchemy apprentice accompanying the army jogged over, his eyes tense behind his goggles.

Instead of touching the ground with his hands, he pulled out a folding shovel and scooped up a shovelful of white powder.

The powder was so fine that it barely formed on the spatula.

Ike took a glass test tube from the bag at his waist, unscrewed the seal, and carefully dripped a drop of purple developing solution.

The liquid tumbles the moment it comes into contact with the powder.

"Hiss—" A plume of black smoke rose, accompanied by a stench like burnt feathers.

Ike gagged, the sound muffled by his gas mask.

He stared at the rapidly changing reaction liquid in the test tube, his fingers trembling slightly.

“Captain…” his voice tightened, “This isn’t sand; there are remnants of a soul inside.”

He used the tip of his shovel to brush away the surface powder, revealing the same stark white beneath: "This is ashes."

A brief silence spread through the ranks.

Ike took a breath and finished speaking: "The entire mudflat was paved with dead people. These plants drain the living and decompose the corpses. This place really eats people without spitting out the bones."

Several knights instinctively lifted their feet, as if afraid that the ground beneath their feet would suddenly come to life.

The team continued to advance inland.

Passing through the drowsy crowd of root carvers, the scenery suddenly opened up.

Tall trees stand on both sides of the road, their bark displaying a uniform and pure gold color, and their leaves rustling softly in the wind like layers of thin gold foil.

A young knight couldn't help but whisper, "It's quite good-looking..."

Renault slapped his helmet with his backhand: "Shut up."

He drew his dagger and walked to the nearest tree: "Check the sample."

The blade sliced ​​into the bark, and warm, crimson liquid gushed out, covering Renault's goggles and trickling down the gaps in his armor.

The tree trunk convulsed violently, and a piercing, twisted shriek erupted from within, like the scream of someone whose throat had been slit.

The ground cracked open, and clusters of golden aerial roots burst forth, frantically coiling around Renault's legs and joints.

The root system splits open, revealing fleshy sucker-like mouthparts that gnaw at the alloy leg armor, making a sizzling sound that makes your teeth ache.

Reno's heart raced for a moment. He used his fighting spirit to burn the roots on his legs and looked at Ike.

Ike swallowed hard and immediately replied, "Carbon-based structure, extremely high lipid content, alchemical flames will do!"

Renault stepped back half a step to make way for the firing position, and the heavily armed flamethrower soldier stepped forward.

Orange-red alchemical flames roared out and instantly engulfed the screaming golden tree.

A series of popping sounds came from the flames, and the smell of burning grease was nauseating.

A few seconds later, the trunk stopped twitching, collapsed into a charred state, and the roots wrapped around Reynolds' leg quickly dried up and fell off.

Renault kicked away the embers at his feet, shook his boots, and glanced back at the team: "Remember this, burn them on sight. Don't be stingy, keep going."

…………

When the commando team left the burned forest, the air temperature had noticeably risen.

It wasn't the heat from the sun, but a stuffy, damp feeling from being repeatedly breathed in an enclosed space.

The building area appeared in front, but the atmosphere was very strange.

It presents a soft and bloated form, like a piece of fleshy tissue that has been forcibly ripened. The house is not built, but rather grows.

The enormous limb outlines intertwined, like thighs, like arms, or like some kind of underdeveloped organ, bound together by thick roots, swelling into oval, fleshy pods.

Its surface is covered with a translucent membrane that rises and falls slightly with each breath.

The so-called windows are just narrow cracks.

The tissue at the edge of the fissure will contract and close periodically, making it look more like a blinking eyelid.

The air was humid and hot, with a sticky, fishy smell, as if I had stepped into the cavity of some giant creature.

A thick layer of semi-solidified mucus covered the ground. With each step, the soles of the boots would be pulled out in thin threads and then break, making a slight but unsettling sound.

The streets were lined with residents, their lower bodies blending into the buildings, their bodies fixed to the walls, only their upper torsos showing.

Their heads hung low, motionless, like a row of forgotten wax figures.

Renault raised his hand to signal to slow down, and just as the group closed to within twenty paces, the wax figures moved simultaneously.

The head was raised, and the previously blank face began to writhe violently, with muscles churning and reorganizing under the skin, as if an invisible hand was kneading soft, wet clay.

Within seconds, the first face was sculpted.

That was Renault's face; not only his features, but even the old scar below his left eyebrow was perfectly replicated.

Upon seeing this, Renault paused for a moment.

Then, the changes spread.

Thousands of faces were created simultaneously, transforming into those the knights recognized: fallen comrades, loved ones far behind, and even the knights themselves.

The air began to vibrate.

"Om-"

Thousands of mouths opened and closed simultaneously, like a low-frequency resonance formed by countless chaotic tones superimposed together.

"Why……"

"Give me yours..."

"I want one too...I want one too..."

The sounds reflected and echoed through the streets, merging into a storm of indistinct murmurs.

A young knight lowered his gun, staring at the familiar face ahead, his throat tightening: "Mom..."

The roar overwhelmed everything at that moment.

Just then, the armored command vehicle rolled over the slime on the ground and forced its way into the front of the battle line.

The vibration of the tracks broke the eerie resonance.

The bulletproof turret on the roof of the vehicle rose, and the alchemical loudspeaker array was activated.

"Waaaaah!!!"

The sharp, high-frequency whistle tore through the air, carrying a distinct physical impact.

It contains a nebulized stun agent blended with frost leaf extract and sound frequencies specifically designed to disrupt mental resonance.

"Ah—! Ah—!"

The residents on the street simultaneously let out piercing screams.

Those faces that had just been sculpted were like wax figures baked by high temperatures, quickly softening and collapsing, turning back into lumps of flesh without features.

The knights snapped to their senses, cold sweat trickling down their backs.

Louis's voice came through the loudspeaker: "That's an illusion. They're just monsters who are jealous of how you look like humans."

"Three hundred meters ahead, full-coverage fire attack! Burn!"

The flames advanced along the street.

The fleshy structure rapidly carbonized at high temperatures, filling the air with a burnt smell.

The city was destroyed in the flames, leaving only a twisted and collapsed ruin.

Just as the cleanup was about to be completed, the ground suddenly began to shake.

The fog was torn open from the front, and a heavy cavalry regiment charged out from between the ruins and scorched earth.

More than three hundred stitchers, bound together by thorns, moved forward in unison.

Their bodies were forcibly expanded, and the boundary between humans and beasts was completely erased.

Limbs were roughly sewn into places that didn't belong to them, and dark red liquid kept seeping from the thick sutures as they ran.

The monster at the very front was a head taller than its kind.

Six arms grow from the shoulders and back, and the lower body is a forcibly spliced ​​centaur structure.

Its four main arms each wield a serrated heavy sword the size of a door panel, while its other two arms hang down to its sides and sway as it runs.

It emitted a chaotic and piercing roar, yet its speed was abnormally fast.

A light reconnaissance tank from the Red Tide Vanguard was the first to adjust its course and open fire with its onboard machine gun.

Bullets swept across the monster's body, only splattering a few drops of blood on the half-meter-thick layer of stitched fat.

The monster was already close in the next moment.

Four thick arms simultaneously gripped the tank's turret base.

With a piercing metallic tearing sound, the turret was forcibly pulled off the mounting ring, swung up, and slammed into the flank.

The vehicle was unarmed and overturned heavily.

This scene caused a brief delay in the infantry lines behind them.

Renault has surged to the front.

"Knights, advance and annihilate them!"

He drew his chainsaw sword, the serrations emitting a low growl as they were activated.

More than a hundred Crimson Tide Knights, clad in standardized dark red plate armor, stepped out from the ranks.

The fighting spirit ignited at the same time.

Crimson, azure, gray and other colors of light burst forth from their bodies, like materialized flames, and the air distorted in the heat wave.

A Frankenstein monster swung its greatsword down on its head.

The approaching Crimson Tide Knights held their swords in both hands, neither dodging nor evading.

"boom!"

The deafening roar shook the ground, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared beneath the knight's feet, yet he did not retreat an inch.

His crimson battle aura surged instantly, forcefully withstanding the monstrous strength far exceeding his own.

"too slow."

The greatsword was swung out, and the crimson sword light extended for several meters, splitting the bulky body in two along the midline.

The internal organs were shattered by the exploding battle aura, and the corpse was still convulsing as it fell, with more stitched monsters pressing down on it.

The severed limbs writhed on the ground, attempting to reattach themselves, and the battlefield quickly turned into a chaotic melee zone.

"Make way!"

The roar of the engine drowned out everything.

More than a dozen heavy steam tanks charged into the battlefield from the flanks, their thick armor crushing the rubble.

The six-armed centaur turned and tried to overturn the steel again.

When its palm touched the armor surface, a sudden burst of blue and white lightning flashed.

Alchemy electroshock reactive armor triggered.

The monster's muscles instantly charred and spasmed under high pressure, rendering it stiff and lifeless.

The rotating crushing roller at the front of the vehicle started, and the barbed rollers pulled in the monster's lower body.

The horse's leg structure was instantly shredded, and flesh and blood were scattered into the air.

Renault glanced at the battlefield: "They have too many limbs. Adhesive bombs, blockade operations."

White alchemical foam shot out from the rear, covering the front.

The extra arms and legs quickly became entangled in the adhesive.

The more the monsters struggled, the tighter their limbs became bound together, some even binding themselves into immobile balls of flesh.

Renault sheathed his chainsaw sword: "Artillery, clear the area."

White flames descended from the sky.

The adhesive and fat were ignited simultaneously, and the white phosphorus flame burned through the skin and penetrated into the bone marrow.

The bound monster could not roll over and could only roar in the flames.

Minutes later, only a pile of charred, carbonized debris remained on the road.

Heavy tanks rolled over them, and a crisp cracking sound came from under their tracks.

The warriors regrouped, their breathing not yet fully calmed.

The hatch of the armored command vehicle slowly opened, and Louis's voice, amplified by the loudspeaker, drowned out the echoes of the battlefield: "Surrounding threats have been cleared; now it's up to the follow-up troops."

His gaze passed over the still-smoking wreckage and landed on the distant holy city shrouded in golden light: "Vanguard, follow me and march straight for Avalonia."

(End of this chapter)