Wizard: Starting with Dealing with Magical Plants

Chapter 274 The Skeletons of the Calamity Beast

"What happened here?" Ellie's voice trembled; the scene before her eyes was beyond her wildest imagination.

Roland's gaze slowly swept across the catastrophic land, finally settling on the remains of giant beasts and the metal debris.

His gaze became extremely serious, even carrying a hint of disbelief.

The shapes of those colossal beast skeletons—he seemed to have seen similar, extremely rough sketches and descriptions in Master Veranica's notebook!

It's about some terrifying behemoths that roamed the land in ancient times and are now extinct; they're known as the Calamity Beasts!

The style of those metal remnants—cold, simple, with an inhuman geometric beauty—though severely damaged, still shows a certain degree of similarity to the system to which the visitor, the maintainer, and even the faint dark golden light he sensed in the canyon belonged!

Could it be that a battle once took place here—between an ancient monster and some unit of the Observer civilization?

Moreover, the battle was extremely fierce, resulting in mutual destruction and the complete annihilation of this land.

What kind of battle could cause such horrific destruction, leaving behind shocking traces that have endured for so long?

Could that lingering chaotic and violent energy fluctuation originate from these long-dead calamity beasts?

Or perhaps it originated from those equally damaged observer units?

Rowling felt a pang of heart palpitation.

He subconsciously touched the mark on his wrist.

Is there some unknown connection between this basin, this battlefield ruin, him, Yue Yinhua, and that so-called recycling program?

The road ahead seemed far more dangerous and complicated than he had anticipated.

The wind howled on the mountain ridge, stirring up dust from the scorched soil in the basin, like fine black snow.

Sulfur, ozone, burnt smells, putrid stench—a mixture of odors creating a nauseating smell that is almost like death itself.

Ellie instinctively covered her mouth and nose, took a half step back, and turned pale.

The shock of what I saw was far greater than any danger I had encountered before.

It wasn't individual ferocity, but rather a kind of incomprehensible, almost catastrophic destruction.

The two rainbow finches also seemed unusually uneasy.

Duan Yu scratched at the ground impatiently with his claws, making low, rapid gurgling sounds in his throat, and slightly spread his wings to protect Lan Yu behind him.

Blue Feather clung tightly to Broken Feather, her beautiful eyes filled with fear.

Baha flew off Rolin's shoulder and landed on a high rock nearby. Its six eyes warily scanned the Death Basin below, its feathers slightly raised, but it made no sound, simply observing quietly.

Luo Lin took a deep breath, suppressing the pounding emotions and countless questions in his heart.

Now is not the time to explore ancient secrets; the primary task is to safely traverse this area.

"Go around it." Rowling's voice was deeper than usual. "Stay close to the edge of the ridge, don't go down."

"Watch your step, avoid the still glowing cracks and the scorched earth that looks particularly fragile."

The basin is too large; it would take at least half a day to travel from the southeast to the northwest.

But compared to directly stepping into that ominous place, this price is entirely worthwhile.

The team began to move cautiously laterally along the ridge.

The mountain ridge was not flat, but covered with jagged rocks and steep slopes, making it more difficult to walk than before.

Rowling led the way, Ellie followed closely behind, and two rainbow finches flapped their wings, gliding with difficulty at low altitude.

Their strength has not fully recovered, and they cannot fly for long periods of time.

Baha, meanwhile, hovers higher in the sky, sometimes circling and sometimes descending, serving as a reconnaissance post with a higher vantage point.

The closer you get to the basin, the clearer the unsettling residual energy becomes.

The free-floating energy particles in the air were unusually active and chaotic, carrying a restless and violent aura that constantly assaulted people's mental perception.

Lorin had to divert some of the power of [Quiet Dust Star] to form a thin mental barrier around himself that filters negative energy, while also enveloping Ellie and the two birds.

Ellie's feelings were the most obvious.

Once Luo Lin's mental barrier was activated, the feeling that had been bothering her and even making her feel nauseous immediately lessened by more than half.

"Mr. Rowling, the energy here—it's so uncomfortable."

"It's the remnants of the battle's violent will and fragments of chaotic rules, which, despite the passage of time, haven't completely dissipated," Rolin explained. "Don't try to actively sense or absorb any energy here; that will pollute your mind."

"Stay close to me and block out all distractions."

"Mmm." Ellie nodded vigorously, trying to focus her attention on her feet and Rowling's back.

After walking for about an hour, they arrived at a relatively open platform with an excellent view on the mountain ridge.

From here, you can get a clearer view of the massive skeletons of the calamity beasts in the center of the basin.

The visual impact is even more terrifying when viewed up close.

The skeleton was entirely black, with honeycomb-like holes and twisted cracks on its surface, as if it had been instantly carbonized by extremely high temperatures.

They remained in the posture they had just assumed before they died:

Some held their heads high, as if roaring at the sky;

Some were curled up in a ball, as if they were enduring great pain;

Some of them bared their teeth and claws, as if they were still launching futile attacks.

Around the skeleton, the metal fragments reflected a cold luster in the dim light, some of the pieces still retaining clear, smooth geometric cut surfaces, forming an eerie and striking contrast with the charred and twisted remains of the calamity beast.

Just as Rowling was about to urge the group to continue forward and leave this oppressive area as soon as possible, Baha suddenly swooped down from the sky and landed on Rowling's shoulder, emitting a series of extremely rapid and sharp "caw caws"!

Six eyes were fixed on the center of the basin, and in the largest pair of eyes, a strange, moving object was reflected—

Dark golden light?

Almost simultaneously, without warning, a sharp, intense pain, as if burned by a red-hot iron, shot through the mark on Rowling's right wrist!

"Ugh!" Luo Lin groaned and suddenly clutched his wrist.

Looking down, the previously hidden pale blue light spot was now flashing intensely, its color rapidly changing from pale blue to a dazzling dark gold!

A cold, logical, and locking mental wave, like a venomous snake, emerged from the mark, slid up his arm, and stabbed fiercely into his mental sea!

[Quiet Dust Star] shone brightly, fiercely resisting the impact of this invading intent!

But this time the impact was far stronger and more direct than any before!

At the same time, in the center of the basin, deep within the shadows formed by the intertwined skeletons of the largest calamity beasts, a dark golden light, like the awakened eye of a demon, slowly shone!

Then came the second, the third—a total of seven dark golden lights, lighting up one after another in the shadow of the skeleton, arranged in a cold, geometrically beautiful array!

A massive, cold, efficient, and orderly fluctuation, completely out of place with the surrounding chaotic and violent energy, slowly rose from that land of death, like a giant beast awakening!

Luo Lin's face turned deathly pale instantly.

It wasn't because of the pain, but because of the incredibly clear information conveyed within that fluctuation.

It was exactly the same as what I had sensed deep inside the canyon crevice!

But it is more complete, and more threatening!

"Target for planned recovery detected: Benign rule imprint carrier (weak signal)."

"A benign regular imprinted symbiont (high-purity signal) was detected."

"A related life form (unauthorized contact) has been detected."

"In accordance with Article 3, Section 7 of the Emergency Recovery Protocol for High-Level Heritage, a secondary cleanup procedure is initiated: unauthorized contacts are eliminated, and imprint carriers and symbiotes are recovered."

"Cleanup Unit: Purification Sequence - Secondary Arbiter (Damaged), Quantity: 7."

"start up."

The cold, ruthless synthesized electronic voice does not travel through the air, but acts directly on the energy field of this area and the consciousness of all living beings with a certain degree of mental awareness!

Although Ellie couldn't fully understand the meaning of the voice, the undisguised, chilling killing intent and the sense of being locked on made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave, and her blood seemed to freeze.

The two rainbow finches let out terrified cries and huddled together tightly.

Baha flapped its wings impatiently and let out threatening hisses toward the center of the basin.

Luo Lin suddenly looked up at the seven points of dark golden light.