I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Klaus did not come down.

He stood on the makeshift command platform above the collapse site, surveying the ranks below with a condescending air, without uttering a single word.

"start."

At Klaus's command, everyone began to move.

The bronze protective barrier at the edge of the collapse has been gnawed beyond recognition. The giant ghouls, corrupted by the forest species, have been attacking repeatedly in the past few days, leaving the original copper blockade line in disarray. In some places, it has been completely gnawed through, and the copper sections at the breaks are covered with dense tooth marks.

The soldiers of the Holy Armor Army removed the last barrier, and the breach was completely opened.

A foul stench suddenly surged up from below, carrying a mixture of rottenness and muddy odor.

Rick was the first to jump.

The moment his figure disappeared into the darkness, the dark red, writhing creatures beneath his coat suddenly exploded, and countless fleshy worms surged out of his body, hissing as they spread out in all directions.

A few breaths later, a sound came from below.

A series of muffled sounds of bones shattering and flesh tearing rose from the darkness, interspersed with the hoarse howls characteristic of ghouls, dense and short, one after another.

The Great Ascended One followed suit and jumped down.

The moment he landed, his mechanical legs made a heavy metallic clang, and cracks appeared in the ground beneath his feet. His mechanical eyes lit up with two cold white lights in the darkness, scanning the area.

The area around the entrance has been cleared by Reck.

The ground was covered with ghoul flesh and severed limbs, and dark red flesh worms scurried and gnawed at the remains at an extremely fast speed.

In the darkness further away, countless pairs of eerie green eyes were staring this way, densely packed, like a sea of ​​fluorescent stars.

The attendant landed, and as he touched the ground, his hands glowed with a purple light that was not dazzling but rather deep and lingered along his arms.

The Hooded Watchman landed last, silently.

All four arrived.

Agnes slid down the rope from above. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she raised her hands, and a gentle white light spread from her palms, spreading outwards. Wherever it passed, the carrion fungi on the ground squeaked and quickly withered and dried up.

The soldiers of the Holy Armor Army began transporting cannons.

The components of the alchemical cannon were hoisted down one by one and quickly assembled on the open ground. The night watchman operating the cannon moved skillfully, and the bronze barrel, base, aiming frame, and more than a dozen other parts were assembled in a few minutes, with the muzzle pointing into the darkness.

The first cannon is in position.

"fire."

boom.

The shell tore through the darkness.

The alchemical shell is a specially made alchemical ammunition. The alchemical array at the tail is ignited the moment it leaves the barrel, and the entire shell trails a scorching white tail flame as it plunges into the dense horde of ghouls ahead.

What followed was a violent explosion.

An area was completely destroyed by the bombing.

The temperature of the alchemical flame far exceeds that of ordinary flames. The ghouls contaminated by the forest species were like paper under this temperature. The gray-green skin on their bodies cracked and peeled off instantly, and the wood fibers and tendons underneath were burned and crackled. Hurricanes were overturned, crushed, and crushed.

The carrion fungi that had been spreading across the ground withered in large swaths and were swept away to ashes by the aftershocks of the artillery fire.

The cries of agony came from all directions, but those sounds were quickly drowned out by the roar of the second and third cannons.

Several alchemical cannons fired simultaneously, overlapping and covering the area.

Rex's swarm of insects did not disperse; they remained close to the group, moving around to protect the area. Only a small stream of insects spun out to assist the artillery group's movement. The dark red fleshy insects arched under the gun mounts, pushing the heavy alchemical cannons forward.

The fire-breathing nozzles of the Iron Guard Battalion took over from behind.

A continuous stream of extraordinary flame spewed from the large nozzle. The flame, infused with the power of the furnace fire, was extremely hot and dark orange in color. When it struck the wall of the passage, it left a charred mark.

For a forest-type ghoul, encountering this thing was worse than encountering mithril. The woody fibers on its body were ignited like dry firewood, and its entire body was burned to a charcoal within a few breaths.

The Night Watchmen kept throwing mithril into the forked passage from the flanks.

The silvery-white metal sheet traced an arc in the darkness, exploding the moment it hit the ground. Alchemical flames erupted, burning the entrance to the forked passage red-hot and blocking any ghouls that might emerge from the side.

The small gaps that had already been gnawed out above were blasted away by the alchemy cannon, and the rubble and mud sealed the openings to prevent attacks from both sides.

crush.

A complete and utter crushing defeat.

Under the extraordinary flames of the alchemy cannon and the furnace fire-breathing pipe, the giant ghoul corrupted by the forest species was no match for them.

Large swaths of carrion fungi withered, ghouls of the forest species died in droves, the ground was covered with charred bits of flesh and ashes, and the air was filled with a sweet, burnt smell.

The team moved forward steadily.

Rex walked at the front, the swarm of insects flowing around his body, the dark red swarm like a living armor, enveloping him. His pace was slow, each step steady, as if he were measuring every inch of this underground land.

The Ascended followed beside the artillery crew, its mechanical eyes constantly rotating, monitoring the surrounding activity.

The attendant walked in the middle of the procession, his hands glowing with a constant purple light that lingered heavily along his arms.

The Hooded Watchman walked at the very back, without missing a step or uttering a sound.

Agnes's blessing light continued to cover the area around the group, and the carrion fungi could not survive within her purification range, leaving the ground clean.

The team advanced to the location where the bronze pillar was previously discovered.

The bronze pillar remained in its original place, its thick shaft gleaming with a ghostly blue light in the darkness. However, the upper half of the pillar was covered by a dense swarm of ghouls, their eerie green eyes fixed on the passing procession below, emitting low growls, yet not a single one dared to charge down.

"Clear the pillars first," the mechanical voice of the Great Ascended One came from the front. "Don't damage the pillars."

The cannon was turned around and aimed at the ghouls on the pillar.

The shells grazed the pillar and exploded in the swarm of insects, while mithril and furnace fire spread upwards along the pillar, the firepower bypassing the pillar itself.

The large ghouls attached to it were burned off and peeled off in pieces, crashing to the ground with a crackling sound, gradually revealing the upper half of the pillar, through which the eerie blue light shone again.

Clearly, the giant ghouls above could no longer hold back, and they broke off in large pieces, desperately rushing towards the crowd below. However, the serpentine chimera from last time had vanished without a trace. Without that thing, these giant ghouls and the corrupted ghouls were no match for them.

Even without Rex's intervention, the furnace flamethrower and alchemy cannon fired in quick succession.

Large numbers of ghouls were crushed and cleared away, while the passageways around the cavity were directly blasted down.

A few minutes later, the alchemical flames went out, leaving only a mass of severed limbs and a convulsing ghoul in the huge cavity, all of which were then completely slaughtered by the swarm of insects that had sprung from Rex's body.

After cleaning up the area, the team continued to advance deeper into the territory.

The deeper you go, the more ghouls emerge.

It's much more than during the last exploration.

From the passageways around them, from the gaps overhead, and from the cracks in the ground, giant ghouls corrupted by the forest seed emerged one after another, their eerie green eyes densely packed in the darkness, growing ever denser.

The cannon barrel of the alchemy cannon was already red-hot, and the watchman operating the cannon kept pouring water into the cooling tank, causing steam to hiss out.

The mithril is being used up faster than expected; two of the six chests are already empty.

But the line didn't stop.

After advancing a certain distance, the passage ahead suddenly opened up.

A huge cavity.

The dome was extremely high, and the rock walls above were covered with cracks and root-like structures that hung down almost to the ground. The four walls of the cavity were densely packed with dozens of dark, hollow holes of varying sizes.

Ghouls poured out of those holes.

They didn't rush forward all at once; instead, they emerged from different burrows in groups of seven or eight, or in teams of three or five, one after another, in an endless stream.

Once one wave is wiped out, the next one is already emerging.

The pace of progress has been significantly slowed down.

"Block the breaches." The Ascended One scanned the holes, its mechanical eye pausing in several directions before giving the order, "Concentrate firepower and seal off the larger ones first."

Rick nodded.

The gun crew began to adjust their direction, aiming the gun muzzles at the largest holes.

Everyone to your positions, ready to fire.

At this very moment—

Something moved in the darkness deep within the cavity.

An aura burst forth from the horde of giant ghouls.

Extremely polluting and extremely dangerous.

Rex was the first to sense it. His body stiffened abruptly, and the swarm of insects exploded into formation at the same moment. The dark red swarm of insects surged wildly towards him, as if instinctively trying to block something.

But that aura was faster than the swarm of insects.

A figure burst out from the pile of ghouls, moving so fast that its outline was almost invisible, leaving only a blurry, bloody afterimage.

It charged toward the alchemical cannon at the very front.

Before the watchman operating the cannon could even turn his head, the figure was already in front of the cannon barrel, and a hand slapped onto the barrel.

The bronze barrel of the alchemical cannon was crushed as if it had been squeezed in half, and the base was overturned by a tremendous force, with its parts flying in all directions.

The first cannon was instantly rendered unusable.

Without pausing, the figure spun swiftly and lunged at the second cannon.

This time, someone saw what it looked like.

It was the body of a ghoul that had been almost completely mutated.

But it has no shell.

Its body was covered in flesh and blood, like a person whose skin had been peeled off. Its muscles and fascia were exposed, with an abnormal dark red color. The surface was covered with a layer of transparent mucus, which reflected a greasy sheen in the firelight.

He stood hunched over, his back arched, his arms hanging at his sides, longer than normal, with thick knuckles and hooked fingertips.

Its face lacked any human expression.

Pale and bloody, with the face of a ghoul, but unlike any other ghoul: it had no mouth, and the lower half of its face was as smooth as a blank sheet of skin, without lips, teeth, or any openings.