Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1296 The Blood Moon Gate (Second Update)

Victor von Doom continued to urge the Emperor to travel to the underground caverns in Peru, as current intelligence and archaeological data indicated that the danger posed by the silver stone gate was steadily increasing. The Regent did not trust any Kamar-Taj sorcerers other than the Sorcerer Supreme and the Emperor; he did not believe Kamar-Taj was capable of resolving this issue unless those old men, whose joints required magical manipulation, could awaken from the thick layer of dust.

But that's impossible. That's Kamar-Taj's trump card. Unless there's an extinction event, no one will wake up those who have long since stopped breathing. The sorcerers, aged between forty and one hundred, are the true main force of Kamar-Taj. Even this force has been transferred to other planets to guard certain strategic locations.

For ordinary people, caves illuminated 24/7 by industrial lighting have no dark corners, no dimly lit scenes like those in horror movies, and no strange creatures living underground—even if they did, they would be torn apart by powerful firepower. However, the excessive light used for military purposes makes it impossible for those who want to rest to sleep. As a result, technicians from the Mars Foundry sent to Peru had to turn off the optical receivers of their prosthetic eyes in order to allow their fragile bodies a brief respite.

Aside from the inexplicably tense atmosphere in the air, the slow, rhythmic dripping of water from the scalding underground rock within the caves, and the electronic equipment requiring repair due to volcanic ash and other reasons, there seemed to be almost nothing amiss here. Compared to the harsh environment on the surface, created by volcanic eruptions, forest fires, bombardment, and massacres, the underground caves were now more suitable for human habitation; at least, one wouldn't suffer the same fate as those who insisted on staying on the surface [Note 1], who would be scalded by heat radiation.

However, the extradimensional energy detected by the instruments was still soaring. The extradimensional energy radiation behind the silver stone gate had reached the highest value in the project's history. This situation occurred after Queen Yasok and the Yasok race joined forces, as if the being at the gate had already tasted the soul of this race and was eager to tear open the veil of reality and step out. Those with talent felt an inexplicable pressure squeezing their scalps gradually increasing, as if it were about to burst their eyes from their brains. Even the soldiers of the First Secret Regiment, trained in using psionic sniper rifles, felt an unusual battlefield pressure.

The magic circle drawn on the ground by the Kamar-Taj sorcerers shared some of the pressure, effectively locking in the extradimensional energy overflowing from the silver stone gate, which resembled a pressure cooker lid. However, Superuliumas still ordered the defensive line to retreat, preventing the flesh and blood present from undergoing mutation and corruption on both physical and mental levels. Laura Crawford was awakened by the emergency evacuation alarm. She opened her eyes and found that the industrial lights were not shining through the gap above the bed curtains as usual. The power to all four lights in the nearby A-14 and A-15 lighting groups had been cut off by the Martian foundry technicians. Wanda Maximov, who should have been lying nearby, was nowhere to be seen.

At first, Laura Crawford wanted to find Wanda to find out what had happened, until she discovered that the bronze amulet Wanda Maximoff had given her was emitting a faint blue glow. This was one of the amulet's minor functions, used to warn of dangerous extradimensional phenomena nearby. For ordinary people who couldn't see these phenomena, this function was extremely useful. Wanda Maximoff had told her that if the amulet lit up, she should leave immediately and not linger.

She was glad she had taken the advice.

Insects, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, swarmed down the rock walls on both sides, forming a swarm that engulfed everything left behind, including the laser rifle she had been issued and hadn't had time to take. Just a glance back sent chills down her spine. As Laura Crow retreated to a safe distance of a hundred meters, soldiers and knights from the First Secret Regiment drew their flamethrowers, using the intense flames and stellar heat to thoroughly wipe out the swarm that had suddenly appeared and was relentlessly pursuing her. The Yasok people were forcibly driven behind the defensive line by the First Secret Regiment soldiers clad in black Void combat suits. Queen Yasok was speaking to the expressionless soldiers opposite her, but no one had the time or energy to pay her any attention.

At this moment, the first row of Alpha defense platforms had already opened fire, with heat-melting and flamethrower weapons pouring heat onto the swarm of insects, filling the air with the stench of burning protein and metal.

"It's just like a scene from The Mummy," Laura Crawford remarked.

She was quite certain that this place lacked the environment to sustain these insects, because she had read the biological population report for the area from an extremely bored biologist. She was also certain that normal insects wouldn't turn to ash after being burned; chitinous exoskeletons don't burn like that, and insects don't emit chilling, faint screams when they die. The swarm of insects seemed to ignore the arcane mages of Kamar-Taj; when their tiny, venomous legs touched the runes etched into the igneous rock, without needing fuel or the heat of nuclear fusion, these insects naturally turned into wisps of smoke, seemingly confirming her suspicion that these insect swarms were not natural beings.

From her vantage point, Laura Crawford saw Wanda Maximoff and the other Kamar-Taj sorcerers still standing beside the silver stone gate. Before the twenty-meter-high gate, they appeared as insignificant as ants, and even the Golden Armored Guards were merely ants twice their size. She had to retrieve a .50 caliber anti-materiel sniper rifle from the mountain of armories piled behind her, skillfully load it, and then mount it on the firing port of the pre-designated ceramic reinforced concrete fortification.

Although the Trinity mercenaries all perished at the hands of the knights, not all the munitions transported to Peru were taken with them. The Royal Guard made full use of these weapons, along with automated firing platforms for explosive cannons and laser guns, to create several interlocking fire networks extending from the inside out and from low to high. Whatever emerged from the silver stone gate would be met with thousands of bullets in the blink of an eye. Laura Crawford was currently positioned at the highest point of this fire network, on the Delta 3 defensive platform. Behind the precast ceramic metal defensive plate was a sandbag, and on either side was a large-caliber heavy explosive automatic firing platform. Only three soldiers were needed to defend this position. That is, provided she wore noise-canceling headphones; otherwise, the deafening roar of the automated weapon platforms firing in the cave would have shattered her eardrums.

Through the thermal imaging scope, she observed a visible heat surrounding the group of Kamar-Taj wizards. To her, it appeared as hundreds of thin, bright white rings forming a complex vortex system around the wizards and the silver stone gate. However, this eerie vortex of heat contained a vacuum: the presence of the Royal Guard's Supilulius. The heat vents on the back of his power armor should have been highly contrasting in the thermal image, but through Laura Crawford's scope, Supilulius appeared as bright as day, even his crimson battle robes were blindingly bright, as if he radiated heat. But Wanda Maximov, standing beside him, seemed oblivious to the intense heat, remaining composed as she held a snake-bone iron staff.

The incantation vibrated in the air, initially just a subtle, ticklish sound, then a grand, almost aria-like, ethereal chant. Visible flames flickered in the air like phosphorescence. This was the second time Laura Crawford had witnessed such large-scale magic; the first was at the massacre at the Temple of Vatum. The twenty-meter-high silver stone door rumbled, opening slightly, and a pungent, deep red blood immediately gushed out, as if the door were a severed artery.

The viscous, deep red liquid immediately soaked the feet of most of the arcane mages, only turning into clear water when they approached the Royal Guards. From behind the door came a language incomprehensible to ordinary people. The Royal Guards, somewhat nervously gripping their Guard Spears, activated the batteries, turned on the switches, and aimed the blades, flashing with blue electricity, at the silver stone door.

[Note 1] Refers to the Paititi people led by Onuratu. It seems that because the corn planting season (the second corn season) was approaching, the stubborn Paititi people insisted on finding a new place to live on the ground. So the emperor gave them a river, a large amount of high-yield corn seeds, medicine, food and prefabricated boards and other things needed to live there.

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(End of this chapter)