Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1523 The Lunar War (Thirty-Five)

Gronov Rutov squinted and nodded.

Derrick's once magnificent golden armor was now filthy, his blood-red robes charred and torn by flames and sharp teeth. All of this indicated that Derrick was not the Emperor's glittering boy scout, but a warrior of equal tenacity. Coupled with his earlier precise shot, this was enough to earn the respect of the emotionally detached genetically modified warriors. The genetically modified warriors knew what kind of dangerous enemy they had encountered, but their power armor didn't have nearly as many dents and craters, suggesting that Derrick's enemy was far more formidable and dangerous than any wizard they had faced.

"We've already arranged an interception mission," Gronov Rutuv said. "Isn't that enough?"

"Not enough, Lieutenant. Don't let those three warriors die easily; just delay Black Bolt's advance." Derrick quickened his pace. He needed to seize the time before the door closed automatically. "Black Bolt can easily kill everyone in Attilan. Don't let him speak. Break the shield as soon as possible. We must kill him before we can fully conquer Attilan, or we will gain nothing in this battle."

The door closed automatically, and Gronov Rutov strode forward and kicked it. It was just a thin sheet metal door, but he felt like he'd kicked a stone. Only after tearing the door off its hinges did he realize there was just a wall behind it, and Derrick was nowhere to be seen. Gronov Rutov turned to look at the semi-conscious alien wizard at his feet, and made up his mind.

The Imperial Guard's guess was correct; that door was indeed the correct return passage.

But returning to the gloomy library, Derrick was not in a good mood.

He was certain that the monster had gone into hiding and was now waiting for him to walk right into its trap.

Kamar-Taj's library, used to house dangerous books, possesses special seals and security measures corresponding to the level of danger. However, the library itself is empty; all the books—whether written by mutant wizards or gifts from Kree wizards—are displayed on the shelves with identical covers. Derrick only approached his target after seizing an opportunity to extract the meaning of the markings on the shelves from a survivor—but this didn't mean things would be easy; the spines of these books didn't bear titles. Derrick risked ordering the mutant to open one or two books, casually reading a few passages. Suddenly, a crazed, gigantic monster appeared out of thin air in the library, beginning its pursuit of the mutant wizard and Derrick.

The moment the monster was born from the air, it emitted a stench that the respiratory filtration system could not cleanse. It was like the cacophony of shouts, cries, mourning, ecstasy, and rage of millions of people in different languages, and the frantic tolling of bronze bells on a cathedral roof. The surrounding air even began to ripple, and the nauseating multicolored glow twisted and flickered constantly, challenging the limits of human endurance.

It was an extradimensional spiritual energy entity that had pierced through the thin veil between reality and illusion to arrive here. Its body lacked a fixed form; only smooth, flesh-colored skin oozed with mucus. Hundreds of festering, swollen eyes of varying sizes revealed unparalleled madness. It was the product of multiple species intertwined in an unimaginable, neurotic manner. Scientific evolutionary theory could not support the existence of such a creature; only the most terrifying nightmares and the most insane imaginations could give birth to such a monster.

The supersonic, long-fanged tentacles that lashed out like the tip of a whip were first severed by Derrick. Another tentacle, possibly one of hundreds, immediately wrapped around his leg armor and then contracted with the terrifying power of an industrial compressor. Even the strongest alloys could not withstand this force; the metal began to deform, flesh was crushed, and cracks appeared in his steel-like bones. Even more terrifying, the magic-infused sucker-like teeth pierced his body and began to suck his blood, rich in the secrets of genetic alchemy. Within seconds, his body was already in a dangerous state of anemia.

The power armor immediately injected Derrickson with painkillers and combat drugs, but Derrickson then ordered the power armor's operating system to increase the adrenaline injection dose—enough to rupture an elephant's heart. In a short breath, before the excruciating pain had subsided, Derrickson gritted his teeth and swung his halberd, severing the tentacles. The barrage of explosives fired failed to repel the soft, grotesque creature that filled the entire room. Dragging his war engine core plate, his heart pounding and his bloodied body, he fought his way back towards the exit. Only after escaping the library did he shake off the monster's pursuit. The mutant wizard who had served as his guide, whom he had been carrying the entire time, survived the tumultuous journey and countless impacts on the steps. Fortunately, the mutant wizard still clutched the dangerous cult book tightly, which could be considered a less important trophy.

That was the first extradimensional spiritual energy entity he had encountered, not a genetically engineered creation by wizards based on the Chimerian clan. He knew this thing had many names—angel, elf, demon, spirit, etc.—but its essence was the same: emotions and souls born from intelligent life reflected in the High Aether, eternal enemies constantly attempting to influence the material universe. Kamar-Taj had been dedicated to stopping such enemies since its inception, and the Emperor and the mission he bestowed upon all his warriors were the same: to slay monsters that ordinary people could not resist.

He wouldn't let such a terrifying monster leave.

His duty required him to deliver the captured prisoners to the genetically modified soldiers, and it also required him to return to the library to continue the hunt. Gene alchemy began to slowly take effect; his body started producing blood, and the wounds on his arms and legs began to heal. These abilities granted him the capacity for prolonged combat; he only needed to catch his breath a few times before the power armor's life support system restored his stamina. The power armor compensated for his lack of vision in the dark, and the detection system helped him scan his surroundings.

Until he stepped into a pool of colorless slime on the stone floor.

Thick, viscous blood crawled across the ground, gradually climbing the walls towards the ceiling. Derrick noticed the rapidly decreasing odor and increasing ozone levels nearby. Looking up, he saw blood vessels crisscrossing like flesh growing from the ceiling. Several dark figures suddenly rushed towards Derrick, crashing into the raised halberds of the Imperial Guards. Fragments fell heavily to the ground. He immediately launched several special explosives into the darkness beyond the reach of the power armor's detectors. A blood-red monster unlike any he had ever seen before slowly emerged from the shadows. The gaping hole in its canine body, blasted open by the explosives, rapidly sprouted dense buds of flesh. Its vicious muzzle was filled with sharp teeth, and foul-smelling, toxic acidic saliva dripped from it, sizzling continuously.

The first creature they encountered, covered in tentacles and eyes—a being beyond human imagination—slowly crawled out from another direction, blocking the door to another room. The monster's breath stirred up a gale in the room, causing its blood-red cloak to flutter wildly. Derrick first turned sideways, gripping his halberd in one hand, aiming the blade at the monster, which was as tall as him.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is the shortcut Lisa mentioned." The Centaur clan's electromechanical expert pointed sullenly to the door of the room bearing the library's insignia. It was a very peculiar identifier, bearing the Chimilian clan's crest, but with a black hole added to the center for distinction. They had seen this symbol on the robes of dead Chimilian clan wizards in the hall and corridors, but no one could decipher its meaning.

"Only Lisa among us has been here before, but from now on we will no longer have her guidance."

"She won't have died in vain, and neither will that green-haired monkey, as stupid as an Alpha caveman!" the Ghost Clan gunman roared. Seemingly realizing his voice was too loud, the gunman couldn't help but glance at the ever-silent Black Bolt. They tried to collect the remains of the two soldiers, but the bomb's power was too great; all they could find were some charred fragments, indistinguishable even from different parts of the body. Black Bolt stared at the fragments for a long time, falling into complete silence, even his gestures ceasing. No one could know what he was thinking. "We will avenge ourselves, Your Majesty, we will avenge ourselves!" the Ghost Clan gunman declared with assurance. "The invaders will face trial by the Genetic Council, or die by my gun."

The Centaur clan's electromechanical expert smoothed his blue-skinned face, which was full of worry.

He was highly intelligent; long before arriving, he had read about the battle reports of the frontline troops fighting the invaders, the damage caused by the bombing, and the potential consequences of the invaders' destruction of infrastructure. If not for political motives, he would never have agreed to Black Bolt's idea of ​​entering the Chimilian clan's territory. Initially, everyone thought that sending a small Chimilian army squad back to the settlement would solve the problem—but later, after hearing that all the blast doors in the settlement had been closed and communication with the outside world severed, the mixed clan squad realized the seriousness of the situation—and now the situation indicated that the problem was even more serious. He didn't know why the invaders wanted to come here, why the Chimilian clan wizards were holding this ritual, or even why the Chimilian clan's Onomi matriarch was fleeing immediately. All of these questions might remain unanswered.

When war comes, not every problem has an answer.

According to the original plan, after resolving the issue of the Chimerian Clan settlement, they should have gone directly to the derivative buildings behind the airlock attached to the Chimerian Clan settlement, where they would fight alongside other clans against the invaders. This was an extremely prestigious undertaking; if they performed well, the Attilan royal family could smoothly push forward plans such as the administrative merger of the five clans—whether Black Bolt thought so, the mechanical expert dared not speculate, but he keenly sensed the political significance—but he dared not say more now. The news from the Gene Council was destined to cause Black Bolt to lose all fighting spirit, or perhaps, in a fit of despair, activate the Kree Empire's war machine, once possessed by the Attilan royal family, to kill all the invaders and other clans.

He was a warrior loyal to the ideals of Black Bolt, not a subservient servant. He would make the right decisions for himself—decisions that were in Attilan's best interest. "Your Majesty, we must go," he said solemnly, his eyebrowless blue face taut, as if afraid his guilt and the truth might slip out in a moment of carelessness. He would not mention again the matter of sending Crystal, the most gifted psionicist in the royal family, to investigate. He would never mention it again, for Black Bolt had already shown his inclination; not everyone in the Attilan royal family was willing to sacrifice for the Inhumans.

"Hurry up. We still have a lot to accomplish."

There were only two guards, and now they were both lying in pools of blood.

Seemingly due to the insulating effect of the thick star fortress deck, or the influence of the extradimensional technology used in the shield core, or perhaps the intentional leniency of the Chimilian clan wizards, the Chimilian civilians around the shield core and fusion generator were not greatly affected. Most of the workers here were Alpha primitives, with only two mutant civilians. Their main job was to maintain the Alpha primitives' drinking water and food, and then whip and intimidate the genetically engineered creatures to force them to continue working. The infiltration of the genetically modified warriors encountered no obstacles. The only obstacle was a blast door and the Alpha primitives who had rioted because they had not been able to distribute food after the foreman's death. The genetically modified warriors' job was to kill everything they could see.

They succeeded, very smoothly, and quite unremarkably.

"GR-19-10, the bomb has been planted."

"Calculate a safe position, then wait for the signal," the tactical support squad leader said. Perhaps due to his towering physique, comparable to that of the Royal Guard, granted by special genetic engineering, he preferred using an axe and a heavy-explosive machine gun, unlike his comrades in other tactical support and tactical squads who favored silenced and light weapons. His specially designed power armor allowed him to carry both weapons simultaneously. However, he hadn't used the double-edged giant axe he'd taken from the Emperor's armory in this operation, which disappointed him considerably. "Leave one man behind; the rest of the soldiers join the interception mission," the tactical support squad leader chuckled coldly. "We will kill the Attilan Inhuman leader here."

The other genetically modified soldiers nodded calmly, but he knew that everyone secretly envied their brother who had participated in the interception mission. At the same time, they also worried about being the one left behind to guard the bomb, which meant they might miss out on the honor of killing the enemy leader.

"Don't worry, no one will miss out on this honor."

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(End of this chapter)