Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"Or, you could just call yourself Ghost."

“Um…” the girl began to think.

"Miss Ghost, are you really not going to eat me?" Popka asked timidly.

"I already said it's not a ghost!"

[Four-Star Ghost]

生命1050攻击350防御100法抗0攻击间隔1.2阻挡1部署费用14

Special characteristic: Prioritizes attacking air units

talent:

Low Presence: Invisible for 6 seconds after deployment. If there are nearby operators, each operator gains +3% evasion (maximum 12%/cross formation).

skill:

Covert Sniper: Passive - Gains 1 round of ammunition upon deployment, and 1 round of ammunition every 6 seconds, up to a maximum of 5 rounds; Active - Consumes 1 round of ammunition to deal 200% (270%/300%) of attack power damage to the current target. Ignores 50% of defense while in stealth mode.

Chapter Eleven Relics

Chapter 11

On the outskirts of the polar regions, in the cemetery, black crystals spread across the land. Some resemble spears piercing the earth and snow, while others look like crystalline four-leaf clovers, and still others are shapeless, twisted spirals.

Tiny crystals continuously separated from the main body, scattering into the sky, turning into a swarm of black mist mixed with gray snowflakes.

"Whoosh~" "This is the polar region, a place where humans have never set foot before." Wearing a respirator, W looked at the crystal spear that was more than ten meters tall in front of him. Behind him, two exploration vehicles were setting up a simple outpost or research point.

"Safe, no evil spirits nearby." The reconnaissance team carefully checked the surrounding environment and found no evil spirits.

"Stay alert, this isn't the time for you to play house in Kazdel." W didn't touch the giant crystal spear, but simply instructed his men to be vigilant.

The polar behemoth docked at a temporary encampment about 6 kilometers away, and then began to move out according to the pre-arranged division of labor.

Due to the presence of evil spirits, although the total number of people is large, it is best not to send out too many personnel when carrying out exploration missions.

If there are too many people, it is easy to attract the attention and attack of evil spirits. If there are too few people, it is difficult to deal with sporadic evil spirits. In the end, the only option is to have most of them follow the polar behemoths, establish fixed camps and defense lines, and attract the attention of evil spirits. The weather team and logistics troops perform defensive functions in the camps.

The medical team was divided into two groups. The first group, led by Warfarin and Sullo, was mainly responsible for setting up field hospitals and temporary aid centers. The second group, led by Nightingale and Shining, mainly accompanied the team and provided battlefield first aid as medical kits.

However, the operation has just begun. The forward base and the Arctic Behemoth are basically in the same location, so the ship's hospital can be used directly without the need to build a field hospital. Therefore, the two groups are currently operating in unison.

As time goes by and the exploration area expands, the forward base will also move forward. The polar environment is extremely harsh, and not all terrains and environments are suitable for the safe movement of polar behemoths and convoys. Therefore, it is almost impossible for there to be any ruins or survey points around the warship's base.

The ship and the surrounding encampment were named the Base Camp by the Doctor, while the command post and supply relay camp, consisting of convoys and more robust facilities, were named the Forward Base. Finally, the camp temporarily set up by the exploration team and the medical team was called the Outpost.

This avoids confusion in terminology and clarifies the command and importance at each level. The polar behemoth enters the encampment along the route and establishes a base camp. Then, the exploration team and the meteorological team are dispatched to establish reconnaissance outposts to obtain weather data and information within a certain range of the surrounding area. Afterward, areas for further exploration and safe areas where forward bases can be established are distinguished according to their importance and urgency.

Afterwards, the base camp dispatched a support convoy to expand the outpost into a forward base. After resupplying and resting, the exploration team conducted investigations on the survey points around the base one by one in order of proximity and importance. The entire operation was carried out from the base to ensure the safe evacuation of personnel and the provision of immediate assistance.

However, compared to conducting a thorough search in the polar regions and sending out numerous small teams, the entire exploration process would be significantly slower. Nevertheless, the doctor and his team didn't intend to achieve everything in one fell swoop. With two months left until the end of summer, they would investigate gradually, advance step by step, and use the data and intelligence gathered to improve their next operation.

"Pfft!" Patriot crushed a demonic fragment buried in the snowdrift, letting the sandy crystal slip from his fingertips. As the vanguard team, his job was to clear the surrounding area. The terrain data and enemy and friendly data they discovered would be transmitted to the outpost's mainframe via the improved Amiya Network, becoming a somewhat inaccurate map.

"It's all rocks, oh, and these monsters too. Aren't there any special ones?" Ghost Shark trudged through the snow, carrying a probe and weapons.

The forest of black crystals surrounded each member of the vanguard team. Their main task was to explore outwards in a spiral around the still-under-construction outpost and clear out any possible demonic ambushes.

The flanking and support teams are responsible for protecting the outpost, followed by the dispatch of technical and recovery teams to explore and recover any suspicious targets discovered.

"There seems to be something ahead?" Amidst the staggered black crystals, a splash of silver-white stood out conspicuously.

"It's less than 80 meters. Should we go?" Skadi turned the hilt of her sword, the blade gradually gleaming with a crimson-gold light. "Go, clear, mark."

Patriot, carrying a heavy shield, took the lead and walked towards the silvery-white object. The vanguard team was not responsible for the initial investigation, but only for clearing and marking. Any suspicious points would be marked, and then they would work with other teams to conduct the actual investigation of these suspicious points.

The unidentified, silvery-white creature lay crookedly in the snow, part of it enveloped by a writhing, demonic structure. It was spherical in shape, with two tall, thin, silvery-white metal rods at its tail.

"mark!"

"Okay!" Specter quickly operated the terminal, and the location was marked.

"Prepare to cleanse the demon!" The demon enveloping the structure trembled violently a few times, and dozens of scale-like crystals shot out from its body.

"Clang!" Whether it was Patriot or the others, they were all top-notch warriors handpicked from thousands of people, and they easily knocked away and blocked the scales.

"Put on your breathing apparatus, check the status of your eyepieces and jamming rings!" Patriot commanded. Everyone took two seconds to quickly check these critical pieces of equipment, preparing for battle.

"Chirp!" The scale that was knocked away split open from the middle, opening like a clam shell to reveal a ferocious mouth and several rows of fine shark teeth. Three tiny tentacles fluttered in the center of the mouth, and the olfactory organs at the ends quickly captured information about the enemy in the air.

Four tentacles covered with suckers grow out of the lower part of the scales, serving as locomotion organs, and lunge forward at an astonishing speed.

"Demon Fusion!" Patriot spun his halberd around and smashed the scaled monster to the ground with a single blow. Shattered crystals and carapace scattered everywhere, creating a trail of sparks on the crystalline structure.

"Prepare for melee!" Actually, there weren't many ranged weapons. Most of them were deployed in the camp's support group. While using ranged weapons to kill demons was efficient, the ammunition was consumed quickly. If the vanguard team were equipped with them, they wouldn't be able to go far before running out of ammunition and having to return.

Moreover, their smaller size means they won't attract hordes of demons—if you're unlucky enough to encounter hordes of demons, the only difference is whether you die with dignity or not, regardless of what weapon you have. In contrast, the camp is more likely to be attacked by a significant number of demons and therefore needs these heavy ranged weapons more.

"Is everything recorded?"

"Alright!" The accompanying technical operator quickly transmitted the image and scan information of the scaled monster back to the outpost camp.

"Stay in the middle and don't move!" Patriot abandoned his shield. Killing as many enemies as possible was another form of protection. On his free wrist, the arm armor slid open to reveal the shattering cannon launcher underneath, which he fired directly at the demonic aggregate that was clinging to the silver unidentified structure and creating the next wave of monsters.

The scorching shrapnel pierced the demon's body, instantly enraging the giant monster. Tentacles, deep within the spherical structure, were pulled out one by one, their bluish-black surface turning crimson, revealing a muscular structure.

"Watch out! Mode switched!" Ghost Shark shoved the molten axe in his hand into the mouth of the scale monster in front of him. "Bang!" The built-in magic explosive device detonated, blowing the guy into pieces.

On the other side, Skadi was much more at ease than Specter, wielding her molten greatsword to take down the scale monsters one by one. However, as the demon completed its transformation, several muscular tentacles twisted into one and swept across, with a loud crash, the crystal pillar shattered, and fragments flew in all directions like shrapnel.

"Whoosh!" "Clang!" The molten sword collided with the muscular tentacles, Skadi's calf sank directly into the ground, her expression changed slightly, and the sound of the power armor cracking due to overload could be clearly heard.

Even with the enhancements from Haisi and Agor technologies, and while wearing power armor, it almost overturned; the strength of this thing is truly astonishing.

The demonic aggregate had detached from the construct, its internal and external structures flipping over. Multiple clustered eyeballs rapidly emerged from its amorphous body, rotating half a circle before fixing their gaze on Skadi.

"Hiss!" The mental calming ring on his neck was burning hot, as if it were red-hot. The pain caused his slightly scattered mind to regroup. Since he hadn't inhaled the demonic spores, the mental attack on the other party was obviously not very effective.

The demonic aggregator quickly changed its target, focusing on the unfortunate tech operative. "Close your eyes, plug your ears, don't look, don't listen, don't speak, don't think!" Patriot roared, throwing his halberd at the aggregator to interrupt its mental interference.

The crimson aggregate grew more tentacles, which waved wildly in the air like a giant sea anemone. Its body grew taller and then opened up like a clam shell, revealing the indescribable core inside.

Almost everyone present felt the defensive rings around their necks quickly lose their heat, and a strange fluctuation and thought field unfolded, relying on the source stones and demonic crystals of the environment.

"Anti-interference!" Specter Shark, enduring his headache and fear, pulled out the device from his back and slammed it into the ground, slightly reducing the effect of the mental pollution.

However, this hesitation caused the demonic polymer to change form once again. More thick tentacles emerged from its root-like base, and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth opened. From the disgusting slime, swarms of small, scaled monsters rushed out.

"This is even more disgusting than the most disgusting sea monster I've ever seen!" Ghost Shark swung his axe wildly, smashing the weakened scale monsters to the ground, but the demonic aggregate itself was not so easy to deal with.

Its shell is entirely composed of mimicking muscles, which not only gives it considerable strength, but its dense muscle structure also makes it incredibly effective against slashing and blunt force attacks. It also provides very high defense against piercing attacks. In short, this rubbery flesh gave even three top melee operators a headache.

"Skadi!"

"What!?" The molten greatsword sliced ​​through the onrushing tentacles, and she even had time to step on the still writhing broken tentacles, crushing them into meat patties.

"I'll cover you, you go attack!"

"Okay!" The little orca said nothing, lowered its body to abandon intercepting the tentacle attacks, handed over the cover to the ghost shark, and directly gripped the greatsword and passed through the gap.

Behind her, Ghost Shark slammed the Power Molten Axe in its hand onto the ground, unleashing a shockwave. Then, amidst the girl's maniacal laughter, she completely disregarded the wounds on her body caused by the tentacles striking her.

Ignoring the warnings from the power armor, she laughed and spun around, the molten axe flying forward like a whirlwind, slicing through the tentacles and clearing a path for Skadi.

"Die!" The little orca skimmed across the ground, chasing the axe thrown by the ghost shark to the demon's feet. The molten greatsword severed its "foot" and then plunged into its huge mouth. Ignoring the hissing sound of the acidic fluid splashing onto its body and visor, it twisted the greatsword with force.

"Leap!" The girl leaped up like a fish jumping out of the water, and the greatsword drew a crimson-gold sword light from bottom to top, splitting the demonic aggregate in two.

Patriot also withdrew his halberd, and as Skadi landed with difficulty, he smashed the demon's crystal core with a single blow. The crimson muscles seemed to have lost control and began to thrash wildly.

"Incendiary bomb!" Patriot knew this was not the time to rest. In the past, many warriors had been killed by the demon's dying counterattack at this moment, and many more had thought it was over, only to have the demon quickly reconstruct its core and kill them all.

Destroying the core only temporarily disables the demon, much like knocking someone unconscious. If you think that's how you eliminate the demon, the newly grown core will soon update the demon's mechanisms, making it appear in an even more troublesome way.

"Bang!" Several white phosphorus grenades struck the demon's corpse, igniting a raging inferno. It took about 40 minutes to completely burn away the demonic aggregate and fragments. Patriot used the handle of his halberd to forcefully crush the charred corpse into powder. He then reached down and picked up several fragments of the demonic crystal, which had been broken into pieces by the high temperature and heavy impact, and placed them into a titanium alloy sample box.

With a "click," the technical operator plunges the trail marker into the snow. The trail marker will continuously emit signals, which will be received by the exploration team's receiver.

Meanwhile, at the outpost, all personnel had arrived and the outpost had been completed. More convoys were arriving from the base camp, and the logistics battalion was responsible for expanding the outpost.

This outpost is located in a clearing among the graveyards, surrounded by several obsidian-like giant demonic crystals. These giant demonic crystals are generally of a problematic nature, only creating more tiny demonic spores instead of turning into new demons.

"Prepare to detonate!" W rhythmically tapped the detonator in his hand. After the team members had finished taking their roll, he pressed the detonation button. Accompanied by a series of small explosions, the tall crystal gun broke into dozens of pieces and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces and revealing countless skeletons underneath.

Those were the victims of the Ursus and Great Yan expeditions, hundreds of years ago. They were killed, and demonic spores grew in the pile of corpses, giving birth to new demons and accumulating this crystalline spear structure that resembled a mother nest.

"These are Great Yan equipment. Let's put them away properly. Send them to the recycling center for further identification after cleaning." Don't underestimate these hundreds of years old equipment; they might be more advanced than many of Terra's current military equipment.

“Divine Machine - Supervisor's Mark…” Ling reached out and picked up the metal plaque soaked in the disinfectant solution. The air-isolated crystals and the low temperature of the polar region effectively prevented it from corroding, and the blurry text and patterns were still discernible. After further acid washing and cleaning, it should become even clearer.

"Which unit is this?"

“You can think of the Shenji Battalion’s supervisory team as… the commanding force,” Ling said after thinking for a moment. “Every 100 Shenji mechanical soldiers are organized into a team, and every 5 teams are equipped with a supervisory team and a battalion of artisans. The former is responsible for command, and the latter is responsible for maintenance. Although the names are the same as other armies in the Great Yan, their functions are very different.”

The terms "Du Biao" and "Biao" in the Great Yan Dynasty have their original ancient meanings. "Biao" means the troops directly under the supreme commander, similar to personal guards; while "Du Biao" refers to the troops directly under the military governor. Due to the special nature of the mechanical troops, the Du Biao team of the Divine Machine Mechanical Troops was a command unit rather than a guard unit or personal guard.

Have all the belongings been recovered?

"They've all been recovered, along with some damaged wreckage of machine gunners." Compared to the Patriots' search for exposed ruins and artifacts on the ground, the support team's demolition work unearthed far more artifacts.

"Do you think there might be something beneath this vast forest of steles...?"

“Not all of them,” Ling said. “Small 'sarcophagi' might only contain lone soldiers or even wild animals, which demons aren’t too picky about. But these large stone pillar forests usually contain the remains of ancient battlefields with a large number of corpses, whether ours or the demons’.”

"That's quite amazing." Standing on the makeshift scaffolding and watchtowers, looking out, these gun-shaped crystal tombstones, while not exactly covering the entire mountainside, were scattered in a neat and orderly fashion, and were everywhere you looked.

Moreover, those small rocks weren't entirely without finds; it just meant there wouldn't be a large pile of corpses. Of course, according to the doctor and Lao Xia's research, even without corpses, the demon's crystals would grow by absorbing nutrients and Originium particles from the soil. It's just that these naturally formed things usually don't have a high density.

There's only one tomb every few hundred meters, and the further you go in, the sparser these tombs become. However, the stone forests become denser, because some of the ones on the outer edges were created by demonic invasions. A large number of civilians, unlucky souls who accidentally wandered in, and self-proclaimed expert exploration teams have left this place littered with corpses.

However, as you go further in and enter the latter half, the density of demons decreases, but the combat power and size of individual demons increase significantly. At the same time, those stone forests are basically ancient battlefield ruins, and there may be tens of thousands of corpses buried under any one of them.

Near the curtain area, these large stone forests basically disappear. From satellite images, they look more like an ancient battlefield, with crystals half a person's height covering the ground, forming structures like decaying cold weapons and flagpoles exposed on the ground.

It looked like a battlefield after a major battle, with flags and weapons lying haphazardly, and below were no different from the battlefield ruins, with skeletons lying haphazardly. These skeletons came from the ancestors—residents and staff of the space city who died in the disaster.

"Write down the names, then repair the armor and weapons if possible, and send the unrepairable fragments back to Da Yan along with these soldier tokens." After all, the people of Da Yan provided some support for various reasons, so it wouldn't hurt to give them a little something in return.

Moreover, this move could win over the military families of Da Yan. Although the military families of Da Yan are also seriously corrupt, the clan and family ties of the people of Da Yan are far stronger than those of other Terran countries.

Nowadays, the ancestors of these military officers from prominent families generally participated in the expeditions, and the same is true for noble families. It cannot be said that every family is in mourning, but it can be said that there are many families where three generations of fathers and sons lost their lives in the North.

Of course, they also received titles and military ranks for their achievements, and gradually developed into the current northern military families and leaders of various armies. For them, it was impossible to risk the future of their entire family and the troops under their command to launch a distant expedition beyond the Great Wall. After all, for the people of the Great Yan, the dead must make way for the living.