Almost as Vivian's voice fell, a cool breeze suddenly swept through the pine forest, brushing across everyone's faces.
Amid the cool wind, everyone heard faint cries of battle, accompanied by something heavy, dark, and almost nauseatingly oppressive.
The people in the vehicles exchanged glances. Then Hao Ren slapped the side of the carriage. "Let's go take a look."
The magic-powered cars let out a faint hum. Their modified engines smoothly increased their output, and the three vehicles sped along the broad forest road. The cool wind never stopped, and the cries of battle carried by it grew increasingly clear.
This direction completely matched the one Lia had indicated by instinct. Hao Ren trusted Lia's instincts as a goddess deeply, so he was now certain that he had finally drawn close to the forest's "core."
The vehicles passed two forks and then drove through a dense stand of pines. At last, the forest road came to an end. The three vehicles burst out of the woods, and the scene before them suddenly opened up.
Hidden within the Black Pine Forest was an astonishingly vast open area, and an apocalyptic final battle was unfolding across that open land.
The dense forest ended abruptly. Before them stretched a vast expanse of land, like a kingdom within the forest, with broad, level ground and buildings spread across it in unbroken clusters. Hao Ren had no idea what this place had looked like when it was intact. Now, all he could see were raging fires and corpses strewn everywhere.
Huge columns of smoke rose in all directions. In the distance, towering buildings collapsed amid thick smoke and flames. Warriors clad in silver-white armor fought fiercely against the invaders across the land. They wielded energy shields and photon blades, or attacked with ranged firearms and staffs.