"It's around here."
The Star Spirit patrol captain pushed aside the thorny brush, revealing a half-meter-deep gouge in the ground where mud churned and rolled.
[Vanguard Across the Realm] crouched down and rubbed the wet mud at the bottom of the trench between his fingertips. Several black shell fragments with an oily sheen were mixed into the soil. Not far away, a massive tree requiring two people to wrap their arms around had been uprooted and thrown to the ground. Its entire trunk had plunged straight into a pitch-black sinkhole, leaving only its shattered crown drooping outside.
That underground overlord was lurking beneath this swamp.
[Data Maniac] swiped across the tactical light screen, slowing down and freezing footage of the creature retracting its tentacles recorded by scouting players, then comparing it with the collapsed fissure before them.
"In these clips, it dragged its prey away from here every time. The tracks are still fresh. We can give it a try."
"Since it refuses to move its nest, we'll deliver the goods right to its door."
[Thunder King] planted his staff on the ground and shot the others a look.
Rumble!
Two heavily armored transport mechas strode out from the forest, dragging the corpse of a Tier Two beast they had killed not long ago. The corpse's abdomen had been brutally ripped open, and the thick, nauseatingly sweet stench of blood poured into the deep underground hollow with the damp mountain wind.
The mecha pilots showed no hint of recklessness or desire for credit. They shoved the beast corpse down the slope ahead, released the heavy cables, and had the two bone-armored machines retreat along the cleared route to the rear cover with a low hum from their psionic engines.
The entire forest fell deathly silent.
High above, Tian Ce narrowed