Telling the Truth

Crack, crack, crack.

The giant's body rapidly broke apart into a vast sea of metal particles, scattering into the air, while Erigat descended from the sky to land beside his teammates before dropping to one knee, panting heavily.

Without a doubt, Erigat had been the most exhausted member of Dawn Squad throughout this operation.

Even so, Weimeng, Firona, and Xiya did not look much better than Erigat at the moment.

The moment they landed, everyone involuntarily collapsed onto the soft grass, lowering their sweat-soaked heads and breathing hard just like Erigat.

"Whew... whew..."

Only Ye Chen and Oko appeared somewhat less haggard than the others.

The color in the former's face was visibly recovering at a rapid pace, while the latter's somewhat unsettled breath from her earlier exertions was gradually returning to calm.

Oko looked back at the barrier that held the abyssal mist firmly at bay, then sighed to her teammates with a smile.

"What a heart-pounding adventure that was."

Ye Chen, meanwhile, looked toward the forested mountains ahead.

Even before landing, Ye Chen had spotted several hazy plumes of black smoke on the distant horizon beyond the Blackwood Forest Sea. That was most likely where Kadeci's group was fighting.

The first thing Ye Chen did upon arriving was switch his radio back on and attempt to contact Kadeci, Dusarien, and the others.

Unfortunately, even though Dawn Squad had escaped the clutches of the Abyss Mist Nest, the signal in the communication channels had not improved in the slightest. The various Hunter squads were still cut off from one another.

Facing the as-yet-unclear battle situation on the other side of War Zone 9, Ye Chen, as the squad leader, showed no impatience at all. Instead, he calmly instructed his teammates.

"Everyone, rest for one minute. Then we move on."