The battle inside the Bridge was nearing its end. Most of the Dorok monks had been annihilated, a small number had surrendered when they saw the situation was not good, and only a very few had hidden in the complex terrain or mine tunnels.
The slave laborers gripped their weapons tightly, cautiously searching for the remaining enemy, their faces filled with the exhilaration of gaining freedom and avenging their grievances.
Nausicaä led Haideng and other representatives from various countries across the bridge to the mountainside outside the Mining Town, where they met up with four Blessed Warrior, including Por.
Por was slightly weak from excessive physical exertion, panting heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
But upon seeing Nausicaä, he straightened his back and reported loudly, "Your Highness! I have fulfilled my mission; all the slave laborers imprisoned in the underground mine have been rescued!"
Por looked at Nausicaä with eyes full of admiration.
When Her Highness first became a citizen of the Erdtree, she single-handedly created a pollution buffer zone stretching for a kilometer.
He hadn't realized it before, but after becoming Golden Folk himself, he understood just how extraordinary that feat was.
Even if he were to exhaust himself now, he couldn't do that.
Nausicaä quickly went forward to check on Por's condition and was relieved to find that he was just exhausted.
"You did a good job. How's the situation underground? Have you seen Mayor Gore?"
Por shook his head. "We cleared all the mines, and the other guards and overseers were dealt with by the angry slaves. We didn't find anyone coming down."
This answer made Nausicaä frown slightly; something must be wrong.
After causing such a commotion, how could Gore just slink away like that? That doesn't make sense for someone who has been meticulously planning for twenty years.
" Mr. Tree, have you discovered anything?" she whispered in her heart.
At this point, she had no choice but to seek help from the Erdtree.
However, Mu En was also feeling puzzled at this moment.
From his perspective, Gore was at best a schemer with some tricks up his sleeve; what truly interested him was the old man in the straw raincoat known as the " Kabu Tribe Master."
He had been using Nausicaä, Por, and other "anchors" to survey the surrounding battlefield environment.
Although limited by the Blessed's strength, the scanning radius wasn't particularly large, but it was more than enough to cover an area of several tens of meters around the conference hall.
However, he did not see any trace of the Master Kabo from beginning to end.
Even though Nausicaä could see the old man through her vision and even sense the spiritual energy he was releasing, in her Rune energy perception, the old man's location remained Void.
Even after the other person crashed through the window and fell, he still hadn't been able to figure out their true nature.
This was the first time Mu En had encountered something capable of interfering with his senses since he came to this world; the sinister aura that appeared at the last moment was definitely not simple.
Another point is that the Dorok Principalities did not appear at all in the original Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind movie, and Mu En's understanding of it was limited to what he saw and heard after coming to this world.
Therefore, he couldn't be sure whether the anomaly in the superpowered old man came from the original work or whether some plot twist had occurred.
" Gore's last move was towards the lower levels of town. Be careful of that Kabu Tribe Master; there's something strange about him."
Mu En turned his attention back to the present and passed the information to Nausicaä. Guided by this, Nausicaä walked toward Haideng, preparing to tell him this important information.
Haideng was standing with a tall, robust old man, and the two seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
" Haideng, you brat! I was doing this for you, and you got arrested without even coming to me!" The old man looked somewhat haggard from his life as a slave laborer, but his eyes were still bright.
"Master Makas, this is not my fault. Who would have thought that the usually honest Gore would be the mastermind? In order to find you, Pejite's explorers even abandoned the Sea of Corruption, which is a great loss."
A rare wry smile appeared on Haideng's face; it was Hayden's idea to have the explorer help keep an eye out for smuggling routes.
"Pah! Don't mention that bastard to me!" The old man, known as Makas, spat.
However, upon seeing Nausicaä approaching, his expression immediately turned serious, and he stepped forward to perform a standard Pejite explorer's salute.
"This must be Princess Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind? I am Makas, former president of the Pejite Explorers' Association."
"If it weren't for that young man named Por saving me, I'm afraid I would have rotted in that dark, sunless mine."
"Mr. Makas, there's no need for such formality. Saving the innocent is what we should do," Nausicaä replied respectfully.
She had heard of him; he was a legendary explorer who was on par with Master Yupa.
"I just received word that Gore has likely fled to the lower levels of town. We must find him as soon as possible; he is the key to all this chaos."
Haideng and Makas's expressions turned serious at the same time, and they nodded in agreement.
Gore is the culprit; he must not be allowed to escape.
However, just as they were about to order the search of the lower levels to begin, bang!
A two-story stone house built against the mountainside suddenly burst open.
To everyone's astonishment, a goblet-shaped aircraft with three short, thick supports quickly rose into the air and accelerated towards the edge of the Mining Town.
( The Dorok's Anti-Gravity Flying Pot)
From a distance, one could vaguely make out several figures standing on it. One of them was short and wore a dark raincoat; the other wore a white robe and his white hair fluttered in the wind.
"It's Gore and that Dorok! They hid the flying jugs in town beforehand!"
Haideng was so angry that he punched the pipe next to him, but the traitor still managed to escape.
But before this frustration could even dissipate, a thunderous roar erupted!
Bright bursts of light erupted from the outer wall of the Mining Town, followed by plumes of thick smoke.
The Dorok Guardian warship turned its cannons around and began bombarding the Mining Town!
The Ceramic Steel outer wall demonstrated astonishing defensive capabilities; shells that hit it directly only left rings of charred marks on the smooth, hard surface, without causing any damage.
When the thickness reaches a certain level, Ceramic Steel can autonomously and evenly distribute the explosive impact force throughout the entire structure. Unless specialized engineering equipment is used to peel it off layer by layer, it is difficult to cause direct damage.
Just like those thin Ceramic Steel Nausicaä and Yupa damaged during their battle, if their thickness were increased several times over, even with their superhuman strength, they would hardly be able to destroy them.
However, this does not mean that the people in the town are safe.
The walls of the Mining Town are not smooth; they are covered with layers of houses, streets, and scaffolding.
The shells landed in these areas, causing devastating damage.
Metal pipes, piles of steel plates, and debris from houses rained down, falling directly into the countless townspeople desperately rushing towards the Bridge entrance seeking refuge.
Screams and cries filled the air; a horrific scene unfolded in the passageway.
Another salvo rained down, this time with several bullets falling into the interior through the breach in the outer wall. The shrapnel and debris nearly hit the slave laborers who were fighting a few scattered monks at the edge.
"Damn it! Why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet!"
Haideng's eyes were red. According to the scheduled time, the air reinforcements carrying heavy firepower should have arrived long ago!
The situation gradually spiraled out of control, and the panic among the crowd intensified. A few Dorok soldiers put up a stubborn resistance, while that damned Dorok warship continued to slowly unleash its cannon fire.
Beside her, Nausicaä grabbed the dusty robe she was wearing and ripped it off, revealing a blue flight suit and beige leggings that clung to her body and outlined her smooth lines.
She tossed her robe to Por beside her and quickly instructed, "You stay here and command all those who can move. Guide the people to the underground mine tunnels for immediate shelter."
"Wait, where are you going?" Haideng asked instinctively when he saw Nausicaä turn around. Nausicaä began to move her joints, her gaze fixed on the outer wall where explosions were constantly occurring.
"I am the Wind Rider; only I have the possibility of getting close to that warship."
3
Haideng instantly understood her intention: "You wouldn't be thinking of—"
"That's right, I'll go shoot it down!"